The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Capitals are Rolling, Hockey Nicknames, and Olympics ft. Greg Wyshynski & Mollie Walker

Episode Date: December 4, 2025

Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski go full MvsW mode as they break down Daniil But’s new nickname and where it ranks among the best in hockey, before turning their attention to the scorching Washington Capitals, fresh off their sixth straight win and a dominant takedown of the San Jose Sharks. With the Eastern Conference turning into a weekly musical-chairs sprint for playoff positioning, the guys dive into who’s real, who’s fading, and how early NHL awards frontrunners are separating from the pack. Later, Mollie Walker joins the show to share her recent sit-down with Mike Sullivan, covering Olympic prep, small-arena dynamics, Team USA construction, and a full check-in across New York: the Rangers’ staying power, the Devils’ inconsistencies, and the Islanders’ latest identity crisis.SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Bauer: https://www.bauer.com/👍🏼Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/ca👍🏼Prime Video: https://primevideo-row.pxf.io/c/5560083/3303015/20020Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So, Greg, as we kick off another edition of MBSW Thursdays here on the sheet, we'll just let you groove to the music a little bit, a little bit hypnotic for a Thursday. It's been a long week. Maybe you're a little under-caffeinated, let the music just sort of hypnotize you like a metronome. Under caffeinated. I'm caffeine-dated. Are you? Yeah, it's been bad for me lately.

And now I wonder why I can't sleep. I drink a cajillion coffees a day. Why I'm waking up at 2 o'clock in the morning. Anyhow. So welcome the program. Thursday, December the 4th. There you go. Time stamp for the show today.

Do you want to just kick off with the nickname or do you want to build towards it? No, go ahead. No, this is yours. You threw this in our chat today. And I think it's quite brilliant. Like, one thing that, we've mourned over the last few years is the sort of the death of the good nickname in the NHL but boy do we have a good one now and by the way for those of you who think that like

George Vezna was actually called the Shakutomi cucumber like I assure you the players didn't refer to George as hey Shakutomi cucumber no that's just like as he was referred to as a nickname in print back then but nonetheless I digress there are no cool nicknames anymore except But this latest one, Greg Wyszynski, the floor is yours before we intro the show. So, Daniel, uh, I'm, here's the thing. It's boot. No, it's pronounced boot. It's beautiful, right?

Yeah. But you look at it and it's, in his butt. It's spelled BUT, but we've come to realize, courtesy of the reporting out of Utah, that his nickname is Cheeks, courtesy of Ian Cole. Yeah. Uh, there you go. Brogan broke it down for us. that's its cheeks.

Either Ian Cole or someone else is nicknamed Daniel Boot Cheeks, which is amazing. Which gives us, Merrick, two spectacular player nicknames in the same season after, as you mentioned, a pretty substantial drought. We've got cheeks in Utah, and we have the Wall of St. Paul. Wall of St. Paul is in the spirit of the Chucutumee cucumber. That is very much like, oh, the Pembroke peach. Like, that is very much in that spirit. I do like the Wallace and Paul. And what makes the Yesper Walsstadt nickname so fascinating and spectacular

is the sense that, you know, not only does it describe a rookie that has four shutouts in his first 10 games this season, but it also puts some shine and some, some love on St. Paul, which is the city of the twin cities that no one gives you shit about. No one talks about. Which I think is like, this is, I think that's, that's as much community service as anything else in this nickname. I think it's great. I'll be there for the world juniors. For 10 days or so, me and, me and Zach are heading down.

So I'll get a, a full eyeball of, of, of St. Paul. So I, I loved, I've, I've only been to Minneapolis. this once because I've never really had to go there for like a conference final or anything because the wild don't usually make it there. But I went there for the draft that one year. And I love that city. Like I love that city as an art city. I love that city as a music city.

My best friend has gone there multiple times for various prints related things. But the one thing I do remember about that city is, of course, food. and having my first official Juicy Lucy in Minneapolis. The Juicy Lucy is a cheeseburger in which they take the patty and they form it around the cheese. So when they cook it,

the cheese melts inside the burger. Now, much like you got to go to like the official cheese steak places in Philadelphia to get the real McCoy, there are a few bars in Minneapolis that claimed to have originated the Juicy, of course. And so I remember, me and Leahy went to one, and I was, like, dressed in my, you know, fancy

reporter clothes. And they're like, they give you the burger and they're just like, hey, let it rest for a little bit. You know, it's better if you let it rest for a little bit. And I'm like, come on, hungry. Yeah. So I bit into the juicy Lucy with the cheese that's melted inside. and this thing spit at me like an asp. It just spat melted cheese and grease.

Like I remember it went all the way up my as I took a bite of this burger. But it was delicious. Highly recommend if anyone's going to World Juniors to find the juicy whiskey in Minneapolis. You want to hear a Minnesota draft story from 1988? Yeah. Which involves a very unruly owner. Oh, Phil Waters told me this story when we used to work together. So this is the Met Center draft in 1988.

There's a lot of stuff that we're going to talk about, like, as far as hockey goes, like, today, but just indulge me with this one story. So as I like to remind people, this, this used to be the NHL, folks. I know that you're tuning in. I know that you're tuning in and hearing Jeff Merrick tell a story from before 1990. And you're saying yourself, what's happened here? This never happens on a Jeff Merrick show. Is something wrong? Did he have an aneurysm or something?

something? So here, I think, I think you'll even like this one. So Bill Waters, we used to do a show with a million years ago called Leafs Lunch on 640, local radio in Toronto, told me the story. So he was working at TSN, they were covering the draft. And back then, the draft wasn't as big a deal as it is now. Back then, it was a two-person, two-person affair. It was John Wells, who was hosting, who was one of the original anchors at TSN, and Bill

Waters. And so they do the opening, the opening shot. They have a shot of the Met Center. And here we are in Bloomington, Minnesota. and they get inside and here's the host Minnesota Nurse Stars and here's the Quebec Nordiques they have the first overall pick and here's the LA Kings

and here's the Montreal Canadians and blah blah blah blah blah and the camera's panning and they're going all through the tables and they get to the Toronto Maple Leaf you said everybody has their feet up on the table and so John Wells says to Bill Waters like why do all the Maple Leafs have their scouts

and everything around the table have their feet up on the table and so Bill like BS's some asses some cocky bunch they probably have some secret pick third overall they're going to take that nobody's ever heard of. They took Scott Thornton from the Belleville Bulls. So, I mean, that was just a complete malarkey. So the draft goes on and Sundin goes first and Dave Chisowski and then Scott Thornton.

Stu Barnes goes fourth and then Bill Guerin goes fifth overall. Now the architect of USA hockey, but I digress or the team USA anyhow. And so Billy goes up to Tom Watt, who was one of the scouts for the Maple Leafs at that point after the draft and goes like, Jesus Tom. Like, what was that? Like our cameras are coming by. you guys all have your feet up on the table I got a bullshit some answer about what you guys are thinking and he goes oh bill he was so bad it was so bad it was so bad and bill goes what he says well we get in there and harold ballard you know the owner who was pretty old by that point you know in a in a wheelchair sitting at the head of the table and apparently apparently ballard was really pissed off at loon annie that they put the Toronto Maple Leafs table way at the back and the washrooms were at the other end of the floor and he had to go and he goes

I'm not wheeling myself all the way down there boys get your loafers up and he pulls out his rope and has a squirt on the floor as the camera's coming by and here's the order of the main police and his wheelchair is ah this is the N.A. Sheldra There's a, I've got the loafers up on the table, and there's the owner. I'll show you, Lou. Oh, my God. That is, that's a hell of a story. Listen, it's a much more disciplined NHL now than it was back then.

But folks, things like this used to happen sort of on the semi-regular in the NHL. But I digress. How about we use that as a jump-off point to let everybody know what's on the program today? How about that? The blueprint is powered by Fandul. Download the app today. Have your giggles. Download the app today

and play your game on Fanduil. Coming up on the show, it is Thursday. That means Greg Wischinsky and from ESPN and ESPN.com. So we are talking awards watch with Greg Woshensky. And spoiler, Nathan McKinnon

looks like he's cruising to the hearts. But there are some other really interesting ones there as well. We've already kind of talked about nicknames. Maybe we'll bat that around a little bit more. Molly Walker will join us from the New York Post. We may talk Rangers, but we'll definitely talk USA and the Olympics and Mike Sullivan and we'll see if we can squeeze in any ranger talk as well.

But what I want to kick off with today, before we get to awards watch, I know that the NHL and the salary cap era, and we see it a lot this year, the toilet seat at the stagging dough, up and down, up and down, streaks, streak, streak, streak, streak. And the Washington Capitals right now are on, proverbial heater, taking care of San Jose

Shark 7 to 1, Alexander Ovechkin, finding the back of the nut a couple of times. He's now trending towards 40 or 41 goals all of the sudden. Ryan Leonard should probably be making some Calder noise, maybe in your awards watch as well. The Calder Trophy, NHL Awards Watch, of course,

was tabulated and sent out to the potential voters before last night's game. And it's a surprise with no one. a few Washington Capitol's fans which I'm going to say, where's Ryan Leonard? Who's Ryan Leonard? The future?

I know. I know. I get it. Every fan base is a proud bunch and very protective of their children. So you can understand why they'd be a little bit myth that Ryan Leonard wasn't more represented.

But nonetheless, like, I remember asking someone last year in the analytics community, let's just say. I said, give me the top three smartest teams in the NHL, in your opinion.

And he said, This is just like, you know, ones that are very strict about following the numbers, interpreting the numbers, making moves based on the number, the highly intelligent NHL teams. And he said, number one are the Carolina Hurricanes. And they've been that way for a long time. Number two, even though everyone thinks that they're just old school hockey and vibes and feel and I to are the Florida Panthers. And I said, who's number three?

He goes, this one might surprise you. And I said, who's that? He goes, Washington Capitals. So the Washington Capitals are one of the smartest organizations in the – and this is from someone, let's just say, in the analytics community who carries a lot of weight. Anyhow, what do you make of the Caps right now? I'm just – I'm trying to figure out why you were surprised by the Capitol's front office being – They don't have that – they don't have the same rep that the Carolina Hurricanes do or the Maple Leafs under Dubus did or – I mean, from a league perspective, but from a league perspective, they might not, but I mean, like Tim Barnes is their resistance general.

I know. Oh, I know. You know, I know. They've had non-fishmen there forever. Like Chris Patrick's going to were thinking. They just, they just don't have the same rep that the hurricanes do, right? Right. Oh, it's the first period. It's warm up, or course.

You ha, ha, ha. Like, they don't have that vibe about them. They don't have that vibe about them analytically, but I think that they should have, I think that the moves that they've made. So the moves the capitals have made have been very smart. And they've invested in players that were maybe not at the apex of their careers at the time. And then they go and get them. And then it turns out great. Dubois was the example last year where they buy as low as they possibly can on a player.

And he turns out to resurrect his career. And then obviously, like, Jacob Chikrin was good for them last year. And now he's probably a Norris. finalist at this point. And so, you know, the way that they approach their player acquisition, I think is very analytically driven. And the people that they have in their front office, I think all have in the case of at least a guy like Tim Barnes, a pedigrees in that, in that genre. What do I think of them? I marvel at the fact that they've been this good considering a couple of the injuries that they've had this year.

I marvel at the fact that Logan Thompson has been this good throughout the year. And I think that what we're going to start seeing is Spencer Carberry getting mentioned in that group of coaches that have established track records of now making their team better than it maybe should be on paper. I think they're great. I think he's great. And I think that the way the play is advantageous to them being a contender and they've shown it.

I mentioned Ryan Leonard a couple of seconds ago. That's one. Cole Hudson is on the horizon too. Oh, yeah. They're still like killing it. They've killed it at the draft. They've killed it with development. I'll throw another name out yet.

Ross Mahoney has done a lot of great work and repopulating the, the pipeline here for the Washington Capitals. But what did you make? What did you make of last night? Like this is like, this is the sharks, baby, high flying sharks,

here you go. Macklin Celebrini's filling the net Will Smith right there and the vapor trail behind the bullet for Macklin Celebrini. He's going to fill. And just like snuffed. And Ascaroff chased and like every now and then like the big dogs remind the little dogs like,

okay, like it's cute, but you're not, you're not there yet. Like watching this game is like, and also that's. there are also times in the little dogs play like little dogs too and that can get in the way i i want to last night's whatever but like the thing that i find most interesting about the capitals is that on occasion in this league you get teams that become the models um for other teams and um i think in the case of the washington capitals for better or for worse the reload um

the fly the retool on the fly what they were able to do to go from the backstrom o'shi ovechkin team to now what they have here with ovechkin um has sort of created its own template now sometimes that template can can work um you know sydney crosbie told me before the season like he want he basically wanted the penguins to be these capitals in the same sense of like the veteran corps is in place. They're in the twilight years, but you repopulate the roster and become relevant again with smart acquisitions and younger players. I don't think the penguins have necessarily done it to the level of the capitals, but, you know, clearly what they've done and also hiring, you know, the right coach has enabled them to be relevant in a way

that we all wish they wouldn't be, because that means that Malkin and Krosi would be traded. But I do think, though, Merrick, the capitals and what they've accomplished can be the North star for some teams that maybe shouldn't be chasing that or maybe aren't talented enough or smart enough to accomplish that and it'll be interesting to see like what effect the capital success has on some teams that have veteran cores that maybe should break them up otherwise uh because i i do think they've created a new path in this league with veteran player acquisition smart player development, patience with your young guys. And then, you know, in the case of Oshy and Baxter,

obviously some advantageous salary cap relief. So here's what I wonder. And I just did, as you were talking, just said a quick search and I couldn't find it. You might be more deft at this than I am or certainly people in the chat. Or maybe you, Zach, lurking behind the scenes. So a Vetchkin right now is trending towards 41 goals. for this season and it's a season that we all look at and say it's probably the last season for a for a vetchkin here a lot of jersey trades for a big big ovi this year take take take take a lot of sticks on the road take a lot of jerseys on the road um yeah how'd you how'd you like to be like the uh i'd like to be like the equipment staff for the los angeles kings lugging around all these extra sticks for copatar all season long oh that's so thoughtful all get a copatara giving me all these I want the guy guys that are lugging them all over.

Okay, but I digress. So he's trending towards 41. Do you happen to know the most goals a player has scored in his final year? Wow. Like, is there one where you're like, holy smokes, this guy had like 46 goals and then he pieced out? Like, I'll look at like someone like Nick Lidstrom who is still getting Norris Trophy votes when he finally pieced out on the NHL and just kind of said, like, I'm not, I'm not coming back. I can't come back. Zach, did you find this?

Yeah. Well, let me, let me, let me, let me say this before you, before you say this, like, go ahead. Are we dealing, are we, are we including players for whom their careers were cut short by injury? Because Mike Bossy had 38 goals in his last NHL season. Yeah, but that's the answer I have by the way. That's his, that's his back injury. If he didn't have the bad back and like that, like flat out, that's what cost him his career.

If he didn't have that, he probably would have had 60. that year too because look at the last few years whereas back was healthy. It's a string of 60s. It's insane what Bossie did. So was that it? 36 with Bad Back Bossie? It's 38. The other ones that I have that were listed is Joe Sackick 25,

Bellevaux 25, Stassany 24 and then it's a little bit of a dip down. You can find guys like La Fontaine 23 Rocket Richard 21. So it's in that range But, yeah, it was 38 with Bossy. Does anybody doubt that Ovetkin is going to get 39 goals this year?

No. By the way, the guy I thought it could be, and I forgot how much his career really petered out towards the end, it was Salani. He was 43 playing for the Ducks and he only had nine goals and 64 games in his final season. Yep. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.

But here's the thing that's interesting. Ovechkin, you and I both, assume this is Ovechkin's final season just by virtue of how he's behaving and you know what I mean but like the thing that he said before the season and the thing the Capitol

said before this season is that if he could show that he is still scoring goals at a clip that he is content with and his body hasn't broken down that there's every chance he could play another season in the NHL. I'm

skeptical about that. I think it's going to be one of these things where come, you know, April 2nd or April 1st, you know, there's an announcement that this is his final season and then, you know, there's a mad rush to see the last games of Alexovetchkin much in the same way it happened with Gretzky. But I mean, taking them at their word, if this guy hits 40 again, maybe it's not goodbye. I don't know. Or is he just the kind of guy that like, you know what, that's a good number for me to retire on? I don't want to be like Tame Lusilani and have like, you know, 80 games, because he can pay 84 and I can say he misses 4. 80 games, nine goals.

I don't think, I don't think he wants to struggle through a season like that. Like, it would seem very Alexander Ovechkin to pop 40, break that record by Mike Bossie, and peace out. He's got 911 goals right now, I think, right? Is that right, Zach? And so if he hits 40, That's back of the Afghan 917 plus 20, 937. You know, he could end this with around 940 goals.

So the 1,000 goal mark would be something to shoot for, obviously, for him. But I don't know if he's got enough in the tank to do it. But that would be the carrot, be the first guy ever scored 1,000 goals. If Gretzky's record was closer to 1,000, I would say he would have, he'd still be going for it. But after you get the record, doesn't part of your motivation just kind of drop? Like, okay, I've got it. And that next threshold just seems so far.

The other thing about him, too, is besides can he score goals and has, has his body broken down, he also really wants to be a guy who plays well at five on five. Like one of the things about Ovi is always like, I don't want the end of my career to be a guy. who stands in the in the in the in the ovi spot of the power play and just pops in 20 goals like he wants to be a relevant as well-rounded player as alex ovechkin can be at this age and so i don't know i mean he doesn't want to be paul koreen st louis where the whole power play has to go through me taking one-timers on the half wall he doesn't want it doesn't want it doesn't want it so again like i i i'll take them at their word that it might not be his last season i mean i i

do think that in talking to alex before the season that he hadn't made up his mind yet um Maybe he's leaning a certain way now after the first couple months. I don't know. But hey, listen, man, like they're a relevant team. They're a playoff team. They're playing well. They've surrounded him with really good talent. He may not, you know, there's something to be said for the joy of life of being

an NHL player and how you're not necessarily ready to go, you know, be the grand damn of the KHL or call it quits to spend time with their kids. I could still see him playing. I don't know about a full season. but some games with Dinamo. Of course. By the end. I don't know about a full season, though.

No, but and again, like, you know, he could do that when he's 45. Like, he could be yager. I mean, we've, we've both seen KHL games. It's not as if a 45-year-old Alex Ovetrick can could pop 25 in that league. I say, as I remember, Kevin Dalman being the Bobby Orr of the KHL some years ago. Oh, wow. Big defenseman. Kevin Dalman.

Yeah, he was. He was like, he was the combination. of, like, Bobior, Nick Lidstrom, Dennis Potfan, Chris Prong, or he was all of it rolled into a, rolled into one little bundle of KHL All-Star. Kevin Dahl was good for you. I don't mean the dentistry to KHL. The KHL is a professional league. It does well for itself.

I'm just saying that Alex could probably go there at any age and do okay. And probably get the Putin treatment where they just like, you know, lay off defensively and let them score a bunch of goals. Alexovachan. It's Russian tradition. Man, look at how we split that D. How does he do it? I don't know. These guys are in the Hall of Fame, and this guy's going through him like nothing. There's 25 goals in exhibition game for Russia. And then trips on the rug. Anywho.

you make a Ryan McDonough's deal? Because I'll be honest with you, I thought at this point in his career, Ryan, just so we know, it's a three-year contract extension, 4.1 is the AAV. I thought that at this point in his career, because he's 36 years old, I really thought that Ryan McDonough, even though he's incredibly important to Tampa, he loves it there, he wants to be there, they want him there, they want him there, they want him to be there. I just kind of thought that at that age, you just go on evergreen deals, just one year, one year, one year, one year, 36 years old.

the team wants to mitigate risk more than anything else, knowing that he doesn't want to go anywhere. He goes anywhere else he's miserable. He just wants to come back. We like him here. Defensively, he's still amongst the elite in the NHL having the nerve to defend in his own zone. I'm kind of surprised a term on this one.

I'll be honest with you. Yeah, I mean, he asked to come back. He basically asked Barry Trots and the Predators to trade it back to Tampa. You know, did the term get, them to the A.A.V. I mean, is that, I haven't, I haven't heard what, what Julian Breeswater to say about it today, to be honest with you. But, um, but, um, but maybe the term is, is what gets you the AAV. Look, like, it's pretty apparent that there is a, uh, a very successful

marriage of player and team in the situation. When he, when, when, when he was no longer on the lightning, they missed him something crazy. Like, whatever, whatever it is that he does that fits into the system and whatever he does that fits into the room was part of the special sauce for that team. What I was told about Ryan McDonough about why it works there so much. Because you'll remember, they thought

Sergachev was going to go into that spot. Yeah. Because don't forget, Sirgachov was playing third pair at that point. Like, okay, we can afford to move McDonough, Sergachev comes in, here we go, that left side is solid. And, you know, we're not going to regress at all. And then they realize, oh, the thing that people told me about why McDonough works so well,

in Tampa with that system is it might sound weird because you don't necessarily think of Ryan McDonough as being speedy or anything. But people there told me that there's nobody better in the NHL on the blue line at getting back to their position quicker than Ryan McDonough. Like when he gets dragged

out a little bit, he gets back to his spot. These people, a couple of people told me he gets back to his spot faster than any other defender in the NHL. I think a part of the Part of that, too, is he just knows where he knows how to defend. Like, his defense numbers are just tremendous. And that's why.

Like, we always wondered, okay, what is the one, what's the one piece that Tampa couldn't afford to lose? Right. Like, every year they would have a successful season. They win the Stanley Cup. And then, bam, Andre Palat, gone. Tyler Johnson. Like, every year, it was like another player. Who can't we have for Alex Killorn, right?

And it turns out the answer was Ryan. and McDonough. Yeah. They almost survived the entire checking line dissolving before their eyes, but they couldn't handle McDonough going. It's true. He's a good player. He's nice.

Molly Walker's coming up here in a couple of moments. We'll stand by for Molly. Jets are in trouble, bud. Jets were in a lot of trouble because they're going one way and the rest of the division is going the other. yeah holy smokes that was you think they picked up a point there but do you think if it was a different market connor hellabuck piecing out for a month to get an injury fixed might have gotten more scrutiny and more derision because people would frame it as you're just trying to

make sure that you're healthy for the olympics i didn't honestly greg i didn't think about that for one second and normally I'm really skeptical of stuff like that just as a canate oh look at this okay yeah yeah yeah stick it to winnipeg and so you're good for the olympics and come back with the gold medal I didn't think that for one second I didn't I really I'm not saying that rational human beings like me or you would think that I'm saying that if he was the leaf scoley that Steve Simmons would have already written three pieces about how Connor Hellebuck is selfish to make sure his body is ready for the Olympics versus helping his team in November. Why couldn't this have been done in the summer?

Why couldn't this have been cleaned up in July? Is that what you're suggesting here? I'm just saying. I mean, in a different market, I wonder if you would have gotten a little bit more grief for that. I don't know. I honestly about Hellebuck. I never thought about that first.

I don't know what market. I don't even know that, because listen, it's not as if like Austin Matthews hasn't taken time off. And there hasn't been anything announced about what the nature of the injury is and no one's saying that he's, you know, dogging it, so he's going to be,

he's going to be ready for Milan. And his participation in international tournaments has never been an issue, right? As far as his health. Okay. So we can do this with Molly Walker. Because I want to save international hockey with, with Molly.

By the way, before Molly hops on, the jets are 19th right now in goals per game. As much as we're talking about Helibuck nut being there, Like, how much they miss Nick Eelers? It's not just Nick Eelers, but whenever you have someone that your entire team relies upon the way that Winnipeg relies on Connor Hallibuck, everything else gets exposed. Can it be even more obvious now that they need, A, another puck moving defenseman, and be a real second-line center?

I think we all wanted Jonathan Taves to be that guy. A lot of people really want Adam Lowry to be that guy, but they're not. They need a second-line center, man. Talk about stories that would have gotten a hell A lot more attention at another market Like I I checked in on taves Those numbers are ghastly

But by the way Both he and Patrick Kane earlier this week Were both a minus 12 I felt I felt like it was a warm blanket Like even though there are parts Or still together in a certain way Yeah

They're in a real tough slog here Anything else jump out at you From last night Other than the devil's could really use a Jack Hewesner lineup, no. Yeah, they got the same. They got smack there. Okay, a couple of things here.

You have time before Molly gets here? I think we do. Awards watch, ESPN.com, your latest. Yes. So Nathan McKinnon, heart trophy? Seriously? I know. Shocker.

Shocker. He's got... No, Maris. What? McKinin's got the majority of the support. McCar did receive a vote, basically. But there is, you know, lane here for

Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bardard to inhabit again like if the Colorado Avalanche end up being the heir apparent to the Boston Bruins for regular season superiority and are breaking records left and right and McKinnon continues to do what he's done

it's hard to imagine he won't be the MVP but you know some of the MVP discourse is about the impact that you have on your team and macar is on his team and and blackwood and wedgwood are on his team they've both been great even though wedgwood's a little banged up right now um they're still the avalanche and at the end of the day if it's april and either the black hawks or the sharks

are in a playoff position and badard and or celebrini have the more sizable or the same gap between themselves and the second leading score on their teams. I think there's going to be some MVP cases built for those guys later in the season. Bedard over, if he keeps it up, Spencer Knight. To me, that's the massive story in Chicago. I know we're all in love with Bardard. I want to get to Molly here, but I know we're all in love with Badard, but the Spencer Knight story is fantastic.

It's fantastic, but I don't, I think Badard probably gets to shine on that one if they are a playoff team. Okay, let's get to Molly. One of our favorites around these or any parts, you read her at The New York Post, as she joins us now to talk about The Rangers and Mike Sullivan and Team USA. There she has Molly Walker.

How are you, Molly? I'm good, Jeff. How are you? Doing very well. We're thinking about you the other night as well. All of us were. I know it was a tough one. We thank you for joining us here today.

Of course. Before we get to the Olympics and before we get to the Rangers, do you have a thought on, we're just going through like awards watch here with Wish. He's the latest at ESPN.com. Do you have a thought on who your heart trophy slash, I want to throw in Norris as well here, heart slash Norris trophy winners would be right now

if you voted today. I hate these questions, guys. Be spicy, be spicy. Don't just say Nathan McKinnon. Don't just say Nathan McKinnon. I'm not going to say Nathan McKinnon. I'm not going to say Nathan McKinnon. But, I mean, he always puts forth a valiant effort every single year. I respectfully decline. Like, I respectfully, I can't. Like, it's too early. There's so many different things that, you know, who the hell knows? Who knows? I would do it. I would do it every morning. Like, honestly, if I ran like, NHL.com, there would be like an awards watch every single. They almost do. They almost do.

Molly, let me spin, let me spin Merrick's intrusive question to you into something a little bit different. Now, sure. Give me more specific.

If you want me to go specifics. Adam Fox is banged up. But before he left the lineup, I think like he's had a resurgence season. I think a lot of the, 100% of the grief that he was getting for his overall game, he had cleaned up and he was killing it.

Do you think like, that played on his mind at all the fact that he came out of four nations last year with people being like should this guy even be on the olympic team 100 percent i think that when you think about the big picture of the rangers season the whole rangers team took took a punch to the face so to say but nobody's reputation took a harder hit than adam fox and that is no doubt about that especially with the four nation stage so i heard that he was in the gym a lot this summer. So I think that that was something that he took with him into the offseason. And, you know, he's such a cerebral guy. He'll never lead on that that was a fueling

thing for him. But he acknowledged it 100%. And I think that the results are what we're seeing on the ice. I think that he has 100% bounce back. And the way that he's racked up points, obviously, before this injury has been huge for the rangers more than anything but also his pairing with gaverkov has been one of the best top pairings in the entire league their numbers amongst other top d pairs who have the same amount of minutes as them they are near the top in most statistical categories they have really forged a special top pair for them and that was a huge thing for them to happened by signing Gavarikov to that long-term deal in the off season. So it is paying off.

The sneaky good pair over the last couple of years around the NHL that didn't get a lot of fanfare was Gavrikoff and Mikey Anderson in Los Angeles. Like in their own zone, like, Pucks did not go to the net. It was a freak show in their own zone. Do you have a quick thought on the early return? Well, not so early now, but the returns on Gavrikov so far this season for the Rangers? I mean, I think it's, it's been self-explanatory, truly. I feel like he has been so important to them on the back end.

Their defensive game is so much different than it was last season, the way that the Rangers play in the D-Zone, the way that they're defending the rush. It's completely different than what we saw from this Rangers team last season. And I think that Gavikov's defense-first mindset, that his predictability, as Mike Sullivan likes to point out all the time, has just been such a key part of what's made them so steady back there in the games that they have been, at least,

because as we know, it's been a little bit all over the place. But I've been impressed. So the size of the Olympic ice is this week's big story. Yes, it is. Pete DeBoard talked about it on sports net. And then other outlets discovered the story, even though they said they knew about it since September. And... Good Armstrong mentioned it in September.

It's been out for a while. He mentioned it on John Shannon's podcast. And I loved... I know you and Shannon have her boys. I loved him getting so pissed off. He's like, we were talking about this. We had this. Listen to our goddamn podcast.

But Molly, you talked to Mike Sullivan about it today. I was curious what his thoughts are about... about trying to ice or coach an Olympic team with NHL players on smaller ice? Yeah, I mean, first of all, fascinating conversation with Mike Sullivan this morning, just in general. Once the Olympics were brought up, because, you know, he was asked if he can look at the opponents at the other end of the ice and be evaluating them for how they would possibly fit in Team USA,

tonight's example being Shane Pinto on the other end of the ice. So he gave. Yep. He gave such a great answer about how, you know, yes, yes, he does, but that takes place the next day when he's breaking down the footage. Of course, when he's behind the bench, he's like the Rangers and the Rangers. Oh, okay. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. All right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. Yes, he said that he does, you know, take the time to look at other players and, and take all that as consideration. And, you know, then he was asked about Pinto in particular, and he talks about Pinto.

And then I was like, well, we're here. What are your thoughts about the projected ice size being smaller than NHL? And he just was like, I don't know if I have any thoughts. Honestly, I really hope that's not the case. He just kept saying. And I was like, it sounds like it is, Mike. I hate to break it to you. So what, you know, what are your thoughts?

And he just, not only does he think that, you know, that's not. not great for the game and it shouldn't be that way in Milan, but he feels like the NHL standard is too small to begin with because they're playing on the same sheet of ice that they did in the 50s. And the guy, the average height of the players nowadays is astronomical compared to what it was back then. So he thinks that it should be expanded to begin with. All right, Molly. To accommodate the evolution of humanity guys.

Oh, okay. So this is, oh, Molly, thank you for opening this door for this show right now. So I still maintain. And maybe this started with, I think maybe nationwide arena would have been the first one in this sort of like the wave of the quote unquote newer arenas. I thought one of the things that the NHL should have done, they should have insisted on any new arena that is built should have the option built in that in case they need to expand the ice search. surface that it's able to be done easily. Now it's like multi-million rip-out seats and make it big. It's almost like it's so hard to do in the off-season that is kind of prohibitive. But I thought that when they started to build all the new rings, that was one of the contingencies that should be built in.

Now, I don't disagree with Mike at all, but I don't want the double I-HF size. I don't want the 200 by 100. Way too many places to hide, a lot of empty calories. It comes like soccer at that point. Oh, it's, it's so, I remember asking Igor Laryanov about this once? I'm like, what do you like better? The big sheet or the small sheet? I thought like, you know, he's a, he's a creative player.

He wants the bigger, the bigger sheet of ice. And he said, no, I like the small. He goes, I step over the blue line. I'm in position for a scoring chance. I'm on the big ice. I step over the blue line. I still need a GPS to find the net. It's just slower, boring hockey.

So defensive. But I'm with you, Molly. And I'm with Mike. A little bit more room. to the outside, maybe like 200 by 92? You know, maybe a bump up 85 to maybe seven more, a little bit more room to the outside. I know. The best thing about Mike Sullivan is then he starts talking about where on the ice

it's going to be shorter. Like, it just things that, you know, who is thinking about that? Obviously, he is. And then he starts talking about how, you know, creating scoring chances off the rush are going to be a lot more difficult. if it's a little bit more compact, you know, just it was really fascinating and I was so loving the Olympic talk, you know, oh, yeah.

I think, no, have both of you heard the same thing that I think what, where they're going to take the, take the ice from is the neutral zone. Like the neutral, the neutral zone will be smaller. Yes. The offensive slash defensive zones are essentially going to be the same. But it does sort of open up the door for, I mean, listen, smaller ice surface, physical players become, that much more important, which is why, you know, up north here in Kinnuckistan,

we're all talking about Tom Wilson. Is there an equivalent player that, you know, that Americans are talking about, hey, if the rink is smaller, maybe we should have this bruiser on the team. Is there something? Greg, do you have someone in mind? Well, I was going to say, I think it's less about the Tom Wilson's brusers than it is that factoring into the debate that we've been all having about Cole Cawfield and about, you know, some of the more diminishing.

native, you know, Clayton Keller, like players that were left off four nations, despite their their offensive talents and goal scoring ability, like the argument was always like, let's put them on this national team. Hey, we lost an overtime game to Canada because couldn't score a goal. Couldn't score. Let's put the guys who score goals on the team. But now if the rink is, if the ice sheet is smaller, it almost seems like it would play into more of the Bulgarian philosophy of 200 foot.

it dig your heels in defensive players are more necessary than guys that are just go, go, go offensively. I mean, that's just my, my, you know, surface area or superficial read on it. Just listening to Mike Sullivan, I don't know if he personally is taking so much of the approach of a player that would fit better in a smaller rink because my guy was gone on some miracle on nice talk about about about putting to about no seriously about putting together you know not a team of all stars but a team and every true sense of the word and I was like I'm about to run through a wall Mike Sullivan I'm about to run through a wall straight to Milan like it was just just so perfect but like that's those are the types I mean he went on this whole thing he's like who's going to

be first over the boards in a three two game Canada just pulled their goalie you know you know, who's going to be, you know, the first P.K. shift. Who's going to be first over the boards, you know, to defend Crosby, McKin, and they're thinking about Canada. Let me tell you. So, so let me get, I would love to have been a fly on the wall for this. Was he going like, was he going full Herbie on you? Like, do I have this right?

Like, is he doing the full Herbie? It was a thing of beauty for a member of media. I just really, I look at him and I said, And he talked to you guys about it because he didn't, it wasn't the next day and he didn't have his team USA hat on where he could think about such things. 100%. But what I will say is it has happened in Canada.

When we're in Canada, I think today it was, it was Colin from Newsday, who is a Ranger reporter. He was the one who brought up the Olympics. But usually in the past, when we've been to Canada a bunch already, it's the Canadians who are bringing it up. And that's how it kind of becomes more of a conversation. So it was funny that it happened today in Ottawa. But yeah, he was going full of Herb Brooks a little bit.

And we really got him going. And like I said, I was like, well, while we're here, I'm just going to keep going with what everybody's talking about. And he was great. So. So here. is the, there's a couple of things that I wonder about here. I was joking the other day.

Were you on with me when we were talking about Jason Robertson? Yeah, yeah, because I talked to him, because he was trying to put on a show in front of Sullivan, and I made the joke, I'm like, I don't know what his shot total is, but I'd probably take the over. And then he had one shot on goal that night. Well, that was to me, Jason Robertson. Here's the whole thing. Like, it's did the whole thing.

And it wasn't Maxifino, Gannoff, by the way. It was Miroslav Chatan. So Miroslav Shetan famously in a Buffalo Toronto Maple Leafs game, after he scored a goal, sort of reached into his into his hockey pants and, you know, mimed the call me with the phone. Yeah. And I'm just wondering, like, how awesome what it had been?

If, like, Jason Robertson, Snipes, too, skates by the Rangers bench and gives Mike Sullivan the call me here. But do you find, well, this is very unscientific? But do you find that, like, candidates are playing that much differently in front of Mike Sullivan? Has Mike Sullivan said anything? I know that there was that. Buffalo game a couple of weeks ago, and Bill Garon was there, and, like, Tage Thompson,

like, you could tell, like, he knew, and Alex Tuck knew that Bill Garen was there. Has Sullivan commented or said anything, or have you noticed, any American players, just a little bit extra spice in the chili when they're playing in front of the Rangers? Well, Sullivan won't say anything unless he's directly asked about a certain player, like he was Shane Pinto today. He's not going to offer it up. in any way like that like i said he's really trying to make it clear that he is that his focus is on the new york rangers um but i think just uh being at the four nations and you know

adam fox in particular who is obviously in the running and gets to play not not for the next foreseeable future but was playing in front of mike sullivan every night as a tryout um of course it is on everybody's minds it's i mean i four nations was awesome because it really was, I called it the appetizer to the Olympics, because to see how much these guys care and how invested they are, of course, I mean, each of the rosters, you know, there's competition. There really is. You know, there are players that are really in the running here that this start of the season here is going to dictate who is going to be on these rosters. So when you know that your possible head coaches on the other bench, Of course, you're going to see 10 times the effort, and it is in the back of their minds. They all care. They're all thinking about it. We're ready for the Olympics.

Let's, let's go. Let's speed it up. I'm ready. Milan's not ready, but we're ready. Yeah, Milan's still figuring out if they can make ice, but we're ready. The last thing I want to ask you is about going back to the Rangers is the J.T. Miller of it all. what do you what do you make of j t miller and the rangers at this point i have so many thoughts um because i have so many thoughts because it's hard not to have so many thoughts about jt miller

truly um he is such a presence in the locker room in so many different ways he's actually been so good at keeping it light for a guy that is so intense Right. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Is this like when Liam Mason does comedy where it's just kind of like the juxtaposition of it? You guys are all you guys you guys are like, what are you saying? But it's true. Like whether it's a funny comment or just the way he walks into the locker room after a morning skater after whatever, he he doesn't take it too seriously. You know, and it's his his vibe. is very easily to catch on to and it's contagious. But at the same time, especially in his postgame interviews, you know, he is also not afraid to let them hear it when they need to hear it

and be blunt in his assessment of things. And, you know, we all know that bluntness that J.T. Miller can have and it's effective. It gets the point across. And I just feel like just the way he's carried himself around the room and things like that. It's been good for them. It's a different kind of player than they've had in the past. And it gives them a different kind of attitude. And I think it's still settling and figuring out what it is,

what their identity is, who they want to be. But he's been right in the middle of it, doing what he can to steer the team in the right direction while also, you know, being himself, which he told me he really came into this trying to be unapologetically himself. Yeah. Let me close with this one. Listen, we still have a lot of hockey to play, but if it stays this way for the Rangers this season, what does the off season look like? It depends. If they really fall off and they don't make the playoffs again.

That's what I mean. Like if it's like we're underneath the cut line here. Yeah, I definitely think that there's going to be more movement. I mean, if they're not within. you know, any reasonable distance of the playoffs by the trade deadline. I mean, it would be negligent on Chris Jury not to use Artemmy Panarin, you know, and see what kind of haul that they can get for him, obviously. So I would expect, you know, the next few weeks, especially leading up to the trade deadline to kind of dictate where they're going to go. But, I mean, two years in a row now making the playoffs is not going to be well received, so to say. And I expect movement, if that's the case.

Yes. Listen, this is so kind of you to hop on with us. Always appreciate everything you do and always making yourself available and sharing your expertise on Mike Sullivan, not paying attention to any American players when they're playing the Rangers. he just cares about those two points, damn it. Guys, this is going to be the last time he's ever going to talk to us about the Olympics now. They're going to be like, Molly didn't shut up about the Olympic talk this morning and now we can't do it anymore.

I still think it's the funniest thing that the childlike innocence of Mike Sullivan wishing that the ice is going to be a normal size when it's obvious to everyone involved that it's just going to be smaller. He's like, I hope that's not the case. I hope that's not the case. I'm like, Mike, it's, it's built. Like, it's, it's, it's in the graph. The WHAF signed off on it. Yeah, like, it's, it's, it's happened. I said to him, I said, it sounds like it's happening, Mike.

Oh, it's so funny. I love it. No, but he was great. He was great. I love it. I love it. Molly, you're the best. Thanks, as always for stopping by.

Be good. Of course. Thanks for having me, guys. Take care. There she is the great Molly Walker from the New York Post, joining us here. such a delight she is and you know what I'll um you know it's it's still stunning too and I don't even know what the you know we heard the comments from Bill Daley yesterday like you know if if the rink's not ready we're not playing so what does that mean then the

NHL is going to be dark do they have like did they have an alternative plan a backup schedule like if okay NHLers aren't going because it's rings not ready and it's too much of a risk for us to take with these you know millions billions dollars worth of of athletes here they're just going to like well piece out for a couple of weeks i guess so because they've also said there's no plan b i do love the idea though that as as we're speaking like steve mayor and them are are designing the uh winter hockey festival at ubs arena on long island uh wherein the players do not leave from milan and we get ourselves like multiple days of skills competitions and all against i don't know what happens honestly and honestly the other part of this too is that

if i just got to interrupt for one second you two are the biggest like wwee like dramatized dramatic like think about the biggest way to make a scene and have like a hero come in how have how is this not cross either of your minds that like they pull the plug on milan they're not doing it and then like a week before the break and everyone's all pissed off there's no hockey for a month, we're going dark. Gary Bettman and Bill Daley come out on some, you know, some big stage on the NHL network and they're like, we're playing international hockey and we're doing it in North America.

And they are launching this at UBS Arena in Toronto, Boston, York, Montreal, and they play this across everywhere and the hockey team's playing North America. I'm sorry to interrupt, but this seems like this is like the easiest, like, He were the heroes. It would be the easiest thing to do. They would come off as heroes. I will say to young Zach, there's a concept called arena availability that I think comes into play. When you tell a building that you don't need it for two weeks, chances are they've filled it with other things.

Yeah. But I mean, there's ways around that. Okay, that's fair. No, I don't, Zach, I don't think that you're wrong. And actually, I hope that you're okay. I hope you're not, there's no assassination attempts made on your life. after this Pelican brief you've written comes out that the NHL has been maybe planning this and you've exposed it to the world.

That's an old Julia Roberts movie, for those who don't know in the audience, from a John Grisham novel. It's quite good. No, I could see it happening. But, I mean, they've said there's no plan B. And more to the point, though, if the NHL doesn't play in the Olympics because of the arena, Is there just no men's ice hockey in the Olympics? Because that's like a pretty important sport in the winter games insofar as interest, attendance, revenues, things of that nature.

The IOC goes back to the double IHF and says, can your member countries all have to cobble together a team here somehow? Yeah, it's like there's, is there like a giant bat signal in this guy and Brian Gianta raises out of his recliner and he's like, I'm there. Ian White has returned on the defense on the blue line for Team Canada. Last scene of the Spangler Cup. Here comes Ian. I think Zach is interested. Zach is the one who evoked professional wrestling.

So I will follow that through line to say that, you know, there's a little k-fabe here in the sense that the NHL is trying to light a fire under the asses of a bunch of Italian bricklayers to get this thing done. and making some threats about or at least kind of speaking to the idea of not going certainly does that. Just two things I want to say about what we just talked about with Molly

that I didn't want to bring up because I know we had limited time with her. The first is that let me put this out in the world. If the Rangers don't make the playoffs and it's apparent that what Chris Drury is doing isn't working, could you see a situation

in which a New York area resident currently consulting with the National Hockey League by the name of Brendan Shanahan gets involved with the New York Rangers on a hockey operation side? I think it's possible. I've sort of in my own mind

just assumed that he's going to be the next Colin Campbell in the NHL. Well, that's kind of where he is now. I think he's like advising on hockey ops and that could be to learn the ropes and prepare himself for. But I don't know,

I don't know for sure that Brendan Shanahan doesn't want to get back involved with a team. Obviously, the leave situation with the leave situation, but I don't think for a second that means he's done it as an NHL executive or that he no longer has the desire to serve in that role. So I don't know. Could I see it given how important the New York Rangers are to the entire enterprise of the NHL?

Yeah, of course. 100%. I could totally see it. The second thing is, now you, of course, know, Merrick, that there was a top. time of the National Hockey League where rink size uniformity was not the norm. There were certain buildings that were a little bit different. And a plank in the Greg Wyshinsky platform, and I've been thinking a lot about this this week as we have all of this Michigas with the sizes of the rink in Italy and all this nonsense,

is I want to go back to there being differently sized rinks in this. I agree. I love in baseball that you have to think about the green. green monster you have to think about the short porch at yankee stadium i i love i love the idea of there being rinks in this league that are either too big or too small and teams have to design themselves to play in that rink a certain way you have to think about the players that you put in your lineup because you're going to be playing that rink certain way i'm not talking about some circus shit where you know there's no boards on one side of the ice or something like that i'm just talking

on one side. Yeah. I'm just talking about the dimensions of the ice and how cool it would be to have certain buildings that you have to think about who you're putting into your lineup versus other buildings. I think that'd be a lot of fun. That is real home ice advantage. I've maintained this.

I'm in 100% agreement with you. I've maintained this for a long time. And the ranks we're thinking of is the old Chicago Stadium, the old Boston Garden, and God bless it the odd in buffalo the odd like small small ranks everything is uniform right now so all the players are more

similar than they are different and what's the one thing that you know we look at hockey and we say you know everything just kind of looks and feels the same teams are constructed the same everybody tries to do the same thing with the same collection of players some players

you make it to the NHL if you can if you can if you can if you can if you can if you can knock off a couple of different boxes can you do this can you do this can do this yes then you can play in the NHL but what about players that would excel in a smaller in a smaller environment or dare we say it in a bigger environment as well or an environment where the boards around the corners are a little bit tighter and so those teams get constructed based on what the geography of their ice surface is so every single team is a little bit difference and there's there's character to these buildings and there's concern and you discuss the the dynamics involved into into what your lineup's going to be like it it just adds another layer of of interest and individuality into this game i agree but the problem is it'll never happen because every building there are no there are no buildings that are just for hockey there are no buildings that are that are just for hockey if there are buildings that were just for hockey you could be funky with them but you get 41 dates plus playoffs and that's it that's a whole lot of other dates

We're just talking about this with Molly. Or no, because it was with Zach and arena availability. Like, that's not how you make money with your building. So it has to, they all have to be uniform. Well, I think ultimately it sucks, but I like, I like different sized venues. 100%. To your point that you have agreement with Mike Sullivan about the rings being too small right now. I'm surprised you didn't bring up the biggest change besides the size of the players,

which is another official skating out there. with three of his friends. Like that the minute you at the minute they formalized there being four on ice officials on every game, that's the minute they should have said we're making the ice bigger. Because you know, you just can't add another body like that onto the ice

and have it not affect things. But you know what? You know what's interesting about that? I really thought because I'm old enough to remember folks when they introduced this. My first thought was this is a disaster because everyone's going to be bumping into officials now. They're not.

I think that's a real... Pucks do hit them. That's going to happen anyhow. That's just the reality of the year. I thought it was going to be like nonstop. Oh, stripes, get out of the way. Oh, stripes get out of the way. Stripes get out of the way.

I think one of the things we take for granted is, and again, here I go, like, big enough the officials, how much they get out of the way. How good they are at it. How great they are at getting out of the way. Like, you know what's good when you don't think about it and you don't notice it? Like, if you saw something about that with defensive

defensemen, you don't realize how great defenseman is if, you know, if they're sort of sight unseen. The officials in the NHL are awesome at turning themselves invisible and not getting, not getting in the middle of play. But you're right, though, like it becomes glaring when they don't, though, like when there's a mistake made and they break up a, you know, a chance along the boards by just being in the way. You see that in the NFL a lot, too, where like there's a passing play across the middle and the, the umpire doesn't know how to get out of the way and all of a sudden he's affecting play and then everybody booze um the thing i the thing i thought when they when they made the other on

ice official a permanent part of the of the crew was um obviously they would never again miss a call on the ice and i was right the officiating is completely perfect there's definitely mistakes made and they call everything it's amazing yes yes and nothing and they call it right down the middle and they call every infraction right by the book and core for this debate over and over and over. There you go. That's my message to the NHL. Make your rinks weirder.

Give us a little bit more personality from building to building. Like, Vegas is the great example. Like, Vegas's rink should have been something really weird and make that whole thing. Like, make it, make it like, you know, five, sixth the size of an NHL rink. And so now you're surrounded by a sellout crowd of complete knuckleheads and the ice is smaller. The offensive zones are pyramid-shaped. It all goes into a point. Okay, well, it's different.

I was trying to be radical about it, but listen, there's always going to be a part of me that's like, yeah, we should do more of that too, you know? Make the blue lines gold. It's Vegas after all. Why don't have to be blue lines? Did you see the game? Did you see the game?

I think it was before American Thanksgiving where it was a minor league team that was doing a... The green and pink? Yeah, they were doing a promo for the movie for the wicked sequel. And so one half of the ring was green like the wicked witch of the West. The one half of it was pink like Ariana Grande.

So here's, I kind of look at this because I haven't seen it. To me, it hasn't been done properly yet because no one's figured out how to do it right. It feels right in my head, but just in execution, I haven't seen it done right. But philosophically, I love the idea.

I just haven't seen it done right where it actually looks good. It still kind of looks clunky and tough to watch. But I do really like the idea of making the biggest thing on your screen more inviting to your eyes. Just like the baseball diamond with the lush greens. Or golf is probably the best example with the lush greens. Or the browns and basketball, the court.

Instead of just like, oh, God, there's. white white white white white the boards the socks the jerseys the helmets the the ice the players like everything is just like it's just like a huge splash of white which is as we all know the worst possible color for television but nonetheless yeah it it pains me to say it because i've always been a big proponent of it i haven't seen it done right yet but that doesn't mean that you should scrap it i think we should still try to make this look better kind of like i still think the fox puck was a good idea but the technology at the time was awful but the spirit of it was great and the idea behind it was fantastic by the way you know what brian burke told me about the fox puck uh each puck cost

like hundreds of dollars and so when they went up into the stands bricky because he was working for the NHL at that point he said they used to have someone and sometimes it would be him they would go up into the stands with like a handful of cash to buy the pucks away from the fans so they could bring so they could put them back into use like here how much you want for that puck you want 500 bucks here's 500 bucks give us the puck back yeah i mean you're you're right the technology wasn't there yet the technology eventually got there to be applied to nascar in a pretty spectacular way so you can see what drivers which drivers where and then obviously it also got repurposed to the first down marker in the nfl we could do an entire show about my thoughts on the

n hl and its television presentation i think the real issue is that Every other sport makes you feel like you're on the field now. And the NHL still feels like you are watching. Someone made a diorama of a sport. That's the real issue for me. I do want to mention, though, as we're talking about minor league gimmicks, the Orlando Solar Bears recently did. They have an annual game where they wear uniforms where the hockey pants

look like they're wearing tidy whitties. And they have. the fans during the game instead of throwing teddy bears another great minor league tradition they throw underwear on the ice the underwear game in orlando and all of the underwear thrown on the ice is donated to the coalition for the homeless of central florida it's a great cause yeah that's awesome i understand why the underwear needs to be packaged yes please sanitary sakes right yes please It's going to be used by people It's being donated.

Yes. That being said. That deprives us of the same sort of vistas that we get in the teddy bear toss of players in the solar bears diving into piles of underwear, which is really the aesthetic

that I'm looking for from the underwear toss game, but I understand why we can't have it. The PWAHOCHO on I don't know if it was league-wide or if it's just one team. Might have been league-wide. um did essentially a uh teddy bear toss but with bras it was a breast cancer breast cancer night i think might have been their first season or maybe it was last year i thought that one was that one was really

great too um all right listen because the other part is that you you'd have people removing their own underwear i understand that i understand all of the problems that are fraughts that's a problem brought with problems that's a problem i just want a picture of somebody diving into underwear at the end of the no you just want like you you know those guys like in buffalo that drink out of the beer Swords. Have you seen those things? The beard, the, the buffalo saber beer swords. Yeah. It feels awesome. A guy, you want someone drinking like eight of those and then trying to tear off his own underwear to throw it on the ice. That's right. So Tage Thompson and Jack Quinn can dive in it. Dive into it. Yeah. That's, that's what you're saying you want it. I'm just saying that there are some only, only fans that probably make a good chunk of change. Recreating the thing I'm talking about right now. That's actually quite, quite true, quite true. Excellent as always. You pass the test.

You can come back on Tuesday. Oh, thank you. Congratulations. I really appreciate that. I didn't know that this feels like the end of Willy Wonka in the Chavez factory where all of a sudden Charlie realizes he's been trying out to become the new Willy Wonka. I'm not saying that I'm taking over your show or anything.

I'm just saying I didn't realize there was a test. Well, you didn't know that it was a test. But as we like to point out, we used to do it on the old show, every show could be the last one. one day it will be the last one maybe today i really thought i really thought that getting a goon into the all-star game was going to be the last one but it turned out not to be you want to talk about what happened to me because i could do it more freely now maybe we'll do that next show about the conversations how i thought i was getting fired let's let's tease let's do a good classic uh sports talk radio thing we'll tease it for tuesday okay uh because we are over

as i yeah yeah yeah it's we'll tease it for jose jeff jeff jeff merrick tells all about the John Scott aftermath on Tuesday's episode. Was not good. No, it wasn't. It was not good for your boy. I remember many phone calls about it. It was not good for your boy, especially that first day when USA Today had the vote. It was not a good day for your boy.

Let's talk about it on Tuesday. Let's do it. All right, thanks, Wish. You'd be good. By Tuesday, that one, that fun story. is uh is uh is uh is coming up it's funny someone reminded me about that same my best tweet ever was at the end of that all-star game of nashville i remember sitting there with my dog just being a jerk on twitter and putting up surrey i ruined the all-star game everybody

hey zach well that was not a good time for your guys But you live and you learn You made it out I made many mistakes It didn't learn a thing I didn't like live and learn No I just kind of live through it

That's all Okay well that's good enough You're here today Endured threats Anywho You're good today Everything cool I got to hustle here in a couple of seconds

But everything good in your world Now the wife and kids are okay Me and I have a barbecue on the weekend You want to come by Everything all right with you Everyone's good Okay good very good Here we go

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Zach? Keeping it simple. I'm not going with a parlay today because I've just been terrible, but I'm just going to give three. How did you choose these three? How did you choose these three? Goal scores that I like here today. We're going, depth matters.

This is not parlaying them. This is just all separate. You bet these separately. You only have to win. in one and effectively you'll probably if you lose the other two you still come out profitable on the night and it's fun for some long shots so i call this one uh today's theme depth matters grab some third and fourth liners here tonight that i think could potentially score based on uh chances generated over last a while inability to score or guys heating up i e a scottlotton

who's looked a lot better over last a while and did find the back to net against the panthers so the three I have, Scott Lawton, plus 1100, just to kind of break it down for people. If you bet 10 on that one, you'd win 110 profit. Connor Sheary, same thing, $10, $10,000, plus 11,100, 110 profit. And Colton, Doc, plus 910 would profit you 90 there. Those are three. Not saying bet them all together, by the way. Let's be clear on that, but those are the three.

Okay. I like when you do the parlays, because I like just how grumpy you are afterwards. Well, there was some, there was a couple that was like, oh, it was close. I was like, I've not won any of these. But one day it's going to hit and we're not going to hear the end about it. This is your fishing trip story. Do you remember that day where you laughed at me looking at my slip and you'll never let us live it down? You'll never let us forget.

Yeah. That'll be the one where I come on. of the day after last night we won 500 bucks and then three months later remember that one we won like ten thousand dollars and then a year later you and i are talking about that million dollar win that we had it was not really that much all right uh i got a hustle here and we've been really rude with your time um but we'll end that now uh thanks for joining us today thanks for thanks to molly walker for stopping by and putting up with our nonsense thanks molly for for classing up the show the way you always do when you pop by.

Thanks as always to Greg Wyshke who pops by twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays here on the old MvSW on the sheet. And thanks to you for being in the chat, letting us in your ears, letting us in your eyeballs, and wherever else you allow us. That sounded weird. We're back tomorrow, 1 o'clock, more of the sheet. We'll talk to you then. I sweat 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, because you can call it all right. I went to the dark man.

He tried to give me a little medicine. I'm like, no, man, that's fine. I'm not against those methods, but you know. It's me and myself And how this is going to be fixed in my mind I didn't want to pack it I turned on the music I didn't want to back

I turn on the music It's enough help out and get you sometimes losing Have been on the days that went wrong