The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Breaking Point in Toronto? ft. Brian Burke & Nick Alberga

Episode Date: November 12, 2025

Jeff Marek is joined by Brian Burke and Nick Alberga for a fiery episode of The Sheet, breaking down the Toronto Maple Leafs’ atrocious performance in Boston and asking the hard question: have the players already quit on Craig Berube? The guys dissect a lifeless first period, Anthony Stolarz’s frustration, Auston Matthews’ injury, and whether Brad Treliving has any moves left to save this team. Burke and Alberga share strong words about accountability, leadership, and a core group that looks disinterested and out of answers.Plus, Jeff and Burke hit the rest of the league — the wild chaos between the Capitals and Hurricanes (including Mikko Rantanen tangling with Linus Ullmark), Macklin Celebrini and the Sharks continuing to roll, and Colorado’s statement win over Anaheim. It’s a loaded, honest, and unfiltered conversation about the state of the Leafs and what’s next for a team on the brink.Subscribe for daily NHL talk, insider breakdowns, and full-length interviews every weekday on The Sheet!#TheSheet #NHL #MapleLeafs #JeffMarek #BrianBurke #NickAlberga #LeafsForever #LetsGoCanes #ALLCAPS #SJSharks #GoAvsGo #flytogether SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Bauer: https://www.bauer.com/👍🏼Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/ca👍🏼Prime Video: https://primevideo-row.pxf.io/c/5560083/3303015/20020Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You know, I really like the guys that do the morning cup of hockey. You've heard we talk about this program plenty here on daily faceoff in the Nation Network. I think it's one of the best hockey shows going, and at times it is the best hockey show going. But you kick off the show today before we bring aboard Brian Burke here. There's one thing that I want to take exception to. or just maybe tweak or change a little bit from this morning. Now, the guys had a good whack at a pinata that we're going to have a swing at too. And, you know, Daily Face Off Live did as well.

And that is what's happening with the Toronto Maple Leafs and what is next with the Toronto Maple Leafs. But they opened up the show this morning by talking about the Colorado Avalanche. And that was Big Dog versus Little Dog last night. That was the future versus the present. That was the Colorado Avalanche saying, I know what the ducks are doing is cute, but we're the Colorado Avalanche. We are the fastest team in the NHL,

and right now we're probably the best team in the National Hockey League. And the 4-1 score reflected that, and congratulations, Gabriel Landis Gogg finally scored a goal, and there wasn't an offside attached to it that brought it back. But this morning of the conversation kick off the morning cup of hockey was this, and we have a banner to prove it. Zach, let's fire it up if we have the screen cap ready.

This morning, Johnny Lazarus and Kobe Cohen talked about this. Does Kail McCarr hurt McKinnon's case for the Hart Trophy? Now, what Nathan McKinnon is doing is special. 32 points will do that at this point of the season. He has been exceptional. He is the best forward in the world right now. But for my money, that should be flipped. Fire that up one more time here.

Zach, and this is the point that I would be making about these two players and the Hart Trophy, I would frame it like this. Does Nathan McKinnon hurt Kail McCar's case for the Hart Trophy? Not does McCar hurt McKinnon? Is it the other way around? And of course, we're talking about splitting votes for two players on the same team, as we've seen before when it comes time to vote for the Hart Trophy. I may have a positional bias.

I've talked about that before. You've heard me discuss that. I think the point that I want to stress on this one is I think what Kail McCarr is doing is more impressive, considering the position and all the responsibilities that come along with it is more special than what we're seeing from Nathan McKinnon. Again, not to take away from what McKinnon is doing. It's outstanding. I just look at what Macar is doing and always remind myself that voters tend to have blind spots and there's one huge blind spot that voters have when it comes to the Hart Trophy.

Well, there's two, although last year it sort of got corrected with Connor Hallibuck. One is goaltenders who generally do not get the Hart Trophy. And two, it's defensemen. As a matter of fact, out the top of your head, can you name the last defenseman to win the Hart Trophy in the NHL? Anybody? Anybody? Anybody? Chris Pronger in the year 2000 with the St. Louis Blues. Is McCar hurting McKinnon's chance? Or is McKinnon hurting McCar's chance early on as we're already handing out awards?

Let's see what's on the program today. The blueprint is powered by Fanduel. Download the app today and play your game at Fandual. We're going to talk plenty about what we saw last night between the average. Lanch and the Ducks. We'll talk a lot about some of the goofier things that we saw around the NHL, including a mascot in Carolina during a fight. Brian Burke is standing by. We're going to get to Brian in a couple of seconds here. Nick Alberger from Leif's Morning Take. We'll talk to Brian and we'll talk to Nick about what is happening with the Toronto Maple Leafs coming off

that performance last night against the Boston Bruins. It's only a matter of time before every Leafs game, Peter DeBoer's name, trends on Twitter. We'll talk about the caps and the canes. We'll talk about the sharks specifically that Macklin Celebrity Pass to Colin Graff last night. And again, we'll talk about the aves and the ducks all to come here on the sheet today. Thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. Thanks for chatting. Thanks for being involved. With that, we'll bring aboard Brian Burke, our Wednesday staple here, civilian Wednesdays. We can call it. Brian Burke joins me on the sheet here. Brian, how are you today? Thanks so much for being aboard. Thanks, so to kick off the program today, before we get to you,

and I want to get your thoughts on what's happening in Leafland and Craig Barubi and Brad Retro Living and Austin Matthews and Anthony Stolars, etc. I am always astounded at blind spots for voting for trophies. And I mentioned before he came on that Chris Pronger was the last defenseman to win the Hart trophy. The argument has always been, well, the defensemen have their own trophy in the Norris. But I look at what Kail Makar is doing early on this season. And I say to myself, not only is he the best defenseman in the league, he's the best

player in the league right now, and we all know what Nathan McKinnon is doing. I have a positional bias that I will admit, and that is with defenders. Pronger was the last in 2000. How do you see the conversation between what McCar is doing and what McKinnon is doing right now, Berkey? Well, I think there's a positional bias as well. I have that. I think a defense movement is much more valuable than a forward generally. It's a much harder position to play, much different responsibilities, much harder to be exceptional. and I think right now I would say Cal McCarra is in the lead

but I don't really care about that it's way too early for one thing and second either one arm can win it they're both great players who cares yeah there there is that element but then again I have to host a show every single day

and coming up with stuff on a consistent basis who's better than who is generally a good go-to and listen we're seeing a changing of the guard right now like I don't know what the points race is going to end up looking like by the end of the season. And it might just be McKinnon, Kucheroff, dry-sidal, like I'm Connor McDavid like we've come accustomed to. But again, it's early. But do you see this as

the beginning of the changing of the guard with Macklin Sellebrini and Connor Bedard and Leo Carlson, even in the loss last night? He scores, again, finds the back of the net against the avalanche. Are we seeing not the begin, not the end of something here, but the beginning of a changing of the guard in the NHL? Well, I thought Carlson's goal was pretty simple. It was a great play by Jacob Troula. I don't put him I don't think he played a great game last night.

I think they showed their youth last night. And I think is it changing the guard for the young people. I also think Colorado made a statement last night. Don't be fooled by these guys in Orange. We're not ready for prime time yet. I think Joel Clendo will get them

ready for prime time, but they weren't ready last night. So, yeah, I think is a changing league are. This is a great thing normally when young players take the spotlight away from older players. It's a great thing. And if you look at Carter Bernard last year, it looked like he was falling off a little bit, not this year. And back in Celebrity, it's just a stud. So I think it's great for Leo Carlson. He's wearing an A. He's 20. He's wearing an A. So I think these are all great signs for our league and for our sport that the young players are taking over.

He's wearing a letter kind of like another young Swede got a letter early in his career who scored last night and it wasn't called back on an offside challenge and that's Gabriel Landisg. You've made the point before, Berkey, that you could see Landisog when the career is wrapped up working in management.

I want to expand on that a little bit and your general thoughts on Gabriel Landiscag. Well, we interviewed Gabriel Landiscag. I've told the story before. We finished and he left and Bradford and Turner me and said, why aren't we just making the GM? Just skip all the introductory test.

I haven't retired. He's ready. He's such a classy guy. So, smart. I love this kid, so I'm so happy for him last night. Yeah.

A lot of good stories in Colorado right now. Meanwhile, the flip side of the coin and the other conference is the question marks around the Toronto Maple Leafs. And Stolars hurt. Austin Matthews hurt in last night's loss against the Boston Bruins. The first period was ugly.

There's no way to address that one. I will say one thing to defend Toronto's sort of hope at a comeback. After Austin Matthews got hit by Nikita Zedoroff, the team seemed to play better or seemed to get more engaged in the game and came close, but then it was put out of reach. What did you see last night with your GMIs with the Toronto Maple Leafs? I think the comeback was nice. but it's too little too late. You can't dig a hole

and then brag to me about how hard you're shoveling and shoveled the dirt back in the hole you dug. It doesn't work for me. I used to tell my players that. They say, we came back, we came back. I'm like, don't dig a hole and brag about it. Your perspiration when you're filling in the hole, you dug, don't do that.

Don't take the hole in the first place. So I was concerned because I don't like when a player gets beat up. And I thought the hit last night was a questionable head. it's certainly not anything more to the minor penalty, if that. Certainly not a suspension. But someone should have done something.

And then Austin Matthew has to go back and run a 250-pound player to make his own point and his own defense. And then Ty Domi has to, or Max Domi has to fight him. I think that's insane. They've got to take care of business. And they've got people who can do it. It seems as if, I don't know, And there's no way to sugarcoat this one.

You know it because you've seen it and you've felt it before. I'm not there. I'm not in the room. I'm not one of these players. And I always come shy of saying, all this team has quit on the coach because I'm not there. But when you look at the Maple Leafs and you look at the coach, do you see an issue between the two?

I see a lack of concentration and a lack of intensity that's troubling. but I don't blame the coach. I blame the players. It's very fashionable to say Brad Sullivan or Craig Barugge's got to go. That's ridiculous. They've got a good team. They were picked. Look at all the experts picked and they finish first or second in their division.

So let's put the blame where it belongs. The players are not getting it done. You can blame the coach. I don't. I always blame the players first. They're not playing with enough intensity. They're getting outworked, which should never happen, not the money they make. So then if you're Bradshaw-Living, what can you do here?

If you're Craig Barubi, what can you do here? Like it is, whatever the message is, whatever the composition of the team is, it's not working. And we're approaching that magical U.S. Thanksgiving date, which seems to be historically a cut line for the playoffs. Yeah, I'm not quitting on the lease. I believe in the least. They have the right team. I think they have good players. They have good leadership.

They're just not, they started off. They look like they're happy to be in Toronto. That's what it looks like. They're happy to make good money. They wear beautiful uniforms. They have a nice building. They have a nice practice. They look very comfortable.

They don't look intense or desperate at all. And a few losses. I think they have to sit out a couple people. Maybe send somebody down, make a point. But they've got to get this thing back on the rails then fast. I'm not looking at the coach or the GM. I'm looking at the players. And the players know themselves.

They are not doing the job. And you see the breakaway. last night in the last four games. Oh, non-stop. And two-on-ones. I mean, that's mental. Someone gets behind you. That's mental. That's not working hard enough. It's not paying attention. So again, like you've seen things like this happen before. Like the coach controls ice time. The manager controls who's on the team. You're getting to this point in the season where it's, I know it's, you know, NHL 500, but this doesn't feel like it's a, like it's a 500 team. As a matter of fact, if you look at the overall standings because of the extra point, there's only in the 32 team NHL, there's only five teams that are under 500, which makes no sense whatsoever, but this is the reality that we, that we live in.

How do you shake things up here? Well, first off, but you got to get back to basic hockey. When you go into the losing streak, you simplify your game. You get pucks out, you get pucks in, and you go to work. Team hasn't done that. They haven't simplified their game. They're still making mental errors. They're still making assignment errors.

They're not working hard enough. Number one, let's get back to the basics. Number two is you might have to sit a couple guys out. Might have to send somebody down, make a point. But it's not working what's happening. I don't find the coach. This coach is a winner. And this team has won in the past.

haven't won the big ones, but they've been a competitive team. They've been in the playoffs. So the group didn't magically change. Now, they lost Mitch Marner, and now if Boston Matthews is out for any length of the time and Stolars is out, they're going to have to look at each other and say, how do we fill this void? I'm going to ask you a question here that comes off of last night's game, but has an old school question attached to it.

There's a moment in that Boston-Torona game where Steve Lerner, Grants, skates by Jeremy Swayman, and his helmet comes off right after Philip Myers takes a 94 mile an hour slap shot and hits his helmet. Like if it's like, Berkey, if it's like a split second difference, we have a horrible situation on our hands in that game. I look back and whenever you go to Scotia Bank Arena, they'll run videos. And one of the great videos that is run from the 60s is Johnny Bauer stopping a puck with his face. And goaltenders were known to do this. You look at some of the pictures of Terry Sawchuck before he passed away in 71 and the deep, deep scars that he had and other goalies always had.

I'm always amazed and I know it was more of a wrist shot game than a rising puck game, like a low shot game more than a rising puck game back then. But I'm always amazed at looking back that there weren't more injuries to goaltenders who got hit in the head, hit in the face, I mean, you played during that era where it transitioned, right, from maskless goalies to everybody wearing a mask. I'm still stunned that back then more goaltenders weren't more severely injured than they were. I agree. It's amazing to me that they didn't while wear masks. It's amazing to me how primitive the early mask were. They weren't protective at all. You got that with one, like, Shockwant's first mask. You got throw with a puck. You still got a major usually got any concussion out of it.

But those guys were shooting the puck at 45, 50 miles an hour, not 120, 110. So it's not the same. And the rest of the Jeremy Swainman last night, he smiled about it, but I'm like, he's goddamn lucky. He didn't lose his eye or break his forehead. He had 100 stitches. I mean, that could have been really nasty. So I don't know what you do.

I think the rule is the right rule. Yep. But they come out of the mask, you come off too easy. But I designed. You hit one snap and then the guy shakes it off. We've got to do a better job of keeping the mess on. All right. A couple of other things around the NHL.

Speaking of Net Minders, the Thatcher Demko injury, so he gets pulled out of the game against the Winnipeg Jets. It's been described as short-term now and unrelated to the situation that kept him out on the weekend. Maybe I'm just too cynical Or maybe I've just watched Thatcher Demko's injury history too closely But when I hear

Short term for Thatcher Demko I take it with a grain of salt Like when I hear like Oh it could be two weeks I'm like okay but a part of me says There's no chance because we've heard that before From Demko and then he's gone for two months Ever watch the animal house?

Of course Closer, closer, hootty Sturt, turn my ass. This guy, this guy, Satu Demko, is a good kid and he's a good hockey player. We didn't draft him because we were concerned about his injury history. He was scheduled to get both hips done. He got him done in sequence. He's battled back.

This kid's a tough kid. He plays hurt. Yep. He's hurt all the time. And so it's a laundry list of injuries. It's not one thing. It's not a groin. It's a knee.

It's this is that. He can't stay healthy. I don't know what to do. Well, I mean, I just sign him to a massive contract as well. I understand, like, to your point, when he's on his game, he's a candidate for the Vesnet trophy. Like, when he's on his game, he's one of the best goaltenders in the NHL, full stop, last call period, the end. But the problem is he can't stay healthy. But one of the issues with the Vancouver Canucks right now, and this is a team that's been ravaged with injuries.

I know it's something every team deals with in the NHL. But as long as Quinn Hughes is there, this is still going to be a team that goes for it. What should Vancouver do here? He lost the game last night briefly. Don't tell me your heart didn't stop if you were a Canucks fan watching when you used leave the bench. Of course. Fortunately, he came right back out. But this is a concern.

I don't know if you've changed what you do preparation-wise. You have a lot of injuries. I know a couple teams like in Montreal had all those injuries. They change their strength coach. Maybe that's what you have to look at. I don't know who the strength coach is in Vancouver. I'm sure he's confident. But maybe you have to look at the preparation.

or whatever. But this looks like a laundry list of injuries to Thatcher Demko. He's a good player. He's a good kid, but I don't know. I don't know if you're relying on. Stoller scares me too right now. Didn't come out for the third. Dennis Heldaby comes in in relief, and there are the questions around Anthony Stolars, clearly, as there are other questions about

Thatcher Demko in Vancouver. A couple of other things. Oh, you know what I want to do. Let me rewind a week here. Although we'll bring it into this week's tense. How is seeing Nazim Kadri again in the 1,000 game? Awesome. How has he been? How is he feeling?

Is that someone that you've always kept in touch with? I know you've always had an affinity for the player. I know you've always liked him. That's someone you've always kept in touch with, and what can you share about Nas these days? Pretty well. He's very happy. He loves Scalgary.

I know there's a lot of trade rumors, but I don't think he's going anywhere. My own personal opinion would be he would have to approach them. They would have to ask him if he wants to go somewhere. He's got a list of 13 teams or 12 teams. He cannot be traded to. But he told me, and his wife Ashley told me, they loved Calgary. They think it's a wonderful place to play.

They love living there. So I can't see all these trade rooms unless they have a conversation and someone asks nods if he wants to move and we'll get some direction. I can't see it happening. He's very happy there. Do you think that things would be different for him right now if he hadn't already won a Stanley Cup? Well, it changes everything. As you know, Jeff, and as I know, it changes everything once you want to win a cup.

It changes everything. It changes. It doesn't, but I remember talking to Bill Polly. And Bill Polly is one of the smartest men I've ever met in my life. Jam of the Colts, and they finally won their championship. He took the Bills to four straight Super Bowl. and didn't win. And he finally won his championship in Indianapolis.

And I said, what's the hardest part about repeating? He said, finding out who's happy with one ring and who's not. He said, a lot of guys, that's the pinnacle, they say, I've reached the pinnacle, I've reached the highest heights, I'm done, I'm mentally relaxed, I've done it, I've done it, I've worked on my life put, I've done it, I'm done it, I don't have, I'm not going to play with the same desperation again. other guys said, like, I won mine. I right away started thinking, I had two boys at the time. How do I get a second ring for my other son? I started thinking, day one, how do I get two of these? So you have to figure out which guys are content with one

and which guys want two. And I was once too. We mentioned the O'Carleson a couple of seconds ago and that game against the avalanche last night for the Anaheim ducks. And I can believe that, by the way, for Nazim Kadri. You were there at like when, when Anaheim was at its peak, Stanley Cup 2007. Now they're starting to get like a little bit of a soap and warm water feeling about this is a team on the rise and playoffs is the next step and young players getting better. And Chris Kreider, if they had an award for a comeback player of the year, Crider would probably win it.

And here's Lucas Dostal and wondering about Vezna's on the horizon and Joel Quinville coaching. the whole operation, give us a sense of what Anaheim, for those that don't know the market, and maybe that don't know the ownership, what is Anaheim like when things are really, really good, Berkey, because you are there when they're at its best. Yeah, so my first year there, we played in the conference final, and we lost to Evan, and they went on to lose to Carolina. Next year, we won the cup. So the first two years there, we played in seven playoff rounds, which is pretty hard

to do. But it's a great market. They love hockey. They love the ducks. They love winning. So they draw very well. They have a hardcore base of about 13,000, 14,000 fans. And when they're winning, they sell out the rest of the seats.

It's a great building. It's a loud building. Very loyal fans, great fans, great ownership. Part of the reason the ducks are getting better fast is is people trust and believe in the San Muelli's. Henry and Susan Samuel are the owners. I worked for. They're two of the best people in pro sports.

And that's part of the reason that people want to play there is for the San Annialli's. Then you have a top GM. Patford B played for me in Hartford. He's a sharp guy. He's trained under Steve Eisenman, good man.

And you have a top coach. The second winning is coach in the history of the league. We just sat out three years where he'd be, have another 150 wins. But the recipe's there for success.

I don't think they're there. I don't think they're ready for prime time yet, but they're on the way. Another team that is not ready for prime time and every win kind of seems like a bonus right now, but we just saw it over time last night. They beat the Seattle Cracken on the gorgeous pass by Macklin Celebrini.

It's still baby steps, I get it. Say the same thing about Chicago. But what do you think of what you're seeing from San Jose right now? There's a lot of work to do on the back end, obviously. Ascarov still needs to develop as a legitimate NHL.

A lot of the kids up front are, well, kids. But what do you make of what you're seeing in San Jose right now? And Celebrini in year two. Well, I think you're seeing the same thing. Strong ownership, Paso Fletter or whatever his name is that. That's a Plotner, yeah. Plattner, sorry, Mr. Putner. I know he's a good guy.

I know he's a solid owner. You have a solid gym in Mike Rear. You have a really good young coach in Rorzovsky. All the same components are there. A team that's ripe to get better. and they've been patient and they're drafting. Look at Pepper Beak, look at Mike Rear.

They've been patient. And so it's starting to bear fruit. Now, again, they're not ready for prime time yet either, but they're a hell of a lot closer than they were a year and a half ago. Yeah, they are. One quick thought on defensemen here. And last night, the Washington Capitals beat the Carolina Hurricanes. Jacob Trickren scores goal number 100.

And I was kind of stunned at this stat. And now this is just for active players. So this doesn't include like Bobby Oren, Dennis Potfan, et cetera. This is for active players. So the fastest player, the fastest defenseman to hit 100 goals of active players, Berkey. Number one is Kail McCarer, no surprise. Number two is Eric Carlson. He got there in 447 games.

Kail McCar got there on 362. In third, Zach Werenski at 515. Next on the list, Jacob Chikrin, who gets there in 557 games. Berkey, when I say the name Jacob Chikrin, and you got a full eyeball full of his dad, Jeff Trichron, who is Rob Bohn-Tuff. When I say Jacob Chikwin, what comes to your mind? I love Jeff Chickin, but the only way he ever scored 100 goals

is if he counted warm-ups. And maybe practice, too. Maybe you have to count practice, too. Jacob Chiffran's is thoroughbred. He's had some injury troubles, but he's the legit top four defensemen, top two defensemen. He's a legit contributor. He can shoot the puck.

He plays hard. He's smart. He's really a good player. He's way better than his dad. His dad was tough. His dad was really tough. Yeah. And I'm making fun of Jeff.

Jeff's a good man. But Jacob's been a star in our league. Yeah. I can still recall watching him play minor hockey when he went from I think he was he playing Little Caesars or was a compiware And then he went up to the GTHL In his youth 16 years So it would have been 15 years old

Playing for the junior Canadians And he looked like he was 25 Like he's always seemed to be a kid That's been like physically mature Like well beyond his years And he gets to Sarnia and we're like If this kid were Russian We'd be it we'd be questioning the birth certificate

This kid looks like he's 25, 26 years old, Berkey He looked like he was 25 when he was 18 but he also looked like he was 16 when he was 18. He had very youthful looking guy. Physically look like a much older player, but man, professionally looked very young. Good kid. Great competitor.

Always appreciate our time together. We'll talk to you in seven days. Still love the Berkey poster of your left shoulder, by the way. Nice, yeah. Brian Burke, here for Civilian Wednesdays. Each and every week here on the sheet, always appreciate his contributions. That's a great line,

Hey, Zach. That's a great line about, maybe Jeff Chikrin would get 100 goals if you counted warm up. Yeah, and practice. Yeah. Also, tuck that one away.

I played against Chikrin. He's my age. And when he was 12, he looked like he was 20. So you can also date it even further back. Okay, so did he play Little Seizers? Did he play Compuware? He would fly.

So I think he was Compuare first. Okay. Because he would, the flammy would would fly him from from Florida to Michigan every weekend for games. That ain't cheap. That ain't cheap. I know there's a lot of programs. I know there's a lot of programs that are like that. I get.

I know how youth hockey works in the United States. I know there's a lot of travel teams that are like that. But nonetheless, that's, they went, they went all out for Jacob. And then I remember watching him play at JRC, like he was. Did you play against him when he was playing for junior can? Canadians? No, not when he got to Toronto. I missed that. But when he was, when we were growing up, used to play in tournaments against him, him and Sean Day. And it was like, you go to these tournaments and you're like, where the hell did they find these fucking kids that are six foot eight? They bench pressed 20 of me. And, like, they can skate around and do whatever they want. They can, they've got unbelievable hands. What the hell are these players? Where did they come from? Chikrin, like, when he was even like that young, when you're just starting to get, like, he was torn up like a bad report card. Like right away, he was like muscle on, muscle on muscle.

I remember watching him in Sarnia. I'm like, what kind of farm animal are you? I wouldn't even have a name for you, Chikran. Yeah. Just remarkable. I was, is that, go ahead. I was just going to say at that same age and like I'm usually self-deprecating, but this is dead serious. Yeah.

puts into context. I did not hit five feet until partway through my grade nine year. I was 95 pounds, four foot like 10 or whatever it was going into grade nine, partway through. He was probably about like 170 plus pounds at that point and six foot. And we were playing in the same league. Contact. Like, what the hell was going on? Yeah.

That's, he's remarked. That, that surprised me last night when I saw it during that, that Keymes game. Like the fourth fastest active D to hit 100 goals. Jacob Trickwin. I don't know that I would have got to that answer. I'd be like, oh, Adam Fox. Quinn Hughes, like, someone else. Nope.

Jacob Tricklin. It's a great one. Speaking of numbers, 1,347 days between last night and Gabriel Landisog's last. NHL goal. Hang on a second. I want to show something really, really quick here before we get to Elberga. Do you have the Nick Dowd bump on Freddie Anderson yesterday?

Just as a sort of pallet cleanser before we talk to Nick about the Toronto Maple Leafs was try to get everybody in a good mood. Let's show this. So like this is outstanding. So Dowd comes by, bumps Anderson. Right away, Sean Walker goes over to him. A little cross-check, cross-check. Whoa, what are you doing? and Goli got in my way.

Look at Stormy the pig. Look at the mascot behind all of the... I can't tell you how many times I've watched this to watch Stormy. Look shocked. He's stunned. And then Martin Fairavari ends up fighting with Logan Stancoven and Stankhoven ends up getting cut. But good, like, Stancoven just starts feeding too. Like, Fairvarie's pretty strong guy.

Great skater and strong guy. Stancovin old Camloob's Blazer. He's just going to keep feeding as well. pretty spirited bout. You don't get a lot of that with Carolina Hurricanes games but to me, I don't know if we can pause on this

I'll look at Logan Stancove and just leaking. Look at that. Look at the pig. Look at Stormy. Right behind all of it. Dum-da-dom-da-dom-da-do. I just happen to be here.

Now, the story of Stormy the pig, they debut, Carolina Hurricanes debuted Stormy for those that don't know back in 1997 at the Greensboro Coliseum. That's a good. great screen cap right there that you just paused on. Way to go, Philly. That was excellent. So they wanted this big debut form. An exhibition game against the

Tret Red Wings are going to debut their new mascot. I don't even know that they had the name for the mascot at that point. And so they had the bright idea that they were going to put them essentially in a box where the Zamboni or sorry, the ice resurfacing machine scrapes up the ice chips. Okay. So right behind the blade. So they decided to fill it with dry ice as well. And the combination of Zamboni fumes and dry ice forced he got the name of Phil Madrin

who is a veteran mascot to have a seizure and actually pass out. So as they wheeled out to center ice to try to reveal what later turned into Stormy the pig, all that came out of the box were two dangling

legs that were having a seizure. And then they quickly went into damage control bow and said, oh, it turns out this is just a tease. No, they had to like get the EMTs out right away to try to help this guy because Stormy had been trapped inside a box of Zamboni fumes and dry ice, which as you can imagine would evaporate the oxygen pretty. Quickly. Did he end up okay?

He ended up okay. Okay, so we can laugh about it now because this is a seizure part is pretty scary, but Totally scary, of course. That's hilarious. Legs popping out of there and just dangling. Everyone's like, yeah, okay, what's going on? Why is the mascot? What is going on here?

What's going on by Dragonport, dead mascot out of the Greensboro, Coliseum, it's like Starcate 84 with Flair on Dusty Roads. There's a wrestling pull for you, mid-Atlantic championship wrestling fans. Let's get right to Nick Alberga. The host of Leif's Morning Take, who I'm sure we're keeping off bridges today is Nick Alberga who joins me now on the sheet. First of all, great picture over your left shoulder, great duster as well. You can't spell class without ass.

Ladies and gentlemen, here without Annette, the one and only, Nick Elberga. and nice blue mic sock too don't think that's lost on me nice blue mic sock as a nobody's brought it up it's been a come on for a month but um i don't want you to bury the lead watching that carolina clip there's somebody who stood out for me from a maple east perspective who is allergic to playing important games and that's freddie anderson i think if anything it proved to me carolina's not winning the cup with that goaltending if they get you see sarah's different story he's got the um when he's playing like when he's on first of all look at the flop too when he gets the oh snipers oh grassy noole but then look how quick he pops up it's like right away with this

with the quick sell a job then it's like yeah no one's buying this um i'm gonna get up right this is like you know the the president's been shot in daly plaza um first of all how you doing pal you good i know last night was i'm good you know who last night was good for philly last night was Philips because it was a big audience for Leaves After Dark. They raised a lot of money on the Super Chat as well. But outside of Philly, I can't think of if you're a Maple Leafs fan or someone that covers a team, they take anything really positive at all out of last night's loss. The score was kind to the actual game itself.

I don't know. I'll surrender to the floor to you, Nick. What did you make a last night? I think Zach set the record for longest show in the history of the Leas Nation's YouTube channel, two hours and six minutes, to be precise. I'm surprised he's here today. I had to talk him off the ledge a couple of times. Maybe it's the dinosaur in me.

I'm like, you got to save some room for game 47 when they lose 6-1, not game 17. Good point. Yeah, they're a tire fire right now, Merrick. I mean, there's no sugar-coding this. It's disastrous. It reminds me of like the latter days of Sheldon Keefe as the head coach of this Maple Leaf. And we saw it so many times in that era, in the Babcock era. like this is 17 different coaches now and it's the same core year after year after year

and they just have these lifeless efforts where you're like is there anything cooking in there like how are these guys paid this much money and that's what they contribute i i thought they were flat um we were looking for a response after the two games on home mice one of which included hall of famer after hall of fame or in the building and they didn't show up which is kind of scary so we're looking for that response it doesn't come first 10 minutes of that game, three minor penalties, they surrender a goal. And then on top of that, like, the goaltender gets hurt, Austin Matthews gets hurt. It was pretty much the worst night imaginable for the Toronto Maple Leafs. And it happened in Boston. And that is not lost on

anybody. That is the House of Horrors for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Are we celebrating 400 goals now? Like, are we just like that, that was the cherry on top to that game as a least fan. So we're clearing the benches now for 400 goals. I had to look this up, 110 different players i've hit 400 goals in their careers and how many times the bench is cleared no i don't know you tell me like i can understand like i can understand i can understand 900 for ovechkin like okay like no one's ever you know tickled that number before so you get it you're not going to do it at 901 well i mean it's had an empty netter so they didn't weren't well other than carolina last night but like you're not going to do it for 902 and 903 and 904 900 like okay we get it 400 and by the just

what everybody knows. Like, you have to get, um, you have to get special agreement from the NHL that allows you to do that. Like the NHL has to sign off on like, okay, yeah, when Pastor Nat gets 400, you're allowed to empty the bench to, to do the celebration. That's not something that a team can freestyle. So that is, by the way, for everyone to curious, that's fine. The NHL is fine with that. The NHL is cool with it. 400 is, it's a nice big number. But to me, like, once upon time in the, in the dead puck era of the NHL, You could make the argument that $400 was like a Hall of Fame barrier, that you get to $400 like, wow, that's a big number.

That'll get you in the hall because it's a two to one league or a three to two league. It's not that anymore. And it hasn't been that for a while. I can see it for $500. I can see it for $900, obviously. But I don't know. Maybe you and I are just nitpicking, but I don't know. 400 feels weird.

I'm old school like you. I'm a dinosaur at 36. And I thought it was a perfect opportunity for somebody on the Maple Leafs to jump in there and start the melee of the century. But the lasting image for me is Dennis Hildebee just sitting back in the net. Nothing to see here. It's not Pasternak for the one billion time against the Maple Leafs and TD Garden, whatever. Go celebrate. It's a 4-1 hockey game.

Let's do this thing. So I wasn't shocked at the reaction. But something tells me the Leafs had to know that was coming, right? Well, yeah. And listen, I was having a conversation with, like, let's just say, get right to the, to the, the, the, the Craig Barubi part of the conversation here. Yeah. So having a conversation with someone this morning who brought up an interesting point, I thought.

And you could remember when Craig Barubi was hired, there was one of the, like, from, like, pretty much to a person. Maple Leafs, fans, all celebrated this move. And not just because he's, I don't think it's just because he has a Stanley Cup background winning in, in 2019 with the St. Louis Blues. But this person, this person who's a really close observer says, the reason they loved Burubi is because this is a fan base that wanted to scream at their team and what does Craig Barubi do?

He screams at teams. He said, don't discount it. That was part of the initial charm is that someone was going to come in and yell at these guys and they could, at least fans could live vicariously through Craig Barubi because they knew when the door closed

he was screaming at them like they want to scream at them. Do you believe that? I do. I think I remember back when they signed Craig Ruby, accountability was a big word. But I think if there's one thing I took from the demented legacy of Mike Babcock, the guy was right.

I mean, you look at the body of work from the beginning to now as like, has anything changed? I mean, the one constant has been the core. And they're just, in general, there's just no reaction to the tongue lashing. And that's why I even wondered, you know, I know it's 2025 and how emotional people are and how different an error it is. Like when Anthony Stolars called out the team, I was in the scrum and I'm like, oh shit, I love this. This is the goaltender. This is very Ron Hextall. But the thing that concern me is like, whose feelings are we hurting?

And clearly some feelings have been hurt on top of that. They're not getting safe from the guy who called out the team. So, yeah, it's a disaster. I mean, getting back to your question about correct. Greg Barubi, there is only so much a coach can do. I'm a strong believer in that. I think, unfortunately, they take the sword more times than not. And I think if this continues, Barubi's going to take it for the team.

I think this is firmly on the players. This is not a Bradtree-Living thing. This is not a Derek Lal thing. We're now blaming assistant coaches in Toronto, by the way. That's a new wave this week. It's not on Van Rine. Savard, this is firmly on the players. They look genuinely disinterested in playing hockey.

Again, a sport. They get a lot of money to play. And unfortunately, we all know, even us in the media, watching the Maple Leafs on a daily basis, how they want to play under Craig Ruby, what he's instilling in terms of messaging. They're not executing. And unfortunately, and you could probably agree with this,

they're making mistakes that a seven-year-old and timid hockey would make. And that's the concerning part about me. And the only thing I would add, too, I was alarmed hearing John Tavares talk about immaturity. Last time I checked, there was veteran after veteran after veteran on this Maple Leafs roster. that night. But, like, I'm still stunned

at how quickly this team got slow. From last year to this year, they got slow. And part of me wonders. Like, I know that this is a copycat league, and whatever it is successful, I'll go back to, like, the first year after the lockout, the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup,

and it became all about footspeed. Footspeed, foot speed, foot speed, foot speed. The next year, the Anaheim Ducks win the Stanley Cup and it all becomes nuclear missiles, Nuclear missiles, nuclear missiles, it's got to be tough, Berkey hockey. And every year,

when someone wins a Stanley Cup, everybody tries to ape that. And listen, the Maple Leafs, as you all know, were right there with the Florida Panthers and couldn't get the ball over the goal line.

And it seems as if move after move in the offseason from Bradshaw Living, it seemed like the Maple Leafs, instead of leaning into what their strength was, they went through a process of trying to out

Panther the Panthers. Try to bring in players that can play Florida's style of game. There's like a couple of other teams around the NHL that can play the Florida Panthers game. The other one is in the same state as them. And that's it. Like you can't out Panther the Panthers. I wonder if, you know, ultimately no matter where this season ends, if it ends with the Maple Leafs outside of the playoffs or flaming out in the first round as well, I wonder how much we look back at the summer and say

why do they try to out panther the Panthers instead of leaning into their strengths? Yeah, I understand where you're coming from. I think, you know, to counter that, the goaltending was much different last year. And then you start to wonder and get a bigger realization, like did it mask what the team actually was? Like they got all-star level net mining last year,

specifically from Anthony Solarz, where we had legitimate conversations about a Vezna trophy. to now he's providing like coast league goaltending like there is such a vast difference in goaltening and I think that adds so much flavor to a team when you're getting saves I think on top of that like to your point about playing you know with speed

a lot of that is about passing the puck and moving the puck like it's not just about foot speed and I think what the Leafs are not doing very well right now is moving out of their own zone playing as a cohesive unit getting in positions routes to get that puck back and to play more direct. Like, again, we all know how Craig Ruby wants his team to play. But I think it's the little things, like not being able to connect on a three-foot pass

or not being able to get a puck in deep or being trying to be too pretty and do a tow drag at your D-Zone blue line. Like, all that is contributing to the mistakes. Because I just don't understand how you can go from a decor that was widely regarded as one of the best period last year to this type of decor where it's turnover after, turnover after turnover, and it looks like a grenade on their stick. Like there's got to be a healthy medium, I think. So let me swing back to the coaching conversation right now.

And I'm with you. Like this one's on the players. But this is a team where, I think I've mentioned this to you before. We've had this conversation. You know, one of the, one person told me to begin in the season, it's always better for a team to have one or maybe two key players on expiring contracts. Motivation, you know, playing for a contract next year. history just shows. It's better. I know it can be awkward for fans. Oh, we're going to lose this

player. But if you're looking for performance, there is nothing like a player in a walkaway year. There is nothing like that whatsoever. And we talk about, oh, timing, timing, timing is everything. So these guys aren't going to hang for it. If there's going to be something that shocks the room, it might just be a coaching change here. Craig Ruby won the Stanley Cup in 2019. There's only been three coaches in the history of the NHL, Tommy Gorman, Dick Irvin, Senior, and Scotty Bowman that have won the Stanley Cup as a coach with two different teams. Scotty won it with three. History says you can't do it with someone who's already won the Stanley Cup.

Someone has been close a number of times, who is currently, although still under contract with the Dallas Stars, but very much out there was just in Kitchener, being elevated to the level of legacy by the Kitchener Rangers, is Peter DeBoer. How close are we seeing to seeing Peter DeBoer's name trend on social media when the Maple Leafs go down a puck or maybe two? Oh, you didn't know. Zach fired Craig Ruby last night and after dark. So Pete DeBorth already the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Like the names are going to hear DeBoer, Peter Lavio led. I think it would be hilarious to see John Tortorella in Toronto would last about 16 games, but I think it would be funny. Maybe it's somebody outside the box. But to your point, like, I think if your management, there's only so many bullets in the chamber. And unfortunately, I hate it. Like, I always talk to coaches and this is why they get some clarity on their deals and say, hey, we're taking three, four, five year deals because we know we're not going to see the end of those deals.

But like, it's on the players. And I just think from the message standpoint, it's just not getting through. And if this just continues for three, four, five more games, then I think they have to seriously consider making a change. but I'll call a spade a spade. I mean, how many different coaches are they going to go through in this market and say it's the coach? Like at the end of the day, I rather, you know, call me crazy. I rather just pack it up, call it a day, rebuild and wait for McDavid,

or wait for free agency in three years. Like find a way to reimagine the roster, you know, call it a loss for this year. Maybe they'd never subscribe to that wood management. But I think we're at a point we've seen this nucleus long enough, Merrick, where we're getting to a point where these, guys ain't 18 anymore man they're 28 30 you know they're approaching that that middle part of their careers here so that that that that then leads to the next question i'll close i'll close on this one nick um did they miss their window did the maple leaves miss mr window like i know it it sounds like

an excuse and everybody went through it but when you look at timing uh the maple leaves for one of the teams really got scotch by covid in the flat cap like all those contracts were predicated on a rising cap i get it all teams deal with it but that was the that was like the plan of how things were going to work out. The deals were going to look bad early but would normalize by the time they're at the final few years of their contracts. That didn't happen. And so the question becomes, did they just miss it?

And if so, what do you do about it now? Hindsight's 2020, of course. I think the year they missed it was the opportunity to trade Mitch Marner and they didn't. They let that trade. They could. I understand that. Dubus left. Tree comes in. You got like seven minutes to decide what you're going to do. And then on top of that, Chanahan's like you're not trading anybody. So that was your decision. It's been mistake after mistake after mistake. I mean, there is no logical way to fix this. I think you have to reimagine your roster. I think you have to admit defeat sometimes. Having said that again, I'm Mr. Glass, half empty, half full. I'm never a positive Pete, but I think the one thing I've learned in my career covering this league for 15 years,

Eric, it's game 17, man. How many times the Leafs dragged their fans back into it? It happened. Hell, last year against Florida, where they were pumped in game five. And what do they do? They go on the road in game six and win a gutsy, gutsy game on the road. So would I be shocked that they come out against L.A. Without Matthews, without Stolars, and win six, nothing?

Probably not. So never say never. I don't think this conversation is done by any stretch. People are talking about people already, you know, trying to compare the second deal back in the day to the Minton deal. the Kessel deal, like we're throwing every conversation into the fire these days. People got to pump the brakes. This is what this team does.

Never forget that. They're going to be back in it by the weekend, I think. We shall see, my friend, and you'll be there to document all of it as we'll fill you on after dark. Thanks, pal. You'd be good. My pleasure. I just wanted to add. I love Thomas Cabralet's remedy today on Leafs, Oney Take.

He thinks he needs to hit the road and get drunk. They need to get drunk. So there's the answer. You know, I'll tell you what, just we pause for one second. You know what is a long tradition in the NHL that has really waned? Ask some of the old timers. There is nothing like playing guilty. Uh-huh.

There's nothing. There's a lot. And listen, he was on a team. There are a lot of guys on that Maple Leaf team that were not shy about playing guilty. So that, oh, by the way, I thought of you yesterday watching OEL, go to, who was, to VAL,

turn around, let me see, who are you? Turn around. Let me see your nameplate there. I thought of you knowing how much you like Oliver Ekmalarsen. I do. It's my guy. Thanks for having me, bud. All right.

Be good. There is Nick Alberger from Leif's Morning Take on what to do if you're the Toronto Maple Leafs next. Did you fire Craig Barubi last night on the show? You're just done with him? Yeah, I might have fired him. I might have fired him. um to to give my defense because that just sounds really harsh um i am young and figuring out handling okay i'm a fan i'm i'm trying to be media and like make sure that this is sane and

not just blowing a gasket every night and balancing that um but last night to what nick's saying like this is not me saying fire Craig Broube because he sucks. I hate this guy get him out of here. This is fire Craig Baroubae because you have nothing else you can do. Like

you got players who are all locked up on no moves and big deals and old guys and slow guys and guys who don't look very good and now what? Like you're not going in there and being like William Nealander, you're being traded today.

It's not the decision today. Maybe it's a decision at the deadline or in the summer or whatever. Like, who knows? But you just can't. And again, people are pointing like Morgan Riley. They got no move trades. No move clauses, Jeff. Like you can't just go in there and be like, guess what?

You're moving because they've got things to block that stuff. So I think for me it's just I declared last night like Craig Baroube, I think has to go here now. fairly or unfairly because the team is not responding and my just kind of final evaluation as we can move on with the show and stop with Leafs talk is just you know

I don't think this is a very good team but I believe that this team just with the guys they have is good enough to make the playoffs not good enough to do damage I just think that they're good enough to make the playoffs now there's work to be done you did lose Mitch Mark

and didn't add anything to replace him. I think it's unfairly put on Brad Trulving that he got Dakota, Joshua, Nick Juan Machelli to replace Mitch Marner. I don't think that was ever the goal. I think they still set out to add more pieces and just didn't. We know he tried to get Petrca, whatever the hell else was out there. But point being, you got a lot of work to do there to make it a real contender, but there is a team who's probably just.

good enough maybe to make the playoffs who's playing like they want the season to end today that's got to change for you to make any other decision and for me the way i justified it is if you bring someone else in here to take over at the helm and they can't do it then that's when you can make the final decision of like this ain't it these guys ain't it because while you still have Matthews and Barner before they're 30 years old. They're still like, we talk about the window closing. Matthews and Neil-Lair. There's this much, this much light coming through.

Like, Jeff, I have to squint to see how much there is, but there's that much light coming through the window. And for that reason alone, I don't think you slam it shut, but you're thinking about it. Your hand is on the sylve, getting ready to push it down and say, time to go to bed, close the blinds close the windows it's over but there's that much coming through so you just wait a tiny bit more eventually the lights come on and the bartender says time everybody time all right hungry for hockey history let's try to light it up with something here hungry for hockey history is a presentation of uber eats uber eats is enabling fans to maximize their fandom all season long with exclusive game day deals on the app from game day eats to pay plates and napkins, if you're hosting, to all the ingredients you need to make your favorite game day dip. Before, during, and after the game, Uber Eats is assisting every fan's hockey experience all season long. Got some good ones today. Got some big, big names here. You know,

earlier on, Berkey referenced Jacques Plont and the mask. It was at the hands, or should I say, stick of Andy Bathgate that led to him wearing a mask with that high shot. Andy admitted later on that he fired it deliberately. But nonetheless, I do believe we have Andy Bathgate as part of Hungry for History today. Correct. 1961, Andy Bathgate became the second player in Rangers' franchise history to score 200 goals,

doing so in a 4-1 win over Chicago. 1967, Norm Allman scored the 300th goal of his career in the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 win against Montreal. And finally, 1978. Billy Smith earned the 100th victory of his NHL career as the New York Islanders beat the Rangers 5 to 3. I remember playing in a charity game with Norm

Olman and I was on a line with I remember because it was with Ron Ellis and Norm Alman and I was talking to Ron before this was in Whitby. Actually, I think it might have been at Iroquah which I ring that you would know quite well, Philly. Want a championship there. You did, eh? Pause on that.

I'll get back to it and you'd go back to your Waxers Glory Day Um, I remember Ron's like, lacrosse, okay, lacrosse, okay, okay, that counts too. That's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, cross country. Um, I remember Ron Ellis saying, like, you're going to play with me and Normie. I'm like, dude, that's the Paul Henderson spot. Like, I am not Paul Henderson.

They go, oh, no, for one night, you're going to be Paul Henderson. I was not Paul Henderson. I assure you. And Norm Olman, who at that time might have been like 70 was just like feeding backhand sauce passes like nothing, barely like looked like he was. working hard but was just so good and then got back in the dressing room in between periods during the flood

and probably had six cigarettes just like one after the other one after the other like these are my heroes look at this and then Norman just couldn't wait to get off the ice anyway I wanted to mention Billy Smith a couple of seconds ago in a piece of video that you should probably watch and a little fact that Kelly Rudy told me about

Billy Smith when he was a rookie with the New York Islanders so this goes back some ways these are the days when goaltenders would actually fight players. There's Lindy Ruff, now coach to the Buffalo Sabres, in front of the net, battling with Billy Smith, and catches the butt end of his stick in his eye,

to which Lindy Ruff says, screw this, and they go for it. That, hey, Dowd, you want to do something to Freddie Anderson, or not, that's what you do. You want to go to a goaltender? Lindy Ruff will show you it.

I like how he takes off the helmet, too. That's a really nice touch. But Billy would fight players. There is a long history of goaltenders actually fighting players. Billy Smith might have been one of the best. I think Ray Emery is probably the best out of it. He fought Josh Gratton in the American Hockey League. And won.

That is a piece of video. Y'all got to search out on YouTube watching Ray Emery fighting Josh Gratton was a thing of beauty. But the other thing that Kelly told me, every goaltender has a different way to relax before games. some just like work on their mental focus bouncing a ball bouncing a ball bouncing a ball meditation

whatever it takes for a goaltender and what Billy Smith used to do do you know who Louis Lamour was no Louis Lamour was

America's great Western fiction novelist and before games Billy Smith And there's some of you, like, I've got a list of here. The Last Breed, The Walking Drum, Sacket's Land, to the far blue mountains. Billy Smith loved reading Western fiction. And that's what he would do before games to relax him.

I don't know why I find that so fascinating. A goaltender reading about, you know, Cowboys out on the range to get him ready to face off against the New York Rangers. But that's what Billy Smith did. So, to be honest, if you told me that, like, Mark Messier did that, I would be like, that's weird. A goaltender doing anything? Not surprising. Yeah. You could have told me he was reading erotic novels.

And I would have been like, yeah, he's a goalie. Well, hey, listen. If I would have told you, like, the author's name at the end of it, and the author's name was Louis Lamour. First of why, he said, like, okay, so he's reading, like, erotic cowboy and western novels. Like, it just sort of portray that style. But no, that's what Billy Smith used to do before hockey games. We got a couple of things to do before we wrap up here as you shake your head at all of this. We're going to have some fun tonight.

We don't have like the bonanza of games that we had last night. But we've got some bangers. The sheet is powered by Fanduel. Play your game with Fanduel. It's the NHL season and Fanduel is your home for all the action on the ice. From Blue Line to Bet Slip, we've got. got you covered all season with unique promos, live offerings, and more features to let you play your game.

And a guy like Zach can come up with some really cool parlias. What was yesterday? How sweet it is? Nice one. Miss Pucktrop, no sweat with a live same game parlay. I noticed you didn't have Gabriel Lendoskog on that, by the way, and he scored. Anyway, more on that later. You can build your bets up until the final buzzer.

Download Fandualsports book today. You know, he's my favorite player, Zach. And play your game. You'll put the bread on both sides for your host here. Please play responsibly 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. What are you serving up tonight, Zach?

So we got four games on the schedule. Yesterday, the how sweet it is. That was good. That was not so sweet. No, but I was proud of you for coming up with that. I mean, I would have liked to see my boy Landisog on there, but I get he hasn't scored. He hasn't scored a regular season goal in 1,300 days, so I understand why you left him off. Yeah, little tough to be like, I'm going to toss this guy in and have people justify that and be like, yep, this one makes sense.

You know, Leo Carlson scores. Neelander has seven shots on goal last night, so at least those felt good. The Kings scored a bunch against the Habs, five goals there. I was kind of surprised actually looking after that campaign didn't score. I'm like, come on, you couldn't have helped me out, like two for three. Coming on the show today being like, well, I went two for three last night. The Leafs sucked, but two for three, like pretty good. I fell just short there.

This one here tonight, obviously we got five games on the schedule. The one that's most intriguing to me from a goal scoring and prop betting perspective is the Edmonton Oilers and the Flyers. I might be looking to do every single bet. Like I can't even give you a specific here right now. I'm going to be looking as the day goes on. But every single bet that involves Connor McDavid's name, I might be looking at here tonight.

Shots, goals, points, assists. We talked about it the other day, how it was going to be like, you know, this is the game where McDavid's going to come out and the Oilers are going to play, they're going to bring it against the blue jackets, Jeff. McDavid looked like a man on a mission when that thing was not going the right direction

but I still feel like he's kind of like punching at the wall and making progress but hasn't broke through tonight against Philly I wouldn't be surprised if he comes out and he's like watch me was it I think was it was it

was it Denton Matechuk that he did that spinorama on mm-hmm do we see I think it was do we see that again like tonight against like Travis Sanheim like okay

Denton matechuk's gonna be really good NHL defenseman here and was really good last year but then you step it up a notch and try that on Travis Sanheim tonight do we start to see like that kind of Connor McDavid I think that we you tell me if you disagree with this

I feel like the more that this goes on this season specifically we might start to see the Nathan McKinnon. I hate your guts. I'm going to rip your throat out mindset. Yeah.

No upper teeth. Slip into McDavid, right? No upper teeth. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's going to look a little bit different, but my point is more so this is going to piss him off.

And you went two consecutive years to the Cup final. And there's games where you would see McKinin effectively be like, I'm going to score goals and I'm going to figure out a way to do it, whether it's the prettiest goal alive or I put my stick through your stomach and then I score with you attached to me and like we figure that out. I think McDavid just might be in like,

I'm scoring, we're winning, I don't care and I will not ever smile again for the rest of my life until I lift the Stanley Cup kind of mindset. Also on a more light note, Josh Stone anytime goal, I think plus 260 here. Revenge Night, Utah. Revenge Night in Utah.

Like, come on, come on. Put that one on flatter, come on. Back to Connor. Is there, is it the, like, I left $15 million on the table. We are not going to lose hockey games. That kind of McKinnon. Or that kind of McGinnon. Yes.

All right. Yes. I know you, yes. I think so. I mean, he's so determined as it is. As this season drags on, I feel like there's part that's like, you do know I just extended for like I don't even know how much

percentage you want to put on to this of how much he took a discount where he's just going to look around and be like remember that deal that I just took for you. Easy 15 million. He just left out there like okay Stan. Yeah.

I like your Josh Stone anytime goal too. I like Josh Don a lot, man. Yeah. I really do. Oh, I love the player. Yeah. And the video of him who was it Tucker on St. Louis and he goes up to him at the red line

skates by, has some words to him and then next thing you know the first chance they get scrapping and this is a kid who can score goals, he's feisty I just I love what he brings. It's a it's one of those ones where for Buffalo, good player

to get in that return and I think Utah ends up okay because he got Butyrka like it just it kind of works out either way Look, Paterka was gone. You know, like if you had any doubts, he was asked about it and wouldn't even address it when he was back in Biden, Buffalo. And I thought that Kevin Adams did good on that return.

I know things are still crap in Buffalo. I get it. But that's not one that I'm going to fault Kevin Adams for at all. I actually do like the return on that. It makes them a more balanced team. And to your point, I love Josh Don't. Okay, a couple of things. I've started to listen to the first podcast.

of the Tri-State Hockey Pod. I started listening to it this morning. Awesome. This one's going to be a banger. I love the idea of doing cluster pods. Introducing the Tri-State Hockey Podcast. Each week, Johnny Lazarus, Mike Rupp, and Arthur Staple, breakdown everything happening

across the New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils, and New York Islanders. This is such a great cluster idea. From on-night storylines to locker room insights and everything in between, new episodes drop every year. Tuesday and Friday. My apologies, I had been saying Wednesday,

but I'm a bad host. New episodes drop every Tuesday and Friday on Daily Faceoff. The first episode is out now. Settle in because it's almost two hours long. I looked at it on my phone today. I'm like, all right, here we go. It's almost two hours,

Johnny. This might kill, Vic. Oh, this might kill 100%. Yeah, yeah, producer Vic. This might just kill. Bless Vic. It's his birthday now. one year older. So he's going to really be slowed down now. The years are catching up to producer Vic. But a great first offering. I look forward to listening to the rest of it

when I'm either on the treadmill or on the bike here in about 15 minutes. Also, there's a brand new show on the Nation Network. You're going to want to check out as well in addition to the Tri-State Hockey Podcast. Grab a coffee and tune into the sauce with host, Rider, and Lisa. If you want a mix of laughs, sports talk, and conversations, you didn't know you needed in your life this weekday morning show is for you live every morning at 8 a.m. Mountain on the Oilers Nation YouTube channel. Longtime Ebbington radio hosts are going all digital and bringing their candid humor to video. Be sure to subscribe to the Oilers Nation YouTube channel and stream their show on your go-to podcast platform. All right. Hey, quickly here. I'm not letting

you take that fall on the knife for the dates. We're a team here. We share the blame. this is not a host issue I put it on the copy I'm taking accountability unlike some other people here in this city that we know have not taken accountability for nine years I'm taking accountability

it starts with me I put it on the paper I was wrong I'm gonna go full dobish and just start sobbing too about my bad week the last couple days Nick thinks it's unsustainable for me

to lose my mind at game 17 dobish it's going to be okay men not every loss you won like 10 games to keep these guys hot to start the season you have like a bad period dude you're okay it's gonna be okay

you're good calm down man's only breathe everybody breathe yeah Ted group I did get fired by me what's yeah what's your what's your old Libra's Gallif it's just hockey is just It's just sports.

It's just hockey. It's only game. Why you have to be mad? Why you have to be mad? It's only game. A game where you got $60 million. Game where you got $60 million out of Ed Snyder. That's the real game.

That's a real fun game. That is a real fun game. I wish that was the game I was playing. You and me both, brother. That long, quiet cash, not the noisely, jangly stuff in our pockets. If we walk up and down the sidewalk. All right. On that, we'll thank you for watching.

watching. Well, thank you for listening. Well, thank you for interacting and subscribing here on Daily Faceoff. We appreciate all of it. We are back tomorrow, but not before I remind you again. Like honestly, the cluster pod is fantastic. Tri-State hockey. Johnny Lazarus, Mike Rup and Arthur Staples, produced by producer Vic, who's one year older now. So let's be a little more gentle around Vic. It's excellent. I'm going to finish it off here in a couple of minutes. It's a great offering and I already look forward to Friday's drop. So again, that is Tuesday and that is Friday for the tri-state hockey. podcast. We're back tomorrow 1 o'clock Eastern. Greg Wischinski is aboard, and I'm not sure whether I can start promoting that special guest that we're working on, but Officer Phillips will let me know if we can. Working on it. We're working on still. Okay, very good. We're working on something big. And if it happens, remember we had this conversation. And if it doesn't, just ignore it and say, well, it was the end of the podcast. I can't remember what Merrick rambled about. Morning Cup of Hockey tomorrow on 9 a.m. Eastern DFO live with Tyler U. Ramchuk and Carter Hutton at 12 o'clock Eastern, and then our little monkey act here at 1.

E.T. Dismissed. Tip your Zamboni driver. We'll talk to you in 23 hours. I said 16 hours last night every day this week, every day this month. I can't get out my head. I lost all ambitions day to day. Because I can call her.

right. I went to the dark man. You're trying to give me a little medicine. I'm like, no, and that's fine. I'm not against those men that's pretty new. It's me and myself and how this is going to be fixing my mind. I do want a bracket. I turned on the music. I do want to back. I turned on the music. I do want to back. I turn it on the music. I don't think you're sometimes losing I've been on the days that we're wrong