The Sheet with Jeff Marek - GM Searches, Leafs New Direction, Mike Gillis, T.J.Hughes, and more ft. Chris Pronger & David Pagnotta

Episode Date: April 3, 2026

On today’s episode of The Sheet, Jeff Marek is joined by Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Pronger for a wide-ranging conversation about his upcoming book Earned and what the lessons from his legendary NHL career can teach about leadership, work ethic, and building winning teams. Pronger also shares his thoughts on the growing number of NHL general manager searches around the league, including how teams evaluate leadership, the challenges of building a contender in today’s salary cap era, and why the idea of working in an NHL front office still appeals to him. Later in the show, insider David Pagnotta joins Marek to break down the latest surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs GM search and other executive openings around the league, while also discussing the market for NCAA free agents like TJ Hughes and where some of the top college players could land as NHL teams look to add late-season talent.Subscribe to the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel for more NHL analysis, insider reporting, and interviews with the biggest names across the hockey world.#NHL #Hockey #TheSheet #DailyFaceoff #JeffMarek #ChrisPronger #DavidPagnotta #TorontoMapleLeafs #LeafsForever #NHLRumors #NHLNews #HockeyTalkLeave a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheSheetEmail us: [e-mail] TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Ninja: https://www.sharkninja.ca/ninja-crispi-pro-6-in-1-countertop-glass-air-fryer-rose-quartz/AS101CRS.html?utm_source=Meta&utm_medium=Paid+Social&utm_campaign=H1NinjaCrispi&utm_content=NinjaEN&dwvar_AS101CRS_color=cdb9b8Reach 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/@FNBarnBurner🚨 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-faceoffReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oh, hi there once again. Welcome back to the program. This is indeed the sheet. I heard Monday to Friday here on the Nation Network, our daily face off YouTube channel. And wherever you get your podcasts, 1 o'clock Eastern, glad to have you aboard today. There are some days where I like to do like a little preamble off the top, maybe a couple of witty, pithy observations from the evening before in hockey.

But when you have a guest, like Chris Pronger, you get right to it. When you have a guest at the bottom of the hour, like Dave Panjota, our DFO Insider, you get right to it. So let's do that. The blueprint is powered by Fanduel. Download the app today and play your game on Fanduel. Coming up in a couple of moments. He's busy, man.

He is an author. He is a former NHL player. He is a motivational speaker. He is someone who should probably be working in a front office right now. More on that in a couple of moments. He is Chris Pronger. He'll join the program in a couple of moments. We'll talk about all the GM searches going on around the NHL,

NHL issues, and his new book. which will be released later on this month called Earned. Dave Panyoda will talk to us about NHLGM searches, most notably Nashville and Toronto and some talk about free agents as well. And we'll play a clip from University of Michigan standout, free agent, T.J. Hughes, a finalist for the Hobie Baker. In the meantime, let's get right to our first guest,

who is a very busy and important man, and has taken a few moments here out of his busy day to talk to us today on the sheet. He is, of course, Chris Pronger, and he joins me now. Chris, all right today, bud. I'm great. From my car here in L.A. That's lovely. And I saw last night, by the way, we can fire the tweet up and show some of the pictures as well. Big dinner at Timo's place, Sons Salani. Where was Timo?

Tamu was en route from Finland back to Southern California, so he couldn't join us. What was he? I'm always curious. He was always one of my favorite people to talk to, still is, funny guy, supremely talented, as we all know. What was he like as a teammate? And do you have a thought on that, that boozy crew of his that followed you guys around in 2007

en route to your Stanley Cup? A bunch of drunks following the ducks around, all the Tammuz buddies. Yeah, they were awesome. They were fun to be around, I can tell you that. But, you know, I think just, you know, great friends of his, follow him around on his journey.

and, you know, they were in SoCal here for probably two months, sounding up and drinking beer in his sauna and doing all the rest of that. But they were a lot of fun to be around. And apparently, they were good luck charms. Well, I mean, you guys want a Stanley Cup with them in tow. Correct. So no denying that they were good luck charms for you guys. What was Tama like as a teammate, too?

Like, it sounds like, and again, I always, like, Chris, I'll be honest, whenever I hear, like, oh, he's a good guy in the room. I always hear in the back of my head, yeah, that's great. but they don't flood the room. But Tamele would seem to be both, like the guy that was awesome on the ice and the awesome guy in the room too. Yeah, a Hall of Famer on the ice

and a Hall of Famer off the ice. He was the best. Like, just, I used to wait every day before we went out for games, you know, right before the period started or right before the game started, he would come, on the three-minute mark of,

on the clock before we went out, he'd be like, boys, we got to play with passion. and just, you know, you don't think of that as somebody who scored seven. We just lost Chris. We'll get him back here in a couple of seconds. Interesting conversation about Tammu Salani as well. We can all remember the rookie season and the goals and setting the record and him throwing

the glove up in the air, caught by Dallas Aiken. We're getting prongs back here in a couple of seconds, getting him set up back on his video in Southern California. But one of my favorite people to talk to, one of my favorite people that talk about, like he was one of from that generation, whether it was how he, you know, paired up with Paul Korea for all those years, even going to Colorado. He's one of my favorite people that talk to. But anyway, you're talking about the Hall of Fame or talking about passion before games, Chris,

before technology. Yeah, sorry about that. No problem. Yes, exactly. It is 2026. No, he just, I used to just love when he would say, we got to play with passion and just you think about Tamus Lanny. the number of goals he scored the type of player he was,

you don't think about passion and physicality and things like that, but just he played the game hard, he played the game at the highest level, and just what a talent, the finish flash. I remember one time when I was playing in, I think I was in Edmonton, when he had just come back and he had signed with Anaheim the year before I got here,

and he had the knee issues and the knee problems, and I remember him, I was at the blue line, he was at the red line and I was, you know, taking the rush. And all of a sudden I got to the top of the circle, I'm like, oh my God, he's already on top of me. And just remembering, like, the flash is back. Like this, he does not have a bad knee anymore. He's got his burst back and just how he drove that back post. And I don't think people realize, like, how hard he actually played.

He played, you know, on the edge a little bit. He obviously goal scoring, talented player, but he played hard. and with a lot of passion, as he says. Yes, yes. I don't know how they say passion in finish, but nonetheless he's... The thing that always stood out to me from Tammu is, like, I would see, and I think we've all seen,

and you were right there to watch a lot of them, he would take what I would always refer to as the perfect shot, and it wasn't always hard. Like, he just took, like, the shot that the goalie... Like, he would shoot from unexpected places off, unexpected feet, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, and they didn't have to be hard. Like his shot selection.

Like when he released it was perfect, Chris. He had an absolute muffin. We used to bug him all the time. But he found a way. He found the hole. He found that little sliver of opening that he could get it into. And he was able to incredibly accurate. Yeah.

But I mean, I used to watch him and jiggy in practice. And he'd just give it to him about his muffin shot and all the rest of it. but hey, you don't get 700 by being a crappy goal score. No, 100%. Listen, and I'm sure there's plenty of stories about TAMO and the Anaheimdux, and I wrote the forward for your book earned as well. And I want to get a couple of thoughts on that. That's coming out on the 14th of April.

And, you know, I look at this, like, I look at your career, and I look at the things that you've spoken about and the title of your book being earned and how you've talked about that before. And there's a video that reminded me of it. And it's from years ago on driveline, which is a baseball training facility in sight. It's kind of really grown and kind of actually in a lot of ways changed MLB, but nonetheless. And there's a video by guy with the name of Casey Weathers.

Now, Casey Weathers was a pitcher drafted by Colorado. I think it's like sixth overall. But he was the all-in guy. Like you talk about earning things, Chris. And like Casey Weathers was a guy that were everything revolved around making it to ML. be every meal, every nap, every workout, every throwing, such, like all of it. Like he was that guy, right? Earning everything.

You know the old saying there's no elevator success. You take the stairs. That was Casey Weathers. And he never ultimately made it. But his point through all of it was a really good one. He said, hard work doesn't guarantee you anything except the answer to one question. And that is, how good am I? And the majority of people will never get an honest answer because they never applied themselves like that.

They never applied themselves to the point where they, to the point of the title of your book, they never earned it because they never maximized who they could be. But he did. And he said, I got the answer because I know that I gave everything. And the question is, how good am I? Not everyone's going to play defense like Chris Pronger, right? but like people will still get their answer of how good am I if they apply themselves 100% does that resonate with you?

Yeah. Absolutely. You know, I think early in my career I figured out how good do you want to be? How good do you want to be? How great do you want to be? And then, okay, you want to be great.

How dedicated are you? What are you willing to sacrifice? How hard are you willing to work? How much failure you willing to push through? You start answering all these questions and the answer comes to you pretty quickly. to your point about Casey. And I think that's that's really what, you know,

people say a lot of things, but are they willing to take action and go out and execute on those questions or sayings or what have you? And, you know, I think a lot of my book is about challenging people to answer those questions through a lot of the lessons that I learned throughout the course of my life.

Who are the ones, like who are the NHLers that you would look at and say like, that guy earned every single intravice he got? That guy earned every goal. That guy earned every save. That guy earned every win. That guy earned every cup, et cetera. Are there some of those players that come to mind?

Well, you look at what players are willing to go through. I remember, you know, everybody's heard the story of Steve Eisenman at the 2002 Olympics and how much you wanted to be there, how much he wanted to win a gold medal, and what he was willing to go through to the painstaking efforts to make sure that he could play in the midst of that year. And then to go on and win a Stanley Cup in the same year, is remarkable. You know, he was going into do therapy and treatment

and all the rest of that, five, six hours before games just so that he could get onto the ice and help us try to win a gold medal. And when you see leadership like that, when you see somebody that dedicated and willing to go through all of that to help a team, you can't help but want to be a part of that and help galvanize your team to come together.

And you see that and you have a belief that we are willing to do literally anything to win this gold medal. And ultimately that helps build the chemistry in the room. It helps bring us all together. And guys are much more willing to do what's asked to them, whatever role that is, when you have people like that in your locker room.

You know, what's into about that too is a lot of guys will say, and they'll do it. Like, they'll put in the work. But as far as like achieving a goal, they'll still only want to do it on their terms. I really, I'll work hard. I'll do, every single day, all of it, but I'm only going to do things that I want to do. I'll be great at it, but I'm not willing to change to make a goal.

And I always look at that and say, well, that's great. Everyone in the NHL wants to win the Stanley Cup. But so many guys say it and the majority of them, what they mean is I'll do anything as long as it's on my terms. Because I don't want to change. Yeah. Yeah. And that's it. It's, yeah, we have to be always.

willing to evolve and adapt and change through our experiences. You know, you get battle tested every playoffs. You get checked every playoffs under the guise of how good do you want to be. Are you willing to come together? How are we going to play? What are you willing to? And you see the teams that are willing to. They're dive and face first in front of shots to block shots.

They're doing whatever it takes. They're taking the cream against the boards to get it out at the blue line, all the rest of that stuff. And it's very cliche to say. but when you see your teammates willing to do that, how are you not? And why would you not want to do that? And to galvanize the team and bring you together

at a much more team-friendly way in which we're trying to win and trying to battle through adversity and at every moment there can be a momentum shift, there can be something that happens that changes the course of a game or a series. and what we're willing to do and what we're willing to sacrifice, oftentimes can change that.

To your career specifically, was there a moment like that with your 2007 ducks? I remember asking Scott Niedermeyer, what was the moment that put things over the top for Anaheim? And he said when we brought in Brad May, that changed a lot of the Anaheim ducks. Do you have an answer to that one? Was there that one moment that something happened, someone did something that took the Anaheim Ducks?

time ducks to a different level. I think there's a couple. That's certainly one of them. And I'll back it up a bit. We went through some adversity in the middle of this season. We got off that great start. And then I got hurt. Scotty got hurt.

We went into a little bit of a lull. We got away from our game. And then we found our identity. We made the Bradmay trade. There was a lot of big names on the market. And I think they kicked tires on a lot of them. And ultimately, I think with Berkey making that loan, that depth move, and said, this is my team. I'm trusting these guys, and I'm going to add a little

bit of depth. You know, obviously May Day, a long-storied career was a huge part of our success and our identity. You know, we played a rough and tumble game, a physical game, and he added to that, but he could do a lot more things. You know, he could kill penalties. He could he could provide a spark when needed and knew his role and played his role to a T. And I think bringing guys into that locker room that knew their roles as good as Brad did, I think only added to our depth, but also our mindset going into the playoffs. I want to transition this to sort of other careers outside of hockey. Like you've done something really interesting here.

And your name, like, well, after you retired, like around hockey broadcast circles, the conversation revolved around, oh, man, if only Pronger would do TV full time. Oh, man, he would be awesome. He would kill it. The NHL, like it broadcast needs like a super. superstar to be on there, like, kind of like how, you know, how, you know, the TNT show does, right, with with, with Jack and Barclay, it's like, yeah, if we had someone like that for hockey and the writing and the media appearances, um, and the interest in, in working in NHL front offices. I want to drill down on a couple of things here, but just sort of as a generality. What were you able to take from your playing career that helped turn Chris Pronger hockey player into Chris Pronger,

television, digital, book writer, and NHL or team executive. What were the things you took from your playing career into that? I think willingness to do the work and make sure I was prepared as possible every step of the way, whether that was working in the Department of Player of Safety, understanding and knowing the nuance to all the rules and all the precedents to working in the front office with Dale Tallell in Florida, understanding, you know, from pro scouting to amateur scouting to development, to contracts, to team building, to then, you know, kind of going off and now doing, you know, broadcasting and talking on the TV and imparting some wisdom as to what I see on a night-to-night

basis in the National Hockey League. And I think I like being able to showcase the nuance that I see, whether it be for, from a defensive standpoint or an offensive standpoint and why and how goals happen or why and how goals didn't go in, how players are defending, who's at the top of their game, who's struggling, why are they struggling, what can they change,

what do I see that maybe somebody else doesn't? And so being able to kind of boil that down and put it into layman's term and kind of get rid of hockey speak, if you will. And, you know, we always hear details and all the rest of this stuff. Well, what are the details? you know, the fan at home wants to know what exactly that means.

What are the details? Okay, getting it in and out at the blue lines and taking a hit to make a play and all these cliches we hear. What exactly, how do these teams get away from that? How do they, why are they not doing that? Because those are simple things. Like, why do some teams create more off the rush than others? You know, why are teams dumping it all the time? You know, all the different metrics and things that we can track.

You know, why are some teams doing it? Are they playing to the abilities of their team? And is that why they're doing it? Or is that just the way the coach likes to play? You know, all these different things you can kind of walk through and showcase. Is it pretty obvious to you? Because listen, you have a really good brain for the game, obviously. Is it obvious to you when you look at a team and you look at how they're constructed?

Is it easy for you to look at it and say, this is a general manager and coach that are in sync? Or is this a general manager and head coach that are on completely separate pages? This guy, this manager is giving this coach nothing to what he needs to coach. Can you see that? Yeah, I think you can see it a little bit. I think it's more, and also is the coach willing to adapt and adjust a little bit to the players that he has? And playing to the identity and skill set that those players have.

Oftentimes, you know, we're talking 80s and 90s, it was the players need to conform to the coach. and oftentimes they just move players. Now, you know, it's hard to move players and there's a lot of things that go into that. It's easier to fire the coach. And now the coaches know that. So when you're hiring your coach, the general manager and ownership all the way down

need to understand how do you want to play the game? You know, how do you want to set up your team? How do you want to play the game? And then you have to find a coach that A can coach that but can also teach the league is much younger, teach these kids how to play either in that structure, but then help them develop and grow into the types of players that management, ownership, fans think those players can be.

And how do we continue to evolve and develop our core group and then those around them to keep implementing in the salary cap areas? That's what makes or breaks the team is how you develop those players. Are there different styles of managers for different teams? And the two examples now, like Toronto's looking for a general manager. Nashville is looking for a general manager. Do you look at those two marketplaces and say, there are some managers that will fit in Toronto that won't in Nashville,

and there are some managers that'll fit in Nashville that won't fit in Toronto. Is there that much of a discrepancy? Or does the same skill set translate to both? I don't want to offend my but a smaller market in Nashville versus, you know, we all know what the circus is like in Toronto, the major market of Toronto. Like, this would be blunt.

Let's be blood here. Yes. I think it's a yes and no. It really just depends on, if we're talking Nashville, what does the owner envision for their team? And then you have to build out accordingly. You know, whether it's a present hockey operations, whether it's a general manager, and then, okay,

then it's the coach. How do you want the team to play? What do the players look like? What do we have in the pipeline? all that good stuff. And then from a Toronto perspective, it's, you know, obviously a lot more scrutiny, notoriety, conversations with media.

You know, you probably've got five people in Nashville and you've got 50 to 100 in Toronto. Are you, you know, are you able to communicate a message? Are you able to walk people through in a way that they're going to understand it so that they realize, okay, there's a plan, there's an understanding of how we're going to go execute on that. You're not going to go into the media and walk through your plan. and tell people this is what I'm going to do.

Like that's, that's assinine. No team is going to do that. I don't care if you're in Toronto, Montreal. You know, if we look at Montreal, they went through a rebuild. They're now coming out of the rebuild. And now they've, you know, playoffs last year, playoffs this year. Now you can see they're past the rebuild. And now they're on the upswing of where are these players going to be in another year after this year?

They've got some young talent coming into the pipeline again. What does that look like? And then you look at Toronto, they're not in that. Are they retooling? Are they rebuilding? Are they? I think somebody has to go in and just have a plan. But they're not going to tell the fan base. They're going to tell ownership, this is my plan.

But they're not going to tell the fans. They just need to explain on the periphery. These are the options and things that we might do. But you can't manage a team in the media. I don't know anybody that's done that. Having said that, communicating with the people that have the nerve, to buy tickets is a pretty important thing. Correct.

For any organization. So how do you, so here's the question then. How do you walk that line? Like, sure, you want to be transparent, but at the same time, like, you're not, because when you're brought, when you're telling fans what you're going to do, you're also telling 31 other teams what you're going to do with the exact same time. How do you, how do you walk that line? That's the, like, that's a trick.

You want to, like, have a communication with your fans, yet at the same time. there's trade secrets yeah you have to thread the needle I think it's you're presenting an ideology at first of this is how I want to build a team you know I think we talk in general terms this is how I want to build a team

if you're the the general manager this is how I want to build a team these are the you know everybody's going by the way everybody's going for the same players we want being strong fasts highly skilled on and on and it's about going and finding those I mean, it's not a secret. But it's finding those diamonds in the rough.

Where do you get them? Especially if you're Toronto and your team that doesn't have a lot of draft capital, you're going to have to go find college free agents. You're going to have to go find other free agents in the marketplace, restricted, unrestricted, on and on and on. And then make some smart trades to find guys that fit how you want to build your team all the while managing expectations of the current players of, I talked about this yesterday,

Like, how do you, you have to find out what Austin Matthews wants to do. He's the linchpin in all this with respect. He's got two years left. You can't get stuck in the same position they were in with Mitch Marner. Right. If you do that, the game's over. So you have to find out what he wants to do and then go and execute around that. But I would imagine whoever comes in, we'll have a quick conversation to find that out.

and then walk. You're not going to tell them exactly what you're going to do, but you have to explain to the player, these are the moves that I expect to make because I can tell you a couple times during my career where our general manager in St. Louis did not tell an unrestricted free agent what his plans were,

and that goaltender went elsewhere and beat us and won a Stanley Cup. And you can put two and two together on that one. Yeah. Let me ask you about your personal career here, too, and ambitions. Like, I hear you start to talk about managing teams here. And then there's, like, that prong or spark, right? Like, I've watched you going back.

I've watched you going back to, like, the colitons, dude. Like, I've seen, I remember I was telling the story. I was in Kitchener two weeks, but I remember watching you play with the Peterborough Pete's as a university and you're, like, just like destroying Rangers guys. And I'm like, what is this? What is this? What is this defenseman here? It crushing the kitchen and Rangers.

But like, I hear you talking about managing and there's like that all of a sudden like your voice goes up a little bit. And there's that there's that excitement in your voice again. That sounds pretty attractive to you, true or false? I think team building. I think building anything is attractive. You know, I've always enjoyed doing that and putting the pieces together, you know, the 50,000 foot view of trying to make the pieces match. And then watching them kind of grow and develop and evolve into what you use. you can see, you know, two or three years down the line.

And then it comes to fruition. You're like, oh, wow, it worked. And constantly just challenging yourself. I think at the end of the day, I just like to challenge myself to do new things, to write a book, to public speaking. I never thought I'd ever do public speaking. That certainly wasn't on my bill card, but I wanted to challenge myself. I'm contrary to popular belief, I'm interested. Hang on.

I don't, no, I don't like talking. No, stop. I remember when you were, I remember talking to you when you were a kid playing with Peterborough. You're always a great, like you've always been a go-to for everybody. Like everyone from like Brofey at the Hockey News to me to like to everybody for years, Chris. No one's buying that. No one's buying that. Well, that's talking hockey.

That's easy. I can talk hockey all day long. That's easy. It's the other stuff. The personal stuff and the other stuff. But, you know, but being in a room, it's just me and you talking on on this. call and it's maybe some other people are watching but i don't know that but uh you know talking to reporters easy it's when you're in a big group and you're you know you're throwing yourself out there and

you're talking about things that are personal and you're trying to make an impact on those people that are paying attention and listening to you talk and and giving them something tangible to to take home that they can affect change in their own lives that's that's what i enjoy and i see people that you, to your point, you get that glimmer in their eye and you see that shoulders kind of pick up and their head pick up and they're walking around with a little more confidence thinking, wow, I can implement this in my life. And things are going to change. Now, they might not change overnight. And that goes back to your question, you know, where you're looking at it going, okay, you have to work, you know, you go back to Casey's stuff, you have to work. It might

take a year. It might take two years. It might take three years. It might take four. It might take five. you have to be willing to put in the work and trust the process and have conviction in what you're doing is the right thing and what you're doing is going to work. Because it doesn't always just fall into place and magically appear and happen. It's a process and you have to trust it that you're doing things in the right manner

in a meticulous manner. And it's part of the plan. Now, the plan always, there's always iteration and change to it. It's always evolving. Players in, players out, you know, availability. etc. But, you know, salary cap issues and all the rest of that. But, you know, building something has always been interesting to me. You know, there's an old, I came up who said it's an old military

saying, plans are meaningless, but planning is everything. Plans are meaningless, but planning is everything. Does that hit a spot with you? Does that make sense? Absolutely. Ever evolving. Yeah. You need to plan. You plan for everything. You plan for success. You plan for failure. You plan for everything.

And what are you going to do? And then as it happens, you're reevaluating and constantly changing and evolving and adapting the plan. But you have a plan. And then it changes. And you adapt to what happens in real time. And you're looking at everything. You know, if we're talking about hockey, you're looking at scouting in the eye test. And then you're looking at analytics and data and all the rest of the web and all these different things.

And you're taking in all this information so that you can then utilize it and make the best decisions possible for the team. Not only at that point in time, but then in subsequent years. Makes sense. Okay. Last one for you. Give me the elevator pitch for earned. It is a playbook of sorts. You know, it's part memoir, part life lessons gleamed from, you know, my youth hockey day.

my NHL career and then post-playing days and kind of walk people through how to level up, how to create standards, how to be difference makers in their life, and then to go take action and execute. And, you know, I think set the bar high, challenge yourself, trust the process, but also make sure that you own every decision. And throughout the course of the book, I own every good decision and every bad decision. And there's plenty of those in there. Yes.

even Edmonton. It's in the book. You'll figure it out once you read it, but you know, and own every one of those decisions. Nobody bats a thousand. I can tell you that. We all make mistakes, and it's up to us to not only own them, but then, you know, make them right in some situations

and in others, just own it and move on and learn from it. Earned. It comes out April the 14th, encourage everyone to pick this one up. Chris, been to the light as always. Thanks so much for this. Enjoy the rest of your day, your week, and we will catch up soon. Thanks so much for sharing some experiences with me today. Really appreciate it.

You bet. Thanks, thanks, Jeff. There he is. Chris Pronger. Enjoy him while you have him in media, folks. This is the thing that I've said about, I've been consistent with about Pronger for a while now. Enjoy Chris while he's doing media because there will come a day where Chris Pronger will be the general manager of an NHL team.

I don't know if he's got to be an AGM somewhere for. first before he gets a general manager position. He's someone that can probably just walk into a GM spot tomorrow. But that is someone that is going to be working in hockey management. Should he want it sooner than later? And again, the book earned comes out on April the 14th. That should be a great one. Okay, this segment is the presentation of Ninja Crispy Pro Countertop Glass Air Friar.

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It's customizable with 6-1 functions, max crisp, air-fry, bake, roast, re-chrisp, and dehydrate. For more information on the Ninja Crispy Pro, visit the link in our description, or go to shark ninja.ca. Do we have Dave Panjota standing by? We got a lot to get to with Dave. Yes, we do.

Let's get right to him. DFO Insider from the Fourth Period, our good friend Dave Panjota, who where everybody else on the network is bailing, not our man Dave, he's still in here. You want to talk about grinding? This guy grinds. Hey, real quick, before we get into a couple of things here,

just had a conversation with Chris Pronger. Sooner or later, media is going to lose Chris Pronger. Like, he is going to be a general manager at some point sooner than later. Like, that does seem to be the career path here for Pronger, agree, disagree. No, fully agree. Yeah. Like, we're not going to get. him this often by any stretch and suddenly, you know, the text messages back are going to be

less frequent. I can't answer that. Figure that out yourself. Here they come. That's a nice way, putting it. Yeah, exactly. Because, yeah, he is. I think he's poised to join an organization pretty soon.

I heard you right before coming on. Maybe it's an AGM role. Maybe it's right at the top. But without question, sooner or later, this guy is going to be at the helm of a hockey club. The traditional way to do it is do the AGM rule, I understand that. But for someone like Pronger, does it not, and given the experience in the NHL, with NHL teams, media, a player, like, does it not seem as if there should be a door open, not that you just get to hand someone to GM's, but like a door open to go right to the GM chair?

Yeah, I mean, look, he's dabbled in other areas of business. And that's a big part of the equation as well. And he's obviously a brilliant hockey mind and a guy who's been there a number of times, you know, Hall of Fame presence. But he has the other intricacies of running a hockey club from the business side of it, which is pretty important, you know, certainly. And you see like Matthew Darsh, after his playing career, he went into the business side before getting into the hockey element.

Like he was a company out of Montreal. I can't remember the name, I think Delmar, but he handled marketing for them and business ops for them before going back into the hockey. side of things with the Tampa Bay Lightning. So he gained experience in that element. Prong says a lot of business side to him along with obviously the hockey

background. Danny Breyer, Philadelphia Flyers went to Wharton and then got back into the hockey. That makes a ton of sense. Okay, so a few things to get here. The Leafs General Manager's Search and you know, right away

the name Mike Gillis came out and I think for a good reason. And that was sort of backed up by Keith Pelley's press conference and he talked about data. By the way, I was mentioning this on the show yesterday. Not to be too cynical, Dave, but I think you can sympathize with this.

How many people out there are going to now rebrand themselves as data-centric candidates? All of a sudden. I'll come short of calls. calling it grifting, but how many people all of a sudden now will present themselves as data-centric for the first time in their careers? I surrender the floor to you on that one. Yeah, I think some resumes have been adjusted this week.

As soon as he said that, the resumes, oh, shit, I got to change that. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. And he even says, he goes, I got a bunch of calls. I'm probably going to get about 20 more after this is done. And he's right. He's probably got 40 or 50. Yeah.

I mean, you know, it's, it's, he also mentioned the importance of having the hockey background and the hockey people as part of this. And, and that's why to me, this sounds like this is going to be a multi-tier kind of add to the organization, going back to where they had the president along with the GM, Shanney, in that role and whatnot. Now, last year at the press conference, I was there as well when they announced that Brennan Shanahan was not returning. And that position was being eliminated. There's obviously been a shift in mindings. mindset to the possibility, and it's not a foregone conclusion that they're going to bring in a president of hockey ops, but it certainly looks like it's trending in that direction, where you're going to have the top of the helm of the hockey department,

and then you're going to have the analytics and the data-centric mindset as part of it. This is going to be a marriage of the two by every indication. And for the hockey guys that are there that have the, or at least have educated themselves in the data element and the analytics part of this game, you know, there's certainly a possibility that they're going to have a little bit of an edge on some of the competition that are more inclined to be one or the other versus a combo of the two. And, I think on both sides, you're going to have to, sorry, the other thing as part of this,

you know, he mentioned, Keith Pelley mentioned, and was specific to mention that the six assistant general managers as part of the organization, maybe that's not the right structure in place. And that's to be evaluated as well. That certainly will be evaluated once whoever is brought in is brought in. So I'm anticipating additional changes on the managerial side internally for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Once they bring in president and or GM and then to kind of go from there. But it's no question that, you know, he pushed that that narrative, that moving forward,

there will be a very data-centric type of mentality to. building this hockey club. The goal is to be in the playoffs next season and then continue to grow from there to get the Stanley Cup contender status legitimately, and they're going to do it what seems to be going in this direction. But again, there's a lot of emphasis on it because of the data-centric term that he used multiple times. It's got to be a marriage of the two. And I think that's where we're starting to hear names that, yes, there's the analytics driven and analytics specific like Sunny Meta in Florida, but also Brett Peterson and others that have the hockey mentality that may have married the two already. So we're going to hear some interesting names.

And sorry, this is long-winded, but going back to Gillis. No, it's good. This is good. Well, thank you. Going back to Gillis and, you know, his potential candidacy for this and them reaching out, I spoke to some people near close to him. I think there's, it's got to be the absolute right fit for him to consider joining the Toronto Maple Leafs organization. I think people pinpoint that, myself included, have pinpointed him as a prime candidate, but I think it has to be the right fit and the right direction of this organization for him to consider, seriously consider joining the Maple Leafs.

Well, it seems as if, and again, like anything you say here about the next candidate in any situation always sounds like taking a shot at the previous either manager or coach. but this isn't what I intend here. But it looks like the Maple Leafs have a chance here to do something really unique, not just in this team's history, although that is true, but also in the NHL. Like we talk a lot about how there seems to be a transition happening once again on the ice. You know, all of a sudden, you know, Connor McDavid's not young. Nathan McKinnon's not young as this thing now starts a turnover. to the Macclan Sellebrini, Connor Baddara, Leo Carlson,

like that Matthew Schaefer, like that era of player. And we've seen this before. You know, once upon a time, general managers were all in their 60s, and then all of a sudden all the GMs were in their 50s. Coaches used to be all in their 50s, and now they're all in their 40s, right? So things continue to get younger.

But from a group point of view, and again, like I will point to Mike Gillis as the linchpin of this. If it is Gillis, I'm really interested in who he would bring with him. Because they have a chance to do something really progressive here. We'll get to the coach in a second, but they really do have a chance.

And I know a lot of people are already, like, locked up. Like they're already like, Alexander Mandricki's already assistant general manager and Tyler Delo and, et cetera, et cetera, Tim Barnes. Like they're all already locked into their position. So they're not going to make lateral moves.

but there's still a lot of interesting people out there that Gillis could tap should they go in that direction, long-winded side. Right, right. Yeah, and no, but you're, I think, and that's where the mentality, I think, comes in with respect to them reconsidering the possibility of bringing in that president of hockey ops. It's going to be, and as I said before, like, I think there are going to be additional changes

once they bring in these people or person. I think there will be additional changes to the management structure of the Toronto Maple Leafs. And I think a lot of that's going to deal with bringing in the analytics-driven department and enhancing it even further. They've got the cap guy already in Brandon Prynum, who is going to be considered for other positions elsewhere. He's already on Nashville's radar.

But to combo the cap element with the analytics and the hockey eye, like this is like a trifecta type of thing that some teams are considering doing and some teams have started to do. And I think you're bang on. I think the Toronto Maple Leafs are, at least from Pelley and his group, in terms of ownership, are looking at bringing in that type of structure in place. And then how that all gets defined will be up to the individuals that are brought in. But you could certainly see a scenario where it's Gillis.

And then perhaps the GM is the married analytics hockey eye. And then you've got to build out your hockey analytics department. the previous regime didn't put too much emphasis in that from the analytic side. And it seems like they want to have that shift because certainly, based on what he said on Tuesday, Nipelli indicated that, yeah, we need to focus on the data slash analytics. I like the way that he said data-centric because there seems to be when it's analytics specific, there's this weird notion in sports lately that it's it's numbers only and that's not going to you know that's not going to get things done the data centric has kind of shifted away from the term analytics

and and I think that was strategic on his part was it a trial balloon there's a theory out there that that was a trial balloon to see how the market reacted like I've known like a full disclosure like Heath and Scott Moore with two people that hired me like so I have that that background so I I was saying this on the show yesterday. You can quibble with what Keith Pelley said and how you feel about Keith Pelley. I'm talking about hockey fans here, Maple Leafs fans specifically. But Keith Pelley doesn't do anything frivolously. Keith Pelley does things very deliberately.

And sometimes things that he does have an agenda to them that might not be obvious at the time. I was on with Securacen Price yesterday. I do ahead every week with them. And one of the things that Maddie was bringing up was, you know, One of the theories out there was that by saying data-centric, it was a trial balloon to see how that term went over and perhaps a chumming of the waters for someone like Mike Gillis, just to see how the market reacted.

Like sometimes, you know, sometimes these press conferences are glorified, you know, focus tests to see how messages are just going to go over. Like, do you think part of that was essentially a Keith Pelley and Toronto Maple Leafs, for lack of a better term, focus group? focus test. Yeah. Well, I think that's why he, as I mentioned, specifically said data-centric versus analytics-driven or analytics-focused or whatever, changing the terminology to see if that's going to resonate a little bit better or be more acceptable to the fan base. And not just to the fan base, I think you just mentioned it, to your point, to see if candidates are going to want to be part

of something that's data-centric, which is just another term, basically, for analytics-driven. But, you know, can you work within a structure that is heavy on the numbers? Now, it has to match the eye test in most degrees. You know, Eric Kulski and the crew in Carolina, the hockey side of things is pretty much Roddy Brindamore and saying, here's what I need on my team. This is the type of players I need. These are the, here are some comparisons.

Go figure that out. Go bring me that caliber player or that person that you believe fits the numbers, but that can fit this system. I think that's where they would like to go. The Maple Leafs would like to go in that element. And I think other teams have kind of brought that into the mix as well to different degrees. But that's kind of how we're seeing some of these hockey teams operate. And the Toronto Maple Leafs, you know, specifically including or mentioning youth movements

and things of that nature with regards to the Canadians and Sabres, which was interesting, certainly, for him to kind of pinpoint them specifically. He tried to then mention the rest of the teams in the Atlantic, but he then emphasized for a second time the Sabres and Habs and how they've kind of gone about their business in the last little while. It's clear that the Toronto Maple Leafs want to follow that model to a degree while being competitive, basically ASAP. Okay, so we do wonder about the coach in Toronto as well.

And I saw you talking about Manny Malhotra. Yeah. Fascinating name. We don't know about Adam Foote and the Vancouver Canucks and the future there. The one thing that, and again, let me get way ahead of myself here. Let me get way ahead of everybody here. There is one thing that I would think would complicate, curious your thoughts on this, that would complicate a team hiring Mani Malhotra as their coach, and that's his son.

So Caleb Malhotra is going to go really high in the draft. He's the best center available in this year's draft. Vancouver is drafting high. Toronto might draft high as well. if either of those two teams draft Caleb Malhotra, will that, should that, disqualify Mani from coaching that team, just because you don't want that father's son dynamic

for the obvious optics of it. Right. It's an interesting, yeah, you know what, I'll be honest with you, Jeff, I didn't think of that. It's, it makes a lot of sense as to why a team wouldn't. You don't want to go in. You don't want to go in. You don't want it.

it. You don't. Yeah. Yeah. No, exactly. Because that's a, that's a dangerous slope. It's not even slippery. It's a dangerous slope optically and publicly. Now, with respect to Vancouver, I haven't, like, I know there's a lot of talk right now with regards to Alveen and Rutherford, you know, planning his out. I think he'll be around next season, Rutherford. But beyond that, I'm not too sure. I don't know where Alveen is right now in terms of that same mentality. Although I, It wouldn't be surprised if there is a change at the helm in that regard this offseason or when their season ends. But I haven't heard much on foot. That's a little bit of pushback.

Can I pause on that? That's BS. Yeah. I really hate that because we all know who makes it a decision. Yeah. Because I've heard that too. And I think it's bullshit. Like we all know who makes the decisions in Vancouver.

And if they end up hanging and you can feel however anyone watching can feel however they want about Patrick Alvinn. But if Alvin is the one that they hang out to dry for the decisions that we're, were made when we all know where the decisions are being made, I'm sorry. That's BS. I don't like it either. He's the one that walks the plank. Yeah. And I believe Rutherford has a year left on his contract.

I'm not 100% on it, but people that I was talking to this week said that he's got another year on that deal. He's getting paid pretty handsomely. One more year to go and then, you know, people expect a bit of a send-off. afterwards. Making the Alvin move or the GM move now would be a little bit questionable. And it's not just you, like there will be other people that will take that in a rough way. Like you're using that as the scapegoat right now to make this change. And whoever you bring in is going to help the transition of the president.

eventually retiring. But that's kind of all the ideas that are being discussed or have been discussed internally anyway with respect to the Canucks. Bringing it back to foot, I haven't heard as much, like I know his name, you know, kind of has been out there to a certain extent, but I don't think there's an appetite, at least from ownership, to make that coaching change now. Maybe later, maybe later being next season and on. But but, but the hen, the Malhotra element comes into play. And if the organization feels very highly that he is, you know, we can't afford to let this guy go, then maybe that changes that mindset and that philosophy. Because I know there's a little bit of regret internally in the LA King's organization

for letting Marco Stern go over to Boston and not making a change behind the bench and bringing him in last offseason. They could have. They had the chance. Exactly. They had the chance. you know, does Vancouver learn from that if they really believe Malhotra is their guy? Because I can tell you, the L.A. Kings are going to have interest in Manny Malhotra. And I think if Toronto Maple Leafs do make a change behind the bench,

and it still seems like that's likely. And credit to Keith Pelley for deflecting because he was asked about it. And he said, that's the new guys. You know, whoever's heading hockey ops, that'll be his decision. And then just leave it at that. Hopefully nobody asks me another question. So good for him on that. But that's kind of like, I can see the Leafs going in that direction too.

Here's the thing, like, what of Vancouver or Toronto. They get the lottery luck and they draft. Here's the thing that complicates it. What if they drive? They both get, like one of the two gets the third pick. Right. Yeah. And that's, I mean.

Or even the second. Like, I could see Caleb Mahhotra going too. There's a lot of people very high on them. Like you sat top center in the draft, right? And I think from the Leafs, I mean, well, it's tough to, it's tough to say right now because we don't know, which is also part of the reason why, you know, Pelley mentioned in a perfect world, middle of May, middle of May, perfect world, we've got our guy. Worst case, it's the first week of June. You're giving yourself that two-week buffer. I think personally you should probably make this decision sooner, beginning first half of May, but he indicated middle of May is the perfect time frame because it gives you time.

to kind of plan things out. And by middle of May, you'll know your draft lottery standings. We'll know where the teams kind of fall and rank because that's going to be prior to that. So maybe teams like Toronto wait until they know what the draft order is going to be in the first round before making those types of decisions, Vancouver included. Interesting. Okay, before I let you go, we're going to play a clip here from T.J. Hughes that I recorded a couple of months ago.

College free agents. And he's right. The thing there's like, I think it's like 30 teams, Dave, that are that are chasing, that are chasing T.J. Hughes. And the one thing that I've said is like, he's led Michigan in scoring the last two seasons.

And the one thing about T.J. Hughes is, unlike a lot of other college free agents forward, specifically. Generally, you don't find free agents that give you offense. Those guys are done. Like those guys are drafted. Those guys are part of organizations. That's different. one with T.J. Hughes. Classic late bloomer,

led Michigan and scoring last two seasons. 30 teams chasing. I know Edmonton's been there. Vancouver's been there. Colorado. Like, do you have a sense? Yeah. Like, do you have a sense like which way Hughes could be leaning here? And I know Frozen Four in Vegas coming up, et cetera,

but isn't it fascinating one? It is because there are pretty much the entire league that has interest in this kid. like legitimate interest. This isn't just what you consider. This is we want you here. So, you know, he's being sold on all 30 of those markets.

And which one is you going to choose? Well, that's what, you know, you got to evaluate. And, you know, we just rifled off a few teams. But like, there's pretty much the entire league that has interest. Yeah, that wants to get a hold of this kid because of what he's capable of. And like this, he's 24. Like, he can slot in. Like, obviously you'll have to.

to get adjusted and this, that, and the other and all that stuff with the system and, and obviously the league being considerably better. But this is a player that can potentially step in immediately at his age. And that also, for a lot of teams, is ridiculously attractive. And that's why I think teams like Toronto and Edmonton have viewed him as a player that can step in and, you know, play with some of the big boys right out of the gate, or at least they want to see that. and how attractive is that to him to join an organization with a Connor McDavid caliber,

a Nathan McKinnon caliber, a Sidney Crosby in the last couple of years of his career caliber, and so on and so on. So I don't know what that timeline is for him just yet. And I thought by now we'd have a better indication of when things we're going to narrow down to a short list. but I think there's an overwhelming factor of just all of these teams and so many options available that he's got to take his time and do his due diligence to make sure he's making the right decision for him. Excellent points.

This has been great. Listen, I know it's a day when a lot of people have bailed, but not you. First star, Premier 12th, Dave Pan Yota. Thanks as always, bud. Have a great weekend. You're rolling the show too. So first star times five is for you. I got nothing else to do in my life.

That's it. I just talk about hockey and then twiddle my thumbs until I'm back on the air. But thanks for the kudos, pal. You'd be good. Thanks, Dave. You too, buddy. Take care. The Great Day Pan Yota joins us, DFO Insider. Do not forget that show live alongside our Fank Gaffarra, Wednesday is 3 o'clock Eastern right here on our daily face-off YouTube channel and wherever you get your podcast. Let's play this T.J. Hughes video. So this is going, so we're going to release the full video. So we recorded this when we were at Michigan a couple of months ago in Ann Arbor on Notre Dame weekend.

It's when Novankovic got hit by Danny Nelson. And so we're planning to release this when he makes his decision. But here's a clip of T.J. Hughes, who is a finalist for the Hobie Baker, we should point out as well. Here's T.J. Hughes, part of the conversation, which will be released whenever he makes his decision. Man, Norado has done a great job with this and other players. Here's T.J. Hughes of Michigan. How are aware are you about how much interest there is in you from NHL teams?

Because it's significant. You know it's significant. Yeah, I mean, like I try not to think about it too much. Like, just kind of let people in my corner kind of handle that. And just kind of worry about playing my game and helping these guys and helping our, helping Michigan win in general. But yeah, obviously I'm still trying to play for the next level. And that's my goal at the end of the day.

but I just feel like being where my feet are and just worrying about the team and worrying about what I can do to help the team when each night kind of helps me get to there anyway. But you do realize, like you do bring something unique. Like whenever we talk about, you know, college free agents, for example,

generally, and this is not a meant as a slight, because it's the NHL, but it's a lot of, like, depth players, right? But you bring, like, a talent and points and goals and faceoffs and these types of things. like something that's different than a lot of other maybe traditional college free agents that we all talk about at the end of the season. Yeah, I mean, I think I do bring a lot to the table. I think I pride myself on making plays, scoring, being offensive.

I think another thing I really try to kind of work on is just being hard in the defensive zone because at the next level, if you're playing against bigger guys, stronger guys, more skilled guys. So being someone that coaches can trust and stuff, I think that's something this year that, I really try to work on. But yeah, like you said, I think I bring a lot to the table and some unique talents that I think at the next level will help me if I continue to work on them. But, yeah. Brandon Nerato has a lot of reasons to be proud of the work that he's done at Michigan.

And that's going to be another brick that gets laid here when T.J. Hughes signs with an NHL team. And as we mentioned, there are a number of teams 30, I believe, that are. significantly interested in T.J. Hughes. That is a hell of a hockey player right there. So that, the full interview is coming out whenever T.J. Hughes makes his decision. So stay tuned for that one right here at a daily faceoff YouTube channel. In the meantime, it is glad to welcome back to the program. And listen, Zach and I have some travel coming up in the next little while, starting with Newfoundland. I'm not sure if we're allowed

to say that, but we're off to Newfoundland soon and then out west to a number of cities as well. So it's good to have our friends at Airbnb back with us here on the program. You know, Zach, it's that time of year again where kids hockey really starts to wind down. Bitter sweet, right? Maybe a couple of games left. Maybe a tournament, but that's about it. You know, I've got two boys that play hockey. You played minor hockey at a high level.

And I'll tell you, you know what the truth about all of it is, right? What's that? Do you remember the games or do you remember the travel tournaments? tournaments, hands down. They were the best. Right? For players and also for parents. And what our family started to do a few years ago is book places on Airbnb.

I remember when we started, it was a baseball trip in Barry Ontario. And one of the parents asked if we wanted to book on Airbnb together. Sure, let's give it a shot. Best decision. You know why? Why? Laundry. Baseball uniforms get dirty.

Having that washer dry. dryer right there was a godsend. Plus, the kids had an absolute ball. Pardon the pun. Been booking on Airbnb ever since. And hockey tournaments? You need all the space you can get to air out a hockey bag. You know that.

So, yeah, you book places on Airbnb too, right? Yeah, I book places on Airbnb all the time. A bunch of my old minor hockey buddies and I are all kind of getting to that age here and now. Everybody's getting married. So we just booked a whole home together for this summer for a wedding. It makes it really easy. It gets everybody together in one spot. You remember that place we booked on Airbnb and Muskoka last summer for work, right?

How great was that? Place was gorgeous, right on the water, clean, spacious, and the big bonus, hot tub. Yeah, that place was perfect. You start the day in the water, you end the day in the water. Nothing beats it. It was easy too. We just showed up, picked up the key, and that was it. Really simple.

You know, the next time our family is away, we're looking at hosting on Airbnb. It's super flexible, practical, and helps cover the cost of a vacation or building another rink in the backyard next winter. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca. Slash host. And as we travel once again, look forward to booking on Airbnb, whether we're out east

or out west. All right. Anything before we get to our family. and dual segment here at the end. By the way, great haircut on you these days, by the way. Looking very sharp. Anything from either Pronger or from Dave a couple of seconds ago? I can just listen to Pronger talk about leadership and all the time, all day, all day.

And it kind of pisses me off a little bit that we're going to have that taken away from us to an extent because he's going to be behind closed doors so we don't get to hear all this stuff and his perspective. You know, I do think one of the things he said, and in the grand scheme of things, it's not that important, but I do appreciate it a lot. And it's that what he tries to do on TV and you notice this. And I'm glad he brought it up is actually explaining to people what the hell is going on. So often, as he pointed out,

the examples of doing the little things right. No one ever says what the little things are. You know, Jeff, you watch. I know I played. I watch a lot of people in our chat, no, they watch. but there's people who just have no idea, but that's all we hear. Yeah,

they do the little things right. What the hell are the little things? What does that mean? And I think he's done a really good job of explaining that and explaining his insight of, you know, his view of the game, why a guy might have done something,

why a guy might not have done something else. And I think it's kind of added a new layer of perspective to even my watching experience. Like somebody watches every game and every shift of a lot of these games. I hear him talk about things. And I'm like, I never would have thought about it that way or seen it that way. It's being a breath of fresh air, that is, as you put it, you know, like something we should soak in while we have this opportunity because it's unfortunate. It's going to be gone.

The minute he retired, everybody in the industry is like, oh, man, if only Pronger would do this full time, he would just kill. He would be awesome. So I'm loving how he's just jumped into media with both feet. And he's been fantastic at it. but knowing full well. What a liar to about it being an introvert. Oh, no, I'm an introvert. Come on, prongs.

No, you're not. You're on my TV every time I turn it on and you're like the most outspoken, amazing person on camera. I think what he might be getting at is he appreciates solitude because he does live so much of his life publicly. And as an athlete, you always do.

But yeah, I wasn't picking that. that up either. Like, no, Jake. Yeah. What is he ever? He said that. I started laughing and then I saw your face and like, he's great. Yeah.

Like, go sell that to the tourists. Like, I ain't buying that one. No chance. Not a chance. All right. The sheet is powered by Fanduel. Play your game with Fanduel. It's the NHL season.

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Please play responsibly 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. Go ahead, Attila the pun. All right, let's do this. Well, that sounds promising.

All right. Last night I had a late one on the Maple Leafs were flying out in the West Coast. What that game ended up? Start time. A plus, A plus execution. I got in, got out, I got to watch Macklin Celebrini. The Maple Leafs lost.

I won my best bet for the game. It was clean, clean in and out. We got closer to a top five spot in the tankathon. Like everything's looking up right now. here, Jeff, so I'm not letting anything get me down. Caleb Melhotra, here come the Leafs. Keaton Verhoff killed the Hotra. Here we come.

But, you know, before the game, because it was a 10 p.m. puck drop, I had a couple of buddies who are taking off for the weekend. So they asked if we wanted to meet at one of the bars down here, grab some dinner, have a drink or whatever. And we're sitting there for a while just before I head out so that I can watch the Leafs game. There's a commotion that starts to happen over near the bar, Jeff. And it kind of got everyone's attention. Oh, my. Because there's this lady screaming and yelling at a guy.

And what ended up happening that we realized was at the bar, there was this guy. He was, he was dancing. I think he probably had a little bit too much himself. He's dancing. And he's shaking his hiney on some girl at the bar. Mine, his wife was there. She lost her mind. She started screaming at the guy and losing it.

They got into a huge fight. I think today they're probably. getting a divorce ski yeah there's a long way of getting there there was only two games a long way to get to the divorce is the hockey player way of saying divorce divorce divorce okay all right matt barsal emil heinenman and dalabore divorceky i had to do so much work to get that there oh man you really did stretch that gum uh five dollars wins you two hundred and ninety and $71.

Check it out on Fanduel, download the app today. Barzell Heinemann and Dahlabor Dvorsky. I ran into, I was at OHL Cup the last couple of days, ran into your buddy Liam Hamm yesterday. Former teammates of yours. Great. Awesome. He's working for the

He's doing skills development. Yeah, Brampton Steelheads. Yeah, he's doing awesome. It's good to see him. There yesterday. Packed rank, JRC, and Honeybaked in the final. this year. A U.S. team has never won the O HL Cup. We'll see if that changes. Oh, interesting. I didn't know. I did not realize that.

Honeybake knocked off London, who in turn knocked off little Caesars, which was kind of a shock. I thought Caesar was going to run the table and go all the way. They've been a juggernaut all season long. There it is. JRC Cup is so much fun. JRC, Junior Canadians, facing off against Honeybaked in the final Saturday at Matamy Athletic Center, the former Maple Leaf Gardens. Thanks to Chris Ponger for stopping by the program today.

His book comes out on the 14th of April. Thanks to Dave Panyoda, as always, for stopping by the program here on Fridays. Thanks to you for watching. Thanks to you for listening. Watching here on a daily face-off YouTube channel and listening on your favorite podcast platform, we thank you for the attention,

not just today, but all week long as well. Stay tuned for that TJ Hughes video. That's coming out as soon as, well, the tournament's over, the Frozen Four, and then he decides where he's going to ply his trade in the NHL. Thanks to everyone for paying attention on our Daily Faceoff YouTube channel.

If you have subscribed, thank you. If you haven't, please consider doing so, not just for this program, but everything else that we offer here on Daily Face Off. Enjoy the weekend. We are back Monday, 1 o'clock Eastern, for the sheet. Adjurned. Talk to you after week.