The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Barry Trotz Steps Down, Stadium Series, and Trade Freeze Approaching ft. Pierre McGuire

Episode Date: February 2, 2026

Season chaos meets front-office shakeups on today’s episode of The Sheet as Jeff Marek is joined by Pierre McGuire to break down one of the wildest Stadium Series spectacles in recent memory. From outrageous pregame fits to Jon Cooper’s Scarface-inspired suit, the guys react to the atmosphere, the edge, and the goalie-fight chaos surrounding the Tampa Bay Lightning. Then the conversation pivots to a major NHL development as Barry Trotz steps down as general manager of the Nashville Predators. What led to the decision, how it reshapes the Predators’ direction, and what comes next for the organization are all on the table. Don’t miss a wide-ranging, opinionated look at the biggest storylines around the league.Leave a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheSheetEmail us: [e-mail] TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/caReach 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/@FNBarnBurner🚨 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-faceoffReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!#TheSheet #NHL #StadiumSeries #TampaBayLightning #NashvillePredators #BarryTrotz #JeffMarek #PierreMcGuire #HockeyNews #GoalieFight #JonCooper Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Okay, Barry Trots is out as general manager of the Nashville Predators. That is the lead headline story here today for this Monday, February the 2nd. Thanks for joining us here on the sheet once again. Glad to have you aboard. Pierre McGuire standing by. We'll get to beer here in a couple of moments. That is the new story of the day, but it's not the only story we're going to jump on today. We should have a thought or two about the stadium series,

which was actually a really good game, punctuated by a goalie fight, comma, again. We will talk about Tom Wilson and the Washington. in Capitals, Wilson with the hit on Logan Stancoven, had an interesting conversation with T.J. O'Shee this morning for the podcast that I do with Bruce Boodro for Monumental. And O'Shea had a couple of really interesting thoughts about body positioning coming around the net. Share that with you. Coming up here in a couple of moments and the NHL trade fees is on the horizon as well.

We'll get into all things trade around the National Hockey League. In the meantime, the sheet is powered by, or the blueprint, rather, is powered by Fanduel. Download the app today and play your game at Fandu. Coming up on the program, it's good to have Pierre Beguire on for a Monday because there's always lots to get to, and that includes a lot of questions around Nashville. I've got some, let's just say, educated guesses, or educated speculation about what could happen next with the Preds

as Barry Trots steps down as general manager. We will talk about the stadium series. We'll talk about Swainman and Vasilevsky. Goley fights. What is it with Florida goaltenders? And we will talk about Tom Wilson and we'll talk about the trade freeze, which is on the horizon here. In the meantime, let's get right to them. No need to wait because there's lots to get into with today's news of Nashville and Barry Trott's stepping down, Pierre-Iguire.

First of all, this one, and good to see you again, my friend. This one caught me by the front. I wondered a number of different times this year whether we were going to see perhaps, even though Trots always said, no, no, no, I don't want to do it. I had wondered if Barry Trots might have fired Andrew Brunette early in the season. and maybe installed himself as the head coach, maybe Brian Poyle would have taken over as the general manager. Obviously, none of that happened. And I thought, okay, it's smooth waters, everything's cool.

Boy, was I ever wrong? Because this morning we get the news, Barry Trott's stepping down. Now, as we speak, there will be a press conference where Barry Trots will speak. So if there is anything substantial, Zach's monitoring, he'll break in and bring us all the latest. But your thoughts on this bit of news this morning? Well, first of all, the way I look at it, owner's own, presidents preside, managers manage, coaches, coach, players play, scout, scout, and trainers train. I'm not sure that's the way the chain of command is working

in Nashville right now if Barry Trottes is in fact stepping aside because the last time I visited with Barry, which wasn't that long ago, he was super motivated. He loved his job. He loved evaluating players. He's truly a scout even though he was a great coach. He was truly a scout at heart. and I think, you know, obviously that's how you got to start in pro hockey, working for the late great Jack Button. Barry Trots did end David Poil in Washington. But the truth of the matter is that I think this is one of those where Mr. Haslam is deciding that didn't like some of the things around the organization and they want to push forward.

There's a couple of things here. So one, I like how you maintain from owners to presidents, et cetera. Fiddlers, fiddle and dancers dance is what I was always told. And that's the way that it should go. But I also think of the golden rule, which really goes like this, he who has the gold makes the rules. And so if the owner wants something to happen, that is essentially what is going to happen. As for what's next. Now, Bray Trots is staying on until a new manager is found.

There's a couple of things that I wondered about after talking to some people this morning. And again, this is all very fresh and the search hasn't started, but I think we all wonder sort of what's on the horizon here for Nashville. I want to get back to Barry in a second. As someone pointed out to me, both George Peros and Ryan Getslap live in Nashville. As we've seen with the Department of Player Safety specifically, going back to Brian Burke, right through to Brendan Chanahan and all the way through, that is generally a position that you have in the NHL office, which leads to something else, generally some type of management position with a team in the league.

You don't really, if you have ambitions for that, you don't really stay there for necessarily as long as you would as a manager of a team. The other combination that I would look at is I would really wonder about the combination of Rob Blake and Brendan Shanahan. Now, we're going to hear a lot of different names to take that position. I think Ryan Martin with the Rangers organization could be one. Like, we can go all down the list and put together names of managers in waiting. But I would wonder about someone like Brendan Shanahan going in as president and Rob Blake going in as general manager.

I could wonder about, you know, George Peros going in. I could wonder about Ryan Getslap going in. As I mentioned, both those two gentlemen live in Nashville. Not that that necessarily has. much to do with it, but they're there and they have those ambitions. Do you have a thought on what could be next year for the Preds? I think that there's a name you haven't mentioned, although those other names are good names, but what about Paul Fenton who helped build the Nashville Predators into an amazingly competitive team and still a lot of his fingerprints are on that Minnesota Wild team. You know,

all you have to do is look at Matt Boldie as an example. You know, it was Paul that was a real influence on that. I think Paul Fenton is somebody that would be brought up. He's been part of the Florida Panthers now have been three straight runs to the Stanley Cup final. They went two Stanley Cups. And so I got to think his name would be involved in that too. But I like your idea on Shanahan and Blake. There's a relationship between the two of them, obviously, and a lot of mutual respect, I would think. I just wonder, though, to be fair, Jeff, with Brendan in particular, who lives closer to the New York, New Jersey area and that New England area.

about what about the potential for, and I hate to say this, because I don't like to speculate about people's jobs, but clearly it's been an underachieving season with New Jersey. Clearly it's been an underachieving season for the New York Rangers two years in a row now. So you wonder about whether there could be something there for Brendan, who is a big name and is obviously very popular around the national hockey league offices. I've always wondered whether, at some point,

just thinking on Shanahan, quick as an aside, if slash when there is a new hierarchy in the NHL, if essentially Brendan Chanahan could slide into Colin Campbell's role. That could happen for sure. I think that's more than fair. But anyway, I think we're going to start to hear Brendan Chanahan's name a lot more around a lot of positions, both in the NHL and I think teams as well. I just wrote down like a quick list before the show.

You can probably fill in more here. of the things that I've talked about a lot with with Barry Trott specifically because we don't really see this very often coaches taking management positions now it has happened in the past we've talked about the cat and Emil Francis before um Pat Quinn Bob Ganey Glenn Sather Brian Murray Hunt Shimlack Jack Adams like if you want to go all the way back um so it's not as if this is completely new it's just a difficult mindset. And this is what makes like, you know, say they're in Quinn, et cetera, and Kat,

just so remarkable. You know when you're a coach, Pierre. Listen, you've done both. I'll throw you into this mix, too. When you're a coach, you're worried about the next game, and then the next game, and then the next game. And you get on those sort of trolley tracks of just got to win the next game, got to win the next game. And when you're a manager, sure, you're thinking about winning the next game. But at the same time, you're also thinking about, okay, what's this mean for the draft? What's this mean for free agency?

What's this mean two years? What's this mean five years, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. When you're a coach, it's like, we need to win the next game. We need to win the next game. So it's a difficult mental shift when you're a coach. And as coach, as long as successful as Barry Trots has been, I would imagine that that adjustment would have been difficult going from, I'm living game to game to I'm living two, three years out.

Yeah, long-term strategic planning is a big part of being a manager. There's no question. I once went into, I was invited actually by Lou Lamarillo into his office in New Jersey. And he said, I want to show you something. And we've always had a very good relationship going back to when he was a coach at Providence College. And so he brings me into his office in Jersey and he pulls his curtain. And he says, here's my depth charts from all over the world with our organization. I'm like, well, that's fascinating because it's the first time I'd seen it on a board like that.

Most of the time guys had it in a book or on a computer. And then he says, here's what I do. I have a seven-year plan. I have a five-year plan. I have a four-year plan. I have a three-year plan. I have a two-year plan. I have a one-year plan.

And I have a six-week plan. He had planned long-term strategic planning for all these different potential moments. And one of the things I remember the most, when he got Kovilchuk from Atlanta, we were both at a function together. It was a funeral. and he came up to me and he goes, I shocked you, huh?

You didn't think I'd do it. I said, I didn't think you would do it. And he goes, remember when I took you into my office and I showed you all those plans? I said, yeah, I didn't remember. He goes, well, that was my one-year plan. That was my one-year plan. So at all. Did he have Colvichick's name on there?

He didn't say, but I'm just, you know, it just showed you how quick you got to be in terms of reacting. And one of the things that I think he did as. well or better than anybody else, he accumulated assets. Now, David Conti and Marshall Johnson, they were big parts of that. They were huge parts of that. But they accumulated assets. And one of the things they did that was so smart, every draft, they identified really important potential goaltenders.

And almost every draft, they would draft a goalie. They accumulated goalies as barter, as a potential for trading people. And it really worked. But, you know, think about Mike Dunham. Think about Chris Terrer. Think about Marty Bourdure. You know, Peter Sodorkew, he came from Ottawa. You can go down the line.

They accumulated goalies from everywhere because they thought that that was collateral that they could use in the game. It was a big chip in the game for them. And so I learned that from Lou. The best managers always had this amazing strategic planning, but they can evaluate over time. Yeah. And it could be yearly. It could be monthly.

It could be weekly. Did you have a hard time making the shift from going from, We got to win the next game, next game, next game to, okay, now we've got to look at long-term planning. I'm in a management role now. You know, when it happened, I was working with Paul Holmgren in Hartford, and Paul was a GM and the head coach because Brian, Brian Burke had gone to work for Commissioner Bettman. Yep. And so I went right from coaching to going in the front office. And so, yeah, and it was about getting contracts done, like Christopher Pronger's contract coming into entry level.

There was no cap at the time doing that. with Patrick Morris and with Donnie Meant at Newport Sports. And just all those things, you know, Mario Gossom, getting contracts done before training camp, you got to do it. So you're not focused on the hockey part. You're focused on the business part. Did I have a hard time doing it? I hope I didn't.

I don't think I did. But I got great advice from people like Scotty Bowman or people like Kenny Holland or people like Brian Burke. Brian had left, but Brian and I had some really good talks about how to pursue negotiating contracts. So I think it's important that you're not. not afraid to talk to people and hear what they have to say. You just can't go too far in terms of creating a massive circle.

You got to have a circle of people you trust. Would you look at the Nashville Predators right now? We tend to focus a lot on, you know, Stephen Stamco's and Jonathan Marciusoe and Brady Shea, like the most, the signings from two summers ago when we awarded the Stanley Cup to the Nashville Predators in July. And we all said, the Nashville, don't bother with the season, Gary, just skip it and hand the Stanley Cup to the Nashville Predators. And so we focused on that a lot.

But the one thing for anybody who watched the Willa Juniors until he hurt his shoulder understands now is they have a really good player in Brady Martin. They have a really good young defenseman in Tanner Malindyke. So it's not as if this is a organization that is bereft of prospects. And there's still some good veteran players there as well. Given that there's going to be this turnover and there's going to be a new general manager

how do you expect the Nashville Predators to behave around trade deadline now and is this hurry up offense to get someone in there quick before deadline or is this is this and maybe we'll find out about this at the press conference do you think this is still Barry's deadline? Well I hope it's still Barry's deadline

I just don't know about the relationship he has with ownership we're going to find that out at the press conference That's why I said to you what I said at the beginning, Jeff. Owners own, presidents, preside, and managers manage. Okay, Zach's got an update from the president. What do you got? Yeah, so Bill Haslam has said that Barry Trott's is still the general manager of this team, and this is his trade deadline.

So just his trade deadline. Okay. Yeah, perfect. So we're keeping the chain of command. The owner owns, and now the director of hockey operations and general manager is going to run the trade deadline, which is the way it should be. and he's not going to sabotage the organization. He just got too much of a reputation, too much professionalism.

There's some serious questions that have to be asked in Nashville. What happened over the last two years? What happened? You know, and I feel bad because I coached a long time, both in college and in pro. Andrew Burnett is in a tough spot right now. He's in a really tough spot right now because usually when a new manager comes in, a new coach comes in. And so he's in a tough spot.

And I don't know how they want to manipulate their roster going into their trade deadline, but there's some players that have value. Like, would you consider trading Romaniosi? Would you consider trading Steve Campos? Would you consider trading? You have to look at it. Would you consider trading Jonathan Marsh as though? You know, would you consider trading Ryan O'Reilly?

There are some serious questions that have to be asked there. UC Soros. Well, I think there's a market for him. and I would consider trading him. It's unfortunate, you know, because when Pecca was there, and I think Peck is one of the most underrated players in the history of the last 15 years in the league. I really do.

Pecker-Rinney was a phenomenal, phenomenal player. Never got enough love. Never got enough love. They had a great tandem together, but I don't know if they could do that right now. I just internally, I don't know if they could do that. See, the one thing I wonder about with Barry Trots handling the deadline, so who sets the agenda for,

this team now. Because Barry is exiting. And Barry had one plan. Obviously, the original plan was, listen, we're getting veterans and we're still going for it. And you can make the case when you look at, you know, listen, the central is an absolute beast. We get it.

Edmonton has been, well, recently getting blown out at home. The Vegas Golden Knights have lost six of their last seven. Like there are positions here to take, right? Like there are spots here. And I'm guessing if you're Barry Trots, if you weren't poised to step down, your idea would be we're adding. We're adding here. And we're going to take a swing at it. Does that change now?

I think it does. But I also hope that Barry's just going to be his own man. He probably has to run things up the flagpole. So he may say, I'm going to trade Jeff Merrick to the New York Rangers and I'm going to bring back A, B, and C. And if ownership says, yeah, you can do that, then I'm sure you'll do it. but I think right now the situation seems so ten years. And I hope somebody asks the question at the press conference. Maybe he's acting to keep this updated.

But the biggest question that should be asked is if Barry makes a trade and you don't agree with it, will you sign off on it? You know, and I don't know how much Mr. Hatham even knows about NHL players. And he must have somebody advising him. I hope he does. But he should probably stay out of it at this point and just hope that Barry knows the value of player around the league. That's the most important. This is where people get trade deadlines so wrong.

They don't recognize the value of one player. One player may have a value of A plus in one market. Yes. You may have a de-minant in another market. You got to know the marketplace on every single player with every single team. Because if you don't, you're going to be fouled up at the trade deadline. That's just how it works. Not wrong.

Okay. So we'll see if anything else jumps out from the Barry Trots press conference, but the news of the day, Barry Trots retiring. as general manager of the Nashville Predators after a new general manager is named. In the meantime, that was a really good stadium series game yesterday. Like, I've become like outside of the live event, which I see a lot of value in for the fans, for the players. Like, I get it. Like as a live event, these things are still great.

As a television property, you know, it's it's passed a little bit for me. It's adequate. It's okay. Like the guys aren't going at 100%. The conditions aren't controlled. We understand why. Yesterday's game was really good. And it's not just like, oh, yeah, and there was a goalie fight.

Even without the goalie fight. That's still a really good and interesting game. What did you think yesterday? Like a really competitive game. Some controversy. I'm still trying to figure out how the whistle wasn't blown on David Posternock before scoring on the two-on-one. okay, like I haven't seen the perfect players so I don't expect the perfect official.

But that game was really good. Like even like cynical me about outdoor games. Like I'm like, this is a great game. I'm enjoying this. I thought it was really good. Number one, number two, I thought the tempo the game was set when the Tampa Bay Lightning players with their game numbers walked in

in Tampa Bay Buccaneer football uniforms. And one of the cool things I thought was that Ryan McDonough, who was an amazing athlete, amazing athlete at Creighton Durham High School in Minnesota, played football, hockey, and baseball. He looked like the only guy there, 27, that was a football player. He actually knew how to wear the pad.

He was the only guy that looked like he knew how to wear the pads and walk. I thought that was really cool, but this is a great job by all those guys. By the way, Hedman number 77, he looks like he could be a tight end in the NFL. He's as big as most tight ends in the NFL. that's what they look like. But McDonough is the only guy that carried off the uniforms. There was Baker Mayfield with his arms over his head. And it was cool to see McDone and go up to Baker Mayfield and hug him.

I'm watching that and I'm going, there's a guy that understands football talking about Ryan. And then the other thought, John Cooper and his staff with the duds that they wore on the bench. That was a good touch. It was good. It set the tempo for what was a really good game. And have we talked enough about Kutcheroff, Jeff? Have we talked to have.

No, no, no, we can never talk enough about Kuturoff as far as I'm, this is like open door policy on talking about Kuteroff here. Yes, but the thing that I've always, the point, I think maybe you and I have talked about this too. God, Cooper looks great. If you're watching us on YouTube, just chomping the cigar, just like, hey, Scott Fache, like, holy smokes, he looks fantastic. What a look. The thing about Kucheroff, and I would say this about Marian Hosa once upon a time, I would say this about Bob Ganey once upon a time. I would say this about Bob Ganey once upon a time. Like Kucherov is the players that the players like watching.

Because there's only like how many guys can do what Kuturoff does? So you just stole a line for Mark Recki. Mark Recky played with Marion Hosa in Atlanta. And I was talking to Mark about Marion, you know, because I was very fond of Marion as a player. Remember one of them was with the Portland Winter Hawks in the Oman Cup? and he couldn't finish it, and he had to be wheeled out of the ice with a wheelchair.

It was, you know, just amazing. Really fond of him as a player and as a person. And I asked Mark once, I said, hey, you've played with so many dynamic players, including Mario Lemieux and Ronnie Francis and Yarmour Yager. He says, yeah, and the most underrated one, all of him is Marion Hosa. Marion Hosa.

He says, without a doubt, the most underrated one. So I'm with you on Kutrov, because when I think about now, modern-day NHL players, like Mark told me about Marion. I think I'm comfortable to tell you. I think Kutrauss in that category. Probably the most underrated player. Nobody talks about them.

Which is weird. It's weird because he's won everything. Hard trophies, Stanley Cup, all of it. But he's the one. I'm always curious about, like, from a fan's point of view, there are players that you would pay money just to see. I'm going to pay my money just to see Ovechkin, to see Nathan McKinnon, to see Connor McDavid.

Now it's me, I'm arguing. Kail McCart. you Schaefer or some would say but maclyn celebrini in san jose if you asked n hl players who would you pay to watch who do you think would be number one right now i'd say probably con or mac david yeah probably be one you know just because of the sheer speed and again i hate the name drop but i think it's important because he gives context to this i was talking to mary lemur this summer we got together and i said you watched macdiams David Munchy goes, oh, yeah, I go, what do you think? And he goes, I've never seen a player

go so fast and makes such skillful plays as this player. I've never seen that before in my life. And I said, you're right. I'm down there between the benches, and I'm telling you, I've never seen a player, whether it was Paul Coff, and I wasn't there for Bobby or Paul Coffey or any of the great skaters, Pavellbury, you know, either coached against him or you coach them or you watch them on TV or you broadcast their games. I've never seen a player do it, McDavid, doesn't Mario said that to me. Like,

I'm just telling you. So he would be probably the one that everybody watched, but I think the most underrated one again is Kutrapp. Like, he's an artist. He's an artist. He really is. Well,

he's both an artist and a magician. Because he's a better musician. He's the master of, look over here, look over here, look over here. Meanwhile, I'm doing something with that,

that nobody can see. Right? Like, that's him. The dean of deception. That's what he, He's so good at deception. He really is.

Yeah. You know, like I look at, it's interesting, you know, it's having a conversation this morning on the pod day I do with Gabby. We're talking to T.J. Oshy. And one of the things we got to, we started talking about shootouts and body position and all that. And he used to play basketball, right?

He loved playing basketball. And that's where, and you still see it now. He used to always marvel at T.J. O'Shey. I don't know that I saw anyone head fake more than T. Until I saw Connor McDavid. Like we all focus on Connor McDavid's feet.

Look at the head fakes. And how many times, like you look at the Morgan Riley play. That's a basketball play. It's a basketball play with the shoulders in the head. And Riley bites hard. But you look at McDaly, so much of it is, we focus on his feet, watch his head.

Watch McDavid's head, man. You know who's really good at that? I'm just going to date myself, Gilbert Perra. Oh, the great number 11. The speed and the head fakes. I watched it. It was a Montreal junior Canadian. Like, it was just as a kid growing up. Then you see him in the

NHL and you're like, oh my gosh, this guy's so He was so good. Well, speaking of so good, this is a team that you know very well this season. And that's the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have now won six games in a row, and, you know, Crosby's getting a million points again, and Malkin looks fantastic. But the players that I want to focus on with you, and by the way, very quietly, much like Colorado,

they've completely swapped out their net minors this year from season to season very quietly here. the fourth line so Lazzot oh honestly Pia and you watch a lot is that not the best fourth line in the NHL I know Crosby this and Malkin that and Ben Kindle has been fantastic but is that not the best fourth line in the NHL

right now it reminds me so much and when Clutterbuck Sezikas and Martin played for the New York Islanders it's a phenomenal identity line you know I just Connor Dewar wants to PPW, he wants to prove people wrong. Blake Lizat just got a contract extension.

He's tired of hearing people say he's too small. And Nola Chari's tired of hearing people say he's too slow and too old. You know, I watched Nola Chari when he was a kid playing at the Kent School in Connecticut. Then he went to Providence College, and he was part of a national championship team playing for Nate Lehman there. And I got to tell you, he was a free agent signing by the Boston Bruins. But you knew right away this kid after watching the American League, he was going to play. because he had the heart the size of the state of Rhode Island.

I'm just a phenomenal, phenomenal kid. And Lazart's the same. You know, he got tired of people saying he's too small when he played at St. Cloud State. And Connor Dewar's been kicked around all over the league. He's a good player. These guys are a tremendous line. And Dan Mews and his staff in Pittsburgh,

I got to tell you, Jeff, they deserve a huge amount of credit, huge amount of credit. Yeah, I know. There's a couple that coming off this weekend, even though, you know, all be it in a loss for the Boston Bruins, but two coaches here. As much as, you know, John Cooper has been fantastic and overlooked for a long time. And there's also a guy who's coaching the Colorado Avalanche.

And last time I checked, they were pretty good too. But the work that both Dan Mews for Pittsburgh and Marco Stern have done for the Boston Bruins, like, they're not, I don't think they're going to get there for the Jack Adams, but should definitely be in the upper echelon. of that conversation. You have a thought on both? I mean, obviously you're around Dan more than Marco, but you have a thought on both these guys.

I've known Marco since he was a young kid. Details. Details, details. That's all I hear from anyone who's playing with details, details, details, details. I hope that young John Ferguson, Jr. is watching that Marco Stern was his father's most favorite player in San Jose. I can tell you, John Ferguson, Sr., and I used to talk a lot, and he just thought the world of Marco Stern.

He really did. He thought he was phenomenal, and he's a huge fan. You know, Marco's biggest thing is people forget this in 2018 at the Olympics in Pyeongchang. He was a coach of the German team. They were one icing away. Seidenberg, iced the puck, not Dennis, his brother, ice the puck and allow the Russians to get a face off and eventually tie the game late in the game. If that doesn't happen, the Germans win the gold medal, even though I know it's not best on best.

They beat the Russians. No way should they even been in the game. That would have been their 1980 moment. And I truly believe it would have changed. It would have changed the perception of hockey in Germany, even though it's because of dry-siddle and because of Stutzel, it's getting better and better. J.J. Peturka, the perception of hockey is better now.

But so Marco's always been a good coach, and he's a real good coach in the American Hockey League, too. Yes. In terms of Dan News, he learned so much from Peter Lavialette. He learned so much being the U.S. national team development program. He learned a ton with Phil Halsey. They're all really good hockey people, good coaches, but where he was really smart, surrounded himself with veteran guys.

Todd Nelson's a guy that I had the honor of coaching in Pittsburgh. It's a professional guy. You know, you look at Stout, Mike Stothers. You look at what's gone on with that team, the internal development of their players. Look at Andy Ford and the job he's done with the goalies. The internal development of their players, Nick Bonino on face-offs. The internal development in Pittsburgh is off the charts. It's off the charts.

All their players, Ryan Shea, I would defy you to tell me one left defenseman in the league that's more improved than Ryan Shea. You're not going to find one. I think Ryan Shea's plus 22 this year. Does nobody even know Ryan Shea was playing in the NHL, unless you were a Pittsburgh fan or you were his father, Neil? You wouldn't know. I think they've done such a good job with internal development.

And their farm team in Wilkesbury is phenomenal. too. They're in a real Kyle Dugas and Jason Spets in a short period of time done a fantastic job there. They really have. Now let me throw one more coach at you for coach of the year. Nobody's given this guy any love. Lane Lambert. Lane Lambert.

No. Oh. But I don't know. Seattle's in third place, man. I know. I'm right. Okay. Go. Johnny Heinz in Minnesota. 100%.

With all the injuries they've had, Minnesota's cakewalking people. They're, overrising teams. Nobody's talking about the job that Johnny Heinz has done with Jack Capuano. That staff is so good. They're so good. I mentioned off the top,

like there have been a handful of games that are, you know what owners are like. If you guys are going to get blown out, don't get blown out at home. But there's been a handful of games in the last couple of months where the Oilers have kind of been blown out at home. And so you can see where Darrell Gates might get a little bit, a little bit squirly, right?

And it makes sense. But nonetheless, Minnesota was the most latest to deliver it to them. Like on Saturday night, like when Minnesota started to peel away, like Edmonton could do nothing to stop that momentum. And the addition of Quinn Hughes, obvious statement, 2,456, what he's done for the offense from the back end for the Minnesota wild, to say nothing of limiting offensive zone time for the opposition. Like the puck doesn't stay in Minnesota's zone very long when Quinn Hughes is on the ice.

It just doesn't. If you don't believe, Jeff, go watch the tape of Quinn Hughes with the stretch passer, Yoll Ericksonek in Edmonton the other night. That's Exhibit A. And then you look at the partnership of Brock Faber and Quinn Hughes together. That's unfair because they're going to be a tandem for Teen USA. say they've had a two-month tryout camp getting to one another you know it's it's insane um billy deserves credit billy garren deserves a lot of credit there too um with mattie hendricks they've done a

nice job accumulating assets and their team i think is really um come together one of the key pieces to their team was mad zucorello when he wasn't there at the beginning of the year they were kind of like this you get zuccarello it's a consistent guy that plays in your top six and watch how quick he scores off that face-out play the face-off. The face-off goal. Nobody's moving. It's a clean win. And his like, of course he rolled his wrists, but it doesn't look like it.

It's so fast. It's like on his stick and it's off. And then they got, you know, Hartman wins that draw. And Hartman is just a nasty piece of business to play. He's such a pro. So you got Felino and Hartman that drive everybody nuts. And you got all the skill guys up front with Caprice off and Boldy and everybody else. But nobody talks about.

their team unless you live in the state of hockey in Minnesota. They're like the team that nobody talks about. Well, but here's the issue though. Like you, I mean, the last, I think it was like 2014 or maybe 2015. They got out of the first round. Right. Like they, like they need to get, they need to take that step. But it's going to be tough. Like they're going to play Dallas, right? Like, it ain't going to be easy. No, it's not easy. So here's the thing. And Mr. I wish Mr. I hope Mr. Leopold gets his clip. So we were sitting there. It was probably 2011, 2012, right in there. And they're playing Chicago in the playoffs. And it's the first round. And he's all excited. And he sits down next to me in the United Center. It's dark. And it's just the two of us sitting there having a

cup of coffee talking. And he says, so what you take on the series? I said, Mr. Leopold, you guys are going down like a free beard of frat party. He goes, what? I said, you're going to get trope. And he goes, no way. I wouldn't lie. You asked me the question. I'm not going to lie to you. You're going to get beat pretty good. And they did.

I said, your team's not ready yet, but they will be the unfortunate part for many. And it reminds me so much of Winnipeg and it reminds me so much of Calgary until they broke through in 89. They always, both those teams had to go through Edmonton. These poor guys in Minnesota, they're either having to go through Dallas or they're having to go through Colorado. It's just barbaric and savage, right? There's, like, who you've beaten. Well, that's just, that's just it, right? Like, here's their chance.

And you know that Jim Nell is still going to do something to help this team. And, but the thing is, Bill Garon's going to do the same. Like, Bill Garon is not done. I think we're all wondering about someone like Vincent Trocheck, right? And Bill's going to be there in Italy with him for a couple of weeks. Like, that one could make sense. You don't think they'll talk to them. Really, really, really talked to them.

I have, well, that doesn't have. happen in the NHL, sir. I don't know what you're insinuating, sir. The soft hampering. Some soft hampering. Some soft hampering. Look, like, I think that we're all on the same page about Bill Garon. Like, Bill Garon, what I think we all admire about Bill is, if he's in for a penny,

he's in for a pound. I don't think he just makes the Quinn Hughes move and then goes, All right, my work here is done. I think Bill still takes another swing here. I do too. I do too. And they have assets. People don't realize,

even though their record of their American League team and their East Coast League team, it's not very strong, they got serious assets. They got both in the American League. And in college hockey, too, by the way. Charlie Strammel is playing phenomenally well from Michigan State, a former first round of Michigan,

Minnesota. You can go around. they got serious assets Minnesota their amateur guys have done a real good job Maddie Hendricks has done a great job with their farm system Greg Cronin's coaching really well

in Des Moines Chuck Weber's doing a good job in East Coast League they got assets there man they do let me ask about the defending Stanley Cup champions who lose who won the Winnipeg Jets over the weekend yep

I lost three games in a row now Brad Marchand dinged up still no barkoff we know about Matthew Kuch at the beginning of the season and Sergeate, to me this is the big story. Sergei Barbarovsky 875 save percentage, which is not good enough to make the playoffs. He looks tired,

won't I mean? You need something you need something else here. Like I think we're wondering I got to text with someone right after that Winnipeg game is Florida done. You look at the separation. That's what I mean. Like I think like for this season. I think they might be. The

Barkoff thing was such a setback. And then obviously you could trick with the massive then you compound that with kulikov and then tamash no sick like look at all the guys they're out there are mass units stuff jones now set jones another one that great point by you set jones not even going to go to the olympics so now look at the way it's separating who thought the islanders were going to be where they are who thought that pittsburgh was going to be where they are who thought where boston is right now boston not going away even though they melted down yesterday no pun intended they're not going away they're a good team you talk about Marco, you're right on.

Montreal is really good. I think Lindy Ruff isn't getting enough love for what he's done. He kept that thing together when it was fluttering at the beginning. Buffalo's a beat. I know you're a fan. You watch them a lot.

I love watching Sabres games. And I understand why Sabres fans do this with Toronto and Montreal. But part of me was like, oh, it looks like a Montreal home game at the Key Bank. and I'm like, Buffalo, like, Buffalo played a great game. Buffalo played a great game in a losing cause.

Montreal is so fast. Montreal plays at a pace. That's so quick. Yeah, we just talked about Bill Garrett in a second. But with the, here's what I wonder about the Buffalo Sabres. So Yarmal Keckhlinan comes in right now. This is, these are all still players and still the team that's been constructed by Kevin Adams. General managers always talk about, like, you know, these were the, the, the

manager that came before, put these players here and always sort of, you know, defer. And right now, this is still not just, here's the thing, it's not just the players. Okay. Like the players are one part of this organization. Then there's that whole infrastructure that gets those players to that team. And right now, Yarmou Kekalainen is the one who's on stage taking the bows for it. He's a general manager. I get it.

If you're the Buffalo Sabres. everybody who's on an expiring contract there, and I think a lot about scouts, as you know, they deserve renewal. I know it's a new GM in, and GMs bring their own people, and I think we're all wondering, like, wherever Yarmal Kikiland goes,

Vili Searin is not that far behind. But, like, all those other people support staff, other staff that's with the organization that have helped get these players to this spot. Shouldn't they all get extensions? Nope, TBD. Want to see if I can work. with you and there's not and they shouldn't take that personally i think that's the appropriate way to

do business doesn't mean they won't get extended because they probably will but i think he wants to look at their reports i think he wants to do a deep dive on what you know and what you don't know where you're working where you're better at you know it's like villis serene i'm not going to guarantee but i'd be willing to bet is going to end up in buffalo i just want to put you will um throw basil mccray in there too for a little bit of fun why not we can see that too if baza wants to keep working i could see that too absolutely um but you know the biggest thing i think in buffalo what are you doing with alks tuck you had you had the side because that tage thompson you know and benson with tuck is that's magical there in buffalo like i don't know how much you know

because you go to you watch their game do enough people talk about zach benson and what he does hardcore they do they do outside of buffalo no they don't they don't know And tuck drives the engine right now. I think a lot for Tage. Tage is really good. Don't get me wrong. But I think Tuck does a lot there. They got to get him signed.

He's important. Do you know what I love about their team, though, and it makes it fun? What's that? How they incorporate their defense into the rush, how they incorporate their defense into the cycle, and how they allow their defensemen to stay deep in the offensive zone. When most teams are telling guys to pull out, they keep their defense deep. And it creates man-to-man matchup problems. It really does.

it's really interesting to watch how they create their offense in Buffalo. So one thing here on Buffalo tonight, because we've just talked about the Florida Panthers and are they out, as far as the playoff picture goes this season. Buffalo plays the Florida Panthers tonight. We'll talk a lot about like tests for Buffalo now along the way. You know, they're on a historic run. This team's never had a run like this was a 18, 3 and 1,

I think in their last 21, something along those lines. Like it's the best, like any, organization and this stretches all the way back to 1970 expansion. This is a test for them playing the Florida Panthers tonight. Last week, they stuck the dagger in the heart of the Maple Leaf, specifically Razma Stalin with the hat trick and two assists. I think safe to say if they beat the Florida Panthers tonight, then we can start saying for sure this team is done as far as the playoffs.

Essentially what I'm saying is the Buffalo Sabres inside of seven days here can slay two dragons. They did it at the Maple Leafs and now they could do it to the Florida Panthers tonight. Agree, disagree. I agree 100%. And here's the thing. It'll be a 10-point spread for Florida to try to get into the playoffs in the Atlantic between Montreal and Buffalo. It would be 10 points behind. And Montreal plays tonight as well, so it might even be more than that.

But if Buffalo were to win, it would be a 10-point spread and you go into the Olympic break and your double digits out. It reminds me of the All-Star game. If you go into the All-Star weekend and your double digits out, only two teams, I think, since the salary cat's been in Buffalo and Dallas, have overcome double-digit point deficiencies to make it into the playoffs. We haven't had anything but two since 2006. So usually if you're double digits out by the All-Star break,

and I'm using the Olympic break as the All-Star break, they're not going to make it. They're just not going to make it. You mentioned the Montreal Canaanians have a game tonight. It's a banger too. Montreal's playing Minnesota in Minnesota. Cole Coffield is in Bill Garen's house tonight. Do you ever thought on Cole Coffield? And Lane Hudson, too, yeah.

Oh, man. They'll be jacked up. Don't want to play. Don't want to play. I remember the last time Minnesota was in Montreal, they got beat, and Lane and Cole put on a show too. They sure did. Yeah, no, they don't want to play.

Montreal's a good team, Jeff. They are. They're a good team. I think Marty St. Louis, done a magnificent job. Trevor Lattowski's a really good young assistant coach. And Robidaw, Stefan Robidaw's done really improved as a defensive coach. He's made guys better. Mathis, I've never seen Michael Matheson play this well. And they did something really smart last week when they were getting ready to play against Colorado and Nathan McKinnon's line.

They moved Caden Gully up to play with Matheson. And it's really been good. Really, really. That's why they were able to go into Buffalo and when they matched them up against Tage Thompson as much as possible. And they did the same thing to Nate, and they'll go in and they'll probably do the same thing, Corrio Capri Sof tonight. That was really smart coaching by Robidon and Marty Sain-Laway. You know, as I was mentioning Montreal last week,

so they parted ways with their goaltending coach. And we saw the Islanders do that this year as well, and parting ways with Perro Greco, around middle of October, I want to say. And listen, Alia Sorokin brought in his, his own netminding coach. Have you ever seen two goalie coaches fired in season? Normally these are like end of end of,

I'm trying to figure out, is this going to be a trend? Is this just a coincidence? Is this just a freak thing? If your goalie is giving you issues, you part ways with the goalie coach to try to give them a bump or a little bit of juice, like I don't know.

I find that some goalies who have their own goalie coach around sometimes can cause an issue with the organization. And the thing that I, like, I wonder if, and I don't think this would ever happen in a million years, but if, you know, Mark Schifley said, hey, I want Adam Oates to work with me after practice today in Winnipeg, I don't think that would go over very well. But nonetheless, but why do goalie coaches get a free pass? I don't know. It's a good question.

I don't think I've ever seen two in one. here. No, I think I've never seen that. But here it is. But here it is. I know. What's interesting about the Islander situation. Yeah. You got one of the best bullies of all time was your head coach. I know, right? To be the goalie coach in that situation. He's looking right over your shoulder. No kidding. Right. He was actually Patrick Rua was taught by probably, if not the best goalie coach, one of the best of all time. Fasswa Lair. So, I mean, that's a tough gig to be the Islander's goalie coach. It's a

Yeah. Hey, one thing that's been been batted around, I'm not sure how much you could even talk about something like this, considering your position, but goalie coaches in the Hall of Fame. And here's the rationale. Yeah, I'm going to, I'll let you talk and I'll just, you nod or a nod or a wink or like,

oh, well, that's interesting. But the position, I mean, listen, Glenn Hall was the first with the butterfly and Tony Esposito, et cetera, but as you mentioned, you just brought up Francois Laird's name. Like, he changed the game. Him and Patrick Waugh completely changed the way goaltending is in the National Hockey League. It's to the point now where you go back and you look at goalies

from the 70s and 80s, and you say to yourself, wow, look how different. Like profoundly different that position is. And a lot of it is goaltending coaches. It is Francois Laird, it is Ben Wailerler, Mitch Korn, like go all down the list. Jimmy Corsey was a big, Jim Corsey and Buffalo.

Jimmy Corsey, 100%. Yeah. Big part of that. You know, people forget he had Hasch there and he did some really good things with Dom. But no, you're right. Look, you know better than anybody else

because I know how up to date you are on process. The Hall of Fame has a builder's category. Yep. The coach would have to go in a builder's category. Yep. So he can be nominated, absolutely. You know, at this point, If I think about all the potential builders that are out there, there are other guys that might be ahead in the queue.

That's all I'd say. I understand. I just want to just sort of keep that sort of flicker of flame sort of alive. Like I get it. Like there's the red bearances of the world and stuff. But like Frankie Allaire. Come on, man. I love your brain the way it works.

Okay. That's why I enjoy being on this show because you're just a fountain of information. No, I do. You're a fountain of information and you're normal. So I'm just going to tell you this right. I mean this sincerely. I wish I could do a process of what I do on an everyday basis. And I usually carve out an hour a day.

And as we get closer to the deadline more than that on Hall of Fame and how I do my process, just for me to nominate and then respectfully to read all the nominations that have been presented and to study them. And, you know, I'm not afraid to tell you this. I don't think I'm breaking any protocols. I've nominated people and I've said, you know what? My person's not better than the guy or girl that's been nominated, or lady, I should say, that's been nominated. So I'm going to not do mine.

I'm just going to respectfully say, this is what I think is better. And so I'll save my nomination for another year. Because there's some names that have been presented over the last few years that have been overwhelming. You look at all the classes have gone in in the last. last five years of the Hall of Fame? Like, it's amazing. What could the classes have been? Unbelievable. How much, and I've always been told about specific players is because, well, you know, you're pulling a name from an era where nobody saw this person play. But how much can you say about how much, I know we're going on a tangent here, but how much can you say

about the process of historical oversight goes into what we see or who we see make it into the hall. This is my thinly veiled way of trying to get Lauren Shabbat into the hockey Hall of Fame here. Like is, is, is there, is there a process where someone like him can eventually make it in still? Or do we just have to go like, well, you know what? Sorry, Lauren, even though your numbers are sympathetic.

with all the other goaltenders that made it into the hall in your era. There's no room left for you at the end. No, we can talk about older players or veteran players, and obviously Shabbat's a very old, very veteran-type player. And really, I don't even know how much video there is of him. You would know that better than I. I don't even know. Like, zero.

Like zero. I don't even know what I'm saying. I would say probably none. So it's hard. You'd only have to go by numbers. But I think that's a good name to, bring up. I mean, I don't want to bring up too many names here because I don't think that's appropriate in my role. But there are players, older players, that there was video and they are

good players and they have won and they've won major awards and they've maybe been overlooked in the process. And they're still brought up from time to time some of those guys. And I'm not going to bring up names, but they have been brought up. Okay, so my fishing trip is over then. Let me get to a couple of more things here. One of, um, Oh, you know, I did want to mention that at some point. Paul Woods, who's retiring radio analyst. By Montreal, traded to Detroit. Can I give you a quick wordsy story?

Of course. Yeah. Just so long time radio analyst for the Detroit Red Wings going back to, I want to say, 1987. He played for the Detroit Red Wings like 77 to 94, et cetera. Anyway, Pierre, by all means. Woodmore. Paul is such a gentleman.

Every time I go to Detroit and do a game, I look forward to seeing him and Ken Cal. And obviously, Kenny Daniels and Mickey, but the radio guys, they're awesome. Those two guys are awesome. Anyways, so Paul Woods is a member of the Montreal Canadiens when Scotty gets there. And Paul Woods gets traded to Detroit. And they're playing Detroit, Montreal. So, Paul is stretching at the center ice line. And all the Canadians are coming by and tapping them on the lakes.

say no, Woody, Woody, well, Scott he sees this, and he gets really upset. And he says, all you guys,

all you guys wanted Woody to stay here. Woozy this and Woody's not. We want to get up their uniform. We'll bring Woody back, and he can be on our team. Nobody gave up their uniform. Yeah, imagine that.

You're in the, you're in the Montreal Canaanans in 1977, and nobody wants to go and play with the Detroit Red Wings. Real shocker there. Let me ask about one more thing quickly here before you wrap up. The St. Louis Blues.

So Robert Thomas, who will be back after the Olympics, a quote-unquote minor leg procedure. Listen, Doug Armstrong was on television last week talking about how the season's been embarrassing for the Blues organization. Whenever I tend to find, whenever an manager uses the word embarrassing, things happen because no organization likes to be embarrassed, no manager likes to be embarrassed.

So when you go to that word, that's your, in case of emergency, break glass moment. What do you think happens with the blues? Oh, I think there'll be some massive movement. You know, the names that are already been out there. Robert's name has been out there. Jordan Kairu's name has been out there. Colton Perako's name has been out there. Justin Falk's name's really been out there.

there a lot. We already saw him do a deal with Montreal where they got Logan Mayu from Montreal. They traded Zachary Goldberg. I don't think they're trading Holfer. Braden Shinn's name has been out there. He could be in play. I think it's anybody pretty much could be in play there. I really do. And for Doug, Doug very calculated, as you know, more than anybody else, Doug's a very calculating guy. He's smart and he's really poised with his words. For him to have said that, it wasn't an accident. He was sending a distinct message around the league. He really was. Open for business.

Listen, Pierre, great stuff. Listen, we'll be talking about Olympics next. Do you have a quick thought? Listen, we'll, everyone in Canada wondering now about Anthony Sorrelli and Brad Marchand, et cetera, et cetera. Do you have a thought on as we head into a week where every country wants to bubble wrap their NHELors that are going to the Olympics? What do you expect this week?

So a lot of guys want to be bubble wrap. because they don't want to get hurt before the Olympics, and the rest want to be bubble-wrapped because they're looking at a two-week vacation. I think it's a big week. If you think you're one of those bubble players, especially in Canada or the U.S. or Sweden, big time.

You're playing full-out. You're playing full-out. So I'm Mark Seifley right now. I'm bringing the heat. If I'm cool of Caulfield or Rain Hudson, I'm bringing the heat. So I think it could go the other way, too, and you're not wrong to say the established guys might be bubble wrapping themselves.

But if I'm one of those guys that thinks I'm a legit bubble player, I'm bringing it big time because I want to go. Like, I don't know how you wouldn't want to go. I had this amazing discussion with the great Mike Arruzioni today. And this for everybody out there, if you have Netflix where you want to see an amazing documentary, go watch a documentary in the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team. Mike is amazing. Kenny Moore was off the charts. I can tell you right now.

I found out stuff about Kenny Morrow that I found out something about Kenny Morrow that I They'd no idea. He's unbelievable. I started watching that yesterday afternoon. And so I'm about halfway through. You know what I loved? The old footage, right? Like the old footage from Colorado at the evaluation camp.

And I'm a lot more. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm a sucker. I'm always a sucker for the, you know, because they're all older gentlemen now. And having to watch them. as, you know, kids that are like,

I'm 20 years old. That I go to BU. I'm 21 years old. And I play from Minnesota for her. Like I, and just to see the look in their eyes when they see themselves back in 1980 and then back at the rink at Lake Placid. And like, Pierre, I'm like maybe halfway through this documentary.

And already I'm like, I'm going to watch this again. As soon as it's over. I'm just going to be, okay, bam. And then I'm going to start watching the whole thing again. Some of that footage. And the audio from Herb, oh, and interviewing is signed. Amazing. The audio they have from Herb is tremendous.

I could not agree with you more. That documentary is fantastic. It's really well done. So Mike and I had this long talk today. We were talking about Olympics and different things. And the passion, obviously, of playing for your country and everything else. So now different it is compared to playing for a Stanley Cup or playing for money. Yeah.

And so what I told Mike is I said, you know what I did yesterday, Mike? I called Ralph Cox. Ralph was the last player cut on the Olympic team. I called them yesterday. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. And I just wanted to ask him one question. Ralph and I used to work hockey schools together. He was a great player at the University of New Hampshire.

I spent years and years and years playing over in Finland. He was a great player in the Finnish Elite League at the time. And I asked him, I said, when you went into Herb's office, what was the experience like? And he said, I think he was going to cry more than I was. And I was curious. I was curious as to why. I know why. He felt that way.

And he says, I think it was a flashback for him when he got cut from the 1960 team. And Ralph said it was so emotional. I had the most amazing talk with Ralphios today. He's an amazing person. And he was like hitting stuff out of the park. And it wasn't because I was looking for intel. I was calling him as a friend to tell him, I just watched this documentary. Dude, you were fantastic.

He was so good. So anyways. A lot of it, Herb's a big part of the story, obviously. And what you just said really matters those sound bites. But to hear from a player's perspective and what the player, the last player cut, felt about his coach was pretty cool. Well, Herb was the last, he was the last player. He was the last player. Jack Riley cut him in 1960.

He was the last player cut. And then went on to win gold in 1980. Yep. 20 years later. Squaw Valley, the original. Now, as I say to all of our American friends, yeah, you know what, Canadians win hockey games too. We just don't call it a miracle.

Anyhow, we'll move along. Sorry, though. Does Birkin put out his American passport or is Canadian passport? That's a great. We'll find out on Wednesday. I'll ask them that one specifically. And listen, always a delight. Thanks for, and by the way, just as an aside too,

I know you're sort of limited to what you can say about the Hall of Fame. I always appreciate it when you sort of oblige my sort of goofy ideas sometimes. But I appreciate you talking about the Hall of Fame with me as well. I know it's a sensitive topic considering your position. But I always appreciate it. And thanks for your contributions today on Barry Trots and all things happening in the NHL. You're a star, my friend. Thank you for having me.

You're a special guy. Take care, Jeff. Thanks, pal. The great Pierre McGuire, who stops by on a regular basis here, sharing thoughts on Barry Trots, the news of the news of the day. stepping down as a general manager of the national predators and in between all kinds of stuff. And then, yeah, that movie, by the way, have you had a chance to watch that documentary yet on Netflix about the 80 team? No, but child, child, child.

Holy smokes. 1980, son. Mind you, I was 10. But still, it's fantastic. Anything else from the Barry Trots. And yeah, you should watch the documentary. tremendous. Anything else from the presser? Anything else in the presser? No, the two big things were, or three big things, I guess I should say, started with what we all know. And he's going to remain

the GM. He's still the GM. And then the ownership group is going to look for a long-term replacement. I think that was what we all understood. The other part was that he's going to run the deadline here. That was another thing that was clarified. And then the final piece of this, which was kind of alluded to this morning and pointed out, but just clarified again in the presser is that, uh, This is not health related and this was not due to conflict is what was said in today's press conference. It wasn't a differing of opinions is what was said. Just putting that out there. So the obvious follow up is what was it?

Yeah. I had just saying what was said in there. I would have loved to ask that question myself, but those were the main points that I've pulled from today's. tweets and recaps. I get it. Glad that it's not health related. That's fantastic. Barry is and always has been,

whether he was coaching Nashville or coaching the Caps, Islanders, whatever, just selfishly from a media point of view, always someone who's delightful to deal with and really honest and open. I remember one conversation we were having, I was doing a show with John Shannon and we had Barry on,

and we're talking about the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Cap was playing against the penguins and we were talking about Evgeny Malkin and he said, you know what? In some ways because everyone, of course,

Crosby is one of the greatest players to ever play the game. He goes like, Crosby I can kind of coach against. Like I know what Crosby's going to do. It doesn't always work, but I can coach against Crosby.

He said, but Malkin scares me. He said Malkin frightens me. Malkin just, Mollon can. can just like completely take over a game in a way that you don't even see coming. He goes, no disrespect to Crosby. Crosby's incredible, obviously.

He goes, but Malkin scares me. How many coaches do you have? So this, it's kind of funny because this weekend, out of nowhere, one of my roommates brought up, who's the most underrated hockey player, NHL player of all time? And we're having the discussion. And he was adamant that Malkin is underrated, just giving. in the spotlight that gets given to Sidney Crosby, rightfully so, but him being there and just kind of always being as dangerous as he was,

the heart season that he had when Crosby went out. Like, you just, you get the accolades, but in the grand scheme of things, is he underrated in the big picture. And that was one of the conversations we were having this weekend. It's kind of funny that that's coming up today. Did anybody mention Sergey Federoff? Because that might be my answer?

is Sergey Federoff. Okay. Okay. Or Kent Nielsen. Yeah. That's the... That's my go-to. I was going to say the original Foresburg, but it's the Ken Nelson.

That's right. Yeah. To me that answer is Ken Nelson. Hey, can I show something for you right here real quick and see if you get to agree? This is the Pasternak overtime goal. You said you didn't understand why the whistle was blown. Now, I'm going to go. for so long.

Why it wasn't blown for so long. Yeah. Because I listened to all the comments made by the Bruins and I saw all the comments by the fans and stuff. The whistle was blown. Very late, but the whistle was blown. I've tried to jack up the audio here.

So nobody heard it? Hear it? Yes, it was blown late, really late. Like I'm conceding on that one. But it's in the neutral zone. He blows the whistle and I'll show you an angle that I think will prove this.

Okay? And I'm going to, I'll let this play. everyone can listen. I will point out when I first hear it so you know, and then you'll see the angle, right? All right, okay. Coutheroff coming with help.

Back to Coutheroff and a saving play by McAvoy. Three on three, the overtime. Now, Stadino with Pasta Nog. So it's before that. Was it on the entry? Because now I'm like trying to, it is just as he gets to center ice.

So you'll see an alternate angle, and then I'll point it out to you, watch as they come up the ais is going to be for people watching on YouTube right there he's in center look where the refs mouth is uh in the back trailing the play he's blowing the whistle is he's blowing it right he's blowing it right there nobody it doesn't matter in the grand scheme but yes he's blowing that whistle and i watched a few times because i thought i heard it in real time but i was kind of confused and then when they ultimately said no cold and pastor that's going to the box i was like well

I did think I kind of heard a whistle go. Did you? While you're watching it live, you thought you heard a whistle? Yeah, I didn't really hear the first one, but I did hear it once they crossed into the zone. I heard the whistle going, you know, like, okay, I don't know what's happening right now. I didn't know why.

I didn't know that there was apparently being cold, but it was late, so people have every right to be mad at that. He was halfway up the ice. Like, that's a little late. But it was blown. And I was adamant that it was blown after, of the fact and then I watched the clip back and I watched them break it down on the ESPN broadcast

and they showed that back camera angle and I was like I'm right. I'm vindicated in my opinion. Okay. So I think it was blown. So here's another one. So you know how we talked last week a lot about Macklin Celebrini waving off a call

or trying to wave off a call. Yes. So I had an interesting conversation with someone about this over the weekend and it comes back to geez, I'm just dumping this on you right now. I don't know how quick you could turn this around. It was Kail McCar and Matthew Barzal.

If you'll recall this, it's, Kail McCar is coming out from around the net and Matthew Barzell is on him. And a stick comes up. It's like, I want to say like shoulder height. And as McCar comes out from around the net, he tow picks. and falls down.

I remember this. You remember that? And McCar came up and waved it off. Okay? The original call was for the high stick, but McCar is waving off thinking that they're calling on a trip. And he was saying, I wasn't tripped,

that that was a tow pick. So Brandon Blandina was the official there who calls the whole thing off. But really, McCar thought he, he was waving off the trip when really the call was the high stick. And so afterwards, the officials said like, okay, we can't have that happen again. We can't have players waving off calls just because what they might think is what the call is,

is not what we're calling. So we're going to stop player influence altogether. Even if on video review, it looks like the right. call and Celebrini should you know if he's waving it off and he's saying

no no no no no I didn't get I didn't get clipped it's not a high stick they're not going to listen to player input on calls you got it no there's it that's your that's your Tampa Boston here it okay is this it so yeah so there's

Macar waving off what he thinks is a call for tripping but really the call was for high sticking which happens around the net can you go back to that one. Zach, I don't know how far back.

Yeah, you can... The clip is available on YouTube. You can see it. I'm just sort of dropping this on you. I just want to make you sweat here on a Monday. I just want to make you earn your paycheck. Yeah, that's fair. But that's where that comes from.

That's where that comes from. So did it buy him some... Celabini some grace with officials? Yeah, probably. An indication that I'm not a diver. I'm not faking. and we all applauded Maclean Celebrini for playing the right way.

But I can't tell you how many Canadian hockey fans I spoke to this weekend who said if it's overtime against the USA and Celebrini has a stick near his face and he puts his head back and the arm goes up. Is he going to ask the official to wave it off? And if so, how do you feel about Macleine at that moment?

Yeah, he's not going to. But what about playing it the right way? and what about like the honor of the game and the integrity of it? No, that doesn't come in. Do you have it? That's him waving it off. We need the play itself. This is from Laz's Twitter.

So let's just hope he's. I had to doubt. There it is. Around the corner. So it was a high stick, but he's toe picking there. And he thinks that the call is. See, the stick is coming up. So there, the stick on the shoulder, they were calling a high stick there.

But he toe picks and falls. So what McCar is doing is he's saying, no, no, no, I didn't get tripped. But really, the call was high stick. But McCar is waving it off. And so Barzal doesn't get penalized. That's where this one comes from. And the officials were like, no way.

No more player influence on calls. So if you're upset, if you're Cal McCart. or if you're at Maclin Celebrini, blame Kail McCar. He's the problem. He's the Matt Duchin of this. He's the Matt Duchin of players not being able to wave off calls. Blame Kail McCar.

Blame Kail McCar. That's he's going to say, you hate not being able to wave off calls, blame Kail McCar, you hate 10-minute reviews, blame Matt Ducet. Exactly. But if you love great parleyes, you love Zach Phillips. The sheet is powered by Fanduel. Play your game with Fanduel. It's the NHL season and Fanduel is your home for all the action on the ice.

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please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. You've had all weekend to think about this one. So this will probably be, as we like to say, touched by the divine, graced by God. You've had all weekend to work on this one. What you got for us, Philly? Yeah, sure. Let's call it that. And then when you hear it, we'll see if you still think that.

No, damn. Leave my religion. I don't know if I've said this on this show But working on some big life stuff here My girlfriend and I are looking at moving into a place together So putting in applications That'll be coming up here soon We've been apartment hunting all that kind of stuff

And exciting with my roommates And everyone Everyone moving on to their next stages And it was brought up over the weekend You know The idea of maybe getting a pet And I said I don't know the right time.

And my one roommate said, well, you can get a pet cat. And to that, I said, a pet cat, that's bold. I want a dog named Duke. Elias Patterson, Alex Dirk, Matt Boldy, Anthony, Duke, Claire. A pet cat, that's bold. I want a dog named Duke. That's not bad. As a dog guy, I love it, although I have had cats in the past.

Did I even tell you, when we bought this house, a cat came with it? What? Yeah. Yeah. That thing's yours. We're not taking it. The cat stayed with us. Was this an outdoor cat?

Like it just hung out and they said that's it. There's nothing we can do. He just lives here. Yeah, Terry. And at times he'd vanished for like four months at a time and they're like, oh, okay, because we lived like out in the country. Oh, the coyotes must have got him, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And then he would just like show up again.

He was like the proverbial cat that came back. And so when we, when we, when we. bought the place, the old owners were like, we can try to take Terry, but he's just going to come back here. Like, he was born next door. He just lives here. He hangs out in the barn. He'll, like, hang out in the house and all that. But he'll be gone for like long stretches.

Do you want a cat? And at that point, we just lost our last German Shepherd. And we're like, I'll take cat for a while. And then we got a husky. And the cat and the husky got along great. Then the cat died. And then we got another German Shepherd. But anyway, you.

Yeah, I bought a house and they threw in the cat. That is nuts. It makes sense because he's an outdoor cat, but it's still hilarious. They're like, he just loves living here. He's going to be around. Was he coming inside often? Oh, yeah. In and around the house?

Oh, yeah. And he would like, sometimes he would just go and sleep in the garage or sleep in the barn, but generally he slept inside. And he'd come in, get his chow and he was gone. We wouldn't see him all day. And then he just kind of like, oh, I'm just like off to work, right? And then he'd come back after shift, chill out, curl up. Love that we made a fire in the fireplace.

He just curled up by the fireplace. Like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, Terry. Great cat. How long did you end up having him for? How long was he around? So we bought the place in 2012, and Terry would have passed in 2018, 2019. Old cat, too.

Live the ripe old age. Yeah, a long time. Oh, yeah. No, Terry, I think Terry was like 17 when he passed. And he was still, like, mousin and, like, snaking, like, right up to the very end. Oh, yeah. Maybe leaving little gifts for us at the front door.

Yeah. Country cats will. Always nice. Like, oh, look a dead snake. Oh, look a dead mouse. Okay. Well, that's just wonderful. Thanks, Terry.

Thanks, thanks for that one. My mom is, like, deathly afraid of rats and mice and stuff. And she had a cat. And her and my dad actually had a cat that used to bring the mice to the foot of her bed in the middle of the night. And they're giving presents, right? Yeah, that's what they think. Look, I'm doing my job.

Yes. So it would bring the mice and leave it at the foot of her bed and she would have a freak out. Yeah. That's, uh, yeah, I can see that with reptiles too. I can see that with snakes. Um, what was that cat's name? Remember? Uh, I think that one was named puck.

Named a cat puck. Yeah. Or is it named after she? Shakespeare's character. Or was it named after a hockey puck? It was all black cat. Yeah. That's awesome. I'm trying to remember.

I think that was that cat. Yeah. They also had Tigger, like, from Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Winnie the Pooh. Because it was stripes like Tigger. Yeah, so they had a Tigger and Puck. I like when people named their dogs after hockey players or hockey things.

Like, I always appreciated it. Who was it that had Wendell Bark? There was someone on hockey Twitter that had Wendell Bark. Shana just lost a dog not too long ago who was named after Matsukorello, Zuki. And all the dogs are named after hockey players. Oh, yeah. Give me that all day long. Give me that all day long.

And give me New York Hockey Night all day long. I regret to inform you. I did like no work trying to leverage ourselves an opportunity to get there over the weekend. But I'm going to talk to Amel later on today. day and I'll butter the bread on both sides, Zach, try to get this one done. Okay. It is a New York hockey night presented by Parasso. Thursday, February 19th, joined Daily Faceoff alongside special hockey guests at the

atrium inside Ideal Glass Studios in New York City for a night of live podcasts, activations, and giveaways. In partnership with Parasso, morning cup of hockey and tri-state hockey pod will be on location for a night of candid conversation, big laughs, and unapologetic hockey talk. doors open at 6.30 and the tri-state hockey pod gets going with a live show at 7.30. Thursday, February 19th at the atrium inside ideal glass studio, 21 and over. Secure your spot, RSVP at nationgear.ca. Very much look forward to that.

Anything else from you before I wrap up today? You got anything? Anything on your mind? Anything you want to share with us? Any big sort of life decisions? you and your girlfriend looking for an apartment, or was that just a cheap way to set up a pun for our fan dual segment? No, that's actually happening.

The lot of these things come from or are inspired by real-life events. There's at least a tinge of truth to some of it in some sense. So that one is real. Yes, we actually did apply to apartments, so we're waiting on stuff back here now. So fingers crossed. We have a lot of room up here north of the city. Some places come with a cat.

If you go off on the cat for free. Yeah. Yeah, we are looking for places right now that are drastically smaller than anything we would find north of the city. You guys stay in downtown? You guys stand downtown? Yes. Yes, that's the plan. That's the plan.

I do have one thing actually, though, hockey-related. The Tom Wilson hit. It was clean. All day long. It's all day long. Like Tom Wilson, again, has, and I know a lot of, of Tom Wilson haters don't want to hear it, but you know, mastered the art of

this is the line and I'm going to walk on it or skate on it and not cross it. You know, I was mentioning the T.J. O'Shee conversation from this morning, we put the audio out. We're going to put the video out later on. Today we talk a lot about shootouts. Me and Gabby with Oshy. But I asked him about the hit

because he played with Wilson, right? And he said, it's amazing to him and he was in the game like five minutes. minutes ago. He said it's amazing to him how many players continue to put themselves in really, really bad positions like Stankhoven did on that hit from Tom Wilson. And he went on to explain. Here's the hit. So Stankovin, yeah, he said, the mistake that Stankhoven makes here is with his head that he turns suddenly. He leaves with his head instead of keeping his head back

and making sure his shoulder is protecting him coming around the net. right and that's coming from you know what I'm saying he's like right away he just like flings his head around because I'm sure like growing up and maybe even in through junior hockey you're just not expecting to get hit once you've let go of the puck meanwhile I know she would talk about this he goes I keep telling young players like even though you've let go of the puck you still got to count one two but he said that it's into it goes so many young players think they're safe as soon as the puck's off their stick. You're not. And especially when Tom Wilson's on the ice, who will finish that check.

He also did say he would see all the time. Wilson would have a guy lined up and Wilson would just breeze right by him just to give him the reminder. And not light him up. Yeah, let him know. Like there's what, just to like, that's got to freak you out for the game too. Like I was thinking about that. I've thought a lot about the conversation with OSHA this morning. about some of the things he were saying.

The penalty shot, the shootout stuff from OSHA is really interesting. And we're talking 20 minutes about shootout philosophy. And it's fascinating. But the one thing that he did say is Wilson would deliberately not hit guys just to shake them up for the game. That would shake you up. I think Carberry brought something up about that as well where there's times, because you sat down with him in person. Yeah. when he went out to Washington earlier

and he brought up a similar, not the same thing, but along the lines of he could get some guys sometimes and he'll not make them pay for it as much as he could. I almost... I think it's a really interesting combination of reminding everybody in the NHL

that he's still a killer, right? As Logan Stancoven found out. But I wonder how much of it is just to like mess someone up psychologically for the game. like when you just like, have you ever just like stepped out onto the road and not seen a car?

And then it just goes like, right in front of you. Like, yeah. And it freaks you out. Like for a while, you keep thinking yourself like, man,

like what could have happened to me? You know, what's the line and slap? Got him in the mind. Got him in the mind. Got him right in the mind. Tom Wilson, got him right in the mind.

Yep. Just mess with him for the game. Got it right in the mind, Zach. Right in the mind. Pointed out in the chat, he normally does yell at guys. Yes, that's true. Players, coaches have said that. So you normally yells.

We can't hear it. We don't know. But it's very likely you might have said something to Stan Kovin in that moment. But I don't know, man. A couple of things I look for in the hits. Elbows tucked. Shoulder is down. Feet come off the ice.

But that is a product of the contact, not the intent of the intent of the the hit. He doesn't go into the hit. He goes down, hits Dankoven and bounces up in the air. And it's clean. It's unfortunate. It's like the Heedle hit, right? Which may be like the most one of the most perfect hits, perfectly violent hits we've seen all year long. You hate it if you're Vancouver Canucks fan. You hate it if you're Philip Heedle, but clean hit. Yep. Logan's Danko. To see it for the player who's on the receiving end, but clean hit.

Yep. That's all I had. I just wanted to get that one in before. Okay. That's good. That's good. But yeah, count one, two. Don't assume that just because you don't have the puck right away. You're not a candidate to be hit.

You are. Okay. Thanks to Pierre McGuire. Pierre McGuire for stopping by the program today, first day with the new tongue. Thanks to Pierre for stopping by the show today. Always appreciate everything that we talked about with Pierre, starting with the big story of the day. Barry Trott steps down as the general manager of the National Predators, or should I say more correctly,

Barry Trots will step down as general manager of the Nashville Predators pending a search now for his replacement. So we'll stay on top of that story. We threw a couple of names out at the beginning of the program. I do wonder about Rob Blake, maybe with Brendan Chanahan as a president. Maybe you wonder about someone like Ryan Getslaw or maybe even George Peros.

They both live in Nashville. Not that that's an ultimate deciding factor, but nonetheless, they're right there. and both have, I would imagine, specifically Getslaff designs on being a general manager in the NHL one day, but we'll see a number of different names will pop up. I still, like with any job, GM job, I always wonder about Ryan Martin with the New York Rangers or associate general manager. Anyhow, thanks for joining me here today. Thanks to everybody in the chat, everybody who is watching this thing on YouTube and listening wherever you get your podcast.

We thank you for your attention and your time, which we really really. abused today. This is like an hour and 20, Merrick. Like, holy smokes. Have you not run out of words yet? Yes, I have. And that's why we'll wrap up the program. We're back tomorrow at 1 o'clock, Eastern. That is with Greg Wischinski. And I believe Zach, correct me if I'm wrong,

Emily Kaplan as well. We'll stop by the show tomorrow. So awesome. Great job by you. So it's ESPN Day here on the program, apparently. And that's it. Back tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your day. Listen, some bangers tonight, Montreal, Minnesota should be good. Buffalo and Florida. The savers could

put like the final nail in the coffin here of the cats defending Stanley Cup champions so we'll see what happens either way we'll talk about it tomorrow on the sheet speak to you