The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Draft Lottery Process, Crosby Injured, Matthew Schaefer, and Game Show Friday ft. Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: March 27, 2026

On today’s special MvsW edition of The Sheet, Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski dive into the latest headlines from around the NHL as the season rolls on. The guys break down the concern surrounding Sidney Crosby’s latest injury and what it could mean moving forward, before shifting to a surging Montreal Canadiens team that held off the Columbus Blue Jackets for their third straight win. They also take a closer look at the New York Islanders picking up a big victory over the Dallas Stars, with rookie standout Matthew Schaefer leading the charge. To close things out, it’s a special Game Show Friday as MvsW brings the heat with “Hobey, Trophy, or Cup?” — a fast-paced battle that puts hockey knowledge to the test.#TheSheet #MvsW #NHL #Hockey #JeffMarek #GregWyshynski #SidneyCrosby #Canadiens #Islanders #DallasStars #BlueJackets #HockeyTalk #NHLLatest #HockeyNews #GameShowFriday #HobeyTrophy #StanleyCupLeave a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheSheetEmail us: [e-mail] TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Ninja: https://www.sharkninja.ca/ninja-crispi-pro-6-in-1-countertop-glass-air-fryer-rose-quartz/AS101CRS.html?utm_source=Meta&utm_medium=Paid+Social&utm_campaign=H1NinjaCrispi&utm_content=NinjaEN&dwvar_AS101CRS_color=cdb9b8Reach 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.

Okay, Greg, first of all, I feel like calling you, there's something about Greg. My hair is very large today. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, uh, I feel like the iceberg that hit the Titanic. My hair is so large today, but that's okay. Even do that if I have like the right pomade to even, you know, it's a lot of people, a lot of people on another podcast to do every week, which is the, the Dustin Nielsen show in Edmonton. Yeah, I like to, uh, mock me. The people in our chat mock me because they blink too much. The people in that chat mock me because they say I have Lego hair.

They say I look like a Lego man because of my hair. Maybe. Maybe. I don't know, I don't know. You should not have said that because I can see it now. Now you're not going to be able to unsee it. Is that the problem now, Zach? Yeah, you're going to think a Lego hair boy here?

It's fine. Listen, listen, I didn't have to go to Turkey to get it. Okay, that's if my dad. If my dad, my dad looks like a crystal ball that a fortune teller should be using. And the fact that my hair is still with me is sort of a minor miracle. So I will gladly build this thing up like it's a jenga tower to flaunt my follicles. Not once in a while. See, I never met my dad.

So I don't know. Like biological dad because I was adopted. So I never know what my dad looked like. I know he was like a big, strong dude with a red mustache. That's all I know. I have no idea, like, what's in store for my hair. Like, Yukon Cornelius? Like that guy?

No, I don't think, like, to that extent, I know he had, like, a red mustache. Yeah, like, I think he was English slash Scottish, and he had, like, a red goatee or red mustache. And that's about all that I know about him. There you go. My dad started. I have no idea what I'm in store for. My dad started losing his hair, I think, when he turned 40.

and then me being a kid, I used to make fun of him for it. And I'm sure that he under his breath would look forward to the day in which my hair fell out, but it hasn't yet. And of course, and frankly, it hasn't turned gray at all either.

I have a perfectly colored head of hair. I'm getting the saltwater. It's all natural. You know what's hilarious? You know what's hilarious? Yeah. Completely hilarious. What's that? Old hockey cards from the 70s,

where dudes that look like, They are 70 are like 25. Did everybody just look old? Like, and you see it on a hockey guy, I always go back on like, and then I look at the back. I'm like he's like 22 years old and he looks like he's 80. Did people just age faster? Something happened.

In the 70, what happened to people? It's also, it's also in the movies. Like, there used to be a Twitter account that would mark time based on how old Wilford Brimley was in the movie. Oh, that's right. Wasn't it 50? It was 50 years old And he looked like he was like Had one foot in the grave

And one foot on a banana wheel He looked like an elderly Ken Hitchcock But the The Cochoo was a movie About a bunch of senior citizens Who find an alien pod In a swimming pool

At their retirement home And it gives them The Vim and Vigure of Youth And yeah People like Wilford Brimley looked a lot older People on 1970s hockey cards It's a lot older And

And maybe it's beauty routine. I don't know. Maybe it's less smoking. I don't know. Is it the smoking? It's got to be the smoking. It's got to be the smoking. It's got to be the smoking.

It's got to be all the smoking. I'm going to go with smoking. I'm going to go with door number two. There you go. I'm going to say smoking. Dude, you know what I need today? I need a really fun show. I have had a long life and it's led up to this day.

And I need a really, really fun show. today at the end of these so this is my my my my my homework for you not homework my job for you today is I need a really fun show can you deliver a really fun show I want to have a great weekend I have a lot of fun today of the next 60 minutes or so I need a really fun show today I just need it well that brings me to my next point Merrick which is pride jerseys you know I really think let's just get all the light everything on fire topics out of the way here let's get to this though the blue blueprint is powered by Fandu. As we all know,

download the app today and play your game on Fandle. That I mentioned they need a fun show today. Need a really, really fun show today. We'll see what's in store. Greg Wyshinsky from ESPN and ESPN.com is aboard.

Crosby injured. That's not fun. Habs staying hot, that is fun. Schaefer skating all the minutes. That's fun. Tom Wilson hit. Fun for Tom Wilson.

Not so much fun for Jack McBain and game show, which can be fun. That'll be fun. That'll be fun. So, I saw your tweet. Like, thanks for giving me the heads up on social media,

as opposed to just sending me a text or anything. It's game show time. I have no idea. That's how the players find out nowadays, Jeff. That's how the players find out. So that's how you're doing for you. You go to Twitter. That's exactly right.

It's like you're watching SportsCenter TSN at the trade deadline. You just found out about the news that way. Oh. Before we get to everything else, let's talk about something else that we talked about off air, which is tanking. I am a plank in my platform is that I don't care about tanking. I don't think it's a problem. I think if you want to run the risk of alienating your consumer base

by gutting your team and gutting for a top overall pick, then more power to you. There's at least some skin in the game. There's at least some level of risk involved in doing that that I appreciate. And also the level of risk is, because of the draft lottery system, the National Hockey League has, there's no guarantee you're going to get anything.

And I understand we're going to be talking about Matthew Schaefer later. I actually went back and checked how many teams had a worse record than the Islanders. I think it was like seven maybe teams, six or seven teams that had a worst record of the Islanders last year. Pause on that. The feeling is the sliding door moment was the disallowed Kyle Paul Mary goal against Columbus

that ended up being, the difference between the Islanders and the Rangers getting the Schaefer lottery ball. That's the one that Islanders fans have isolated as the moment. And at the time, like, oh, this sucks. But really, you know, this is like the Zen farmer, you know, maybe, maybe, maybe. That was the moment where they actually won the lottery.

And the thing that's been pointed out by a lot of people, it's good hockey karma because they didn't throw the season to try to get the first overall pick. And they ended up with Matthew Schaefer. That was the good karma. story. So you don't think it's a give back for the NHL temporarily taking the All-Star game away from UBS Serena?

Oh, geez. Prevailing thought at the time. Okay, I'm getting in a better mood here now. This is good. All right. You're working. Your stuff's where you're bringing your aim material. Okay, you're bringing the high heat from here, right?

It's good. Feeling good? Keep going. All right. I'll get to the lottery thing in a second. But now that we're on it, now that we're on it, like imagine Matthew Schaefer, okay, not on the islanders, but having the same effect

that he's having with the islanders on the sharks or the blackhawks or the predators working underneath Roman Yosi or the Kraken or the Bruins or the flyers shall I go on?

Like it is incredible that the islanders ended up with that pick over all hockey themes. You guys didn't. you guys didn't tank and for that hockey gives you Matthew Schaefer. That is the good karma story, the good hockey karma story. You guys didn't totally, you guys didn't flush this once.

You get Matthew Schaefer. I will say this. They don't deserve him because they have Macklin's, hold on, because they have Macklin Celebrini. Yeah. And that is enough to resuscitate the franchise and point the sharks forward for at least the next decade. Mm-hmm.

Could you imagine Matthew Schaefer with Celebrini and Smith in Eklund and that team? My God, could you find a better pick of youthful exuberance than Matthew Schaefer threading passes to Macklin Celebrini, the new McCar and McKinnon for a new century? Yeah, that would be amazing. that would be fantastic but no but here's the thing they have macklin they don't need shafer the islanders were a boring moribund franchise

now they have matthew shaffer who by the way to his credit is not only an on-ice impact player that we've never seen before at his age as a defenseman but also is such again to sit on the bench and do your postgame interview and gush about how much

you love being an islander like this is an endorsement that this franchise needed in the worst way and he brings it every time he talks into a microphone and it's such a beautiful thing. It's awesome and there's a wholesomeness about him as well and everybody knows the family story

and the personal story and it's impossible not to cheer for this guy. Like I've always said one of the hallmarks of having a really cool team and this sometimes this is sort of thrust upon you, like Columbus, for example, through tragedy with the Godros. And sometimes it's thrust upon you because you have a personality like Matthew Schaefer. You know, one of the cool things is being everybody's second favorite team. And Matthew Schaefer is making it really easy for people to have the Islanders as their second favorite team.

Oh, that's a good question right here. Tough for a Rangers, tough for a Rangers fan. I get it, but like, listen, safe to say the majority of people are cheering for the Columbus Blue Jackets right now and have been going back to last year after the tragedy. You know, everybody wants like some level of sort of hockey healing there to say nothing about, you know, Bill Simmons jumping all over this year, et cetera. Like it's been a time. Remember of Patrick Linae lived off about them too? It's just like, oh man, Columbus just getting speed back. here like I want Columbus to do well loving the story you see that's the problem I'm behind it I want it just like I agree like Islanders are becoming one you love it when a team becomes must watch like when Edmonton with McDavid and Dreiselt also just started popping off or you just mentioned San Jose sharks with Macklin Celebrini that become that became must watch stay up for the sharks you dummies in the east and watch San Jose sharks is going to be a lot of fun whether they win or

lose like you become that level but then you take the next step and you become really likable to other fan bases and you become everybody's second favorite team here's the problem with that with that theory so you have Columbus who's won nothing yeah we had the island you have this incredible nostalgia attached them every single kid whose father had a mike bossy poster on every table bob nice drum yeah is is going to come out of the woodwork and be excited about the islanders resurgence. We've said for years, man, much like just like the Boston Bruins, much like the Chicago Blackhawks, the Islanders have been the other latent fan base

that will explode when they become a true cop contender. But the problem is, Jeff Merrick, is Buffalo. Buffalo, Buffalo. To quote Bill Simmons, did Buffalo market correct Columbus and New York Islanders? They did because Buffalo has both of those aspects. They have the lovable losers thing. made the playoffs since, you know, the Obama administration. And they have, much like the Islanders,

sleeper cells around the country of Buffalo fans that are ready to flood the local bars and jump through flaming tables in their front lawns because the Sabres are once again playoff contenders. So as much as I love Columbus, as much as I will begrudgingly love the Islanders. My dad was an Islander's fan. I'm a Devils fan.

I can't love the Islanders with all my heart. everybody loves Buffalo. They're just so happy. And Buffalo plays fun too. Like all of it, I think Buffalo is the de facto second favorite team of the NHL right now. You know, so much about the Buffalo Sabres, like whenever this thing with Buffalo is done this year,

like wherever they get to in the playoffs, we will look back on the season and one of the dates we're going to circle is that Sunday night game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. And what happened there. Have you noticed? And again, we saw this, we even saw this last night.

with the Vancouver Canucks and the Los Angeles Kings, where you have like Z. William and Tom Willander, like, fighting at the end of the game. I have a theory over the past week and a half, two weeks here, that because you see it every single night. And this used to just be the bailiwick of the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning. But if you notice, like every single night, ever since Radco Goodus hit Austin Matthews and Maple Leaf's players did, there I'm waiting for the bus impression

or I'm doing elevator practice or look at me pretending to be a statue or someone give me scissors so I can cut these damn laces off my skates and did nothing but watch and then watch all the everyone around the NHL watch the criticism of the

Maple Leafs and saw how they were derided by everybody for not doing anything, not lifting a finger. You know what happens every single night? When there's a big hit, everybody charges. And everybody gets into it.

Once upon a time, that didn't happen. But the Goudis Matthews thing became such a hot point that right now, it's almost as if the Maple Leafs shamed every other team into reacting like Tampa and Florida does because that was the expectation of what Toronto should have done. And again, you saw with Vancouver and Los Angeles. Again, yes, they've like a minute and a half left. Kids are scrapping. Am I seeing something here that's not there?

Or do you think that ever since Matthews Goudis, everyone has done? We saw this happen before, but like that Buffalo Tampa game where every tiny little bit of aggression was met with everybody tossing down sticks and gloves. There's two other factors at play. And you mentioned one of them, which is the Florida Panthers. and you make three straight Stanley Cup finals and you win twice and you do it being the bully on the block. And it's a copycat league.

I'm not saying that other teams are actively trying to mimic the Panthers, but I think that mindset, you know, players aren't dumb. They see what sells. They see what's working. And the mindset that the Panthers have, I think is something that if you want to be a champion that maybe in the back of your mind you've adopted. The other thing is,

for fighting league man four nations i think i mean i that's another part of it yeah that's yeah i haven't seen i haven't seen the hard numbers on it but it feels like you know just just you know um informally that fighting's probably back up again um so there's there's something in the air but but maybe uh the uh leif's uh gutta situation was an accelerant for it I will not disagree with that whatsoever first of all Oh well okay

Go ahead As you can say I don't think it's a bad thing at all For the NHL Don't Not at all I know people may look at it and go like Oh look at this empty calorie nonsense The one thing that I do wonder about

And I've been talking a lot about this to people And Paul Stewart was the only official It was the only referee Who I believe used to do this because we see a lot of scrums, a lot of scrums in the NHL. There's a lot of everyone's getting together here.

Everyone's grabbing on. But what Paul Stewart used to do when he was, and again, like when Paul played, he was tough. And he fought everybody. There's one game where he fought three Quebec Nordiques like in the first period. Paul was tough. What he used to do is when there was scrums,

he would pull the linesmen out. And it'd say, if you're going to fight, fight. But there's a lot of fake tough guys here right now. So I'm pulling the lines. men out. Boys get out. We're going to see who wants to fight.

And everybody would calm down. Everybody would calm down. Do you think we'd get rid of the sort of like the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the one's, I'm not, like, holding him back. And, and, yeah. Um, I, I, I, I, I, I'll say this. Like, I, I do, I think a little bit of fighting goes long way in the NH. As I've often said, I've never been at a game and see somebody turn around and go to the concession stand during a fight. Okay, a little bit of fighting is something that we can all agree, adds a little spice

to the chili, if you will. What the NHL has done and what I hope it continues to do is it's gotten rid of the clown shit. You know, I think the clown shit is the stuff that we don't really want to see. The NHL didn't do that, though. But they have to know. The last five minutes of the game rule and things like that. Sure. But but but the, but the NHL, I mean, I guess they did and it started with the Shanahan summit coming out of the 0405 blockout. Yeah, they helped foster it. For sure. But they, they didn't deliberately get, you know, the dancing bears out, but could because

those guys skated their way out of the NHL. They couldn't keep up. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, you couldn't afford to have, but it's not the NHL said, like, I wasn't talking about it. Like, there's no room for you in here and match on. I was, I was talking about reasons to fight. Like, like, like, like, you know, there are always, even as, as, as folks that have been watching this game for as long as we have.

Like, there are always going to be fights that you see that we're just like, really, really, like, come on. Like, the egregious fight, the clown fight. I'm not talking about enforcers, because you're absolutely right. Like, part of the reason why fighting has gotten down to acceptable levels is because the game is super fast and the salary cap being what it is and all of these factors combined to make it impossible for there to be fourth liners that can't hang anymore. But I'm talking about the,

the fights that even as hockey fans were just like, this is a bit much. And we almost got there with Four Nations. Like the third fight in Four Nations was very close to being the tipping point. Perico, J.T. Miller, that one? Yeah. Did you have that sense about that one? But don't you agree?

Like the third one was just kind of like, okay we get the point if there's a fourth. I'm probably not going to like it. Right. Remember Jack Handy? Deep thoughts. Saturday night. Yeah, for SNL.

Sure. Absolutely. My favorite one, winks at what you're talking about now. No one like this. If you're a clown and you have a dog in your act and you dress the dog up like a clown, people will say, that's too much. That's what I think of.

Or it's like, okay, we're okay with the third, but the four? that would be the clown with the dog dressed up like the clown. Because the fourth is you're just like, I'm kind of here for this hockey rivalry that we love so much. And we get the point. We were going to talk about the draft lottery. So, um, Sean Starania of ESPN reported out some changes that the NBA is making for its, It's an inherent tanking problem. By the way, where are you on tanking?

Do you agree with me that you don't give a shit that people think it's a problem? I prefer that it wasn't a thing. But again, like I went through and you did too, like the era of the Pittsburgh Penguins completely tanking with the New Jersey Devils. Your team didn't. And they ended up with Muriel Lemieux and your team got Kirk Muller. Kirk Muller. That's right. A really good player.

Not Mary-Lameau at all. Imagine what would have happened if those roles were reversed. But I'm kind of in the same place with tanking as I am with the three-on-three. Like, I love the three-on-three. That being said, I'm completely fine if you want to add a rule or two to make it even more exciting than it is. I'm fine with tanking. That being said, yeah, I don't necessarily need a team to win the lottery twice in like a five-year-span, three times in a five-year span. Like that's something that I can agree with, and we should probably not do.

Now, the reason I bring up the NBA stuff is there's one aspect of the three plans that the NBA is looking at that I found really fascinating, which is one of the plans involves 22 teams being in the lottery. That seems like a lot. The bottom 10 teams, the eight that qualify for the play in tournament, the four playoff teams that lose in the first round, they're all in the lottery. But they'll be ranked according to their record across two. seasons. Now this is important. Waiting teams by the record across the prior two seasons is how the WNBA

weighs its lottery system. And I thought this was an interesting fix. We don't, we did it for the Crosby draft because we had to. We waited a base. No, we waited, we waited of a couple of different seasons

to figure out those lottery odds. But I've never really heard a lot of desire amongst the NHL, let's fix the draft lottery. people to take multiple seasons into account. I thought this was an interesting idea. What did you think of it? They take multiple seasons into account when it comes to quote unquote winning the draft

lottery in the NHL. Right. And how often you can do it. They do that. I'll tell you what. Like I'll just, I'll just spill it out here. We have a salary cap. And I've always felt that the presence of the salary cap allows us to do things like get rid of lottery odds and just make every single team

with having to have the potential to win the draft lottery because all you're doing is you're managing your budget and you're managing your finances. That's all you have. And you will have every single fan base interested in your draft lottery. Which is a moment. Again, we talk about tent pole moments so much around the end.

It becomes a tent pole moment for every. everybody in the NHL. Like that Crosby draft, and mind you, part of it was, it's Sidney Crosby. And you're getting a future Hall of Famer and everybody knew it. But I don't know.

I just look at every single team and say like everyone's got the same amount of money to work with and you allocate your resources as you see fit as a team. Why do we need a weighted lottery? Why not have 32 teams with the exact same lottery odds? Unless you're a socialist.

Oh, you see, that's, you know what? just why because they elected Mgami, my mayor, now I'm a socialist. Look, I'll be a socialist when it comes to the draft lottery because I truly believe in the idea of using that as a function to help teams that are terrible. And I know there's a teams that have got themselves, and they've mismanaged them, played themselves into a place where you need support from the entire NHL to get you out of the hole that you've done yourself in. Or are they a victim of their success and they have to eventually say goodbye to really good

players. I mean, like, like, if the Washington capitals are, are deeper into the lottery post Ovechkin, like, it's, that's just how it works. There's a cycle to these things. Like the San Jose sharks, um, at one point in the last, you know, like 10 years ago, we're a cup contender. Now, they're not because all the guys got old and or got hurt. It just happens. Does that mean they shouldn't have a, a better shot at Macklin Sellebrini than, then, you know, the Tampa being lightning. Hang on a second. Now, this is very true for the very top of the, the draft. Like the guys that are going to walk in right away.

You're Macklin-Cellibrini's, you, you, Matthew Schaefer. The guys are going to walk in right away. The problem in the conversation itself is we leave out a massive key piece here. We just think that giving people the first overall pick or second overall pick or best odds to draft high is doing them a favor. We think, okay, here you go. You're going to get Macklin-Cellabrine.

What everybody forgets is a major piece in between getting drafted and making it to the NHL and that's the development piece and that is where teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning continue to succeed. Yeah. We think that just by handing someone a lottery pick at the high end

after a miserable season is going to somehow bring them back to a parody and then maybe a championship and just leave out the middle piece which is probably in a lot of ways because not everybody gets the first overall pick obviously in a lot of ways that development piece is more

important than the pick itself. It's what you do with these players, how you handle these players, how quickly you get them into the NHL, how you take sending them back to junior for another year, or more development time in the National Hockey League, another year and call all these things that go into developing a player. We just ignore and just say, oh, yeah, hand them a high pick. Hand them a high pick. Well, but doesn't doesn't the market dictate that you can't do that?

I'm sure the Chicago Blackhawks would love if Connor Biddard could hold the clipboard for a season. But the bottom line is that the Chicago Blackhawks need to fill their building. You know, the San Jose sharks need to fill their building. The sharks haven't had big crowds a decade until Macklin Sillabrini showed up. I mean, there's a certain, again, capitalistic reason why you rush these guys into the NHL. And it's because you can't afford to be patient with them because you need them to be the poster on the side of the arena. That's a decision. That's a decision you make, though.

Now, for the guys you're talking about, like, yeah, they're ready for the national hockey league. But that's not true of everybody. That's not even close to true about everybody. But listen. Yeah. No, go ahead. I was going to say, though, but like in this era, yeah. Is it truer?

I mean, Matthew Schaefer just walked in and could, he's going to get Norris votes. Okay. How is? Like, Art. All right. Okay. So how's Art. How's Artim left Shunoff, second overall draft.

Not great. Right. But, but, okay. But, but, like, a lot of these guys have been able to walk right in and be difference makers. Some and I think for the, for those guys, fine. For those guys, absolutely. I think back in the day, I think back in the day, an 18 year old gets eaten up and chewed out because it's, it's a more physical league. It's, it's a different style of hockey.

I think, I think the NHL has gotten to a place where an 18 year old can walk in and be a difference maker more, more than an, any other error in the history of the league. There's not even a counter argument to that. A hundred percent true. I always like true. And that is now, no, but that is because like the premium now is on skating. And everybody coming into hockey now. And again, like I've made the point, going back to the old program, the old MVSW, like the one thing in Connor McDavid's group was, I think, the first.

Like his cohort was the first. After the lockout, a lot of people had the. changed the way they played. Everyone, like everyone in the NHL, the American League, all the way down, had to change the way they played. So you grew up with playing one way and then halfway through it or three quarters of the way through it, you have to change to adapt to the new way the game is going to be played. The McDavid group was the first one that just grew up with that rules package, that just grew up with this is how we play. And that's why Conner McDavid was the best of that bunch. Are we going to see another Cona McDavid? Absolutely, we are. We

are. He was just the first one with the new way to play the game in his hip pocket. But there's going to be more. When the accent, when the accent is on skating, it is always going to favor. The NHL is always going to favor younger legs. Always. Let me go back to your point, though. Do you honestly think that a team that's been at the top of the league for like the last four seasons should have as equal a shot as a franchise in the bottom of the abyss?

at a top talent? If you're looking to avoid to get rid of tanking, yes. There's no, there's, like all of this is under the umbrella of getting rid of tanking. If you want to get rid of tanking, everyone has the exact same opportunity

to draft first overall, exact same odds. There's no point. There's no incentive to tank whatsoever. It doesn't matter. You will have, whether you're the Vancouver Canucks or you're the Colorado Avalanche,

you will have the same lottery odds. There. No motor. motivation to tank. But then how do those, how do those shit teams get good? They develop players. They develop players,

but they won't have the top tier players to develop. They won't have the best of the best. Every single turnaround in this league is predicated on having elite talent that you acquire for the draft. Elite talent that you acquire from the draft and then develop in your system. That was my whole point, is we leave out the development piece out of all of this. Again, go look at how many high picks. Now, Victor Hedman is number one.

Andre Vasselowski was also a former first round pick too. But remind me where Braden Point was selected. Remind me where Nikita Kutcheroff was selected. Like, I'm looking at, remind me we know where J.J. Mosier and Darren Radish and all, like the stars of the Tampa Bay Lightning who might win the Stanley Cup this year. Remind me where they were chosen. Their development piece is so good, so good that Tampa goes in the draft and says, I don't care where we pick. We're going to A, find players, and we're going to develop them better than anybody else. I mean, you could throw Dallas in there, too.

I mean, Allison is another great one. Fourth. Fourth overall. Fourth of all. That was Nico Heeshire, Nolan Patrick. He was in that neighborhood. Yeah. Maybe he was third through fifth.

But like that. And then Cal McCarre was fourth. Yeah. Where was Jason Robertson? Where did he go? That's a good question. I don't know the answer to that. Jason Robertson was second round early.

Yeah. So you think about all those guys. Because they took it. Hastanen, Ottinger, and then the second round, they picked off Jason Robertson. Pretty good draft. Joe McDonnell, baby. Joe McDonnell. Dallas Stars, scouting genius.

But Dallas is another team that I think has been, has been, A, patient with their prospects and B, really knows how to develop. Yeah. Yeah. So there you go. You want to give her to tanking? Everyone's got the same lottery odds. And everyone's engaged. in the lottery day because everyone's got skin in the game.

I hate that. No. Help, help those who need help. Like help, you know, like when you guys got. No, help the wealthy. We judge our society by how we help the wealthy. That's the lesson that I've learned. Read the news the last couple of years.

That's how you do it, right? It's trickle down, you see. We judge our society by how wealthy the rich are. Not by how we help. Yeah, if we give Colorado Gavin McKenna, it'll eventually trickle down too. Vancouver is success right is that the way it works because he'll visit because he'll visit and he'll sell out right and he'll sell tickets exactly that's exactly right all right let's do

our game show I'm getting I'm in a good moon now what's what's oh you want to the game show right now do we have anything else that we'll leave it right Zach I keep us on on track are we leaving anything on the table here oh of course you are but we could do the game show and then fit everything in right in right after it it's a quick one for all the people in the chat who hate my game shows and it ties into somebody I just mentioned Gavin McKenna who of course is in the NCAA. It is the NCAA tournament going on right now in the United States leading to the frozen four. And what I've cooked up for Merrick on Game Show Friday is a little game called Hobie Trophy Cup. Hobie Trophy Cup. Now, I'm going to name a player, Jeff. And you're going to

tell me whether this player won the Hobie Baker Award for top NCAA Division. a men's player, won a national championship in the NCAA with his college, and won the Stanley Cup in the national hockey league. So this player will have had to have won the Hobie Baker, won a national championship, and won the Stanley Cup in his career. Can I call me? Can I get a lifeline? And can that lifeline be Nate Ewell? Nate Ewell?

I want Nate Ewell. Nate Ewell should be playing this, not me. shout out Nate Yule. Former Washington Capitals, PR Maven, who then went to College Hockey Inc. was it? Yes. And then also went to Vegas, right?

Okay, so here you go. Did this player win the Hobie Baker, win the national title, and win the Stanley Cup? The first name for you is Neil Broughton. Neil Broughton. Miracle and ice player for the United States.

Oh, as well. Was he the first American to get 100 points in his season? Was Neil Broughton the first American to get 100 points? points. Okay. So did he win all three or did he win one or two? Did he win all three? Did he win all three? We're looking for people that won the Hobie Baker, won a national title and won the Stanley Cup in their career. Oh, God. My real answer is I don't know. I'm going to say one. He won a national championship. So you're going to say that he did win all three. It's a yes. Oh, is it? It has to be all three? It has to be all three.

Then I'm going to say yes. Then I'm going to say yes. The answer is yes. Neil Broughton won the Hobie Baker at 1981. The first player to ever win the Hobie Baker. He won a national title with the Golden Gophers in 1979. And he, of course, won the Stanley Cup with the 1995 New Jersey Devils.

Although many people say it's only half a cup because it wasn't a short season. but I say it's a full cup. Half a cup. All right. So was he first American to 100 points? Zach, can you check that? I don't know. When I think Neil Broughton, I got that in my head.

When I think of Neil Broughton, I think of the Broughton family, including Aaron Broughton, another former devil. All right. Player number two, T.J. Oshy, T.J. Sochi. Timothy, J. Moshi. Did he win the Hobie Baker, a national title, and the Stanley Cup, Jeff Merrick? Well, he won a cup with the caps. It's true. I'll give you that one.

So the answer is yes. The answer is no. T.J. Oshy did not win the Hobie Baker, and T.J. O'Shee, at North Dakota, did not win a national title. Neil Brodney, by the way. Oh, hang on. Neil Broughton, yes. Was the first American-born player to record a 100-point season in the NHL.

It happened in the 1985, six season with the Minnesota North Carolina. So I just won. I just won game show Friday. Based on a question, I just made up myself. The bonus points. Okay, here we go. Player number three. Chris Drury.

Little League World Series. Little League World Series. Little League World Series. Okay, Drew. National title and a Stanley Cup. So Drury is one of the BU Mafia. Bobby Baker. Stanley Cup with Colorado.

I'm going to say yes. I'll go yes again. That is correct. Chris Drury won the Hobie in 1998. He won the national title with Boston University in 95, and he won the Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2001. Exit 16W, a big year for the Colorado Avalanche and giving both Chris Drury and Ray Bork

the Stanley Cup that year. Ray Bork, Ramabark! That's my Gary Thorne impression. That's good. All right, player, player, You are now two for three. Player four. Matt Carl.

Oh, wow. Did Matt win the Hobie Baker, a national title, and a Stanley Cup? Did he win all three? Matt Carl, defenseman Matt Carl. You won a cup with Tampa? I'm going to say no. Man, you are three for four. You are killing it.

Matt Carl won the Hobie Baker in 2016, won a national titles in 14 and 15 with Denver, but never won the Stanley Cup. He had 127 playoff games. He was with the pre-Stanley Cup, Tampa Bay Lightning, in the John Cooper years. So you go, three for four. And one day his brother will be a highly paid coach in the NHL. One day his brother is going to break the bank. His brother, of course, being the current coach of Denver.

Play number five. Jim Montgomery, current head coach of the St. Louis Blues. By the way, did you? he's on a five-year contract, I think. Did he get five from Blue's? I think he might be a five-year deal. That's a hell of a thing. Did Jim Montgomery win the Hobie Baker, a national title, and a Stanley Cup?

No. Did not. You are four for five. Jim Montgomery never won the Hobie Baker. He won a national title with Maine in 1993, but never won the Stanley Cup. In fact, Merrick, he only has eight Korea playoff games. Was Paul Korea on that team?

Is that the Korea team? BlackBers team? Damn right. He was. Man, I love Paul Korea. All right, the final name in the Hobie Trophy Cup game for Game Show Friday is Jordan Leopold. Defenseman Jordan Leopold. Did he win a Hobie Baker, a national title, and a Stanley Cup?

Oh, that's a, you did your Obi-Won Kenobi. That's the name I've not heard in quite a long time. No. Jordan Leopold. You say no. I'm saying no. He won the Hobie Baker in 2002. He also won a national title with Minnesota in 2002. But the closest he ever came to winning the cup was with Calgary in 2004.

Oh, I was going to say Anaheim. Was you on that Anaheim team that went to the final against the Devils? He might have been. But anyway, Jordan Leopold, 80 playoff games, the longest run he had. I think the longest run he had was with Calgary so I don't think he was on the Anaheim team No Cup So there you go

You went five for six One of your best game show Friday College hockey genius I don't need any of the Hopi trophy cup game Very impressive None of those None of those were just guesses

Just to see you know I knew all of them My knowledge of college hockey You had it unlocked That rich That rich That deep Okay, do you have a thought, by the way, on what we saw between Washington and Utah yesterday?

And not just the Tom Wilson hit, but like, Ovechkin just like popping off for a hat trick. I mean, that's fun, right? I don't know how this is all going for OVey towards the end. I think, I still think they don't know completely, but probably have an inkling that we could be nearing the end. So to see him pop off like that is a wonderful thing. It truly is. It's one of those like we got to start really cherishing these moments. Yeah.

As OV nears the twilight. The Tom Wilson thing, you know, obviously for me, we had two instances last night of on-camera taunting that will live on beyond those games. Tom Wilson doing the turtle motion to Brandon Tanniv and of course Darnel Nurse doing air kisses to the Vegas bench as he leaves the ice, which I thought was, I mean, not to get off the caps Utah thing too quickly, because I know you want to talk about McBain,

but like Vegas, the Vegas Oilers game last night reminded me of the Lightning Buffalo game of a Vegas really trying to throw their left hook. Oh yeah. And Edmonton taking it, knowing that there's probably a, a playoff series between those two teams and the offering.

And that was a really good win for the Oilers last night. But what are your thoughts on Wilson McBain? I mean, I was, it's one of those, it's one of those you have to know. Like if you're Jack McBain, you have, you have to know. There's one of those you have to know he's on the ice. Could Tom Wilson have pulled up, missed the hit? Yeah. But it's Tom Wilson.

It's, it's Tom Wilson. Oh, hang on a second. Leopold was drafted by the moment. Yeah, breaking Jordan Leopold News. Breaking Jordan Leopold News. No, that's one of those you have to know who's out there. And when Tom Wilson is out there, you have to know that the potential for, as we're watching on YouTube here, for that to happen could happen. Like, it's a shoulder check one way.

And then, man, I had T.J. Ocean, the lifers pot a few weeks ago. And we were talking about Tom Wilson and the Logan Stankhoven. hit. And his point was, so many young players just swivel their head and don't protect themselves with their shoulder. They just turn into a blind spot. And I thought, oh, she was so strong on this because he sort of broke down Stankhoven coming around the net instead of just like whipping his head around fast because that puts himself in a really terrible position. And at that moment was still eligible to be hit. He said, one of the, it's fast. And you see this with. that Jack McBain hit too.

He said, what guys don't do now is they don't protect themselves with their shoulders when they're turning their heads. And Zach, if he can show that hit once again, watch Jack McBain's head. Does he ever shoulder check to his left? Or does he only shoulder check to his right where the puck is going to go? He said, so many guys just, hey, if you're going to, if you're going to swing to a blind spot, and that is a blind spot there by Jack McBain. but Jack McBain, you have to be protecting yourself with your shoulder.

Watch his shoulder, drop, opens up, and bam. Doom. Tom Wilson is there. By the way, were you surprised to find out that's the most penalty minutes Tom Wilson ever had in a game? Did you see that as a 21? The most he's ever had in the game was last night. I mean, 20, 21's a lot. 21 is a lot.

He would get kicked out, though. You know, the most you can get for getting kicked out is 10, right? So, like, it makes sense. Like most of the time. time is going to be like maybe 17 at the most. Two roughing five-minute major game misconduct. We did actually have Breaking Jordan. Leopold news, by the way,

drafted by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 1999, but was traded to Calgary before ever playing a game for Anaheim. So he was not on the Ducks team. He was on the Ducks team. That lost the doubles. Yeah, that's my brain. It's been a long life. It's been a long life, Greg.

It's been a long life. It was a classic Tom Wilson trucking. And a good reminder of why he is the guy that he is. You know that I don't know It's fine I don't I mean There's no issue with the hit right

There's not going to be any supplemental I have not heard of No No No no no no no no no no I was not I the Capitals thing I caught on on on on on replays Because I was really I was watching the hell out of Ottawa

Pittsburgh last night And then Vegas and and Edmonton last night Those are the two games. The Who Needs Crosby game? We got Kindle. Yeah, or Malkin because he didn't play either. The three-on-three overtime between Ottawa and Pittsburgh last night was one of my favorite things of the season. It was so much fun.

It was Tim Stutzlow must have had 105 chances in that overtime. Eric Carlson, again, looking like someone dunked him into the Razagul Lazarus pit because he looks like he's 23 again with the way he's playing this season. Like, it's, what a fun, what a fun game. What a, I mean, like, again, playoff implications, all of it. It's just, they're just so fun to watch that game last night. I, um, I can recall the first year of the three on three. The Ottawa senators consistently had the best. There was one Ottawa Detroit game in the first year of three on three,

which is, which should be held up. And actually, there was another, there was a, there was a Buffalo, Minnesota a few years ago. that should be held up as like, this is the example of how you want three on three. But I just remember, and I don't know whether it was just like, I can't remember even who the coaching staff was for the Ottawa senators at that point. But it was just like, okay, three on three,

I don't know what to do, you guys just go out and play. And the Ottawa senators in that first season of the three on three, like every single time Ottawa went to the three on three, it was must watch. Because it was just up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down. It was what three on three was supposed to be until the coaches got their hooks into it. And then it just became endless neutral zone regroups,

which is what we see now. But Ottawa, whenever I think of like the three and three, I was thinking about, man, Ottawa consistently. Like if you think of like one team, of course, Edmonton has always been fun to watch because of Connor and Leon. There was that stretch where Aho and Natchez

were must watch three on three. They're amazing. But Ottawa's always had bangers, man. Going back to like the beginning, the beginning of three on three. Ottawa senators have always nailed it. And again, we throw a little love,

what do you got? We throw a little love that Jack Hughes and Jesra Bratt too. I think that was a duo that was always a bit must-see. But what do you, so Sid leaves the game with a lower body injury. We were looking at the cousins hit

during the game. That's the one that, that's the one, right? But the thing is he hurt on that if it's a lower body injury. I don't. I'm kind of like, I don't know, but whenever like, it's a, just a hit along the board.

And his right shoulder is turned. So he's not getting it right on the shoulder. He's getting it kind of on the back as well. I don't know. Maybe it's his hip? I guess. I don't know. We're all playing,

you know, amateur doctors here. I don't want to get into another Darren Drager situation here. Those are, those are, I'm not going to diagnose here for my basement. But those are the ones that always bug me. Not bug me.

Those are the ones that always worry me. The hits that don't look like anything, and then the player leaves. Okay, it's got to be bad. Because it can't be something specifically from that hit. It's got to be like an aggravation of something that's already been there. And bam, that one tiny little, it was barely a hit. Look, led to cross.

My first thought when he went out, and I'm not trying to put this in the world, and I'm sure he's fine. I'm sure he'll come back and play. did you imagine after all this the penguins made the playoffs but Sid was too hurt

Sid wasn't there I know oh god Oh god Come on What is this nonsense The hockey gods I curse you I curse your existence

To do that I don't think it'll happen But I'm just just saying That was my first thought last night Hang on I'm gonna find out the actor Oh he's gonna He's Hollywood Jeff Merrick over here.

Yes. Going through IMDB to find out who he's talking about. Yes. So one of my favorite episodes of the Twilight Zone was time enough at last. Mm-hmm. Where you mean Burgess Meredith? Is that who you're looking for? No, I don't think he was the actor in that one.

It's, oh, God, who was it? Anyway. Are you talking about the glasses? Yeah, the glasses. Is that Burgess Meredith? Is that Burgess Meredith? It is. Okay, so the penguin.

Dude, I binge the Twilight Zone marathon every New Year's. Come on. Oh, no way. Okay, I didn't know that. That's like one of my favorite ones where he just wants to read books and finally there's like a nuclear war and everyone's dead and it's just him and books and he can just read books the rest of his life and he breaks his glasses. That would be the Penguins make.

That would be Crosby not being in the playoffs. The playoffs. The Penguins make the playoffs and Crosby can't play. That would be time enough and last for the Twilight Zone. Time enough of last. Still the best show of all time. Still the best show of all time. I have a poster on my wall in my office of the invaders,

which is my favorite episode where the woman is in the farmhouse and she's being attacked by small aliens. And then the aliens turned out not to be aliens at all. That's good stuff. I love the Twilight Zone. The monsters are due on Maple Street. That's another great one. Yeah, absolutely.

So the penguins are pretty solid. But I saw the playoff potential pairings this morning on ESPN. And like, all due respect to the senators, so I know we're on the outside looking in right now. But you could kind of freeze frame it. And I would be pretty happy with the matchups currently. Like, you get me, you get me Pittsburgh and the Blue Jackets, who we've talked about is the matchup that we really want to see.

That should be the ride. Well, like the current matchups in the east are Sabres, Bruins. Absolutely. Adams. Yeah, lightning, Montreal, hurricanes, islanders. And again, if you wanted to slot in the senators there, I'm fine with that too. And then Pittsburgh and Columbus. Notice I haven't said Detroit.

I'm kind of down on Detroit. I don't know if they are of a playoff quality at the end of day, Merrick. I don't think about the list. I know. I don't think so. I don't think that Isamon did enough. I mentioned this on the show yesterday because Berkey and I did this thing about how safe is If it's another year,

if you tell you. And Berkey was like, I don't know. He's fine. He's fine. He's fine. He's fine. He's fine.

So you want to hear the great line that I was told by someone, I got to be sensitive about how I say this. In the wings orbit. Okay. The great line that coming back. So I'm like, this is like seven years. You're like Steve in trouble.

And the line they came back was Chris is not Mike. Chris Illich is not Mike Hillich. Which means he's fine. He's fine. Mike would have punted. But Chris in some way that he kind of looks like the Mike would have been like the Mike would have been like Dust move along. Yeah. Chris is like Uncle Steve stays as long as he wants.

Mike would have been like older brother. We haven't had a damn playoff game with this building since we built it. I know. We like give me two games. I don't care if you go on the first. I want two games here. We got to get playoff fans in here. I know.

But the line was Chris is not Mike. What was the other thing on the rundown that we had to hit before we go? Because I'm trying to make this position of Eric Christian-Kis where we actually hit everything on the rundown. Habstay-hot, Shafor dominance. We talked about Schaefer. Habstay-Hot, you got a thought of. By the way, I mentioned this yesterday.

Do you see the podcast where Carrie Price said that Jacob Fowler reminded him of him? No, I didn't see that, but that must have been viral in months ago. Julie Petrie and Kat Tofoli's podcast. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was asked, does, you know, does there anyone in the NHL that reminds you of you? And I know what he's trying to do. He's trying to compliment the Montreal goaltender.

Instead, just like heaped on like tons of pressure on the kid. Oh, yeah, Jacob Fowler. To which I said, like, the ghost of Maurice Richard has come back to talk about a Cole Coughfield is the next rocket in the NHL. The habs are like, the habs are like Buffalo and they're like Anaheim for me, where there are three teams that have been, that have thrived offensively this year.

And there are three teams for whom I don't quite know what their playoff play looks like. And by that I mean, when the lightning get it cranked up and their forecheck is going and they're buzzing around

and Demadoff is in his own zone, what does that look like in the playoffs? Because I think the HABs are a very exciting team with a lot of potential, but I don't love them defensively much in the same way. I don't love the ducks defensively. And so that's my concern right now.

And again, this is all part of a larger education for these teams. They all have to kind of learn how to play. Maybe Buffalo Dove doesn't, if they're, in fact, the St. Louis Blues of this season, where they're just like locked in and there's no education needed and they're just going to run through the east of the cup. Who knows? But in the case of Montreal, in the case of Anaheim, I feel like it's a continuing education on how you need to play in the playoffs in order to win. And I think that makes the lightning a really interesting foil for them

if that's who they end up playing. Because obviously the lightning had to go through that same education themselves back in the day under John Cooper to figure out how to play to win because they liked to play a certain style. Do you remember how Tampa? Do you remember what Tampa had to get out of their game? There was one thing specific, Tampa had to get out of their game.

And that was... Well, that would really... didn't go after that great first period. Ah, cruise control here. They'll leave it in, Bob. Okay. Four straight. Yeah.

There's one thing that Tampa would always do, and they completely got it. It's always been, it'll always be a great question for John Cooper. How did you get this out of their game? And that was, Tampa would always make that one extra pass. How many times did we watch the Tampa Bay Lightning,

and it was like, okay, bum, boom, boom, boom, boom. And the shot, oh, no, that's going to be a pass too, and the play dissolves. Like, they were a team that, really knew that they were good and really knew that they were skilled and wanted to show it off on every single play. Watch how many pretty passes we can make before we shoot this thing. And it killed them. It was like it was the one team where the thing that made them the strongest turned out to be their Achilles.

And that was they were in love with their own skill. And they couldn't get out of their own way. And somehow, and maybe it was just getting embarrassed by Columbus that finally, okay, you guys want to shoot now you want to stop with the you know 18 passes before we shoot this thing but they would always do that i don't know that montreal is montreal montreal is not Tampa they're not like they're not that they're not like they're not that so like Tampa was was that i don't know if there is an equivalent right now in the nchel to tampa the team in love with their own skill wanting to show it off every single shift what what gives you pause about montreal

Or maybe nothing does. Maybe you think they're... Blue line does. I still... The question marks in net still. Like, again, like, playoffs are different, man. Like, listen, I love and how can you not love Cole Cofield? What is he up to now?

44. 44 goals for Cole Cofield? It's amazing. It's fantastic. How's that in the playoffs? How's he in the playoffs? By the way. Can he get that shot?

The thing is, like, can he get that shot off when he doesn't have the same time in space that he does? in the regular season. That's the question. That's the question. That's the question for any goals score. Do you know who's fifth in the league right now in goals per game, by the way?

Zach Hyman. 30 goals in 54 games for Zach Hyman. That is... That's a run. And it's not all McDavid. Like, the goal he scored last night was brilliant. It was this individual effort. He lifted McNab stick, stole the puck,

put it past Aden Hill. He's a special player. He's an honest hockey player. At least could do someone like that. I was waiting for that one. But like maybe the Leafs would pay him that extra of $500,000 he was looking for and not have a deal fall apart. Okay, it's too. Let's on the show.

By the way, you know who? Like one of the people, and his name popped up in Friedman's 32 piece today online, one of the people, maybe the main person who was most involved in getting Zach Hyman to Edmonton, Bill Scott, was the assistant general manager. of the Oilers. He's in the mix for the Nashville job. Did you see who else might be in the mix? Peter Shearrelli? Peter Shearly, yeah. I mean, that's...

I think that they... So here's what I was told about Nashville. Nashville has... So Nashville has a new owner, and as much as Barry Trots is a veteran coach and been around, he's still a sort of inexperienced general manager, but the ownership is new,

so they are going to interview. you a million people. This is going to be one of these like, okay, we've been around the block. We know the landscape, blah, blah, blah, blah. We're just going to interview like two or three guys. I'm told Nashville is going to interview. The interviewing process for Nashville is going to be lengthy and long.

A lot of people are going to, a lot of people are going to be going to. Well, it is the weekend every Friday. I have two Saturdays, Greg. We've said that one before. I would be astonished if they don't hire somebody with previous general managing experience after the Barry Trott situation. Kevin Adams, what?

Would you say about Kevin Adams? Tom Fitzgerald. There you go. First Calvin, the national predators, what? What? That's right. That's right, baby. There's history there.

Yeah, I could see that too. Okay, big things for you for the weekend. Anything? Oh, yeah. Well, as I should be, we should mention, I'm not going to be around next week to do the show. I am taking my eldest to Disney World. part of the perks of working for ESPN

is that we're part of the Disney family. How much are a discount do you get? For free. For free? I'll put, work for Disney, man. You can get in for free. Wow.

Free 99. The media price. Again, this is all. This is all baked into the contract, my friend. It's like, it's like a no trade clause. It's like you're going to give up a little bit to get the no trade clause.

You can give up a little bit to get the no trade clause. Disney tickets. No, it's really one of the coolest things about working there is the fact that you can get into the parks for free. We probably abused that a little bit more. We were in California, going to Disneyland, getting a Disney World's a little bit tough. Not looking forward to spring break crowds down there,

but it's the only time I can go and take my kid and we're excited to go. I think that's fantastic. Have a great time. How long do you go for the whole week? How long can you handle it there? Go for a couple days. Go for like four days. And we're going to keep there.

The only the day that we know we have to go to a park is on Tuesday at the Magic Kingdom because you have to actually make reservations and do all this fancy shit because it's the busiest park. But, you know, taking the oldest kid, the other two kids are too young. Like Iris is just over two. She doesn't really understand Disney. And then like Graham's a nugget. So what is he going to do except have to be watched while one of us can't go on a roller coaster? So I'll take the, I'll take, I'll take Viv.

And we'll have some fun down there. You can have a ball. Have a great time, buddy. We'll check you out and go a week and a half. You'll be good. All right, man, be good. Have fun. Greg Wischinsky, ESPN.

Ringleader here for Game Show Fridays, ESPN and ESPN.com. Anything there for you? Young Jedi, Zach, I'm not used to seeing you. Oh, you got the kit hat up there already. Yeah, you got the kitcheners and the bulldog. Look at you. No, that's good. They feel a little back.

Is that a smelling salt on your, is that smelling salts over your left shoulder there? It is. and it's a smelling salts and one of those funcops of me. My sister's got it for me. No way. You got Duthy's book over your right shoulder. Look at you. Yeah, that's just to like sell to people that I read.

I can't read. You think I read all these books? Like seriously, but. Yeah. Makes me look smarter. Oh, there's a book behind you and not just smelling salts and hats? Well, this guy's intelligent. Tweets, that's all I read now.

Let's just put those up behind me, not books. Here's a bunch of books. Here's a bunch of tweets I've read, not books that I've read. That's not a bad idea, actually. Here's a book of tweets. That's what all. There's a book of all the tweets that I've read going back to like when I, what did I sign up on Twitter? 209.

Anyhow. Anything from today's conversations that interest you particularly or is that just like an hour of nonsense? No, that's never an hour of nonsense. Oh, yeah, it is. The draft lottery stuff, I don't have a problem. But I will say The one distinguishing that I would make Between the NHL draft lottery and the NBA draft lottery

Is that I don't feel like the product in the NHL drops off As much as it does in the NBA When the tanking situation takes place. Oh, okay. I've had to stop watching the NBA. I used to be a much bigger fan of the NBA And over the last probably three to five years, my interest level in it has just gone off the rails or off the cliff because of how off the rails the tanking has gotten.

Where on a nightly basis, like they are dressing guys with all due respect who have no business being in the NBA. The NHL, could you look at a roster and be like, is this the best upro-NHL roster I've ever seen put together? Probably not. But at the same time, it's far more competitive where on any given night those guys will still go out and make a night difficult for the Colorado Avalanche, the Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, name your top team in the league. Because you're just casual, and you're going to play, and these guys are all skilled, and things happen as hockey.

Right. Frozen water, rubber puck. Nathan McKinnon can't be on the ice for 75, 80% of the game, whereas in the NBA, that's how that works out. So the products just drops off, and then you watch every night where these teams are just like, well, tonight, you know, LeBron James and Luca Donchish, who are on the same team, they're just not going to play because we're trying to tank. And then they set them for like the season.

It doesn't happen to the same extent in the NHL. So I view it a little bit differently. I don't mind if people want to make modifications to it, but I don't see a need to be like, oh, this thing needs an overhaul. Now, I think what they did in changing it up where you can't, how much winning you've done of the draft lottery affects the future. I think that's a good rule. But outside of that, I don't see much need to change it.

I'm going to dive into that piece as soon as we're off the air here because I'm always interested in different ideas that people have to get rid of tanking in the NHL but as long as there's as long as there's still advantages for finishing last any advantage teams will take it yeah team teams I don't have a problem with it to be honest I think it would be on my counterpoint to you would just be to close on this this would be not giving everybody equal odds

but giving everybody a chance. So the odds just go down progressively. Even if you win the Stanley Cup, you could win it, but it might be 1%. I like your idea. I think it's nuts. Let's say Colorado wins this year. They come out.

I think that it should be a weighted scale, but everybody has a chance. That would be the meeting in the middle of your idea and keeping it the same. Because I think it would be fun if the avs win and then they go to the draft lottery after the Stanley Cup. And then they win. Now we bring in Gavin McKenna to this team.

That's how you embrace greatness. Do you want a great team's name scratched on the Stanley Cup or just the best of a bunch of mediocre teams that are more similar than they are difference? This used to be a league where you had great teams. We just mentioned the Islanders with Wish is second ago. Back and look at their four. Go look at the haves.

Go look at the Oilers. Like go look at like the Pittsburgh Penguins. Like go look at those teams. Like man, those names go on. Wow, what a team. And salary cap came in. Every year is a different team winning. And teams who win, they have to get rid of their team,

part of their team because they couldn't afford them because of the salary cap. I like to The salary caps A different conversation for me. A great teams on the cup. I hate it. I hate the salary cap

and I agree with you on that. The other thing too that got pointed out here in the chat by ST Drako 33 by doing what I was saying about giving everybody a chance or even what you were saying but more so in line with me

where it's weighted down to 32 and they still have a chance. It changes the calculus of trades. That's true. Great point. Your first round pick. Yeah, your first round pick still maintains a little bit more value. Great point.

That's a good point. Great point. Someone with a... That person, if that is indeed their real name, should be hosting this show. St. Draco 33. The Sheet starring St. Draco 33. Makes his or her debut on Monday. One o'clock Easter.

Stay tuned. I'm going to change things around here on the power play here on the program. We got this new person hosting the show. show come Monday. All right. This segment, a presentation of, glad to have them back. Ninja Krispy Pro countertop glass air friar. Shark Ninja, elevating now the friar experience. The Ninja Crispy Pro is a family-sized cooking system that comes with a six-quart and two-and-a-half-quart glassware storage lids, crisper plates, and a modular base for any occasion. The clean, crisp glassware is designed

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re-chrisp and dehydrate. For more information on the Ninja Krispy Pro, visit the link in our description, or go to shark ninja.ca. You're ready to wow and dazzle everybody here? By the way, thanks to everybody in Kitchener yesterday. man, you want to talk about getting treated first class? Thank you to the Rangers from Bertie all the way down,

the legendary Joe Birch, who did a great job hosting. And Mike McKenzie was on the program yesterday as well. And you see a hocus, the head coach, to say nothing of the player. How funny was Matthew Andinovsky, by the way. Ando was, that one is going to be fantastic. I thought Jack Priddon was like all the big Jack. Prudan was exceptional, like really, really good.

Good organization. Anyway, thanks to the Kitchen Arrangers for hosting. And giving Zach another hat. How many hats do you have? Well, behind me, I have six on this new bookshelf thing that I've gotten, courtesy of our friend Nick Carolli. I still have one more to build, but I ran out of time, so it's not completed. So I've still got this picture stuck in the middle behind me, but I got another one to go up. So that'll mean more hats, Jeff.

Can I make a request? Yeah, what's up? I want a picture of Al Berger on there. Okay. I can sort that out. I can do that. I just want Al Berga on the show somewhere every single day. Okay.

Okay. I will put him up there and we'll have him on the show every day. Done. Deal. Something Al Berga every day. The sheet is powered by Fanduel. Play your game with Fanduel. It's the NHL season.

Fan Duel, your home for all the action on the ice. from Blue Line to Bet Slip, we've got you covered all season, with unique promos, live offerings, and more features to let you play your game. Miss Puck Drop, no sweat with the live same game parlay. You can build your bets up until the final buzzer. Download fan dual sports book 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. someone who makes his parles responsibly every day is our friend Philly. What do you got today, Zach? Yes, responsibly. They may be dumb, but they are responsible.

Oh. You're responsible for what? I was having a debate last night about the Tom Wilson hit myself. And I was going back and forth on it and thinking about supplemental discipline. Is anything to be involved there? Is it dirty? Is it clean? And this is the conversation that was happening between myself and the group chat there last thing when we were breaking it all down and looking at it.

And, you know, the one thing that I kept coming back to when I was trying to make my determination on what I felt was, you know, this might be a cop out, Jeff, but I'm a Zucker for a huge check. Jason Zucker. Jason Troshack. That's all right. Might be a cop, but I'm a sucker for a huge check. Andrew cop. Jason Zucker, Vincent Trocheck. Five wins you 268-78-74.

Make your weekend go smooth. Not the best. Not the best work. I'm well aware of that one, but I did my best. Sometimes the most obvious thing is the right way to go about it. And every now and then you got to give. There's also two games. Well, yeah, I mean, there's only a couple of games on the schedule.

but like sometimes you want to give me and the rest of everybody watching and listening here like a little bit of a tap in. Like, okay, he said cop, so he means Andrew Cop. But they'll check. So Vinny Trocheck, Vinny Trocheck. That one's coming in a mile away. Like it's kind of an easy one to read. You're a Zucker for it. Yeah, kept it simple.

It's all right. Keep it simple going into the weekend. Buddy, good luck putting the rest of your apartment together again. I'm off to kitchen or tonight, actually. Oh, that's right. you're back to Kitch for game one. I'm posting this podcast and driving right out to Kitchner. So we've got more stuff to do out there in Kitchener tonight.

Awesome. Say hello to all of our friends in Kitchener and best of luck to the Kitchener Rangers. Well, best of luck to all of the OHL teams. We love them all equally. Right? Yes, we do. Yes, we do. All right.

Listen, CHL playoffs will underway. Enjoy those wherever you are in Canada. hopefully your hometown team does well. In the meantime, we're off until Monday, 1 o'clock Eastern. We return. Again, no wish next week, so we're filling space is there. Maybe someone from the chat is just going to come on the show. We open auditions now for next week.

Enjoy your weekend. We'll talk to again Monday, 1 o'clock Eastern for the sheet. adjourned.