The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Canadian Conundrum ft. Nick Alberga & Irfaan Gaffar

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

Jeff Marek is joined by Nick Alberga and Irfaan Gaffar to discuss the ongoing injury issues with Auston Matthews, Leafs trade targets, the JT Miller and Elias Pettersson drama, what the Canucks do going forward, and much more...SHOW INDEX:(00:00) Intro(04:55) Ty Emberson(06:40) Jonathan Toews(08:24) On the Sheet Today(11:48) Blackhawks/Pat Maroon(16:14) The 106(20:47) Nick Alberga(43:55) Irfaan Gaffar(57:44) Closing ThoughtsReach 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.

Hey Latvia, chin up. What an outstanding performance by that team. We're going to get there in a couple of moments. Sweden advances, they win their quarterfinal against Latvia. More on that in a moment, but we'll kick off the showinal day and tonight Team Canada will face off against Czechia. Does that sound familiar to anybody? Does anybody know the name Michael Harabel? He's a second round draft pick of the Utah hockey team, Utah hockey club as it were. And he's really good. And in a tournament like this, a really good goaltender can very much steal a game. Michael Harabel can very much steal a game. Marton is in. And his linemate with the Brampton Steelheads, Rakoff, is out. Wouldn't want to keep them together, even though they shoot the lights out in the OHL.

But I digress. I was having a conversation with someone this morning about Team Canada, and this person brought up a point with me, and this is a longtime junior hockey observer who has worked in the Hockey Canada system before, who said the one thing lacking, it seems, is Canada used to always have a very specific identity and way that they played.

And it was a very controlled aggression that they had. It was a super aggressive team, but they're always able to walk that line and not step over. And we started talking about certain players. we started talking about certain players and the one that I keep circling back to as perhaps the best example of walking that line and not crossing over is someone who in a lot of other aspects of his hockey career did just that and that's Steve Downey now as you'll recall this would have been geez I want to say 2006 Brent Sutter who was the head coach of Team Canada at that point, put Steve Downey on the team. Steve Downey had very much a reputation as being a dangerous, violent, angry hockey player,

albeit highly skilled. Make no bones about it, Steve Downey was a very skilled player, but he could never really control and contain his rage. But he could never really control and contain his rage. But for some reason, somehow, Brent Sutter was able to get to Steve Downey. And we can recall games against the United States, specifically guys going at Downey, trying to goad him into doing something dumb. And we saw something out of Downey that we hadn't seen before.

Discipline. Sure, the anger was still there. Sure, the anger was still there. Sure, the aggression was still there. But the hallmark of Canadian hockey used to be controlled aggression. That is gone. It's been replaced by nervous shooters, a lack of goal scoring, and an aggression that often crosses the line. And not even aggression, just blatant dumb penalties. And the thing you always need to consider as well, you cannot expect IIHF officiating to be anywhere close to what you get in the Western League, the Quebec League, or the Ontario Hockey

League. So there's no point complaining about it. The coaches should all know this. The players should all know this. The standard is different for IIHF officials. One more quick thought on Steve Downey. I can recall talking to Peter DeBoer, who is now, of course, the coach of the Dallas Stars. But when he was coaching the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL, the year they were going to the Memorial Cup, the Rangers, he made a trade with the Peterborough Peets. Jeff Toohey was the GM there. Made a trade and brought in Steve Downey. And I can recall having a conversation with DeBoer and saying,

listen, I'm not a coach. I've never been a coach. But I'm looking at this move and I'm kind of scratching my head here, Peets. He's violent. He's dangerous. He'll take penalties. He'll hurt kids. He'll get your team in trouble, et cetera, et cetera.

Wrong side of the refs. All of it. And DeBoer team in trouble, et cetera, et cetera. Wrong side of the refs, all of it. And DeBoer said to me, you know what? I'm not going to disagree with you on all these things, Jeff, but your problem is you're not a coach. And as a coach, and here's the money line I've always remembered. He said, as a coach, I would rather try to tame a tiger than paint stripes on a kitty cat.

Do we see tigers or do we see kitty cats tonight as Canada faces off against Chequia? Welcome to The Sheep, Thursday, January the 2nd. Here we go. you like that one zach tigers or kitty cats who do we see tonight you were there in ottawa you witnessed all of that we're going to get there in a couple of moments really quickly before we give you the rundown I want to draw your attention OilersNation.com

Tyler Uremchuk has an interesting piece on Ty Emberson and this coming off a report from Elliot Friedman who I worked with very very briefly

in my career for about five minutes Elliot talking about the two sides wanting to engage or rather the Oilers wanting to engage with Ty Emberson and that guy. There's a shot of it if you're watching us on YouTube right now.

What could a contract extension look like for the Oilers and Ty Emberson? A couple of things here. One, Tyler talks about, quote, he doesn't make the same number of panic-induced mistakes that other players with under 100 games of NHL experience makes. He skates well, can make a pretty solid first pass. Those are all things that the Oilers should value as they look to build a blue line

that can contend for a Stanley Cup. The other thing that this Oilers front office should really be focusing on is trying to load this roster up with value contracts. I don't believe there's been any conversation, just to get a couple of things else out there, I don't believe there's been any conversation just to get a couple of things else out there. I don't think there's been any conversations between the two sides about a contract. I do believe that both sides are interested and it wouldn't surprise me if at the end

of all of this, this ends up looking like a deal not unlike what Braden Pahal got with the Calgary Flames two-year deal, 1.2, 1.3. There's a lot of guys sort of in that range for what Ty Emberson does and Braden Pahal do. So just a quick note there. And while we're talking about the Edmonton Oilers, as Tyler did point out on his show as well, with the Jonathan Daves interview in GQ,

which is a fascinating read, by the way. I'd encourage everybody to give this one an eyeball. With him flirting about, there it is, Jonathan Daves opens up about his healing trip to India and whether he'll ever play hockey again. He wants to give it one more shot. Ty and Liam had a good

whack at the pinata about, hey, Stan Bowman was his general manager with the Chicago Blackhawks could there be a reunion of player and general manager I think that there's a natural symmetry there that makes a lot of sense but anyone and I've always maintained this

players that are really in tune with their body and if you read the Jonathan Tabes piece in GQ you can tell this guy's really in tune with their body. And if you read the Jonathan Tabes piece in GQ, you can tell this guy's really in tune with his body, always has been. I remember listening to him on the Aubrey Marcus podcast a few years ago and said like, this guy is like in tune

with like every cell in his body, including his brain as well. That's for another conversation. But one of the things that guys will talk about is as they age, what recovery is like for them. And when we talk about hockey players that want to go and play down south in Florida, Tampa, Dallas, et cetera,

one of the things they talk about, because we all focus in on the taxes, and listen, it's legitimate. Guys want to put as much of their money in their jeans as possible. But the other thing that players talk about that people don't is how much better your body feels when you play in the southern united states like you walk out of the plane and you're not shivering you know it's not snowing you're not all bundled up you know you walk off the plane your body feels great you leave the rink and there's sunshine and your body feels good it's so much better for your health physically and your health mentally when you play

in those environments so if jon Jonathan Taves does come back, I know there'll be the warm and fuzzies about Winnipeg and maybe Edmonton and reuniting with his old general manager in Chicago. It wouldn't surprise me if it does work out that Jonathan Taves can come back and we don't know if he can still play at the NHL level. It wouldn't surprise me if he ends up

in a warmer climb and climate than we have here in Canada. Okay, Zach, on the sheet today, what are we looking at as far as topics go, as far as guests go as well? We're going to focus in on a lot of the drama around the NHL. We're going to focus on a couple of fun things as well. Glad to have you aboard today. We will talk about Chicago Blackhawks losing at the Winter Classic. I want to play back something from the Morning Cup of Hockey

show today with a really, really excellent answer that Pat Maroon gave when he was asked about the game itself. We'll bring that to you here in a couple of seconds. Also up for grabs on the show today, what is number 106? 106 is the miles

per hour that Tage Thompson shot a puck a couple of nights ago in that Buffalo Sabres game. We're going to get on that page as well, the game against Colorado. We've got a couple of things about not just the speed of shots, but which shots as well. I'm doing a poor job explaining this, but I'll expand in a couple of moments. We'll talk about Team Canada facing off against Czechia. Did I mention that Marton and Rakop aren't playing with each other? That they just can't sub out for one another, even though they might be the most dynamic pair across the CHL.

Have we mentioned that yet? Has anybody mentioned that yet? And has it found its way to Hockey Canada? Clearly the answer is no. Nick Alburga from Leafs Morning Take will stop by. We'll talk a little bit about what Jay Rosehill said on the program with regards to JT Miller as well. And sort of comparing him to how Dion Phaneuf used to run the room hot

for rookies. And we'll talk about Austin Matthews and the future there. And does this mean that Austin Matthews can't, shouldn't, both play at the upcoming Four Nations? Speaking of JT Miller, Irfan Ghaffar will talk to us about, I don't want to be too cynical about this, but the kindergarten fight in Vancouver with the Canucks and JT Miller and Elias Pedersen. We had Brad Richardson on what podcast was it? Oh, the Shane O'Brien podcast.

Missing Curfew. Missing Curfew. Talking about JT Miller running it pretty hot with Elias Pedersen. We'll play that for you and we'll get Irv's thoughts on what's next as that team faces off against the Seattle Kraken, Petey and Miller. The saga continues. It's no longer like Zach. It's no longer whispered.

I mean, it had been whispered for a couple of years. Now it's full on out there. Despite at least Patterson saying there's nothing there. And GT Miller saying there's nothing there. There's something there because we've got current coaches, ex coaches, players,

current and ex all commenting on it. And captain, captain. Yes. And now the general manager as well, an interview with Ian McIntyre at sports net pretty much saying, yeah, we've got a problem here. So who,

who are you fooling guys? Anyway, where are we starting today? Zach, where are we starting today? Uh, let's start with the black Hawks and morning cup of hockey. Let's go there.

Obviously, we have to talk to Laz ahead of the Winter Classic, and he was teeing that one up, teeing up Pat Maroon, but a tough loss for them. And we got some comments following that. I think the one that really stood out was his comments on the loss and the current state of the Blackhawks following that one. For me personally, I go back and sit down in the room. It's quiet.

I feel like we lost game seven of the Stanley Cup playoffs because you look at the league and you see all the games you play. You look at the schedule. You mark this one on your calendar, right? This is the best game if you're any team and you're playing the Winter Classic. You mark this on your calendar. This is like a playoff atmosphere, playoff game.

And it's unfortunate that we did this. And I feel bad for the fans, myself included, because as leadership or as players, when you put the Blackhawk jersey on, there's so much history around it. You want to be elevated and you want to get to your game. And like you said, we had these three-game winning streak. We played well, and then we laid agree and it's kind of been trickling where it's like it's going the other way and uh unfortunately we got to figure

this out soon uh it's fascinating eh it felt like we just lost game seven you know it's interesting we talked to to laz about this um before the Classic. We talked about for a lot of NHL players, when you turn pro and you make it to the NHL, a number of different boxes pop up. And there's the big one is a Stanley Cup box that you want to check. And there's individual trophies and awards and milestones and first game, first goal, first fight, first, you know, whatever, first hundred points or whatever. first 100 points or whatever. And by the time most players' careers are done, one of the boxes they want to check is playing in a winter classic. And we know how many winter classics Chicago has played at. We all get it. We all have a laugh.

There are other teams in the NHL. Chicago doesn't seem to do very well in these things. But you know, was it Conor Bedard talked about how much people pay a lot of money for these things? So we come out, we lay an egg like that. But now to hear, this is part of the great thing about having maroon on morning cup of hockey is you get him first thing in the morning and like he's a bluntly honest guy like he's gonna you ask him a question he's gonna give you an answer i didn't expect it to be that emotionally deep like you'd hear the pain in his voice like i feel awful like we felt horrible

losing that game you build it all up so many people come it's it's historic it's wriggly it's all these different things and everyone's all excited about it and then we lay an egg in front of all of our fans in a game that the nhl is trying to get as many eyeballs on as they can like i don't know but i don't know about you like did that really hit you it's like a really profound deep emotional answer yeah and the other thing i was gonna say there's like then the weight of it too is like people like oh it's a blackhawks like whatever your team's not good you're losing games whatever yada yada yada that's pat maroon like that's a guy who's won cups he's gone three runs he's been important right he's he's been important Like he's experienced a lot, like for him to be saying that

in this moment and talking about how like emotionally draining it was and how kind of, um, I don't want to put words in his mouth, but kind of, he, he alludes to like, it's embarrassing, right. To have that for sure. It's like that to put that out there was very honest. and I didn't really expect for them to take it that much on the chin. Like there are NHL players you don't want to lose, but for them to be that honest about it and him to say that on the show, I thought was very impactful. We tend to forget that how much of a huge stage it is for players. I really do. I really think we forget like how huge a stage this is and all the eyeballs are on it.

So it's just, it's not just another game. We may look at this thing and say, okay, it's not perfect hockey. The guys are going at about 85% because all the conditions aren't controlled, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But for these guys, it means a lot. And I don't know.

I just want to make sure that we got that out there because that was a really nice piece from a great show, Morning Cup of Hockey. And anytime I can, you know, big up Pat Maroon for giving an honest answer, and that's what that guy does, we will do it here on the sheet. Okay, are we doing 106 now?

Because I think people in the chat... Yeah, let's do the 106. People in the chat might have a really good time with this one. So, Tate Thompson, right? New Year's Eve game, Buffalo facing off against Colorado. Do we have the viz of him just hammering this puck?

Let's air that quick. Right side. It's up there ahead of him. It'll drop for Bryce. And Bryce sees Thompson who calls for a great blast on that. Rebound backhanded just wide. Thompson shot 106. 1-0-6.

Right away it flashes up at the top of the screen. So a couple of things there um just we're all on the same page is daniel char in the nhl with the hardest at 108 ally of frady with a wooden stick 105.2 but the record uh in the american hockey league skills martin firk and i wish they would just would have called them up for one of these nhL all-star skills events just to watch them ring it up uh 109.2 for for Martin Furk so that is the standing record but um a couple of things here got me to thinking um you don't really get a moment to take a slap shot like we see at the all-star skills where the puck is just sitting there and

you feel like a huge one, you walk into it, right? How about as a little massaging of this, like we've, we'll, we'll float all these out to Patrick Burke next time he's on. Cause he's big part of it was Steve mayor.

Yeah. He feeds before the, for the, for the hardest shot. It's one, it's hardest one timers that you get, that you get fed a pass for your one time you can take a couple you take a couple of strides into it still but like when do you ever see a

shot like it doesn't replicate what happens in a game because you never take a slap shot like that how about the idea of taking a couple of strides into one or just feeding feeding one timers imagine the guy standing there on like the dot and you just step in at the top of the circle and that thing feathers across the edge to you as you lean into it. Yes. Oh my God. Yeah. That would be exciting. I like that.

I'll take that one. The other thing that I always wonder about too is as an extension of the hardest shot, which is always a slap shot, who do you think has the hardest wrist shot? I mean, Matthews will be in there clearly yeah you know who's always looks maybe it's just because of who he is but to me his looks mean it's nathan mckinnon it looks like an angry shot i might be completely wrong like maybe it's like maybe it's not but it's just him it screams angry and everything everything nathan mckinnon does it looks like he's angry i but it's just him. It screams angry and fast. Everything Nathan McKinnon does, it looks like he's angry. I'd love to watch him eat breakfast.

Just like angry at the spoon. Like angry at his plate. He's like so disgusted with it. There was a brief moment in time. I'm going to get to Alberg here. There was a brief moment in time where Nathan McKinnon was actually happy. Actually, there were two. One, when his Halifax Mooseheads won the memorial cup that would have been in saskatoon and two when the avalanche won the stanley cup and i think he smiled for i think

when you combine the memorial cup smile and the stanley smile, probably a cozy 13, maybe 14 minutes. Yeah. And then he was back to being just angry, focused, hate everything that's not a championship Nathan McKinnon. So I agree with you on that one. I think we'll throw Conor Bedard into that mix. By the way, there'll be a lot of historical people that follow the game historically that'll say Joe Sackick, and rightfully so.

There'll be a lot that say Wendell Clark, and rightfully so. You know Gordie Howe for the old-timers, rightfully so. You know who may have had the hardest wrist shot out of all of them? Sneakily. Sneakily. His last name is Howe, but his first name is Mark. Mark Howe used to wire. I don't know if I've ever seen Mark Howe take it, he was a forward and then he was a defenseman

and he was part of that big forward, the Philadelphia Flyers who went to the Stanley Cup Final twice one of the most underrated players in the history of the game Cordy Howe's son Mark honestly Zach, that guy could wire a wrist shot, like you'll hear a lot about Sackick and Bure and Bossy and Kovalchuk, etc.

That's a good one for the chat to get going on. But for my money, Mark Howe, Philadelphia Flyers. I'll take him all day. Okay, we mentioned Matthews a couple of seconds ago. The issues continue. And on Leafs Morning Take, one of the issues was JT Miller and Jay Rosehill's comments. We'll play that in a couple of seconds

as we welcome aboard the host of Leafs Morning Take, the one and only, my longtime friend, Nick Alberga. Nick, how are you, pal? Oh, look at that. Shawn Michaels. WrestleMania 10, Merrick. Here we go. Wow.

Look at that shirt. Were you there? No. I just bought it on WWE.com. I love it, man. How are you? Well, that's a good look. You continue to be the man fashion forgot.

And I don't care. I don't care a bit. OK, really, really quickly, because we always play these guessing games. Right. So I want to go back to something off the Leaf page, but on the J.T. Miller page as it relates to the Leafs page. Zach, I'm not sure if you have this clip queued up, but if you do, can we play Jay Rosehill's comments on Leafs Morning Take discussing JT Miller and how he reminded him of a former Maple Leafs captain? Let's have a listen to this.

It reminds me of Dion Phaneuf. When he got to Toronto, he'd be hard on guys, and he'd chirp, and he'd always talking, and he'd get under guys' skin, and sometimes he'd chirp and he's always talking and he'd get under guys skin and sometimes he'd pick a guy that didn't like that and would shy away from it and he'd smell blood and he'd go after that guy all the time and you know not to the point where guys are in tears but like damn close like they you know you can you can go too far you can push too far and and instead of motivating and challenging you get to be putting

down and i'm not saying dion was doing that but some guys just don't respond to that and more than ever nowadays these younger players don't respond to it i remember when i was you know leaving north american hockey going these 20 year olds if you if you say one thing about them that might be like you know a little bit of a challenge or a little bit of a do you agree with that does that motivate you and they're just like how dare how dare like no one's ever said that to me my mom's always said i'm incredible my agents as i'm incredible my dad's as i'm incredible my coaches i'm incredible like what do you and you just shut down flabbergasted just very mentally weak and um i'm not saying that's with elliott petterson necessarily but there's definitely

an element to an old school guy like Miller and maybe a new school kid like Pettersson and is not jiving well which is obviously unfortunate for the connect okay so one of the first things I thought of there was Blake Wheeler and Patrick Liney with the Winnipeg Jets like this is a well told story and listen we know that I know that Dion Feneff ran the room a little bit hot too. I wondered how that rubbed a young defenseman like Luke Shen, for example. But before we get on the Austin Matthews,

John Tavares, Maple Leafs page, Leafs and Islanders tonight, Nick, and get your thoughts on the team and what may be next, how do you read this JT Miller, Elias Pettersson situation? Irfan Ghaffar is going to come on a little bit later on, but it's one of those things that it's impossible not to have a take on. What's yours?

It is very 2025, Merrick. Whereas, like, I wonder where accountability has gone. I wonder where intensity has gone. I'm just going to be blunt about it. I'm in favor of JT Miller here. I think if you were to ask me who I want in a playoff game, JT Miller, Elias Patterson, I laugh you out of the room. It's JT Miller. But the unfortunate part about this is they're going to have to trade JT Miller, which is

frightening. It would be frightening for me as somebody who covers the Vancouver Canucks or nevermind is a fan of the Vancouver Canucks. But I think it's very 2025 and the fact that you can't handle situations like you could maybe 10 years ago. And JT Miller, I think, is another example of that. I think Rosie hit the nail on the head with his breakdown where it's like back in the day, maybe you can get away with that and somebody would respond. Now the guy just completely shuts down. I think that's what we've seen here in Vancouver the last little while.

You know, the best example that I can think of, I brought this up a couple of different times, Nick. I'm glad you mentioned that because I've always been of the firm belief that at the end of the day, whether it's a hockey team or an office, you don't have to like someone to do business with them. Flat out, you don't, right? And to me, the true mark of a professional is being able to work with someone who you really don't like some people can do it others get boo-boo face and you know take their ball and go home but i think of like glory teams right like heavyweight win a number of cups in a row teams and one of the best ones you know early in in my life for that montreal canadians

team that won four in a row before the islanders went and you know ripped off four in a row themselves and on that team on a scale of how much bob gainey and serge savard hated each other on a scale of one to ten it was about a 13 maybe a 14. And that carried on when they were managers and almost came to blows during a manager's meeting. Actually, it was Gary Bettman's first meeting in the NHL. Brian Burke was with him. And Gary said, what's happening here is people are clearing away tables, Nick, and Ganey and Savard are rolling up their sleeves.

Bettman says, what are we seeing? And Burke, he goes, well, you're going to see a fight, Gary. And he's like, wow, I've come a long way here from the NBA. This is a different breed of cat. But those guys got rings. Like those guys were able to park that, and it never became a thing. And they won Stanley Cups. So the big topic of conversation on the show is you played the clip there,

but you buried the lead. We talked about JT Miller for Morgan Raleigh. We're not going to talk about that. The one thing I sat up list, you know, just thinking last night about guys who hate to lose. You talk about Nathan McKinnon. He would be number one

on my list of hating to lose. When I look at the Vancouver Canucks, JT Miller hates to lose. It's nothing against Elias Patterson. I think he's a tremendous player. I think there's a lot of players with that skill in this league who don't hate to lose.

Like when I watch JT Miller, I know he's not golfing the day after being eliminated in the Stanley Cup playoffs. If you catch my drift. Yeah, I get it. But at the same time, though, the one thing that I always point out is it takes a lot of different personalities and a lot of different types of players that are going to win that, that, that help you win Stanley Cups. Like I know it may sound weird, but I don't think you win Stanley Cups with 23 JT Millers. I think you need other players. They're going to have different points of view and different ways to play and different skill sets. Like that's the thing about like if you look at all the great teams, one of the common denominators in all of it is so many different players all do different things with different personalities.

It's a matter of who's professional enough to make it work. And that's what I keep coming back to with this. And I'll talk to Irv about this in a couple of minutes. I keep coming back to what the Vancouver situation is. Does anyone want to be a pro here? Does anyone want to be professional enough to say, I don't like this guy. He doesn't like me, but you know what?

We're trying to win a Stanley cup here. And you know, uh, uh, Miller and Pedersen are probably aren't going to have their names. Uh, I mean, it might be close beside each other on the Stanley cup if they win, but at the same time, we're both going to get our names on the Stanley cup if we're successful and we can park this thing because what Vancouver is building here is is winking towards being one of the elite teams in the Western Conference I think your breakdown is is bang on especially when you look at sort of the comparable there where you can't have all the same player on the same roster like it's put the pro and professional like I'm so tired of hearing this story I'm trying

to figure out who's at fault is it the leadership leadership core? Is it the GM? Is it the president? Is it the head coach? Is it the players? At the end of the day, you are paid a lot of money to play hockey and produce. So just start with the whining, shut up and start playing. I'll give you another example. Tampa Bay Lightning. Okay. Tampa Bay Lightning, John Tortorella and Vincent LeCavalier openly hated each other. Couldn't stand each other. John wanted Jay Feaster to trade Vincent LeCavalier. Vincent LeCavalier wanted Jay Feaster to fire John Tortorella. And you know what ended it?

Jay Feaster sat them both down and said, I'm not trading that guy and I'm not firing that guy. You two guys figure it out. And what did they do in 2003? And they did pretty well. Yeah. Yeah. I would say, I mean, moral of the story, figure it out or move on. I think the bigger question here for me is, yeah, you're right.

Sorry. Same thing. But the difference for me is like, sit these guys down and figure it out. Or it's like the question of how did you extend Elias Patterson to that type of money when you weren't. Like this is ridiculous to me that we're even talking about this. But it is like the biggest story in the NHL right now. You gave this guy 11 and a half sheets a year long term. And he can't play in the same sandbox as his teammate like it's it's ridiculous to me but it's very very 25 and

these guys are very soft i'll just say it a lot of these players are very very soft they're coddled and i 1000 agree with what rosie said earlier today uh okay on the tr Maple Leafs page, we don't know what the Austin Matthews injury is. We're all throwing darts. Oh, it's his neck. No, it must be his back. He's not taking one-timers.

That must be a upper slash lower back. We flat out don't know. But if you're a Maple Leafs fan, you're not feeling very good about your team right now or your team's prospects right now. One of the questions, we'll get to this in a second, has to be the Four Nations question for Austin Matthews if he's battling this. But where are you, Nick Alberga, on the Austin Matthews injury today?

Simple question. What are we doing here? Like, last time I checked, it's 2025. It is January 2nd, 2025. you're first in the atlantic division you're nine and five without your captain you've been fine hell your power play is better without the guy what is this like rush to get him back in the lineup like he's taking these morning skates with a non-contact jersey but then like very perplexed and puzzled by sort of the wording of his little scrum the other day.

Why not just shut this guy down for a couple of weeks and see how his body reacts? You know, part of me just just wonders. And I hope not. I hope this is not the case. I wonder about what's happening in early February and if this is part of the equation in the conversation. I don't know if you agree with that. Well, here, let me let me follow one thing up there really quickly. When you look at the record without Austin Matthewss what does that tell you about this team and i'm not suggesting

for one second that they're a better team without austin matthews that would be falling i mean yeah we're going to take almost 70 goals out of the lineup and somehow we're going to be better but isn't this a statement on the rest of that team like if i told you the beginning of the season nick you know what Let's take 70 goals out of the lineup. Let's take the new captain out of the lineup. Where do you think

this Maple Leafs team is going to be? This Maple Leafs team is just fine. Thank you very much. You're obviously going to be a better team without him, but I think that this does show

something. I don't know what it is, but here I go again. You know, Carter Hutton was talking about this a couple of weeks ago saying every year we say, well, this Leafs team is different. This Leafs team is different. It does feel like this Leafs team is different.

All I would say to Matthews, pack your bags, head off to Robida Island. We'll see you in the playoffs, buddy. Very Kucherov. Very Mark Stone. It's not going to happen, but you're so right. I think it's an indictment on the plan, the improved blue line. Craig Bruby has done a great job. Lane Lambert has done an excellent job.

We went over our New Year's resolutions today. Majorly concerned with Mark Savard and the power play right now. Ultimately, it's cost them playoffs in the past. If this continues, then I think this time around it's going to cost them. But the crease is solidified with Anthony Stolarz. When healthy, him and Waller are a really, really good tandem. But I think it has to be an indictment on the team on sort of pulling their

weight. And we've seen it with a different variation, whether it's Tavares, Nylander, Marner, Matthews. Whenever one of these guys or a couple of these guys leaves the lineup for some reason, Merrick, they really, really pick up their weight and do their thing. But this is going to become a bigger, bigger story over the next couple weeks if we don't have any clarity on it, right?

John Tavares, facing off against the Islanders this evening. It's always fun going back there. If you're John Tavares, sometimes you're successful, sometimes you're not. We all know what happened the last time these two teams met. Thank you very much. We'll see what happens. Islanders have their own issues right now.

How do you read this season? Is this a, because I know you're big on revenge game and revenge tour. Has he already started his revenge tour? It's a really good question. I'm probably subscribing to the fact that John Tavares

is the same John Tavares, but I think people get caught in the hoopla of the minutia of the player and what's happening per game I will say like game to game he has been more consistent this year but every time I look the production is right there I think it's it's maybe a added weight of not having the captaincy not even having to talk to the media every day I think that's playing an impact and I genuinely like, he's just feeling good about life and just doing his thing. And it's a contract year. Like I'm big in revenge. I'm big at contract years,

but yeah, this has been a, uh, an Epic story, but I was, I wasn't quick to sound the alarm bells in the off season when people were like, Oh,

this guy's finished. He's our third line center. He, uh, he has defied the odds. I think since he was like 15, when people said he couldn't skate right yep with the uh with the oshawa generals uh brad selwood uh i believe um the one thing about

tavaras still great in front of the net still great in tight really good along the boards as far as being a board player he's always been he's always been, he's always been elite. He's always been one of the best ones. The problem is for Tavares, and I'll take you back again to that, to the OHL days, even before that in the GTHL, open ice has never been his friend.

Open, open ice has never been John Tavares' friend, but that's okay when you're as creative as John Tavares is. And again, like in tight, this guy's real good. Do you subscribe to, like I'm a big fan of Adam Oates. Like usually, I love Adam.

I think he's like a crazy hockey scientist. Like I'd love to see his basement, which must be like this hockey lab and he has like the coat and the beakers and all that where he manufactures a lot of his theories, which generally are are all correct and it's like you listen to you talk to the people that he trains and it's it's a cult but like a lot of it makes sense but one of the things because he loves marner oats loves marner

and adam oats's point about marner has always been how come it's always Marner that has to help everybody else out? And there's never any support for Marner. It's got to be Marner helps Matthews. Marner helps this guy. Where's the, this guy is going to come in to help Marner and his game? Where are you at on Mitch Marner this year, contract year? If he's so great, why hasn't he played center? Why did they never pick him to

play center didn't he play center and junior he played i he no he played hang on he played center when he played with don mills and vaughn before that he did play the wing because the line was marner on the wing matthew kachuk and christian devorak devorak was the center with the london knights but I mean, I understand. The guy's an exceptional player. I think what gets lost in the conversation in this market is more so the postseason. I call them empty calorie points, Merrick, where it's like you look to the postseason

and he might lead the team in points, but he picks up like four apples in a 6-3 blowout win in Game 3. I'm talking about big moments. I mean, we can correlate it to John Tavares. I think there's this misconception out there that John Tavares can't contribute, hasn't produced in the Stanley Cup playoffs. I think that's so inaccurate. I think you look at some of the biggest moments for this franchise the last couple of years. JT, of course, scoring that goal that propels him to round two for the first time in 20 years. Like his DNA is all over

the big time moments. And I think that's all these fans are asking for, for Marner, like show up in game seven, show up in a potentially clinching game six. Like I think you see a lot of his action happen when the team's down or, or sort of out of things as opposed to like being that marquee guy as a Nylander has done. You know, Matthews has done it before Tavares has done it. But I understand where Oates is coming from. I think it's such a polarizing conversation in this market. And I think a lot of people are contentious about it because of what he's done

or lack thereof in the Stanley Cup playoffs where he goes missing for games on end. And, you know, you could say the same thing. To dovetail this conversation, Elias Pettersson, same thing. Guy gets paid lots of money, gets to the playoffs. I know he had that great bubble showing, but last year the guy was nowhere to be found so it's not just a marner issue it's around the league i think a lot of top stars struggle when it matters most you know i i always wouldn't and i he could be seduced by the skill and marner is one of the most skilled players in the nhl my worry is always because listen i've heard the same uh

conversations that you have yeah these are empty calorie points. Yeah, potato chip points, all of it. They really count when the puck gets heavier in the postseason. And I think we all understand that. Man, this is the same thing they used to say about Pavel Datsyuk. And then when Datsyuk figured it out, it was, he just completely forgot the conversation. There's just been so many conversations like that. Like, remember the you can't win with Ovechkin conversation.

It was true until it wasn't. And that's where your fear, if you're Brad Treleving or if you're a Maple Leafs fan, you're like, don't be too easily to dismiss Mitch Marner because those players are really difficult to replace. And again, I go back to the Adam Oates point. Where's the support for him? Why is it always Marner has to support everybody but

there's no one there to support him okay last one for you I'm going to get to you know what I should do I should ask Irf about the Toronto Maple Leafs because I talked to you about the Vancouver Canucks we have Irf on to talk about Marner and Matthews and Morgan Riley and Anthony Stolarz etc between here and trade deadline

what do you think the Maple Leafs would, if they had their perfect scenario, if everything worked, if the Rubik's Cube just clicked perfectly for Bradshaw Living, what does it look like between now and deadline? Other than health? I think you're looking,

yeah, no, you're right. That's the most vital part. But I think you're looking for a top nine center. I think you're looking for at least one more defenseman. We've been banging that Luke Shen drum for a couple months. I don't think Nashville is going to be in a good position to do something substantial this year. If they make the Stanley Cup playoffs, they're way out of things, as we know.

I would love Luke Shen back in the mix. But I think a prolific top six center, if not top nine, I think anywhere you can find depth up the middle. Even a Jake Evans is having an unbelievable year. He's a local product, of course, as you know, from a table coast.

So maybe you look there. I think there'll be involved in some conversations, maybe to an extent on Brock Nelson. I know the wording the last couple of days has been a center with term. I just think it's always difficult to make deals. And that's why a lot of this weighs on sort of yarn croaks status. And also like matthews i mean we joke about it but like what's his status moving forward here in the regular season it

really depends on uh the money and also like the assets like i love covering the maple leaves on a daily basis because people are like hey go get me this guy go get me brock nelson but then you look and they barely have any first round picks nobody wants to trade cow and they don't want to trade minton they don't want to trade hildeby so like what are you giving up is the question uh but i i think in a perfect world america top nine center and a defenseman i'll be happy let me ask one final question because you mentioned his name uh your thoughts on easton cowan right now in advance of the quarterfinal game tonight canada versus chequia yeah so we talked about that today too um i haven't been a fan of

all the hatred towards teenagers. Teens make mistakes. I'm sorry. There's a lot of pressure. Not me. A lot of projections. Not me. You were perfect, Merrick. You were perfect. You know what I mean? I think it's all part of the development and growth. Sometimes we see guys at 18

they just figure it out really, really quickly. Sometimes they don't. I think that's what makes the beauty of junior hockey what it is. And I think, obviously, Cowan's having another difficult tournament. It's been a storyline early on in his young career, whether it be the Mem Cup, time, big game moments with the London Knights, of course, last year's World Junior. Nothing's linear, especially when it comes to the development of prospects.

He hasn't had his best tournament. Do I still think he's going to be a very serviceable player for the Maple Leafs? I do. I just want them to have the long-term in mind and be careful with the way they develop him. That's why I really like what they're doing right now with Fraser Minton. I'd probably echo those steps, and I do, again, he's another example, Merrick, of a guy who I feel could be better suited to play in the American Hockey League as opposed to the OHL this year.

Don't disagree. I do wonder if we sort of took the NCAA ruling and took it back 12 months, whether Easton Cowan, close your ears, Hunter brothers, would be playing with the London Knights or he'd be like a gopher or a friar or a Wolverine or something like that

right now for this season. But a conversation for another day. Keep it spicy, pal. Doing great work. Keep it up, my friend. Holy sheet. It was fun. Take care, America.

Haven't heard that pun before. That is the great Nick Alberga from Leafs Morning Take along with Jay Rosell. A program you must tune into. I love Nick. That guy is awesome. Always has been. Okay. A program you must tune into. I love Nick. That guy is awesome. How always has been.

Okay. A couple of things here. Before we get to Irfan Ghaffar, I would like to quickly discuss the Washington Capitals. And if you're the Washington Capitals right now, you are watching the World Juniors and you're saying, I feel really good about my team. Two of the most dynamic players. Now, maybe the most dynamic player in the entire tournament has been Axel Sandin Pelika, a defenseman for Sweden, prospect for the Detroit Red Wings. Like my only question about Pelika now is if you're the Detroit Red Wings,

do you just take him right from Ottawa and take him to Detroit? Or does he have to go back? Do you just try to smuggle him into Detroit or Grand Rapids? Or do you let him go back? But if you're the Washington Capitals, you're looking at Cole Hudson, who's a second-round pick, who's been USA's best defenseman and probably best player overall. And then the found money that is Eric Smeteko for Latvia. Five goals in the tournament.

So two goals against Sweden after serving the bench penalty. Comes alive. He put the final dagger in Canada's coffin in Game 2 with the shootout winner over Jack Ivankovic. And right now he plays for the St. John Seadogs, the QMJHL. That will be short-lived. He's on the move. I would watch Rimouski there,

but those are two of the great young prospects that the Washington Capitals have on the horizon. Ross Mahoney, congratulations. You just picked off two beauties right there. All right. How are we doing? Oh, we do have Irf. All right. Let's get right to Maple Leaf Talk with Irf and Ghaffar. As we've already talked about, the Vancouver Canucks Irf with Nick Alberga. Quickly, your thoughts on what to do with this back end here in advance of... No, I'm kidding. Listen, this is...

First of all, welcome to the program. Good to see you again. Thanks for being aboard. This has been the gift that keeps on giving. You know, I always have made the point that, you know, even low-hanging fruit is still nutritious. And this is low-hanging fruit for hockey media and has been for a while. I mean, you've heard the whispers, as even I have, going back a few years about a rift between JT Miller and Elias Pedersen. Now it is undeniable.

but a rift between JT Miller and Elias Pettersson. Now it is undeniable. Despite the fact that both players are saying that there's no rift, Brad Richardson comes out on missing curfew and Jay Rosehill is comparing it to Dion Phaneuf and some younger players and Boudreau and Tockett and Quinn Hughes and now Patrick Alveen to Ian McIntyre. This is no longer a secret. This is now the established truth.

These two guys do not get along. Hasn't been this, haven't been able to get along since pretty much day one. And the question becomes, Irv, long-winded first question for you here. What happens now? Jeff, hello. Thank you.

I really appreciate you having me on. You know, it's interesting. I got a hat over the holidays and it makes a lot of sense to actually show you what it says on it because the Vancouver Canucks organization, I think, is really going to want to visit this place. It's the Museum of Peace and Quiet. I say that kind of half jokingly, Jeff, but in all reality, it's true because there's no peace and quiet and there's no peace and there's definitely not quiet surrounding this Vancouver Canucks hockey team. And you're right. It doesn't go away. And I think that that's the biggest thing. You mentioned Brad Richardson on spit and chickless, obviously with Jays Rolls Hill,

comparing things to comparing things to how it was in the past. But yeah, look, it's undeniable. There's something going on. The two don't like each other. Have teams like I heard you mention about Vinny LeCavalier and a former teammate not liking each other in Tampa. Do teams not like each other and can they win? Yes. Can they have success? Yes.

But I do believe this is getting to a point now where something's got to give. And is it going to be a trade of your guy that you just gave $92 million to or a guy that has a full no movement clause that you just gave $92 million to, or a guy that has a full no movement clause that you also gave big money to, to try and get something in return to solve this situation? Well, it seems as if it seems as if management has kind of gone out of their way to try to embarrass them into reconciling or try to publicly embarrass them into doing something that they don't want to do? I mean, both guys can say, yeah, there's no rift.

And JT Miller can say, do you want me to bring PD out now and we'll do it? I mean, the answer probably should have been. Yeah, let's let's let's see, because nobody believes you. Do you think that this has been a deliberate because it's almost as if Tuckett was so frustrated, he just said, why don't you ask for those two guys and get them to answer the question? Like, it does seem like all of this was management, coaching staff throwing their hands in the air

and have said, we're done protecting you. We're done shushing this up. If you two guys can't sort it out, and it's pretty obvious they can't, we're done lying to the media about it. Well, I think it's funny if you go back this season jeff and kind of follow this team a little bit and even you mentioned you know talking about the rift that there has been for a couple of years um rick talkett gloated about jt miller in training camp and talked about how much you know jt's come in ready to work and, and be the guy that was, you

know, he's going to take us and lead the charge. Not much talk was made about Elias Pettersson in training camp. Right. And, and he had just come off signing that contract and, and all of that. And, you know, he got off to a slow start. He hasn't been very good this season. There's been flashes of the Elias Pettersson brilliance. Then there's, there was flashes of it when JT Miller was on his personal leave you know Elias Pettersson was leading charge and and playing at a really high level that a lot of us know he can do and then in comes this interview with Patrick Alvin and Ian McIntyre great stuff by Ian McIntyre by the way but yep I don't think I have seen a general manager be as candid as he

was the way he spoke about Elias Pedersen and the way he kind of mentioned that you got to grow up. These are kind of growing pains a little bit. But I think the biggest thing was, was there a thought that he just signed this contract and then thought that things were going to be easy and things were just going to come to him and you didn't have to go and do the work

and put in the things you need to do in the offseason, come into camp in shape and be a guy that you can be relied on. Like, he is a leader and a cornerstone of this franchise. There are many other teams in the National Hockey League that would love to have an Elias Pettersson on their roster. It's very different here. It just doesn't work. And you know you hear the whispers,

and you know Quinn Hughes has talked to those two to try and figure things out and things like that. The teammates understand. The whole NHL world understands there's something going on, which is why you see different people in different organizations all around the hockey media world and people talking about this, saying that something's got to give. And it would be very, very surprising if nothing ended up happening because you know how much

of a problem it is. I'm sure you've done this in your own mind. I'm sure you've talked about this. We've talked about this on the program. I've talked about it on the Sikarison Price show before. Who do you think Vancouver can get more for? I mean, with Elias Pedersson, we're still talking about, I always look at things like hockey players,

like anything in life exists in two states, potentiality and actuality. We know who JT Miller is. He skates in actuality. Elias Pettersson still skates in a little bit of a cloud of potentiality here, which makes making deals a little bit more difficult perhaps but i know there's an age discrepancy but still when you look at how players perform in the playoffs and

weigh that into the equation who do you think if they are going to make a deal here who do you think vancouver can get more for i mean you mentioned it right there it's the guy with that's five years younger I I really do think that and look he's you mentioned actualities and what's actually happening I mean the fact of the matter is Elias Pettersson is a hundred point player in the National Hockey League he's done it like he knows how to put the puck in the net he he can elevate players around him and make them better when he wants to and I think Jeff that's the biggest problem it's when he wants to and there's been too many nights that's the biggest problem. It's when he wants to. And there's been too many nights where Elias Pettersson just doesn't look as interested as his teammates. There's been too many nights where Rick Talkit has gone to the podium and said, we've had too many passengers. And you know exactly who he's talking about if you've watched

the game. Rick's very good at being able to talk about his players and give them a push, whether it's in the media or it's in private. But when he goes to the media and when he does these interviews, whether it's a postgame or he ends up on a show or a radio show and talks about players specifically, you know there's something there. And he's just doing his job. He's trying to get the most out of these guys. He's trying to figure out a way to try and turn this ship right. But the answer is Elias Pettersson. I think that if the Canucks were going to go and go that route, and if they wanted to try and do it, the most would be for

him. But then you're down to center again too, right? And if you get rid of JT Miller, if you're the Vancouver Canucks, do you as an organization still view Elias Pettersson as a number one center? That's that's a big question. See, that's the other thing, too. And I know that JT Miller hasn't had the best of all possible seasons. But here's my see, I'm always trying to put myself. OK, so if I'm Alvin slash Rutherford here, if I move Pettersson, I still know what I have in JT Miller. But if I move JT Miller and remove that distraction hurdle, whatever you want to call him for Elias Pedersen, if I move that out of the way, do I know for sure that the Elias Pedersen that I need is still there here?

I think, look, it's an interesting question because they went out this season and they gave Elias Pettersson what he wanted, right? They gave him a scoring winger in Jake DeBrusque. You brought Daniel Sprong, who he's very close with. That experiment didn't work out because Taka knew that Sprong couldn't play in his own end. And that's exactly why that didn't happen.

So you need to make sure that, A, if you're really wanting to do something to keep someone happy, that's one thing, but the long-term effects of this, you have to almost guarantee yourself that, you know, your team is going to reap the benefits of it. If you're going to get a guy that's motivated, you're going to get a guy that wants to come to work every single day and put in the work and be ready to go there and go the distance,

block that extra shot when you need it, go into crunch time and do the things that you know you can get out of JT Miller right now, but you haven't seen it from Elias Pettersson, especially in the playoffs. Okay, what's the bigger story to you? This soap opera or the Quinn Hughes injury? The Quinn Hughes injury,

because he means so much to this team. It's unbelievable how much he means to this to this or this this team it's it's unbelievable how much he means to this team that game against the Seattle Kraken Quinn Hughes is playing they don't lose that game they do not lose that hockey game right and then against the and then against the you know the the Calgary Flames right he didn't play he didn't play there and they end up losing that hockey game he is the heartbeat of that team. He logs 28 minutes of ice time a night, 27, 28 minutes of ice time a night. He's a point-of-game guy as a defenseman.

He was the Canucks' leading scorer in the entire 2024. I think there's only two defensemen that led their teams in scoring. It was him and Zach Wawrenski in 2024. And obviously Quinn Hughes was the Canucks leader. But yeah, that's the much bigger storyline. I believe it's the hand for Quinn. So we'll have to wait and see how he feels. But I do think that both him and Elias Pettersson

are going to end up going on this Eastern road trip, which by the way, has some pretty tough opponents for this Canucks team as well. For sure. Tonight they'll face off against the Seattle Kraken. The one thing, and I know that the conversation revolves around,

well, you know, he's going to miss some games. That's going to cost them when it comes to heart trophy voting. To me, this injury in some ways, I usually like to vote for goaltenders for the heart, but in some ways I believe that this strengthens his MVP case because you see just how different Vancouver is without him.

Right. If you played all 82 games, there's the well, sure. He means a lot and we can all see the underlyings and we get that. But there's nothing quite like the visual of this is a Vancouver Canucks game with Quinn Hughes in it. And this is a Vancouver Canucks game with Quinn Hughes in it. And this is a Vancouver Canucks game without Quinn Hughes. Notice how they can't do anything with the puck to get out of their own zone to say nothing, to say nothing of what he can do in the,

in the offensive zone. That story is well told. No, absolutely. I mean, it's not going to help tonight. They have Guillem Breezeball probably coming in for Eric Brandstrom. Their power play units consist of Tyler Myers on the top one

and Carson Soucy on the second one. And this isn't on, I don't blame the players at all. This is an indictment on management. This 100% is because the team had talked so much about how they wanted to be a team that generates chances off the rush, how they wanted to be a team that get pucks to the net, get the puck out of the zone quickly. And then they went and signed Derek Forbert and Vincent Desjardins in the off season.

Those guys are National Hockey League players. Yes. Are they puck moving defensemen? Things that the Vancouver Canucks needed? Absolutely not. And I think that there was a desperate need for a top four defenseman. There still is. Maybe even a five and a six as well, because that team,

this team as it's constructed defensively, can't make a deep run. Okay, real quick before I let you go. I think we've all done this one as well. For Elias Pettersson, where can we see him the most? Just jot these down right before the show here. New York Islanders, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers,

Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres. Detroit and Buffalo. I think the Rangers would have interest in the other Canucks center. Yes, I believe that. The Islanders one, I don't think it's going to go over very well there. Maybe. I don't know if that one works. And then the Boston Bruins.

No, absolutely not. I don't like that. No. Unless they trade Elias Lindholm and bring him back to a place where he absolutely loved playing, which was here in Vancouver, which the Canucks, if they ponied up a little bit more, they could have had Elias Lindholm as well. And maybe that would have solved the problem. Earth for the best. Thanks, Az as always for stopping by continued continued success with

the podcast it really is good down to earth is a great name by the way it's a brilliant picasso name appreciate it and remember you know let's get some peace and quiet if we can i should be the national hat of bc right now because you know i always i always say this about people in bc it's like i don't know why you people are so upset like look at you open your window and there's the ocean and there's the mountains and you don't get crushed in winter like you won the game you get to live in bc why are you so angry why are you so cranky you're so cranky you won haven't done a lot of winning especially here at home don't worry about the dumb hockey team. You win in life. You got it. Be happy.

I'm happy. I have no problem. All right, Jeff. I know you appreciate it. Thanks, Irf. You be well. There he is, the great Irfan Ghaffar joining us here on the sheet. Zach, before we wrap up, anything that we missed today that you think and Jessica L says love the hat, Irf. Yeah, it really is

a great one. And Jeremiah submits down to Irf is a great name. Yes, it is. What else do we have in the chat? Irf for GM. Yeah, down with that too. What did we leave on the table today? Anything today so far? Yeah, the only other thing that I kind of wanted to touch on here

was the line changes here. You briefly talked about it for Canada for tonight, but it's not just the line changes. It is the comment that was made by Gavin McKenna about Canadian fans turning on them. He talked about that there today. I didn't know if you had any thoughts about the kid going out in the media there. Okay, I don't think this is like 1972 and Phil Esposito.

Sorry, it's a dated reference for all you kids. But as Team Canada in 72 went across the country, outside of the game at Maple Leaf Gardens, they kind of got handed to them by the Soviets, and they made this impassioned plea and talked about how Canadians are giving up on Canada. And I'm paraphrasing here, it was Phil and Johnny Esau. It was a wonderful historic moment in Canadian hockey. And there's Phil after the game saying,

we're trying, we're giving everything we have out there, and these fans should get behind us, blah, blah, blah. Then they go to Moscow, they go to Luzhniki, and they end up winning, as we all know. So I don't think that it's that. But the thing is, I don't think that Canadian hockey fans are as upset at the players themselves. I mean, Easton Cowan is Easton Cowan. Cal Ritchie is Cal Ritchie.

Sam Dickinson is Sam Dickinson. Carter George is Carter George, etc. she uh sam dickinson is sam dickinson carter george is carter george etc i think where a lot of the animosity here is being hurled is at peter anhold and at dave cameron i think it's roster composition and deployment of those players i think anyone's angry at bradley nadeau but i think they're probably a little bit miffed at maybe how he's being used. You know, sure, the elephant in the room, you know, if Don Cherry was still on television, he'd be saying, well, Macklin Celebrini should be there and Conor Bedard should still be there, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Then we'd see a tournament, et cetera. Then we didn't have the Matthew Schaefer injury. Ifs and buts were candies and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas.

So I don't know that Canadian fans are heaping their venom, despite what you may read about Easton Cowan on Twitter X, which at times is pretty gross. I mean, he's been trending now for a couple of days, and fans are just hurt. He's made a couple of mental mistakes. He certainly has. But I think they're more venting at the coaching staff

and the management of this team more than anything else. Would you agree with that, Zach? I would, for sure. It seems seems like this you know what's interesting and i think this has been said on the show over the last few days as well and last like when we were in ottawa there was like we can i remember years where it's like how did this guy get left off how did that guy get left left off and we're like we're talking about players who missed by this much you know and like yeah you can make an argument for that this is one of the years that it's actually like wow that guy wasn't here and oh they can't score oh these goal scorers are not here on this team and it's like

those are not guys who missed by this much those are guys who should have been here potentially that seems like a biggest frustration um some of the decisions power play etc yeah those we can nitpick but yeah seems like it's very common sense things that should have been changed or done differently that aren't and are now biting this team in the ass and it's frustrating as a canadian hockey fan i will say one thing about gavin mckenna though um i do like his sort of sense of defiance because after me listen after the game after the New Year's Eve game what did

he say we dominated five on five you know sure yeah we got we got crushed on power play goals but we dominated them five on five now you can discuss amongst yourselves whether it's true that they dominated five on five but you know like and then to come out and say about you know Canadians are you know falling off the and then to come out and say about, you know, Canadians are,

you know, falling off the bandwagon or a Canadian, our own country, men and women are, are, are against us paraphrasing here, obviously. I mean, I kind of, and he's kid youngest guy on the team. And, and, and he said, well, I'll tell you what, the one thing that really didn't sit well with a lot of people. And I don't think that it is dave cameron saying i can't do anything about the discipline that these guys yeah it's a short tournament and they like why are you there like isn't that part of your job as coach to deal with and i know that carson ray cop took a couple of bad penalties and he's out in porter martone is in even though the maybe the two best players together the entire chl the manufactured goals but still like it's it's a really bad look when you take as many penalties as team canada did and then the coach says kids will be kids

i can't do anything about it it's kind of your job yeah to do something yeah that's what you that's what you can do actually. Like that was, yeah. Yeah. You can't play. You can, you can sit,

you can, you want to buy a ticket? Like they're expensive. I'll buy one for you. Sit behind the bench. Not cheap. You know what I can't do? I can't do anything.

Otherwise we're doing the same thing here. Uh, good call by you, Zach. Uh, all right. Great show, right great show buddy thanks everybody oh one more okay what's up uh this is this is just one thing i want to throw this at you quickly johnny lazarus tweeted this during the game uh during the game he tweeted a video or while this show was going on okay and i i just popped to my head i was watching ryan leonard and i was like

well i said to you i said to uh steven ell, when we were in Ottawa, I'm like, man, this kid's involved in everything. The way he plays Johnny tweeted a clip. The first name that came to my mind, you tell me yes or no. If this is insane, Matthew could Chuck. I watch him play. I watched the reckless abandoned kind of in his game, the fire, the intensity, how involved he is offensively, how he can kind of,

um, spark the americans emotionally and not just emotionally but with driving play and i went matthew kachuk i'll send you the clip after i couldn't get in the show in time but that name popped in my head and he was screaming at me when i watched the clip i don't know if that's an insane name to associate with him i don't think it's an insane name like he's a really big, strong kid for Boston College. I'll be blunt. He should be in the NHL right now. He should be playing in the National. Ryan Leonard should be.

I know you wanted to go back on Finnish business, etc. I think Ryan Leonard should be in the NHL right now. I know I've already gushed about the Washington Capitals and who they have in this tournament. Ryan Leonard is a Washington Capitals prospect. Again, if you're the Caps, you're Drew.

I know St. Louis has everybody on Slovakia and all that, and Dalibor Dvorsky's shooting lights out, and that's all great. But if I'm the Washington Capitals, I'm feeling real good, real good about what I have coming. And Ryan Leonard's a big part of it. I think that's a really interesting one. I don't think he's as reckless as

like... No. Intelligently reckless? Because I do think the Sharks are highly intelligent players. I really do believe that. But I do think that this guy is big and strong and skilled enough right now to be playing in the National Hockey League.

I don't think this guy should be anywhere near college hockey or this tournament. But I want to go back. What are you going to do? Now deal with it, everybody. Deal with the whole BC line. Although that Danny Nelson line looks better. That line looks fantastic.

It really, really does. USA is awesome. What did they break down as we're finishing up this podcast? What is that, 7-1? Oh, man. 7-1 over Switzerland. Nice try. USA is a juggernaut. Yep.

Canadian hockey fans, I want you to remember one thing. No matter what happens tonight, the sun will come up tomorrow. Now, maybe an announcement about a hockey summit in the morning, too, but we'll see. That's what I was going to say. We're all getting

an email in the morning. Oh, look, a new email from Hockey Canada. What? Really? Already? They're not even letting them leave? Immediate summit this weekend in Ottawa? Probably not Ottawa. Try to enjoy the game.

I know that it's really hard for Canadian hockey fans to enjoy anything with hockey because we look at everything as if it's a constant state of disrepair and we have to fix it. But as much as you can, try to enjoy the game tonight. Quarterfinals, Canada facing off

against Czechia. Again, thumbs up to Latvia you were an amazing story at this tournament I think everybody fell in love with Latvia if you already didn't know like they have the best fans in the world flat out I've said this for years

and years and years every year at the world championships Latvian fans are the best we saw Latvian fans in Ottawa, again, cementing this idea that they are the best hockey fans in the world and it's such a hardworking team. And a bunch of new stars were made and we all had that, yeah, you can do this feeling.

Like even, again, like I threw this in my notes on Monday, was really happy to see the amount of Canadian fans after Friday night's loss to Latvia stay and applaud the Latvians as they were doing their lap around the rink, finding various family members and friends and doing the glass taps and all that. Like there were a lot of Canadians,

a lot of red jerseys all around the boards, all around the rink that were staying and applauding. I just thought that was a great touch. Like good for you guys. Cause they deserved it. And Latvia was, for me, one of, if not right now, the biggest story coming out of this tournament. But we'll see how this all progresses.

Quarterfinals tonight, Canada facing off against Czechia. Thanks to Irfan Ghaffar for stopping by, Nick Alberga as well. On behalf of Zach Phillips, Marek signing off. Thanks to everybody in the chat. Come again. You guys are the best. We're back to where, hey, it's Berkey day.

So more stories and maybe he'll grumble at some civilian. That was for you, Zach, who tries to open the door and barge in when Berkey's doing a show. I appreciated that.

You stopped giggling about that one yet? Yeah, finally. It's still funny. It is. I appreciated that. You stopped giggling about that one yet? Yeah, finally. It's still funny. It is. All right. Thanks for joining me today. We're back tomorrow.

Three Eastern. More of the show. 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. Guess you can call it a run.

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 others Gonna be fixing my mind I do wanna break it I turned on the music I do wanna break it

I turned on the music It's enough, enough, enough That you're sometimes losing Have been on the dissapearant In the dead dark night