The Sheet with Jeff Marek - 2026 NHL Draft Recap - The Sheet Special Edition with Jeff Marek and Pierre McGuire

Episode Date: June 27, 2026

The first round is complete, the picks are in, and now it's time to break down everything that happened on one of the biggest nights of the NHL offseason.Join Jeff Marek and Pierre McGuire immediately following the conclusion of the first round of the 2026 NHL Draft for a special live Draft Recap Show. From surprise selections and shocking slides to blockbuster trades and bold moves by NHL general managers, Jeff and Pierre analyze every major storyline that unfolded throughout the night. Which teams nailed their picks? Which organizations took the biggest risks? And which prospects found themselves in the perfect situation to begin their NHL journey?Jeff and Pierre break down every first-round selection, evaluate the winners and losers from draft night, discuss the biggest trades and rumors that emerged, and examine how the landscape of the NHL may have shifted heading into free agency and the rest of the offseason. They'll also react to unexpected moments, controversial decisions, and the prospects who generated the most buzz around the hockey world.Whether your favorite team made a franchise-changing selection or you're looking for expert analysis on every move from the opening round, this is your complete breakdown of the 2026 NHL Draft's first night. Don't miss Jeff Marek and Pierre McGuire as they react live to all the drama, excitement, and surprises from Round 1.#NHLDraft #2026NHLDraft #NHLDraftRecap #JeffMarek #PierreMcGuire #NHL #Hockey #DraftNight #NHLProspects #HockeyNewsReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Flames_Nation🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Having a lot of fun here talking about past glories and past days playing with Ken Danico, Pierre McGuire. Welcome to our post first round draft draft coverage special here. The first round of the NHL draft, 2026 style, just wrapping up right now. So we wanted to make sure we hop down with enough time that we could sort of get into all the main things that we saw early and get a number of guests coming up here on the program. Spencer Hyman is going to stop by in a couple of moments. Why is he important? Well, he's a general manager of the Banford Bulldogs. Caleb Malhotra goes third overall to the Brantford Bulldogs.

I want to get there. But as we have a gloss, and as we're doing this thing live right now, Liam Ruck has just been selected, one half of the Ruck twins by the Pittsburgh Penguins. We'll see if Caldubus can unite the Ruck brothers here from the Medicine Hat Tigers. We'll eat as Jardin, the coach there. But as you look at where we're at right now, and even though there's a lot of development times still to come with all of these players, Who's impressed you so far? Teams I'm talking about.

San Jose just stole the draft. They got Ryan Lynn with Philadelphia Flyers draft pick. They traded three to get one. Yeah. And that was going to work out well. I love the fact they took Verhof. I think he's going to really evolve into a good player for them. And obviously you get one of the special players in the draft in Stenberg.

Yeah. So I can't, you know, San Jose's done an unbelievable job positioning themselves. People even forget the calling graphs playing there. Free player. Free player out of Quintapia. I coached by Rand Peknold. I mean, just phenomenal. And then I look at what, you know,

the Rangers are being really proactive here. They had to be, you know, we talked about the arms race before. And I think Albert Schmidt is going to play for their team next year. He went fifth overall. And they got Dorfayev, and they signed him to a big contract. $88 million? 77.

77. So seven times $11 million times seven. They give up two firsts and a third round pick. Their trades were, we talked about it in the pregame show as well, just to get everything out here on the table. The Utah Mammoth trading J.J. Paterka to the Boston Bruins for a first this year, conditional first in 2028. So Utah getting some business done with that 23rd overall pick. We will stand by and see who they selected. We're going to bring that to you coming up here as Utah is poised to select if we're watching us right now in a couple of moments.

So here's your top 10, Gavin McKenna, number one, to the Toronto Maple Leafs. no surprise there. Excellent pick. He'll do fantastic things. Yvar Stenberg, as you were talking about the San Jose Sharks. He goes number two, Eklund out Stenberg in. And that'll be phenomenal news for Macklin-Colabrini. Not that Eklund is not a good player, but this is a different type of player. Stenberg and Celebrity together for the next 10, 12 seasons? That's got San Jose Sharks true. How about Misa and Will Smith? I mean, Oh, I know. Take your pick. Or how about Misa and Stenberg for the next 10 years?

People aren't even doing the math, but that's why I said, you know, nobody talks about Colin graph. Yeah. He's a really good player. He really is. Number three, Caleb Malhotra goes to the Vancouver Canucks. We'll talk to Spencer about this coming up in a couple of seconds. The sensitivities around this one are obvious that as the head coach, how does that resonate

with other players within the organization? I thought you brought up the great point in the pregame show, which was, considering what the Vancouver Canucks just went through with their dressing room situation and having to move players because of it, it seems like the premium is on good people. Yeah, they hired a real good coach. They hired a real good general manager. They hired two great presidents. Yeah.

And now they've drafted with a third overall pick, an unbelievable person. And we're going to hear that from a general manager, Hyman. Yes, coming up here in a couple of moments. Daxon Rudolph, this might be the first surprise. For some people. Yeah. First defense. Did you think that Daxon Rudolph was going to be the first defenseman taken?

Because this was going to be the run-on defenseman this year. I don't know many if any who had Daxe Rudolph. going as the first D. I did not. I had Chase Reed going as a first D. Right. And so he goes to the Buffalo Sabres at 4, and then here comes the run-on D.

The New York Rangers grab Albert Smiths, who's ready to step into the lineup next year. I really believe he will play in the NHL. We talked about it in the pre-draft show. When you look at his resume, playing in the league of this year, playing in the DEL this year, playing in the Olympics,

playing in the World Junior, playing in the World Championships. That's an amazing resume, and he's ready physically to play in that. the NHL. Carl's goes to Calgary. Chase Reed, as you mentioned, goes to Seattle, Winnipeg. Seattle makes her pick at 7.

Interesting there. Vigo Bjork goes 8 to the Winnipeg Jets. Keaton Verhoff, as you mentioned, big defenseman from Nodak. He goes to San Jose at 9. Guys, we have a trade here. Utah trades pick 23 to Detroit for goalie Sebastian Kosa. Oh boy.

So hang on a second. So Utah picks up Kosa. Yeah. For number 23. And part of that is the return for J.J. Paterka. So there we go. So that takes a little bit of the packaging of Dylan Larkin

and Sebastian Kosa out of the works for some teams because a lot of teams are talking and looking at that. That's an interesting one. Do we have Spencer standing by? We do. Let's get to the general manager. He's a happy guy. I'm sure his prospect just went,

or his player, just went third overall to the Vancouver Canucks. Spencer Hyman, GM, who I believe is on his way back from Buffalo right now. Spencer, first of all, it was, I'm not sure if we have the clip. Zach, do we have it last year of you sitting here with me and Pierre, and we were talking about Jake O'Brien. He goes to Seattle Cracken. You said, guys, I'm coming back in one year, and we're talking about Caleb Malhotra. Spencer, we're talking about Caleb Malhotra.

The floor is yours. Your thoughts on him, third overall. You know what? We're just so proud of him. You know, I've always said the person, makes the player and there's no better person than Caleb Malhotra. So for us as an organization, we're just, we're so incredibly proud of Caleb, everything he accomplished this year.

And there's no one more deserving than him. And we're really excited for him to go to Vancouver, obviously. Lots of ties to his family there, which is really cool. You want him to play against your brother? You know what? He's going to be a good center to play against 97. So, you know, we're just so excited for him and his family. How often, because, listen, Todd Harvey's in the area,

how often did you see Vancouver at your games? They were there a lot. You know, I know RJ obviously was AGM at the time and now GM. you know, Luca Caputti was around a lot and Todd Harvey and, you know, they've got a great staff there and they did a lot of due diligence, obviously, on Caleb and watching him all year. And, you know, no surprise to us that he was their guy and really excited for Vancouver and for the whole Canucks fan base. Spencer, what's one characteristic of his game that makes him NHL?

Ready. It's hard to say one, Pierre, honestly, he's just such a complete hockey player. Like, he contributes everywhere. There's not one area that he can't play. You're looking for a goal. You're looking to defend, you know, a lead, power play, PK. He can touch the game in all phases. You know, I think, you know, the one trait that I guess I would give him as his best is, again, the person. Like he is going to make other guys around him better. On a team with five first round NHL picks as a 17-year-old, there were guys going to Caleb for advice. He's just such a special human being,

and we couldn't have been more fortunate to have that year with him. Did you expect this? I know we talked last year, and you're like coming back and we're talking about Caleb Mahhotra, but when you watched him in the BCHL and then you see him in the Ontario League, specifically in the second half of the season and into the playoffs, when it gets more difficult, when the puck seems heavier,

and the games mean that much more. There's more gravity involved to the games themselves. He just continued to get better and better. From where you saw him in the BCHO and you got him, bringing him to the Bulldogs, like what goes through your mind? This guy at the beginning of the season, like I know, like you said,

we're coming back and we're talking about Malhotra, and inside I'm saying, I don't even know if he's going to get into the first round. I'd love to talk to Spencer, but I don't know that his guy's going to be there. And here you are, third overall. Yeah, you know what?

It's funny, Jeff. I think as the year went on, it was, okay, he's going to be a first round pick. Okay, he's going to be in the top 20, top 15, top 10, top 5. Wild. You know, and really, he just kept getting better.

If you actually look at his BCHL points, he did very well, you know, took him a little bit of time to transition into junior hockey. It's one of the biggest jumps. A player's, going to make is going from minor to junior. But if you look at his playoff numbers in the BCHL, they're almost identical to his regular

season numbers. And then he just kind of took off from the start in Brantford and then in the playoffs he exploded. He's a big time player. And as we all know, big time players come to play in the biggest games and the biggest moments. And he's an absolute gamer, a guy that drags others into the fight. So no surprise from us. we're just so excited for him like I said

and, you know, appreciative of everything he's done for the Bulldogs. Hey, Spencer, he said in his post-draft interview that he didn't know Vancouver was going to take him. Did you know Vancouver is going to take him? I didn't, you know, and actually as it kind of got closer, you know, Zach and I had a lot of chats this week, or are they going to do it or they not? Obviously, with his dad being the head coach there

and Zach played for Manny and knows him really well. you know ultimately i i think they did the right thing they took the best player in their mind uh available and um and a kid that really has grown up canucks everything and and dreaming of playing there uh and i think as a you know an n hl team specifically a canadian market having players that understand the meaning of wearing that jersey and that logo and that crest that means more than anything so they got a kid that that loves their hockey team you know since he was a little kid, now he gets to play for them. It's pretty cool.

Let me close on this because I know you have a busy night ahead. Did you talk to, like, did the organization yourself or your head coach Jay McKee, did anyone in the organization talk to him about, you know, the dynamic of playing for your father in the NHL? No, you know, I can't speak on Jay. I never had that conversation with him. But, you know, the one thing that some people have said and I'll reiterate is, if there are two people in hockey that can do it, it's the Mount Holtras. There are such pros, everything they do is professional.

Manny, I mean, the apple does not fall far from the tree. You know, throughout the entire year, Manny's been, this is Caleb's path, Caleb's journey, and this is about Caleb. And I'm his father, and they'll be totally fine together. Yeah, how close is he? We'll close on that one. How close is he to playing in the NHL? You know what? I think Caleb is unbelievable.

You know, I'm excited for him to watch his development. You know, I think there's no rush. We see the benefits that, you know, some kids have had already from going to the CHL to the NCAA and then pro. And whatever Vancouver and Caleb decide as an organization of Brantford, we're just going to, you know, we're going to be very supportive and excited for him. So, you know, but in my opinion, he's very close. He's an elite hockey player.

And I'm really excited to watch him play in the NHL, and I guess he'll have to play against Zach and the way, which would be pretty cool. That's going to be such a cool moment when you see. That's going to be a great moment for the Malhotra family and for the hymonds as well. Yeah, well, we had Lardi this year with Zach, so that was cool, Chicago, Edmonton, and Kay will be really cool as well. That's awesome.

Listen, congratulations. I don't know what you have up. your sleeve, but I hope we're talking to you again next year around this time, about a Bulldog. Thanks, Spencer. Okay, guys. Thank you, guys. There is. Spencer Hyman is the general manager of the other man for Bulldogs.

That's a great question, by you Zach wants to play against Caleb. Oh, I mean, he's his owner. Yeah. Well, part honor. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so a couple of other things here. And, you know, Carson, where we left off was Albert Smiths and the New York Rangers. We have more guests coming up throughout the program here.

Zach's going to let us know. Who slash when, I believe Lee Desjardant is going to stop by the show. Oh, that would be good. To talk about both the Rucks and Liam has already been selected and also Gavin McKenna. He coached him for two years. Of course, with the Medicine Hat Tigers. Were you surprised at Calgary with Carson Carles?

We'll speak to Bark Lamb coming up here. No, actually, I'm not surprised at all. I think that's actually a really good pick for them. He's physical. He can skate. He can log minutes. He's not intimidated. anything. He's going to North Dakota,

which is an unbelievably great place to play right now, and you're going to get developed there. I can tell you that right now. Dane Jackson's done a really good job there. So, yeah, no, I'm not surprised Calgary took him. This was the run-on defenseman, right? This was the area, you know, starting with Daxon and Rudolph at four

to the Buffalo Sabres, Albert Smith's, the New York Rangers at five. Carson Carl's goes at number six to the Calgary Flames, and then Chase Reed to Seattle at seven. Many had him going as high as number two. Yeah, it was a little surprise that he slid that much.

I'm curious as to why. Don't know. Kyle Raftus is coming on, his general manager from two same morning. Seattle will be happy about that. That's a good, I'm kind of surprised that Seattle was making the pick, considering everything that's gone on as Jason Bottol tries to make trades to get more veteran leadership on this team. Well, it's a positive thing coming out of day one of the draft for Seattle.

Yes. They got arguably the best defenseman. We'll see whether that pans out or not. I think Schmitz was the most NHL ready, and I thought that Chase Reed was the second best ready player to play in the NFL. Great shot from the point. Can skate like the win, can takeover games. The happiest guy now is Adam Nightingale because he's going to go into Michigan State.

That's true. Play for Adam Nightingale. Winnipeg grabs Vigo Bjork at eight. Yeah, I know. Did you see how pumped he was to go to Winnipeg? He was so excited. That's got to be a great thing. If you're a Winnipeg Jets fan and you see a kid that ecstatic to get to Winnipeg,

I know it's a tough time. We'll see what happens with Hallibuck and with the rest of the team in the summer, but you got a kid that wants to be there. And he's a player. I spent a lot of time watching him play this May over in Sweden, and I can tell you right now that kid can play. He's not ready next week. He's not ready next year,

but it's not going to be much longer. This kid's a worker be. He'll be ready sooner rather than later. He has like a motor that just doesn't quit. He's got great parents too. His father's an old player from Gergaard. and his dad gets it. He understands a whole deal.

He goes. He's not too much pressure. He stands back. It's his journey, kind of like what many, the Holterus said. We should point out, too, though we mentioned him already,

Keaton Verhoff, goes number nine to the San Jose Sharks, as you mentioned, San Jose winning the first round by a landslide here. Mike Gurr, getting a lot of work done. You know, one of the points that we made in the pregame program was all about, you know, if he would have stayed in the WHL and played at Victoria probably would have went higher.

instead the more challenging route with bigger, stronger players, and he ends up sliding to nine. A thought on Keaton Verhoff. Anybody that's watched the Denver, know that game, or anybody watch a Western Michigan know that game, they'll know exactly what you were just talking about. This is a whole other level of competition.

Yeah. You know, you're a 17-year-old kid playing against 23 and 24-year-old guys that get it, and they're urging, because a lot of them know they're going to be free agents and they want to make a mark. Yeah. And so it's a way different level of competition, and I've been part of it for a long time

and I watch it I'm going, a 17-year-old kid playing there? Yeah. Pretty amazing. You know, one of the great moments that I had working with Pierre and just watching the draft with Pierre, so Wyatt Cullen gets drafted,

10th overall for the National Predators and I look over at Pierre and he goes, I remember his dad's first professional game. In Baltimore. Matt Cullen, his dad's first professional game. What's the story? Baltimore versus Cincinnati, and they weren't called the Ducks.

They were called the Mighty Ducks. And he had just come out of college, and he was turning pro, and I wrote a report on him saying, if we could ever pick him up in a trade, he'd be a good deal. I didn't know I'd play 21 years in the NHL, win three Stanley Cups,

two in Pittsburgh, one in Carolina. And you made an awesome point when I brought that up. Everywhere Jim Rutherford went. Matt Cullen went. He took him ever, you know, that whole idea about you, You can never go home again.

That's not true. Just ask the Cullen's and the Rutherford's. Wherever Jim Rutherford went, Carolina, Pittsburgh, he always, no matter if Cullen would get away, he'd always bring them back to the organization. You know, what's really cool about Matt Cullen? His father was a legendary coach up in northern Minnesota. They're from the Iron Ranger, from Virginia, Minnesota.

And his dad's a legendary coach from up there. That right, eh? Yeah. What do you make of Wyatt? It's been a fast riser this year. In more ways than one. Yeah, I know. He grew a lot.

He's really talented. I think he's going to do really well. He's going to University of Minnesota. Yep. I think he'll thrive there. New coaching staff. And there's going to be a lot of open ice for him to play, I can tell you that. There certainly will be.

We're standing by from our guest. I'm going to let us know when we get some. Another center goes. We've got two centers at this point that have already gone. We have Vigo Bjork, who goes to Winnipeg Jets and also Caleb Malhotra, who goes three to the Vancouver, Canucks Tynon Lawrence. Yep. Goes to the St. Louis, Blue.

lose at number 11, who left the USHL. This season had some injury issues to go play at BU. Less than spectacular, but at times this year early, when, you know, right after the Holinka and before his time with the USHL, I mean, he was ranked pretty high. He can really skate. He can process the game. He's very reliable defensively.

Playing for Jay Pandolfo at BU, that's only going to help him defensively. He's going to have to get a little more get up and go on his offensive. game, that doesn't mean he can't do it because I think he can do it, especially with his athleticism and skating. But if there's one knock is that when he came from the H.HL to BU, you could see he was overmatched. It just, that's how it is. It happens. It happens. It's a hard league. Is it, I mean, again, like Gavin McKenna is one thing, and that's a unique talent. But we just talked about Keaton Verhofe a second ago and the struggles with North Dakota, and here's Tyne and Lawrence and the struggles with BU. Is there a lesson in here about junior

hockey kids going to college too early, specifically, in their draft year? Yes, there's a big lesson there. Even Gab McEnna's a little bit of a lesson, too, for everybody. First half, for sure. He struggled. It wasn't until the world junior where he started to pick up the pace, playing in his own peer group where he started to get a little more confident. It's hard.

You know, I'll just share this story with it from a personal standpoint. My son went to play college as an 18-year-old. For the first three years of his college career, he was the youngest player in his team, three years in a row. And he went as an 18-year-old. Think about that. Yeah, no kidding. That's a little different.

That's a, it's a different world. The New Jersey Devils at 12. Got a big Swedish center and Alex Coleman. Yeah, no, and he plays with a whole lot of nasty. I mean, he's going to be what Lou Lamarillo would have loved. He's one of those kind of players. Well, it's funny too because you think about the New Jersey Devils and down the middle, it's kind of smallish with Jack Hughes and Nico Hesher, not so much.

much with Alex Comen. I wonder how long is Nikohesha going to be there full-time? You know, it's funny too, because we wondered about that at the end of the season, but it does sound very much like they're going to end up doing something together. And if they can, that's good news, especially for a player like Camon. That's a really good piece of news because they don't have to rush them. Yeah. Overripe rather than underdeveloped, use Kenny Holland's term, the general manager of the L.A.

Kings, but... You know, last year early, the New York Islanders made two nice bits of business on the back end. One, of course, Matthew Schaefer. And then there's another young man from the Barry Colts of the Ontario Hockey League, who is a fierce, fierce hitter. And then this time around the 13th overall, they take Malte Gustafson. So I've seen him a fair bit, too. He's a great defensive defenseman.

There's not a lot of offense in his game, not a lot of pop in his game, but he's going to be a shutdown guy. So when you got Ryan Pullick and Adam Pellick there, when they're starting to get a little long, and the two. Not that they can't play. I like both guys a lot, but there's the guy that's going to come in and help replace them. You know, he just had a tremendous, a tremendous U-18. I think that that really helped sort of, he had a good season, but that really helped cement his draft status and he goes 13th overall. Okay, so Chase Reed, we talked about a couple of seconds

ago. He goes to the Seattle Cracken at 7th from the Sue St. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL, his general manager there of course Kyle Raftus who joins us on the program now Kyle first of all thanks so much for stopping by second of all congratulations your thoughts on Chase Reed member of the Seattle Cracken

thanks Jeff you know I appreciate you having me on it's always an exciting time I think as you guys know when you kind of see these players come through and you know every one of them has a different goal as they started their you know junior career with us and I think when you get to see someone live it out and be alongside for the ride it's always on the most But, yes, super special night for his family, and we take a lot of pride in that and the Sioux as well.

Kyle, were you surprised that he slipped maybe just a little bit in the draft? It was tough to say because I think with all the trades and a lot of talk going through in the last couple days, it was hard to kind of pinpoint where exactly he was going to be, but he kind of just was stuck in that group of defensemen and, you know, how drafts work sometimes. Someone sees something different in it, but no, I think he ended up in a great spot, and it's kind of a cool, you know, situation in Seattle. they had never taken a defenseman as high in their franchise that they take him chase in and obviously he was a target for him.

You know, I'm not sure how much you would have talked to him or how much you've talked to other players and before the draft where they get selected. There's an agent who he has this one saying for his players in their draft year right before the draft. And it's always stuck with me. He says, this is a reminder that the draft is your wedding. It's not your marriage. this is just one night and you have your whole career in front of you.

This is your wedding. It's not your marriage. Do you have like a message for Reed or anyone else who you've sent to the NHL draft? Well, it's funny because sometimes they get reading into rankings and this type. And we always look at them and say at 12 years old, if you saw yourself in the situation, you would have traded everything around you for it. But sometimes in that year it becomes a roller coaster. You know, where am I ready?

What's happening? anything with, but any of us, like when your head hit the pillow at 12 years old, you would have been dreaming for your situation. And I think this one's kind of different. Kyle, what did you see in them that the people, let's just say, in Waterloo, Iowa didn't see in him when they got him? Yeah, you know what? I think for us it's always been a situation where it's, and I think even now, more so how it's transitioning is you've got to have these guys that can flip a switch quickly. And it's something that you've got to throw a lot at them very quickly.

it's not a situation where even a few years ago you bring in a young defenseman and they might be watching a little bit more they might be kind of tiptoeing in but I think now when you see the skating you see the size, the IQ's always been there and I think it's something that you know we threw as much as we could at them

and it was kind of the right situation at the right time and I think like any team at any level we're all desperate from right job defensemen and that was probably going to give them an extra little bounce with us but definitely the skating, the size, the IQ the rest of it was just, you know, a matter of just getting him up to speed.

Did you have any idea that he was going to get the OHL game as quickly as he did? No. I think I'd like to say I did, but I think it was a situation where he knew we were going to have it been six weeks to kind of get him up to speed. And I thought that case it was going to be, knowing he's a late birth,

but next year it was all kind of building towards that next year. But truthfully, about a month in that switchers order to be flip. And it was scary how fast it happened. I give our staff and him a lot of credit, but it's also like, if any of us, even himself included, could have guessed that,

I think we'd all be liars. I have a quick one for you. It's not so much Ontario Hockey League, but it's about hockey in general. We're seeing all these American guys that wanting to leave Canada to go play in the United States. You have to recruit American kids

to come play for you. Are you seeing any resistance? no resistance to come to the OHL. I think you can kind of see in the last couple drafts how it's been. You know, we've always kind of had a small group of Americans on our roster over the past few years, and I think now we're up to about, you know, seven players for this upcoming season. So I don't see anything on that side of it.

But no, we were kind of even chatting about that just in the crowd here at the draft. It's, you know, it's echoing into it. It's more of a signability kind of mixed how, you know, Major League Baseball kind of talked about with their drafts and that type of thing. kind of an interesting narrative kind of moving forward for sure. You know, let me stay off of this draft quickly and ask you about last year's draft and Brady Martin. I know there was the injury issue this year and, you know,

watched him play in the playoffs this year and was outstanding even with, you know, London all over him in that opening round. What's Nashville getting in this player when he gets there? Well, it's funny. It's a very different draft party we're at here as we left. last year we were on the farm. Not at the farm? Which is beautiful.

In a private restaurant now. Yeah, exactly. So on that side of it, it's a bit of a switch, but still equally cool. Yeah, I think with Brady, you know, he's unapologetically himself at all times. And I think that's something that, you know, media-wise falls in love with him. I think as soon as he gets his, he's always had a natural strength through the game, but as soon as he can kind of turn that into an athletic strength, he kind of became that, I think he's going to be a force.

And whether they have him playing the wing, create a shot, or compete down low as a centerman. I think it's all there. He's a total package, and he's one of those guys. He was our captain this year, but he definitely leads by example and pulls guys into the fight. I think when you're looking for guys,

you can score dirty goals and get to the metal of the ice, you know, that's what Brady is, and that's what he's going to bring to the table on top of, you know, throwing some punishing hits and really bringing this team in. Let's close on this one. For those that may not have seen Chase Reed play, Seattle Cracken fans

you're talking to you right now. What are they in store for with Chase Street? We'll finish up there. Yeah, I think somebody that's deadly in transition, a very smooth shooter. You don't even have to have a huge hockey accident but when you see him take a buck behind the net and just start staining, it's a beautiful site to be seen.

And I think when you combine that with a can of a shot and it's a defensive game that's really, I think, taking them biggest step in the last year. last year in our engine meetings he kind of talked about he thought he was going to typecaster as a power play guy only one side of it and he really took that to heart and I think you know this year he ended up in the top of the coach's

pole you know one of the top defensive defensive in the league and I think that's something that you're starting to see in the game and it's somebody that can close defensively and then kind of create space on the offensive side I think it's you know what the modern day defenseant is Greyhound's got another one into the NHL another one in the first round congratulations as Kyle looks great on your program.

We'll catch up soon. Enjoy dinner tonight with the Reeds. Thanks, guys. Really appreciate it. There is, Kyle Rafters, the general manager of the Sue St. Marie Greyhounds. You like this player a lot. I do.

I thought he was going to be the first defenseman picked. I don't think you're the, I don't think you're the only one there. Okay, let's get to the legendary coach of the Medicine Hat Tigers. He is Willie Desjardam. We'll talk to him as he was instrumental in the development of the first overall draft pick.

And a couple of twins. as well, Willie Desjardant on the program. Willie, first of all, thanks so much for joining us today. How are you certain? And I guess this draft has a certain curiosity about it for you. Eyes on the Rucks. Liam's already been drafted as we record this right now. And of course, first overall, Gavin McKenna,

you were so instrumental in the couple of years that you had with them there. Your thoughts on what you've seen so far tonight. Well, thanks guys for having me on. It's exciting for Gavin for sure. I remember at 14, I'd always ask my guys, what's your goal in hockey? And even at 14, he said, I want to be the first pick in the NHL draft. And so that's one of his goals.

He has more than he wants to get to. But it's pretty special to see a guy work that hard and then reach that goal. Because that's a really, really hard goal to get to. So that was pretty great to see. With the rocks, you know, that's quite a family. Like it's unbelievable they came in. And, you know, just such smart players. Like they're so smart.

They're so hard to contain on the power play. And for them to have this success, like I thought if they got 70 points last year, they would have had a great year. Oh, who got a hundred. So that was pretty amazing. You know, Willie, you were a really good player. You've coached in the National Hockey League. You were.

I had to play against you over in Holland. I remember clear his day. But what I wanted to ask you was, what do you see in Gavin McKenna's game that makes him NHR ready right away? His vision. His skill too. Like, he did a great job in the fitness testings in the combat. And I think we're surprised. He's fast.

He is really fast as a skater. He was one of my fastest guys last year. I had some pretty fast guys, well, two years ago on that team. And he was right up there with the quickest. So I think one thing they don't know is what a great athlete he is. He has really good hand-to-eye. Like his stick is unbelievable. And the other thing is I just don't believe this young man will ever accept being average.

He wants to be great. And I, you know, I always think about Bo Horvatt and how Bo Horvatt became great. And I think Bo Horvatt just had it inside him that he was not going to. to be an average player. He just, he had to, he had to be more than that. And, and I think McKenna has that in him as well. Um, so he heads off now to the Toronto Maple Leafs. They have a new coach, Jim Hiller. I'm always curious, you know, as a coach, Willie, getting through to players is different for every single player. Like, what did you have to do to get through to Gavin McKenna?

Open the gate. Put him on the right. He loves a game. He really does love the game. No, I didn't, there wasn't a lot I had to do to get through to him. He, he loves scoring, and he loves it when his teammates score. You know, maybe I could have been a little harder on him defensively, but we needed him to score, so he did what we needed. And I'm not worried about his defensive side of the game.

We, you know, halfway through the year, we put him out on the penalty kill. The last half, he got four short-handed goals, two big ones for. So I know he can do it if he wants to do it. And for him, he doesn't like losing. So he'll figure out what he has to do to win, and he'll do it. That's just what he'll do. So, you know, maybe he hasn't put up the best numbers defensively, but it's not that he's not capable of doing it he has.

Willie, you know, I thought the San Jose Sharks so far in the first round have dominated the draft. You know Verhoff and you know Lynn, two players in the Western Hockey League. how well did San Jose do in your eyes? They're a pretty good franchise. You look at the day you got Celebrini there, who's an incredible player. Now one thing about Celebrini, too, that's going to be so great for those young players going in,

he's not just a great player, he's a great leader. And that's so important when you're a franchise just building that you have guys that are leaders. And Celebrini is just a great leader there. So those young guys going in are really fortunate. You know, I like Lynn and Bearhoff both. I like both of them. I remember scouting them.

I liked them both. You know, they're both different defensemen, but both great defensemen. For those that don't know the rucks, and they're going back to Madison Hat to play for you next year, what should we know about them? You should know their IQs off the chart. They're very smart. Marcus is an incredible passer.

We talked about With Carolina Gossberry up top Oh yeah, Shane Gossusperry, yeah, Gospair. Marcus is like that How he looks people off and makes plays. Like he can do that. Like on the power play, he'll look guys to put their stick in a different lane

just by using his eyes and then he'll put the pass where their stick was. So he has that ability to get people to think he's going one place, he goes another. Lee is just a great score, sees the ice well, you know, lots of good things with it. So, you know, they're both really good players.

But, yeah, they're exceptional. Absolutely. We'll end on that. We really appreciate you stopping by. I talk, sharing your expertise and your experience with the Rucks and also Gavin McKenna. We really appreciate your time today. Good luck with the rest of the draft.

We'll see what Marcus ends up. And good luck in the offseason and next season. You'll be well. All good. Thanks, guys. Take care. Take care, Willie. Willie Desjardine, one of the great guys of the game, handling. I'm not kidding you. I played against him. What was he like to play against?

He was such a smart offensive player. Crafty is all get out. He really was. He was a point getter. He was a really good point getter. Heck of a coach. Yeah. A heck of a coach. World Junior, I'll never forget. I felt bad. The one year that he was World Junior coach, they lost in the gold medal game. And Willie coached his butt off.

It was in Regina and Saskatoon. That was a John Carlson, Golden Goal. Yeah, I've blocked that. out of my memory. That overtime goal against Martin Jones. Yeah, I don't know the one you're talking about. Yeah, I blocked that out of my memory. Yeah, Dean Blaze was coaching team USA. Raymond Bork was sitting right beside

the press box because his son was playing on the team and that's the first time I ever saw Raymond cheering against Canada. I was like, what are you doing? Okay, so from talking about the Ruck brothers and talking about Gavin McKenna,

we're going to talk about Carson Carlson now with his coach and general manager. One of my favorite players when he played. Mark Lamb joins us on the program now. Mark, first of all, thanks so much for stopping by today. You've sent another one into the NHL. Carson

Carl's goes 06th overall to the Calgary Flames to which you say what. Well, I'm not surprised at all. Maybe a little surprised. You never know when it's draft. I thought he might go a little bit higher.

You know, all as I know that they're going to get a really good player for a long time. You were a really good player for a long time. Tell us a defenseman that you played with that it reminds you of. Oh, you know, I've been asked that question a lot. Probably not so much, you know, that I played with. But a lot of guys in the NHL like Heskinan and, you know, all those high-end good skaters

that can play a real good defensive game. he reminds me of them all and they're all really high-end guys. You know, I had a couple of chances, most specifically when our crew was out in Penticton to see your series against the Vs. And right away, you could tell, okay, this guy is a cut above everybody else. At what point in Prince George did he really start to distinguish himself, take over games, demonstrate that this guy was on a different level? Well, you know, he started kind of showing that as soon as we drafted him.

But, you know, last year and, you know, with the coaching of Jimmy Playfair here, he just started to excel. Like he was, and he was a guy that plays both ways. And he can play the game any way you want it. And, you know, talking to the scouts at the start of the year, a lot of them were wondering about his offense. and I was always saying, don't worry about that. And, you know, we had a really good power play this year. He was a guy that quarterbacked it. Our penalty killing was outstanding.

Our team game was outstanding. And he was the leader in all the categories. One of the coolest things I saw from tonight was him on the farm with his family. Yeah. It was so phenomenal watch. And I think you kind of got a wild Bronco kind of background too, don't you, Mark? Yeah, yeah. He, you know, it's kind of cool.

Like, I grew up the exact same way he did, you know, and when we went out to Manitoba this year, we stopped at that place. You know, we had a big barbecue there. The family was great. And, you know, I understand a little bit of, you know, what an operation looks like and how much work it takes. And, you know, the mom, the dad, the brother, you know, the family is right there. And that's one thing about. these farming communities is you know lots of times you see a house with another house right on and it's the grandma the grandpa and uh everyone just lives there it's like a like a little community

and not so much cars's place but it was family the grandma and grandpa right right across you know the road from him and but uh you know you see all the goats and stuff like that and you and you see how his work ethic and all this stuff uh that he's doing out there. None of it's fake. It's all so real. And he brings that to the rink every day. You know, it's funny too, because before he came on,

we were talking to Kyle Raftus, the general manager of the Sousa Marie Greyhounds. And, you know, Brady Martin was last year's farm kid in the first round. And this year, it's your guy, Carson Carl. Is there something that you've seen or noticed that's specifically different about farm kids? Yeah. Yeah, I guess I had one. And it is kind of hard.

I know. I guess it's easy to kind of talk about it. But, yeah, it's, it is a work ethic. Like, you know, especially now, you know, when I talk to all these kids and they come to our training camp, not very many kids have to work in the summer anymore. It's, you know, they, they don't have to. They're working at their craft. It's not that they're lazy or anything like that.

But, you know, Carson, he gets up in the morning and he's got, he's got work to do. He, you know, he goes and skates and does his workouts and stuff like that. So I think that's, you know, the biggest difference. You just basically learn how to get out of bed and get to work. Anything else? I just happy to see Mark. It's great, eh? Yeah, it's great.

It's great to see you guys. And, you know, I don't mind this talking to you guys every year and after the first round. He keeps sending them. It's pretty good. Just keep sending them. Just keep sending them. I think it's a long time. Like, we go back a long ways.

We do. You know, we got to be a Jeff out there to Prince George. You can take us to the keg. Amen. Let's go. Yeah, it's not too far from my house here. It's been,

it's been a great spot. It's been where you had a lot of good hockey players going out of here right now. Yeah. Couldn't be happier as an organization. Well, you're doing a great job. Really well. Congratulations. It's a, you know,

him getting in the first round and getting sixth overall to the Calgary Flames. It's a great reflection on you, Mark, and a great reflection on the Prince George Cougars. So I know you're probably too shy to take a bow, but you deserve it. You've set another one to the show. Oh, thanks, guys. Where to go, Mark. There he is. Mark Lamb.

Thanks. The general manager, the Prince George Cougars of the Western Hockey League. What a player he was. I loved watching him on the Edmonton Oilers. I ain't going to line. He was so good. Always liked to coach against the league. Pain in the dairy air.

Yeah, I believe it. Well, he was hard to play against too, man. He was tough as nails. He was, like, such a great bond. He was a rodeo guy, man. I'm telling you, he was tough as nails. He was, eh? Oh, gee.

He's great. And listen, we got a couple of moments here left with you. Because I know you got some other responsibilities. Dan, you're the commissioner of the Western Hockey League. He's going to stop by here in a couple of moments. And we'll wrap up the first round coverage here. But let me ask you this one. Like, any surprises?

I'll be honest with you. And I did actually. did some research on this one. The Washington Capitals. When's the last time they took a Finn? 2006. You know who it was? Oscar Osala.

Oh my gosh. Was the last fan that the Washington Capitals took. Well, as soon as they did that, I started saying, when's the last time they took a Finn? It's remarkable how, you know, with Washington, I mean, everywhere else, they've grabbed, like, other, every nationality. They've been good with Russians. They've been good with Swedes, I mean, they're good with a lot of different, I mean,

I mean, a lot of different countries they get players, but I don't remember fins. But not the fins. And there it was, you know, the Washington Capitals. Let me just grab the, so Oliver Savanto goes, big 6'3-213-pound Finnish center, first time since 2006 with Oscar Rossello. So finally, finally, Chris Patrick grabs a fin. I don't even know if Chris was born then. But in all seriousness.

I mean, that to me is a big surprise. I was a big surprise. Washington is a sort of, they've never really taken Finn. So that's a wonderful development. But anything really surprised you. You made a great point on J.J. Peturka. I don't think people realize the impact that Marco Stern's going to have with J.J.

Petrka going there. I think that's going to be huge. I think it's going to be a mammoth for him. I really do. So one other thing that we should point out, the street continues for the London Knights. Now, last year. Unbelievable. Last year.

in the NHL draft, and it starts with Porter Martone and goes through like Jack Nesbitt and etc. Philadelphia Flyers went for size. Like Big Philly is back. If you look at the Philadelphia Flyers draft last year, it's massive. And so who do they take 27th overall, Maxim Sokolovsky? The meanest kid in the draft. Meanest kid in the draft, 240 pounds, 6 foot 7 from the London Nights.

And I'll tell you what. Well, you got to understand this, though. I think you do. And I don't want to cut you out. But I do want to tell you. Yeah. So Keith Jones learned at the hand of Dale Hunter in Washington. So the relationship between Keith Jones and Dale Hunter is immense.

And so when Dale talks, Keith listens. So the interesting thing about Maxim Sokolowski, as we mentioned, 6'7, 240 pounds. He goes, plays the London. of Nights goes to the Philadelphia Flyers. At the beginning of this season, there was no consideration that he was going to be in the first round. Probably nowhere close.

He's the classic guy that kept climbing and climbing and climbing and climbing. And I went to a couple of games that London-Sus-St. Marie Greyhound series. You know what that kid did? He made life miserable for Brady Martin. Every time Brady Martin was on the ice, Akalovsky was out there,

and it was anything other than easy for Nashville's first rounder last year. He did an incredible job. And I remember leaving the rink in London and never one saying like talking to Scouts like, this guy's going to the first round. Like we've just seen him grow. We've seen him get better. We've seen him develop. And he's big and he's nasty.

And of course, the team in orange grabs them. The Philadelphia Flyers. So there's two things that I learned a long time ago. Kevin Colbert was the general manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He's a very good friend and he's a huge jockey fan. He goes, I like the draft hearts and smarts. This guy's got hurt. He's got smart and he understands what he has to do to stay in the game.

Well, like if you happen to look here at the board behind us, like the stats aren't exactly staggering, right? 44 games laid for London nights, two goals, six assists, eight points. Doesn't matter. Like when you look at the NHL now, like toughness is back. Snarl is back. Like we live in an era now in hockey where everybody can skate, everyone can pass, everyone can play. Everyone can do the game.

How many general managers have you talked to who have said, I want someone that can play mean. In a game where the accent is on skill, meanness really stands out. That's this kid. That's this kid, London nights. Here's what I'll tell you. One other thing that stood out to me when I saw where he's from when I was doing a bunch of research.

Yeah. There are no direct flights from Kazakhstan to Toronto. Yep. That's a little bit of a travel day. That's a little bit of a hike. But any sort of surprises, anything sort of grab you? No, I was really blown away by what San Jose did. Really blown away.

I think the Rangers did pretty well because they had to be proactive. I like what Toronto did. I'm glad they didn't mess around. I think that, you know, he's the best player. You heard Willie Desjardons talk about. Gavin McKenna, he's the best player in the draft. But I think San Jose, oh, my goodness gracious, buckle up. That's a rough neighborhood now.

That's a tough time for Peter Lavialette to be going to coach the L.A. Kings, I'll tell you that. Oh, yeah, no kidding. Tough time. Quick wrap on what we saw. I mean, you mentioned San Jose, the big winners here, but first round's always fun. You know, I can recall seeing, you know, I love watching the kids going back to the hotels, and they're still wearing their jerseys. I remember being on a bus with Dylan Strom when he was drafted, going back to the hotel,

and that thing wasn't coming off. And I remember talking to Todd Warner when he was drafted by the Quebec Nordique. and how he slept in the jersey. When it came on, it did not come off. Like, the kids get those jerseys, and they do not want to take them off. I think it's so great. It's awesome.

I've never had a bad experience at the draft, ever. You know what? When you look at the faces of the kids, and the other thing that we don't spend enough time talking about, and I love the cutaways, to the parents, specifically, the moms. Well, they're the ones that usually do the heavy lifting. They really do.

I can tell you, I got a kid that's a pro hockey player and he wouldn't be anywhere near a pro hockey rink if it weren't for his mom. Amen. I would never home. Amen. I've got two at home and mom does all the heavy lifting. Well, I get to do stuff like this with you.

You are a dear friend, special. We had a great time, Pierre and I over the last couple of days. Yesterday spent a couple of hours at the Hockey Hall of Fame, which was a thrill and a treat. And if you ever get a chance to wander around the Hockey Hall of Fame with Pierre McGuire, you are lucky because he can't go a couple of steps without, A, somebody recognizing him, or B, getting an amazing story every couple of steps in the hockey hall of faith.

I want to thank Kelly Massey. She's great. What a job. Can't thank her enough. She basically runs the hockey all of faith. She's unbelievable. She really is fantastic. She did such a good job.

But being there with you meant so much to me because I know your passion and your energy and your knowledge. It was awesome. I loved your passion for the WHA. That was my first love, though. My dad, he's thinking of the Toronto's games. Come on, that's my first love. I threw out that name, Jamie Bateman.

It's almost like you knew who it was. He was one of the toughest guys ever to come out of Montreal. He played for the Quebec Nordiques, and he was a nasty son of a guy. Well, I mean, there were so many nasty players on the Quebec Nordiques, and we still remember that Rick Jodzio incident from the game against the Calgary Cowboys, which probably probably should have been, could have been a suspension. for life. The first kneeing suspension, I think, maybe I've ever seen in my life.

But yeah, the story is the WHA are legendary. You got stuff to do. I do. Thanks so much for parking time. Thank you, really appreciate it. It would be good. The great Pierre McGuire, I'm stopping by the broadcast today. You can, I know you got to do.

Just don't be shy about walking in front of the camera. Don't worry about it. So I think we're, are we standing by, Zach? We are waiting, yeah. Okay, so how long do you think we have? We're standing by for Dan near the commissioner of the Western Hockey League. This was, this was an in. interesting draft for the Western Hockey League.

And even though, like, one of the things now, let me frame it this way, one of the things now in hockey, specifically at the junior level, go by the camera, it's fine, yeah, don't worry about it. One of the things about junior hockey right now is there are some players, and we saw it with Gavin McKenna, who goes first overall, Keaton Verhoff, who went ninth to the San San Jose Sharks. Landon DuPont has just made the decision to go to Michigan. for his draft year.

So there are some kids that make the jump early. And for some of them, it's going to work out. And for some of them, it's not going to work out. But the one thing about it, too, is whether you're drafted from the CHL or whether your CHL career was two years long and then you went to NCAA, you know, Division I hockey a little bit early. The development time that you spend in the CHL for a lot of these players, I would argue the lion's share of these players,

it's really considered sacred by a lot of these kids. You know, it wasn't lost on anybody this year that after Gavin McKenna's season was over at Penn State, one of the first things that he did was go back to Medicine Hat. I believe his Billet family from Medicine Hat were at the draft tonight in round one, where he went first overall to the Toronto Maple Leafs. And he went and he skated with his old team,

the Medicine Hat Tigers. Some of those pictures are outstanding. Those are relationships you have for life. Those are our friendships you're going to have for life. Those are billets that you're always going to thank. Those are billets that are always going to be with you in spirit no matter where you go. So I know the landscape has changed and everybody understands that. And we're all getting it.

And we're all trying to figure out how to swim in these waters. But the development time is special in the CHL for these kids. And that's why I really do like, you know, in the Canadian Hockey League, whether it's someone who was drafted right from a CHL team or the CHL was part of their development, you know, the CHL can still call those players one of their own because that development time was so special. And we think about Gavin McKenna and we think about Keaton Verhof. It's an interesting time and it's all going to settle into what it's going to become. this is the first season of this new relationship, of this new understanding of the development pyramid and where it leads and how it leads. Like, you know, it's interesting.

We, you know, we think about someone like Caleb Malhotra drafted out of the brand for Bulldogs organization. We had Spencer Hyman on earlier. You know, he's committed to BU next year. But what if the Vancouver Canucks want to sign them now? What if they want to offer him a pro contract? now. That happens. He's not going to be you and he's going back to the Bulldogs. So it's not as if it's a sort of guarantee that this happens. So there are still some, even though

players have committed to Division I schools, when they get drafted, we see what happens with the NHL team and where they want those players. But again, this is all changing. This is an evolving process and we'll see where this is all going to end up. Hey, Jeff. Yes. Just as we wait for Dan here, I have a pretty cool clip, a callback from earlier. We went out to Brantford. What do you got?

Caleb Malhotra talking about his father, Mani and some internal competition if you want to see it. Always. Anything with Malhotra's. Let's go. What do you got? I got like a little side goal in my head. I kind of want to be drafted higher than my dad was. But that's just a little.

Listen, I think that's awesome. Like, that's like T. G. Ginla, same thing with his dad, right? Yeah. You want to. And you know, the only thing about it, too, is, you know, I always say this to kids. Usually, like, they're having their last U-18 season. You know, when you look at your dad, the one thing that you should really realize is that's the only man in your life that you'll ever meet who wants you to be better.

than him. And I'm pretty sure you get that with your dad, Manny. Yeah, I get that a lot, whether he's telling me what I need to do better. And it's not, he's never, I can feel the support of where it comes from. He's never trying to put me down or anything. Like, I was thinking about that the other day. He's, he's done so much in the league. He played almost a thousand games. He's coached for almost a decade now. And he's, he's giving me so much help and he wants me to succeed. So when I have someone like that that's helping me out and what's the best for me it's it's it's huge okay so 991 games for mani mojotra here's the stats 116 goals 179 assists 200 and 95 points and he earned whether you watched him play for the rangers the stars the blue jackets the sharks uh that connects the hurricanes

and the habs where he finished up he earned every single inch of ice that he got and to the original point and the original challenge. He was drafted 1998, NHL draft by the New York Rangers, seventh overall. Caleb Malhotra goes third overall to the Vancouver Canucks. So that challenge, Zach Phillips, won by Caleb Malhotra. And in the spirit of, your father is the only man you're going to meet who wants you to be better than him.

Caleb wins, man he smiles. It's a wonderful moment for the Malhotra family. Gavin McKenna goes first overall. Ivar Stenberg goes second overall. Caleb Malhotra goes third to the Vancouver Canucks. Daxon Rudolph. Kind of a surprise.

I don't know many, if any, who had him as the first defenseman off the board from the Prince Albert Raiders of the Western Hockey League. Daxon Rudolph goes fourth. to the Buffalo Sabres. A little bit of an eyebrow razor there. There was some speculation that perhaps the Buffalo Sabers might move that pick. Albert Smith's, the Latvian goes to the New York Rangers.

He's probably going to step into the NHL next season. He is NHL ready right now. If you've seen him play in the million different places that he played this season, you know that this guy is ready to step in. Carson Carl's nice talking to Mark Lamb about him as general manager at PG. He goes sixth to the Calgary Flames. Chase Reed had a nice conversation with his general manager, Cala Rafftus.

He goes seventh to Seattle. Vigo Bjork goes eighth to the Winnipeg Jets, Keaton, Verhof, 9th, San Jose, and Wyatt Cullen, 10th to the Nashville Predators. Yes, Philly. Was there anyone there in that first round that you were overly surprised at where they went to, whether it was moving up or moving down there in the draft,

that you said, wow, I can't believe that guy got picked by that team. or in that spot or that high up. That is an interesting one. I thought maybe Ethan Belchetz would go higher than 17th. Perhaps the injury was one of the factors there, but when you consider the size and the skill and how much nastiness and big hockey players are back in vogue in the NHL,

the Utah mammoth grabbed him at number 17. Um, no, I thought maybe Ryan Lynn would have gone earlier than 21. Like I think that's a, I think that's a steal for the San Jose sharks at 21 defensemen for the Vancouver Giants. See, here's the thing. Steel for the San Jose sharks seems like a, I know. It's a theme for tonight. No, I know. Absolutely.

The thing about Ryan Lynn, too, is as great as Ryan Lynn is as a defenseman right now, he's going to the University of Denver. So he goes into the David Carl finishing school for a young defenseman. Like you tell me that this kid's not going to come out even better and more polished and ready to join the NHL and the San Jose Sharks. I'll tell you, like I know it, we've already talked about it in discussing the Philadelphia Flyers. But I got to tell you, like, because I watched him early and thought, okay, he's big, he's tough. I don't know he's going to be a first round pick, but he's kind of a fun player to watch because he's so massive with the London Knights. Maxim Sokolowski.

And, you know, even when we were doing the pregame program, Stephen Ellis talked about Sokolovsky as well, just because he is so freakishly big, 6'7, 240 pounds, and big and nasty, just awful to play against. Like the toughest player in the draft this year, no surprise, goes to the Philadelphia Flyers, a team that's just trying to get nasty, nasty, nasty. Oh, here's one, here's a good one,

31st overall to the Nashville Predators. And this guy, this guy has, first of all, Gardner McDougall is a coach and did a tremendous job with him. I didn't know at the beginning of the season. This guy was going to go in the first round. But Tommy Belial goes to the Nashville Predators from Moncton, the Wildcats. G. Mack has done such a great job with this guy. So he goes 31st to the Nashville Predators. Interesting there, there are many that I've talked to who watch them a lot closer.

I've only seen him a handful of times. Really love them. The scouts that know when people around. Moncton will tell you there's a lot of Chris LaTang in this guy's game. So Tommy Belial gets into the first round. Maxim Sokolovsky gets into the first round. These guys made it in after being on the outside looking in for the start of the season and probably halfway through the season.

But the big riser is Caleb Malhotra. Like honestly, at the beginning of the season, there weren't many lists that were looking at Caleb Malhotra being in the first round. And he finds himself not just in the first round. round, but also third overall to the Brantford Bulldogs. Do we have Dan standing by? We do. Let's get to Dan Neer. He is the commissioner. We'll finish off with the commissioner of the Western Hockey League. Dan Neer joins me on the program. To finish things up, Dan, you know, we've had such an interesting time watching this. And one of the points that I was making today is, you know,

whether they were drafted right out of the CHL into their NHL teams or in the case of, you know, Gavin McKenna a couple of years with Medicine Hat and then one year with Penn State. These are still products of the CHL, whether they're drafted right from the Western Hockey League, where you're the commissioner, or whether they spent, you know, the majority of their time in the Western Hockey League and then one year somewhere else. I mean, how much sort of pride of ownership do you take over all of these players that went through your league? Well, look, it's a new reality and new environment.

And by the way, good to see it. Jeff. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, good to see it. I, you know, I'm not used to doing the 11 p.m. shift, so this is unique. That's where I started. But, yeah, you make a great point. And I think that, you know, everybody's adapting.

And I can tell you, we're just as proud of Keaton Verhoff and Gavin McKenna as we are of, you know, Ryan Lynn and Carson Carls and everybody else. I think that what we're going to find in this new world is everybody's development path is just a little bit different. You know, Gavin McKenna won a championship in our league. He played probably 150 games in our league. We were a significant part of his development and preparation to be the first overall pick. And man, the pageantry tonight, Justin Bieber out there, the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was a special night.

It was special life for hockey. And, you know, and the Western Hockey League, you know, I think our tally right now probably is seven. I'm waiting. I think there's one pick left in the first round here. Yeah, I don't know. You know, we're, that's roughly where we're. that's roughly where we expected to be. And that's a good start for us.

We, you know, we'll have players that continue on in our league. We'll have players that move on to play in the NCAA. We may have some players that go straight pro. And that's just the new world order. And, you know, we're very proud of the role we play in the development of these guys. It's one year into this new reality. I think every, like, I've kind of gone out of this way. Like, this is a new reality.

It's going to be awkward at times. It's going to be smooth at times. it's going to be confrontational at times. And that's why from my approach, I cut everybody a ton of slack. Like I right now, like I'm not judging anybody. I'm not casting aspersions on anybody. I'm looking at this and saying everybody's figuring out how to swim in these new waters. So honestly, I think the best thing that we can all do is say, look, we're all sort of

relearning this new development pathway. The best thing we can do is cut each other a lot of slack here until it all gets settled. Sure, and I think that the more we can be player-centric, the better. So just to give you an example, like my day today involved, I connected with Dane Jackson at North Dakota, with David Carl from Denver, with Niagara's coach, Omaha's coach, the Penn States Associate Coach. And what we talked about is the more we can communicate and understand one another and what our priorities and needs are, we're not always going to agree on everything and what

might be the best development path and trajectory, but let's know each other. Let's be open-minded. Let's be athlete-centric and athlete-first. Are we always going to agree and get along? Maybe not, but it's the cards we've been dealt. And that's not a bad thing. You know, we've talked about this and relieving the tension and friction of these young guys at an early age.

It's a good thing. And if we're going to debate about where should a player be at 18, where should a player be at 19, if that's the worst of all this, everybody's going to be just fine. Yeah. You know, one of the things that we're seeing, I pointed this out on the pregame program and I've been pointing it out to the last couple of days, the idea of equalization between the CHL and the NCAA by way of how long NHL teams have to sign a player. Historically, it has always been two years for CHL players for a year for NCAA players. That has now been equalized, even though in the MOU from the NHL, it said that it was not going to take effect until next draft. the CHL asked the NHL and the end I said no it's going to happen starting now so I'm guessing that come Saturday we will see more players than ever drafted in later rounds whereas that's kind of been the domain of NCAA for the past however many years but now because of the equalization we're going to see more CHL kids drafted late that's our hypothesis right now Jeff and you know Western Hockey League is typically 32, 33, 34 players drafted, I think there's a good chance

will be significantly higher, and that's a combination of things, right? It's a migration of talent to our league. So players are learning that if you want to be drafted to the NHL, you're from the West, the best place to be is in the Western Hockey League. And so, you know, a kid like J.P. Hulbert, we never would have seen before, right? And so that's a starting point. And then I think that the other piece of it is, like you said, when you get to rounds 5, 6, 7, and NHL teams, you know, players don't all

develop at the same pace and you're trying to decide do I take a guy that I have to make a decision on in two years or do I take a guy I have four years to make a decision on they used to have taken the fork in the road right and you got a college guy or you've got a Western League guy now the Western League guy might be the college guy and so we do see a shift we do hope and expect that our numbers are record setting at least since they changed the draft to a seven-round draft and you know we're anticipating the best results in 25 years Right. Here we are a year in. Do you have any idea what all of this looks like a year from now? Like you and I are talking about this at the end of the first round of the 2020,

27 draft. You have any idea what it's going to look like? Or are we just throwing darts at this point? Well, you know, data points help everybody, right? But at the same time, every player is a little different in his development journey. And I think that the more players that leave at different ages and the more players that stay at different ages. Like, you know, you look at some of the guys that stayed, whether it's a Braden Coots and what he ends up doing next year, whether it's Ben Kindle and the experience that he had this year, or you compare it to some of the guys who left,

and you try and say over, you know, a larger data set at different ages, what is the right place to be? I think one of the things, if you had to ask me, what might happen, is people will start to ask, is it only about whether you can, play at college or what versus whether you should play at college. And I've probably mentioned the stat to you before, but eight captains in the National Hockey League this year came from the dub.

And I think that part of what makes you prepared to take on those types of leadership responsibilities is what happens when you're the veteran on the team. So if you're a rookie and a second year guy and then you move on before you're the guy that everybody looks to when the team runs into a little adversity, has to play in all situations, deals with seven game series, and is the guy that might be playing 25 minutes a game, I think that's the type of character-building stuff that our league offers that prepares guys for the next level.

And so I think there'll be a little bit of leveling there where they're not racing. They're not racing to get to whatever the next step might be because there's more data points that prove if you're measured in your development approach, all of the options remain open and available to you, Whereas if you jump the gun and you leave early, you know, I've said this before. I've never heard somebody say, I stayed in the Western Hockey League too long.

It really hurt me. I've literally never heard anybody say that. I've heard the opposite. I've heard the opposite that I should have stayed longer. I hear the same thing about the American Hockey League. There's no such thing as staying too long in junior or staying too long in minor hockey until you're ready. One final question for you. And this is, like I think we're inching towards a finality on this.

That's how it feels. I spoke to Dan McKenzie on my show about this. last week. Is there any more clarity or sharpening of the pencil on what this, you know, 19-year-olds in the American Hockey League may look like? Do we have any more details? I don't know that there's anything I can share that you haven't already speculated or don't already know. It's been made clear by the National Hockey League and the Players Association that there's an importance for the general managers to have some flexibility on where they assign players with players available to go to college, not stay in the CHL.

I think that there's a rationale that there might be some players that could be better suited to develop as 19-year-olds in the American League. And there's also, I think, an important structure around that where if it's not working out or if it's not the best suited place for them, they can send them back to junior. And, you know, we continue to work with the NHL on that. They've been fantastic partners and collaborative. And they know that we're the best producer of talent for them. And they've been very cautious about really unintended consequences.

Like should we go certain directions around what players could be eligible, how many players could be eligible? What does that do for the development pipeline? Because these 16 and 17 year olds in our league, they do rely on the older players and the more developed players. Absolutely. To teach them, you know, to be NHL players. You know what I mean? Absolutely. Absolutely.

You know, one of the things that I do wonder about, about, you know, a kid goes to the American Hockey League is a 19 year old. It doesn't really work out. As far as reassignment goes, I'm guessing as far as reassignment dates would go, it would have to be before the trade deadlines. So you would have an idea of what you're working with, right? That would be ideal because I think that off, you know, if you think about a player that would be one of the best in our league and if they were to get sent back after the trade, deadline and they were on a non-contender. I don't know that that's a great development experience. Typically speaking, if you've got a high-end player like that coming back from the

world juniors and they're on a non-contender, they're typically going to get traded to a contender to try and make a run in their final season in the league. And so I think that would be our preference. And I think, you know, what you're suggesting is where we would imagine a deal like this would land. That makes sense. Okay. Final thought from you.

Just a general thought, like Gavin McKenna, Medicine Hat Tigers, Daxon Rudolph, PA, Carson-Carl's, PG, like Keaton Verhoff, Victoria Royals, before he goes to Nodak. Just a quick thought on what we've seen here in the first round from your perspective in the Western League. Well, I think we've always had a reputation for producing defensemen, and so no surprise to see some strong defensemen that are almost NHL ready in a lot of cases.

I know that, you know, there's a journey ahead of all of these guys, but, you know, we continue to be a physical league. a tough league to play in. And we're unapologetic about the grind and the grit that's involved in playing in our league. You've got to be tough. And you have to have some mental fortitude. And I think these players, in addition to being really good hockey players, are high character guys. I've had a chance to interact with all of them.

We had an outstanding prospect showcase. They played in the CHL, US NTDP challenge. You put them on a platform a number of times. I've met many of their parents. And these are grounded young men who, are doing all the right things to set themselves up for the next step in their journey. We're very, very proud of them and we know they'll do well. Listen, congratulations to the Western Hockey League on a very successful NHL draft today,

comma, again. Dan, you're always generous with your time. We really appreciate it here at this corner. Enjoy the rest of the draft weekend, and we'll catch up soon. Thanks, Jeff. Take care. There is. Dan, you know, the commissioner of the Western Hockey League on a successful one from them. And again, it's the Ronan Defenseman from the Western Hockey League. League Daxon Rudolph to Buffalo, Carson Carls to the Calgary Flames, Keaton Verhoff, to the San Jose Sharks.

And by the way, just as we wrap things up here really quickly, yes, he did go. Jackson Cover goes to the Ottawa Senators 30 seconds. So London does get a couple of their prospects in under the wire. We talked a lot about Maxim Sokolowski a couple of seconds ago, the big defenseman. Jackson Cover, who grew up playing roller hockey in the Cayman Islands before he played ice hockey when his family moved to Canada. Ended up going into St. Andrews College. Dave Manning runs the program there.

It does an outstanding job in Aurora at that incredible school that continues to crank out, prospect after prospect. Jackson Cover, who has some of the slickest hands you've ever seen from the London Knights goes 32nd overall to the Ottawa Senator. to wrap up the first round of the NHL draft 2026. And that's it for us here. I want to thank Pierre McGuire for a great couple of days here on the show. We recorded some stuff for the Hall of Fame, as we mentioned.

That was a lot of fun. So thanks to Pierre for stopping by and hanging out for a couple of days here in downtown Toronto. Zach Phillips has produced everything, and he's been tremendous. Philly, as always, great job. And where's Nick Carolli? He's hiding back to there he is, there he is, who's helped. Put all of this together to make sure that it runs smoothly. So poodles like me have nothing to complain about.

Thanks to you for watching. Thanks to you for listening. Glad to have you aboard. Rounds 2 through 7 Saturday. Enjoy it. The sheet returns Monday at 1 o'clock. We'll wrap it all up and like, who's kidding who? There'll be more trades and we'll still be wondering about Jason Robertson.

Have a great weekend. Signing off from downtown Toronto. Because you can call it all right.