The Athletic Hockey Show - The first coaching change of the NHL season feels imminent, Murat Ates on the Winnipeg Jets, and a dramatic reading gone wrong

Episode Date: November 18, 2022

Hailey and Sean talk about this weekend's USA-Canada Rivalry Series game in Seattle and wonder if a coaching change in the NHL will happen before then, in particular discussing D.J. Smith in Ottawa and the bizarre situation with Bruce Boudreau in Vancouver. Then, Murat Ates, Winnipeg Jets beat writer, joins the show to talk about the team no one is talking enough about, the Rick Bowness effect, Mark Scheifele, and getting angry at power rankings. Then to wrap up, a dramatic reading goes awry, and without listening, can you first guess who Sean will impersonate in this episode?Save on a subscription to The Athletic: theathletic.com/hockeyshowSubscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on Youtube: youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the athletic hockey show. It's Friday. I was trying not to make eye contact with you as you did that. Dear listeners, if you only knew how many tries it took us to come into the show that way. Yeah. Three.

It was three, by the way. Well, because I'm trying to speak normally, but I also want to give off the, like, like, it's Friday, Friday, vibes. Because I think it's really funny and it's perfect and I love it. You call the shots,

whatever you think is best. Fun, fun, fun, fun. He did it! He did it! Oh my gosh. I've been trying to get Sean to lay down a piece of our new soundtrack for a week. Whatever.

That was great. I'm on the clock now. I'm not going to do that on my own time. But when we're recording, okay. That was the saddest little fun, fun, fun. That's the joke. You know what? Because it's not actually fun.

You don't enjoy the show? No, I don't enjoy, I mean, I could enjoy the Rebecca Black gimmick a little bit more, that's for sure. It's funny. It's not, it's okay. It's funny. How are we doing? I'm fine.

Oh, it's been a day. Let me tell you. Yes, I know. I got a nice little, so in the last hour or so, I've gotten an alert that there's actually been a few. I can check into my flight to Seattle for tomorrow. I have nothing done. I am not ready for that. My flight's also already been delayed.

Of course. And I also got like the hotel check in. Like you can check in early. Are you getting in early? You can check in. It's like, no, I'm not. Because I don't have bag packed. I don't know what I'm doing.

And my flight's delayed. So in fact, I won't be checking in early. I may never check in at all. I might not make it to Seattle. So why are you going to Seattle? Let's talk about that off the top. What are you doing there? It's the Canada-USA rivalry series.

It's the first three games of like this season of it. And it's the kind of biggest one. This is like the biggest built out kind of off-peak, quote-unquote, schedule for the women's national teams. you know, and I say off-peak meeting outside of a world championships or Olympics. But honestly, this is probably the busiest schedule that this team has had. These two teams have had in a while because they had the, they had an Olympics, the world championships within like six months. And they've got more PWHPA games this year.

They've got more rivalry series games. And then they're going to have another world championships this season. So in 2023, probably in actually don't even want to say, because I don't exactly know. I think it's been changed around a couple times. So I'm not even going to say anything because I don't trust the double IHF to keep it that way. So I'm not going to do that. I think that's wise.

Yeah. So we'll wait and see what happens. But yeah, rivalry series, they have the third game in Seattle. So I'm flying to Seattle. And I'm going to do some, I'm going to sprinkle some crack and stuff. So what's the, they're trying to break the attendance record, right, in the Seattle game. Isn't that what they're going for? Yeah.

I think that's the goal. And we heard that from Hillary Knight when she was on the show a couple weeks ago, right? They really want this to be a big game. And it seems like the Cracken are doing a lot to make that happen. And that that record was previously set in Anaheim. So like, I don't have it right in front of me. It was like between 13 and 14,000 people at the Anaheim game at the Honda Center. So I think the goal for the Cracken is to make this the most attended women's

hockey game. Yeah, they can hit it if they want. 17.5,000 is the capacity of climate pledge arena. So let's see. Tickets are cheap. The last time I checked, I think they're like 20 bucks. Sit in the lower bowl, watch Hillary Knight and Kendall Coyne,

Premierie Philly-Poulan. It's a good spot for it. Like Seattle. I love that arena. I mean, the arena is cool. The location's cool, but also Seattle as a city, I think, is pretty well steeped in women's sports. Like, you have what Sue Birds, what Sue Bird's done there over the last million years.

I really hope she's going to be there, FYI, not to cut you off, but like I'm hoping for like a Sue Bird, Megan Rapino, little appearance. I think that was Hillary kind of alluded to that whenever, whenever we talked to her, right? Because Rapino played there, Bird played, obviously played there. Rapino still plays there. Yeah, yeah. Sue's done, right? She's not coming back.

Yeah, she was. I saw, I saw Candice Parker's coming back officially. I saw that. I saw that today. I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure if Sue maybe changed your mind. But when I was there, I was there last fall,

like a year and change ago. Mm-hmm. And the amount of storm gear that I saw around the city was awesome. First off, that stuff, that stuff looks cool.

But it's like, no joke. I saw more storm gear. It could have been the time of year that I was there too, is September. That helps. But like,

there was more storm stuff than, Then I saw Seahawks stuff or cracking stuff or Mariners stuff. Yeah, that's awesome. And like the women's, the women's pro soccer team there is really good too. They're the rain. They used to be like the O'L reign now.

So they have a partnership with Olympic Leone, which is the best women's team in France. So she still plays in Seattle, but it's under the French club umbrella. So Ripino was still there. That's how soccer dumb I am is that I saw that. Like I saw that that's what the team's name was. No, no, no, no.

I knew that I just was like, oh, that's a weird name for a team. Yeah. Because it was the Seattle rain. And now it's like, oh, wow, which is Olympic Leone, which is the French pro club that plays in France. Tobin Heath is on that team. Rose Lavelle is on that team. Mm-hmm. They're real good.

Pino's on that team. Sophia Huerta, real good. Quinn is. is on is on is on is on team i mean there's some there's some high profile names on that right you got to figure we're going to see we're going to see uh see some folks off off that squad there and it that's again that's a good idea it's the right place to try to do this like load up load up and try to break the record so yeah you're going to be there that is in three days i mean i'm leaving tomorrow yeah the game's in three days though i'm leaving on friday here's a question here's here's a and this is a

pro transition. By then, November 20th, will there have been an NHL coach fired? That was our first topic that we wanted to hit in terms of men's hockey at least. That's right. Three days are we going to see the first dude loses job by then? Oh man. Well, I think there was maybe some people who wondered if we would be talking about a coaching change today on this show.

Mm-hmm. If the Ottawa senators went into Buffalo and lost against the Sabres last night, I... It's the right time, the right time to play the Buffalo Sabres, by the way. Yeah, they've lost now seven straight games. Not to interrupt, but that team is, that team's doing what they do. So, so a fast start from them and then they, they hit the skids. Yeah, they're regressing to the mean. They're doing, they're doing what, what a lot of us predicted that, that they would do

based on that hot start, right? It's great to watch. There's still a lot to like about that, a lot to like about that group, but a lot of work left to be done. Seven straight losses speaks to that much. And they also possibly help DJ Smith keep his job in Ottawa. Because there was some speculation that if they lost,

if Ottawa went into Buffalo and lost, that was going to be it for him. And I think the speculation, like I get it, It's been a couple years now for DJ. And I think it's easy to be frustrated if you're a Sends fan and not understand what's going on because I think the Sends probably thought that they were going to be like where the Red Wings are right now, you know, kind of in and around it, maybe struggling a little bit. But having some success, taking the next step. But they're not. Like they are in the basement of the league again, despite bringing in Clod Drew.

and Alex to Brinket and resigning Stutzla, et cetera, et cetera, everything in the hot Pierre summer. And they're still in the basement. And I think a lot of people are looking at the coach and saying like why, like he's not it. Like he's not the one to take us to the next level. And I do always think that there are those questions of like, you know, I don't, it's like, you know, this guy's been really good for the development. But is he the guy that we're going to win with? And I think you, I mean, look at, you know, the Detroit Red Wings. they made a coaching change last year.

It's like we're probably not going to win with this guy. Let's go bring in one of Eiserman's guys from Tampa Bay. But at the same time, I don't think that it's fair. Like I see a lot of people posting DJ Smith's coaching record as a bench boss with Ottawa. And I don't think that's fair. How was he supposed to win hockey games with that roster the previous three seasons? Like, yeah. Yeah, he wasn't.

But like, judging him on merit, though, in 2022, what the roster he's got now, like, and I don't, okay, and I don't mean this is like, I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to trick you in to give an answer here, but like, what is DJ Smith good at? And that's a totally sincere question to you as someone who covered that team and knows a lot about the players in the roster. I know a lot about DJ Smith. Like, what is his calling card is a coach and how will it help them moving forward? if he keeps that job. Right. Well, it's tough because I haven't been around the team on a day-to-day basis in a couple

years. But one of the things that people talked about all the time with DJ is like he cares about his guys and the guys wanted to play for him. Like, I remember talking to Mark Boraviyetsky who showed something completely different under DJ Smith. Like he was a, Mark Boraviyetsky was, you know, people, he, there has to be a better word for like the whipping boy because I hate using that. Like people just dumped on the guy all the time.

Like he was a fighter. You don't want the puck on a stick. He sucks. He's a local guy. Whatever. Don't care. Mark Borobietzky sucks. And then under DJ Smith, he stops fighting.

He has a career year. He ends up getting a pretty decent contract as an unrestricted free agent when he test the waters. And a big part of it was he, like, you know, DJ cared about him. And DJ helped make him a better player. Like this is a guy. This is a coach and DJ that players have in the past wanted to play for. appreciated playing for him.

I think my problem, and it's not even like a, what is he good or bad at? And I understand why that's part of it. And I see a lot of fans talking about the team's systems not being good. Like there's systematic issues with the Sends. But what I look at with this team is I look at a team who this quote unquote roster that's supposed to all of a sudden start winning does not have Josh Norton. on it, does not have Artem Zub on it, does not have Thomas Shabbat on it. Like, you can have a great, improved, skilled decor, or forward group, excuse me.

But if those forwards are not scoring goals, Alex DeBrinke scored one goal on a goalie until last week. You know, like your fancy, new, shiny forward group hasn't been doing exactly what you thought it would, like early on in the season. And your decor is bad. Like, you take Thomas Shabbat out of that defense group and they're bad. Like, we are looking at a defense that is, that is riding a Sanderson. And I'm a very, everyone who knows about my coverage of the sentence.

I was a Jake Sanderson truther in his draft year. I was saying they should take him fifth and people call me dumb dumb. So I'm not coming at Jake Sanderson. But you're riding Jake Sanderson and Travis Hammannick. Yeah And Jacob Bernard Docker now And Eric Brainstrum

Like this is not a good decor I was doing some research on it And I will shut up in a second But I asked Dom And I said Where does this decore rank in the league And he says He's Dominek

Dominoic Luce Chishin Dom loose chicken He does stats and stuff He doesn't even watch hockey games I don't even know I ask him And he hates the Ottawa Senators your favorite team is.

I asked, um, unless the maple lives. Yeah, he loves the Maple Leafs. Um, the Ottawa senators, if you take Thomas Shabbat off their group, their D group,

uh, it's 28th in the league by GSVA. It is bad. It sucks. So I have a really hard time looking at that and blaming the coach and then you look at what was it? It was the Islanders game. And I tweeted this and I made a mistake.

I thought, well, because I thought Sorokin was in that and he wasn't. But they had three. I was like, I was like, I was like, Syroken's really good.

And they were like, uh, that wasn't Soroken. I was like, oh, my bad. Forlama's pretty good too, I guess. Okay, but they, like, when I think of like they're really bad systematically, like they are generating offense at a good clip. Their XG numbers are good. Their shot attempt numbers are good. They were expected to score three goals at five on five against the Islanders and they

scored one. I don't understand how that's DJ Smith's fault. you would think that the offensive systems are what is getting them the three expected goals at five on five. And it's the players who are scoring once. Am I crazy? Am I just like being a DJ Smith truther now? Like I just, I struggle when I see that.

Like I think the Sends underlying numbers and what you can see from them from the data points to me that they are a better team than their record is. And I understand this is like a what can you do for me now. I just have a really hard time looking at the Sends and saying DJ Smith, be the first coach fired. Yeah. And he, I, if he, if they rattle off whatever, eight points out of 10 and, you know, then all as well, right? Three points out of 22, which is where they were at until they, until they beat the Sabres.

It's like, call it what you want. You can blame whoever. That's not good. Not. That's not good enough. And it's certainly not good enough for, it seemed that had some kind of aspirations, whether they were a little in over their skis or not to make the playoffs, right? So when I look at the senators, honestly, I see a team that there are levers to pull for them that they haven't yet.

Sure. There's buttons to push for Pierre Dorian that don't involve firing the coach. Right. And I think it would be probably unfortunate for DJ Smith after, you know, years of. waiting through the muck with that franchise to not get a decent chunk of games after they go out and get somebody else for that defense and whether it turns out to be chikrin and i know all the eric carlson return possibly pie in the sky stuff is circulating like whatever it is it would be a bummer if that if that wasn't the first domino to fall right if they didn't find

some trade. By the way, like, the senators are going to have to give somebody up here. Like, I know everyone loves, everyone loves, everyone loves their players. Like, everyone loves all the forwards, whatever. But, like, this is, something needs to change because the results aren't there. And that, and that probably means, like, moving one of those guys out to try to get better somewhere else. I wanted to ask you this, because the Carlson thing has been happening, like, online in the discourse and Elliot Friedman from Sportsnet did report that he believed that the Sends and the sharks had had a discussion about Carlson. But I think the problem is, is when you look at the Sends and like, this happened when I was

talking to Mendez about like a Sean Monaghan deal a year ago or whatever. And any time you have a conversation with anything involving the Sends, it's like untouchable, untouchable, untouchable, nope, nope, no, no. So you're going to get Eric Carlson and fit him under the cap by getting rid of What? Or anybody. Like, if you have that, if you have that many players that are untouchable, you should probably, you should probably be better.

You should probably be better than the 11th best team in the conference. Yeah. That's, it's, uh, not to poo poo on sense fans. Like, I get it, but like you, they're not all untouchable. No. And I get it. And I get why they're attached to those guys because that's all they had for a while. Like, the only thing that sense fans had to, had to hold on to was the promise.

of guys like Josh Norris and Shane Pinto and Stutzler and all and all these guys. I'm not going to reverse the Carlson deal. Like can you imagine trading like Josh Norris and Tim Stutzler for Eric Carlson? I think the thing too is like if you, if I'm like you are DJ Smith right now or no, you are Pierre Dorian right now, Sean. Do you trade young promising players for 32 year old Eric Carlson who's playing really well right now? Oh, God.

think I think I would if they could somehow launder some more cap through a third team, I would think about it. Really? You would give up like, you would give up a good young player for 32-year-old Carlson. I hope. Here's what I hope here, Dorian does it. Like five more years left, four more years left at 11.5 in court? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, not at 11.5.

No, but I talk, no, because I talk to court and he's like, people keep talking about the sharks, like they're going to retain 50% and they are not. because they already have dead cap on the books and they're not taking an extra like five mil a year. That's what I'm saying. Like, because we know that the sharks, like they're not flush with cash.

No. The, the family, the guy that owns them is not, he's not in the business of paying guys who don't play for his team anymore. So that's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. Like maybe there's the sharks in a paying a price or paying, less to get somebody else to take on the cap and it turned into like a complicated like it's not just what the sense want like part of it part of it is is what the sharks want too right so if there

was some way to make the cap hit more palatable that didn't that didn't involve um you know that doesn't involve just assuming that the sharks are going to take that much then great make it happen but it doesn't seem like that's in the cards they need to go get somebody that's that's they need to address the blue one Like, whether it's Carlson or I know we're so tired of talking about Jacob Chikrin and the Ottawa Senators. Yeah. The next time we have a show, Jacob Chikrin has been on the ice, probably, unless something else happens. Yeah, you never know. Like, and maybe that's it.

Maybe, like, he gets on the ice and not finally, we can finally, like, oh, dump both of those lines of discussion, which is A, which is like, A, where is Jacob Chichron getting? to end up because he has to get traded somewhere and B, what are the senators going to do about the blue line? Maybe that's the match. We can finally scratch those two discussion points off the list because I'm tired of it. I'm tired of both of those things. It's in it, and there, it's an easy fit. So make it happen. And then DJ Smith, we'll have Jacob checkering around and it'll have another legit. And then we can start to judge him. And then we can judge them. And then we can maybe fire him in a month. Like, let's get this done. But you, so you, with me, like, this is how I feel. Like, I think we're looking at a 16 game sample size of DJ Smith with an adequate roster and we're already freaking out because 16 games haven't gone well. Sure. Uh, they probably should have, look, like, the Sends keeps starting poorly and that is on the coach to make that better. I will say that. Like, I don't know how many more times we're to say, hope the Sons have a better start to the season. They can't go behind the eight ball too early. That happened again. That is on the coach to make sure that that does not happen. But at the same,

time. Like, we're looking at 16 games of DJ Smith right now with like a good hockey team. So let's, let's see. Let's just, all I'm saying is I'm Pierre Dorian even went on and said this and said, coaching is not the problem right now. We are going to take our time as frustrating as this is. Like I am not firing DJ Smith right now. So I'm with you. Also, by the way, uh, goaltending has been great either. Like camp Talbot pretty pretty average. Oh, like, did people forget that he missed the start of the season? Barely. played Anton, Anton Forrestberg's obviously started the, you know, Lions share of games for them. And he's, he's below, below zero and goal save the above

expected, right? So you can find, you can find excuses for DJ Smith. I just think he's starting to run short on them, right? Sure. Yes. You know, whatever. If, if that's, if that's the only club that Dorian has left in his bag, and so be it, it just doesn't seem like it should be. Yeah, I'm with you. Do you want to get into Bruce Bidreau before? We're bringing Murat, Atesh on the show, by the way. I'm a really bad host. I forgot to bring that up. You know why? Because you were too focused on singing. I wanted to do a dramatic reading of something, actually, and I'll save that for the third segment. I'm really excited for it. I don't even know what this is. I know. I didn't tell you and I didn't tell Danielle and nobody knows

and it's going to be really freaking funny and I'm so excited for it. So everyone listen to the third segment before we get to our sweet friend in Winnipeg. Do you want to get into Bruce Bidro? Yeah. Just fire him. Like who is who is? Who is? Who is benefiting from this other than Francisco Aquilini? Is he benefiting from it? Yeah, because he's only paying, he doesn't, he hasn't had to add another coach to his list of, you know, to his, to his payroll. Sure. So sure, like, should have fired Bruce Boudreau eight games ago or whatever, but add a couple more pennies to the jar, like, way to go.

you saved a few more thousand dollars because it's insane. Like it's not benefiting the players, it's not benefiting the coach. Fanbase is losing their minds, understandably, because it's, because it is just a ridiculous situation.

Just maybe bringing somebody who has like a less than negative 10% chance of coaching the team next year. Like, imagine, imagine being a player on that team and you just, you're trying to listen to a guy

who you know is just, gonna be gone in a minute. Yeah, just end it. It's a joke. So this was, I'm getting extreme Jeff Ward vibes from this situation, you know, where you are coaching a team for a guy who you know, like, you were not his first choice. And so you're basically like in a situation where you're kind of coaching for your life all the time, you know, and it doesn't really work.

Like Jeff, I remember Jeff Ward before he got fired. He was starting Jacob Markstrom all the time. And then Markstrom ended up being bad because he was exhausted. He was starting Elias Lindholm, like 29 minutes a game. Linholm was playing like insane, insane amounts. And you look at it and like this is a guy who knows that Bradtree Living tried to hire Darrell Sutter this summer and then went back to Ward and took the interim tag off. And this is a guy in Ward who was like uncomfortable in his seat.

And I see that from Boudreau because there was that weird, like they wouldn't give him an extension. So we ended up just taking the option. So he's like a lame duck coach. And it's not working. He had a coach's option, which is crazy, honestly. I mean, I get it. That's probably how they brought him in because he comes in before Rutherford's around.

They give him the coach's option. That ultimately is what won out here. That's why he is still the coach of the team because he said, yeah, sure. I'll make a few million dollars. What are you going to do? Say no. No. Because they can't.

So now Rutherford's like, you know, you know, Now, Bruce is coaching for a GM who will not give him any kind of like positive spin in the press. No. Like deflecting, deflecting every time someone says like, what do you think of Bruce? And it's just like, our team needs to be better. Drop the bum. We're like, I thought our train. I wasn't very impressed with our training camp.

Yeah, training camp was bad. I thought our training camp was bad. I'm like, oh, Jesus Christ. Did Jim Ratherford just join our Zoom? Hi, Haley. How you doing? I have a, I have a butterscotch in the pocket. of my cardigan.

I can have it if you want. That's weird. Old men. Old men eating old man candies. He was nice to me when I met him in the press box in Calgary. That's how he gets you. Now I love Jim Rutherford. Screw Bruce Bidreau.

Jim Rutherford's so sweet. Anyways. He's a little old man. Yeah. How mean could he be, really? He freaking got me. Mm-hmm. So.

Whatever. And just like, Just end it. Like, I feel bad for Bruce Boudreau. Like, this isn't me being like, he sucks, get rid of him. It's like, please just like do this for him in like his sweet mother, you know. Anyways. He's a wonderful man.

Yeah, he's lovely. He's a wonderful man. And I hope he has some more free time on his hands coming up, coming up soon. Because that's the big part. Fire him. Keep cutting those checks. Bruce Bidreau's direct deposit, we'll still keep on hitting. He'll make the rest of his money.

Go do something nice for yourself. Gabby. Yeah, have a nice life. We're not sending them off to the farmer. Jesus Christ. Putting Bruce Boudrella to pasture. See you never, guys. I said have a nice life, not like Jim any last words.

Any final words? Make it quick. Bruce. All right. Let's talk to our friend, Rottitesh. Winnipeg Jack's Rutter. Oh, my God.

I didn't even say Jets right. Let's go to break. All right, we are very excited to bring on our friend, Maradettech. He is the Winnipeg Jets writer at the athletic. He is lovely. He is great. He is kind. Here is Maradettech.

How are you? I'm doing just peachy after the nicest introduction ever. He is sweet. He is kind. And then there's Sean. Yeah, I'm going to say that's fine. I don't know. Is that right?

I don't get, I don't, I don't, I don't get, I don't. get that sort of depth that's that's okay no no so so i get i get a little special treatment she couldn't do this every day you'd be surprised no once i got to know you more i probably wouldn't say that any longer you know but like we talk just enough that i can think you're nice and that's probably the same um that you feel for me yeah or you think i'm mean and maybe once you get to know me you'll think i'm nicer i had that was sod yusuf um the first time he came to Calgary. We went out for dinner and, you know, we went and had food. And he was like, can I be honest? You like he, I was, I like in, it wasn't even an intimidation thing.

Like, he just loves, like, Parks and Rec and Brooklyn Nine-Nine and stuff like that. And he was like, you like, you, like, I thought you were like April. That's exactly what I was going to say. My face has been lit up because as soon as you said, like, before you said Parks and Rec, I'm like, you know what? Your, your vibe is a little bit Aubrey Plaza sometimes. The humor is so, like, sarcastic and dry. Yeah, I could see it. I could see it. Yeah.

If you wanted to cut somebody in a tiny bit of people. Like, you know what? You were very Aubrey Plaza vibe, but you're actually a lot nicer that I thought. I was like, ah. Thanks. Thanks, my dude. Yeah. We're great now.

It's fine. Anyways, I brought. How about you get back to the hockey portion of this? Marat, the Jets, they're good. No, no, let me do this. No, I'm bringing you two together. This isn't about me. This is about you two, duking it out.

Because Sean doesn't respect the Winnipeg Jets as a national writer. National writers don't respect Winnipeg except for me. So, yeah. Everyone else is the problem. Not me, though. Yeah, so you guys have. And that was like, yo, Connor Halebuck, he's pretty good, but like, Ilya Sorokin, the guy. No, no, I just was saying, like, why is nobody putting any respect on Ilya Sorokin?

That's what I was saying. All right, so the Jets are, the Jets are a top. I kick the Jets to be in the playoffs. That is true. On sports, on national TV, like a dumb dumb. Top five points percentage, top 10 goal differential. They're good. This is a good hockey team.

I put, where did I have them last week in the power? Rings. I had them, I voted them 12, Don voted them 14. The little gimmick that we used to rank the teams last week, I got that we, I wrote the odd, I wrote the odd ones, he wrote the odd ones, I believe, so that, so it fell on, it fell on me. And I, I was trying to throw some shade at Dom, because he wrote in 16 stats last Wednesday or whatever, or whatever day that runs last Thursday. Basically, that, the Winnipeg was, solely a Connor Hellebuck creation. And I don't think that, but I do think, like, if you, like, if we want to make a list of

reasons that this is happening, that they're so good, of course, he's at the top. But I, so I sort of, like, did like a backhand, a backhand dig at Dom that you referenced in a column. And then I guess people thought that me were, like, you were mad at me or whatever. I don't know. You guys are in a fight. It's not, not my problem. Yeah.

Not my problem. Yeah. Yeah, it's a funny one, depending on how philosophical that you want to get, like how pie in the sky. But, like, I think it's inevitable that the national view of a local team legs behind a little bit. Like, I think there's no way around that. Find me the person that can follow 32 teams to an obsessive level that they know every day. Like, that's one of the first things you learn as covering a team is how impossible. that would be, right? If you can find that person, by the way, if you do find that person,

just send them my way and tell me how it works because I can't, I can't do it. I'm bad at it. I hope they're not in Winnipeg because I want to have a job for a long time. So like that, that makes sense. And, you know, Winnipeg has been a Conrad Hellibuck holds everything together team for a long time. There's been nuance to that for sure. And, you know, early on, there was a few games. They went on a road trip to Vague, Vegas is the horrible one that I'm thinking of, to Arizona and Colorado as well, where it was a goalie show. And Winnipeg was turning the puck over at their blue line and all those horrible things. And it was all Connor Hallibuck goals saved above expectation, all that sort of stuff, which is why Domynist chart making team of robots would interpret it that way.

He has a whole staff, like hidden in his apartment, by the way. I know what it. It's like minions or something like that. Yes. Something much worse than minions Much darker He's he's amassing an army of Husky of like

Siberian husky puppies to do it To do his bidding he's got to something bad going on over there Well those dark dogs had like zoomed in on Hellowbuck But if you have been in Winnipeg As I have this beautiful city that I'm just basking in the light of right now You all believe me And you all really believe me when I say that

Yeah All of our apartments are very dark right now All the others are just sitting in the dark As it snows outside Yeah, it's fine We're in the same boat here Yeah Yeah

Timu Salani and Tebow Newmanin are here right now For to be honored And they both commented on how wintry and familiar That everything was Fresh snowfall, dark skies all of that. Just as I've remembered it. Yeah.

And then they're going to leave. They're going to be like, all right. It's been great. See you later. See you in April or whatever. That's dope. But okay, so last season ended horribly. We all remember probably the last time I was on, right?

Was something to do with end of season comments. Sky is falling in Winnipeg. Mark Scheifle is unhappy. What's Pierre-Luc Dubois going to do that whole dance? Well, like, let me tell you, since Rick Bonas is a rival. which was kind of a mess storyline at first because the whole town was rallied around Barry Trots, the local boy from Dauphin, he had coached the University of Manitoba. Rick Bonas was kind of like, oh, we like him, but why?

And the why of it is basically from day one. He's had the courage to call things as they are. He changed the captaincy, took it away from Blake Wheeler. There's been a real sense of democratization, let's say, of the minutes. they've been tied to performance. There's no Mark Schifely long shifts anymore. Actually, there was in preseason, I think against one for the road. Yeah, and he got called out immediately.

Yeah, wow. And these are things that we haven't seen here. And so I think that the sense was Winnipeg could be more than what we had seen in recent years, if and only if a lot of things were kind of stripped back to the core. Everybody had a piece of it. And that's exactly what's happened. So in and amongst those three games where Helibuck was incredible. And David Riddick for one of those, there's been a real improved process.

There has been from day one of camp an organizational change. I can see the forecheck. I can see it. I can see all of the systems basically being played how they're supposed to be played, which was not there last year. And then you also get into like they went to Banff and had a little, had a very unique time there, I think that really encouraged for the first time in a while everybody to have a voice. So there is something special in Winnipeg right now.

And I'm just trying to, I'm trying to let the world know. I'm trying to let the national guys who overlook my small city like you, Sean. Not me though. Yeah, from the. Just remember. From the bustling global city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I like Pittsburgh. That's right.

I think what was like so interesting about the Jets and Rick Bonas and this, This was why, but you know, I said before, and I was like half joking, like, not me. I didn't underestimate the Jets. But like when I did this like Sportsnet preview show and one of the questions at the end of the show was like kind of off the cuff. And I was like kind of rattled by it. I was like, oh my God, I wasn't prepared. It was like what Canadian teams are going to make the playoffs? It's like Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto.

They're the locks for me. And then I was like, I'm Winnipeg. like I think the Jets are going to make the playoffs because you're going to take a Rick bone, like you're going to take like the bones method, bring it to Winnipeg with Connor Hellebuck in the back. And they are going to be so frustrating and so annoying to play against, but they also have like maybe a bit more offense and a bit more depth than, you know, the Dallas stars of last season the year before that had. So you're going to get this like kind of maybe more offensive like lockdown really annoying, frustrating Winnipeg Jets team with one of the best goal isn't league. I think there was reason to believe that they were going to be good this year. But how, I guess the question for you is, like, how are you seeing, like, the evolution of the Rick bonus, like, coaching style? Because it hasn't been all.

Like, it's not the same as we saw in Dallas. And I think that's an interesting kind of change. Like, it's a little bit different in Winnipeg right now, isn't it? It is. Yeah. There's some things he's taken over from Dallas, brought here from Dallas, let's say. And then there are some things that have been a little bit different. I think one of the things that has been different is that everybody assumed,

well, he was the guy that transitioned Dallas from, you know, the Jamie Ben, Tyler Sagan era, to the Robertson era, to the Rope Hintz era, to youth. And he was also, I think he was running the defense when Miro Heiskenin became the minutes leader on that team as well. So there were some folks in Winnipeg who thought, okay, well, that's young defenseman's music. They're going to get rid of some veterans. It's going to be Villahainola, Dylan Samberg, Jonathan Kovice, who was playing by Montreal, or Declan Chisholm is another moose who's been playing really well. That's not the case.

Winnipeg's still relying on its veteran D. But when you talk about Haley, when you say being annoying to play against, that's what's happening, is Winnipeg is so much more committed to playing hockey a sensible way than it was last year. And I really did not like the second half of their season. I really didn't. Like the amount of plays where the offensive superstar like Mark Schifley or Kyle Connor is busting into the neutral zone and the puck still in the jet zone and nobody has possession of it.

You're wondering like, why are these guys doing this? Like it seemed. What's happening? It wasn't good. It wasn't good. And I think the questions that got asked, even if it became a bit of an echo chamber, were questions that needed to be asked. And now you see Mark Schifley.

You know, there's a shift against Colorado, which I broke down at the site. And you've got all Colorado stars, except for Gabe Landisg who was injured, just buzzing in Winnipeg. And Winnipeg makes a couple of giveaways on the way, try to clear the zone. Sheifley's getting late in a shift. And this is a player who's had a poor defensive impact for years, a player who I've done video breakdowns. Here's all the things why this star player could be better, but he's not. well, he's digging in, instead of curling off of these plays on these giveaways, digging in, stopping one more time at 45 seconds, another team giveaway.

At 60 seconds, he's cutting back and getting back on his man, 70 seconds, the same thing. And in the end, in the clip that I showed, the kind of idea is even Mark Schifle can finally do everything right and still get burned because Colorado scored because Colorado can score. I mean, that's what you do. But it was an example of a guy that everybody sort of wanted to be better in this way who is bought in and his connection to Rick Bonus sounds really dialed in and the way the bonus has relied on him as a leader he's spoken at the Dale Howard Chuck retirement or not retirement

pardon me is the statue unveiling ceremony we have um many ceremonies in Winnipega blade I but uh there's been that spirit of everybody matters and that's whether it's shifely or whether it's some of the more annoying guys to play against at the bottom of the lineup too and it's what you kind of hoped for uh and it's happening Right. That was always the question when Shifley from a million miles away, like so many boxes checked with that guy, right? Like, he clearly cares and he's, like, he's, there's all the, all the, he's got the physical

ability, like, whatever. And it just never, especially these last few years, like, it just didn't, it just didn't come together for him on the, on the defensive, on the defensive end of things, right? So is it, like, was it a question of effort? Like, did he realize that? Like, what is, like, he's doing things now that he wasn't doing before, and is it just because he's, there, is it a coaching thing? Is it an effort thing?

Is it having these things reinforce in practice and then applying them to games? Like, I realize there, there is a change. There's a change that you've observed, but as someone who's covered this guy for, for years now, and written, by the way, very critically and very effectively about Mark Shrevely and in the, in the, in, the, in, the, the, the, the issues he's had. What's the explanation for it? Is it, is it, hey, is he listening to Rick Bonas? Is that, is it that simple? I mean, that is probably at the heart of it, Sean.

And let me take you to, um, training camp. It was a preseason game against Calgary. And I mentioned this where he and I think his linemates at the time where Kyle Connor, Nicolai Eelers took a minute, a minute, 20, minute, 30 shift, got called out for the very next day. Yeah. Um, sorry, that night and the next day and it became a story. We addressed it.

There's two things to me that are so important about that. One, the inevitable questions go to Shifley. Hey, what did you think of that? Rigbonne is saying that, you know, that was something that needed to not happen. And Shifley said, well, he told us first. We heard it from him first. So completely respect. Always, always the way it works, right?

Always the way it works with players. Like the good ones, at least. The ones who can take criticism. As long as they hear it first before, before, you know, the coach takes it to us. Like, most of them tend not to keep. care. That's the big box of check. They want to be good. They want to have the instruction in all of those sorts of things. And the contrast to that, the other part of it is I went back in my memory and I'm like, how many times was Mark Schifley's game criticized in the last several years

under the previous regime? And the only answer I could find was one time. It was a hockey night in Canada game against Toronto towards the end of the Canadian division season where Mark Sheifley, he took, I think it was a 90-second shift at four-on-four. He had so many chances to get off the ice, if I recall it correctly. Why did he do this? He gets excited. I honestly think it's as simple as that. Yeah.

He's a guy that wasn't held to a high defensive standard by Paul Maurice, in my opinion, early on in his career. He was playing on a line with Blake Wheeler, who for a long time was one of the best play drivers in the NHL, backed up by Dustin Bufflin, who could jump into a play and like shift the dynamic of a game at any moment. Right. And I think Seifley was able to be very good without having to be nearly the 200-foot player you'd want.

It wasn't his job for a while. And then nobody impressed upon him that it was, I guess. Yeah. But sorry. Continue what you were saying. Yeah. I'm sorry. Sorry.

That's like the thing I was the same. I was like, why? Anyways. Why? Yeah. I think there's a sense that Winnipeg's veteran stars, and that Shifley and Wheeler, had a bit too much say in Winnipeg Jets operations. you know, Paul Maurice didn't go into the room.

He didn't really, really didn't address poor play or those long shifts with ice time being taken away or with, at least to us, criticism of his players. And that's fine. It can happen behind closed doors. It doesn't have to be a media show. But the sense was, and this takes me to a one-on-one conversation I had with Paul Maurice in his office at one point, he told me, well, Kyle Conner's defense, we barely had to show him any defensive cliffs since he arrived in the NHL. I remember thinking to myself like Maybe you should have Honestly yeah

Because his defensive metrics were Really quite poor And he's got a good stick He's fast on the forecheck He can turn pucks over in that way But when you look at guys who turn the puck over At Winnipeg's Blue Line And then not necessarily have the coverage sort of things

sorted out Kyle Connor is chief among them And I think that Mark Scheifley Has been covering at times For Kyle Connor at the Blue Line Turns the puck over And all that sort of stuff And so when you have two guys that you can't quite turn on all the time.

Cycical, cyclical stuff there. Yeah. Now should I please take a big step forward, I would say, in that regard. And standards seem to be implemented. Ice time goes up and down. I asked Rick Bonas, how do you change lifelong habits? And well, he says, yeah, ice time. That's my measure.

That's my meter. That's unbelievable. Like, like, we're talking about it. What a shock to the system. Well, because it is. I don't work wrong, right? Part of you, like, can't blame Shifley for going out and taking 90-second shifts because it's like he's never... It's like, it's like seeing a, it's like seeing a poorly behaved kid or something where it's like if you don't, if the behavior isn't being modeled for you and there's no consequences for you when you stray from it, like, what can happen?

Just get Mark Shifley and iPad. Yeah. Yeah. I think there were some standards. And I think if I were. call correctly. It was either the day before or 48 hours before Paul Maurice resigned last year. I think the last line in a column that I wrote that was really quite critical of Winnipeg to start to the season. It ended. Either Paul Maurice needs to find a way to get a 200-foot game out of Mark Sheifley or Winnipeg needs to find somebody who can. And I think that Maurice was a terrific coach

for a lot of years in Winnipeg, but just towards the end of those couple of years, things had kind of gotten away, in my opinion, or at least you didn't see consequences. And I think Rick Bonas has been that guy. And Shifley is the symbol, let's be clear. He's not the only player on this team, right? He's just like the little microcosm of it, right? Like, it's easier to just hone in on the one when it's more of a collective thing.

Especially when he's so good at the other end of the rink. And that's still there. I think it's because you're always just like wishing for a little bit more from Mark Schifley and maybe it's because of the raw talent that he has, the way that he was talked about when he was younger. And I mean, he's still a young player. But I think he's the guy that everyone just always has expected more from, like regardless of how much he gives.

Yeah. I remember Paul Maurice talking about, this was maybe 2017, 2018 that season. He was saying that, you know, I see Mark Schifley as a sort of guy that could become the captain of a team, win multiple cups, have a statue outside of the building when by the time that his career is over. And at that point, like Winnipeg's only recent playoff appearance was its four games sweep to the ducks in 2015, they were about to make the playoffs and be very good. That was a genuinely good team.

That was right. But I think back to stuff like that. I'm like, you know, that's not really a fair bar to set for a player at that stage, even if, and he was having just an incredible season at the time. But it's tough. Like, it's tough to set that expectation for a guy. Because then everyone else is looking at and being like, well, why didn't you do that? Mm-hmm.

And I think, I think, too, like, you're talking about Mark Schifley changing his game and the other guys on that roster. Like, this is a, this is sea change stuff that seems like it's happening in Winnipeg. And that necessitates, I think, on our part, meaning me and Dom and Haley and whoever, like the non-winnipeg based among us, we had an idea of the way this team operated for years because it didn't change all that much, you know? Like things were pretty static there.

You knew that they were going to be like a mid-table team and you knew that Shifley and was going to score a lot with defensive issues and Halebuck was going to bail them out. And then a couple years ago that all the things that Blake Wheeler, you know, prime break Blake Wheeler brought to the table, but that there were going to be issues. and you knew what they were going to be, and it allowed you to kind of pigeonhole the jets correctly for years, honestly.

Like, we had an internalized idea of what to expect from the Winnipeg Jets, and that is not what we see anymore. And I think that was part of, you know, I think that's been part of the realization process, not just for, you know, maybe more nationally focused writers, but for fans, because you just think the Jets are the Jets, and they're going to keep doing jet things until the end of time. And that's not the case.

anymore so that was kind of you know I try to flick at that in the power rankings and that's bring us back to like kind of where we started this discussion because to me that's like and I think that this is a thing because people lose their minds over over that list every single week it is crazy people like whether it's in the comments or it's on Twitter like the amount of engagement that we receive on the safe space to get angry is wild but those write-ups are not for fans of the team of of of the individual team that is a league-wide thing it's meant people like if you want like an in-depth jet story like you read marat you read marat if you're someone who doesn't know shit about the Winnipeg Jets then you can go and read the power

rankings if you just want like a top line view and inter like what like what is going on with this team then maybe it's fair to say you know a lot of stuff has changed here. It's still Connor Hullabuck at the top, but there's a bunch of, like, granular things and more incremental stuff. And that's what, and that's what, that's what, that's what, you provide. You provide this substance. We can just write, we can just write pithy nonsense about them in the power. What made people so mad, I think last year was that, like, Dom made the airport joke. Yep. And I've got to say, I, I, I'd nothing do with that one, by the way. Don't, I, I, I, I'd never been to Winnipeg. The only time I've been into Winnipeg is, like,

arriving and I heard that joke so much that I like thought there actually wasn't an airport. I was just like, do you have to fly into Brandon and then drive? Like, what an idiot. I didn't even understand why people were so mad. I was like, I don't, I just hurt that joke so much. I was like, what? That joke was as beat up as it was because it really is. There's no airport. It's old nonsense that people are understandably tired of. I should admit. that on the freaking podcast I think one of the

funniest sort of responses to all of this I mean like Sean first of all I want to acknowledge like let's say even fans who do the deep dive every single day when the Jets were two, three and oh

the sky isn't falling and here's why like trust me I see the process and practice like I see all that also Rick Bonas missed a substantial amount of time to COVID early on 100%. But that's

that's a real thing But one of my favorite things, because I know, there's no such thing as the power rankings that pleases everyone. It's impossible. No. And inevitably, optically, there's going to be like one thing that pisses off somebody's market. This week it was Winnipeg beats Dallas takes over first in the division.

Dallas is up high. Winnipeg's mid-pack. But it could have been anything. It could have been any whatever. It always is. The thing is the numbers don't actually matter. That's like, I don't care where those teams end up. I'm just trying to have like some like quasi informative entertaining like edifying paragraph about a team.

And like maybe I don't care about the numbers as much as I should because I'm like, who gives a shit if the jets are wealth or ninth or whatever? There's so many that are just like an interchangeable tier. Like anytime I've done the power rankings, I've like agonized over like these six teams could be like wherever. And that's I think sometimes Winnipeg gets lost in the shuffle of like no, they're actually upper echelon, but they're just like. here because my tears are so tears are so useful Craig Cussons wherever you are I mean yeah yeah I have a I have I have a framed portrait of him hang hang above my desk it just he looks over the thought bubble above that says tears put put it in tears whenever Sean says something stupid he like turns the picture of Craig around so like he

doesn't see the disappointment so as not to shame him yes Craig don't listen right I wanted to say it was funny that like some folks have said Marat really bold of you how could you speak ill of the national writers at your site? How could you go against them? Yes they did I saw people said that I saw people being like stick it to the man like screw them like there's like two sides of it. That is insane thinking that we were going to be mad about it. Yeah. First of all I pointed my criticism internally because I specifically have met all of you and adore you and can look you in the eye and be like, I like you. Let's talk about the thing.

So that's what we do, right? Like, I don't know that people have, you know, if you're listening to this and you think that I made all of those points to just shit on these guys because they're, no, they're, wonderful. It's some, it's someone, it's someone, it's someone. Oh, yeah, that guy. Anybody, anybody who would think that has not paid any attention. You're writing or your work or your overall vibe at any point.

No, no. You're one of the most thoughtful, thoughtful people on staff. Yeah. But that is crazy. I didn't realize that people said that. Like imagine a world where that were true, right? We're like you challenging some kind of weird power dynamic at the company. That is the opposite.

Yeah. By my boss's powers a be, don't let me go this week. This is my immunity because. Yeah. I'm kidding. Yeah, no, like you are actually beneath us Yeah, because you sent that you sent that Slack You saw like a message on Slack where I was like what the hell is even like what happened here?

Like what's he even talking about? I didn't I didn't realize that it was like yeah we got a message before he did it Basically being like yeah we're doing this story and I said I don't want to be included in this narrative because I didn't jump on the jet But I just want you to know before you're like ass blow up with the angered you like all that sort of thing That would have happened, A, that would have happened regardless of what you did, because that's just, like, Friday mornings, like, my Twitter, like, my replies tab is just like, it's like a bomb went off, honestly. So it would have been. If it wasn't you, it would have been someone else. This is all Dom's fault, by the way.

Yeah, because he antagonizes people. He antagonizes blues fans. Just poke the bear very often, does he not? Yes. Him and his robot dogs don't like bears. He pokes a three day. He's addicted to it, baby. He's a messy.

He's a messy, you know what, that domicistician. I wanted to say something that I'm not sure if everybody knows about Winnipeg. Because one of my favorite things that happened was after this, Winnipeg deserves more respect from national folks. Some of my journalists friends out east at other publications tweeted things like Les Perrault said, this is one of the finer works in the genre of this piece. And I remember thinking something to the effect of those weren't his exact words, but genre of this piece, this idea that a Winnipegare thinks... The disrespect, the disrespected Winnipegger hitting back at... We're bred that way. Absolutely. Like, we see it in every industry, in every context, you know,

whether it's ours, whether it's musicians that have to go to New York or L.A. to make it. and then they come back and now they're renowned. There's this real underdog sense of we see everybody hustling out there and we see quality sort of get overlooked by the center of the universe in Toronto. Even for my guest appearance here, Haley threw me an Eastern time zone, which I promptly ignored. You know, you're out there trying to make it about the center of the world. Yeah.

Yeah. That wasn't an Eastern time zone. That was a Toronto time zone. Oh, boy, brother. Oh, brother. Toronto arrogance, man. And I said Toronto, because, like, no one from Toronto actually says that. That's the thing.

You wouldn't have picked up on that because you're from Winnipeg. That's the thing that we can and should bond over, honestly, as Pittsburgh and Winnipeg. Uniting. No, I hate it here. I said this today. Uniting over the undeniable Toronto arrogance, which is a real thing that permeates every bit of the sport and every bit of the coverage of it. It's completely true. You do not have to sell me on that, brother.

I agree. I thought today I was like, I'm going to go and I'm going to do like a bunch of New Jersey devil stuff today. I'm going to go and work the away room because I always did that when I was in Ottawa like four years ago when dressing rooms are actually open. And it was a zoo. Like I felt like I got hit by a truck. I was emotionally exhausted. I was like, there's too many people in here. Like, why is everybody here?

Yeah. Because the devil's, a team isn't, a good team isn't good until they actually come to Toronto and tell the Toronto media why they're good. It doesn't count. Yeah. Right. We're going to. And I stalked, I stalked Yusper Brat today. We talked about this already.

No, not on the recording. Yes for Brad is an incredible player. I have time for your stalking Esper Brass. No, it's fine. No, no. Sean doesn't want to hear it. Well, yeah. You want to talk about another story that happened in Toronto while having a guest from Winfell?

There we go. Oh my gosh Gravy Good gracious It's all the time we have I've got to talk about the Leafs The Leafs games on in an hour Okay

Just kidding All right It's like an hour and a half We're not out of time But this feels like a place to end Well Sean like moves away from his microphone And then it's just like quiet and awkward Yeah

Yeah, Haley and I can't talk amongst ourselves, Sean. Yeah, go for it. No, I'm letting you guys go. The American's sitting this one out. No. You guys can fight amongst yourselves. We're not in a fight. I'm with you.

Toronto sucks. Anyways. Thanks, Marat. All right. Okay. All right. Well, that was fun with Marat. He does a great job covering the jets.

Like, he just, he's so, so good. It was nice to have him on. I think it was nice to talk about the Jets because you're right. Like, that is a team that I don't think we understand enough and that people aren't really talking about in this kind of space. Yeah, like I said, I think they were, they were what they were for a few years. Like, everyone talks about Winnipeg being a stable organization and it doesn't, you know, isn't out the change all that much, right?

Like, they liked having Palm and Reese around, and they've liked having Kevin Shevoldeoff around. They've liked having the same core of players. Like, it's all well and good, but that, understandably, like, I think locks us into a certain view of them. And it was fair, especially, like, the last couple years. Like, they were, like, you didn't have to worry about them all that much from a, from a contender standpoint. And that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. They're interesting in a way that they haven't been in a few years, if nothing else.

And Marat's just, like, he's got, he's got them covered, covered so well. he alluded to something before when he talked about basically a thing he wrote about saying if Paul Maurice can't fix the Mark Shrevely problem. That was such a good story. It was great on its own and it was within, I swear, I swear, a day or two before, and then Maurice was out. Yeah. He was done. Oh, yeah. We had him on the show.

I think you were guest hosting with me and then literally we were like, did you know that this was happening? Like, I'm pretty sure we had him on and we're like, did you know? And he's like, no. But that's a nice comment. Yeah, so he's great. He's awesome if you ever want to like really dig into the Jets. Don't, don't read the blurb and the power rankings. Like read Marat.

Nope. That's the point like is to, you know. Because if you went deep into all those, those stories are going to end up being way longer than they need to be. And they're always long. Yeah. We make our, we make our points. We make our jokes. We like, you know, offer our analysis. And then if people want to learn more than they can go read stuff for my.

or not. That's the way it works. That's why the teams are linked. That's right. Go to the team page. Okay, so this is our last show of the month because next week is American Thanksgiving. And then we're back and then it's December and that's kind of scary. Yeah, that was like mentally I was like, wait, are we skipping two shows instead of one? Yeah.

But two weeks from now is December one. Sweet, sweet producer, Danielle said, we're not back until December. I was like, two weeks off. Yep. No, that's just where we're at. Yep. That's honestly one of my pet peeves of this time of year. Because, like, I get it.

I will look outside and see that it's dark and the snow bothers me. But one of the things that annoys me the most is people being like, oh, snow. It's like, yeah, it's November. Like, in Canada, at least, like, people get, like, upset about the snow. It's like, it's November 17th. This is what happens. You know it's common. That doesn't make it any easier to deal with.

Like, I know, I know intellectually that it's, that it's going to start, that it's going to be dark at 10 after 5, right? But handling it emotionally is something else entirely. I'm a mess. You said it. So to lift our spirits, I want to do a dramatic reading. I don't know what this is going to be either. I can't keep it together.

I'm so excited. Okay, is everybody ready? Danielle's on mic. She's ready for this too. All right, ready. Let me get it together. How funny could this be? Okay.

I can't look at you. I bought a bottle of your cold. One word out. I bought a bottle of your cold brew a few minutes ago. Okay. Came home, and upon opening it, noticed that the seals had been broken. Also, a few ounces of the product were gone.

I wanted to reach out for safety reasons. and also like a refund or some coupons. Thanks. Yes. That's true. I'm going to read this for anybody who wasn't paying attention. It was provided for shot. I bought a bottle of your cold brew a few minutes ago came home and upon opening it noticed that the seals had been broken.

Also, a few ounces of the product were gone. I wanted to reach out for safety reasons. And also, I'm not going to drink it, so I'd like a refund or some coupons. Thanks. That is a message I sent to a cold brew brand. I really tried my best. After my experience at the store. I don't understand why that's funny.

I think I'm entitled to some kind of free product after having a quarter empty or whatever, like an opened half empty bottle of cold brew that I didn't realize I bought. it's not even that funny. I don't know why I am laughing. I just think like the realization of you and realizing what I was reading is what sent me over the edge. I was like laughing because you were like, I don't know what this is.

It took a little. Anyways, I thought that would be really funny. I'm not publicly dragging the store that I purchased is at or the brand of Cold Brewer that it was. I'm not blaming anybody here, but this is a thing that happened. I had possibly tampered with. bottle of cold brew that I purchased today.

And I want recompense for it. I don't understand what's funny about that. There's nothing funny about that. I don't even know what you're talking about. Is that it? Is that the end of the show? No, let's go through some of the comments. Now I'm just going to get shredded on the next comment section because people were like,

why are you laughing? I was trying to bring joy to our show and to our sweet listeners because you're being such a grump because it's dark out. I think Marat handled that just fine. What, you being grumpy? No, bringing joy to the listeners. Oh. To the comments.

Can we get a Sean Haley, Dom, and Shana episode? No. Mm-mm. Sorry, Jesse W. No, Dom. Mm-mm. We're done with him. There's something weird going on at that guy's apartment.

He's probably going to be on. He's probably going to be on a couple weeks. I feel like the post, the post- Thanksgiving show can be dumb. Yeah, sure. I listen to every day. show and after much review, including a report card of topics, Thry Day, which autocorrects to Thrifty, also cool, is the top show being rated a 9.8 out of 10.

Also, thanks for having Sod on the show. He's done great reporting this year and really fun, rando stories on the stars. Love acknowledging the Canadian bias on these shows and getting more American team love. Love the rating. I know this is. It's Kendall H.

Oh, Kendall. Okay, cool. We have some consistent Stars fans in the comments for the, Tuesday show. You're welcome, Kendall. We love the stars too. And we love Sade. I'm wondering what dinged us to get the 0.8.

Yeah, we're having a 0.2. Yeah, where's our 2 point? Something Sean did, I'm sure. You got to leave room for improvement. Sure. That's all it is. It can only be better. Still pretty good.

The new intro will we come back. That's right. That's right. Yes. Thank you, Kendall. That's very nice. And yes, Saud's great. And I think it's nice that we can talk.

And I almost feel like naturally in us trying to talk about teams that maybe aren't being spoken about on a national level just like lends to talking more American because there can just be so much focus on Canada slash leaves all the time. I mean, yeah, that's why the Tuesday show existed because people. Oh, I know. I recall. We're openly like we need more. Yeah, I know. You guys read the comments. I heard everyone shitting on me.

I know. There's a lot of time to fill in a lot of different routes people can take. Yeah. And I know today we had a Canadian guest, but nobody's talking about the Jets. That's true. Alex R says, sorry to let you know, Sean, but fruity loops is still widely used in spite of its name. How about that? I was, oh my God, that's awesome.

Free Loops is just something that I remember playing around when I was in high school. I was like where my brain went when I, when you, Haley, asked Danielle last week if she had garage band on her computer to an audio, to an audio professional, which I thought was really funny. So I was like, oh yeah, do you have fruity loops? Because I was like the little kid in my mind. That was the thing that like, you know, 15-year-olds used to make fake daft punk songs on their computers in 2001. I'm glad to hear us still around.

That's very cool. Garage band is what I used in my ninth grade vocals class. So in high school you needed like one arts credit to graduate high school. And so I used to sing. I was younger. I took a vocals class. And you would have to like sing into garage band on one key and then sing the song in another key and then mix it. So you could like harmonize yourself.

Harmonize with yourself. Yeah. Yeah. It was weird. And like we only sung like church music. So I'd be like sitting in there singing. Cool. About going down to the river.

On Eagles, on Eagles wings. Yeah. I always, I don't never, I never know, I grew up Catholic. I don't know what the overlap between like Catholic church songs and probably more Protestant non-denominational church songs are. Yeah. But yeah, shout out the fruity loops. I'm glad it's still around.

Yeah, shout out garage man. Elijah D says, no respect for Craig Anderson, the true oldest player in the league who was also top 10 in GA. We definitely did whiff on that. I was trying to think of an old goaltender and I can, I just couldn't, I couldn't come up with it. And I knew that Craig Anderson. was around, but I had previously, like, done a age, like, I filtered players by age on the

website, but it was just skaters, like, goleys weren't included. So I was like, okay, well, Craig Anderson must just be younger than GEO. That's kind of what I did in my mind, not realizing that goalies weren't on that list. And Craig Anderson had a nice little welcome to Ottawa, or like, yeah, because I think I said that game was in Buffalo, but it was in Ottawa because Craig Anderson got to say, hello to the fans and stuff again. Andy's great. Yeah.

Also has lost four straight starts. Since then. Going back to November, November 4th. Yeah, I think Mark Jr. was still the best old guy in the league. I think the same comments. Sabres got some problems. Yeah, I mean, they weren't supposed to be like good for long this year.

This isn't it. Like they're going to have another year of drafting really well. And then we'll see what they can do, the trade and free. agency, etc. It doesn't happen that quickly. No.

As fun as it was, that's all the comments. If you guys want to send us more comments for next week, if you want to vote, tell us whose dramatic reading was better. I'm going to go drink some of my

poison cold, brew. I thought, didn't you, did you not return it? I didn't return it. It's just sitting in your fridge? I dumped it out. We'll see what the company in question.

I sent them a picture of it. I sent them the batch number. I did what I needed to do. Then I went and bought another bottle of it. Have you gotten a response? I have not. Was it pumpkin spice cold brew? It was not.

That's a shame. Any other questions? Coffee flavored coffee only here, as you know. I don't know what you're talking about. Goodbye, Haley. Thanks, everyone for listening to the Athletic Hockey Show on this Friday. This went very robotic. Sean wants to get out of here.

But yeah, thanks, guys. This is the last show from us of the month. We will be back in December with maybe a new snazzy theme song. Let us know. Maybe, maybe not. Guess what it is. Happy Thanksgiving, America. Yes. Goodbye.