The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Disaster Avoided ft. Greg Wyshynski & Colton Davies

Episode Date: May 27, 2025

On this episode of The Sheet with Jeff Marek, Jeff is joined by ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski to break down all the latest action from the NHL Playoffs — the Florida Panthers lead the Eastern Conference Final 3-1 over the Carolina Hurricanes after a dominant start, though Carolina stayed alive with a Game 4 shutout win. Out West, the Edmonton Oilers hold a 2-1 series lead against the Dallas Stars, fueled by explosive offense from Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman ahead of a crucial Game 4 in Edmonton. Then, Colton Davies stops by with an in-depth look at the Memorial Cup, offering expert insight into the top junior talent on display and what it means for the future of the game. Don’t miss this packed episode full of playoff drama, prospect talk, and everything in between.#NHLPlayoffs #StanleyCup #TheSheet #JeffMarek #GregWyshynski #MemorialCup #JuniorHockey #HockeyTalk #NHL #CHLShout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Ninja Kitchen Canada: https://www.ninjakitchen.ca/products/ninja-crispi-4-in-1-portable-glass-air-fryer-cooking-system-zidFN101CGY?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=olv&utm_campaign=25Q2-Crispi&utm_content=en👍🏼Budweiser: https://www.budweiser.ca/ca_enReach 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.

Hi, Jeff Merrick here. Let me tell you about Cozy. Everyday home furnishings made easy. Cozy is modern, built for real life, practical, and designed to make your day-to-day feel a little lighter. You need to refresh your living room? Cozy makes it simple. Shopping for furniture shouldn't feel like a chore. Cozy makes it easy to breathe and easy to enjoy the process. It's your home, your way. With Cozy, you can unlock endless possibilities. Its modular design grows with you. Add, rearrange, or swap pieces on your sofa, no problem.

Stylish selections and design assistance to help you every step of the way. Transform your living space today with Cozy. Visit Cozy.ca, C-O-Z-E-Y.ca, the home of possibilities made easy. Okay, already we have a first star of the program. The tradition that started with three star gasoline so many years ago and continues to this day. We already have, comment dire en français, la première étoile, the first star, Jean-Philippe Lacasse in the chat. We were promised a better looking guest than Greg and Greg is

there? Greg wasn't supposed to be here today. Greg was supposed to be traveling but then we got a message saying I think I can make it. So in order to keep things consistent around these parts Greg will be aboard here in a couple of moments. We were promised a better looking guest than Greg and Greg is there. Well, you don't have to watch the live stream, I suppose. We can avert your eyes. Just look away, I suppose, if you want to do that. Welcome to the program. Staying alive, hey? A disaster avoided for the Carolina Hurricanes. Eastern Conference final. They finally win a game in a signature game by as much as you know

Freddie Anderson with the shutout. I mean that was a Jacob Slaven game. You watched it. You know what I'm talking about. Slaven was monster all game long. Really good game. Logan Stankhoven continues to be one of if not the best player according to Rod Brindamore in the playoffs right now for the Carolina Hurricanes. What does it mean? I mean, I don't know. Here comes all the coach speak, right? We don't have to win four games. We have to win one game four times. I mean, that's the sort of psychology of it

if you're Rod Brindemore, trying to get the Carolina Hurricanes in the right head space. But really, if you're like a cynic like me, you look at it and you say, Carolina Hurricanes is gonna beat the Florida Panthers four times in a row? I mean, it would be nice if we got this to a game seven again, just like I'd like to see Dallas and

Edmonton go seven, but then again I want to see most series go seven games. Anyhow, congratulations to the Carolina Hurricanes. They get back home, they are tucked away, and they are still playing hockey. We're gonna talk plenty about the NHL. We'll talk about the PWHL. Congratulations, Minnesota. I wanna talk about Garrett Rank as well. So while I'm teeing things up here,

why don't we go ahead and talk to you about the Daily Outline, which is presented as always by our friends and partners at FanDuel. And we remind you, FanDuel, North America's number one sports back-up provider. FanDuel proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them, things like, you know,

game four last night between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers. Coming up on the program thread, Greg Wyshinski, sorry, Jean-Philippe, things happen, it's out of my control. Colton Davies as well, who's a junior hockey observer and junior hockey writer, is gonna be dropping by at the end of the program. Little time and temp, a little update on the Memorial Cup. That continues.

Big match up tonight, Madison Hatten London. We're on that in a couple of moments. Carolina Hurricanes survive. We've got a preview of Dallas and Edmonton tonight. We will talk about the Memorial Cup. We will talk a little bit more about coaches around the NHL as well. And yeah, congratulations to Minnesota. Second year in a row. They cannot be defeated. PWHL Walter Cup

champions. With that let's bring aboard the man from Raleigh. I believe he's there he is the one and only Greg Waszynski and before he comes to us here as I get everything in order here because I'm horribly horribly organized as Zach will tell you this segment and this guest sorry Jean-Philippe, is a presentation of Budweiser. Budweiser is encouraging buds to make time for playoffs, not excuses. Every goal, every check, every win is better enjoyed

with your buds. Phone a bud, text a bud, ping a bud, and call out their excuses for bailing on the playoffs. After all, the playoffs are the most wonderful time of the year. Make them count when it's springtime, it's go time and it's time for us to go to rally and say hello and good afternoon, good evening, good morning, depending on when you're watching and listening to Greg Wyszynski. Hello Wysch, how are you? Well, we can't hear

you so we can see how much Jean-Philippe Lacasse is chagrin. So we'll try to fix. So sorry Jean-Philippe Lacasse in the chat. Unfortunately, if you just wanted to listen to Greg. There, is that better? There we go. Hello, hello, hello. We got you back. Encore un foie. There we go, we got you.

Technology is our friend or no? I was struggling with trying to figure out how to get this room situated to do the show. It's not a very conducive room to doing the show. Can you give us a little quick 360 or is that uh are you hardwired? Dude I had this thing jerry-rigged within an inch of its life right now. The last hotel I stayed in here in Raleigh was great. It was like uh it had depth of field. It was a real Spielberg like uh like existence for me and now it's just like

it's not it's very very tight. Zach wants to know if you have your Shure mic there so we can get some cleaner audio but by the way now every time I have it hooked in. I have it hooked in. I'll reconnect. Okay, reconnect and I gotta tell you like behind Greg right now is a map and I don't know about you, but every time I see hockey commentators talking in front of maps, I think of Carter Hutton. One day, I don't know if he's ever told the origin story

of why he has a map for his background. Not that I'm against it. I really like it. I think I've told you the story before about the first time I went to Brian Burke's house. One of the things, this is when he was, we were working together in Toronto, one of the things that I was struck by was his map collection. Like, Burke collects maps and the thing that I like best

about, you know, these old collections of maps that Burke has, if you read anything about ancient map makers, before they sort of understood what the whole world looked like and named everything, there were areas of every single map that were uncharted. And the map makers would write on the map, here be dragons. Which I always like, I always want to call a podcast here be, I'm giving me all the good stuff. I've always wanted to call a podcast here be dragons. But nonetheless, the good stuff I've always wanted to call a podcast here be dragons But nonetheless here be was Shinsuke in his New York Mets cap. I decided to put on a Mets hat I would oh wow here. I I got to tell you I was fully expecting to go home

Last night I was yeah, I know go to New York get a little haircut get ready I know that final like yeah, and It didn't happen, but it didn't happen for for the reasons that. And it didn't happen. But it didn't happen for the reasons that I expected it wouldn't happen, which is that Carolina scored the first goal, which is something they hadn't done yet and something that when they do, they don't lose. And the Florida Panthers continue to be a team

that doesn't quite know how to close out opponents as well as maybe you should if you're gonna be a back to back Stanley Cup champion, but it's all right. They'll figure it out. They might not, I mean, I kinda think that's going six, Merrick, I don't know about you. I hope it does, I really do. Like I'm that guy that wants everything to go seven,

quality through quantity, I don't care, you know, what's the old line? line quantity has a quality all of its own just give me as many hockey games as possible that's what I that's that that's what I'll take like to me yesterday was there was a couple of things one it was about Logan Stankhoven with an absolute rip of a shot to your point they score first or a different team when they score first and have to chase the game and Three Jacob Slaven was awesome Jacob Slaven was like that was of all the of all the Jacob Slaven performances

We've seen in the playoffs so far this year to me that was his finest agree or disagree Agree, do you know how hard it is to knock down Alexander Park off? He's strong. It's big. I know hard it is to knock down Alexander Barkov. He's strong. He's big. I know. I know. He has a bag of cinder blocks and he did it last night and then after he did it he skated to the front of the of the crease and made two plays and then cleared the puck. It was like one versus five last night in that one regard with the way that he played on that particular sequence. He was great. I don't know, you know, I've covered this series now for four games and I think Paul Maurice

probably said it right last night, which is that the Hurricanes are not nearly the pushover that many of us have kind of talked around them being, you know what I mean? And then the Florida Panthers aren't nearly the disappointment that many of us probably feel they were last night. I like when teams don't go out meekly. I like when teams exhibit pride. I like when teams pull up their britches and get out there and show why they belong at playing at this time of year.

And I think the Hurricanes had one of those nights last night and like Jordan Stahl told me after the game, he's like, these guys didn't want to go home yet. Now, when he said that, I said, but by virtue of winning the game, you are going home. But I mean, I guess he means like, Thunder Bay, like not seeing, like not seeing each other for a few months going home.

Yeah. No, it was a great win. I mean, and again, you know, Freddie Anderson has that unique ability to kind of parachute back in after being yanked in game two and benched in game three to play really solidly. He's an interesting fellow. He's always going to be a bit of a clundrum, I think, when it comes to his goaltending and his stability. I don't know. Hey, can we pause on that for one second? Because I'mending and his stability. I don't know. Can we pause on that for one second? Because I'm with you.

Sure. I don't know. For some goaltenders, it's hard to bounce back and it's hard to park everything that's most recently happened. Freddie Anderson is the opposite of that. I think you're so right. And this is like his entire career. He can have a couple of clunker games, get pulled, someone else goes in for him, could

chat cough or whomever, and he'll come back and he'll throw up bagels like that, like he did yesterday. Yeah. Like he's that guy, he's always been that way. Operative phrase though is couple clunkers of games is the operative phrase, which is that it's the somewhat inconsistency. The operative term is hospital bracelet. That's always been the problem with Freddie Anne.

That's what, what about dancing around something? That's what we're dancing around here. The issue is the hospital bracelet. I thought about that as I was doing my big free agent board for tomorrow and writing about McEelers. Anyways, you're right. So we both think it's probably gonna go six and- Hope so. The reasons I think are probably because Carolina

Is a different team at home most times. I mean early in this series I don't know what the hell happened against the Panthers other than the you know, like I said earlier on on Twitter You know They're the most blood in the water team I've ever seen where they get one and all of a sudden they get five and maybe That's why things get a little out of hand But you know the Hurricanes play well at home. They clearly are a team that needs to score first in order to get to their game

and feel better about themselves. And if that happens, I think we go back. The danger zone for the Panthers, and I don't think we're gonna be looking at NHL history here, Merrick, insofar as the, you know, 15 to ever rally from a three-0 deficit to win a series. But I do think there's a bit of danger here in the sense that their inability to close out series and combined with two

very significant injuries. Now, Paul Maurice believes that Sam Reinhardt and Nico Mikler are both going to come back in this series. That is the extent of their injuries. We have to go with what he said. But you take Reinhardt off that power play. It goes 0 for 8 in over the span of two games. And you take Mikaela off that blue line,

a guy who's arguably been their second best defenseman in these playoffs. I mean, like, if we're being honest. And it was a different vibe last night. They couldn't really find their swagger. They couldn't find their game. They couldn't find their legs. And, um, those guys are out for a little bit.

It could be a spot of trouble, maybe. I don't know. Like I, I, I looked at that game last night and I, I kind of thought to myself, and this might just be, I imagine that this is what the game was going to look like, so I was trying to find evidence of it as the game was going along. The opposite of just reporting on what's there. But it just looked to me like they were looking for an easy game in open ice.

That's what the Florida Panthers are doing. We want an easy game in open ice. We want to close this thing out, shut them down for, and be tucked away and rest. And, you know, hopefully Dallas can extend here against the Edmonds and Oilers. But that's what I saw. But when you think about the Florida Panthers, you think board battles and you think, you know,

cross checks and you think like hard areas and you think, and, and you, but you don't think of like, we're going to play a nice easy game and open ice. We've seen plenty of teams do that. And it, spoiler, it doesn't work. Not in the playoffs, but that was Florida trying to get away with one. Like there's an old saying, if you give a player an excuse not to hit,

he'll take it every time. Sorry. Most players will take it every time. Right? Right. It looked like yesterday yesterday the Florida Panthers just wanted an easy game to close out and maybe thought, you know what,

to your previous point, maybe Florida's just gonna go down without a whimper. Just gonna go down meekly, just gonna go down meekly, really nice and quietly. Which is weird because I feel like they get horny hitting other teams. I feel like it's their kink is like hitting other teams. They do it a lot.

Crushing them with checks. Yeah. So you'd figure they'd be into it. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know that many guys really love it. Like ask any of those even ask like Sam Bennett, like, Hey, do you want like an easy game where you don't need the recipe for ice at the end of it? Every guy's gonna tell you like, yeah, we can have like an easy game and win four to two and no one's got bruises and we're all good to go. We can actually sleep and you know, not have to take, you know, sleeping medication to get us to bed

because there's no bumps and bruises when we roll over. Players will take that every day. All the time. I will, on your behalf, I will go to Dmitry Kulakov next time I see him and I'll say my partner on the podcast believes that you would rather play a game like Kale McCarr than check people on the ice. Is that true?

Would you rather do that than pummel people and use your giant body to hurt others? Look, they're going to be fine. I do. Of course. I'm just confused by it, dude. Is there something systemic about that laissez faire attitude? No. They lost 2-0 to the Leafs in game 6. They lost 3 straight games to the Whalers in the Stanley Cup final.

I mean ultimately they won those series, which I guess is probably the most important takeaway from all of this psychoanalysis we're doing. But they literally could have packed in a weakened Cancun if they wanted to by winning last night until they had to play the winner of Dallas and Edmonton. And now they have to fly back here and they have to play a really tough game tomorrow night. I think that is it if Florida would have swept and Edmonton Dallas went seven, what is it, 11 days or 12 days? It would have been tucked away? That was like 2007. Remember Ottawa had like two weeks after the conference final to play the Anaheim Ducks and they're all like calling everyone from the Viper room, like, hey, come on, we're

not playing for a couple of weeks. Come on, let's go. That was like, what are you guys doing? Next thing you know, they're bound out in five of the ducks going like, what happened? Well, you had two week break and you spent a Viper room. Yeah. And I think I think Boston also had a significant break before the St. Louis series, too, in the Stanley Cup final. With memory serves as well. But, you know, the,

I don't know, it's funny, I was talking to my friends at TNT last night as they're doing this series and they're doing the Cup Final. And I said to them, I said, you know, based on what we are seeing in game four of this series and based on what we are seeing through three games in the other series,

wouldn't it just be like peak NHL to have this series be the one that delays the Stanley Cup final and not the Edmonton Dallas series? Like Edmonton waxes those guys in five games and now we're in game seven between the Hurricanes and Panthers. Like that would be very peak NHL if that happened. You know, one of the things we've been talking about

the last couple of days here on the program, even going back to last week, is this idea that, and it's funny because I was talking to one scout this morning who was listening to the show last night and who said, I'm glad you brought this point up because I say this to our manager all the time. And that is, we put so much of a premium on speed in the NHL, the whole game is marketed around speed.

Look how fast, fastest game on ice. Look how fast these guys are. Can you please tell me who's fast on these teams? I mean, Connor McDavid is, certainly. Casperi Caponin is. But can you please tell me who's fast here? And this person who's talking to us when he brought up a really good point,

said, especially in the playoffs, when the gap is so tight, when do guys even get a chance to get to top speed? Like in the playoffs more so than the regular season, like you don't have ice to do that. So you can say all you want about speed, speed, speed, speed, speed, come playoff time, it's more about how hard can you compete. Like I love Barkov, everybody does. You've heard the joke, he's finished for Bergeron.

We all know it, right? He's incredible. He's one of the slowest players in the NHL. Watch Matthew Kachuk try to get around the ice. I assure you he's not Pavel Bure, but these guys all compete hard. And in the playoffs, it's not so much trying to get the top speed as it is trying to smash guys. And will your team to a win?

Because you look around, look around. Where are all the fast skaters? They're all on a beach somewhere. Somewhere. A golf course. Coddies. If you're gonna do a little bit of of like physics and you do like mass time, you know, mass velocity.

Meiko Meiko probably is the fastest kid as far as straight ahead speed. That guy gets going. It's amazing. It's like watching the Concorde fly or a car. I guess everyone bounces off of them. It's funny you should talk about Kachak skating though because when he got called for that dive last night which I thought was a terrible call, everybody's just like don't the refs know that this guy just falls down sometimes because he's just not the strongest skater. Well okay so I first of all

I did I it was a bad call but it was a terrible call yeah it was it was a bad call, but it was a bad call. But to me, that was a reflection of right now, officials are sick of the diving. So it's going to be like, you know what? On a 50-50, no one's getting a break. If there's a small piece in your mind, do you think, ah, he may have gone down easy? Call it.

To me, this is the official trying to correct it. Trying to correct it. I'm not going to make this MVSW official debate corner. To me, this is the official trying to correct it. Trying to correct it. I'm not going to make this MVSW official debate corner, and we do this every couple weeks, but like, the official who called the dive wasn't going to call anything. His partner behind the blue line makes the call on the trip, and then the guy who didn't call anything was like, look, buddy, there's a reason I didn't call that, and it's because I think this guy dove.

And then he called a dive. Like that's how the sequence played out. It was just, it was just a bad call. But I'll tell you something, last night, I mean, I think lesson learned for the Florida Panthers, this series cannot be played on special teams. I don't think, I don't think that's a really where it needs to be played right now.

Until Reinhardt gets back, I think it's advantage Carolina if this thing is not played at 5-1-5. Did you see Garrett rank last night on the Robinson offside goal? Something new, something new is entered. Please, something new. Can we play it? Zach, do you have this one queued up? I don't know why, but you know me. I'm like, I'm trivial. I got a tiny brain. This stuff tickles my brain. Okay, this is Garrett Rank last night calling off the Eric Robinson goal. That at 1333 the play was offside. The play was offside. Very good. Is that the first time stamp?

Is that the first time stamp that we've had? I think it is. I noticed that too last week. But it makes sense though. Here at ranked. Nice. It's great and it should be that way because part of the decision is you're rolling back the clock to when it happened, right? So I dig it.

I like that a lot. I like it a lot. I mean, you know my thing about goal, you know, good goal, all that crap, but I, Garrett Rank has introduced something new. Now there's like, I'm always looking for like the guy that's really comfortable on the microphone who's going to raise the bar for other officials. And you know someone's's gonna mangle this. You know there's gonna be an official out there

that just chews on his tongue trying to get a time stamp in there. Like all of a sudden Garrett Rank's like, all right, I'm out here in deep water, you guys are in the kiddie pool over here. You tell me when you come out, when you're out here to come out here with me and Wes on the microphone.

There's gonna be some dumb dumb who's like at 1373. Wait, what? That's impossible. What are we, this is like military time? What are you talking about? Yeah, that was kind of fun. I don't know, it's, I kind of felt like a kid at the wrong party for a lot of these playoffs

covering the series. I mean, it seemed like A, all of the big Canadian writers were over at Edmonton and Dallas for obvious reasons, just Canadian team involved. And then B, like the fans watching these series were just kind of salivating over game one of the Dallas series and the way that Connor's playing and the Stuart Skinner story.

And we're over here being like, did you hear Brad Marchand may or may not have eaten Terry Queen? Can we have some attention over here being like, did you hear Brad Marchand may or may not have eaten Terry Queen? Can we have some attention over here on our series too? No? Just trying to find some fun. You wanna watch the good players? I'm surprised that nobody made more of a deal

about Jonah Gadjiewicz shooting the puck at Scott Moro yesterday at the end of the game before he got shocked. I'm like, anyone gonna mention this? I know it's nothing. It's really, it's not exactly Gostis bear on on Marchand or, or, you know, Niedermeyer on or Alfredson on Niedermeyer in 2007, but it was really funny to see how the Panthers handled the Gostis bear situation with Kachuk though.

It was just like, they're all just like, it happens, man. Aaron Echoled was my favorite Aaron Echoled's like, well, how is it any different than blocking a shot like all right well I mean you're gonna throw that logic at us I guess you've got a really good point there Aaron Eklad I do suppose anything you want to add on to last night's game or can we shuttle off to Edmonton? I thought Bob played really well I thought Bob played really well I thought played really well. I thought he... He's been good all series.

Yeah, he's been good all series. But last night, I thought it was going to be one of those... The Panthers eke out a 2-1 win, maybe in overtime, and it's a Bob game. But they couldn't muster enough offense. I don't know. I was happy for Rod Brindamore because he's a difficult man to speak to when things aren't going well. And in particular, when the team isn't following the template that's there for them to follow.

Like he is exasperated, following the template that's there for them to follow. Like he is exasperated, he has no answers for when, you know, a guy like Svechta Koff in game three kind of just goes off on his own and does whatever, game two it was actually, and goes and does whatever he's gonna do. Like he doesn't have an answer for that. And so I felt good that for a team and for a guy

that had been really maligned in this series, there was at least some proof of concept that what he does can can work when they score first. When they don't score first, they're F'd. But like when they do score first, they're quite good. You know what I think? You already have a strong suspicion, and again, like you're there. Maybe ask him in a candid moment. I don't know if he'll say it in front of a microphone. Maybe he has. You know what I think really pissed them off? When Matthew Kachuck went at Sebastian Ajo in game three,

chased him down, grabbed him, threw him down, punched him. Florida Panthers players went out of their way to grab a Carolina Hurricane player. It was like old school, it was like 1970s flyers and Bruins. Everyone grab a partner, to grab a Carolina Hurricane player. Just like, it was like old school. It was like 1870s Flyers and Bruins. Everyone grab a partner, everyone grab a partner. Nobody got in there to help Ajo. I think as a coach that probably really, really bugged him. And I don't know, cause I'm not in the room,

but I wonder if that was strongly mentioned to the players on the Carolina hurricanes that Sebastian Ajo just got mugged by Matthew Kachak and you guys did two thirds of the square root of sweet F.A. about it. I think I not only was it discussed with him and we and we talked to Rod about it too and he mentioned that he wasn't happy with the response. But I think the players, in particular, some of the veterans, identified that the lack of response there was a bad look.

Taylor Hall in particular, we talked to him about it, and he actually used the term, it was a bad look for them to just allow that to happen without there being any retribution. And that was at the peak of the Panthers punch you in the face and then you punch back and then you get whistled for it. But at that point, the game was already out of hand. Like it was the scoreboard was telling you the game was over.

Six to one, six to one. Yeah, the Hurricanes weren't gonna rally at that point. So there probably needed to be some level of response. There wasn't, and I don't know, maybe that helped kind of coalesce things for them a little bit because it really was sort of one of the lowest moments I think of their postseason was the fact that they allowed that to happen to Ajo at that point in the game Okay, Dallas Edmonton Two to one Oilers a really good second period by Dallas in that third game

A good five minutes, maybe six minutes in game one. But other than that, this thing has been all Edmonton. And as you mentioned earlier, the Skinner story has been incredible. It could all end. It could all end. We've seen it before. It could all come crashing down, but right now the story is fantastic to follow. Uh, as much as we talk about Conor McDavid's

feet and the real fast sores hands. Um, and then like, I don't know, but like, you know, as much as we talk about Conor McDavid's feet and they're real fast, so are his hands. And then like, I don't know, but like, you know, Zach Hyman again, he's the guy that could play up and down your lineup, pucks go off his face, pucks go off his feet and everything in between. And that's just like the game that he plays. Like he is, he's the most, and it's interesting cause he's drafted by the Panthers,

he's the most Florida Panther player the Oilers have. So we shouldn't be surprised that he's having this kind of success in the postseason. I think it's interesting that Dallas and Carolina were kind of in the same boat, which is that Carolina played a pretty good second period in in game three and it didn't amount to anything because the Panthers ended up getting the goal that broke the one-one tie and then all of a sudden they're off to the races. In Dallas's case there they have absolute proof of concept now that when they play their game play it well they can control tempo they can they can keep the puck they can

keep the Oilers at bay until Connor inevitably scores, because he will. The trick is though, for Dallas tonight, and I hate making it this simplistic, but the trick is to do that without being down two nil, right, because there's a difference between taking it to your opponent where you've already spotted them a two goal lead, and then versus taking it to your opponent

and then being worried that you're gonna take the lead. And I think the real issue for me for Dallas in this series is that they've not done, outside of maybe a few moments in that second period last game, they've not had a single moment in this game where without it being an anomalous collection of power plays in game one, where the Oilers are worried that there's doubt.

They knew what game one was. They beat them pillar to post at evens, but then they had a bunch of knucklehead penalties and unprecedented streak of good power play luck. But they go into game two knowing that's not going to happen again. And from that point on, they've just, they've just rolled. So I think the key to the series is Dallas playing like that in this game and retaking home ice and putting a little doubt into the Oilers because they're confident across the board. And to your point, Merrick, like especially about their goaltending right now.

And that that's the only that's their Achilles heel. It really is. And you've not, you've not tested him. No Connor Brown tonight for the Oilers. Victor Arvidsson goes in and that pod calls in Yanmar Arvidsson line early in the playoffs were like they're really good. You know, Leon Dreiswettel talked about the depth this team has and here comes Victor Arvidsson

and we're just interchanging one player for another. What did you make of that hit though, by the way, like Alex Petrovic is an old school guy, like that hit on Brown was, first of all, it wasn't an illegal hit. It wasn't a head target. None of that. It was body and then head sack. That was as old school as old school, a body check as you're going to get. That was a Picasso. And I wonder, you know, he's, he's been a real cog for them. You know, once you start... I think Florida is a good example of this.

It's like once you start plucking away little pieces from the machinery, you know, how does that affect the sum and total of the parts? Because he has been such a driver for them in these playoffs. I don't know. I, Dallas has shown a unique ability to do something special at a moment in which you think they're cooked. But they're playing a team that really has hit its stride. I famously have picked Dallas to win this series and famously have picked Dallas to win the Stanley Cup.

As you know, Jeff Merrick, only two pundits in the entire ESPN family still have their pre-playoffs Stanley Cup selections alive right now. Because everyone did you have, did you have debate on the golden nights and everyone took the bait on the Colorado Avalanche. I had the Dallas Stars and this is going to shock you. Florida Panthers. Mark Messier picked the Edmonton Oilers to advance to win the Stanley Cup.

I know you're saying to yourself, wait, why didn't he just pick the Rangers? Well, because the Rangers aren't in the playoffs, Merrick. So he picked the other team that he would always pick. So I mean, like I, there's a reason I love them. And it's because of these moments in which, you know, they get just shellacked in game one against Colorado and then respond and they're playing, you know, they get, they lose in game one against Colorado and then respond and they're playing You know, they get they lose in Winnipeg and they bounce back like there's there's all these little signposts along the way But this is a special team and we'll see if if that's right or not

I mean tonight is is the test if you lose tonight, they're cooked. Okay. Hang on a second We could really listen night Johnny Lazarus in the chat with a great line Wish is straight out of the sandlot today. You do look glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here.

I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here.

I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here.

I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. I got up at five this morning to take a connecting flight through Atlanta to get to Raleigh and it's like raining and it's terrible outside and like I said, it's just scrambling around trying to be like, what is going to make this look decent on a video? And the answer was nowhere. I nearly did it in the bathtub. Like there's lighting in there is pretty good. Might as well do that next time. I'll just sit there like Jeffery Wachowski and sit there and, you know, do the show that way.

The Wishabides, the Wishabides, the Wishabides, little Robert Ducky, maybe, what did he drink? White Russians, have a little White Russian with you. Yeah, Nihilus coming through a marmot in the water. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, pee on the rug. One of your most viewed shows. One of your most viewed shows. Yes.

You ever heard the theory that Donnie doesn't actually exist? You know, I have heard that theory and it's just because I get to everything late. I just heard it like two weeks ago. That he doesn't, that he doesn't like that theory. You know, the theory, my favorite theory, and it's from a recent film, did you happen to catch Top Gun Maverick when it was out? What do you think?

Probably not. So, folks in the chat know where I'm going with this. In the beginning of the film, Tom Cruise drives a supersonic hyper speedy jet that basically explodes and he somehow escapes the fiery crash of the jet and it seems impossible because the jet is going so fast that if you were to parachute out his body would be literally sliced by the air around it that's how fast it's going the rest of the movie is basically

Star Wars but also he makes amends with Goose's son and you're saying yourself this is very idealistic. How did this all happen? This feels like maybe he's in Valhalla and you're like, oh that's right, perhaps. This is all just the afterlife. This is all just purgatory before he crosses over, him making amends with old friends and saving the the day one more time and I love that interpretation of that film is that he dies in like the first 15 minutes and the rest of it is just an afterlife vision of Pete Maverick, Pete Maverick Mitchell. Which leads us to Tomas Tatar. As it does. Who's off to Switzerland. He's leaving.

Eric Brant's from going to, but Tomas Tatar, former New Jersey devil, close to your heart. I'm still stunned at how much Vegas gave up to get him in the first place, only to not play him in the playoffs. Cause I guess they were rolling. And it got me to wondering, I'm like, okay, so Greg is coming on today, former New Jersey devil Tomas Tatar. I wonder, and by the way, when you think Tomas Tatar, which team do you imagine him on?

Oddly, Montreal. Okay, so do I, because of Danone Gallagher and that line. And the fan, Tomas Tatar. That's right. One of the greatest videos of all time. Oh, it's so good. It's fantastic. Of all, and of course, spoiler, Peter Stasny is number one. Of all the Slovak hockey players in the history of the NHL, Tomas Tatar, 496 points. Wow. Okay? And 927 games. Like a really nice career.

Like he's, you know, he's like a season shy of playing a thousand games. So that might be a little bit tough, but still. Where do you, do you have any idea where that ranks amongst Slovak hockey players? I'm cheating, because I got Quantalki up in front of me. Give me some of the names. Where is he in the scoring ranking?

Peter Stasny, 1239. Peter Stasny is a great forgotten name in hockey. If you look at the 80s, I've told you this before, if you look at the 80s, the high flying 80s, where everybody scores a million goals and gets a million points, Wayne Gretzky is number one. Peter Stasny is number two. And no one has to go Peter Stasny.

Peter Stasny is important to me because he was a devil very late in his career. And it taught me two things. One, it taught me the gravitas that some players have. Like it was a big deal for the devils to get Stasny. And you know, it was he was past his prime. He wasn't going to solve many of the problems that they had on the roster, but the idea that Peter Stasny was gonna be your center

was a big deal. And I had to learn as a kid why that was. The second thing is, he was the first player I ever watched or experienced where I understood the concept of the hands never go. The wheels go, the legs go, you know, a lot of it goes. The back goes. Oh yeah.

But the hands, the hands never go. That man made some amazing plays while he was with the devils that didn't involve anything but flipping the wrists and it really imprinted on me as a kid. One of my favorite players, you know, it's funny, I didn't want to look at this list, I realize how many Slovak players I've just like adored their entire career.

So Stasny is right up around top of my list. And number two might be like another top fiver for me and that's Marian Hosa at 1,134 points. And then we have like a run of Peter Bondra and Marian Gabaric and Pavel Demitra and Miroslav Shetan, who I believe you're a big fan of as well. I'm a huge fan. Ziggy Palfi, Zdeno Chara, Joseph Stumple, who we never talk about, had like almost 700

points in the NHL, then Anton Stasny, and then Tomas Tatar at 11th. If we're gonna go, if we're gonna go Stasny first, would you put Hossa or Chara second? As far as like most important players? Or even just Best? Oh, for me Stasny, for me Peter Stasny. Well, Stasney's first. Stas, Stasney's first. But then who's second? Who's second, Hossa or Chara?

Wow. I know. Oh God, that's so hard. It's so hard because you can't, you can't quantify a lot of the chara of it all. You know what I mean? Like he would score, we know how good he was. We know the wingspan.

You can't quantify what he was on the ice. And that was the eighth wonder of the world. I would probably go chara, but the thing that just gives me a little bit of cause for pause, I don't think he ever had 60 points in a season like Tory Krug did on the Boston Blue Line I don't ever think that Chara did and I even thought that he got up to 60 points but still like to your point like he was Shrek back there and there was

that time there's like there's like two or three years where whenever Bergeron and Chara were on the ice together, like nobody else touched the puck. Right. It was insanity. It was like, it's your break glass, you know, in case of emergency moment. Like, hey, Claude Julian needs something here, needs some possession time. I just make sure Charah and Bergeron are on the ice. I'll go, as much as I love Hossa, much as I love Hossa and like I've never seen him, the old saying, you can't give a great player a bad pass, much as I love Hossa and like I've never seen him,

the old saying, you can't give a great player a bad pass, he would, guys would throw it in his skates, no problem. Guys throw it behind him, yeah, no problem. He'd pick it up like he was playing lacrosse. I gotta, I'll go, I'll go Chara too. I'll go Chara too. And Hossa probably is one of those guys that is in the sons of Yuri Lettinen

that probably should have won a Selkie at some point as a winger as well, but I'll go char too the the char the thing I'll always remember a char with me and you is that when we used to talk about fighting when there was fighting in hockey and And we used to talk about who's the best fighter in the NHL and we both have the same opinion Which is that it's chara. Yeah, and it's hard to quantify it because no one would ever fight him like like that time He he punched through time and space when his fist hit David Kochi, I remember once.

David Kochi. Yeah. In a fight. Colorado fight. He was frightening. Charra was just... Charra is the kind of player that you talk to your grandkids about. Like I got a chance to see this guy who was like the size of the Chrysler building, but

he would also just be the best player on the ice most nights. Yeah. It was insane. It was insane. He, you know my Lady Bing theory with him, right? With Chara? No, tell me.

So much like we believe that somewhere along the line, like Marion Hossa should have won the Selkie trophy. I think that at least once as a show of good faith, Zidane O'Chara should have won the Lady Bing. That DNA Shaw should have said, thank you for not killing everybody in the league. Because if he wanted to, like he could have, not for like what he did, but what he chose not to do. Like he could have had like the biggest body count of any player in the history of the game and chose not to. That is

worthy of the Lady Bing. This is kind of like the definition of tyranny, I believe. Like the idea that you should be lauded for not killing your subjects or something. By the way, Thomas Schatarr leaving the Devils is fine. He won't score in the playoffs next year, which means it's status quo. And the other one who leaves for Switzerland too, Eric Brandstrom, who like five minutes ago in the Mark Stone trade was like the big piece going back. Right? Like when Vegas had those three picks in the first round, it was Cody Glass, Nick Suzuki

and Eric Brandstrom. And everyone's like, Ottawa just got the next Eric Carlson. Oh, the Branstrom trade. They'll call it the Branstrom trade years from now. Yeah, exactly. It did not work out. ["The Things That Happened"] The things that happened.

Have a quick thought on Matthew Darsh and the Allenders? Happy to see him get a shot. Everyone I've talked to about him really likes him. And, you know, these things can go one of two ways. I mean, sometimes you're going to find someone who has been deserving of a shot and really takes off when given the big chair, or you maybe run into a Paul Fenton situation where somebody gets mentioned for jobs over and over and over again and then it doesn't necessarily translate to being able to do the big job. I hope for the Islander's sake it's the right hire. I'm intrigued what they do this summer. They've got some, I think, cat flexibility and they have

the want and need to really add something. They're at the point, I think, cat flexibility and they have the want and need to really add something. They're at the point, I think, Merrick, with that organization where obviously they make the Lou move in an acknowledgement that they've got a big shiny pretty building that needs to have some excitement in it either through playoff success or a difference maybe in play. And I'm intrigued to see if John Collins is, he used to be with the NHL, he was Steve Mayer before Steve Mayer got hired, did the hiring here. Like he is a businessman at heart.

I imagine that there is a certain conversation he has with Matthew Darch about the type of product, because it is a business, the type of product he'd like to see the Islanders become. And so I'm intrigued to see what those plans look like going forward. Step number one, let Matthew Barzal talk. Put him in front of every camera

and every single microphone you can find. To me, that's the guy. That's the big personality that you have on this team. More Matthew Barzal all day long. Hold on, do you put them in the Marner Derby? Yes. I put them in the Marner Derby. I put the Carolina Hurricanes in the Marner Derby, I put Utah in the Marner Derby, the Detroit Red Wings in the Marner Derby. Yeah, I do.

Do you think Chicago's too far away from Marner? No, I think Chicago would be in the Marner Derby as well. Like honestly, I know that, and I've used the line before about how there's gonna be a catalog option for Sam Bennett Bennett and there is, there's going to be like a lot of teams that want to get that side of beef, but like, Mara's going to have a kajillion teams lining up too. Can I ask you a question? No. What's the percentage chance of Bennett resigning with Florida? Pretty good. Pretty good. I think- Put it like 60-40 he stays.

Again, like I was always taught in my career, don't F with happy. If you're happy, find a way to stay. Yeah, well the other part of it too is that you- That was Bob McAllen's advice. You F with Matthew Kachuck's happy if you let Sam Bennett leave, because that's a, they've been a dynamic duo basically

since what, like maybe even Calgary days. What percentage chance do you put on Marner resigning with the Leafs? It doesn't feel like that's gonna happen. So like 0% chance? No, I would never go zero. I would never go zero and I'd never go 100. I'm a weasel that way.

Yeah. So like never, never, never, never zero and never 100. But I can't. It was the whole I'm gonna talk to my family thing. That was really what tipped it for me. We've been all kind of like parsing the verbiage of Mitch Marner and his post-season availability, but it was like, you're not sitting,

again, you're not sitting down to talk to your wife about how much the Leafs are gonna give you to stay. Like you're talking to your wife about, honey, what do you think about the schools in Anaheim? That's why you're having that conversation. Chicago's lovely, you know? You wanna go for a weekend in Chicago? schools in Anaheim, you know, that's, that's why you're having that conversation. Chicago is lovely, you know, you want to go for a weekend in Chicago? Chicago is basically Toronto.

It's just, you know, with funnier. You know, it's funny, Toronto always wants to be New York, but really is closer to Chicago, hon. Definitely closer to Chicago. Totally is closer to Chicago than it is New York. Toronto wants to be New York, but it is Chicago. That is, I think you and I have been on

that. Have we talked about that before? It feels like something we've talked about because it is. Edmonton reminds me of parts of New York. Which parts? Oh, I don't know, Merrick. Oh, no, the internet's breaking up. I can't seem to finish my thought. Okay, hang on, you want to do the email with me or you want to punt? Because I gotta, I on time. I can do the email with you, sure. Okay, I think we got a fun one today. Alright. This horrible camera shot. That's okay, you've done good.

I like the Metz hat too, by the way. Time now for the Crispy inbox presented by the Ninja Crispy 4-in-1 portable glass air fryer. Meet the first of its kind. The Ninja Crispy portable cooking system. The power of a full-sized air fryer in the palm of your hand. So you can cook big or small batches. Just prep it, crisp it, serve it, and store it all in one. This is Greg Wyshinski, an all-in-one system

that includes four quart, six cup tempware glass containers and two storage lids. The Ninja Crispy is thermal shock resistant and can go from frozen to crispy in minutes. With the Crispy Power Pod you get the power of a full-sized air fryer in the palm of your hands. Yes you do. The four quart container fits four pounds of chicken or veggies. Cook a personal-sized meal in seven minutes in the six cup container. Max crisp, bake, air fry and re-crisp with the Ninja Crispy. Greg is looking outside his window right now in his tastefully decorated

hotel room saying it's raining. Why can't I have a Ninja Crispy. Greg is looking outside his window right now in his tastefully decorated hotel room saying it's raining, why can't I have a Ninja Crispy? You can prep, cook and store anything from crispy favorites to one dish meals. Look at that, his tongue is hanging out, folks. Visit their website in the link in the show description and stay tuned for your chance to win a free Ninja Crispy. Greg wants one because he does not want to leave his hotel room. I went from Fort Lauderdale where it was beautiful by the beach and now I'm in the rainforest

here. It's insane. I was just thinking to myself, if I had a Ninja Crispy on the road, how better it would be for me than the constant processed fast food I've been eating at like two in the morning coming back to these games. It's terrible. Greg Wyshinski starring in sodium wars as he travels. Greg Wyshinski is going to have his own TLC show where they cut the side of the house open to get the man out by the end of these playoffs the way things are going.

Take the ninja crispy on the road. All right, the way to get in the sheet at the nationnetwork.com is the email. Zach, we got an interesting one today. No, you know what? I want to do this one, but not this. I don't want to do that email. I want to do the other email that we got, but I do want to mention that one that we got from a fan in Wales, which is a really cool email. Do you have the original one, Zacharu? What's all this then? Hang on. I don't think so. Okay, I'm gonna call the audible then.

Oh no, you know what? My email is down, so I can't even do it. Okay, throw that up there then. We'll do that one. We'll do the other one in a second. All right, Jeff, Zach and Wish, congratulations to the Minnesota Frost from their newest fan. What a series, which brings me to this. Many people accused the Ottawa Charge of nicking the Calgary Flames logo, fair, and the Boston

Fleet of heavily borrowing the Wailers logo, perhaps more of an homage. I would add greatness borrows but genius steals. More on that on another show. But this one has gone unnoticed. The Minnesota Frost have cynically lifted the branding off the old Flintshire Frees, now D-side Dragons, from Shotton, North Wales. I'm here to let the world know, this is such a good one, I'm here to let the world know and i hope you can help bring justice to the north wales ice hockey community keep up the great work love the show shira or shira from liverpool i hope i pronounce that i of the two names that i gave out i hope that i pronounce it properly is that a lift okay greg washinski this is this is more your bailey

wick than mine is this a lift the freeze and the frost isn mine. Is this a lift? The freeze and the frost. This isn't a lift of the frost. However, I do notice a certain similarity to a recently revealed logo for the Utah Mammoth. They have incorporated part of this. No, I think the Frost is fine. I think they're free and clear of this comparison.

I mean, Freeze Frost, I understand the comparison. I understand the color. You can't say that they nipped the color from this team because purple is a foundational color in Minnesota, be it the Minnesota Vikings, be it Prince. So I appreciate the investigation, I appreciate the sentiment. I don't think we have sports plagiarism here, but I am kind of side-eyeing you, Utah Mammoth, for maybe borrowing your beautiful snow-capped mountains from that logo. Could we get that, could we pop that email back up again, Zacharu.

This is the North Wales ice hockey community. Would you pronounce that Shira or Shira from Liverpool? Shira. Shira? Okay. Yeah, I believe so. Shira from Liverpool. What is Shira? I don't know.

What does it do? Email us back, because I'm very particular about things like that. I'm the guy that wants to go and talk to the players to make sure you get the pronunciation right. Do you ever hear the story about Caberley and Caberla? Let's go. You want to hear it? Sure.

Of course you want to, no, don't, don't bring up something and then, and then tell me about it, please. Yes. Tell the story. So this is years ago. So the Toronto Maple Leafs one year broke in three rookie defensemen. So Bill Waters told me this story,

former assistant general manager of the Maple Leafs who I used to do a show with. And Thomas Caberle, Tomas Caberle, whose son, my son now plays against in the GTHL. They got in a fight last year. It was pretty funny. Yeah, it was pretty funny. I texted my wife like,

uh, Brody's fighting Caberley's kid. Anyhow, so they break in three rookie Maple Leaf defensemen. It was Yannick Tremblay, Danny Markoff, and Thomas Caberley. And, yeah, oh God, was he ever good. Oh, anyway, and Thomas Cabererley and there's one reporter in Toronto who keeps referring to him as Tomas Caberla Tomas Caberla and Billy says I go over to him and I said hey

What do you call a number 15? He goes Tomas Caberla And he says uh, oh his name is Thomas Caberla. That's that's we're calling him Thomas Caberley he says no no no Billy I went and talked to him in the room and he told me his name was pronounced Tomas Caberla and water says to me he said I went to the report I said oh really go ask him how he fucking pronounces It's Thomas Caberley. Thomas Caberla. But I do admire that. Anyhow, enjoy the rest of your afternoon, Greg Wyshynski. What's the rest of your day going to be comprised of? Hopping on old ESPN around 6.30 to talk Dallas Edmondson. And a bit on this series as well.

A little Kahn Smythe talk too. And I think I'm going to tear into the end of this. And I'm going to talk about the rest of the day. And I'm going to talk about the rest of the day. And I'm going to talk about the rest of the day. And I'm going to talk about the rest of the day. And I'm going to talk about themondson and a bit on this series as well, a little Con Smythe talk too. And I think I'm going to tear into a steak tonight before I have to do some writing about the Dallas game.

So I'll be monitoring that game while monitoring, or not monitoring as it were, my cholesterol. Is it Conor McDavid's Con Smyith to lose, Greg Wyszynski? The problem for Stuart Skinner is that it's for the totality of the playoffs. Correct. Unlike other leagues. And I think that's where you kind of get into a situation where, look, we all know how good McDavid is. And we all know how good the Oilers are when McDavid is good. But ultimately,

the difference between losing and winning is your goaltending. And at this point, it's Stuart Skinner. It could be Pickard again, but right now it's Stuart Skinner. I'm intrigued by his candidacy. I'm also intrigued by Bobrovsky's candidacy because I think him and Bennett are probably the two guys on Florida if they win. And wouldn't you love to see how many zeros it would add to Sam Bennett's bottom line where he'd just get away with a conspite into unrestricted free agency. 50 points, $10 million.

And everyone's gonna go, I'll take those 50 points if it gets me a Stanley Cup. No problem. Don't you think it's funny that in the same free agent class we have Mitch Marner and the anti-Marner in Sam Bennett? Like it's, it's, it's kind of incredible. A hundred points in an early exit or 50 points in a cup? Yeah, 50 points in a cup and a guy who plays the antithesis of how Marner plays in the playoffs. Punching people in the face and being engaged.

And you want to take it one step further? Represented by the same agent, Darren Ferris or Cortex. Bum bum bum bum. Oh the intrigue of these two. Okay. Enjoy your steak dinner tonight, enjoy your writing, enjoy your ESPN hit, and we will enjoy you in seven days. You'll be good. Thanks everybody. Thanks for hanging through all the usual technical difficulties that makes my Eric Ryswczynski's Remembrable show. Bye! But we got a cool Mets hat out of it, so it doesn't matter. We got a Mets hat, we got a Mets hat, we got a Mets hat.

Do we have Colton standing by? I want to do some Memorial Cup talk here. And that was fun with Wish. But I want to get some Memorial Cup talk here. Alright, Colton Davies is our good friend. Junior hockey writer, junior hockey observer, Bon Vivant, man about town, the man carving the Memorial Cup and has for quite some time.

He is Colton Davies from Daily Face Off and he joins me now on the sheet. Colton, first of all, thanks for putting up with a goofy schedule, been trying to get you on for a while. Stankhoven, Laffren Yerjers in the back, that's really good, I appreciate that. I like that. First of all, before we get to the Memorial Cup, I know you're a big Logan Stankhoven guy. Uh, your thoughts on what we saw last night from Logan Stankhoven with Carolina and Rod Brindemore's subsequent comments about how he's been, uh, one of, if not the best player on the team. Well, I mean, I texted you that last night, right? That

I think he's been one of the best players on this team and it's about the, you know, it's about the impact that he's made already with this team. And that's something that Stankhoven has been able to always do at every level. He's always been able to just thrive and be able to make himself an impact player. And that's what we're seeing in the playoffs. And especially with last night, getting that goal and getting kind of Carolina started, that was huge. I'm so sad that Dallas let him go, but that's a conversation for another show. Okay, Memorial Cup.

So going into this thing, you know, looked at it and said, okay, host Tramusky, real good team. Monkton, elite team. London, that story is well told. And Medicine Hat is eluded with stars, coached by, you know, the legendary Willie Desjardins said to myself, like this is at least on paper, one of the best fields I've ever seen. Agree, disagree. Yep.

Uh, agreed a hundred percent. It kind of goes back to like when I covered the Memorial cup in 2023 here in Kamloops, there was a lot of stars, but I think this one is just jam packed, right? Like there's so many superstars in this tournament and you look at the coaches too. You look at the management, everything. There's just so much going around there in this tournament that it reminds me a lot of one of the first

tournaments I ever watched, which was the 0304 tournament and as well as the 0405 tournament, which is significant, of course, with London and Ramoski. But for me, it's yeah, it's definitely one of the most jam packed Memorial Cups out there. So I had Mark Hunter on the show yesterday. And so it was a lot of, you know, some old stories from 2005 and that team and talked about Corey Perry and that squad and some of the other players that he's had. And this year is like, again, like London just has these traveling all-star teams, whether it's Dickinson or Cowan or Hultenon, like go right down the list.

And you know, they're 2-0, Met Hatt is 2-0, they're meeting tonight. But as you watch it, and I know the games have all been close, but as you watch all, and I know the games have all been close, but as you watch all of these games, for me, London is the one that's distinguished themselves in the field. True for you too, or are you still waiting to see on Medicine Hat? I think London has gotten themselves a little ahead of the pack there, and no pun intended

with Medicine Hat being a tiger, but I think they've gotten themselves a little bit ahead there just because there's they've been there already, right? They were there last year. A lot of the same players are back. They've had the same chemistry for the for almost two years now. And you have guys like Sam O'Reilly, who's been arguably the one of the best players for them throughout this tournament. So I agree with that. Uh, Sam O'Reilly and Edmonton Oilers, uh, first round pick as well. So tonight's going to be a fascinating matchup. Like I, I, I love this tournament. This is one of my first hockey loves is Memorial cup.

I mean, I go back to like the Hamilton Finn cup, new Westminster Bruins days when I was a kid watching, watching junior hockey and you know, new West would come in and kick sand in everyone's face and win the Memorial Cup and laugh all the way, all the way back to the Western league. Um, so Willie Desjardins versus Dale Hunter. It is the London Knights facing off against the Medicine Hat Tigers. What do you look for tonight, Golden? Well, I think it's a lot what everybody is looking for.

And that's a statement game from Gavin McKenna, especially against a super team like London. I personally think it's going to be the best game we have probably maybe ever seen at the Memorial Cup. And this is definitely a game that I think is going to be the championship game as well. Are you surprised that Monkton hasn't pulled ahead? And by the way, condolences of course to the McDougal family. Just awful. Taylor losing his father-in-law as an asked by Gardner after the game yesterday

with a heart attack while playing golf. But are you surprised that Monkton hasn't... Gardner-McDougal is a winning machine. Whether it's St. John's Seedogs at the Memorial Cup, whether it's UNB, like the Reds, everywhere he goes, the wins follow. And then another impressive season this year for Moncton with him at the helm.

Does the Moncton performance surprise you, Colton? Yes, it does because they are a good team as well, right? They went all the way. They won the Quebec League and they're a team that, like you said, has Gardner McDougal right behind them and a guy that has won everything under the rock. And you know, this team for some reason though, just can't seem to get it together. It's only defensemen who have scored so far for for Moncton. It's Dylan Gill, who's a Tampa a Tampa Bay prospect and then Etienne Morin who was a Calgary Flames prospect So they need a little bit more and Caleb de Noye was a guy that I thought would have a bigger tournament And he's been a little bit silent

Who would you know? It's interesting. He's he'll be a top 10 pick at the NHL draft at the end of end of June How do you see him fitting? He's a quick little sidebar here I've been barking a lot about Brady Martin with the Sue, the Florida Panthers effect here and see how high he can get. Um, where do you put sort of Caleb Dane Y.A. in, in that draft mix? Everyone seems different on Dane Y.A.

Uh, for me in my own little mock draft or whatever I have created, I don't see him getting past like Philadelphia or Boston. It's similar to your, your opinion with Brady me in my own little mock draft or whatever I have created, I don't see him getting past like Philadelphia or Boston. It's similar to your, your opinion with Brady Martin. I think that that is just a crucial player that you kind of need for playoff performance and a player that you need in big impactful games. So I see Dana going between that, like, you know, the six and eight slot, six and nine

slot. Yeah. Um, let me bounce around a couple of names here for you. Um, real quick, um, Ryder Richie, medicine hat, Tigers. I know you love them. I got your text last night. Yep. He's been phenomenal, right?

Like three goals, four points. He's been up there with, he's up there with Cowan and McKenna right now and and Oasis Weasblad as well, but I mean Ryder Richie is having a performance of the ages and tonight Watch out for him to get that first goal once again. Yeah, it's it's gonna be a big night London faces off against medicine hat that's tonight's game with the Memorial Cup in Rimouski speaking of Rimouski Let me get your thoughts on one player that really captured Imaginations at the Royal Juniors this year, and that's Eric Smiteko,

who of course is a Washington Capitals prospect because they're all Washington Capitals prospects, it seems. You have a thought on Smiteko, who by the way, you wanna talk about a haul? Like the Timo Meyer trade was big, but like that was the biggest haul the Europeans ever gotten, a team in the history of the QMJJHL with a couple of first round picks. Eric Smiteko, your thoughts.

Oh, just a phenomenal player. One of my favorites and out of the queue right now, a guy that I think is going to be just like an Alexey protest. Like he's going to be a very big and impactful player for the caps in the future here. I love him. I'm waiting for him to have a big, big game and for the Caps in the future here. I love him. I'm waiting for him to have a big, big game and that'll probably be in the next coming days when Monkton plays Ramoski. Of course, they're going to play for the final to see who kind of well, not for the final story,

but to see who gets eliminated. Of course. Yep. Yep. And fun fact, both of them are Owen too, right? So this is the first time since 1988 that the queue has gone collectively Owen for in the Memorial Cup. Guess who won the Memorial Cup in 1988? Was it Laval? Medicine hat. Oh was the hat. Oh, was that so Trevor Lyndon's team? Yeah Yep, so a little fun. It kind of all comes back. It's neat How the hell that kind of work you might see Madison Hat go all the way this year. We shall see. Kelly Rudy will be happy if that does happen

to say nothing of Uli Desjardins, Gavin McKenna, and the rest of the Madison Hat Tigers. Thanks, pal. Let's get another update at some point. Maybe do a tournament wrap after this thing is all done. It is such a great tournament, the Memorial Cup. Colton, thanks so much for stopping by to share your expertise, my friend.

Anytime. There he is, great Colton Davies who covers junior hockey for us here at Daily Face Off. Catching us up on the Memorial Cup. How much have you watched? I know we talked a little bit about it yesterday. Did you watch anything last night at all? Did you watch any of that?

Any of that love from yesterday at the Memorial Cup? Nope, all right, well get on it tonight. No, I missed yesterday. Tonight's gonna be a banger. Tonight's gonna be a banger, dude. Tonight's gonna be awesome. Madison Hatt in London, like superstar names. Like I think we're all wondering what's gonna happen with Gavin McKenna here. Like just to just to be blunt, it's kind of one of the elephants here. Like is Gavin McKenna staying with with Madison how does he gonna go to play down with Division one Michigan Michigan State Penn State like these are the three names that I keep hearing around a lot of players including him I don't know this one's this one this one this one's gonna be a fascinating game

this one's gonna be great a lot of stars a lot of action a lot of fireworks so you expect a six to five game so it's gonna be two to one. Yeah, exactly. That's the way it goes. Yeah, this one will be one I will be watching. Yeah, for sure. It's gonna be a good one. All right, we got one game on the go around,

the NHL this evening. It is a conference final time. Remind you as always. Daily outlines was earlier. This is games on the horizon Don't forget fan duel proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them roster updates available at our daily face off fantasy feed We got the one game on the go around the NHL tonight as the Oilers facing off against the Dallas Stars

Jake Gottinger starts rupee hands his game time decision. You know what game time decision means around this time of year? I'm not gonna tell you when he's coming in. More times than not. Stuart Skinner starts, that story continues and as we mentioned with Greg Wyshynski, Victor Arbetson is in, Connor Brown is out and still no Matthias Ekholm.

And what do you think of that? No, Matthias Ekholm. And what do you think of that? I think it's not, I think there's also a level of comfort because it doesn't feel like it's needed right now based on how they're playing, which is a weird thing to say in the playoffs because you want those guys back, but I feel like they're kind of looking going,

our defense has been really good. Troy, our defense has been really good. Troy Stetcher has been really good. Yep. If you're not at a hundred percent, like the other thing that I thought was interesting, Jeff, you remember when he was injured, it seemed like they were gonna announce the season was over. Like they were gonna come out and tell you that was it.

So I feel like there's a part of this where Edmonton, their doctors might be saying like, okay, let's wait another day and he's saying, I wanna play. And they're like, well, we don't need you right now. You know, so I feel like that might be an element of this as well, but I was partially expecting the 11 and seven in this one.

I see, I wonder if it was Dallas winning the series two to one, if we'd see 11-7 today and we'd see Ekho men. That's what I think. Yeah, I agree with that. Alright, on that we'll wrap. I want to thank Colton Davies for stopping by and Greg making his regular stop here on Tuesdays as he got to Raleigh early.

Tomorrow Mario Cicchini will stop by. He's the commissioner of the QMJHL in advance of Virmusky and Monkton at the Memorial Cup and then we'll have somebody else as well. I got a couple of people in mind. Follow us on the socials and we'll bring that to you tomorrow. In the meantime, thanks to everyone in the chat. There was some interesting diversions in the chat today. It's always hard to get your eyeballs off of that. Thanks for watching on YouTube. Listening to your favorite podcast platform. I really enjoy having you aboard on the show here. Subscribe, shoot your likes over, all of it. Do your due diligence for

us because we're told it matters and you matter. So thanks for having you aboard. We will talk tomorrow, 3 o'clock Eastern. Don't forget tomorrow. And by the way, if you get a chance, if you didn't already watch or listen, go back and listen or watch the Morning Cup of Hockey show from this morning with the Goodrow family. Just a beautiful, beautiful program by the boys. Tomorrow morning, again, Morning Cup of Hockey, 9 a.m. Eastern, DFO Live at noon,

and then our little act here at Three Bells. Got it? We're back tomorrow. Talk to you tomorrow. Lost all ambitions day to day Guess you can call it a rut I went to the dark man He tried to give me a little medicine I'm like, nah man, that's fine I'm right against those methods but I knew

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