The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Doug Armstrong Speaks and NHL Standings Projections ft. Dom Luszczyszyn & Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: January 29, 2026

Today’s episode of The Sheet brings a wide-ranging, NHL-only deep dive as Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski unpack some of the league’s biggest storylines. The guys start with Doug Armstrong and his candid comments about the St. Louis Blues, what he’s really saying about their performance, and how front offices use public messaging at key moments of the season. From there, the conversation shifts north to Toronto, breaking down the Toronto Maple Leafs free fall and what it means for the rest of the year. Then, Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic joins the show to analyze playoff odds, standings projections, roster needs, and the ongoing Zach Werenski vs Quinn Hughes vs Cale Makar debate. Plus, Producer Zack closes things out with a special Today in Hockey History segment just for Greg. Be sure to like, subscribe, and join the conversation. #TheSheet #NHL #Hockey #JeffMarek #GregWyshynski #DomLuszczyszyn #DailyFaceoff #TorontoMapleLeafs #StLouisBlues #DougArmstrong #NHLAnalytics #TheAthletic #LeafsNation #NHLStandings #PlayoffProjections #HockeyPodcastLeave a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheSheetEmail us: [e-mail] TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/caReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoffReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The inaugural Claude Lemieux Award for most unsportsman-like player goes to Envelope, please. Nick Cousins, this from a dedicated listener and someone that I DM with every now and then. Andrew, I hope I don't butcher this last name.

Farinchevich, I believe, is how we pronounce it. The Claude Lemieux Award, we were wondering, for those that are wondering what the hell I'm going on about here. We ended the podcast last time on Tuesday with Greg, wondering if there was the anti-Lady Bing trophy, who would it be named after? Andrew submits Clod Lemieux, which I'd be doing.

Yeah, I had a listener write in and suggest the Sean Avery Memorial Award. It's good, too. It's good to be said for that. He might show, he might actually show up to present it. He might. I couldn't see Claude Lemieux doing it. I couldn't see, like, any of the other assorted, like, Ken Lynn. clothes, but I can see Avery's showing up to hand it out.

Clode's like one of those like hackers that ends up working for a major corporation. Like he's crossed over. Like he's a significant agent in our industry. Yes, he is. Which is a complete departure from the guy crushing people from behind to spark the greatest rivalry in the last 50 years. Or, you know, turtling when people were trying to punch him. He's got on the straight and narrow since then. Avery's a good choice.

Someone said, Old Samuelson. but I think that gets away from the spirit of the award, which is your teammates have to hate you too. The Lady Bing is an award for gentlemanly play, but it's also an award for being a gentleman. And I think that part of being a gentleman is having the respect of your peers. And I think if you are someone who is generally loathed by your own team, as Claude was at times, based on what he was doing in the moment,

you know, I think that has to be part of it too. We're still workshopping it, but there's some really good suggestions for what is essentially the anti-Big. We'll figure the show by the time the season winds down. We should restate a plank in the MVSW platform, which is that the writers should absolutely not vote for the Lady Bing. It's become an award for who has the most points and the fewest penalty minutes, or if we wanted to get a little cute with it,

which defenseman has the fewest penalty minutes, or if you wanted to get really cute with it, give it to Mark Andre Fleury. But the award should be. I loved that idea. I loved the idea of giving it the flower. It was a good idea. It was a good idea. But the award should be voted on by the officiating crews. It should be voted on by the referees and by the linesmen.

I know that they are very sensitive about letting any of these automatons have an opinion about anything. That's not whether a guy got hooked. But, you know, I do think this is an award where you can poll them anonymously and get a good sense of who are the gentlemen and who are the miscreants. And quite honestly, players don't give a shit about the award anyway. So it's not like they're going to throw their arms in the air and be a bunch of Belichick witch hunters trying to figure out which linesmen didn't give him the lady Bing. I think they're safe there. So that's what we should be doing with that. You know, it's funny because I ran this by this idea recently, about a month ago, a senior official who said, love the idea.

Don't know how many guys would actually want to participate in it. But he said, you'd be surprised at how many players that fans think are the nice guys really are. aren't the nicest of players whatsoever who wouldn't be getting that kind of love. I'm with you on that one. But then you know what happened. Yeah. It would be like, oh, they're having an opinion on these players, therefore they have a bias against them. True.

Exactly. And that's why they, you know, they don't want to probably participate in ultimately, even though you're the ones that keep calling penalties on certain players and not others. I just do what I just want to say that, like, gentlemanly play isn't just like getting whistled for a penalty or how many fights you had. It is also how you can port yourself on the ice. And I think that the officiating crews are the only ones that can really give us that level of insight. It certainly ain't my ass sitting in the press box. Let me tell you that.

I've always maintained that Zadano Charis should have won the lady being every single season. Because if he wanted to, he could have crushed the entire league like a bug and he chose not to. That, sir, is gentlemanly play. Let's get right on to what the show is all about today. We've got a lot to get to, including a really interesting clip from Doug Armstrong of the St. Louis Blues. The blueprint is powered by Fandle. Here's what's coming up. Download the app today and play your game on Fandul.

You've already heard him. You've already seen him. He may break out a Jack Hughes impression. We're not sure yet. He's been speaking of workshopping things. He's been workshopping that one. He is Greg Wishtzy of ESPN and at ESPN.com. Doug Aramstrong will hear from him in a couple of moments.

The latest around the NHL. We will talk about Artemie Panarin being sat pending a trade and a contract extension. How to Make Yourself a Free Agent in the Middle of the Season by Artemmy Panarin. Dom Lissian from The Athletic, we'll talk to us about standings and projections and defensemen debate. Okay, that looks like an interesting one too. So we'll get into all these things here with Dom and Greg here

in a couple of moments. Where are you at workshop and your Jack Hughes impression? The Jack Hughes impression has been in circulation for quite a while. I don't think it's as good as my Sid, but the Jack Hughes' impression is, you just have to kind of get your octaves up and be a little bit laconic in the way you speak. And then occasionally you strike out with a real bit of sarcasm.

Like you've asked me that question 17 times. The wallpaper knows my answer by now. So it's that. So it's a little bit of you're in a cloud. The first time I ever spoke to Jack, like, Quinn's got that too, but it's a little bit more direct. It reminded me of kind of,

it's almost a little Gretzky-esque in the way that he answered. questions, like the way Wayne used to. But yeah, it's a very distinct way of speaking. And again, like the greatest moments in my life as a reporter when you're covering Jack and he decides to speak to the media. And then all of a sudden, you're just hearing this voice. And then all of a sudden it just becomes, of course, the Rangers are an embarrassment. And you're just like, oh, wait a second.

He said something. Amazing. And then you just go back to it. And you're just like, it's just great. I love Jack to you so much. Okay, so I already have a question. A text from a dear friend of mine just sent in about Domless issue who's going to be joining us later.

We're going to get into numbers. We're going to get into some pretty hockey, geeky stuff, and I'm here for all of that. A friend of mine just texts me. You're having Dom on the show. I'm low-key dying to know what software he uses, Excel, R, or Python. Get ready, folks.

It's coming up at the bottom of the hour. I don't know if you and I have ever spoken. to Dom. I used to have Dom on, I think he came on with me and Emily on the old ESPN podcast that did. He's great because he's a data guy who knows how to use that proprietary information for evil, which is rankings and hot takes and all sorts of things. And that's exactly how it should be used. Did I ever tell you the ESPN on Ice story, by the way? I don't have ever told you the story. No. Emily and I did a podcast called ESPN on Ice. for a while before I was replaced in the show tanked.

And that was the name I gave the show. I gave the show ESPN on Ice. It kind of is a playoff of Disney on Ice. It's cute, right? But the original name of the show that I wanted, and they wouldn't let me use, I think, is one of my greatest ideas. Because what is the thing that people always say about ESPN, despite the presence of myself and Emily Kaplan and others?

They always say that ESPN never talks about hockey. So the name of the podcast that I wanted to create with Emily was ESPN talks about hockey. That was going to be the name of the podcast. I thought that was genius. That's really good. Surprisingly, my, my superiors did not find the humor in that as much as I did. But I thought it would have been a real punk rock thing to acknowledge that. Most execs.

Most execs tend to not find humor in those things. I remember the old shop before it was named the Jeff Merrick show, which I absolutely hated because I hated anything that reminds me that I'm looking at my navel. I just wanted to call the show Rink Fries. because Greg Wischinski, who doesn't love rank fries and it's been sitting on here for so long. So I always wanted to ask you about this and I know we have a lot to get to. But we do. We got to get dark on strong here.

Whenever you talk about rink fries, my first thought is whenever I'm at the rink. Yeah. Like a community rink, the youth hockey rink. Yeah. The go-to for me was always the shitty pizza they make in that that toaster oven. Oh, yeah. That's bad one too. That's like high school cafeteria quality.

That would always be my go-to concession. stand thing would be the terrible pizza. But just as an aside you would never ever consider that good, but some of the best fries you will have in the world, you can get at hockey arenas. You can get at the local rink, you can get at your NHL rank, your junior rank, your college

barn. That's the one thing that at least like the concession stand can take some pride in. Concession stands have no pride in firing out those that piece of cardboard with melted velvita all over it that shouldn't belong on a piece of cardboard in the first place. They take no pride in that. But

most arena concession stands will take pride in their french fries i think it's essentially what you're saying is your standard for excellence for a thing of fries is do they do they never change the oil because i i defy you to find a moment in which a place that sells that level of cardboard pizza is ever swapping out the oil in their friars fair point we have a lot to get to we'll hit that old mvsw convoy and mvsw style convoy for maybe towards the at the end of the program but want to play this bit of video uh and for those of you listening, a bit of audio, from Doug Armstrong yesterday,

talking about the St. Louis Blues and the St. Louis Blues season so far, gentlemen, start your trade rumors. Here's Doug Armstrong. Yeah, obviously we're embarrassed for where we're at in the standings. It's been a

really poor year. I thought we didn't play well our second game of the year, but found a way to win in Calgary. Then we played an excellent game in Vancouver, and I was thought that would be the start of something that we could build off of and it hasn't gone that way. It's been, as I said, it's extremely embarrassing. The disappointing part is we have, we don't have a foundation that we fall back on on any given night. We don't have an identity that we play to. Every night it seems

to be something different. And until we find something that has a solid foundation that this is who we are, this is what we go back to, we're going to continue to have these games where it's something different every night and that's something that I work with the coach on every day and we talk about every day. Unfortunately, we just haven't found it. All right, that video, courtesy of Corey Miller on X, I don't think you need to read in between the lines to come up with this phrase. Everything must go. Let's stick to that. That's the only thing that comes in it, whether it's the coaches, whether it's the players, whether it's the popcorn vendor, everything must go. Well, that's how I looked at that one.

Everything's, everything's up for grabs. Like outside of like the Jake neighbors, Dallabor Dvorsook, Jimmy Snuggaroods of the world who are kind of nailed down there. If your name, if you don't share the same last name as one of those players, don't buy real estate. What do you think? I mean, I guess we can say that when we know

the GM is eventually going to go by his own accord, right? Like Doug's already kind of paved his exit ramp for that organization. I can see him staying one more a year. I don't know that he wants to hand this. I can see him not wanting to hand this off to Alex Dean. He's got the plummetz gig in the NHL, which is that he knows that he has a Stanley Cup ring. He's going to be handing off the job to his apprentice. And he can wipe his hands clean of all of this mess.

What I wonder about, though, from a legacy standpoint, is outside of the most miraculous run to the Stanley Cup that we've seen. probably what in the last 25 years it seems like this conversation happens annually for the blues and it seems like this conversation happens annually for Doug Armstrong and it and it always reminds me of the I think you should leave guy in the dog in the hot dog suit going now we're all looking for the guy who did this I mean you built this team man you keep building this team it never works and every trade deadline you're always like we're raising the the white flag. We're not going to be a playoff team. We're trading ball Stasney. We've seen this so many times with Doug Armstrong teams. And it all tracks back to Doug Armstrong. And the other

thing I'll say to you, Merrick, is that Doug Armstrong made the decision the moment Jim Montgomery became available from the Boston Bruins to just absolutely ether, Drew Bannister, who had no chance to establish himself as a head coach. Oh, right away. Oh, yeah, right away. Yeah, because Jim Montgomery became available. to now see the situation play out where Jim Montgomery is now overseeing a team with no discernible identity. Jim Montgomery, a name who you'd say those two words, whether it was Dallas or whether it was Boston, and you knew you were getting a tight defensive team in front of goaltending with tremendous stats. That's a Jim Montgomery team, and that has never manifested in St. Louis,

is it's got to be one of the biggest disappointing calls made by a general manager in the last two years. To me, it all tracks back to one moment for St. Louis. All tracks back to one moment. You know what that was? Not giving Alex Petrangelo trade protection? Bingo.

Here's the captain who said that he wants to stay here and commit long term. He loves it here. He has been successful here. The Blues have been successful with him here. when you like I kind of even though Pronger is of course you know the better defender of the two I kind of look at it like Chris Pronger and the same thing happened with St. Louis when Pronger went through you know when Pronga would leave a team what would happen no playoffs you know you can't replace

that guy in a lot of ways Alex Petrangelo with St. Louis and look how you know look how the Vegas called the Knights have had to struggle to fill what the void left by Alex Petrangelo when Patrangelo leaves there's no obvious obvious replacement. It's like that old, you know, 100-year-old tree when it collapses,

there's no obvious replacement for it. Nothing goes in its spot. To me, the whole thing is Alex Petrangelo and the cascade from it too has to go through the room.

Like, whoa. Like, Patrangelo's our rock. He's at like a 30 minute a night, you know, All-Star, like, elite defensemen in the NHL. And we're going to quibble

over trade protection? Which he would eventually give out to other players. And the other thing, too, is that in order to try to fill the void left by Alex Petrangelo, who did they go and get? Tori Krug, who's probably played, what, 20 games for the Blues, unfortunately? I mean, that's injuries. But no, but didn't, hang on a second, though.

That's the interesting thing. Once they let go of Alex Petrangelo, what they had to do was, and they started it by bringing in Justin Falk, which was some Alex Petrangelo insurance, should he not come to a contract agreement. and that paid off because he didn't. But they just went about trying to find a collection of defensemen who all did a little bit of what Alex Petrangelo did as opposed to just keeping Alex Petrangelo. Yeah, you had Voltron and now you're just trying to trade for a bunch of the lions is basically how it works. So that and again, like I think that it was sort of marching towards this inevitability and that's the thing that God. the ball rolling because as much as the goaltenders have been hard to hit and they've been bad to me the whole thing is that back end is a mess it is that blue line is an absolute disaster

and maybe that speaks to the Montgomery problem which is that you can't you can't forge the identity you want to forge when you can't when you don't have the horses to do it and that the back end has been a mess um no it so when you say everything must go we've heard a lot about Robert Thomas in the last few weeks. He was hitting some trade boards. The discussion around him seemed to be increasing. The idea that the price tag was going to be fairly high for a guy who was a number one center in this league. When those guys become available, it is a rarity indeed. What's your percentage on Robert Thomas being traded before the trade deadline? Let's not say the Olympic deadline, but the trade. Yeah. I can't see, I can't see St. Louis,

if they're going to put Robert Thomas to market, doing it when the market is as narrow as it is around trade deadline. If you're going to move someone like Robert Thomas, do you not want to sort of open it up to everybody? And does that not sound? And it's not a situation where it's like a significantly distressed asset. There's turmoil between the player, his representation, and the manager. Like, it's not that situation.

Like, this isn't like Joe Thornton to the San Jose Sharks, where Boston had just had it with Thornton. Thornton probably had it with the Boston Brewery. and they had to make a deal. To me, if you're moving someone like Robert Thomas and be careful, because he's not having the best of all possible years, but we've seen players just have freak years where it's not there for him. To me, that's like draft day or that's offseason because you want to open up the market as

much as possible. Yeah, I think I wanted to bug you about what do you think? What do you think? I think someone would have to completely overwhelm them with a deal. I mean, I'm not saying it has to be a Quinn Hughes package, but it needs to kind of smell like it. Like if you squint your eyes enough, it kind of is going to look like it.

Like Robert Thomas is a very special player. He's the best playmakers in the league. It's one of the best playmakers in league, full stop. And have that kind of guy become available is so rare. And, you know, I think there are other parts that Blue's team that they're going to look to move and will gladly move for whatever return they get. But he's not one of them.

I mean, I think they're going to hold out on him. until they get the deal that they want because they can't whiff on it. Now, Kyru, they've been trying to move Kyru for a significant amount of time. I don't think that's really a secret. I wonder, you've, you have been my Jason Robertson trade Yoda for a while. And I was wondering where you see Kyru's availability fitting into the framework of a potential Jason Robertson availability. Is he kind of like, if I can't get one, I'll get the other?

Or are they not related in any way? So you get Cairo if you're a team that needs more speed. Like if you could stick handle the salary cap ramifications of it, I would imagine that a team like the Edmonton Oilers, right? Would listen, a team like Edmonton, because what did they do when they went out and got capped? They went on and got cap them because they weren't fast enough. Sure, Connor is the fastest player on the planet, but it's not as if the rest of the team is full of burners. And I'm sure that that's why all the rumors about Bobby McMahon to Edmonton have started to fire up in the last 24 hours since the Maple Leaf's lost to the Buffalo Sabres.

That all of a sudden, like, oh, I could see Speedy Bobby McMahon on the Edmonds. That's a team that still hasn't lost her desire for speed. I think Washington's in that conversation, too. Let's not forget they were in there for the services of Nick Eilers, knowing that this is a team that needs to add a dimension of speed, which is why Ethan Frank gets the ice time that he does. So those are some of the teams that I would be looking at right away. If you're a team that is on the slower end of things, then you're probably looking to add someone like Jordan Kairu. To Merrick's point, for those who don't know,

Kairu is signed through 2031. He has trade protection. He has an 8.125 cap hit, which as the cap goes up looks a little bit better. But most importantly, this season is the apex of his salary. He makes 10.5 this season, and then he goes 825 next season, and then he's in the sixes after that. So if you're going to trade Jordan Cairo, you're doing it at a moment in which the actual dollars on his contract start to really significantly decline, which obviously is going to be appealing to a lot of teams too. You have a thought on Artemian and what's going on there?

Thoughts about them. So somebody said, and I forget who it was, and I want to say it was Chris or Emily, I forget who it was, but that teams that are looking to extend them are doing their due diligence on and off the ice. And I do think it's important to remember that Artimia Panarin had a very significant off-ice issue in New York that probably doesn't get talked enough about a lot with his availability and the ability of the player. I had heard from some people that he wants to stay east. but the opportunities out West

for teams that would want to probably give him what he's looking for contractually, I think, are plentiful. You know, our friend Sheng Pong talked about the San Jose Sharks as being a team that's, you know, would extend him. You know, I think there are other teams out there out West that would certainly would be looking to do the same. Kings. Kings.

Who? L.A. The King? Yeah, sure. L.A. King. Right. So I listen, I find it, I think he's completely right to play it this way, which is to not have himself be a rental to secure his future with whoever trades for him.

I think that's a smart decision for him and for Palti and Phanos. And they're going to have some really intriguing options. Now, so hang on. Pause on that for one second. So Rangers are saying he ain't playing. Correct. Okay. And Paul Theofano, the agent for Artemey Panarin, is being allowed to go out, team the team, and, you know, work with Chris Drury on a trade for him.

So essentially, it's July 1st for Artemey Panarin right now. Right. Much in the same way it is for Avandr-Ten. This is free agent day. Okay? This is like free agent week for our Temi-Panaran. I know there's no mechanism to stop this in the CBA. You don't have to skate.

We don't have to dress a player. Rangers don't. But at a certain point, like this isn't, you know, with all due respect, this isn't a fourth-line player on the New York Rangers. This is someone legitimately who you could look at some of the beginning of the season. So like, hey, hey, son slash daughter. We have X amount of dollars of disposable income to go to a New York Rangers game this year.

I know you're a big fan of Artemmy Panera and bring your jersey hat the whole deal. but sorry, he's been scratched for trade-related purposes, and I know it happens all the time around deadline, but here we are January 29th. And the players being held out. I got a certain point, like, after how many games, does it become an issue for the NHL, that there is a team that is deliberately keeping a star out of the lineup here?

And I'm not sure if you've looked at New York Ranger ticket prices lately, but I assure you they are not cheap. They're not cheap, but so the first thing I'll say to you is that like, teams make these decisions all the time for various reasons. It just happens to this is a roster management decision. When the ducks decide to load manage Leo Carlson, I don't think you were grabbing your torch and trying to rally the NHLPA. There's a little bit.

There's something different about Leo Carl. Like this is Leo Carlson, like the rookie breaking into the NHL as opposed to Artemian. Artemi Panarin established superstar in the league. It's still a team deciding what they want to do with a player they have under contract. I'm just talking to the fans point of you. I understand what they're doing. I think we all do from a fans point of view. And that sucks.

That's flatly. That sucks. Too bad fans. We're trying to move them so we're not going to play them. Sure. And I'm sure that's frustrating for Ranger fans. But on the list of frustrations for Ranger fans, it might not even make the top 10. if you're paying money to watch that team right now

based on what I saw last night. I also think that it's no different than a team deciding not to play its players towards the end of the season. I mean, fans are paying for those tickets, but they know what's up. They know they're resting guys ahead of the playoff. Essentially, what I'm doing is chumming the waters for one day when it's no longer an 82 game season.

It's an 84 game season. And we started hearing load management in the NHL. Because that discussion is coming. But I also think the situation is different because we have a, we have a, we have a, we have two trade deadlines. And so what the Rangers are doing right now is ahead of a trade deadline for the Olympics. And to your point, like if he's not dealt before the Olympics, then I think there's a real problem. Like, like, I think the expectation is that he's going to be dealt before the Olympic break. Listen, I, I've always heard Carolina was interested in him.

I don't know if that manifests. I don't even know if that's a place. he wants to go. There are some really fast thing fits. The San Jose one, if it ever manifested, I was thinking about it this morning. They have so many areas of need, but they also have so many assets

that I'm not worried if they do commit assets to acquiring Archambi Panarin that Mike Beer doesn't have enough in the treasure chest to do all the other things he needs to do to make that team a cop contender. But I do think that every time I look at that scoring list on San Jose and see the Grand Canyon

between Mac and Solegreeny and the next highest score on the team. There is a need for secondary scoring on that team. I do think that if they wanted to go down the path with Panarin, provided it's not going to be a super long-term contract. It's an intriguing fit out there if that's where he wanted to end up. The team, look, it's got to be a team who wants to play for. Got to be a team that can sign them long term. Probably got to be a team that has a Russian on the roster right now.

To be true or off. Precisely. Come on out. San Jose Sharks. Let's get going. Art Sammy Panarin. And, I mean, listen, rebuilds are about getting good players. You know, it's going to cost you.

The other thing I was thinking about this morning was, like, we always talk about when it comes to, like, Russian players or, you know, particularly Russian players, like, do they have a Russian on the roster? And they were all like, yeah, Demetio Orloff's on the roster in San Jose. We never stopped to think, do these guys like each other? Like, like, what if it's a Russian that Artemian actually, like, hates? Do you? He's just a guy when he sees him at the Russian caucus.

sale of the vodka party. He's just like, no, me it. I do not like this man. We just assume there's a Russian guy. There's a bunch of vowels. They all want to play with each other. But maybe it's the one Russian he doesn't like. The most interesting thing about the Montreal All-Star game was how Ilya

Colvichuk played peacemaker between Yevgeny Molycan and Alexander Ovechkin. Because to your point, everyone just would have assumed, oh, Molokin and Ovechkin are both Russian. They must love each other. be buddies. I can assure you. I don't know if it was as bad as like Bob Ganey in search of art, but I assure you these two did not get along. They were not buddies. So I'm glad you mentioned that because I always forget about that story when I'm asked like, what is the hockey documentary you wish that they would make? Because I was there for that. And I saw a lot of it. And I think

I reported on some of it. Because I was at a giant party. And I remember I was there. I think with David Pignota was there too. Oh yeah. Dilley face off's own. And all of the Russians had cordoned off this sort of VIP area. And they were kind of just lounging in this area, drinking cliche vodka. And there was this like, Elia Kovilchuk designed glass-nosed between Vignyn Malkin and Alex Ovechkin that happened at the All-Star game. Glass-nose. Give me that 30-for-30, man.

Like, that's the documentary that I want to see. Yeah, I'm with you on that one. A couple of more things quick ahead of Dom joining us. were, I was going to be joining us here in a couple of moments, I believe. Tremmy police done. Are they done, done, done, done, done? I mean, based on the playoff percentages that I saw, like, they have the same percentage chance as the devil, so I can't say they're done.

But it certainly kind of feels that way, right? Like, it certainly feels like the conversations around that team have to turn to what is the next phase. And look, they gave it the old college tri-post-marner, but clearly there needs to be bigger bigger decisions made about what that roster needs to be. Because half the roster is built for being a team. They no longer are. I know people have called out the Brandon Carlo thing,

but at the time the Brandon Carlo thing made sense because they were an ascendant team that had a roster that could maybe contend for a conference championship, but they don't have that anymore. And so now they have to kind of figure out what they want to do with that. So one of the things that really upset Zach yesterday is I was making the point,

and I'm putting words in Zach's mouth, I think I pissed him off. I'm pretty sure I pissed him off. because Zach's a Maple Leafs fan is if that was the final nail in the coffin for the Toronto Maple Leafs, the loss against the Buffalo Sabres, 7-4, that I was glad that it was Buffalo that did it considering the last 14 seasons for the Buffalo Sabres, Old Adams Division rivals, QEW rivals, all of it. And I was really glad that it was specifically Rosemus Staling with the five points, the hat trick and the two assists. And it got to the conversation.

It's an awkward conversation that many hockey fans just don't have because many really don't have an answer. If you could choose the team that eliminated you, as a devil's fan, who would you choose? Like if there's one team where it's like, this is a must-win game and the devils lose, you ever think about which team do you want that to be? Essentially, you know, which executioner do you want to pull the switch? The Sabres would be up there. That's for sure.

Yeah. Like if it meant them getting into the playoffs. as a devil's fan I don't really have any emotional connection rivalry-wise with the Columbus Blue Jackets and that's another team that can certainly use

a bit more playoff success and so like if if if the decomposing rotting corpse of my favorite team created a fertilized soil for the growth of the Columbus Blue Jackets I wouldn't mind that at all

I mean the list of who I wouldn't want to eliminate the devils is obviously much longer but those are two teams that come by. Okay, one quick fill in the blank here before we get to Dom. Andre Palat scores in his debut for the New York Islanders to which Greg Wosinski says blank. Typical. He says typical. I don't know if I can bet on hockey or not because ESPN no longer has a sports book, so maybe I can.

But like I would have laid money on him scoring a goal last night, like easy peasy. But yeah, that was entirely predictable. They, they, they, um, what's his face that the devil's acquired from the Islanders and that trade is playing up on the second line today, uh, apparently with, uh, Nico Heeshire. Oh, Simplikov, Maximus Syplikov. Yes, Cyplikov and Heisher and Gritslik, like, I think are on the same line. Get a hat trick. Go get a hat trick. Uh, go everything in a blender and see what happens.

Hey, listen, I, I, listen, that's, that's, Cypicoff is an incredibly talented player who who lost the string in a very major way this season. And, uh, and maybe is a good record. listen, I just want everyone to have fun. I want the trade to work out for everybody. Palat was a mistake. Doesn't mean he's going to be a mistake for the Islanders. I will caution that when you look at the game log on hockey reference Islander fans,

and you see that one next to his name. And then under the G column, you just see a bunch of zeros of the next 12 games before he gets another one. Then you'll know the true Andre Palat experience for Devils fans. Okay. Well, someone here we're going to get to comment on the, the André Palat experience. You read him in The Athletic, and he's sort of pepper and parsley for a lot of other writers soup as well. He's sort of all over. He is Domlician from the Athletic who, no matter who's writing at the Athletic, there's always a reference to Dom's model.

So this is the Dom that we're talking about and the writers that the like are talking about when they say Dom's model. First of all, Dom, thanks so much for stopping by today. Second of all, unprompted, gut attacks when we announced you were coming on the program today. From a friend of mine, I'm just going to ask this and get this. out of the way. I see you're having Dom on the show. I'm low-key dying to know what software he uses, Excel, R, or Python.

Let's start there. None of the above. What do you use? I use Apple numbers, which is as dumb as it gets, and I've said that before. It is like the easiest way to make things look pretty.

I do use Excel for my playoff projections and the simulation and all that. and I've tried to learn Python the past, but it didn't really take, so here I am. Okay. There you go. All right, first answer, knocked out of the park. The Andre Palat experience we were talking about just before you came on here.

He scores a goal for the New York Islanders last night, so he's back. Your thoughts on this deal here quickly before we move along? I think they did well to improve defensively a bit. that's, I think, one of their biggest issues this season. Their decor has been brutal. And Pilat has not been great offensively over the last couple of years and was overpaid for sure. But I think defensively, he still has some game in a depth role. So, I don't know.

It's fine. I don't really have a hot Pilat take. Greg, you have a hot Palat take? Yeah, we should have ever been signed, which is my hot. Spicy. It's good, Dom. Ooh, spicy. I feel like, was it Broadway in Nashville the last time that we saw each other or was it after that?

I don't even remember. There was one event in Toronto. I think you were here for the All-Star game. Yeah, that was it. Yeah. Great. I think we talked like four hours. Dom and I like to chat a bit over Frosty.

Were you perhaps overserved, Greg, were you perhaps overserved, Greg, considering you don't remember this four-hour conversation with our friend Dom? Had you perhaps been overpoured by some scurrilous bartender, sir? It's entirely possible. I wanted to ask you, so Werensky took the points lead last night over, over McCar in fewer games, which is kind of Macarish, when you think about the way that the scoring race usually goes. McCar, Werenski, Quinn Hughes. What's your current rank in for those three guys? for the Norris or just who is best in general. In general.

Peak of their powers this season. Whose kung fu is the best? Makar, Warensky, Quinn Hughes. I still think it's Makar. I know there is a growing movement in the analytics community to discredit McCar at all costs, just because he plays so much with Nathan McKinnon and his work away from McKinnon isn't the best by XG,

but I think defensively he has a lot, more game than both Orensky and Hughes, and I think that complete package is what still puts McCar ahead for me. Wrenski, I think, is doing a lot with the least, and Hughes, I think, is the best offensive of the three, but I'd probably still go McCar, Hughes, Orensky, though it is getting a lot tighter in terms of peak of their powers. If it's Norris, I would like to throw Maureate's cider into that mix, because he's been amazing defensively this year, this season.

future teammate for Zach Werensky. Sorry, he's had to throw that in there. Potentially. Potentially. So when you say, because I've seen that too, people being like, McCar away from McKinnon, these numbers. First of all, I mean, like, I don't know what that level of sample size looks like because they tend to play a lot on the ice together.

But why do you kind of discredit that as being a knock on McCar's game, the numbers away from McKinnon? I don't necessarily discredit it. I just don't pay as much mind to it. I think if you're looking at like Wowie data, which is with or without you, you tend to get caught in these like extreme situations that often lack context. So McCar, when he's away from McKinnon, I assume he's playing a tough competition with Brock Nelson. They're playing shutdown and it's a defensive role.

McKinnon usually changes before McCar does, so they're going in the opposite direction. I think all of those things combine to. to equate to something that doesn't really tell the whole story. And when people look at that, they don't necessarily look at how well McCar and McKinnon do together, which is unbelievable given the context of those minutes. Obviously, other teams are throwing out whatever they can to stop those guys. And I think when you put it all together, like for me, I still have McCar as the best defenseman this year, although it is getting closer since the first couple months.

Let me track back there because you mentioned Moritz-Sider there, a couple of seconds ago. Make the case for him, who will go through his entire career and not miss a game, apparently. The biggest case for Sider, I think, is he's the best defensive defensive in the league this year,

while also being someone who can put up 60 points. He's playing tough minutes. He's playing with Evanston, who's really good defensively, but not necessarily like a Taves or favor caliber player. I just think he does so much with so little, as great as the Red Wings have looked on paper this year with standings and

their record and whatnot. There's still like a plus four-goal differential team, and the way they play without Sider on the ice has been abhorrent at times, and he is just the complete package, and a lot of fans seem to bemoan that the awards race for defensemen often goes down to Art Ross for defensemen, and I think Sider is making one of the best cases we've seen. of like the full package. Sorry, go ahead. No, I was going to say, if we can just pause on that for one second, like the, the, the, the, the, Ross of defensemen,

um, it's so true. And one of the things that I'm always sort of quick to point out, one of the things that Sedano Chara, for example, never did. Chara never got 60 points once in his career. Never. Was it one season where Chara rang up 60, but he was always in the conversation for the Norah. Sorry, I just wanted to throw that one in there for a little bit of spice for everybody.

But the thing about cider, too, is, I'll tell you, and you've probably seen the exact same thing, Dom, by the end of the season, like, just because this guy plays, like, such hard minutes and top assignments and, and, and, and, and, and, and, like, by the end of the season, this guy's, like, going on fumes, and he's been doing it for years. Yeah, we're seeing a bit of that, I think, in December and maybe early January, his numbers are starting to dip a bit with Edmondson. But, like, the overall thing, I still have him, like, a shade behind McClare, just because of the total. package. I've looked at like past races, the infamous Carlson versus Dowdy one, where Dowdy won being so good defensively. This is that race, but like on steroids, where

Macarra is way better than Carlson, but you can make an argument that cider might be even better than Dowdy was that year. I wanted to ask you, if people haven't, don't track Dom's standings projections on the athletic, you should. One, because I think they're much more aesthetically. pleasing now than they were maybe like two years ago. So it's very guffered up and it's great. Much easier on the eye. But the other thing too is that it always offers up some surprises. And for example, I was looking at the projections today.

And the model still kind of likes the capitals a bit here to be a 90-point team. Their playoff chances, I think we're at like 42%, which ain't great, but ain't terrible. what do you think about the capitals and their ability to maybe rally for a playoff spot despite some some recent stumbles? One quick caveat, Logan Thompson is day to day after getting hitting the head the other day against Seattle. Sorry, go ahead. Yeah, that would change a lot if Thompson is out for longer than day to day. That is literally almost the whole thing. The model really likes Thompson to the point that I will throw chairs around my apartment.

if he's not the day one starter for Canada. This has been a really weird year where usually, if you look at goal differential, it is like the best teams, the worst teams the league. If you sort it, like it makes sense. This year, if you sort by goal differential, it doesn't make sense at all relative to the standings. There's still, obviously, the best and the worst teams.

The middle is, like, wild. And the caps, I think, have been hard done by a lot of sequencing luck, where they might win more games by two or three, but lose a lot of games by one goal. And they're not getting, they don't have the record that you'd expect from their goal differential, especially relative to a team like Detroit, where, like I mentioned, they had like a plus four goal differential, but are right there with the lightning and points.

The other thing is strength of schedule, especially for the wild card teams. I think Washington and Columbus as well have one of the softest schedules going forward. And teams like Detroit, Pittsburgh, Boston, Buffalo, Montreal, all teams that, have a good lead right now that Washington has a more advantageous schedule on paper most these teams are pretty mid um and Washington I watched them playing in Seattle horrible game they look horrible I'm like what is my model doing um so it's nice that it like downgrades after that but do you have uh listen Tampa is so super legit you know you saw it going all through the injuries. Do you have any way to explain why, you know, first of all, they won the

circuit chapter 8. That's clear. J.J. Mosier looks awesome. Darren Radish is having an incredible season. It's interesting the way that they've sort of, you know, who has mentioned this to us? It was Eric Erlinson, I believe, is essentially McDonough and Mosier just sort of flipped contracts. It's a really nice bit of business year by Julian Brisebois. But like what happens with players when they join Tampa. Because Mosier never looked like this. Radish has had some goes around. He's never looked like this.

It seems as if, you know, and whether it's the call-ups from Syracuse. Like, what does Tampa do so well that here we are, you know, they get dusted by the Panthers in the first round. I think, okay, they're going to have the big dip. And hot take, John Cooper is going to be the first coach fired this year. And quite the opposite. He might win the Jack Adams.

And the Tampa Bay Lightning might make it to the Stanley Cup final. What is it with Tampa, Dom? I don't know, but I hate it as a Toronto native. They took Pontus Holmberg, who was like fine. There's another one. A Swedish Olympian, elite defensive star. And like some of that was like evident with Toronto and they went out and spent a lot up on Scott Lawton anyways.

But he never played this good with the Leaps. They've got random guys being called up after injuries. Charles Edward Dostus, never heard of him. He's good, he's fine. And their depth that just really stepped up. It's the same thing you see, the Florida Panthers. Something in the water in Tampa, maybe just the good vibes of being the sun all the time.

I don't know. I'm not a developmental expert. I don't know what they do, but credit to John Cooper as the coach of Tampa for getting the most out of absolutely everybody this year, especially with this next man up mentality. You know, that does wink at something, too, that's interesting. Of all the, like, there are some that believe that Jack Adams is, Jack Adams winner is, you know,

whoever takes a bad team and makes them good, others believe you take a good team, you make it great, you win the Jack Adams, others, and this is where I sort of sit here too, and this is where it sort of winks at Colorado and Tampa Bay. If you can keep a great team great over a long stretch, because, you know, as Bob Ganey used to always talk about when he ran the stars, is if you don't have headaches when you go to bed, then your team isn't good. Because if you have a good team, you're going to have a lot of stars on your team,

and stars always mean conflict and headaches, but you get results. From your analysis and your evidence that you look at and your model, like if you're voting on the coach of the year, which way are you looking, Dom, based on what you're seeing from these teams and what they're expected to do?

I am happy I don't because I don't know a lot about what coaches do beyond reputation and beyond what's expected. I think it's become an award where you look at the preseason betting line and say, okay, Tamp Bay is expected for 100 points. They're on pace for 115. That's plus 15 for the coach, and then you rank them afterwards. I think there's maybe some credence to that. It's probably not all the coach. There's a lot of luck involved. That's probably the first place where I would start.

I, to go in a complete different direction, I think John Cooper should just get a lifetime achievement award for all the times he didn't win this award because he's just been steadily the best coach every year and this year I think is his masterpiece. This is like the Hall of Fame when they do like historical oversight and just sort of clean it up like, oh yeah, we missed like all the dick duffs of the world.

And okay, let's get them in the Hall of Fame. So when it's all said and done, if Cooper doesn't have one, he should just get a lifetime coaching achievement award, Not the worst idea that we've heard on this show, by the way, Dom. And it's weird because the award is voted on by the broadcasters. It's usually the coach that gives the best quotes that ends up winning the award. You figure Cooper would have one right now.

By the way, the coach that drinks the most with the broadcasters generally does pretty well, too. All Merrick's saying with this like the best coach on the best team should win is justice for Mike Babcock, as I think is what he's trying to say. The question I have for you, Dom. How much better is Colorado than either Dallas or Minnesota? And would it shock you to see the winner of that second series in the Central Division knock off the league's preeminent juggernaut this season? Not lately. Not last seven years.

Not lately. Not lately. But they are missing some key guys. I think one of the things we picked up on early in the year is that this is probably Colorado's deepest team. and they have shown that through the first half with Nelson being an absolute shutdown center juggernaut. Landis Scoggle looking better and better every game.

McKinnon and McCar at full power. Sam Malinsky, apparently unreal. I think there's a massive cap between Colorado and the other two. Dallas, I think, struggles a bit to control play at five and five to the way you'd expect from the roster. And if they get a top four defenseman, I think they'd be in better shape, but right now I'm a little worried about them. Minnesota is missing, I think, a top six center, and we'll see if they land Trocheque or someone else to fix that.

But until that happens, I think Colorado would have a massive chance against both in a seven-game series. The issue with that is it's hockey, and we have seen a lot of upsets in the past. And though last year was very, very chalky, we might be due for a year where everything just goes completely. the way we don't expect. And maybe they just gain some superpowers from that first round matchup. I don't know. Last one for me, a simple one with a probably complicated answer. Are the Pittsburgh Penguins real?

Is this a mirage? Have I been walking in the desert for so long? And I'm seeing mirages of palm trees and swimming pools. Or are the Pittsburgh Penguins legit? Great question. I think the East has like two legit teams. maybe, maybe three, if Barkov comes back and Florida plays well. But other than that, it's just a parade of mid.

And I think Pittsburgh right now is showing they're near the top of that, I guess, dogpile. I am stunned. Mid-man. I'm stunned by how good they've been. I think everyone has fit really well. Everyone has responded well to a new coach. The special teams for both power play and penalties. for Pittsburgh being as good as it is, I think is a real strong indicator of Dan Hughes,

just being a way better coach than any one of us thought to start the season. But one reason I'm skeptical is right now it's fueled by a Stewart Skinner hot streak. And if we know Stuart Skinner, and I think we do, there's a cold streak that will come at the worst possible time. It's common. And that could make things spicy. So I think they're mid. I think they're probably will make the playoffs, which will be fantastic, because I think everyone wants Crosby, Malk, and Latang have one more go. And the East is really soft in the middle, so why not? But I can't get as far as legit.

Wish, first of all, I don't appreciate you saying it's going to be a postseason of surprises because, like, we have the Cup Final on ESPN could really use something other than Islanders mammoth to kind of bolster the old viewership. So I'm just saying. I wanted to follow up on Merrick's question, same premise, different team. We've seen Anaheim as a steamroller, then we saw them just fall apart, and now they're rolling steam again. What do you make of the ducks and are they going to get over the finish line as a playoff team?

I think so. I think the big difference between the ducks sucking for like three weeks and the ducks being good again is Lucas Dostal being himself. and I think we're seeing a lot this year. Goleys coming back from injury and struggling immensely. The Leifes played Anthony Stolars in his first game back for some weird reason and one of the most important games of the regular season. Aiden Hill wasn't great in that game either.

Dostle for, I think, two or three weeks was horrible. And that coincided with the cold streak Anaheim had. He's looked himself again, and they're winning now. And I think the big thing with Anaheim is defensive. they're still sketchy and they depend on Tolstel a lot. So as long as he's good, they're fine. And I do believe in him a lot. But I would like to see them clean things up defensively going forward.

Obviously, still a young team missing Leo Carlson right now. But when all of a sudden, Don, if they can improve in that way, I think they are on their way to being legit. This is awesome. Dom, thanks for taking so much time today. Really appreciate it. Continued success. Love reading everything that you're doing in the athletic. in popping up in everybody's pieces, which I always, which I always appreciate.

I just love it. I just love what I get to the point where it's like the Dom's model section. I always love in the athletic. It's fantastic. And like I said before you hopped on, like the reason I always loved you, Dom, is because you have all this knowledge and you have all this technology, and you use it for evil, which I think is beautiful. Because like there's a lot of people that like try to be on the straight and arrow,

the Megan Chakers of the world that are just like analyzing games and what happened on this play. and you have this stuff and you're just like, here's who shouldn't win the award. And I'm like, that's exactly what you should be doing with all your knowledge. Here's my list of phonies. Here's my list of people faking the funk in the NHL that everybody is wrong about. Yeah, like everybody else is just like, here's the, this is why Buffalo's do. And then Dom's like, F this guy says the model.

And it's just like, it's all you need. And hockey is more of it. that. It's awesome. I was, was I wrong about Jonathan Huberdow? Was I wrong? No, you were not. I didn't, I forgot to ask you,

but like you must, I think the model has always been pretty high on the, on the Sabres. Am I right on that? No, but it was high this season. The market price then at like 80 or to 83 points and I had them at like 90 or 91, which is the largest

discrepancy I had. Everything else was like on market. It's like, oh yeah, here come the Sabres. And that is gone. on pretty well. Yeah. They can always sabres it up. I don't know, man. Like,

we've seen the 10 game winning streaks before. That's a great line. Sabers it up. We've seen like the 10 game winning streaks before. So I didn't get too excited about it. But now that this is like the most historically good performance, this stretch here of games, was it 18, 3 and 1, 193 and 1, that we've ever seen from this team,

that stretches back to 1970. Like, I'm not at the point where I'm saying, like, this is a great team, but I'm at the point, Dom, where I'm saying the Buffalo Sabres are good. Buffalo Sabres are good. That's what I'm saying. Ever since the episode, we're going to rivalry. Top mid-Mountain. Top mid-mountain.

He did on Buffalo. The Sabres have been on being a food, please. There you go. Well, thanks back to that. Dom, thanks, man. Excellent stuff, as always. Thanks, Bell. Thanks for having me.

There is, Dom Lusition, from the athletic, where you can find his fine work on pretty much a daily basis. This is one of those moments and I'm so happy that you're hosting because my attempts at trying to glean how to pronounce Dom's last name have just led me to always refer to him as you're Ukrainian. You're Ukrainian. You belong. You belong.

You belong. No, but you're like as a Ukrainian where you belong is doing hockey coverage in the Western hockey league where they have the most exquisite Ukrainian junior hockey names every single year. So Iyas Sopurgy used to do a list every year of the best, best names in the Western Hockey League, which I just used to absolutely adore. And that continues to this. I'm a Wachinsky so I can say this.

Like, he's Dom from the Athletic for me because I look at his last name and it looks like an eye chart at the DMV. Like, I don't even know. I don't even make an attempt before. I ain't going to lie. It took me a long time to get my tongue into saying licition. And it should. This is why you're a professional broadcaster.

But no. You want to know my little trick for Dom? Oh, please. I think of Curtis Licition. You think of Curtis Licition. There you go. Whenever I see Dom, like, that's the player that I am like, okay, it sounds like that. Is this why you sometimes call me Lubavir Viznovsky?

Yeah, sometimes. Yeah, hey, Lou. What's up, Loobie? What's going on, bud, bud, bud? He was a good defenseman, man. I love Lubb of Mirvichovskiy. On the Kings. Was he the captain there for a while?

Wasn't he? Wasn't he? Wasn't he captain the Kings for a while? Was he? I must have missed that. I mean, wasn't he there. Maybe he wasn't. Maybe he wasn't. He was the Brown run?

Yes. Was he the captain the Kings? If he was the captain, he didn't get a statue like others. That's for sure. One thing I did want to mention two. No, he didn't get a statue, but Dustin Brown got his got his statue. Logan Thompson day to day. We sort of glossed over it there with Dom.

Clay Stevenson called up from Hershey. That is a massive, massive one for the capitals and potentially. A massive one for another team in a couple of weeks here. He crosses fingers, hopes that it's not the worst case scenario. I just saw the score did a story about why can't Canada make any good gullies anymore. I'm like, oh, I love reading this. You don't know my theory. I'll tell you what my theory is on it.

I'll tell you what my theory is on it. You get to go ahead and restate it. Hockey parents have fucked it up. And this is all anecdotal, all anecdotal. And I'm as guilty of it as anybody else because they had this exact same experience with my kids. Because in minor hockey, youth hockey, as is called stateside, everybody, every kid has to take a turn playing net. And I know what my feeling was. I want my kids coming off the ice crying saying, I never want to do that again.

ever, ever, ever want to do that again. I've always maintained that there was a special place in heaven for goalie moms because nobody goes through the stresses of a hockey game more than watching their son or daughter play net. You watch the goalie mom section, it is crazy, like the emotional highs and the emotional lows. Again, I'm just doing this anecdotally. I don't know, and I know like significant hockey people

that have done the same thing with their kid, just refuse to like good. Athletes refuse to let them play net. And I don't know why that changed. I don't know why it changed. I've talked to people, it's funny, I had this conversation with Catherine Henderson, who's the head of hockey Canada.

I said, you know, brought up this very point. Like, we don't have goaltender. Like, we're not, there used to be a goaltending factory in, like, Val d'Or Quebec that cranked out goalies on the regular. That happened. And that factory then moved to Stockholm and then moved to Helsinki,

and now it seems to be in Moscow. We don't have probably tariffs. It's probably tariffs. Although I think there's a factory in the States as well because the US does well with goaltenders. But I said like, how about, and to encourage goaltenders,

to encourage more kids picking up the pads and playing net, how about like we have like a national initiative through hockey Canada that if you want to play net, you waive the registration fee. It doesn't cost you. You want to play net.

You play it for first. You know what Catherine Henderson said to me? She said, in my mind, all kids should play hockey free in this country. That's the model I'm looking at. Wow. Like the idea of fitness, you either pay at the front or you pay at the end. Right? And her idea is, you want to play hockey?

For hockey Canada, everybody plays for free. That ain't coming together right now, but that was one of the models because I can't remember, is it Norway that does that? There was one model that she mentioned. And it was a sort of, you know, youth health initiative. more than anything else. But I thought that was interesting. But I think that, again, I blame parents, and I'm one of them

because I wanted my kids to come off in tears because I didn't want them to play net. And I played net as a kid. Maybe that's why. Can't believe there was never a hip song about the old goalie factory closing down. That seems like something they would have covered at some point. By the way, I also think part of the issue is that like goal-tunning is just a specialized position. I mean, how many stories, to your point, how many stories anecdotally have we heard about kids who played forward who then moved to defense

because that's how they would get more ice time and that leads to a generation of offense of defensemen that have like changed the NHL but like you never hear about like a kid who played forward who's like I'm going to become a goalie so Kevin Woodley because I've talked to Kevin extensively about this

so Kevin writes for NHL.com and runs in goal magazine fantastic read, fantastic interview and the point that he always brings up is in a lot of these other countries like Finland for example Russia where we see a lot of high-end goaltenders as a factory what they have is a top-down model of sharing information whereas in a country like Canada there's like these almost like little sort of mafia corners and mafia little fiefdoms where like this goalie fraternity

is sort of like they have their way of doing things and no information is shared from that corner to this corner everyone's got like the little territory days of wrestling if I want to couch it that way for you, Greg. There's like Georgia and Mid-Atlantic and Maple Leaf and Don Owens running Oregon, Stampede and Calgary. That's kind of the way that it is. And the only way that it's going to work is if there's a sort of top-down system where all the information and training all gets shared amongst the country. That was Kevin's thought on why Canadians don't produce goaltenders anymore. Zach tells us that Norway, Finland, Sweden have nearly free, highly subsidized youth sports programs. The way to do it. There you go. That's the way to do it. That's the way to do it.

That's how you produce a Zuckarillo is by subsidizing youth programs. You know what? I don't know about you, but whenever I see any player scoring the triangle goal, that's who I think of. I don't know if he was the first, but nobody scores that no one shoots at the triangle better than Matt's Socorello. He is, Tim Stutzelah is another one, but Socarella is the guy that nails it every single time. He's going five-all.

He's not going five-coal. He's not going, he's going to triangle. Hobbit Wizard was his nickname because he looks like Elijah would, but also it was a nickname that he roundly rejected. He did not like that nickname, but it was unavoidable because he looks exactly like Elijah would. He's like an incredibly skilled hockey player.

But when you look at him, if you just looked at him and he wasn't playing a game, you go like, oh, there's no way this guy would survive in an NHL game. Just on like how he skates, what he looks like, all of his size and everything. And then he gets out on the ice and he's like the most incredible player. He's honestly, hands down one of my favorite. One of my favorite players to watch. Anything before we bid you good afternoon, Greg Wichinsky. No, that's it.

I'm headed at a stadium series this week and I'm officially off paternity leave beginning this weekend. So I'm heading down to Tampa on Saturday morning to take in what should be a hell of a time. For those I don't know, the Gasparilla Pirate, festival is happening at the same time as a stadium series at Raymond James Stadium. So it's a pirate themed stadium series between Boston and Tampa, along with it being the Marty Grave, Tampa, if pirates were the ones throwing beads. So my first thought is, how am I getting from my hotel to the game? I don't know. Maybe a pirate boat. And second of all, it's just going to be a really, really fun atmosphere. And I would imagine one of the two teams is certainly going to be decked out

in pirate gear. A patch or a hook? What will you be sporting, sir? A patch or a hook? Or a parrot, I should say. You're forgetting the obvious option, which is a peg leg, so I can be peg leg. Peg leg, Greg. We've seen, I've seen a hollow leg, Greg, when you drink. Because I don't know where you put all that, but like, you have a hollow leg, which?

Where are you putting all this, girl? Listen, have a great time. Look forward to the full review next Tuesday here on the program. You be well and stay healthy. Give your liver a good rinse before you go. We'll talk soon. We'll do. Thanks, everybody.

There he is. Greg Wyshinsky from ESPN and ESPN.com. Some mentioning stuff there from Dom, hey? Yeah, also, by the way, one of the very first things I had ever done when I had started doing a full-time show hosting was have Dom on. And I was like, this is who I have to pronounce their last name.

You've given me this. Domestition. Yeah, I know how to do it now, but that was like one of the very first things. And I was like, oh, no, deep ends, figure out how to swim. I did it. But, yeah, so Dom and I have had a relationship since then. But, yeah, I was like, oh, what am I doing?

How many going to say this? West, I'm just off the top of my head. West Van Schoenhausen. Might have been the toughest one that I had to get my tongue around. This from covering the Western West. I think he was a Vancouver Giants draft pick. So West Van Huan-Schausen. I think that was the weight.

Anyway, a million years ago. Speaking of a million years ago, time for hockey. Hockey History and Hungry for Hockey History, which is a presentation of Uber Eats. Uber Eats is enabling fans to maximize their fandom all season long with exclusive game day deals on the app. From game day eats to paper plates and napkins if you're hosting to all the ingredients you need to make your favorite game day dip. Before, during and after the game, Uber Eats is assisting every fan's hockey experience all season long. What have we got today? Zacharoo.

January 29, 2015, Martan Broder calls it a career. The winningest goaltender in NHL history officially calls it a career at age 42, finishing with a 691 win, 397 loss, 490T loss record, a 224 GAA and a 912 save percentage and an NHL record 125 shutouts. He retires the all-time leader in wins, shutouts, games played, and minutes played, ranks first in playoff starts and shutouts and second in playoff wins. So a couple of things about Marty Breder. One, in his draft year, there were two goaltenders taken in the first round.

He was the second. The first went to the Calgary Flames, 11th overall from the Brandon Weekings, formerly played for your team as well. And that would be Trevor Kidd, who was taken before Marty Breder. Whenever it comes to goaltenders, you always have to consider the team and the environment and all that, because they still maintain. If you put Ken Dryden on the Cleveland Barrens, Ken Dride would not be in the Hall of Fame. we would not have to read a book called The Game and he would not have any Stanley Cups. And if Joel Malash played on the Montreal Canadians in that era,

we'd be talking, I don't know if you read a book or not, but we'd be talking a lot more about Joe Malash. But the thing about Marty Breder that I always liked, people can quibble about this. Goaltending historians can tell me whether I'm on base or off base about this one. But what I loved about Marty was, he was the last of the quasi-stand-up goaltenders.

When you look at how the goaltending position has evolved, and I know it, when you look at all the other positions in the league, it took the longest for goalies to figure out how to properly play the position. And that's the way that it's played now. The Alaires had a big part of it. Glenn Hall did Tony Esposito as well. But Marty was like the last of the guys that stood up and made saves. Like there was that era, call it the golden era of the netminder with Patrick Gua, Marty Bordura. Dominic Cashick, and I'll throw Ed Belfour into that mix as well. What made it so great is they all looked so different.

Every single goal tender looked different. Like Patrick Waugh played that butterfly Allaire style. Dominic Haschik seemed to have no style whatsoever other than abandon everything and just make the save. And Marty stood up. Marty stood. Marty wasn't like automatic go down. He had smaller pads so he could move quicker.

It's one of the things that I always admired Marty about. So when you think of how the goaltending position has evolved, Marty was the last of the stand-up goalies and still had the Hall of Fame career. As everybody was changing, because that was like the beginning of the end of the stand-up goaltender and the crazy fling yourself all over the place, although Tim Thomas did very well with that style too,

Marty was the last guy that stood. Had the nerve to stand up like a man and make a save and flop all over the ice. Like now is going down and sealing up the bottom of the ice. ice shakes fist let him stand on his head for all I care that's right Frank Calder Frank Calder very good very good oh well you've learned something here son I'm back to 19 16 when did you ever think that you would drop a 1917 1918 reference on a hockey show Zach not long into working with you I figured that it was probably likely to come at some point yeah and and here we are

we've we've arrived at that spot um a couple of more things that I wanted to do here. And I want to show you some video from a really special moment. But before we get there, I want to get to a highlight of the show here on a daily basis because of how creative you are. The sheet is powered by Fanduil. As everybody knows, play your game with Fanduel. It's the NHL season, and Fanduel is your home for all the action on the ice. From Blue Line to Bess Slip, we've got you covered all season long with unique promos, live offerings, and more features to let you play your game. Missed Park Drop, no sweat with a live same game parlay. You can build your bets up until the final buzzer. Download Fan Duel's

Sportsbook today and play your game. Please play responsibly, 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please contact. Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. Make us giggle, Zach. Well, you might be disappointed as am I here today because I always try to come up with something creative to bring to the show. and I looked through all the games tonight.

I looked through everybody who's playing and all the goal scores and stuff. And I was struggling to come up with something creative for tonight. No matter how much I looked inside my gourd, I couldn't find a way to connect the dots on a parlay that doesn't stank. Yanni Gour, Travis Koneckney, Logan, stankovin.

Five bucks is bringing over five bills. Look at that. Five dollars wins five. 2420 on the Yanni Gord, Travis Kinechnie Logan Stankhoven Trifecta. That's good.

That's good. Can't find it in my gourd to connect the dots on a parley that doesn't stank. How long is this? This one a little bit longer. I was like I actually couldn't figure out a way to get this one

together. And then finally, I was like, all right, we'll connect. the dots on this one. Okay. That's a Gour Connected Neeshanco Open $5. wins you $524.20. Okay, so I got an, well, we got an email here at the sheet last week from a gentleman of the name of Thomas Skelton, who's a teacher and also does some work in hockey as well.

And this is a story about, it's a beautiful piece of video that comes along with it. Andrew Doty is a video coordinator of the Calgary Flame. So one of Thomas's students is a neurodiverse learner. The name is Sean. Huge Calgary Flames fan and massive fan of Dustin Wolf. Like he has this, you know, kind of like I was and you probably are as well as that. Just like enthusiasm for the game that is almost unrivaled. So for his 18th birthday, Sean got tickets to go see the Flames and the Penguins.

And specifically his idol, Dustin Wolf playing against the Pittsburgh Penguins. So Sean wore the old blasty Calgary Flames jersey that we're about to see here in a couple of moments. We wore it to the game. And so Thomas wanted to make this like a really special moment for Sean. So he reached out to Andrew Doty and trying to say, hey, can he get an autograph or something like that? But Doty went like way above and beyond and arranged a meet and greet for Sean to meet Dustin Wolf after the game. Now the Flames lost that one so you can understand how players could. be grumpy and miserable, but not Dustin Wolf at all.

He, and this is all done in association with the great Jordan Bay, who works PR with the Calgary Flame, so a big nod to him. Let's roll the video. So this is after the Flames game and Sean gets to meet his hero. There he is, Dustin Wolf. After the game, there's Thomas who goes out to greet him to introduce him to his student, Sean. And Sean is just like beside himself with, they got the blasty jersey.

Dustin Wolf on the back, looking for an autograph. Dustin stayed and talked to him and did the whole thing. And this was all done in concert with the Calgary Flames PR team as well. Massive, massive shout out to Andrew Doty for his kindness, for making Sean's day a cherished memory for that young man. Just imagine what's going through Sean's head right now is he's meeting his hero. getting a stick signed. Like, I know right now the world is on fire,

and we're all scared to open up social media because it's like slaphead moment after slaphead moment. What's going on with our world? Look at that beer. There's Andrew, by the way, Doty in the middle there, and Sean's got the big smile. I know the world sometimes seems that it's on fire,

which is why it's good to highlight moments like this of genuine kindness towards other people. I know that the Calgary Flames, you know, aren't the only team that do things like this on a consistent basis, but when it comes across your desk and under your nose and in your inbox, this is an easy one to put out there. So Calgary Flames, well done. Jordan Bay, outstanding work.

And congratulations, Sean. You got to meet your hero in Dustin Wolf. What a beautiful, beautiful moments. And you have thought on that one? No, I just thought it was awesome. I watched the video a few times. You sent it over. And I watched it a couple times, put it together.

And then I was like, okay, this is making me a little bit like emotional here. And I was like, stop watching this. We'll play it back on the show. But even to see it, one of the things I like is he just keeps looking over like Dustin Wolf standing there signing stuff, keeps looking over. And it's like you could just see the joy on his face in that moment. Like how excited he is to be standing there talking to his hero. So very cool and very, very great job by Andrew in the Calgary Flames.

Fantastic. And speaking of great moments, New York hockey. It's coming up. Thursday, February 9th. By the way, great to see Colby back on the program today on Morning Cup of Hark. Thursday, February 19th, join daily face-off alongside special hockey guests

at the atrium inside Ideal Glass Studios in New York City for a night of live podcasts, activations, and giveaways in partnership with Perasso, Morning Cup of Hockey and the Tri-State Hockey Pod, which will be on location for a night of candid conversation, big laughs, and unapologetic hockey talk.

Doors open at 630, and Tri-State Hockey Pod gets going with the live show at 7.30. Thursday, February 19th at the atrium inside ideal glass studios, please, 21, and over, secure your spot, RSVP, Nationgear.com. No update on whether we're getting there or not, but I still got some more bait on the hook, as we like to say. Okay. All right. I got to hustle. I got to go pick up kids. It's my life. Welcome to it. And then drive them to hockey. I do not have that. No. Nice. You know the best part about kids is, Zach?

making them. On that, we'll wrap up the program. Yeah, that's it for Zach for the day. All right, there you go. Now, you do your trifectas, and I'll do the other fun. Okay, so thanks for joining us here today.

Thanks to Greg Wyshinsky for stopping by the program. Thanks to Domless Sission from the Athletic. Thanks to you for watching. Thanks to you for listening. We're back on the air tomorrow. By the way, Brian Burke will be aboard tomorrow. I know we had technology. issues yesterday. These have all been remedied and

Berkey joins us tomorrow on the broadcast. Look forward to that. Talk to tomorrow right here on Dayside.