The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Bill Armstrong on NHL's Crazy Offseason, Utah Mammoth & Rising Salaries ft. Brian Burke

Episode Date: October 9, 2026

On today's episode of The Sheet with Jeff Marek, Jeff breaks down the latest NHL news, trade rumours, and biggest storylines from around the league, recapping last night's games and looking ahead to a busy weekend of NHL action. Jeff revisits the ongoing Dylan Larkin situation with the Detroit Red Wings, exploring what the future could hold for the Red Wings captain, while also discussing the continued uncertainty surrounding Connor Hellebuyck and the Winnipeg Jets. Former NHL general manager and executive Brian Burke joins Jeff to share his perspective on the biggest developments around the NHL, which teams have impressed him early in the 2026-27 season, which clubs are raising concerns, and what he's watching as the season unfolds. Later, Utah Mammoth General Manager Bill Armstrong joins the show to discuss one of the wildest NHL offseasons in recent memory, from blockbuster trades and offer sheets to massive free-agent contracts and the impact of the rising NHL salary cap on player salaries, team building, and the NHL trade market. Armstrong offers an inside look at what it was like navigating a rapidly changing league as a general manager before diving into the Utah Mammoth's offseason, their start to the 2026-27 NHL season, expectations for the roster, and what could still be ahead for the franchise.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.

Okay, here we go again at the home studio, not the downtown Toronto studio. Jeff Merrick here with another edition of The Sheed for this Friday, October the 9th. Thank you for joining us, whether you are watching us on YouTube or listening at your favorite podcast platform. This is still the Sports Interaction Studio and official sports betting partner of the NHL. And it's General Manager's Day here on the program. So we have a couple notable GMs, Brian Burke, who makes his weekly stop. he'll be by here in a couple of moments. Should I mention Hall of Famer?

And Stanley Cup champion, Brian Burke. He'll be here in a couple of moments. And also, we'll be joined by Bill Armstrong, who is the general manager of the Utah Mammoth. Tough one last night against the Boston Bruins. But plenty to get into with Bill, as always. So we shall look forward to that. In the meantime, we should, I mean, listen,

I've been mentioning the last week on the program, the two teams that, I've seen so far this season, and you can probably throw Carolina into the mix right now, because they seem to be really hitting a stride, beaten up on a couple of Canadian teams this week. The two teams that right out of the gate look like legitimate, like, okay, their NHL playoff teams, NHL ready, all of it. Are the Vegas Golden Knights and the Utah Mammoth? So we'll get into that with Bill coming up at the bottom of the hour.

In the meantime, speaking of Vegas, Zach, really quickly, what time did after Dark go dark last night after the Maple Leaf's Vegas Golden Ice? ended in a shootout. Yeah, I got the triple whammy. I was like, okay, West Coast game, 10 p.m. start, 12.45 showtime. Suck it up, Eastern Boys. Suck it up. Let's go to O.T.

Let's go to shooters, a shootout, and let's go to extra shooters in the shootout as well. Because why stop a three? Oh, you know what? You know what that shootout needed just to torture you? A good glass break. I think if Trevor Connolly just would have come in as I ripped one, missed a net, but broke the glass. Oh, yeah. Just to keep you up.

glass break. If there was a glass break, Jeff, the shootout to extend my night, there would have been a much more fiery post-game show. It was already energetic enough based on how the game went. But yeah, it started at 105 a.m. Eastern Time and went till 305 a.m. Eastern time. Well, okay, so you're bright and fresh for Leaves Morning Take today.

Yes. Well, but one of the things coming out of that one, excuse me, attendance. Yes. 15,977, a T-Mobile, not the normal sellout of 17,367. Probably a number of real. First time they haven't sold out. So 354, regular season games and 66 playoff games, first time that all the seats have not been accounted for. And the reasons were plenty.

but what have you come up with after having watched, thought, slept, woken up and thought some more about this? Well, let me just say this is not me trying to be the Leafs fan and woe is the Leafs and they drive everything, but they are a well-traveled fan base. And I mean, when they've gone to Vegas before, they've traveled well to Vegas. I think one thing that's kind of getting lost in this,

I know there was a tweet that Metallica was playing at Spheres. So maybe that was one, but I mean, the sphere is wrong. talking every night, so I don't think that's the reason. It's Canadian Thanksgiving. It's a tough sell to tell your family. I'm hitting the road. I won't be here for dinner this weekend because I'll be in Vegas watching the Maple Leafs. I think there's the underlying political stuff in it as well. Canadians aren't traveling. Canadians aren't traveling. That's just the fact. Yeah. And then you also mix in the fact that it's Canadian Thanksgiving. I think it's a tough sell for Canadians to get out

there, whether it's Leaves fans local to Toronto or spread across Canada, most people are going home, Jeff, not leaving home to go watch games. So I think that plays a big factor. Okay. So let's, I just wanted to mention that because it's the first time that Vegas has not had a sellout. So I just want to get that on and sort of out of the way. So a number of things conspiring against Vegas in this one to produce a house of 15,977. With that, we'll bring aboard our Hall of Famer, Stanley Cup champion, Brian Burke, who joins me each and every week here on the sheet. Burkey, just mentioning off the top with the Vegas situation from last night, just as far as

attendance goes and wondering about Maple Leafs fans traveling. I don't know if you have a thought on, you know, when you were managing the Maple Leafs and if you would do anything special, unique, whatever, for Maple Leafs fans that traveled when the Maple Leafs went stateside. Anything jumped to mind for you there? No, but I'm not surprised that they didn't sell out. It is, I see it. I travels way down to the states from Canada.

I'm not surprised one dead. I bet it's down all three buildings on this trip. Well, you know, and that's the one thing I wonder about too, because a lot of things, like not to make Steve Hatsapetros who does the schedule for the NHL, not to make his life even more complicated, but there's a lot of factors that go into making the schedule, a lot of balls in the air, so much of it about arena availability, not wanting to compete with, whether it's football,

or MLB playoffs, etc. Would that be a consideration that when you're early in the season, Canadian Thanksgiving, you might want to get, you know, for teams that travel fans a lot to the states, maybe not have them travel on Thanksgiving weekend if you're a Canadian team? Well, they do that now. The Leafs always played in Florida when it was on winter break or spring break. Leaves never played in Florida on a school night when it was a,

It was always during the school break. So they can control the schedule as best they can to help all the teams. But you can't do it every night. You can't make every problem go away. Yeah. Okay. Moving on. So I was having a conversation with someone yesterday about Connor Hellebuck.

And we were wondering if, because I don't know if you've seen this, but now there's actually a website that counts in real time, Berkey, like, by the second. It's called Hellebucks.com. And what it does is, here let me just pull this up. What it does is track all the money to the second that Conor Hellebuck is losing by not reporting to the Winnipeg Jets. Right now it's $406,152. And 93 cents. It's 45 cents every second.

It's $38,660 every day. And since I opened the page, it's at $9. 905, 950, 75727. Now we're at 10. So Hellebuck has this thing now online. It's called Hellebucks. So we were wondering, is there any way he could go back? I mean, he's suspended from the team right now for failure to report.

But just like, I was trying to think, I was thinking about you through all of this because you went through a situation like this after you won the Stanley Cup and Scott Neidermeyer took his time deciding whether he was going to come back at all. and I think it was until the early December of the following season before he made up his mind. But when you look at the Hellebuck situation, given what he said about the team, the trade request, the very public, all of it, do you think he could even go back to the Winnipeg Jets at this point? Well, first off, this guy's made a lot of money. That $380,000 is not a lot of money to Conor Hallibuck, what he's made, when he's going to make the rest of his career.

So I'm not worried about him having a tag sale someday or a GoFundMe page. No, I don't think it's a big problem. I think I really believe the fact that he's stonestly sticking to this is tied to security reasons. Like I said before, I had problems in Toronto with people following me home after games. The night I got fired in Toronto, someone broke the rear windshield in my truck. So I had to lose people coming home from work. had to drive evasively and lose people following me coming home from work. I heard Connor had an even more serious situation.

I had alerted to Toronto Police to this. They said they'd increased patrols. I had never felt unsafe. But I believe Connor might have or his family might have. If that's true, he's within his right sense for a trade in my view. The going back thing, though, is a delicate issue. Kyle Connor said something along the lines of, you know, he could come back. He's recommitting to the team.

I agree with that. As you mentioned, there's always extenuating circumstances. But from the general manager's chair, like put yourself in Kevin Shevoldeoff's shoes here, GM of the Winnipeg Jets. He's got a really difficult job in Winnipeg to begin with. And then there's this log on the fire as well. Going through all of this now, if you're Kevin Shevoldeoff, what are the dynamics at play here?

What are the, like, Berkey, you sat in that chair. We haven't. Like, what are the landmines that we may not see here? You're never going to get full value. If you want to wait to get full value, you're going to wait all year. You're going to make the best deal you can at a point where you feel a team needs. That's what I did. Made my deal with Florida.

I told the owner at the time, John McCaw, this is not a good deal for us. But it's the best deal I can make right now. I need to get these players back and playing. I had no one playing for me. Just like Conaholic. I'm playing with no goalie. I'm playing with no paddle bury. So we're losing games and losing points that we should be gartering and gaining.

and now I have to make this deal. So I'm making this deal, even though it's not the right deal. In a perfect world, I told Powell, play for me. Play for 60 days. I can get full value for it if I trade in the next 60 days. He said no, but you're not going to get full value. You know, Kevin Chevaldorf knows that. He also knows he's got to make the best deal he can.

He's going to wait. The team is responding properly. He was taking the heat off him by playing well and running up points. Well, and that's the thing that's interesting here too. Like, if you look at teams that needed to have a good start to take some heat off the off-ice situation and Kevin Shevill, Jets are 3-0-1, right? And they're chanting stew in the rank. And Clay Stevenson has come on a waiver acquisition. He's played well.

Terrell Bauer has become a folk hero after his fights on the weekend in Boston and then in Detroit as well. all of a sudden there's a lot of great Cole Perfetti's performing well. Kyle Conner's snipe, and they're 3-0-1-1, they face off against the Anaheim Ducks tonight. There's only so long you can, though, as a general manager, say, you know what, this isn't a pressure point yet. But if you're Kevin Shevold-Diaff, where is the next pressure point? Is it a losing streak? Is it U.S. Thanksgiving? Like, where's the pressure point here?

I wouldn't set it in time. I would set it based on team performance. As long as the team keeps playing well, and they keep putting up. I don't think there's any pressure. The pressure point will come on to lose four in a row or drop three a row at home. I lose lopsided, poor gold heading. So far, the number one thing, fans equate. Fans in their mind think, oh, Sue's been good in gold, so's been clay.

So we're okay. We don't need counter hell of us. That's their thinking. Their reasoning is as long as the gold heading is, okay, we're fine. As soon as they stumble that or stew sooner gets hurt, which I hope doesn't happen, by the way. Great guy. as soon as that happens, then the bluebirds will start. But I think right now they can ride it for a while.

So the one thing that I want to draw with you, because I've been thinking about you with this situation, and although the situations aren't exactly equal, I mean, it's still a stress being a general manager and not having a high-end player in your lineup. You went through this with Scott Niedermeyer. After you won the Stanley Cup, and I think we all wondered, okay,

if Niedermeyer, If Niedemeyer comes back to the Anaheim Ducks, what's Berkey going to do? And you ended up trading, I think it was Andy McDonald, who he ended up moving to the St. Louis Blues, I believe, to make the numbers work for the salary cap. But what do you remember from that from Scott Niedermeyer saying, like, I'm not so sure that I want to stick it out? Well, first off, he retired, so did TAMO, so crippled our team. And it's not just losing Scott Niedermeyer. Those two Hall of Famers the same week, that's not a good week. And I made sure that Scott Niedermeyer was retiring.

I met with him and his wife Lisa. I said, Lisa, tell me this is what you want to. And she said, look at all we have here in Anaheim. I love Scott being a player, but he's my husband. He wants to retire. He's going to retire. That's it. So I beat it to the ground, made sure there's no chance.

Talk to the agent. They said, no chance he's coming back. Then we went to backfill. Otherwise, we would have waited him out. We should have waited them out. because I filled with players that didn't fill the hole at all. And Annie McDonald's trading, Annie McDonald. That broke my heart trading Annie McDonald.

He's a great player and a great kid. And that was the St. Louis Blues trade. It's got to be one of those double-edged swords, though, because Scott Niedermeyer says he wants to come back and play. Like, here's Hall of Fame or the best defenseman to ever do it. But you've already made your team. And that's why I go back to this situation in Winnipeg. if Hellebuck, and again, this is like a major what if that I'm working with here,

if he decides that he wants to go back to the Winnipeg, to the Winnipeg Jets, someone's going to pay for it. Like someone's going to get like Jack St. Ivany or someone, someone's going to get waived because of this, because Shevoldeaf has been working all this time, and it's got to be the bane of a GM's existence, working under the idea that all this time,

this guy's requested a trade, he's not come to camp. So I've got to put together my roster. I've got to fill that cap space. I've got to do whatever I can to put a competitive team out there only for a player to waltz back in and say, you know what? I'm back to play.

Well, first off, I think Kyle Conner said it really well. I thought it was really impressive with Kyle Conner's comments. Just coming back and playing is not going to do it. You have to recommit to the team, to the Jets, to our purpose, to our whole group. You have to recommit to us. He had to say, okay, I want to play. I want to pick up the $38,000 a day I'm losing now.

That won't work. So Kyle Connor, good for you. But I think Kevin's shoveled out as big balls and he's got, he's not afraid to use them. He's going to wait out and wait for a better deal. And that means waiting to wait. It doesn't matter. It means it has to pay a price. If Connor does come back and re-commit, everyone in the room would understand.

Even the players that love Connor Halleck would understand. This is the best goalie regular season in the league in the last five years. We need them back. someone's got to go, they'll all get that. Everyone understands the business more than people think. Right. The other big burning situation, too, involves Dylan Larkin. And regardless of how people feel about the trade request,

and I understand that. I understand where Red Wings fans are MIFT and management is MIFT and ownership, etc. I do think that what he's doing, I have a lot of respect for it. he's not faking an injury. He's not running out the back door. He's playing hard. He's talking to media. He went out there for the first game and took the booze.

He knows they're coming. Every time he hits the ice, he hears it. All of he's got Nick C-thing on the, he knows it's coming. And through it, he's out there playing, and he's playing hard, perhaps thinking, I got to play my way into a trade if I'm going to get out of here. You ever thought of Dylan Larkin through all this.

Well, I agree. said, which is very rare, Jeff. I think it shows the character that he came out with the entrance, the starting lineup for the opening season roster even though he wasn't dressed. He faced the music. He faced the music, got booted out of the place, scored to go over and started a fight to back up a teammate. That's how you endear yourself to a fan base and to a group of players.

So he might be able to play his way out of this. I don't think so. I think he still has to go. The uncertainty around Sean Horcoff's job, I think, is the uncertainty that's going to kill deal. They need a senior advisor there. Do you think, Berkeley, like, if you were advising Chris Illich here, what would you say? Like, I keep thinking like, Sean Horcoff's walking into this in 2026 and his first deal might have to be Dylan Larkin. And his first, you know, his first big contract might be Simon Edvenson. These are not small things that he's walked into.

No, but he's got access to Stevie Eisenman. He gave him advice. Stevie Eisenman didn't walk away from the organization. He's still available. So is Chris Draper. They got quality people around there. Kurt Malpe. They got quality people around the team. I'm not worried about that.

Senior advisor would be great, but they haven't called me yet. You're busy with the Hall of Fame, you're still writing your speech. We know how long that thing's going to be. So you're going to take some time there. Okay, so around the league earlier. Well, hang on.

Let me pick up on this, because I'm not sure how I feel about this right now, whether it's just a one-off, a one-and-done, or two-and-done, or it's actually going to be a trend, whether it's Hellebuck, whether it's Dylan Larkin, now Simon Edvenson. What we keep hearing is, although Evanston's different because that's not a no-trade situation, this player empowerment and, you know, guys maneuvering with whatever levers they have in the CBA

to try to get out of contracts and use their no moves to get themselves to very specific locations. the commissioner has openly wondered whether this is something that needs to be taken to the players association for at least a conversation. We know if anything changes it has to be done through the CBA. So that's a negotiation. So start your horse trading. Do you think that this could end up being a trend or are we just seeing a coincidence with two players here? Not two players. It goes back to the Chuck brothers too.

It's not two players. Yeah, you could chuck too. Yeah, Matt, you could check. And Rasmus Anderson, too. It's an epidemic. It's not a single light incident. I'm really glad Gary Bettman said something, because I believe that. Understand something.

It's not 32 teams with equal background saying, okay, I want out of here. It's 32 teams with decided advantages in certain teams tax-wise that are asking for you to get out of there and to go to these teams. So it's not a level playing field. It is a collective bargaining issue in my mind. I'm not sure how you address it. Maybe it has to be after tax dollars for the cap. Maybe you figure the cap out based on after tax dollars.

So Winnipeg and Nevada are the same after tax. So I don't know what the solution is, but I'm glad Gary raised it. It's a real problem. It's not an isolated instance. I'm all in favor of the players having some power, but not when it's coercing against the Canadian teams. So, you know, that's an interesting one because one of the things that I've, And maybe this has come under your nose or part of negotiations,

whether it's under with CBA negotiations or just with your teams. One of the things that I've wondered about is, and you just winked at this, and that is, could a solution be to sort of level the playing field financially, tax incentives, all these types of things? What if they calculated the salary cap based on net and not gross? That's what I'm saying. After tax dollars, same thing.

I'm saying, I don't know that works. I'm not sure that's a lot of things. I'd say, I'm not sure that works. You look at the tariffs that Trump's put on. Does that affect the Canadian dollar? Does that improve the Canadian lot in life? I don't know. I don't know there's an answer.

I'm pretty sure that's not the simple answer, but they would have thought it if I know. But there is a way to do this. The fact that Gary's called to their attention brings, now it's a collective bargaining topic, whether they like it or not, that's a good thing. So, but here's the thing. like that's a significant one for the players association.

And there are a lot of players that carry either no trades or no move. So that would be an interesting and at times I'm sure heated discussion in any CBA negotiation between the players and the owners here. One of the things that I wonder is like what would the NHL do? Because you've been part of these discussions before. What the NHL do and say, okay, well, the Players Association says that they're willing to entertain a conversation. about no moves and no trades, provided we get rid of the buyout. Well, that's the start for me.

I don't like the buyout anyway. Why is that? Because I don't think it's fair to players. You sign a deal and paid a deal. I agree, but it is, again, like that safety net that teams have. Like, you look at some of the young players that are getting paid right now, like astronomical money. The argument is always, well, you know what?

he's one third buyout eligible. I'm with you. I don't like it. I don't like it. I think that that's a trade. The Players Association, I'd make that tomorrow as part of the league. The buyouts are very rare, by the way. There's only a couple a year. It's a total money saved by having a balance is very

small in my view. Elsewhere around the NHL, I want to ask you about the Buffalo Sabers, and here's why. We just had a conversation about Connor Hallibuck. We're not sure where he's going to go, but we know what various times the Buffalo Sabres have been interested.

Buffalo Sabers played a decent game last night against Adela Starz. Miko Ranan went off for four points and they end up getting pumped and once again, Uco Peco-Lukinen was hard to hit, let's just say. He was hard to hit. And every game that he's played, there's been a couple of, there have been a couple of stinkers here. Buffalo's power play isn't helping them. There's still Ofer season on the power.

play. But if you're the Buffalo Sabres, considering everything that happened last season and all the goodwill you built up with your fan base, that was one of the teams that looked at and said they have to have a good start. What do you do if you Yarmal Kekeleinan in here? You got Alex Lion injured and they're firing balloons through Lukinen. Well, I think you just wait a little bit. It's too early and too easy to panic on four bad games or three bad games. games. That's just ignorant. If they believe in the UPL, they should just keep them in wait, see what happens, and go from there. And to panic after three or four games makes no sense.

My guess is they had some interest in Hallibuck before the season began. Yep. We'll see where that one heads. A couple of injuries here to talk to you about, and it seems like the Florida Panthers in some way, some ways here, I've kind of dodged a bullet because they could have been worse. thankfully it looks like eight weeks for for barkoff six to eight weeks and Brad Marchand will be out six weeks as well with with his injury that happened the other night in front of the net against the Los Angeles Kings where are you at with the Florida Panthers here?

I love Billy Zito and I love the Panthers. I love everything they do but I think most fans hate him. They're probably cheering. They hate Brad Marchand in particular. They're probably cheering that they both got hurt. I don't ever make light of that though. I don't think it's funny when a player gets hurt. I'm glad they're both not serious.

I love them both as players. I don't know Markov as a kid. I know Marci who brought it a little bit, and I like them a lot. So I'll tell you, I went after Marci when I was on TV for giving a player, one of those things he did. Ryan Callahan, yeah. I went after him on TV. And a couple weeks after, I had to get something signed for a kid in the hospital by Brad Marchant.

I asked you, I'm nearly, I said, do you think Brad will still sign this? He said, of course he will. So Brad came into the dressing room. I said, Brad, can he sign it? That for me. It's for a kid. Brad said, yeah, I give me a minute. He went in the dress room, came back out and signed it.

So he's a great guy. I'm glad it's not more serious. He looked bad. They both looked bad. They looked awful. Yeah. Both throwing gloves, both upset. That's a bad side.

Yeah, that you've been on both of them. Yeah, you've mentioned, like, anytime anyone sees a player throw a glove. That's easy indication. Yes. And by the way, Philly Armstrong, I get bumps, so Billy Armstrong can take my spot. I'm a pretty Arsson who's playing in the American League, for God's sake. I'm getting bumped for Bill Armstrong.

Come on, Billy. Well, you know, it's Billy. Billy's got a very, very tight schedule. So you're actually in your original spot because you're always our lead on Fridays. And so Bill's, like, Bill's team had a tough one last night against the Boston Bruins. But I will say this about Utah. Out of the gate. And again, like first week and a half.

of the season. What can we really read into anything? Utah looks really good. Vegas looks really good. And even though it's, you know, it's a Montreal who's struggled and Vancouver who's expecting to be picking first overall, Carolina Hurricanes look like they're hitting a stride as well. But out of the gate, the two teams that I looked at and said they're, they already look like they've got the rust off of them, Vegas and Utah.

Like you have a thought before I get Billy here? Like, you have a thought on Utah? Utah's got maybe the best uniforms in the league outside of the original six teams. Those are cool uni. They've done a good job. They've done a good job. They've done a great coach. Julia Armstrong's done a great job.

They've been able to be patient with the arena situation in Arizona. They've taken their time. They've done it right. They've got a good team. But they've got to do it this year. They've got to prove something this year, I think. So I was going to say, before we let you go and bring Billy on, like one of the things about Utah, like they made the playoffs last year,

they out in six against the Vegas Golden Knights, but they finally got there. Like all of a sudden, like you've been part of teams where you finally get there. Like all of a sudden, the pressure now just gets ratcheted up and the expectation gets ratcheted up for the mammoth now.

It changes everything when they make the pass because now it's like the Anahun Ducks. Made the pass after several years out. Buffalo Sabers made the pass after several years out. Now the conversation is, can you win around? So it changes expectations. It changes the demands on your team.

makes it harder, makes it better, though, makes it more fun too. So Utah, in my mind, has to win around to have a successful season. Before we let you go, what's your weekend looking like? I'm going to the season opener of the Hamilton Hammerstice. Oh, they're playing the Marley's tonight. I'm looking forward to it. The rivalry, Jay McKee, so happy for him. Got his first professional win last week, head coach there of the Hamilton Hammers.

Great guy. Yeah, that's awesome. Okay, well, listen, enjoy that. And we'll check back in seven days, Berkey. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Yes, happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, Brian Burke, joining us weekly here on the program and giving us shit for moving his schedule around a couple of different times. So accommodate our next guest who were standing by for in a couple of moments.

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So enough of my hammer. And then let's get to Bill Armstrong. He is, of course, the general manager of the Utah mammoth. And we'll ignore last night, Bill. and we'll talk you know what though it's fun first of all thanks so much for stopping by

and I always appreciate your your time and attention here and lots to get to with Utah do you just sort of chalked those up to like those games happen it's just the course of an early in the season yes and no

you know you it's an interesting one when you're breaking that one down because your you know your team's playing pretty well and you have a slip on P and PK and goal time And you've got to look past it a little bit. But you've got to clean up a few of the things that, you know,

you don't want to see repeat itself. So I think it's a tricky day for coaches. They got a pair of the group. You know, we've got a chance to get what we need to out of this road trip with a good win against Buffalo and then hit home. So it's a huge game for us tomorrow and we've got to refocus on that. But our coaches do a good job, you know, making sure that they get what they need from the meetings today

and move past it and be ready for tomorrow. It's, you know, I've said countless times, and now I have to use the number 84 instead of 82, that there's, there's no such thing as a 80, formerly 82, now 84 a game schedule. It's 84 one game schedules. Like, it feels like every single game is like its own season. Like, you remember, Bill, like when you played, you can, you used to be able to ease into a season, right? Like, okay, it's still, we don't hear it's still early anymore. We hear, you know, Bill Armstrong is saying, no, we've got to clean this up and we've got to make, you know, pay attention to our knitting here. And like, the idea of easing into a season, Bill, is, is gone.

Like, that's, that's foreign now. Yeah. It's, it's, there's so much data you read in, in trying to get ahead of the trends that are coming your way on your team. And I think it's just a different era, you know, and we'll play more games and it's so competitive. I mean, you know, the, the, the NHL is such a humbling league because you can, You can absolutely crush it one night and dominate and then absolutely get killed the next night. You know, you're on the road. You're dealing with travel delays, you know, and just being tired from the road schedule.

It's just a very humbling league. And you do have to make sure that, you know, when you're going through, you know, good times or bad times, you know, you don't get too high and too low. And you kind of stay, you know, right in the middle and you just keep getting better all the time. So that's a lot easier said than done. You know, I was just talking to Brian Burke before he came on. He joins me every Friday, and he sends his best. And, you know, he had an interesting offer sheet situation once upon a time with Kevin Lowe and Barnfight threats and all these types of things. I don't think that it was similar between you and Sunny Ameta.

But I'm curious, like, what happens when you get an offer sheet for one of your players? Like, what goes through your mind right away? I know you want to take the emotion out of it, probably. But like, what happened? What happened when you got that? Well, you know, like, it's, it's, everybody just has to understand. It's, it's, it's, it's in the rules. You know, it's in the CBA.

You can do this. So teams are going to do it more and more. And like you said, you got to take the emotion out and figure out the problem and kind of identify it and how are we going to move through it. What are we going to, what's our next step? And so those that we kind of just work through and, you know, and obviously match the offer sheet because Barrett is an important player on our team and where we're moving to and he always has been. So, you know, and there's no hard feelings on our side.

I think you're going to see it more and more. I think it comes down a strategy to not let yourself be set up for an offer sheet. You know, and there's deals to be done. You've got to make sure you do your homework and get in there early and take care of business. Because it's definitely something that is the new. trend in the national hockey league and I think it's here to stay. Yeah, you know, I think we all agree with you. And I've, you know what I've kind of equated to, Bill?

I've kind of equated it to a hockey fight and that it's not so much the fight itself as much as it is the threat of the fight that can, that can change behavior. You know what I mean? Like we just went in through a summer where everything was, you know, we just had Chris Patrick talk about this at NHL.com and the, in the offseason about, like the Anaheim situation scared a lot of people and he wanted to make sure he got business done and we saw deals that were signed because of it. Like is the threat of the offer sheet to a manager the equivalent of the threat of a fight for a player? Does it feel the same way? It does. I think,

you know, you know, it's like the school yard fight you're going to get into and it's sitting in your play all day in class because you know recess is going to happen in about 20 minutes and you're you're nervous to go outside. And I think it's the same. I mean, I think with the off-sheets that, you know, are going to happen here, they're definitely going to be way on GM's mind when they're approaching the player about getting a deal done.

But, you know, hopefully if, you know, you like your player and you see some signs from your player that he's going to be really good and you're going to help your franchise, you've got to take that step to go sign them. When we look at some of the numbers right now, too, I think I keep saying here and other, other places too. Like I just think we need to sort of recalibrate ourselves to the new numbers and they're going

to get a lift like every, every summer. There's sticker shock to a lot of these new contracts that we look at. And then eventually, like we can all remember when Nathan McKinning got $6 million and we all went, whoa. And then by the time he won the sale of a cup, it was like $6 million. It's the biggest bargain in the NHL. Like there is an element of everybody just needing to adjust here, right? Yeah, there's a sticker.

for sure. Some of the deals that you get, you know, you're like, oh my God, you know, we're going to, you know, go into the market and do this. And now you look back and you're like, it's just the movement of money, the growth in the cap. It's, you know, it's just a part of doing business. And I think we just all have to kind of get over that sticker shock. I do think there's also an element of, listen, at the end of the day, if you want to build a championship roster, you have to make sure that everybody fits in, you know, that piece of puzzle or the pizza, as we call it, you know, if one guy comes in and takes all the slice of pizza and nobody else is going to eat. So if you want to be a championship team and you want to, you know, the way that we are built, we cut teams with a thousand different blades from the first line to the fourth line and 60 and two good goal tenders. So we need money to spread around. So for us, it's just about being smart, making sure that we have that right thought process that we're signing players and also trying to get our players to work with us a little bit

in the sense of understanding that we're trying to build a championship rocket. You know, one of the interesting things that we've seen with your team here, because we put the sort of premium on youth. Like, look at all the players that are coming here. But I thought it was really interesting the way, you know, in the off season, whether it was, you know, Vincent Trocheck or Andrews Lee. It's like, you know, Bill's going out here to balance the youth with guys in their early 30s. Like heading into the summer, like how much, you know, deliberately did you look at and say, yeah, we got to, for every coolly we have, we have to have a trocheque along with them.

It's kind of the thought process. And it goes back to, you know, my days with St. Louis. We had Robert Thomas. He was a young kid coming out of junior, tremendous centermen. But, you know, playing the national hockey league is a whole lot different than playing in the OHL. And we had Tyler Bozac right beside him.

And he kind of guided him through the process. And, you know, they played on a line together. It was huge to kind of give them that right veteran, you know, and it's hard in the National Hockey League when you're going rookie to rookie on a pass and you're doing that for 84 games a year. It's hard grind. If we can get to the veterans that, you know, add in what we need and that are good role models and good leaders, it really helps your team.

And you can see that with adding Lee and intro check for our group. It's what we needed. They're not only good leaders, they're good players and good people, and they're going to help guide some of our younger players, through the tough times and help them become pros and hopefully champions. It was a big one last season,

obviously, for the mammoth, getting to the playoffs, the series against the Vegas Golden Knights. And it's interesting, Berkey was just saying before he came on, you know, Anaheim makes the playoffs while he's there and all of a sudden the next year, the expectations rise,

but you want that. Like he was saying like, yeah, but like that's fun that you can't sneak up on anybody anymore. Like Utah, and I'm sure you read all the preseason predictions from, you know, big brains on our, on our side of it. Oh, watch Utah. Utah is coming. Like, all the, at the end of the day, too, like, you know you can't sneak up on anybody anymore. And that's a compliment. Yeah, it is a compliment. And, you know, I think for us, we're going

into buildings. Nobody's, nobody's like, oh, I wonder if they're going to be good. Like, they, know we've got a good, a good team and there's some confidence with our group. I think at the end of the day, we used to run into the backup goaltender and the rookie parties. And, you know, And, you know, we didn't really have that, you know, the real concern that we could beat teams. And now you see them we've taken that step. So I've really liked with our group that's really taken a step. And you can feel that confidence. And I think for expectations, you know, we expect to be a really good team, a team that can get back into the playoffs.

And it's hard to get into the playoffs. So we don't treat that lightly. Our goal is in expectations is get back into the playoffs and see where we can go from there. do you consider your team in the conversation with the Colorado's, the Dallases, the Minnesota's, those mainstays in the in the in the in the in the in the division do you consider yourselves there now yeah well you got some good questions today sorry but Berkey must you got you all worked up no you know what it is it's it's your former agent who said make sure you're hard on bill I I

had him since I was 14 years old. I know what you're talking about. But it's a great question because when we do go into those games now, we expect to win. And that's a great thing. And you know, when we play the big boys, you know, any team in the national hockey league, we're going into the game expecting to win. We don't we don't think, oh, they're a little bit better than us. We want to play our game, our style, with our culture. And we think we can beat any team in the national hockey league. And that's something I feel from our group. It's taken a long time to get that feeling.

We've been out of for a while. And now when we come to the rink, you can feel it. Like we've got a chance and we've got the ability to beat anybody in the National Hockey League. You know, one of the things about the situation that you find yourself in now with Utah and previously with the coyotes. Like there's a, how do I say this? Like, Ryan Smith's your owner.

right like and and part of that is like this is like you're walking through the desert and you find a glass of water and like oh finally like I'm trying I'm trying to be polite about about Arizona in that situation yeah but like how profoundly different does it feel for you being able to do your job like we still make the joke about you know teams of like don't let players go too deep in the offensive zone, you know, bungee cords on the players. Don't let them, don't let them go deep, keep them close. It must feel like the bungee cords got taken off. Like you would go to a certain point with the coyotes and they get snapped back. And that's gone now. Yeah.

And you're right. It's, it's a game changer for us to have Ryan and Ash Smith and SEC. What they've done, there's no excuses in our organization. You go in our practice facility. You know, we have a car wash for the players. We got a barbershop for the players. We got their dry cleaning, you know, is available, you know. It's just, it's really a super setup.

It's really, you know, we've got some of the best food made by our chefs every day for our players. You name it, it's available. And it's an incredible facility, our practice facility. Then you go down at Delta Center and it's sold out and, you know, they renovated it. We're really very fortunate to be in an organization that provides absolutely everything. And there's zero excuses. that's the greatest thing about, you know, being the GM and you're walking through the door in Utah's.

We don't have any excuses. You know, we, we come to the rink every day thinking that we have the best of the best and we expect to beat the best in the National Hockey League. And like you said, those expectations are on, but in a good way. We want them. Before I let you go, right now we're all wondering about a number of different players and trade scenarios. I mean, you know, trades are sort of, you know, catnip for, you know, our,

side of the industry and for hockey fans as well. Just curious, like, how, how busy is it right now with talk? Like, normally we have to wait until November until things really start to get, the system starts to get lubricated, we start to get conversations. How frisky is it right now? And not that I think you're going to tell us what it is, but is there something out there that would stun everybody that might happen? You know, it's just a different, you know, year this year,

with as many guys have, you know, been in that holding out from their teams and not coming into play for their team. So it's been a little bit different at, and there's been players been a vulnerable. But, you know, it's tough to make moves. Everybody's got their full roster and full lineup going right now. And it's one of those things that you've kind of got to let your team settle in and see how they play to see what you need. So it's really, for a lot of James, probably hard to make some tough, tough decisions right now based upon. And they're still learning their teams and seeing how good their team is and what the strength and weakness of their clubs are. So it's going to take a little bit of time to play itself out.

But yeah, there's no blockbusters that I know of. Well, see. Listen, it was, I got to, the man, I know this one. I've never seen a summer like this. I can't imagine what it was like from your perch, but I never saw summer like that, nor that I see one coming. But it was, it was the weirdest summer I've ever seen covering this game. Yeah, it was, it was, it was a unique. summer and there was a lot of money pumped into the system and it showed and you know it was it was a it was a truly entertaining with some of the the offer sheets in the way that it played out so you know let's see what let's see what the rest of the season brings you never know there's been a lot of movement in the

national hockey league and we'll see how it goes absolutely uh as always thanks for your time uh congratulations on the the early success notwithstanding last night i understand um but continue to listen continue a success with the mammoth. Like, it's a fun team to watch, and it's really cool to see an organization hitting its stride. So, congrats, Bill. Oh, thank you very much. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Pleasure. Bill Armstrong is the general manager of the Utah mammoth. And interesting, you know, is like interesting with Bill, the idea that hearing a general manager say, offer sheets are here to stay, as opposed to, oh, no, you know what? no one uses offer sheets. All they do is make unrealistic prices for players and blah, blah, for how long have we heard general managers say, yeah, it's a legal tactic,

but their offer sheets are unrealistic. We don't bother with them because they just get matched. As opposed to... Well, I kind of wish that he said, he's going to fight somebody. As I tried through the Berkey thing in there, like him and Kevin Lowe are Rent the Barton, Lake Placid about this thing.

Yeah. I don't think... I don't think Sunny Meta and Sonny Mata and Bill Armstrong I'm going to fight over a Barrett Hayton offer sheet, though. Maybe Pat for Beak. Like maybe Pat for Beak and Danny Brick. Remember how Pat for Beak played? Like if anyone's going to book a barn over an offer sheet,

it's going to be Pat for Beak. Yeah. Look, I know I was joking about it. It would be entertainment from our perspective, but the offersheets are as well. And it's also just interesting to hear them, these GMs that we've had on talk about the changing landscape and being like,

this is a way to evolve your team and I think I think there's also an understanding and I know Bill didn't say it there but these new age owners look at things differently and say how can you use the rules to make our team better and win and Ryan Smith gives me the vibes of the guy who's like that and says oh you could do that why are we I I do well listen you can't do that unless you have full support from your owner. But I do think part of that too is, is the new age general managers who have grown up

and grown up into the system and always wondered, why don't managers use offer sheets more? Why not? And again, like even if they quote unquote don't work, what have you lost? Nothing. What have you gained a lot? And that is your fan base saying like, yeah, man, they're in there taking swings for us. Like you remember when, remember how Flyers fans are like, F yeah, Danny? when he put that offer sheet in for Leo Crop.

Remember how Flyers fans like, yeah, right on. We're the Flyers. We're trying to get this guy. 18 mil a year, sure, let's do it. Yeah. And here's the fan base. Yeah, they love it. They like it.

I'm sure that the players in the room also have some respect for the fact that a general manager is going out there and taking a swing like that to try to improve the team. Like it's got to be a good thing in the room and around the team in the organization for that to happen. But I do like that these general managers and organizations are embracing this is a way to make the team better. Let's use it. It's always being there, but is everyone's a little, I don't know. It's kind of weird, Jeff, because, you know, Berkey's come on and he's talked about the fact that they used to make trades. And if you didn't, what would you say? You have to check your hands, make sure your fingers are still there after you made a trade.

So when he started, they were all, Berkey always calls them pirates. Remember, Burkey? Brickie always say, you know, we judge trades then? If the guy you made the trade with got fired because of that trade, it was a good trade. You're trying to get, imagine, wake it up every day. Who can I get fired today? Right. Which is also just insane to consider that they would be like trying to get these guys fired. And at the same time, they were like, well, I can't offer sheet this guy because respect, you know?

It's like, oh, hey, you're trying to get the guys out of his job every day. What do you mean, respect to hell with respect? I got news for you. There's never been respect in this thing. how much he tries to convince you otherwise. There's never been respected. No kidding. Please show me the era.

No kidding. Please show me the era where there was respect in hockey. It's, I assure you, has never happened. But there's your clip, right? Bill Armstrong, offer sheets are here to stay.

And that's a guy who was a victim of one. Yeah. Yeah. Like, okay, here we go. It's the new landscape. Well, he also said something we all knew,

by the way, Jeff, just to close on this, sorry, was just if you have players that you project to be players that you have to lock up or players who would be in that position, get ahead of it. Yeah.

Because it's a threat now. There's another thing that I wanted to, that I wanted to mention too. We ran out of time, unfortunately with Bill. He's got a busy day. I've seen a lot of, not a lot of people.

I've seen some people talk about where trade deadline falls this year. And this year, it's on a Monday. Now, last year, trade deadline fell on a Friday. Do you have those dates in front of you, by the way? Can do a quick one here, Zach? Just trade deadline, 27 NHL. So one of the reasons, and I heard this from a number of different teams,

why they don't like the Friday trade deadline, is very specific. It's for players crossing borders. and players that need to get visas sorted out before they play. And if you get traded on Friday, guess what? The office is closed.

So you can't do anything to get your visa done until the Monday, but your team's playing on the weekend. So that's why it's always like I always look at the, when they come up the trade deadline day. I always look at what day of the week it is

for those players. And it is just much smarter to do your trade deadline on a Monday. So if you have any players that have visa issues, you can get them sorted out a lot quicker while the office is open than while the office is closed on the weekend. And it is Monday, March 1st this year is the trade deadline. So I never thought about that because that the office closes over the weekend. It's a real world problem.

So you have to actually deal with. Two teams that I talked to after Panyoda and I sort of wrapped up on trade deadline last year who were like, well, we're screwed. We can't do anything with this guy until Monday. Why? It's like, well, because the office isn't open to get his visa done. So we just got to sit here, miss at least one game, maybe two, sometimes three, because we made a trade for this player, trade deadline, but we can't do anything because we have paperwork.

We got to get done. Right. I never thought about that. I never thought about that. I guess that was the other part of 5 p.m. close government offices trades after 5 p.m. Like March 8-A-da-do that deal.

Slate quarry. See you tomorrow. 5 o'clock. Yav-d-d-da-d-do. We're out of here. We can get this thing done. So for teams, a lot better to have this thing.

A lot better to have this thing go on a Monday. Really quick. New chapter, new gear. Daily face-off team collection is officially live featuring premium peril built for the community you love

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I got a few things that I want to mention. Logan Stan Kovin with the hat trick yesterday. I always love it. Things like this, one even strength, one short-handed, one power play, and it's a natural hat-trick as well, all three goals in a row.

That's wonderful. tough with Eklund in Ottawa and the hit from Simone Benoit. It's an ankle injury there. He was on a scooter today around the arena. They said on one of the rolling scooters, I believe was Alex Adams who put that out. And they said that it doesn't seem to be like it's going to require surgery. So that's a positive sign.

But still will be an extended period of time. Frankie Nazar with the hit to the head In the dying moments of the Islanders game yesterday He has a phone hearing with the Department of Player's Safety Match and a game for the hit on Bo Horovat Who scored and emptying that goal on the play As he fired it, Nazar caught him high So there's a hearing there

What else did I want to mention on today's program? Mention the Buffalo goal tending Do they have to go out and get a goal? already. I keep saying, Jeff. I know, you got the Hella Buck thing. I know, I get it. I know those other teams are interested.

Speaking of the Hellebuck thing, do you think it's awkward that Bo Stewart-Skinner and Connor Hellebuck are represented by the same agent? Yeah, I would say that that would be a pretty uncomfortable situation. If he wants to go back, or if he has plans on going back,

to Winnipeg. I mean, this is just sort of a conversation starter. We'll see. I think it would be difficult for the team to welcome him back. But, and I don't know, like, here's the other thing that I wonder about, even if you wanted to come back now, could the team lengthen the suspension? This I don't know. I didn't take the new CBA to the beach this year with me.

So I ask legitimately, I don't know the answer to that one. So you're saying that if he wants to come back. back, the team can enforce the suspension longer. Like they can implement the suspension beyond. Is that what you're asking? So they could say effectively because you held out, we are going to now suspend you and punish you. Hang on.

No, no. No, what I'm asking is, is there something in the CBA that would allow Winnipeg to do that? Is what I'm asking. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Yeah. Not like they just decide to do it. No, I understand.

Could they do that? I mean, did you get a grievance from the Players Association pretty fast? Contraving the CBA. No, but could, like, is there a device in the CBA, some CBA S person? You know, better call Hart Levine. It's going to tell me whether I'm on base or off base on this one. But that's, we'll see. And listen, the hell of, what's Hella Bucks at now?

$407,000. $407,442. Jesus. I know, I get it that he's made a lot of money. It's a number that makes me want to puke. Like, good grief. $1,200. You know, now $1,300

since I opened the page. 5.4% of his earnings gone. I, the people, or this, this seems like it's a way worse situation for him to try to return than the Larkin one, which I know we saw a hostile environment

in his return, but Larkin at least made it out to be the organization's fault. No, hang on. Can I pause on that? You know the smartest thing? I shouldn't say this working in media, but the smartest thing that Larkin did,

you can make the argument was he didn't say why. Yeah. Because Hallibuck talked about the family situation, but also essentially said, like, I don't know if this team's any good. Right. Instead, Larkin just said, I ain't talking about it.

I don't know if I'll ever be ready to talk about it. Yeah. Like strategically. The fans in Detroit are going to be rattled. But in the Hellebuck one is, I can't imagine the owner, the GM, the coach, his teammates, the fans. Yeah. I can't see anybody being like, yes, Connor, we would love to have you back come play for the Winnipeg Jets. They'll suck it up and do it.

They're professionals at the end of the day. And, you know, you have to deal with it. But at least in Detroit, he's kind of like, yeah, I'm not going to say anything. And they're like, well, we can, we can infer what you've said here about what's going on. You know, we have our own ideas. But I'll have the reasons. I'll come back anyways. I don't imagine anybody would like that very much.

All right. So there's that. And anything else from last night that you want to, you want to go over before we wrap for the week? I got one thing. And, you know. Yeah, here it go again. Whatever. Is it Easton Cowan's goal last night?

No, no. Oh. Brobowski gloves tape? I'm not going to, no. I'm not going to complain about the specific incident in regards to, oh, why wasn't it a penalty? And it was against my team, whatever. Oh, gee. I really, really don't like the take into the boards and throw down move.

Jeremy LaZone did it last night to Sam Bennett. We've seen it before. Oliver Ekman-Lossom last night, yeah. Yeah, sorry. I'm getting ahead of my words here. Sam Bennett did it previously to Matthew Nyes. I know, sorry. Sam Bennett did previously to Matthew Nyes.

We've seen it around the league happen before. Can't necessarily recall specific incidents, but it's just a dangerous play, and we've done a lot to get rid of dangerous plays from the game. It's one that kind of irks me a little bit when it happens. Like I think at most it's probably a two-minute penalty when that happened last night, whatever they don't call it.

Who cares? I can live with myself, but you're applying extra force to be taking the guy down to the ice after taking him to the boards. And in both incidents that I've seen involving the Maple Leafs, which I know is going to get people annoyed being like, well, this guy's just complaining because it happened to his team, I get it. But in both incidents, both guys suffered head injuries. Yep. That's an uncomfortable thing to have to watch when the guy's head slams down to the ice. And in both instances, it's take the guy to the boards, no problem there. Push the guy.

No problem. But the push down to the ice on the little throwdown, that's the one that just bothers me a bit where it's like, dude, you got him. You got your lick. And then Larsen hits his head on the ice and it's like, oh, well, here we go. The one that I can't stand, like my least favorite. Like I'm just like, oh, God, that's gross that I just, that I just hate. And I'm sure it's happened to you. maybe you've even done it to a guy.

Sleafoot. Yep. To me, that's a bad one too. That's the worst. That's the worst one. That's the worst one. Because at least like a body check and throwing down, like it, if you squint hard enough, you can say, well, it's part of the check. It's part of the play.

Sleof foot's part of nothing. Sleafoot's part of nothing. Nothing whatsoever. Right? And that's the one where I look at, you know, guys hitting their head, back of their head on the ice. Like slew foot is, oh, God. God. Like to me,

like that slew foot should carry a much more severe penalty slash suspension than they do. And thankfully, I'll give this to NHL players. You rarely see it. You, you rarely, rarely see it.

I think that, you know, not that I would ever accuse this game of being respectful because it's not. But, yeah, I'm just glad we don't see more. But that one play specifically,

I just find, like, just so did say distasteful. that one's gross I agree that one's no good I agree okay

how did you do last night your pocketbook unbelievable we had a fantastic I was watching that Calgary Colorado game

and I'm just like oh Philly Chacha I don't even know if he shows up for his post game show he's going right to the pay window we had a fantastic night

McCar Gold McKinnon goal Colorado win by two or more oh what a night for us here on sports interaction best bets. It was amazing. So good. So pumped.

This segment 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 sports book. Sports Interaction, Ontario or Alberta only must be 19 plus in Ontario, 18 plus in Alberta. Please play responsibly smiling Zach, who's a little bit happier heading into the weekend now. Oh, so happy you throw that in there. It's a little extra change rattling around in your jeans as you head to the bar tonight on a Friday, downtown Toronto. Oh, I'm feeling good going into the weekend, Jeff.

Yep. And I'm hoping to feel even better after this one cashes tonight. I took yesterday's and I felt a little greedy throwing three in there and getting a big parlay. So we're just going to look for one, you know? Like, let's not, let's not test the hot hand too much. You're so Canadian. You're so Canadian. and he's like, okay, now let's calm it down.

Let's reel it in here. Let's see. Let's not push the boundaries too much, so we're just going to try to get one. We've got a goal score on the card tonight. It is in the Pittsburgh Penguins game, and it is none other than Mr. Sidney Crosby to score a goal tonight for the Pittsburgh Penguins

at plus 195 tonight against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Cam Talbot. We get his first start from Columbus Blue Jackets here tonight as well. But I think Crosby finds a way to beat him. And at plus $1.95, I love it. I love that number. That, you know, it's funny too. I always look at Pittsburgh and Columbus and say, like, you know, there's just some teams that you want to be good at the same time. I want Columbus and Pittsburgh to be good at the same time because that is one of the geographical rivalries that we're sitting there looking at and saying this should, like even more so, even though they share the Keystone State, maybe even more so than Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. if Columbus and Pittsburgh are ever good together at the same time and meeting the playoffs, the potential for that rivalry is awesome, is so good.

Now this is the point where you say, yeah, Jeff, that's never going to happen. But I just look at Columbus and Pittsburgh and say, like, that is the rivalry. That should emerge here. Are you looking at it? You disagree? He's too young. No, no, no. I agree with you.

I was just looking up to see if Brandon Dubinsky had a son, and if maybe the final iteration of the rivalry, would see Dubinsky's son play for the Blue Jackets and just chase Sidney Crosby around the ace or something. Because he won't play forever. Because he's going to play forever. So he's always going to be there. But I don't think he's going to play for forever long enough

because his son, his children are not old enough based on what I'm seeing on Google. I wish you the same luck you had in that Calgary, Colorado game last night, which probably was, I don't know if it was enough to act as a pallet cleanser for what you saw in your Vegas Toronto Maple Leafs game. Well, the first period was nice. In the shootout. Listen, man, that Cowan goal was gorgeous. What a shot.

Good grief. He's a fun player to watch. He's a fun little player. He's been really good, too. Every game is your game when you bet with sports interaction from puck drop to overtime, bet with live odds on every play with easy deposits and payouts. Go to sports interaction.com slash the sheet to open an account. Ontario or Alberta only must be 19 plus in Ontario. 18 plus in Alberta.

Please play responsibly. Before we wrap here, a note from our friends at Airbnb. Jeff and Zach here from the sheet again. We had an interesting summer to say the least. There was so much going on in hockey. we kept the feed hot all through July and August leading up to the start of the new season. But we were both able to get away at least a little bit in between all the news and rumors and signings and drama that was the hockey season of 2026.

Zach, I know you traveled. What did you get up to? Yeah, I feel like I spent my entire summer on the road bouncing from wedding to wedding. But staying in homes on Airbnb made the trips a whole lot easier. There's just something about staying somewhere that feels like, your home rather than you're living out of a hotel room for a weekend. It makes the trip a whole lot more comfortable. Actually, a particularly fond memory for me this summer was pretty recent.

It was a wedding in Prince Edward County where we got to stay at a home on Airbnb. We were right near the main street, near the water, walking distance to breweries and everything that the county has to offer like Slake Brewing. For me, it was down south again with the family. And once again, since I'm an awful golfer, I drove a cart for the boys. Pretty much every single day we were away. But still, sun, ocean, good food, cool nights made it all worthwhile. Back recharged.

As for more trips this season, it looks like I'll be gone a bunch, mainly to junior hockey cities across the country. And it's trips like these why I love booking homes on Airbnb. You actually feel like you're part of a place, not just. passing through it. And it's always a reminder that when we're gone, our house just sits there. Choosing to list our home on Airbnb could be a great way to make use of that space on our schedule and maybe have a little extra money coming in at the same time. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca.com slash host. Okay, wrapping things up here for another week here on the sheet. Thanks so much for joining us. Anything parting shots there, Mr. Colonna

Rockets hat? No. I need to get some sleep. I had four coffees. I went to the gym like right before the game last night at pre-work. It was like I was doing everything. And then the problem with doing that, Jeff, is that you end up being fully caffeinated and wired by the time I put my head down at 3.45 a.m. So it's a balancing act that I didn't do very well. I was wondering if you're going to rename the show after sunrise instead of after dark last night. You're just going to see like screw it up, just going all the way through. Yeah. I do like a Leafs morning take.

Oh, wait, that's already taken. Did you have a, yeah. Did you have a, do you have a co-host last night? Do you have any guests or anything? You drag anybody in the wee hours? This was just you and your smelling salts and the chat? No, it was me and the chat and callers. I opened the call lines up, but I had, you know, like open things up in my own.

thoughts for like 30 minutes and then open the calls. But one of the cool things that I got to experience last night, we had a caller who called in from Scotland because the game was so late. So it worked out well for him to get up in the morning, watch the game, and then call in. And he said he normally doesn't get to because it doesn't line up for him. So it's an opportunity for Michael from Scotland to call into the post game. That's cool. What did Michael from Scotland?

Now is he Scottish? Is he a transplant? Is he from like, no Val d'Or? Or he's Scottish. Or Sudbury or Brandon, like, where's he, where's he, where's he from? And they, like, just end up in Scotland or is you from there? No, he's from there. My understanding was that he came here and just had seen these, oh, yes.

And he dropped the line. So, yeah. Let me tell people about this. You'll like this. Go for it. Yeah, give it to me. He's talking about, a couple people before him had complained about John Tavaris at 2C, which is besides the point, but whatever we're talking about is, you know, you look slower,

yada, yada, yada. Michael from Scotland calls in and says I don't really have a problem with John Tavares they could upgrade on him but you know his speed is always

being a thing that he struggled with and at some point you just got to realize you gotta piss with the cock you got that's what he's that was the line

with the Scottish accent I said hey whoa whoa whoa say that again I said what did you say and he's like yeah piss with the cock you got

and I was like Like, I will be taking that. Greatness borrows Michael from Scotland, but genius steals. I'm taking that line. Back to North America. I'm like, that is amazing. I've never heard that before. The best line of the show until we're an hour 10 into it.

Good Lord, man. Michael and Scotland, okay. We should open up the phone lines. Just to Scotland. drinking Boston out of beer and dropping salt on your show. The Scots. That's right. I forgot about that too.

Welcome aboard. Yeah. It was awesome. Best stories of the World Cup. Okay, listen, thanks to Bill Armstrong for stopping by. GM of the Utah Mamma. Thanks to Brian Burke, stopping by, as always, Fridays here, civilian, as our buddy will calls them.

Civilian Fridays here on the program. So thanks to the Hall of Famer for stopping by as well. If you're listening on Spotify, Apple Pods, wherever you get your podcast, thank you. Please do us to favor and subscribe if you will. Leave comments. That always helps too. If you're watching us on our daily face off YouTube channel, thank you as always. Anyone in the chat, thank you so much for participating that way.

And again, like same as whether you're listening. If you're watching on YouTube, please do the subscribe, please do the like, and please leave a comment or two. In the meantime, enjoy your weekend. Lots of hockey to watch starting tonight. and going all the way through to Monday when we join you again, 1 o'clock Eastern right here on the sheet. Enjoy your weekend, everybody.