The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Burn Out ft. Jason Gregor & Matt Sekeres

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

Jeff Marek is joined by Jason Gregor and Matt Sekeres to debrief the Rangers/Sabres game, preview Lian Bichsel's debut with the Dallas Stars, discuss the Ottawa Senators goaltending, the St. Louis Blues turnaround, and the Vancouver Canucks burning out Quinn HughesSHOW INDEX00:00 Intro13:34 Jason Gregor45:35 Matt Sekeres--------------------------------------------Connect with us on ⬇️Daily FaceoffX: https://x.com/DailyFaceoffInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailyfaceoff/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoff/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dailyfaceoff?lang=en Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/The SheetX: https://x.com/thesheethockey Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesheethockey/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thesheethockey Daily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff#Nashville #Predators #NewYork NewYorkRangers #dailyfaceoff #jeffmarek #buffalosabres #nhl #nhlnews #hockey #hockeytalk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at one you need, whenever you need it. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. Okay, so here's my question for you today as we kick off another edition of The Sheet. Have you ever been embarrassed to be a human being? Well, I have, and I want to share that story with you now. And this is going to loosely be related to Matt Sekaris of Sekaris and Price.

Stay tuned for the link. So I've worked the Olympics a few times, only once on site though. Normally I've always done it from studio, but in 2008, when I was working at CBC, I had a chance to go to Beijing for a month and cover the 2008 Summer Games. One of the best experiences of my life. Flat out loved it. Did all the tourist stuff as well. I got to see the wall. I went to Forbidden City.

I probably should have extended my stay to go see Terracotta Warriors, but bad on me. I didn't. But there was one day, I can't remember what event I was doing. It might have been shooting. It might have been table tennis. It might have been rowing. These were some of the sports that I was doing for my CBC contract. But I finished up in the morning, went to the IBC,

which is the International Broadcast Center. That's where all the broadcasters are. Finished up, filed, sent it back to CBC in Toronto, and that afternoon I was going to watch Michael Phelps swim at the Cube. I was so excited. Like, I really, really love the summer games. The winter

games are great, namely for hockey, but the summer games, like, give me the summer games all day long. I really wanted to see Michael Phelps. Was a huge fan. Still am a huge fan of Michael Phelps. And I'm like, wow like wow I'm gonna get to watch the sky with hands like canoe paddles this is gonna be so fantastic so it was real hot like Beijing August like you're you're sweating you're dripping so I just got like my little uh CBC shirt collared shirt and I've got my little CBC uh knapsack with me and I leave the IBC and I'm thump, thump, thump, thump, thump,

going to the bird's nest, right? Walking by the bird's nest to get to the cube. Go see Michael Phelps. A big day for your boy, Jeffy. I get to go see Phelps swim. Woo! Industry perk. And as I'm walking there, there's like a shadow that comes over me and I stop right away because right beside me there's someone that's and I come short of calling it walking because it's more like prancing or gliding someone comes up right beside me that made me embarrassed to be a human being. I'm clumping around and I look over at this person who is gliding as if he's on air and it's Usain Bolt. All muscles are in syncopation and I stopped and went, I shouldn't be here. Not Beijing, but the earth.

Welcome to the sheet. It's like wearing the beads. It's like chilled out. It's like prancing. You ever walk next to someone who like really knew how to walk? I'm like, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump. And then this guy, Usain Bolt. Right beside me, Usain Bolt.

Coolest thing in the world. Going to the bird's nest to do whatever. Embarrassed to be a human being. What does that have to do with Matt Sicaris? Here's what that has to do with Matt Sicaris. Matt Sicaris is going to be on the show later on today. And the last time I worked with Matt Sikaris was 2008 at CBC. I'm not sure which events he was covering.

But that was the last time I worked with Matt Sikaris until I joined here at the Nation Network and Daily Faceoff. So as thin a line that may be between Usain Bolt and Matt Sikaris, I was able to sketch it out. Also, coming up here in about 10 minutes, Jason Greger is going to be here. And here's what I want to ask. Actually, let me find something here. Zach Phillips, our producer. So here's why I compare Jason Greger to Ryan Suter, Brent Burns, Duncan Keith,

Drew Doughty, Alex Ovechkin, and Zidane O'Chara. Do you know why I compare Jason Greger to those six hockey players? No. I was like, okay, I'm listening so intently, I'm like, there's going to be a connection somewhere. There is a connection. No clue.

What is this? Here's what I love about Jason Greger. One one outstanding broadcaster two that guy logs minutes that guy is like he's on the air like i i don't know like i would run out of words like i used to think i was oh i'm a big shot i'm doing two hours a day now i'm only doing one here one and change but i guess you do two hours and be like oh holy smokes i need a fainting couch at the end of my shift. Gregor's out there for four hours. How do you not run out of words? Just stop and reload every day.

He's amazing. I love him. And the reason why I bring up those six hockey players is, according to NHL records at NHL.com, Ryan Suter, just over 35,000 minutes time on ice in his career so far brent burns is number two just over 31 000 duncan keith he now retired uh 30 933 minutes and 40 seconds uh drew dowdy's still adding 30 849 ovechkin he's adding adding 29,903. And Zdeno Chara, 29,393 minutes exactly to the second in the NHL. They log minutes. Because these guys log minutes, and that's what Jason Greger does.

He's like our own Quinn Hughes, who's out there for half the game. By the way, I'll get into this with Sequeira a little bit later on how many like what's what's going to be left of what's going to be left of Quinn Hughes by the end of the season like they he's out every time he's out there like not it's like 30 minutes a night

I get the temptation if you're Rick Talkett oh fire him out there fire him out oh by the way GT Miller's back we'll get on that fire him out there fire him out there but like Zach what's going to be left of Quinn Hughes by the end of the season? Plus, he's got four nations. Yeah, seriously. You know those memes where it's like the perfectly or the videos where it's the perfectly cooked chicken or ribs and they tap it on the table and the meat falls off the bone?

That's going to be his legs at the end of this season. Like, that's what's going to happen to this guy you know like what kind of recovery would like quinn hughes have to do at the end of the season i remember talking to matt nickel one strength and conditioning coach uh now with the ottawa senators like what do you do with hockey players at the end of the year he's like the first thing we do is we get them to do nothing like their bodies just need to heal like what's good to use the body gonna be like after this year okay so we'll get into that coming up in a little while. So Gregor's going to be doing news of the day with us. We're going to get into a lot of Vancouver issues and a great day to have Matt Sikaris on one half of Sikaris and Price, which is an outstanding Nation Network

slash Daily Faceoff property that we have here for you. If you're a Vancouver Canucks fan, you already know about it because it's massive in the market. And if you don't, check it out because it's a well-produced, well-run, well-hosted program. And lately, Blake Price has been on fire. I haven't heard today's show, but they're on right now. But Blake Price was just like on fire, spitting bullets about that Rick Tockett press conference from the other day. But Zach, the big news of the day today around vancouver land is the return of jt miller do we have his clip as he addressed the media earlier on today yes we do we can go to that

here now uh i am playing tonight and i really would appreciate if we just stayed away from the reasons why i wasn't here from all of you guys um you can ask all you want but I'm not going to dive into the reasons why I wasn't here the last three four weeks so I'm here with the team and I am ready to look forward to what's going to happen in the future not necessarily what has happened in the past so I know you guys are going to ask no matter what but I'm just going to say I'm not talking about it but I just want to let you guys know ahead of time JT Miller I feel you. JT Miller, I feel you. So JT Miller returns tonight for the Vancouver Canucks. We saw the return of Thatcher Demko.

Very excited in Vancouver land. We'll get into all of that with Matt Siqueiros coming up here. Matty's going to be stopping by in about 30 minutes. Jason Greger is aboard in about five. I don't want to belabor too much about what we saw last night between the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers, because a lot of the oxygen on this program over the first three days of it this week has revolved around the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers. I will, Zach, say a couple of things here, and please weigh in on this one in the chat.

I don't know that, like, the Rangers had to win that game last night or else it was going to be more torches at the castle gate. Send out the monster. The volcano demands a virgin, all of it. I don't know that we got any sort of deeper knowledge about who the New York Rangers are other than they're a team that's probably not deep enough to do anything or doesn't have any staying power as constructed right now to do anything and on the buffalo end of the ledger like i want to get into the palm trees thing here in a couple of seconds but uh my thought on last night's game was it was a win and i guess the old saying is you never critique a win but if there ever was a win for a team that you wanted to critique it was that from the Rangers and by the way Lindy Ruff with

the hammer on Owen Power yesterday that is but we talked about this yesterday Lindy Ruff now is saying if I'm going down with this ship I'm doing my way. Remember we talked about how Lindy Ruff said, okay, now you know what you have. 25 games in, you know what you have. You had a peek under the hood. You've seen what the car can do on the road. When you hear a coach say that, put on your coach decoder ring, because what that's code

for is, I'm not doing it their way anymore. I'm doing it my way. But anyway, those are my thoughts on the Rangers-Sabres from from last night a much anticipated game that is kind of a snooze fest but your thoughts on it quick uh just i i said to you before we briefly talk about it is like i don't think either team walks a fan base walks away feeling good yesterday sabers obviously just it's a loss they don't i don't think they care that it was close they don't care about anything uh relative to that other than a win and then rangers fans like okay mika scored like is that a positive maybe but i don't think that they feel much better about their team and

their position uh i will push on you here a little bit jeff and we'll make you talk a little bit more about it the morning cup of hockey boys are are battling in the chat right now i just saw it i i just i just opened up my chat and the first thing i see is colby cohen saying frauds like you and i'm like oh is he talking about me and then i see all your lads right before him like okay yeah yeah lads and colby are going at it by the way yeah that's what i was gonna ask can we do can we do this because uh the guys are on right now on the chat um morning cup of hockey which you know i go on about all the time because it's my favorite show. But Pat Maroon was on today. And as I said on Twitter,

Johnny Lazarus does a journalism. So Johnny Lazarus, the Ranger Chicago game. So he's sitting there up in Popcorn Row and he's got his cell phone camera out. And he records Pat Maroon in the warmup, skating down center ice with Igor Shcherkin. And because Johnny Lazarus does a journalism, Johnny Lazarus asked Pat Maroon about it. We should call this segment.

Johnny Lazarus does a journalism. Let's hear Johnny Lazarus do a journalism from morning cup of hockey today. I did catch you flirting with Igor Shcherkin and warmup. What was that all about? Skating up and down the red line i caught you on video do that up here oh yeah um i was kind of just like messing around with them i was like you make too much money as a goalie just joking around with them i said you need to save some for your other players um What did he say? Nothing.

He was laughing because I was just kind of – I was joking around with him. Yeah. I wasn't really like – but I was like – then I said congratulations. But, yeah, that stuff's pretty funny to me. I thought that was awesome. Yeah, you know, you make too much money for a goalie because goalies aren't part of the team we talked about this the other day I was talking about this

with Laz and Colby on their show the idea of do you pay goalies or do you not pay goalies I don't think there's one way to win the Stanley Cup we've seen teams win the Stanley Cup with Antony Yemi we've seen no offense we've seen teams win the Stanley Cup with Antony Yemi. We've seen, no offense, we've seen teams win the Stanley Cup with Aiden Hill. Again, no offense. We've also seen teams

win with Andre Vasilevsky and Sergey Bobrovsky. Like, I don't think that there's one way to do this, but I've always sort of been of the mind that you play the hand that you're dealt, and if you're dealt a good goalie, you don't look at Igor Shostakovich and say, you know, we don't believe in paying goaltending. You have this wonderful goaltender, this unique bird in the NHL. You have that. That is your advantage.

Play to it. Just because other teams don't have it and choose to allocate their funds differently doesn't mean that you can't win the Stanley Cup by paying your goaltender. See Tampa. See Florida. See Jason Greger.

Won half of the DFO rundown. The latest podcast just came out today. And in advance of Greger talking for another four hours, this guy is the minute – he's the Adrian O'Coin. That's for your old school fans out there of the Daily Faceoff world. He is Jason Greger, and he joins me now. So, Greger, here's who I was comparing you to a second ago. And I want to know, if you could be any one of these players,

who would you be? Now, these are the top six players who played the most in the NHL, most time on ice in career. Number one is Ryan Suter, over almost 36,000 minutes. Then Brent Burns at 31,000. Duncan Keith and Drew Doughty just over 30. Alex Ovechkin at 29. And Zidane Ocharra at 29.

You are the ultimate minute muncher out there in broadcasting. But if you could be any one of those six players, who would it be? Suter, Burns, Keith, Doughty, Ovechkin, Ocharra. Well, I think to take a line from baseball where the chicks dig the long ball, I think chicks dig goal scoring. So I got to go with Ovi. Come on, he's going to be the greatest goal scorer of all time.

Now, the funny thing is, to be Chara's size and to be able to just physically intimidate everybody would be probably pretty fun. And Keith and Dowdy were elite, for sure. Keith's a Hall of Famer and Dowdy's going to be a Hall of Famer. But I'll go with Ovi because, man, there were a few days when maybe you're tired, you could just line up on the left side and shoot bombs

and no one can stop you even though it's coming. So see, I'm almost warmish to Duncan Keith on this one because I'm an awful skater, knock-kneed, clunky, like all of it. I mean, I grew up playing net, right? I was a goaltender. And then I just became a hack defenseman after that. But I'd love to feel that sensation of being

able to skate like Duncan Keith and to glide like Duncan Keith. But I will tell you, there is something really attractive about being Zidane O'Chara for a day right like can I just be can I just see the world through char can I just skate through a game like Zidane O'Chara like I don't know that we really yet have appreciated what we just saw like before Zidane O'Chara there was Larry Robinson and Robinson was sort of like the

char of his day like nobody messed with him he's always an all star hall of famer all of it I always just wonder like what's it like being char for a day and having like being able to being able to terrify everybody on the ice more than anybody else like I've got

lucky that char he had a conscience you know what I mean oh yeah he would intimidate you when need be but he also seemed to have like a real human respect element where some guys are just like uh we're going and i'm gonna absolutely destroy you and you know i'll keep punching you like you you saw a few many times in fights and even hits where you know he kind of let up a little bit and just because he was so strong. And I've talked to guys who have played with him and guys who played against him.

He's one of the greatest human beings that they've ever met. And you see him now, like he retires and he's running marathons. He's always looking to different ways to push himself. He's ultra dedicated. And he's another great example, Jeff, and I know you studied the history of the game. He's such another great example of hockey being a late developing sport. Because if you go watch the Dano Char and junior, when he was in the Western hockey league, you know,

like his first few years, you know, because he was so big and, you know, he looked kind of awkward. He became a really good skater for a man that big. So he played a Princeorge and his coach was stan butler stan now coaches the eriotters of the ohl and i can recall because i've known stan for years and i remember him telling me the stories of this kid who's huge and green as grass and i have no idea what we're gonna do with him and he told me about his first fight he's like he's he's never fought he'd never fought like he just i can't remember who the kid he fought was but it didn't go well for that kid

but he had never done it before and he just wanted to try it just to see what it was like but you listen you remember him with the islanders we all looked at him and said like i have no idea what this is gonna turn into and what it turned into was one of the best defense we've ever seen well one of the worst well worst or best trades depending on which side of the best defensemen we've ever seen. Well, one of the worst or best trades, depending on which side of the ledger you're on, Ottawa or the Islanders at that time. Because he was kind of like a throw-in on the deal, which is crazy thinking back on it.

Yeah, here's an all-star. Or how about Ottawa having to make that decision? Are we keeping Wade Redden or are we keeping Zidane Ochoa? We can't keep both. In hindsight, you know what? That was clearly the wrong decision. Yeah. We're really good talking from the backseat here in the media.

That was the wrong decision. Anyhow, really quickly, a couple of things about, because the nice thing about having you on is you can go everywhere. You have a quick thought of what we saw between the Sabres and the New York Rangers yesterday? I was making the point off the top, like, that was a game that Rangers had to have. Although if anything,

it just showed me that I don't know if they're going to have enough juice to do this for the entire season. And the woes just continue for the Buffalo Sabres. Well, you're getting booed by your hometown crowd twice. They're probably almost happy to go on the road right now. And it's too bad, man. I get why Buffalo fans, like I'm not being down on the Sabre fans man your team's missed the playoffs NHL record 13 times I think it's the longest uh active record of all four major sports you know added any league and

no one's missed the playoffs that many consecutive seasons it's it's awful and like this was supposed to be another one of the years where the Sabres take a step and as big of a game as that was last night for the Rangers I think it was equally big for the Sabres like you know the Rangers were two and eight and you know you could have made them two and nine and suddenly you know you're within even in closer striking distance but if you just do the math now the Sabres are going to have to play unreal hockey here be at like 103 point pace to get in if we think it's a 95 point cut line so it's it's almost enough they're closing in again Jeff where we'll get to Christmas and the Sabres are out of the playoffs almost not virtually mathematically but pretty much and and that shouldn't be in the case this year so I don't know what the organization is going to do to be honest

and I think this is a tough one where you can try to make a big splash thinking it's going to change, and then you end up making the wrong trade, and all you do is dig yourself deeper into the hole. And I think they just, as hard as it's going to be in Buffalo, I think they have to remain patient here and just find ways to get the most out of their players because they'll have good games, then they won't. I like their like their top four defense you know that's a lot to build around there's there's no reason that they shouldn't be more competitive you know it just seems to me though

when i look at the the buffalo sabers so much more up front than if you look at the back end i still see more potential than than actual and i know that takes defenseman long right i i get all that but i i look up front and I still say they don't have anyone that should be on the first line. Like everybody is one. You don't think Tate Thompson is the first line player? No, I don't. Not on a good team. And I like Tate Thompson, but to me on a good team,

he's a second line center. He's a second line center. Really, not to get into it, really good player. It just seems like him and everybody else are playing one level up than where they should be. You know, like, should Alex Tuck and JJ Paterka be up that high? I know Paterka's young, Tuck's been around. It just seems like everybody's asked to punch above their weight.

And you can do it for a while, but you can't do it over a long stretch. And I know we keep telling this. They didn't spend any time in the American League. The other thing, too, is you're Kevin Adams. I mean, how do you not feel frozen right now? Like you don't want to make the move that sends, you know, Dylan Cousins to getting his name scratched on the Stanley Cup. Because we've seen it before.

There should be hesitation. The Jack Eichel trade, which was only really made because they were like, well, we don't really agree with his doctors. And look what happened. He goes and he gets the surgery. Vegas is like, yeah, do the surgery you want. And now look at Jack Eichel. He's at the midway point of the season or the third point of the season.

He'd be one of the three finalists for the heart. He's played great. You know, he won a cup, played great there. You look at Sam Reinhardt. What's he done since he left Buffalo? And, and you know those are two number two overall picks and you know those are top guys like how much better would they be if they ran the organization so those guys would have wanted to stay so i think buffalo has to now kevin adams wasn't there i get it but still you look at or maybe he was there for Reinhardt but um you look

at that whole organization there's a reason you lose 13 years in a row and you don't make the playoffs right it's a net management it just is and so they have to make smart moves now and you I get the Dylan cousins is struggling but you just sign him to a you believed in him enough to pay him that money you can't just flip the switch all of a sudden and be impatient because you know what happens you trade him and then like look at dylan strome dylan how could dylan cousins potentially not be the next dylan strome right you don't think chicago didn't offer they didn't qualify him then he went away and now look at him gets somebody who believes him and no one no one. No one. Frank was telling the story.

The only team who was going to offer Strom a contract was Washington. I think there's real bias at times, Jeff, in the NHL. When you look and they have a notion on a player, it's like, this guy's nothing. And I would be very cautious on Dylan Cousins right now. I get he's struggling. So then work with him rather than just throw them out. You know,

don't throw out the baby in the bathwater because you'll look down the road and be, Oh, Dylan cousins, 70 point player and some other team. And you're like, and what did we get? Oh,

we got a few picks that didn't pan out. Hello. Hello beans. It's interesting too, because there's on the one hand, when it comes to the man, it comes to managers. There's a sort of, there's always been this tug and pull and you see this in hockey all the time copycat league you

know try to April was successful before and try to do it again but it seems as if there's this this this tug between managers on the one hand there's the group think where everybody makes their mind up about someone together and they say it back to each other so many times that everybody starts to believe it versus, and this was always Glenn Sather. I mean, you're closer to it than I am. You know,

this, that arrogance of the manager that says, you know what? All this guy needs is to be in our program. This guy needs to be on. I mean, how many times did you see Glenn Sather do this both in Edmonton? And then maybe even more specifically with the New York

Rangers. There are some managers that are willing to really stick their necks out and sometimes it flops, sometimes it doesn't work, but I admire those guys because they swing for the fences. It doesn't always work, but every now and then they hit those tape measure home runs.

You can't hit a home run if you don't get in the batter's box and sometimes you've got to take a wild swing. You've to be the vladdy guerrero who's swinging out of out of his own all the time sometimes you know and sometimes you'll have an infield fly and then the next one you know you're raking it out over the fence and and you're right i like i look at bill garen i look at bill garen right now and and i maybe he he got this a little bit from jim rutherford because Jim Rutherford man that guy was never afraid to make trades look at the Canucks last year they're making more trades yeah and the whole rest of the league combined during the season and it doesn't mean you win a

cup but look at Minnesota's defense now they they absolutely fleeced San Jose for for Jake Middleton now look you know you look at that deal is Middleton for capo cacanin and Jake Middleton now look you know you look at that deal is middleton for capo kakkanen and jake middleton now is you know is a top pair defenseman in his role as a d-man on that team they got for fiala oh and a draft pick right oh and we'll just throw in favor and then they just took your sec now he's young but man i'm really bullish on that guy i think when people tell me oh he's not a great skater i'm'm like, he's huge. He's not even 21 years of age. He's got to get stronger. But people said Leon Dreisaitl wasn't a very good skater.

So what did he do? He spent all summer lifting weights and doing a ton of deadlift. And guess what? He came back, and now he's a good skater. We talked about Zdeno Csar earlier. Wasn't a good skater. There are certain things that you can improve on. back and now he's a good skater we talked about sedano char earlier wasn't a good skater there are certain things that you can improve on and if you help and support the player and they're

willing to do it and i'm guessing your sec is you watch in a few years people are going to be like oh what a trade that was for minnesota i i think it's i think it's going to turn out to be great for them and right now bill garen's the the glenn sather guy who's like yeah we'll go get these guys no problem thank you thank you A million times. Thank you. Making that point about Leon Dreisaitl. Cause anybody that watched him in junior, um, and I watched him, uh, uh, more so when he played in Kelowna, um, than, than anywhere else. And right up to the Memorial cup where they, they lost against Oshawa, Anthony Sorelli with the last goal ever at the college say in overtime.

Um, he was awkward to watch get around the ice. Like you saw the skill scale the hands were elite won every draw had the the canoe paddle blade like all of it but you said oh the skating the skating but you're right it is something that guys now more so than ever can fix yeah and no one's last time you heard anyone complain about dry saddle skating oh it's still funny. Bigger guys still, like, I still remember when people said Maryland,

you guys, you know, it kind of slow out there. And I'm like, what the hell are you talking about? Because first of all, when he took a stride, the little water bug beside him would take three.

So it looked faster. Right. So bigger guys, six foot four, six foot five, like rarely do they look fat. Like the other day, somebody was trying to tell me Colton Preco wasn't a good skater.

And I'm like, what the hell are you talking about? Colton Preco is a really good that like the other day, somebody was trying to tell me Colton Preco wasn't a good skater. And I'm like, what the hell are you talking about? Colton Precos are really good. Like that guy's what is he? Six, six, six, seven.

Like he is an excellent skater, especially for his size. So I think sometimes bigger bodies automatically dry settle. And the other thing is Jeff dry settle can move when he wants, but he likes to slow the game down. Him and McDavid are oil and water. When it comes to how they attack, McDavid will come and just blow right by you all day and then dry subtle will come in slowly and and now slowly is in the term of to me it's controlled he can slow the game

down i know when you get close like forsberg and jagger sticks out the rear end and i'm like now i can't get the puck right and so i think there's different ways because sometimes i get thrust everybody thinks oh you gotta be a great skater if you're not a great skater or you can't play and i'm like no you just can't be a bad skater and get around and you know what but even then some guys have been in the nhl a long time who aren't fleet of foot and they still because they're smart see tavarez comma john and he's still good in front of the net, and he's still good along the boards. Open ice might not be his friend. Corey Perry, there's another one. There's another great example.

Open ice is not his friend, but that's okay. That's not where he dines out. You mentioned Colton Preko a second ago, and here's what I wanted to get to with you today. Don't look now, but the St. Louis Blues are 5-1-1 under Jim Montgomery. And don't look now, but Robert Thomas is very well healed after the ankle injury, and he's got 19 points in 16 games.

And don't look now, but Jordan Kibrew is firing. And I know the goaltending this year between Bennington and Hofer hasn't exactly been exemplary, but could the St. Louis Blues make the wild card interesting? The last time you and I spoke, we were like, ah, you know what? It's wrapped up. It's done.

This thing is over. But if you have a look, the St. Louis Blues are three points out of a wild card spot, and you have a little Jim Montgomery fairy dust. That's been sprinkled over this team. We've seen it before. Now I'm not saying Stanley cup because there are a whole bunch of different

things about that St. Louis team than this St. Louis team. I'm just talking about, can they make, can they make the wild card race? Interesting. Could they make the playoffs?

I don't know. I hope they can because there doesn't look like the race might be a seeding race. But if we look at the teams, okay, well, LA's won six in a row. So the Blues, as great as they're played, have actually lost ground on LA. Edmonton has found their game, and I don't see them turning back. Vegas is good. Minnesota's been good all year long uh the jets you know hit a little funk but they're they got a lot of ground right dallas

jason robertson you know is on a milk carton somewhere and i got to think that eventually he'll show up um so colorado they've traded both their goalies which i think is what the buffalo and when they were going to tank is the last time we've seen a team trade both of their top two goalies to start a season so i think they're going to get better i still don't love their defensive system so that really only leaves vancouver right and are they the only team like now they got demko back jt miller's back skating if they're healthy i just look at st louis and say i think they could probably finish ninth jeff yeah like they're gonna have to play great, and one of those teams is going to have to struggle for them

to get in. And JT Miller is in tonight, after we saw the announcement earlier on today, so looking forward to that. The only Los Angeles Kings, and you and Frank were talking about this on the pod that I listened to last weekend, which would have been the Thursday drop. Right now

it's LA and Edmonton again in the opening round if the playoffs start today. And nobody wants to see that. As a fan, I don't. I've had it no more. I don't care who you play. Bring back the Atlanta Thrashers and the California

Golden Seals and anyone else. Cleveland Barons. I do not want to watch LA and Edmonton again please i think the only people who might are the orders because they beat him like they beat him gotten better every time it was seven then it was six then it was five like la i think if you're the kings i think their best matchup in the pacific is vegas honestly i think la plays a style that has the size that they could really give Vegas fits in a seven game series sometimes in the playoffs Jeff and you know this matchups matter a lot right and 100 some teams

they just don't match up and LA LA doesn't have the speed down the middle to match Edmonton they just don't they can't and I know they changed their style this year they're not sitting back they try to sit back for three years it never worked right the one three one did not work Edmonton was patient. And then they get two chances. They'd score. It's game over. So I look at LA and they probably, you know, anybody else I think they can match up against.

But even with all their changes, if they get in a series against Edmonton, it's December and I would pick Edmonton. Because they haven't changed their group enough that I could see them beating. Speaking of Edmonton, I have a couple of minutes with you. I know you got to get to your show. I do want to ask you about the Edmonton Oilers. I think this is a team that right now is looking at their squad and saying, we're not even considering doing anything. And I saw they picked up Alec Regula here on waivers from the Boston Bruins.

And there's an interesting story with him. His history is interesting. But it seems like it's a team that's convinced that they don't really hit their stride. Things don't really start to come together until early January. And it seems as if they're quite content to wait for early January to happen. Do you think that's wise? Well, the team itself is, know what are they 16 7 and 2 they started 0 and 3 but since then they've been good um darnell nurse by the way jeff you can make

the argument he's been the best defensive defenseman in the nhl since november it's been better right absolutely you look at his underlying numbers they're unreal he's only been on the ice for two goals against and he's cut down his big errors he's moving the puck he's playing great so that helps their team but from a management perspective they have the luxury of being patient because they got to see what happens with Kane like what's he going to be when he comes back can he come back you know Victor Arvidsson a now there was concerns when they when he got signed the one concern I heard from people in LA and other places were he gets banged up. And what happens?

He's banged up again. Like, guys who are always hurt, sadly, there's a reason. They're always hurt. They're always hurt. Like, I can't explain why. It just happens. So, are they in a rush to make a move? No.

I think everybody knows they have to make a move. I still think they would like to upgrade their second pair right defense. I love Troy Stetcher's competitiveness. I love everything about him, but I wouldn't want him as my second pair right defenseman in the postseason. That's where I think they have to go. Their challenge is

look around the league. Jeff, who is a second pair right defenseman who's available? I know. Teams aren't letting them go. And if you're going to get one, it's going to be a King's ransom again. Right? Like I, I trust me, Dallas has been beating the bushes for one D and one forward now for a

while. And we're hearing big names. I wonder if they just wait until the four nations is over before making their move, or they may be forced into doing something sooner. We'll see. If you're looking for flexible workouts, Peloton's got you covered. Summer runs or playoff season meditations, whatever your vibe, Peloton has thousands of classes built to push you.

We know how life goes. New father, new routines, new locations. What matters is that you have something there to adapt with you whether you need a challenge or rest and peloton has everything you need whenever you need it find your push find your power peloton visit peloton at onepeloton.ca we'll see the big now well the second injury is not good for them right like quietly he was having a really good year, 20 points in 19 games. I'll tell you, you know, we make a lot about the Rupe Hinn's line.

That line with Matt DeShane, Tyler Sagan, and Mason Marchment. Holy smoke. You want to talk about a quiet, great year? Have a look at what Mason Marchment's doing. But you're right, Tyler Sagan was right there. And, you know, Matt DeShane's, you know, being interviewed on ESPN, they're saying, you think you might make team Canada because your numbers are there,

Matt, the Shane it's been, you know, he's been a revelation. There's, you know what? It just, it didn't work out for him in Nashville. And he gets, then he gets bought out and comes back and man, he's, he's playing excellent for Dallas and you get in the right situation for guys with skill. I'm still a believer. Fit matters, Jeff, for lots of players. And we talked off the start about opportunity. And I don't think guys just – some guys do slow off

and fall off a cliff a little bit at times in their mid-30s. But Matt Duchesne, I never felt he was there. He had the one great year in Nashville, and then there were some injuries. And Nashville, for whatever reason, look this year. Offense goes to die there. If you look at it for a lot of players, it does. And I think that's something that organization, they really need a true center.

They've got all these good wingers. They've got nobody to move the puck, so that's not ideal. But it is something where I don't know if I've ever seen an organization that is that good at goaltending and defining defensemen. And then they can't consistently find offensive players. You're not wrong. And a lot of those blue liners were off from the Western hockey league. And you're right.

It is a complete goaltending factory. And you're right. Like they have tried everything. Listen, a couple of years when the, when the draft was in Nashville, you know, there's like,

they were hanging, you know, a scar off same out there trying to get the fourth overall pick, Will Smith, from the San Jose Sharks. Yeah. They were open for business. And look what they got for him. That's a trade that when you consider how potentially good he could be, yikes. Okay, real quick.

This is from Johnny Lazarus, and I'm going to let you go. Question for both of you. I'm going to let you answer, then you've got to scoot because I know you've got a show coming up top of the hour. Which player in the early stages of your media career were you the most nervous to talk one-on-one with? Was there someone that you were like, I'm going to try to be cool here, but inside it's butterflies,

and I really hope they can't see that I'm sweating at this point. If you want to think about it for a second, mine is Marcel Dion. Early, early in my career, like 2000, 2001, maybe 2002, Dion came out with his book and had him live in studio. I was doing a show with Bill Waters and had him live in studio, and I still remember when I was a kid, my dad always telling me about the best player in the nhl is marcel dion you just don't get to see la king's game it's marcel dion marcel dion i finally got a chance to meet little beaver

and i was like i'm actually nervous to talk to marcel dion so that was that was it for me what about you jason yeah covered on a daily basis like the owners didn't have any superstars so it definitely wasn't that early but honestly honestly, still, because it was the first time I interviewed Gretzky, for sure. Oh, yeah. And I was like, oh, my God, I'm talking to Wayne Gretzky here. And it was just like a one-on-one. It wasn't in a group. It was a one-on-one setting.

And Wayne, of course, is the ultimate professional. And he was a really good guy. He would be one. But my favorite interview would when i got donovan bailey in studio for an hour and because i remember exactly where i was in 1996 when he won the gold medal and it was like it brought pride back to canadians after ben johnson and everything and it pissed me off because i knew ben wasn't the only one cheating he just got caught screw the americans i'm sorry carl lewis the biggest meter ever but i just never got caught. Screw the Americans. I'm sorry, Carl Lewis, the biggest meter ever. But just never got caught.

And for Donovan to win that, and then when he came in studio, like he was a big, like sprinters, it's an individual, like they're big personalities, right? And that's what Donovan was. And I remember there being like, okay, like we did an hour long in studio, which is amazing. And like after, it took me about 10 minutes to calm down. I was just like, I got Donovan Bailey here. So that that was that wasn't early on and it wasn't a hockey guy but that was like the

the most excited maybe i've ever been for an interview that's awesome great one okay released you can catch your breath get a sip of coffee or a sip of water and you got another hyper but i didn't know coffee i've never had it could only drink water you've never had a cup of coffee eh no i can't i'm hyper enough to smell of it i don't know my i made coffee for my parents growing up as a kid and just and they smoked too when i was a kid so i think okay yeah like it but even now like so many people oh you gotta try it man and no i worked in the oil field for years before i got into media and never drank a cup couldn't do do it. Oil field is not really known for drinking coffee though. Oh, but no, no, trust me. Well, there's a few things in the oil field,

but coffee with coffee. There's a lot of stiff coffees after a night of stiff drinking. Yes. Fair, fair enough. Get in the shower, put on a pot of coffee. He's got to get to work. You're the best man. Continued success. We'll catch up soon. Thanks Jeff. Good job, man. Love the show. Thanks father. It's the great Jason Greger on the sheet here. work uh you're the best man continued success we'll catch up soon thanks jeff good job man love the show thanks father is the great jason gregor uh on the sheet here i love him one half of uh daily well listen one half of one of our signature um one of our signature podcasts daily

face off um uh the daily face off rundown uh okay we have a lot to get to still. We have Matt Siqueiros who's coming up in a couple of moments. We have a very active chat going on right now. What do we have, Zach, as far as questions go? Okay. There's one that came up here on Twitter that I want to ask. I would love to take credit for this one. I cannot. Okay.

Hazen at Huncho underscore JH on Twitter. He tweeted at us. Included the hashtag as well. Hashtag Sheethead. We appreciate that. Really want to hear Jeff Merrick's thoughts on Alec Regula. I'm sure he knows him based on his junior days in London.

Sneaky claim by the oil? In junior, he was a really offensively oriented guy. There was the one year that London ran one of the more unique power plays you'll ever see. They ran three defensemen on a power play, and they used Regula in the bumper position. And there's a number of game sheets out there with a guy by the name of Hunter Skinner,

who was a defenseman, and then someone that a lot of people will remember, San Jose Sharks fans certainly will, he was a first-rounder, Ryan Merkley. You would see game sheets with Regula scoring Merkley and Like you would see game sheets with like a regular or a regular rather scoring Merkley and Skinner with the assist. And you look at it and go three defensemen on a power play, but that's what the London,

that edition of the London Knights. That's what, that was what Connor McMichael was on the team. That's what they would run out on a regular basis. The other interesting thing about him is, I remember when he was drafted, his dad, Chet, from Livonia, Michigan, his dad was the longtime, I don't think he is anymore, was the longtime, like 26 years, dentist for the Detroit Red Wings.

And I just remember like, hey, the Detroit Red Wings. And I just remember like, Hey, the Detroit Red Wings just drafted their dentist son, the third round, fourth round. You can check on that one, but I haven't, I haven't seen him play.

He's been bouncing around the, the American hockey league for a couple of years. But in, there was one year where he scored like 25 goals as a, as a, as a defender. So probably not that guy anymore. Lighten up for 25 goals a season

from the point. But watch the Matanen Jr. playing for the London Knights. He was offensive. It'll be curious to see what they end up doing with that defenseman and the Edmonton Oilers. We are standing by for Matt Siqueiros. As I mentioned... Oh, one thing I did

want to mention too. Coming off of that Buffalo Rangers game last night, there was a report, erroneous, there was a report that security at the Key Bank Center were confiscating or poking holes in inflatable palm trees. Okay, I checked. Not true. They weren't doing that.

All that Sabre Security is doing is if you're holding something, anything, a sign, a palm tree, anything else that's blocking people's views, they will confiscate it. But that's not unique to palm trees. And as a matter of fact, and you can't do this while you're losing. As a matter of fact, and this isn't Kevin Adams, this isn't Lindy Ruff, but the marketing department are trying to figure out a way in Buffalo

that they can lean into the palm tree thing. Like as much as everyone's saying like, oh, they're trying to run away from it and they're scared of it or they're embarrassed about it. Quite the opposite. Buffalo is trying to figure out a way how they can lean into this, but you can't do it. You can't lean into something like this while you're losing. Like the Buffalo Sabres need to snap out of this one and start to string together some wins because the palm tree bit is not going to go over very well unless you start to pile up some Ws. So that's what's happening with the Buffalo Sabres, and that report is erroneous. The Sabres aren't doing that. And I think, by the way, if you're a member of the Buffalo Sabres,

as much as the losing sucks right now and you really feel it anger is still better than apathy the worst is apathy when your fans don't even care enough to try to bring in inflatable palm trees like bad but it's not the worst the worst thing is fans that buy a ticket but choose not to go that's when you're in real trouble and i know we always see the shots of the buffalo Sabres and, you know, the costume parties and everyone's dressed up as an empty seat. We've all seen that before. But there still is a feeling that, listen, one day we can lean into the palm tree thing because you've got to make the

best of it, right? You knew when it came out of Kevin Adams' mouth, you're like, oh, here comes Sabres meme. And so you've got to do something positive about it. But this is a team that's not running away from it. They just got to put some wins together before they get there. you. We know how life goes. New father, new routines, new locations. What matters is that you have something there to adapt with you, whether you need a challenge or rest and Peloton has everything you need whenever you need it. Find your push, find your power. Peloton,

visit Peloton at one Peloton.ca. Zach, do we have Matt Siqueira standing by? One second. Okay, he's coming up here in a couple seconds. All right, so we got him? Yes, we do. We got him here. We are good to go.

All right, one half of Sequeira's in price on a big day for the Vancouver Canucks. A couple of days ago, they welcomed back Thatcher Demko. Tonight, they welcomed back JT Miller, and he ain't saying nothing about nothing. Here to comment on everything Vancouver is a great Matt Sicaris. Matt, how are you today? Thanks for being aboard. I'm fantastic, Jeff. Thanks for having me on the program, and congratulations. Thanks, my man. I think we have a frozen shot of you right now. We'll see

if we can fix that. But nonetheless, we have the audio, and that's great. So off the top of the show, I was telling a story about 2008 Beijing, working at CBC, working at the Olympics and leaving the IBC after filing report for some sport and then walking next to Usain Bolt. And I was embarrassed to be a human being because he was walking beside me and he was prancing and I was clopping along with my heavy boots. and I was clopping along with my heavy boots. And the thin line between that story and today's show is you were working at that same IBC for CBC at that point. What do you remember, really quickly before we get to hockey, what do you remember from the 2008 game specifically? Well, for some reason it worked out

that I was able to take an hour or so off to go over to the Bird's Nest Stadium and watch him run the 100-meter final. Yeah, you did, eh? So I was in the press load. Like, it just so happened to work out, Jeff. As you know, in the Olympics, you're usually, you know,

a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest. You're traveling all over to different venues. It's true, it's true. And so I sort of looked at the schedule. I'm like, you've got to be kidding me i can walk over and watch this incredible athlete and so i did i sat in the press lodge i was probably 20 rows high or something like that yeah and the flash bulbs that went off when that gun went off and what was it 80 or 90 000 people in the stadium that day? Oh yeah. I still like when,

when people ask me what moments in your career stand out that you don't think you'll ever forget. It's not when I covered per se, I was just there as a spectator, as a fan, but absolutely. That's one of them. Yeah.

Yeah. See for, for me, it was why excited. I didn't get to watch the a hundred meter. I didn't, I didn't make it to, to,

to the bird's nest for that one, but I got to watch Phelps swim. That to me was that without that was that was christmas morning okay anyway all things considered jeff what an olympics to cover up with phelps and all those gold medals and and bold setting the world record like and and and an opening ceremony for the ages oh for sure for sure like one of the most gorgeous things i don't know if you got to do any tourism things but i mean i did the wall and I did forbidden city. I missed, I missed terracotta warriors. I should have stayed and extended for a few days,

but I had to hustle back home. Anyhow. So JT Miller returns. I want you to bracket that for one second, because I want to go back to and haven't listened to today's show yet, but man, Blake was spitting bullets about that talk at presser uh i'm a big fan of your show but hearing blake go on like that was that was fun that was fun that was

fantastic how did that go over to the to the wider market well first of all he's sitting a few feet to my right here so i gotta be careful what i say and if you hear anyone chiming jeff you'll know who to think uh so the question was from tsn's farhan lalji about elias petterson picking it up in jt miller's absence and to be fair petterson had found his game before miller left the lineup and good thing he did. Cause who knows where the Vancouver Canucks would have been. How do you not? So it was it. And honestly, it was like,

this was not a fastball. Like this was batting practice. Yeah. And Rick answered the question and went, Oh my God, PD, PD, PD.

All you guys want to do is ask about PD. And then Marsha, Marsha, Marsha, Marsha. Yeah, no, exactly.

And then went on a bit of a diatribe about when I was at TNT and, and then he circled back and then he circled back and he got friendlier and his annoyance said, you know, he'd got it off, off his chest. Yeah. Um, but, but yeah, it was an interesting question because Rick has not lost his cool with us at all. Like I know everybody hears about Vancouver, the big bad media market and all that. Rick in almost two years of coaching and messaging to this media and to this fan base has had infinite patience. So much so Jeff that

it's pretty clear that he relishes it. He enjoys it. He loves talking talking hockey and I think he loves the fact that he is surrounded by hockey-minded people here in Vancouver which let's face it is a little different than his his two previous uh coaching stops so you know my point was hey if this is the first time in two years he's gonna be a little annoyed at a question let's just give them a pass others saw a little bit deeper into it about like why did he go off on a patterson question and look um rick has been so honest with us at different times that i think he has said a few things that haven't always translated and done well and landed well with players in the school and i think eliztersson is one of those players. And I will bring you back to last year, post round two loss to Edmonton,

where Elias sat at the dais in his final press session before heading off to Sweden for the summer and detailed a knee injury that was to blame or was a contributing reason why he was so quiet in the second half in the second round of the playoffs as well. And when Talkett, who had consistently said he's not hurt, was asked about that, he was quite dismissive and said, oh yeah, he's got knee tendinitis.

So I think Talkett is minding his P's and Q's with what he says about Pettersson, understanding that he's more of a sensitive soul and that if he says the wrong thing, it's not going to land great with number 40. So you mentioned knee injury there, and I always mispronounce it, so I'm going to ask you to pronounce it. Thatcher Demko's injury was, it starts with a P.

I mangled it yesterday, and I continue to mangle it. Popliteus. Popliteus. For all of you undergrads at home. Pretty good novel score too. Okay. So I mentioned this. I mentioned the conversation that you and Blake had yesterday with Pierre Maguire and we sort of had our own little conversation about something you started on your podcast, which was the Vancouver Canucks contemplating life without Thatcher Demko, who they are pretty close to extending. Like, I'm like –

They haven't had to contemplate. They've lived it for 26 games, right? They lived it for what wound up being 12 postseason games last year. And these aren't the only injuries in Thatcher Demko's career. So at this stage of the

game, you've got to consider him an injury-plagued, injury-riddled, however you want to phrase it. Now now the good news is is that he finished the game tuesday and seemingly felt great afterwards at least that's what he's told us and that was not the case the last time we saw him play which was game one of the first round last year against nashville when he you know had come back from injury late in the year and just wasn't able to go in game two and then wasn't able to go the rest of

the postseason and then wasn't able to go at the start of this season so you know we've talked about it when you've joined our show you know he signed right at the death for low money but i think you can argue that kevin lankanen has been the most valuable unrestricted pre-season signing of the summer which is extraordinary right like where would the Canucks be without this guy tending goal so yeah there there's a big decision coming up because Demko is going into the final year of his contract next season which means he's eligible for an extension in July and I think what the Canucks management group has to see between now and the end of their season, whenever that may be, is can Thatcher Demko hold up to the workload? And I don't even think we're talking like a UC Saros, Conor Hellebuck workload here, Jeff.

Something short of that. Just the regular, not the hyperinflated. You're going to play close to, you know, grant fewer numbers. Right. 57 games as opposed to, you know, 63 by regular season context because, of course, you're hoping to play a lot of them in the playoffs and you would think he'd be the guy each and every night there. So here's, and this is a talk at question two.

I wonder what is going to be left of Quinn Hughes by the end of the season if he continues to play half the games. Every time I look up, Quinn Hughes is on the ice and generally he has the puck. What is going to be left of Quinn Hughes playing 30 minutes a night? You know, he's so small. Blake and I talk about it all the time. The moment he walked into a conference room in Dallas when we were doing our show in advance of the draft,

and he walked in and he looked like a child who had lost his way, right? Like, who's this kid and what is he doing here? Oh, no, that's the kid from Michigan we got to interview. You wonder playing 30 minutes a night whether he will just, like, evaporate into air, like there will be no physical matter there at some point. But I got to give him credit, like pound for pound. He is a tough son of a gun.

And the workload, I think it's fair to say that the workload last year eventually wore him down a little bit. He said when he reported to camp this year that he was not as good in the postseason as he would have liked he said i don't feel like i had a poor postseason but i've got to do more and i you know and he made it his mission to be prepared for this season and to deal with the workload now part of the other problem they have right now jeff is that philip ronick his usual partner is out of the lineup and will be till the end of january at

the earliest and they have not only formed one of the better defense pairs in the national hockey league over the year plus that they've been together but the vancouver canucks are not particularly structured on defense to have to have defensemen move the puck and so you're seeing higher minutes now for hughes because when he's not on the ice they don't have a lot of puck transportation from their zone yeah to the other team's zone. And that's a significant problem. It was a significant problem Tuesday against St. Louis. And it's also a problem that I think is going to have to be addressed at a philosophical level with the organization. Rick Tauket and Adam Foote, who runs the defense here as the assistant coach, they believe in Redwoods.

They went out to build a forest around Quinn Hughes this offseason. They knew they were going to lose the door off, that they didn't have the money to re-sign the door off. And it turned out Ian Cole got a pretty nice contract as well. Their response was signing Derek Forbert and Vincent Deharney, who fit the profile. The problem is, is that when Hughes is not on the ice or when Hughes and Roenick are not on

the ice. And so far we've seen little appetite for splitting them up and balancing out pairs. They have to get through half the game with guys who aren't particularly great at moving the puck. And so I know talk it and foot like that style of defenseman. And for the most part especially at even strength it was quite effective playing that big space occupying defense against McDavid

and Dreisaitl and of course Edmonton's their derby right like Edmonton's who they got to get through but I do think at some point that Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alvin are going to need to sit talking and foot down and say, okay, we understand your preference, but we just don't move the puck effectively enough with nothing but that profile of defenseman on the team beyond our top pair. So they are one of the many teams, Jeff, that are in the market for a top four defenseman, if not two, by the trade deadline. And I would have to think that Alvin puts foot down here and says, we need another puck mover, not another Redwood. J.T. Miller, closing question. J.T. Miller returns. What do you expect out of J.TT Miller tonight against the Florida Panthers?

It's not as if he left because of a physical injury. No, correct. Well, he himself this morning said he would anticipate some rust. He's missed 10 games here. I also think you're going to have a very friendly crowd there. They have come to Rogers Arena. The game here is they love all saying his name alongside PA announcer Al Murdoch. J-T. Yeah, exactly.

So that's gone viral. And so we saw a very nice ovation for Thatcher Demko on Tuesday. Upon his return i would suspect you're going to see the same sort of ovation for jt miller from the crowd tonight the question is will that spur him on uh emotionally um is he going to be too too focused on just knocking off the rust and the details of the game and things that he hasn't practiced or hasn't uh put put into practice over the last three to four weeks. He gave an interesting answer this morning when asked

if he could still be the same emotional player that he is for the Vancouver Canucks, given what he's gone through. And he didn't want to answer it. He said, that toes the line a little too close to what I've been through. So it's sort of hard to predict want to answer it he said that toes the line a little too close to what i've been through so it's sort of hard to understand it's sort of hard to predict what miller is going to be like given we have so little information in terms of what took him away from the vancouver canucks for the last three or four weeks so yeah that that's the big question that i think is going to be on

everyone's minds not just tonight but for the next little while. Is this just the same JT Miller and its plug and play? Or is this a player and or a person who has fundamentally changed over the last month? We shall see starting tonight. Always great. Matty, thanks so much for stopping by. Memories of Beijing. Nice to catch up with you again.

Thank you, sir. My old pal from the IBC, Matt Sekiris, one half of Sekiris and Price. Make sure to check out that outstanding offering here at Daily Faceoff. You know, it's really interesting. I normally when you see players come back

that play the way that JT Miller plays, it's almost as if you have to sort of calm them down, like they want to do everything, every single shift. You want to get in a shot. You want to get in a hit. You want to get in a takeaway. You want to get, I get it, I understand.

This one's going to be fascinating. The crowd's going to love him, as we all know, and we'll see how he performs on the ice after being away for as long as he was. Zach Phillips, as we begin to sort of wind down here and try to look for the runway. Anything we're leaving on the table and what's been happening in the chat? I saw Colby encouraging people to rip Johnny.

That happened pretty much the entire show. So that was a fun thing to watch myself. I do have one thing here that i think was we should talk about it's in dallas tonight there are plenty of games plenty of things to talk about but in dallas there is a player making his debut leanne bixel you uh like we know much more about him than i do yeah he's uh like he's he's one of those and uh if you're watching right now on youtube uh you're you're seeing a picture of him uh left hand shot defenseman you know there's been a there was that awkward time where they won stay in north america chose to go back uh to europe much would have preferred him to stay here. But nonetheless, he's one of those players,

highly regarded, future of the... ...this in the blog this week, that it's going to be really hard considering what the Dallas Stars are hoping to do this year. And as I mentioned, there's no pushback on it. This is happening. The Dallas Stars are looking for big names to bring in. They believe this is the year.

It's going to be really tough. It's going to be really tough to hang on to Maverick Bork. It's going to be really tough to hang on to Logan Stankhoven, although I still do think that it would take a lot, like a lot to get Stankhoven away from the Dallas Stars. And Leon Bixle is going to be, you know, one one of those names you're going to hear in a lot of trades. Like whenever people are engaged with the Dallas Stars, and we're talking about big names here, that's one of the names that gets brought up.

So if you're curious to see what Bixle is all about and who your team might be getting in case your team moves one of its big defensemen or big forwards to the Dallas Stars. Starting tonight, you can have a look at at Leon Bixle. It's been a while getting there, but here he is playing tonight for the Dallas Stars. Anything from the chat we should go over? Anything we're leaving on the table here today, you think? Not too much.

Everyone was more so wrapped up in the conversation, less so asking you very specific things or future things. So I think you did a wonderful job here today, Jeff, of including them for the questions that did pop up there. One of the things that came up there, Jeremiah at the end, why is it important to play hockey? He just said what he does for the city of Vancouver does not mean a thing. His level of play, him playing, I guess he's more asking about

why is it that they're so excited for JT Miller's return? He's a unique player. Why they suck on home ice and they're excited, I guess, is part wrapped up in that. Yeah. So guys like JT Miller, there's not a lot of them that exist. Like this is why everyone is, you know, going crazy about Brady Kachuk or go crazy about, ooh, Sam Bennett's on her expiring contract.

Maybe my team could get Sam Bennett. Florida Panthers want to win another Stanley Cup. They don't want to let go of Sam Bennett. Those guys are rare, and those are some of the guys that you love come playoff time. JT Miller is a really unique blend of new school skill and old school mentality. He'll hit, he'll fight, he's got skills, he's not shy.

Whenever I talk about, again, I'll go back to brady kachuk and ever sorry michael anlauer um whenever we talk about brady kachuk you say like yeah every team wants him or someone like him and you can say the exact same thing about jt miller you know penguin tried to get him years ago they're not stupid like a lot of teams have tried to get JT Miller like back when there was that time where Rutherford was talking about needing cap flexibility when he took over and we need to see some bodies out the door and I need to be able to

maneuver and the trade talk was wild out there and there were big names and JT Miller's name was one of them. For Vancouver, thankfully, they kept them and they didn't move off of them. But the main thing that I think fans appreciate are hardworking players. And whether it's big body check, whether it's fight, whether it's stand up for teammates

and also produce, let's not forget, he's a 100-point guy. Has been a 100-point guy. It's pretty easy if you're a hockey fan to get behind JT Miller. It really, really is at the end of all of it. I think people are sympathetic even though people don't know what it was. I think people are sympathetic to someone

that's needed to take a leave and then come back. I think it's going to be a warm, rousing ovation and return for jt miller tonight do you disagree i got something here no i don't i do i agree um i have some news for you actually uh your friend elliot has just tweeted three minutes ago anaheim's trevor zgris had surgery today to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee he's out six weeks it's actually much much better than was initially feared so good news for zgris and the ducks the way that i saw the way that we all saw him go off did you not think well there's the season yeah when you said when you said i'm like oh that one that one looks like a season ender. They dodged a major bullet there.

I don't know. Well, and today they did. What the future is going to be for Trevor Zegers in Anaheim. No one really knows. His name has been out there for a long time. But still, as far as the human being goes, you don't want to see someone's season completely scotched after that. But, man, it looks so bad.

It looks just awful. Okay, well, that's good news. What'd you say, six weeks? Six weeks. Yeah, that's what Elliot said. Like breaking sticks, no problem. That's easy. Yeah, that's all I got for news and stuff.

I don't know. Do you want to go out of here with a little positive from the NHL or something that I caught today on Twitter? I thought this was awesome. This is great. I got a little story for it. Let's air this.

So this is an NHL new spot they put out. Okay, so new spot from the National Hockey League. Enjoy. Tippin is out of control these days. Tippin scores! Sway but a tough one for a goaltender. Everywhere you look, Tippin, Tippin, Tippin. Tippin goal!

Under the arm of sorrow. Sometimes all that they can stand is. This goes off the left leg. Everywhere you look, tip, tip, tip. Tip and goal. Under the arm of sorrow. Sometimes all they did was stand it. This goes off the left leg. That's pretty much how you're going to beat Marksman. It's always when you're trying to save. Score. Tip and drop.

No chance for odds here. What? I love tipping. Can he get it? First hand in front of the net. Could have used Wayne Simmons. Great tipper. Could have used Joe Pavelski there in front of the net.

Other great tippers. Nick Antropoff was an underrated tipper as well in front of the net. So how many times do you think a general manager has said this? When you're doing – or a coach. Actually, a coach is probably a better one. How many times do you think a coach has said this? When you're doing video review and you're going over the goaltending and the goaltending coach is there and goals go in and the goaltending coach always will always say oh it was tipped oh it was tipped oh is it how many times do you think a coach has ever said

does every effing tipped goal have to go in do they all have to go in like oh if it was tipped then it's just a free it's a free does every single tip need to go in because every goalie coach this use is always always tipped always tipped how many times do you think coaches have said does can he stop one can he stop one tipped shot please well it got in the um in in the first documentary that came out about the leafs in the series against the habs and the playoffs a few years ago in covid remember the scene of Sheldon Keefe yelling at the goalie coach and he said oh it went off him it went off him there and he turned around he's like I can't remember exactly what it was but it was along the lines of like enough of the excuses can't we get one like stop one shot please can we stop one I'll tell you, man.

I was in Dallas a few years ago. It was fascinating. This was when me and Elliot were doing the pod together. And we went down there and we were doing a number of interviews with the Dallas Stars players. They were really gracious with their time. It's a wonderful organization. And I remember I wanted to get there early before the skate because I just heard these legends of like Pavelski being out there and just puck after puck after puck.

It's true, or it was true when Pavelski played. It would just be like they'd have buckets of pucks and just firing pucks and just tip, tip, tip, tip, tip, tip, but doing it his whole life, right? Doing it, you know, going back to college and probably before that as well. Like that is just part of his daily routine is doing a half an hour of just tipping shots. He was, I mean, Wayne, as I mentioned,

like, he was great, but Wayne Simmons was really good. Trying to think of who the best at tips. Anders Lee's really good at tips in front of the net, but for my money, Joe Pavelski. Joe Pavelski. Joe Pavelski. What's the old line?

Too old, too slow, too good. Joe Pavelski. Too old, too slow, too good. Joe Pavelski. I miss Joe Pavelski in the game. I miss Joe Pavelski in the game. Okay. Thanks to our guests here today.

Thanks to Jason Greger for stopping by from the DFO Rundown and his own show, four hours worth every single day. Thanks to Matt Sikaris, one half of Sikaris and Price. On behalf of Zach and everyone here at Daily Faceoff and at The Sheet, thanks so much for joining me today. Friday is tomorrow, and we're working on the technology right now. Right, Zach?

Correct. So we can get a clean line with our Friday regular, our regular stop with Brian Burke. As we like to say around Berkey, let's get ready to grumble. Brian Burke, tomorrow on The Sheet. Thanks for joining us today.

Back tomorrow, 3 o'clock Eastern, noon Pacific, for more of this program. Enjoy 14 games tonight. Pick one, pick two, pick three, pick a handful. Watch them all. Enjoy hockey tonight. Talk to you later. I spent 16 hours last night

Every day this week Every day this month I can't get out my head Lost all ambitions day to day Cause you can call it a rut I went to the doc, man He tried to give me a little medicine I'm like, nah, man, that's fine

I'm not against those methods, but I knew It's me, myself, and how that's gonna be fixed in my mind I turned on the music I turned on the music I turned on the music It's enough, I don't think you're sometimes losing I've been on the dance the way I roll Mmm, in the dead dark night

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