The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Coaching Change ft. Kevin Kurz & Cassie Campbell-Pascall

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

Jeff Marek is joined by Kevin Kurz and Cassie Campbell-Pascall on The Sheet. Discussing the Philadelphia Flyers firing John Tortorella, what's next for the Flyers, where Tortorella's next landing spot could be, James Reimer projecting to start for his third straight game, looking ahead to the Avalanche and Kings game, and much more.Shout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/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.

We got to get right to business. John Tortorella out, Brad Shaw in interim. We got a lot of John Tortorella talk today. We got a lot of Colorado talk today, a lot of LA talk today. We got Kevin Kerr stopping by from the Athletic. We'll talk about the news that broke this morning. Philadelphia Flyers relieving John Tortorella his services as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Also, Cassie Campbell Pasquale stops by towards the bottom of the hour. From ESPN, a game analyst there. She'll talk about tonight's matchup, Colorado versus Los Angeles. Also, we should get the latest from Cassie on the PWHL and impending expansion. I'm guessing Seattle-Vancouver right out of the gates, but we'll get more from Cassie coming up here towards the bottom of the hour. Zach Phillips, you are going to be very, very sleepy tomorrow.

You are going to be very, very tired when you go to bed because your Leafs postgame show is going to be in the very, very wee hours of the morning because your Maple Leafs are facing off against the San Jose Sharks. It's a pretty busy and vibrant night around the NHL. I still think the game of the night is going to be LA Colorado Cassie on that coming up in a bit, but quick thought from you before we get to our daily outlines. John Tortorella is out as the Philadelphia Flyers head coach. I'm a little bit surprised at this one surprise.

They didn't do this at the end of the season. That was more my takeaway is that I was surprised it didn't wait till the end of the season. I don't know. I'm interested to hear from Kevin and kind of get your thoughts on this as well. If yesterday's press conference or two days ago, post game had much to do with that. And then the noise that came out of it. But I don't know your, your what? 10 days away. Why you're 10 games away. Sorry. I know. I couldn't, you've just waited. What

does it change from now till then? I don't know. We'll talk to Kevin Curz about that, get his thoughts. I'm very close to the situation, obviously covering the Philadelphia Flyers for the athletic. Other things up for grabs on the program today we'll get to, but initially let's get to our Daily Outlines presented by our friends and partners at FanDuel. Daily Outline presented by FanDuel make every moment more with North America's number one sports book. We're gonna do a lot of coach talk today and who's gonna go where and what's next for John Tortorella.

But coming up on the program today, yes we will talk plenty about John Tortorella with Kevin Kurz of The Athletic. I think a lot of us do wonder, as much as, like look, as much as John Tortorella talked about, you know, this is gonna be my last contract, this is my last go at the NHL, I think a lot of people do wonder

about the elephant in the room here, the Buffalo Sabres, with John Toretarella. We'll get to more Torch Talk coming up here in a couple of moments with Kevin. Cassie Campbell-Pascal from ESPN covering tonight's matchup between the LA Kings and the Colorado Avalanche. We'll talk plenty of specifically Western Conference NHL with

Cassie and also get some PWHL talk in as well. Most notably the impending expansion of the league by two teams. As I mentioned the abs facing off against the Kings. One of them is 9-1, the other is 8-1-1 in their last 10. This one should be an absolute doozy. Looking forward to this one on the board a little bit later on tonight. All right, Cassie coming up, bottom of the hour. Kevin Curz will be with us here in a couple of moments.

The Torterella thing is fascinating. I think we all wonder about the timing. We wonder if that was John Torterella the other day throwing in the towel. I didn't feel that way to me. Like I mentioned on the show yesterday, I first saw the comments from John Tortorella before I heard them and saw John express them. Essentially saying,

and I'm paraphrasing here, I'm not interested in getting used to coaching a team like this in this situation. To me, that didn't feel like John Tortorella saying, that's it, peace out, check me out on Facebook, I'm done. To me that was John Torella saying we got to be better than this, that we don't want to get used to losing, which has been the mantra for John Torella since he started coaching this edition of the Philadelphia Flyers. But joining me now Kevin Kurz, very close to the situation, covers the Philadelphia Flyers for the athletic and he joins me now. Kevin, first of all thanks for stopping by. Second, I think a

lot of us like to be blunt are just before we get into the the why and the what's next, I think we're wondering about the timing. You know, I know that that you know after the loss against the Toronto Maple Leaf, some of the quotes that came out were awkward. I thought you did a great job on morning cup of hockey yesterday sort of explaining and sort of sharpening the pencil on what a lot of people are trying to make black and white here when really it was shades of gray. Did this one catch you by surprise? And you know, we'll do the timing question first.

The timing of this one is bizarre. Is it to you? Yeah, it is. I was surprised it happened today. You know, I don't think anyone would have been overly shocked if this was a move they made at the end of the season. So you know, if you go back to Tuesday, I know those comments blew up,

and I think you and I are in agreement about what he said. And, you know, I think he just probably used the wrong word, right? He's just frustrated that the team is where it is. I think he thought that this team could make a run, much like last year's team, where they played meaningful games up into the very last game of the season. And even if you just go back to March 1st,

as recently as March 1st, they were playing pretty well. They had just come off a win of the beating the Winnipeg Jets in a shootout, I believe. So, you know, I think he was just frustrated with the precipitous drop off. But, you know, I think to me, it's almost like you have to go back to last year. And I think when the team did choke away its playoff spot,

and really that's the only way to put it, he made a lot of mistakes over this final few weeks. He scratched Sean Couturier for two games. He called the team soft after they fought back to one point in a really difficult circumstance where Ivan Fedotov was making his NHL debut. And when you call a team soft, that's kind of a shot across the bow, right? Um, and you know, there were some of these too, he gets kicked out of the game in Tampa Bay,

gets a two game suspension. So I think he pushed a lot of the wrong buttons over the final few weeks last year. And I'm wondering if you're Danny Breyer, maybe did you see, did you see him scratch cam York and then bench cam York for 15 minutes on Tuesday and think to yourself, you know what? We were, we've already decided we're going to move on after this season. Maybe we just do it now before something crazy happens. You know the situation with cam York is an interesting one. I mean you can recall very well You were closer to it obviously than I was but when when, you know, a couple of seasons ago when we all thought, okay, Cam York's going to make his debut, he's going to, he's going to make the team after what?

A week and a half of training camp. They, they sent him down to the American hockey league and he stayed there for month and a half, two months. Igor Zemulin ended up taking his spot to kick off the season. And it wasn't until I think like late November, early December that we saw Cam York and it's always been kind of a, I've always watched, you know, what happens to the one player that the coach ends up sort of picking on here.

And for whatever reason, sometimes coaches will pick a defenseman and that will be like, you'll get a sense of what the relationship is with the coach and his team based on his relationship with the one whipping boy. Would it be accurate to say that Cam York was that guy for John Tortorella? Well, yes he was and that's why I kind of zero in on that because we've seen other players that were sort of the target of Tortorella's ire and they've moved on, right? If you

go back two years ago, Kevin Hayes,es Ivan Provov Tony D'Angelo we everyone I wasn't here covering the team then but I you know everyone knew that those were guys that that tortorella didn't want to be in the dressing room anymore for whatever reason they move on from him from those from those guys Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee were often healthy scratched bench the subject of criticism public criticism from Tortorella to us. So when they get moved to Calgary, that didn't shock anyone either. And to me, that was just a reflection of the fact that Breyer, Keith Jones, and

Dan Hilferty, the chairman, you know, they were all having, and I was even said this, they were all in constant conversations about every player on the roster. And it was clear that a lot of the, the conclusions that Tortorella had drawn on certain players were then reflected in the moves that came shortly after that. So, you know, as far as Cam York goes, it was odd. And, you know, he scratches him, I think it was March 8. And then Cam York comes out a couple days later and says, well, no one ever no one told me why I was getting scratched. Paraphrasing here, but he said there was no communication, which is exactly what Sean Cotori said two years ago. So it just, you know, hopefully Danny Breyer clarifies this more at five

o'clock, which is in just in two more hours. Um, but I do wonder if they just want to cut the cord now so that, you know, everyone has a chance over these final few weeks to just move on everyone in the dressing room has a chance to move on and know that that there's there's you know maybe a new voice coming over the summer. You know so much of life here I don't want to make this like a big sort of life lesson or anything or some grand metaphor but yeah so much of life is all about expectation and how you react is based on expectation. You know, there's a great line from a Tragically Hip Song that goes, courage couldn't come at a worst time.

And I do wonder about the wins last year. Like did the wins last year come at a horrible time? Like you're initiating a rebuild here. All of a sudden the team goes on this winning streak and goes on a heater and expectations are raised. I really do, I really do wonder, wonder, do you think things would be different if expectations weren't at least somewhat raised based on what we saw last season

or is that completely irrelevant by now? Yeah, that's a good question because if you go back, it's only a year ago where people were talking about John Tortorella, maybe Jack Adams winner, right? And obviously that's nothing new in the NHL. We've seen coaches fall out of favor very quickly in this league. I mean, I covered one, Pete DeBoer made

the Western Conference finals with the Sharks in 2019 and was out of a job in November. So, you know, obviously this is not an unprecedented thing, but you know, if you go back to last year, that was a team that, as you alluded to, everyone thought they were gonna be one of the worst in the league and They were writing the playoff pictures through the middle of March

And you know the reason they were in that playoff picture is because so many of the young players had had developed well under John Tortorella Travis Stanheim Travis connect me you know these guys are are cornerstones now They took huge steps under Tortorella Rasmus Rista linings a guy that says I wish I had been coached by Tortorella earlier in my career and he's a guy that they value so much that they didn't even really put them on the market leading up to the to the trade deadline because they want them around when the team's ready to compete again because he's some

nice he's been their best defenseman. You know, Tyson Forster, Cam York, Owen Tippett, even Sam Ayrson before the bottom sort of dropped out of him. They all progressed under Tortorella and you know the biggest reason the Flyers dropped out of the playoff race, Tortorella's made some mistakes but the biggest reason they dropped out of the playoff race last season and they weren't in it this season is because of the goaltending. You had the worst save percentage last season, you've got the worst save percentage this season is because of the goaltending. You had the worst safe percentage last season. You've got the worst safe percentage this season. And obviously Carter Hart's departure,

there's nothing they could really do about that. But what's the old phrase? Show me a bad coach, I'll show you a bad goalie. Well, the biggest mistake that Danny Brears made, let's not let him completely off the hook. The biggest mistake he made is bringing, Sam Areson, I still think there's something there, but the guys that have been backing him up

are not NHL goaltenders, neither one of them. And that was the same case last year after Heart left. The guys they had backing up Areson weren't NHL caliber. So I know I'm getting into a lot of stuff here, but the young players did make progress last year. Some of them have been inconsistent last year, but then some other guys, some the young players did make progress last year some of them have been inconsistent last year but then some other guys some other young players have been better whether it's Noah Cage, Jamie Drysdale and and Matthew Mitchroff I think is having a fine season.

I don't like it I think back to uh to Tim Murray and and the Buffalo Sabres when they were tanking to try to get Connor McDavid and every time like every time a goaltender made a save, you remember this Kevin, every time a goaltender made a save in Buffalo, he got moved out. Like he got traded. It's like, no, that's not the, that's not the program here. Like the quick, the quickest way to hasten along a rebuild is to put off the goalie question or, you know, put in, put in goaltenders that aren't quite ready for prime time. I'm not saying that this is some elaborate plan here. question or, you know, put in, put in goaltenders that aren't quite ready for prime time. I'm not saying that this is some elaborate plan

here, um, but I, I, I just do wonder, because I agree with you, you know, the, the, the old sayings about, you know, goaltending, you know, the one that I always go back to Kevin is if you have a good goalie at 70% of your team, if you don't, it's a hundred. And I'm with you, like, I haven't seen a coach fired where the goaltenders performed well.

And maybe it's just too simplistic to look at this and say, well, there you go. There's a, they draw the straight line between the net and the bench, but here it is again. Like, even if they had like average goaltending, I do wonder if things would be different. But then I pause and say to myself, that's not the plan right now.

Like the plan is still for pain and draft picks and prospects. And they have three first rounders this year. That is still the program here. I do agree with you about the goaltending. I do agree with you about Erson. I think that there is something there with Erson. Has he played too many games too fast at the NHL? We can all discuss amongst ourselves.

But is it too simplistic just to look at discuss amongst ourselves, but is it over, is it too simplistic just to look at this and say the problem once again, because this is the history of the Philadelphia Flyers. Um, they don't have the goalie and like this goes back to like, there was that one, like I remember that Kevin, there was that one summer where, um, Bobby Clark would have been the

general manager and the decision they had was between Curtis Joseph and John Van Beesbroek and they went cheap. And they took John Van Beesbroek and you know, just Kujo went on to become Kujo. But it seems as if like that old stereotype that goes back to, to I guess Ron Hextall would have been the last one still looking for a goalie in Philly.

The Carter Hart situation we have to bracket. I think you're right about that. But again, four by six, still the problem in Philly. Yeah, it is. And that's something that they're probably gonna have to address in the off season. You certainly can't come back with Sam Areson and then these two guys that they have here right now.

I think that's a non-starter and I think they know that. But you know, this is an off season in which they want to add, they want to start finding talent again. I see people in my Twitter mentions or whatever talking about tanking again next season. No, that's not what they're going to do. they've been very clear. Danny Breyer has been very, very clear that this is the bottom. This is and that's why you know, you're right, bottoming out this season is certainly not a disaster for a team that doesn't plan on bottoming out next season. They need a hot another high end prospect in the fold

here. So and and and I think they know that and that's why they made some of the moves they made. So. But you know it's interesting. That's why you come back to the timing. The first question you asked because. You know, obviously they just looked at Tortorella as the guy that they wanted to establish the foundation, the culture, the standard.

And they don't see him as the guy that's going to stick around to take the team to another level. I mean, it was only a couple of weeks ago where we've had some real good back and forth with Tortorello. I mean, it's usually on off days between games. He's very patient. He's very honest and descriptive in his answers a lot of the time. And he was pushing back on a suggestion from a different reporter saying,

well, you know, you're you're 10 years only four years, what about in five years when you might not be here? And he's like, Well, how do you know? How do you know what my tenure is? How do you know I don't want to keep coaching? I mean, he certainly was acting right right up until the end as a guy that planned on being back here next season. So, you know, again, I go back to my original point, I wonder if the flyers had already made up their minds, however long ago that he

wasn't going to be the team to take them into the future that because of some of those comments, because of the way they've been losing lately, just cut the cord now before, you know, something terrible happens that leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth. Uh, in your estimation, Kevin, Kevin, what style of coach, maybe the better question is what age of coach would be right here for the Philadelphia Flyers next? Like, you know, listen, Jay Woodcroft was there for a portion of training camp brought there by John Tortorella. I think his name will probably be in the mix here in this conversation. I wonder about Pat Frischweiler with Western Michigan

for the obvious, for one of the obvious reasons there we can get to in a second. Do you know he was Josie's line mate in Western Michigan? I didn't know that. Oh, that's a nice one. I heard that recently, yeah. So that's an interesting name. Yeah. And they actually have a, there's a prospect there that the Flyers- Alex Bump. Alex Bump, yeah.

So anyone- You might, no, hang on. Let's pause on that for one second. Listen, the Flyers have some wonderful prospects in the pipeline and some wonderful prospects on the horizon. Alex Bump was a fifth round draft pick. Just looks tremendous for this team. And there are some people I know in and around the Flyers organization that

would put him above someone like Jet Lachenko, who was their first rounder and almost made the team full time this season. Like, do you have a thought in what should people know about Alex Bump? Because the more people you talk to around the Flyers organization, the more it sounds like, you know, this guy might be top of the list. Yeah, they genuinely are excited about him. And I know it sounds cliche sometimes to say a front office is excited about such and such a draft pick, right?

But I think they legitimately feel he might be the steal of the draft. And I heard too that, you know, he was a fifth round pick and I heard that didn't sit well with him, that he was pissed off, he went in the fifth round. So he carries a little bit of a chip on his shoulder, which, you know, that's never a bad thing. Right. I remember talking to Dan Boyle, who was well into his 30s when I covered him.

And he was still he was still pissed off that he hadn't gotten drafted at all. Right. And it was still fueling him 10, 15 years later. So yeah, he's a guy that I think they're going to try to get him here as soon as possible, right? You'll just stick them on the, on the phantoms there. If they make the playoffs, um, jet Luchenko joined the phantoms today. So, um, yeah, I don't know a whole lot about him yet. I actually, uh, had planned on digging into that a little bit today, but

before the, the news fan here. Yeah. So I don't know a whole lot about him yet, but yeah Yeah. I, I'm just sort of throwing darts here. First of all, it makes a lot of sense to me. Um, the other name and you know, he's someone who's been a candidate for NHL jobs before and has done a wonderful work at the American hockey league level right now with a

resurgent Washington Capitals team. I wonder about someone like Mitch Love who's an assistant with Spencer Carbree. So again, like this is going to be a lot of kids here, a lot of young players. And that's why I sort of lobbed that name out there. Mitch Love is going to be an NHL coach one day. I wonder if that could fit with the Philadelphia Flyers, but do you have a thought?

I mean, I know it's all fresh and the wound is still open for John Tortorella. We'll get there in a second, but an idea of maybe what kind of coach you could see coming in for Philadelphia? Yeah. I mean, everyone always likes to say, well, if you had a real hard act coach you could see coming in for Philadelphia? Yeah, I mean, everyone always likes to say, well, if you had a real hard-ass coach,

then maybe you'll go for a more player-friendly coach the next time, just to sort of maybe bring these guys along a little bit. Considering the way the dressing room is, and they've talked down the end about their strong culture and how much they all love one another and blah blah blah right but you know they they did lose their emotional leader in Scott Lawden he was the heartbeat of this team and I don't think it's any coincidence that that the

losing started to come after they dealt Scott Lawden so you know I wonder if you bring in someone that's a little bit uh certainly just about every coach is going to be maybe a little bit less demanding than a John Tortorella. But you know, I think if you're setting Vegas odds, you're putting the best odds on Rick Tocket, right? Depending on what happens there in Vancouver, he's super close with Keith Jones, former Flyer, certainly fits into what many fans feel a Philadelphia Flyers coach should be, because they remember, a lot of them still remember him from the 80s, right? Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see, or maybe they even give Brad Shaw a chance.

I know they love Brad Shaw. They love what he's done with some of these defensemen. I don't think that's going to happen, but I'm not, I'm not sure I completely shut the door on that happening either. Sure. Yeah. But, but it's, it's a fair question. I don't have an answer to it. Um, the, the, the other thing then becomes what's next for John Tortorella, you know,

is, is this John Tortorella's last team? Uh, does he still want to do this? Uh, and if he does, is there opportunity out there? I wonder about Buffalo, Lindy Ruff has one more year on his deal, Terry Pagula really does love Lindy Ruff. I wonder about a bump up, uh, for Lindy Ruff and a position there behind the bench for

John Tortorella. I mean, not exactly a secret. He's got a history with the Buffalo Sabres and the Rochester Americans. What do you think's next for, for Torts? Is, is that it for the NHL? Maybe a media career, maybe write for the a history with the Buffalo Sabres and the Rochester Americans. What do you think's next for Torz? Is that it for the NHL? Maybe a media career, maybe write for the Athletic,

maybe do a podcast at Nation Network. I don't know. What do you see John Tortorella doing next? Yeah, I'm hoping. I mean, he hasn't texted me back yet, so I can't say how many he has sent in personally. I hope he gets back to me, but yeah, it's a good question. I mean, he had said coming into this job

that this was his last stop, right? But like I said before, I certainly have never gotten the impression that he's ready to hang him up or anything like that. I think he wanted to stick around and see this thing through and see the Flyers grow as a team. I was a little surprised too that, maybe not surprised, but I thought the possibility at least existed

that they would keep him around the front office, just because it also seemed to me like, yeah, his voice was someone that Breyer and Keith Jones really valued and again, I go back to the moves that they made, a lot of those were certainly Tortorella influenced. So, you know, it's a fair question. I don't know. I would love to get into his mind and know if he still wants to keep going. But, you

know, he did seem pretty upset with, you know, with the way things have been going. So I think if he was to jump into a job, it wouldn't be with a rebuilding team. It'd have to be with a team that was ready to win now. Last one for you. I'm curious about the Flyers fan base. Um, we've seen fans scream and howl for rebuilds before, right? All these teams going nowhere. I got to tear it down, got to rebuild, got to start over again. And the enthusiasm for that generally lasts about a season.

And then fans start to get a little bit impatient and want to really start seeing some results. Um, everybody signs up for it. Everyone knows what they're getting into, but then there's the reality of the losses piling up. Where's the Flyers fan base at right now? I know they might've been spoiled a little bit by all the wins early last season, but where are, where are Flyers fans today?

Yeah, it's a good question because it does seem like so many of them were hoping they would bottom out and get a high draft pick. That's certainly happening this season. I mean, the way things are going, they're probably gonna end up in the top five, if not higher. You know, that's why I go back to last year

and I think it would have been so valuable for them from a relevancy standpoint to make the playoffs, you know, they get in, they're playing the New York Rangers, almost definitely. I mean, even if you're just a casual fan, you'd say, wow, the Flyers are playing the Rangers and the in the playoffs, like I'm going to tune in and see that. And frankly, I think the Flyers would have given the Rangers a better series than I think they played Washington, right? They just sort of rolled over Washington. So, you know, that didn't happen. And Danny Breyer was very clear even after last season when he said just because we were so close to the playoffs this year, don't expect that to happen next year. There's still some pain to come here. So, you know, that's why I think they're really going to try to make some moves and better the team team going in the next year that they're I know they're

raising ticket prices on some some seats. They want to become relevant again. I think that's a big reason Keith Jones is here media friendly guy, he get that message out. Oh, yeah. So, you know, in terms of where the fans are, I think the team right now, they're just they're so much they're so far off the radar with the Eagles winning the Super Bowl again. The Phillies are pretty good. The Sixers are more popular, even though they stink in this year. I think they're sort of biding their time. I think they're they're not necessarily upset that the team is off the radar right now. But They're not necessarily upset that the team is off the radar right now, but, you know, next year is really going to be the year, I think, where we see some fans either lose their patience with everything or start to come back. You know, next year is such an important year for management, just in terms of getting the fan base jazzed up again.

And let's face it, John Tortorello was still a hugely popular guy here. I mean, you go back to pregame introductions on opening night, him and Michkov, it was the ovations for those two guys when they introduced everybody. It was probably, I don't know who got the bigger ovation. So you're gonna, I think you're gonna see

a lot of casual fans that are pretty upset that John Tortorello is gone and, and that's only going to up the pressure on the front office to really do something significant this summer to try to get this turned around. Uh, maybe not turned around in the right direction because I think they're fine with the direction right now, but to really finally see some results. It makes a lot of sense. Um, I know it's a busy day for you. Thanks for parking so much time with me today, Kevin. Much appreciated. Uh,

enjoy the Briere presser and we'll check back soon. No dull moments in Philly. Thanks, Kevin. You got it. Take care. There he is. The great Kevin Kurse joins us from the Athletic covering the Philadelphia Flyers. Pat Verschweiler is a name definitely to pay attention to.

Not sure which way this one is going to head. I know, I get it, you know Rick Taukett hasn't signed an extension in Vancouver. We'll see where that situation heads. I know that's one that probably Philadelphia Flyers fans are wondering about. Jay Woodcroft is still very much out there as well, former head coach of the Edmonds and Oilers, but Pat Frischweiler is an interesting name and I do throw Mitch Love out there sincerely because we've seen the work that he's done with a lot of young hockey players and he's part of you know right now one of the one of the best benches in the entire NHL in

Washington where the head coach there is probably going to win the Jack Adams award, and Mitch Love is a big part of it. So I do wonder about the assistant coach of the Washington Capitals. But again, we shall see which way this thing goes. I'm glad that Kevin mentioned Kevin Jones, Keith Jones rather, as much as Kevin did, because that was one of the sneaky best front office hires that we've seen in a long time. First of all, Keith Jones knows the league, understands the league, understands relationships, has relationships with a lot of people both in the game and on the media side as well.

And when there are tough moments like we're seeing today with the Philadelphia Flyers, the one thing that Keith excels at is getting a friendly, positive message out, even in a situation like this, which is and can be very uncomfortable for an organization. There are very few people, like you can count on one hand, even if you could count them at all. Very few people that don't have time for Keith Jones in and around the NHL. Really sneaky good hire by the Philadelphia Flyers on a day like this. A guy like that is really important to get a sort of positive message slash spin out there if you're the Philadelphia Flyers. So that is the major news of the day. Now the major game of the night tonight, like dig in, there's a number. I mean Thursdays are always busy nights around the NHL and ESPN has the game of the night.

It is the Colorado Avalanche facing off against the Los Angeles Kings. Analyst for ESPN, she'll be in the booth tonight, is the one and only Cassie Campbell-Pascal and she joins me here. The Maiden Voyage cast finally making your debut. Analyst for ESPN, she'll be in the booth tonight, is the one and only Cassie Campbell-Pascal, and she joins me here. The maiden voyage, Cass, finally making your debut. My fellow Guelph alum, we have a new logo in Guelph, Cassie, I know, yeah, I know, there we go. We overlapped very briefly in Guelph, and that's where I think you and I interacted

for the first part. But first of all, welcome to the program. I want to get to LA and Colorado quickly. This one looks like the game of the night. Like when you prepare for this one, Cass, like how do you do it? Like these are two awesome teams going head to head tonight. Yeah, you know, I looked back at my notes and the last time I did these two teams was like back in late October, November and how the rosters have changed and health has been a factor in these two teams getting healthier. And I'm jacked about this game tonight. You know, I remember what Mr. Bob Cole always used to say, don't try and predict a game. Don't say anything predicting a game because just let it go. So

tonight I'm just going to let it go. I pray that it's going to be excellent. I think it's going to be in so much talent on the ice. And, you know, I'm looking forward to this one for sure. So the curiosity that I have for this one, like whenever there's like two heavyweights, and I know this isn't like playoffs yet, although it would be wonderful to see these two teams face off against each other in the, in the postseason,

both at the heights of their powers. Like what, like you played, like what is interesting for you in a game like this? I mean, it's easy to look at, oh, you get to see Nathan McKinnon and you get to see, you know, Kale McCarr and you get to see like what's turning into our murderers row with the Los Angeles Kings

and young stars like Quentin Byfield and the underrated Adrian Kempé. But like, what does it for you? Like going into this one, like where are the key moments of interest, Cass? You want to play the best, you know, I think that's your mentality as an athlete. You want to go up, you know, if you're coming back from injury as a forward, your first practice back, you want to go up against the best defenseman in practice

just to see if you're ready and, you know, to make yourself better. And I think, you know, you look at these two teams, what an opportunity to send a message to one another, whether or not they meet in the playoffs is obviously to be determined. But just the depth down the middle now that both teams have, especially with Colorado and the additions that they made at the trade deadline and the star power that both teams have, the depth on defense that both teams have. And almost maybe question marks and goal. And still for LA, Darcy Kemper,

I think it's gonna be David Riddick tonight, but there's still a question mark with him, even though he's won a Stanley Cup and then the inexperience in Colorado. I think the similarity between these two teams, but you, as a player, you wanna play against the best and you wanna see how you're gonna do. And you know that these are the types of games that make you better as a player, you want to play against the best and you want to see how you're going to do. And you know that these are the types of games

that make you better as a group. And I know talking to a bunch of the Colorado Avalanche players today, they're really excited about what's been done to their team. They're almost giddy. And they kind of went through a year of unsure of what was going to happen, injuries and some personal situations.

And they had what 47 players play at their roster at least one game this year and just a lot of unknowns and then all of a sudden at the trade deadline boom you're like an instantaneous cup contender and I think when you got guys like McKinnon and McCarr as an organization you got to go for it but you just got a sense being around the room there today that this is a pretty giddy group and they know they have the best chance now to potentially win a Stanley Cup. Well that's just Sarah. Like I look at Colorado and I say like legitimately like like most of us like this is a frightening team to play. It's the one team you don't want to play in the playoffs. They just look so good and

you're right Cassie like you wonder, what is that one trade that McFarlane made that put them over the top? And you know, we can talk about Nelson and Coyle and that was great and Natchez and Drury come in. And those are really good moves. But to me, it's Mackenzie Blackwood. You know, like Colorado is a team that doesn't need like Igor Sisturkin to win the Stanley Cup.

You just mentioned Darcy Kemper, that's who they won the Stanley Cup with. But I really like Mackenzie Blackwood. Like in the last couple of years, he's really become one of the sort of the best sort of comeback stories in the NHL. I wonder like if Colorado ends up doing this and who knows if they will, but if they do, and we look back at like the moment that they quote unquote, won the Stanley Cup or put themselves in the talk is when they redid the crease specifically with Mackenzie Blackwood.

Agree, disagree. Bang on, I think you know this better than anyone, goaltending and how important it is, but people think you just make trades, they just work out for you. I think they don't understand how difficult of a situation It was how patient they were with their goaltending situation waiting for those opportunities where maybe potential guys for trades could come up

You know, they they were really really really really patient, you know over like, you know a couple of years with their goaltending situation hoping that they'd be able to get out of it and then to pull this off and just to revamp your goal tending. And I think revamp the back end, that second pairing now, you know, obviously Josh Manson out, that's a huge loss for them. But that second pairing, you know, with Ryan Lindgren, that's a move that maybe people aren't talking about because of the coil and the Nelson. That's been key. But, you know, a guy like Mackenzie Blackwood, you look at them and Scott Wedgwood,

they have three games of playoff experience and none of those three games are starts. But this is a guy that you can get behind. He's a little bit older, a veteran, been there and done that in the sense of everything he's had to go through from an adversity standpoint to get where he is today in the NHL and the switching of teams.

And both guys are a little bit journeyman-like. And you know, those are guys you can cheer for, right? You're like, it's his turn now. It's his turn to come and get an opportunity to play off to win a Stanley Cup. He's a battler. He works. He's a good teammate. Either he was talking today to the media on a game day.

So, you know, just those are the guys I think that people like you and me can, you know, gather around and sort of cheer for a little bit. And, and they've been playing great defensively. You know, that's one thing Bednar has really been talking about lately is just how good they've been defensively. And, you know, that definitely helps the goaltenders as well. You know, it's interesting about Colorado and Chris McFarland specifically to me this year, Cassie, every year, thing about Colorado and Chris McFarland specifically to me this year, Cassie, every year we keep hearing, oh you know what, it's so hard. It's so hard to change out, to swap out two positions. Goaltending and centers. Oh no one's given away goaltenders. Oh no one's given away centers. And you look what Chris

McFarland's done, to your point, swapped out two goaltenders that are a better team because of it. Like, he recognized this early and brought, and completely changed, completely changed his goaltending. And then Brock Nelson, Charlie Coyle, Jack Drury, bam, bam, bam. You win down the middle, there's three new centers. Like high end for their position and they're all slotted well. Like you can go out and make moves for players that doesn't make

you and I have talked to this before like there's sometimes you can go out and make moves but the slot that you have for the player is too high but yeah Brock Nelson in second line center you got Charlie Coyle a third line center and Jack Drew is your fourth line center. Like this is hand to glove. Like this is, this is like, again, like none of this is casual. None of this is frivolous Chris McFarlane just going out and making trades fantasy jam like, like I would like these are like deliberate elite level moves by a deliberate elite level general manager. Like we shouldn't be surprised at this. Like this is, this is an excellent general manager hitting his stride.

Well, and I think when you have McKinnon and McCarr, you can't sit back and just, oh, we'll wait a couple years. I mean, you've got arguably two of the best players in the league. And I know people will say McDavid, of course, but McKinnon is right there. And then you've got McCarr. I think as a general manager, you can't sit around,

oh, I don't know know should I do this should I know like you have an opportunity to get Nelson and Coel you just make it. I don't care what it costs you just do it because it's about winning now you're in this bubble you know with players like that. You know the game I did in October listen to this this was their centerman for Colorado in October. McKinnon, Middlestadt, Kelly, Parker Kelly, who's actually a winger, and Steinberg. And now they have McKinnon, Nelson, Coyle, and Drury. And like, wow, what a flip. And, you know, I think everything that this team's been through adversity-wise earlier in the season, you know, the Nutschishkan situation, the injuries, it was a grind. Like it was a grind for those players that were out there

playing and you know just limited depth and all of a sudden they could start you know they start getting healthy and then all of a sudden they get rewarded with these trades and honestly you have to sort of see it to believe it to be around the rink this morning. Like they were all like little kids you know and they can just you know the they can just feel it. Obviously you got to play the game and other teams want to win too, but you just get the sense that the GM has done everything that he can to give this team the best opportunity and they believe it too and they feel really good about it. I'm not sure if you had a chance this morning to talk to Nathan McKinnon at all, you know, I always make the joke like we didn't know that he had upper teeth until they won the Stanley Cup.

Because he just never smiled. He had nothing to be happy about. Like, oh look at that Nathan McKinnon does have an upper deck of teeth. Look at that. That's interesting. And he hasn't smiled since because it's back to trying to win the Stanley Cup here. But did you get a chance to talk to McKinnon? Any of the Avalanche players you mentioned like this is all like, you know, kids on Christmas morning. Like it's, it's gotta be fun to be part of a team like this. And I mean, you've been part of, you know, gold medal, medal winning teams. We're just like, you go into the ring because it's fun because we're winning a ton and we're

a powerhouse. And that's what it's got to feel like for Colorado to get a chance to talk to anybody today, Cass. You know, it was interesting. McCarr and McKinnon were gone. So the door opens and they were gone. You know, they deal with all that stuff on a regular basis. But you know, one guy that I really wanted to talk to was Keaton Middleton. I'd never met him before. And I love Jake Middleton, his brother. I love the

way he plays. And I hear so many great things about these guys. So I introduced myself to him. So we had a great chat and just such a quality person. But I talked to Jonathan Druhan, right? And the wingers now on the top two lines have sort of been interchangeable lately. And him playing in junior with McKinnon, but sometimes they'll put Druhan with Nelson and Nityushkin with Nelson. They seem to have found a perfect fit, though,

with Lekkanen and Nikash with Nelson. But just talking to Jonathan Druen and you know what he went through in his career facing a little bit of adversity and again just so happy the changes that have been made and they can all sort of feel you know how good their team is right now and you know another I wanted to talk to Brock Nelson and you know interesting enough with him he played so long for the New York Islanders that defensive defensive game, you know, the way that they play. And it's been a little bit of an adjustment for him because, you know, Jared Bednar wants

the up tempo game in the defensive zone. Like he wants you to win the faceoff and get out of the zone and up the ice so fast. And he doesn't want the back and forth in the zone, the D to D, which, you know, maybe happened a little bit more on Long Island. So it's been a little bit of an adjustment from him. I asked him, he goes, you know, they have new face-off plays. He goes, they just want us to up tempo, just go, go, go. And he goes, at first I was so used to sort of that safe New York Islanders style. And he goes, then I realized, oh my goodness, I can go.

So he's having fun with it. And, you know, know he's got what seven points in the nine games that he's played so got an opportunity to talk to him and I've actually never met him before so that was really interesting just a great guy and a lot of media around him this morning so for him to take the extra five ten minutes with me I really appreciate it but those were sort of the three guys that I got an opportunity to speak you know other than just listen to the scrums and get an opportunity to speak to them one on one. Okay, let me go on a fishing trip now. You knew this was coming. Cassie? Yes?

What city are you in? What city am I in? I'm in Denver. How many pro hockey teams are in Denver? Pro hockey teams? There's one? Oh, no. Am I? This is like trivia. Okay. This is good. No, you've answered all the questions. Do you think there might be too soon? Maybe in a couple years? I know where you're going. I know where you're going. Just saw a little fence. See if I can get on the boat here. PWHL. Expansion. Yeah, the PWHL, you know, having what over 14,000 people watch the game here, this season, as you know, um, Hey, like, I think the sky's the limit. You know what, you know, what amazes me, Jeffrey, and for all of your listeners, I do call you Jeffrey. Um, uh,

is the fact that people have been talking about expansion since pretty much month two. people have been talking about expansion since pretty much month two last year, you know, and that's exciting. And that shows that we're making an impact. And, you know, obviously we have lots of fans in the Canadian buildings are a hundred percent full all the time. I will say this and, you know, those decisions, as you know, are made well above me. And, uh, but I'm part of the hockey ops group and I think, you know, we'll be ready for when and if it happens. And, um, I, I, I, you know, I hope it happens because it shows that we're growing. It shows that our owner believes in us and supports us, uh, in the long term, which I think is really important for all the women involved to see and the men for that matter.

Um, but Denver was great and they put on a great show. And you know, you think of all of our takeover tours that we've had this year, I think nine in total and St. Louis is coming up this weekend. They've all put on a great show and that's really fun for us to see. See, I just wonder about time zones, right? Like I wonder about, you know, I, I, I, I, I know you can't comment on it, but I'm of the belief that it's going to be Seattle, Vancouver, uh, for the first round of expansion here. We'll see where it goes. Uh, I do wonder about Denver. Like that was really impressive. Like that was, that was spectacular. And that's like another time zone here, uh, to

tackle it just to, I know that travel can be an, uh, an an issue as well but still just so that the league doesn't at least optically appear regional I do wonder if it's like okay we're going out west maybe Edmonton something with a little closer for Minnesota etc but I'm with you like it's it's it's kind of does seem bizarre like here the league is in year two and like it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's kind of does seem bizarre. Like here the league is in year two and already it's okay. It's time to expand here, but it is. And you look at a lot of the other women's sports leagues and right now women's sports has a real momentum to it. So it's like, boom, we're expanding.

We're expanding basketball, soccer and hockey's right there. Like, I know there's always going to be challenges. I know there's going to be challenges in I know there's gonna be challenges in some markets with the PWHL, but I don't think that that should preclude this league from expanding specifically where there's a lot of appetite for it. Was there, let me ask you about this one,

was there one stop that surprised you? Like, ooh, wow, that kinda, we didn't know there was this kinda support for this market. Was there one? And maybe it was at Denver. surprised you like, Oh, wow, that kind of, we didn't know there was this kind of support for this market. Was there one? And maybe it was at Denver. You know, I, I, I can't say from a personal standpoint, just cause I didn't, uh, go to all of them.

I don't travel as much as I can with the PWH challenges because I travel so much for other things and my boss, Gina Hefford understands that, that I want to be home more, but I'll be honest with you, Jeff. I think I'm one of those players that came from a long generation ago. And I'm not surprised by anything because we knew in our hearts that even though, yes, we still have a long ways to go,

we always believed in ourselves. We always believed in our game. We always believed in what we were capable of and what the women's game was capable of. So I think surprise is the wrong word because we believed this was what was going to happen eventually one day for our game. But I think the smile that's on my face when I'm at home and I put on a PWHL game in the crowd and and I put on a PWHL game in the crowd and the play and the great ambassadors that our players are. I just kind of smiled to myself and it's like, I always knew this was going to happen. I always believed it was going to happen. I didn't know when, but I always believed in it. And here we are and we continue to work and continue to make this a business

that prospers. But I think we're in the best place that we've ever been as a game. And, you know, those are the things that made me proud. So not surprised, just really proud of everything that's happened. Did you always feel this way, like back when you were playing on the national team and winning gold medals at the Olympics and world championships,

was it that far back or was it after that? You know, I'll tell you, like one of the images- What are you trying to say here? I'm old or what's going on? No, I'm not. I'm saying, no, I'm- Not far back. No, no, no, listen, like listen, that was,

and listen, we still talk about those wonderful moments. We were talking about like Salt Lake around the four nations. And we were talking about, you know, Marie-Philippe Poulin and the clutchiest player that ever clutched around four nations like part of the cool thing about four nations this year was this wasn't a conversation that was exclusive to men like all of a sudden like it's all the history of the rivalry and I'll be honest with you like the men have just caught up to the Canada-U.S. rivalry so it's always existed on the women's

side of things and I know that listen I know the athletes always want to put a positive and it's all respect and we appreciate and respect one another but I know how much you guys think, I know I understand like the hatred, the hockey hatred that was all there. I'm just curious like as far as like the phenomenon of a pro league as successful as this, like was there a moment where you said this could really happen or as you mentioned, has this always been in the back of your head, always been in the back of your mind?

You know, I remember selling out the All-Star game in Colorado, I wanna say year 2000, and we sold that out. It was Canada, US. And then the old Air Canada Center, we sold that out in 2001. You, U S and then the old Air Canada center. We sold that out in 2001. Um, you know, we did have these moments when I played where we sold out those types of building buildings. I think the big difference right now is that

women's hockey is a topic of conversation all hockey season long, because you can actually see these players playing for their club teams, you know, not just the national team. We don't just go away and come back every four years or every world championship or four nations. You know, we're on television almost every other night in the U S and Canada. And, uh, you know, the players are doing so much in the community and they're out there and the people know them.

And, um, it like, it's not just the top names anymore. And that's what impresses me about the league is that all the players that maybe never played on the national teams before they're they're well known especially in their own markets and they've become you know sort of household names between you know within their own markets and you know I just think it's been incredible it's fun it's It's been amazing to watch. I'm having the time of my life working behind the scenes

with our group. And yeah, there's just so many good things about it. There, let me close on this one, Cass. There was last year a sign at one of the PWHL games and I'm split on how I feel about this. Part of me thinks it's funny, part of me is embarrassed. And there were, I think there's three or four women in their mid to maybe late 20s who had a sign,

you know where I'm going with this, I think. And the sign was, if we knew there would be a league, we would have tried harder. And part of me is like, oh, that's funny. And then the other part of me is like, wow, that's a real shot that these women never had a chance at it. Yeah, I know it's great we should celebrate that it's here and all that but then part of me is like, how can you kind of let these girls down? Yeah, you know, we still, I still talk to people that think it's not going to

work, you know, they still tell me, they have the nerve to tell me and I don't give them a right hook, but they still, like, I still talk to people that are like, well, you know, the U S markets, they, you know, this and they're not sure. You know, I don't think you should expand. I don't like your work. You're losing so much money. This like, they say all these things that I, like, I don't, I'm not even privy to that information. And I'm like, can you just support us?

Like, can you just, just support us? You know, so we, I think we have that internal motivation that people have always told us we couldn't do this. And so when the more you tell us that, the more we're gonna continue to push and to continue to strive. And I think that's the mentality of anyone who has been pushed down in society.

And that's, I think our strength internally that we have is that we continue to push and grow together. We have an unbelievable hockey ops team who are so unselfish and no one cares who gets the credit. Everyone just does all the jobs that need to be done behind the scenes and our staff of our teams and our players and everyone, our business ops people, it's, I'm on the all company calls and like these people care and they just want to do a great job. So this has been great. This has been really fun and we just got to continue

to get better and better. Don't tell an athlete she can't do something. I haven't learned much, Cassie. I haven't learned much. The one thing I have learned is don't tell an athlete she can't do something. I'll tell you what, there was, let me actually close on this one.

When I talk to young people that are getting into the business, I always share advice that you gave me back from 2008 when I started to do rinkside at hockey night. Do you remember the advice you gave me? I've never forgot it. I think we've talked about this before, but tell me again, I forget.

Always bring mints. Ha! Yes! Yes! Always have mints. Do you want to share why, as a repr— for all the people that want to get in the industry, why, as a— as a— as a rinkside host, you should always have mints? Listen, there's nothing worse than an athlete doing an interview with a broadcaster who just let's just say it's like they haven't brushed their teeth in a long time and just

had a coffee. You can't get. Yeah, you cannot get your answers out fast enough and you just won't get a good interview. If you have bad breath, you just won't get a good interview. Like when I was a host, a reporter, I used to have a milk wash in my studio. Yeah, I've heard I've heard I would have those Listerine things, you know, I was a host, a reporter, I used to have milk wash in my studio. "-Yeah, I know, I've heard, I've heard." I would have those Listerine things, you know? I was, like, stressed about it because I knew I had no chance of getting good answers if I had bad breath,

so I was like... and you... Kelly Rudy's the same, he brushes his teeth all the time because he probably knows too. "-Oh, yeah." Yeah, yeah. I... honestly, this segment right here alone, we should get like a Listerine sponsorship or something. Because it is, yeah, it's a true story. It makes a lot of sense. You're the best. Okay, we'll be watching tonight.

It is LA and Colorado. It is the game of the night. And who better to handle it than Cassie Campbell Paschal. Cassie, thanks as always for stopping by. All right, see you later, Jeffrey. Take care. There she is, Cassie Campbell-Pascal from ESPN, handling the affairs for what will be the night of the game.

What do you think about that advice, young Zach? That is the same advice that you gave me, I believe, and you passed it on and said that that was what Cassie told you and you gifted it on to me. So it's your responsibility. And it's your burden. It's your burden now to carry this knowledge young Zach and pass on to the next generation of broadcaster. Now I got to hand this one down. That's the piece of information

that just continues to move down the line. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Bring mints, wherever you go, bring mints. Do yourself a favor. And everybody else around you, bring mints. Okay, that was quite the day with the John Tortorella situation. Thanks to Cassie for stopping by.

Thanks to Kevin Kurz for stopping by. We do have a couple of more things. First of all, how was the chat the last little while? I've been trying to peak down and get a sense of what's going on. Anything noteworthy? Any insults? Yeah.

Slander, any, okay, what's going on now? Yeah, well I've been firing polls up in the chat and seeing what people are thinking about everything. I don't know if you see the most recent one after Cassie called you Jeffrey. I put up a favorite name for Jeff. Jeff, Jeffy, Jeffrey and Gramps, says Big Willie called you the other day.

And Sarah Veenstra says, the one true name for Merrick is in quotes, Spoon because he loves to stir shit up. No, that's Natalie. That's Natalie Splinter's nickname. She does, she's always called me Jeffrey. Cassie and I overlapped at the University of Guelph in the early 90s when she was a player there. So she would have started at Guelph I think in 92. So I would have been in my second year at Guelph and we used to play men's league hockey

there on, was it Tuesdays or Thursday nights, and she was a waitress at Griff's Sports Bar at the athletic center. And so that's where I met Cass. She was a star on campus, star player for the University of Guelph. I remember there was a time where she was going to quit because she was done with the coach. And you think about like the repercussions for hockey in Canada.

If Cass, I think she's like, honestly, she was done. Cassie Campbell, now Cassie Campbell-Pascal was done. She was going to retire, hang it up. She was not going back. And Guelph changed coaches. She decided to go back and the rest as they say two gold medals to the Olympics and six world championship golds. The rest as they say is history but I would see Cassie every Tuesday or Thursday. We lived on the same street on Elizabeth Avenue and Guelphs would bump into each other every now and then, but then became

co-workers at Hockey Night after a number of years as she was wildly successful and I cobbled together a tiny little media career and then we crossed at Hockey Night and have always been, always stayed in touch and always been good friends and colleagues and she's a delightful person and super smart and super hard working. I'll tell you what, I used to do a show on Sirius, Hockey Night in Canada Radio from like 2007 to 2011. It was a daily show, three hours long on Sirius. And the premise of the show, Hockey Night in Canada Radio, every show I would have one

co-host from Hockey Night in Canada. So Kelly Rudy would be on one day, Craig Simpson would be on one day, Scott Oak, every show I would have one co-host from Hockey Night in Canada. So Kelly Rudy would be on one day, Craig Simpson would be on one day, Scott Oak, Cassie was a constant. It was every Wednesday Cassie was on. And I remember something she told me. We were out, I was out in Calgary for some event and we went out to dinner and we were just shooting the shit and I said like, Cassie, I really gotta hand it to you. Of everybody, no offense to anybody else

that I was working with, but she was so well researched for every single show, so well prepped. And she said, look, the one thing you have to understand is I have to over prepare for everything because if I make a mistake as a woman in hockey media there's no coming back. A guy can make a mistake like I'll flub up a name and everyone just shrug it off like oh well you messed up a name. She said like if I make that mistake it's like she doesn't belong here she doesn't know her

shit she can't like I'm like yeah geez Cass like you're kind of right she's like I have to over prepare for everything because I don't get that break. That always that in the mints always stuck with me, Zach, about Cassie, but I've got all day for her. She's got beautiful family, wonderful person, hardworking, super talented, Cassie Campbell-Pascal. Chat, do anything with Tort, and yes, Streatic, put Cassie in the hall.

That would be interesting because she's also on the selection committee for the for the Hockey Hall of Fame so she would have to excuse herself from any vote. But I do think that I think that inevitably Cassie is gonna get in. Great forward, great defender, success is obvious. To say nothing of everything. I would do like when I was at hockey night when I was on CBC and I would do hockey like when I was at hockey night, when I was on CBC, and I would do hockey day in Canada every year, we'd do a banquet on the Thursday. And every time, like there's a couple of things that would get massive ovations. When they

brought in the Stanley Cup, it would get a massive ovation. When Ron and Don entered, and they would, you know, MC and host the whole whole event they would get a massive ovation and when Cassie showed up it would be an incredible ovation when Cassie would go to these banquets and the eyes of little girls in the crowd were incredible about like wow like we have like one of our own like a hero that we can look up to you know it's the old saying of you don't achieve greatness until you can attach yourself to something greater than yourself and so there are so that's why you see so many athletes in the PWHL now that'll tell you like yeah when I was eight years old I met Cassie you know when I was ten years old I went to Cassie's hockey

school and I make her I watch Cassie I saw all these things like the effect that she's had on on Canadian Canadian hockey players and the Canadian women's hockey scene is is incredible and it's deep and I'm I agree like I'm telling you she has to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame one day and she's gonna get there but she's so successful she's on like the committee that vote so she would have to excuse herself. Anything about the torrent situation from the chat today? Why is he Zach? I see that because Julia Toshiri is in the chat I see. Yes I see as well. I think one of the biggest things that we were seeing

was people who were leaning more towards him going to Buffalo here, that seems like the next step that people have pointed out online. I saw Pete Blackburn make a joke earlier today, sent it to you, I was laughing. He's like, imagine just Tage is getting healthy scratch next year. I just start running this through my head. The weird thing is we can all see it. I know. The first straight leg back check from a superstar is gonna be like 48 hour media spin.

It's gonna be like 48 hour complete eruption just like what he did with Sean Couturier if he ends up going to the Buffalo Sabres I think we can all see that going away I think I think a lot of us can see him going to Buffalo by the way not to keep banging on this one you see who's starting for the Buffalo Sabres tonight yeah the Optimus Rhyme three straight James Reimer. Just saying, seen it before. Playing the goalie. Okay. Yeah.

Do so with your own peril. I mean, look, I'm not trying to just throw daggers at the Buffalo, the people of Buffalo, the fans of Buffalo. One of the things that I see keep coming through right now is, well, they are not gonna trade him. He signed a five year deal. Matters not. to trade him. He signed a five year deal. It matters not. That makes some honestly.

I think the amount that matters is. Trust me. Trust me. You know what makes, outside of how good a goaltender he is, you know what makes him really attractive for another team? He's got term. At a really good number. Like at a really, really good number. Listen, all I'm saying is if they're going to try to pin this whole thing on the goaltending, do so at your own peril. Do so at your own peril.

Do you think torts is actually done, Jeff? Just, just your, your opinion. No, I don't. I don't. I have a hard time believing, like honestly, I look at all coaches and I say, it's Hotel California. Check out any time you want but you can never leave. Like, the Buffalo Sabres come to John Tottorella five times three. I'm not gonna take it? Yeah. Like, Rick Bonas is unreal on the panel and I watch him like, that guy's gonna leave

the second a job comes up. He's a good coach. I think he would leave. I know, all these guys too, right? I get it, like, okay, this is my expiration date. It's just gonna be, you know, we're gonna build a house in BC and we're gonna stay there and we're gonna live there.

But then like, it's so hard for these guys just to turn off the competitive juices. Like I've told you this story before, I think with Berkey. They told you this story before I think with Berkey right they take the story with Berkey when When he took the Penguins job? Yeah, and he's a sports and he just didn't want to you. I remember asking like going not competing Do you like does it do you hate like leaving the studio and not giving a shit who won and lost? And he's like yeah, I hate it. I hate leaving the night,

because I would work with him and Elliot on Wednesdays. He said, I hate leaving the studio and not caring who won or lost that game, because I've got no skin in it. That's why I think for a lot of these guys, they just live on that thrill, where the highs have to be super high. It's just like adrenaline junky stuff,

and the lows are super low. Like they have a hard time like sort of living a calm sort of Zen life. They need the charge of having skin in not just their games but all the games around them because it affects them. That's why I have a hard time when someone says, oh I'm done. Really? Okay. Like I, having said that, I do think that, and I think it's just a family thing too, I do think that Rick Bonus, watch, he's gonna get hired in Philadelphia tomorrow,

I do think that Rick Bonus is done. Oh, hang on, a flier just sent on a press release. I think that he is probably done But I am like you like I watch him on TNT and that's a great gig from like pop in and out on TNT It's awesome. He's dynamic. He's fantastic. Go show up on hockey night, too Then I say to myself, how's this guy done? He's so smart. He's so got so much to offer. How's he done? Yeah, these guys love that charge man

That's what I think That's agree with that. That's what I think about torts. And it would be like a nice little completion if he ends up going to Buffalo. And I don't think like honestly Buffalo, even though I know it's been an awful year. I've said this before about the Sabres. I look at the Buffalo Sabres, I like so many players on this team. I just like, don't like them in the positions that they're in. But like, you're the same, like, you look at the Sabres and go like, I really like Rasmus Tallin, I really like Tage Thompson. You know, Noah Ostlund is gonna be an incredible player one day for this squad. Like, so many players on this team you'd really, really like,

is to like them in the spot that they're in. Yeah. So I don't know that they're like starting from zero in a rebuild, so I don't think John Torello would look at this and say, okay, we're starting from scratch, let's roll up our sleeves. I don't get that sense about the swords.

I don't. Yep. How about that? Great time. All right, we got games tonight. We got games tonight, we got games tonight. You gotta watch games, I gotta watch games, we all gotta watch games, you gotta work after games

and before games. Here we go, the sheet powered by our friends and partners at FanDuel. Always like to remind you of that fact. Home of the same game parlay. Make every moment more on FanDuel. And would like to remind you of that fact. Home of the same game parlay. Make every moment more on FanDuel and would like to remind you as well. Daily updates, roster updates from our daily faceoff fantasy Twitter feed and speaking of the Buffalo Sabres

at the KeyBank tonight, James Reimer. Do we mention James Reimer gets his third start in a row? Stop making stories that aren't there, Merrick. Okay, we'll see. Reimer starts, Tristan Jarre goes for there, Merrick. Okay, we'll see. Reimer starts, Tristan Jarre goes for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Malcom with the upper body injury, he is OUT out. Jason Zucker with a personal situation, he will not play for the Swords this evening. Ottawa and Detroit at Little Caesars,

all Mark versus Lyon in that one. Utah, Tampa could be a banger at Amalie Arena. The Bolts in an Atlantic dogfight, as you very well know, Zach. Two points separating one, two and three in the Atlantic and as we all know, finishing first in that division is really, really important because nobody wants to face any combination of those three in the opening round. The Philadelphia Flyers with their new interim head coach Brad Shaw at the Wells Fargo facing off against the Montreal Canadiens. Flyers coming off that loss against what team was that again the other night on Tuesday young

Zach Habs fighting for the wild card lives one point up on the Islanders yesterday by the way the Vancouver Canucks for Johnny Lazarus his favorite team in the world. One point up on the Islanders and Rangers. Dobesh gets a start there. Washington and Minnesota, six to go for Ovi. And good news on the horizon for Minnesota. Kroker Pizoff and Joel Erickson-Eck are skating. Your St. Louis Blues and our Robert Thomas

facing off against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena tonight. Calgary and Dallas could be a good one as well. Dustin Wolf gets the start there. Welcome back, Mikael Backlund. Los Angeles and Colorado at ball arena. Talk with Cassie about that one. Edmonton in Seattle. Climate Pledge Arena, Joey DeCord starts there. What did you make of the Stuart Skinner situation from last night getting taken out? And by taken out out I don't mean that Miko Ratnan deliberately went and took him out but taken out of the game and

Olivier Forche gets Olivier, Matthew, no who got called up today? Olivier Rodrigue called up, netminder for Bakersfield gets called up today to the Edmonton Oilers. I looked at it as pure accident. Ranton is skating by the crease and then Skinner drops down in front of him. It's a tough one, but... Drops down in front of him and if you watch it from the overhead, he progressively kind of goes forward. Like I don't think he's doing it intentionally to go to Ranton and to draw that contact or anything, but the motion of where he's going, he's going kind of down and out. Ranton is trying to go into Ranton and to draw that contact or anything, but the motion of where he's going, he's going kind of down and out. Ranton is trying to go around. That's a big body moving in full speed there.

I don't think there's any intent behind that at all. Nope. I don't think that at all. I agree. I know there were many that were complaining about a couple of things. Stuart Skinner last night, things. Stuart Skinner last night. Connor Baddard with Seamon Nemich as Baddard's holding Nemich's stick and he tries to get it away from him. So he cross checks Baddard on the ice and people are screaming and howling for a panel. Look at this. Look at all the stick. It's pretty simple to me. Like you don't want to get a hit. Let go of the guy's stick. It's

been a tough season for Baddard. I hate, I hate picking on him. It's been a tough one. He feels it. That's picking on him. It's been a tough one, he feels it. That's a guy who's ready for this to end, like this year to end. Oh! He's ready to just get away, not have a camera, a mic near him. Just be out of the spotlight and tell everyone,

see you in September. Like, get me out now. Get me to the world championships now. Can the world championships start now? Can I leave start now can I leave and just go thank you very much and the Toronto Maple Leafs face off against the San Jose Sharks Philly tee up your programs tonight well if the Leafs lose to the Sharks tonight by the time people wake up tomorrow morning I still might be on the air on the air yelling and screaming so let's just hope that doesn't happen also Jeff who starts

games at 10 30 p.m. Eastern time that's that's 730 local in San Jose who who did this who like it's so hard the thing is it's so hard to die the thing is like if you're trying to get out that night too it's a real problem because you got a hustle in the room and like you can't have like all the goaltenders gotta hit the table for 45 minutes after the game, because you gotta hustle, like you gotta get out. The 730 starts in San Jose tend to be a killer

for a lot of these teams. A lot of people pointed Doug Wilson for that one. Come on, Doug, with the 1030 starts, but he always used to get crap for the 730 starts or 1030 if you're watching in the East. Okay, there's our program for today. We made it through. The technology is fixed.

It's solved and we're back like a vertebrae. And you know who's back like a vertebrae tomorrow? Brian Burke makes his regular Friday stop here on the program. So looking forward to that. Get your questions and comments in for Berkey use our email the sheet at the nation network.com or the tweets either to me to Zach or the sheet account for that matter okay thank you very much to Cassie Campbell-Pascal from ESPN for stopping by thank you very much to Kevin Kers from The Athletic for stopping by

the big news of the day the dismissal of John Tortorella. We'll see what type of comments General Manager Daniel Brier has here in about 50 minutes time before the Philadelphia Flyers play this evening. And if anything happens, we'll bring it to you tomorrow with full comment from, as we like to say, let's get ready to grumble, one and only Brian Burke. Got it? Enjoy the game tonight. We'll talk to you later. ["Dark Man"] I went to the dark man, he tried to give me a little medicine I'm like, nah man, that's fine I'm not against those methods, but I knew

It's me, myself and how this gon' be fixing my mind I turned on the record I turned on the music I turned on the record I turned on the music I do wanna break it I turned on the music They send out their battle, but you're sometimes losing Helping on the days that went wrong