The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Elbows Up ft. Greg Wyshynski & Joe Beninati

Episode Date: May 6, 2025

Greg Wyshynski and Joe Beninati join Jeff Marek on The Sheet. Discussing the Same Bennett elbow to Anthony Stolarz, the Maple Leafs winning Game 1, and teeing up the rest of the second-round games live from Washington, D.C.Shout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Ninja Kitchen Canada: https://www.ninjakitchen.ca/products/ninja-crispi-4-in-1-portable-glass-air-fryer-cooking-system-zidFN101CGY?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=olv&utm_campaign=25Q2-Crispi&utm_content=en👍🏼RVezy: https://www.rvezy.com/owner?utm_source=cross-channel&utm_medium=multi-media&utm_campaign=canadian+hosts👍🏼Budweiser: https://www.budweiser.ca/ca_enReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Flames_Nation🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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

Stylish selections and design assistance to help you every step of the way. Transform your living space today with Cozy. Visit Cozy.ca, C-O-Z-E-Y.ca, the Tuesday, May 6th edition of Wished Heat. Greg Wischinski, you gotta get a little of his t-shirt. Standing by, he'll be aboard in a couple of seconds here. We are at the Monumental Studios, right beside Capitol One.

Tonight, game one, Washington Capitals, Carolina Hurricanes. Plenty on that today. Joe Beninati, the longtime play-by-play voice of the Washington Capitals, Carolina Hurricanes, plenty on that today. Joe Benanati, the longtime play-by-play voice for the Washington Capitals will be aboard. And so we'll talk about Game One. Although I have a feeling with Joe, we'll do a whole lot of then and now

because he was there clearly when things were not so good. And clearly now things are so good. So we'll do a little bit of that now with Joe Benenatti coming up a couple of moments. We'll probably do the same with Greg Wyshinski in a couple of seconds, because he was there when it was not so good and has always been around as the rise,

the Stanley Cup, the record chase, the Washington Capitals are now back on top of the NHL. In the meantime, one quick point here, we got a lot to get to on today's show, so we're gonna bring Greg aboard here a little bit early. But one thing I do wanna mention, just some context here. You remember so many years ago,

in a game at the Bell Center, Montreal Canadiens facing off against the Boston Bruins. And late in one of the periods with their dying seconds, Max Pacioretty tried to skate around to Dano Chara on a rush. Chara hit him into a stanchion. It was a horrible injury for Max Pacioretty. And Montreal, all the hockey fans there,

went banana sandwich to the point where they were calling 911, they wanted arrests, they wanted Chara let out in handcuffs, sponsors threatening to pull out, it was a real scene. I'm not saying it's the same, but Maple Leafs fans with Sam Bennett, and I know it's a couple of different times, one with Matthew Nyes and one with Anthony Stolarz, but let's just take a deep breath now.

Coming up on the program, and yes, we're going to talk a lot about Sam Bennett, and we're going to talk a lot about goalie interference, and we're going to talk a lot about concussions and concussion spotters and that series. Coming up on the program today, Daily Outline presented by FanDuel, make every moment more with North America's number one sports book. And coming up on the program today,

I already mentioned the two big guests that we have on the horizon. Greg Wyshinski is a Tuesday staple. It's when we do our MVSW chats, which are always a lot of fun. So we'll talk to Greg Wyshinski. Also, we'll talk with Joe Benanatti, as I mentioned, play by play voice of the Washington Capitals. Elbows up. It's not just a Mark Carney saying, by the way, Mark Carney is about how far away from us here, Nick, like just down the street meeting with

President Trump. And we'll talk about round two, which began in earnest yesterday and continues today with two big games, the Carolina Hurricanes here in Washington to face off against the Capitals, also the Oilers. And let's hope this series is as nasty as it was two years ago, face off against the Vegas Golden Knights. In the meantime, let's bring them aboard. This segment brought to you by Budweiser.

Budweiser is encouraging buds to make time for playoffs, not excuses, every goal, every check, every win is better enjoyed with your buds. Phone a bud, text a bud, ping a bud, elbow a bud, and call out their excuses for bailing on the playoffs. After all, the playoffs are the most wonderful time of the year. Make them count when it's springtime. It's go time. With that, we'll bring on our man, Greg Wyshinski from ESPN for a little MVSW Redux. Greg, how are you today?

I'm back in your old haunt. This used to be your beat. This used to be where you would do your work and have your sips. I'm back in your old haunt, Greg. Two things. First of all, for those who might be listening to the show instead of watching it,

the color of the sheet is green. They've uplit Merrick's background where it looks like he's inside of Shrek's stomach right now, which I think is a pretty fun environment to be in. Yeah, that's cool. And secondly, all of this Ovechkin stuff this year has been really nostalgic for me because I got my start as a credentialed hockey writer in the blog box that Ted Leones has created in Washington back in like 2006 or 2005 at a time when none of the local papers were covering the Capitals sufficiently.

So he created a way for the alternative media to come in and cover the team. And so little Greg Wyshinski wearing probably a polo shirt to a hockey game to be in the press box is that's where I got my start. That's where I learned how to be a reporter. That's how I learned how to be someone covering hockey for a living. And so not only am I nostalgic for being there in the beginning where Ovechkin has taken passes from Matt Pettinger, but also nostalgic for the beginning of my time as a hockey writer. Thanks in no small part to the access the Capitals gave a lot of us during the blog years.

You know, they were the first. They were the first to really recognize bloggers as a thing. Now there's 32 teams that don't just have like the blogger section to keep them quiet. Like these are like some of the heavyweights in the industry. But yeah, I got to, you know, yeah, you have to, you have to really tip your cap to, to Ted Leons.

Because it wasn't just, as you mentioned, the blogger's box and, and, and credentialing bloggers. But I mean, something is simple and it was kind of revolutionary when it happened because you don't get access to people like Ted Leonsis, but Greg, Ted's take. Like I miss Ted's take. Like Ted's take at the time,

and that was for those that weren't around for it, that was Washington Capitol's owner, Ted Leonsis, and his weekly thoughts on hockey. And also he would answer fans. He would respond to emails. Like it was the first experience that we had because certainly like, you know, players, you know, have a player, players open themselves up to fans,

sometimes coaches, sometimes managers, never owners, never. And there was Ted saying, my team, we got to fill this building. These are the people that have the nerve to buy season tickets. I'm going to make myself available to them. In a lot of ways, like when the book is written on this generation of hockey, even pre-lockout,

Ted Leone says he's gonna get a pretty significant chapter here. Yeah. Ted at AOL.com because he made his money as an AOL executive. I remember working for the late great sports fan magazine in DC and emailing Mark Cuban and getting a response about like something hockey related. It wasn't even basketball or streaming or the shark tank or anything. It was a different time. But we didn't talk about one thing though off the top that I thought you would have bought up by now. You mentioned your prime minister being

in Washington DC steps away from you. I know how many steps, because by the way, I still remember running from the arena one night in DC after a caps game and going to the celebration outside of the White House after the US killed Osama Bin Laden. I remember that very distinctly. That was a Sunday. That was a Sunday, wasn't it? I believe it was a Sunday. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I remember covering it. People were climbing up on light poles wearing USA hockey jerseys. And then I remember sitting in my car with my laptop, like banging away a post for Yahoo, like a couple blocks away from the White House. It was crazy. But, um, Hockey came up in the conversation between the summit, if you will, between the U S and Canada this morning in the White House in

which Donald Trump seemed to believe that Alex Ovechkin was Canadian, but also called him that tough cookie, uh, down, uh, with the capitals. So hockey, hockey's a play role in today's meeting. He's half right. He is a tough cookie. He's just not a tough Canadian cookie. You know, I always, again, like I always give political figures a pass on sports because you're running a country. I understand that like think on the ledger of things

that are important in any politician's day to day life. And maybe it's a little bit more for hockey in Canada. Like we saw Mark Carney, you know, get out in his goalie gear with the Oilers and take some shots at practice. I kind of think that they forget everything about sports until someone asks something and then they blurt out an answer

and hope that they were right afterwards and that they don't get freezing cold baked. The thing about about the answer from Trump today though is I don't ever want to defend the guy but James Austin Johnson does an amazing impression to Trump on SNL and one of the things he nails about Trump is the way that Trump speaks extemporaneously, going from one subject to another based on key words in the one subject that will then be carried over to the other subject, even if those subjects have nothing to do with each other.

So I think today what happened is he's asked about Canadians that he likes, he brings up hockey, of course he brings up his boy Gretzky Mar-a-Lago Gretzky And then the the the one neuron up there, you know sparks and and all of a sudden he's thinking Gretzky Ovechkin Record setting I remember my FBI director was going to the games and then he immediately goes to Ovechkin And that's how we get the Ovechkin part of it

So I'm not quite convinced that he was mistaking Ovechkin and that's how we get the Ovechkin part of it. So I'm not quite convinced that he was mistaking Ovechkin as a Canadian. I just think in Trump mind, the worm went from Canada to hockey to Gretzky to Ovechkin and that, in that order. Look, thankfully they didn't just gang up on our prime minister. I think all Canadians are going like, okay, like just don't,, just don't get hit from behind here. Like, just, just, just, just, like, don't, don't be stole ours to his Bennett. Like, just, just, I was, I was going to say you were worried that Trump was going to skate through the crease and accidentally on purpose, uh, hit, hit, hit your PM in the head. I think every Canadian was like, oh boy, how was this? Cause honestly, everybody in the country is like, okay, how is this gonna go?

Johnny Lazarus just chirped me about my hair, by the way, so I'm trying to fix it. I got the bad feathers today. Yeah, I think everybody was worried how this thing was gonna go between the two. But thankfully it seemed to go pretty well. Seemed to go good. We're friends.

We're friends, I think. Sort of, kind of. Maybe. Didn't get ganged up on. We're friends, I think, sort of, kind of, maybe. Didn't get ganged up on. No one got jerseys. The Bennett thing. Let's get to the Bennett thing, because I know you wanted to talk about it. So. I do.

All right, so a couple things real quick. I completely understand the frustration from fans that in the words of Paul Maurice have turned on their television this morning and seen every hit that Sam Bennett has laid since he was 12 years old. There are a number of them that definitely deserved a suspension that didn't receive one. And maybe if those things happen, we wouldn't be having these conversations. I completely understand and I completely sympathize with people that are like you should punish The people that cross the line or that you know are injurious and these are the people that we should target

I get it the wrong way to approach that is to take a play that is a minor penalty at best and Then try to escalate it to something larger like a suspension Because of that guy's history and also because of an injury that we honestly, if we're being clear about this, don't know if the hit caused or not. So, this is a case where the injury, and it is an image few of us will ever forget, which stole ours at the bench. Oh yeah.

Plus the guy that delivered the contact. We understand why this became a thing, but honestly, if this is 90% of the rest of the league, it's goalie interference at best. It's not a suspension. They got it right, but I do sympathize with people that are like, but, but, but Bennett, because honestly, this guy has, in my opinion, crossed the line a few times and not gotten called out on it. Uh, just as a quick aside, I want to make sure that I get this in the program today,

especially with you, because I don't want to forget it because we have so much to go over. I got a text from an e-bug this morning saying, how'd you like to be Joe Joseph wall last night? Stoller's comes in, barfs in his lap, and then he's got to go out there and stop shots cold. Man, that's a, that's a tough way to make your living. That's a tough one. That's a tough one. But no, you're right. If you're going to pick and choose where to

make an example out of Sam Bennett, that wasn't it. That wasn't the spot to do it. And again, like the more, like again, talk to goaltenders about this one. They'll tell you there's probably more evidence that the Reinhart shot caused the concussion and then maybe what happened with Bennett took it to the level where he's calling for a bucket on the bench. But that shot when the straps pop off, like I've so often wondered about that.

I know that in North America, we sort of sideways snicker at the double IHF for their rules about when goalies get hit in the head with a puck, you stop play automatically. It's like, in North America, oh, come on, they're fine. Play on, he's fine. I remember a game, I remember a Montreal-Chicago game, and honestly, I still don't know how

concussion spotters didn't pull him out, and I don't know what happened to him afterwards. But Corey Crawford took one right in the lookers from Shay Weber, and I think it was like top of the circle, so it wasn't even from the point, So it wasn't 60 feet. It was like 40 foot, Shay Weber's slap shot right in between the lookers. Corey Crawford, and he did, I don't know, what do you call it? The Nestea plunge back into the net and then kind of shook it off and kept playing.

But every time now that I look at a goalie, get a shot in the head. And I understand like the technology of the mask now will sort of deflect the pressure of the shot that comes in. I've had a lot of goalie experts explain to me why these masks now are a lot safer than they were before because there's no flat spots.

But still, to be honest with you, Greg, I'm surprised that doesn't happen more often. When you consider how hard everybody rings it. Once upon a time, it was a few guys. It was al McKinness and Reid Larson and Doug Wilson a couple guys that could really fire it Now everybody does and goalies are taking it off the mast so often especially now that they're down in the RVH And so they're lower and so you can be shooting for a bar down and hit the goalies head It happens all the time. I'm just surprised that that, what we saw last night, doesn't happen more often.

Strength plus flex plus skill plus strength. I mean, it's, you're right. I mean, it's a different league. It was a rough one to watch. I mean, like anytime Chris Nowinski is tweeting about hockey in the second round of the playoffs, you know it's not a very good night for the sport. And there was a lot of debate and conjecture about the concussion. Look, again, like, it's a hard,

you don't wanna come off as neanderthalic because the result of the entirety of the sequence, whether it was the shot or the Bennett play, resulted in a really ghastly scene and a guy leaving on a stretcher after the game. And again, this is a guy who I think in Bennett's case has crossed the line a few times, player safety disagrees, clearly is of that Chris Pronger ilk though that, you know, is there to disturb, is there to create chaos, is there to play up to the line and frequently crosses it, but in a lot of cases, it plays up to the line.

And so I know there's people out there that are like, you've got to make an example. If you step in and suspend the guy, then maybe that'll change things. And I think when the play warrants it, I don't necessarily disagree. But the idea that reputation should take what is again, like just simple goalie interference and elevated to a suspension in a playoff game. I just don't agree with. I mean, reputation works the other way too. Are we, are we to say that somebody who won the lady Bing is exonerated from multi-game suspensions? Like, like you've got to judge the play for what it is. Yeah. You got to judge the play for what it is. And unfortunately for people that want to see Bennett

punished for doing what he did to more Shan and what he's done to other players, like last night, wasn't it? Or Matthew Nice Portuguese walrus in the chat is a good one. I've had my four year old throw a puck at my leg. I can't imagine a six foot three professional jacked up on adrenaline and slinging it at me with an 80 flex. Yeah, like that's true. And just so everyone understands, the way the DOPS works, the Department of Player Safety

works is they do not consider the person until they establish that there is something that is suspension worthy that has happened. And that was a collision in the crease. That was, to your point, that was at best a minor penalty. Now, I will say this. Well, hold on. There is that from the DOPS, but then there's also,

Jay Woodcroft always talk about the Detroit Red Wings taking one minute penalties, which will never get called. It's that penalty that it is a penalty, but it's not a good enough penalty to really call. But it's just enough interference on a play that you want to do it, but like, oh, it's going to be really chintzy. But it does have a deliberate effect on what happens for the remainder of that shift. That is what you can make the point that the Sam Bennets and the Brad Marshands are so great at. It feels like it might be a penalty.

It's right up to the line, but we're not gonna call it. Listen, it's goal interference. It's a penalty, but I also, in talking to some people this morning, understand. Well, it's not, but I mean, it's a penalty on the ice. And I think that one of the sentiments that you hear, I think maybe I'm talking to some people this morning to understand. Well, it's not, but I mean it's a penalty on the ice and I think that one of the sentiments that you hear, I think maybe Chris Pronger mentioned this this morning in his thread on Twitter, was if the officials make the call on the ice that might take some of the steam

out of the aftermath of it. Maybe, maybe not. I think the injury probably still has us talking about it in the manner in which we're talking about it today. But there should have been a call on the ice. But I'm talking to some people this morning, I can understand why there wasn't. It's kind of a bang bang situation in the crease.

There's a lot of traffic going on there. Bennett's turning to play the puck. He's not like, you know, coming through on his own and chicken winging the guy. So I get, even as a guy who's critical of the officials all the time on this show, I understand why there wasn't a call. There should have been a call,

but there certainly shouldn't have been anything beyond that. Anybody saying that is either, you know, looking to make an example of Bennett, which again, I sympathize with, or they're trying to get over with these fans, which might be the job. ["The Big Game"] You know, the smart thing that Craig Bruby did this morning

was say this is over. Because part of this, and listen, Paul Maurice doesn't do anything accidentally. As I've told you before, and anyone that's listened to me for the number of years knows that when I used to do AHL work with the Marlies, I was a color voice and John Bartlett was a play-by-play voice. And that's when Paul Maurice was the head coach of the Marlies. And I kind of understand the operator that is Paul Maurice. And Paul Maurice does nothing casually.

There is always a reason for whatever he says and whatever he does. And when he talked about waking up this morning and seeing every hit that Sam Bennett has ever had, going back to when he's 12 years old, what he's trying to do, and you saw this with the comments yesterday, oh, the referee was right there. He didn't, like what he's trying to do, I get it.

If I know Paul Maurice even just a little bit, what I'm thinking here is he's trying to infuriate the Maple Leafs to the point where they get into the mud with the Florida Panthers because the Maple Leafs can the point where they get into the mud with the Florida Panthers. Because the Maple Leafs can't win that game. That's Paul Maurice saying, come on over here. Come on, like where I live, there's a lot of coyotes. And the way the coyotes operate is they'll take small animals and they'll pretend to be buddies with them

and they'll slowly but surely lead them off into the forest where they don't want to be and then they turn on them. And that's Paul Maurice trying to lure the Maple Leafs into a hockey game in the mud. And Craig Barube is no dope. He recognizes that and says, it's over. We move on. Just not going to engage at all. I wrote about this this morning on ESPN.com.

You can read it. It's the eight lessons we've learned so far from the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And one of them, in my estimation, and I may regret this by like game six, is that the Maple Leafs are cup worthy. And one of the reasons they're cup worthy is because they've got the right guy behind the bench to put the blinders on, okay,

and keep the focus on the task at hand rather than the noise, the demons of the past, what the other team is doing. And, and so we have a little proof of concept now for the grand psychological experiment that is Craig Vrube coaching the Leafs because he made his bones when the blues won the cup, having this incredible intrinsic ability as a coach having this incredible intrinsic ability as a coach to keep his team focused on what was ahead, to not stress about the hand pass and overtime that was missed,

to not stress about the other adversity they met along the way, to not stress about being last in the league on January 2nd. You know, he really did one of the most amazing jobs I've ever seen in making a team mentally tough from the moment he was hired until the moment they lifted the cup.

And so that's his reputation. And he gets hired in Toronto and it becomes the grandest psychological experiment of all time. It is Ken the guy who is a master at getting his team to move on from adversity, to put the blinders on, to not think about what happened in the previous game. Can he apply that magic to the most broken psyche team in professional sports? And we have around a proof of concept because another Maple Leafs team loses game six in

Ottawa and then they lose game seven in Toronto. And not only did they not lose game six in Ottawa, they played a really good game and they overcame it. And last night we have more proof of concept. Stollers gets knocked out of the game. The Panthers come roaring back in this game to the point where it's five three or four three. And then Nye scores and then they close out the game even though things get a little dicey towards the end.

I hesitate to plan any parades, Jeff Merrick, but I will say that in the brief time that we have with Craig Barube and the absolute psychological seat of doubt mess that is Toronto Maple Leafs, we are starting to see that maybe this is the right guy to fix them. Was that you that we saw measuring bridges in Toronto to see if the floats would fit underneath? Was that you?

Was that you? Where we're past the parade, we want to make sure we can get underneath the bridges. Different hues of face paint for what I'll wear to the parade. You know, I'm getting ready. Listen man, they're up one nothing. You know the Panthers aren't done. I picked the Panthers in the series, but let's just be honest with ourselves here.

If they get past Florida, they're better than what's coming out of the Metro. Yeah. I mean, let's be honest with ourselves here. There is a path for the Leafs here. I have not thought about that for one second. I don't know many Leafs fans that have. Like I'm not a Leafs fan.

I haven't thought about that. Zach, our producer will tell us whether he's thought about like the path here. I don't know that any Maple Leafs fans are thinking past the Florida Panthers because I don't know a whole lot of Leafs fans that think they can get past the Florida Panthers. I will say one thing to the point about you're not gonna play the Florida Panthers game and not gonna get in there and not gonna get in the mud and not gonna play a game where Brad Marshan

and Kachuk win and Bennett not gonna go and play that game. If you're Craig Berubi, there's one player on that team that you really need to get to with that message. Because I think that pretty much everybody on that team is like, okay, cool, we're not gonna go there, we're not gonna play that game. The one that I would wonder about who still, much like his dad, leads with his emotions.

I knew you were going with this. Is Max Thome. That's the one. Fans love him because he's that instant like, okay, you took our goalie out, we're going after Bob. Like he has that old school mentality.

If there's gonna be one that takes the bait, that tries to snatch the cheese in the trapwish, it would be Max Domey. This is what I'm talking about. Like you say you're not a Leafs fan, but you're as psychologically tries to snatch the cheese in the trap wish, it would be Max Domi. This is what I'm talking about. Like you say you're not a Leafs fan, but you're as psychologically broken as everybody else in Toronto.

You go into the series now wondering, will Max Domi become Nazem Qadri? Like that's essentially what you're saying. It's like, who is the Nazem Qadri on this team that is gonna take the five minute major in the critical spot and then to the Panther score three goals and then the series is done. Like that's the thinking of all you people in

This and this sick little dome that you live under in the center of the hockey universe The rest of us are on the outside looking in being like wow, the ladders playing great barners playing great the goaltending's there They got toughness on the back end with Carlo and Tative This looks like it's even when the cup and you guys are like what will happen next? What will subvert this mission? What will be the next disaster to befall the Maple Leafs? I'll go even worse for me. You're at the other end of the QEW fishing for like where my hockey's where my hockey heart has been broken. It's Buffalo. It ain't Toronto. It's at the other

end of the QEW. That's even worse than what's happened to the Toronto Maple Leafs here. Okay, any more thoughts on that one? Cause I do wanna move on and talk about tonight. There was a couple of other NHL issues. Anything more about the game? I was just, I'm just, again, like, I'm really impressed with the Leafs. I'm really impressed with these moments along the way

that previously would have meant everything falls apart and it doesn't fall apart. And it doesn't mean the Panthers don't have six more games to put the seeds of doubt into the minds of the Maple Leafs and then the Leafs beat themselves, which is their usual path to destruction. But that was one of those, you got to convince yourself it's different this time kind of wins and then they want it. Okay. Tonight, Washington Capitals and then they want it. Okay, tonight

Washington Capitals and the Carolina Hurricanes that's why I'm here in Washington for games one and two. Also later on tonight and as I said off the top I hope it is as nasty I hope it is as nasty even with suspensions hey nurse hey Patrangelo like we saw two seasons ago like if you want to talk about a series that was psychologically damaging to a team, that Vegas series psychologically damaged the Edmonton Oilers, much like Vegas in the past has psychologically damaged the Avalanche,

although Dallas has done a really good job of that too, the San Jose Sharks. Like when you check the boxes of like which team the Vegas called the Knights has really put a psychological hockey damage to and a hockey Beating on it's pretty lengthy in the Western Conference, but want to get your thoughts on the game that I'm going to tonight Capital one arena seven o'clock Eastern. It's the caps. It's the Carolina Hurricanes. It is the two right teams emerging from the opening round

Facing off against each other from the metropolitan division. How do you measure this one up? Washington Capitals, Carolina Hurricanes. First off, the team that Vegas most psychologically damaged is Seattle. There's no refuting that, that is a fact. That is an excellent. The second. And that is an excellent point,

although it was looking good there briefly in year two where they knocked off the defending Stanley Cup champions. Seattle said, look, we're just like Vegas, right? And- Yep, nope. The narrator, they were not like the Vegas. Not at all, not one bit. So I picked the Capitals in this series to win in seven. I think

when you look under the hood analytically at these two teams, they're very similar and they both play really well at home. So I'm saying home ice advantage will ultimately be the advantage and the Capitals will win the final game of the series as Carolina as is as is their destiny probably comes up one goal short. That goal would have been provided by Jake Ensell, it would have been provided by Miko Ratan, and neither of them are here. I think this, I think the disrespect to the Capitals, sure, I think the disrespect to the Capitals,

not only from pundits picking this series, but also from the sports books, where they're quite an underdog, is pretty stunning. I think this team has incredibly impressive depth. I think this team will be able to overcome the Carolina penalty kill in a way that the Devils certainly could not. The Caps scored, I think, four goals against them in 13 tries during the regular season. The Caps have the goal tending to beat Carolina. I mean, listen, the Hurricanes clearly have the speed advantage and there isn't anything to be said

for the way that they can just absolutely buzz the zone and press the Capitals in and maybe create some chaos. But Carberry and Bryndamore both kind of play the same system. It's a really good even matchup, but there are certain advantages here that the Capitals have that I think people are just sleeping on.

First of all, I want to thank Ryan B in the chat. Jeff looks like he's about to introduce the newest crypto sheet coin. Do I look like one of them dudes right now? Is it that what are you, Nick Corollier on site? I just, people might not realize this is us here. We, we have this, we're wearing the same thing. I mean, I'm wearing a Cobra Commander t-shirt. Cobra Commander shirt. Look at you.

Oh, real American. But you and I, without even knowing it, like we didn't go on a Zoom before the show, but we are both wearing like maroon jacket, black shirt. It's very bizarre. Do I look like a crypto bro right now? Do I? Do I?

Yeah, come on, you're just saying that to make me feel better. Yeah, your shirt looks good. Maybe I kind of do look like crypto bro too. Yeah, maybe Ryan's got a point there. Anyhow, you know what I wonder about the wild card here? It's someone that I always freaking talk about because I think that if he's healthy, he has a Rocket Richard trophy in him. I just wonder how much of this, because you mentioned mentioned like okay that that one goal They're not gonna be able to score because they don't have Jake Ensel. I wonder about Andre's fetched a cough And I know I said I'm gonna keep saying and by the way, it feels like Andre's fetched a cough has been around for 10 years

He's 22. It feels like he's been around forever. He really hasn't I know the injuries have piled up and he's been around forever, he really hasn't. I know the injuries have piled up and, oh yeah, Svetlakov and Ovechkin kind of had a very famous fight that didn't end well for Andrei Svetlakov a number of years ago, but nonetheless, I wonder if he's the wild card. Like I always look at Svetlakov every single year and say, this guy can score, if he's healthy,

minimum 40 goals, minimum. And somewhere along the way in the career, he's gonna pop for like 50 and win the rocket. I wonder if that guy could be the wild card in all of this. The one where you say, well, they're not gonna have that guy that scores the goal out of nowhere. Maybe they do an Andrei Sveshnikov. You know, that's not a bad thought.

And in fact, in covering the Carolina Devil series a bit, that was a thought that a lot of folks had Which is you know, maybe this is the year in which he he becomes the guy that gets the one goal They need in the playoffs that they haven't gotten before It's it's possible. Look Carolina is a really good team. I mean no doubt about it. I was left Wanting more from them in a series in which the Devils were beaten and broken down and and and yeah I mean it was a quick series, but maybe a bit more competitive than it should have been I don't know

I I think I've thought since the beginning of the season that this Carolina team was a bit overrated When they made the rant and trade I'm like alright. This is this is good, and then he's not long no longer there That's no shade to stank over who I think is a real good player But I do think that this capital's teams better than people give them credit for. And this Carolina team is a bit, is, is a bit overrated from people that think that it's just their time to make the cup final. You know what happens when we think it's time for something to happen? The Oilers beat the K's for the fourth straight. Yeah. Or it's 2010 and the Montreal Canadiens just beat the Washington Capitals.

Okay, so that's tonight and more on this game tomorrow here on the program. Let me get back to Edmondson and Vegas here. This one's juicy. 2023 was so good. You know, I was in Edmondson last year and asking the players, you know, which is the series that you can't get out of your head? And obviously they're all saying Vegas. And we saw a nice little tidy little bit of hockey violence, uh, whether it was, you know, Darnell nurse with the instigator suspension or whether it was Alex Patrangelo, uh, and what he did

to Leon Dreisaitl. There was like a really nice side dish of hatred with this one. Now, I'm not saying we're gonna get like 350 minutes worth of penalties between these two teams, but kind of hope this one's as nasty as it was two years ago. Like there's always gonna be the sidebar when these two teams meet of Connor McDavid versus Jack Eichel going back to one, two in the draft and Jack Eichel's the first to get the Stanley Cup before Conor McDavid.

But these are two teams that are so highly skilled. You got two early contenders for the ConceMite trophy and Conor McDavid and Jack Eichel. I just look at this one and say, yeah, we know the skill is going to be there. We know it's going to be a great series. Vegas's style matches up great with everybody, so you know the hockey's gonna be good. I just hope it gets nasty, and I hope it gets nasty early. I don't think there's a chance it won't get nasty.

Vander Kane still skates the ice for the Edmonton Oilers, and he's going into a series against the Vegas Golden Knights. What I find, I find two things very interesting about this series. The first is that the amount of offense that the Vegas Golden Knights allowed to Matt Boldy and Kryl Kaprizov last round. Now, I'm not saying that's team-u Leon and Connor, but I'm saying that Leon and Connor are two players who cannot give that much ice to and that many opportunities to. And that has me a little bit worried

because it's not as if the Vegas Golden Knights weren't throwing out their best. Now, the quirk to this in the Edmonton series is that they finally figured out what to do against Boldy and Kaprizov in the elimination game, which is load up a line with Mark Stone, Jack Geico, and William Carlson. So if they decide to do that again, and it's like they throw that out there against either Connor and Leon or Connor or Leon, it's going to be a very interesting

series. The other thing I'm interested in, for all the talk about the Edmonton Oilers' goaltending being their Achilles seal and disastrous and not even NHL quality. All things that are probably applicable at times to the Edwin Taylor's goal-tending. Aiden Hill had one good game in that series. Now, if the elimination game against the Wild is the point in which Aiden Hill becomes the postseason goalie he's been, then the Oilers are in trouble. If he plays like the other five games in that series, then the Oilers have a shot. And I am picking them to win in seven. I just I was actually really

impressed with the Oilers depth in the first round. I don't know about you like I don't know if that's the Kings being the Kings but the Oilers bought a little bit more to the proceedings than I thought they'd bring. So both of these teams and you're right like with the Los Angeles Kings took their foot off the gas and just tried to hold the Oilers, and the Oilers said, let's just accentuate our positive and it's just full attack. It was everybody.

It wasn't just the two nuclear missiles. It was all of a sudden Hymen. It was RNH. It wasn't just your usual suspects. And the other thing about this one too is, and I'm always curious what happens in the second round when this happens in the first, both these teams got scares.

Like Edmonton got a scare in those first couple of games where it was like, wait a minute here, this might really happen. And Minnesota really threw a solid scare, starting with game two against the Vegas Golden Knights, where it was like, holy smokes, are they really going to do this without any centers? Like, is it possible to beat the Golden Knights when you don't have a center in the lineup? But that's the interesting thing about the playoffs, is I do think that in the case of

the Oilers, you know, they handled the Kings best shot, but they still knew that they could beat the Kings. In the case of Vegas, I do think that they needed to feel their backs against the wall before they really got playing against Minnesota. And that's my concern for my beloved cup-worthy Leafs is that the Panthers traditionally have been a team that needs, they need to feel the back against their wall a little bit before they really start playing like the Panthers. And you could see what they do in games one sometimes.

And so there are certain teams that just need a little bit of that playoff pressure before they really get going. And so that's what makes it fascinating between Vegas and Edmonton tonight is like, which team gets off on the wrong foot and then what happens in game two. I wanna get an ACE update from you. But first, there's your tease.

There's your hook to hang on. And Zach's going to read this one for us. But I always love getting the the crispy inbox in while you're on with us. So I'm now crispy inbox presented by the Ninja crispy four in one portable glass air fryer. Zach. Meet the first of its kind. The Ninja Crispy Portable Cooking System. The power of a full-sized air fryer in the palm of your hand. So you can cook big or small batches. Just prep it, crisp it, serve it, and store it all in one. All right.

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Ninja Crispy. Zach, what do we have in the inbox today? This one came to us during game seven of the blues game, blues Jets game and this is about Connor Hellebuck. It says watching Connor Hellebuck in the playoffs it's become clear that Hellebuck, playoff Hellebuck is a thing but as he kind of points out what happened with him in the Four Nations and what happened in the playoffs here he says if you're the USA brass, how can Team USA feel good about putting him in the net in a quarterfinal against Sweden or a gold medal game against Canada when they have no idea which Hellebuck is going to show up, especially when

you've got Ottinger, who's been fantastic, available as an option. Has Hellebuck's performance in these playoffs cost him the role as the Team USA starter in Milan? Josh from Chicago. What do you think Greg? First of all, I don't think that anybody would think for one second that the Winnipeg Jets would win a series against the St. Louis Blues where Conor Hellebuck was pulled three times. But folks, as I always tell you, your job in life is to stay alive. If you stay alive, you will see some weird things.

We just saw that in the Jets Blues series. What about that one? Greg Wyshynski. Yeah, I mean, he played well in the last three periods of Game 7, a game that only existed because of how dogshit he was in three games in St. Louis. If he's replacement level in any of those games in St. Louis, we're not even talking about the Lowry goal or what happened with three seconds left in the third. Two reactions. First of all, I think you have to acknowledge the fact that as bad as Hellebuck

was in that series and as challenged as he's been in the last three post seasons, the Jets have also not played very well in front of him half the time. I'd say half those goals are screens and deflections and weird things that the Jets are probably more responsible for than Connor Hellebuck is. And so if you look at it from an Olympic perspective, the team in front of him

in 2026 is going to be a lot better than the Winnipeg Jets. Okay. That's point one. Point two is a bit more philosophical. Is Milan, Italy a road game? That's the question because he's one in seven on the road. So this is like, hang on, below 850. So if the, if everybody is playing home games in Italy because they're all based there for those two weeks, I am a lot less concerned than if in the mind of Connor Hellevuk, he is the road team in any of those games. So this is like Roberto Luongo Stanley Cup final 2011 against Boston, where we're on the road. We got to go to Corey Schneider. He's the new version of Luongo, but he'll still make it to the whole thing.

I'm not trying to pump Connor Hellebuyck's tires. Oh, nice to meet you, Thomas. Nice, nice, nice. That was good. But I still have faith in him being the best goalie the Americans put out there. But again, I'd have no problem either if maybe there's a side bet to the series where the winner of the Dallas Winnipeg series gets the crease in Italy. Gervorus Celebuck, baby. All right. Make it happen. Real quick before I let you go, we need an ace update. And is this a self-manufactured nickname or not? Okay, before you get to Joe B., I just have to mention,

we did this entire podcast without talking about the fact that I was in the room for the draft lottery last night. And let me tell you, I don't know how it played on TV, but that's my preferred format now. I love the idea of there being seven teams that are still alive for the top pick in the last drawing. I think that was really cool.

And I give the NHL credit for having the cojones to do that thing live, knowing that one technical difficulty means that they're embarrassed for the entirety of the draft. By the way, Islanders, don't overthink it. Matthew Schaefer, I know you're going to be tempted by James Hagens. I understand. Matthew Schaefer is your choice. Anyway. attempted by James Hagens. I understand Matthew Schaefer is your choice. Anyway, it looks like somebody doesn't want to sell tickets to an arena on Long Island.

Look, two things. First off, I am shocked how many people were emotionally invested in the did Anson Carter give himself the nickname ace thing. I had more people reach out to me about that than anything else we've talked about in this video than BSW. Weird name. Stateofhoppy, thank you for asking what we've all been wondering. Anson Carter giving himself the Ace nickname

is equal parts weird and hilarious. That is like a sample of at least three dozen messages I got from people all talking about did Anson Carter nickname himself Ace? This is an email that I received from Joseph Atsuka from Gunnison County Colorado. Gents, great show. Listen every week. Just a little background on the self-imposed nickname. Back in 2004 to 2006, Anson Carter played roller and ice hockey with us plebs at the Toyota Center next to LAX.

No way. I've been there. It's a thriving arena. Even back when he was getting called ace in those – even back then, he was getting called ace in those league games and on the Jerry Bruckheimer pickup games. Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer, the head and part owner of the Seattle Kraken. Yeah. He has pickup games in LA. So it's well established,

going back to 2004, 2006, that his nickname is Ace. So it's a roller hockey thing then perhaps. All right. It could be a thing where it was his nickname in the league and then they knew him as Ace in beer league and roller hockey too. But Ace predates the TT show by at least two decades, unfortunately. Okay, but the search continues for who named him Ace, who came up with the answer. On our way there, we know this isn't like a Cliff Claven, I want you to call me Curtius Cliff, this isn't a self-imposed nickname, but now we need to find out who

gave him the nickname Ace. That does your job seven days from now to report back here. Have something on my desk in seven days, Greg Wyshinski. With that, we will bid you good afternoon, sir. We'll talk next week. There he is. We'll do it. This beautiful GI Joe t-shirt, the one and only Greg Wyshynski from ESPN. As I mentioned, and if you're watching us live, you know that I'm in Washington in

advance of game one between the Washington Capitals and the Carolina Hurricanes. So who better to talk to the first day that we get here than the longtime play by play voice of the Washington Capitals, the great Joe Beninati. Joe, thanks so much for stopping by here today. It's great to see your face and hear your voice. How are you today, sir, in advance of game one? Jeff, my pleasure. I'm doing great. When Anson Carter was in D.C., we called him A.C. I don't know about ace, but we did call him A.C. So maybe about ace, but we did call him AC. So maybe, okay, hang on.

So he came over in the Jagger deal, correct? He was like the big, was it the big deal? Jagger was, gosh, there was a beach in the Jagger deal. There was a bunch of folks, three people. Yeah, there was a Chris Beach. Yeah. I want to say Anson might have been in the deal that involved Oats, Carey, and, and, There was a bunch of folks. Chris Peach. Three people. Yeah, there was a Chris Peach. Yeah. I want to say Anson might have been in the deal that involved Oats, Carey, Tocket.

It was one of those. But when he came here, we always called him AC. So maybe that was AC and then it just evolved into ace. I think, you know what? First of all, great, great sleuthing skills. Like we know you're a great play-by-play caller. I had no idea there was some Hercule Poirot, Sherlock Holmes in you, Joe, but well done.

So I sort of prefaced it earlier on in the program today. It's like the wonderful thing about talking to you is we can do that was and this is. Like you've seen it all here with the Washington Capitals. Like you remember the days where here it's, it's, it's yoga. I just mentioned yoga. It's yoga and Robert Lang and it's like some, some big names and it just didn't work.

And the lockout's coming and Washington's gonna sell off players and get lean and mean for the, the hard salary cap that's, that's coming. Just because everything's, again, like with the Washington Capitals, here's the question, are things great or are things really great? Things are really great with the Washington Capitals. But like, take us back to the time

where things really weren't that great. And Ted Leonsis is looking around the rink and saying, it's the playoffs and we're only getting like 12,000 in here. Yeah. So you're talking about 99-ish when Leontas takes over ownership. And that was a 1998 team that had a marvelous run. Jeff, I can't tell you how impactful that was

upon the hockey community at that time. I remember the conference final win in Buffalo. By the time the team got back, they used to, in those days, practice in Anne Arundel County. And by the time the bus got back to Piney Orchard, which was the name of the facility, there must have been hundreds upon hundreds of cars outside of Piney at two in the morning. Fans were just so involved with that club and so invested in what they had done. And then they ran into a team of Hall of Famers in the 1998 Red Wings. And so shortly thereafter, you're talking about in that 2001 kind of timeframe

where they make the enormous deal for Yaramir Yager. They extend his contract heavily. Yager was a good player in DC, but nowhere near the MVP caliber player he had been prior. And even after, once he had left Washington, when he went to New York, I believe he scored another 50-goal season afterwards, scored in the 30s with DC. There was a time there, 2003 and four, heading into an empty season where the caps were in the midst of a fire sale and traded off all of their top players, the likes of Bondra and Gonchar, et cetera, all went elsewhere. And for them and for the organization and for the entire league, in fact, when you think about coming back off of a missed season, how much pressure was heaped upon the shoulders of two young men,

two dynamite talents who were expected all of a sudden to blossom and help carry the league back into a better position. And couldn't they have done it any better? No, then Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. And those two for two decades have helped to light the way. Can I ask about one player specifically? And I say that I have a personal bias. I really like this player. I like this person. I liked him as a player.

I liked him as a coach in the Western hockey league. It just seemed like, you can mention Bondra goes and Gonchar goes and, you know, Jagger's contract was massive and he gets moved and the Caps have to eat some of it. It seemed to me like, because there's always Joe like that one move that like, yeah, these are all the hockey moves, but then this is the move that's the gut punch. Was that Steve Conowalchuk? Was that the one where it's like, oh man, that one hurt the Caps. Such a blood and guts performer, oh man, that one hurt the caps.

Such a blood and guts performer. Great player. The kind of guy who you wish you would have in the lineup tonight all around the NHL when it comes to Stanley Cup playoff times and the way the game is played. There was a time there, Jeff, and you remembered if you know, kind of Walter, then you know Connor Walchuk Halpern and Dallen for Washington from a shutdown perspective, from a third line, quote unquote, we're going to shut you down. And oh, by the way, contribute our own offense. Kind of Walchuk was super loved him tremendously cooperative with us

in the media, always a smile on the face. And when it was time to go to battle, he was right there at the front of the line. Um, to today's edition of the Washington Capitals, I think what's impressive to a lot of people is here. Normally when you, when you have a team that, you know, peaks and wins a Stanley cup, normally there's a valley after that before they're quote unquote good again. And it seems as if this Washington capitalitals team has gone from a Stanley Cup team to another team that's amongst the elite in the NHL, but they skipped over the whole Valley part of things.

Now drafting is one thing, and I get that. Like, Ross Mahoney does such a great job, and there's a lot of people in this organization that do a wonderful job. But the one place that I wanna put an accent on with the Capitals, which I don't think we give enough attention to, is the development piece. Like there are a lot of teams that I think draft very well

and where they fall down is, how did you not take this player from junior or college and turn them into something more significant? What I've always been impressed with the Caps in this era is how they develop their players. This is of course a nod and a wink at the Hershey Bears, but you have a thought on that of just completely escaping the Valley part of the rebuild.

And even further to the ECHL, the South Carolina. When the organization takes a great deal of pride in seeing South Carolina annually perform very well. Hershey annually compete for a Calder Cup championship. They take a lot of pride in that. And I think all organizations, Jeff, more and more are putting more into their development. And there are caps players, former caps greats such as Oli Kolzig and Brooks Orpik who come to mind. They're even more

than that nowadays, but those players are involved in the development chain. They make regular visits to those teams in the ECHL and the American League. They shake hands and meet eye to eye with the prospects and start to give them an idea about what the lay of the land is ahead, not only in getting to the NHL and the peaks and the valleys that they have to get through there, but what happens when you get to the NHL and how can you be a good pro? They've invested a lot of time and effort into that. They take a lot of pride in seeing those teams win titles. And I just keep going back to last summer and what And I just keep going back to last summer and what then GM Brian McClellan said as he was making the transition to president, as he was turning the general manager ranks over to Chris, it was Chris Patrick.

It was, hey, we're going to try and thread the needle. We're going to try in a season that we hope Alex Ovechkin may be setting one of the greatest records of all time. We're going to try to keep this club extremely competitive. Stanley Cup playoff worthy and then some. And the moves they made in the off season involving those seven players that they brought in all in different ways helped to add up to what turned out to be a 50 plus win season, an Eastern conference title and Metro division championship on and on and on. And how well the coaching staff top to bottom, not just Spencer Carberry, but top to bottom,

how well they integrated all those pieces, how quickly they meshed. And yes, I know winning helps, but they meshed very, very quickly and never had to take that dip that you're really referring to. Now, I realize they haven't won a playoff series, hadn't won one until Montreal since the 2018 Cup win, but this team's been relevant and right there and pushing and wants very much to be in the Stanley Cup conversation this spring. I want to ask you about Dylan Strowm, and I'm curious because we've seen Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Ovechkin, greatest goal scorer of all time on that wonderful Sunday

afternoon. We're all thrilled that you got to call that too and that there is that memory because there's no one else's voice with all due respect. There's no one else's voice that belongs on a Washington moment like yours. So we're all appreciative of that. Like that is going to live forever. I am really curious about it's well-deserved. That's how everybody feels.

I wanna ask you about Dylan Strom and Nick Backstrom. Because as we all sort of made our like, okay, so what's the goal gonna look like? In our perfect world, what is it gonna look like? And who's gonna feed them the pass? And is it gonna be a power play one-timer? Like, what's it gonna be? And there was a lot of like, oh, I see you know Mike Green feed that pass from the right

point to the to the oh I want to see John Carlson and a lot of it were revolved around I want to see Nick Baxter right I want to see Nick Baxter but obviously McNick Baxter no longer in the NHL but Baxter went OV clicked it was it was. Dillon Strom and Alex Ovechkin click. You've seen it all. Why? Like, what is the simi- is there a similarity between the two that you've been able to point out or notice? What is it?

What is it? Jeff, it's pace of play. Neither of those, Backstrom or Strom, you would call a burner. Now this is not to say that Alex Ovechkin couldn't play with McKinnon or McDavid. I'd love to see it. But Ovechkin has performed extremely well with Backstrom and Strom, players who aren't upper echelon fast, but who think the game incredibly well. It is definitely their pace of play. Dylan reminds me so much of Nicholas in the way he brings the game to his speed, to his level, and then makes all of the chess moves off of it.

Backstrom's touch, passing ability, vision. I mean, that it was extraordinary to watch. And yes, in a perfect world, I wish we could have five guys assisting on that 895 for Alex. But definitely Nick would be right there at the top of the list. And it's the way he would deliver a pass. I think a lot Joe Thornton comes to mind. Thornton's would be one time he'd throw a passage in 90 miles an hour. The next time he'd throw a passage at two miles an hour. Nicholas always had that great feel

as to where it needed to be, when it needed to be elevated, when it could be off the backhand side. Dylan Strom is just like that, Jeff. And I'm not saying Dylan Strom is Nicholas Backstrom. He's not there yet, but he is criminally underrated. He's definitely not underappreciated, not in this town anymore. He's a point per game guy.

He's become a leader in that room. He is a frontline talent that a lot of people follow and hope can deliver all those great things that Backstrom did. And I see those similarities, not just off the rush, not just five on five, but they're there too on the power play where Backstrom was a maestro for so long at finding the right seam and again, and again, delivering the puck at the right time.

Strom's game is elevating into that and it just meshes nicely with Alex. Yeah, I'd love to see Alex again, work with a player like McKinnon or McDavid who can just skate the lights out, but he's always seemed to do well with these guys who are mid-level skaters, not burners. Let me take the, the strong point one step further. What I've been saying all season long, you tell me whether I'm right or wrong about this. One thing I've been saying all season long about this edition of the Washington capitals as they stunned the entire NHL. I've said part of this is like Alexander Ovechkin, obviously, and there's some very elite level players that are on this team.

But there's also a healthy collection of guy, of what we like to refer to as the second chance guys, whether it's Pierre-Luc Dubois or Dylan Stroh himself is, is this a third overall draft pick. Like let's never lose sight of that. Like one pick before Mitch Marner, like before, you know, heavyweight players like, you know, Ivan Provov and Zach Larensky, like he was picked third by the Coyotes. If you, I've always maintained, if you give a player

a reason to play and if you almost insult them a little bit, like that's fuel for these guys. Like this is a kind of a collection and we saw this maybe most pronounced with the Vegas draft, but like there's a healthy collection of second chance guys, Joe, that feel they have something to prove. Am I on base or off base there? No, completely.

And with Dylan, I think more than anything, it's have faith in me, believe in me. And management and coaching staffs here have done just that for Dylan. They've heaped responsibility upon his plate and they've had faith that he would deliver. They believe that he could produce and look at what's happening.

Now you've got that kind of centerized dimension that the capitals had in 2018 to a degree when you go down the middle and you have the ability to dress a Strom Dubois, Eller, Dow type combination. That's the kind of formidable center ice group that you need. And Dubois, I can't speak enough to how important Dubois was. I would say five, six of the regular season. I don't know if I saw a better two-way player. And I had hoped that Pierre-Luc was going to get some love from a Selkie Award standpoint, because all he's done,

Jeff, from the beginning of the season is ask Spencer Carberry, hey, give me Ajo, give me and leading point producer really plays a strong, heavy two way game. And that's what you need. That frees up Dylan Strom to freelance a little bit more offensively when Pierre-Luc is playing that well. But I know what you're saying. And to me, more than anything, it's, hey, give me, give me the idea. Give me the reason to push. Believe in me, have faith in me and I'll deliver. OK, it's funny. You mentioned the dynamic between Pierre-Luc Dubois and Spencer Carberry. For all of our viewers and listeners, shouldn't be a surprise then to notice that he's the son of a coach. Like he's grown up with it. He's grown up around it. Everything from how he behaves when he gets to the ring to activation to all of it. Like

Joe, I'm sure you've seen it. You can tell that he's a coach's son. He's a coach's son. Without a doubt, a pros pro and the son of a coach. And Carberry just addressed that with us, especially in the last four to six weeks, Jeff, about how prepared this guy is about how when they go into individual meetings or team meetings collectively, how Pierre Luke is right there at the top when it comes to, hey, guys, this is tab a. What's next? Oh, slot B. This is this is our B option. What's our C option? DuBois is going to tell you what that is. DuBois is the kind of player who knows where everybody has to be at all times on the ice. And yes, that comes from being the son of a coach. OK, really quickly, we'll let you go on this one. You have a busy afternoon. Richard Chung in our chat asks, can you ask Joe how Craig Loughlin is doing? I

want to get a word in on Craig. Wonderful. Thank you for the ask. Craig's doing really well. We were all, we were all scared beyond belief in back in January when he admitted that he needed this heart procedure. It's a long story. It's another interesting story. We could do another and the of weeks, but I think they have, they have that under control and I expect him, he's going to be joining us in our pregame coverage tonight on Monumental Sports Network. So Locker's doing great. Thank you so much for asking. The fans have been wonderful to us here and all around for so long. Yeah.

We're all in his corner and I hope that he knows that by now the outpouring of love and support from, from all corners was, was very well deserved. Listen, you're the best. Joe, thanks so much for stopping by and chatting with me today. We'll be watching you on the pregame later on tonight. Game one, it is the Caps facing off against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Game one of the second round. Joe, you're the best. Thanks so much for this. See you downtown soon. Call me anytime. We will. I'll see you there in a couple of hours. There he is, the great Joe Benanati,

longtime play-by-play voice of the Washington Capitals. All right, a couple more things here really quickly. Do not forget, we have a couple of games on the go around the NHL this evening. As I mentioned, this program powered by FanDuel, 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. Two games on the docket tonight. We've talked a lot about the Washington Capitals facing off against the Carolina Hurricanes. Again, I really do wonder about, you know, the wild cards and all of this, and I do wonder how much of a factor someone like Andrei Svechnikov can be.

And then also, a little bit later on, Edmonton Oilers Vegas Golden Knights. Like there are just some series you look at and you say, I really hope this thing goes seven. I say that about the Edmonton Oilers and the Vegas Golden Knights. Again, no Matthias Ekholm for the Edmonton Oilers, but you know, it's not as if Jake Wallman

is playing at 100% but he's playing some really good hockey and don't look now, but, you know, it's not as if Jake Wallman is playing at 100%, but he's playing some really good hockey, and don't look now, but so did John Klingberg in that series against the Los Angeles Kings. And when we talk about wild cards in all of it, and maybe fire starters in all of it, don't be surprised if Corey Perry finds himself in the middle of it tonight in Game One at T-Mobile Arena.

Okay, that's it. Our program back on the air tomorrow, one o'clock Eastern, right here from the Monumental Sports Studios in downtown Washington. It is an off day tomorrow. Brian McClellan will be aboard, former general manager. And you know, it's interesting, you know, he doesn't have that title anymore,

but you can still make the case that maybe he should win the general manager of the year. No disrespect to Kis Patrick, who is part of all of it too, but a lot of those moves were all put together by Brian McClellan. So he'll join us on the program tomorrow. And then we'll also be here on Thursday, Friday. The show is back on the road.

We're off to Fort Lauderdale for games three and four in sunrise between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Florida Panthers, but still plenty of hockey to get to before we get on to playing again. Thanks to Greg Wyshynski from ESPN for stopping by, as he does each and every Tuesday here on the program. Thanks to Nick Carolli, who you can't see,

who's right in front of me right now, who put all of this together, who got here in the wee hours of the morning. Planes, trains and automobiles, Nick, are just a long flight delay. He got here and he got everything looking and sounding fantastic. So thanks to Nick Carolli. Thanks to the great Joe Benanati for standing, for stepping up as well and joining me here on the program.

Brian McCullen on the show tomorrow. Thanks to Zach Phillips back at master control. His condo here on the program, Brian McCullen on the show tomorrow. Thanks to Zach Phillips back at Master Control, his condo here for the sheet. Talk to you in 23 hours. Thanks for joining me. Thanks to everyone in the chat, everyone watching on YouTube, and on your favorite podcast platform.

So ends my broadcast day. Off to game one, Caps and the Canes. We'll talk about it in the next match. I went to the dark man, he tried to give me a little medicine I'm like, no, man, that's fine I'm not against those methods, but no It's me, myself, and how this gon' be fixing my mind I turned on the record I turned on the music I turned on the record I turned on the music I do wanna beg you

I turned on the music That you sing about, about, about That you sing about times you lose it Helping on the days that went wrong