The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Gallagher to Vancouver, Free Agency Approaching, and Draft Recap ft. Shayna Goldman & Cam Robinson

Episode Date: June 29, 2026

The 2026 NHL Draft may be over, but the NHL offseason is just getting started. On today's episode of The Sheet, Jeff Marek is joined by Shayna Goldman and Cam Robinson to break down everything that unfolded over draft weekend, including the biggest winners and losers, surprise selections, steals, and what each team's draft class could mean for the future. The conversation then shifts to the NHL's rapidly approaching free agency period, with a look at the top names still available, the teams expected to be the most aggressive, and the biggest storylines to watch heading into July 1. Jeff, Shayna, and Cam also recap the flurry of trades from around the league, including the Vancouver Canucks sending Nils Höglander to the Nashville Predators before acquiring Brendan Gallagher from the Montreal Canadiens in a separate deal, discussing what those moves mean for Vancouver and how they could reshape the Western Conference. They also examine which players could still be on the move as the offseason trade market continues to evolve and what other blockbuster deals may be on the horizon. If you're looking for a complete recap of the NHL Draft and everything you need to know before free agency opens, this episode has you covered.👍 Don't forget to like, subscribe, and turn on notifications so you never miss an episode of The Sheet.#NHL #NHLDraft #NHLFreeAgency #NHLTrades #JeffMarek #TheSheet #DailyFaceoff #HockeySHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Canadian Blood Services: https://www.blood.ca/Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!#NHL #TheSheet #JeffMarek #DavidPagnotta #TorontoMapleLeafs #LeafsForever #JosephWoll #SamuelErsson #EmilAndrae #PhiladelphiaFlyers #VegasGoldenKnights #JohnTortorella #CHL #DanMacKenzie #MemorialCup #HockeyReach 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.

The year was 1998. Yes, I'm going to open up today with a story from 1998. And somehow, Zach, references... Good year. In association with... Was 98 a good year, Zach? Can I tell us when 1998 was a good year just to make your old boy, Jeffrey feel that much older, Zach? I'm going to reference to Brandon Gallagher trade here in a couple of seconds.

But why was 1998 a good year, Zach, Roo? That is the year that your producer came into this world. So it's a good year. Good year. All right. Congratulations. Thank you. Mr.

Mrs. Phillips, you had nothing to do with it. No, and showed up. You had really nothing, nothing to do with it. No,

here's why 1998 is ending. By the way, welcome to the sheet for this, Monday, June 29th, free agency on the horizon. That is July 1st. We're going to get there

in a couple of moments. And we're going to get to the blueprint for the show here. But I want to, under the sort of banner, and maybe you can jump on this one, too, listener or gentle viewer or gentle chatter.

I want to talk about future considerations, which is in some cases a pretty empty calorie term, which can mean nothing. Or in some cases, it can mean interesting stuff. Like there was one, God, this is a number of years ago, there was one NHL team who made a deal for future considerations. And the future consideration was that that team played an extra exhibition game in the other team's home barn. Really?

That is one. But here's my favorite. Here's my favorite future. It's not really a future considerations, but when it was submitted to the then international hockey league, the IHL, it must have been under the umbrella of future considerations. And this involves Dale DeGray. And the two teams are Cleveland and Indianapolis.

Now, Dale DeGray, former NHL, a longtime manager of the Owen Sound Attack, now the general manager of the Niagara Ice Dogs. When he was traded from, I better get this right, from Cleveland to Indianapolis, going back the other way for the player was hotel bills. Cleveland gave Indianapolis Dale de Grey in exchange for Indianapolis paying for all of Cleveland's hotel bills when they traveled to Indianapolis. So you've heard the stories about, oh, he got traded for a bag of pucks or he got traded for a bag of pucks or he got. got traded for a broken down Zamboni? No.

Dale DeGreye got traded for hotel bills. Cleveland. Okay. And it was a different time. You were just being born. It was a different time. This is crazy things happened when you came into the world. Right? Like I was born in 69. That was the Manson murders. You had the

Dale de Grey trade. Yes, the Dale de Grey trade. That is, that's the one that we used to denote my birth year, the Dale's a grade trade. Philly was bored and Dale DeGray was rated the IHL. It's also a fancier way of just saying like cash considerations. It's effectively cash considerations in baseball. Cash considerations, but it was hotel bills.

Indianapolis is going to pay for all the hotel. I wonder if Cleveland did that with other teams. In order to keep the expenses down, the IHL was run out of budget, you understand. All right. It's like in Moneyball when they say, he says he wants the soda. He wants the soda paid for. Doesn't want his guys paying for soda in the locker anymore. Correct.

Correct. All right. Here's this coming up on the program today. I thought you'd like that one. 98, good year. The blueprint is powered by Fandle. Download the app today and play your game on Fandle. We are moments away.

Is she standing by from hearing from Shana Goldman of the Too Many Men podcast, and you can read her in the athletic as well, the recap of the weekend. Whether it's the trades at the draft, the trades before the draft, the trades during the draft, the trades after the draft and the draft itself. We'll talk about all of that with Shana and also Cam Robinson. from elite prospects who stops by a little bit later on.

We'll talk free agency. Did I mention we'll be talking trades, trades, trades, because those continue. We mentioned Brendan Gallagher, now a member of the Vancouver Canucks, both a move on the ice and a culture move for that team. And draft recap with Cam Robinson coming up here in a couple of moments. In the meantime, a voice that we love to hear so often here on this program and elsewhere as well, most notably what chaos? I believe like a cozy five minutes ago.

She is Shannon Goldman, and she joins the program. Now, hello, media superstar, media darling. I know we're interrupting your love of Japan right now. So we appreciate you taking time away from the land of the rising sun to talk about hockey traits and talk about the hockey weekend. And so I made a list here. I actually did show prep for the first time that you've been on. So here we go. You ready for my list?

We're not going to follow it. You do know that, right? I know. Of course not. But here's what I'm going to ask you to do. I'm going to ask you to cherry pick and which ones are most intriguing to you. I believe I have these in order. Nobody audit this because part of it was sort of done off the top of my head.

Okay, so starting with the Brady Kichuk trade, okay, to Florida. We'll call that Trade 1. We'll call that trade A, right? And it feels like it happened a million years ago. Remember a million years ago when Carolina won the Stanley Cup and Brady Kachuk got traded? Oh, those carefree halcyon days of summer of deep azure sky of blue. And then Simon Nemich goes to the Calgary Flames. we have William Eklund going to Ottawa, Jordan Kairu going to Washington.

Bo Byram to Chicago, Jack Drury to Nashville, Alex tuck to Washington, Hathaway to Florida, Valerian Nitchh, to Columbus, Sam Erson, to Ottawa, Olwen Zellberger to Buffalo, Andre Burekowski to Ottawa, Pevoldorafiev to the Rangers, shocker on the draft. J.J. Pertrka to the Boston Bruins, Mason McTavish, to the St. Louis, Sebastian Kosa, to Utah, Brandon Carlo, to St. Louis, John Carlson's rights, traded to the Carolina Hurricanes, and Brenda Gallagher is now a member

of the Vancouver Canucks. We should mention as well that Chris McFarland has realized there are teams other than the Colorado Avalanche because Nils Holglender is now a member

of the Nashville Predators. Which of those spices, your chili? Okay. Let's go Caps. Let's go Caps for a sec. All right? I think that

Cairo is a great addition for them. I like that they're going for it because with Ovechkin in the fold, let's say for next season, They need to have more support behind him, so he's not as important of a player in the long run. They need to find a way to replace his goals by committee. I like the idea of Kyru for that. I like the idea of Tuck for that.

I think that that team needs more help off the rush. That's two of the stronger players in the league outside of obviously like the upper, upper, upper tier that, you know, of generating scoring chances in transition, like both of those ideas for both of them. But I think when you look at the idea of Tuck versus Say, say, Adorafia, it got even more interesting for me in that, You could save the trade assets. You can give tuck the eight years and give them 10-5 and save a little bit. You're not moving on any other picks, prospects, anything like that. So you can afford to make both moves.

But now you're dealing with that high-end contract that could be really risky in those later years. And that's someone that I think those last couple years are going to be a little more challenging for them to navigate. But then the flip side of it is you could spend a premium on someone like Dorofiev, who is younger. and like a better goal score if he's in the right situation, but you're at the risk of, you know, losing draft picks, but then the draft picks are just piles of uncertainty, especially for teams like the Rangers that don't have the best developmental system. So I think the two ideas going back and forth

over the last couple days are really interesting here because it's like what's the better path to building a team? And I think you can make the argument of, you know, one for certain situations, one for the other. But like if you had to go in a vacuum, I like the Dorofi have path better than the tuck path in that situation. like pay a little bit more for the younger guy, but I think it's going to be interesting to see how those two situations work out

because the caps did get two players. They did. And the Cairo one we had talked about going back to trade deadline. Actually, the Cairo one we had talked about going back to last season. And that is, you know, the Washington Capitals didn't pay the extra year. The Carolina Hurricanes did. And they got Nicolai Eilers. And I don't think that that stopped the general manager of the Washington Capitals

from looking at this and saying, Hold on a second here. You know, just because we missed out on Eilers doesn't mean, you know, doesn't mean that we're not going to be looking for more speed in this lineup. Like this is a team that's the premium hasn't been on foot speed. And so Jordan Kairu became option B. And I think that they had discussions with St. Louis. I don't know about all season,

but Chris Patrick's certainly around trade deadline, I would imagine. But then that package where I'm pretty sure Washington at that point didn't want to let go of Connor McMichael trying to race for the playoffs, etc. and the first round draft pick and Gastrine as well, the prospect, goes to the St. Louis Blues here. Like that one made a whole ton of sense. The shocker to me was talk, which leads me to believe one thing.

A lot of people look at it and say, okay, they're loading up on players on the wing here. They've got talk. They've got Kairu. That probably means that Ovechkin's not coming back. I look at it the other way, that this is a demonstration to Alexander Ovechkin, and they still have $12 million with a cap space here to deal with,

that this is a team that is trying to, to improve for right now for next season. And what would, if he comes back, we expect an announcement at some point, I guess in July, that this team is getting better and is ready to bring it back to the mix and make a run of the playoffs. Agree, disagree. Yeah. Yeah, I agree with you.

Because I think, too, it's like it's going to be a transition year when you bring in all of these different players. So here's your transition year with one of the greatest goal scores in the world of all time. Yes, he's not that at this point in his career. Like, we've seen that tick down a little bit. But now he has way more support. He doesn't have to be as much of a focal point. point, and I think that's a good thing. It's a good problem to have too many wingers. And I think

of all the teams to handle it, I think Spencer Carberry is such a fantastic coach. He's done such a good job maximizing players within this lineup and figuring ways to make everyone tick and be just a deep lineup, right? Like you go back, not this past season because things didn't work out, but go back a year earlier and you saw three lines that they could lean on. So I think that's really interesting. I think it gives a little bit more support for someone like Protis who they want to develop into that guy. And I'm very high on. Which one? Which Protois. Which brothers pro-tide? Let's start. But, you know, both of them. I think that they're both just really interesting players. I like it because, again, you're going to have it that everybody

plays together for, say, a year. You know, you don't imagine Ovechon going too much longer after this, but then it kind of, you know, once Tuck and Kyrie were comfortable in the system, I think the team will get a better idea of like what they still need at this point, right? And they've done some really great work via trade in the last couple of years. And even down to like the Pure Luke Dubois, trade. Like no one thought that one would have worked out, but it made sense. They needed help down the middle and they've done a good job maximizing him. Last year showed just how important he was because when he was hurt, that was a huge miss for them. So I like it. I think that it was a really interesting offseason. And, you know, they don't go for that. You need this MVP caliber guy. Like they don't really have anything like that on their roster besides you could say Logan Thompson. I don't think he'll ever get that kind of hype compared to the other top goalies in the league. But it's a deep approach. And they're just going to keep adding to that and keep adding more waves of. of two-way support. You know, we spent and used up a lot of oxygen last week talking about Jason Robertson, and here we go again.

I thought this was going to be done by the draft. I think the Dallas Stars were hoping this was going to be done by the draft, but here it is Monday, June 29th, just after 1 o'clock Eastern, and checks email, checks, texts, no announcement about Jason Robertson. This tale made is 12 and 14. Team wants 12, he wants 14. We know the offers he's turned down Seattle, St. Louis, and there was at least one other team in the NHL that offered a similar package to Dallas here for Jason Robertson.

This has not happened. How do you think this ends? Like for you, is he closer to 12 or is he closer to 14? He's closer to 14. Listen, we looked at the cap going up a ton over the last couple seasons and the tier of players that's in that $12 million realm. I get Mitch Martin is there. I get Miko Ranton's there. But I think when you have players like Kyle Connor jumping up to that,

it's, you know, a rising tide lifts all boats or whatever the saying is. And for Robertson, if even if he's saying, okay, he wants equal money to Rantanin, a year ago would have been like, okay, show that you're the guy in the playoffs. Well, he did. Show that you're the guy in the regular season. Well, he did. He was their best five on five players, one of their most reliable scores. So I wouldn't be hesitant to give him that kind of money at this point.

And then if you look at how the cap's going up, you know, 113.5 million next year, what's the equivalent of 12 million? It's 13. So I don't think asking for 13, 13, 15 is unreasonable at this point. He projects to be worth it over the life of his next contract. So I feel like 13.5 is probably like that. 13.135 is probably the middle ground. And if I'm Dallas, I would not be hesitating so much because it's like, who are you going to replace him with? You know, yes, you have a deep approach. That is one of your best weapons. You have these two really, really, really good lines. Okay. So if it's not Robertson, then who? and they're probably not going to go player for player in a trade at this point,

it feels like it would be here's a bunch of trade capital that you can use to try to improve in a different way. Good luck with that. I just don't think you're finding a Robertson comparable at this point. You know, we've seen so many players move already. So who's going to be less at that top end of the market? That's why I see this as either a, if they're going to let him go, it's going to be either a three-way trade or they make the deal and then the assets they get for him

turn into something else, i.e. who's that guy in Detroit who wore the sea who peaked off about the GM last year and then asked for a... So I'm torn on this one, though. I'm going to say I'm really torn about the idea of Larkin there because... All right. So right now, you have two really great centers. You go Y, Johnson, you can go Rupa Hinson and be very happy about it. And the cost of a center is generally higher than the cost of a winger for good reason.

They're more valuable players. Now, if Larkin says I want Dallas or bust, okay, then it really doesn't matter at the end of the day. But Eisenman and the Red Winks could just say no. and that would also be fair because he can't do that this year. They can't do that this year. Normally, the Tampa, or let me just pause you on this one. People keep bringing up the Tampa situation with Jonathan Drouin. Totally different.

Tampa was an excellent team at that point. They could afford to let Drouin rot. They could afford to do that. And they turned them into Circuit Chef. Great deal by the Tampa Bill Lightning and Steve Iserman there. This one's different. Look at the arms race in the Atlantic. Like, oh, don't look now.

The Florida Panthers are back. and everybody else is trying to improve here. The Maple Leafs are a better team. The Buffalo Sabres are the Buffalo Sabres. Tampa's going nowhere. Montreal is going nowhere. If you're the Detroit Red Wings White in it right now, you don't have the luxury of saying,

you know what? We don't get what we want. We're going to bring you back. And you want that sourness and a sea taken off the sweater and all of that comes along with it on your team next year while you're trying to make the playoffs? No. I don't know, I don't know, Shana.

As much as I has been once, And he did that presser with with Draper. And it's like if the deal is not right, we're under no obligation to that's 100% true. But at what point do people start saying and they already have this is not working. What Steve is doing here is not working. And if it was anyone other than Steve Eisenman, they would have cut bait on him already. Oh. That's where I'll push back on like they, if they don't get what they want, they can they can just, you know, bring him back.

Well, bringing him back is a disaster waiting to happen. I didn't mean bring him back. I meant stretched it out over the summer. Oh, for sure. You play ball that way. That's what I think they should be doing, that if he says, oh, it's Dallas or bust, and, you know, Dallas doesn't have a great return,

I think you could stretch it out and just be like, we're in no rush, and you can play the game for the next couple months. I think there's enough teams interested in him that it'll all work out in the end. There's another contender that wins that Larkin could want to go for. But for Dallas specifically, like, I like the idea of Larkin on paper,

but I just, and then you could just send White Johnson back to the wing. We know he's great there. But I don't think I'm paying for the cost. of a center unless it's that reasonable of a deal, right? If you don't need that, I would be focusing on then a Robertson replacement. That's going to be more difficult to do, but that's just like my feeling on it. What about Zach Werenski of all of it? Well, that's the most fascinating part of all of it because say you can swing a Zach Wrenski deal. What would it be for? I don't know, probably Thomas Harley, maybe Harley and Bork, right? And that helps the blue jackets because you have to

imagine moving out Wrenski is going to change their timeline. And you can take a step back without jumping back to the beginning of a rebuild if you get someone like Harley because he has the long term security. He's a little bit younger. And he's also shown he could play that number one role. Obviously doing it in Columbus is going to be different than the structure of Dallas's system when he stepped up for Hayskin and in the past. But I still love that idea. Now, then you get a little bit of cap savings because it's what, 104 for Harley and it's 9.5 for Wrenski-ish. So now you have a little extra money and say Bork is in the package too, even more money, that you can now hand Jason Robertson a contract, even if you're not going seven, eight years, even if you're only going

say five, I feel like it still makes a ton of sense because you just, you know, amped up your window without losing one of your best players. You actually just got better in the process, more ready for right now. Yes, there's long time uncertainty, but when are, when's the star's window going to be any better, right? You have Johnson, you have Hayskin and you have Ransom, you have Pottinger. This is your moment. You need to go all in. We've seen the Panthers do it and figure out ways to keep it alive. We've seen Vegas do it. I think Dallas has to kind of adapt that more aggressive strategy at this point. Hang on you just buzzed out. You just buzzed out on us. Make, finish your last point. You just buzzed out on us. Oh, it's not that Dallas hasn't been all into this point. It's just like they could take that up a notch though. It's a fascinating time right now in Dallas. Like the frustration is sky high with with Robertson. I think that they've used Ranton as the bar and they've come as close as

they're comfortable doing so. And now it's almost as if like both sides have continued to dig in their heels. I know that there are players who have called Jason Robertson to say like, buddy, what are you doing? Like 12 in Dallas. Like you brought up Calaconna. That's, you know, that, that, that's a number in Manitoba. Like this is Dallas.

Like this is, you make 12 in Dallas. That's how much in Illinois or how much in Michigan. And secondly, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, a winning team. And I'll tell you what, you know what? And I don't know if it's just him being oblivious or trolling, but the pictures of him golfing on his social media or going to the World Cup while all of this is going on and the Dallas Stars are fuming and there's, you know, new fires being lit every single day. All I'm just saying is as far as like trying to keep the temperature down around this one and trying to keep emotions out of it, that's not helping. No, but I don't know. I don't mind it.

at this point because he's going to find a landing spot. He's going to get paid somewhere, right? Like, Dallas can't let this situation drag out. He's been offered, he's been offered $120 million from Seattle. Oh, by the way, what do you make of the Seattle situation? Timmy Panarin chooses the Los Angeles Kings and now, like the thing about Robertson that I've said about sale, it didn't, doesn't matter who it is, right? It does not matter who it is.

It's Seattle, if it's St. Louis or however many other, he's saying no. to like everything except for like he wants to be in Dallas and so I don't know that I look at this and say well this is a pattern in teams and players don't want to go there but what's your what's your thoughts on it I think you have to build an environment players want to be a part of and I know the tax situation and Washington's more favorable you know aside from the incoming millionaires tax but you know there there's a reason as much as it's the taxes that people want to go to teams like Florida and Tampa Bay it's also the team that they've built and it's also the team that they've built It's the way those general managers have operated.

Yes, some of them are ruthless. But if you go there, you know you're going on a team that's going all into win. So if you've been on Dallas for all of this time, you want to win. If you're our time of Panarin and you were on a Rangers team that took numerous steps back when they should have been a contender through this window, you want to go somewhere that you can win. Your career is only so long. You're only in the prime for so long. So I don't have a problem with players wanting certain situations and turning down teams like

Seattle. I think Seattle has to earn it. And it's tough because, you know, how can you earn it if you can't get talent, attract talent, right? And it feels like they've just keep collecting these like middle six guys and those are valuable to have. But at the end of the day, you need someone to take a step forward. I think it puts more pressure on someone like Maddie Baneers to kind of level up to that superstar caliber. I think he has in them because once you see that happen and, you know, everyone starts playing better and it all starts coming together in Seattle, then it'll make sense. but I just don't think there's like enough on ice stability to bring in those top tier players.

And Robertson very clearly wants to go to contender. And like, I can't blame them. Why would you take a step back? You've been so close all this time. And you know that you're a true contributor to a playoff caliber team. Like, it's not like we're looking at someone going, oh, but he chokes in the playoffs or anything. Like, that's not true. Right.

So it makes sense for all the reasons that he'd want to go to an actual contender. The Toronto of it all, as you like to say, Shane. You know, what do you think of the Leafs moves? I mean, listen, Gavin McKenna falls into the laps. Like, they didn't pick Gavin McKenna. They won the lottery, and he was the top prospect, and that's the way that they were going with it. But whether it's, you know, Darren Radish and moving out goaltenders

and Emil Andre comes in and Erson goes to Ottawa and the impending, you know, Morgan Riley trade, where are you at on John Chaka right now? I don't know. They're a weird one. The Maple Leafs, they always are. They are always a center of attention. I will say the Hiller hire kind of caught me by surprise,

and at first I didn't like it. And I'm not saying I'm all in on it yet. I was hoping they were going to go completely off the rails, go for Joe Pavalsky, try to hope that he's the next Marty St. Louis. And that's like, you know, a good spot for a team that's kind of retooling, kind of competing. Who's to say they don't know. We don't know. It'll all turn out how the chips fall with Austin Matthews.

But I think with Hiller, I'm very curious, like, how much he's going to be able to, like, make a statement and show who he is outside of LA because when he was with the Kings and gets the job there, they obviously have this trap system. And it seems like he was upholding the system and the foundation that was already in place there. And they played a very defensive way. And I don't think that's going to work for the Maple Leafs. We saw Craig Barubei attempted for years. And I think it's stripped away what's made this team so special. So I'm really curious here if he can kind of reset the narrative around what he brings to a lineup and help stabilize the Leafs defensively while all

also letting some of their forwards play to their strengths. But I do feel like this is a team, even with McKenna, I would love to see them kind of upgrade that top six, top nine forward group a little bit more, like they could use another center, maybe get another winger in there, because it feels like everything's always on their stars. And yes, the stars, the pressure is a privilege. But I think you need a little bit more bottom six support if you want to be a contender. If you want to compete with the best of the best, like you need to have scoring up and down your lineup.

So that's going to be important this summer. So a couple of things there. So Hiller actually does have an offensive slant to him. I just think that he coached a Los Angeles Kings based on who he had. You know, you have Andre Coppitar and Philip Dono's two of your three centers. Guess which style of hockey you're going to play to say nothing of that blue line and then compounded by losing Gavrokov to the New York Rangers. And all of a sudden, guess what kind of hockey we're going to play here in Los Angeles

so we can get some wins? So I don't know that I would judge Hiller based on what we saw in Los Angeles. From the people that have worked with him, they'll tell you that his instinct is go, go, go. That his instinct is offense. That's why, like you, I looked at the hire initially and said, you're going to have to sell me on it. But enough people have sold me on it that I think that they put the accent more on offense than anything else. We should have thrown in the Brandon Carlo deal there as well.

It's another bit of business by the Maple Leafs over the weekend. for what you're talking about and rounding out the lineup. Like, I think we're all just, I know I am beating my head against a lot, trying to figure out why moving Matthew Nyes is the solution to all of this. Other than, like the one thing, Shana, that I keep coming back to is every team likes to have one player on their roster that they know that if other teams want them, they have to overpay. And for the Toronto Maple Leafs, that's the guy.

That's a guy that if you want to get them, you have to overpay. The Maple Leafs know that and whomever they're trading with knows that. Not that I think the Montreal deal was an overpay, if anything, it was an underpay, considering you're not touching the roster or whatever and you're just dealing in green bananas, but we'll shelf that conversation for a second. Can you figure out why the Maple Leafs would even entertain the idea of moving Matthew Nyes to round out the lineup? Cost control, 23 years old, power forward goes into the net, has a potential to score 40 goals. What am I missing here?

Well, the fact that like the trade talk didn't quiet down when the front office may change it. It's the fact that Bradtree Living would have had the leeway to trade Matthew Nyes months away from probably getting fired is even more mind boggling to me. But even if we set all that aside, it's the idea of what he can bring in return. Like if I'm Toronto, I'm not racing to trade Matthew Nyes. I think he's a very good player. I know he set career highs on the score sheet last year. There were some concerns below the surface, right? His two-way game, he was.

worst defensively. He didn't do enough below the surface offensively. I don't know how much of that is Craig Brew Bay's fault, right? Like, we saw how much he suppress this team's offense over the years, and I think it just wore on the players. So naturally, like, his game takes a step back, and so do some of his comps. Like, you look at the similar seasons that players had a year ago to Matthew United's game at that age, to what happened last year, and it changes. But there's still some really positive outcomes like Timo Meyer, right? And guys like Rick Nash are on his accomplice. And you, okay, that could be worth investing in for the Toronto Maple Leafs. But, why not have the option out there?

Like, if you're a general manager, you're not doing your job. If you're, you know, saying every single player on your roster is untouchable, you should listen to every single offer, play them off each other, see what you can get. And if something makes sense, you do it. And if something doesn't, don't, don't. And obviously, you have to keep the personal side of it balanced at the same time and make it clear if Nyes doesn't get traded that he's valued and he's part of it. And I think that's also important to that it's not like, hey, you never know the shoe's going to drop at any point.

And you might get sent out the door here. But yeah, like you can't have too many untouchables. We see the trade market is completely popping this year. So Toronto, just see what's out there. Maybe someone will surprise you. But if they keep them, it's not like it's a bad thing, right? Like that's exactly what they need because if all of a sudden they get rid of nyes, now they have to go find another top six player to replace them.

And that's not going to be easy, especially with so much of the trade market unfolding already. Like then the Maple Leafs are kind of another step back. And they go into this year and you're saying, well, you need a mariner replacement, plus you need bottom six scoring. So now all of a sudden it's going to be like, okay, so where's your mariner replacement, your knives replacement and the bottom six scoring? And yes, McKenna is going to be able to help a lot, but how much do you want to put on his shoulders on day one and just throw him to the fire too?

Five on five, not a lot. Power play, sure, five on five. No. Lower, always like lower expectations, five on five for rookies. I mean, I do anyway. Regardless of who, regardless of who it is, whether it's Macklin-Celebrini coming in or Gavin McKenna coming in, temper, expectations for. kids. All right, a couple more here before we get to Cam Robinson's going to talk to us about it.

By the way, do you have a thought on the draft itself, the whole four hours of it on Friday? God, that was terrible. Listen, I understand that it's not going to be as interesting if it's decentralized. My big question is, did it being decentralized help at all promote the trade movement, right? Because if the answer is yes, I do like that. I think that's very interesting. But I think if this is the format you're going to keep. For the players, for the prospects, there should be some sort of team contingent there for them. Yes, it's fun to have celebrities come up on the board and through screens to announce picks. But like, have a couple current or former players there to welcome your picks. If you can't be there yourself, it should not be a PR person alone. It should be

something to make this moment special. So I think that would go a long way. And I felt like that was the easy answer after the draft in 2025 and the fact that the NHL went over their heads. It's like shocker. This is just how it goes. But I feel like there's got to be a balancing act to it. I also feel like day two does not need to be like, I don't need to see that. I don't care. Like, and I'm not a prospect person. So it's not like, you know, my year's worth the work. And I don't want to say that for the players either. But I feel like night one should have been made into something a little bit more special. And I just feel like if this is the format and if it is so be it, there's just better ways to go about it. Truth. Okay. Wednesday. For,

free agent day. The class is not exactly great. And radish and tuck are gone. I don't know if there's anything overly interesting about the free agent class. Like, does John Carlson get there? If so, what's his number and where? Anthony Mantha. Can he get six and a half times three somewhere?

Jacob Truba, can he get $6 million somewhere? Like it's not, again, like no matter how much we may try to dress this thing up, isn't it still going to be a day where we wonder about and think about trades and not the free agent class?

Like the draft coverage, like our draft coverage started with draft coverage and then just turned into trades because that has been the call of the day for the last two weeks. Yeah. And listen, I don't think it's the worst thing

if we're thinking about trades and trades actually happen Because if you go through like last year I went through the top 150 players that we had for player tiers, right? And I think it was like 91 of those players were acquired by their teams through the draft. The number of free agents, maybe it was like 10, 14, something like that altogether. And in the top two tiers, I think Artemmy Panarin was the only one. And now he's actually in the trade category, not even the free agent if we like redid it tomorrow. So free agency is just not the way to acquire.

require top in talent. That is for supplemental players, right? And obviously they're benefiting from the cap. Obviously, they're going to benefit from the market. Yes, there's going to be a lot of regrettable contracts. We're talking about trades and we're getting some trade movement because the free agent class is so poor. I think that's great for entertainment value. I think that's great for the drama. I love that. But it's also better for team building because that is your next best way to find players if you're not going to drift them yourself and develop them into stars. And teams like the Golden Knights and Panthers are showing even more how valuable trades can be. So Here's hoping.

Here's hoping we have something else to talk about because it's not going to be the free agent class. And it's not to knock some of the guys out there. I think that Marchmont could be a good ad for a team. I think Bjork Strain is good. I'm curious where Tarasup goes, right? Like there's a handful of names out there. Even something like Patrick Liney. Like if I'm the Tampa Lightning, I am looking at him to be a power play specialist.

They barely played Oliver Bjorkstrand last year and tried to make that happen. And it didn't. Why not go for someone who's just a great goal score and that alone? So yeah, there's going to be like little nuggets here. And there, that'll be interesting. But hopefully it is a day filled with more trades. Just get it out of the way. And then let us all, like, rest this summer.

I don't care if it's a long, boring summer. Like, I'm fine. Just let's be done. No, man, we want to keep our feeds hot. Let's go. More of it. Like, every single day, let's go. Like, more rumors, more trades, more crazy stuff.

We've even talked about offer sheets yet. Let's go, Leo Carlson. Get ready to get offer sheeted. Give me that all day long. Heads up, Adam Fantilly. There's something in the fax machine for you. We got too. We got too.

We got too. And I kind of like that too. Like, great. We have the threat of offer sheets and it's like, okay, we're not going to risk moving out. Say you're Seattle and you're moving out picks for Sam Skevich. The unknown of what a 2027 pick could be because who knows where they're going to land. They go, he's the pick. We know where it is and we know we don't want to draft with it.

Here you go. Like we saw that proactive approach with players like Zalweger 2 for the Sabres. I think that adds a different element to the offer sheet because it's like, well, those never happened. Well, okay. But they could have offer sheeted them and they found better ways to acquire them. So hopefully it's more trades. But if we can get some, why not? Okay, from a long-time hockey person, mystery person,

texting me this this morning, free agency prediction. This is someone who's been in the industry forever. Free agency prediction, there will be more teams this summer than ever before that will not get near the cap. Agree, disagree. Maybe. It's the bad teams. Like do all the bad teams that we normally see them like you could hand out

a huge contract. Like, I don't know if, if players want to go there, right, like if you have the option to go to the Chicago Blackhawks, say last year,

and it's like, well, you get $10 million there or you can get $7 with a good team. Like, I think we're starting to see more, more players choose to go for those playoff teams

and not just go for the money. You're seeing that, I think, more and more. Now, teams like the sharks, I think are changing that, the ducks, the fact that you have more teams

coming up the ranks. But I could see those, like, lesser teams struggling to reach the cap a little bit more. more than years past. All right. Listen, enjoy your week.

We will check back before you log off and peace out for the summer. Do I log off and peace out for the summer? No, you never do. You always say that you're going to and you never do, silly. So listen, enjoy Japan soccer and we'll touch base soon. All right, you'd be good. Thanks for having me. The great, Shana Goldman from Too Many Men podcast and also you can read her at The Athletic.

Before we get to Cam Robinson, want to make sure that you know one of the biggest days On the hockey calendar is almost here. The Daily Faceoff has you covered. Join myself, Tyler Uremtrak, Carter Hutton, Dave Pan Yoda, live from Toronto for the Daily Faceoff Free Agency Special. That's a whole lot of people right there. From breaking news and insider analysis to the puckpedia-powered signing tracker following every move in real time.

We'll break down every signing, every rumor, all the biggest moments as they happen. Catch the live show July 1st at noon Eastern on the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel and socials. And with that, we will have a quick little wardrobe change here and we'll bring aboard Cam Robinson from Elite Prospects and I'll put on one of my favorite baseball caps to wear that is the red and white elite prospects chappo

and you've got your white and red so we're very much covered off here Cam Robinson how are you doing partner? I'm doing good buddy how are you doing looking fresh there well yeah you know I got this my friend of mine and with Elite Prospects I paid the media price of free 99

thank you Cam Robinson What, but before we get to the nuts and bolts of what we saw on the weekend, what did you think of the draft itself? Shane was just on maintaining that there should have been, you know, more people. Even if you want to keep your personnel at home, I get it, but there should be someone there from the teams to welcome the prospects other than celebrities. You agree with that one.

Gosh, absolutely. You know, I made that video yesterday and it's doing the rounds. And I got a lot of great feedback from people, like team side people, other media people, you know, much larger than myself. It's a diminished product for sure. For sure it is. I think that the fans lose out. I think that everybody in the building loses out a little bit.

The players, the players are the ones. You know, like I, it's sad to see, you know, that they go out there and instead of, you know, meeting the GM and the AGM and all the scouts that got together and decided to make that player their first round pick and, you know, kind of put their reputation on the line. line just a little bit, just a little bit, is that they're going up there and they're, you know, basically they're shaking like a PR person's hand, right? And then they're getting ushered out to go do media scrums. And then it's, you know, it's just, it's not the same experience. So absolutely, I think there should be there. At the very least, there should be like an ambassador

of the team. Like, you know, some teams did do that. You know, there were some players, you know, I saw Milan Luchich was kicking around. Um, Michael Samuelson was there from the Canucks. Like, so there were like former players that are still like, you know, associated with the club that were there. But generally speaking, you know, it was, you know, we saw there was some celebrities around and, you know, a bunch of PR people. So it's, I don't, I don't have a lot of hope that it's ever going to return to the centralized version, not in any time soon. But I think it should. I think it should. I think it should for a number of reasons. And the number one is, is for the players, but also just for the product, right? It's a league event. I don't think that

the GM should be the ones that have a say in this. Like when we, when we have players skip the All-Star game, they get suspended because it's like, no, you go to the All-Star game because it's what's good for the game. It's what's good for the league. Well, sorry, teams, like, you don't want to go to the draft. Well, too bad. It's good for the game. It's good for the league. So that's what you do. And that's what we've been doing for 60 years. So play through the pain, man, take the bumps, make the play, even though you got people watch it. There is a real accent now, and we've seen it, by the way, they do the trophies. They don't, they're just create viral moments, create moments. Like, I know we all live in a clip universe on this program and other programs. Like, this is the,

the universe that we live in and these are the waters that we swim in. But I just don't know where the balance is between make it entertaining and surprising and create viral moments versus just be honest that this is a hockey draft. Like at the end of it, these are kids getting picked to play hockey. And I don't know where that balance is, but when it's off, you can really feel it. and sometimes there's too much of a vibe of, oh, look who likes our game. Oh, look who likes our game.

Oh, look who likes our game. Again, I don't envy the people to put it together. Steve Mayer's got a really difficult job walking that line. I was going to say this. So I don't know. Steve's a great guy, right? Steve's a great guy. Super smart.

Right, super smart. And the NHL has a, they have a history of putting on good shows too. I do believe that, right? Like, it's just the draft. Like, you know, some of the other. major events that they run throughout the year, you know, outdoor games and centennial and different things like that. They do a good job of it. I mean, Steve Mayer is a huge part of that, obviously,

but I think if you if you have a good product on ice, which they do, the game is beloved is that, yes, there are there are going to be A-list celebrities that will, you know, go to bat for that game. But you don't need to, you don't need to kind of force the square peg into a round hole. And I personally, like, I haven't seen a draft on TV in years because I'm always there. So I have to kind of rely on the feedback I get from people that say, you know, like, obviously it was easy to tell in LA last year that that was probably like the most cringy thing that you could, you know, go through and all the technical difficulty. So at least they got rid of that, which was a must. But, you know, I heard that it was. It was, you know, there is some really difficult moments on air and stuff.

And obviously, Mr. McKenna, we'd like to bring you up. Like it was this, it was a, you know, that Bebes was inviting Gab up to one of his shows to maybe sing a chorus with him or something like that. So they're just, you're right. I think that it's like we need to go back to just the essence of the game. And absolutely right is that these kids have worked their entire lives for this moment. Let's make it about them. Let's make it about the kids. It doesn't need to be about Robin Trubotsky welcoming Caleb Mahalj for the team.

Right. That should probably be Argent. Here we go. Here we go. Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Doors are locked. Kids aren't there. 32 general managers.

They find out if they got drafted. couple days later. Let's just go old school about the whole thing. Big secret. Cigar smoke everywhere. Read about it Monday morning. Yeah. Read about it the newspaper on Monday morning.

Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. It's all done. And it's all done by the phone. And Buffalo takes Tarosujimoto. No surprise with Gavin McKenna at all. Like that's the layup. That's the two foot put. But I'm curious, like, the interesting points for you can because you're all over

this from day one. surface level, but like deep on all of the guys. I always come shy of doing, you know, winners and losers because there's so much development that has to happen. Like, I've been saying this, like an agent friend of mine always says the same thing to his kids before the draft, all of his clients that are getting drafted. He says, remember, this is your wedding. This is not your marriage.

There's a big difference. Like the marriage piece is bigger than the wedding day or the wedding nights. So I always come shy of doing the, you know, instant. reaction, this team won and that team won, because we just don't know. But what I think is safe to talk about is curiosity points. Like Gavin McKenna was not a curiosity point. Like that's a coronation. Where are the first couple of curiosity points for you knowing full well that maybe

Daxon Rudolph at four to the Buffalo Sabres as the first defenseman drafted is probably going to be one of them? But I don't want to bias the jury. Where are your curiosity points, Cam? I mean absolutely Dax there like so and I put it in the what we're hearing article that I released earlier that day is that I was told from you know several people like hey Rudolph's one of the names that's going to go earlier than people think and so in my mind I'm like yeah like I think so too at like seven you know maybe he maybe he jumps ahead of Verhoff and a couple of these other guys I did not have him going at four so that was absolutely kind of that the one little twist early which I love I love I think it sets kind of a whole bunch of different things in motion. after that. And it also tells that player, too, like, hey, you know, you weren't widely considered at this spot, but we believe in you. And I think that there's a good reason that they did that, too, like, on upside alone, he probably has the highest pure offensive upside of any defender. Like, he has that

rank Clark. He's got a little Evan Bouchard in his game, too. So I love that the Sabres, you know, looked at him and they're like, this is, this is the type of talent that we want to build around. And they went for it. You know, they didn't try to slide back and get him at seven or something like that. They just, they just made their pick and they stuck with it. So that was certainly one of them for me. Another one I thought was like Ethan Belchese dipping down a little bit. I thought that that was, I thought that was interesting.

And I loved again that Utah traded up to get him. I love a trade up. Again, you're telling the player like, hey, we wanted you. We saw that this was a really great opportunity for us to move up. And so I thought that was great. You know, someone asked me too, like what's like this first round is,

is there anything wild going on? And like, quite frankly, like you look at the board and it's like, nothing, nothing too crazy happened on round one. Like pretty much, like I think I had something like 28 of 32 picks were in my first round. Is that be, pretty, pretty shock? Is that because every,

so many players were more similar than they were different? Like when we look at the collection of defensemen that we've been talking about all season long, we started off by, you know, Keaton Verhoff's a top top two pick. And he was of that bunch, like the last one selected. Chase Reed, Carson Carl's,

Albert Smith, Daxon Ruda, if you've already talked about. Like, it seemed as if everybody had the same names, maybe just in a different order. And that's kind of, like we all knew who the players are going to be.

It was just in a different order. So there were no shockers. Is that safe to say players were more similar than different? I guess so I'm, probably the most surprising part of the first round was that it was so similar and kind of two expected levels because,

you know, I did that consensus poll where I had 10 teams share lists with me, their lists. And like the discrepancy between the lists was massive. And of course, this is just my first year doing it. So I don't have the historical reference to go off of. But to me, I felt like we were going to hit the teens, maybe the early 20s, and we were going to start to see teams go way off the board. Like I was expecting, you know, maybe we're going to see a guy like Borchever to buy his tray ball. One of the Goldies sneak in around one that wasn't expected, you know, things like that. And that just didn't happen. And so you're right. I think

is that certainly among like the top 15 players, it was like, these are kind of. of the guys and they'll go in some order. And then after that, it turned out to be like, well, here's another 15 guys and they're going to go in some order. And then again, early day two, it was almost like bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. Like best players available just went. Like nobody got too crazy. And then the draft starts to devolve a little bit.

And that's just part of the fun of day two. The rucks end up Pittsburgh penguins. Was this inevitable that the minute one goes, everybody else just kind of says, well, there's no point in just having one. Let the penguins have to. I think so. And I'm sure, I don't know this, but I'm guessing Kyle probably called around to a couple of those teams that were picking in the mid-30s and it was like, you know, like, hey, let me know. Are you, you thinking you're going to go this way with Marcus Rock and maybe that would inspire him to move up or like, you know, you get that little handshake agreement like, hey, let's let's get these guys together.

And especially because it's, it wasn't like Daniel and Henrik where a team is passing on a potential superstar just to like do you a favor or whatever. You're going to have to pay for that. But when you're taking Marcus Rock at 39, no one's going to be too upset about that. They didn't have to jump up too early. I think that the spots that they got them in, whatever it was, 23 and 39, was about as early as I'd feel comfortable as an organization doing. But Pittsburgh nailed it. I think that they got them and they will be better for it, the two players together.

They'll be better players together than they would have been apart. It's a great story. They said right after they're drafted that they'd only spent four nights apart, like, their entire life. That's the longest they've been apart, which I thought is just a dozen. It's just like that. Right. Like that scene in Bob and Doug McKenzie where they split for the first time at the brewery. I'm really dating myself here.

And there's tears. I was like, we've never been apart. Four days. Yeah, four days. Four days. But I mean, the penguins also,

I think they took like the lightest group of players ever with the rocks and with Pearson Bowie and Thomas Galvis. I like him a lot. I like him a lot. I like him. But they got to feed those kids. We got to feed those kids. Well,

someone now, I'm glad you got us to that. topic because there's one player and I watched and we all did a ton of them during that Sue St. Marie Greyhound series with the London Knights Maxim Sokolovsky. 6'7, 240 pounds

of nastiness. Now right away and I'm sure you may have gotten a similar text, that pick happens and I get a text from someone saying Samuel Moran. It's like I don't know about that because I don't know that Samuel Moran was as mean

and nasty as Socal So he's a mass for those who don't know. He went in the first round of the Philadelphia Flyers of 27, defense minute for the London Knights, kind of an outside looking in on the first round at the beginning of the season. And then by the time the playoffs rolled around, and that, I mean, I remember being in London

for a couple of games and watching what he did to the Sioux St. Marie Greyhounds, and specifically Brady Martin. Every time Martin was on the ice, it was a steady dose of cross-checks and into the boards and in your face and trying to live in Brady, Martin's hip pocket.

It was impressive. And leaving the rinks, it seemed as if it's like, this guy's got a shot to go in the first round. And of course, the Philadelphia Flyers, who we've seen of recent note, drafting large, large players going back to last year's draft. No surprise if Philly jumped up and grabbed this defenseman. No, and you know, you nailed it there. Is that early, he put up like seven points for London this year, right?

Oh, nothing. Nothing. No, like nothing. Scream first round pick, right? But I was told me back in, like, I want to say like January. A scout told me that like, Soko's going to the first. And I was like, oh. And at that point he was playing on the third pair too, right?

January. Her minutes at that point. So like, shout out to that guy. I'm not going to name drop him, though. Woo. But then you see the role elevated as we got closer to the playoffs, then into the playoffs. And like he mentioned, you know, just smothering against,

against Brady Martin, you know, for a fifth overall pick. And just mean. And he hits so hard. Like he's, he's, he's, probably going to get some check into the head penalties just because he's so massive in his hand and can stay low and they're still going to catch him in the head. But he just runs guys over. He hits to hurt. And to be quite honest with you, even though he had such small counting stats, is that I actually think there's some upside there. He likes to beat a four checker with a dangle and snap an outlet

passive. You can get him to use his feet a little bit more because he gets really deep into his stride and it generates a ton of power. Like, dare I say, I think he could have a little Nikita Zedoroff like jump up the ice when we see him in the NHL in his prime sort of thing while also having just massive defensive range. Like he's already probably like he's a better defender than Zaduroff was at his age for sure at that age. So it's he's a unique, a very unique player and a really

interesting one for Billy. A couple of quick names with Rocha. I was glad to see Thomas Belial. Tommy Belial go in the first round at Moncton. I still, like Kim, can you explain to me how he went through the OHL and no one touched him and got, And got to Moncton and he's like, he's a defenseman of the year.

He's playing. How does Tommy Blau get there? And no one in the OHL because I think they contacted a few teams and nothing back. Like what a steal. Oh, for sure, right? Like the kids playing prep hockey a year ago. And then like you said, like, you know, let's be real though, too. Is it where he went helped.

Moncton was a very strong team. Gardner McDougall 100%. Gardener McDougal, right? Right? The McDougal effect. Like that is, that is, that cannot be understated. So he was put into a tremendous situation, but also just an electric skater. Like arguably the best skater in the class.

You know, a little undersized at whatever, 5 foot 11, but man, he can move. He's not like your prototypical like shifty, break your ankles, Quinn Hughes type at the top. But he does have a little bit of that. But the skating is going to afford him a lot of opportunities. He's going to go back and play for Moncton again. So get another year with Gardner. Then he's going to go to MSU and he's going to get to work with Adam Nightingale. Right.

And then with that program there, like Morlock, I should say, is like the trainer, like they're going to build him up. He's on a great course. I like Nashville grabbing him. I like that they got Wyatt Cullen too. You know, Matt Cullen. He was thrilled. We were talking about what reason that happened.

And you know, big smile on his face, obviously. So I think Nashville did well there and Tommy Blal, a huge upside pick. Yeah, nice one. Okay, let me throw a one more name out of that, well, that you get on with your day. At number three, to the Vancouver Canucks, Caleb Malhotra. there was a lot for the past couple of weeks I've been saying he's going three to Vancouver

going three to Vancouver and then the week of the draft I'm like they're not going to do it and he's going to Buffalo he's not going to get past Buffalo he's not going to get past Buffalo what do you think of the Vancouver Canucks bringing aboard Caleb Malhotra

like the one thing that we can say is like here's how I look at the room in Vancouver the last few years has been an absolute nightmare. It has been awful. And the one thing that this management staff seems to be doing,

and they just did it today with Gallagher, this is a dressing room cleanse. And they are interested in bringing good players and really good people into that room. That's not the only reason you draft Caleb Mahhotra, but he does check those boxes as well. Understand the conflict, with dad coaching. I get it. But if anyone can handle it, it's this family. I just wonder about

the other players who would have to bite their tongue because it's coach's kid. Yeah. I was like you, you know, weeks ago, I thought they were going to do it and I was kind of arguing against people on shows like this being like, I don't think it's going to be that big of an issue if they do it. Like, I just think that Manny is class personified and Caleb is his father's son. Like I think if, like you said, if a family is going to be able to make that work, it's going to be this family. You know, I started to hear from some more people, you know, internally like on the team side being like, oh, you know, like maybe, maybe it'd be best for the kid just to not have that be dominating his story. And we saw it like at the draft combine. Like two out of three questions was about Manny.

And then at the media availability on Thursday, right before the draft. two or three questions was about many and I'm just sitting there and be like man this kid's not even playing for Vancouver yet always answering questions about is his dad you know how's breakfast with pops like what's it going to be if he sits you like all this stuff it's like how about to ask the kid like what a great playoff run you have what a great second half what an evolution you're playing in the bcchl last year and you know not putting up a ton of points and then you blow up with bramford you're having it's great year but no one's asking those questions and I felt bad for and I was like this is just another example of like maybe you let the kid write his own story away from dad

but back to it is that you know he's a leader he's a two-way guy is a character guy like i had a rival oh l jm say to me like he'll wear a sea in the nchl one day you know like that that that's that's the type of player that they're bringing in you know you can you can compare him to a guy like trevor linden play style leadership style like that's the type of player they're hoping they're bringing in and i think it's a good pick and i think that at the end of the day when they were looking at those players around that you know it was it was it was mahalcher it was It was Chase Reed. It was Keaton Bearhoff, Carson Carl's, you know, is that I think that that pushed it over the top, regardless of the last name, is that like, this is someone you want

to inject into your dressing room long term, and he's going to fit beautifully with Zeebouiam and Tom Velander, who have kind of become like quick friends. Braden Coots, another class act, right? Like another guy wears a C and Jr., probably going to wear a letter in the NHL. So they are trying, clearly trying to build a culture, which shouldn't be shocking, right, with the twins at the helm and Ryan Johnson, right, like classy, classy guys. And they're, they're going to make a focus on that and they're going to have to build from the studs and then then start to surround them and yeah again britton gallager too right another culture carrier um weird seeing washington draft the fin they don't you know 2006 oscar oscaro was the last finn the

washington capitals drafted but there it is the washington capitals um oliver's vanto goes 18th overall uh so some interesting things um certainly in the first round and then subsequent in this year's draft cam uh you're the best man and by the way called up all season long, take a bow. You and Chris, excellent, excellent, excellent work. That is a go-to prospects podcast. You'll be well, my friend. Appreciate it.

You, palpable talk soon. There is, Cam Robbins, from Elite Prospects and the Called Up podcast as well. You like my red chapeau there? Zacharoo, you like my. Yeah, it's a nice one. I'm waiting for people in the chat. Nobody made the jokes about you wearing the hat and trying to be the, what's up, fellow kids meme.

Hello fellow kids. And now it's ruined it for yourself. Steve Bouchemy. Need a better goatee. What is up, fellow kids? Yes. So now you've ruined it for yourself. Congratulations.

I know. I know. Congratulations. Well, what did you think of the draft on Friday? Just as a sort of outside of the picks itself, but just the event itself. It's a, first of all,

it's a really difficult one to put together and to strike that balance of, we want to make this entertaining, but at the same time, these are kids getting drafted, to the NHL teams. Too long, too much. I think we can just make it about the kids. I can't offer anything really insightful

beyond what you and Cam had already talked about and kind of the ideas came throughout, but bring back the GMs and whoever else that you want up there on stage, other it's the scouts or whatever. Have them up there with a kid, take the picture, move on, get off the stage, like the moment's about the kid.

Let's keep it that way. here's what you need to do NHL keep your games out of June everything at the end of June is just like rush rush rush rush rush rush rush rush rush rush rush rush rush rush rush rush rush if you can finish your playoffs by the end of May

then you have time to do a draft and keep it away from free agency oh it's too important a time of year we can't possibly have our personnel in Buffalo when we have to fly all the way back to Los Angeles, San Jose, Anaheim, Seattle, Vancouver, Dallas, wherever. And we can't afford any travel days here because we have free agency. Shorten the schedule. Or start sooner, which we know they don't want to do. And as a matter of fact, now they're adding games.

And there's a robust international schedule too. I know. I know. I'm, trust me. I'm old man shakes fist at sky. I'm screaming at clouds. I'm screaming a clouds on this one. I know it's ever going to change.

I say it every year. But I'm with me. If I could make one recommendation of the commissioner every single year, get your game out of June. Get your game out of June. And everything goes. And because right now it's like there should be the teams there. Everybody loved the tables on the floor.

All of it. And the scenes of GMs walking over and talking to each other. And a couple of general managers are miced up like at the Vancouver. over draft when you have George McPhee and Ross Mahoney talking about how Boston is offering, you know, trying to trade for number four because they want to take Backstrom

and you hear, and you hear the conversations like that stuff's gold. That stuff's fantastic. Gone. Yep. Just gone. Also, I don't know what the American viewing experience was for people, I imagine similar,

but I think we had a little bit of a different one for ourselves. There are very obvious things that you can remove that avoid awkward, unnecessary moments, i.e. a celebrity sitting on stage with a player in front of a fake campfire or fire display, probably don't need that, Jeff. You know, like, I don't think anybody involved in that one was at fault for the situation. It's just like an awkward situation. We could probably avoid some of those. So it's just, it's my personal opinion. I like the player getting drafted, walking off the stage, gets his moment, his pictures, he goes over, sits down with, you know, you've been a part of it, the sports net panel, the TSN panel, the ESPN panel,

TNT if they're there, and he does the car wash, does each of them, and then you get a little bit of analysis about the player before the next pick, and he's on. Oh, also, I'll throw in one more thing. Oh, oh, the one thing that I cannot wrap my brain around. if you are trading a pick, trading for a pick, I should say rather, the clock should not start again. I do not need three minutes to get through the L.A. King's pick. Gary Bettman announces the trade. Now the Carolina Hurricanes who have traded for the L.A. King's pick,

you are now on the clock and three minutes starts again. If you're trading for the damn pick, you know who you're picking. Go on stage and make the pick. Abolish that clock. How many times did we watch Friday or Saturday, the draft just extend and extend and extend. I wonder if it's because you have to get the pick in. You have to actually get the pick in. I wonder if that's what the, because I'm with you.

I don't know the reason. It is one obvious way to cut, but the fact that they haven't seems to indicate that there's more at play. And maybe it's the actual process of getting the pick in. That I don't know. And that's why if you've, like, if you have ever, if. If you've ever had the question, what happens if you submit a pick? And then you have somebody else from the organization or an ex-player going to announce the pick and they announce the wrong pick.

What happens? You have to take that player? The answer is no. It's the pick that's submitted. That's the pick that goes. You can go up there and you can say, I'm taking Zach Phillips. Oh, the guy that was drafted by Minnesota? No, Merrick's producer.

I'm taking him. The guy that was born in 1998. They were talking about it on the show on Monday. we want that guy. We saw him playing at Deliselle or Upper Canada College. He was the only guy that back checked. We want that guy. It's the card that goes in.

That's the one. So you can go up and say anything. You can mispronounce David Reinbacker if you're Kerry Price. It doesn't matter. Because the pick that was submitted is the pick. All the more reason to have a central registry table and your two GMs have to walk up and hand it in like it's their, exam at the end of uh, at end of the school year. They walk up for trades. Yeah. But then you

double, double whammy. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Trades here at the thing. And then boom, there's camera on the GM's. Oh, looks like, you know, Kyle Dubus and, you know, pick your GM are, have walked up together. Kyle, the double phones. They've walked up to the thing together. They're both handing in their pages. Central registry looks at it. Boom. Approved, approved. Kyle, who are you picking? Boom. There's the card. And we're good. And we're on with it. And now we know there's the GMs. Oh, they're at the table. Like, let's just, let's make things a little easier on ourselves here, NHL.

Let's just get on with some stuff. Because we don't need four and a half hours. We don't. Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal, old school. Lock the doors, no one's in. We'll tell you who we picked after. We just need to get on with it.

We just need to get on with it. If that's how you do it, Jeff, sure. We just need to get on with it. I appreciate that they're trying to make it more of a thing and more of a spectacle, but you might have overdone it a little bit. We can turn the notch back. Just a little. You know, it was great.

Well, outside of like the cell phone network going down, Montreal. The draft in Montreal. Cell phone network. going down was really bad that was a real tough one i remember walking back to the hotel saying is this what the apocalypse feels like i was waiting for like zombies to come out from like schwartz's deli walking back to the hotel that i remember that was a weird one i was strictly a consumer at that point but i remember just all the sudden it was zero dark dirty like gone

everything was off the grid and we're sitting there being like what is happening? Are people getting traded? Are there are there picks happening? Did they pause the draft? Like we just had no idea for a certain period of time. It's wild, eh? My draw is weird.

I'm like, is this how it all ends? Is this how it all ends? What do you got now? We have a trade. Thanks for our guy, Dave Pinoa. The Panthers have acquired the rights to Radco Goudis from the Ducks for the rights to free agent, A.J. Greer.

The Florida Panthers. are going to force us to have three referees on the ice. No more two referee system. For every Florida Panther game, there needs to be three referees on the ice. You're bringing in Radco Gudis. Now, you are letting go of AJ Greer, but I digress. Holy smokes, just when you thought Florida was not miserable enough to play against.

Here comes Shrek. There comes. Radco Gudus. Oh my Lord. Listen, we said it from day one. We should have all known when the first move Bill Zito made was to pick up Patrick Hornquist.

We're just going to get like the most miserable SOBs we can and fill this team with them. And now the Florida Panthers are back. They've accomplished that. Halfway. Chuck. I forgot

They even picked up after I forgot about that in all of this Oh on every line They're going to be awful to deal with They're going to be terrible They just escaped my brain Of all the stuff that they've done here Watch dude

They're gonna go get Jordan Binnington And he's gonna lead the league in fights If they get Jordan Bennington To cap this whole thing off I know I know right At the end of all of it And they get Jordan Bennington And he has like eight fights this year

Billy Smith's record I'm coming for you Billy Smith's is like 22 or something like that, 21 fights. Yeah, career fights. That one's not getting touched. That's like the Glenn Hall record. But I don't think it would surprise anybody. At the end of all of this.

They get like the goalie, the wires crossing goalie in Jordan Bennington. Yeah, well, you could at least mark them down for, as long as they don't do it on a back-to-back on the second night of a back-to-back, You could at least mark them down for like maybe four fights. As long as they put Swamen in on the other side for Boston. You know, you can check those boxes. So maybe they just mutually agree. Like, hey, every time we'll throw down. Just for the sake of it.

We can get the, maybe we can chase the record. I got it. Kachikov. Kachov. That's the guy. He's dying for some too. Yeah, he is. You get those two guys

That guy's a lunatic It's awesome I love Kachikov I'll take that guy all day Bring Bennington in that conference I'll take Kachikov Okay So we're slowly like

Put him down for two A couple of boxes Yeah This is what summer He gets to four by the end of the year This is what summer program He's going to be like Here on the sheet

And it's an appropriate time To remind you Canadian Blood Services Invites you To experience what giving feels like in a world that can feel isolating and divided blood and plasma donation offers something rare and fulfilling, real connection, real purpose, real impact. This is important, folks.

It is to me and my family. Every summer, people across Canada get swept up in the excitement of the season and donation routines can slip. But the need doesn't. This is a moment to rally together as a nation and for new donors to experience firsthand what you get when you give. At a moment when many Canadians are looking for positive ways to show up for one another, Canadian Blood Services is issuing an invitation to.

to new donors. Fill every donation chair in the country this summer. Book at blood.com. Through the Give Blood app or call 1-3-8-2 donate. That is 1-3-8-2 donate. You know what I'd like to do? I'd like to do a show in the chair one day. Okay.

I mean, hey, I'm open for it. Do you donate blood? Do you, I don't want to like to put pressure on you to do it or anything. But like, are you someone that's ever done that before? Or would you be a new donor? No, I think I have once. I believe I have one time. It's something I need to do more often or more just in general.

But I think I have once. Yeah, okay. Well, I mean, I'd love to do, I don't think they would allow us, but I'd love to do a show on the chair. It's only like your bleed time is like seven or eight minutes. The longest bleed time I ever had. This is, again, summer programming. Okay, so it was my longest bleed time. Um, well, I have an idea.

Oh, I had an 11 minute. Oh, wow, that's a high one. My last was eight, before that was seven. Why was my bleed time? 11. It was with me that day. And then nine and a couple more sevens. So it's not that much.

I have an idea, a content idea. And as I don't we just have Canadian blood services? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm all ears. Something I should be saying on air, but you're not. Why don't we talk about this after the show then? Yeah, let's do that.

You've given me an idea. Maybe something we could get coming in the summer, all things depending here. But I got an idea, Jeff. You do, eh? As long as it helps fill every donation share the summer, then. It gets us on the way. It does? It gets us on the way.

I'm all years then, Zach, all years. All right. All right, NHL season, over, draft, over, free agency. on the horizon. Fanduel, you're home for all the action on and off the ice. From Blue Line to Bets slip,

got you covered all season. Unique promos, live offerings, more features to let you play your game. That includes when the games are on, missing puck drop. If you do, don't sweat it. With a live-s-game game parlay,

you can build your bets up until the final buzzer. Download fan dual sports book today and play your game. And we remind you, as always, please play responsibly 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. If you have questions or concerns

about your gambling or the gambling gambling of someone close to you, please contact Connectontera. 1866, 531, 2,600, to speak to an advisor free of charge. Is this the over, under on how much Anthony Manta will earn on Wednesday? And is it going to be Seattle where he goes? I'm actually going to save that idea for tomorrow. It is going to be something along those lines,

so you've correctly guessed the direction that I was heading in that. But I was wrong. I did find a market. Can he get six times three? This is kind of where we're going for tomorrow, Jeff. So you're stealing the idea that I have for tomorrow. Six times four. Let's see if that's on the floor.

Okay, never mind. Oh, there you go. Free agency. What do you got? Elliot has just tweeted that Toronto is closing in on an extension with Troy Stetcher. So there's one more person off the board for tomorrow. I like, I like Trace. Yeah, I like Troy Stetcher.

So do I. That's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a pickup for Toronto. I like that. Okay. Here's the, here's the market that I found that I did not see originally, and it is there. Oh, yeah? Uh, Fanduel has already put up the Calder Trophy winner odds for next season, Jeff. So as of right now, leading the charge is Porter Martone.

Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. Kevin McKenna and second at plus 240. Stenberg plus 750. Cole Hudson, 850, Frontel, 900. Is there anyone in that top group of five there between Martone to Frontel that you think would be a leading candidate?

Or is there anybody you think we are missing? They might be on the board, but a little bit lower down. Is there anybody we're missing that you think, watch out for that guy? Whether it's just because of the player himself or if it's because of the situation that they'll be in. Hmm They've been talking about Roman cancer off For the longest time You just try to think of like

Okay Who's going to be given the most opportunity Maybe constahelenus Previously known as Consta Heleneas And then changed his pronunciation of his name He will be given a lot of opportunity By the Buffalo Sabres Maybe

But then I look at Cole Hudson And say Is he going to get tons of power play time with the Washington Capitals, although he's still in that top five. Did you put Archer Actiamoff in there yourself?

I didn't do this. No, this is purely from Fandwell, what they had up. I had nothing to do with that. Act YAM off, eh, already? Holy smokes. This is fascinating. This one's really interesting. I would take Ateamov out. But Caleb Dane Y.A. That's

interesting. Dane Y.A and T. Jiggenla are both on Utah next year. Okay, that's an interesting one. Bradley Nadeau has got to start being a full-timer with Carolina eventually, right? Oh, boy, this one's juicy. I would say Hellenus. Outside of the top five. I would say Helenus.

Yeah, I think that's where I lean with you as well. The guy that not necessarily to win the Calder, I don't think he would do it, but the guy that I'm going to be most interested in next season, or two guys actually, as a matter of fact, is Sam O'Reilly. And then the next one would be Brady Martin. Just seeing what these guys can do. I think. Can crack full-time lineup.

If they can get into that spot, how do they get used in the NHL? If they stick around in the NHL, what do they look like? Those are the two guys. Again, I'm not saying they'll win the Calder. I don't think that happens. but they're the two most intriguing guys for me outside of the most obvious ones. Both Milwaukee and Syracuse

are really, really good programs. So I can see Sam O'Reilly spending time in Syracuse and Brady Martin spending time in Milwaukee. So I don't know that that happens right away, although Brady Martin started the season with Nashville last year.

Sam O'Reilly just looks so good. I'll stick with Consta Hellenus. That's the one I like that's the one I'm going to stick with. But yeah, I mean, it is shaping up for part of Martone mania by all means. Yeah, he's going to get the spotlight, get the full season in there in Philly, fan base rally behind him. He's the perfect type of player and personality for the market. The way he plays on the everything about Porter Martone,

it's going to be a lot of fun in Philly this season. I don't disagree. All right, that's a good one. Although when Gavin McKenna puts up 80 next to us and Matthews next year, then I don't know, we might have to revisit this. What was that? What was the, what was the, what was the, what was the, where the, the, Fandle wouldn't even like listen to me on, at 50 points.

It was like 55 plus, right? Yeah, 55, that's what it was. 55. 55. Yeah. Were you happy this weekend with what Toronto did? Yeah, a little bit of disappointed in the fact that it's hard to, it's hard to erase what the Brandon Carlo trade was.

to acquire him. And then when you sit there and you go, oh, you traded this player for three, or for two third round picks. I understand. But it doesn't change the fact that Fraser Minton

and a top five protected, which now turns into a first round unprotected pick, went the other way. It's like, but I do also understand. And I think that this signing of Troy Stetcher in your depth,

that was an obvious next step to come. You've opened up a little bit of cap space. You moved out a guy who didn't really check any, boxes but otherwise i think that this is a pretty good weekend for toronto and i'm not going to pretend to be the biggest uh prospect guy that's why we have people on here and i talk to other people and listen to other people by all accounts it sounds like toronto had a very successful draft so listening to other people and reading other things i'm happy with i thought i thought you're going to go

with uh i'm glad they took alexander bellickey well that was that was just a very cool thing i found I was like the second they drafted him. Nice player. I was so happy to see them. I was getting clips cut and stuff from our feature and everything. I was getting things pushed out on our channels. Here he is buying steak. Here he's buying candy now.

Watch this. Look at this kid. I'm like texting my dad. I'm like, we went to the grocery store with this kid. You don't understand. This is before the Maple Leafs wave the magic wand over him, drafted him in the second round. But like he's awesome, man.

You should see. Actually, no, I pushed him. to grocery court. You should see him like taking meat off the shelves. This guy's got hands, too. You should see him buy an ice cream. He's just like us. And pasta sauce.

It's amazing. Oh, man. That's fantastic. Good for him. Good for him. That's really good to see him. All right. Is Wish on board tomorrow?

Wish back from wherever he's been? Wish is back? As far as I know, yes, I believe so. Yes. Okay, so here's the deal for the next couple of days. Tomorrow is the sheet at 1 o'clock Eastern right here. And then Wednesday it is. free agency

or do we just call it trade deadline or a version of trade deadline or a combination of both probably a combination of both and we'll see what happens but the action gets underway at noon right here

at a daily faceoff YouTube channel so that will be in place of the sheet on Wednesday and then we'll be back again on Thursday Friday gotcha keeping it hot here boys and girls we're keeping the feet hot so stick with us here

on our daily faceoff YouTube channel and wherever you get your podcast we appreciate the attention appreciate the downloads, appreciate these subscriptions. All of these things free, by the way. Listen as often as you want. Thanks to everyone in the chat.

Thanks to everyone for lending us your ears and your eyeballs as well. We'll be back tomorrow, 1 o'clock with Wyshinsky from ESPN and ESPN.com. And by then, a million new trades to talk about and signings for sure. The way things are going here around the NHL, folks. We'll talk to you tomorrow.