The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Final Four ft. Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

Greg Wyshynski joins Jeff Marek for MvsW on The Sheet. Discussing locker cleanouts, Mitch Marner's future, Conference Finals, Matthew Tkachuk trolling, Don Sweeney's extension, and much more...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👍🏼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 home of possibilities made easy. Alright, welcome to the program. Yes, there is more Leafs fallout. Let's just get that out of the way. This the Leaf story continues Matthew Nyes was asked about offer sheets today Part of smile to my face

Anyhow, we heard from Barubei heard from a number of trying to make beliefs today Clean out day in Toronto. Game one Panthers Hurricanes. And the story is Medicine Balls. Why not? And again, the Carolina Hurricanes leaning into the boring accusations. By the way, I just had a quick thought and Greg Wyshinski's aboard here in a couple of moments. Zach, let me bounce this one off you

before I bounce it off Greg. Greg will intimately know, he may have been there for this game. There was a rather famous fight in the rivalry between the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins. It involved Aaron Asham and Jay Beagle. And it didn't go very well for Jay Beagle. Flash KO for Asham and on the way to the box he did the CM Punk go to sleep. You know what would be great as one of the things that we

love about the Carolina Hurricanes is they will lean into just about anything, turn any negative into a positive, see when you know Don Cherry used to call them hot dogs all the time for their celebrations, just leaning into it hard. If they could lean into the boring chance, every time they score, they do the go to sleep. That would, in my tiny little hockey brain, really make my day.

Do you remember, by the way? Remember that one? Or were you too young? Were you too young even for that memory? Were you too young for that one? No, I remember that one. I remember that one. Yeah, yeah. That one lands with me. Do you remember when Vegas won the Stanley Cup, young man?

Do you remember way, way back when? That was when my brain just started remembering things, when I could formulate those. Okay. Yeah, barely. It's in there, but barely. Alright, it's somewhere crammed at the back. Alright, I want to get to Wish as soon as possible here. We have a lot to go over, both on the ice, off the ice as well. Sweeney with the two-year contract extension, we'll get to that in the Boston Bruins coming

up in a couple of moments. In the meantime, Daily Outline is provided by and presented by and powered by our friends at FanDuel. Make every moment more with North America's number one sportsbook. That is FanDuel. And coming up on the program today, as always, it's Tuesday. That means MVSW Tuesdays with the one and only Greg Wyshinski from ESPN Locker Cleanout. We'll talk about the Maple Leafs and the Winnipeg Jets.

Sweeney with the two-year contract extension. I wonder how much that was sort of spurned along and moved along by what happened with Rick Tauket. And we'll talk about the conference finals. Both the game you will see tonight and then the Oilers and Stars, which we will see tomorrow. In the meantime, this segment is a presentation of our friends at Budweiser.

But I don't know why I'm trying to sound like a combination of like Edward. Yeah, what happened there? I don't know, I was like going for like CBS War Correspondent, circa like 1943. Budwe what happened there? I don't know. I was like going for like CBS war corresponded circle like 1943. Budweiser is encouraging buds to make time. You get a little older and stuff happens in your brain.

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 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. And right now it's go time to Raleigh.

Home of game number one here between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers, our good friend for MVSW Tuesdays from ESPN, Greg Wachinski. Hello, Wish, how are you? What a lovely, what a tastefully decorated hotel room that, what is that painting behind you? I'm always curious in hotel art. Ah, it's some type of art thing. I think it's a fallopian tubes from what I can gather. Oh wow. My wife, weird transition, Greg. Yeah. My wife. Weird. Sound like Borat. Weird tradition, Greg.

Yeah. My wife wanted to once create an Instagram account that chronicled the art inside of all the hotel rooms we stayed in. I still lament the fact that she never got around to it because I think it's an amazing idea. Yeah, Raleigh is dope. I got here last night.

Many of our Canadian listeners will not understand this, but there is a place called Cookout in Raleigh is dope. I got here last night. Many of our Canadian listeners will not understand this, but there is a place called Cookout in Raleigh. Cookout? It is in other states too in the US. What is it? This is a place where you can get, you get a combo meal and the combo meal is a double cheeseburger. Oh my God. And then you get your pick of two sides and the sides are like onion rings a quesadilla a quesadilla like You're getting an entirely second meal as the sides and then you finish it off with the soda of your choice

So I went there's one across the street from me, which is deadly. I got it I sat at this very desk and I binged the last two episodes of Andor on Disney Plus if you're a Star Wars fan You haven't watched Andor or if you're a fan of like World War II spy craft, highly recommend binging Andor. And so I was a happy boy last night here in the hotel, eating just absolute crap and streaming Star Wars on my first night in Raleigh. Staring at fallopian tubes on the wall.

Yeah, I was inspired. Yeah, no, it's weird. I was staring at my wall and I woke up and I painted a Georgia O'Keeffe. I don't know what was going on. I was just inspired by my hotel room. I've, my wife is an artist at university. I dated an art major, so I get that one. I get that very hip art joke. Georgia O'Keefe.

If you, if we stacked up every member of the hockey media, there's many of them here in Raleigh, there's many of them on the other series. If we stacked up everybody in the hockey media and said, which one of these people most likely dated an artist at university, you would be, You would be like Ratnan in the Con Smythe race right now. You'd be running away with that so much. This is for our Canadian listeners and viewers more than anything else. The girl that I dated in university, Jane Bateman, who's now in Canmore raising a lovely family of her own. She's the cousin of noted Canadian artist Robert Bateman. You don't know who Robert Bateman is and I get that and that's fine but trust me he's

a big deal in Canada here. Not like group of six. He's not the guy that paints the hockey stuff is he? That's Ken Danby. No that's Ken Danby. That guy's so famous that Ovechkin has like a collection of his? Like he collects the guy's paintings famous that Ovechkin has like a collection of his, like he collects the guy's paintings. It's impressive.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. He collects, Ovechkin collects Ken Danby's? There is an artist from Canada that does paintings and whatever's of hockey, of like the NHL. And Ovechkin, as part of his like celebration in like breaking the Gretzky record, I think, was gifted one of these paintings because he collects them. I was like, wow. Say what you will about Ovechkin, but the hockey bona fides of somebody who is an art collector but only dabbles in hockey art is pretty good, man. I'm going to That's, that's, that's not, I'm gonna say this

and don't get mad at me, Chad. It's kind of what you'd expect from a Canadian and not a Russian, if I'm being honest. You know what I sort of bemoan? Cause and now we're starting to get more and you see a lot of it online. I really, I really dig it. It's, it's awesome.

Oh, by the way, it's Tony Harris. So I thought this was like, you know, the, the Ken Damby picture of like the, thealtender you know with the Ken with the Ken Dryden Crouch that's who I was thinking. Oh yeah yeah yeah. This is a more contemporary artist. This according to Zach is an Ottawa based artist by the name of Tony Harris. That's who he collects. You know I've always been moaned. Every you know okay so here's my thing about hockey that I, and I don't know what it is about this sport. I think I find hockey inherently funny too,

but I just, why are there no great hockey jokes? Have you ever thought about this? Like it is the one sport that just can't laugh at itself. There are some, you know, difference between the Calgary Flames and a bra. Bra has two cups, ha ha ha. But like there's not like really good, like golf's got a great, a lot of great jokes,

but like, so great Canadian hockey jokes. You know what? Okay, so most of the hockey jokes that I know are sex jokes that have hockey in them. So you're right, those aren't necessarily hockey jokes. I think you've hit on something where the best jokes from hockey are all cup related. You know, why think you've hit on something where the best jokes from hockey are all cup related. You know, why, you know, name your reference,

why can't Connor McDavid go to Starbucks because every time he orders coffee, they pour it into his hands because he has no cup. You know, just stuff like that, all of it. You're right, it's all cup related hockey jokes. The only way you'll get your name on a cup is if you go to Starbucks. Ha ha ha.

There he is, there he is. There he is, there he is. Golf has the best jokes. And I have to admit, it's just because you have the most time during a golf, like playing golf, to just crack jokes about what you're doing. Think about jokes?

Hockey's too fast. Too fast to think about jokes? You know, like when the game's over, you're allowed to still think about hockey, right? Like you don't have to like at that moment actually come up with the joke, no? Is that how it has to happen? Well, I mean, according to Marner, it's too soon. You haven't really thought about hockey at all in the last 24 to 48 hours.

Look, we all, okay, so first of all, do we have the Marner clip? We have the Marner clip, Zachary. There's one thing that we should probably point out here. Listen to the tense that Marner is speaking in as he addresses the media. Here's Marner this morning. I always love my time here. I've loved being here.

Like I said to you guys the other night, I've been so grateful and, you know, I haven't processed anything yet. It's still so fresh and losing socks. Not I love my time here, I loved my time here. As we try to put the accent on the right syllable here on how Martin, and what Marner is trying to tell us and put on our hockey player decoder ring, the presence of the D in the word love, uh,

probably gives us a pretty good indication, Wish. The presence of the D and the love. So the thing about Marner that I found interesting today- Who said hockey has no comedians? Okay. The, uh, the thing I found interesting about Marner today is like multiple times he talked about not having had a chance to sit down with his wife to have the conversation yet. And like when players say that, Merrick, it's not like,

oh, we're gonna sit down and see how much I should re-sign for. Like that's not the conversation that you have with your loved one. The conversation you have with your loved one is, how does Anaheim strike you? So that was the tell for me. Anytime you're sitting down with your family to discuss future plans,

again, yeah, the Pollyanna approach that is she could just be like, I want to stay here for the benefit of being close to friends and family or raising a young child. But most of the time it's, hey, listen, where are we going? We're going to throw the dart at the map and figure out where we're going next because they ain't gonna be here. Before we get to tonight and some off ice stuff, this is still the story that dominates the headlines. I was there as a spectator with my two boys on Sunday. And one of the

highlights one of the highlights of it, I mean, I haven't taken them to an NHL, it's been too busy. I haven't taken them to an NHL game once this year. And so my wife, after Matthew scored on Friday, I was in Woodstock, Ontario, a baseball tournament with my youngest boy. And she's like, I just bought tickets for you three. I'm like, the game's not even over yet. Like the games, like this game is only one nothing.

So anyway, so surprise off to game seven. I figured out game seven will make up for not going to a couple of games this year, but I digress There were a number of things I mean everyone's gonna focus on you know The jerseys hitting the ice and the hat and the beer splashed under the Middle East blue line And the beer thrown at the bench and the chance Including a let's go Oilers chant which started at the section right in front of me and then over to the over to the side

What goes through your mind when you're watching that game? Is it just the obvious here we go again, or is it something deeper? Greg First off congratulate, I think it's good parenting to introduce your children to generational trauma Which is obviously something that you accomplished by taking them to game seven of a Leafs series. My thought was that maybe this time there will be a shock to the system. So a couple things about the Leafs loss.

I found it utterly hilarious that the Panthers all did their song and dance about this is the toughest Leafs team we've played you know the pressures of theory you know it's theory Brad Marsh what's your theory and we probably have the same theory go ahead my theory is because they don't want them to change they want to make of course exactly the way that this team look don't look at the score that was a tough tough team to play against. We got lucky. We got some bounces, but man, I'll tell you, if I'm, if I'm true living, I don't, I don't

move this an inch to the right or to the left. Of course. Why would you want any of it to change? Why would you want the guy who, who screams at his teammates and then does Dick on the score sheet in the most important games of the season to ever leave Toronto. You want Mitch Marner there all the time. You want him to be a leaf for life

if you're the Florida Panthers. So yes, you and I, to the surprise of no one, completely simpatico about the ulterior motives of that. Although I do think there is something to be said for guys like Paul Maurice and guys like Brad Marchand correctly identifying that the pressures in Toronto are different than the pressures of other places. I was talking to somebody today about that.

They're asking me about what's the difference between a Ranger and a Leaf. The Rangers have won one cup since 1940. That's a pretty long run of failure and lack of success. And I say this, well, the problem is, the difference is that when you're a Ranger and March hits, all of the papers aren't talking about the upcoming Stanley Cup playoffs, they're talking about spring training. And then maybe the Knicks go on a run.

And then maybe the Jets have a new coach. Like, there's nothing about playing in New York in which you are the focal point of attention as a hockey player unless you're playing for the cup. And then even then, it probably is depending on what the baseball teams are doing. In Toronto, you are the center of attention. You are the story. You are a high school football team in a small Texas town.

And everybody knows your name. They all know where you live. They all know who your friends are. They all know your wife's name. And they know where to find you if you fail. And those are the pressures that we're dealing with. And Marner spoke it. You know, Marner kind of talked around it.

I was listening to our buddy Steve Dangle's podcast about this because Lord knows there are like three people that I pay attention to when the Leafs fail. Dangle, Dangoes Brown, and James Myrtle just because we're old bloggers. But you know, he was making, they were spelling out all of the things that Mitch has had to go through off the ice. Like vandalism and taunting and his family being bought into it. Like it's insane. It's insane what these guys have had to go through. So as much as I think the Florida Panthers were having a laugh about, yeah, you should definitely keep this team together. They're very good.

There is a truth to what they're saying about the pressures in this town, breaking players in a way that they wouldn't be broken somewhere else. Here's the thing though, and Matthew Kachuck referred to this on Sunday as well. Talked about how, no, so it was on Chicklets on the Monday, popped up as a guest on the show,

and he talked about how if this team were in any other market, they would be incredible. My point through all of this is, and no one's advocating for the type of abuse that a lot of players, and most specifically in Toronto, Mitch Marner, because he's grown up in Toronto and played in the GTHL and you know two hours away in London and Maple Leaf and etc etc etc. No one's advocating for that. But every other market wants a fan base like this that empties their pockets generation after generation after generation. I caught a lot of heat for it.

I said about Florida and the elbow room and no one showing up when the cup was there and all that, but the point that I was trying to get across was it's a little rich for a revenue sharing team to talk about how awesome hockey is here. When it's a team that's been propped up with checks from the team that has the quote unquote, psycho fan base. Like take a step back here.

If it wasn't for Montreal, New York, Toronto, we all know the big revenue generators here, Boston, writing revenue sharing checks, there wouldn't be a Southern expansion to have a success with a Southern expansion. That was the only point that I was trying to get across on yesterday's show. Are you picking up what I'm pointing down there about it's great, no pressure, that's wonderful, you leave the rink, you're just an anonymous citizen. People may look at you and go, is he a football player? Oh, he plays hockey, that's the thing on the ice. Do you buy, are you with me on that side? Because I just think

that it's a little rich to complain about Maple Leaf's fans, who in essence, float a lot of the league with their pocketbooks. I want to, there's two, okay, there's one thing I don't want to forget to mention here, but I'll get to the answer to your question first. Paul Maurice, I think did make mention of the fact that Toronto is an engine for the league. And maybe that was a winking, you know, acknowledgement of how the Panthers have benefited from it over the years.

Thanks for the checks, Larry. I think Marchand really bought it home about the Toronto part of this, which is you go through all of the things that say like Mitch Marner has gone through, knowing that when Matthew Kachuck wins a cup for the Florida Panthers, maybe they'll build the Kachuck statue after the third cup. Mitch Marner scored the game winning goal in a game seven of the Stanley Cup final to give the Leafs the cup for the first time since 1967.

They are finishing the statue as the fans lead the arena. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, hold on, hold on a second. It's not a statue, because if you walk about two blocks north from Scotia Bank Arena, there's a little place there on Front Street called the Hockey Hall of Fame. And even before the statue goes up,

they will already start the engraving. Right? If you, and if anybody doubts what I'm talking about, go back and have a look at the roster of the 1967 team, okay? And tell me how many are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. It's like all of them. Oh yeah. All of them.

You win in Toronto. Gotta get people. Yeah. You're off to the hall. Gotta get people to induction weekend. So Marchand was right. I thought he had a, I mean, first of all, his press conference at the end of Game 7 was an all-timer.

Like he was so eloquent and smart and interesting. But he made the point of like, that you go through all of this in Toronto because you know if you are ever able to achieve what you've set out to achieve there, that defines your career. You never have to worry about it. And in fact, now Mitch Marner, if he does leave and we haven't talked about it yet,

but I think he probably will. I mean, he's always, unless he LeBron's it and comes back home at some point at the end of his career and wins then, like it's going to be a part of his bio that he was an Ontario boy that couldn't win the Cup for the Leafs and was part of teams that had the talent to do so but could never put it together. Now the thing I wanted to ask you though is the fervor that we see in Toronto,

the passion, the plan, the parade, you know, delusion. The passion, as there was once a sign at Leafs TV, on the one side it was, remember that the passion that unites us all, and on the other side was the passion that pays us all. Good tune. The passion that pays us all. Yeah.

Do you think the drought fuels it? Like, my wife's a Cubs fan. She's not really a Cubs fan anymore. They won and that satisfied that it. The story's over. Scratch the itch. Yeah, she's now a Mets fan. You know part of that is, you know, But there was never, her, when I met her, she was a huge Cubs fan. Do you think that some of this

mania that surrounds the Toronto Maple Leafs is because of the pressure cooker of not having won. And what would happen if they did win at some point? I don't think they would lose fans. I think they might lose some of the casuals that are along for the party. But I don't know. Don't you think they'd lose fervor though? I that they was- Don't you think they lose fervor though? I don't know.

Don't you think they lose passion though? Huff. Is it the chase, the sexy part of this relationship? It has to lead somewhere, Greg. Like eventually it does. Remind me by the way to get back to Marchand. I wanna bring up one point with Marchan with you. It's a great question.

Again, like it's the dog that caught the car. What do we do now? Like I've wondered about what that feeling will be like because Leaves fans, the only, they wanna be happy but I don't know what happy feels like if the emotion preceding happy is anxiety like what do you what would that celebration be like what will that feeling be like and what will it be like the What will that feeling be like? And what will it be like the next morning

when the sun comes up? Honestly, it's a really, really bad Sports Talk Radio answer and the answer is I don't know. I don't think anybody does. I don't think anybody does either. I think about that sometimes. I think about that sometimes if the Leafs won and they have a parade and everything's good and are like, they could win again next year. Like, what

like is Steve Dangle good just to be yelling about how Brendan Shanahan wouldn't let him trade Mitch Marner? Is it does he become like a nostalgia critic? Like, like, what if what if we fans are happy? What happens? What happens to Lee Fentzer happy? What happens if Lee Fentzer happy? What happens if Lee Fentzer happy? Hang on a second, that was fucking awesome. What happens if Lee Fentzer happy? What happens if Lee Fentzer happy? What happens if Lee Fentzer happy? I don't think anyone's ever said that to me my whole life.

I don't think anyone's ever said that to me my whole life. Oh my god, Greg. What happens if Lee Fentzer happy? That's awesome. The reason you love talking to me about this shit, the reason people love having me on their show talk about this is because I'm outside the bubble. The reason you love you love talking about this shit, the reason people love having me on their show talk about this is outside the bubble. I don't know the hockey. Totally.

I mean, the reason you've never heard it is because it's such an alien concept to even think about Elise being happy that it's never actually been brought up to you and know of your years living in Toronto. No, it never has. Well, speaking of that, did you notice, and again, I think Brad Marshand is one of the smartest people in the NHL full stop. He understands, obviously he's an elite level player,

also he understands media like few if any others, and he knows how to leave a trail. And he knows how to leave breadcrumbs or Easter eggs or however you want to refer to it. Did you catch what he did on Sunday? There was one thing so brilliant. Are you trying to say that he accepted him becoming a Leaf? That he was a Leaf fan? I grew up a Leaf fan. That's something you go back to on July 1st when there's when all of a sudden Brad Marshand and Brad Trelevinger on the same stage. I look at the Toronto Maple Leafs and I say, you know what?

They need a 2C, they need at least one, probably two top four wingers and they need a number one D. And I say, they're all becoming free agents on Florida. There's Bennett, there's Marshand, there's Ekblad, and they just dusted the Maple Leafs comma again. Did you not look at Brad Marchand just by him saying, I grew up a Leafs fan. That was a chumming of the waters for like, that was a July 1st. That was a chum the water for July 1st.

I kind of think they're going to get two of them. I kind of think Marchand is, is one if they're willing to meet his price point, because it is going to be quite high and there are going to be other teams that are going to want to add the Brad Marchand special sauce to their roster. For those that said he was done with his big paydays, guess again. Guess again. I think, I think Eklat is an ideal addition to the Toronto blue line. Yeah, I definitely think they're going to raid the cupboard of the Panthers. It only makes sense

to try to become what what's defeated you. The question I have the Merrick is that if the Leaf sign Brad Marshand and then they lose another game seven, does that add to his record? Or is it just and then they lose another game seven. Does that add to his record? Or is it just? Sleep or age it? Does he have to be an opponent? All of a sudden it's an own goal by 63. Oh my God.

Brad Marchand. Oh my God. You see now you've, you see this is the- Dave Hebner, what have you done? All the time. Every time there's like a positive thing, like we'll get Marchand, we'll exercise the demons, and you immediately go to grab Marchand's sleeper agent,

own goal, game seven, and he rips off the jersey, and he's got a spoke to be underneath it. Oh my God. No. Like, just one moment of happiness, one moment of bliss. I don't know if they get two out of the three. I don't know if they get any of the three, to be honest with you. I can still see Bill Zito moving heaven and earth, specifically for Bennett.

But the presence of Seth Jones, I could, like I put this way, I could see, of the three, I could probably see Ekblad. I think someone, hello? Goodbye. Bye bye. No, I'm fine. Thank you. No, I'm fine.

Thank you. I don't know, I didn't put the thing in the door. She just wants to help her. Sorry about that. She just wants to know if you want to change the art to other... Did I just shake away the curator of the art? Yeah. Your point, your point's taken about, like, the, the re-sign, I mean, away the curator of the art? Yeah. Your point's taken about like the re-sign.

I mean, all the guys that we ever thought were going to, like Reinhardt re-signs. All the guys that had a chance to go outside of some of the peripheral players like Lombard and Ekman Larsen have all re-signed. Bennett's the really interesting one for me. Marshand is, maybe they don't want to commit the years that they've're at. Montour was a tough loss for them too. Montour was. Montour was a tough loss. Eklad, like the fact that he hasn't signed a contract yet may be the tell that they could, and the fact that they went and got Seth Jones, maybe the tell that he might have his days numbered there. But Bennett's the really interesting

one. Like, someone will just break the bank for that guy, don't you think for, for what he can give you in the post season, for what he gives you in the regular season for the hit him high, hit him hard of it all. Like I feel like there's going to be someone that gives him a monster offer. It might be Toronto, might be somebody else, and then it's going to be, well, what do you want to really do here? You know, do you want to run it back and see if you can go for, you know, a three Pete or whatever, or,

or do you want to go break the bank somewhere else? Okay. Do you remember? Years and years ago on the old show One day I started out the program by saying Greg. I've seen the future of hockey Mm-hmm. Who was I talking about? McDavid Who else was on that team? Bennett. Why don't I get the Tongues Wagon?

Why don't I get the Tongues Wagon here again? That's right. Come home. Come home and play with Connor. Against the Calgary Flames. Hey listen, if they fall short again, that could be, who knows? But I don't know. It's, it's.

You know what? I'll tell you. the way just back to Seth Jones really quickly you know one of the things that and it's an interesting when you start to when you start to think this way and listen you're gonna see it game one tonight Florida Panthers against Carolina Hurricanes and South Carolina Hurricanes facing off against the Washington Capitals a week ago one of the games that I like to play now and and there's someone that I text with all the time now, every single game, as we try to identify which players in the NHL would fit on the Carolina Hurricanes. You know, like Miko Rantanen was not a fit on the Carolina

Hurricanes. The way that he plays, that is not, that's not Carolina. It's great for Dallas. It was great for Colorado. Obviously it is not Carolina. Have you played the would he fit on Carolina game? I mean, they're such a unique team. A, you have to be in tremendous shape. B, you have to really be able to think.

And, you know, Tulski is very much of the mind that there are players that fit with what Rod Brindemore does. And he's got like, him and his staff seem to have a real eye for it. Taylor Hall has been hand to glove. Logan Stankoven has been hand to glove. Like, this is like kudos to his staff on this one.

Seth Jones can play on the Carolina Hurricanes all day long. Yeah. And when you watch them live, when you watch the Panthers live and you just watch Seth Jones and you watch his reads and you watch it, how he takes over again, he took over that game. Him and Marshann with the two best players on the ice

and all default to Seth Jones, but he, it's like Seth Jones was incredible. He was great. I look at Seth Jones and go like, to me it's become like one of these, for me anyhow, ultimate compliments that yeah, you know what? That guy could play on the Carolina Hurricanes. I don't know if you ever do that. Can this guy play on the Hurricanes? I do because I think it's a specific type. Like you said, I don't think Ratnan necessarily was the best fit. I do think Gensel was the right fit. I think he kind of fits the purview of the

Hurricanes. I was scrolling through my phone, I'm sorry, and I was trying to find the quote from, I talked to Svechtakov this morning and about the Hurricanes offense. Now obviously, there's a couple of X-factors in this series, which we'll probably get to in a second, the series itself. One is the way that the Hurricanes play at home.

They have home ice there. I think five and O at home. Goals against under one five, like goals 4 over 4. Like they've been incredible in Raleigh. The other X-Factor is Vechnikov, who was not there in the previous Panthers, in which the Panthers swept them in a series of one-goal games. I was reminded today that one of those games was a game one that came within 12 seconds of going to a fifth overtime. That's right. I needed to go find some energy drinks before I headed to the rink tonight. But I said to Sveshnikov, do you think there's enough offense in this room to get past a

team like Florida? And his answer was easily. He said, easily. I think we've got lots of offense. Easily, Merrick. There's easily enough scoring in this Carolina room to get past the Florida Panthers and play for a Stanley Cup for the first time. Easily without Radman, easily without Gensel, easily there's enough offense. I know why he's saying it, I get why he's saying it, but easily was a very, very declarative way to say that they think they have enough scoring to beat this Florida team.

Uh, first of all, he's not going to say like, yeah, we're screwed. Like no one outside of me is scoring goals here. I've got eight goals. Like all you other guys like pop gun. Like you're just making popcorn here. First of all, he has to say that. Second of all, we all know that that's not the accent that the Carolina had. Carolina plays a really tough, aggressive game and this is one of the reasons why they're volume shooters. Right, they don't have the luxury of like, we're waiting for the perfect shot. They're just throw it on net, throw it on net,

throw it on net, throw it on net, throw it on net, throw it on net. That's too loud. Brenda Moore's gonna say you're lazy. I'm not, listen, I'm not. Lazy take from somebody who hasn't watched the team. It's not a lazy take. And if there's any team that I watch a ton of, and specifically this year, it's been the Carolina Hurricanes.

But I don't necessarily think it's wrong. Like, given the way that they play when they don't have the puck, it makes perfect sense to me why when they do have the puck, they throw a lot of it on net. And I don't think a lot of their shots, a lot of the shots that they shoot on net are intended to score. I think what they try to do is make rebounds, because that is a fast team on pucks.

And as you've seen with, like the big phenomenon, and I shouldn't say big, or one of the things that we're seeing now from, although it is changing and players are starting to get the puck up a little bit more, what defense do, like defensemen don't shoot to score anymore. They shoot to make rebounds, but it's only from the point. And we saw this with a lot of Pete DeBoer teams. Shoot to make

rebounds, shoot to make rebounds. I think the Carolina Hurricanes shoot to make rebounds, and that's why they shoot from everywhere. I don't think they're trying to score with every shot. It would be fool, and every now and then you're gonna get that slave-and-go goal in game one against Washington. In the Toronto series it was that Marner weird one that went in on Bobrovsky as like to taunt Zach and say like oh that's the Carolina goal that's his audition tape send that one to Rod Brindibor and Eric Tulski look at he can score the Carolina goal but I really think like they don't always shoot to

score they shoot to make rebounds in chaos because they're so aggressive on the puck that they can get, they can get the follow up. That's why I think they do it. And if Rod Brindleborn wants to think that's a lazy take, then okay. Let me give you four Marner places. You tell me which one piques your interest. Carolina. And this is pure speculation.

Carolina. I mean, we know, you know, Carolina's hot for him. Yes. Okay. We know Carolina's hot for him. What about, what about Vegas? Vegas does not go out the way that Vegas went out and not do something about it. And Vegas does something about it. They do something huge about it. So yes, absolutely. I would put Vegas into that conversation. What about now the one that I had heard for like a year,

cause they're obviously gonna look to make a splash at some point is Utah. What do you think about that? I, the team, the person that I wonder about for Utah is not so much Marner as it is Tavares. Because I look at that team and look at all the young players specifically down the middle and say like look You're like a third-line center on a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs at this point We have a 2c spot available here. We have a spot higher in the lineup and

We're prepared to go short-term big money because we need you to show our kids how to a play and be be a professional We'll give you like two years 14 million dollars as your family want to come to Utah. Can we rent you for a couple of years John? That's where I'm curious about you. I'm more curious about Tavares than Marner with Utah. What do you think about Marner in Anaheim? With Joel Quinville, I think that that team is really close to being good. There's still probably one more year of some pain. That is a very, very different media market than Toronto. But the thing is, but don't forget too, I think Mitch Marner likes a big stage.

Okay, that brings me to... Hang on a second here. Mitch Marner like, he kind of like, trying to give this a soft landing, help navigate himself to the London Nights from the Don Mills Flyers of the GTHL. Yeah. I think he likes a big stage. I really do. I think that he, I don't know that like in the back of Marner's mind like, oh man, I just had the Toronto experience and I want to go away and hide. So that leads me to your next one. Go ahead. It leads me to my next one. A big stage. Pretty prestigious team. Come on, baby, don't you want to go? Sweet home, Chicago. Sweet home, Chicago. What do you think?

I can see that. Marner, Mardard. Absolutely. That's the layup. Right? That's the one that makes a… That's still the layup. Now, but they're not close.

They're still not close, though. That's the issue. Like, Marner would have to be patient there. Yeah. And the thing about Chicago that bugs me, and it's the same thing in some of these other examples, the media part of it, or the market part of it is one part of it. I mean, you could say he wants a stage, maybe he wants it to be a little bit quieter, but he wants it to be a little bit more quiet.

He wants it to be a little bit more quiet. He wants it to be a little bit more quiet. He wants it to be a little bit more quiet. He wants it to be a little bit more quiet. He wants it to be a little bit more quiet. He wants it to be a little bit more quiet. He wants it to be a little bit more quiet. He wants it to be a little bit more quiet. He wants it to be a little bit more quiet. that bugs me and it's the same thing in some of these other examples. The media part of it or the market part of it is one of it is one part of it. I mean you could say he wants a stage maybe he wants to be a little bit quieter but you know where does he want to raise a family that's obviously a big part of it too but the other part of it for me is like I don't want Mitch Marner to go some

place where he has to be the guy. Like I would rather see him in Vegas. I would rather see him in Colorado. I would rather see him someplace where there are some, for lack of a better term, adults in the room that may or may not have a ring on their finger who have done this before, where Mitch doesn't have to be the guy fake yelling at the team and then doing nothing. I would much rather him just be able to exist

and then Eichel shoulders the load or Petrangelo shoulders the load then Eichel shoulders the load or Petrangelos shoulders the load or McKinnon shoulders the load. Like that's the ideal destination for me for Mitch Marner. Back to my, can he play on Carolina game? There you go. He is- You know who shoulders the load there? The coach.

He's a really good athlete. He's a perennial, he's in consideration for the Selkie Trophy. Works hard. He kills penalties. He can shoot. He's not going to score 50 goals, but as we've seen, like again, like it has brought up the Bobrovsky goal from the last round. He's a smart, smart hockey player. He would be one of many. He would be part of a Borg collective instead of having to be. Yeah, he'd be part of a Borg collective instead of having to be himself.

Like he would just be part of a team then. And you know, I'm here in Raleigh, no disrespect. It's like a five reporter town. Like it is a great place to play, a great place to live, and a great place to learn under a coach. I mean, I talked to Taylor Hall last week, man, and I was struck by, look, I mean, Taylor Hall's not gonna have 31 teams trying to sign him.

Let's be honest, but he did say that the commitment to Carolina was very much about Rod, and very much about learning more from Rod Brandymore. Everybody says that, all those guys say that. I think Mitch could use a furthering of his education. I think Mitch could get a master's degree if he played for Ron Verdemore. It looked man, listen, they they they asked for Marner before when they're when they're looking to move Rantanen. Yeah, so like no no secret that there's there's interest with the Hurricanes. He is a fit. He has

that there's interest with the Hurricanes. He is a fit. He has the style of play that fits with what Carolina does. He's a good athlete. He works hard. He's defensively minded. He's a really smart hockey player. To me, the best hockey fit is probably Carolina. And again, it's not every player that can play.

I mean it as a compliment. Not every player can play for the Carolina Hur Yeah. And again, like it's not it's not every player that can play. I mean it as a compliment. Like not every player can play for the Carolina Hurricanes. Like you might be a superstar player. Doesn't mean you're going to be able to play the way the Carolina Hurricanes do. Now, by the way, speaking of hurricanes, let me transition. I mentioned this off the top. Were you at the game where Asherman, K.O. and Beagle? No, I watched it. I watched, I remember watching that game though. Okay, I thought you might've been with that one.

With the go to sleep thing? Yeah, given how the Carolina Hurricanes can continue to lean into the boringness of all of it, right away like on social media, it's so good, so awesome. I just love this organization. Right away, goal celebration. I mean, it is a punk rock because they don't believe they're boring. I know they believe what they do is exciting.

They, you know, the, the devils used to lean into the idea of, of being somonex on ice, like they, they loved playing hockey that put people to sleep. It was kind of their thing. Carolina doesn't believe they're a boring team, like to a man. Here's why I don't think they're boring, is when their system breaks down, there's a lot of available ice. So the minute things mess up, and they talk, right?

They will, off a shin pad, off toe of a skate, like things are gonna happen. The chance that it creates for the other team is a great age chance. They, ooh, and there's a lot of ice available. That's why I like Carolina. Like you watch how they play man on man everywhere, that means there's a lot of ice available.

And when's the last time, like you've looked at the ice and went like, holy smokes, where'd all this ice come from? It's because Carolina's skating lot of ice available. And when's the last time like you've looked at, you've looked at the ice and went like, holy smokes, where'd all this ice come from? It's because Carolina's keeping a hip pocket. That's why I think this is a bad matchup for them. I think it's a bad matchup for them because I think Florida has the, has a lot of finishers that'll take advantage of those,

those moments. And the other thing too is like, Carolina is at its best when it's like a boa constrictor and it's wrapping around you and possessing the puck and not giving you room to do the things that you want to do and then you get frustrated. Like the devils were probably frustrated because they didn't have Jack Hughes, but also because they couldn't do much. And then the Capitals, you know, like were a pretty free wheel and offensive team

in the regular season and they couldn't do anything and they get frustrated. But the problem with Florida, as we saw in the previous series against Toronto, they never get frustrated, they're unflappable. And now they have a ring on their finger as proof of concept. So the way that Carolina plays will humble 31 teams

in this league. And unfortunately they're playing the 32nd team and I think that Florida is kind of a tailor-made team. I still think it's going to be about a six game series. I think we might see some splits bills in the first four but ultimately Florida is going to win this series. Interesting. You know one of the things that I like here, I put it this way. I want to like, I want to like Carolina in this series. I really want Carolina. Again, like I just went through, we all went through just watching the Florida Panthers

go like, yeah, we're down to cop who cares and just come back and like, I said, but I know joke like after after the matchup was set and I had to make my picks and stuff. I spent an hour. I spent an hour on like natural stat trick and other places trying to find a find the way to believe that Carolina could win this game. And again, Svechnikov is an X Factor, Holmice is an X Factor, Freddie's playing great. There are reasons to believe it could be different for Carolina, but I just think this matchup is not the one.'s right for them. And I just think Florida is so,

they're just as locked in as we've seen the team be locked in in the last 15 years. It's a great team. Are you, so the thing about Svetlankov, one point here, I'm curious your thoughts on this one. At the beginning of every season, he is always, like every single year, Greg, he is always my dark horse for the Rock of Richard. Yeah. Like I look at him and go like,

how does this guy, like, you go to the DB, how does it not like 45, 47, 56, 62, 48, like, how does it not say, I mean, we know the injuries are the major issue here, but like this is Svetlakov. This was the kid they drafted second overall from the Barry Colts. This is that guy. And I always say to myself, like, this guy's got a Rocket Richard trophy in him somewhere. Right?

And it's not like a surprise one, like, whoa, coming out of the lockout, Jonathan Cheech, who's snapping in 50 plus and he's winning the Rocket. No, it's not like that. It's like, we've seen this coming. The potential has always been there for Andrei Svetsnikov. I think he's great. I don't know if he's like that level of great

as far as like a 47 goal season. He's so talented. His release is so good. Maybe that's just by virtue of where he plays. Like you got to factor in the system too. I was just trying to look up who is the, what's the highest single season goal total. Maybe Zach can look it up. Highest single season goal total for a hurricane.

It's probably Eric Stahl one of those years, right? He had that huge goal scoring season in the Aughts. That'd probably be it but I don't know. He's good, but he's gone, he's inconsistent and he's always hurt, would be the reasons why, I guess. Is that bad? I'm new to hockey, is that bad? Inconsistency and injury?

Can you talk to me like I'm five? It's inconsistent and always hurt. I mean, Nick Ealers is still getting like nine million in the summer Ian in the chat says Eric stall 2006 Yeah, that's what I figured. I think it was that's all year. That's my point It's like there's not been a lot of years 45 goals have been have been robust. Yeah Zach jumps in with 40 45 45 45 45 so I think it's probably a symptom of the system You know, it's the same thing you say about say about like Elias and Miedermeier.

If they were on another team, they would have put up on godly numbers, but unfortunately they didn't. Dude, Patrick Elias, if he played on like the Detroit Red Wings, I've always thought about that. Like Elias and Miedermeier. You're in the Hall of Fame already. I know. Hey, you're in the Hall of Fame already.

We're running out of time. I got to tell you what happened at the press conference today. No, I want to get there. Oh, by the way, Blaine Stouten from the Hartford whalers 56 of course, that's when they had Mike Rogers. I love Stouten and Rogers. Anyway digress. Yeah, so metas if you have heard of Blaine Stouten You have Greg I blame so not no not a once Mike Rogers No Sorry Not a once. Mike Rogers. No.

Sorry. Late 70s whalers, not in my wheelhouse. This is like I just found out my neighbor is Spider-Man. What? What? Or that your neighbor's never heard of Spider-Man. Or that too. You don't blame Stoughton. Good Lord, man.

How have you made it this far in life? Hello, fans of podcasts. Max Rochton here from the Guardian Football Weekly, which I think you should give a listen. It is good. Comes out three times a week and the podcast delivers you analysis, news, both the good and the bad from the beautiful game and maybe even the occasional laugh. He's angry about everything. He doesn't have a great poker face. delivers you analysis news both the good and the bad from the beautiful game and maybe even the occasional laugh He's angry about everything. He doesn't have a great poker face

I would like to play cards with Bruno Fernandez You can listen to the Guardian football weekly wherever you get your podcasts. Hopefully see you soon Okay medicine balls exercise balls conferences, Matthew Kachak, you were there, I believe. You were there. Yes. Let's set it up. So in the Raleigh Arena, the area where they have the press conferences has been carved

out in an area where the teams would normally get their workouts in, I guess. Or at least the road. It's called the gym. So they, they have a bunch of black curtains up around the press conference area and on the other side of one of the curtains is literally all of the Panthers. Equipment, their bikes, their weights. Rob Rofsky was doing Olympic dead, dead lifts before the game, which is a whole other topic. And also the medicine balls.

And so you have this absurd situation. For those who don't know, the press conference room is usually a room. It's usually like, it's just off on the side. It's not where other players are preparing for the game that night. It's not where other players are preparing for the game that night. And so you had Taylor Hall and Jordan Stahl doing their pregame press for game one. And on the other side of the curtain, you have several Florida Panthers all working

out during this. And I think there was a little bit of angst about their workout area being in the middle of all of this media stuff. And so as Taylor Hall starts answering a question, we just hear thump, thump, thump, thump, thump. And I'm in the back row of the media. Everybody else in there can't see it. I'm in the back row of the media. Everybody else in there can't see it. I'm in the back row and I lean over and it's Matthew Kachuk hurling a medicine ball

against a concrete wall over and over and over again. Keep in mind, this was not a sound we heard in the 15 minutes leading up to the press conference nor did we hear it after Taylor Hall and Jordan Stahl left the dais. It was just during that time. And again, maybe it's a schedule conflict. Maybe that was Matthew Kachuck throwing a medicine ball against the wall time. It just happened to coincide with the press conference. Or, hear me out, or they were being petulant about their situation

and Matthew Kachuck decided to interrupt the media availability by throwing a medicine ball against the concrete wall over and over and over again, as Taylor Hall tried to ask, answer a question about how big game one is. What do you think the answer is? Greg Wyshinski. Now I, I w I'm curious if anybody has actually like gone back and heard the answer because like. I am, I have to imagine it was very loud.

Like, I have to imagine you can hear on the audio track the ball slapping against the concrete wall as Taylor-Oll is answering, but it was hilarious. I tried to take a picture of it, but one of the members of the Panther staff did not like me trying to take a picture of it. So take a picture of Matthew Kichek firing the medicine ball off the wall? Yeah, because here's the thing. Usually the players workouts and kicking around the soccer ball and stuff,

that's off limits. Yep. And I understand that. But I mean, again, not my fault. This is part of the story. I decided to put the workout room inside of the media room. Like it's not, I don't know what to tell you. Make the curtain longer, I guess.

Uh, but it was, again, like, what a beautiful world we live in to have that level of petty antagonism. And they're all on the Panthers now. I love the, yes, I love the fact that they allow 12 year olds in the game still. People that behave like I would expect that like from my kids. Right? And I think like I'm not casting aspersions on it. I think it's effing awesome. I think it's great.

And you know what? There's a part of me no matter how old I get that's like I would do the same thing. I would do the exact same thing that Matthew Kachak did and I'd want my team to do the exact same thing that Matthew Kachak did and I'd want my team to do the exact same thing That Matthew Kachak did Even if for no other reason than just to give them another log to burn on the I'm gonna chase this guy around the ice fire It was loud enough where I believe the players were startled by it. Like I'm just saying It was pretty great. It was pretty great. I didn't get a chance to talk much yesterday about Winnipeg Jets. I talked a lot about Mark Shieffley and if you have anything to add.

Yeah I heard that. You were great on that man. That was very Mark. You know what I can just listen I know what I went through because I was on the air when my father started to go. So I just shared that story of getting in the hospital and being able to hold his hand as he passed. If anyone has ever had the experience, they know what it's like and it really is a beautiful moment in life, although it feels like it's a horror show. It's really not.

As someone who has lost both my parents, I can somehow understand that feeling, A, of losing a parent, and then B, also, right away your brain snaps into what I need to do. And for Shifely, I don't think that he allowed himself to start his process of grieving his father. This is just what I think, based on how I felt. Until Thomas Harley scored. Yeah.

And at that point, he started to allow himself to grieve because there was the authority of the day and the game. And this is my routine. I'm gonna go through it. These guys' brains are like the Panama Canal. You know how the Panama Canal has all those locks? Yeah. Where the water goes in it

and then the bow goes to the second one. Like you're right about the loss of a parent and how that rewires your brain, but it's also the way that these guys' brains are wired anyway. How many times do we go through a playoff and find out that someone very close to them passed away, or there was a problem with their child, or all this stuff that these guys are able to compartmentalize and I don't know if it's a hockey player thing or a pro athlete thing. I tend to kind of believe it's a hockey player thing just because of how well they hide it along with their injuries and shit like that too.

When I heard about the Shafely News, I'm like, he's going to play and he played. I mean it's an insane rolleraster of emotions that he went through You know what Claire said to me? She said we were talking on the phone I was out of town at my kids baseball tournament, and she's like He's gonna play it. I'm like why do you say that so definitively and she said because if he doesn't he's gonna regret it his whole life Yeah, like It's also really easy to kind of do the it's what they would have wanted for me thing like that's that's an easy way to convince yourself that

That you should go ahead and and yeah, I'm not saying it's not true. I'm just saying that you have you'll always have an out When someone who is who's dedicated their own lives to your career or your success, you're always gonna be able to use that. And that in some ways is a gift in their passing. It's just, here's one more moment of motivation for you to go out and achieve your dreams. Yeah, it was great when he scored and it just crushed my heart

when he was in the penalty box. Now, my theory is that I don't know who the referee was. I apologize to all the viewers and listeners. I should probably have the person's name handy. That it should have been a penalty shot but they said let his team fight one for him. Give him a fight. Like I can't put, I cannot put steel at the dot. I can't do this to this guy. Give his team a chance. Give his team a chance to kill the penalty here. Did you feel the same way?

Did you feel it should have been a penalty shot? It was close. It was close. But I mean, again, penalty shots in a situation like that, even separate from the Shifely thing, are few and far between. I know, they really are. I wanna get your thoughts on a couple more things here before we wrap up. So, sorry, is Dan our work in Francois Saint Laurent,

according to Zach Phillips, I wasn't sure who the official, who the referee was, who actually made the call on Shifely, nonetheless. Oh God, how would you, how would, hey, let me just personalize this. If you were either a Saint Laurent or O'Rourke in that situation, how would you feel making that call if you were the referee?

Do you know who it is in that moment? Is that process for you in that moment? How can it not? It's the story of the day. It's Mark Shafely and he's playing. You know it's Double Nickles. You know it's 55. Yeah, I don't know. You know what? I will say one thing, for whichever official it was, they did the right thing and I'm sure Shai Flew would be like, you know what, it was a call. I fired at his shin pads, I was late getting back and I tripped him. But I'm telling you, maybe I'm just soft,

like there's part of me that would be like, nah, you know what, no, no penalty. Trying to say that these guys follow a narrative. No, I would be about it. I would be a bad official. That's what I'm saying. Tim Peel would have given another penalty to someone else grieving just to even it out.

You would go to the bench and be like, sorry coach, I gotta find, who on your bench had a personal tragedy? I have to even it out. You would go to the bench and be like, sorry coach, I gotta find, who on your bench had a personal tragedy? I have to even things up. We're gonna call a peddling shot for both teams. Ferv. That one. Sweeney gets the extension from the Boston Bruins. I wonder how much this was.

Look, we're gonna have a hard time attracting free agents if everyone thinks that this is a lame duck general manager, like I remember having a conversation, uh, gosh, sick a million years ago, remember Teddy Purcell. Los Angeles Kings Tampa Bay Lightning. So when he was coming out of Maine as a free agent, um, one of the teams he was talking about was talking to rather with the Toronto Maple Leafs and his thought was, you know, I, I, again, to Brad Brad Marchand, I grew up a Leafs fan, etc. But I don't know how long John Ferguson is going to be there as a general manager.

So if I sign that I'm one of his guys and if he's gone in half a year or a year or whatever it was, I'm kind of on an island here. And that's why he signed with LA, Los Angeles Kings. So I wonder if that was just part of the motivation here with, with, with, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta get some firm here. Isn't this like Cam Neely then saying that he believes there's still a window for this team.

And maybe there has to be considering who's on, under contract, like the only way. Swamen, McAfee, Pasadena. Yeah, there's, there Yeah, there's still... There's only one way back and it's to try to create as much stability as you can despite, you know, changes. I've been running around Raleigh. They haven't hired a coach yet, have they?

Coach? No, not yet, sir. What do you think there? Listen, I'm wondering a lot about Marco Sturm now. Yeah, he ends up. I'm wondering about Jay Woodcroft and I'm wondering about Marco Sturm too. I mean, Jay Leach will be in the conversation probably there too. I know that they had a talked briefly about like maybe elevating Jay, Jay

Pandolfo from Boston university, but that probably isn't going to happen for that. I think, I don't know. It's, it's interesting. His Pandolfo's kid is playing with the program now. So he's like two years away of just to be blunt, Pandolfo's two years away from coaching his kid. Yeah. That's a really big draw. That's got to be like, that's like how many, you're not going to have coach your kid at college. I don't know. I mean, the draw would be you're the head coach of the Boston Bruins. I get it. And you're getting a lot of money. I understand all that but like

kids playing for the program just a couple years away showing up. Daddy's in town. Daddy's got another job. He's coaching the Boston Bruins. They'll come watch you play on the weekends. I can get Charlie to autograph a puck for you. Oh not McAvoy. Okay who do you want? Who do you want? Oh, it's right. Yeah. Okay. Pasternak.

Fine. I'll get you that puck. Um, listen, tonight's going to be interesting. Uh, the Carolina Hurricanes have been rested. I mean, they've, they've, they've done their, they've done their business in both series. The gentlemen sweeps, uh, now they're facing off against the Florida Panthers

team. Um, although you can cynically say who, you know, didn't need the hot towels on Saturday. Um, but it's a team that's, uh, hit their stride, right? Yeah. And I know you got a punt here, but do you have a quick thought on what you think tonight may look like? Well, I took Panthers and six in the series. I think it's going to be a low score and grind I think it is I think Freddie Anderson's playing really well and so I think that's one of the things that gives the hurricanes a

punchless chance in this series, but I don't know I these teams know each other really well and and I'll be interesting to see what the feeling out process looks like. Again, is it better to have just come off a game seven than to have gotten the rest that the Hurricanes have gotten? We shall see. But I tried, man.

I really wanted to put the Hurricanes over. But Florida is just the team that I think will emerge again. Which then leaves the possibility on the table, Jeff Merrick, of back-to-back seasons of connecting flights between Fort Lauderdale and Edmonton. Oh my God. Go back to that, Joy.

This series took 10 years off my life from a travel perspective, and we might have to run it back, depending on what happens to us. You know what hockey fans love hearing about, Greg? Media travel issues My hotel room trying to refresh my towel What kind of God would allow this a

Cruel and spiteful one Jeffy. I'm that's not you what kind of God would allow this a cruel and spiteful one, Jeffy? I'm that's not what kind of guy. I'm not usually one to complain about the travel stuff, but I'm I just try to be honest. Fort Lauderdale to Edmonton was was really, really tough. It was not it was not a fun time at all, because again, it is if you're on the NHL charter like some of my colleagues were probably a different experience than now running down the concourse in Minnesota to make sure you get your connecting flight to Alberta kind of thing now now enjoy game one say hi at a core level at when you if slash when you see it was one of my favorite people.

You'd be good. Thanks Wish. Take care man. There is Greg Wyshinski from ESPN. Game one tonight is the Florida Panthers facing off against the Carolina Hurricanes. That's the one game. But there's other games as well folks.

The sheet powered by FanDuel, home of the same game Parlay I'll have you know, make every moment more on FanDuel. FanDuel, proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them and Western Conference Final, the Nova Center tonight, game one as you already know, Florida Panthers and the Carolina Hurricanes, Jalen Chatfield, questionable. And do we see Nikitian, who looked really good by the way in that series against the Washington Capitals. in that series against the Washington Capitals.

Man, and did he just not like toss aside Andrew Mangiapane like, shoefly, don't bother me, get away. Sergey Bobrovsky, Frederick Anderson, those are your goaltenders tonight. Lineups will pretty much look the same. We'll see about Jalen Chatfield. Also, PWHL, Walter Cup, game one tonight, Minnesota Frost against the Ottawa Charge, and let me grab this here, hang on.

I wanna make sure that I mention this properly. We just got an email about this, really cool. I'm glad they're doing this. USHL, Clark Cup, John Laz on the call. Game five, Muskegon Lumberjacks versus the Waterloo Blackhawks. This is being streamed on the socials. This is being streamed on YouTube, the home broadcast. This is being streamed on X.

You can watch this on Flow Hockey. You can watch this on the Waterloo Facebook, and you can watch this on the Muskegon Facebook as well. Flow Hockey subscribers will be able to watch Game 5 as usual on Flow Hockey.tv or via the Flow Sports Mobile and Connected TV apps. USHL. It will be Muskegon or Waterloo winning the Clark Cup tonight. Looking forward to that one. So lots of action on the horizon here and then don't forget the Memorial Cup gets underway later on this week Friday as Ramoski faces off against Madison Hat, the Q host taking on the Western Hockey League. Anything you want to wrap us up with? Zach, me and Greg pretty much sucked up all the oxygen on that show. No, great show today. I just advise Leafs fans to stay off Puckpedia

because last night I did it for a little bit and I've come to the conclusion that we will be a lottery team next year. It's over, so just don't do that. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah, spend way too long. Sending it to Vic, he's like, tinker this, it's not good. If you're going to be a lottery team,

next year is a pretty good year to be a lottery team. That's not true. You're gonna have a look at McKenna here at the Memorial Cup. I like that Ethan Belschitz kid too on Windsor. Holy smokes, is he massive and good too. Anyhow, next year's is stacked. Anyhow, so cheer up if you're gonna be a lottery team.

Like next year's the year you wanna be a lottery team, Zach. So maybe you're onto something. Yeah. Pogpedia, maybe you wanna just go that way. Look, the Boston Bruins didn't wanna have this season, but now they're gonna draft eighth overall. Maybe get themselves a Brady Martin. Pick up a nice little Brady Martin,

tuck him away for the future. 44 on Sousaimery Greyhounds. If he gets that far. If he gets by Philly. No guarantee. Maybe a Caleb Dane YA. We'll watch him in the boomerang cup too. Plan for months.

Look, maybe people are looking ahead at this too much. Last thing I'll say about the Leafs, and I'll let you wrap up the show, but maybe they don't need to replace all that Mitch Marner money this summer. Maybe there's some big free agents coming up next summer. Here's the problem. Here's the problem with that. Here's the problem. Here's the problem. They believe so. There is no way they are not using every dime's worth of cap space. There is no chance that just going to happen. You never know. Spencer Newton in the chat. Gavin McKenna, you are a Toronto Maple Leaf. Welcome. Welcome to Toronto. Let's try this again. Edmonton did it. J-Rock, no one has ever heard of Brady Martin. How dare you you J-Rock? Wow. Get to know your

Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. Thank you, sir. The Leafs need to overpay Sam Bennett, that according to Spencer as well in the chat. Would you like Sam Bennett on your team? I would, yes. You know who he also played with, Jeff, as you mentioned. Connor McDavid. Maybe they want to reunite here. Cause they played for a blue and white team. Maybe they can go and find like Roland McEwen and Jaden Lindo and Jeremiah Addison. And all that. What's that?

Josh Hoesang. Yeah. Josh Hoesang. Josh Hoesang, Jaden Lindo, who was a Pittsburgh pick. Jeremiah Addison, who was a Montreal Canadiens pick, Roland McEwen, who was a, come on Jeff, second rounder to Carolina? Yeah, Roland McEwen.

Yep, sounds right. Yep, from Kingston, right? And do you remember who they beat in the OHL Cup final? Or who they lost to in the OHL Cup final, the Hershey Center? Now. Mississauga Rebels. You know who was the star of that team? No, but when you say it, yeah I will, because I do remember now. Robbie Fabry. Yeah.

Robbie Fabry. Yeah. I think that might have been like their only second loss that season. That team was insane. I remember watching them and it was like right away you knew that McDavid like already even though he was an underage, an underage on the Marlies. McDavid looked like a pro hockey player like there was no minor hockey in him but man was there some minor hockey and Josh Hosang. Hosang would like deke everybody out and then like circle back, regroup just so we could do it again.

It was like, this kid's awesome. And every shift he's out there, he's letting everybody know just how awesome he is. Yeah. It was like so much minor hockey elite in there. Meanwhile, McDavid was just like passing, skating, playmaking, all of it, just like perfection, no nonsense, none of the frills, faster than guys, first on pucks, like all of it. He was that guy, he could tell right away, this guy's playing in the NHL. Josh Hossang was just flat out fun. I've always maintained, like in that draft, he had top five skill. That's just gonna be one of those, like, you just, like, man, you just want it all to come

together for Hossang because he's so good he's so skilled he could have been a star like a star in the NHL and I remember talking to one of his coaches in in the OHL who said to me I've never seen a guy whose game revolved around just setting up a backdoor play. It's like everything that he did was just to set up back. Like you just watch it, go back and watch Josh Ho saying, right? Niagara wherever he's playing. All I want you to set up, set up backdoor. Like everything that he did was to set up that play, but God was he ever good.

Anyway, going on about Josh, I was saying, what year is it? Awesome. Awesome hockey player. I just wish that it would have worked out for him I think he's playing in the ECHL right now for the Florida Everblades he was last year did he go back yeah I'll find out he's in my buddies on he's a really really interesting guy like off the ice to talk to fascinating guy

Really really interesting dude and then on the ice was just like magical but could never like put it together to Play I guess like sounds cruel. I suppose Yeah, he he should have he should have been such a star. He was so good He's just you know, he going to be six games this year. He played six games. Was it injury or was it just like got bored? It was too good for everybody. Six games, he was only four points and minus five.

Well, that, you know, plus minus is just a reflection of the shooting percentage of your linemates. Okay. Yeah. Well, that, you know, plus minus is just a reflection of the shooting percentage of your linemates, Zach. Okay, so yeah, my bad. All right, well, we've somehow ended up the program talking about Josh Hossain, but here we are. How did we get there? Talking with Sam Bennett and the Marlies. Yeah. And then we started rattling off all the players from that team that didn't make it one of them is going to the hockey all the way All right on behalf of Zach and the big thanks is always a great Wyshinski here on Tuesdays for MBSW Tuesday

Thanks for joining us today Enjoy the games tonight whether you are watching the NHL the PWHL or the USHL's Clark Cup Final it's the last game game five five. Laz on the mic too. Check that one out. Anyhow, back tomorrow for this program. Three o'clock eastern. Don't forget, Morning Cup of Hockey tomorrow, 9am eastern. Johnny Lazarus and Colby Cohen. DFO Live at Noon. Our little act at three. And thanks. Watching or chatting. Love you in the chat. Listing on your favorite podcast platform as well. Thanks for joining me.

We are back in 23-ish hours tomorrow to talk about what we are going to see later tonight and what we will see tomorrow evening, right? There we go. Tomorrow. Come on. I'm like, no, man, that's fine. I'm not against those methods, but I knew. It's me, myself, and how this gonna be fixing my mind. I still wanna break it. I turned on the music.

I still wanna break it. I turned on the music But you stand up there, battle, but you're sometimes losing Helping on the days that went wrong