The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Carlsson Offer Sheet Fallout and the NHL Player Empowerment Era ft. Tyler Johnson & Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: July 7, 2026

On today’s episode of The Sheet, Jeff Marek is joined by Greg Wyshynski for another edition of MVSW (Marek vs. Wyshynski) as they break down the biggest stories shaking up the NHL offseason. Jeff and Greg dive into Leo Carlsson’s massive offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers, the ticking seven-day window for the Anaheim Ducks to make their decision, and how Pavel Mintyukov’s new contract impacts Anaheim’s salary cap situation moving forward. They discuss whether offer sheets are becoming a bigger weapon for NHL general managers, how teams are exploiting market inefficiencies, and which restricted free agents could become the next targets.Then, two-time Stanley Cup champion Tyler Johnson joins the show to give a player’s perspective on the changing era of player empowerment in the NHL. Johnson discusses how players inside the Flyers and Ducks locker rooms might view Danny Briere’s aggressive offer sheet strategy, Leo Carlsson’s decision to sign, and what these moves mean from a player perspective. Plus, the guys dive into the latest around Brady Tkachuk, player podcasts, trade requests, Dylan Larkin’s reported preferred destinations, Zach Werenski rumours, no-trade clauses, and how much power NHL stars have in today’s league.Jeff Marek, Greg Wyshynski, and Tyler Johnson cover all that and more on another loaded offseason edition of The Sheet.#TheSheet #NHL #Hockey #Flyers #FlyTogether #FlyersHockey #AnaheimDucks #LetsGoDucks #LeoCarlsson #NHLOffseason #NHLFreeAgency #StanleyCupSHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Canadian Blood Services: https://www.blood.ca/Reach 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.

Daniel Alfredson to Toronto Welcome to the sheet for this Tuesday, July 7th. Is today not the anniversary of the birth of the NWO? You're telling me off air. And today the official 30-year anniversary? The official 30-year anniversary when the entire wrestling world became too sweet and Al-Cogan turned heel for the first time.

By the way, you're burying the lead. We were talking about Daniel Alpherson getting hired as an associate coach in Toronto. And by the way, kudos to John. John Chaka, who's apparent modus operandi is, just hire all the tormentors. You sign Bobrovsky. You've named Alfredson, the associate coach. Who's next?

Who's next on the list? Brad Marsh. Yeah, what Boston Bruin is added to the Maple Leafs next to try to end the jigs? You're bearing the lead. You're bearing the lead because I've known you now for the better part of 15 years, maybe even longer than that. What are you talking about? And you, this is the first time I've ever heard you make a reference to the television sitcom Alf.

In which there was a puppet who was an alien who ate eight cats. Correct. And it was very successful on NBC for many years. Yeah. I have never heard you make a reference to Alf. This is an important thing for me and you. My father literally has probably five VHS tapes of Alf episodes. Yeah, I didn't like it.

I didn't like it. my sister loved it. So we had, you know, like most family, we had one TV. So when she had it, that was on. I just remember there was one, see, there's only one time that I ever laughed. It was when Ralph had been overserved and he was throwing up the next day. And it was like, uh, that. And then he paused and he goes, I don't remember reading that.

And that was the only time I ever laughed at Alf. So at every, he's all I can do is think about that line. But other than that, I have the same, I have the same thing with family guy. Like I'm not a family guy fan. Maybe that's just because I was, you know, a Simpson's growing up but there were two times of family you're allowed to be allowed to enjoy both i i i'm i it's a real oasis blur beetle stones thing for me listen the the two times i laughed really hard a family guy was in the premier episode when uh they all go oh no oh no and then the kool-aid man breaks to the wall and says oh yeah that

destroyed me and then when they did the bed bath and beyond a bit which i don't know if you guys had bed bath beyond in canada or not yes yes yes but you have color tv you know you know you know Right. Peter walks through the door and to beyond, and then he's in sort of some trippy Jack Kirby spacecape. And that made me laugh a lot too. So there are certain shows that other people enjoy that you and I both found some humor in, but not a lot. Okay. Well, we found some symmetry between one another with Alf and the story of the day. Again, things you never thought that you would say and words that you've used before are just not in this combination. Daniel Alfredson going to Toronto as associate coach. Yeah.

From the Ottawa senators. Like to me, to me this is great. Like I, again, like I don't have, I don't have a dog in this. So I just think that I just cheer for the best stories. I just cheer for the fun.

And the summer of fun continues in the NHL. Never did I think that we'd be sitting here on the 7th of July talking about Daniel Alfredson to Toronto on the bench with, as Zach mentions, Big Brother Above Matt Sundy. I know, right? Look, just listen. My PSA to everybody, just stay alive. If you stay alive, you'll see some weird and wild and fun and interesting things.

Case in point, Daniel Alfredson to the Maple Leafs Organization. Tough one for Ottawa, man. You know, Brady leaves. I know. going back to play with his brother. If we're to believe all of the scuttle butt and backstabbing that followed that transaction, of course, they wanted him out. He had to go.

And then franchise icon Daniel Appritson becomes a Maple Leaf. This is an awkward summer if you're an Ottawa Senator's fan. Claude Drew's back. Well, his stuff was there. Right. I mean, that was pretty. But didn't stop him talking to Edmonton. His stuff was there.

And also, he has no patience to figure out how Leo Carlson offers. Sheets going to play out, apparently. So back to... I don't think Philly does. Philly right now, we talked about this on the show yesterday with Steve Warrior. Like, Philly's Frozen. Like, those guys go... I thought the Drysdale contract was close, but, like, Breyer can't do anything right now.

So protect yourself and select Arb, same as Trevor's Tigris. Like, that's just Philadelphia is frozen right now. That's how I looked at that. I kind of thought Drew might chase a cup. not to belittle our friends in Ottawa, but I think there are probably teams that are a little bit closer to a cup than the senators currently are.

We already saw him do it once when he accepted that trade to the Panthers from the Flyers, but I guess, you know, ultimately you're that age, you're comfortable, things are going well, still putting up numbers, and your stuff is there. And your stuff is there. And your stuff is there.

So the other thing, so Alfredson joins the MEP police organization as an associate, not assistant coach, John Gruden, the Marley's coach, Calder Cup champion, gets the bump up to the Toronto Maple Leafs bench, which does create a vacancy. Have the Maple Leafs, because Zach, you're on top of this one here. Have the Maple Leafs announced a new coach? Because if they haven't, the guy that I wonder about is UCO Hocus. Of the Kitchen Rangers Memorial Cup champion coach, long believe that he is, he's ready for the next step in his career.

That'd be pretty cool. Has been the CHL. Yeah, and he's like a really progressive forward-thinking guy. Great job with the Kitchen Rangers. CHL coach of the year. Memorial Cup coach, champion, all of that kind of stuff. I really would wonder about UCO Hocus. I think there are other American hockey league teams that have tried to hire him.

But bluntly, the money's been awful. I don't think that will be a problem in Toronto. So I would watch for UCO Hocus here. I say this because this has been told to me by so many people about. Jim Hiller. Mm-hmm. Isn't it kind of redundant to have Daniel Alpherson be your lieutenant? Like, isn't the traditional setup in the NHL to be good cop, bad cop?

But isn't Jim Hiller pretty a well-liked, charismatic, personable guy to the players? Like, I can't see Alpherson being the heel. So this is kind of an interesting setup here. It's kind of more kumbaya than the traditional coaching setup for a bench in the NHL. This is always the pendulum swing. Like, look at the Maple Leafs players are coming off of. Craig Barrupy. You know, scream at kids and fire coconuts off the wall.

Like, that's what the Maple Leafs are coming off of, like a few years of that. This is the way it always goes. Now it's going to be a player's coach, so everyone's happy to be there and feeling better. And then they'll get too comfortable, and someone's going to have to come in and scream. This is just, you've been around hockey a long time. And this is the way that it goes. Yeah. Like, for whomever the next coach is after Hiller, it'll be.

How dare you? You mean after they build the statue to Hiller in front of the arena for having won the cup in Toronto? That guy? No, they're not going to, they're not going to make statues because that takes up too much real estate. They'll just name schools. A lot cheaper that way. Not cheaper that way. Real estate's expensive, if you understand.

Montreal's got more statues than ancient Greece. But Toronto canceled the statue because it'll take up too much real estate. Tell you what's expensive real estate downtown. So they just like name bridges and schools after you. Like call it a day. All right. The taxpayer worry about it. This is our real estate here.

Thank you very much. It's our team. We keep the money, though. This is your team. They're trying to make police. We keep the profits, though. So there's that. There's that.

I don't know about you, but I've kind of let my mind wander a whole lot on, I think we all have done this. What's next with the Leo Carlson situation? What does it mean for the Flyers? What does it mean for the Anaheim ducks? And again, it would take some massaging. Let's have I thought bubbles this morning of trying to make a Jason Robertson-cutter-Goce trade work. Because Anaheim has been one of those teams Dallas has talked with about Jason Robertson previously. And this goes back, too.

Why would the ducks do that, though? Because they don't want to pay him the $15 to $17 million that Gochay would want on his next contract. but 12 in Texas is the same as 15 in California. And that depends on what Robertson would want. And the belief is that Robertson going back to California is a lot more understandable, a destination than other places for him, California kids. So hold up. So are you going to pay Robertson?

You'd have to get rid of, hang on. Again, like, this is just like wandering thoughts on July 7th morning out on my run this morning where I see more livestock than people you know where I live. It would take, it would take like getting rid of an Alex Collorn to free up space here. Again, like, I'm just, where I'm at right now is like, where are people at with like, what's the cascade from all this either way, whether they match or whether they don't? And you're walking, you're running around town. You're, you got a lack of oxygen to the brain.

Wouldn't, wouldn't Robertson cost as much for more than Gautier, though, if you're the ducks? That's what I'm asking you. No, but I think. I think part of, well, in actual dollars, in actual dollars, I would imagine Robertson would go to Anaheim and get the number 15. Okay. But that's still going to be more than what they pay Goti, don't you think? Or do you think Goteer is now above 15? No, I think, I think, I think, I think, I think, I think Gose is above, above that because of the Carlson contract.

That's why Dallas makes sense as an OTAG state because you can come in at 12. You can sell 12. I mean, if you're saving some dough and getting yourself a proven 40 goal score, you know, multiple times, right? Like, I mean. But so is Robert. Like,

you are losing goal score too. Like that's the thing. But it's like, well, no, no, that's what I'm saying about, I'm saying about Anaheim getting,

getting Robertson. Yeah. You are giving up four years on this, this planet of ours, uh, between Gotee and, and Robertson. I just,

here's the thing I keep coming back to with, with Anaheim, though, like, Like, well, let's assume that they, they match Carlson. There was a time in the, like, two years ago. When we looked at Anaheimus Rostom, we're like, my God, look at all these young stud players. Especially the blue line.

Right. Remember how we used to gush about the blue line? Right. Look at the blue line now. Now one of them's in Buffalo. And, you know, McTavish is gone and Zegaris is gone. And the other one, obviously, Drysdale. Jamie Drysdale's gone.

Now he's in Philly. So, like, if Carlson goes back, what is he coming back to? It almost, I was writing about the Chicago situation last night for ESPN, the Bowen-Byrum situation. And as I mentioned on the show, my intention is that they believe they are coming out of a rebuild, and that is absolutely not true. Like, they are very much mired in one. Chicago is still in one. Yeah. Giving way the fourth overall pick is about practice.

Yeah. But then I was listing the teams that came out of it, one of them being Utah, one of them being San Jose. A and I got to Anaheim, I'm like, they were definitely out of it last year. But now when you look at that roster, and you see all these guys that are like over 30 and a few guys that are like, you know, definitely young, young, amazing players you can build around.

I'm like, where are they right now? Because I don't think they're quite as good as A, we thought they'd be two years ago and be as good as they were last year. Where are they now? Yeah, we were talking about the blue line yesterday here on the program. Like I remember, a cozy five minutes ago. And you can even go back to, you know, go back to the expansion draft with Vegas and Shea Theodore.

Like, it's always been, like, the last 10 years has been like a murderers. Like, I remember, do you, did you not have the same feeling when the Anaheim Ducks drafted Pavel Mitchikoff? What was it, like, 10th overall? It was 10th overall, yeah. Did you not say, why are they drafting another young defenseman? They've got like 15 of them. What are they doing?

Now, Mitchikov was excellent in the Ontario League. Like, I'm not disputing the pick, but of all teams. why was Anaheim doing it? But but to the, hang on, to the point of Leo Carlson, like right now it's all out of his hands. There's no like, oh, I don't want to go back to Anheim. Too bad, you might have to. You might have to.

But I mean, would it surprise you at all if that's been communicated to Verbeke? Like, this guy doesn't want to be here. Oh, just like it changed the math for. Just like it was communicated to David Poyle with Shea Weber publicly by the agent. My client has indicated he would like to play in Philadelphia. We hope that you would respect his wishes. He doesn't get more overt than that. And David Poyle said, yeah, go take a long walk on a short pier.

We're getting him back and he's going to be our captain. Yeah. Well, there you go. I would imagine it might have been communicated to Pat Verbeek, to which I think Pat from the IDGAF. Yeah. You and I haven't talked since the opera sheet. I think not to pile on the guy because I think everyone has already gotten their shots.

But Verbeek is a disaster when it comes to this Carlson offer sheet. And we've often talked about coaches having to change their tactics in 2026 because the players have changed. The landscape has changed. You can't be the same kind of hard-ass coach you wear back in 2010 unless you're Mike Babcock. And I wonder if the same thing can be said of general managers. Look at the way that Pat Verbeek has negotiated with young players under the auspices that, you know, back in my mind, day or back in my mentor Steve Eisenman's day you know the young guys didn't get paid until they're much older they didn't deserve to get paid so he grinded

down Drysdale and he grinded down Zegris and he grinded down McTavish and they're all gone and by the way the contracts that they signed and this is a really big point that people don't often note about this Carlson contract with in contrast to the way that Rebeek likes to operate you know how much signing bonus money was in all of those contracts to young star players from the Ducks, McTavish, Zegress, Driesdale. Here, I'll give you the number. Zero.

He's structuring contracts in a way that guys don't want to sign anymore. That's Lou, by the way. That's the Lomeroa style. That's Lee. Remember the big fight over Schedule A bonuses? That's all Lou. But Lou's not even a general manager. No, I know.

No, but that's what I'm saying to your point. Like, that's how, it's not, the analogy I always use it. It's not from the old school. It's from the school they burned down to. build the old school. And I'm glad you brought up Eisenman too. I was having a conversation with some of the other day who said, are there, are there two better examples of general managers right now who are out of step with how to run a modern sports organization with modern hockey players than Steve Eisenman and Pat Forbeek right now. Yeah. Yeah. And look where both their squads are.

Exactly. And this isn't this isn't me or you, probably you, not you, saying that just because you, your next jock doesn't mean that you can't run a team like Joe Sackick does a pretty damn good job as being a general manager but when you start to look around the league and you see Eric Tolski and Chris McFarland and Kent Hughes and Bill Zito you start to think about okay the broadening of horizons away from simply this guy played the game for really long time put in his time as an AGM under some other guy that played for a really long time like maybe that paradigm is finally going to shift away from those types of. of guys and more into the

non-traditional path guys like with Carlin and Tulski and the ex-agents like Zito and Hughes who, by the way, Zito's won two cups. Hughes probably is going to win a cup in Montreal because of the way he's managing that roster. I was going to say the common denominator there is law school. Yeah,

it's true. For a lot of these guys. Again, like the same point we've been banging home for a couple of years here. Hockey is last to everything. It is last dog at the dish and it is last dog at this reality that other sports have come to. It is less and less about did you play

and more and more about can you think. That's it. That's what it comes down to. Not saying that you can't have played and run a successful hockey organization, you just need to treat your mind like a parachute and keep it open. Parachutes only work when they're open. Parachutes don't work when they're closed.

Parachutes are closed. You jump out of the plane, you die. And I think there's a lot of people that just because they're wearing a parachute will say, look, I've got a parachute. I'm going to be successful. You have to open it and you have to use it. By that I mean, you have to be able to rely on smart people around you and not think in the old school sense of this guy is too smart and he's threatening. I'm a firm believer in the saying, if you're the smartest person in the room, that's your fault.

You've got to be really comfortable not being the smartest person in the room at all times if you're going to get better and if you're going to grow. How many hockey guys do that? I think that's a great point. And I think that the other thing that's really important about running a successful team, like you said, is not only hiring smart people around you, but having people in place that know how to do their jobs well. Like, I'm not trying. I don't have the inner workings of Jeff Solomon's negotiations with the Anaheim Ducks, but I know he's not the most well-liked guy. He's like the lead negotiators, the assistant GM. And he's the guy leading all these discussions with young players where they're trying to grind them into dust and then they end up having to trade them.

But like you look around at McFarland and what he's building there. Obviously he just made a big pickoff from the Pittsburgh Penguins today, you know, from their front office. Rob Blake's there. You look where Tulski, Tulski brings in Delo. Like all these guys are just smartly putting the right people in place around them to handle business and not end up in a situation where you expose yourself to a massive offer sheet that, you know, either makes you lose your number one center or destroys your financial structure. and now all of the sudden this dings both and this is where it burns. Like this offer sheet

dings both Pat Ferbeek and Henry Samueli because now Fibke's not in charge of his cap and Samueli's not in charge of his finances. Now another team is running his financial show and he's not going to have control. Steve Rears bringing up this point on the show yesterday. He won't have control until next July 2nd.

That's the next point. Like after he pays that bonus next July, that's the first point that he has some control over this player. But for the next 12 months, you know how much these guys hate that. He surrenders his financial control to the Philadelphia Flyers. It's not only that. It's also let's assume that they match Carlson. And let's assume that he, I don't know, finds a smile in Anaheim. Many people have.

Disneyland is lovely. and decides to stick around beyond this contract, which of course is only a five-year term, it signs another deal that is based on another offer's contract. Or another offer sheet. Or another offer sheet. Wouldn't be another option. We are talking about a general manager, Pat for Beak,

and a front office in Anaheim, that because they didn't get their ducks in a row, sorry for that one, folks, on Leo Carlson, has cost their owner tens of millions of, millions of dollars they won't have had to spend because of how poorly they handled this situation. Brant Clark in L.A. settled. Bouchard, Edmonton last summer, well before RFA status, settled. All the Montreal got everybody across this league is taking care of business outside Anheim.

And they're the ones who get stung. Just for fun. Just for fun. This morning when I got up, I made a list. Targets for next year. Because right now I believe managers are called like right now I believe owners are calling managers, managers are calling agents to check in because we saw what happened with various relationships in Detroit with Steve Eisenman, most notably Dylan Larkin. And we ask ourselves, how did this relationship get this bad? How did this manager allow this relationship to get this bad? And we're asking the same thing about Pat Verbeek and Leo Carlson.

How did they let this relationship get this bad? to the point where there is zero loyalty. Again, the point that I'm trying to make. Here's where I would start. You can grind all you want, and that's fine. You're well with, and Yarmal-Kickle-in, when talking about having the hammer and using it. But the one thing you can never get when you do that is loyalty.

You get the other side saying, the minute I get a hammer, I'm using it. Here's where I'll start. Look around the league and find a player who openly criticized his general manager's approach to the trade deadline at the end of the season. That would be the first inkling that may be something is amiss. And that's probably, instead of firing back, maybe you call the agent and the player and say, let's get on the same page here. Like, we can't have this.

Before you get to just being out of your shopping list, you didn't deserve a trade. Before you get to next year's shopping list, I do want to say that I think that I actually think that Eiserman has the hammer right now in Detroit, which I know that is not necessarily. I'm not believing that. No. So his options. They have to win. and they don't want this circus rolling into town. Larkin's options are either walk into a locker room

that you don't want to be a part of anymore and abandon ship as the captain, okay? Or you sit out in the preseason and the regular season and not get paid. And if you're... When I say Eisenman has the hammer, hold on, when I say Eisenman has the hammer, I mean the hammer in the sense of

you're going to have to accept a little bit more geographic destinations than you've accepted. Because truly, like, What is Larkin going to do? Sit out? Do you think? Oh, hang on. Hold on.

Sorry, guys. This tweet came from Helene St. James 12 minutes ago. In two plus months since requesting a trade from the Red Wings, Dylan Larkin has not expanded his list from Florida, Minnesota, Vegas. No offers from those teams have intrigued the wings. They want value now players for a one-seat with a very favorable contract. That's what I'm talking about. Thank you.

Wow, that was an amazing pop. I like that's what I'm talking about. Like if you're going to still limit your scope to three teams. Okay. And you're a guy that's got like four or five years left in your contract making a trade request of your general manager. Your general manager simply say, I'm not going to trade you to one of those teams. Unless I get the value of looking back to get back. Florida can't provide it because they're not going to touch their roster.

Minnesota, we know what they're offering. And I don't like the Leafs are the Red Wings are into it. And Vegas, who knows, maybe it can gin up something in Vegas. Although I think Dorofeaheah going to the Rangers, it probably hurts the last. that caused because that would have been a nice piece in a larkin deal. Yes. And so, yeah, Steve, you can just sit back and say, look, man, you got two options. You can walk into a locker room that you've abandoned or you can sit out and not get paid.

Or here's option three, buddy. Give me like three more teams you might consider playing for since you hate it so much here with this original six team in which you're handsomely paid. What both sides, and this has been for however many years going back to 2005, the failure of the Players Association, think about leverage points. Don't make a deal until you have a leverage point. And if you're a Dylan Larkin, you know what your leverage point is? I don't think for one second, Steve Eisenman or the Detroit Red Wings, the Illich family,

wants a game next year in Detroit with Dylan Larkin and an ugly atmosphere at their rink. I don't think they want their fans booing one of their players. relentlessly. What is Dylan Larkin? He wants to get to where he wants to go. Okay. And he doesn't, he doesn't, why would he, why would he open up and surrender this, this impending leverage point that he's building towards?

Like, Steve, this is what I want. It's not a leverage point. You don't think that that's a leverage point for the Detroit, for the Detroit, right? You think the Red Wings want that next year? It's no more of a leverage point than the Detroit Red Wings putting Dylan Larkin out like a, like someone being marched to the gallows on Game of Thrones. Like, it's a leverage point for Larkin, too. That's what did we just see in, hold on.

What did we just see in Columbus, Merrick? We saw Zach Werenski basically beg off the trading block because he felt so bad being publicly scrutinized that he literally said, I'm kidding, committing myself to Columbus, even though we all know that's bullshit. So there, the door swings both ways. Players don't want to be made an example of. They don't want the fans to hate them. These guys are just as much egomaniacs as you and I are. We all ought to be loved. And so the door swings both ways on that.

So I don't think that's a pressure point for Dylan Larkin. I don't think he has any pressure points having signed the long-term contract that he signed. He's not a guy two years away from, from, you know, UFA status. He's a guy stuck in a long-term deal begging to get out. And you don't think for one second that the Detroit Red Rings want that atmosphere in their ability. You don't think it's important for the Detroit Red Wings, where everyone around them is improving. All of a sudden, they're looking at rebuilding again and taking another step backwards because the Panthers are back and Montreal is in and Buffalo is in.

And the Maple Leafs are reloading, and they're probably going to scratch to try to get back into this playoff race too. All the while Detroit keeps fading and fading and fading and fading. You don't think that coupled with a horrible atmosphere at this, we don't even call it a new rank anymore, is a leverage point for Dylan Larkin? No, I don't because I think what you said is exactly applicable to Detroit Red Wings, which is that if they don't want to have to rebuild again, if they do want to keep up with the rest of the Atlantic Division, then they need to be. get the return on this Dylan Larkin trade that they want to get. And they're not going to sit here and acquiesce to some guy who's punking out having signed a long-term contract and he's giving him three destinations to which he wants to be traded that can't give Detroit but jack and shit to help them be good right now.

And so I don't think that they feel if you're weighing the pressure point of we need to get as much of a return as we can for Dylan Larkin versus we're going to be embarrassed because fans are going to boo and such. Like they're totally going to go back to the we need to get as much as we can to Dylan larkin thing being the most important thing for that front office. The people who have the nerve to buy the tickets. Here's the thing where it gets really bad. It's not awful if someone doesn't buy a ticket.

That's not the worst thing. You know what the worst thing is? And you're seeing this with Red Wings fans right now. It is the absolute worst thing. Worse than a fan not buying a ticket is a fan buying a ticket and not going. That's when you know it's awful. That's when you know it's like crisis time. And we're there with Detroit.

We're there with Detroit. Money's money. I think they'd rather have the money from the ticket for it just than the guy not showing up. As a Devils fan, he used to go to my arena and see 9,000 fans attending October, October weeknight games. I think you'd rather have the people spending the money than not showing up. Let's get the Tyler Johnson. Tyler Johnson, former NHL are now, NHL analyst, joins us on the sheet alongside Jeff Merrick here. And Greg Wischitzky, Tyler, thanks so much for joining us once again.

man, like we've seen some entertaining some entertaining off-seasons you know, when you're in the game and now that you're out of the game. I don't know, Tyler, that we've ever seen an off-season with drama like this. It's still not NBA. It's winking at the NBA,

and it's kind of getting that way. But it's weird because I'll just say it bluntly, Tyler. This doesn't feel like hockey. Like, hockey's not supposed to be like this entertaining in July, but here we are, 11 every second of. it. Yeah, it's been wild. I mean, you get the big offer sheets, you get the trade requests, you get, you know, guys moving left and right. Obviously, the salary caps going up, so teams are being a little bit more aggressive in that regard. I mean, you look at the east, they're loaded.

I mean, every team is loading up right now. It's going to be a battle. It's definitely interesting. It's a good time to be a fan. So one of the reasons I wanted to, I was hoping we'd have you on, Tyler, is that I want to know from a player's perspective a little bit more about what happens when somebody makes a trade request or a trade demand. You know, we've all heard when guys are asking for a ton of money and it might screw you against the cap, it's still a business, right? And everybody's trying to get theirs. And most of the players understand the economics of things. A trade request to me is a little bit different.

There's always reasons behind it. But at the end of the day, it's, I don't want to be here anymore. Sorry, boys. how does how do the how does it work internally when amongst the other boys when one of the guys has said i i want to be traded yeah i mean i think it's definitely difficult um i think it depends on how it's done as well uh you know i know in my past in my plane the one that was a really big one for us is when marty saying we wanted to get traded after the olympics there and uh you know you heard a lot of rumblings he didn't really talk to you know a lot of the

us about it and then all of a sudden one game he just said hey guys like everything will get figured out and you know I think the next day he got traded so it's hard I don't know what it would be like you know I heard you obviously talking about the Larkin

situation and I don't know how that would be being on that team if you know you go into the season you know what's going on I'm assuming all the guys are still talking to him you know he has his reasons I'm sure the team is well aware of those.

And I also understand where Eisenman is coming from. So it's definitely difficult. I mean, it's a hard one to say because it's going to be a case-by-case basis. But yeah, it's not easy. That's for sure. You know, one of the other things here, too, and this is, you know, speaking to Leo Carlson, because at the end of the day, he signed the offer sheet, right? It's both parties.

You know, Columbus submitted one to Mitch Marner and he wouldn't sign it. He liked the money, but the idea of like, well, if the Maple Leafs don't match? And it's like, well, yeah, that's a whole idea of the offer sheet. That's the gamble, but you're getting your money here. So at the end of the day, like Leo Carlson signs this thing. And, you know, the one example that I've pointed to is when Ryan O'Reilly signed the Calgary offer sheet. When he went back to Colorado, it wasn't the guys all saying, hey, you know, we understand that that was business. You know, there were certain people in the room. They're like, you know, you tried to leave. You tried to quit. Like, you gave up on the team.

Like, I know you try, yeah, as much as you try to remove passion and emotion from all of it and everybody is a corporation and everyone's a businessman and doing what's best for themselves, there are emotions involved because you're part of a team. Like that's always sort of looming in the background, isn't it? What's it going to be like if the team matches? And I got to go back to that room after signing an offer sheet that says, I want to go somewhere else. I mean, you can definitely look at it both ways. I personally don't see it as, hey, I want to go somewhere else. I see it more as, you know, that player had the opportunity to make a lot more money. And he feels that he's worth that.

And I, you know, throughout the years, I feel like the players need to get what they're worth. And there is something to it of trying to take a little bit less to, you know, help the team, try to, you know, be on a winning team or whatnot. But, I mean, with Anaheim, for example, are they necessarily a Stanley Cup favorite? If he takes three, four million off each year, is that going to make them a Stanley Cup favorite? I don't know. So for him, I mean, it might be an easier thing to say, hey, I only can play this job for so long. This career, you know, ends at some point.

Let me get my money. And we also don't know how those conversations gone before with those, you know, contract talks. and maybe they got a little heated. I know Pat Verbeek, he's a tough negotiator, so you never know how that, you know, situation was. But I think if the guy comes back, if Carlson comes back to the Ducks, you know, I guarantee the team's going to be excited for him.

You know, everything I've heard about him is being just a great team player. And, you know, he's really well liked in the locker room. So I don't see any issue with that if that's what they end up doing. But it definitely is a different thing. And you know what? Offer sheet has been in our contracts for, you know, a while now. And they just never got used. It's kind of nice that now they're getting to use because I know when I was younger,

guys got pigeons old a little bit because everyone was scared to use an offer sheet. So it's nice that the league's going that way. Yeah, thanks to Vegas being like F them picks and Stanley Cuff. It's really helped people refocus about what first round picks look like. But, T.J., you brought up Steve Eiserman. He was your guy in Tampa for a really long time. You know, you've obviously negotiated with him or he dealt with him on, you know, business transactions and such. Does any of this surprise you, the fact that Dylan Larkin begs out of a long-term contract

and now to see how Steve has kind of reacted to it? Not at all. Steve, his entire focus is, you know, the Detroit Red Wands, whatever team he's a part of. He just wants the best for that team. You know, I think Steve's a very loyal guy. He's always been loyal to me. He's, you know, amazing every interaction I've ever had with him. And I think for him, he, you know, gave him that no move clause, gave him that contract.

You, you know, Larkin signed that knowing he was going to be a Detroit Red Wing. And personally, I think if you want to get traded, that's fine. You can request a trade. I don't know if you can just say, hey, I only want these certain teams. I think that ends up kind of screwing the organization over in the end. So to me, I kind of think if you want to request a team, then allow the team to trade you to whoever they want. Otherwise, you can use your no-move clause and you can stay there like you negotiated to begin with. And I think that's a big thing because we see a lot of these GMs kind of going the other way where guys have no trade clause, no move clause and kind of forcing guys to move.

And I don't think that's right as well. So, I mean, you negotiated something in your contract. That's how I should stand. And I believe Steve would have been the first guy that said, hey, you have a no move clause. I'm not going to move you. I don't believe he ever would have said, hey, I have to trade you. So that's just kind of a different thing, you know, a different situation, I guess. No trade clauses aren't new in the NHL.

Like, Greg always laughs when I mention this because it's so old. But the first one was in 1923. All right. Like this is not new. King Clancy, like Ottawa Senators. Like this has been going on for for a long time. There's been a, like no sports league, as I understand it, has more no trade contracts than the NHL.

Like a lot of players have no trades. And I think for a lot of fans, that can be frustrated because, you know, keeping the system lubricated means more trades and more activity and more things to talk about. And it's bluntly, it's more exciting. But this is something that players have filed. to keep in the CPA and fought to keep in their contracts. And I always try to remind people, like, if you want to try to get rid of no trade clauses,

no move clauses, that's fine. But what are you prepared to give up for them? Like, what would the players ask for to get rid of them? Maybe it's part of expansion money. Maybe it's part of franchise sale. All of a sudden, that conversation gets really quiet from ownership side. But like in your playing days, like two players, like how important are no trade, no moves? Like how sacred are these things to guys?

Yeah, they're huge. And, you know, you always kind of, when you negotiate your contract, you always kind of have a dollar amount based off that no trade or no move. So for example, when I signed my bigger contract, we believe that the no trade clause was worth about 500 to 750,000 a year. So if we didn't want to have no trade or no move, then I was going to have to make that much more each year. So it was kind of up to the team to decide. And because we have the salary gap, because the owners want that, you know, you have to take a little bit less money. And that's a way that the players kind of get that defense structure of saying, all right, I'm able to bring my family here, get my house here, get everything situated. Because if you do get traded, do you get moved?

I mean, you have to uproot your entire life. If you have to change your family's life, you may have kids in school, you may have a ton of different things. So there's a dollar amount to all that. And, you know, I was kind of thinking about the other day. If you wanted to try to get rid of the no trades, no moves, maybe you can put that in a contract. But then you can say, hey, I can do a buyout period to get that no trade out, you know, X amount of dollars. And if a team wants to do that, then they can just pay that extra money to you. And then it kind of makes it worth.

But that's something that they'd have to figure out in the CBA. Again, like that's, that's a key point. That's collectively bargained. So, you know, take the CBA to the beach, everybody, and this summer and read all about, you know, how this, how this mechanism works. But here's like the one, as long as there's like a disparity, and here I go again, as long as there's a disparity in things like state tax, no trades are going to be important because you can be, you can sign a contract in, I'll just take like Ryan Ellis's example. Ryan Ellis will sign a contract in Nashville, doesn't have the no trade. he gets moved to Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, and because of the tax disparity,

all of a sudden, that trade means he's making less than what he's signed for. So that's where I think that no trade specifically are really important to guys. Of course, yeah. I think that's huge. I mean, for me, it was being in Florida, right? So you have no state income tax. So you do when you do your contracts, you see how much, you know, mine was the $5 million, how much that $5 million goes to every state in the state.

difference between each one and you know I made up getting traded Chicago and I ended up losing money because of it but you know it's just how it is everyone can say they don't like it and try to fix it and do all these different things but until you actually change the CDA it's just how it's going to be and guys are going to continue to do that and you know it's just going to be a part of them to jail first of all Merrick did did they have limited no trade clauses back in 1923 the King Clancy be like You know what? You can trade me to four of the five teams that are in this league.

It's funny because it's not like an official. This is so funny. And you can see this at the Hall of Fame or the Hall of Fame Resource Center on Clancy's contract, which is a one-pageer, it just has scribbled on it. Team not allowed to trade, sell, or do anything like untowards with this contract. Like it's not, of course, it's registered with the league, but it's like scratched onto the company. Maybe Clancy wrote it on himself.

I don't know. Yeah. There's the first example of a no trade in the NHL. I assume 80% of the contract signed in the old NHL were probably on cocktail napkins. So I mean, you know, there was a Mahavit's trade at the Royal York Hotel for a million dollars that got voided by the league because both the owners who did the trade were drunk. Anyhow, I digress. Back to you, Greg. T.J, you were a member of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Your pads crossed with the Baderd while you were there. Are you at all surprised that in 2026, they're kind of still mired? and in the rebuild that they're in while other teams in the West seem to have sort of cycled out of it? That's a difficult question. Obviously, when I was there, it was a straight rebuild, complete tear down, trying to lose every game actively. It was not fun.

So I think they're trying to win now. I think they're trying to, you know, do different things. They have a lot of good young players. You know, they got Blash as a coach who, you know, plays more of a system actually has you know, the guys doing certain things. So I think that's going to help a lot. But yeah, I mean, it's tough. They have so many young guys.

I don't know if that's always a good, positive thing. I think the league is really hard to learn it. We used to say the NHL is not a development league. It's not meant for that. We had guys go down to the HL until they were overcooked because you can develop down there and you can learn a lot of different skills and then you come up to the NHL and you're ready to go. and I don't know if they've necessarily had that with a lot of their players.

So I think they're still learning. They're still going through the trials. And it's going to be, I think it's going to be tough for them to kind of get out of that. I think it's going to take maybe a couple older guys to come in that maybe we're from other organizations that, you know, went through that to kind of change the culture, to kind of start, you know, that winning ways. And, you know, like I said, I think Blash was going to. going to do a good job there. I think he did a great job last year and he's going to continue to do so. So yeah, it's tough to say no, I can't see it coming by the same time. Yeah.

That's a really good point about letting guys cook a little bit because I mean, I think that's been one of the secrets of success for Washington for years, although they're kind of getting away from that a little bit with Cole Husson and Ryan Leonard. But like when you right in, yeah, weren't you, yeah, weren't you Polat and Kutcheroff all in Syracuse together before you came up to won the championship with Norfolk too, didn't you? Before you got to sit before? Or was it Norfolk? Where the hell were you guys in the NHL together?

So my first year we were in Norfolk and we had a really, really good team. We weren't supposed to be good. Halfway through the year, I think we were about eighth or ninth place. And then that was the year that we ended up finishing the season 28 game win streak, ended up just cruising three playoffs long that year. And you know what was amazing about that year? and I'm going to bring it up Steve for that is we had some really good young players, but we had some really good old guys.

And he actually brought us the young guys into the room and said, hey, you guys deserve to get called up this year. But none of you are going to get called up this year because I don't like the culture in Tampa right now. We're changing things. We don't want you up there to, you know, kind of get used to how it is. So we have to stay down there and it helped us. Can I pause on that?

Brian Brooke told me he did the exact same thing with Gets Laugh and Perry. in Anaheim. He said, our dressing room is a disaster. I don't want you guys in here. And the analogy that he used, I've said it before, we need to shovel out the barn before we show the horse. And I'm shoveling out the barn so you two guys

aren't coming in. I'm sorry. Yeah. Sorry. And it was nice for us because as young guys, we didn't expect anything, right? We didn't expect that we were going to get called up. And what we had to focus on was just you know, our HL team. We wanted to win. And the next year, we had the law

We moved to Syracuse that year. And as soon as the lockout was over, though, I think we had eight or nine guys all called up. Coup gets called up right away. So we basically took our culture from down there and then brought up. And I think that was huge for us. And I kind of established, you know, kind of where the lightning is right now, just, you know, because we had all that. Corey Conacher was on that team on that, one of my favorite Corey Connaker stories. Maybe you know this one.

Corey Conacher always said he was going to name his dog after the goalie that he scored his first NHL goal against. You know what his dog's name was? Do you know this one? Holtby. That's incredible. Connie was actually my roommate, so we were together. So it was awesome. A crazy story with him.

He won the HL MVP that first year, but he was second team HL. a HL. Explain that one to me. What? Yeah. It's pretty good. I don't know how that will work, but yeah. Yeah, that's the impact you had.

You think the hockey writers in the NHL get some things backwards. Holy smokes, who are the guys voting on the American? How dare you? Oh, okay. A lot of people think Ovetichin's a right wing. That happened once. Stop disparaging us.

Oh, man, you'll never let that one go. Oh, it's a good one. Let me ask one. that we'll never live let me ask one one final one here before I let you finish up with Greg

like where do you think right now all of this is headed sort of under the banner of we've seen this in other sports you know the idea of player empowerment

like if you look at the Sydney Crosby entry level contract after Cid's ELC it seemed as if everybody in the league including Crosby and the agents

like they're involved in this too sort of took on this idea that they needed to be the ones that helped manage the salary cap. Oh, I can't take this much because I got to leave this. This money's got to go. And we saw McDavid do it, leaving money for a dry saddle, et cetera. Like somewhere along the way, the NHL convinced the players that they were responsible for the salary cap. And I've always maintained, like, that's not on the business card for players, managing the salary cap. Right?

Like, you're not in charge of Steve Eisen. salary cap when you're in Tampa. You're in charge of your own business and your compensation and taking care of your family. But here we are in this era of quote unquote player empowerment where guys are sort of, you know, using whatever levers and maybe like psychological pressure as well to maneuver themselves into places to where they want to go. Where do you see all of this headed? Because I refuse to believe that this is going to stop just once all the guys from the gold

metal U.S. team get to where they want to be. I think this is probably going to continue. Yeah, I mean, it's tough. You know, you mentioned trying to, you know, manage the satellite cap. And I remember when I was coming up, you know, your agents, your teammates, they all say, hey, try to take as much as you can for the next guy. So then, you know, they get more and it just continues to do so. And it's kind of been that way because contracts are getting so big. But at the same time, I remember Steve talking to us and, you know, Polly and I were up that same year.

So he was kind of talking with us and kind of said, like, hey, I could give you another $500,000 each year. But what's that really doing your life? It's not going to change anything. But it may change the fact that we're able to do the Stanley Cup because we're able to do it. What? I mean, half a million dollars. In an athlete's life, Merrick.

I get. No, no, in our lives, in an athlete's life. I get it. But even for an athlete's life, like, I don't know, $500,000. So, yeah, for sure. And it depends where you're at. But I guess my point being is if we would have done that, if we would have taken more, we might not would have won two Stanley Cups.

And to be honest with you, I wouldn't have been happy with my career. So it's a, you know, push and pull in that. So for that aspect, I mean, it is tough to say, how do you manage? What do you do? Do you want to lead money on to try to make your team competitive? But if that's the case, you have to have a lot of, a lot of, you know, assurance that your GM's going to be doing the right stuff, trying to help you. You have the right, you know, pieces to fit.

And, you know, that's a tough thing to gamble on. But as far as players going to where they want to play, you know, some of these trade requests, you know, I'm all four guys letting out what they want to be or telling people where they want to be. But in my mind, that doesn't mean it has to be that way. I think if you have a no move clause, like I said, it doesn't mean that you only can get traded to one team. And maybe if that's the case, but.

And you also have to be happy with staying there. So it goes both ways. And I think with free agency, you're going to see a lot more guys going to, you know, these power teams because guys want to win. That's the most important thing. That's their culture. That's what hockey players are all about is we want to win. So you want to be a part of the teams that are doing that.

Was there a part of you when Eisenman said that to you, oh, you know, $500,000? I could use that to bring in better players win the Stanley Cup, all these types of things. Was there not a part of you that said, okay, I'll go along with that. but I have to sign off on every contract that you sign to make sure that you're not misspending my $500,000. The old Connor McDavid is Stan Bowman's Ombudsman theory. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that would have been nice, but I definitely would have done as good jobs he did anyway,

so it wasn't needed. But, no, I mean, it's a hard thing to hear and even say because, I mean, like you said, that's a lot of money. That is crazy. But at the same time, I was already making more money than I ever thought I would in my entire life. So in the end, yeah, when I win a Stanley Cup, that's what I really want to do. So it was a difficult decision that I don't think my agents were too happy with how we did everything, but it ended up well in the end.

That's fair. I know you said that you shouldn't have just one team on your trade list. But what if your brother Matthew plays there and there's a bar called the elbow room that's right on the beach? Now, what if that's the situation? Is it different? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, again, I'm all four requesting that trade.

I'm all four of trying to do it. But if the team doesn't feel like they're going to get the best reward out of it, then I think that's up to the team. But yeah, that's going to be a wild one. Florida is a wagon. It's crazy. Florida's a prison. We all see what Florida is doing. They're playing in the penal league.

This is a prison team. They're putting together here. Last question for me. I was joking with Seth Jones. Oh, go ahead. Sorry. Yeah, I was joking with Seth Jones the other day. And I was telling him, it's like, it's going to be the first game I'm going to see you where you're not playing scared.

I mean, he's going to be buzzing around. That's fantastic. I speak about the Kjucks and because I need to get the bad taste of last. Last night's US men's national team lost to Belgium out of my mouth. Oh, what happened? I missed that. Shut up. As someone who's worn the flag on his chest in hockey tournaments during your life, what did the U.S. winning goal that the Olympics mean to you?

Oh, it was amazing. I mean, won. The game was incredible. So that was just the icing on it. But the fact that, you know, USA hockey, we've always been good. obviously we've had the 1980 gold medal a couple other close ones but Canada is always

the team that seemed to always come out on top and then you got Sweden, Russia and these other ones and you know USA hockey kind of changed a lot when I was a kid they started doing the National Development Team program. They tried to make things a little bit I guess better growing up in the sense

and I think it's really paying off right now. You're seeing a lot of good players. We've seen these guys really grow and play together their entire life so when you get into these tournaments. It's a very easy fix for them because they already, you know, have been on these teams together. So for us to win the goal, I think, one, it's

huge being an hockey player, but two, I think, you know, just growing the game in the U.S. is huge. And there's so many people that I talk to that I know never watch hockey. I know never even cared about hockey, but they were awake watching that game excited about it, you know,

dawning the white and blue because of it. And I think it just kind of brings everyone together. And I think you're going to see new generation of a lot of kids that, you know, finally got into hockey, their parents got them in. And it's exciting to see where the game can go because of that. So it's, it's very cool. I still maintain, you know, going back to 1998,

and we've seen times where, you know, owners have groused about sending NHLers, oh, there's no return on investment for us, blah, blah, blah, blah. I still maintain that if the USA wins in 98 and then just starts to run the table, NHLers would have been going the entire time. Because there would be no NHL owners in the states that would say no. I think that the success of the United States is very much tied to the future of NHL participation. So for the good of growing the game that way, even as a Canadian, I say, that was a great outcome for capital age hockey. That was a great outcome.

Yeah. Yeah. And I wish we would have been able to go to the Olympics every year. For me, it was only my first year was the only time that we had that opportunity. So it's something that you dream about as a kid, and unfortunately, we weren't allowed to do that. And, you know, we had to negotiate that in the CBA, and I know that was a dog fight. So if we were in, if we would have been able to get that in our CBAs before, we would have to give something else up. And, you know, escrow would have been more or whatever it may be.

And I don't know if the game would have been where it's at now. So in the end, I'm disappointed that, you know, I never had that opportunity. I was never able to do it. But at the same time, I look back and I see where the game's at now, and I think we're in a really, really good spot. And I think because of the Olympics this year, they realized how good it was, like you said. And I think they're going to continue to do so.

I just think the one bad thing about it, the caveat about it, is if you have any guys get hurt on playoff teams, I mean, that's kind of the nail on the coffin, and that's kind of what happens eventually. So, yeah. Hockey at the summer games, let's go. that's the original hockey was a summer game. That's the prime Burke dream.

That's the dream, man. You want to keep it away from playoffs and keep injuries away? Have your injury at the beginning of the season. Do hockey in the summer. There we go. Chop, chop. Beach volleyball right into the rink. There we go.

We're watching beach volleyball. Then we're going to the ring to watch hockey. There we go. We're happy. Then we're going to talk to again, too. Yeah. Yeah. There's been a lot of fun, as always.

Thanks for sharing all of your expertise as a player. In a very interesting time for players, we thank you for this. Thanks, Tyler. You'd be good. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. Tyler Johnson, former NHL turned hockey analyst. You know, man, my, my, my, my GM comes to me and says, like, you guys don't need this $500,000. We need to win the Stanley Cup.

You want to get your name on the cup, but I'd say, give me $500,000. If I want my name on a cup, I'll go to Starbucks. I know, I know we're up against it, but I just want to say real quick, like I've, I've never liked the summer, the summer, the summer Olympic idea for, for one. No, me neither. I think it's, I think it's, I mean, it's goofy. It's goofy. We are a top three sport in the Winter Olympics. And if you go to the summer, I got gymnastics and track and swimming and all this other stuff that really sucks the air out of the room.

So I understand logistic reason for it. And I don't necessarily disagree. And quite frankly, having covered the Summer Olympics, the idea that you can go to an ice rink at some point where the summer games ain't too bad, personally. I could have a few days in Beijing when I was there and no wait that I love to get into a ring. Thank you very much. It would have been bad. It would have been bad. Real quick, bummer about the U.S. soccer team, even more of a bummer that Fox ended its broadcast, begging people to keep watching soccer.

Okay, I was going to ask you about that. So you want to expand on the, oh, like my sport, please. Imagine the U.S. loses the Canada and the gold medal game, like not this year. Oh, my heart. Oh, okay. But let's say like Sochi, right, like lose Canada. No, I mean, that was actually in the semi-final. Let's say they lose in the semifinal.

So the announcer, yeah. Nothing. The announcer, you know, Doc Emmerich, whoever it is at the end of the game is like, and folks, don't forget, you can still watch some of these players with their home clubs back in the National Hockey League. And, you know, and also your local ranks will be filled with beer league players. And that's kind of what it was on Fox last night at the end of the soccer match. I'm just like, oh, this is so pleased like my sport. This is like, it's like, somebody mentioned that, you know, like, it's like watching fencing in the summer Olympics and the guy doing fencing.

It's like, and keep in mind, fencing doesn't end with the Olympics, friends. There's the world fencing championships every year. And you're just like, all right. The World Cup is the World Cup for a reason. It always bugs me when people are like, if you like hockey in the Olympics, you're going to love Ottawa versus Seattle on a Tuesday night. It's not the same. You're watching the pinnacle of the sport.

It will not be the same when you go to watch, you know, Gotham FC versus DC United. It's not the same. It's not the same. You'll just be disappointed. And we like to remind you that the. perfect accessory for the man in your life is a season ticket to the chiefs. Oh, my God. I just watched all SlavShop the other night.

I found it on one of, I think it was like AMC or Turner Classic movies or something. The best, man. Oh, God. You know, whenever I, whenever I travel to the States at night, when I get back to the hotel room, why is it that I can always, there's two movies I can always find that are always on in your country. Slapshot, thankfully. and Greece. Thankfully, I love both.

Like, what is it? Especially with Greece. It's always on. You guys always have that movie on somewhere. Every time I'm in the United States. I can, I can, what is it? It's a classic. No, it is a classic and I love it.

It's great, but I'm just like, wow, every time I'm in the States, I can watch, and I normally do. Watch John Travolta. Hell of Lillian, even John. 100%. That's Speed Bump movie, man. Watch it every time.

Anything else before I wrap up? I never even gave my list of offer sheets. targets for next year. Oh, real quick. It's not real quick. It's like, no, it's a million. It's like it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, Shinoff and Osloven and Ossland and El Cellegrin, he's not going to get there in

Seneca and, um, Varancoff and Maita Chalkin and Savoy and Walshatt and Newhawk and Mercer and who else we got here? Will Smith, Askarov, Jake Nebrun, Snuggarou, Ogrin, Lechromackie, Boeum, Leonard, and Justin Sordiff. Boyum, huh? Did I mention Karimarchenko? Boy, I mean, I know that's the one that I speed bump up there. I would say 75% of the names you just mentioned will not make it there.

I would suggest it 85%. Oh, you're taking the over. I'm taking the over on that one. Yes, absolutely. All right, friends. Well, I got a boogie. No Greggie on Thursday. Gregi is mired in high-level child care as my wife travels for work.

It's all right. Hey, you know what they say, Greg? You dip the stick. You got to pay for the oil. You know what? The boy swim and here I am. Playing life bird. Enjoy yourself, pal.

We'll talk in a couple of weeks. We're a classy bunch around here when Greg's aboard. All right. Do we have anything? Oh, yeah, we got one thing I want to do here, Zach. Hang on. This is very cool because there are some Habs players that have played in this. I believe, Zach, you can correct me if I'm wrong.

Demidoff played last year and I believe Nick Suzuki has played in this as well. So July and August, the LSHL is back for year two in Montreal. This is in collaboration with our friends at La Pache Blu. It is a fast-paced three-on-three men's and women's league running all summer long with every game broadcast live with full commentary. The festivities kicked off yesterday with the women's opener, followed by men's action today. That is July 7th. Catch all the action on La Posh Blu. YouTube channel every Monday for the women.

Tuesday for the men. Summer hockey, full speed ahead. This one looks like a lot. Oh, there's Nick Suzuki. Look at you. This one looks like a lot of fun. And usually is, and we encourage you all to check it out at La Pash Blas YouTube channel every Monday and Tuesday. Summer hockey, Zach, your men's league still going?

You're still chopping it up out there? Yes. Yeah, it is. How bad is it? How bad's the ice? Where you still at UCC? How bad's the ice there, bud? It's actually pretty good.

UCC's the best ice. Um, the worst. Herb Carnegie Arena, sir. I'll tell you. Well, we don't play there. So I can't compare. I can't compare. I'm just saying right now.

George Valerina and the West End has some tremendous ice as well. Thank you very much, sir. The worst ice by far is the, um, Bill Bolton of DuPont. No, the rink that we played at, uh, you and I were talking about it. Two weeks ago, uh, I'm blanking on it right now. Where? Where? Where, where, where, where where?

Where, where where where. A little, like four on four. sized rink is what it should be and they play five on five men's league there's two pads in there open between the two i i'm blanking on the name of it right now but it's it's a crappy one up more north toronto area that honestly might be what it is it might be north toronto arena no no toronto single pad no trononon it's right across in burger shack so the home of tom wilson what am i thinking what's the ring called i play at it like every other week Oh, man.

Oh, brain cells. Oh, how's it going? Brain cells? Look at you. You high, Joan. This is really what people carry. This is what people care. I know, I know.

Yeah, yeah. Of course. You can probably, are you old enough now you can give yourself your own birthday presents and not know what they are. I mean getting there yet? That guy yet. No. But did I get myself?

Oh. Look at that. Oh, my God. I'm, uh, I'm going to get a text when the show goes off the air, like within two minutes of this. of this of this ring. Forest Hill. Oh God, yeah.

Thank God I got there. Forest Hill. But you know what the interesting thing about Forest by far. Forest Hill is if you look at, okay, this is going to sound so crass, but here I go.

If you look at more expensive cars per square inch, is that the arena that has the most expensive cars in it consistently than any other arena in the GTA? Mm. Because you know what they do in minor hockey. No, UCC.

You know what they do in minor hockey. Oh, yeah, UCC. Oh, geez, money salad. But you know what they do in minor hockey, right? For the last couple of cuts for a team? You make the cuts based on the parking lot. Okay. He only's got the most expensive car.

Yeah, yeah, okay. Did you see what dad rolled up in? Yeah, okay. No, no, he's cut. There's probably a few that I could think of in the GTA area. I remember going to Angus Glen. That's what you would do if you're a coach. I just said Angus Glenn the other day.

I like Angus Glenn. Two pads there. I like it too. Yep, two pads there. Swing pool, big gymnasium. They got a new kids area in the back. They got the Ontario tennis there. Oh, yeah.

Angus Glenn's got, I used to play with people. Cars in that area. Oh, no, I know. Yeah, I know. Well, it's at a golf course, bud. Like, it's like it's money salad is what it is. Pete Zezel used to run

skates there all the time and Pete were I was like Pete why are you bringing me out like because he would have like Pete was great so you know what Zezel would do Zezel would run these skates on the weekends at Angus Glenn

and he'd always bring me and I was like the worst one on the ice I didn't even know why I bothered but it's like Pete was my buddy so I'd always go out he would always have scouts Jack Birch who was the head scout of the Florida Panthers

I remember he was at every single one there were a few other scouts and what he would do is he would bring a lot of a lot of kids that didn't get like a lot of OHL kids that didn't get drafted

to get in front of scouts that he thought were good to try to get them to try to get some eyeballs just on those guys he would like Zez was the best man I wish he was still alive he would rent the ice

pay for the ice pay for the kids like drive them there drive them all everywhere like buy them dinners like all the stuff and bring it these scouts just to watch these kids.

That's how much Pete loved it. Pete Zezel was like the best man. Ask anybody about Zez. They'll tell you, salt of the earth guy, best guy, always went out of his way to help you on hockey players. Just the best. An incredible soccer player, obviously an incredible hockey player. There was probably not a better player in the NHL

who could use his feet to move the puck better than Pete Zuzzle. And it's all of his soccer background. But you go back and look like Zez when he played with your team, when he played with the Leafs, you watch them like off the drum. Rob, back when you could cheat with your feet. Can't cheat with the feet anymore. Says was the best. Oh, just a king.

Anyway. I believe I have a, I believe I have a Peter Zezel autographed picture, a picture of him autographed to me back at my parents' house. I'm pretty sure I have one of those. First of all, that's special, but don't feel special because he did that for everybody. The nicest guy. Yeah, yeah. Like the nicest guy.

He'd be the guy that would stand there while everybody else was on the bus. He would stand there and sign everybody. everybody's autograph. Get on the boss, get on the, hold on, he signed everybody. Oh,

God, is he a good guy? It's awesome. Did we leave anything on the table today? Did we mention Daniel Alfredson? How do you feel about that, big boy?

How do you feel about that? Weird, really weird. There's a part of me that I think that I might take away from this and just go be a dickhead online and be like, oh, yeah,

of course, he wanted to come to Toronto, you know, and then rubbing it. Oh, he's going to troll the Ottawa guys now? You just got to call Brent Wallace and just like let them have it. Call up York Shop and just blast them.

But in all seriousness, weird. Like very, very, very weird that this is what's happening right now. And at the same time, also, it feels like this is, it should be the least surprising thing happening because of the way the NHL summer has gone here so far. Oh, this is just coming through. Wayne Gretzky is now coaching the Calgary Flores. flames. Right.

The hell. I know. Again, nothing should surprise. Don't, don't be surprised by anything. Again, which is the team that hires an alien on the bench? There's going to be someone that puts an alien on the bench. And it's going to be our first official sighting. He's like, oh, yeah, he's on San Jose.

They fired Brian. They fired Wise and they brought in an alien. Shouldn't be surprised. Shouldn't be surprised. It's just one of those seasons where weird stuff is happening. Okay, enough of that stupidity. Great job today, Zach. By the way, when stuff happens and things,

that's great jumping in like that too. That's great. Just make sure it's only when Greg's talking and not me. Okay, don't forget. Where you're your breath is buttered kid? Yep, yep. Thanks, Zach. Gotcha.

Thanks to everybody for watching, everyone for listening. Thanks to Tyler Johnson for stopping by. We kind of thought it was important right now, considering everything happening, whether it was trade requests or offer sheets, some players maneuvering themselves to get to certain spots, probably an important conversation to have about what it is actually like in the room and the relationship from player to player, player to agent, player to manager and how you maneuver around

and not exactly surprised to hear, you know, Steve Eiseman go to him and Andre Palat and say like, you know, if you shave $500,000 here, we could probably get a little more fluid here and bring in more players. And it's only $500,000. Anyhow, if you're listening on your favorite podcast platform, I thank you. We thank you. If you are tuned in on our daily face off YouTube, we thank you as well. If you were in the chat, bless you. Lifeblood of this podcast. We are back tomorrow, 1 o'clock Eastern here for the sheet.

And who knows what happens by then? Tune in and find out tomorrow. We'll talk to you.