The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Fire the Cannons ft. Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre & Max Bultman

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

Jeff Marek is joined by Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre and Max Bultman ahead of the massive weekend between the Red Wings and Blue Jackets. Discussing the importance for both teams, how they approach the deadline, Mikko Rantanen trade talks, if the Calgary Flames should go for it, and much moreShout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Tim Hortons: https://www.timhortons.ca/rollupReach 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.

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Hey share your promo code with friends as well learn more at Fizz.ca switch to Fizz I have a question to start the show today. I have a question about people to start the show today. But before I ask you a question about people, specifically people in hockey, many of whom you've probably wondered about before I ask that question I got to ask Philly what's up with something who by the way did not play with Pavel Barber last night he skipped out on you where was he going Columbus I guess he's going out there for the outdoor games right of course probably more important than they do like an influencer game again They do an influencer game. You didn't get the invite last one. No, I don't know those. No, you don't get this

Okay, we're gonna get you that spot Here's my question for you before I ask everybody a question about people we have a show today And we're gonna talk a lot about Columbus once I're gonna talk a lot about Detroit as well. In the meantime, I gotta ask you two things. What's up with the feathers and what's up with the beard? Like it's getting out of hand. Okay, you're gonna like this. You're lucky, by the way, you're lucky that like Lou Lamarrillo doesn't run the shop here.

You'd be totally effed. You just look like a pink balloon on the show if Lou Lamarrillo ran the shop here. You'd be totally effed. You'd just look like a pink balloon on the show if Lula Amarillo ran the shop. But dude, what's up with your feathers and your beard? It's out of control, pal. I know. That's one thing I've always thought about. I'm like, I'm really lucky to have the job I do because I have this disgusting beard and a mullet. Open door policy on ugly. Right this way sir. Right this way.

Table's been waiting for you. Okay ready and I'm opening the doors for the chat to roast me and you because if you didn't think I was an idiot already you will now. My men's league playoffs start tonight. Oh come on, you are not that guy. Are you serious dude?

Are you really serious? It gets the boys fired up.? It gets the boys fired up. Your beard gets the boys fired up. I got news for you. It's good luck. It's good luck. Did you win last year? Did you win the whole thing? In beer league last year? No, we went to the finals actually. We lost in a shootout. You were first loser. Did you have the beard? Yeah, I did.

So it didn't bring you luck? I guess not. I didn't score a tying goal to send it to overtime in a shootout though. So, personal performance was there. You know like in the Stanley Cup playoffs when both teams don't touch the conference trophies, only one of them is going to say the superstition works? You get that, right? And they also don't have a problem putting on the championship hats.

That's fine. Yeah. But touch the trophies, no, no, no. We're not here for the trophies. Oh, look at these hats. Oh, this is great. I wanna ask everyone a question here about people. And I wanna couch it this way.

So I'm not gonna say the name of this player, but this was the era before the prevalence of cell phones in junior hockey. Okay, this is a junior hockey player. I will whittle it down to a league. This is in the Quebec league. Okay, and there was one player, ended up having a pretty decent career in the NHL

and internationally, but there was one player I still laugh at this story so he goes to his girlfriend's place it's like a Wednesday night or something like that I think curfews like 10 this is sort of legendary story some circles in the queue and it's like nine o'clock 9 15 9 25, 9.25, 9.40, quarter to 10. And his girlfriend says to him, like your curfew is 10, like your coach or assistant coach is gonna call and you're not gonna be there. You're gonna get in trouble

or you're gonna get like suspended for a game. Like you're gonna miss curfew. And he goes, no, no, no, no, no, no. And he goes into his gym bag and he pulls out a phone. He says, I brought my phone from my, I brought the phone from my billet's house. I'll plug it in here, and when the coach calls, he'll think I'm really there, and everything will be fine.

You know, there's two kinds of dumb in the world. There's like, there's's dumb and then there's hockey dumb. We've all met like hockey dumb people. That is one of my favorite hockey dumb. I can only imagine what went through that that poor young woman's head when she just realized I'm dating the stupidest man in the world. My boyfriend is the dumbest person on the face. No no no I brought my billet's phone here. I'll just plug it in and then he'll think that I'm at my billet's house. Yeah, that was when she was, until that point she was like, it's so cool. I'm dating a hockey player. This is so cool. And then she went, oh, I'm dating a hockey player.

Then she's thinking, oh, does this mean like our children would be dumb if I stay with this guy? Hang on, I need to reevaluate my life. But this is why I want to, um, I want to ask this question. Because we were just having this conversation, Zach and I, before the program. How many people, how many people do you see in hockey that you think would be completely incapable of functioning in society if there was no hockey.

Like just imagine for one second, there's no such thing as hockey and these same people who are in hockey are roaming free amongst us, sharing oxygen. How many of them would be able to make it through a day? Like have you ever met someone who has like a real significant place in hockey? Either on a team, in an organization, league, like whatever, and you say to yourself like,

how do you get through a day? How do you, how do you f- if there was a- listen, I'm not putting myself above anybody else too. This has been my livelihood my entire life. I don't know what I would do if there wasn't hockey. I have, I have no clue what I would be doing. So I'm not saying like there's me and everybody else, you know, the mouth-breathers over there. But how many times have you wondered about people in hockey? What would you do if there was no hockey? I have no idea what I would do. I think there'd be a lot of people that we'd sort of recalibrate how we thought about them as functioning members of society if there wasn't any hockey. What

do you think about that, Zach? I also don't know what I would do. I had the conversation recently with like people who just like didn't really kind of understand how hockey players still act and talk and think the way they do when they're adults. And my roommate and I play hockey together, but he kind of got out of it earlier. and he's kind of a little bit different than I am because I think earlier on he was more integrated into the real world and outside of hockey than I was so I still have a lot of these guys, they have been in the locker room just shooting shit with the boys since they were six years old. Five years old, some of them, right? And it's like, they are still that 15 year old kid making stupid jokes in the locker room.

That's who they are as grown men. Yeah, I know. It doesn't stop. So in the chat Mr. Public Pain submits so many Jeff like 57% would have to be told to open the fridge for food. Stubaka98 says civilian dumb little wooly style she's dating a civilian that's a good one. Kim Banks 99% of them. John Bankart, that dude would be eating countertops across the nation is a bit. There's dumb and then there's hockey dumb. We've probably been both. We've probably been both. Okay, coming up on the show today, Daily Outlines presented by FanDuel, North America's number one sportsbook app

provider. We've got a couple of great guests and a few things we want to go over with. You want to talk a little bit more about Mikko Rantunen and that situation with the Carolina Hurricanes and where he, if indeed, like it's not a guarantee here that the Carolina Hurricanes would trade him if they can't sign him. Who knows? Eric Tolsky is a different kind of thinker. But if he goes somewhere, where do you see him landing? The Calgary Flames, you know, and we're gonna play a clip from Morning Cup of Hockey where the guys had a profound disagreement of whether the Calgary Flames should add or should just stay put. And now I missed it this morning. I was out with the dog and timing-wise I haven't been able to go back and watch or listen to the show but apparently Zach

this was a pretty animated moment of the program and we'll share that with you a little bit later on so we'll talk about Rantanen we'll talk about the flames Jean-Luc Grandpierre will stop by analyst for the Columbus Blue Jackets game one of two between the CBJ's and the Detroit Red Wings speaking of the rings Max Boltman covers the wings for the athletic. He will drop by the program today, so we'll get some Ohio love, some Michigan love, and we got an idea for a new segment

leading up to trade deadline. And our trade deadline coverage, by the way, March the 7th from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on our daily face-off YouTube channel. More information as it becomes available, but there's the fancy billboard we have for it at our daily face-off YouTube channel, 11 to four Eastern.

Although I would imagine that four is kind of flexible because trades continue to trickle in afterwards. So that is not like a hard, we gotta switch programming, we gotta get to Den Eden for the Jays preseason. Like, no, there's none of that. He can splash over into whatever. And there's not necessarily any stop sets or clocks that we have to adhere to with any specificity.

So how about that? 11 to four-ish. I think I'm safe to say that, right, Zach? 11 to four-ish. Now, one thing before I get to all those topics and guests, and you're gonna crack the whip again and make sure that I get to all of this stuff. Was having an interesting conversation

like right before the show with someone from a team, gotta be as vague as possible with these things, having a conversation with someone from a team, and this isn't a team that is or has ever been interested in Seth Jones of the Chicago Blackhawks, but I think a lot of us are wondering, how does this thing play itself out? Like it's obvious that this marriage is over. Seth Jones has talked openly about it.

I mean, the last couple of games, one game he was talking about, you know, how much he misses Columbus and how much of a good time he had there. And then as we all saw a couple of nights ago, Seth Jones is saying how we haven't improved since game one. We're the same team, same mistakes, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So you wonder with an AAV of 9.5 for five more years, he said to himself, like, how is this going to end?

And this one person brought up an interesting idea to me. And I got a noodle around in my head here and try to look at the marketplace and make some phone calls to see if, you know, this would actually be a possibility. But this person said to me, look, he has a $5 million bonus that's due on July 1st. Okay?

He said, is this a possible solution for everybody? Because this needs to end for Chicago, need a change of scenery for Seth Jones. He said to me, what if both sides agree to mutually terminate the contract? And my first thought is, like, who's walking away from $36 million? But if you have a look at the actual contract, okay,

after that $5 million actual contract, okay, after that five million dollars is paid Okay, so he's got 36 million dollars that he would be owed over five years Okay, so the lion's share of the money is all paid up front so if they terminate then Do you think the question becomes do you think he can get? seven million dollars times five years in the marketplace because if he can Then that comes in at thirty five million dollars one million dollars short of what he's earning right now

And he gets to go in an environment where he's happy sure the Hawks have to pay the signing bonus on July 1st But they rid themselves of that contract. Is that a scenario? Because moving him is going to be difficult, specifically if Kyle Davidson believes he's going to get something of significance for a 9.5 million dollar cap hit. It's an interesting idea, the mutual termination with that much money left on it, but if you believe that that money is out there, the exact same dollar figure or similar enough to it that Seth Jones would be amenable,

are they headed for a mutual termination of the deal? That's an interesting point. I didn't think that that was even really a possibility, but fair enough. And I mean, also thinking about how you put it there, could he get seven by five? The only thing is I wonder if a team would want to see Something out of him first because I think we all believe which is kind of hard to do right But it's like we all believe that he can get back to it if he's happy if he's in the right spot

He's got the right people surrounding him right coat. Whatever. Yeah, I think it's out there. I do think he's going to be a good player. Again, like return back. But getting there is the issue. And Jeff, I honestly, I think of when you bring that up, you know, baseball as well. So like, I'll kind of bring it to that because I can think of an example in the NBA, but this is where I wonder if there's an opportunity for like a bigger picture conversation from the NHL here. You know how there's that like, buyout period in the MLB, right? Like the second trade deadline that comes.

And then in the game, a lot of players get traded to teams, they get bought out, and then there's a period or a window of time where players can get bought after the fact. They can get bought out and then picked up by other teams. I wonder if that's something that the NHL explores. I think somewhere looking around those where hey, the trade deadline happens, but then there's that extra period of players who maybe don't get traded. They could be dropped and picked up elsewhere. See, the interesting thing about, first, first of all, that'd be obviously

need to be negotiated in the CBA with the Association. But the one thing that the NHL has always been sensitive about, and this came around during COVID when they redid the CBA, they had a chance to do things like amnesty buyouts anytime the CBA is open, like they did amnesty buyouts, you know, oh four or five lockout, because everyone needed to get down to, $39 million was the ceiling. Oh my God, $39 million was your ceiling, and 21 was your floor.

But that was the world we lived in, folks. The NHL has always gone out of their way, like out the door, around the block, to make sure that there is no money outside the system. All the money needs to stay. Like, that is one of those, you know, the great Bill Daley, you know, the Hill will die on quotes come lockout time. That's one of the things.

And that comes right from ownership. No money outside the system. My argument has always been, we've been with the CBA now, going back to 2005, it's time to take the training wheels off of this salary cap and start to do new and different things with it. It's a conversation for another day, but it is an interesting one. Now a pair of big games on the horizon.

There is a stadium series on Saturday and there's a game tonight as well. It is the Columbus Blue Jackets facing off against the Tread Red Wings pleased to be joined by Jean-Luc Grandpierre, former NHL-er and now analyst with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He joins me on the sheet. Salut Jean-Luc. Salut Jeff, ça va bien? Oui, et toi? Ça va très bien, ça va très bien.

Je peux parler un peu, mais pas beaucoup, pas beaucoup, pas beaucoup. Anyway, no one wants to hear my bad French here on the program, but thanks for indulging me here. First of all, scale of one to ten, the excitement factor for this one. I mean, these games are more about the local market than TV. It's not no longer really a television event, but the local market always jazzed for it and pops for it. There's a big game tonight, then the big game on Saturday's stadium

series. Level of excitement for this one is what? Extremely, extremely high, Jeff, is what I would tell you. And simply because if you would have asked anyone, you know, when the season started, would these two teams be two points apart in an exciting race to get into the playoff? Most people, including myself, would have said probably not, but there we are. 64 points between those two games and those two teams. And then on top of it, this is trip on top of it and then all the moms and the dads will be waiting here in Columbus for the big party on Saturday night at the shoe store. You couldn't script this story any better. It is great. Just to be blunt, not to start this conversation on a downer, but there's a part of everybody in the NHL who this year are cheering for the Blue

Jackets, are cheering for the Calgary Flames. This is all of course about, about Johnny Gaudreau. But like, this is, this is year where we all said, man, we really hope that Columbus has a great year, do it for Johnny, do it for the Gaudreau family. But in the back of our minds, and you know, you played, NHL is hard, man. Like any, any shows are really hard league as a, as much as you'll want CBJ to do well, don't know that it's going to happen. I gotta say it.

I mean, you're right there. This is one of the more impressive stories in the NHL this season. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, you know, as well, you've covered the sport for long enough. Things can fall apart in a moment. Uh, how will say, you never send in Don Whaddle, the whole staff have been fantastic, uh, as far as the attitude, the way they've approached things might on the night to night basis, but.

If anything, just to be in a conversation and it is, you know, the month of March here in a couple of days is a big step forward for this organization. And I'm not thinking loser mentality or anything like that, but with all the obstacles that have been in the wheels of the blue jackets, whether we're talking about the situation with Patrick Lyon, they are with Johnny Goodrell and everything that happened in the off season, you know, you go back two years with the Babcock story. Right now to be in March and talking about a playoff chase is a big positive. Well, you know, I don't want to get great near, of course, I want to get in the playoffs and yes, I want to win the Stanley Cup, but just for this young core

of guys, the Johnson, the Fantilles, the Marchangoon, the field playing some pressure hockey at this time of year, it's going to be so valuable for rest of the group for, you know, moving forward. Uh, it really is too. Um, I mean, listen, and, uh, anyone that I've ever talked to has been on a struggling team has always said the same thing. Everyone's professional. Everyone needs to prepare. You're getting paid a lot of money.

It's the NHL, but I mean, it's gotta be so hard when, you know, Christmas time rolls around, the new year rolls around, and you're just playing empty calorie games because you're out of it. Like it's really hard and it can affect people. And that's why, here's one thing that I wonder about. There is the inspiration of the memory of Johnny Gaudreau, certainly, and that's front and center on Columbus Blue Jackets, Calgary Flames, Calgary flames, USA hockey, all tournaments.

And it's a beautiful thing watching Michael Rugione at the the four nations come out with the Goudreau jersey was beautiful. There was another, there was another moment this season that I felt, you could tell me whether I'm right about this one or wrong. There was a moment that I felt really galvanized this organization.

And that was when Patrick Lyon a lipped off about Columbus and lipped off about the players. And Rurensky came to the defense of Columbus and the players in the room right away. You played in the NHL. You know what it's like. If you give a hockey player an issue to rally around, if you give them something that challenges them. They got to the NHL living on this. This is red meat, this is a protein shake. I looked at it and I said,

as much as this may be painful to hear someone talk about your organization like that, I kind of thought that Patrick Lyna gave Columbus a gift because all of a sudden it's like boys, let's prove him wrong. Am I on base or off base on this one? You're completely on base. You couldn't be more right. And it's funny, I was talking to a bunch of the Montreal media on some radio and TV shows after this game and you know, they were talking about, you know, the whole Lyna thing after the game. And I said, first first of all if I was one of his teammate

I'd be upset with him thanks for giving some fuel to the point for the game right not after the game before the yeah for that but on top of it what what it really told me about this team is that they really are sticking up for each other and you look about you look at that game and there was no penalty staking against him, but some of the guys that were mostly involved in altercation with Patrick Laine were not on the team last season. So it just shows you how tight of a group this is. Because if you look back at that first period that he played, you know,

Dante Fabro, who was in Nashville last season, this year does not know Patrick Laine from, you know, Dante Favreau, who was in Nashville last season, early this year does not know Patrick Laine from, you know, anything. Right. And he was one of the guys that was going at him extremely hard. Every time it was on the ice. And it's not like Favreau's an enforcer. So to me, that shows not only the room cares about each other, but more importantly, it doesn't matter if I was there or not last year or when Patrick Lani was there, we're all one unit and we're going to show it. So for me, that was incredible moment. And obviously same thing for Dean Evison.

He wasn't there last season. But again, the fact that he went at those guys indirectly by saying, I'll leave it to your imagination. Who I'm talking about. That was not a good move. Um, let me ask you about one of the tougher players on this team. You mentioned, you know, like, listen, Dante Fabro is not an enforcer. And I would even make the argument that Matthew Olivier is not

your classic enforcer either. Here's a guy that plays a third line role. He starts games, he kills penalties. He's become a valuable member. He's potentially a free agent come July 1st, make the symbol with the fingers rubbing together in the money. I look at Olivier and I say like,

this is one of the ultimate luxury items that any team can have. In an NHL world where everybody can skate, everybody can shoot, everybody can play, we keep hearing managers say, well, what else can he do? What else can he give me? And not everybody can give what Matthew Olivier can. What does he mean to this team?

Uh, everything, uh, you know, whether you talk about what he brings on the ice, you know, you talk about killing penalties, you know, three minutes left, one goal lead. He's the first one over the board, right? Now Boon Jenner is back as well. So it's him and Boon. Sometimes you'll see Corale. But like it is literally like defensively is extremely good. He knows when to pick his spots, right? Offensively as far as like the physicality as well, when to throw a big hit. Very disciplined and he's a much better hockey player than you know

a lot of people thought and for him he's battled injuries over the last few offseason but this offseason this past offseason was able to be on the ice and really skate and he changes training regimen a little bit as well as far as you know less time in the gym a little bit more on the ice and as well as far as, you know, less time in the gym, a little bit more on the ice. And obviously you can see that it worked out whatever he did, worked out great for him. And as far as a voice in a room, he's taking a bigger role. There's no doubt about it. He's definitely one of the leaders on this team. He may not be the most raw guy but when he talks of the listen and you know the fan Tilly's the Johnson the cylinders the March and close all these guys you know even Zach warren ski they know. Hey I can do my thing and not have to worry about somebody coming at my head because 24 is going to be there answer the bell and to be honest you it's's been extremely quiet against Columbus, which is something that we remember Yara Moore addressed three or four seasons ago after that terrible year

under Brad Larson when he said, okay, enough of this, we're gonna bring good Branson, Olivier, but Olivier has been a great revelation for this group, no doubt. Quick point that I like your comments on, this from our Chad, Johnny Lazarus, who co-hosts the morning show here, Morning Cup of Hockey.

Johnny Lazarus submits this one, Karel Marchenko, most improved player of the year. Now, if there was an award for the most improved player of the year, I might be tempted to throw Mackenzie Blackwood in there, but Karel Marchenko's gotta be right up around the top. He has to. And for Marchenko, it's not just the offensive output.

Yes, it's there, there's no doubt about it. He's been great with Marchenko, with Fantilly, it doesn't matter. But for Marchenko, first of all, if you ever met him, the joy of this guy playing hockey is incredible and he does not fit Russian hockey. And that's the first thing he said.

That's what I love about North America is like, it's fun to play. We can smile, we can joke around, do our job. We couldn't do that in Russia. But his commitment is incredible. So he signed a three year deal this past summer under Don Waddell. And what was it? February 2nd, I believe we were in Dallas and took a puck to the face, uh, break his jaw at surgery.

That night in Dallas flew back and he was supposed to go on vacation, uh, in, uh, I don't know exactly where, but on the beach somewhere during the four nations tournament, decide to stay in Columbus and literally practice the whole time in Columbus and skating to get used to playing with that visor. I mean, if that doesn't show you the type of commitment this young guy has, it's incredible. And then you look at, and I know the plus minuses are not the same as when I played in early 2000s, but he's on the Columbus Blue Jacket in the second in the league behind

Ryan Maddela as far as plus minuses. So to me, that's suppose you one thing. He's extremely good offensively, but if you look at his defensive game, the way he battles for pucks, he reminds me of the way Panarin was when he was here. Not the biggest guy, but the way he can protect the puck and retrieve the puck so often, whether it's on the back check, on the fore check, makes him that much more valuable. Plus 33, 33, come on, Dianne Francais, 33, come on, Dianne Francais.

I'll take that any day, right? Yeah, that's some good numbers. Well, you know, listen, you mentioned, you know, the old time Columbus Blue Jackets, and you were at the organization for a number of years. You know the marketplace, you know the city, you know, before the team got there, whenever I heard Columbus, I would always think, oh, that's a, that's the test market town.

That's where they test all the new products. Oh, the new chips, the new cereal, the new, like that's, that's Columbus. Um, so you were there, uh, you're still there. Like you're, you're, you're, you're back. You're, you're now, uh, with your, with your, in your second career. How has Columbus as a hockey town changed since you were there, like you're back, you're now within your second career. How has Columbus as a hockey town changed since you were there with like Nash and Whitney and all those guys? Well, big time. How did it change? So first you thought obviously it's still a college town.

There's no doubt about it. Ohio State, I mean, talk about everywhere. Now the Columbus Blue Jackets are making more and more noise over the last few years, unfortunately, for the wrong reason, because, you know, Panarin and Bobrowski and Seth Jones and everybody decide to leave. But if you look at the enthusiasm for hockey this season, the fans don't need, and I don't want to say they don't need, of course they want to win the Stanley Cup. But all they want to see from this team is a team that battles, right? The team that battles, that is in the fight and is going to put on a good

show. That's what they got this season under Dean Evison. That's why I said yes, making the playoffs would be great, but it doesn't matter what people are going to show up simply because of the way this team has been playing this year. But if you look at the growth of the sport, just in general in the city, it is huge. Whether we talk about the learn to play hockey for the young kids, you look at high school hockey, I mean, when Doug McLean was here, I think there was like maybe six teams. Now, I mean, we have like three division now in hockey. So it seems like every little community has their own team and just youth

hockey in general, not just high school hockey. We're talking girl hockey, we're talking special, you know, a sled hockey, every type of hockey has grown around Columbus. And you know, that's a big honor to the McConnell family who've done a wonderful job as far as growing the game here so they're excited and there's no doubt about it and I think the culmination of all of this is gonna happen here Saturday. Do you know how many rinks there are just offhand I'm kind of putting you on the spot here like do we have an idea because I'm always into that like you're going from you know from the root to the fruit. And like the growth of hockey is going to be paralleled with, you know, the emergence of more, of more sheets.

Do you have an idea of how many, of how many sheets there are in the, in Columbus? How many rinks there are now? So I'm counting right now. So we have three in Dublin, three, six, eight, 10, 11, 12. three in Dublin, three, six, eight, 10, 11, 12. I would say probably right around 14 now. Okay. Like I'm talking if I'm in downtown with it,

call it like a 20 minute drive, right? Okay. And then obviously there's one at nationwide, like that's attached nationwide where a lot of minor hockey teams and you know, adult league teams play as well which is the practice ring for the Blue Jackets. So there's definitely been a growth.

Obviously it is expensive, but there's definitely room for growth because I'm not lying to you. Right now, if you look at adult league schedules and you know, I get invited once in a while to put the pads on, goaltender in those leagues once in a while, I mean, 1130 starts are not uncommon because there's so much demand for the ice.

So there's definitely been a big growth on that side of things as well. Let me ask you about a couple more things before I let you go. I am very curious about this Columbus Blue Jackets team and the turnaround and there's some new faces. You mentioned Don Waddell certainly comes in as manager and like, look, he's fearless.

You know, the one thing we know about Don Waddell is he's in on a lot of conversations and he's not afraid to pull a trigger. But I'm really curious about Dean Evison. Now, one of my favorite things about coaches is the death stare. It's always scarier when, not when the coach is yelling and screaming, because part of that

is like comedy, like I look at him like, oh, okay, like putting on a big act. But coaches that are quiet and have, you know what I'm talking about too, because I'm sure you've played for some, that have that stare, that's just like, horror movie, it's a horror movie. It's frightening.

And right now in the NHL, Dean Evison may have the best and most frightening stare of any coach in the league. Agree or disagree? Can you think of another coach who would stare as intensely as Dean Evison? And you know what I'm talking about too. Like you see, you've probably looked back on the. Woo, geez. There's that look again. You know, I'm talking about right I Know exactly what you're talking about

Becomes extremely red and you know my stature, but he's extremely scary and you know, Jeff I need to think of a coach or just think of my dad right growing up My dad was the the dad that you know the What's interesting is I cannot recall through the first 56 games of the season, Dean Everett pulling a timeout ever to rally the troops. Maybe late in the game, but you know when things don't go right in the game and it's like, okay, let's call a timeout and talk to the... He's got that look and that buys him those timeouts because if you look at Dean Everett this season, I don't believe he called a single timeout before late in the third period to address the team. So that just shows you the amount of respect and the amount, you know, like you said, that stare commands respect in that room. You can tell that the guys love playing for him, but also they know it's fun.

But when it's time to go to business, to do your business, you better be ready. And that's the type of guy he is. Let me close on this one. Can't have a conversation with the Columbus Blue Jackets without mentioning Zach Warrensky and what he's meant to the team. It is seldom that a defenseman will lead the team in scoring, but that's where we're at right now with Zach Warrensky and the Columbus Blue jackets, uh, the emergence of him, um, as an elite level defenseman, as a high level leader, uh, on this team, um, had a great four nations. Like this has been in a lot of ways, and he's in the conversation for the Norris. Um, in, in a lot of ways has been, I don't want to say coming out party

cause everyone's wondering about Zach Warren ski, but are we seeing like a different kind of Zach Warrensky? And essentially what I'm asking here is, is this the best you've ever seen him play? No doubt about it. Number one for Zach Warrensky, knock on wood, he's been healthy, right? We know they took a toll on him over the last few years.

So consistency has been a big thing for him. But, and then the other thing for me is really finding him a partner that would let him just be Zach. Right? That's what he had. Seth Jones was here and you know, they've been looking left, right. And then next thing you know, a waiver claim from Nashville comes along. And ever since that Zach Warren's caps that we took off when Dante Fabro joined the Columbus Blue Giants. So yeah, and it's been a perfect match for him. And you know, Zach has grown a lot as far as his leadership skills as well. I think with the, you know, the loss of Johnny took on a lot as far as rallying troops quietly

behind the scene. A lot of things that people don't know outside that he's been doing, whether it's supporting the Goudreaux or just making sure that the team is all on the same page. So I would call it the year of growth for Zach Wineski. And what we see on the ice is just the tip of the iceberg because I think his personal growth's been even larger on the backside, so he's a hell of a player and the Blue Jackets are very happy with the way he's been conducting himself this year,

there's no doubt. Let me close with one comment for you. This from Steven Ellis, who does a lot of the prospect reporting that we do at the Nation Network. In NHL 06, I traded for Jean-Luc Grandpierre and won the German League title. I'll never forget that. You played what? Three years in Germany? Four years in Germany? Played a couple of years there, no? Three of my favorite years over in Germany. Yeah, I got my first professional hat trick there. Hey! Wonderful. You forgot to run the power play with a little

different roles, but you're glad our fellow brought the championship because of me. I wish it was an NHL, but you're what we'll take it in the tournament. Hey man, NHL 06 baby, NHL 06. You be good. Enjoy the game tonight. Enjoy what's going to be a fantastic weekend. All right, Jeff. thanks for having me. We'll talk soon. John-Luc-Rom-Pierre analyst for the Columbus Blue Jackets. We got to have him on more often, man. He's just flat out entertaining as well.

That's great, traded for him. Stephen Ellis is by, first of all, no one watches more hockey than Ellis. Nobody like knows more about not just the hockey that we all watch, but like really obscure, really obscure games and teams and countries and divisions. No one kills it like Stephen Ellis. He's fantastic. That comment doesn't surprise you at all, does it, Philly? No, it doesn't. Nobody watches it. I saw that I was laughing.

That would make a lot of sense. Yeah. Like I don't think ever in my life, I've gone away from playing just like NHL, like the regular league. Of course it would be Stephen Ellis who's running a German league. Yeah.

Not a shock whatsoever. Yeah. Do we have a couple of moments before Max comes on or is he standing by? He's ready to go if you want to. Okay, let's get let's clean up the other stuff then later because I want to talk about the Detroit Red Wings with Max. Boltman who covers the Detroit Red Wings for the athletic he joins me now on the sheet. Max, a pleasure. Welcome you to the program here today. How are you? I'm doing great. I feel like I need to go start a franchise mode with Manheim now after hearing that last one. Dallas Aikens is your head coach if you're starting. He's your guy.

I don't know if Nigel Dawes is still there. Nigel after the career in the NHL, when I think he played with Mannheim for a couple of years and was their star. I always like Mannheim because they're not shy about spending and they always have a decent team. And there's always a couple when you go to your EPs or your hockey DBs, you can start to pick off the old NHL names and in manheim anyhow I digress just talking to Jean-Luc Grandpierre a little bit about the Columbus Blue Jackets and like look man so much about life is timing whether

it's like your personal life whether it's your professional life or whether it is a stadium series game n nuzzled up into wildcard spots as we have this conversation, the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Detroit Red Wings. For Columbus, there's an element of found money. For Detroit Red Wings, there's a sort of air of, well, it's about time. Your thoughts on where the wings are at right now? It's been pretty remarkable. I mean, I thought at the time they made the coaching change, I thought, yeah, I can give it a whirl, but it looked like the die were cast on their

season, right? And to see how far they've been able to get back into this race in really two months flat has been remarkable. I mean, I think they have the best record in the NHL since McClellan's first practice, which was the day after his first game on the 27th. It's been incredible and the new energy, new life in their season, and they've just looked like a different team. It's, I don't know how else to put it. You know, it really is interesting too. When you have a coaching change like that,

and he's no strangers, you know, the Detroit Red Wings was on Babcock's bench, et cetera. I don't know if there's been, you know, one of the things that I wondered about right away was like the Detroit Red Wings were the best at those skating picks, casual picks, however you want to describe it. You have Zetterberg, you have Datsuk in your lineup, like you can get away with that. Like they're the best maybe in the history of the game at doing that. Just like shading players, you know, shading players. They would refer to it as one minute penalties. Like it looks like a penalty, but is that really a two,

the wings were the masters of that. Jay Woodcroft told me they used to call it one minute, go out there and take a one minute penalty. Really force an official to make a call. And so the red wings were the best at just shading guys and coming close, it's not a two, maybe a one minute penalty, but we can't call a one. Is there any like symmetries that people have pointed out from, you know, the last time he was there

under Babcock as opposed to now as the head coach? I know it's a different roster, obviously. Yeah, there's just not that many people who were around for both. I guess I could ask some of the other beat writers, Alana James and Kevin Allen, who have been around and seen it all. They could probably answer that a little bit better than I could but I honestly I hear Babcock in his voice though, right? Some of the some of the accent What okay can I can I can we pause on that? What is it with people who used to work and I think of Jeff Blaschel like I would always close my eyes and I go like

Is that Jeff Blaschel talking or is that what is it about people who have worked on Babcock's bench sounding like Babcock in interviews? That's a great no, I think it it was one of the first few Availabilities, I heard him call someone a good player and I was like, wait a minute Yeah, good player is always the the touch off there so there's the coaching change but again like, you know Todd doesn't put on skates. These are the players that have to do this whenever there's coaching change there's you know there's opportunity. Who do you think and I want to eventually get this to Marco Casper by the way who do you think has really

grabbed on to this opportunity? He's certainly one of them I mean the two you'd have to point to above all others are Casper getting elevated onto that top line role. He had been playing center through the year. And doing, I thought, a pretty good job of it. At times, he was centering their second line. I know in the future, that's where the Red Wings see him. But in the meantime, he's breaking in next to Dylan Larkin, and he's brought a lot to that line.

I mean, he's a player who's defined, I think, by his speed and the way he can play in the hard areas of the ice is competitiveness. And that plays really well with two of Detroit's best forwards with with Larkin and with Raymond, it's translated on the score sheet. But I think you see it, the way his pace helps them the way he's able to go into the corners and extend possessions. That's been a huge element of that. The other guy's Albert

Johansson. And that's a defenseman who had been kind of bouncing in and out six seventh defenseman all year, a player I like, I think everyone who's ever had him on their team says good things about him. They say pretty much the same thing you start to notice them the more you have him like, oh, he's always doing the right things. He doesn't have loud tools. He's a good skater, but he's not big. He's not going to put up dynamic offense, he just kind of does

his job. And he got thrust into that second pair roll when Jeff Petrie went down, and he's been a little bit of a revelation for them And how well he's been able to handle a huge jump in workload So those are the two guys that I think you'd have to put above all the others in that category Have you had many one-on-one conversations with with Marco Casper? Oh Yeah, for sure like a really first of all like mature beyond his years I remember talking to him at the combine and Buffalo was draft year and he came into the room that we were doing the interviews and he walks in a suit and a bow tie. I'm like what era are you from? Like what

generation? And then he was talking about you know leaving home when he was you know 14 to go to school, living on his own and I'm like 14 years old like I'd be sobbing like every day missing my fan. He's like, oh yeah, no big thing, and has his hockey career on the side. He just strikes me as someone who's like, he's 30 years old, or he's like 35 years old, in the body of, what is he, a 21, 22 year old? He might only be 20, I'd have to go look at his age.

He was that 22 draft class, right? So he's probably gonna turn 21 sometime this year. I went and visited him in Roglant, Engelholm, after his draft year when he was still playing there. And I remember he had me meet him at a coffee shop. He was like, I think they had something in the morning and then he had school and then he's like, meet me at the coffee shop. And we went and sat and one of the things that I remember from that conversation is him telling me about how into chess he was at that time like him and I think a couple of his teammates were playing Virtual chess on the bus rides and you know do it was the last thing they would do for they go to bed was Making their chess moves and all that and this I think he was 18 at the time. Maybe 19 tops

I think he was 18. Yeah, and you know, I don't know how your chess game is Jeff Mine's not great and I never had any soft that yeah I would get crushed by Marco Casper at chess is the only thing I know. Let me ask you about Moritz Seider. And it seemed as if, I mean, early in his career, like really force fed minutes and big situations. And even like last year you would look at him

and you'd say like, there's no one in the NHL who gets fed more, you know, more difficult situations against elite level talent more so than more insider on a consistent basis, like the hardest matchups of any defense, but in the NHL. And you would think like, okay, there's going to be like a wear and tear to that. Like it's going to weigh on you physically. He's in season four with the Detroit Red Wings and he hasn't missed a game. Like to me, this is like one of the great talking points

that doesn't get enough constant. He's never missed a game. Never missed a game. It's incredible. Everyone in Detroit, by the way, is begging that you knock on wood after saying that because it's so important to them. But no, he's incredible.

And to your point about the workload, that was something I was really curious to see. You know, they were feeding him still into this season, the hardest minutes in the NHL, and he's still up there. But that's one of the ways that things have shifted a bit under McClellan is he's scaled it back just enough, right? Now he's no longer the, you know, far and away toughest matchups in the league. Now he's more like six, seventh, eighth. And I think it's freed him up a little bit. I

think you see really what that difference is. I remember checking at the end of last season. Okay Now he's more like sixth, seventh, eighth. And I think it's freed him up a little bit. I think you see really what that difference is. I remember checking at the end of last season. Okay, he's got the toughest minutes in the league. How does the other guys that have minutes that hard fair? And I think in the top 10, I think it was hard to find anybody that had an expected goal share above 50%. But then you got into that next round, you know, 10 through 15. And you're talking about a lot of the best defensemen in the league.

I think there's a real sweet spot to what you can ask of guys and expect them to really drive play. It's one thing to be able to eat the minutes and survive them. And he was doing that. But now you scale it back just enough. He's still taking brutally hard matchups, but he's not just surviving anymore. He's thriving in them. I want to get your thoughts on Dylan Larkin coming out of four nations. But before I get there, what we Larkin coming out of Four Nations, but before I get there, what we're seeing right now out of Detroit, listen, Detroit Red Wings fans, they've been false started before.

That's not exactly a secret. We've all seen it before. What we're looking at here, is this legit or is this fool's gold? Like, what is this? I think that's what we're all trying to figure out because it's been remarkable. You never know how long exactly to

classify something as that new coach bump. You see it every time almost team makes a change that the next 1012 games, they're going to go on a nice little run. How long does that last? And how long when when do you start talking about it as well? Because this is their new reality. 24 I believe games and now they are under McClellan and I think your past just calling it the bump. But there's still a question of what's sustainable they got the toughest schedule remaining in the NHL a lot of those games are on the road they're gonna have to win some tough games and I think

because of what you saw happen last year there is a little bit of gun shyness to declare okay now it's real right last year I think at this time of year I was saying it would take a monumental collapse from the miss and guess what happened, right? You lose Dylan Larkin for two weeks and it derails basically three weeks. I think it derails basically your whole season. So there's always that risk out there and they've had some injuries pop up now with Andrew Kapow for the year with Michael Rasmussen. He's only day to day but he's been out.

So there's still that hesitation and I think, you know, coming into the deadline, the curiosity now is will they get reinforcements? The blue line is a little thinned out after Lewis and Petrie as good as Johansson's been. And I think that there's a question of, do you add a center to try to replace cop or do you promote internally? There really is.

And you hear this every year when a team, I think we're wondering about this with a couple of different teams, most notably the Winnipeg Jets, maybe the Washington Capitals, not that Detroit's at that level, but there is an idea that the general manager owes the team a trade at deadline

as a reward for where they've gotten to, right? Not that you want to upset the chemistry, and I think this is a big consideration in Winnipeg and Washington where there's the, do we add versus wreck the chemistry here? Do we want to ruin what we have going? But is there in Detroit an idea that Steve Iserman owes this team something at deadline? You're right there. Give us something for the push.

I think there's a little bit of a split, especially if you talk about the fan base. There are some who says, yes, Hey, it's, it's time everyone's paid their dues. The players responded better than anyone could have hoped to the fan base, there are some who says, yes, hey, it's time. Everyone's paid their dues. The players responded better than anyone could have hoped to the coaching change, reward that and boost your odds. The other side of it is, you know, they've improved. And do you want to disrupt that they have a good thing going. If you bring someone in, someone else is getting pushed out. And I think one of the ways McClellan

helped them was by making everyone feel important. I think he upped their confidence. They were really reliant on that Sider-Edvinson pair. They were really reliant on Larkin to Brinkett-Raymond. As McClellands got in, they've become less so. They're still, I think, a fairly top-heavy team when you look at where their contributions come from, their offensive contributions. But everyone's playing a more significant role,

and I think they're getting more out of guys that way. I think it's a fair debate. And last year, you saw what they did. They stood Pat, and hey hey it didn't work out. So maybe they they learned from that or maybe they follow the same model because they still feel the same way this time as they did last year. I thought that Jacob Slaven was the best player in the Four Nations tournaments consistently. Game in and game out. But right there behind him was Dylan Larkin. Thoughts on because I always always thought that, you know what, Dylan Larkin is, if you're a Stanley Cup team, Dylan Larkin is your second line center.

But this season and coming out of the Four Nations specifically, I don't know that I think that anymore. Your thoughts on what we just saw from Dylan Larkin. Yeah, and that's been one of the cooler things coming out of the Four Nations, has been seeing the response people have had to Larkin, because you can't blame anyone for what they may have projected Larkin to be on a playoff team.

You never saw it. You only saw it his rookie year when he was 19 on Henrik Zetterberg's wing. How could you know what he would look like in a big game? But if you've watched him closely in Detroit, there have been hints, right? And that's the way he plays when games are close. You know, he had that goal in Toronto late in the season to win it last year that stuck in my mind is like, this is the kind of goal he's meant to score are these tight game goals when the team really needs him. He doesn't shy away or shrink in those moments. And I think that's what you saw at the four nations. It's not like he lit the

score sheet on fire, but he was so noticeable and he was not going to be denied. You know, even in that, uh, I think it was the game after the Canada game, the Sweden game, not a particularly consequential game for them, but he's got two grade eight chances in the first 10 minutes of that game. He's not going to roll over even if the game's not, you know, strictly necessary for them to make the final. It's been really cool to see. I think there's more moments like that in Dylan Larkin and hey, if the hockey world

comes around to seeing him as even more than a, you know, one C on a non-playoff team or a two C on a playoff team, I think that's a great outcome. You know, I'm going to make a point about the Calgary Flames coming up after I finish this conversation, but I want to sort of chum the waters of that discussion with a question about the Caesars arena. Like it's a rink that hasn't seen a playoff game yet. You know that the Illich family would like that streak to end. Thank you very much and get some, some playoff hockey here. How much of a, I always wonder about this and I know it's Steve Iseman and legendary figure and

causes shots and all of that, but I just wonder how much pressure there is from above, above, above to try to get this thing into the playoffs. It's hard to say because it's not an organization that likes to, you know, let those things get out into the public. But I think we can say deductively that yeah, they built this arena and they haven't had the moments yet that it was built for. If you've been there, I mean, it's acoustically incredible, right? It's a palace. Yeah. When you're there, you just can't help but wonder, man, when the playoffs are here, what is this going to be like? You hear it get loud, regular season

loud and you go, wow, that was pretty impressive. You know, the whole setup of it. I don't know if you've seen the outside, like they have that plaza. There's a giant screen. Yeah. And you just think, you know, hey, there's a giant screen and yeah and you just think you know hey there's gonna be people you know packed out here watching this on the tv and uh yeah absolutely i think it there has to be some pressure at this point six seven years seven or eight actually now man it's been a while since they moved into this building and haven't had it i i just think that's that's what you built it for you built it to host big games, and you just got to deliver the big games No, okay. Let me close on this because we've got Zachary in the chat Demanding I ask you what Emma deus lombardi who a has the coolest name in pro hockey and to

Is a dynamite prospect for the Detroit Red Wings Yeah, and he's come out hot he was injured and he's come back I think he's been really productive right since he got back into the lineup I believe he had another goal last night. And he's a guy who I'm very curious to see, does he get a late look this year? Is he a guy that you're talking about for next year? He took a big step, I think, this season of a guy

who came into the AHL and he had the, I think, kind of the traditional transition year from junior to the American hockey, like how much different the pace level is, what the physicality does to it. Sure. And this year I think he's shown that he's made those adjustments. So really encouraging trajectory from him.

And I'm very curious to see when we're talking about him as a Detroit Red Wing. It wouldn't stun me if it was, you know, at the end of this year, but I think more likely sometime next year. I would say next year, but late season call up. That would probably mean that one of two things that things are good for Detroit and they have a cushion or To your previous point this thing has gone into the ditch Yeah, exactly and that that's I think what we'll decide it is if the games matter They're gonna go with the guys they know they can they know what they're gonna get whether that's Dominic shine or Austin Watson or whatever

but if the games are less You know significant to their standings position, then hey, why not? He's played as well as anybody down there. You're the best. Max, thanks so much for stopping by today. Much appreciated. Thanks so much for having me, Jeff. The great Max Bultman from The Athletic, both the right and the podcast too. Thanks to Max for stopping by. Thanks to Jean-Luc Grandpierre for stopping by as well.

We have a few things here and we're going to get to them all, including maybe some comments from the chat who have been, I knew that, I knew the chat would get some, get some, get some pepper on it the minute you say to try Red Wings. Because the one thing I know about Red Wings fans, they'll go anywhere if you're talking about their team. Yeah, they're like they're like What's the best way to phrase it? They will travel. Oh There's this show over here talking about the red wings. We're going over there like maybe more so than any other fan base Red wings fans will travel if you are talking about their team. Bless them all. I noticed that putting out some clips and stuff or anytime we've had anybody come on

the show and say something about Detroit and we've got Red Wings fans in the chat in our replies tweeting at us. I'm like, wow, you guys really show up. They do. And that's why, again, I don't cheer for teams, cheer for stories, for people it's get the Red Wings back in the playoffs you know it's great when the Red Wings in the playoffs it's great when Phillies in the playoffs that's another one you just want to see back in the postseason anyhow got the Lombardi question in there for you Zach my favor to you my gift to you on this

Thursday February 27th okay what do we still have to go over here before we put the bow on the show so we didn't really talk about r, what do we still have to go over here before we put the bow on the show? So we didn't really talk about Rantanen and we've got to do the Calgary discussion. Which one do you want to do first? Let me just get a couple quick thoughts here on Miko Rantanen. I don't know that Carolina moves him, first of all. I think that, um, I think that that organization and that general manager specifically doesn't think like other people. Like, you know what? Okay. Let me go back to the beginning. Um, of the conversation that we had on today's show, what was it about?

Dumb and hockey dumb. And could these people function if there wasn't hockey? You know, who could function just fine if there wasn't hockey? You know who could function just fine if there wasn't hockey? Eric Tulsky. Eric Tulsky would be 100% fine. All the rest of us shaved apes, well you're not exactly a shaved ape, just an ape, all the rest of us shaved apes would have a really, really hard time functioning in normal society. Eric Tulsky would have zero problem. Like when you consider the different things that he's interested and involved in, to say nothing of all the patents that he holds. Like this is probably like of all the possible jobs,

here's something to think about. Of all the possible jobs that Eric Tulski is qualified for, NHL general manager is probably the lowest paying of all of them. Yeah. Yet he's chosen. He's chosen to be a general manager in the NHL. Think of all the other things that this guy could be doing and he's taken the lowest paying job that he has the potential to do. That's impressive. But the point that I wanted to make about that is Tulski doesn't think like everybody else. Tulski doesn't think like other general managers. Tulski will look at that and the first glimpse I think that a lot of us got was that interview in the expected by whom podcast in

In the summer where he talked about things like are we just filling a hole are we trying to make our team better? You know, I could just resign everybody we'd be over the salary cap I guess we signed everybody but are we making our team better like he thinks like that or he thinks along the lines of I See cap space as a thing which in one sense is very Zen you know the emptiness of a cup allows the cup to function the nothingness around the door allows a door to open and close and therefore it is a door like that's the way that he thinks that's the way that Eric Tulski is wired so Tulski would look at maybe Rantanen and say even if

we just have him for the year then he walks away I've still gained something I've gained cap space and I enjoy the challenge of saying I'm smart enough to find someone to fill that role I think that's the way Tulski thinks and that's the way Tulski works but if they were going to move him and don't forget like already like Chicago's eaten part of the contract you're half the deal would Dallas make a lot of sense? To me, the one thing, like with Jim Nell, he's out there with the harpoon. Like he's he's fishing big, right? He's out there big gaming. It would be a deal where you'd have to send a significant player back to Carolina.

The hockey trade. It would have to be the quote unquote hockey trade. Although really every trade's a hockey trade. Yeah, I know. Oh, it's a hockey trade. These things we say to ourselves, oh, it's an old fashioned hockey trade. It's a good goal.

Everything's a hockey trade. So we're talking about hockey. Picks prospects of hockey trade. Our language has ghosts in this sport, I swear. But like, someone like, again, I am just spitballing this. This is not a report, okay? This is just a theoretical conversation with you, me, Zach, the chat, and everyone's ears and eyeballs that somehow

are paying attention to this little act. Like a Jason Robertson, for example. Now, complicating that is, does Jason Robertson skate to the level that would fit Rod Brindamora's system? So would that even be someone that Caroline would be interested in? But just as far as fit goes, I mean, Rupe Hins playing with Miko Rantan. I know we all got excited thinking about Sebastian Ajo with Miko Rantan. Could we not say the same thing about

the Dallas Stars and Rupe Hins and the, was it three, four Finns they have on the Dallas Stars? they have on the Dallas stars. Could that potentially make some sense? Does Dallas need to have an extension? What does that do to something like an internal salary cap? What does that mean when Thomas Harley and Wyatt Johnston get their, get their new deals? Like, I think that, that, that Thomas Harley, he might just crush their salary cap. Yeah. He's gonna he's gonna have a great first of all he's had a great Four Nations. He's gonna have a great playoffs this year. No doubt. Watch. Take it to the bank. Harley's gonna be great. He's gonna go to the Olympics and probably crush it there. And they've bridged him, so he's getting paid big. Like he may just completely scotch their salary cap.

So you have someone like Rantanen on extension. What does that mean? Wyatt Johnston's going to need a big deal too. Yep. Would Dallas just take him on a rental? If you're the Carolina Hurricanes, would you say to yourself, Jason Robertson at seven, bring in a $5 million player as well, it's worth more to us than Amiko Rantanen.

We see value and we think of Thomas Dundon, Thomas Dundon's always interested in value, value, value. Jason Robertson at seven, it makes some sense. All I'm saying is in advance of trade deadline, just submitting that for you to peruse in between your ears. How about that one, Zach? Does that make some sense for you or is that like, Merrick, you're eating space cake, beat it.

No, that one makes sense. I mean, I've kind of tried to look around and see where he could possibly fit and we've had the conversation about, okay, yeah, there could be an extra retention on this one so he could go into somewhere else. But every time I've looked at or thought about what a ranton in trade could look like,

I look like it's the words that we've just said. And I know that you don't like it based on that, but a hockey trade, right? Because Carolina's not looking to be like, let's get picks and prospects back just for this trade here right now. No, they want to compete this year. That's the whole point of all of this and why they went just for this trade here right now. Like, no, they want to compete this year. That's the whole point of all of this

and why they went and made this trade and why they did this here right now. That one does seem to make a lot of sense to me. Jason Robertson has another year after this. Yes, one more year. Yeah, one more year. So, okay, you kick that can down the road. It helps Carolina a little bit.

Maybe it pushes Dallas because their window is Now it's not like it closes at the end of this year But the windows now like they got to go so that one does seem to make sense The the only thing that I wonder about there again I already mentioned like is if you're the carolina hurricanes is jason robertson the right guy for that team like So much more broad brenda more is pace pace pace pace pace and that's not That's not jason robertson's that's not that's not Jason Robertson's That's not Jason Robertson's game anyhow Okay, miracle right Jeff her Brooks. He says we're not looking for the best players

right ones Or like Bricky said I don't want to hear I want a hockey player It's great line Okay, what's the Calgary discussion? So I'm gonna go and listen to the morning Cup of Hockey podcast when this show is over. I'm going to take the boys to the gym with me here. What did I miss this morning about this Calgary discussion? That's got you all tickled under your chin.

Okay, so everybody's got to go watch Morning Cup of Hockey. My routine is get up, go to the gym, get on the bike, start watching it, finish my workout, watch it, and mess around in the chat the whole time. Today, there was a conversation, they're talking about on the show, buyers and sellers ahead of the deadline, and kind of going through each of the teams,

some of the most prominent teams, et cetera. And the Calgary Flames came up. Jeff, I'm gonna play you this clip. I wouldn't let you watch it ahead of time, because I wanted your real time reaction. I laughed out loud in the play you this clip. I wouldn't let you watch it ahead of time because I wanted your real-time reaction I laughed out loud in the gym when this happened I had vacation Vic send it to me and laughed out loud again when I was getting ready to put it in here I

I was dying at this clip. So okay. Take a look. Yeah, I think for Canadian team though That's about to get into a new building I think having a couple of home playoff games, having the revenue from that, having the excitement behind that. I gotta be realistic though. I do believe in it. Yeah, but listen again, the mentality is different in Canada. Just get in.

It's it's different. Like I think Calgary, well, that's why Canada hasn't won a fucking cup in 30 years. No. Hahahaha Hahahaha Good is the enemy of great Canada. Good is the enemy of great. Wow. Wow.

How quick, man like, you just like smoke the Americans the four nations like one, like seven days ago and already like Laz is like roasting Canada. But backseat on Canada for a while. Backseat on Canada. Although I will say this, I think that everything, again we just talked about to Max Bultman a

second ago about the Detroit Redwings like what is it now with the new rink and no playoffs? Seven years. Brand new, gorgeous rink. You've ever been there? It is beautiful. Downtown reinvigorated, some great restaurants, like all of it. It is awesome. And then middle of April? Feathers. Nothing. No games. You have Calgary Flames, the new rink. Now again, this may be complicated by Again, this may be complicated by

Trump tariffs Who knows but as of now, this is scheduled to open for the 2728 season Discuss amongst yourself things like tariffs and supply chains that's for smarter people like Ryan Pike to discuss smarter people than me Yeah, but I think that if you're the Calgary Flames, the plan should be, given where they're at right now, get this team ready for the opening of that building. Because the last thing you want is like seven years of no playoffs in a brand new building. Yeah. Get this team ready for that 27-28 season. I agree more with Laz on this one. Now he can piss off with the final Canada comment.

I don't need to hear that. But I agree with him. Seven days ago we smoked them. Seven days already forgotten at last. Jeez. But I agree with him. Here is one thing I thought about as well when they were having the conversation and then it was kind of prompted by you yesterday on the show about

these teams who figure out how to bring the star player in at the right time. Yeah, could Calgary be on the way to some of that? Like, it's not fully there. And it's not fully built itself in that spot. But let's say you time it for that rank. You can sell pieces here at this deadline and probably next deadline. We've all had the conversation about Audrey and Anderson. Yeah, I don't know if you maybe find a way maybe not this year next year after whatever for Hubert. Oh, if you've decided to Mackenzie Weger,

like there's pieces here who are on the older side of this thing. You know who you've just gone and acquired? You've got Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee and you're starting to get some prospects coming back up through. Could you find a way to kick this off and say, hey, we're out of here. We can't do it. We're just outside the playoffs as it is right now. Maybe this isn't for us. This season, we can get ourselves another good pick. Maybe you pick eight to 12. I don't know, like in that range where it feels like, Hey, you're closer to the top. You can find another good player, develop some of

those kids again, maybe bring some other guys back who are 23, 24, 25 with some of the picks that you're, or excuse me, players that you're sending out and work your way towards that. And then maybe you get that superstar. Maybe you get the guy who comes in and is the over the top player who's maybe just better than Morgan Frost and better than Araby and can push himself to that next tier. And then you can go hunt and free agency as well to insulate those players. The, uh, and we're getting close to it here. So maybe we're, I can't help but thinking so much of Calgary's decisions are going to be

dictated by how well Vancouver plays. So they win last night, right? Real nice goal by Connor Garland. Great play by Quinn Hughes Hughes to go down low take a defender with them and open up I couldn't use returns and he's looking good. I'm not a hundred percent He's still better than like everybody else Quinn Hughes And nice goal so they beat they beat the Kings of crypto comm very nice big game tonight against the Anaheim Ducks I Wonder how much of the decision-making of Conroy is going to be dictated by these next couple of Vancouver Canucks games.

And I do wonder too, if Calgary is going to be that team that's like the Philadelphia Flyers last year. Remember Philly was like, oh man, the Philadelphia Flyers are going to make the playoffs. This is incredible. Like what has John Toterello done to these guys? You know, someone hand these guys Dixie cups. I don't believe that they're not all going to piss hot. This is incredible.

And then it was like, you're gonna make trades? No, no, no, no, no, last minute, yes. Let's remember this is a rebuild and bam, Danny Breyer got to work on deals. Is Calgary gonna be that team? Or not to be too Switzerland about this, taking both Colby and Laz's positions. Maybe if you're this close, instead of of adding you just don't do anything it's just like

this is the team that got us you know this is some found money let's just see what happens we're competitive we're gonna have competitive games we're gonna still be in the mix it might be a little bit of a crawl here between us and Vancouver. But do we just like not do anything one way or another? Maybe this is just because I saw it and I saw it growing up so I experienced that a lot was how many times did the Leafs finish 9-10? Just missed the playoffs. Minnesota. They were right there. The Minnesota spot. The Minnesota Wild Spot. And there Minnesota the Minnesota spot the Minnesota wild always yeah

Yeah, and you're just going like this And you can't get anywhere you can't get it that much better your picks aren't that great the kids coming up through aren't Unbelievable and you're just like we're there. We're there. Oh we missed by a couple of points Sam Next year the great the great comedian Sam Kinnison used to always say, if you're going to miss heaven, don't miss it by two inches. If you're gonna miss, really, really miss. That's true of life and that's true of hockey. You know, listen, there's some teams that do that. Like you look at a junior team like the London Knights, like if they don't think they're gonna win the OASHA championship, they'll trade a deadline. They don't at a junior team like the London Knights, like if they don't think they're gonna win the OHL championship,

they'll trade a deadline, they don't care. It's throw, throw guys like, oh yeah, we're not good enough to win though. It's like, we're either gonna win the whole thing or we're just trading everybody. It's just one or the other. They are like the Sam Kinison team of the OHL. But that'll be curious,

like I think there's a couple of teams. And again, like I said a second ago, the Jets and the Washington Capitals. If there are two teams here that you look at and say, eh, you know what, they might win the Stanley Cup with a move or two here, but at the same time, you don't wanna disrupt anything on these teams because they're going so great,

it's probably those two teams. Like if you shovel day off, just leave it, and you're letting Nick Ehlers walk away, fine, whatever, but we got a best shot we've had in a while at winning a Stanley Cup, the Washington Capitals, Holy Smokes juggernaut they've become, you're Chris Patrick, what do you think? Why would you change anything? You know, all you want to do is like bubble wrap all your players, maybe add a depth defense, but that's it. Yeah exactly. Then that's it. Yeah. Okay, Games Games Tonight presented by our friends and partners at FanDuel.

Proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them. Roster updates as always from our daily face-off fantasy Twitter slash X feed. We've got 12 games tonight. Now I don't want to I don't want to sound too hyperbolic about all of this Zach, but is this Islanders Bruins game? Is this the Islanders season right here? If they lose to the Boston Bruins, it puts them under 500. Is this the Islanders season, February 27th, tonight? TD Garden. If they they lose is that it it feels like that to me especially coming off that game against the Rangers it again this is based on nothing other than vibes feels that way to me Islanders lose this one it's over you agree I agree I agree do you think though that they let me rephrase

that? Do you think that Lou walks away saying we lose tonight? It's over? I don't think so. No, feels like he's clinging on, right? It's not lose thing to retreat. It's just not. It's not lose thing to retreat. It's just not. It's not lose. No, it's not lose MO to retreat. The Lemerello question is another one for a different show, but that's never lose MO.

Yeah, having said that, you do wonder about Brock Nelson. Trent Frederick, by the way, week to week, there's still the expectation that he gets traded. I think it sounds like the Boston Broods are asking for two pieces. Player and pick. And how high that pick is, I think, depends on the player. But I think they're looking for, it sounds like they're looking for two pieces for Trent Frederick.

San Jose, the Sharkies, facing off against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Center. Josh Anderson, thankfully, is playing in this one. He returns. I mentioned CBJ in Detroit facing off against one another. Little Caesars Arena, Calgary Tampa at Amalie Arena. Dustin Wolf versus Andre Vasilevsky, the master. When you snatch the pebble, grasshopper, only then may you leave the temple. That is a dated Kung Fu reference.

A movie from the set. Snatch the pebble, grasshopper only then may you leave the temple that is a dated kung fu reference a movie from the set stashed the pebble grasshopper When you snatch the pebble then you may leave the temple bolts have won six in a row Zack Did you know that smarty pants they've won six games in a row? Yep, and they're good at tracking good again Edmonton Oilers not good these days playing Amorant Bank Arena against the Florida Panthers. Skinner starts, Stuart Skinner. Skinner Jeff is in, Savoy Matt is out. Darnell Nurse day-to-day, Klingberg John with Kulak as one pair.

Icon Bouchard shards thatcher Emerson Man that defense just all of a sudden looks so thin without Darnell nurse in there a When you were moving all of a sudden Geez I saw a tweet I can't remember who put it out being like here's Oilers rushes no nurse and I went yeah it's just lacking depth St. Louis and Washington Ovechkin 12 goals away guys on barnburn I had a great conversation about him I go back and Liz I think was on yesterday show this fantastic god for the it was on yesterday's show. The Mist. Fantastic. Godfrey Zerrett was on fire. He doesn't even play hockey! Ha ha ha!

I'm not doing it justice. I'm not even close to doing it justice. But go listen, go watch. It's fantastic. And the boy's talking about a fetch. So good. Buffalo Carolina, we talked about Miko Rantanen. Uka Pakalukanen starts for the Buffalo Sabres. Jason Zucker was a GTD with the LBI. In human terms, that means game time decision with the lower body injury.

Philly and Pitt at PBG Paints Arena. Sammy Ersten starts there. Michael Bunting appendix surgery. Tough one there. Winnipeg, Nashville. Jets just keep on rolling. Jets keep on rolling and as Luke Shen says, Nashville just can't find the back of the net. Every goalie has an, as we like to say, every goalie has an active chest when you're playing against the Nashville Predators. How come you guys couldn't score? Goalie had an active chest. Get Fina right at him. Roman Yossi day-to-day with the upper body injury. Not good. There Minnesota, Utah, Chicago and Vegas. If you're a reporter worth his or her

salt, no matter what happens tonight, who are you going to after the game in the Chicago dressing room, Zach? This is HockeyMedia101. Where is Seth Jones? Yes, right away after every game. Same questions as last time as well. Yeah. Just be a constant stream with the same question. Also Vancouver Anaheim. Vancouver beating the Kings in overtime. Yesterday Doe style starts I'll tell you what you know it's really nice and I should have mentioned this Robbie Fabry's on IR now with the I think it's an upper body injury for fat is it upper body I didn't see with Fabry I've always loved them always loved Robbie Fabry he's one of those guys that I've always pulled for and I've always said to myself if only this guy

Could keep the hospital bracelet off. He'd be so good because he's just like so skilled You know, it was really nice. You see the applause that he got in Detroit on the weekend. I loved it No, I loved it loved it loved it. They did this like really cool Documentary series with Robbie Fabry when he was with the Red Wings and coming back, rehabilitating, injury and all that. And I remember just watching that and saying like, if anyone's a great job by the Red Wings putting it together, if anybody's watching this, like it's turning everybody into a Robbie Fabry fan. Watching all the things that Robbie Fabry has done over his career to get in the lineup. He's just one of those guys that automatically when you see everything that he's put himself through to continue to play hockey, it's incredible

and the will this guy has. Like you watch videos like that, you see Doc's like that. It's like he becomes whether you're an Anaheim Doc's fan in this case or back when he played with the wings, like you become a fan of Robbie Fabry right away. And those are your games. You're, I'm, you gotta answer this question because I- What? You were getting berated in the chat over answering this and now I am on my messages. Someone was saying something about J-Rock.

Everyone's going like, answer J-Rock. Yeah, J-Rock asked a question and now everyone is sending it, so I'm just gonna read it because it's being, it's being copied and pasted. And people are saying, What is it? Answer the question. Do you want me to read it to you? I texted it to you as well, but I can read it because it's being said it's being copy and pasted and what is saying answer the question do you want me to read it to you I tell you yeah to you as well but I can read it okay J rock said you've been doing this

show for a couple of months now your previous shows were quite different what about this format do you enjoy and do you miss anything from those formats from the formats my how much time do we have here? So my background, like I broke in in 95. My background was radio. Like I grew up a radio fan. Like I listened to the radio. So my earliest memories, Zach, were Saturday nights I could watch all three periods of

the hockey game, Hockey Night in Canada. But midweek I could only watch one, maybe two, because I had school the next morning. But what my dad would always do is he would come into my room with a tiny little radio and put it under my pillow so I could listen to the third period. Now he would always be like, shh, don't tell mom, don't tell mom, right? I think she knew, but you know, it's a shitty story because like my mom passed away when I was 16 and I never had a chance to ask her if she knew. Like, oh one of those things I always wanted to ask. Did you know that dad was doing that? I'm sure she did. But anyway,

so I always grew up a radio guy and so when I first broke in like I loved I loved everything about radio. I love like production. Like Zach, like I'm gonna sound like the old guy here, but like we would spend, you know, the day before a show, you know, hours just editing tape. And it was like reel to reel and chalk and razor blades and tape.

Like it was old school. I remember when they first introduced carts, we were like, holy shit, man, this is incredible. And now I watch the way you edit things. And I'm like, you know the old joke of like showing a dog a card trick? I feel like the dog. I'm like, how did you do that?

Like what the hell is that? So like, that's what I broke in with, right? So my whole fascination growing up was always with radio. I always liked the idea of, it's just your brain and the microphone. That's why I loved live and still do. It's just your brain and the microphone, that's why I loved live, and still do. It's just your brain and your microphone and go.

And I love the discipline of doing something daily. Like when I got some, I remember when I first, when I first left CBC and took the job at Sportsnet, and it was like, I was almost by the TSN. I'll tell that story down the road too, the position they offered me and how I almost ended up there. But I remember it was like,

and it was mainly for television. It was a lot of junior hockey, a lot of regional games. And the one thing that I missed was, I didn't have something to do every single day. And I don't know about you, Zach, or anyone in the chat, like I crave the discipline of doing something every single day. And I don't know about you, Zach, or anyone in the chat, like I crave the discipline of doing something every single day.

So I needed that. And I needed to do something like five days a week. I always liked Dan Carlin's line. Dan Carlin to me is the greatest podcaster that ever lived. Hardcore history is a must listen to for everybody. Whether you're interested in the topic, just the way that he approaches conversation, not even conversation, just the way that he approaches putting a podcast together

and the way that he sounds and how engaging he is. But Dan Carlin used to do talk radio as well in San Diego and his great line was always, you know, I was a great radio host three days a week. The problem was I was on five. And that was, I was like that, it's a good one. And he would always bring up the point that one of the things about podcasts is like, you don't have to have that discipline of doing something every single day. Right, you can just do them when you feel,

or you can do them like once a week. Like Elliot and I would do two podcasts a week. But I always loved doing something every single day, whether it was Leap's Lunch with Bill Waters, whether it was Hockey Night in Canada Radio, whether it was Hockey Central. But I always had that craving to do something every single day. The nice thing about this position here now, other than there's no clock we have to adhere to, the show is almost 90 minutes right now and I haven't fucking shut up. Like I'm still blathering on, right? Like I'm still

blabla, Merrick, holy smokes, like you're gonna run out of words. Chad is so happy. Oh yeah, I'm sure yeah, Chad's thrilled with his wonderful story. Long-winded way, J-Rock, of saying the great thing about this position is is it allows me to have satisfied the discipline of doing something every single day and also not be married to a specific format. Now the same time I've always felt that frames are well not as important as the art they're still pretty important because it lets you know where where art stops and life begins.

And you're only gonna be as good as the sort of frame that you put around what you do. Like where are the guide rails for what you do? So like we have a sort of an idea of what we wanna do with our show. You know, color outside the lines every now and then. But the one thing that's really good about this place is, and I think I,

I think I mentioned this when I first started here, the nice thing about this is, um, at the nation network at daily face-off, we have a combination of people that have been in the industry for a long time, like me. Okay. It's Karrison price. Um, you know, Pinder and boomer, like people that have been in the industry for a long time, and they've been that have been here for a while. And there's also, um, a lot of younger people. And I remember what I was like when I was young and I would, I'll see them, I go like, yeah, you

know what, I was like you, like you wake up every single day as a young person in this industry and like, it's your whole life. Like it's everything. You wake up and it's like hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey all day long. You like burn that passion. And it's like young people like you, Zach, like you're barely old enough to piss straight, but you wake up and man, it's like hockey hockey hockey all day long. It's fantastic. And I remember being like that when I was younger. And I've worked at places where it's all people

from my generation or someone like me is like the young guy. I'm like, there's no way that a guy like me should be like the young guy at a shop. Like that to me, I would always say like, that's pretty unhealthy. You know, we need people that are in their twenties to keep it vibrant, to challenge your ideas, to make sure cement doesn't harden

around anything that you do. So that's why I like it here. Like I look at Laz and Colby like, fuck, those guys are gonna be stars, right? And their careers, like they're just scratching the surface of how great they're going to be. And we've got so many people here that are like that. And that's one of the reasons why I love being here.

The format's loose. Everybody here pretty much says, do what you wanna do, satisfy your audience and don't embarrass us. Essentially. I don't know what we could do here to embarrass our bosses. Considering some of the things that I've already heard on the air, fuck, we put Alberg on the air every day.

I had to get a shot at you there, Nick. Come on, you knew that one was coming. Anyway, so that's a long-winded way of saying that I really like the format of this because I get to scratch a lot of my itches. Does that make any sense, Zach? Did I do okay, Dad? Yeah, the chat really liked that as well. And Ulrich, I'm going to say this wrong, but Ulrich Suter,

Jeff, just keep on talking. So far you still make sense, brackets, most of the time. Most of the time, yeah. No, I know. Trust me, I'm getting older. It's going to be, you're going to be like, okay, Grandpa. What was the word we were talking about before? What was the word, Jeff, that we were talking about?

Never written down, I can't recall. That was like an hour and a half ago. Anachronism. Anachronism. Yeah. Anachronism. The word Vixem, yeah. Anachronism. You gotta put the accent on the right syllable. You gotta make sure you put the accent on the right syllable. Oh, J-Rock, great answer, thanks sir. J-Rock, do that one for you. Last five minutes of the show We're for an audience of one

Jayrock in the chat No, the entire chat loved that one and everybody very much wanted me to ask you that Okay, you guys was copy and pasting the question Vic was copy and pasting the question I think mr. Public pain was caught how bored hang on how bored is las right now? Here's why you see the poll in the chat right now Should the sheet chat be a safe space for las oh I did yeah, I've already Yeah, prison prison rules. Yeah, no way. Yeah a guy like him like Give me a break. It's like the old line. I said like crack of dawns got to be careful around him Young man, New York City

You're talking about he's got his date tonight, he's got a big date. I know I gotta get that we gotta get the it's too bad They're not on tomorrow. You get the the five. I know I said we should maybe get him on Maybe we get him on at the end of the show Burke finishes last comes in we get like a five-minute recap at the end of the show. Burke finishes, Laz comes in, we get like a five minute recap. And that's the end of the recap. That always goes over well. Yeah, women like when you do that.

Yeah, recap the day, yeah. That's a really, really smart move. On a very, very popular internet show. Just like, you gotta stop, like we gotta protect him from himself. No, Laz, you're not gonna talk about this on any show. This is your father speaking, Laz. You're not gonna about this on any show. This is your father speaking, Laz. You're not going to do this on any show, dummy.

Don't. Don't be like, don't drive this in the ditch yet. You have plenty of time to take this car off the road. Don't do it in front of everybody. Go have a nice night, be a gentleman, make good decisions, be respectful, and then shut up. As I was told early in my career. He says, I have a Kiss and Tell a Kiss and podcast.

Yeah, he does too. It's going to make for great shows, pal, but like you're going to be lonely. It's going to be Laz Party of One. Lazarus Party of One, your table is ready. Lazarus Party of One. Where is Lazarus?us, party of one. Where is Lazarus? It's party of one. Dufresne, where are the Dufresnes?

Alright, now we're just evolving into Mitch Hedberg bits. Alright, thanks Ed. We gotta do one thing before we go, Jeff. What do we gotta do? We gotta tell people, cause we gotta get it started now. Oh shit, right. Yeah, sorry, sorry. We have to do this one.

I've used up a lot of words. Why don't you do this one? Okay, why don't you land the plane? Okay, with the trade deadline coming up next Friday, as everybody knows right here on the daily face off channel 11 a.m. To 4 p.m. Eastern time for ish as Jeff said earlier, which you should be like subscribe turning on notifications You don't miss that. Hmm. We wanted to do some trade deadline themed content throughout the week and leading up to it. So we told you guys we now have this email which is pinned there at the top of the live chat, the sheet at thenationnetwork.com.

We want your trade proposals. We're gonna do who says no, or whatever you wanna put it as, but Jeff's gonna do a little special thing for you. Colton Davies did some really nice animation for this one, right? That's one of the guys. I think they've got some graphics and stuff for us.

So it was Colton who is inspired and talked to me about it. Colton's one of those guys that when I talk about wakes up and burns hockey every single day as a young guy, he's one of those guys that I think of. Yeah, so submit your trade proposals cut to the sheet at the nation network calm and then Jeff why don't you explain the second part of this and what we'll do through the next week so here's the thing here's the thing so I could share my thoughts on it Zack could share his thoughts on it it's about as exciting as a popcorn fart.

Why don't we do this? Why don't I ask a manager about it? Submit your trade proposals. I'll get feedback from, I should probably use a couple of different ones. I'll get feedback from a manager in the NHL. How about that? So you'll get it from someone who's actually like involved in things like Drake Deadline. Now the caveat will be that it wouldn't be from either the player either leaving or going to that person's team. How about that? Right. Yep. I'm all in on that. I think this is going to be a lot of fun. Essentially, it's a way for us to get someone else to do our work for us. Yeah, and not put ourselves in the hot seat when things go really, really rough.

Yeah, they won't be on freezing cold takes. Nope, not ours. No, anonymous GM or anonymous manager. Yeah, it says. Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's do that. Let's do it that way. Pyro the phone. Okay, anything else or do we squeeze in an hour's show

into an hour and a half? Yeah, pretty much. I used too many words, I swear, it's embarrassing. It's just too many, it's gotta stop. Gotta learn how to be economical again. TV channels, right? Really fast. Quick and punchy. Quick and punchy. Okay, one last question last. Randy, you are so true. One last question. Thought I was bad at that. All right.

Colby's in the chat there. He says, best poll question DFO has ever posted. Not a safe space for your buddy, Col posted. Not a safe space for your buddy Kolbs, not a safe space for your buddy. All right, I'm off to listen to their show and I hit the treadmill in my garage here. Okay, thanks everyone for stopping by Jean-Luc Grandpierre, analyst for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Thanks to Max Boltman who covers it at Trey Redwings for the athletic and always love hearing him in my ears when he hosts the podcast the athletic hockey show And thanks to you for the you're in the chat or you're listening on your favorite podcast platform. You're watching on YouTube

Where every you're consuming this show? Twitter Facebook Instagram wherever thanks for your attention. I know I've been blathering on a lot lately I'll try to be more economical and respectful of your time But in the meantime, thanks for hanging in there and sticking with me tomorrow was Brian Brooke day So let's get ready to grumble if you have any questions for Berkey the email The show is the sheet at the nation network calm. We do have a couple of backed up Well, we're just like two verbose today We'll get some more emails in tomorrow if But if you have anything specific for Bricky,

thesheet at thenationnetwork.com. Got it? Okay, adjourn. Enjoy the game tonight. We'll talk tomorrow. This week every day this month I can't get out my head lost all ambitions day to day Guess I can call it a ride I went to the dark man He tried to give me a little medicine I'm like nah man that's fine I'm out against those methods but no It's, myself and how this gon' be fixing my mind

I do wanna break it I turned on the music I do wanna break it I turned on the music It's turned up, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down Hey hockey fans, Tyler Remczuk here and you're going to want to mark your calendars because you do not want to miss the most exciting day of the NHL season. The daily faceoff trade deadline special is coming your way once again on March 7th from 11am to 4pm Eastern. We're going to be live and breaking down every single move as it happens in real time. I'll be joined by the Daily Face Off crew bringing you instant reaction, expert analysis and all the behind the scenes drama for the

biggest news and trades from around the league. And here's the best part, we've got special guests lined up throughout the show to give you exclusive insights from some of the biggest names in the game. From the blockbuster deals to the surprise moves, we'll be covering it all. So what are you waiting for? Subscribe to the Daily Faceoff YouTube, follow us on socials and on March 7th, join us as we break down the biggest deadline day in hockey. You won't want to miss it.