The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Bedard Returns, Flyers Bottom Out, Vegas Attendance Dips, and More ft. Ken Boehlke & Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: October 13, 2026

On today’s episode of The Sheet with Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski, the guys break down the latest news and storylines from around the NHL! The Philadelphia Flyers are off to a disastrous start, suffering a franchise-record seven straight losses to open the season. What can they do to turn things around, and how much pressure is building in Philadelphia? The guys also discuss the Vegas Golden Knights falling 4-2 to the Minnesota Wild after a four-game winning streak, Connor Bedard preparing to return to the Chicago Blackhawks lineup, and head coach Jeff Blashill’s comments on the use of publicly available statistics in hockey. Plus, Jordan Staal is expected to miss one to two months with a partially torn calf, Dave Hakstol is reportedly in talks regarding a coaching opportunity with Arizona State hockey, and much more from around the league. Later, Ken Boehlke of SinBin.vegas joins Jeff and Greg to discuss everything happening in Las Vegas. Ken breaks down the Golden Knights’ loss to Minnesota, what he’s seeing from the team early in the season, and the latest conversations surrounding attendance, season-ticket events, and the fan experience in Vegas.SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!! 👍🏼Coca Cola: https://www.coca-cola.com/ca/en/offerings/coca-cola/hockey 👍🏼Sports Interaction: https://www.sportsinteraction.com/thesheet 👍🏼Taco Time: https://tacotimecanada.com/ 👍🏼Movember: https://movember.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Coming to you live from the Sports Interaction Studio and official sports betting partner of the NHL. This is once again the sheet for this Czech State Tuesday, October 13th, although it was 16 games on the go around the NHL, Greg Wyshinsky, mainly because of ESPN. We call this one Frozen Frenzy. 16 games. Nice piece, by the way, at Dotcom running down all the reasons why every single team is interesting. I really appreciate that one. There's a reason for everyone. I mean, in the case of Calgary, it's trying to sift through the dinosaur dung to find the few silver linings on what should be a lost season. But in other cases, it's like, hey, check it out.

It's Washington and Carolina playing tonight. How dope is that going to be? Speaking of which, the Carolina Hurricanes announcing Jordan Stahl with the torn calf. Yeah, that's, so that's a-s-awful. That's a weird injury, too. So I talked to the team about it, and it's been reported it was during warmups, which I think we all have a vision of what that looks like. But it was before the warmups.

It was while he was warming up to then pregame skate. So he didn't even come out for the skate. It happened in the back. And at the time, Rod Brindamore was like freak injury. We hope it's not going to be long term. And then today he's like, actually, it's going to be one or two months. Yeah. So, you know, what a lot of people have,

Speaking of injuries, and like there's a couple of things at the start of every season I sort of pump breaks on. One injuries and two goal scoring. Around this time of year, every year we go, look at goal scoring's up. Oh, 1986's return. This is awesome. And it's like the sloppiness is going to stop and get used to three, two games because that's hockey in 20, 26, 27.

But does it not at least, and again, this is just me throwing darts based on how I feel. Does it not feel? And maybe it's just because they're headline makers that are getting injured. but there's more injuries this year to start this season. And I don't want to be the guy that says, well, I told you they should have had a longer training camp. Like, does it not at least feel like there's way, like every night there's a couple. Nico Stern last night, getting hit in the head with a puck.

Yeah, I mean. Some of it's freakish, like the favor injury. Faber too. And Barcoff's injury obviously was like during run of play. Rasmus Dahlene yesterday. Did that look like it was going to? Did that look anything significant? No.

I mean, listen, I don't think that you're wrong in wondering, okay, we're seeing a ton of injuries to guys that log a lot of minutes and what is the vector that changed from season to season. And it's a truncated preseason is the vector that changed. So, I mean, you know, it's worth asking the question if when you see a guy like Igor Shetirkin goes down with an injury like that, like what did the lack of full preparation time do these? guys bodies. I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's ultimately it may not mean anything. I mean, none of the guys that I talked to in September at the play, I meet player media tour even mentioned the possibility of injuries creeping into their game is because of the truncated preseason. In fact, it's the opposite. Opposite of yeah, we're going to play fewer games and I'm not going to have to be in training camp for as long. So it'll be fresher for the start of the season. So

it could just be coincidental, but it is kind of a wave of unfortunate injuries to key guys in of the Rangers, the keyest guy in your lineup. Well, and the weird one about that one too is, I'm not sure if you're watching the game, but like, Ego Schisturiken has done that a million times in his life. That's just a slide back to the post, right? Skate blocks it, sets them up for the push off the post.

But instead, he just collapsed and started pounding his blocker on the ice. But it's an injury that you look at and go, how does that happen after he's done that a million different times? Yeah, I'm sure Jordan Stahl. was riding the bike or doing some stretches or something. And he's done that a billion times. And then Rasmus, again, Rosmiston yesterday. Rasmus that lien yesterday.

Again, looks like nothing. He's done that play a million times coming down off the point to try to get a quality shot on net. No contact. So let me ask you about the Rangers because you and I haven't talked since this is a shirk and injury. Are they boned? Like should they just pack up the tents and start tabulating the lottery?

Because I don't think so either. I think that they've shown that they've got a decent enough blue line, at least in the top, the top two pairings. And they're, you know, they're top heavy in the forward group. I don't like their depth, but their top six has played really well. Yep. I kind of feel like that Dylan Gerard and Jonas Corpusallo, when he gets healthy, can hold the fort. If not, they're going to have the entirety of Chichirkin's cat pit, I think. to play with, which means that they could be in the Jordan Bennington business or be in the

Sam Montembow business if they need to upgrade the position. I don't think you need to. Like, see what Garand. Again, I don't think they need to either. I was, to be honest, I was stunned that Dylan Garand didn't get claimed, right? Now, everything about waivers is about timing. And Garand, I believe, was on waivers the exact same time that Clay Stevenson was on. And that's a direction that Winnipeg went in.

I'm not sure if Remy Poirier was on at the same time, too, who the New Jersey Devils claimed. He was. Merlein. Was it on the same time? Okay, so there's a couple of other goaltenders, and Puerre was and had been lighting it up for a long time in the American League. So waivers is about timing more than anything else.

You know, it's funny. I was talking to someone on the weekend. We were talking about Dylan Garand not getting claimed. We're talking about Michael DiPietro not getting claimed. And then came to the realization, they both won on waivers because of the same goaltender. You want us Corpus Sallo. Once with Boston and now with the New York Rangers,

there's Corpus Sallo blocking young goaltenders. But no, I don't think they're both. Perrault played so good. Alexei Lafranier looks fantastic. When they brought in Dersie and Patterson, you said like, okay, like this is going to be, this is going to be a much better blue line just by those two additions.

So if I'm the Rangers right now, I'm seeing how far Garand, and then when he comes back, Corpusallo is going to be able to take him. It is. think about making a move or you just see if Jonathan Quick wants to renew his gym membership. It is kind of nutty that in a league that you and I have often called the Copycat League, that we just saw a career AHL starter win the Stanley Cup, play in the final and win the Stanley Cup.

And yet when a Garand or DeFietro or any of these other guys that kind of fit the Brandon Bussie profile, become available. Everybody's just like, no, thank you. We need a proven NHL starter with an 860% percentage.

It's kind of crazy. Yeah, I know. It really is. Speaking of injuries, Connor Bedard, making his return to the Chicago Blackhawk, so look forward to that one.

And I do want to get to Badard here in a second. We got to talk about the Philadelphia Flyers. Do we? Yeah, we do, man. Breyer had sort of chum the waters last,

in the summer by saying like, look, like we may end up taking a step backwards and they have. The fire talk at chance are out there. They're 05 and 2. You and I, however, are both old enough to see the Philadelphia Flyers lose 10 games in a row and then still make the playoffs once upon a time. So maybe pump the brakes on the season being done. But in that game on Sunday, they face the worst possible opponents. The Carolina Hurricanes will expose you for every single flaw that you have.

and by the end of the game make you not want to play hockey. And I'm not sure if you watch the end of the Flyers and the Carolina Hurricanes, but you're going to have a hard time convincing me that anybody on the flyers by the end wanted to play hockey for the remainder of that game. Which is funny because that's the game

where the flyers in theory should start turning stuff around. That's the statement game. These guys put us on our asses back in the playoffs last year. So now we're going to show you that we've learned a thing or two about a thing or two. We're going to stand up to the

flurry of hurricane forwards and defensemen and show that we can still turn the season around and it didn't happen now so you mentioned brier chum in the waters sometimes gms do this to reset the bar for a young team that overachieved but this was brier saying i've seen the sirens i've seen the red flags this team is having the worst free season i've ever seen these young players are not prepared for the season. They've let success go to their heads. They don't understand that every single opponent is going to know who the Philadelphia Flyers are. There is no sneaking up on anybody. And that carried over to the regular season. They played terribly. The effort's not there. The execution's not there. Now, the talk of it all is interesting. You mentioned the scant fire

talk at chance in the stands. Once again, love you, Philadelphia sports. You are five months removed from Rick Tocket coaching this team to a playoff win over the penguins. And now you're chanting for him to be fired seven games into this season. Let's look at the reality of it. He is two years into a five-year deal. He makes over $5 million a season. The chances of them firing him during this losing streak, I think, are pretty minimal, given the financial investment.

And given the fact that Rick Tockett is part of the brain trust for this team, The alternative is you fire him and then you pay him over, you know, $15 to $20 million while he's on TNT, supplementing his TNT income for the next three seasons plus as you pay him to not coach. I don't think they're going to do that. I'll say this about Tocke, though, Eric. When you think of a Rick Tockeet team, you think of two things. You think of stout, tough, truculent defensive play that will bring. a team to the playoff bubble.

And you think about a team that never shoots the puck. They just never shoot the puck. That it's been a systemic problem for Tocquet as a coach in his system since the days of the Arizona Coyotes in Glendale. If you look inside the stats for the Philadelphia Flyers at five on five, Merrick, you will see that shot attempt wise, they are 31st or 30th in the league. Right where you'd expect the Rick Tocke team to be. But they are giving up the most. five-on-five shot attempts right now. So the thing that is usually the floor for a Flyers team that Rick Tocke coaches,

the defensive side of the game, the thing that does not allow them to fall through the floor into the basement that is now made of tissue paper. They are falling through the floor into the basement because this team cannot defend at an NHL level right now. They have a tricky opponent tonight as part of Frozen Frenzy, and that's a Seattle Cracken. And it's one thing to look at the Carolina Hurricane game and go like, Carolina Hurricanes, like they're an incredible hockey team. And they're incredibly frustrating to play against,

and they won the Stanley Cup, no surprise. Seattle's an interesting team this year, four and two to kick off the season. Now, they had a great start last year, and that was all about Lane Lambert not allowing odd man rushes. It was phenomenal. Now, I don't know that any of what they're doing right now is going to sustain for the entire season, but I'm not sure how much Seattle hockey you've watched,

but it appears to me as if, you know, and I wondered if this would happen too. After hearing about how nobody wants to play there and how Panarin ain't going to do it and how Robertson's not going to resign with Seattle if they trade for them and player after player saying, yeah, I'm not going to go to Seattle, I can't help but thinking or wondering,

are all these players playing with a massive chip on their shoulder right now? Nobody wants to come here. Nobody wants to play here. We're just going to go out and win. Yeah. Well, I mean, listen, I think spite is a hell of a rocket fuel. 100%. Look at the Ottawa senators right now for Exhibit A.

Oh, they're dead. No, Brady. They're dead. Yeah. No, Brady. They're dead. Yeah. And now they're just world-eatlantic.

So the interesting thing about the crack. So the crack in our fourth in offense right now in the league, which obviously means they don't need Panarin or Roberts. And they've got this thing figured out. Um, they've hung six on the Calgary Flames twice, which I said, as I said at the start of the program, uh, they're terrible. And that's to be expected. But they've also hung six, I believe on both Washington and Vegas. On Sunday, yeah. Yeah. So I mean, like they're, they're cranking up the offense against all manner and sort of opponent. I don't think it's sustainable. But right now, uh, Elaine Lambert team is fourth best in offense, which is, of course, something you don't expect. And, and I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued tonight to see, uh, the crack. Uh, the crack. Um, the. Um, uh, and against the team they should beat what that score looks like. And also, obviously, on the other side of the ice, I mean, once you start hearing Chance of Fire the coach, what is the reaction from the players who to a man have said they love talk.

We love talking to talk. We love playing for talk. Well, show me tonight how much you love playing for him because you're all cognizant of what's happening in the fandom right now when it comes to your coach. But that's why this is interesting because it's one thing to say, you know, we got torn apart by the Carolina Hurricanes. again, don't feel special. They do that to a lot of teams.

It's another with the Seattle cracking. Right. Right? Like that's a whole, that's a whole. You can look at Carolina and go like, of course, that's going to happen. I don't know that you do that with Seattle. That's why tonight's a fascinating game between these two teams, because if Florida comes out and lays another,

or Philadelphia comes out and lays another egg, this time against Seattle, I don't know, man. We're itching towards that 10-game losing mark from, what was it, 17, 18? And we start saying, have they thrown away the playoffs already. Now, as you know in the frozen frenzy, it's the greatest buffet for hockey fans. You can sample the crab's legs. You can sample the mashed potatoes. Every 15 minutes.

It's fantastic. There's a few games, though, that I will probably leave on longer than the others. And those games involve Washington and Carolina, where I think you might be looking at the two best teams in that division. Buffalo and Montreal, for obvious reasons. I think that's the first meeting since the playoff series. It is. Colorado, Dallas, without question. And then probably, you know, Crosby versus Bedard is one that you have to tune into just to see what Connor does. Minnesota Winnipeg.

Minnesota Winnipeg, to me, is always an interesting matchup. Sure. I can't, I can't quite wrap my head around either of those teams at this point. Although I do think there's a, did I see that we're going to have a Calvin Pickard versus do Skinner matchup tonight? Did I see that correctly? Oh, I don't know. I didn't see that. Zach, you want to...

Let me see if that's a possibility. So it's just a lot of good stuff tonight, man. You know, I... But that Flyers Cracking game is one that I'm going to pay attention to for obvious reasons just because it does feel like the Flyers are on the precipice of really being in a tailspin. I want to get your thoughts on what Steve Worrier, who's a friend of the program, joins us on a regular basis, former AGM of the Florida Panthers. tweeted this one out this morning.

Oh, there you go. What do you got? Calvin Picker versus Stu Skinner, baby. Oh, my God. Get Tristan Jari to referee that match. You'll have a perfect storm of maligned Edmonton goaltenders. Oh, that's just incredible. Oh, I love it.

If Connor Hallibuck returns to Winnipeg, the Jets should invoke article 15.3C2 and 5. of the NHL CBA to do the following. One, delay paying him until they deem him fit and ready to play. I don't know they can do that specifically. Or impose a disciplinary suspension of reasonable length because he skipped camp. Okay, so a couple of things here. I made a couple of phone calls about this one.

And good on Steve for actually reading the CBA and figuring out what can happen here if Conor Hellebuck says, I got to come back. you know, I got to play my, if I'm going to get picked up by a team, I got to play. They need to see that I can still, that I can still play, and then I'm in game shape, etc. So a couple of things here that you can do. You can impose a suspension for him failing to report. It's not just, okay, I'm ready to go and you show up and you're good to go with the team. No, but the thing is, it has to be a quote unquote reasonable length, which is not, you know, an angry GM of the Winnipeg

Jets, you know, negotiating with the, with the goaltender here. This is like NHL and NHL Players Association saying, we're not going to burn up a bunch of negotiating capital here. What do we both agree is reasonable? Well, I think two weeks. It seems a little light. How about three? Okay, we can settle there.

And then the conditioning stint is just the conditioning stint and you send them to Manitoba. My question is, and I can. As I'm about to say this, I can hear the NHL Players Association firing up a grievance. I don't know that there's a specific time that you have to suspend the player. Could you, if he decides to come back to keep him away from the team? Because I don't think the players want them there. I don't think management wants them there.

I think ownership wants them there. Could you, if he decides to come back, assign him to Manitoba conditioning stint. then start the suspension, let's just say it's three weeks, and then when he comes back, since he's been suspended for three weeks, you've got to send him back to Mantoba for another two-week conditioning stint. Could you do that?

All the while trying to get him moved. Isn't he already suspended? He is, but if he decides to come back, what happens to that suspension? Because technically, he has a contract. Yeah. He still has. a contract. So the issue is, can you implement additional suspension as punishment? And the

answer in the CBA is yes. Are you saying the suspension he's currently underends when he reports? And now what I'm saying, no, what I'm saying, what I'm saying is if, if he, when he reports, the Winnipeg Jets can still suspend him if they choose. It's not an automatic suspension, but they can suspend him what's considered a reasonable length because he was healthy and didn't report the training camp. You could just, if you wanted, you're good to go. Maybe go on a three-game conditioning stint to Manitoba, and you're right back into the lineup.

But the Winnipeg Jets could suspend him still, according to the CBA. From what Steve's basically saying, it sounds like if he reports, well, now he's reported, so now you can't keep docking him money, right? But you can suspend him. If you don't want him back, you know, Kevin Shevoldeoff holds up the CBA and says, Article 24.35, little tiny lower-case. eyes, see in parentheses. So I reported this last week in my column.

I was talking to somebody who knows Hallibuck a little bit. And his opinion was that the more he loses financially, the better the chances are he comes back and plays again in Winnipeg. Because I know that we all see these guys as multi-millionaires, and they are. But they're also, much like every other family in existence, working on a budget. And when you have that much money coming in, you experience. You expect to have that much money to then spend on your house and your cars and your family and your whole thing and your kids and schools, whatever. That hell you invest it in.

And so the more money you lose, the more uncomfortable it gets. You live on a big nut. You live on a big. Yeah. Some, this guy felt, you know, he would come back to the Jets at some point when he loses enough money. And then furthermore that the players, who by the way are his team, there you go. There's the running count. Phyllabucks.

He lost $561,000 so far for being out. that the players who are not only his longtime teammates, but also, like, in the case of a few of them, his literal neighbors, are going to give him grief, and they're going to have to hear an explanation, and he's going to have to fall in his sword. But ultimately,

they would allow the multi-time bezs in the winter to populate their crease again. Now, right now, it doesn't seem like they need them, because Stu Skinner's got a 9-20. But I don't, sorry, I don't buy this notion. And I know Elliot's put it out there in a few, and you're putting it out there, too, that they're just like,

we never want to see this guy. again because it's not the Kyle Conner is one of the few guys that's talked about this and he merely said we're going to have to hear some apologies from Connor Hellebuck. That's a lot different than this guy should just, you know, pack himself up into a box and ship himself to Florida

because we don't ever want to see him in Winnipeg again. I don't necessarily think that like from the players point of view I think the big issue is the press conference and essentially saying this team's no good. This team's no good. Get me out. There may have been other things behind the scenes too.

who said what, who believed what, don't know between them, but I believe the big issue from the player's point of view is essentially doing an express conference. This team's no good. I think he's got to know. I don't think they want him back, man.

Connor Hullabuck's not exactly I think the sharpest tool in the shed sometimes when it comes to public relations. But I do think that he can go into that room be like, hey, listen, man, you know, we all got wives, we all got girlfriends. Mine was being harassed because of the team USA stuff and I reacted in kind.

Like, couldn't he just say that? He could. There's another step that someone had mentioned to me this morning about how Halibuck could go about doing this. And we've seen this happen a million times. I am not advocating for it and I have nothing against this player or this agent whatsoever. But the easy way, because we've seen players do this before, fire your agent and say you got bad advice.

There you go. that could be it too. Plausible to dieability. That's the playbook. I took bad advice. I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry. Yeah.

There are ways. There would be something I want for now. Right. How do you think he feels having done this gambit? When he looks over at Detroit and he sees Montreal fans throwing candy and flowers of a player that demanded a trade from his team and lost the captaincy. Like, do you think, You think Helly Buck's looking up.

Like, if I was playing in Florida right now for the Jets, there'd be a bunch of Panthers fans being like, we want Hellie. Like he could have had that had he reported a camp. He could have. And he would remove another question that I think teams have about Connor Hallibuck is, can he play right now? Like, let's say we trade for him right now, how long until he plays? And the longer that this goes on, the longer is, okay, so how long is it going to take Connor Hallibuck to get to game pace and game speed? and like that's legitimate. It's October 13th already.

And now we're talking about, you know, conditioning stints and suspensions if he comes back. What about if he gets traded right now? Well, I think you've hit on something that's, how quickly can he get into a game? I think you've hit on something that complicates the matter even more, which is that not only do you have to find a team that needs a goalie and isn't happy with their current goaltending situation and is one that he wants to play for. You have to find a team that's willing to ante up for him. him having come off the most ordinary season he's had in quite a while. I'm happy he kept his best for the gold medal game. But the rest of the time, he was like, he was like, I mean, like, how was he commiserate's

other average goaltenders in the league last year? He wasn't very good. So I think you're right. He has to come back and do a little proof of concept. Show them all that he's still the multivaz in the winner because last year was not the greatest selling it was not the right time for him to put the condo for sale right okay he's coming off a very mediocre season so let's um let's take this another step further then too um the detroit red wings like this is the way one person framed it to me today because we're talking about larkin and

hellabuck and this person said to me you know the detrit red wings can probably get away with a b plus trade for larkin and the fans and everybody would be like okay, you know what, bad situation, you made the best out, but it's still a good deal, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. For Connor Hallibuck, if you're Kevin Shevoldeoff,

I don't even know that a B plus trade works. Like, does this not have to be for Winnipeg? Given the gravity of it, the sensitivity of that marketplace, et cetera, does this not need to be like an A plus or an A trade for the Winnipeg Jets?

Sure. If they mess this up or don't get the return that they need, consequences are a lot more dire for Winnipeg than they would be for a B-plus trade for Dillen Larkin. So there's two ways to answer that. The first is obviously that Kevin Shevoldeoff has communicated that. That one of the reasons why this hasn't happened yet is because it is, yeah, it's easily

the most valuable asset on the roster and a player that is generational that if you trade him, you have to get it right. I mean, Kevin's said that as much. But the other thing that I find interesting, though, is that. Like, whenever this happens to a team where a player can control his own fate through trade protection, we all kind of have an understanding that it's not going to be a home run. Like the trade market is going to be limited by virtue of trade protection. It's going to be even more limited as we were just discussing by how many teams actually need a goaltender. So let's say he hits a ground rule double instead of a home run.

Like, wouldn't that be okay considering circumstances? Like, wouldn't that be okay considering the circumstances if you're Winnipeg? Like, wouldn't the fans, the fans will justifiably be pissed as hell at Hellebuck for putting them in this situation. But like, isn't that going to be justifiable considering the circumstances and trying to trade the player he's trying to trade if he just gets a strong ground rule double? But part of it, part of the deal here is you always have to worry about if this then what? If this then that. So if they don't get the A plus trade for Conor Hellebuck, what does Cala Conner think of this team now?

What does Mark Schifley think of this team now? Cole Perfetti in his new contract and Gabe Valardi and whatever they end up doing. What's the effect that it has on the rest of the... Again, Winnipeg is different than Detroit. Winnipeg is one of the most sensitive markets, as we all know in the NHL. I think one of the concerns is if Shevoldeaf doesn't nail this, what happens with all the world? all these other guys and how do they feel about their team now?

That's got it. That's another concern in all of this. Let me ask you another question about the return. Has Stuart Skinner, based on the way he's played for Winnipeg and also like how we've seen him play for Edmonton, Pittsburgh was a bad fit. Like Pittsburgh just didn't work. And it was going to merely be a stop on the carousel for him anyway.

But like, has he done enough in his career and this season where the necessity for shovel day off to find a goalie in a trade for Hellebuck is no longer there. The chanting is named there, too, by the way, which really warms my heart, too, considering everything that Stook-Scanters on these stem they chants to there is fantastic. Like, like, one day you and I will have to rank like the top 10 most rootable guys in this league. Oh, let's do a next show. I'll do that.

We're in the bag for these guys. And he is easily on that list. Like, Steve Skinner all there. Yes. Yes. A perfect dude. A great story. It broke your heart when it didn't work out in Edmonton, considering his history with that team even as a young fan.

Like, just like, that's like, God, man. Like, put me on that bandwagon for that guy to be a success in Winnipeg because, like, he's just someone who deserves it. 100%. Okay. I want to get to Ken here in a couple of seconds here. We're going to talk about Vegas tickets. But first, we all know hockey nights mean figuring out dinner, grabbing food before the rink or ordering in for the game. Taco Time wants to be part of that hockey tradition.

The hero offer right now is the new hockey night pack. For just $20, you get two classic burrito combos, including two classic burritos, beef or bean, two regular mexie fries, and two regular drinks. It's built specifically for game nights and is available through the opening month of the hockey season. Also available at Taco Time this month is the fan favorite deal for $12. You can get a large taco in a bag and regular drink for $12. This from our friends at Taco Time. Greg, let's talk about the Vegas Golden Knights.

And let's talk about the sellout streak coming to an end. And let's talk to Ken Bolkey from Sinbin, Vegas. Ken, first of all, thanks so much for stopping by the program today. Your piece raised eyebrows around the entire hockey world. I think when it was first announced that the sellout streak was over. And interestingly enough, it was while the Toronto Maple Leafs were in town, which you would think, although, you know, the situation. between our two countries right now, maybe, you know, betrays a reality that a lot of Canadians

really aren't traveling right now. We know a lot aren't going to Vegas specifically. And as our producer, Zach pointed out, too, it's Canadian Thanksgiving as well. And if anything, Canadians are staying home or closing the cottage or et cetera, et cetera. But as best he can, Ken, and welcome to the program, walk us through some of the various theories why the sellout streak came to an end. Yeah, I mean, like obviously Canadian thanks. giving and Canadian travel that's clearly going to be a part of it. But there was but 4,000 seats that were empty.

So it's not visiting fans necessarily that were not here. Some of the theories that have been out there are the one that people love to say is success fatigue. And I like to put that in the quotes. Like they've been too good for too long and suddenly they don't want to go. People don't like cheering. Some of that. Yeah.

All this winning is boring anymore. Yeah, it's terrible. We hate it. And going back. though, like, they didn't actually sell out all of the tickets in the Stanley Cup final. So I think it ends up coming down to pricing. That's what it really is. It's pricing.

The pricing is not matching the value of what fans are willing to pay. Now, that can be concessions. That could be parking. People have told me it's $45 to park in a garage right across the street. That's a lot. Yeah. Like, it's not cheap. But then there's this new concept that the Golden Knights are sending out to everyone.

and they're saying it's because we took the tickets away from the ticket resellers, that no longer are we selling all these tickets to resellers, and therefore now we're selling them directly to the fans. But the problem with that is that the tickets are then still priced too high because the fans didn't buy them. Let me pick up on that too, because the broker issue is an interesting one. And you can probably sharpen the pencil on this one more than I can, but I believe it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 tickets per game

that were sold to brokers. So you may have the quote unquote sellout, but you're only capturing 80% of the money involved. And like, look, Vegas isn't the only team to do this. Rangers have done this. Ducks have done this as well. How much do you think we look at this and say, this is an adjustment period for the organization

and their fan base versus this is going to be the trend? That because everything around the take, and the game experience is so expensive that it doesn't matter who's selling this thing, fans still aren't going to go. Which way do you sort of slide? Well, I'd push back a little bit on that in saying it does matter who's selling the tickets, because if the resellers have already purchased the tickets, then they're going to be incentivized to resell them for less.

Therefore, there should be tickets. If there's 3,000 seats available, there should be tickets available for $15, $10, whatever people are willing to pay for them. If you look at Thursday's game, they're playing Calgary, Canadian again, so here we go again. But they're playing a game on Thursday. The cheapest ticket available anywhere from the team is almost $80. The resellers have them in the ballpark of 37, 40, 50, but from what I've been told, the new resellers, so they didn't get rid of all of their resellers.

They've got rid of some of their resellers. But the new ones that they brought in have been instituted floors. You can't sell lower than this price. And the reason for that is because there are season ticket holders who have already purchased the tickets for a price higher than that floor. They don't want the resellers coming in and cutting that amount and making it so that the people who have already paid for the tickets are being undercut. That was a reason they've lost a lot of season ticket holders. So that's why they're trying to do it. So like the reset period comes in, but yes, you have to restore the value of the ticket.

And I think that's what my article was about is saying, I think the value of the ticket, value of the experience has been limited by a number of things that are somewhat under their control and somewhat not under their control. Greg, first off, it's good as you can. For those who don't know, Ken has been covering the Golden Knights since before there were Golden Knights. It's the blog you went to when the Golden Knights were doing all of their building. I want a rat pack.

Listen, I would have been, I've been having, as you've probably seen, I've been having arguments with Vegas fans about the name of the team and whether it leaned into Vegas. You're like, it's got gold in the title, it's glittery. I'm like, the only reason you have that name is because the army trademarked black knights. Come on, we know this. So to your example, I took my kids to a devil's game on Saturday, once again, successful and that nobody took a picture of me in my Scott Stevens jersey. But the tickets that we bought were like 30 bucks a pop in the sort of the mezzanine through

a ticket master resell and then the ones a row right behind us that were still on sale were like $96. So like the entry point for a resale is a key to filling these buildings and sort of the change in that policy for some of these teams has been interesting to watch. But I wanted to touch on something else that you said because it fascinated me, which is that for years, the gold nights, according to you, have been building a fan base and amassing a hockey culture in the area. And now it feels like a switch has flipped. And now it's less about adding people to the fan base than it is sort of doing what some theme parks. Wink, wink, wink are known to do, which is milk these fans for as much as you can because they are the loyal customers and they will pay what you want for concessions and parking

and all these things. How has that impacted the relationship between the team and the fans? Yeah, this is going to shock you guys. Like, you're not going to believe this. But billionaires like money. They're big on it. They love it. Yeah, they're like, we can get some more money. Let's do it.

This is natural. I understand that it kind of gets painted the way. And yes, I wrote the article. I painted the article. But, like, some of it's natural. However, they do have to take a step back if these seats are not being sold and understand why is this happening? Why is the value not there anymore?

And I think part of that is because they've been pinching along the way. The price of parking never goes down. The price of concessions. They finally brought it down a little bit, but only on some items, not across the board. And they have that club, too, right? They have that special membership thing, too, the teams are doing, where if you're a member of the certain club, then your concession prices are lower than other people, right? That's what they do? Well, they initially said it was the locals menu.

And so that was like some people thought you had to show in Nevada ID or something. It was just a branding name, but like you can, everybody can get to lower concessions if you just ask for them or go to the right place. I just like, I do also think, and like, I don't know how much of the piece of the puzzle this is or whatever. I don't know. But like, I don't know that the villain thing fits on the fan base that they grew. When you think about what the Golden Knights story was at the beginning, everyone came into the

golden nights because they arrived at the perfect time right after the worst moment. in Las Vegas history. That's when they showed up. And everybody loved the first season of the Golden Knights, the Golden Misfits, and they're taking players who weren't wanted from other places and coming together and this band of lovable losers is winning, even though they weren't lovable losers.

But like, they're doing it. They were a fun, awesome story that they made a documentary about it. I had to do like a nine-hour interview to be in that documentary. Like that was happening. Then now, 10 years later, they're the death star that everyone hates them. Like you asked anybody around the league, you're hated. If you wear a Golden Knight jersey into an opposing rink, you will have profanities yelled

at you. That was not the case nine years ago. And I don't know that that fits everybody or especially a lot of the new sports fans that became fans of this team. Let me push back on that one because, and you're right, like make no mistake about it, everybody was behind Vegas. Everybody was behind the story. And everyone that I know was behind that.

But that is not a recipe for long-term success. Right? Like at a certain point, like, that's great. And that was fantastic. And everybody got behind it. But that can't be how you run your franchise. Like that can't if you, again, like, if you're going to win consistently. And Vegas is all outside of the year that one year that didn't make the playoffs.

They've always been involved in it. They've always been part of the picture. And you can't do that if you're just doing it on. were the lovable misfits, a bunch of rejects that other teams didn't want. There was something about how that all came together originally, but that's finite. And then at a certain point,

you've got to be like, we've got to make tough decisions, so we stay competitive here. Yeah, you're not wrong. I just, the word I'll use is grace. I think they needed to use a little bit more grace in dismantling some of that. The way that it ended with Mark Andre Fleury,

why is this agent posting a sword going through his back on Twitter. Like, why is that happening? And then the ownership is being, has told him, you will retire here. And then he's traded for Mikhail Heckeraynan. Look that name up. Yeah, you mentioned, and you mentioned, you mentioned the way Marshall is so was handled, but you also mentioned something that, I mean, I have no concept of how that

played locally, but you also mentioned, say, like, the signing of Carter Hart. And whether that tie, does that tie into the overall theory of rejection of good vibes from this franchise? Every fan's different. There are some fans that are going to look at that and say he was acquitted. He absolutely deserves another opportunity to play. Why, if the NHL is saying he could play, let him play. But there are some fans that are like, what are we doing? Why are we the team taking this on?

And my argument is they've always used the phrase, protect the unprotected. That's what the Golden Knight is supposed to do, protect the unprotected. I think there's a strong argument that that player is not fitting that mantra. Okay, Mayor, can I get you follow up? Yeah. One of the things that I find interesting about the Golden Knights, we all were over a barrel praising this franchise for being first in market. Like the Aces, yes, but there was no NFL, there was no MLB, there was no NBA. And so they became the model.

Like when people talk about the NHL going to Austin, Texas, it is to be. the Golden Knights. It is to get in there first, right? Now the NFL's there. Now the sphere is there. I know there were people talking about how many people spent money to go see Metallica instead of going to see the Maple Leafs that night in Vegas.

The NBA is coming. Baseball's coming. This seems like an inflection point for the Vegas Golden Knights where you're already in a city where there is such demand for your entertainment dollar. But now there's all of these other teams and all these other fan loyalties that are going to be creeping into the market in a way that they weren't there with the first several years of the

franchise. Yeah, that just makes it more important to make the value of your ticket higher. Make it an event. Make it why you want to go. Why would you want to pay for these tickets? And I think that as more things come in, you have to differentiate yourself away from Metallica at the sphere. Good luck doing that.

That's tough. That's a cool ticket. I'll give it to it. But like, they have to find ways to bring value back. And I think at the beginning, you could not find a person in Las Vegas that wouldn't drop whatever they're doing and go to the Golden Knights game. That was the thing to do. That was awesome. They need to find a way to bring that back.

And some of it, what's crazy is they're winning along the way. This would be much easier to say if they're in eighth place in the Pacific. It's like, well, if they start winning again, people care again. Like, they have not stopped winning along the way. So they have to find what went wrong. And I do think a lot of it's economic. A lot of it is other things that have happened that they have no control over, which I completely understand.

But also, there are a lot of things they do have control over and they can do better. And until they recognize that as opposed to saying, well, we took tickets back from the resellers and that's why we didn't sell out. Well, that doesn't make a lot of sense. Why are people not buying the tickets that are available right now? You have to raise the value back in. You have to find that value. And that is, to me, finding way to connect it to the community.

again. One of the things I think that, listen, man, I think we've all thought about this. Like, at some point in the evening, the bartender says last call and the lights pop open and the built on Vegas. Well, no, listen, so far not in Vegas. Well, that's actually true. But like in regular cities, like there's something called last call. And it happens for sports teams too.

You can only be good for so long until finally the natural, you know, evolution. and like with the Detroit Red Wings, we never thought that we see a date with the Detroit Red Wings would be in the situation that they're in, but here we are. Like, what I do wonder about, and listen, I'm not going to knock a team for like winning from the get-go. It's been an incredible story. We have not seen this in the NHL. This is one of the best stories of on ice success that's ever happened in this league. But I think we all wonder, like, what happens when the winning softens? As it will one day.

What then? Because normally the way that it goes is you don't monetize at every level while you're building or while you're developing your expansion team and eventually you build up to the place where at every single rung we are going to monetize. This is the way the Toronto Maple Leafs do it, but it's a heritage team that goes back to to 1917. So like you understand like that fan base has been built up and they monetize it every rung of the latter. I do wonder if, not to, to say that, you know, they're victims of their own success. But there is an element of that that Vegas fans are used to winning.

And they never really had a build. They never had like an embarrassing season where they only won 15 games. And then they grew. They just started off by going to the Stanley Cup. They only won 38 last year, by the way. So. Okay. But so, so what happens then?

Like, I mean, I'm sure you've thought about this, you know, more than Greg and I. Of course. What happens? Like what happens with that marketplace? Because as Greg mentioned, there are options now. Yeah. I think the hope is that the initial build, the initial size of the fan base is going to be large enough to carry it through.

And I think that's the concern. It's like, wait a minute. It's, we're still in the winning. And now it's not getting there. I think that they're going to have to find a way to make sure that people once again connect to whatever they're doing. I truly believe there are plenty of fans in law. Vegas. There are plenty of people willing to travel. And Vegas has done a very good job of becoming a

team that fans that don't live here cheer for. A lot of people's second favorite city where they don't live is Vegas. So they latched on to this team. Now granted, over the years, people have latched on hating the team as well. But I think as they go through a rebuild, it's going to be how do you connect to your fan base during that rebuild? And then as you ramp it back up to being good again and remind people, remember how fun it was those first 10 years when we were awesome? This is what we're headed for again. How do you connect the new group, the new team, to what's going on? San Jose is a great example.

That team is so lovable at the moment because of all of what they've gone through to now get to this point. The Golden Knights may have to go through that. And yeah, it's like any building in the league. Like this is not a city that has 50 million people. We have like two here, three. it's going to be emptier if they're not winning. So that's why it's so jarring that while they are winning, it's empty or emptier. A team that made the cup final last year.

So that San Jose example is a good one. He had Drew Remenda on last week on the show. And he was talking about how the passion for that team seems like is even more intense than it was when they had Joe Thornton and Logan Guter and all those guys because they went through the pain and now they're growing up with the Maclin-Cellibrini, Will Smith version of this franchise. So it's the hunger is real. Like hunger can can stoke the flames of a franchise in ways that that perpetual winning maybe doesn't.

I think it's a good point. You mentioned traveling and you mentioned a couple times like being on the road as a Vegas fan. What do you think the situation with the stadium series game is going to end up looking like? Like that's a big building. It is. How much are they going to travel to go to go play Dallas and Jerry World? So I'll argue that that game has massive value. That game is unique.

That game is different than the other 41 that are being played at T-Mobile Arena during the regular season. I still can't get used to that. But I think there's something special about that game. That's one where you think to yourself, if I'm sitting at home and don't go to that, am I going to have the FOMO? Am I going to feel like, darn, I should have paid the $130 or whatever it is to go to that. I think a lot of people are. And I've talked to a lot of people that are no longer season ticket holders that are planning on going to Dallas.

Now, granted, I also run a website and I have a Discord where like these are the diehard of the diehards. So I have a hard time judging, you know, like what's it going to actually look like? But I think it's going to be pretty good because when are you ever going to get a chance to go watch the hockey game at a football stadium in Dallas, one of the more famous football stadiums in the world? Like, that's cool. So I think people are going to be willing to do that. And that's because the value of the ticket is there, where apparently it is not there at the same level right now here.

We got to hustle quick. Greg, anything else for Ben? I just wanted to ask you about the situation on the ice. Jack Eichel gunning to become the first 100-point player in Golden Knights history. But for real, like Ryan Craig took over this team. It was a controversial move considering how well torts coached him. And obviously, John wanted to come back and was told, hey, we're good here. we have this person we've been growing in a lab since he was in Brandon to become the coach of the team.

But like the way this team is currently constructed, do you, I mean, could they get over the hump as currently constructed or do they need something else on the roster to make that happen? I mean, they're the Golden Knights. They're going to add something to the roster. We know that's inevitably going. Like, come on, we know that's going to happen. But like the team's, the team's good. I think what I was saying yesterday is I think there's a, they're kind of pretty close to a finished product in October, which is. Like they're playing the same style. They're doing the same things that they did a year ago. And they're doing it against teams that are kind of still trying to figure themselves out. So they look really good right now.

Last night, notwithstanding. But like they're a pretty darn good team. Do they need a little bit more? They could use a goalie. And I was listening last segment. There seems to be one that maybe, maybe. Well, I know. Right?

Maybe that fits. You know, I thought. What would this team look like if they had him? I'm certainly curious about that one. how much would that cost and how would they make the cap space work. But nonetheless, Vegas, the one thing that I always have admired about Vegas and Kelly McCriman is the way they handle, the way they handle their salary cap, it's almost like, you know what, we're happy to make a mess of this during the year because in the summer we're just going to clean it up.

You know, we're happy to make a hash of this during the year. And then we're going to clean the whole thing up in the summer. That's such a logical move for all of that, just bad feelings and toxicity going on between Hellibuck in Winnipeg and then he becomes a Golden Knight. Like that's just like the story writes itself. But, but you know, are you saying this is a possibility because for the first time in franchise history, Kelly hasn't traded away prospects. There's a actually drafted gold nights players.

Did you know there's a first round draft pick that's playing on the team right now and actually scoring goals? Did you know what I think? Kelly's, Kelly's trigger figure is itching right now. He's like, I got to trade this guy. I don't know how this happened. Greg, he has two first round picks in the same draft coming up. Oh, my God.

You must be going out of his mind. Yeah, we can't have that. We can't have that. He must have misread the, yeah, he must have misread the spreadsheet. I don't know how those guys snuck through before they were traded off for veterans on the expiring contracts. Absolutely. Ben, there's been a lot of fun and informative, too. Thanks so much for stopping.

Listen, continued great work. And I'll tell you, so I can, I apologize. guys. Ken, thanks so much for stopping by. Really appreciate it. For trining a light on an interesting issue on a very fascinating team. Really appreciate it. Thanks, Ken. Thanks for having me. There he is.

Ken bulky does Sin bin. So the pieces call why I believe the Golden Knights nine years sellout streak ended. Ken Bolki has been our guest. And Ken's an interesting one to write that because like I've been reading a site forever, as you can probably tell. And like this was a site that used to, you know, sign off posts saying like praise be to folly like there's a they are they are in the church man they're and they're the ones telling you that the pews are creaky you know and that the services aren't as good as they used to be and and so like i find that to be really interesting i mean

again this is a slice of the fandom having been there numerous times ken was talking about people who have Vegas their second favorite city that's a very easy thing to happen when you're a hockey writer on a per diem and you know the fan base is massive you mean you go to practice, it still stands are full. You know, the merchandise moves. People have the license plates. They have everywhere you look through is Vegas Golden Knights fans. But I do wonder, these combination of economic headwinds and the price of tickets and now much more competition in the market than they had previous.

It's going to be interesting to see. I'm with you, man, on the pushback on that whole, like, they don't like being the villains. I mean, for God's sakes, you're the Raiders in town. You don't like being the villains. You've got people coming to those games looking like the road warriors. from the NWA, a villainy runs through Vegas fandom, I think.

My only thought is you can only do the misfits for so long. Like, at a certain point, like, and I do understand why they traded Mark Andre Fleury. I do understand why they let go of Jonathan Marcia's hole, like along the way, if you're going to stay at a certain standard facing the realities that the salary cap brings with it, you've got to make some difficult decisions along the way.

Yeah, but like the, they hate us because they ain't us. thing is something that drives fans lean into that all I 100% love that that that's the entire basis of the leaf marketing scheme this year it is too fans love it yeah yeah listen you're you're you're not wrong about that um and you can only do the uh the misfits lovable losers we're the rejects island of misfit toys for so long yeah well especially and and really only once yeah well he also can't do and you when you keep making the cup final Like, it's just like, we're the weirdos.

We're the, the suit. We're the island of Miss Smith. No, you're a pretty damn good hockey team. You keep making the cup final. My favorite. My favorite is when they make the cup, they make the cup final comma again. And we hear, they said we could never do this. Who?

Who? Them. Who's saying? The people. Them, those people. That's, I'm excited. I'm happy we did that segment because I think that ticket broker situation, again, through personal experience this past weekend,

fascinating to see because it never occurs to me that the secondary market is it can be an entry point for fans. Yep. You mean, when you think of the secondary market, you think of like paying out the ass for tickets to games that are sold out. You don't think of season ticket holders dumping their tickets because they don't want to go see the doubles versus Vancouver at 3.30 on a Saturday afternoon like I did. And now you're getting those tickets for a third of the price. And that's a way to get your family into a game. And if a team is selling those tickets, you certainly aren't getting a discontinent. you're getting from the broker.

Before we punt, anything that you wanted to get to from either Frozen Frenzy tonight or anything else around the NHL, the impending return of the guy in Chicago, Connor Bedard, who we hope to change their situation. Dude, I just want to see him and Patrick Kane whip the puck around on the power place. That's so wrong?

Like, you know, a man of simple tastes. The idea to see, you know, the two generations of Chicago superstars doing that is going to be fun to see. The masks, the ducks are giving away, are incredible. Yes, they are. I don't know if Zach has that at the ready or not, but that's incredible.

Roger McQueen, Lightning McQueen himself will make his debut in the NHL for the ducks, which is very exciting. And then, you know, I think we've covered most of it. The frenzy, listen, if I, there's the duck. Look at that. That's absolutely incredible. Look at that. If I had my druthers about the frenzy, I would do the same thing I've always wanted to do for games. day one of the Stanley Cup playoffs, which is started at noon and run it all day.

And I know that the games for us started a little bit earlier a few years back when we did the frenzy. Ideally, this is the day where you take a long lunch. You take a Roger Sterling and Don Draper lunch with a few martinis and you're watching hockey on the TV at noon. And then you just stay at the bar all day. Like that'd be my ideal frozen frenzy. But the way it is now is dope. It's awesome. Where you can kind of just like again.

And it's so early in the season. And I have not watched all these teams. You have not watched, well, you probably have watched all these teams. I have not watched all these teams. The opportunity to kind of surf around and see some of these games in real time. And also, you know, check out, hopefully check out if you're in the U.S. Bucci and Weeks doing their little whip around show on ESP 2. Like, it's a cool night for hockey.

I'll begin six o'clock Eastern with the Devils and the Red Wings. Can't think of any storylines for those two teams right now. What so ever? Will the Red Wings? fans chant we want jack like will they will they reverse course jack and luke no you want you want you want to get all three brothers just say we want hughes we want hughes yeah and we'll take jim and ellen too leave it up to you de facto director of player development and general manager just being the whole hugh's family under the tent in detroit how about this chant we want jack and also luke

who plays pretty well 75% of the time but then makes one bonehead mistake that leads to a goal occasionally. Is that too long? Can you clap through that? And then his brother currently playing for Minnesota. Yeah. Dill Lynn Larkin for Queen Hughes. The trade was one for one. That's good. No, this is, okay, you got your chance all down. Starts with the wings and the devils and then finishes up later on tonight with the Boston Bruins facing off against the San Jose Sharks. You enjoy as much of it as you can. I know we have a busy media day, including an AMA, as well. Oh, yeah, come to Reddit.

7 o'clock, ladies and gentlemen, all the people in the chat who certainly love to engage with me. I will be on the Reddit hockey at 7 o'clock doing a two-hour AMA. That's awesome. Let's do one of those together one day. Why don't you and I do one of those together one day? Absolutely. I haven't done it in a name and use.

Let you answer everything. Let's do that. All right. Get out of here. Beat it. Bye. Greg Wischinski from ESPN.com. Very sing-songy to end the program today.

This segment, by the way, and thanks much for joining us. This segment is brought to you by Sports Interaction, Sportsbook, and Casino. Every game is your game when you bet with sports interaction. Bet the action on every period, every shift, every shot with Canada's homegrown sportsbook, sports interaction. Ontario or Alberta only must be 19 plus in Ontario, 18 plus in Alberta. Please play responsibly. Zach, you have 16 games to choose from. Yeah, I'm going to do something ridiculous.

I figured you'd be going off the high diving board. Okay, so let me give my best bets. And then I've been asked by the chat throughout the course of the entire show to pick every game. So I will do it and I will do it ridiculously fast because I know we got to get out of here. So let me just quickly go here, Jeff, my best bets for today's game. Yeah. Or games, excuse me. The ones that I picked out that stood out the most to me, the Montreal Canadiens minus one and a half today against the Buffalo Sabres.

Sabres on a back to back plus 154 there. Maple Leafs Money Line. Everyone says scheduled loss against Utah. I say no way, Jose, plus 135 for the Maple Leaf. Whoa, buying into the hype. I'm buying in Minnesota, I almost said Minnipeg, Minnesota, Winnipeg, over six and a half. If the president, if the president had his way, that's what it would be. Good one, Jeff. Thank you. Plus 100 on the over six and a half. The Pickard Stewart Skinner battle tonight. Lots of goals, I think, unfortunately for those guys. The Oilers minus one and a half

to close out the night against the Los Angeles Kings at plus 180. So those are my four best bets. That's your best bets. Now, everyone has asked me to pick every single game. Oh, really? Okay. Yes, so I'm going to do this and I'm going to do this rapid fire. Like we're going to absolutely rip through the picks for today

and every single game on the board in this one. Okay. Let's get started. Are you ready, Jeff? I'm all set to go. I can't wait. We're starting out with the Red Wings and the New Jersey Devils. Red Wings, Devils.

I'm going to take the Red Wings tonight. I think the devils continue to squander. Panthers Blue Jackets for this one. I'm going to take the Blue Jackets against the Panthers. Brady Kachan finally gets on the board of an assist. He does. It only took him, what was it six? It was seven games into the season, unfortunately.

But who's counting? Not sense. fans. Our podcast and points. Ooh. Okay. That's not going to help me keep this quick. Sabres, Canadians, I think the Habs get one here tonight against the Sabres.

Sabres looked really good yesterday, but Habs finding themselves at the bottom of the standings, time to get things on the right track against the Sabres on back to back. I'm going to take the Hurricanes. I know that Jordan Stahl is not playing tonight, but against the Capitals, this Hurricanes team has looked very good so far to start. season. I don't think that stops. After those two speed wobbles, one of them against Washington to start the season. Carolina has hit their stride early. Cracken flyers, sorry Philadelphia. I think you lose eight straight to start the season. I think the crack in. I get this one against Philly.

Lightning Rangers. I'm going to go with the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight. And I know this. A decent amount of favorites I've taken here so far. But lightning tonight against the Rangers. I saw a video of Coop making fun of Johnny Lazz. is filming the boys in track suits today. You know, just for that angle alone, I'll take the lightning. Blues, senators, I'm going to pick the St. Louis Blues, our guy, Robert Thomas. I'm getting behind him. I get it.

Robert Thomas. I get it. I get it. I'll tell you what, man, every senator's game that I watch, you know who just jumps out at me hard, Shane Pinto is having an incredible start to the season, man. God, he's been good. P-I-N-T-O and Pinto was his name out. That's right.

But I will take the blues there. I'm going to pick the Islanders as decent favorites there against the Vancouver Canucks. Penguins Blackhawks. Bader! Baird! Penguins win this one. Unfortunately, Sidney Crosby just suffocates out. Connor Baderd's return to the league this year.

I just want to see them face off against each other. I want opening face off again just because of my favorite faceoff of all time. Connor Bred's debut in the NHL. My favorite financially too. And that snapback because, oh, yeah, you bet on the faceoff. too, didn't you? Yeah, and I don't know that I've seen Crosby want to draw that hard ever in his career. There's no way he was going to lose that draw. Do it again tonight, guys. Do it again. Why not? And then I'm going to go with the Jets against the Wild. They've looked good so far this season.

I'm picking a lot of goals in that one, so we'll go a high-scoring affair and the Jets come away with the victory. Okay. I'm going to pick the aves against the stars tonight. I know Kail McCarr is not playing. He's expecting his child to be born. But regardless, you know, every time there's a loss for the Colorado Avalanche, I worry for the team they play next. And tonight that team is the Dallas Stars. I don't think it's like a whopping by any stretch. But I think the abs get the win tonight against Dallas.

Goaltending also called out, by the way, by Jared Bettner, after the loss of the Leafs on Saturday night. A Golden Knights, Prats, dude, this is a lot of games. Sorry, Jeff. That's okay. I'm just doing dogface. Preds, I don't think that they win tonight again. Vegas and the hot starts of the season for Vegas.

I have no idea what Nashville is doing. No, I'm very confused. What that team is and what they're doing and thinking. I gave this one out already. Maple Leaf's money line against the mammoth. Scheduled loss. Not tonight, Jeff. Okay.

This is a new team. Maple Leaf's Money Line. Utah's good, man. Ducks Money Line against the flames. Simply put, the flames, they suck. They cannot score a goal. They suck. Yeah.

That's simple. Tough. Oilers, money line against the Kings. They were out at a Chargers game yesterday. Yeah. You know, they're all excited. They're all hanging out. They're going to get the California sun.

Ryan Newtjit Hopkins sighting. True. Everyone wearing white and gray t-shirts, by the way, Nugent Hopkins wearing black. Missed out on the memo on that one. And then finally, Sharks and Burrins. Not in the lineup, not in the group chat. Yeah.

Finally, Sharks and Bruins. I'll take Sharks tonight against the Bruns. All right, Malcolm Selleerney versus David Pasternak. All right. Excellent stuff. Zach as always, a couple of things here before we wrap things up and do all of our thank yous. Men are dying folks far too young. Too many men are dying too young often from preventable causes in Canada. A boy born in 2023 can expect to live around four years less than a

girl. Make a grow mittments. Challenge a friend, grow together, change men's health. A grow a mitment is your commitment to take on Movember together. Grow a Moe, move 60 kilometers, host something, or do it your own way to learn more. Please visit Movember.com. All right. Thanks as always to Greg Wosinski, who stops by. He is back on Wednesday, or no, on Thursday here on the broadcast. Ken Bulkie from Sinbin, Vegas, stopped by the program to talk about tickets, and we ended

up talking about the misfits and who they are now and trading Trevor Connolly because we want to get more veterans on the Vegas Golden Knights lineup. Thanks to Ken for stopping by the program. Thanks to you for watching. Thanks to you for listening. Thanks to you for being in the chat. Please do all the things like, you know, subscribe and like and leave comments and all those fun things

that we always encourage you to do. And we also encourage you to watch as much as you can tonight, whether that's one game, maybe a couple of games, one early, one late, have a peek at all of it. It's hockey Christmas morning. It's 16 games. Enjoy as much of it as you can. And we'll talk about as much as we can

on tomorrow's broadcast right here at 1 o'clock Eastern for the sheet. Rachel Dory from ESPN is going to be Stopping by live. She's in town. So look forward to talking to Rachel tomorrow, amongst other guests as well. We'll talk to you then. Enjoy the frenzy. One o'clock tomorrow for the sheet.