The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Buffalo Sabres in Chaos & Flyers Early Momentum ft. Michael Augello & Kevin Kurz

Episode Date: October 14, 2025

The Buffalo Sabres are spiraling — and Jeff Marek is breaking it all down on The Sheet.On today’s episode, Jeff is joined by Mike Augello (The Hockey News) to dissect the Sabres’ brutal start to the season, the fallout from the Josh Norris trade, and the shocking behind-the-scenes clip from Buffalo’s 2025 trade deadline video revealing Kevin Adams’ “zero reservations” medical clearance. From the haunting echoes of the Jack Eichel saga to Tage Thompson’s frustrated postgame comments, Jeff and Mike unpack 14 years of dysfunction in Buffalo — and whether Jarmo Kekäläinen could be the next man in charge.Then, Kevin Kurz (The Athletic) joins to talk all things Philadelphia Flyers — their emotional Bernie Parent tribute, Sean Couturier’s resurgence, and Trevor Zegras’ early impact under Rick Tocchet. The guys break down Matvei Michkov’s rocky adjustment, the Flyers’ penalty-kill issues, and how Tocchet’s system is reshaping Philly’s identity.From Buffalo’s collapsing front office to Philadelphia’s surprising start, Jeff Marek and The Sheet deliver in-depth, insider-level hockey talk you won’t find anywhere else.Shout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Simply Spiked: https://www.simplyspiked.ca/en-CA👍🏼Shark Ninja: https://www.sharkninja.ca/ninja-crispi-4-in-1-portable-glass-air-fryer-cooking-system/FN101CGY.html?utm_source=Better+Collective&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=H2+Air+Fryer&utm_content=EN👍🏼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/@Flames_Nation🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Morgan from Off the Shelf, and I'm here to tell you about Paramount Pictures, new movie Regretting You, a film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's best-selling book, Regretting You. If there's anything I love more than an adaptation, it's an adaptation that's going to make me feel something. And with Josh Boone, yes, the director of the Fultonar stars, at the helm, I'm ready. Between the first loves, secret relationships, and second chances, I am prepared to be going through every single emotion. This film also has a stacked cast starring Alison Williams, McKenna Grace, Dave Franco, Mason Thames, and so many more. Go see Regretting You Only in Theater's October 24.

Hey there, it's Jeff Merrick here. You know, my wife and I both have countless memories from spending time discovering Canada. Well, I always come back to the summer of 2005. We were staying at a cottage on Lake Joseph here in Muscoca watching the Live 8 music festival in Barry on television. My buddy Jeremy Taggart, former drummer. from Our Lady Peace, dropped by after his band's set and stayed the rest of the weekend at the cottage after the band set and told some incredible backstage stories about some amazing Canadian music icons.

I will never forget that. And fast forward to today, I'm a hockey parent, and I feel like I'm always on the road with my family. Whether that means traveling across southern Ontario hockey ranks during the week or overnight at tournaments on select weekends. But what makes our hockey experience even more special is booking a place on Airbnb when we're on the road for overnight tournaments. All of this traveling got me to thinking, my home's just sitting empty when I could be hosting it on Airbnb instead. I'd simply put up my house on Airbnb, pre-select dates that I want to host, bam. It's practical, easy to manage, and it enables people like me to make some money while they're not at home. Your home might be worth more than you think.

Find out how much at Airbnb.ca slash host. So a conversation before the season started went like this. If the Buffalo Sabres have a horrible start, it might be bad news for Kevin Adams by Thanksgiving. I didn't think the person meant Canadian Thanksgiving. I thought he was referring to U.S. Thanksgiving. But here we are.

Tuesday, October the 14th. Welcome to the sheet. Once again, glad to have you aboard. There's going to be plenty of you coming up today about the Buffalo Sabres. And want to play some video for you going back to last year's trade deadline. And the deal that saw Dylan Cousins become a member of the Ottawa Senators and Josh Norris. become a member of the Buffalo Sabres. I like that the Buffalo Sabres do this.

I like that a lot of teams do this. Well, they'll put their sort of behind the scenes look about how trades come together, even though when you're having the conference call, they leave out what the other side is saying. I understand that. I think it's good that the Buffalo Sabers do it. But there's one piece, you know, going back and having a look at this thing this morning, there's one piece that's really troubling now that we know what's happened to Josh Norris,

comma, again. In the meantime, a pretty interesting night around the. NHL. Can we show something, Zach, that before we get into, you know, what's happening on the program today and introduce I guess, something that I'm, I still haven't stopped laughing about. Do we have the clip of the, of the Dvorak tip last night? Do we have that? Do we have that one handy? I know I'm sort of calling an audible on you. This is the Christian Dvorak tip. I know, but I can get that one. If you could, if you could grab that, I mean, let me, let me know when you have it. We'll, we'll get to what's coming up on the program today, it might be, it's one of the funniest moments that I've seen in a long time.

Oh, and by the way, congratulations to the Philadelphia Flyers in their home opener last night. Not only do they defeat the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, but they also did the Bernie Perron tribute for the second time. After he passed away in the preseason, they did one for him, I believe, in the game against the Boston Bruins, and they did a second one for him last night to say nothing of the player of the game, Bernie Perrant mask, which is just the nicest touch. Anyway, the Philadelphia Flyers

hitting a lot of the right notes and did yesterday, although there's problems with Meachkoff. And we're going to isolate a little bit later on where I think the problem that Rick Tocket had occurred with Mechkoff. We'll get into that coming up on the program here

in a couple of moments. Thanks for joining us in the chat. Thanks for joining us live on YouTube or on your favorite podcast platform. Always appreciate your attention. You have a lot of things you could be listening to or watching right now. Thank you for choosing us here at the sheet. The Blueprint is powered by Fanduel. Here's what's coming up.

Make every moment more with North America's number one sportsbook. That is, of course, our friends at Fanduel. And coming up on the program today, it's going to be a very sort of Eastern Conference-based program. A couple of teams we're going to sort of revolve around here. Mike Gejello from the hockey news will stop by. He covers the Buffalo Sabres. We'll get into a conversation with Mike here in about five minutes time.

Kevin Kerr's from the Athletic. We'll talk to us about the Philadelphia Flyers. The good bad and the Michkoff with the Philadelphia Flyers. Our QOD is what's next in Buffalo. And as I mentioned, we'll do a lot on the Philadelphia Flyers coming up here in a couple of moments. One thing that I went this morning, I went back and watched, just wanted to make sure that I had seen it properly. And that is the behind the scenes peak, the video. from the 2025 NHL trade deadline where Kevin Adams makes the trade for Josh Norris,

Dylan Cousins going the other way a little bit later on the Buffalo this week. The Buffalo Sabres will face off against the Ottawa Senators. Ottawa without Brady Kachuk, by the way, with the hand injury, minimum four weeks on that one after the entanglement yesterday with Romanoosia of the Nashville Predators. But in this video, there's one moment that really catches my eye and catches my years. And this is when Kevin Adams, general manager of the Buffalo Sabres, is addressing other members of the Buffalo Sabres front office about the health status and more specifically the future health status of Josh Norris. Now, the less that you're going to hear Kevin Adams

referred to is Les Bisson, who's the medical doctor for the Buffalo Sabres. So keep that in mind. Here's Kevin Adams from the Buffalo Sabres video inside the 2025 NHL trade deadline. Kevin Adams brings Josh Norris to Buffalo. Buffalo Sabres embedded. The Sabres put this one out last year. Let's have a look. Okay, let me in a second for Norris Bernard Docker. Let me let me work on this and I will I need to I need to get the got the an owner and doctor kind of on standby too just to say okay I want to have I want to circle up with them one more time and just make sure everybody's on the same page from the medical and let me work on this and I'll be back to you okay

Steve I just talked a less completely comfortable zero issue but he's like I have zero reservation I have enough information and give me complete comfort I would say the exact same thing to Terry and I said are you sure because this This is a very good hockey player, but he's like 100% comfortable. The offer on the table from Ottawa is Cousins, Gilbert, and a second round pick for Norris and we would get Bernard Docker. Okay, the place where you probably paused is the same place where I paused, and that is zero reservation from the Buffalo Sabres medical director, medical doctor, Lesbisian.

And for a bit of context, too, and again, not to pile on, but it's tough not to. That same medical director was in the middle of the situation with Jack Eichol with the Buffalo Sabres, where he wanted the ADR surgery, the artificial disc replacement. And the Buffalo Sabres, on the advice, we assume, of their medical director, was saying, No, it hasn't been done before in hockey, has been done in other sports football, MMA specifically, but never in hockey were in favor of the spinal fusion, which caused an even greater rift between Eichl and the Buffalo Sabres, which ended up costing the Buffalo Sabres of services of Jack Eichol. That was a trade that brought aboard Peyton Krebs and also Alex Tuck.

Alex Tuck, who we also wonder about now, does he have a future with the Buffalo Sabres? and if he doesn't, what does that make that trade look like? But the idea that there was zero reservation, again, I am not a doctor. I just play one on a podcast here, I suppose, he said tongue in cheek. But I think about the only person who would have had zero reservation would have been that medical director in question with the Buffalo Sabres going back to that trade. As someone pointed out on Twitter, Josh Norris has. played four games for the Buffalo Sabres and only finished two. We all feel awful for Josh Norris. Nobody wishes that on anybody. And that's not anything that Josh Norris has chose and didn't

want his career to become this injury punchline. But unfortunately, the big story about Josh Norris has been the injuries. And that's one of the reasons why we find ourselves in this position where we're wondering, is there a future for Kevin Adams and will Kevin Adams be given the ability and the runway to steer out of this skid? Or does it all get turned over to the person we're all wondering about, and that is Yarmal Kekalinen? And if you're handing it over to Yarmou Kekalinen and you marry that with the Sabres performance that we've seen so far this season, most recently yesterday against a Colorado Avalanche, where I don't think The Buffalo Sabres touched the puck in the second half of the game, specifically the third,

where it looked like the entire team had quit on Lindy Ruff. You wonder if there's going to be one dismissal, perhaps there are two. But that's where we're at, three games in. But it's not really three games in. It's 14 seasons and three games in, because that's the way it feels to Buffalo Sabers fans. more on this issue and others there are plenty the buffalo sabres who bring in micha jello finally have him on the broadcast here from the hockey news who covers the buffalo sabers uh michael how are you today my friend oh wonderful jesse just wonderful there's uh there's there's a few

things so i'm not sure if you if you saw before he came on i went back and played the uh the buffalo sabers embedded piece uh from last year's trade deadline where you know kevin adams is assuring the group that the medical director, Les Bison, has given, you know, full clearance of Josh Norris. And the line is zero reservations about this player, despite the significant injury history that he has. And now it's happened a couple of times with the Buffalo Sabres. I don't know that we can isolate one very specific moment where everything sort of came off, the wheels came off the wagon here, whether it's the Eichol situation, even before that, Ryan O'Reilly losing his smile.

we can go all the way down the list to essentially when Terry Bagula bought this team and said Darcy Regar go spend money and they got Vili Lano and Christian Earhoff to show for it. But with last year's trade deadline and the Josh Norris situation and now the injury, like how do you contextualize all this? Like essentially what I'm asking you is a long-winded way of saying, how did we get here? Like how do we get here now? It's baffling as somebody who's lived in Buffalo's entire life,

as somebody who, you know, is a hockey fan since the age of four and who has covered this team for a few years and covered the Maple Leafs and covered the NHL for various sites. I mean, this is a great hockey town. This is, you know, steeped in tradition, 55 years. They were a perennial playoff team for most of that stretch before Terry Pigoula's ownership in 2011. I'm not saying it's tied to him, but it just. ironic that he takes over. He tells Darcy Regere, here, you have an open checkbook. Go ahead. He

trades for Brad Boys at the trade deadline. And then, as you said, Lane Owen Erhoff. And I just think that there's been a series of misjudgments and a series of bad luck with this organization over this 14-year stretch. They've come close at times. They were point out of the playoffs in 2023, they got beat out by Alex Lyon and the Florida Panthers. And then Florida makes the magical run to the Stanley Cup final. And it's sort of been downhill from there because I think they thought they could come back with that same team and add a couple pieces and make the playoffs. And it didn't turn out anywhere to be close.

And now they seem to be rudderless and grasping at, you know, what's the cause of this? You know, there's a few things there going back to the beginning of this era. And the one thing I think that we all sort of circle back to, like, I understand it. Like, I understand the lure that when you buy an NHL team, this idea that you have to, for the good of the team, keep your hands off it. You know, these guys that buy NHL team, they should rather say these families that buy NHL teams, and it's rather that's a family now. and now usually it's a corporation. Like, they're not used to buying businesses and not having any input. Sports is unique, though.

But along the way, and, you know, as you mentioned, you know, it seems to be like the Pagula fingers in the pie all the way. He loves the Sabres. I can remember that first press conference, as can you, you know, with Terry Pagula, with the tears in his eyes, you know, mentioning, you know, here's Jolbert Perot, and he's crying about the French connection. Like, listen, I grew up watching the Buffalo Sabres in that era, too,

and I felt the same way. like this is awesome like this is going to be great there was the the cringy line for gary betman when terry sat right next to the commissioner and said if i want to make money i'll drill another oil well to which i'm like oh man i wish i was in gary betman's brain right now i wish i was in gary bethman's brain right now hearing terry peculas speak like this um but at the at the same time here we are at this moment now where there's kevin adams as the general manager and there's Jeremiah Kekalainen, who's casting a shadow over this entire organization. And then, Mikey, let's rewind it to 24 hours ago.

We're watching the Buffalo Sabres on the Colorado Avalanche. And I'll just be blunt. You know, we're on the air while the game was on. I watched part of the first period and then caught the end. By the end of the game, I mean, I know it's Colorado and they're really good, but like that team quit. That team quit. And we saw someone throw a jersey on the ice and they were the fire Kevin Chance.

You were there. us. I mean, I know it was sort of friends and family night and, you know, costume party dressed up as an empty seat, but like, what was it like in the building yesterday? Well, I just have to say that I was talking to a couple reporters after the game and I said, you know, in the third period in which they were outshot 15 to 4, I mean, there was no urgency. And Lindy Ruff this morning said, well, you know, we really played our top 4D a lot in the first two periods. and without saying, and he was saying they were fatigued or gassed or whatever. And I, you know, that may be a coach covering for his players, and that's what his job is.

I just got the impression that, you know, they just did not seem, you know, that they were holding the puck inside their zone. It's like they were leading three to one, and they were trying to kill the clock. And, you know, after the game, Tage Thompson, you know, waxed philosophic about the fact that, you know, it's only three games into the season there's 79 to go it's not it's not three games it's not three games it's 14 years and three games is what that's how it feels to buffalo sabers fans right and it's it's you cannot you cannot tell me that this is not a weight on their shoulders they they feel it in the building

when they started getting booed and when you know there's that that muddling in the crowd they hear it they feel it it's palpable and i'm sorry it's like i mean it's it's like with with the leaps they wear 1967 you know even though those players most of them or all them weren't born since you know in 1967 with the sabers it's 2011 it's the 14 years and until they somehow bust that streak this is going to weigh on them like an anger uh real quick is there any update um to the best of your knowledge on lukinen and where he's axed i want to get to the goalie question here what's the latest We actually talked to him about a half an hour ago.

He practiced for the first time. The injury that occurred late in preseason was not the same injury that he had in the summer, but without going into detail on it, said it was in a similar area. It was discomfort. I mean, we know the issues that Luken has had throughout his career. He's played 50-plus games the last two years, but this is a guy who had double-hit surgery who's at ankle problems. um he probably will have to go down to rochester to play a couple games rehab because he missed the

entire training camp and all he's done is practice about five or six times and played one period so it's probably going to be a little bit of time before they can get him back in the net okay so we just sort of lobbed another grenade into the whole conversation here and that is conditioning stint when he's ready with the rochester americans rochester americans rochester americans already have their own goalie issue. As the Buffalo Sabres are deciding right now to ride or die with Alex Lyon. And Colton Ellis, you have Devin Levi down there. Now you have, and there was some all kinds of speculation of the weekend, you know, where is Alexander Georgiev here? Like, where did he go? And then someone from the organization told me he is going to report

on Monday. He reported on Monday. He is there with the Rochester Americans. They have two games this weekend. And I'm going to guess that Devin Levi and probably his camp feel that Devin Levi is going to play those two games. And if he doesn't, does that begin another chain of dominoes? If he does, what happens to the Giorigiev camp? And how do they feel about that? Like, this whole thing is just headed to yet again another mess, which circles back to the point that I was making on the show last week. Why was Georgiev not a PTO? If nobody wanted him, What was the rush to sign this guy and complicate an already crowded crease and difficult to manage goalie situation? I know I just lobbed a lot into your corner there, Mike, but massage that as you see fit.

Well, I think they signed Georgiev because at the time that they were, you know, milling through what was going on with Lukinen, they weren't sure about what was going on. They weren't sure how serious an injury it was. This is with lower body, with groin, with, you know, high ankle, whatever it is. It could be a long period of time. So I think they felt better safe than sorry. You know, we don't want to sign Georgiev to a PTO and then somebody else come in and snatch them. Although I don't remember the last time somebody had a PTO with one team and another team snatched them up.

So. Sunny Milano. Sonny Malano. I'll throw it. Sunny Calgary, Calgary to Washington. I mean, it has happened. It's possible, but it's very rare. It's rare.

It's rare. Right. So, you know, they had the roster spot. They're under 50 contracts. They said, what the hell? Why not? Okay. I mean, but now, you know, they've sent Scott Rasslov, who's a good goaltending prospect.

They've sent him to the ECHL to get playing time. There's another one. Yeah. And Topius Leonin, the second round pick from a few years ago, who was playing, who played in the SHL. He was over. I don't know where. he is so i mean i maybe he played saturday he played saturday against toronto right so i mean you

know so now you've got four now you've got four goalies if they send lukin and then down so you know it took it starts now you bring up the interesting thing about levi because yes uh clearly this organization i mean they they've said well we believe in devon levi we think devon levi is going to be a great goaltender he's 23 years old he's had two really good years in the american hockey league and really he did not get a legitimate sniff at making the NHL roster they signed him to a two-year deal he was waiver exempt he and I looked into this he's got um from our friends of puckpedia 21 games before he is not waiver exempt and my theory which you know this is my theory is they didn't want to risk having to call up devon Levi if lukinen was hurt and have him

played 21 games and then not be able to send him to rochester Now, maybe that's completely off-base, but maybe that's the reason why Georgia was the safety net in case Luken was out long-term. But right now, you've got Colton Ellis, who I don't know when he's going to get into a game as the backup. You've got Alice Lyon, who's played all three games. He's going to play tomorrow against Ottawa. And this team, the schedule was their enemy. We looked at this in the summer. The six of their first eight games were at home.

And me and a couple reporters met together, had broke bread together over the summer. We looked at the schedule and we said, this is potential trouble if they get off to a bad start. And gee, now you've had three games in their own three and everybody's calling for Kevin Adams' head. Fall is here and everybody's getting back from vacation, headed back to school.

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that's going to make me feel something. And with Josh Boone, yes, the director of the Fultonar stars, at the helm, I'm ready. Between the first loves, secret relationships, and second chances, I am prepared to be going through every single emotion. This film also has a stacked cast starring Alison Williams, McKenna Grace, Dave Franco, Mason Fames, and so many more. Go see regretting you only in theaters October 24th. Hey there, it's Jeff Merrick here. You know, my wife and I both have countless memories from spending time discovering Canada. Well, I always come back to the summer of 2005. We were staying at a cottage on Lake Joseph here in Muscoca.

watching the Live 8 music festival in Barry on television. My buddy Jeremy Taggart, former drummer from Our Lady Peace, dropped by after his band's set and stayed the rest of the weekend at the cottage after the band set and told some incredible backstage stories about some amazing Canadian music icons. I will never forget that. And fast forward to today, I'm a hockey parent,

and I feel like I'm always on the road with my family. Whether that means traveling across southern Ontario, hockey rinks during the week or overnight at tournaments on select weekends. But what makes our hockey experience even more special is booking a place on Airbnb when we're on the road for overnight tournaments. All of this traveling got me to thinking, my home's just sitting empty when I could be hosting it on Airbnb instead. I'd simply put up my house on Airbnb, pre-select dates that I want to host, bam.

It's practical, easy to manage, and it enables people like me. me to make some money while they're not at home. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca slash host. Okay, let me, let me, let me, let me go out another way here because people are asking about this one. By the way, I had a couple of people asking about Pete DeBore if they do, if there is a coaching change here.

I'm of the mind that if Pete Deborks, he's got this year to surf on his Dallas contract, if he's going to jump back into the NHL, I would have to believe it would be in a situation where the team is closer to winning the Stanley Cup than just trying to claw and scratch into the playoffs. I don't know necessarily that DeBora wants to jump into that. If you look historically at the situations that Peter DeBore has put himself in. But having said that, I watch John Totorella on TV now. Yarmokhek-Lan is around the team, and he casts a pretty long shadow over all of this.

If the Buffalo Sabres do make a move here, do you think it's one move or two? I think it's one, but the Tortorella talk is, it's natural, obviously. obviously because of the connection. With Yarmam on Columbus. In Columbus. I've talked to some reporter friends in Philadelphia who said at the end of the year that he was gassed. He was done. He was, you know, and he's 67 years old.

But I, you know, I find it hard to believe that if Yarmo came hat in hand and said, I need you to come into this building and put a bomb in that locker room and wake everybody up. And, you know, I think he would be up to the task. believe me, as a reporter, I would love it because I'll have no problem writing torterella stuff. But I don't know how. Former assistant. We should, but former assistant coach with the Buffalo Sabres too. So there is that background, which will make Terry Pagula happy.

Yes. But I find it hard to believe that Lindy, that they would fire Lindy. He's got a year. This is the final year of his two-year contract. Maybe in a scenario. Mike, Mike, you saw them play or whatever that was yesterday. Like, did that look like a team that's playing for Lindy Ruff? No.

And the befuddlement of Lindy after the Boston game, where he was basically saying, they just didn't compete. We need them to compete. Okay. Well, the training camp seemed, you know, everything seemed on a positive track. They were, you know, everything was, you know, jovial and light. And you came in and you got shut out by Igor Shisterc. And then the negative role started. And now they have to win one of these two games in the remaining two games of the three-game homestand.

They play Ottawa now without Brady Kachuk for a few weeks. So that's to the Sabres benefit. And then Florida. So, I mean, it's not going to be easy, but they have to just get one in the W column and then maybe they can snap this air of negativity. No one likes to watch anybody go through this. No one who likes to watch any people go through this, any players go through it. Nobody enjoys any of this. I mean, you have to be sort of a, I guess, like a real significant Buffalo Sabres hater to enjoy this.

But like 14 seasons of futility. Like at a certain point, you say to yourself, man, I just feel bad for all the people involved here. And you can see the script that's coming, right? You can see Dylan Cousins lighting up the Buffalo Sabres. You can see Sam Reinhart lighting up the Buffalo's. I don't know how the Buffalo's. I don't know how the Buffalo Sabres survive if that happens. Those are two signature moves by Kevin Adams.

Like at a certain point, you just turn the lights off and say, last call. You could see it coming a mile away. I joked that I could see Dylan Cousins score a hat trick and do a Terrell Owens dance on the Sabre logo. Like Terrell was on the Dallas star. Oh, man. I mean, you know, I mean, yeah, it's, but but already already after three games one of the reporters this morning was saying i'm

hearing tank and gavin mckenna and i mean that's only terry's other team it's terry's other team fed state yeah that's that's that's only natural but but to your point about to your point about the trades um the the norris deal for everything that you laid out was i mean his injury history and Dylan Cousins, they clearly wanted to move on from Cousins with the long contract, and he just did not repeat that 31 goal season that he had a few years ago. But the deal that still makes me shake my head, and I know Alan Walsh got involved in the whole thing, is the Peturca deal, especially for a team that right now is having trouble scoring.

You traded your second leading score because you didn't want to pay him on a long-term deal. They probably wanted to bridge them like Jack Quinn was bridged. They traded him for Josh Dohn, who I think is a good third-line winger, and Michael Kesselring, who hasn't played a game for them. And he's close, apparently, to getting back in the lineup maybe in a few weeks. But Michael Kesselring is a decent right-shot defenseman. But I don't think they needed to get scoring back. And they needed to get a scorer back in the summer, and they didn't. The one that I think gets a free pass that we'd.

don't talk about very often as you run down you know the the history of of trades that haven't worked out for the buffalo sabers second round pick for beck malinstein which turned into checks notes Cole Hudson yeah for the Washington capitals and that's a tough one that's a tough one but the thing is and then they had to work for that because at the draft in Vegas they had the 11th pick yeah and they traded down five slots to get that second round pick to flip for Beck Malinstein. So that first round pick for San Jose, who they made the trade with, was Sam Dickinson. Now, I think Consta Heleneas is going to be a good player. I do. But you traded down four slots just to get a second round pick to get a fourth liner because your fourth line really wasn't doing very well. And if you look at all the players that they signed and traded for in that group, Beck Malenstein, Nicholas Ave Coupel. The only one that, you know,

Sam Lafferty, the only one who was a success was Jason Sucker. Every one of them else has been a mild or dismal failure. So on that cheery note, let me get the, the Michael Jello crystal ball out. We'll close on this one. And it's the Q of D. We'll get into this one.

Okay, yeah, here we go. The amazing Creskin, the amazing Jello. So how, Karnak, sorry, Carson, Carson reference. What happens for the rest of the season? Like, how do you see this playing itself out? We've already had, you know, Ryan Whitney already threw in the towel on Twitter last night about the Buffalo Sabres as well.

The team looks like they threw in the towel and I came against the Colorado Avalanche. They've been boot off the ice. We've seen jerseys hit the ice. There's a howl for heads at the Key Bank. What happens now? I mean, let's say, I'm sure, whatever Cousins does in the game,

game against Ottawa, whatever Reinhardt does in the game against Florida. How does this season play itself out feel? Like what are the sort of the touchstone moments for you? Because for me, I'm really wondering about Levi here and what happens with Levi. Because that was, like, that was a signature piece in that Reinhardt deal. That was that opened the tenure and I wonder if it closes the tenure for this general manager. And the other signature piece of that deal was your, the first-round pick, which turned out to be Yuri Kulich, who sounds like he may be a healthy scratch tomorrow

because they moved Tage Thompson back to the middle, and Lindy Ruff wasn't exactly happy with his performance. What's going to happen? I mean, obviously, logically, the first move is going to be, you know, Kevin Adams being fired, and if they don't improve, if they don't, that stretch of six home games of their first eight games, I've said, you know, if they go one in five or two and four at home, and he's not going to make it out of October. I think he probably gets the first quarter of the season, so we're talking American Thanksgiving.

And if they don't show any sign, if they're eight to ten points out of a playoff spot, the first move is Kevin Adams being fired. And then Yarmow, obviously, who was brought in, I think, to be the safety net, will be made the general manager. I don't know whether there will be a firing of Lindy Ruff. I think Pagula has too much more back for Lindy.

Maybe he gets kicked upstairs, but I think that Ruff plays out the season. But then- I wonder about the falling upwards part for both of them, both for Kevin Adams and for Lindy Ruff. Like, look, he ran that, you know, Academy of Hockey, Junior Sabres, did a lot of business with the Pagullas before he came over

as a general manager, Kevin Adams, that is. And we all know the respect that the owner has for Lindy Ruff. I can see both guys fall upwards here. Yeah. It might be empty calorie titles, but I could see it happen. Sure. Sure. Like the Cliff Fletcher, Jacques Lemaire rolls in Toronto when Lou Lamarre was there.

Yeah, I could see that. I mean, the two-year contract that Lindy signed was the same two-year contract that he had with New Jersey. So basically he came back to Buffalo to hopefully, you know, dig them out of a hole and they're still in that hole. But I mean, honestly, I think you can move things around. I think Lindy is still respected in the organization. I'm not sure how much he's respected in the locker room, but I think that he gets the year. But if Yarmol comes in his general manager, I think there's going to be significant roster changes. And it's going to have to be because clearly the mix does work.

I will say one thing on a positive note. They still have the best logo in the NHL. Yeah, but they, they had the best logo, but then the organization was stupid enough to switch to the garden slug or the decapitated goat. I know. Thank God they came back to this logo and to the original colors or close to the original colors um yeah i i grew up watching perro robert and martin wearing those blue and gold these and the white earthies at home beautiful beautiful yeah so yeah i mean there's there's a there's a romanticism about

this organization um they made a cup final two times and they've gotten to a few conference finals um this is a great hockey fan base and they've been taken advantage of and they've been sort of abused by this bad hockey the last 14 years and they don't deserve it they don't um on that cheery note enjoy your afternoon maybe go touch grass have a nice walk have a great lunch read one of the mini uh military history books behind you or hockey books behind you right now do you have what by the way i always like ask you what uh what what history slash military book do you have on the go right now um well it's obviously a War War I book.

Actually, it's the one back on this shelf here called July 1914 by Sean McMeekin. It's excellent, like, laying out what happened after the assassination of France, Ferdinand, leading into the guns of August, which I've read many a time. Is he maintaining it was collusion between the Russians and the French that they were, they're agitating for all of this the whole time? No, he seems to, he seems to lay the, lay the, laid the, the, the, the, uh, bad things on the Germans. Um, you know, but there, there definitely, there definitely was enough fault to go around. That's the easy, uh, explanation. I,

I, I don't think you want to talk, World War I for three. Oh, well, you, I know you and I do. Well, I do because, because that, but the, the, the Genesis of World War I is one of one of my favorite things to talk about because it's like grabbing water. I was like grabbing a hand. How did it start? I don't. And, and a, and a professor that I had, that in college said, you know, what was World War II? It was the last battle of World War I. And that made me interested in World War I because I was always fascinated in World War II.

I watched the World at War documentary with Lawrence Olivier narrating. And, you know, then that got me into World War I. And then, you know, before that. So, you know, I'm just chockful of history stuff. From 1918 to 1939, it wasn't peace. It was a pause. Mike, thanks.

You'll be well. We'll check back soon. Sounds good. Thanks, Jeff. There is. Mike Ogello from the hockey news covering the Buffalo Sabres. Not exactly, Zach, the cheeriest topic to discuss here on a Tuesday afternoon is weird. I mean, you know, part of me like the whole time, you're like, oh, geez, other than the drive, Mrs. Kennedy, how'd you enjoy Dallas?

Like, it's just like, this is a big bad story after bad story after bad story with the Sabers. Like, anything positive here? With Lance. No, Lance. I know, Lance, before he went out to do bills. I know. The Sabers killed Lance. They chased Lance out of hockey.

How'd they do that? They came to and they're like, Larry Lance, you got another season covering the savers. He's like, is there an opening with the bills? Is there opening at the post office? Is there an opening anywhere? A local liquor store? Can I do anything else? Can I wash windows?

I got my own squeegee. Can I do anything? And like in all seriousness, it is like we're joking at it. It's just like I feel like that's almost the only way that you can go about trying to kind of navigate the sabres right now. Like we've kind of gone through. We've gone through all these scenarios and like what could happen. What's going on? What's wrong there?

And it's like these people like, I just. genuinely do feel bad like i don't say that out of like pity and like trying to like oh yeah no it's okay like give him a pat on the back like no no like i feel bad this is a nightmare situation that's going on and it's like every time you feel like there could be something good coming or you're returning the corner it's like you're like you're like wily coyote trying to run through the train tunnel and it's painting up like it's this wily coyote i don't know I don't know Wiley Coyote genius

Super genius Yeah Okay Do we have the Do we have the Christian Dvorak clip I want to like I need like to cleanse my palate here I have not stopped laughing about this Since last night

So Florida Panthers Even just thinking about it It's so good First of all When I used to work with Colby Armstrong We would always talk about chisling You know what chisling is Zach you played hockey

You know what chisling is? Chisling is when you take someone else's goal. So, like, the puck's about to go over the goal line and you tap it in yourself to take the goal. Buddy, was going in anyway. Like, let the guy, that's like, you chiseled the goal off someone. So we'll set the scene for people that may not have watched this game last night. So it is late in the third period.

The Philadelphia Flyers and their home opener are leading four to two over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. The Panthers have pulled their goalie. Right? Puck comes back to Travis Sannheim. Christian Dvorak is in front of an empty net set up like he's net front screening. The puck shot it. The puck is shot towards the net. If you're watching us on YouTube, you can watch Christian Dvorak direct it, deflect it.

Maybe he thought it was going white. Maybe I give him the benefit of the doubt. But that's a chisel. chisels a goal from Travis Sanheim Make sure that that thing is going in the net I have not stopped laughing at that It's 4-2 It's 4-2 and DeVorex net in front

Like he's screening a goalie And then he chisels a goal From Travis Sandheim Nonetheless The Philadelphia Flyers win this one By a score of 5-2 And by the way And we'll get into this with Kevin Kurtz

Coming up here in a couple of seconds Let me know when he's a board. I love the player of the game award that the Philadelphia Flyers have. Sometimes you see it's a hat or a necklace or a wrestling belt or something like that. Do we have the video of this one? Can we play it? Because it's just so, it's so beautiful. Yeah, let's play it and then let's get to the audio.

This was the announcement of what the player of the game award is going to be in the Flyers locker room. I just love this. Just love this. Boys, we're playing in the game this year. We're going to go with the Bernie Paran mask. Wow. And I think it's just very ghost to Vlady. The Bernie Perrant mask goes to Danzadar,

which is absolutely perfect. First of all, it is one of the most iconic masks. Like, that was the era of masks as well. And we always think of the Jerry Cheever's mask with the Boston Bruins. That was gorgeous. If you're watching this on YouTube, you're watching The Dar, put it on.

It just looks fantastic. Ken Dryden had a beauty as well. My boy Joel Malash had a great one. But the Bernie Perraunt mask with the Philadelphia Flyers, just so iconic and so beautiful. And the other thing that was wonderful about last night was, they did the second tribute to Bernie Perron.

The Philadelphia Flyers did one, I believe it was. the preseason game against the Boston Bruins where they did, you know, the announcement and the moment for Bernie Perrant, and then they did it again yesterday at the home opener. Hi, it's Morgan from Off the Shelf, and I'm here to tell you about Paramount Pictures, new movie regretting you, a film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's best-selling book, Regretting You. If there's anything I love more than an adaptation, it's an adaptation that's going to make me feel something. And with Josh Boone, yes, the director of the Fultonar stars, at the helm, I'm ready. Between the first

loves, secret relationships, and second chances, I am prepared to be going through every single emotion. This film also has a stacked cast starring Alison Williams, McKenna Grace, Dave Franco, Mason Thames, and so many more. Go see Regretting You only in theaters, October 20, born. Hey there, it's Jeff Merrick here. You know, my wife and I both have countless memories from spending time discovering Canada. Well, I always come back to the summer of 2005. We were staying at a cottage on Lake Joseph here in Muscoca watching the Live 8 music festival in Barry on television. My buddy Jeremy Taggart, former drummer from Our Lady Peace, dropped by after his band's set and stayed the rest of the weekend at the cottage after the band set and told some incredible backstage stories

about some amazing Canadian music icons. I will never forget that. And fast forward to today, I'm a hockey parent and I feel like I'm always on the road with my family. Whether that means traveling across southern Ontario hockey ranks during the week or overnight at tournaments on select weekends. But what makes our hockey experience even more special is booking a place on Airbnb when we're on the road for overnight tournament. All of this traveling got me to thinking, my home's just sitting empty when I could be hosting it on Airbnb instead. I'd simply put up my house on Airbnb, pre-select dates that I want to host. Bam, it's practical, easy to manage, and it enables people like me to make some money while they're not at home. Your home might be worth

more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca.com slash host. Here's the other one. Here's a couple of other things I want to point out. Before we get Kevin Kurz on, just to sort of preview the things we want to talk about with the Philadelphia Flyers. Chancacurier looks awesome. Chon Coturier with four points last night.

Sean Coturier had significant back surgery, as we all know, and it looks to have given his career a new leaf. on life. He's flying out there. He looks fantastic. And I know that a lot of players, and I would have to imagine, Sean Couturier, would have been one of them, sort of got behind the eight ball at Flyers training camp because of the old skate test, the John Tortorella skate test, where a guy's like, you know, there's a couple of days where Puckstone hit the ice, and by the end of it, everybody's hobbling. My guess is that that hurt Sean Couturey more than anybody else in that room.

But Sean Cucurier, and specifically last night, looks like a much different player. And evidence of that was last night against the Florida Panthers with four points. We're going to get to all of this with Kevin Curtis and the Athletic in a second. The segment is a presentation of Prime Video and Monday Night Hockey, your exclusive home to the NHL. Streaming games nationally in Canada every Monday. Also on Prime Video, Faceoff inside the NHL, which is excellent. Subscribe with a 30-day free trial to Prime Video to watch Monday Night Hockey and the new season of Face Off. Download the app or go to Prime Video.com.

Back to the Flyers Conversation. Kevin Curtis joins me now from The Athletic. There's so much to talk about Kevin. First of all, thanks for joining me, Maiden Voyage this season. and hopefully we'll be calling you a lot because there'll be a lot to talk about with the Philadelphia Flyers. But one thing that I just loved

as being someone who watched Bernie Perrant, I love that they did the tribute to Bernie for the second time. There was a preseason game and then again, they did it yesterday. Sean Couturier awarding the mask to Dan Vladar after. Bernie seemed everywhere, the number behind the net, et cetera.

No question here, Kevin, just to start things off. The floor is yours. Bernie Perrant and the Philadelphia a fire's organization. Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously most of the fans that were sitting in that arena last night probably never saw Bernie play, right? It was 50 years ago since the team won a Stanley Cup and he retired in the early 80s. So what was striking to me in the aftermath of his passing was just how much community work he did. And, you know, speaking with the executive director of the at Snyder Utaki Foundation, you know, he said Bernie was out in front, really from day one

of when that foundation was established 10 years ago. So he was always doing stuff. He was at games. He was visiting suites. I mean, he had that personality, that French-Canadian accent. He had all these little quirky phrases that he would say over and over again. I mean, he was just beloved in this area, even by the fans that had never seen him play. So I think that's why his death sort of resonated in this area so much is that even if you never saw him in goal, you probably got a chance to meet him or be around him and just understand just how wonderful of a person he was, really. I mean, if we're just being plain and simple. You know, in Toronto, that goaltender, like, cross-generationally, like, you can be like seven or 70. You

love Johnny Bauer because he was always there. I mean, Bauer's career, I mean, sort of the crescendo was 67, and there were the other cups in the 60s for Johnny Bauer and the Maple Leafs. But really, he was always around the team, always involved in charitable initiatives, one of the most generous, much like Bernie, generous athletes that city had ever known, which is why I've always maintained that the most popular Toronto Maple Leaf player ever. Like, there are people that like, you know, I'm the Dave Keon fan because that was my era. There's like the Doug Gilmore sell, like that was my era. But if you look, era over era over era, I always maintain that Johnny Bauer was the most popular.

Do you think we can say the same thing about Bernie Perron or is the ultimate answer, Bobby Clark? You know what? It's really, it's hard to say. You know, they're definitely one and two, no matter which order you place them in. But the fact that gold tending in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Flyers organization has kind of been synonymous with how uneven it's been, I guess, to be polite here for the last five decades. Well done. Well done, Jeff. Bernie probably, he probably resonates a little bit more just because of the position he played, right? I mean, that's always going to be in the spotlight here, just like the quarterback of the Eagles are, you know, it's just one of those things that everyone, it's always a talking point when it comes to this franchise. For sure.

Okay, so I was having a laugh before he came on. And I'll be honest with, I've been laughing about it ever since I saw it last night watching that Flyers Panthers game. First of all, great performance. I don't want to get into one very specific Meechkoff issue. But the Christian Dvorak deflection on the empty net, it's four to two. He's fronting like there's a goalie in and the Florida Panthers haven't pulled the goalie. Sanheim fires it. I don't know if he's trying to deflect it or he's just trying to guide it to make sure that it goes in the net.

First of all, his positioning, it's like you would swear there was a goalie in there. Second of all, Colby Armstrong, and you just wrote a great piece on his brother Riley, Colby Armstrong and I, whenever we'd work together, we'd talk about chisling goals from other players. Did DeVorak just chisel a goal from Travis Sannheim there, Gavin? Yeah, you know what? I wish we'd gotten a chance to talk to him, and I didn't get a chance to corner him today after practice.

It's a good question. Knowing Travis Sannheim, I'm sure he doesn't care, and he's probably even happy about it because it's a guy that's joined the organization. And I think he's played pretty well, right? We've seen his versatility. We've already seen Rick Tocke move him up and down the lineup and put him in key spots.

because he trusts him so much, having had him in Arizona. So the fact that he got a goal, I thought he had a good game last night. That's probably something that everyone would agree is just fine. But, you know, switching gears a little bit, Sandheim has been very good. I mean, he's probably been their most important player so far this year, other than maybe Cotoree. He's playing big minutes.

It's a banged-up blue line. I think he was at 25 minutes last night. Rick Tuckett just told us that he wanted to skate for practice today, but Tocke told him to stay off the ice because of how he's been relying on him. And he's a guy that for me is going to be really in focus for this year because the last couple of years, he started off so strong. And of course, last year, that strong start resulted in him in him being named as part of Team Canada for the Four Nations. But we've also seen him wear down a little bit late in season. So it's going to be interesting to me how

they manage him moving forward. But right now, because the show's so short-handed, they need him. And he's really sort of, I would say he's risen to that, you know, risen to those responsibilities. I want to get the Katrina here in a second, but there was a moment in last night's game where I went, ooh, different player. And that was Trevor Zegrois behind the net. I want to say it's the three two goal. Normally when you see Trevor Zegrois with the puck behind the net, everybody thinks Michigan. Or he's going to lob it over the net looking for Sonny Milano or vice for like he just expect that kind of flash out of Trevor Zegris. And right away, two players. charge at him, Aaron Eckblad and Sam Bennett.

And he, like, it's big boys. He takes the hit and makes a glorious pass to Sean Couturier for the one-timer. I looked at that and I said, first of all, Tocke's got to love that. Take the hit to make the play. It's two big boys. Like Bennett and Eckblatt, like these two guys just won Stanley Cups and playing a very physical brand of hockey. He absorbed it. He didn't look like, you know, the soft player that's just looking to dish the pocket.

and get rid of it. He took it, made a great play, and it resulted in the go-ahead goal for the Philadelphia Flyers. Do you ever thought of what we've seen from Zegra so far? Yeah, you know, throughout training camp, I guess I should say to your first point, Rick Tocke did mention that immediately after the game

was Zegris taking that hit and making that play. And Cotoria did too. And in fact, Sam Bennett, just before he tried to run Zegris, he did run over Sean Cotorier. We saw him pop right back up. And training camp It wasn't a great training camp here in my mind It was

It was very sort of disjointed in terms of The line combinations And Rick Tockett obviously deserves You know a measure of sympathy because he didn't know these guys Before coming to camp this year But we didn't really see we didn't see Zegra smesh with Matt Bay Meachkov They're not together right now We saw him play center a little bit with you know

Just some moderate results He was taking more shifts on the wing last night, I believe, than center. So, you know, it's going to have to be, we're going to have to see this play out a little bit. But I think he has gotten incrementally better with every game. And certainly last night was probably his best game, and he makes that fancy play. So, you know, they want him to be a center. He wants to be a center. Tocke has talked about giving him a lot of rope in order to try to ease back into that position. I'm not sure what his face-off numbers were like,

last night or even how many he took but um he was okay there the first couple games um the first power play unit they're struggling with a little bit right now um and talk it has mentioned that they're giving up too many short hot short-handed opportunities the other way and in fact florida scored a shorthanded goal on that top power play unit and last night's game so that's still a work in progress maybe trying to figure out um the power play units quite frankly uh so we'll see you know it's it's it's It certainly was a low-risk bet by Danny Breyer. He didn't give up a whole lot to get him. Zegris is a pending respect to free agent,

so there's no guarantees. This is going to be a long-term marriage. But I think so far the early returns have been encouraging. He won one face-off. He lost three. So not the best percentage, but nonetheless. Let me ask you about Michkoff. So there's one moment because we saw, you know,

Michikov have a seat and watch the game for a while. When it comes to special teams, you'll always hear coaches say possession over position. It doesn't matter where your position is. Possession is the most important thing. And on the Sam Reinhardt goal, and we've got this one queued up, Mischikov does the flyby

and then circles back to the neutral zone before the Philadelphia Flyers have possession. Sam Reinhart ends up scoring a shorthanded goal. And, you know, we're just watching this for our viewers on YouTube right now. you know, Mischkoff is not in the frame right now because as the puck is around the flyer's net and on the replay here you'll be able to see his skates along along the blue line, he's already blown the zone.

Was that the moment where Tocit said, okay, time to watch the game? Because that's what it felt like. I thought, I think it was two. It was that one. And Tocke had actually just mentioned that a few minutes ago at its press availability after practice. it was also the fact that he took an avoidable hooking penalty in the neutral zone early

in the third period. That's just me speculating. Cockett hasn't said that. But he did mention the fact that the Flyers had taken five minor penalties. I think they've taken 15 Meyer penalties in three games, which is too many. And when Mitchcroft took that penalty in the third, I think it was a minute, a minute a half in the third period where they're trying to hang on that two-one lead. They killed the penalty off.

But there was just one of those avoidable penalties. And he's not the only one that's taken penalties that had been, you know, quote unquote bad. But that was an inopportune time to take a penalty. So it was that. And I think it was also the combination of Nikita Grebenkin is a guy that has made the opening rate roster, which that was one of the training camp battles we were monitoring in camp. He beat out a kid, Alex Bump, who we thought had the inside edge in that position. And Grebenken really has had good legs. We saw early in the game yesterday.

He's playing on the fourth line. So I think Tocke wanted to get him more minutes. And at least at the end of the game, it came at the expense of Meechkoff. So I think it's the combination of those two things. But, you know, Tuckett was very clear that this isn't going to be a situation where he's going to scratch Michkopf. He kind of shot down that suggestion maybe 10, 15 minutes ago. He's going to let him play through it. He complimented him on his practice today.

So I think they're just going to hope that he gets out of it and he learns along the way what this coach expects out of him, which frankly isn't that much different from what the previous coach expected out of him. Sean Couturey looks again, I mean, every conversation that we have right now about anything in the NHL has to be prefaced with is early. But it's early, but Sean Coturee looks fantastic.

He really does. You know, I was wondering before you came on, you know, the dreaded John Totorella, you know, skate test that you would put players through, I always felt that like, I don't know how this is going to go for Sean Guturier. He always seemed labored after those skate tests. I don't know if I'm on base or off base on that one. You're more of an authority, Kevin, than I am.

But what gives? Looks like a different player here. Well, I think what Sean Cotorier likes less than the skate test was the fact that the previous home opener, he started as the fourth line left wing, which was less than a year ago. coincidentally enough against the Canucks and Rick Tockett. So, you know, lesson, we all know at this point, Sean Cotori and John Tortorella did not see the eye-to-eye. They weren't on the same wavelength.

I think for Torderella's perspective, he just thought he was too slow. And at times, Cotorier was. You know, if you go back to two seasons ago when Torts scratched Cotoree for two games, well, Cotoree wasn't playing very well. And it was his first full year back from those multiple back surgeries. So in some ways, the scratching was probably justified, even though Tortorella, for whatever reason, didn't feel like he owed Cotorio an explanation as to why. That was sort of the weird part of it. But, you know, then you go back a year ago, like I just said, you know, he starts the home opener as the fourth line left wing. And so it just sort of went on from there. And I thought it was pretty telling, too. If you go back to when John Torterill was fired, I believe, on March 26. fifth or 26 last year. The Torreier did finish the season pretty strong.

The interim coach Brad Straw put him with Mitchcoff and Travis Kineckney. It was a pretty good line. We've seen Tocquet experiment with it a little bit here so far this season. But, you know, last night he was, he was outstanding. He was all over the ice. He's responsible. And as Trevor's mentioned, he does so many little things well. He's still a big body.

Tocket has had him playing a key role, really since day one from camp. He's been a fixture of the top six, power play, penalty kill. So it's pretty clear that this head coach views Sean Gatorier as a pretty key cog, certainly more important than John Tortorella did. Okay, last one. I want to be sensitive about your time. Last one for you. Does Jettlachenko get past nine games?

He looks good. He looks good. He looks good last night. He looked good last night. He still has to shoot the buck more. That's something that everyone has said that we ask. ever bring up Jet Lechenko's name as he's got to shoot the puck more, stop looking for a play, be a little bit more aggressive offensively. He has made some plays, no doubt about it. But

Danny Breyer was pretty clear, I think, when we asked him about this after they made the roster that in order for Lechenko to stick around, it's going to have to be more than in a fourth-line role. So is there enough time for Jet Lechenko to play, you know, to work himself into the top six or the top nine. I mean, I'm skeptical of that. I don't, I don't really see it. But we got some games left here, right? And, yeah, it's pretty clear the Flyers don't want them to go back to 12th.

They want to keep them here. They want to develop. They're probably frustrated as hell. They can't send them to the phantoms, right? But, you know, we'll see. I do think this was a case of management keeping the player around, even though the coaching staff, I don't think, really saw a natural role for him when the season began, which is different from last year, because last year is basically Tortorella, who I think loves this kid's speed,

and that's why they kept him on the roster. So sort of a reverse situation this year, but, yeah, I don't know. I tend to think it's a long shot, but if he can keep progressing inch by inch, and he can start doing some of the things that the team wants him to do particularly offensive zone, then maybe he's got a shot. Awesome. Always appreciate the insight. Great to have you. A thumb on the pulse there. Great stuff.

We'll hopefully check back. We had a whole conversation and didn't mention Flyers, goaltenders, except for Bernie Perrant. And I'm totally fine with that. Thanks, Kevin. You'd be well. Thanks so much for this.

Okay. Thanks, Jeff. Take care. Kevin Kurz from the Athletic, covering the Philadelphia Flyers. Big win last night against a defending Stanley Cup champion. Florida Panthers. If you're a fan, by the way,

if you're a junior hockey fan, And if you're a fan of the OHL, you might want to make sure you watch my Twitter. After the show goes off the year, I might have something for you. Sorry to be so vague. Sorry to be so vague, Zach. But you know what the old saying is?

What's that? What happens in vagueness stays in vagueness? Like that one? No. No, that's... Don't like that one. No? Back to the drawing board on that one.

Mr. Mysterious. You look at my Twitter. Cheap plug for my social media. I might have a little news puck there for you. Yeah, I will find out more about this. When the show goes off there, I just got an interesting note. We shall see that what happens in vagueness stays in vagueness. Come on, it'll grow on you.

We'll grow on you, come on. You'll see the other sayings that you have that I always say, oh, these are so dumb, they've stuck. How dare you? How dare you? Where's my fainting couch? Where's my fainting couch? Zach has offended me.

Oh, no. Don't you know who I think I am, Zach? Don't you know how long I've been in this business? No, I can't pull that one on you? Is it going to work? They stuck around. All right. All right.

Okay, so time now for the QOD, which is going to be a fun one. So time now for the Ninja Crispy question of the day. But first, this. Meet the first of its kind. The Ninja Crispy Portable Cooking System. The power of a full-sized air fryer in the palm of your hand. So you can cook big or small batches. Just prep it, crisp it, serve it, and store it all in one.

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Clean-up is simple. All accessories are dishwasher safe and designed to nest for easy storage. I've never said that before. I'm going to say I tell my wife. Can you please nest these dishes? Check out the link in the... Can you, like, nest them? It sounds so much like warmer and family, family vibe to it. I'm just going to nest these bowls. Check out the link in the episode description or go to shark ninja.cai, the Ninja Crispy question of the day. And today it involves the Buffalo Sabres.

Zach, what do we have? It's the what next for the swords in Buffalo? Yeah, you got a lot of responses. We got a couple of responses here. So I'll feature some of them on the show. I don't know. The response is the one about the way you would expect. So the question of the day was,

and the theme of the day is what's next in Buffalo, as you mentioned. So, Jeff, this one was the one that got the first laugh out of me before we went on, and I've got a compilation here. But Matt from Buffalo, that's Wilmore on Twitter. Better chance that Terry builds a second mega yacht than he builds a playoff team. We started there.

He does. I'm not going to lie. I've seen it. I've been on it, but Taros Sujimoto from Joe, make my day. So we went to Sujimoto, merges from the wilderness to save them. Corey says the Bukkah... Hang on. Joe.

Joe. Joe, yeah. Sorry, everybody else's second place. I love you all. You're all beautiful, but Joe's number one. Sorry, go ahead. No, no, it's all good. You stop wherever you feel fit.

No, keep going. They just seem to laugh. There's some good ones. There you. Chuck E. Goods says, Adams out, Yarmow in, prospect and pick for Chinikov, similar deal. Lindy out, Torts and DeBore, or DeBore in, sorry. I can't see P.

I can't see P. I can't see P. I can't, I can't see P. No, I don't see that either. Taylor Sharman. Sabres find themselves at the bottom of the, like, can we just so negative. Sabres. find themselves at the bottom of the league by Thanksgiving.

Terry still think, no, I don't blame him. Still thinks the solution is in the room. Which room? Adams does nothing to help out the roster. It's in. Can you be more specific as we say in the Atlantic, Terry? Which room we're talking about?

The solution is in the room. Which one? I don't know, but it's in one of them. Which room would that be, Terry? The one down in Penn State. Terry thinks the solution is in the room. Kevin Adams does nothing to help out. the roster.

Tuck has moved at the deadline. Dahlene and Tage ask out after the drought hits year 15. The team eventually moves to Arizona. That took a turn. Geez, Taylor. Treating dandruff by decapitation. We're not talking about moving the team.

Just a little bit of dandruff. You just change shampoos. Move for the team to Arizona. I'm sorry, people of Buffalo. I love it. I'm not to laugh at you, but Matt Young. Adams begins planting

palm trees in in hopes of solving the problems because what he's doing isn't working. Can I pause on that for one? Can we pause on that for one second? I really wanted, I'll tell you what, I really wanted the Buffalo Sabres

after that disastrous Palm Trees press conference, I really wanted the Buffalo Sabers to go on a winning streak because I can tell you this with full authority. Like they had a lot of plans with game ops and marketing to actually

do something with palm trees and the Buffalo Sabres. They just couldn't do it while they were losing. I really wanted to see what they were coming up with, with the sort of palm tree vibe, which would have been really fun. The problem was it is kept on losing. So they couldn't do it. But I will tell you, like I have full confidence in telling you the Buffalo Sabres were A, aware of it, obviously, and B, had plans to turn that negative into a positive.

They just never got the chance to do it, which really sucks. Yeah, it does suck. That would have been funny. Yeah. A good play on it, too. It would have been nice to see if they could have turned out around and be able to do that. Yeah.

Yeah, there's a lot more here about, you know, missing the playoffs. What's Mike Lipinski? What's Mike Lyski? What's Mike saying? Lifelong Sabre fan. Okay, go ahead. Don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I don't see a season where Dahlene, Thompson, and Tuck want to stay for the next rebuild.

No. The team is lost and looks inept. Yet no coaching changes were made in the off season. It's a lot of. of this jeff and like i looked through to and vetted like vetted let's say uh these twitter accounts kind of to see like is it people making fun of buffalo is it like people around rival organizations so many of these people's like in buff locations in their buffalo sabers fan and i'm just like these poor people and it's them who are giving me the funniest responses that i was laughing at

which is like hilarious but don't forget so not like don't forget like don't forget like they They've had a lot of time to think about all these responses, like, every single day. Yeah. Like, they're not just like a Rangers fan that's in for a quick drive-by or someone from L.A. That's just, like, you know, quick sniper and gone. Like, these people have had a long time to think about these often hilarious lines and great historical polls like Tarosuchamoto. Yeah. And the great marketing points.

Also, like, I'll give this one here as well. Like, this is the other one. Sabre's Playoffs hopes At just underscore Tage said We'd love to modify that to what should happen versus what do we expect Expectation nothing Answers in the room part two

Best case Adams to President And Yarmo to GM Should Terry needs to stop making hockey decisions Hire someone with knowledge Invest in front office Get a new GM I thought that was kind of interesting I don't know that I can

The should versus would. Terry Pagula, not, I mean, managing upwards is one of the great skills GMs have to have right now. And hopefully you have a manager who just wants to know what's going on and doesn't want to have any decision making. Obviously, don't surprise your GM. Worst thing you can do is surprise your owner. The worst thing you could do is surprise your owner. Your owner cannot be surprised. That's why managing upwards is so important.

And even we saw, we played that clip from the video from last year's trade deadline. And one of the things of Kevin Adams right away, when he's talking to Steve Steyos about the Cousins Nora's trade is, let me go talk to my owner. Now, we don't know the nature of that conversation. That would have been an interesting part of the embedded video, right? That would have been interesting, like the conversation between Kevin Adams and Terry Pagula, much like we saw in a previous video where, remember the one of the one, with Taylor Hall, where Kevin Adams says, we can get Taylor Hall and Terry Pagula says, if we're talking about Taylor

Hall, then we're talking about the Stanley Cup. No. What? You don't remember that video? Oh, buddy. And it's just the audio and Pagula says, if we get Taylor Hall we're talking about the Stanley Cup. I

never disagree with the owner, right? Was Homer Simpson's three words, the best three words you can say in the English language, or the smartest three words you can say in the English language, good idea, boss. Those three words that I'll get you through a lot. Good idea, boss. Anyway, I just said you got a treat in that one. You can enjoy that one. But yeah, it's never always make sure your owner is informed. Otherwise, your career will be limited. Owners don't like to be surprised.

All right, the final thing to wrap up the program today. Some of some great tweets. The Ninja Krispy QOD is turning into something great here. And right off the bat, like Tarosujimoto, like talk about like hitting your boy Jeffrey where he lives. Woo! The sheet is powered by... That's great one. Thanks, man.

You know how to take care of me. The sheet is powered by Fanduel. Home of the same game parlay. Make every moment more on Fanduel. Fanduel, proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them. We got more games. Hey, your team didn't win last night, but you were right picking James Van Reamsdike to score.

Did you put your money where your mouth is, big boy? Indeed, I did. Did you? No way. I did, yeah. James Van Reimsdike scores, as you said, you're on the show. Look at you. How is your payout?

Do you get that long, quiet green, not the noisy stuff that rattles around your pockets when you walk down the street normally, Zach? Well, I had a moment of debating. It was a nice, let's just say it was a nice return. And I thought about it for a moment and I said, Do I turn this around? Will you be taking your lady friend to somewhere a little bit nicer for dinner on Friday?

Probably, yes. But I debated investing in the Blue Jays. And I thought to myself, let's not ruin this day. Just in case things were poorly, that was a wise decision. Oh, no, was it ever? Stayed away. Stayed away. What we got today?

what are you looking at uh today just a quick swing around the league uh games on the schedule uh oilers at the rangers that's the one i'm excited about i saw our boy johnny lazarus down at morning skate you know posting videos talking to jack roslovick big boy was talking to rosslovak getting in there doing a journalism i coward doing a journalism as i like to call it johnny was doing a journalism Big J Lazarus That's the new name Sweet Baby J There you go Yeah

Nashville in Toronto Look I'll ask you this Because I don't No I don't expect it to go well And yes I fully expect that Like you know

Brady Martin and Ryan O'Reilly dance all over the Toronto Maple Leafs again Because They look Slows and Caden Primos playing for the Leaps and yeah, I was going to ask you

specifically, is this Hold on, hold on, ready? Okay. For game four of the regular season, is this a must win? No. But if I'm co-hosting with, you know,

Nick Alberga and Jay Rosell, oh yeah. Oh, this is a must, this is a must listen program, a much watch program, and a must-wost-wit. win game tonight and if they don't win it to and in tomorrow for all the analysis but it's not and tonight for leaf station after dark following the game yeah how are you

going to are you doing the smelling salts again this year yeah i am i am that stays by the end by the end of this season if things continue to go like this it's just going to be like a bottle of vodka sitting on the bench never mind the smelling salts it's just like watch zach it's you know what's going to be it's going to be watch zach turn into a puddle They'll have to get you They'll have to get you out of that You know what? It's going to happen

Your roommate's going to have to get you out of that chair With a soup ladle That's how buckled you're going to be At the end of these shows If the wheels keep coming off the wagon Like they have for the Maple Leafs so far this season It's going to happen Nope, I stay level-headed

I try my best Lightning Washington, Vegas, Calgary Minnesota Dallas Those are some of the other games we've got tonight Anaheim Pittsburgh as well I didn't have on the graphic, but that was another one. You know, it, it's nice that we have games that can just roll a game after game after game here at this point. How good was yesterday?

It wasn't around. There was like that brief like two hour period where it actually wasn't a game, but then it was like, bam, right back at it. Yesterday was awesome. Yeah. Yeah, it was good. It was good day. It's nice to have regular season hockey back and feel like actual intensity in the games. You know what?

You know what? You know what it is? Because we've done it for so long. we've all been fans for for so long that it just becomes part of your like your rhythm you know like I don't know what it would feel like not to have an October in my life where this wasn't the rhythm of it and like your whole rhythm of your life just you're just used like from October to the end of June like this is just the rhythm of our lives I don't know how I would feel if that if I didn't have I mean that's what made 2004 2005 so awful was everybody got out of rhythm although Ken Dryden had an interesting point um about that he said about what was happening during the 0405 lockout he said every hockey fan most specifically in Canada who have that rhythm he said what these fans are about to find out is is is hockey and the NHL and the rhythm that you're in is it is it really a passion or is it a habit and I think everyone had a different answer for it.

Like you came to the conclusion that you miss it because you really love it or you miss it because you just feel like your life is out of sync. And you've just done it for so long that it's just the habit of your life. And everybody came to different conclusions about it. But nonetheless, not to get too philosophical here on this program, we're just here to show like Christian Dvorak tipping in empty neck goals and having a laugh about it. It was hockey. And the Schmaltz tweet, too, with the video.

That's how I came across it. I don't know if you saw that. Oh, what did he, what did, I miss that one. What did he write? He's like, great, something about like great twig by my boy CD, nice touch or something like that. Look, if you need, here's what we're saying. If you need like a reason to laugh, if you need like a break in your day,

like, oh, God, that meeting went horrible or all that phone call. Did not go the way that I thought I was going to go today. Just go look at the Christian Dvorak, empty that tip. Yeah. Just have a lot about it. Because I can assure you everybody in the Flyers organization was probably having a laugh at that one. Anyhow, let me see if I can,

let me see if I can do something here. Did I get a response? No. So, I may have some O.HL news. Follow the socials. Follow the socials. What happens in vagueness, stays in vagueness. There we go.

Cheese in the trap, all the cliches, click bait, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Thanks, Zach. Thanks, thanks, Zach. Thanks to Michael for stopping by the program today. Kevin Kurz as well. We focused a lot on Buffalo and Philadelphia. It might be doing a little bit more of Philadelphia. Again, stay on to the socials for an announcement.

for an announcement about that for tomorrow's show. Tomorrow, as always, it is Wednesday. So that means the return of Let's get ready to grumble with Brian Burke. He'll be here as he is each and every Wednesday. We hope you can join us as well, either live on YouTube or whether you're listening on your favorite podcast platform.

We appreciate it. Hit the subscribe button. That is very appreciated as well. The feedback, the comments, all of it, the likes, the thumbs up, the interaction, all the buzzwords. If you can do all those things, not to hand you homework here, but we'd really appreciate it around these parts.

Tipry-Zamboni driver, thanks for the buns in the use of the hall. We're back tomorrow, 1 o'clock Eastern for the sheet. Talk to you, that. I've spent 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month. I can't get out my head, lifestyle, ambitious day-to-day, because you can call it all right I went to the dark man and tried to give me a little medicine

I'm like now I'm in that spine I'm not against those men that's but I knew it's me and myself and how this is going to be fixed in my mind I didn't want a bracket I turned on the music I didn't want to beckers

I turned on the music It's enough, help out I don't get you sometimes lose it Have been on the days that we're wrong Hmm, in the dead dark night Hi, it's Morgan from off the shelf And I'm here to tell you about Paramount Pictures New Movie Regretting You,

a film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's best-selling book, Regretting You. If there's anything I love more than an adaptation, it's an adaptation that's going to make me feel something. And with Josh Boone, yes, the director of the Fultonar stars, at the helm, I'm ready. Between the first loves, secret relationships, and second chances, I am prepared to be going through every single emotion. This film also has a stacked cast starring Allison Williams, McKenna Grace, Dave Franco, Mason Fames, and so many more. Go see regretting you only in theaters

October 24. Hey there, it's Jeff Merrick here. You know, my wife and I both have countless memories from spending time discovering Canada. Well, I always come back to the summer of 2005. We were staying at a cottage on Lake Joseph here in Muscoca watching the Live 8 music festival in Barry on television. My buddy Jeremy Taggart, former drummer from Our Lady Peace, dropped by after his band's set

and stayed the rest of the weekend at the cottage after the band set and told some incredible backstage stories about some amazing Canadian music icons. I will never forget that. Fast forward to today, I'm a hockey parent, and I feel like I'm always on the road with my family. Whether that means traveling across southern Ontario hockey ranks during the week or overnight at tournaments on select weekends. But what makes our hockey experience even more special is booking a place on Airbnb when we're on the road for overnight tournaments. All of this traveling got me to thinking, my home's just sitting empty when I could be hosting it on Airbnb instead.

I'd simply put up my house on Airbnb, pre-select dates that I want to host, bam, it's practical, easy to manage, and it enables people like me to make some money while they're not at home. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca slash host.