The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Ehlers Aftermath ft. Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

On this episode of The Sheet, Jeff Marek is joined by ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski to break down the best remaining UFAs in an already thin market, Nikolaj Ehlers signing with the Carolina Huriicanes, and Cam York inking a new extension with in Philadelphia. The two also dive into the RFA market, including reactions to Bowen Byram and Jack McBain heading to team-elected arbitration, and the most memorable arbitration cases in NHL history.#TheSheet #JeffMarek #GregWyshynski #LetsGoFlyers #NHL #BowenByram #BuffaloSabres #CarolinaHurricanes #TrevorZegras #JackMcBain #UtahMammoth #HockeyTalk #NHLRumors #HockeyNewsShout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Flames_Nation🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ten years ago, I asked my partner Kelsey if she would marry me. I did that, despite the fact that every living member of my family who had ever been married had also gotten divorced. Forever is a Long Time is a five-part series in which I talk to those relatives about why they got divorced and why they got married. You can listen to it now on CBC's Personally. This episode of The Sheet is sponsored by the OCS Summer Pre-Roll Sale. Sometimes when you roll your own joint, things can turn out a little differently than what you expected. Maybe it's a little too loose. Maybe it's a little too flimsy.

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It's also on your various podcast platforms. People have always asked, what do you call this show? Well, it's called The She. Yeah, but is it a video thing? Is it an audio thing? Well, it's kind of all of it. Vic, who's filling in by the way, known as Vacation Vic on Morning Cup of Hockey, who's actually with me here for the summer series.

Well, my normal producer is in Portugal. I gave him an assignment by the way, Vic. You'll like this one. I said I want a full update on three things. I know three things about Portugal. You know what they are? I know one of them. What's that?

Go ahead. Okay. Something about lemons. Yeah, lemons. I know one of them. What's that? Go ahead. Okay. Something about lemons. Yeah, lemons. So I had lemon water this morning. So I want an update on lemons. I want to update on cork.

And I want to update on diving dogs. Those are the three things. Diving dogs. Diving dogs. Portuguese diving dogs. I want full updates. We've got two weeks to come up with it. So that's the assignment for Zach Phillips,

who's vacationing with his lovely better half. A couple of things quick before we get to Gregor Shinsky here, and we got a lot of normal things that we do, and what you're gonna find in this summer series of shows is a little more laid back, and probably more scrambly than usual. And this is a pretty scrambly show to begin with. And I'll probably make more mistakes. But that's like, it's summer, man.

Like, seriously. Gavin McKenna, by the way, looks like he's signing with Penn State. Look for that announcement, by the way, tomorrow. Jordan Schmaltz put out a tweet from Hockey Night in Scottsdale, former NHL or former first round draft pick. Put out a tweet saying,

maybe yes, announcement as early as today. I think it's coming tomorrow. That's Gavin McKenna. Officially will be ex of the Western Hockey League's medicine hat Tigers joining writer Richie, who goes to BU and also Kaiden Lindstrom, who goes to Michigan State. That was a team that won the Western Hockey League championship, the Ed Chenowth Cup. You look like you want to say something. Well, it's just I asked Colby on the show about if there's pressure on guys going from the CHL to the NCAA. Uh huh.

With regards to basically, I mean, he's a lock to go first overall and going to the NCAA playing against tougher competition, I would say than the WHL. Is there any more pressure on him? Does it could it hurt his draft stock? And the replies and the responses were disgustingly against me. They're like, this guy doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. But I don't mean that for generational players. I just mean that in general, in general, Jeff, do you think there is a Little more pressure or is it more difficult? Could they hurt their draft stock by facing tougher comp? I don't think so I I don't I think a lot of like you have a look like Matthew Schaeffer played like a dozen games this year And he went first overall even by the time you get into your draft year It's not and there are some players that use that draft year and their stock rises

It's not and there are some players that use that draft year and their stock rises We look at Brady Martin for example Who's a great example the beginning of the season last this past season? And he was probably ranked in the low end of the first round maybe high end of the second round You know he ended up going fifth You know to the Nashville Predators But someone like Gavin McKenna someone like Matthew Schaefer guys like that Even if they only play a handful of games in their actual draft year, the body of work that has already been laid before everybody kind of dictates that, yeah, you know what, in a lot of ways we've seen enough and we know enough

about Gavin McKenna and I don't think that this is going to hurt him at all. And listen, he's going to go to Penn State and help give that program a shot in the arm. There are only two universities that he visited. He visited Michigan State and he visited Penn State. There were Zoom calls with Denver, Zoom calls with Michigan as well. I don't know if there was a fifth. There might have been, but if there is, I'm unaware of it. But look for the official Gavin McKenna news

to break tomorrow. I think that's when the announcement is planned, that he's going to Penn State. So stay tuned for that. We got a lot to get to today. I wanna get to a tweet right off the top too, but first of all, I wanna remind you, as usual, this program is powered by FanDuel.

Make every moment more with North America's number one sports book, FanDuel. And coming up on the program today, kicking off the summer series of pods is my good buddy from ESPN.com, the one and only Greg Waszynski. He will stop by. We will talk about free agency. We will talk about the CBA getting ratified. Players voting, I believe, this past weekend and into this week. We will talk about the exciting world of salary arbitration and why the NHL still continues to do it this way. I think both sides never wanna get into that room

because of what happens in that room and the things that are said in that room can have effects days, weeks, months, years later, and why don't they go to a different style of arbitration? We're gonna get to that in a couple of seconds. But really quick, wanna put up that tweet question that we got earlier on today? So this is an interesting one.

So this is from Adam. If you think of it, can you tell the referee story about dropping the puck and bring, and I guess he wants me being, and being the only sane people in the building? I want my wife to hear it, but I know I can't do it justice. Okay so this is about Mickey Ion. So Mickey Ion was a longtime official not just in the NHL but also was a great lacrosse player who actually spent 10

days in jail in Toronto for kicking a player in the face when he played a lacrosse game I want to say in like 1910 or 1912. Anyway, Mickey Ion, who was brought into British Columbia to officiate and play lacrosse by the Patrick brothers. So Mickey Ion used to have a saying. What he would do is he would bring the officials, the alliance men to center ice, and he would hold up the puck. And he would hold this thing up. Let me get a good visual of this. He would hold, this is actually Mac 30. Uh, my, it's my makeup. He would actually hold up the puck and he would say, gentlemen, the one thing that we

need to remember is the minute I drop this round black thing, we become the only sane people in this building. And all I have to do is drop this. And that is the great Mickey Ion story who went into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961. With that we'll bring aboard, I hope that's satisfying, I hope your wife liked that. I hope that that's, I hope I did the story justice. It's about Mickey Ion. I think we have a picture of Mickey don't we? Did you get that up Vic? Have a picture of Mick? Yeah. There he is with the whistle by the way

Doesn't that look way better than what the officials wear now? Oh Way better like I think the zebra stuff looks awful I don't know I'm probably the minority in that because everyone's just used to it Look at that great look for the officials back then is that a sweater is he wearing? Yeah? Yeah? Yes, I put on my nicest sweater, but I got the Jeff Merrick one. I got my swim trunks on underneath here. I know, I got my dry fit shorts too. I'm so bad.

Yeah. I got like my Peter Mans, my Peter Mans, for national look. Yeah, it's a great look for the all. There's Mickey Ion, the guy that was said, the minute I drop this thing, we become the only sane people in this building. All right, this next segment is brought to you

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who joins me now on the sheet. Wish, how are you? The simply spiked read reminded me of- Why your microphone's not working for one. So we'll start there. Oh, well that's not good. Here, I'll reconnect. Maybe not. Big

introduction. Listen, I warned you all about this. I preface today's show by saying, look, it's gonna be a little more laid-back and not everything is going to be perfect. Case in point, Wish's mic. Which in hindsight we probably should have tested out before the program today. But coming up with Wish, there's a number of different things we want to get to here. We want to talk about salary arbitration and the players that have either elected arbitration themselves or their clubs specifically have elected arbitration mainly just to remove the threat of an offer sheet. And that's not just with one.

We all think that you, the Buffalo Sabres, you know, have indicated they're going, they're taking Bo Byram to club-elected arbitration. And we all suspected that's because of the fear of an offer sheet, but Jack McBain as well. I mentioned this on our free agent show, the marathon that we did, that there are teams that would have been in the market to offer sheet Jack McBain.

And this is a way for the Utah Mammoth to make sure that it doesn't get to that spot. Other players going to arbitration, they've elected Morgan Barron, Lucas Dostal, the netminder for the Anaheim Ducks, that's an interesting one, Drew Hellison, Kapo Kako, Nick Robertson, Dylan Samberg, Arvid Soderblom, Jaden Struble, Connor Timmons, Maxime Sipnikoff, and Gabe Velardi have all elected for arbitration. We're going to spend a lot of time as well today talking about Nikolai Ehlers and his decision to go to Carolina. And interesting on this one, it sounds very much like and I believe that there are other teams that would have been interested in in getting in the Nick Ehlers sweepstakes I believe that a trade Red Wings would have been

one of them but the Washington Capitals it sounds like the caps went down to the wire with with Ehlers as well and what it kind of like I'm trying to between conversations and gut feeling and knowing the player and knowing the teams involved here. Coming down to two teams, the Carolina Hurricanes and the Washington Capitals. What it feels like to me is that Nick Ehlers probably wanted to go max seven years and Carolina was the team that offered them the most years on term. Obviously that is six. I'm gonna guess Washington went with five and that's what it came down to. Carolina offered one extra season. The player wanted seven. I think maybe the Caps wanted five.

Maybe did they ask for four? Not sure, but it sounds and feels very much like four or five. And the Carolina Hurricanes said, look, we're not going to give you seven, but we will give you six. And that's what it came down to. And you know, one of the interesting things about the Carolina Hurricanes is, first of all, they take swings at big players and we saw this with with Miko Ratanen but even before Eric Tulski was a general manager going back to the Don Waddell days as well Carolina may have a reputation of being frugal let's just say throwing nickels around like

manhole covers use that cliche if you want, but when big players become available, the Carolina Hurricanes are usually, if not always, involved or interested. The owner, Tom Dundon, we've talked about plenty, and he has a way of placing a certain value on players, value on broadcasters, a value on everything in the organization that he owns. And he will not go above that. But what he does have is an appreciation for superstars.

And an appreciation for big time players, not just as players, but his box office draws as well. Like let's not forget too, before Jack Eichel went to Vegas, the Carolina Hurricanes were in. As we found out after Jack Eichel ended up getting traded to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Carolina Hurricanes were very much there.

You know, another team we should mention too that doesn't always get the headlines because you know, you always hear about, oh, the Maple Leafs are interested and the Rangers are getting this guy, and sure, these are big name teams. Generally, Colorado is in for a lot of these swings too. So Carolina, Colorado,

two teams that don't necessarily get a lot of headlines when it comes to free agency, these are teams that are always in, and maybe the best example for the Colorado Avalanche was the offer for Artemi Panarin. Now it wasn't as long as the Rangers were offering, and Panarin's an interesting story now with one year left on his deal,

what's the future there with him and the New York Rangers? I believe the Avalanche offered a three year deal at massive money, like more than the Rangers ended up paying him. So it's not as if Colorado doesn't open up the pocketbook themselves, but just not one of those teams that gets the headlines for being involved in players that end up switching teams

in free agency. CBA ratification as well. We should get into and we'll talk about that. The players are voting on this thing. You know, the one thing, I'll get into this with Wish, if we ever solve his microphone issues, I appreciate you humoring me while I tap dance here. One of the things that we're looking at right now

with the CBA ratification outside of no dress code for the players. I'm really hard pressed to find many, if any wins in this thing. And we'll wait to see the final document when it all comes out here. And maybe I'll be completely proven wrong and this would be an overwhelming win for the players.

But it doesn't feel like that. It doesn't sound like that. And so far it doesn't read like that. It doesn't sound like that. And so far, it doesn't read like that. Right now. The NHL and, you know, Greg made the point early and I got to commend him for it, that by putting out the salary cap numbers for the next three seasons, that calm the players down about fighting too hard

in this round of negotiation, because right now, as it looks, the NHL has just hit a home run. Like you know those home runs where, like let's say you hit it out to over the right fielder's head or the left fielder's head, it's one of those, it's one of those home runs where the outfielder doesn't even look at it. Like the outfielder doesn't even look at it. Like the outfielder doesn't budge because he or she knows it's leaving the field.

It's gonzo. That's what the CBA looks like right now. You know, we've made a lot about, oh, it's a peacetime CBA and it's a CBA at sign, you know, a year in advance of the deadline for the CBA negotiations and it doesn't even take effect until the end of next season. This one was easy to do because it doesn't look like there were any major disagreements or fights along the way and the NHL kind of got what they wanted. Players get to play international hockey. That's great. That's good for the NHL. That's good for both sides. They don't have to

adhere to any type of dress code going to the rink. Okay, that's a tiny trade-off for an even more restrictive economic system. That as one, I think I mentioned this on the on the show last week, as one person that I know who's been a veteran, and I mean veteran, of a lot of CBA wars of 94-95, of 204-205, I can't really call the pandemic one a war because that was that was done under stress and both sides needed to keep the game on the ice. But the 2012 like all of that this is someone who was was veteran and has intimate knowledge of all the goings-on said to me, I know we haven't seen the whole thing yet, but this feels like a CBA

by chat GPT that's the way this one feels I'm curious to see what wish feels about this one a couple of players that I'm curious about as well oh by the way one thing I did want to get to and we'll we'll we'll get to in a second hang on let me just communicate with a Vic here it's we're trying to get Wish on. One of the things that, oh, there we go. We have you on. Are you working yet? You're not working yet.

No? No, your microphone's not on, but there's something going on with your microphone. My mic is fine. It's yours that's messed up. I'm the one that... My microphone doesn't work? Your earphones don't work or something.

I can't hear you. So I'm just going to keep on going. I'm just going to keep on plowing through. This is great. So, okay, so here's the issue. Vic, what's going on? Jeff, can you hear me? I can hear you fine. You can hear me.

The whole world hears Greg Wyszynski, except for Jeff Merrick. So, I'm sorry. Are you serious? Yeah, he's going live, he's going to air, the chat can hear him. The whole world hears Greg Wyszynski, except for Jeff Merrick. Well, it's not going to be much of a conversation. It's not going to be much of a conversation. We'll figure this out in the next two minutes.

We'll get him back on. Apologies. Two minutes? Yeah, we'll sort this out. Yeah, we'll sort this out. 320 Eastern. All right. Give me two minutes.

Okay, no problem. So one thing that I wonder if it happens quickly, because I don't think that this team wants to dither with this and wants to take care of it as soon as possible, I really do suspect that something will happen with Jason Robertson of the Dallas Stars. And I want to say it feels to me like it's probably going to be sooner than later because I don't think the Dallas Stars want to drag this thing out at all. I think that Jim Nill as the GM of the Dallas Stars has a number in his mind and doesn't want to go over that number whatsoever and will not go over

that number whatsoever. I do think it is in the low double digits for Jason Robertson that's where they are comfortable comfortable term may be an issue as well. Uh, I don't know that the Dallas stars, as has been explained to me, have much of a desire to go longterm big money on players that aren't the best skaters in the NHL that they've feel that they've been burned by that before. So we'll see where, where this one goes. We may, that they feel that they've been burned by that before. So we'll see where this one goes. We might find out quickly where the Dallas Stars

are on Jason Robertson. Either we'll have a contract extension announced or maybe a trade. But if there's one team that I'm really paying attention to right now, and there's another in Pittsburgh and I wanna get there in a couple of seconds, but the one team that I really wanna pay attention to right now. There's another in Pittsburgh and I want to get there in a couple of seconds. But the one thing that I really want to pay attention to right now are the Dallas Stars and the situation

with Jason Robertson. Let's not forget too, that when you look for need and what the Dallas Stars need slash want to do, they still want to shore up their blue line. So we will watch for the Dallas Stars and teams that may have excess defenders. I want to say that Dallas was probably, and I want to say this probably even extends back into the season as well, in the conversation for Noah Dobson who as we all know of course ended up with the

Montreal Canadiens. Speaking of defenders though, one player that is of particular curiosity for yours truly, as we kick off this summer series of shows, Eric Carlson, now of the Pittsburgh Penguins. But now that his bonus money, I believe, has all been paid, could Eric Carlson find himself elsewhere? And yes, I know, I just mentioned the Dallas Stars want to shore up their back end. The other thing you need to consider there too too Is when Eric Carlson was initially traded?

I don't know if I talk I think I've talked about this before when Eric Carlson was initially traded to the San Jose Sharks the other team Because there were a number of teams but the other team that was in it big-time Were the Dallas Stars before he went to San Jose there were a lot of talks with Dallas and there were talks that he was Gonna end up a Dallas Star, but I believe the whole thing broke down over one specific player the Ottawa Senators wanted Rupe Hens and That was a bridge too far for the Dallas Stars Is there still an interest in Eric Carlson? Let's not forget, this was years and years ago. We might find out soon.

The other thing, then, the other team that he's always been attached to, and I can't see it happening now, are the Florida Panthers. There were years where, towards the trade deadline, every year, we're like, okay, Panthers are interested in Carlson. Is this going to happen?

Okay, it didn't happen at the deadline. It's gonna happen in the off season. Now here we are again, and I find myself saying, there was interest previous, I don't know if it's going to happen, but, if he's gonna move somewhere, we can make him throw a dart there. Shopping for a car should be exciting, not exhausting, but between misleading

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Everybody except me. Everyone, I know I was the only guy. I was like sitting here kissing my mirror for a while, just filibustering and blathering on about a number of things. Welcome to the program officially, although you've already been on the program. Let me hit all the topics that I was gonna hit. First of all, Simply Spiked reminded me of my dad, who was a member of something called Bash House when he was in college in the 1960s.

What's that? Bash House? So I come to find out that it was like a quasi fraternity he was a part of. Okay. And the reason that the spiked part reminded me of it is the bash house, the bash and bash house was they would take all of the almost empty bottles of booze in their place and they would pour it all into a trash can. No. And they would bake and that would pour it all in trash can.

And they wouldn't bake. And that would be the punch for their parties. They called it bash. And he used to have a t-shirt and everything. For being a member of this organization. The closest I ever got to that, when I was at university and I went to university at Guelph, I used to hang out with the lacrosse team a lot.

And great dudes and they they party like insane and the one thing that I would tag along with and they would do this on the regular I would tag along like once a month with them and what we do is we go from bar to bar to bar and they play a game called lotto 649 lotto 649 was this you got to the bar and everybody had a shot glass in front of them. And the bartender would take the sixth bottle from the left, the fourth bottle from the right,

and then the ninth bottle from the left. And whatever those three were, that was the shot. And everyone had thrown in like 50 bucks the beginning of the night, and there's the shots. And last man standing after drinking all of it gets the entire pot. I never won. That's so funny.

That's amazing. It's gross. It's awful. Like I can't, you think back to like all the stupid things you did when you were a kid. That was one of the dumbest. Man, I drank like some awful stuff and no, I never won the, I never won the whole prize. I like my buddy, Matty. You never talk about my buddy Matty's Super Bowl and Great Cup party tradition?

No. How about this one? So he does this for Super Bowl and he does it for Great Cup as well. I don't know if they still do it for both because this has been going on for like 15 years and this is like going to lead to some severe health problems. So what he would do is, him and his brother would host Super Bowl parties and they put out the big spread chicken wings and nachos and chips and beer, like chili, usual stuff, okay?

And what everybody would do, there's about 15 guys, they'd all throw in 100 bucks and they would all weigh themselves before kickoff. And at kickoff, they would all start eating and then at the end of the game, they'd all get back on the scale and whoever put on the most weight got the whole pot. $1,500! And these guys were like, they all had like a strategy for how to do it, like what to

eat and not eat the day before, what they, you know, how they would prime before they would paint, what they would have in the morning leading up to the Super Bowl. Oh yeah, like some guys had this down to like a science wish. I'm not sure what the record was for a single, a single game, but I seem to have like the, I seem to have like the number 11, like 11 pounds put on in like one single game, which just has to be just awful for you. But they should, they should run the, um, they should run the Nathan's hot dog eating contest the same way is they just, just wait people ahead of time and then wait them after. Which reminds me, I wanted to share this fact with you. Oh, Joey Chestnut, the Wayne Gretzky of competitive eating.

Yeah. And by the way, my favorite tidbit about competitive eating I picked up from MTV's Real Life, I'm a Competitive Eater, which is to expand their stomachs before competitions. That's what one of Maddie's buddies was saying. Yeah, same thing. They eat heads of iceberg lettuce the night before. No way. There's no caloric intake.

It's all water, basically. And so they eat a bunch of heads of iceberg lettuce to expand their stomachs the night before. But here's the thing I wanted to mention to you. Do they have Twinkies in Canada, America? Yes, we do have. Yes, Twinkies. We also have color television now, too, surprisingly, from coast to you. Do they have Twinkies in Canada, America? Yes, they do. Yeah, we do have. Yes, Twinkies. We also have color television now, too, surprisingly from coast to coast. Joey Chestnut holds the record for the most Twinkies consumed in six minutes. Would you

like to hazard a guess how many Twinkies Joey Chestnut ate in six minutes? Six minutes. Mm hmm. 100 chat. This is for you, too. You six minutes? Mm-hmm. 100. Chat, this is for you too. You can throw your answers out there. 100, 100, in six minutes. Those things go down like nothing. That's a big round number you've given. Yeah.

I don't know if the chat's taking the over. Hang on. But congratulations if you did. 121 Twinkies in six minutes for Joey Chestnut. The Gretzky of competitive eating, they call him. What could you eat the most of? What could you eat the most of? You know, that's funny.

I was having this conversation with somebody the other day while we were watching the Hot Dog and Eating contest. I think the thing that I eat the most of without really being cognizant of it is pizza, because if there's just a pizza there, it's my favorite food so I just keep num num numming it. I wonder how many White Castle sliders I could put down in like 20 minutes if tasked.

They're small, they're compact. I know I've polished off a bag or two in my life. Yeah. I wonder if tasked how many I could put down. Okay, so my knowledge of White Castle is embarrassingly limited. They're sliders. No, I know, I get it. But like what is on them?

Is it that they come stand, like every one of them has ketchup, mustard. Cheese, fried onions. And like a squirt of ketchup, yeah. That's usually the cheese, fried onions, squirt of ketchup. I don't know. I don't know that I have like a White castle

Sliders in my life that I could eat a ton of but off the top of my head weed brownies Yeah, but I would park it after a while i'd have to i'd have to tap out on that I can't do edibles anymore, man. I can't have had too many experiences. I've had too many bad that. I can't do edibles anymore, man. I can't, I've had too many bad experiences. I can't, I'm scared. I am, I've had my life where I'm scared of edibles now. I can't do it.

The problem for me is the edible I really like was only available in California. It was a gummy and their brand is available in New York. Legally, might I add. Thank you. All in the up and up everybody. The one I could take and then function and not be like sleepy is not available here

and I'm so bummed. Gavin McKenna. By the way, I know what it is. I know what I can eat the most of. What's that? Jalapeno peppers. What? Yeah.

I'll sit and I'll eat like entire jars. Like, oh, so like slices, not like seeds at all. No, no, no, no, the slices. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I'm not, I'm not psychotic, but just like, I'll be sitting there. How many do you think you could put down? I don't know. Like, I could like, I've done it before. I've just like started firing them off and just sitting there like watching a movie Like like on on the weekend like Saturday night I did like a small jar watching no country for old men, which I watch every year at the beginning of the summer I just love it and it's my own little tradition. I love the book too and just ate like an entire jar of jalapenos That that summer kickoff would be no country for Old Men. We're all watching Jaws.

We're all watching some beach party movie. And you're like, let me go see, let me go see Antoine Chigouth. Go use the cattle, the cattle brainer on unsuspecting people. So you, so as others would eat chips or pretzels. Correct, jalapenos. You would eat jal or pretzels. Correct, jalapenos. You would eat jalapeno slices. Yeah.

But pickled, right? Like out of the jar. Pickled, yeah, yeah, out of a jar, yeah. Wow, that's fascinating. That's what I like. That's my jam. Now. How cognizant are friends of yours about this?

Like when you go to the Super Bowl party there, we have to have Jeffy's jalapeno slices. You know what I always get? Or else you'll get crappy. I always get like, you can have my celery and my carrots. That's what I always get. I'm treated like a rabbit. That's what I get.

Unbelievable. That's true. Yeah, I'm the Kenneth. Go for it. I think tomorrow's gonna be an announcement. I think so, yeah. And I think it's gonna be pretty blown out too. Like, kinda like, not just a press release,

but a bigger thing than a press release, if you know what I'm saying. I think this is a huge moment. Like I'm really fascinated. I'm kind of interested in talking to some people that I know around the NCAA about what their thoughts are on this. Cause I haven't really explored it too much

because I wasn't sure which way he was gonna go until recently. You know, what does it mean for Michigan State to lose out on a player like this? What does it mean for Penn State that made the final, the frozen four for the first time to get a player like this? What does it mean for, is this the first moment in the NIL era

in which we are like, oh my God, the implications of this are enormous in so far as the NCAA attracting hockey talent. What does it mean for Canadian junior to not get this guy? Like I feel like this is gonna be one where we're gonna roll it around in our mouths for a few months before we really get a handle

on what this means. Cause this is a seismic moment for college hockey. All of the early day, like this is all early days in this new development reality. And eventually it's all going to settle into whatever it is that it's going to become. But right now everything is going to seem that much more magnified. And make no mistake about it, you're right, this is massive. This is next year's consensus first overall draft back is going to be announced as from Penn State. Now, the one thing that I was told this year, we're not on Christmas time, or as of January, but maybe when the

calendar flipped was to watch Penn State because what they really want to do and making it to the frozen four was massive for that program, but what they really want to do is is they need to start, they really want slash need to start graduating legitimate long term superstar NHLers into the national hockey league. And this goes a long way to that. And it is the sort of credibility shot in the arm that Penn State has probably always wanted. And I think this is probably the beginning of more players going to Penn State.

Now, as someone in college hockey told me a few weeks ago, it's really rare for 17 year olds to come in and dominate and have a significant profound effect on a program. Certainly it might act as a drawing card have a significant profound effect on a program. Certainly it might act as a drawing card or a nice piece of marketing for Penn State. And make no mistake about it, they're getting an excellent player. But I always defer to like people that have been

in college hockey for a long time. And I always wonder like, okay, so these are, you're playing against older players. You're playing against grownups here. It's really hard in CHL to do that, let alone playing against young men here. So I don't know if there's much of a track record for 17 year olds having that much of a profound effect

in NCAA Division I hockey. But I don't think profound effect is, I think, I mean, first of all, you nailed it before, where it really doesn't matter what he does in the NCAA, we know what he is, and we know where he's going in the draft. But usually when you see younger players overseas, especially in Sweden, play well above their age bracket, it doesn't really matter like what they do.

It's just the, it's by virtue of having played against that competition. They're hanging. They're hanging. They know what it means. It's gonna help ease them into NHL existence in a way that other preparatory leagues won't. And so he might get, you know, the ship beat out of him.

Who knows? But like, he's still gonna have that experience of playing against older players. That's a really good point about Penn State. And I didn't think about it in those terms because obviously the Pakulas have thrown a ton of money into Penn State, right? Yeah.

And they had the business. I was told a war chest. I was told a few months ago, they have a war chest, watch Penn State. Right, so they have great facilities, they have amazing funding, the program is top of the pops as far as like, you know, having the money behind it.

They make the frozen four last year, but like you said, the real difference between a program on the come up and your Michigan's and your Boston University's and your Boston colleges is how many of the top, what, 50 players in the NHL draft have that school next to their names? And this is gonna be the first one. And you're right, it's not only a sea change moment

in a player like that choosing a school like Penn State, but it's also a sea change moment in Penn State getting a player like that and being being in the spotlight in a way that program has never even come close to being in before. So it's if you're like the rest if you're like the Michigan schools and everybody else Wisconsin Minnesota you're like ah Jesus really I gotta worry about Penn State too. I gotta worry about Penn State now. But you're gonna have to. The hand wish wish, wish, wish.

Those programs are going to be fine. Yeah, I know what that's saying. Those programs are going to be okay. You just want the ease of competition. It's a real fun moment. I'm excited to see the fanfare of it all and obviously like a kid like that coming to play in the NCAA is pretty dope.

By the way, it also positions him, and this might be why he picked Penn State. He'll be able to get used to the Penguins. Like he'll be able to kind of like be closer to their facilities and maybe meet some of the players, some of his future teammates. Like it'll give Gavin a chance to really kind of integrate himself into his next NHL team, the Penguins.

So it's funny you mentioned that Kudu too, because I was wondering if the Sabres are just going to tank it to get the Penn State guy for Terry. Yeah. It's going to be a battle of the wills. The Sabres vs the Penguins for Gavin McKenna. You know the Sabres tank to get Pugula's kid or you know

Mario buys the Penguins again, therefore guaranteeing that they win the first tournament. You know it's two forces battling against each other. I don't know who's going to win out. You know, have you ever thought about, it's funny, I think I've talked to you about this before. Someone told me years ago, just mentioned this casually

in passing in the middle of a conversation. I'm sure you have thought about, okay, whenever it's done for Sidney Crosby, whenever Sidney Crosby retires, what's he going to do next? Someone mentioned to me just casually, and it's always stuck in the back of my mind. They said, you know what? I can see Sidney Crosby running Penn State, running hockey for Penn State. You wanna talk about furthering? And again, this is just like, we're in this,

it's July 7th, me and Wish was shooting the shit. This is not a report. This is not me saying this is going to happen. I just remember this one conversation with someone saying, I could see Crosby doing that. Stays in Pennsylvania, He's a hero. Penn State probably pay him handsomely to do that. Becomes incredible for recruiting.

I don't know. Like right now, this could be the beginning of something just absolutely massive for Penn State. Well, so why not go carry it away with it? Let's shift the gear down for a second. Cause like here's the other part of it too. Let's say the Penguins trade away Russ, they trade away Raquel, they trade away Carlson. They successfully tank this year. They end up with McKenna.

We all pretty much figure that Crosby's out after Malkin's out, which is after next season. What if you have McKenna there? Would that increase the chances of Sid sticking around and retiring as a Penguin, as a guy who not only will have the top player in the draft on his team, but maybe sees that as an opportunity to, you know, mentor the future? Do it a little Canadian national team, celebrinies in my locker room, I want to take him under my wing situation. Hang on. And so then he becomes the Mario that Mario was to Crosby. He did, exactly.

To which I have still, and you know I've been on this one forever, I've never been given a satisfactory explanation why that didn't count as cap circumvention by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Having Sidney Crosbyvention by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Having Sidney Crosby live in the owner's mansion. I remember asking someone in the NHL that once and this person said to me, well, you know, Malcom lives at Gontrars.

I was like, something a little bit different than living at the lavish, the mansion of luxury that is Mario Lemieux's palace. Instead of a cot in Mario's wine cellar, it'll be a cot from McKenna inside of Crosby's military history artifact room. A bunch of stuff behind glass, old revolvers. That's where he'll sleep. But you know what, just to dovetail it to another conversation, I find the Crosby thing fascinating here because here's what we're going to find out. We're going to find out something about Sidney Crosby. And to me it's really fascinating. I don't know if it is to you or not, but we're going to, we're about to find out something really interesting about Sidney Crosby and

that is this. What's more important to Sidney Crosby? Competition or loyalty? Because that's that's it. That's what we're talking about here. Because Kyle Dubas is not going to approach Sidney Crosby or his agent Pat Breesaw and say is your client interested in a trade? Would your client be interested in going somewhere else? Dubas is not gonna do that. If anything is going to happen here, this will need to be started by, instigated by Crosby and CAA. That's the way this thing is going to go. And as competitive as Crosby is, he's also fiercely loyal too.

So we're about to see here, as the Pittsburgh Penguins continue this rebuild, what's more important to him? And there's no right answer. If he stays, I understand it. If he goes, I understand that too. But we're just going to try, we're just going to try to, we're just going to figure out here what's more important to him, loyalty or competition. What do you think the odds are that Dubas already knows what Sid's gonna be up to in the next two years? I don't know because I don't know that he's had that conversation with either Pat Breson or Sidney Crosby himself. I don't know but I think like listen plenty of Canadians

specifically watching the Four Nations last year where it came to the same conclusion it's great seeing Sidney Crosby in a competitive game, in a competitive tournament. Like, oh man, we would love to see this in the NHL. Why doesn't Crosby go somewhere else? And then it turns into, why don't the Pittsburgh Penguins just trade Sidney Crosby and get him to Colorado to play with Nathan McKinnon?

And then you have the conversation about he's loyal and he wants to retire as a Pittsburgh Penguin. He doesn't want his hockey DB to be Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Colorado. Like he doesn't want like the Mike Modano hockey DB. What do you think? I think I think I've long believed the Hill and his career in Montreal. That's a whopper of one.

And especially now that they're on the- But don't you think that's like, if you're gonna, I, I know everybody just, you know, paints the coal harbor, you know, thing with him and Nate and I'm sure Colorado is going to be relevant by the time he's ready to leave like next summer in theory. But if he's going to go anywhere and he's going to try to do something spectacular, like being part of the legacy and lineage of the Montreal Canadiens and being on a team that's got upward trajectory and having a chance to, you know, maybe LeBron his way to a late, late career championship for a team that hasn't won since 93,

a team he clearly has a lot of affinity for, like, I don't know, man. I always assumed that if it wasn't Pittsburgh, it was gonna be Montreal. And that's kind of where I'm at right now with it. The Colorado thing is sort of like a pipe dream, I think in a lot of ways. Like, why the hell would Sid wanna go west at this point in his career?

Okay, let me throw another thing out at you then. Let's throw this log on the fire here. 1984, NHL draft, 12th round, 240th overall pick. The Montreal Canadiens select who? Who? Troy Crosby. There you go. That's what I'm talking about.

That just makes you more smug and self-righteous about the whole, I told you. It goes back to 84. Last pick of the draft for them. He's gonna play at Montreal. I think we all assume it's gonna be one of those two places if he leaves. Colorado or Montreal?

Unless he completely throws a curve ball at us. Listen, the ultimate curve ball would be like, OV signs for another like year after the next year and then like it's Sid and OV for like their last seasons together, which would be the greatest thing. We've talked about this on the show. I know, I know. We've discussed this on the show before,

the idea that like it'd be the greatest thing ever to have those two together. But I don't know, man, like I, listen, I want him to retire at Penguin. Like that'd be the best, but I'm not gonna, you know, I've heard too many people that kind of know him and know the situation tell me that he's there as long as Gino's there.

And so if Gino's there for one more year, which it could entirely be that, then all bets are off as far as where Sid's gonna end up. How about if Etchenstein stays one more year and Gino goes to Washington? How about all three of them go to Washington, man? Make it an early aughts nostalgia party. Total nostalgia party.

You know, the old guys still got it. Yeah. That'd be amazing. Yeah. They're all like, we don't need you, Eelers. We got Sid and Gino coming in. Does that? By the way, I was mentioning this off the top of the show while you were trying to get into my ears.

It felt very much like Ehlers wanted seven and Carolina was the only team that was prepared to go six. Even though Washington was in it, that the issue wasn't the money, the issue was the term. Does it feel that way to you? Yeah. The thing that was kind of weird for me about the EELER situation is that when I was covering

the Stanley Cup final, I heard from multiple people that it was gonna be Carolina that ended up with him. Now, some of that was kind of contingent on them not getting Marner, which they obviously didn't end up getting Marner, but there was a notion, and I cautioned the people who told me this, like, you're not just saying this because Freddie Anderson's there, right?

Like, you're not just doing the one day and we'll be gravitationally pulled to the other day. And they're like, no, they're just like, I think his style fits with what they do. He probably sees what Natchez did with that team. He knows he could do that. And then also be more consistent than Natchez ever was. And so it was kind of destiny

that he was gonna end up there. I was confused why he took a few beats in between July 1st and making his decision. I guess it's just because the landscape was what it was and he wanted to make sure that every box was checked. But everything I heard was he was gonna end up in Carolina anyway. I think it's a real good fit.

His injury history scares the hell out of me. Someone was asking me the other day, what will Winnipeg do without Nick Eilers? I'm like, well, pretty much whatever they do when he's not there, which is a lot of the time. But I think for what he does, it's a great addition. And I agree with, you might've said this, I think off what he does, it's a great addition. And I agree with, you know, you might've said this, I think, off the top when I was, you

know, trying to get in your ears was the idea that the Carolinas had a really, really strong off season so far. I mean, the Keandre Miller thing for what they had to give up for him. Yep. I think if he can, he's a tricky one because I think defensemen thrive in Rod's system. Keandre's got a hell of a ceiling, but there's a lot of things in his game that need to get cleaned up details wise and consistency wise and maybe that happens there. I think there's probably a notion of, you know, we fixed Brady Shea, and this guy's a hell of a lot better than Brady Shea. And so it's good to get them. And then the Ehlers thing just made too much sense in so far as what they were lacking. Would they rather have

Ehlers over Natures? I think they would, based on how I know they felt about Natures at times. Would they like to have Rantanen over Ehlers? Of course they would, but he doesn't want to live in Raleigh. So you get a guy who wants to be there, you get a guy who's great offensively, you get a guy who fits into your system really well. That leads me to one of the things that I've, I was hoping to get the time to have a conversation with you about too. This is the, now this is the, I don't know what the exact day was,

but now this is the one year anniversary-ish, one year-ish anniversary of, Eric Tulski is the general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes. And, you know, Don Waddell to Eric Tulski, and Tulski was always there as an assistant general manager, had interviewed for GM jobs elsewhere, but he got the Carolina gig. After one year, what are your thoughts on Tulski as GM? Because a lot of old, as you well know, there are a lot of old school people that thought this was a ridiculous move.

It's not a ridiculous move. I think he's been brilliant. I think he's been brilliant. He he's been brilliant well he has look what he's turned in Nate Nate just wanted that was it was it was a declining at like he's gonna be defined by the whole by the whole nature's ranting and situation and he turned it into a major positive he pulled the nose up on a mistake listen we both love Eric and we both know Eric. I got all the respect. I got all the time for him. I think he's probably going to win a Stanley Cup at some point because

I think he's a great manager, but he pulled the nose up on a mistake. He acquired a player that he was convinced was either going to change his mind about a situation or become enamored with the fins that were on the roster. I don't know what the hell he was, he was expecting, but he required a player that ultimately was not the long-term solution to an ongoing problem that he thought it was going to be. And again, he pulled the nose up. He got he got Stankovic, who's really solid. He got a lot of other assets. He did it. He did the smart thing as a manager. And I guess the other the other side of it would have been like keeping him and hoping that you could make the best of it in the playoffs. But as we saw against Florida, I think Eric knew that the roster wasn't probably overall

good enough to beat the Panthers quite yet. So he did the smart thing and not doubling down on a mistake. And I think he fouled it off. He didn't miss, but he fouled it off. Here's what I wonder about, though. How many other managers would have made the exact same save that Tulski did? They would. That's my point.

I think a lot of other managers have been like we went in deep to try to get this guy to do the thing that we need, which is to score in the playoffs. And by God, we're going gonna keep him on the roster. It doesn't matter if we lose him for nothing, we're gonna take our best shot this season. And I think he's smart enough and savvy enough to know our best days are probably still ahead of us. And we were signing this guy for the long term,

not just for a one year solution. Just like Gensel was not supposed to just be a one year solution, they wanted to keep him. In both cases it didn't happen. But again, like that's what I'm trying to say is that I don't think that you can call him, you know, an A plus success when the the ranting and thing went sideways like it did. But I think you can call him an A minus success for the way that he pulled the nose up on it. Is that fair to say? It is, but the whole thing, I look at it as, again, you can couch it whichever way you want.

He took a big swing at a player, which was a message to the marketplace. When, and I don't know who ultimately made the decision for Miko Ratner, whether it was Ratner himself, someone around him, I don't know, that he wasn't gonna stay there longterm. The fact that he had that asset and turned it into what he turned it into,

and if you look at the entirety of the deal, when that deal was made, it was dreary and natures in essentially exchange for Stankhoven, Taylor Hall, two first round picks and $6 million worth of cap space. And if I told you the beginning of the year, Eric Tulsky was going to make that trade, you would have been like, well, Jim Noe's not gonna be GM of the year

for the third time in a row. I love playing that game too, of the equivalency of what the trade ended up. Especially when you can like, now you can look back at the drafts and you're like, how they have this and this. And then it extended with Keandre Miller. Then it extended with Keandre Miller.

But it's not how it works. He traded for Miko Ratnan to have Miko Ratnan on his roster for the next several seasons to be the playoff force that we all saw him be for the Dallas Stars. Like, again, I'm not disagreeing with you that he made a good thing

out of a weird situation, but the situation was to get Nico Rantan on your team and get him signed and have him be there and have him be the solution you've been looking for. As it stands, like all of those assets they got back, they're great, but they don't solve the basic problem for this team over multiple seasons, which is who's going to score a goal when you need it in the playoffs. They don't have that still. Okay. Park that. We'll have plenty of time to debate the Rantan deal, which is probably one of those deals

that we're going to be debating forever. I'll just say one thing on Carolina to finish it off. Again, like Keandre Miller and now a full season of the Keishin and you Jettison Burns and Orloff Like even there that's a gigantic win for the Carolina Hurricanes based on what we saw last season in the playoffs Big winner in free agency, by the way is Orloff you watched him play plenty Did you think for one second he was getting it should have been so obvious too because you saw how the San Jose Sharks Just like strip this thing down and they're like, okay Now we have to make the cap floor and someone's

going to be the big beneficiary of it. Enter Dmitri Orlov. He is the big winner on free agency this year. I don't think anybody thought that guy was getting that number. Good. It doesn't good for him. Good for him. Yep.

He got it. Yeah. I don't think anyone who watched him play last year said that guy's getting that number, but he did. It's like it's like it's like having a friend who had a bunch of gift cards to a restaurant and they just invite you to come along because they got money to burn. They just needed to spend some money and you happen to be on the market. You got to get to the floor. I mean, look, he's a serviceable player.

He was just an atrocity in the playoffs for them. But again, when you're the Sharks, guy doesn't play well in the playoffs, who gives a shit? They can start to be a concern for you at all. I'm not playing in the playoffs. I don't need your playoffs. Yeah, mid-April, you piece it, go back home. It's fine.

Yeah, exactly. No, that was a great bit of business. Well, one thing I wanted to mention, and because listen, arbitration is now a big deal once again after the weekend, and club elected, player elected, what's going to happen with Jack McBain, who I believe was going to be a target for offer sheets, much like Bo Byram was most likely going to be a target for offer sheets. Listen, I'll be honest with you, I think that Ryan McLeod and Buffalo was going to be a target for offer sheets

before he signed his deal with the Sabres. But one of the things that I've always wondered about, because the way that arbitration works in the NHL is both sides go in and present their case, and the arbitrator arbitrarily decides what the number is going to be based on the arguments. Hence, that's why the person is called an arbitrator. I like the baseball style, which makes a lot more sense.

And the way that that works is both sides come in with a number and the arbitrator picks which one he or she feels is closer to what that player should be compensated. That way, no one's coming in too high, no one's trying to hit the home run, everyone's coming in with an idea of what is fair, even though I hate that word, fair for that player. I still, the owner, managers hate arbitration, players hate arbitration, they hate what happens afterwards after they tear each other apart in that room for a few hours, does no good for anyone. I'm still stunned that the NHL and the Players Association

have gotten together and said, listen, we need to change the way arbitration is done. The way that baseball does it to me is much more sane, and you don't get the lingering effects. You don't get Mike Mulberry making Tommy Sallow cry. You don't get Brian Burke referring to Brendan Morrison as the mouse on the elephant. You don't get moments like that in arbitration

when both sides are coming in with one number each. You have thought on that one? I do, which is that I think you're discounting how widely understood it is that this process is crushing for those involved in it. Like the players don't wanna go to it because they don't wanna hear people that they generally like tell them that they suck.

But I think what you're missing is the unpopularity of that facet of arbitration is a pressure point that helps people get deals done before you get to that spot. And you know, the buy room thing right now to me is much more about trying to put a deadline on this thing than it is anything else in so far as you know you know putting a little pressure on both sides to see what they will end up wanting

to do contractually and then also transactionally but to me it's like I the arbitration process for the NHL is is has long been a way to just be like all right you know sit on the pot and get off to just be like, all right, look, you know, sit on the pot and get off. And I think that's because of the nature of how brutal it is. We got time for a couple of more here quickly. Let me see. Oh, you don't want to mention off the top

before you got in my ears. I think the Jason Robertson thing is going to be settled soon. I don't think that the Dallas stars want that. It's either going to be a contract or a trade. I think that Jim Neal has a number in his head. When we saw each other during the cup final, you were convinced he was on the way out.

How are you on that now? I think that Dallas has a number in their mind. And if they don't get that number, then I think we're probably looking at a trade. That's what I believe. Here's where I am on that. I listen, I think he's- Let's not forget too, by the way,

the last negotiation wasn't an easy one. And I don't know if it wasn't, wants to go through that again. I think he adds something valuable offensively, although it's inconsistent sometimes. But I also think that when you look at that team, they need a defenseman who is of a high caliber. And they don't have a lot of options in so far

to how to acquire that player. And I think Jason Robertson is one of the, let me ask you this, because I've seen this guy's name out there a bunch. Robertson for Dougie Hamilton? It's funny because we had someone in the chat ask about your thoughts on the Dougie Hamilton rumors and all the Dougie Hamilton talk. The thought, my thought, my first thought of the Dougie Hamilton rumors is that my daughter is

going to be crushed because she has a Dougie Hamilton autographed breast cancer awareness jersey that is like a prized possession. I think she's a big Dougie fan. And so I'm I've yet to talk to her. She's very active on like the Instagram hockey rumor stuff. So I'm sure she's seen it by now. Yeah, I always assume like I always assume that when the Devil's cut ties with Dougie, it would be in service of acquiring Quinn like like that, like both of those things could not coexist on the roster at the same time.

Yeah, so I to me, I'm not quite sure why they shop him now. I think when he's healthy, he's still one of the top 15 defensemen in the NHL. But there's enough smoke there that... Well, I should say this. When we start talking about some of these guys, I caution whether it is gauging the marketplace versus actively shopping. Jordan Kairou, to me, was gauging the marketplace. I don't Jordan Kairou to me was gauging the marketplace. I don't think the St. Louis Blues were in any hurry to be like

we got to trade Jordan Kairou or else they would have before his contract clause kicked in. I think they were trying to figure out what they could get for him. I think the Devils might be doing the same thing with Ducky Hamilton at this point but for me like if the end game is to unite the Hughes Tri-Force in New Jersey, Die Hamilton was not gonna be on the roster when that happened. And so I'm not trying to get anybody's hopes up, but I always figured that one had to do with the other.

The only thing is that I don't know that the Dallas Stars are in a position to take on that much salary. They're probably not. For that player. That's why, you know what, honestly what I wonder, and again, this is summer series of podcasts, me and Wish throwing stuff, throwing up want and again, this is summer series of podcasts mean wish throwing stuff

thrown up against the wall seeing what sticks here. Pick one of the young defenders from Anaheim. Hmm. Like if you're the Dallas. And Robertson out there for scoring on the wing because they need it. Yeah, that's for for for scoring and say like, look, Pat, you want this? Man, Jackson Lacombe, has he been to Texas before? Oh my God. I'd make that trade,

wouldn't you, if you were Jim Nill? If you both leave with Jason Robertson, you make that trade. I love Jackson LeCombe. I think this guy is an incredible defender. I love him. So yeah, if I'm Jim Nill, yes I do. But you could get more than that from Anaheim, couldn't you? Exactly. Jim Nill, yes I do. But you could get more than that from Anaheim, couldn't you? Exactly, exactly you could. And you pull McTavish out of there. And still, yeah. That's, listen, I think that when you look at players

that are like ready to have, cause it used to take, Remember in the 80s? What was the rule, Wish? It was like 80s into 90s was like, guys didn't pop until their fourth year. And then when they pop, you just got to get them into three years of the NHL and then they'll really explode. And it's not four anymore. And it's all different for different players. But man, I still do get the feeling that this guy is just ready to start having massive seasons.

If I was like, could you grab Mason McTavish and then put him with Jamie Ben and just be like, make him his Padawan learner. Teach me your ways, Jamie Ben. Like, oh my God. How did you cross check that guy in the jaw? Can you show me how to do that, Jamie? Teach me the ways. He's not had anybody at Anaheim to teach him Like, oh my God, how did you cross check that guy in the jaw? Can you show me how to do that?

Jamie, teach me the ways he's not had anybody at Anaheim to teach him to maximize his Jedi powers yet. I bet Jamie Ben could do so. I listen, I like Robertson a lot and I do wonder ultimately if you could trade him to enhance your defense core in a way that's going to make you, bring you back to true contender status, I'm fine with it, but ultimately, that's a lot of goals to be trading away.

It is a lot of goals. Absolutely it is. That's why, to be honest with you, I know they use it to get Mikho Rantanen. I thought the one young player that they were not going to get rid of was Logan Stankovic. I thought that they would jettison Bork. I

Wondered if they would have you know put Lee and Bichelle in that deal as well to try to get him. I was stunned I was stunned that it was Logan Stankovic for more than just hockey reasons That one's I know but that one's like a really shit man Like what when other teams are offering Mitch Marner in the deal, you gotta probably ante up pretty good to get the guy you want, don't you? Yeah, that's probably true. And as that damn double C in the chat says,

do you trade him to the Leafs for Morgan Reilly to reunite Jason and Nick Robertson, or do you move him to Anaheim, then Anaheim makes a move for Nick Robertson? Trade Duggee to Toronto for Morgan Reilly? No I think the idea was Jason Robertson. Oh I completely confused. I'm sorry I got confused what you're talking about. Yeah no um sure. I was I was assumed if the if the Leafs were gonna move Reilly it'd be like defenseman for defenseman kind of trade for some reason.

I don't know why I have that in my head. It's in the, the, the, the Riley thing is interesting with, with Toronto because it became really obvious, really fast that the one thing that Morgan Riley is sort of known for and the one part of his game that really makes him Morgan Riley is galloping with the puck in his own zone. And Craig Berube wants his defenseman around the net. And that's just like, that's not Morgan Riley. It's not it's not a fit and you saw like he had

he had a really tough season for the Maple Leafs. If it's video poker and I'm playing Maple Leafs video poker I hold Matthews and I hold Knives and I hold Nylander and then I reshuffle the deck but that was before they went out and bought back, you know, to Varis and did some of the other things they've done. Not saying it's a bad off season, just not the direction I would have gone necessarily. Before I let you go, and I gotta get on with my day as well, and people have things to do here,

either in the chat or listening or watching. What's spicy in your chili these days? Like what are you focusing on right now? Here we are July 7th. This show is gonna continue, we're gonna go through the summer, but like what's doing it for on right now? Here we are July 7th. This show is gonna continue, we're gonna go through the summer, but what's doing it for you right now? It will continue, I'll be on a bunch this summer.

I wanna apologize for my camera. I had to re-download some software and I didn't have the don't follow Wish as he moves his head around button. There may have been a couple of moments in which the camera did some crazy David Finchery moves and I didn't necessarily want it to do that. So I apologize for that.

Secondly, the spice of my chili is a CBA right now. You talked about it off the top of the show. Like we don't have the completed document quite yet. We kind of know what's in it, but we don't know all the I's dotted and T's crossed. What do the players get? They get whatever is given to them. Because again, like you mentioned off the top, like my feeling on giving away the salary cap numbers and it's to keep them complacent and to keep them not angry.

They're happy with they get an increased cap. They're happy with the system right now. They get to keep going to the Olympics and get other international tournaments. Like they do get some things that they're interested in. But ultimately, I want to know where the reduction in salary, I'm sorry, in contract term came from. I assume it's the players being okay with it only being six years as a free agent to encourage more movement But all I know Merrick is that most of the times these guys sign it's for eight It's because they want to be where they are and and so I'm a little confused by that There's other things in the deal that we know about

That I'm interested to see from the players perspective why they wanted to do this But I'll wait until we know the full freight of the thing until we can start asking those questions. I'll be curious to, and when that finally comes out, I'll be curious as well. But in the meantime, do you know, have you ever heard anybody, like anybody, team side, player side complain about third parties

and trades holding holding money. Where does that one come from? Where does that come from? Don't you think that comes from the league? I do, but who's ever beefed about it? Normally it's a reflection of like, oh Chicago's pissed that someone keeps doing this. When have you ever looked at that and said that's a problem? If anything, it facilitates more trade, it facilitates trade. I think the LTIR thing is a league driven thing too.

I don't think teams care. I mean, some teams might care about like when you lose to the Panthers, you lose to the Vegas and you're salty about it the next year. But ultimately this is a tool in the tool chest I think all these guys would like to use when their time comes. I think much like the leagues driven the LTIR conversation and Ron Hainsey basically confirmed it. He basically said when we talked to him in Edmonton during the cup final, he basically said that this was a big issue for the NHL in negotiations.

And so much like the LTIR thing I, is driven by the league more than the owners, I think that the third-party salary cap sharing thing is also probably league-driven, either to uncomplicate things or because they kind of see it as maybe a sneaky way around cap compliance. But again, we don't know for sure. I'm speculating here, I should say.

You know, we talked about Gavin McKenna kick off this conversation officially. Players gave up a lot of control for players. 22 years old. That's a lot of, how many years, like every single draft, how many years did the players surrender here if? They're controlled by their team to sign contracts for as many as four years That's a ton that's massive Until a player can actually take himself to market Well again like that's but that's the genius of Batman right now. And the owner side.

Here's what I have. I have so much that they can offer these guys that is going right. And on top of that, expanded international calendar, the Olympics, yada, yada, yada. The cap is going up to $11.7 billion in year three. Like they don't have the spine to fight for any of this stuff. They're just going to sign off on it. And that's just it. Maybe I'm just so used to the fight. Maybe I'm just used to the argument that maybe I'm pissed off that the PA hasn't done it. Because I'm just, I just lie. Honestly, I'm just used to the scraps. Like from, from 94 on,

I'm just used to the fights. It's because it's not only you and I are old enough to remember 94 on, you and I are old enough to remember Chris on you and I are old enough to remember Chris Cellios maybe getting the FBI called on him at some point for the stuff he said about Gary Bettman. That was tough But we're also at the time. We're also old enough to remember the the labor movement writ large I mean, it's it's not as if the the players union is the only union doesn't put up a fight anymore No, I mean we certainly remember the 70s and the 80s and even before that as far as like what labor unions used to do and the sacrifices they made to pave the way for what's come after it.

My dad, I grew up in a union house. My dad was an electrician in New York City. This guy, he definitely participated in strikes and all sorts of things to make sure that not only him and his kids, but the people that came after him were taken care of. There's no fighting this dog right now when it comes to the players union. Here's what I thought when I saw the, you know, up to the age of 22, retaining players' rights after they get drafted. You know, I wondered if, and kind of hoped,

that the players association would push back and say, okay, then the draft's only two rounds. It's great. And everybody's a free agent. You want four years for all the top dogs to sign? Okay, then the draft is two rounds. I like that. Or three rounds. At least three, three rounds maybe.

You can get three. I did two rounds on the Saturday. The first round, so three rounds, yeah. Oh God, I just realized we haven't, I don't think we've spoken since the Saturday. The first round, so three rounds. Yeah. Oh god, I really just realized we haven't, yet I don't think we've spoken since the graphs. But that's a, but that's a, but that I know, well listen, it's a one and done. That thing went Broadway fast and for, for everyone who said that the commissioner was going to go out of his way, well one, to remind everybody this wasn't his idea, and was gonna go out of his way

just to show what a bad idea it was, mission accomplished. That was my theory. Mission accomplished. I'll stand by it, because that was a real rubbing the puppy's nose in the mess it made and being like, don't do this again. Don't do this again, yeah. I don't know, man.

I love a lot what the NHL does. I wasn't too enamored with, let's take the most awkward young athletes and put them in a Zoom meeting with the most uncharismatic people in hockey. Yeah, that was a really tough one. But I don't think we talked since I was at the Islanders draft party.

That was a smart idea. That draft party was lit. That's fine. That looks like okay. Can we just mention one thing right now? The New York frickin I can't believe I'm saying this the New York Islanders are frickin killing it Like honestly, the New York Islanders are so fascinating right now They're nailing it like at every single every that not just like at the Islanders level But the American Hockey League level too you look at all this all the the signings they made that you know weren't for the NHL with it for the American League to for Rocky Thompson like

Matthew Darce just come in and like a really short amount of time has already put like a major stamp on this thing Yeah, honestly, I'm super impressed with the Islanders. It's time to start paying attention to them because when Lula Murillo leaves, that means you can have fun again. And you can market your team in a different way than he'll allow you to. And players could speak candidly about things in ways that they couldn't

because they knew no one was looking over their shoulder and having transcripts created to make sure that they're all saying the right things. John Collins taking a more active role in that team means that they understand inherently they need to connect with the local hockey community in ways that they have not. That's explicit from John. It's part of the mission now. And oh, by the way, they drafted probably the single most charismatic first overall

pick that we've had. It's amazing. Like ever? Maybe? I know. He's fantastic. They drafted probably the single most charismatic first overall pick that we've had. It's amazing. Like ever? I know. Maybe? I know. He's fantastic.

I'm, the energy is good. The vibes are good. They're headed in the right direction. And it's, I'm excited. I'm excited to see how they go about reinvigorating this franchise after quadrupling down on the same grade B players over and over and over again, because they happened to make a conference final during COVID. Yes. Okay.

You know, I kind of thought like these summer shows were going to start off and we just do like, you know, 35 or 45 minutes. Yeah, I guess again. But it took you long to get on. Well, it was technical difficulties this time. Technical difficulties. Obviously, you know, when, well, but then again, like people are at the beach, they're going It was technical difficulties this time. Technical difficulties. Obviously, you know, when, well, but then again, like people are at the beach, they're gonna be there for a while.

They want some noise in their ears that is gonna be pleasing for long periods of time. And when they're done with that, they'll listen to us. Oh, okay, go do your day. All right, we'll talk soon. Bye everybody. Beat it. Take care.

Greg Wieschanski from ESPN and ESPN.com. Okay, we have to get to a couple of things here, Vic. One of them is, and I'm curious to see what you come up with here. If you've come up with anything or maybe nothing, we'll see. The sheet is powered by FanDuel, as you all know, home of the same game Parlay. Make every moment more on FanDuel.

FanDuel, proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them. Vic, it hasn't been an easy day, but you did it. You got our man, Gorbachevsky, aboard. You did it. You landed the plane. I'm happy for you. Anything from FanDuel for us today? Yeah, as you know, it's a difficult one and you went a Pretty much entire show without talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs. So let's indirectly talk about the Toronto Maple Leafs. Oh, jeez Best in the West leaves are in the West now No, no, but the sharks the first round again, Jamie Baker Johan Garpenloff gonna hit crossbars that we're talking about Mitch Marner is in the West now. The Sharks in the first round again. Jamie Baker, Johann Garpenloff gonna hit crossbars. Is that what we're talking about? Mitch Marner is in the West now.

Oh, OK. Now we're looking at the Western comp. Who will win the Western Conference? Jeff, co-favorites Edmonton and Vegas. Yeah. Do you think the Vegas Golden Knights did enough to challenge the Edmonton Oilers? And to go with that are the losses of Corey Perry, Connor Brown, Jeff Skinner, and not adding a goaltender too much. Yeah.

I mean, right now you have to look at Vegas and say that they're probably the odds on. I still don't know why Colorado continues. And I love Colorado. And I listened until they flamed out again. I was like, Oh yeah, Colorado can win the Stanley Cup this year. Like how many years are we going to keep saying this? Like they may just be that one team that we looked at and said, they're awesome. They're going to win a bunch of Stanley Cups and they end up winning one.

One. Yeah. Right. Like didn't you, like Vic, didn't you get that feeling that when you saw them win that cup, cause they were like dominating teams and looked so good. Didn't you say like, wow, we're looking at the next penguins here. Like they're going to rip off like three cups in four years or four cups in six years. Like this is a team that's going to be around winning cups for a while.

They've won one and we keep saying that they're cup contenders. Maybe we should temper our expectations there. I still want to see what Dallas does with Jason Robertson, either resign or trade. And if trade, what ends up coming back? I would imagine something to help the blue line. I gotta look at this whole thing, even though Patrangelo is gone,

Hague is gone, Waa is gone. I would still look at the Vegas Golden Knights until we see what Edmonton does with their goaltending and say, I'll pick Vegas to win the Western Conference. If you're asking me today, July 7th. And I am. Yeah, and you are. So I would take Vegas right now. Where's all the disrespect for the Winnipeg Jets?

Holy smokes. Yeah. Nothing on the Jets, man. Because well, now they lost dealers. Yep Nobody trust hellbuck. I guess I don't know like have you seen a fall from grace bigger than that like He didn't even get picked in the first six for the team USA the one guy won a heart trophy won the Vezna I didn't even get picked and Jake Goddard is going that's right. I'm gonna be the guy. I'm gonna be the guy Okay, listen on that. we should probably wrap things up.

Again, look for an announcement tomorrow out of Penn State about Gavin McKenna, that is a major story. So we'll watch for that and this program will be back. Our schedule is gonna be kinda weird. So no show tomorrow, but we're back Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And then we're going to two days a week, and we'll get a schedule for you through the end of July,

and then we'll see what happens for August, but we are staying on the air. And listen, if there's like a big newsy day and then we have to be on to cover it, like we'll be on. Like it's, don't worry about it. It'll happen and we'll cover it. Thanks again as always for being part of it. Thanks for watching.

Thanks for interacting in the chat. We had some chat issues that we're gonna solve for a Wednesday not being able to get some chat comments on the screen while the show was going on. Something we've been planning to do and do more of. Completely ripping off Morning Cup of Hockey, but fuck, I figure I stole their producer. I'll steal their ideas too so

we'll look to do that more of that throughout the summer and thanks for joining us thanks for being part of it thanks for for listening hit the likes hit the follows that's our daily face off YouTube channel and follow the sheet Spotify and Apple podcasts as well thanks Thanks again. Enjoy the rest of your day. This program returns on Wednesday. Got it? Good. Enjoy the summer. I slept 16 hours last night,

every day this week, every day this month. I can't get out my head, lost all ambitions day to day, cause you can call it a ride. I went to the dark man, he tried to give me a little medicine. I'm out against those methods but I knew It's me, myself and how this gon' be fixing my mind I turned on the record I turned on the music

I feel what we're doing I feel what we're doing I feel what we're doing I feel what we're doing It's gonna be fixing my mind Still on the back end I turned on the music I still on the back end I turned on the music It's turned up, down, down Sometimes you lose it Helping on the days that went wrong