The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 119: Storytime With Uncle Jeff

Episode Date: December 1, 2016

Jeff Marek joins the show to provide some sage advice about being on TV and help amend our preseason watchability rankings.. Plus, a deep dive on all things Florida Panthers. Here’s a quick rundown of the topics covered: 1:00 What's going on in Florida? 24:00 Challenges of being on TV 35:05 Are the Blue Jackets for real? 46:00 Devils being surprisingly entertaining 49:45 Dallas Stars struggles 54:30 Bruins top line 57:10 Early season goalie standouts Every episode of the podcast is available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher and can also be streamed straight from this website. Make sure to subscribe to the show so that you don’t miss out on any new episodes as they’re released. All ratings and reviews of the show are also greatly appreciated. Thanks for listening! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

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And joining me is a PDO cast favorite, Jeff Merrick. Jeff, what's going on, man? Favorite in my own mind. How are you tonight, Demi? Favorite in everyone's mind, including my own. And I'll tell you why. Because the best part about Jeff Merrick podcast is that I literally have to do, I don't have to do any planning.

I basically just click record, and I just, like, give you a platform and I just get out of the way and let you tell me about some random player from the 70s that I've never heard of, and it's always a blast. That random player from the 70s might be Tom Rowe, who's a new head coach of the Florida Panthers, which we're watching right now as you record this. And that's what we call a segue in this business. You're a broadcasting professional. I think he was the first American 30-goals score in the NHL, if I'm not mistaken.

Tom Rowe, I believe. However, what do I know? He's an analytic guy. He's not a hockey guy. You know what? When did he become that? He never was. I don't know.

I don't get it. The whole Tom Rowe phenomenon to me is fascinating. It's very rare that someone at his age gets this shot or even gets the shot to be the associate general manager last year with the Florida Panthers, let alone the head coach of the team. I'm not saying it's a good thing. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm not saying anything other than it is a thing. But there's a 60-year-old behind the bench for the Florida Panthers who's talking about being an analytics guy or at least having a sympathetic year. But then again, if you're going to be successful in the Florida Panthers organization, you best get on board because everybody.

he's lined up. I mean, and for how long, Demetri, I've been talking about, wouldn't it be great if one team just went for it? Like, completely lined up. Colorado maybe should have been that team at various points, but not that I want this to be be the be all end all experiment for, you know, this type of structuring of a team, but it's going to be fascinating. And I've got my issues with the team, and those are well documented in my questions. am genuinely fascinated and curious to see how they can do now that in a lot of ways, Dimitri, the excuses are done. Yeah.

You get all at the end of this, they've got everyone in the position that they want. We think, anyway. The one thing you can see coming from a mile away is that if this team struggles and it doesn't work out, it's going to be, you know, a massive indictment against analytics. And one thing I would just, I'd like to start a PSA, like everyone in the industry, just like, you can get mad at the statistician but don't get mad at the stats themselves like it's it's all up to interpretation right so it's like if something doesn't work out if a move doesn't work out it's because you've interpreted things the wrong way or sometimes things just happen right you can't plan all

this stuff out to a tee but like it's i think whether the panders do well or they do poorly i don't think this really changes uh you know the importance of of using uh multiple different methods for roster construction and and building your your your lineups so I think that's, we need to say that because I can already see it coming from a mile away. Oh, yeah, yeah. This one's an obvious one. I mean, we had the precursor to it with the PKC-Cubans-Shea Weber deal, right? One with strict eyeballs, one was strict analytics,

and this was going to be the audit of that. You know what I've been trying to do lately amongst my colleagues at Sportsnet is whenever they sort of roll their eyes and say analytics, I say, oh, do you mean facts? Because that's all it is. It's just data, you know, a shot on. net happened and now we're going to put them all together and interpret what that means. But a shot on net is a fact. So when you think analytics, just replace the word analytics with the word fact and kind of

see how silly you sound. Yeah. When you say, oh, I'm not a facts guy. I look at, I look at the heart of a hockey player. I ignore facts. See how far that gets you in your career. Well, I think also, I forget who said this. I saw it online.

I apologize for taking credit for it without giving them some love. but if we just like replace coursey with just like pucks on net it just like if we just like went on TV and you're just like oh this team had a you know like a plus 20 puck's on net tonight like no one would no one would take issue with it it's like this is like the most like old school hockey thing of all time like what do we need to do better tonight put the puck on net it's like how is this an issue now all of a sudden it's just a scary new title oh the hockey world has moved an inch to the left oh i'm gonna freak out oh what's going on the game is being hijacked by nerds i think They're called computer boys for all have, you know.

I know. Although, you know what? That's one of those great things you can claim, right? Like, computer boys is now the send, like, come on, the next analytics podcast, it has to pop up, has to be called computer boys. And it all has to be hosted by women. Yes. Yeah. Yes.

I would, I kind of want to get a T-shirt line going. I feel like that's a moneymaker. Dude. Yeah, computer. Just like, just like Steve Dangles, bloggers be getting paid. Yes. shirts that you had when all the vlogger dudes were getting swept up by NHL teams.

I wanted to talk to you about now that we're already talking about the Panthers and everything that's going on there about the coverage of the firing the other night because I thought it was fascinating. And the thing that really struck me was how a lot of people who you'd consider

to be in the know, just based on, I'm sure the connections they have in the game and the people they talk to, they were acting, you know, like this came out of left field. Like, you know, this guy was a Jack Adams finalist last year and this is expected to be a good team and they're firing him after 20 or so games. And I feel like, I mean, I know you definitely know about this.

And if I know about it, I feel like some of the other people that are on TV and that are more plugged in definitely know about it. It's like, this was like the worst kept secret in the league that there was just like a mismatch. I don't even really think that the results of the 20 games matter. Like they could have been 15 and 5 and this still probably would have happened. just because of the clash of personalities and the clash of ideas in terms of how this team was going to be utilized? They could have morphed into the 1977 Montreal Canadians,

and there still would have been a firing because at the end of all of it, they're going to have their people in place, period. The way they did it with Dell Talent was essentially kick him upstairs and remove all power, but still keep him around as a figurehead to pretend like he has some decision-making sway because he's beloved by that public. and he accepted the low ball offer they gave him thinking that he would quit and not take it. But he did.

But the Gerard Gallant one, like, I first heard about it last year. And I think I talked about it with you here on this podcast. I've talked about it on MVSW, various other media outlets. It was a big story at the draft, as you can well imagine, on the floor that Tom Roe was going to be the next coach and Eric Joyce long term is going to be the general manager. This is a plan that's been, like, it had nothing to do with, you know, collapsing after getting a two-goal lead against Carolina on Sunday.

Nothing to do with that. That was the opportune time for it to happen. Should they, you know, bit the bullet in August and done it? Probably, I guess, in hindsight. I think what irks people a lot was how it was done. I think everybody knew that it was going to be done. I think in some situations where you know something is going to happen, but you don't go public with it,

it's easier to act shocked by it than admit that you are withholding information. Does that make sense? I think for a lot of people, it's easier for them to say, wow, this is ridiculous, 103-point season, gets a team into the playoffs, or just two points out of a playoff spot, flirting with 500 with all these injuries in Bukestat and Yokin, and Huberto, look.

the miracle of Gerard Galant has pulled off, it's easier to feign surprise than to admit that you were sitting on a piece of information that you didn't put out there. And listen, man, what I would say this, I would get slammed by Panthers fans. Merrick, you don't know what you're talking about. You're not there.

This isn't happening. When I put out this stuff about Dale Talon, like how essentially he's been stripped of all the power, no, you don't know what's going on. It is a lot easier for people just to say, I'm shocked, I didn't know this was coming. instead of sticking your neck out there, taking the bullets, at the end of it saying, look, I was right.

Yeah. I think it's easier to just blissful ignorance, just like let it. Yeah. Well, okay. But one of the entering things, too, as well, and this might be a lesson for the Floropanthers should they go this direction or choose to heat it. I mean, a lot of teams have done well with this idea of feeding the beast. and right now, you know, for the past, you know, ever since this happened.

And specifically when the pictures came out of Geragoland on the curb, getting a cab, this team's been beaten up. Like the Florida Panthers have been taking bullets and just getting stomped every single way because they really haven't built up that goodwill or curried favor with anybody who might be inclined rightly or probably wrongly, you know, to look the other way on a story or be more sympathetic. Like, do you get the feeling that at the end of this, one of the lessons that the Florida Panthers

might want to take from this is, you know, more currying favor and less victory laps for doing nothing? Yeah. Yeah. I think that optics obviously play a big role in it, and that's why all these teams have, like, a bunch of people working in their, like, PR department and stuff to make sure that things look well.

So I think that's where they messed up. But, like, I think that, I mean, you saw that, you know, everyone quickly jumping to the defense of Gerard Galland and defending him and talking about how he's a great, great coach and a great guy. And I think that, you know, both things can be true in the sense that he can be a great guy that, you know, you appreciate and you respect and you love talking to, but also understand that and acknowledge that this is a business. And, you know, if he wasn't jiving with the management team and the owners, and that's just how business works, right? Like, if I kept pitching article ideas to my ed,

editor and he was like, no, I don't think we want that. We should do this. And I'm like, you know what? I'm going to keep doing it because I think this is the way you do it. And then they were just like, yeah, I don't think this is going to work. You're not really doing what you said you were going to when we hired you. Like, I would deserve to be fired. And we saw that. It's, it's, it's optics are such an amazing thing here and what's being reported because he got all this credit last year. He finished in the finalists among the Jack Adams Awards winners. And a lot of it was, you know, his tinkering with the lineup. And I can, you know, I'm sure this has been reported. And if it hasn't, I guess breaking news here, but like he really had nothing to do with

the adjustments that were made on the fly in terms of, um, the lineup because early on, they were clearly struggling playing Dave Boland way too much. They were playing Willie Mitchell with Eric Branson, which was arguably the worst defensive pairing in the league. And they were playing like 21 minutes a night because, you know, their old school, gritty guys were very reliable. And I'm sure they're really great and respected in the room. And Galant was told that, you know, things can keep going that way. And to keep his job, he made these adjustments and they started winning more games and he got a lot of credit for it.

And I'm assuming that's why he got that extension and that's why he was given a chance to start this year. And obviously when they went back to him and told him, hey, maybe stop playing Derek McKenzie so much, stop doing this and that. And he pushed back and he gave all these interviews about how they needed toughness and grit, this is what happened. And I think that if you acknowledge, knowledge that's just how this business works and what happens when the people in charge tell you to do something and you don't do it and you work under them that's it's just how it works the problem with the one thing complicating that is you still have a fan base to deal with and you have a fan base that looks at it and says hang on how come we're starching this guy like look at the season we're having considering all the injuries regardless of his you know player selection and whether that that you know that jibes with with management you know otherwise

you know, would you be playing Yarmory Yager on the first line? Like if it was just a hockey decision, is Yarmor Yager on the first line with, does Alexander Barkoff have to drag him up and down the ice 82 games only to watch him cough and sputter in the playoffs and be a complete, you know, complete, you know, dead caribou that he's lugging up and down the 200 by 85 every night. You know, part of it is selling tickets. Part of this is showbiz.

And part of this is, you know, this is a fan base that A loves the Lans talent and B loves Gerard Gallant. Look at the outrage. That's the one thing where sports sort of differs from a lot of other businesses, because I agree with you 100%. In normal sort of non-sports slash non-intertainment business, you don't have to worry about popularity

contests or doing things right by your fan base. Look at when Ron Wilson was fired. Brian Burke was not going to fire Ron Wilson. He was his guy period until everybody started chanting at the Air Canada center. And it was over

And at that point, you say, I can't put this guy through this anymore. I can't put an organization through this anymore. The fans win at the end of that one. Like in any other business, Dimitri, I'm with you 100%. And even in this one too, they have, like, that ownership group has the right to do what they want with the people they have the nerve to pay. It's their money. It's their neck out. It's their risk.

Like, this is their investment. This is their baby, you know, and you want, if this is, this is a huge, obviously a huge, humongous investment, you want to have your people there. Right. So, I get all that. But at the same time, too, there is a fan base issue to consider here as well. Right. But if they.

And you know what? And a player issue too. Yeah. That's right. Like, you need to have, you need to create a scenario whereby it becomes prestigious to play on this team. what do you think 700 NHL players are saying today about the Florida Panthers? Yeah, probably not great things.

But here's the thing, though. The flip side is that if they start winning games, I don't think anyone in that fan base is going to be like, wow, this is awesome, but I really wish Gerard Gallant was still here to hang out. Totally agree. Right? So it's like it's going to be shown to be a very cruel business, just like everything else in the sense that like if things start working out

and they start winning a lot of games. Everyone will quickly forget about this, and it'll be like, it never happened, and they'll win back all that favor with their fans. And I think that that's ultimately what they're banking on, right? And even if it doesn't work out, at least it's pretty clear that this management group and ownership group has a plan in place.

And there's like five or six at least franchises out there that, based on their moves over the past few years, clearly don't have any sense of direction or plan in place. And that's the worst spot you can be in as a franchise. So at least they have that going for them. You know, Don King used to always say where there's money, there's understanding. And in sports, where there are wins, there are understanding, and there is forgiveness. Winning cures all of this.

And that's why this is fascinating now. This is game two, just watching on the game center here, game two of the six game road trip. And I thought the Panthers were outstanding in the first period. Like they probably deserve to win that period. Richard Ponach sinks behind the defense and pulls a nice move for a goal and like 20. games or something like that hasn't scored since mid-October and it's won nothing blackhawks and that's where we sit right now but panthers have been impressive this game but they had a hell of the first period but that's just it if you win all of this goes away all these all these questions all

of it right now this is a tough sit for the florida panthers this is a tough sit for biola for sifu uh for joyce for row for wearier it's a tough sit for all those guys because right now because right now they are it's a ship that's taken water yeah and everybody and listen including myself are our hurling stones at them

right so this one's a tough one and the only way out of it now that they have everybody in place is to win and that's it and maybe this road trip turns out to be a blessing more than anything else

if you're going to bring in someone new if you're going to bring in a new coach and he's going to make tweaks and it's out with Gerard Glant whom the players loved the best place to probably do it is during a long road trip so at the end of the night it's not 23 guys and 23 cabs going 23 different places it's everybody all together so maybe as you look back at this thing this may have been the smartest time to do all this if you're going to if you're going to rip this gab finally then maybe this was the right maybe this was the right place to do it. Yeah, I mean, that's fair. I think that just one other, like one other angle on this story that I'd feel like we should at least address is, what are your thoughts when you hear

old school, quote unquote, hockey people who have been around the game for a long time kind of bash a move like this because it's being done by people who aren't hockey people themselves because I'm like I struggle with that and this, like, because I think I would technically not be a hockey person because I never played in the NHL and I've never worked in a front office in like a GM capacity or something like that. So I'm all of a sudden not qualified to make decisions like this. Like I, I think that that's something that whenever something like this happens and the whole analytics debate resurfaces to the top, I think like this is the thing that happens. It just drives me nuts and I wish we would stop doing it. And I wish I would stop, you know, taking the bait and reacting to it. But it just gets me every time. It used to get to me a lot too because I'm like you, I'm not a hockey person. I never played in the NHL. My big league aspirations died in my OHL draft view when I didn't get picked. And I said, well, that's it for me. And then I just played casual hockey after that.

I mean, I don't like it. I don't pull the authenticity card very often. I do think that there are some things you can only really know or come close to knowing by having that experience. Having said that, I don't need to jump in front of a subway to know that if I do, it's not going to tickle. I think there's a lot of room for quote-unquote non-hockey people, as much as there is, for dyed in the wool baked in the pie hockey guys and gals to be involved in an organization. But to just completely dismiss a move made by people that didn't drop out of high school at grade 11, to shoot frozen cow patties off the side of the barn and moose jaw.

To me, to me, rings a little bit hollow. And really, when you consider the amount, when you consider the size of the investments, that people make in these organizations, I want as many voices as possible. And I don't just want the same thing every single time. And I don't want, I mean, I want a combination of hockey lifers and I also want new thinking. And if that means the guy that grew up knowing,

not knowing nothing about hockey other than playing video games and doesn't know how to tie a skate to get on the ice, then that's fine because there might be some wisdom there. Like, I go into every single conversation like this. And if I ever talk to you about this to meet you, how I approach every conversation with anyone that I meet, I have one very specific question in mind. Like the first time that I met you,

I had one very specific question in mind. This guy knows some things that I don't know. How can I find out what they are? Because as soonly you know everything is foolhardy, and that gets you in more trouble. That turns you into an idiot, ultimately. It just turns you into someone that just swallowed up by his navel. And I think it's a healthy way to live.

I think it's a healthy way to live. And I think it forces you to have respect, like initial respect for everybody that you meet. If you assume that no matter who they are and what their background is, if you can respect the fact that they know at least one thing that you don't, then I think you're going to be up on the game. And I think you're always going to learn. I think ultimately it'll be better at whatever you do. Dude, I've learned so much about hockey from people that never played in the NHL. And I'm sure you have as well. And I'm positive, although they will never admit it.

The diehard lifers feel the same way, but it makes them feel soft. If they admit that they learned something from someone who didn't play in the NHL. But don't you feel the worm is turning on it anyway? It is a bit. But I mean, then it's something like this, I always think it is. And then something like this happens and then all the name calling starts again. And I'm just like, oh. But that's okay.

But I think it's kind of a, I was talking about this on our podcast. on the MBSW podcast today. What's that? What's that? I know that surely do it went freeway. Now Greg's in Hawaii for two weeks. I think all ideas need to go through a gauntlet. I really do.

And part of those paddy wax is going to be some really intelligent challenges. There's going to be some duffices. There's some stupid stuff said. There's going to be a lot of slander. There's going to be a lot of name calling. There's going to be a lot of pettiness. But there's also going to be some legitimate questioning. that all great ideas need to go through.

So I don't mind it. Like I like the idea that these types of moves don't automatically get a free pass. Because at the end of it, it makes the proof, it makes the gravity of the proof that much deeper, if you know what I mean. Like it has to really go through that to show every like, look, we went. It's like, you know, it's like peer review. It's not unlike presenting a PhD thesis. you stand up in front of people with way taller foreheads in you and defend your thesis for hours. I think that's a healthy thing.

And as infuriating and annoying as it may be to put up with some people online who want to talk about the Coursy Hockey League, no shot at Steve there, the Corsi Hockey League or want to fire off stupid missives on Twitter about hockey's played with heart and grin. Listen, man, the beginning of this Chicago Florida game that I'm watching right now. Now, Pat Foley, you know, was laying down that usual wrap of, you know, the hockey's played with bite and grid and heart and analytics doesn't measure that. Eddie Olick kind of half-heartedly tried to correct them and give the other side of it and just kind of threw in the towel and say, I'm not going to disagree with the Hall of Fame. Let's just move on from the conversation.

But it happens. We can't be surprised by it. and I would ultimately as your friend and colleague, I'd tell you to be like the Tai Chi guys in the park and just kind of let it go. Just realize that, you know, ideas only become great after they're tested. And this is one. And this man, dude, I am happy to be totally off on the Florida Panthers, right? I love being wrong.

There's no growth unless you're wrong. So I hope the Florida Panthers turn it around here. It's $5.15 and left in the second period. I hope they turn it around and win five to one. tonight against Chicago Blackhawks and real off five wins in a row on this road trip. And this is a whole new way to rethink hockey because I love rethinking hockey every few years. Otherwise, it's stagnant and boring. Yeah.

That was a really long answer. I can't remember what the question was. Oh, that was a great life lesson. That was a great life lesson. Let's chat about being on TV because I'm sure that. Oh, okay. I take this for now. I take over now.

Hold on. Okay, pause, pause, pause, pause, pause, pause, pause, pause, pause, pause, pause. Pause, pause. One of my favorite things in this world. And it happened with Greg, and now it's happened with you. I love when my cool online friends get dragged into the mainstream and wear things like suits and ties and get dragged into my little disgusting, dark mainstream world of pettiness and sound bites.

I loved watching you on the Kinexie. I love the fact that I was on the same show as you. I was really proud when I saw your smiling face there on my TV, on the show that I was part of as well. What was your experience on the Vancouver Canucks broadcast with Dan Murphy, who, by the way, always goes out of his way to bring out, you know, sort of non-traditional voices and give them a place on the broadcast. Murph, I don't know he's been on the podcast before. Murph, to me, is class act, you know, gold standard, tremendous broadcaster, open-mind guy,

awesome dude. What was your experience like in mainstream media matrix? My, Murph is a pros, pro. I can't say enough great things about them. Before I get into that, just like a quick disclaimer, I know a lot of people, I fully recognize it. A lot of people out there do legitimately difficult, important work. Like, there's people right now who just got back from a difficult 9 to 5 and just want

to relax. And I'm sure that, you know, they're listening to this and they're like, this guy's going to be complaining about being on TV. Like, what I'm like, what's wrong with this guy? Like, I'd love to do this job. Listen, what we do is really a hobby and we're fortunate to be paid for it and to call it work. So with all that out of the way, it was the most difficult thing I've ever had to do. And why is that?

I just think it was one of those things where I think the environment had a lot to do with it. I think if it was like in a regular studio, it would have been a bit easier. But we were doing it from, like, live from the Canucks game. And we were doing it like in the crowd, basically. So there were people sitting like five feet behind me who were just like obviously, you I was drunk at the game, just like yelling stuff, which the camera, which the mics don't pick up, but you can pretty clearly hear it yourself being there. And, you know, my earpiece falls out halfway through, like, like the producers yelling at me. I see people waving in the background,

like telling me how much time I have left. The cameras are blaring in my eyes. Like, there's loud top 40s music playing through the sound system. Like, it was just like one of those things where I didn't have like a script necessarily, but I had like a few points that I wanted to hit. And I was like, going through them in my head, I'm like, okay, I got this. Like, I'm, I know I'm very prepared for this. And, like, it starts and literally Murph starts talking. And I just, like, blanked and just couldn't even hear what he was saying. I just saw his lips moving.

And I feel like time froze for a bit. And the fact that I got any words out and managed to maintain a smile is, like, I'm happy with my performance just because of that. Because other, like, it could have gone a lot worse. It's amazing. First of all, you know who loves in the crowd? Who? Executives.

you know who hates in the crowd front facing talents like honestly it's like oh yeah we'll put them amongst the people you're real blending in of the broadcast like it I did it every day in the World Cup me and Colby Armstrong and Ryan Whitney for Facebook Live and it was fun

it was cool like a bunch of you know players would come over all the time and hang out with us you know Eric Lindross dropped by City Crosby's dad came by a bunch of NHLers just were there and would hang out and we'd shoot the shit. It was cool, but then when the games would let out and everyone's gassed, it's a nightmare. It's a nightmare to try to do TV amongst a bunch of rowdy hockey fans.

I've never understood the appeal of it. I've done it a lot, and I know exactly what you're talking about and how you're feeling. See, I find TV to be incredibly hard. And that's because I come from a radio background. And now the favorite thing that I love more than else is doing podcasts. There's a real luxury to be able to speak as long as you want and ramble if need be, if you just want to sort of tap dance to try to get to your point. I remember doing Hockey Night in Canada radio on Sirius when I first started at CBC,

and it was three hours a day and it was minimal. It was no commercial break. It would be like a stop set for promos for this weekend on hockey night. But other than that, it was me, the microphone. my brain and whatever guests would come on the program. And to me, this was for a lot of people, horror. Like, oh my God, how do you talk three hours a day? That's the easiest thing in the world to do. Like, honestly, Dimech, like, you're a talker. Like, it's, it's not that difficult. It's, it's not that challenging after a while. The hardest thing to do for me is when you have a whole

bunch of points that you want to hit in a salient and quasi-intertaining way, and you've got 45 seconds to do it. Yeah. I mean, let's just look right now. We've made, we've been recording for 30 minutes, and I feel like we've made three different points. And if it was on TV, we'd have three minutes to make 30 different points. So it's, uh, it's, no, it's, it's, it's really tough just to like, sort of narrow it down. I completely understand now. Like, you're sitting at home, sometimes watching it and you're just like, widen this person, like, go this way and this way. And they could have said all this other great stuff and informed the crowd. And then you, once you're in it, it's, it's, it's, it's really tough to get all your points across in a timely manner.

So I will be nicer to TV people from now on. No, no, don't. Don't. Like, trust me, we deserve a weekend. Trust me, I know I've been in a long enough. We deserve everything we get. No, just the only point that I ever want to make on is that there's a luxury in doing radio and there's even greater luxury in doing podcasts, which is why I love them.

And which is why I still think we're in the, my friend Bob and I always talk about this. We're in the golden age of audio that no one's talking about. Like this really is the golden age of audio once again. You know, once upon a time it was, you know, music on the radio, then it was a talk radio revolution. But now with podcast, this is a revolution again in spoken word, in audio, in talking, in, you know, the currency of ideas. It's tough to get that on television because, you know, your segments are, if you're lucky, five minutes long, generally about three to three and a half. You just sort of hold attention long enough to get to the stop set to sell some soap, and then you're back to the game.

It's really hard. And to make that environment seem relaxed is the real art of it and the real craft of it. I mean, Ron McLean does such a wonderful job of making broadcasts feel casual, relaxed, but still curious and informative. That to me is the real art of television, is making it feel comfortable, knowing that inside, to your point, you've got a producer counting you down from 30. You know, you've got people screaming around you.

You've got cameras moving all around. That's another thing. I'm not sure if they asked you to do is try to find your cameras, try to find your one shot. Whether you can open up on a two, you're going to go to your one shot, you're going to pan back out and try to find all your cameras while you're making these points

and try to make it feel as relaxed and natural as if you're just having a conversation at the coffee shop. That's the art of TV. It's not so much what you say as much as the vibe that you create. That's kind of, and that's what I still struggle with is trying to find a way to make it feel comfortable and conversational, as opposed to, you know, just frantic and immediate, which is what it feels like in your head, in your ears and certainly in the control. I think by now we've all seen, we've all seen Viz of what a TV control room looks like

when a show is on live. Between the yelling and the screaming and the swearing and, like, it's intense. I love it. I love being in control rooms just because at the end of the night, after everybody's called everything in the book, like things you wouldn't say to your worst enemy, there's just this unspoken understanding

that is all just for the show, And when it's done, you leave it in the control room and you walk away. Yeah. I really love that. Absolutely. I mean, the only thing that really gave me any peace and calm me down was that it was a weekday coyote's Canucks game. So I figured no one was watching. So it made me feel a little bit better about myself.

But otherwise, like if it was like a hawkinette and Canada or something, it would have been an absolute nightmare. It's, you know what, I had that. I had that experience. I had your Dan Murphy experience. It was December 29th, 2007. It was my first day doing ringside on hockey night. Did I ever tell you that story on the podcast? No, you haven't.

It's great. So I'm doing, it's in Ottawa. It's an Ottawa-Washington game. We've actually went off for four goals, seven to four final, I think, for the caps. And Mujro had just taken over his head coach of Washington. So a lot of great stories. Mike Green was heating up. There was a lot of great stories about Washington that year at that time.

And it was my first rinkside assignment for hockey night. So I'm nervous as hell, right? You try to play it off like you're all cool. Oh, yeah, I'm just going in the morning to skate with Bob Quoll. Bob Cole. I'm driving in a car with Bob Cole to go to morning skate. What my life? Holy smokes. And it's 6.30 and the show opens up the way it traditionally does. And Ron welcomes everybody in and there's double boxes.

And I'm on one in Ottawa and Elliot's at the Air Canada Center in Toronto. They're going to get to Elliot Friedman right now. The Maple Leafs game they're playing whoever it was, Philadelphia. In the meantime, I want to welcome in Jeff Merrick from Hockey Night and Canada Radio handled the ringside affairs tonights in Ottawa for the big old Vetchkin matchup against Jason Spetsa and the Ottawa senators. Jeff throws to me, and what felt like Dimitri and eternity, and I went and watched it back, was about maybe half a second.

I had that, holy shit, I'm on hockey night in Canada moment. Like all of that, you know, watching hockey night my entire life, sitting there with my family, you know, dreaming about either playing on hockey night in Canada as a player or just being on the show. Like everything, so much of my youth was wrapped up in that program. and then to be on it and to be thrown to by Ron for that half second stunned, silence, nothing in my brain. And turns for being side a bench interview with Alexander Ovechkin. It was like one of those like silence.

Thanks, Ron. Alex. And off to the races, no idea what I said, stammered out a couple of questions and threw it back to studio. But I remember that was the half second that felt like an eternity in my life. So I know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, good times, good times. Hopefully it'll be more good times. Let's discuss the Blue Jackets a little bit,

which is a sentence that I feel like has never really been said before by anyone, at least publicly. But you know, they're playing really good. And they're destroying teams. I feel like they have the most just like victories this season where you open up, you know, you just open up like NHL.com or whatever.

you're just like, wait, they won by how much against who? Like, just like, you know, they obviously had that game against the Canadians. And they scored eight on the blues. And today they just absolutely beat up the lightning. And it's just like, I don't know, at some point, uh, it, it would have been a lot easier if they continued being bad and we could just keep making the same John Tortorilla jokes and everything. But now we've got to kind of acknowledge it.

You know, they're probably not as good as they've been playing early on based on their results. But they're definitely not going to be sort of a seller. dwelling laughing stock and I think that's a huge step in the right direction for this franchise. And it's not even as if they're getting out, not tonight anyhow, they're not getting out chance to me shots on goal with 3827 blue jackets. You know, 16 shots in the first period, 11 in the second period, 11 in the third. Early on it was all the power play, right?

It was that power play that was ringing at 32% Demetri was it? that was spectacular to watch, right? It was a lot of fun, and it's Cam Atkinson and Sam Gagne and Nick Falino and And your boyfriend, Zacharensky. And Zacharensky on the point, yeah, man, tow tracking it like Lidstrom along the blue line. But five-on-five, they were getting destroyed. And what do we all say? Ah, yeah, you know what?

The power play comes back down to normal. And it still just might. It might just level off. And five-on-five, they may go back to being a brutal hockey team, but they're not that team right now. You know, as long as you have the goal, you're never really out of it. The interesting thing about CBJ to me is, you know, they're getting the contributions from so many different players, right? And tonight was Josh Anderson.

What do you have? I think of a pair tonight? Yep. Or a three-point night or something like that. Sergey Bobrovsky was real good. You know, William Carlson was playing real well. Sam Gagne seems to have found a new life in Columbus, certainly on the power play. He has.

So, I'm of the mind that one day Columbus is going to be a really good team, mainly because of that young blue line. Like, it's going to be, like, Seth Jones and Werenski and Murray. Like, it's going to be real good. It's going to be a special blue line, and they'll take it from there. I just don't know whether I'm looking at this Columbus team right now, whether I should believe in this or just sort of pan it out and say, now this is foolschooled. I have made up my mind yet. I'm not there yet.

are you? It's a little bit of both, right? Like, I think it's fair for us to just recalibrate our expectations of them from what they were before this season. But, I mean, like, they're sort of like a middle of the pack team and pretty much everything. And they've been slightly overperforming just based on how many pucks have been going in and how many pucks their goalies have been stopping.

So I think that once that normalizes a little bit, even if they maintain a really, really good power play, I think it, you know, they'll come back down to Earth a little bit. But listen, like, it's, it's, This is a strategy that has been shown to be very successful in today's NHL where if you can just play like three or four lines that can all play and contribute and you don't have too many holes in your lineup, you can make up for the lack of that super high-end talent and like at the top of your lineup. And I mean, you mentioned Josh Anderson that line with him, Carlson and Scott Hartnell's been producing a lot for them. And that's like their third line. And then Brennan Sade, who's been a favorite of mine for years is absolutely killing it this season. Cam Atkinson as well and you go on down the line and the young blue line they have and

Bobrovsky's finally healthy so it's like everything's adding up to being a very competent team that's tough to play against I'd caution a little bit just about getting carried away by some of these results because it's very easy to see these kind of blowout wins and just think that they're really really good and that might not necessarily be the case but I think I'm more so buying than I am selling yeah it's um it's fascinating because it seemed and there's something wrong with this if you have this type of pilot play but it's like playing with fire There was a lot of teams that want to play, you know, 50-50 hockey five-on-five and then take their chances with the power play. Right.

I just wonder if that's sort of just going to be the story of the Columbus Blue Jackets this year. To your point, I hope it's not because I don't know about you, but I always look for the new rivalry in the NHL. Like I'm dying for Minnesota Winnipeg to be a legit rivalry because when's the last time we had a good cross-border one? And we may get one out of Buffalo, Toronto in a few years. But what we saw in that one playoff series between Columbus and Pittsburgh was awesome. And I want to see that again and I want to see it every single year. I want to see that type of skill and that type of Uber violence all at the exact same time. So if it means that we're going to get that matchup in the playoffs every year,

then I will jump onto your ship with two feet off a three meter springboard, if that means we can get that. But they're fun. Listen, man, they're flat of fun. the one guy that I'm really happy to see pop this season because a lot of questions about where he was selected and would he ever actualized even though he's only

22 years old and that's Alexander Venberg glad to see that guy do really well and still one of the best play listen man one of the best plays I've seen all season long was that game against Anaheim and it was a foot race down the left side and Venberg skated Corey Perry into dust pulled up feathered a beauty back to Orenski who iced it for a Columbus Blue Jackets win

in three on three in the overtime. That still may be my favorite play of the entire season so far. They're fun. They got nice pieces. I don't know if they're a good team, but some of the pieces are a lot of fun to watch. The weird thing with them, like,

I don't know, it's kind of bittersweet, is like they have all these young players who you could conceivably make the argument will get better over time, and it'll be fun to see them grow and play together. But then they also probably have, like, the worst cap situation in the league. right like they have all these guys that are getting paid way too much money for way too long and they're like either

entering the 30s or they're already there and just like it's it's it's going to hold them back a little bit they're going to need to find a way to finagle around that and possibly trade away some of those guys and get someone to eat that salary like because they have all these exciting guys I mean listen when you're not good for a lot of years and you're you're constantly picking high in the draft you're going to you're going to accumulate a lot of young talent and we're seeing them reap the rewards of some of that but it's like what's Nick Folino going to look like in two or three years when he's still making five and a half million and the same goes for like Brandon Dubinsky and you go on down the line. So it's it's going to be interesting to see how the things play out for them because generally with a team this young, you'd be like you'd be preaching patience and going like, well,

anything they do this year is good because it's a step in the right direction and maybe a couple years from now will finally come together. But they might not necessarily have that sort of a luxury. So that's something I'd say. I was going to put on my Dimitri Filipovic to quartering there for a second and say, what my colleague Dimitri was Exhibit A, Brandon Davinsky, Exhibit B, Nick Falino, and Exhibit C, Scott Hartnell. I believe you're referring to those contracts specifically.

Well, I mean, Hartnell, listen, man, Hartnell was almost in Nashville part of their last year. That Johansson Jones trade was almost a four-player deal with Wilson going the other way and Hartle going to Nashville. It still may happen, right? Blavila thought they needed some more toughness up front. He's got the association going back to the Philadelphia Flyers. I think it started as a four-player deal turned into a two-player deal. So it isn't as if Columbus hasn't tried to address that situation in the past.

I think the other two are a little more complicated because I'm not sure where the marketplace is for Dabinsky in a couple of years. And he's got four more years of 5.8. Yeah, that's rough. Let me just pause for a second after I say that just to scare some people. Four more years of $5.8 million. Nick Felino, you mentioned five and a half a copy going through the 2021. The fact that they're just like eating a ton of David Clark's in salary, which obviously on LTIRs isn't counting on cap,

but it's like for a franchise that I'm sure doesn't want to be spending right up to the cap that that's money that they are basically burning at this point. Another year of Jack Johnson at 4.3. Yeah. What a time to be alive. That's a tough one. Right? That's tough one.

And, you know, as long as he stays healthy, he's great, but 7.4 for Sergey Bobrovsky. Right. I mean, Bobovsky cost, you know, cost Todd's gig last year, right? Those opening seven games where he couldn't stop anything. Well, and it's one of those things where, you know, right now it doesn't necessarily matter. But, I mean, you know, Wenberg, you mentioned he's coming up for a new RFA deal this summer. He's going to get a substantial increase from the, what, 900, 900,000 he's making, like, Camackinson in the year. after Boone Jenner and, you know, some of these guys might be trade assets.

They could potentially trade for more picks and young guys to kind of keep replenishing that pipeline. But it's just something to kind of keep in mind on the horizon, I think. Yeah, that's a tough one. That's a killer. I mean, you can just hope for an early lockouts first and get some compliance biots, I suppose, Dimitri. There's always that.

I don't think you're going to have to hope too much in that regard. I feel like that's going to happen. Is there anything else that, because Columbus has been one of the big surprise of this season, Because obviously you and I did the preseason watchability rankings, and some of it has wound up being correct. Some of it has been probably hasn't dated, as sounds pretty dated at this point, hasn't really held up over time. Like, is there any other teams that have really kind of surprised you either positively or negatively so far? I still don't know who Pittsburgh is. I still don't know who the Penguins are.

There's a lot of, like, see, Penguins kind of, a freak because at times I've watched, and I think we all have, the Penguins play a really soft game, right? And it happens. We see it with Stanley Cup champions. It's hard the next year to get up for every single game like teams expect you to. But the outlier there is I haven't seen Sidney Crosby really play a bad game yet, of you? No. He is all over at every single game that he's played. It had the concussion issue to start the season.

So that's, I still don't know who the Pittsburgh Penguins are. I think I have a pretty good sense of who the New York Rangers are. Although lately, I mean, I thought they were already. for their big dive. They sort of postponed the inevitable. I'm trying to think, I mean, New Jersey's, New Jersey's a surprise to me. Yeah, let's talk about in New Jersey a bit.

I've gotten a little bit of a pushback on that from obviously Devils fans. I don't think anyone else would have pushed back against it. But they were pretty clearly, I think we both had them like 29th or whatever in our preseason. And someone has to be 29th if you're ranking 30 teams. Like it's easy to be like, oh, they should be a bit higher. But then it's like, well, who would you put behind them? but they've been actually pretty entertaining.

And I think that, you know, if you ask John Hines, he probably isn't too happy about that because a lot of it's come at their expense in terms of just they've been playing some sloppy games that have kind of been all over the place and not very New Jersey Devils-esque. But they have some interesting players. And like, I know that listeners of this show love

when we give them something to look for next time they watch a team. And I think that Johan Avitu on the blue line has been sneakily one of my favorite. favorite players to watch this year and that's someone whose name I had never heard of like a month ago. So that's been a very pleasant surprise for me. Finnish League defenseman of the year. And this is his first trip overseas to America.

He's playing for the New Jersey temples. And here's the great thing about Ovi-Soo to me. Normally when you see someone, you know, has a great role championship, great in the Finnish league and comes over and they sort of roll the dice on them. Legit Frenchman too, right? It's from France. Yep. normally they come in and they're almost just sort of happy to be there, you know, just along for the ride.

You know, wow, look at me, mom, I'm playing in the NHL, a dream has been realized. Like early on this season, and, you know, even though he just most recently got scratched, he's making plays. Like, when I watch Ovi-2, like he doesn't look like this is his first time in America. This doesn't look like this is his first season in the NHL. Like he's out there making plays, Dimitri. He's not just, you know, safe it around the boards, keeping safe positions, keep the buck in front of really safe hockey. He's kind of sticking his neck out there and making plays.

And more times than not, those plays are getting made. That's the one. I mean, I love this year watching Victor Arvinson and Nashville. And the other guy that I really love watching whenever I'm watching New Jersey games is Johan Albu too. And if fans have not had the chance to see him play, do yourself. a favor. Don't just watch your New Jersey Devils for Corey Schneider. Don't just watch your New Jersey Devils for your Camelaries and your Ajax and your Taylor Halls. Have a look at OV2. Because I don't know that he's got the headlines of the publicity outside of the local market

that he probably should for just having the balls to make plays on defense in the NHL. After having never A, played in the NHL a day and B, been to America. You know, and I think that you can sort of tell that that's the case with him, and I say that in the best way, because just watching him play what stands out is that he just plays this sort of like unburdened style where it's so different from a lot of the defensemen that come up through the system here in North America where they're told they need to play a certain way and get the puck out and be conservative and reliable. Like, you can just see sometimes he just gets the puck and instead of just making the safe conservative play, he's just like, you know what? I'm just going to take this one to the other end of the ice and see what happens. And there's very few defensemen that even, sort of process the game in that regard. So that's what I really enjoyed about him. Remember the first time I saw Sammy Vatin and I kind of felt that way as well. Yeah. Like here's a guy coming in, again, same league, but, you know, different country.

Here's a guy coming in who really doesn't look like anybody else and kind of doesn't play like anybody else. And I don't know if he's going to be a full-time NHLer, but damn it, he just looks different out there. Yeah. That's good. And then Vatten, and then Vatten, was it two years ago? Really started to notice Vatnan?

Yeah, yeah. Sounds about right. Um, one thing that you were on, um, that I was wrong about was the Dallas Stars. Um, obviously, you still had them fairly high on your list, but I remember like I, I was making the case for them one or two and you were a bit down on them. And, uh, injuries have played a large role in that. And that's something you can't really account for. And that's just a bummer. But, um, it's been, it's been a bit of a mess. And I think that the big elephant in the room here is that John Kornberg has really, really been just bad this season. And, uh, it's easy.

to make the case that, you know, he misses Alice Gologowski, all the injuries up front haven't helped him because he plays so well off of those guys and in terms of creativity and pushing the pace. So that's kind of been something that he's struggled with. But like just everything from just watching him and how many mistakes he's making to just add the numbers themselves. It hasn't been very good for him so far. Scratch tonight against the Detroit Red Wings. Previous to that, Dan Ham Hughes, their prize acquisition in the summer, scratch two games in a row.

I still think that that blue line is reeling from, you know, you mentioned Gologoski, losing Gologoski and losing Jason Demers. It's tough to come back from. I know there's a lot of young defensemen, I know they love Stephen Johns, maybe the hit of the year, the one they laid on Michael Furlin two weeks ago on that Calgary game. I know they like Stephen Johns. They love Julius Honka, Essel and Dell. They love these guys, but they're still young hockey players, right?

And specifically on the back end. And it doesn't help when someone like John Klingberg, and even by his own admission, you know, outside of, you know, missing the team meeting, oh, brain fart, missed it, okay, my bad. Like, even by his own admission, he hasn't played well this year. So that's a bad combination. Goligowski gone, that's things. Demur's gone, that's things. Replaced with a guy who's been scratched two games in a row a couple of times this season,

and your number one defenseman hasn't found his game yet this year. Yeah. When you play a wide open style like Dallas does, that's death, man. Yes. Yeah. No, it's, they've been exposed a little bit this year. I still think that, you know, if they get all these guys back together eventually and the blue line rounds into form as they get more games under their belt,

they obviously, you know, they can score goals with the best of them. So I don't think any team would necessarily want to play them in the playoffs. But I think that we need to maybe readjust their expectations a little bit. Flurry and Mata to Dallas. for Letton and whom? Oh, man. Yeah, that's... Just doing sports talk radio here for you.

Just doing sports talk radio. We're going to the phone. Give us your biggest fantasy trade. Hello, Dimitri in Vancouver. You have a blockbuster in Pittsburgh, Dallas trade to propose. Go ahead, Demetri. I want to see them somehow not involved letting in that trade just so they're paying three high-price goalies somehow.

Just get them all. Just get them all. Who cares? Trade for Ben Bishop, too. That's Jimmy Howard when he gets better. why not. Let's get all these guys. All of them. All them. All them. Yes. All right, Jeff.

I think we should cut it off here. We're almost heading towards an hour. I know that people love. All my shows are around like 30, 35 minutes, and then you come on, and it's like just an extra 20 minutes. You just add it as like the baseline for how long the show is going to go. And I love it. I mean, it's awesome being able to just kind of freely talk like this for as long as possible. I wish there were such a thing called podcast analytics. so someone could figure out how many empty calorie words I used on your podcast just to stretch out time.

Because I'm sure I would be like the Patrice Bergeron of empty calorie words on your podcast. No, you're great. There was no empty calories. Everything was necessary. Oh, yeah. All juicy. All nutritious. He's a shot of B12, right?

Audio B12. Right in here, Dimitri. I love that. Let me ask you something. What's impressed you the most about this year, about this season, from your perch? Like is there one thing, I mean, I threw Victor Arbitson out there a couple of seconds ago. That really is one player that I just love watching. Like, I can't get enough for watching Arbetson to the point where my six-year-old son is a big fan of P.K. Sue Bands.

Last year, doing it a Montreal game. Took him to the Nashville, Toronto game a couple of weeks ago. And the first guy that even my six-year-old noticed was, I remember he said me, who's 38? Like, oh, that's Victor Arbitt said. He's like, he's really good, right? I'm like, oh, yeah, I know he's real. And he couldn't take his, he was, wow, did you see what that? 38 just did. What's his name again?

It's like even my 6-year-old is noticing that this guy is a real, either he's really special or, you know, my 6-year-old is an amazing scout. And he's already got a scout's eyes. But like, is there someone or something that's caught your eyes so far this year? I think if you needed any proof that it was your kid, it's him picking out Victor Arbison of all people from the crowd. Yeah, let's see, 38 there, Arbiton. Yeah, the Swedish kid shows a lot of promise, but lacks focus. Okay.

Okay. With the BS Scout talk, PJ. You know, other than the fact that McDavid is just somehow, better than I thought he was and I thought he'd be pushing for being the best player in the world. But I think at this point, everyone sort of gets it. So I'm not going to pick that. I think that, you know, the Bruins have been interesting to me because they've been playing much better than I thought they'd be.

And Rask just being back to being amazing helps a lot with that. And the blue line kind of cobbling it together in front of them has been nice. But I think that top line with Marsha and Bergeron and Pasternak has been my favorite thing to watch this year. just watching three people that play so well together and just everything seems to click perfectly. And obviously, you know, anyone playing with Bergeron, that'll probably be the case just because he's so good at everything. And Marshaun himself is an amazing player. And we know that those two guys have chemistry. But like, Pastor Nack has just seamlessly fit into that line.

And I think I saw he scored like a quarter of their goals or something this year. And he's riding a bit of a shooting percentage wave that probably won't continue. But he is, he's damn good. And I think that, what, 20? 22, 23 teams will be kicking themselves for letting him fall to where he went in that draft of his. So that top line has been kind of one of my pleasant surprises this season. I remember getting Leupishta off at David Pasternak and more so with the Boston ruins because his rights were held by the Belleville Bulls of the OHL.

And instead of sending him to the OHL, he made the NHL team, damn it, off the draft. And it was sort of, you know, shuttled up and down between the NHL team and the American Hockey League team. I never got a chance to watch him up close. before he went off to the expense of NHL. But you're right, man. Pashtonach's been outstanding this year. The shooting percentage wave, sure. But he's still like, I know, I know it's, I don't want to say easy,

but it's a lot easier to your point when you play with Patrice Bergeron, who's like the world's perfect hockey player. He just spoon feeds you. He's like the Dan Murphy of hockey. He just thought he's out there, just helping pass him to get through his first time. It just puts the ball in the teeth for you, sort of warms it up a little bit. Here you go. Here's how you hold your hands on the bat.

Here's how you swing. Keep the front shoulder down. He's great. But, yeah, Pashtra Nax been one of the bright spots in a Boston Bruins. Although, you know what? I kind of thought that the bees were just going to be, you know, that top line and really slow defense. It wasn't able to get to puck to the forwards.

And they were going to be in the Nolan Patrick sweepstakes. I thought they're going to bottom. And they still might. But I thought they're going to bottom out really fast this year. And so far they haven't. Yeah. And it's impossible. to bottom out when your goalie's playing this well.

So I think that even if everything comes back down earth a little bit, even if Rask plays this well, they'll be fine. Let me ask you this one. Who would you award the vest and trophy to right now, Kerry Price or Devin Dubnick? I think Price. I think you can go with that. Yeah.

Have you seen Dubnick's numbers lately? Dunex's been amazing, but I'm a big believer in the, you know, let's not be like a prisoner of the moment, just in the sense that two years from now, I think it'll be pretty friggin hilarious if you try to commend someone that Devin Dubnick was the best goal in the NHL in 2016

2017. That's wrong with it. Does Price have more heart than Devin Dubnick? Is that why? Because their numbers are pretty much identical. I can't believe we're having this conversation. You're playing the role of the knuckle-drager, the old school guy. Then you're mainstream media now, though. So I shouldn't assume that. I mean, listen, if Doobnick finishes... I thought you'd want the hipster pick, the Devin-Dubnick hipster pick.

If Dubnick finishes the year with these numbers, we can have this discussion. We obviously, I mean, the goalie position is so volatile in this regard, but I feel like Dubnick has shown these stretches where he's amazing. And obviously now we're getting closer to 25 games and it's starting to, you just kind of have to buy it. But it's, I think he's a really good goalie. He's probably not this good, whereas I think Price can probably maintain this pace. So that's the reason. But I guess if you're talking about right now through the first quarter of the season or whatever, it's pretty close.

And there's like a handful of guys that are putting just like ridiculous numbers up that you have to talk about as well. Yeah, I think Raskin that talk too. All right, I decided to drag you into uncomfortable water. Yep. Because I know, because everyone's team price. Listen, I'm team carry price as well. But man, every time I have a peek at what Devon Dubnik is doing, like, yeah. Do I want to say it publicly?

Do I want to really go public with this? This isn't really public. No one's actually listening at this point still. If I knew that, I busted out a few more swears. Come on. jeez uh jeff it was a lot of fun as always you know yeah it'll be it'll be really fun if one day we can have this conversation on tv with some producers yelling in our ears that would be great yeah counting down from 30 29 28 27 20 20 15 10 hit in the post talk over scenic and one excellent

uh jeff uh it's been a blast yeah thanks dude yeah and we'll uh we'll make sure to get you back on hopefully soon yeah you know when we next time we have this conversation on television, it'll take about two and a half minutes. So either learn how to be economical and then teach me or learn how to talk really fast. Let me tell you what, Devin Dubnick is the Vezna Trophy winner this year. He's been amazing. We'll be right back. That's St. Mifilipovic and we'll be right back.

All right, man. Chat to you, okay? Thanks, pal. The Hockey PDO cast with Dmitri Filipovich. Follow on Twitter at Dim Philipovich and on SoundCloud at SoundCloud.com. slash Hockey PDOCast.