The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Don't Worry Be Happy ft. Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski run it back for another MvsW Tuesday on The Sheet. Discussing Bedard's dejected interview, John Klingberg making a return to the NHL, Tony DeAngelo updates, and a Wyshynski Oilers nugget???SHOW INDEX00:00 Intro05:31 FanDuel Daily Outline08:15 Greg Wyshynski15:12 4 Nations Discussion26:00 LA Kings29:25 McDavid’s Future in Edmonton34:49 Pie in the Face38:17 Questions from the Sheetheads48:57 John Klingberg50:25 Connor Bedard59:57 FanDuel Games of the NightShout 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.

Okay, so I didn't know that podcasts could buy ECHL teams. I had no idea. I always thought that that was at arm's length and that could never happen. All my fantasies and dreams about buying ECHL teams or any team for that matter, it's just going to remain that. Just a dream, just a fantasy. It's never going to happen, Merrick. Let it go. It's never going to happen. So today, and Zach, I want you on board for this one before we get to Gregor Finsky. I am starting the campaign to buy the Savannah Ghost Pirates of the ECHL. If the Chicklets guys can buy the expansion

Greensboro team, announcement on the name later on. I wonder if they would be called the Pink Whitney's, but I don't think pink is involved in tonight's announcement. We'll have to stand by and find out what it is. Now, I like the Savannah Ghost Pirates, mainly because I think their logo is maybe the best in hockey. I love the colors. Now, I have to say a few things. I've never been to Savannah. I've been to Georgia, I've never been to Savannah. The extent of me

adoring Savannah is the ghost pirates and how cool a look it is, and two, the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, where I just love these Savannah accents. I think the Savannah accent is one of the coolest accents in the world, period. Give me the Savannah accent all day long. That's the extent of it. Now, let's just do a quick little scroll through this team that I'm hoping to buy. I don't know how much a team is going to cost. I have no idea.

We're looking for every nickel under every cushion. Zach, you got to take back all of your empties. We're going to put all of our money together here, and we're gonna try to buy Frickin ECA by the way you think I'm just like faking the fuck. I got a shirt and a hat You want to see like the depths and you know me like I don't collect stuff, right? I don't collect hockey things at all not a big Jersey collector not like I'm not a little but for the Savannah ghost pirates Not only Zach The shirt and the hat but how about this, too. This logo looks cool. Savannah Ghost Pirates right there. Look at that. And now, so hang on. I'm going to wear one for the show. Which one? Which one should I go with? Exhibit A or Exhibit B? Love that green. Goes great with the background.

I think the- Savannah Ghost Pirates. Yeah, it does. Let's go. Black or white? Let's go with the white one. I like the white. You want white, eh? White's terrible on screen. But okay, I'll follow your lead. Okay, well then go with the black then. Go with the black?

You're more of a veteran than I am. No, you're producing this show. I just follow orders. I just bobble head things that you say. I'm just following orders here. I'm just told what to do. I'm just an employee. You should take your hat off, Merrick,

before you do that. Okay, so there you go. Does that look all right? Yeah, that looks good. With the ghost pirates, roll up the sleeves, look a little bit tough. Yeah, they got the old tagger on it still. Hey, look at that.

Does it have a fight strap in it? Does it got a fight strap? Fight strap? There's no fighting in hockey anymore. What's the point? I was going to say. No, it doesn't. Does it have a fight strap?

Because no one fights anymore. Okay, let me have a look at this lineup here of this 2024-25 Savannah Ghost Pirates a team I'm now actively looking to buy in ECHL if Chicklet's pod can buy a team then this pod can buy a team, Wyshinski's gonna win in a couple of moments. Who do I know on this team? Do you think he wants part of it? Who wish? Yeah you think wish wants it? Oh yeah yeah yeah, yeah, he'll want in. I think secretly everybody wants to own a hockey team. Nathan Staios, who is the son of Steve Staios. I remember covering Nathan when he played with the Windsor Spitfires, who was the first round pick of the Windsor Spitfires.

Defensive end of the year in the OHL, I believe, as well, in one of his final seasons. Brandon Sajan is on this team as well. I remember covering him with the Hamilton Bulldogs. They won an OHL championship so I know Brandon Sajan. I also know Riley Bezo. So I don't know Riley so much. He played he would have played in the Quebec League. I think he played on that Seedogs team that won the Memorial Cup but his dad Andy Bezo? No joke. Zach one of the craziest hockey players ever. One day we should do a show just based on Andy Bezo stories about like going in

the stands to fight fans. Like he was like Bezo was he played in the old IHL like Andy Bezo and he played in the Ontario League. Andy Bezo was A legit tough and B legit crazy when he played as. And let's see if there's anybody else. Keith Kincaid's on this team. Evan Cormier is on this team, old Saginaw goaltender. This is my, also Graham McPhee. You know who Graham McPhee is? Graham McPhee is the son of George McPhee,

the president of hockey operations for the Vegas Golden Knights. You have Steve Stahos' son and George McPhee, the president of hockey operations for the Vegas Golden Knights, you have Steve Stajos' son and George McPhee's son on this team. And damn it, I want to be their owner. Because if we're selling ECHL teams to podcasts, then I want this podcast represented and damn it, I want the Savannah ghost pirates. What do you got in the wallet there? Does it make noise? Oh, you got a Dixie. Okay, we starting with a Dixie.

We got 10 bucks. All right, put that one in the jar. The Savannah Ghost Pirates Fund. We are buying this team, Zach. I don't even know if they're for sale. But if the Chicago Skies are in, then I want in. All right, let's see what's coming up on the Daily, we are actually going to do a show today.

Daily Outlines presented by FanDuel, North America's number one sportsbook app provider. And look how good that blue looks with the green and the black of the Savannah Ghost Pirates, Zach, that I mentioned I want to buy the Savannah Ghost Pirates today. Coming up on the show today, Zach, you handle the recreation here. What are we talking about? Starting with... John Klingberg returns? Question mark? Yeah, so Darren Drager tweeted this one out earlier on today. After having the hip surgery, looking good. Teams looking for puck moving defensemen. I want to help your power play. Klingberg could go a long way. We'll talk about Klingberg coming up a little bit later on

on the program. What else is up for grabs? Greg Wyszynski, never heard of him. Never heard of him, never heard of him here on Tuesdays. Wyszy is standing by ready to snark. Yeah. We also have Four Nations timing. So Greg's got a couple of things that he wants to go over. One is the timing of this Four Nations tournament

and maybe the lack of cohesion amongst some teams. We'll explain here coming up in a couple of moments. We will talk about the Four Nations face-off in a couple of moments. And... You talked about Steve Steyos. We've got the Ottawa Senators. If they win tonight and the Bruins lose and the Flyers beat CBJ, don't look now, but the Ottawa Senators are in the first wild card spots. We'll get on the Ottawa Senators page

coming up in a little while. By the way, I was on the Coming In Hot podcast today. It was like 45 minutes of me and Jason York, the York Chop, just telling stories. I felt so bad for Brent. I'm like, I just like hijacked your show. I'm so sorry, bud. And he's so good too, like I love Brent, like love listening to him. I'm just, I'm so I just like hijacked your show. I'm so sorry, but and he's so good to like I love brand like

love listening to him. I'm just like jumping all over the show. Connor Badaard. Why are we talking about Connor Badaard today? Well, as you probably saw with the title of the show, don't worry, be happy. I've got something that I'm sure you and wish or want to take a look at and maybe have a discussion about coming up later. Okay, so that's good. Well, you just got 100 points hundred points you should be happy right? He should be. Nope.

Yes again. Anything else up for grabs on the show today? Yes we're gonna talk a little bit about McDavid. Yeah okay we'll get into the the second best player on the Edmonton Oilers. And we will also, I should have not just glossed over that so quickly, and we also do the East Wild Card. Okay, this is all good. This is all good stuff. So if we get to all of these topics, amazing. But when me and Wish get together, you know, it kind of goes sideways. But I'm gonna try to keep him focused and I'll see if he wants to join me here and how much money he has available to do so in purchasing the Savannah Ghost Pirates.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned that yet, the Savannah Ghost Pirates of the ECHL. With that, we'll bring aboard our Tuesday staple. It is MVSW Tuesdays. Greg Wyshinski is on the sheet. Hello, Wysh. Podcasts can buy hockey teams now. So there's so much I want to say.

First of all, of course I'm in and I bring something to the table that neither you nor Zach bring which is American money. Exponentially more important I think in this in the math on this than anything else. It's like six bucks US. Keith Kincaid is on the ghost pirates. Keith Kincaid and Evan Cormier are and well Cooper Black who's well see see like the HL team, Charlotte's been devastated by injuries. I have a bunch of guys up.

I wonder if Cooper Black might be one of them. But yeah, Keith Kinkade is with the Ghost Pirates. Why? You want to own him? Want to be his owner? Well, I just I would love to. I always respect Keith Kinkade as the Twitter master. The reason Taylor Hall has a heart trophy.

So someone would say someone would say it was John Hines. I has a heart trophy. So, hey, someone had to stop the pups. Someone say it was John Hines that got him the trophy. No one could unlock Taylor Hall like John Hines did in New Jersey. Briefly on Savannah, I have been to Savannah. It's really cool. I highly recommend taking ghost tours in Savannah, which is fun.

And the ghost pirates. Hang on, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Ghost tours? Yeah, like get on. We're speed bumping there. Ghost tours? I'm in. You go and you know, so we were on a bus.

There was a woman who will take you through Savannah and tell you tales of murder. And she had this real sort of, I guess you could call it true crime podcast voice before there was a true crime podcast voice. Oh yeah, okay, yeah. You got me. She was telling these stories and maybe the flashlight was under the chin and she was just like, you know, and while she disappeared, their love never could kind of thing. It was great. But the reason I wanted to bring it up vis-a-vis ghost pirates, one of the coolest things you can see in Savannah is they will take you on a tour of the tunnels underneath the ancient bars and pubs near the water where people used to get Shanghai. You would be in the bar, you'd be having a pint, you'd be having a grand old time, then

all of a sudden the floor would open underneath you, you'd fall inside of a pit, and the pirates that are on this shore are dragging you by the scruffy anack onto the boat so you can serve them and swab the deck. Yeah. Isn't that crazy? That's amazing. You can actually see the tunnels that exist. Isn't that crazy? I'm dying to go to Savannah. Like I mentioned off the top, like one of the reasons why, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, I haven't read the book, normally I read the book before the movie,

so the movie's fantastic, and I love the movie just because of the accents. Like one of the great things I love about America, and I grew up with half my family in Livonia, Michigan, so I grew up with the Michigan accent. And I got my buddy, Greg Bushinsky, with the New Jersey accent, but to me the Savannah accent.

The Savannah accent. So you I guess you you were one of the first to report on this chicklets thing. I this morning yeah shout out shout out Ryan Reynolds for for for for blazing the trail of buying a team for content with Wrexham. I mean, I assume that's what this is gonna be, is that it's gonna be a content on a checklist. I have no idea the extent of it or the nature of this ownership group, how much of the team they own, what they plan to do with it.

I think, like, see, the ECHL's got a couple of, I think Tim Tebow owns a piece of Jacksonville I believe like I'm sure like if we had like Joe we got to get Joe Ernst and the ECHL on who's now with the Zoyer group to sort of go over like all the celebrities local or national that own pieces of these ECHL teams but the Chickalus guys are the are the latest like to me it works from both ends so well like first of all everybody is talking right now online hockey media is all about Greensboro and this expansion team and the announcement tonight of the name and the colors. All I'm told is it's not going to be pink because the first thing

I thought of oh it's gonna be the Greensboro Pink Whitney's and that was gonna be it. Not unlike when Brett the Hitman Hart bought the Calgary Hitman when they were an expansion team and called Them the Hitman his nickname and even though he has long sold long since sold the team. It's still called the Hitman, but No, well, we have we have them. What's that? We call them the Greensboro port noise or will they just be the ports for short? I have no idea what it's gonna be called. I have no idea about any of this. The bar stool of it all obviously is, I mean, I could care less about bar stool, but the thing that I think you're passing over is the content factory of it all.

Like this is a podcast, Chicklets, that got what? A month and a half at a biz, beaten up a bunch of drunks at a restaurant. Other way around. Like it's going to be a thing where this is going to be now an ongoing soap opera. It's kind of a genius idea. Again, I mentioned the Ryan Reynolds Rex and part of it, but that's very much the template for all of this and it's smart. All of those guys will come on Chicklets and Chicklets will have all these guys on

and it'll be a whole thing and it'll be an ongoing soap opera and that team will be exponentially more interesting and famous than everybody else in the ECHL. It's a very smart idea. Tebow owns the Tahoe Knight Monsters is what Zach says. Oh, there you go. Anyway, I just want to buy Savannah. Is that too much to ask? I'm in.

How much is it ECHL? How much do you think an ECHL team costs? Like the- That's a really good question. Stu Hyman just bought the the Brantford Bulldogs of the OHL and like some of the prices in the OHL like the last few years have kind of gotten like pretty goofy like up into the 20s. But like-

Yeah, I don't want to be insulting but I want to say maybe like- I have no idea. I have no clue. Like 15 million? I have no idea. You could say any number and I would bobble head and go like, okay.

Like that's my knowledge of how much ECHL teams cost. I have no clue. I think the important thing, Merrick, is that for you and I, the answer is not too much. Start pooling that cash together, baby. I know, you got your long, quiet US green and we have our colored money that, you know. You know. A few bucks under the mattress.

That's keeping, you know, the NHL away from ever expanding here again. Sorry, it's just true. All right. So when you and I were texting this morning, one of the things that you wanted to talk about, and there's a few things I don't want to get to with you today on MVSW Tuesdays,

and we should also mention taking questions from the chat. So them in everybody who's in the chat right now and by the way hit the likes as I'm told that helps us. Fire in the questions in the chat and we will sort of treat them like pepper and parsley and get to them all throughout the show. So you want to make a point about the four nations and how there doesn't seem to be any sort of togetherness amongst the teams yet. Well, it's not so much that. So, I talked to Brady Kachuk this morning, because they're in town for the Allenders tonight,

and I asked him, I'm like, is there a text chain yet for the Four Nations boys? And he's like, no. I'm like, oh, that's kind of interesting. And we're talking about the tournament, And so the great thing about it being in the middle of the season is that the play is gonna be fantastic. The level of play is gonna be fantastic. All these guys are in peak fitness at this point. I think, you know, when we look back

at the World Cup of hockey that happened before the season, not everybody had their sea legs yet, Merrick. There were some games that were certainly better than others in that tournament. And I don't think we're gonna have that problem. Team North America games were fantastic. Well, listen, young legs, young brains. We all know how that works now as we get older.

Team North America, shout out, rest in peace. Rest in power, I should say. By the way, I have a jersey and a hat from them. So- By the way, they may go down as the best team to never win anything. We're gonna look back on it, like, look at all these Hall of Famers.

They didn't know. Anyway, go ahead. Oh man, the disrespect to the Canucks in saying that. So, the thing that struck me though, is that by having it in the middle of the season, the play is gonna be fantastic, but by having it in the middle of the season, the play is going to be fantastic, but by having it in the middle of the season, you're kind of interrupting things for a guy like Brady Kachuk, for a team like the Ottawa Senators,

for all of these teams that are right now in the Eastern Conference Playoff Race, where yeah, you know, this has happened before with the Olympics, it hasn't happened in a while for the Olympics, but the Olympics I think are a different animal than the prefab for nations tournament that the NHL is literally inventing out of thin air in order to make some money for themselves and the players and not have to do the All-Star game. So I found it interesting, one, that there isn't a thriving go get them Tiger USA boys chat right now amongst them. I think that'll probably change as we get closer to the tournament. But two, in talking to Brady, look at, he's excited. They're all excited.

All these young players on the US, and I'm sure in Canada as well, have been dying to represent their country in a tournament like this. There's no question about it. And at the end of the day, the tournament's going to be great. But it is such an interruption if you're the Ottawa Sim. Ottawa comes rolling in, winning five of six. You just want to keep that going, don't you? You don't want to have to sit on the sidelines. But it is touching interruption if you're the Ottawa sent Ottawa comes rolling in winning five of six You know you just want to keep that going don't you you don't want to have to sit on the sidelines for two and a

Half weeks to see if Sweden can beat Finland you don't want to do that do you? So here so my thought on this one is like I'm always curious Going back to Hasek Going back to Tavares. I'm always curious which teams are going to say to their players. And both of them are Ontario. Is Toronto saying no way to Austin Matthews and is Ottawa saying no way to Lena Solmark. Ottawa knows what happens when your number one goalie goes down in an

international tournament and specifically a goaltender who, and like Hasek was as great as he was, and I still think that Dominic Hasek was the greatest goaltender of all time. He would not step on the ice unless he was 100% in his mind healthy. We can all still remember which the senators essentially is begging him to skate and practice. Nope. So I can have there's the, the, the, the, the all Mark thing is interesting. I think a goaltender is a different conversation than a, than a skater when it comes to the

tournament like this. And I agree with you. Like if I'm them, that's my season. That's my season in an exhibition tournament right there. Yeah. Matthew's is a much more interesting conversation because not only are you talking about is it in the best interest of the Toronto Maple Leafs

not to have this guy play in the tournament? The answer is of course it is. But can they tell him not to? And more than that, look, we're running a commercial, maybe a commercial or maybe like a here's what the Four Nations tournament is on ESPN right now. And there is one American player mentioned basically.

It's off to Matthews. Yes, okay. So his importance to this tournament as the face of team, as Team USA cannot be understated. And his importance to that organization cannot be understated. And importance that organization cannot be understated and where does that swing? Does it swing towards the team being able to say we need you healthy for what could eventually be a cup run for us or can

they even say that to their star player? Does he have enough carte blanche, gravitas, whatever, what have you to just play in the tournament no matter what the team thinks. I'm always curious what his teammates think. Publicly they will all. The ones that are also gonna be in the tournament. But no, the ones that won't, like I know there's, you know, there's a number of guys that are gonna be there,

but the other ones who are like, hold on a second here. Like we've got, like, I don't wanna say like this is it. Cause how many times have you said, okay, this is it. If they don't do something in the playoffs, they're busting up the core. But like Mitch Marner is poised for free agency. John Tavares is poised for free agency. All of it.

Matthews has his new deal. And we all sort of know what's on the line for the Toronto Maple Leafs and their history of playoff utility. I am curious what the players think. Like when you have a situation like Matthews does where his health situation is so sensitive, his own words too and the team's words, he's gonna have to manage this all

throughout the season. Like when you hear that does not part of your mind say, okay, all this guy should do this year is what's necessary for the NHL team. He can't be thinking about the four nations. And I know that there's going to be like, well, you're just saying that because you're Canadian and Austin Matthews is American. You don't want them competing. I would say the same thing if it's the Oilers and Connors, but David, I would say this exact same thing. Right? I would say the same. I would say the same thing if it's the Oilers and Connors but David, I would say this exact same thing. Right?

I would say the same, I would say the exact same thing. Cause there are plenty of Toronto Maple Leafs hockey fans that are probably thinking the same thing. And they'll be painted with it. Well, if Austin Matthews were a Canadian, would you be saying the same thing? One minute from now, you know, who's very important for their teams?

Connor Hellebuck, Patrick Zemko, Jeremy Swainman, Jake Ottensir. You know what's on the line in Winnipeg, Greg? Do you understand? Hellebuck, Jeremy Swainman, Jake Ottenshire. What's on the line in Winnipeg, Greg? Do you understand? Hellebuck cannot play. Joey DeCord, he's not important. He can easily play in four nations. That's really interesting.

I think it's a very uncomfortable conversation to have. I mean, one, he's playing. I mean, he's playing. Whether you bubble wrap him to keep him away from an exhibition tournament. I mean, injuries are injuries. He's dealing with something he could deal with another thing during a regular season game, it was to say.

But we know how important this is to him. We know how important this is to him. And for his country. And so I'm fascinated when you have a player of that level. It's not a second line center or a checking winger. It's Austin Matthews. And so ultimately, whose call is it? Is it the guy who says, I'm good enough to play for you,

I'm good enough to be in this exhibition tournament or is it the team that says, we'd good enough to play for you, I'm good enough to be in this exhibition tournament, or is the team that says, we'd rather you're not playing the exhibition tournament? I would love to be a flyonthewalloff.com. I would like to... I would like to be in the room I would like to be in the room if the doctors say he shouldn't go. I would like to be in the room with that conference, just like I'd like to be in the room when, we're going to have another team in Toronto after Toronto has a history that dates back years,

decades of paying 20, 25, $30 million into revenue sharing, watching all those teams that they've helped pay to win the Stanley Cup with their money only to be rewarded with another team in their market. I would like to be in their room. You think they have some sort of territorial right to keep a team that might be in the other conference out of Toronto?

I just wanna be in the room. I just wanna be in the room to see that happen. I just wanna be in the room to see- You can't have it both ways. Where you Canadians, whenever we talk about World Juniors or All-Star games, proudly puff out your chest and talk about, well, we could have three or four teams with all the talent that we have. Toronto can obviously support two national hockey league teams. It is to everyone. Do you honestly, we've

always said that, but do you think it, do you think it's actually true or is it just that now, just to try and make beliefs brand that's floating this thing? It's more true when the leaf suck. Like when, when we hit the apex of will there be a team in Markham, it was when the least were hapless. It may have even been pre Matthews. Uh, when, when we hit the apex of that conversation, Because for another team in Toronto to thrive, they need to be AEW to WWE. And it's the perfect analogy because when WWE gets good again, like it is now,

and maybe even steals some of AEW's best talents, well then everybody goes back home. And that's the danger of putting a second team in Toronto As they'll never be the Leafs and when the Leafs are in game seven of the of the conference final For them playing for a chance of to win the Stanley Cup You know who no one is thinking of the blowers or whatever they're gonna call the other team in Toronto No one's gonna care. No one's going to care Everyone will come back home to the Leafs if they have a chance to win the cup.

And that's the real danger. But as far as economics go, listen, you know better than I, I see it from the outside. I've heard forever that Toronto could be a market that supports two teams. I've said forever. What you do is you have one team in the West, one team in the East, the expansion Western conference team, that all the Western conference teams come through there. So all the Toronto fans can come and see McDavid multiple times at the other, at the other barn.

Like it makes too much sense. But I also think, like I said, the real danger is that the best economic sense in putting a second team Toronto is as a response to the ineptitude of the maple leaves. And right now they're not inept enough. And they play at the Scotiabank. This is the reverse LA. Instead of two basketball teams and one hockey team, it's two hockey teams, one basketball team.

Okay, you mentioned Conor McDavid there a second ago. I wanna pick up on McDavid, but I wanna make one point before we get to McDavid. And that is, I wonder if, because it felt very much like this to me. The Los Angeles Kings just showed us what their playoff style of hockey is going to be. Yes.

You go back to Friday against Winnipeg, very, very much a playoff game, but not, as I mentioned yesterday on the show, not a first round playoff game where it's a parade to the penalty box and it's fun and it's crazy and we all love it and we just, every night we don't want it to end, we want it to keep going.

And I'm talking about a rounds two or three style playoff team. We saw that from LA on Friday against Winnipeg and they won two to one. We saw that last night, Los Angeles and the Edmonton Oilers and They lost one Nothing like here. We are January 14th and are the Los Angeles Kings in your estimation as I'm used and again It's a two-day two-game audit. Are they showing us how they're going to play in the playoffs?

It felt very much like that to me in those last games. But that's how they play in the playoffs. Like they, I mean, I think, I think, listen, Jim Heller's done a much better job than I thought he would. I didn't know too much about him before he got that gig. And I think they've been really good this year and I've been very impressed with the times that I've seen them. But ultimately they're always going to regress back to that style of play.

They're always going to try to be as shut down as they can. They know what hand they're playing and they ultimately know when they go up against Edmonton how they have to play in order to try to win. The problem is that they're going to go up against Edmonton again. I think it is best and that's going to be the two, three series. It's clear that the Oilers just absolutely have their number. There is not an ounce of fear or ounce of apprehension in the eyes of the Edmonton Oilers just absolutely have their number. There is not an ounce of fear or ounce of apprehension in the eyes of the Edmonton Oilers when they play the Los Angeles Kings in the playoffs. You can't say that about every other team in the West

when they play the Oilers. I think when the Oilers play the Golden Knights, there's probably a little bit in the back of the head of, oh, we're gonna take an absolute beating in this series and hopefully we can make it through and play our game and win. But when they play the Kings, listen, this is gonna come back to haunt me

and freezing cold takes, please do take this video and replay it in April. But it's essentially having a first round bye for Edmonton if they play the Kings again. I'm just pausing so we know where to clip it. I'm just pausing so we know where to do the edit so we can just isolate you. And there's no like, hey, who's that other guy on the screen with Wyshitsky wearing the savanna gear?

This is the kind of thing that ends up with me getting a pie in the face in the middle of the ice. Like I did about ten years ago. Or more than that. I had forgotten about that. That was... They're on Getty Images if you want to see it. It's me in a shark shirt taking pies in the face from Will Wheaton Jim Miller and Bailey the lion it was center-ice playoff game

So your highlight was so good MVS that we did a lot of good things It's a lesson special special things puck daddy did a lot of special special things But I mentioned at the top of the show mentioning Leon dry sidle and Conor McdDavid, Conor McDavid, the second best player on the Edmonton Oilers right now, because number one is Leon Dreisaitl. Although Conor McDavid, a big goal yesterday, one game winner, one nothing.

For those of you in the East that stayed up to watch that thing last night along with me. How do you see McDavid right now with this Oilers team? I know I am leading the witness, but how do you see McDavid here with this team? I was on with our friends Halford and Brough this morning in Vancouver. Good guys. I like this. And it occurs to me, I don't think we had this conversation as a hockey culture recently. Why did we all assume that Connor is going to stay like when Leon signed?

Because I think we all assumed it. I think we all assumed it because we assumed why the hell would Leon stay if he didn't have some level of assurance from Connor that he was going to stay. And I will make some informed speculation that I don't think that's the case. I think the next couple of playoff seasons for the Oilers, whilst Connor McDavid remains under contract,

are very, very important. And I don't necessarily believe anymore that Leon signing is a harbinger for Connor signing. I don't think it is as guaranteed cut and dry, you know, paint the mural that Connor's going to stay at Edmonton. I just don't anymore. And you know, maybe this is a little NBA of me to be kind of like putting out some off the ice stuff like this as much as I can to, to create a little buzzeroo. But I just don't think that I'm surprised that we're all resigned to the idea that he's staying. You look at a team like Boston, you look at a team like New York, the Rangers that is,

you look at kind of how those lineups are built, you look at kind of how those contracts they have on the books are looking in a couple of seasons, you say to yourself, there might be some pretty interesting franchises that'll be ready to make a run at the best player in the world if he doesn't have pen to paper in Edmonton. Now I will caveat this by saying that I still believe he's gonna stay. He's got roots down there, he's got a house, we've all seen the house in magazines. His stuff is there as we famously say on this program. His stuff includes his former agent who runs the team, giving him levels of power that are unprecedented for

maybe other any other player in this league and he also has leon drysidle there who is if not the second best one of the top three or four players in the world to play with for the next several seasons but i don't i i feel like we've all we all kind of exhaled and said connor's an oiler for life when leon signed and i don't believe that's the case anymore. But I think part of that is nobody from either side of this has wavered whatsoever in all of it. There's not even been like, well, we'll entertain the conversation.

And we all know now how close McDavid and Dreisaitl are to the point where, you know, Dreisaitl has, you know, bought a house, not too far from, um, from Conor McDavid, uh, just a little bit north from, from where I live here. And they work out at St. Andrew's college in Aurora, uh, together in, in the off season that we've always seen them

together. We've heard about them together. They are happiest playing together. They've achieved some success playing together. They're happy playing together. The team is happy to have them together. Like, I just don't, like, I don't see it. I do, like, I understand that there will be teams

that will create space on their roster for them. For economic data, that's almost, and by the way, when you're rattling off like Boston and the New York Rangers, et cetera, the one team that jumped to my mind right away were the Buffalo Sabres to be perfectly- Oh, because of the eerie connection?

The Buffalo, well, no, the Buffalo Sabres, I mean, if you go back to, no, it's not just the, but the Buffalo Sabre, if you go back to that lottery, specifically, I kind of- Oh, I thought you were saying the Sabre's making a run at McDavid. I'm like, I don't see it, but I understand what you're saying, yeah.

No, like, could you not see, if it's like, if he's not gonna sign, the Buffalo Sabre's taking a, they'll take a run at him. I think this about McDavid and his future. I think it's at this point in his career, obviously there's financial thing and the security thing and yada yada yada. It's about winning. And so the question I had for you is for all of that love generated between Leon and Connor,

can that love manifest somehow into a defenseman as good as Adam Fox? Can it manifest somehow into a goalie as good as Igor Shcherkin? I think there are considerations about trying to build a winning team and I wouldn't be shocked if he just sticks his head out of the window and smells the flowers a little bit as far as like what else is out there. Because to me it's all about can you win in Edmonton? Having dry-sidle there gives you a really good chance of winning in Edmonton. In fact, it gave them a chance of coming within one win away from winning in Edmonton.

So I'm intrigued. I'm not, I am, I was somebody much like everyone who's probably listening to this, who's in the chat right now. I was so naive to believe that Leon Dreisaitl was canary in a coal mine. And if he signed, then Connor signed. And I am less convinced now than I was when Leon put pen to paper, that that is a fact, that that is an actuality,

that that is the reality that we're living in. Okay, oh, and there's the picture, if you're watching this on, you wanna describe, by the way, Zach, while we're doing this, can you grab some questions in the chat and fire them to me and Wish on the group text? So the picture that they just showed was me. For those that don't remember that,

because that's as weird as it may sound, it's a different generation of hockey fans. Can you explain, can you give us the context for that picture that we just saw here? So, help me out with memory serves. So it was when we were doing this MVSW, I was editing Hawk Daddy, and it was the Sharks had a 3-0 lead on the Kings, correct?

And I basically put my foot down before I placed it at my mouth to say that there's absolutely zero chance that the LA Kings would rally to win that series. And then somehow we got to the point of if they did, I would, I would take a pie to the face, I guess. Did you say specifically pie to the face or was it something else? I, I, I can't remember exactly.

Or someone else said it, but long story short, they rallied to eliminate the Sharks. In the following playoff round, I went to Los Angeles for my comeuppance. I wore a painter's overalls and a San Jose Sharks t-shirt between the first and second period. They put me in a chair at Center Ice and I proceeded to take a series of pies to the face from Will Wheaton, from Jim Miller, I believe it was,

from Bailey the Lion. One of them, I think it was Will's, actually, they were all in a tin, and the final one sliced my nose open. So I was leaving the ice with all the King's fans cheering my misery with a slowly forming crimson mask of whipped cream and blood on my face. And it was glorious.

It was the happiest time. You could actually find video too of it on YouTube of me taking pies to the face as well. It's up there with tequila shots with Tim Peel and John Scott in the All-Star game as far as career highlights. It'll all go on the black one day when I win the Elmer Ferguson award. When, are they going to create, are they going to create a wing for tweets? Do we know if that's happening? Is there anyone on the, we can, can we get a tweet, a tweeter's wing? Can we get that in the Hall of Fame?

If there is a tweeter's wing, the, the, the inaugural class has to include Sean Gentile's Emerson Edam, then he poop him which has got to be the single funniest hockey related tweet I've ever seen in my entire life I think about that every day that that right there is your your your Honus Wagner of The of the hockey Hall of Fame tweet wing Would also be on there probably back bob mckenzie's the trade is one for one yes uh maybe maybe any tweet involving the nhl podium during the lockout that has to be that's right nhl i forgot there has to be some of the uh nhl ties tweets uh there's

one from there's one that from jamey ben that I will talk around on this podcast. Oh yeah, that's true. Because I don't know the reading for it. Yeah, that's a good point. But that certainly would be one that is going in there. So okay, let's get to some, let me pull you out of that conversation and save you much humiliation and trouble. Pull me out of it. Yeah, let's drag you out of that conversation and save you much humiliation and trouble. Pull me out of it. Yeah, let's drag you out of that conversation.

Tweeter's Hall of Fame. Okay, Jessica L. You right there? Jessica L, here we go. You ready? Let's get some questions from the chat. Love the chat, by the way. Morning Cup of Hockey has a great chat,

and I'm glad that so many people have migrated over. Well, I've stole them. You've stole them. Because I've begged them to come over essentially. Okay. Yeah, it's so Jessica L. more of a general question. I remember years ago, maybe seven or eight, there was always talk of different play styles between the East and the West. With the West being heavier and slower and the East being faster and more skilled. That's really not true anymore. Was it ever? How and why did this narrative rise and fall? You know what was interesting? This is a really interesting question by Jessica. So this would have been oh about I want to say which like 15 years ago there was a strange pattern and was specifically, it was

specifically defensemen that when a defenseman would get traded from the Eastern conference to the Western conference, they would always struggle like really badly for about a month because the Western conference wasn't just bigger, it was also faster and they weren't used to a four check that was that quick. In the East it was a little bit more wide open, it was fun, it was free-flowing, the four check isn't as direct and straight and heavy as it was in the Western Conference and almost became to the point where teams just stopped trading for defensemen from the East.

It was like the Western Conference was like, forget it. Like everyone in the East is gonna struggle for at least a month and maybe they'll never quite pull it together. And then- Do these guys even know how to hockey back East? Do you even know how to play hockey here coming up? But I will say one thing.

I was talking to someone from a team a couple of days ago and we were talking about centers and players that they're looking at and acquiring all this kind of stuff and we're talking about, and this is from the person who works for a team in the Western Conference and they kept coming back to, when you're looking at centers,

when you're looking at plays down the middle, it's size, size, size. It's still size, size, size in the Western Conference. You ever thought on all that from Jessica? I do, I was trying to remember where I heard this conversation recently, Jess, and I think it was when Truba was traded from the Rangers to the Ducks,

and the idea of is the Western Conference still, you know, playing a style that's, you know, you need big defensemen to throw hits all the time. It was kind of a Truba and Gud Gudis, and the same team question. And I do think that ultimately, Merrick, it comes down to how are the best teams in your conference built and how do you respond to that? I mean, it is, we talk about Copycat League.

It's more of a reactive league sometimes where if you see a team bludgeon its way to the conference final or bludgeon its way to the Stanley Cup final, then all of a sudden you see other teams in the conference start knuckling up and getting bigger and trying to compensate for that. I think Vegas had maybe a little bit of that impact in the West.

So I don't know if either conference has a particular style you could point to and say this is the East and this is the West, but I do think it's very reactive to whoever is currently on top. And listen, you know, you think about the East, I mean, look at the way the Devils play. I mean, with the amount of speed they bring to the proceedings, I think speed could be on the menu in the East with the way that some of those teams can fly versus maybe some of the teams in the West are a little bit more, let's call it methodical.

From Nick Davis in the chat, considering the down and likely out teams here at the halfway point, finish this sentence. The Stanley Cup playoffs are better with blank. Pick a team the Stanley, I know mine, the Stanley Cup of all the teams that are on the outside looking and I'm guessing that's what Nick's going for here. The Stanley Cup play-offs are better with blank. For me the answer is Philadelphia. Me the answer is the Flyers. Flyers on Saturday, like Flyers fans on Saturday were perfect, relentless every time Goche stepped on the ice.

Like there was no, like normally like by the end of the game, it kind of Peters out a little bit and you kind of get tired. Flyers fans never got tired of getting on Carter Goche. Can I be, can I be honest though? And I think I know why I feel this way. I felt it was going to be nastier. And I don't think it was nastier, one, because he never played for them. And two, because I experienced John Tavares' first game

on Long Island after signing with the Maple Leafs. And nothing will ever come close to the level of vitriol and hatred and burning jerseys and effigy and throwing rubber snakes on the ice that was that game. So I think my view is tainted. I watched a good portion of the game. I kind of thought they'd be meaner. But then again, I wasn't there. I don't know if they did the thing the Capitals used to do with Crosby and put Cutter Gaultier's picture in the bottom of all the urinals. I don't know if that happened, but I don't know. I was a little surprised. I was going to be a little bit nastier than it was.

You know what I wondered? What would have happened again? Like if some butts were candies and nuts would all have a Merry Christmas. One of the things that I wondered about when Travis Koneckney was challenging cutter go check, because let's not forget here. Could it go cheese? He's young, but he's strong, dude. Yeah, he's a big dude. Yeah, if he if he would have obliged

Travis connect me and drop them in Philadelphia and Then like did a rocky post Yeah then Like I'm always wondering about the reaction of one like that that player, you know gets challenged Normally, they're not going to fight.

Nothing's going to happen. But what if cutter gotcha would have fought connecting and won? Like it's really connected. I will fight you. I will fight you. Like we're just watching this right now on YouTube. If you're watching us on YouTube, I will fight you. I will fight you.

Go chase a go chase, big and strong. Look, Fabry goes at like Robbie Fabry, all 165 pounds of them goes after connecting. Unlike you, I've read I've read the the Flyers franchise charter, and it says it states quite specifically, yes, if an opposing player knocks out a flyer and then stands over him doing the rocky pose, the entire crowd has to apologize. And that's been so inconsiderate of somebody who clearly bleeds orange. Oh, I had no idea.

So it's better with who. One thing on the flyers real quick. I actually ran some numbers because I saw this was going to be on the rundown. Last 10 games of the flyers, 11th best expected goals differential in the NHL. But here's the real stat that stuck out to me. Plus 38 over 10 games in inner slot shots. That's from stat athletes. Okay, that's third best in the NHL.

Most of that is suppression. Third best in the NHL in the last 10 games and suppressing inner slot shots. So doing, playing good torts hockey, good stout defensive in your zone hockey, but really insulating their goal-tending in a pretty impressive way over the last 10 where they played really well.

The answer for me, obviously, to finish that sentence, is the Stanley Cup playoffs are better when 20 teams make it. I am still very staunchly in favor of expanding the playoffs. I know that you look at Eastern Conference and a bunch of five-million teams. I don't care. Playoff hockey is a time when people care about the NHL. It's a time when the attention is the highest and the hockey is the best.

Broaden the tent and begin the party. We have 32 teams and more to come. It's okay to expand the playoffs at this point as long as we do it in a responsible way that keeps the integrity of the 16 game 16 team tournament. The short answer though, I kind of want to see Detroit back in the playoffs. I'm with you on that one. I think those are my two. I don't know if McClellan gets them there to be honest with you. I think if I were a Bettenman, I'd still say that Boston and the Rangers make the cut in the East. But if it's not Boston, I think it's going to be Detroit. Yeah, I'm sorry.

I'm bearing the lead. Yeah, the Rangers are going to make the playoffs. Like it really remains hilarious to me based on what I wrote that you've based on what they see based on the fact that that we've written this obituary for a team that is like a spitting distance away from the wild card and the rest of the East is mediocre. Okay, like they have enough. I will score enough in the power play and they can. They have two goaltenders that are better than almost any other goaltender in the mix in the East. Like I'm with you, like they're much more interesting as a as an autopsy patient than

they are as a playoff team because both me and the athletic have written the same story in the last two weeks about Asking people how they'll fix the Rangers But like I still think that they're better than most of the teams that are in the mix in the East and I think when Push comes to shove They suck five on five their power play is gonna be able to carry them and their goaltending is gonna be able to carry them to a to a playoff spot I Look at the Rangers and say the team is okay, and they have one of the best goaltenders in the world. That's the team to me.

They're okay with an outstanding goaltender. And in this era- And that could be enough. I don't know, man, because you can't, as a goalie, you can't really steal games anymore. I was saying this on the Coming In Hot Podcast this morning, you can't really, you can steal periods, you can steal periods.

You can steal two periods, maybe every now and then maybe you can steal one game. But how many games you need to stricken to steal and is that reasonable even to ask of an elite level goaltender now in this league? If you steal two periods, you're probably getting a point out of the game. If you get enough of those, you're going to make the playoffs. But who in the Eastern Conference playoff mix is oh, I know, I know, point out of the game. And if you get enough of those, you're gonna make the playoffs. Like who in the Eastern Conference playoff mix is monsterly better than the Rangers? No, no, no, listen, the thing about, yeah, you're right.

Cause on this one, everybody's going into that last wild card spot backwards. Nobody's going forwards into that spot. Everyone's backing in, everyone's backing it. That you're right, that you're right. The top three in both of those divisions are set. Like I don't think the Bruins are finishing ahead of the Lightning and I don't think anybody is coming close

to the top three in the Metro. Like you can cement those in my opinion. It's the wild card that's the question. And I think if it's the wild card that that's the question, like you could maybe say, maybe say the Bruins are better than the Rangers. I don't think Detroit is and I don't think any of those other teams are.

You know, as much as we, again, gleefully talk about this team being at the end of their run, and they might very well be. They might go to the playoffs and get absolutely shellacked by somebody in the first round. But it doesn't change the fact that I think they're getting in. Okay, we gotta hustle real quick. I mentioned John Klingberg off the top.

This is an era right now where, right in a place in hockey right now where, and I know that Vancouver might be the obvious one, I'm gonna do a little bit more on them in a couple of seconds. But John Klingberg back in the mix, hip surgery all recovered, all of it. You know, this is the Draeger tweet.

John Klingberg closing in on resuming his NHL career, Toronto, Ottawa, Edmonton, among teams expressing interest, a decision within the next two weeks, hip resurfacing surgery in 2023, worked hard to get back to this point, five to seven teams in the mix. Do you have a thought on John Klingberg?

To me, Vancouver does make the most sense. My thought is how much money is Patrick Kane about to make this guy? Like, Patrick Kane is to make this guy? Like Patrick Kane is the proof of concept that hip resurfacing can produce a player that can come back and play in this league and not just somebody who's going to play about 10 games and then fold up the tents because you know he's broken. So I'm intrigued to see how Klingberg looks, if he's better than he was over the last two

seasons when he's not. I mean, he hasn't really been himself since about 21, 22, I think, Klingberg. But you're right. I mean, there are teams that need the kind of defenseman that he can be when he's healthy. And the question is, after going through this procedure, how healthy is he? All right. Any final thoughts before I bid you good afternoon, Wyshynski and let you get on with your day? Bedard, we gotta talk about Bedard real quick. Oh we do we got to do Bedard. Okay, so by the way Okay, so tough one last night for Connor Bedard. By the way, Rory Kearns with two assists Last night was really nice to see because we talked about that story yesterday Good to see him come up with the Calgary Flames and register two assists in that window of the Chicago Blackhawks

Let's play. Zach, you have this one queued up here Connor Badaard After the game yesterday Just got his hundredth point. That's great, right? Mmm, maybe not. Here's Badaard Wasn't clicking for the team tonight? Just like smooth plays and getting a couple passes in a row is a lot of, you know, kind of whacking up the boards or you know, maybe guys not being there, You know, maybe guys are expecting to be when they make their past. So that ends up being new.

I don't have options. You know, I think that makes it tough. Big Willy Styles in the chat says, I would give him a hug. Yeah, right. For an edible arrangement or a stuffed animal or something. Or just some animals. But I mean, this is not the first time he's been like this this season.

I mean, he is despondent and rightfully so. I mean, I think what we're seeing now with the Blackhawks is we've gone beyond the, obviously you have to tear down your team to the foundations to acquire a player like Bedard. We've moved past that to okay, but maybe you don't. Like maybe they didn't have to be quite that bad. And the really interesting thing, and I do think there's a little bit

of Monday morning quarterbacking here with Chicago is there's been a lot of talk about Brandon Hagel lately and the Blackhawks cutting bait on Hagel when they did, making that trade with the Lightning. Obviously he has become an incredible player in Tampa and to the point where he's on Team Canada as a penalty killer for the Four Nations. But you know, listen, in their defense, foreign nations. But you know, listen, in their defense, two first round picks for Brandon Hagel at the time was seen as wow, that is that is going hard. Like not overpayment necessarily because he was a good young player, but it was at a time when the Lightning were really kind of pushing their chips in an aggressive

way. And I don't think there was, I personally don't think another team in the league has given two firsts for Hagel at that point. And the other thing about Hagel too at that time was he had a crazy high shooting percentage in one of his best seasons. And I think the thought from the Blackhawks was how sustainable is his offense going to be? They bet wrong. Like this team is probably a lot better if Brandon Hagel is playing on Connor Bredard's wing. No question about that. But I do think that it's one of those deals where we've seen what he becomes, we've seen where the Blackhawks are, and it's become very easy to dunk on them for the Hagel thing. I mean, you come dangling two first round picks for Brandon Hagel.

I know, I get it. At that point, it's hard to say no. It's hard to say no. There's a few things I wonder about with Chicago. One, first of all, I don't know what people expected out of the Blackhawks this year. I know they went out, you know, Tara Vynan and Bertuzzi in the off season and maybe expect there to be a little bit more of a bump if, you know, everyone stays healthy. I still thought and I still do think that this is,

just like San Jose Sharks, like this is still a tough team. There's still a bad team. There's still a team that has a lot of growing and you see things like that and that's what terrifies other teams that are thinking about their rebuild and how deep does it need to go and do we need to go scorched earth and is it the only way that you that you that you need to rebuild the team i really wonder

about Seth Jones on this team at trade deadline i wonder if teams are looking at Seth Jones in Chicago and saying, I know it hasn't gone great, but there's been a lot of losing on this team. There's been a lot of tough years and I know you got to be a professional and try to bring it every night, but that can take a toll. I would not be surprised if there are more than a few teams that are looking at Seth Jones and saying, this guy is dying for a change of scenery. Now it'll probably involve Chicago Eaton on the Eaton part of the contract unless it's going to be a whopper of a return.

Like I, I do not get the sense that Chicago wants to do something here big. They can do it with Seth Jones because teams will be interested. Yeah, and also because I think his contract has progressed from the, you know, we're never trading for this guy because now we know where the cap is going. And if they're going to eat salary, it becomes more palatable.

Two things, first of all, to any Canucks fan that has seen some quote from me floating around about saying that Seth Jones is better than Quinn Hughes, that I allegedly said in 2023 and 2022. I've never said it. I don't know where it came from. It's not me.

I've never said it. I've always been in the bag for Quinn Hughes and I've never said that Seth Jones is a better player than Quinn Hughes. I'm sorry, I don't know where it came from. Secondly, in my bold predictions for the season, I called this. Who is the person responsible for Seth Jones

being a Chicago Blackhawk, Merrick? Stan Bowman. Stan Bowman. Currently the general manager of the Edmonton Oilers. How about, I'll put it on the table, Darnell Nurse for Seth Jones. The trade is one for one. Wow.

Or, okay, that's interesting. All right, let me marinate on that one. Let me throw one other thing out at you here. Or you can throw in Dickinson. Dickinson and Seth Jones for a nurse and something else. A draft pick of some renown. Where is Seth Jones from? Excuse me, from Texas?

Canonically? On the stars? Well, the stars are obviously gonna trade for a defensive one. They're totally gonna do it. Like, no, I mean, like they have to, right? I know, that's why I really like, okay, Seth Jones. Rasmus Anderson, I like that. Yeah, take your pick.

But I don't know. You dare trade Seth Jones within the division? You want Seth Jones visiting Chicago multiple times? I don't think Chicago can think that way. You think Chicago can think that way? Like, oh, we can't keep him here. We have to trade him outside the Norris division. There's no way. It's St. Louis and there's Minnesota. There's no way Toronto and Detroit. Hockey is so dumb. It's such a dumb sport sometimes. But like, one of the dumbest is obviously like, we can't trade anybody within our division. We can't trade with our division rival. I know, I know. You can, look, listen, I'm fine with the Devils and Rangers never making trades. Like, that makes sense to me. But like, if the Devils

are ever like, we can't trade blah, blah, blah to Carolina, we'll see him more often. Yeah. So stupid. You know what the weirdest one was for me? What? You know the first time the Buffalo Sabres and the Boston Bruins made a trade? Taylor Hall? Danny Paia.

Oh, Danny Paia. That was the first, I know people say Andre Savart, that was a free agent compensation. The Danny Pye trade was the first time, they're old Adams division rivals. Yes. That was the first time the Bruins and the Sabres, they're always in the same division, all first time they ever made a trade was Danny Pye. Yeah. Because the Sabres spent probably 25 years being like, we're going to get fleeced.

We don't want to do business with them. All right, real quick, what you got going on at ESPN.com? We gotta get hustling here. Doing some mid-season awards on Thursday. Should also mention our doing a mid-season version of the drop on Thursday as well. Nice. It's at noon. It does not conflict with the sheet. I would never do that to you, Merrick.

Bless you. Bless you for that. So that'll be good good then and yeah, check it out. Oh and also Some Jersey reveals coming up on Thursday as well for a game that you probably can guess You don't say you want to give a little teaser for that one I I like them both, but I like one as one of the better stadium series jerseys I've seen. Do you like them better than the Savannah Ghost Pirates? By the way, I've got the white ones that are showing off the top of the show here as well. Just putting it out. I'll only buy help you buy this team if I can like do something like can I run arena ops?

Sure, what do you want to do? Own the team and also run your game ops. What do you want to do? Pies in the face. It's going to be all night. Bring back the Iowa chops. You know what? For belly futures.

No, it's going to be all it it's gonna be all 90s hip hop. That's the entire soundtrack. We can discuss this. Let's just buy the team first. Let's just buy the team first. Actually, no, the thing I want most is for the Ghost Pirates. I wanna be in charge of doing the Vegas-esque pregame show involving a ghost pirate.

Let me design that and I'll gladly buy into the team. Done and done. Take back your empties. Okay, that's it. We gotta hustle. Wish you have a great week. We'll talk to you in seven days. MVSW here on The Shakeday every Tuesday from ESPN, our man, Greg Wyshinski. All right. Zach, thanks for helping us there with the chat and getting some of the questions out. We got a busy day around the NHL this evening. Let's get to the games. I am curious about a few of these here. FanDuel presents this segment, proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter

to them. Man, I do like that blue. Tampa, Boston, juicy. Dallas, Toronto, you'll be working tonight. Yes. After Dark Man. I will. Dallas facing off against you'll be working tonight. After Dark Man. I will. Dallas facing off against Toronto Maple Leaf, San Jose Sharks, the Detroit Red Wings look to go

eight in a row on the win column with Todd McClellan, but I am curious about the Vancouver Canucks and the Winnipeg Jets. And the one thing that I'm curious about here is, and again, I'm throwing darts at this one we're talking about John Klingberg a couple of seconds ago I wonder about Tony D'Angelo. Tony D'Angelo is now ex of Saint Petersburg in the KHL. He's gone home for family reasons but I do wonder as the Vancouver Canucks But I do wonder as the Vancouver Canucks are looking for another puck mover on their blue line.

The reason I mentioned Vancouver, one, that's what D'Angelo does. That's the kind of player he is. And two years ago, before D'Angelo went to the Carolina Hurricanes, there were very active conversations between the Vancouver Canucks and the DeAngelo camp. I'm not sure how far down the road they went, but I would wonder if there would be any interest there in Vancouver now that DeAngelo is done in the KHL where he was, I think he was either a point of game, Zach or maybe just under a point of game as well. Just curious, is everyone's looking for puck movers this time of year?

In advance of the trade deadline? Like I don't know if he'd come back and would do an ATO to show that he can still play, don't know. But I would wonder about Tony D'Angelo with the Vancouver Canucks. Interesting, didn't know that that was around before where there was tires kicked,

so let's say you can just put it that way. Interesting. We'll see where that one goes. Dallas, Toronto real quick. What are your, because you're going to be, you're going to be all over this one. Your thoughts on this matchup? Craig Brubate not exactly thrilled at how things went on Saturday. Three to nothing blanking. Although Marner thought it was a good game. Yeah. Yeah, to put that one lightly, he was not happy. Yeah, Marner was probably the only person on the team in the organization, maybe in the city of Toronto, who thought that was a good game, Jeff.

But this one's interesting. I think it'll be a good game. I'm excited for it because you've got the Leafs who have not played well over the last like five to eight, and you've got Dallas who's been playing well, but they just came off a stinky game the other day. And you know, you're in Toronto, you got a bunch of local boys. It's always primed for those guys to show up here.

That's kind of, I am excited for this one. And you know what, the most important thing and storyline of all, you know what it is, right? What? Robertson v. Robertson. Oh, of course. That's what we're all waiting for tonight. Yes, yes, yes. absolutely. Who are mom and dad cheering for? It's great. Like mom and mom and mom and oh, man,

those are those are the worst. I get it. So bad. Please stop with those parents. Like, just choose a child. All right. I'll have some kids we like more than just choose a child. All right. Maybe the one with the bigger contract. Mom and dad, mom and dad used to have the big, huge RV they would drive around to the kids' tournaments. Like they're like, dad was a, and I think still is, a major Hollywood attorney.

And so they do come from some money and they would just spend their time driving the kids around in this like hockey RV. Man, I remember watching Jason play with the Kingston Frontenacs and holy like when he was like 16 maybe 17 years old the guy already had an NHL like lethal shot. It was always he had the boots, I was gonna hold him back but man that shot was great. Nick has the exact same thing and that was you know that was tough that year, that COVID year, because he was on the Peterborough Peets and Peets were ready to poise to do like some major, major damage.

They were the only team that could handle the Ottawa 67s who were an absolute beast that year, absolute juggernaut. That would have been a great series to watch, Ottawa facing off against Peterborough when Nick was with the Peets. All right, on that we'll wrap. Did I mention I like the Savannah Ghost Pirates? And I'm interested in buying them, and you've already put in 10 bucks. So we're well on our way. We'll have to get in touch with Joe Ernst, our buddy at Sawyer, to see how much we can cobble together,

try to get the Ghost Pirates. Yeah, listen, man, podcasts are buying teams. I want in. I want in, I want Savannah. You know what we can do? It's content every day. We'll go on. And you know what the best part is in the ECHL, Jeff?

They play these series where it's like the rivalry. You play like three, four times or whatever it is in like a short span. And then you play them 10 more times in the year. We're gonna go head to head with whoever the spin chicklet's team is. And we're just gonna build up this rivalry. Greensboro versus Savannah. Yeah

We're just gonna go nuts on the podcast just dunking on these guys biz doesn't know what he's doing what's Like he's got no idea this guy's eating space cake. He doesn't know how to run a team look at these pegs What's going on here? Who's this guy? Yeah, yeah, okay. Well, by the way, Grinelli's on the show tomorrow. So you get a chance to chirp him directly. So Grinelli will be on tomorrow to talk about the Greensboro acquisition.

Okay, on behalf of Zach, on behalf of Greg Ruszynski, who stops by each and every Tuesday here on the program, Merrick signing off. Thanks so much. Everybody in the chat, please leave your likes. Continue to come back to the chat, it's a lot of fun. It's like most times it's better than the show, I'll just be blunt. And everyone listening on podcasts, whether it's on Spotify, Apple pods,

wherever you get your pods, thank you, thank you, thank you. We are back tomorrow, as I mentioned Mike Grunell. Grunell from Spit and Chicklets will talk to us about the acquisition of an ECHL expansion franchise in Greensboro, and we may have one other guest working on right now. It's pretty big. So we'll see if that comes to fruition. Either way, we will be here tomorrow, Wednesday,

three o'clock Eastern, noon Pacific for a sheet. Enjoy the 13 games. However many you watch, later on tonight on the NHL. Have a great one. I slept 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month I can't get out my head, lost all ambitions day to day, guess you can call it a rut I went to the dark man, he tried to give me a little medicine, I'm like nah no, man, that's fine. I'm not against those methods, but no. It's me, myself, and Alice gonna be fixing my mind. I do want to break it.

I turn down the music. I do want to break it. I turn down the music. It's turned up,'m out of control, sometimes losing Helping on the days that went wrong