The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Habs Take Series Lead & Wild Punch Back ft. Martin Biron & Michael Russo

Episode Date: May 11, 2026

Today on The Sheet, Jeff Marek recaps a wild weekend around the National Hockey League as the Montreal Canadiens storm ahead in their second round series against the Buffalo Sabres after dominant back to back wins in Games 2 and 3 to take control of the matchup. Martin Biron joins the show to break down what has gone wrong for Buffalo, how Montreal has found another level offensively and defensively, the biggest storylines from the series so far, and whether the Canadiens are starting to look like a legitimate Stanley Cup threat. Plus, Michael Russo joins the show to break down the Minnesota Wild clawing their way back into the series against the Colorado Avalanche with a huge Game 3 win, what has changed for Minnesota, the adjustments being made by both teams, and what to expect heading into a pivotal Game 4. Jeff also dives into the now even series between the Anaheim Ducks and Vegas Golden Knights after both teams traded wins to make it 2-2. To wrap things up, Jeff hits the latest NHL news including the New Jersey Devils continuing to build out their front office and the Carolina Hurricanes signing Mark Jankowski to a new two year extension. Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more daily NHL coverage, playoff breakdowns, trade news, and hockey analysis from across the league.#TheSheet #JeffMarek #NHL #StanleyCupPlayoffs #Canadiens #Sabres #Wild #Avalanche #GoldenKnights #Ducks #MichaelRusso #MartinBiron #HockeySHOUTOUT 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.

Okay, I want to start with a question today as I normally do here on this program. Welcome once again to the sheet for this Monday, May the 11th. Thanks so much for joining us either on podcast or whether you're watching us live on our daily faceoff YouTube channel. We thank you as always. Zach, I want to ask you this one before we get to the blueprint. So Beck Malenstein last night goes in hard. You can discuss amongst yourselves. Pushed, not pushed.

He jumped so that meant he was trying to get out of the way. I don't know. I guess I'll go along with it. Anyway, he ran the goalie. So, um, goes right at Dobish, right? Beck-Mont-Sine is 6'3, 3. I want to say like 215 pounds.

Big guy, right? Right, right at the goaltender. If you're watching us here, you can, you can see it. And just get some, like, and yeah, right away, Dobish goes down, he holds his head, looks like he hit his head on the post. Thankfully for Dobish, and thanks for, Thankfully for the Montreal Canadiens. He was fine.

Got rocked pretty hard by a large man. Here's my question. Are there supposed to be concussion spotters at these games still? Have we just done away with concussion? And are they like purely ceremonial like goal judges now? You know, like the old guys in cardigans that used to be there with like the button if the goal goes in. And it's a certain point. It was just like, okay, they're just sort of ceremonial.

and they're just sort of placed behind the net because we've always done things like this in the N-A-J-J. But is that what a concussion? Isn't that exactly what a concussion spotter is looking for? A goaltender that gets run over, his head, back of his head hits the goalpost. He goes down holding his head, and we just kind of go, hope he's okay. Like, it's not a spot for a con-again, it's not the biggest issue from the weekend. But I'm just curious, like, have we just forgotten about concussion spotters? And what they're supposed to do?

I was going to say there's two reasons why you know this is playoff hockey when having this conversation. One, peek behind the curtain, you asked me before, do I have a problem with what happens? Yes. And if you asked me this one month ago or a month and a week ago, I'm probably saying, yeah, that's ridiculous. You can never have that happen. Now when I answer the question, I'm like, yeah, play on it, buddy. And then the second one is, as you said. No autopsy, no foul.

No, we're not bringing out chalk on the ice And we're fine Okay, keep him moving Scrape him off the ice Rub some dirt netting and go and finish the game And the other one, it's funny that you bring that up I didn't know you were going to go there Is 82 games

That's get him out of there Go to the room Let's do some tests Lighten the eyeballs Can you spell your name Can you do the alphabet backwards And now it's just like Adamo Adobe way to hold in there

Buddy get back in the net You know what He made his way to the bench I think I saw half a smile. Nah, he's fine. Nah, he's good. His bell rung a little bit. Get back in there and stop the puck kid.

I don't know. Just something that I thought I would add that to the conversation that really hasn't been had around this. That's what it caused concussion spotters for. All right. Let's get to the blueprint here because our very important guest, who could probably see both sides of this one is standing by. So let's get right to the blueprint.

The Blueprint powered, as always by Fanduel. Download the app today and play your game on Fanduel. Coming up on the program, he is standing by very much. Looking forward to talking to Sabres analyst Martan B.Rang, former NHL netminder, former Memorial Cup champion as well with Hull. Maybe we'll get into that a little bit later. The Montraught Canadians go up two to one in their series against the Buffalo Sabres, and it was rough along the way.

Mike Russoff in the Athletic will talk about the Minnesota Wild to extend the rough metaphor, punching back on a gorgeous goal. Quinn Hughes and Carill Caprizov wakes up and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, still know Joel Erick and still know Jonas Brodine, and that is tough in advance of game four. In the meantime, we expect game four between the Buffalo Sabres and the Montreal Canadians to be anything other than rough and not friendly. Martin Barron knows that. He's been on both sides of it.

And, you know, Marty, first of all, thanks so much for stopping by. I want you to kind of wear, I want you to kind of wear a couple of hats here because I open the show, wondering about something specifically, and that is concussion spotters. Now, I remember a game Maple Leafs in Los Angeles Kings when Quick got hit in the head and he was like livid and he wasn't going to come out. I thought he was going to stage. I understand that goaltenders don't want to. They don't want to go.

They keep me in. I'm fine. I get it. But when I saw Malenstein last night on Dobesh and his head hits the post and he goes down, the first thing he does is he grabs his head. I'm thinking of myself, like, that's what a concussion. spotters for like am I am I missing something here

Marty like no is that not the is that not what they're supposed to be that's their one job that's their job you're not missing anything and I also feel that well maybe there is the playoff aspect of it but when it happened I was like oh that's a big collision and then I went back to look at it

and Malenstein look I know the guy he's a really really nice human being and I do feel like he tries to avoid Dobesh by going up in the air And then I don't I'm not sure. I've slowed it down. I don't think that Dobesh's head actually cut the post.

I think it was more like the upper shoulder neck deltoid or whatever that cut the post. So when I rewatch that, I was like, oh, he's probably going to be okay. It looked really bad at first look. But then when you're taking all the angles, I was like, it's probably going to be fine. And the spotter had plenty of time because of the scrums to be able to review a lot of the clips, right? but I can tell you this. If Enric Lunguisse or Ryan Miller were in net at that moment, and if the buzzer came down and was like,

we need you to come back to the bench, we would have had an hour delay. He would have sat in the crease and said, I am not going anywhere. You dropped a puck and we're back at it. So I think you've got to be a little bit of in between here, and I know the league's trying to do their best to protect players, but you've got to be careful in the playoffs.

Yeah, I was going to see further to one of those plays. There's some really good ones there. Further to one of those points, do you think that one of the mitigating factors here is the stakes are so high? This is the playoffs. And if you're a concussion spotter, you feel it as much as an official making a call in overtime. And you've got to make the right call. Look, I'll go back to game one of the Buffalo Boston series. And Josh Norse goes into the wall at first a little, like, kind of weird.

And then he plays game two, and all of a sudden in game three, he's out. and he missed game 3, 4, 5. Could he have come back? Maybe game 4, game 5, absolutely. But then you're starting to think, like, okay, was the fall the reason? Obviously, the Sabres are not going to say what the injury was, and maybe there was something else. But I'm like, you know, these moments happen, right?

Where you're in the playoffs, you may give the guys just a little bit morally way, a little benefit of the doubt. And by the way, I'm in our Sabers Live studio because we just finished our show. So it's kind of a weird position for me because I'm a Sabres. employee. I cover the Sabres shot this season. But I do some freelance work and I cover the Montreal Canadians. I'm on the panel on TSN during the regular season. I do Montreal radio. I do RDS. So it's kind of weird like, you know, because I know those two teams so well. But obviously I'm, you know, fully invested into what the Sabres and being an alumni and ambassadors. So it's a weird place to

be in. I try to be an analyst, but there's a part of me that's obviously like on the Sabre's side right now. You can talk French also, and like, like, you're like, I like, I'm, I always say, it's yeah, it's, I mean so. I try, but I can never get from the hotel to the, I can never get from the airport to the hotel. I always say, like, I'm going to see how far my French will take me into Montreal, and I've never made it to the hotel. Because it's during the day. My Uber.

If it's in the night after a few beers, you're all good. The French is flowing, my friend. I'm trying, man, I'm trying. But it is interesting to get at the end of all, and I want to drill down on what we saw last night. But as someone who remembers the Adams Division, and as someone who remembers the French connection, and as someone who remembers that Montreal dynasty as well, and remembers like Ken Dryden going up against Don Edwards, and French connection up against Lamar's line or Jarvis, and that great blue line of the Montreal Canadiens. At the end of all of this, the one, and I'm glad that there's 84 games next year, so we're going to see four between these teams.

like playoffs, that's how you make rivalries. Like this thing is back now. Like Montreal Buffalo is capital B back, right? Yeah, it is. And really like you look, they played four times this year. Luckily they had that. It were two and two. It's two one in the playoffs.

So Montreal win a seven game series so far, yes, but there's still a lot of hockey to be played. You know, yeah, it's been 15 years since the Sabres had been in the playoffs. But a lot of the people here remember 98. 98 was the precursor to 99 and the Sabres losing to Dallas in the finals. But 98, they played the Montreal Canadians in the second round. They swept them. The first time the HABs had ever been swept in the seven-game series on O'M Ice.

So, you know, Matt Barnaby hat trick on game two. Mother's Day is looking for his mom in the stands. And then Michael Peck a second overtime, game three, game four ended up being a sweep. 93 Montreal swept the sabers. for nothing in Montreal won the cup that year. Right. So there was, there's still that rivalry that even though it was 30 plus years ago, it feels like those two teams because of the division,

because of the fans traveling from Southern Ontario and Buffalo fans going to Montreal, it's been there. So now it's fun to see it in the playoffs. It's fun to sit in the second round. And it was funny because game one, it looked like the I test tell you Buffalo dominated game one. And then after the game, Lindyrov said, we still have a few more steps that we can go through.

It wasn't a perfect game. We had a good start. And that's good. Marty Saint-Louis wasn't all doom and gloom after game one. It's like there's more ice out there. We have to be adapting to the series. We just finished seven games against Tampa where there was no ice. And well, let me tell you, Montreal adapted really good

in game two and three. They had 54 scoring chances, 24 in game two and 30 in game three, according to our statlet's numbers that we get here in Buffalo. That's huge. When you have 54 scoring chances in two games, like Montreal has found a way with the more ice and Buffalo is going to have to defend better. It was fascinating. I got a text from a friend of mine saying that looked more like the November sabers

than the March sabers. And it's like, we know that there's. a better team in there. It just seemed like, you know, watching this game and there was like a lot of like Norris on Bullduke and then Jack Eye on Carrick at the end. Like these things wash. Like I tend, I think the older that I get, the more I'm just like, I'm not going to drill down in the minutia of tiny things other than concussion spotters.

I always love getting a note. But so like I look at this one and I say to myself, okay, so now Buffalo knows that they're not going to run the Montreal Canadians. out of the rank. Like, there's still a much more disciplined Montreal Canadiens team in there. And here's the thing where it gets,

it gets really interesting. Tage Thompson scores last night, and I'm like, all right, here come the Buffalo Sabres. Like, they're going to put on a, and Montreal didn't wilt a bit.

Like, the Habs just shrugged it off. Just like, you know, when a boxer takes a punch and just kind of shakes her head and, like, right back into the fight.

And you think, like, holy smokes, how did he just take that punch? Like Montreal, like, Cole plays barely stop playing. And all of a sudden it's 1-0-0-0-sabbers. And Montreal is just like, no problem. Like, this is, as the playoffs go on,

a much different Montreal-Canadians team. So how does Buffalo react to that now? Like, contributions up, like, Valeno looked great last night. Yeah. Doc. New Hook. Yeah. Yes.

It's so Buffalo has to defend. Like, I know they've given up 11 goals in the last. to and you know maybe this is the first team to get the four goals that wins the game right like in Tampa series for Montreal and the Boston series for Buffalo was like whoever can score their second goal is going to win the game now it's like whoever can get to four is going to win the game so Montreal has found that Buffalo has to defend you talk about the maybe the hit right like Tate Thompson scores boom there's your punch but a couple minutes later Suzuki was left all alone in front of Lyon.

And then you had Caulfield who had a great chance. Caulfield missing an empty net goal. Slavkowski scores a power play goal. He's all alone. There's nobody around him. And I think if you're Buffalo, this is concerning. Because defensively, you've been pretty good all year, not in the top of the league and the goal save,

like expected goals against metrics and all of that. But you got good goaltending and you were good defensively. and now that is going to wait. Sabers were so good back pressure, back check. Against Boston, how many times did they get in a neutral zone? Stick lift, get the puck. We're counter-attacking. Well, the Bolzuk goal yesterday was a point in case,

like your back pressure is not good enough. Talk and Thompson were late to get to him. He's in the slot. There's a goal. That's a big goal. That made it 3-1 for the Montreal Canadians when Bullzook scored. So I'm looking at all of this. And if Buffalo had scored and kept on playing and kept on jabbing and jabbing and jabbing and jabbing in Montreal,

would have been a deafened story. Buffalo got one punch. And then after that, it was like they couldn't get to Montreal. And Montreal built off of that. That was the boxing mentality that was happening in that game. And I'm glad you brought up, you know, Suzuki alone in front of Alex Lyon. Like there were a few, and Suzuki hit a crossbar, and there was a great save on Philip Deno as well. Like, Lyon really played well.

Like, Lyon kept them in there in that first period. It could have been three to one, four to one going into the second. Here becomes a question. I probably should have led with this. And I always think to myself, like, whenever I follow a Buffalo Goldton, I was like, I wonder what Beron thinks. I wonder what Barron thinks. I wonder what Marty thinks.

So who goes in net in game four? So I think that personally, I would probably go. to Luken. And there's a few reasons for that. Number one, I'm not a tandem guy. Like, I want a number one goalie and I want to rely on that number one and I want to back up and I want to find roles. But it has not been the case in Buffalo all year. So now I got to kind of approach this as what's been the key to the success to the Sabres. And it's been having a tandem. When one guy starts to like not play as well, somebody else pick him up. So in the first round, I actually would have stayed with Lukenunen in game three. They went with Lyon. They went to

the series. Now I think my gut instinct would say, Lions are number one, but that's not the way it is. And I think Lukinen as a little bit more upside into making that big save and maybe stealing you a game. And if you're going to have those defensive breakdowns, maybe Lukinen is better suited to come up with some big saves. And I actually think if you go to Lukinen in game four, it's not a pressured situation. Game one and two in the Boston series was more pressure on Lukinen, then game four in Montreal in the second round will be. And Luken was nervous in game one, despite the fact they won that game four, three. And he didn't look great in game two. But now he has a chance to say, okay, we won that series, despite the fact I didn't

started good. And I called it before this series. I said, I think the Sabres will use both goalies in this series. And I think I would go back to Luken. Now, after game two of the Boston series, Lindy Ruff was quick to point out the rotation worked for us during the regular season. Now, last night after game three, Lindy Ruff was quick to say Alex Lyon was great. So is he letting us kind of know ahead of time? Like, he probably let us know after game two of the Boston series, Lion's going to go in? Maybe the messages we're sticking with Lion. I personally would probably go with Luka in game four.

Interesting. Would you make any other adjustments to the Buffalo Cases? Yes. I know what would you do specifically? I mean, this is, you're on the road. We saw Edmonton get in trouble against Anaheim on the road. They put McDavid and Drysidal together with the defensively conscious, I suppose, because Perry Capinen, and that was easy to game plan against if you're Joel Quenville,

and now we have a bunch of questions about the Edmonton noise. But if you're Lindy Rough here, you're on the road for game four. Like, what do you do? What are your adjustments? What is, I'll ask you this, what is the biggest concern for the sabres, the top line not producing or their depth, which should be dominating Montreal's debt, right? So I think that's the answer that's going to lead to what decisions you're going to make. If you feel like it's the top line not producing, the easy one for me would be to, okay, let's put somebody else in the place of Peyton Crabs. Payton Grabs has had a really solid season.

He's not a top line winger, in my opinion, but that's how the Sabers have dealt with him with Thompson and Talk. So would you bring Zach Benson up there? Benson is played with Thompson and Talk Dish, and Benson is probably the best forward right now in everything that he does and, man, the energy that that could bring to Thompson with tuck. Or do you say we're going to bring Benson and Donne on the top line with Thompson?

We're going to move Krebs and Tuck off that top line, just like the Sabres did with the power plate. The power plate, they brought in Benson and Don to the top unit with Tage Thompson. So maybe they do the same thing here. I think if you feel the top line is where you have to focus, that's the changes you have to do. If you feel like the middle two lines is the focus,

your depth, because the McLeod, Zucker, and Quinn line has not produced in a long time offensively. They're a good line. But Zucker played under seven minutes in game three because he's not on the top power play. He's not killing penalty. He's like, you kind of lost him.

So you need to maybe give a boost there. So can you bring Consta Helenews? By the way, it's his birthday today. He's 20 years old. He looked good in Buffalo this year and he's looked good in the H.L. It's a big spot for him to come in if you want to bring him in. But maybe you add an hellen news to the middle six and see what it does. Maybe that gives you a better spark to your depth trying to counter because it's been Newhook, Doc, Dano, Evans.

it's been like the middle and the depth of Montreal that has been the difference so if your Buffalo you may have to counter in adjusting your middle depth there and maybe Concelainus is again it comes in. You know see this takes me back to trade deadline

Marty like one of the things that I wondered about like going into deadline and listen Buffalo Buffalo made the moves brought in Logan Stanley brought in Sam Carrick brought in in Luke Shan so it wasn't as if Yarmou Keckalina didn't do anything but one of the things that I really

wondered about with Buffalo this year is, were they going to look and kind of make AHL deals for guys that, if the Sabres are going deeper, you know what it's like, guys are going to start to fall off, and guys that can play in the NHL can step in. Now, I still maintain the No Oslin losses is a really tough one for the Buffalo Sabres, man. Like, I love that guy. He's

quickly becoming one of my favorite players on this game. And Yuri Kulik, to extend, like losing him to block clot. Like, that's big part too. It's massive. And that's why I thought there were going to be some of like, I was looking at Buffalo and saying, like, I'm some genius. Oh, they're going to make a bunch of depth moves. Buffalo's, you know, the hottest team in the NHL.

They're going to go far. They need to, even if it just seems like an American hockey league move, that's for the playoffs, more depth, more depth, more depth. That's kind of what I expected, just for this scenario, where do you need to have some options? To the previous point, I would say, like, my most important thing is, I want Tage Thompson shooting. Whatever I can do to get Tage Thompson, I'm getting,

I just want Thompson in a position to shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot. Whatever combination gets him there, that's what I do if I'm Lindy Ruff. So it's interesting because you have the coaching's point of view and trying to put your best roster together now. And then I wonder the Yarmou Kekyllian's point of view that is looking at next year's roster. And he's like, okay, next year we have Austin. We have Koolik. Yeah.

We probably have Helen News. We have these guys. So, you know, what does that mean for a Peyton Krebs moving forward? What does that mean for maybe even a Jordan Greenway moving forward? He still has a year left on his deal with a limited no trade clause. But I'm just saying you're going to have to open up for some of the youngsters. Now, is this a, well, we're in the second round. Might as well try to win now.

And maybe, okay, well, you don't put Heleneus in the lineup. Or is this a, why not? because that guy is going to be part of our future. And if we're going to be back in the playoffs next year and use that as experience for next year, and look, they're down 2-1 in the playoffs. It's not like they're down 3-0 and you can start to see, like, okay, it's going to be a golf season next week.

It's not that. But I think there's a real battle between a head coach and a GM and looking at this year versus next year. And so that's why the hell news thing is a little interesting. Do you want to bring in Tanner Pearson on the fourth line? Are you thinking of maybe bringing Michael Kesselring on the blue line instead of Logan Stanley, whose last couple of games has looked okay? He was sick in game six against the Boston Bruins.

Kessel Ring played. He only played five minutes, but that's more minutes for Dalline and Byram and Samuelson and Power. So there is some changes that could be made. But then there's also that, you know, kind of, we have a diss or dad banner somewhere in this studio. But do you want to give your team confidence and say we're sticking with your? group like Marty said we did after game one. He's like, no, you know what? I'm not making changes. I'm not bringing in Gallagher.

I'm not bringing in Struble. We're fine. And that worked for Montreal. Or are you like, no, you know what? We need some change. And I'm sorry, we've given you plenty of time. Now the last two games, it's not worked. So that's the challenge for Lindy Roth. And look, he's got plenty of experience.

I'm pretty sure he's handled these before and he will continue to handle these type of situations. but it's a tough decision to make for a coach. I want to clone Dahlin and I want to clone Samuelson. When they are on the ice, nobody scores for the other team, whether it's the Boston Bruins or the Montreal Canadians. Everybody knows about Dahlene, but what a season Samuelson has had. As far as, like, they don't do like a most improved player in the NHL,

but if they did, Mattia Samuelson would be right up there. Like this has been an incredible season for him. Yeah, and I think it would come back with the most healthy or, you know, biggest health change because health is a big part of Matthias Samuelson. You know, the time and space that he takes off on the ice and being able to close out plays, he's always had an excellent stick. He blocks shot. But he added offense this year, which was very surprising to me to see Matthias Samuelson over 40 points.

Look, this season is the first time in the history of the Sabers. that they've had three defensemen of 40 points or more in the same year. And you think of the defenseman that that team has had, right? You could go back to Zittnick and Woolley and Schmellick, and you could go back to Housley and Schoenfeld, whatever. Like, you've had some top-end defensemen, but never have they had three with 40 or more points. They had Dahlane, Samuelson, Byram, this year.

And that's not even like Owen Power is not a sloucheter. He just wasn't over 40 points. So I think Dalian and Samuelson together have been really good. And maybe again, that's the thing. Like they've been going three pairs and try to put Stanley and Timmons together. Yeah. Maybe going into game four, it's we're going to have Dahline and Samuelson for a shift. And then we're going to have Dahlene with Timmons for a shift.

And then Byron with Samuelson, you can rotate these guys because, number one, they're all lefty on the top. The top four is all lefty. And number two, well, they can play left right and just go with anybody. So maybe that's the way to put more Dalling and Samuelson on the ice. Okay. Last question, Frey. I want you to put on a sort of Montreal-Canadian's hat here. Now, I believe you, were you born in Quebec City or just outside?

Yeah, flip it around. Get the swords off there. Flip it around. I was in Quebec City and Lax Saint-Shal, which is about 20 minutes north of Quebec City. So I'm guessing Nordic-Fand growing up more so than... Huge. Hated the Canadians. Hated the Canadians.

But I appreciate and I respect the Canadians and I love covering them. They're the team in Quebec and even my niece's, my niece and nephews, my brother's kids, they're facetiming me before the game. And one is like Sabres, the other two are Canadians. Like it's all out war in their house. So I have a friend of mine. My friend Nancy is the same. She now lives in Arizona, but she grew up just outside of, maybe actually in Quebec City,

grew up a huge, we're just texting about Michelle Goulet over the weekend. But here's the thing that I'm wondering about. And you can contextualize this as a Quebecer. So now we see it. We've seen Sir Tavar. We've seen Chris Nyland. And last night we saw Kirk Boller with the torch. Scores the Stanley Cup winning goal in 1993.

It was a two to one goal and amazing. Give us a sense of what would happen at the Bell Center if for one of these games, you have to get deep, Madame Bellevaux carried the torch in. What would happen in that? I think the place would explode. I think the roof would explode. I think that she has had a significant of an impact and the ambassadorship of our husband,

the great Mr. Jean-Bilevo. And listen, I'm talking, I grew up a Quebec Nordiques fan, but Jean-Believo was a Quebec haste before, right? Like he grew up in Quebec and probably would not have left Quebec if they had an NHL team back in the days. But even my dad,

when we would talk about Mr. Belvo. He never said Jean Belvoir. He always said Mr. Belvoir. That's how respect we all had for Mr. Belvo. And then after, obviously, with him and Mrs. Belvo, but the roof would come right off the bell center. And I get, like, when you had, you know, you have all these legends carrying the torch in,

I got to play a game in the Montreal Forum with the Buffalo San Francisco. That was 18 years old, the last year of the forum, January of 96. And I got to go in to a regular season game that we won. And it was Seymour Knox, the owner of the franchise in Buffalo, his last trip to Montreal. He passed away just a few months later. Like, I still have goosebumps when I talk about that trip to the Montreal Forum. So I respect it.

I love the tradition. But if Mrs. Belvo came out with the torch and came through, like, I don't care that she's not a player. I don't care. Like, the place would absolutely go bananas. And there would be tears. Like, that's the thing to, it would be a celebration. And there would not be a dry eye in the place. I would see P.K. Suban and Madame Billy Vaux go together holding the torch.

Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It would be incredible. And now P.K. just finished his $10 million pledge to the hospital and all that. Correct. Hospital. Just that would be amazing. Those two together would be theater.

Just the goosebumps about all of it. Okay, game four is on the horizon. Okay, enough of this. I'm going to start crying, thinking about the Belvo family. Marty, this is great. Great set. By the way, those beer swords, you can probably put on eBay for like a few thousand dollars right now. They've become such incredible collectors.

Yeah. Thanks, as always for stopping. We just showed a clip on our show of Jesse Pagula. She's at the Rome tournament right now. Okay, yeah. She's in Rome. She was in the first set today. I don't know where she's at right now.

But funny enough, on Friday, they brought beer sabers to the tennis channel set. And she drank out of a beer, saber, actual beer. And then what does she do the next match? She goes six love, six love, our first double bagel of her career. So the beer sabers, big for her as well. There you go. A new tradition is born in Buffalo. Let's keep it rocking.

Looking forward to game four. Marty, thanks so much for this. Always good. Thanks for putting on two hats. this one as well. That's not the easiest thing to do. Often it's just like this. Hello fellow kids. All right. Well done, Marty. We'll talk soon. Thanks, pal. Thanks. So good. Martin-Buron, former NHL netminder, analyst for the Buffalo Sabres. I grew up just outside of Quebec City, huge, as you just heard, Quebec Nordique's fan, but still, like,

the Bellevots rise above everything. And I love all the cutaways to Madame Belvoir in the stands and meeting Jean-Belvo the few times that I did and talking to. and both on the phone and in person. Those are like great memories that I will never forget. In the meantime, we turn our attention to the Western Conference, and don't look now, but the Minnesota Wilde have made this a quote-unquote series in a significant way. And when you talk about the Minnesota Wild, you call Mike Russo from The Athletic, who joins us here on the program.

Sorry for hitting pause on you there for a second, but wanted to get a couple of Madame Belvoir stories out of Marty Barron. You know, everyone kind of has their own traditions for, for going to Montreal and what they do and what it means to them. It's such a unique market, such a unique team. You know, Mike, I've always kind of made the joke. You know, the NHL

was founded in 1917 and we talk about the original six, but really there's an original one. The Montreal Canadians and everybody else is just an expansion team. But when you hear, before we get to the while, when you hear Montreal and Montreal Canadians, like what jumps to Mike Russo's mind?

Well, that's a loaded question. Get yourself into trouble that way. Yeah, no, I mean, I just, I just absolutely love it. I still remember the day it was, like, in the late 90s, early 2000, getting word, like, late at night that the Panthers traded like Essad deacon in from Duane Hay and running out of the club and running back to the chateau, Champlain to write my story. And, you know, I've had a blast during my years in Montreal, you know, some stuff that

you can talk about, some stuff that you can. It's an amazing place. And that building, just to see it as, you know, I didn't cover the league back in 93. And just to see that building hopping right now. And I can't imagine what the atmosphere has been like. I obviously experienced the four nations there. But I'm really, really looking, you know, if this team goes on a run here, it would just be an amazing thing to cover either the Eastern Conference final

or the Stanley Cup final there. Minnesota, Montreal. Hey, who would have said that at the beginning of the season? but maybe here we are because now the Minnesota Wild are making a series of it. And I know that Kareil Kaprizov is, you know, the main game story coming out of game three. But to me, like, it was like five minutes ago where Quinn Hughes couldn't shoot, right? Like he was like, it was kind of like Tyson Barry at the top of the power play. You know he's passing because he's not going to be, he's going to fire a muffin.

And it's going to go nowhere. And, you know, Quinn Hughes talked about this publicly about how this was the element in his game that he needed. to work on. A lot of guys will say that. Very few will actually do it, but Quinn Hughes is different. I think, and you've seen much more of Quinn Hughes up close and personal than I have, I think that's the hardest I've seen Quinn Hughes shoot a puck.

That goal in Game 3 was an absolute leg. If you would have told me, if you would have showed me like five years ago in Vancouver that that's how Quinn Hughes was going to be shooting, I'd tell you you're eating space cake. But there it was. That has to be the hardest I've ever seen him fire a puck. Your thoughts on Quinn Hughes.

Like, we're just watching a net. What a shot. Holy smokes. And recognizing that Scott Wedgwood was without a stick. I mean, that's the smarts of him as well. And I do think that he wants to shoot the fuck more. I know that he always jokes that his mom always really gets on him for shooting the puck more. Maybe he was inspired by Jack Hughes being in the building with Luke and Jay-J McCarthy as well.

So he came there to play and maybe we'll see it again tonight. I mean, you know, I do think that he is somebody that. we've seen. I mean, I remember his first playoff series against the Minnesota Wild back in the bubble in 2020. He was hammering puckst then. And that would be, you know, I do think that that would make him a lot more of a, you know, dangerous threat because he definitely has the ability to shoot the puck. I think he obviously, you know, I think naturally looks for the pass and he has got the ability to make plays in myriad ways. But if he can, you know, show everybody that he's willing to shoot the puck more, I think it's just going to buy him a lot.

lot more time in the offensive zone or make him a lot more dangerous. So the headline story, though, was Kroll Kaprizov, the goal, the two assists. Just a general thought on what we've seen out of him. And all of a sudden now, if Caprizov can get going, I mean, here's obvious statement, you know, $3 million from Merrick here, that completely changes the complexion of the series, regardless of what we saw in the first two games, completely changed. Absolutely. I mean, you know, look, he's, you know, now I think after last 90s,

second in the league in scoring, but he just, it hasn't been like a dominant dominant, a elite, beating points if that makes sense. And lastly, you know, we saw it. I mean, he or a couple nights ago, we saw it. I mean, he's got this ability to drag the Wilde into the fight. And the reason why the Wilde won last game is they got to their game, their physical game early, something that we didn't see in games one and two in Colorado. But he's the one driving that bus. It's, you know, as much as the Felino brothers are rattled cages and Yaakov Trenian, it's when you have superstars like Quinn Hughes, like willing to go into the traffic areas, which he does, like Brock Faber, like Karel Kaprisoff, like Matt Poldy, and

Karel is one guy that does that. And the other night, he just had it all working. We saw the 10 and 2. We saw him going into traffic and things like that. And that's what he, you know, that's the standard that I think that we expect from him. And he expects from himself. And the other night, all his teammates were saying it was the best that they've seen him play. I've seen him play better.

But definitely in this postseason, I think that was the best game that he's played. And it's got to continue. He doesn't have to get three points a night. But he's got to be somebody that's willing to engage in the battle. And he did that the other night. Injury updates. Joel Eric Sinek, Yonis Brodine. What do you hear?

What do you know? What's the latest? Yeah, I mean, Eric Sineck and Brodine were sitting in the press box together the other night, seeing them on the side. They're obviously both not healthy. Jonas, I don't think that we're going to see the rest of this round, maybe even the rest of next round if they're willing to get there, if they're able to get there. I do think that he has got a chance to come back at some point. Eric Sannack has a significant injury as well, but we watched him skate the other day. He looked good on the ice, but when he was coming off the ice, he just was having trouble walking. So he's

clearly trying to go with a significant injury. The issue is that in 2023, we saw him try to do the same thing with a significant issue. Yeah. Injury. He got back on the ice way too soon, and then we saw, watched him do stops and starts and all that stuff in practice. He looked perfectly fine, and then he got into the game. He lasted 19 seconds.

In the wild, they can't afford to let that happen again. So they put themselves on a position, especially because De Nello, You're up, was good the other night to give him maybe a little more time. Maybe we see him in games five, six, or seven. But right now he is clearly not ready to go. What do you think we should know about Uroff? I think he's going to be a really, really, really good player. I mean, you know, I remember Jail Erick Seneck at this age,

and he, you know, I don't think he had the skill that even Urof shows right now. Now, you're obviously, Ericksonak has just turned into a complete 200-game player, but the one thing that Uraub brought right here to the, to the NHL that we haven't seen from a lot of young Russian players is the ability to play on the right side of the puck. as long as he can improve his defensive game, I think he's going to be a really quality two-way center. I think that he's going to continue to mature offensively.

He's got tremendous skill. He came awfully close to scoring a bunch of goals last game. And it wouldn't even shock me if he really comes through tonight because the one thing we've seen him in the regular season is that fence, fence, fence, fence, side, fence, fence, fence, side, fence, side, then to side, the side, fence, side of the puck. I love his work ethic and compete.

And as long as he can be better in the face-off circle, I think he's going to be a really good player. Obviously, he has plenty of time to improve in that area. The wild the other night, we're putting Michael McCarran out for defensive zone draws. He'd win the draw, then go to the bench, and another player would come on. And I think that's the way they're trying to at least allow year-off to play the games, but not be, you know, deal with not having somebody taking, you know, defensive zone draws.

That's pretty much 35% in that area. You mentioned Michael McCarran. I remember when that trade was made, it was the Nashville Columbus game, and I kind of went to myself, okay, I guess Minnesota needs to win more faceoffs here, and that's what they're getting McCarron for, and a little bit of physicality, too, but he's worked out great. Like, I was, I was, I'm happy to be wrong about the contributions of my, first of all, I like the player. I used to talk to him all the time when he played with the London Knights and the OHL.

I'm happy that he's, you know, got to. his life together and everything's working out well for him. And that's wonderful. But steady contributions from Michael McCarron as well. I think it seems like a really good fit. Yeah, he's been awesome here. And he's going to make a lot of money this offseason, whether it's one Minnesota or somebody else.

I mean, you know, you don't get giant right shot centerman that wouldn't draw us the way that he can. It's so good on the defensive side of the puck. And he's shown some sneaky skill. He's scored some huge goals in the Dallas series, two of them, to be exact. and he's just been really, really good. He's, you know, he's a heart and soul guy, the typical, prototypical, stereotypical guy that you hate

when he's on another team's roster, but you love him when you're in. Now, obviously, I think the sticker shock of the second round pick is what, you know, a lot of people really do. That's a big one. Yep, absolutely. But look, I mean, there were a lot of teams going after him at the deadline. And, you know, I think Carolina was one of those teams, in fact.

And when they didn't get on, they turned to Nicholas Delore. But I do feel that he, has just been in absolutely perfectly. He's somebody that even has the ability to play up your lineup. You know, he's not just a fourth line guy. He's been centering the third line ever since Erickson-Ex has been heard, and he's done a really quality job. Okay, you mentioned 10 and 2 skating,

a couple of moments ago with Carol Caprizo. And whenever I think of 10-and-2, the first player I ever saw do that was Ulf Dahlin with the Dallas Stars. He may not have technically been the first time that I was ever significantly aware of it, that this is the guy that does the 10-and-2. and I want to transition this into Matt Zuccarello, who was, to my knowledge, the first consistently to make the triangle shot

that so many left-hand shooters do now. Oh, he's not going five-hole. He's actually shooting at the right skate the way that Matt Zuccarello has always done it. And it seems as if when Zuccarello is in the lineup, things change for the Minnesota Wild. And he's such, like, it's so weird. He doesn't, this is going to sound like an insult, but it's not because he's so effective.

But there's so many things about, either it's his skating style or size or just like so many things that I look at with Zuccarello and say, how can this guy be so overwhelmingly successful at what he does? Like it's the opposite of, and Pat Quinn would refer to these players as morning glories. They would look high skill, do whatever they want to practice in the morning, and then the puck would drop at night, and everything would explode and vanish. Because at the end of it, they didn't know how to play. Matt Zuccarello is like the opposite of that. Like this is a guy like crazed competition and thrives in it. Like if you could, because you're there all the time, obviously.

What does Zuccarello mean to this team when he's in the lineup versus when he's out of the lineup? Like how big a hole is that? It's everything. I mean, a lot of it is their skill depth and the fact that they just seem to not be able to find that perfect player to play with Cabrille, Caprisoff. I mean, when Matt's got here several years ago and Carill got here during, you know, the pandemic, it was really Matt's that took him under his wing. They've been consistent linemates. But I think what allows Matt to just drive in the national hockey league still at age 38 is just brain. I mean, he's one of the smartest players that I've ever. I don't think he could survive

at five foot six in this league without being just absolutely smart. And, you know, he's not, he's never been the greatest skater. But if you ask Marty St. Louis about, him. It's all about his brain. And the way he gets around the ice is with his brain. His playmaking is with his brain. He's obviously got exceptional vision. And to your point, he's got a great, great shot. You know, we just actually chatted with Matt Zucrello for about 20 minutes down at the rink just an hour ago. And he was really reflective on his career and just being proud of the number of games that he's played and how much fun he's still having. And, you know, he definitely sounded like a guy that's not ready to just retire here.

So I have trouble seeing him want to go somewhere else But as long as he's still effective and wants to return I think that Bill Guerrin would would bring him back in a heartbeat Just because of also what he means to croak Preece off into this organization I mean he's been an unbelievable mentor And he's still at 38 years old plays at such a high level

And you're right when he's out of the lineup the wild feel it Okay last question for you And this is this is a different answer for every team But every team team has a success line. Like you hit a certain spot in the playoffs, or maybe even just making the playoffs or some team, and your season is considered a success. Like, I don't think anyone's looking in Philadelphia and saying, oh, how disappointing

this is, it's not a successful season. They got swept by the Carolina Hurricanes. A, no one really expected them to make it in, and they went around, and they got swept by the Carolina hurricanes. There's no disgrace in that. It was a successful season. I just talked to Marty Burr. Right now, the Buffalo Sabers lose to the Montreal Canaan.

It doesn't matter. It's a successful season. Where's the line for Minnesota to determine successful season? Do they have to get by Colorado? I don't know. I have a hard feel for this one. Yeah, it's hard because, I mean, look, we all know that they're playing the best team in the league right now.

Yeah. So it's hard to say in the playoff format that the National Hockey League has that if they don't get through Colorado, that it's, you know, an unsuccessful season. But I do think that if you get past Colorado, that they feel they have an incredibly good chance of getting to the Stanley Cup final and playing one of those great Eastern Conference teams. So that would be the disappointment is that if you don't get through it, what could have been if you're playing Vegas or Anaheim teams that I think that the Wild are better than. So that would be the biggest thing. But you're still playing a wagon.

And obviously tonight is going to make all the difference in the world whether or not the Wild win in the series or not. But this has been a really, really good season. You know, the one thing about being a Minnesota wild fan, if you live in Minnesota, is that you know all your regular seasons matter and that Bill Garron's going to make it extremely interesting, whether it's buying out a prizier or suitor or going out and, you know, paying a load for Quinn Hughes. And so I think Quinn absolutely loves it in Minnesota.

I think he sees a bright future here when you have core pieces like Ericksonac and Faber and Boldie and Caprizzavis and. sign for, you know, longevity. And so I do think that regardless of what happens in this series, it's been a success and the future continues to be bright in Minnesota. But they, I think they feel that if they could play this way, you know, the template that they created in game three tonight and win this game, that they have a great chance of winning this series against the team that we know is as formidable as any team in the

National Hockey League. Only one game on the board tonight. All eyes on the Minnesota Wilde facing off against the Colorado Avalanche in game four. Mike, you're the best. As always, thanks for stopping by. Say hi to Lou for our favorite people in the world. And we'll catch up soon, pal. We didn't even mention Wallstad.

He's a massive story. I know. Some of the other things we get to. You'd be good. Enjoy the game tonight, and we'll chat soon. All right, see, pal. There is. Mike Russo from The Athletic.

When you think Minnesota Wild, Zach Phillips, you think about Mike Russo. And you know what, even before that, he mentioned, you know, covering the Florida Panthers. Like, he was on the, Florida beat at a time where there weren't there wasn't a ton of coverage of the Florida Panthers and I think that's where Mike was really just starting to get his start and I've always said like there's a there's a number and Aaron Ports lines like this too

Minnesota fans are blessed Minnesota fans are really blessed and lucky that they have someone like Mike Russo covering their team as thorough and diligent and professional as he is, like he is what you hope for in your beat writer. Love him. Great guy. Great guy, talented.

Yeah. And Minnesota Wild fans, you are lucky. You are lucky to have him. Yeah, Russo's the best. Anytime we get to talk Minnesota Wild, he's the first person I think of,

and we're lucky to be able to have him here on the show regularly as well. Even in the boring years. Even in Minnesota is like a yawn to cover, Russo always made it interesting. Oh, like, the wild now or anything. What's that?

I think Glass is called the Minnesota. Minnesota, yeah. A team I win the Stanley Cup. Of course I got to get by the Avalent. But the thing is like you can see the path, right? Again, like the tall order is you got to beat the big boss here in the second round. But if they can get past the Colorado Avalanche and those are two massive injuries, Joel Erick and Jonas Brodine, though that's that's real tough.

But if somehow they can do that, the path is right there. I just like, look, I'm, look, I'm. happy for the ducks, but I'm going to get like hockey PTSD if I have to watch Minnesota and Anaheim, which was in the early 2000s, the worst series I think I ever saw. No one's there anymore.

Just like, oh no, I can't watch. I can't watch it. I can't watch it. I can't watch it. I can't watch it. Anyhow, anything from Russo or from Marty Baran before you move along here. More just a question for you about Minnesota. Is this series against Colorado?

Would this be the equivalent of the capitals finally getting through the penguins in terms of what it opens the doors for them to do. Obviously, this puts them, assuming they win, or if they win, gets them into the Western Conference Finals. So it's like, what did you say? The obvious statement, 3 million by Merit. This is me doing this. It's like, oh, wow, Zach, like really brave to say they could do it when they're in the Western Conference Finals. But my point being, this is a team who struggles to get through the first round or at times over the last while make the playoffs.

And yet we've always looked at them and said, hey, they're a pretty good team. They're a pretty good team. They can never do it. You get through Colorado and it's like, the world's your oyster. Is this the equivalent in your opinion? I've always wondered about Vegas, even though it's different divisions, being that. And I consider Vegas too with Colorado. Like that's a team psychologically that they need to beat.

And I kind of feel the same way against Minnesota. Like, look, when you look at the last five years, in the NHL. Stiles make fights is what they always say in boxing. I think the same thing for hockey. And Minnesota and Vegas always have bangers, man. They always have great games. Regular season play.

It doesn't matter. Like those two styles just mix so well. And so maybe that's influencing my answer, but I kind of feel like it's Vegas. I feel that Colorado, remember, it was like five minutes ago where Colorado was up two nothing on Vegas, and all we heard out of Vegas was we got them right where we want and we know exactly what we got to do.

I remember talking to people in Vegas and they're like, oh yeah, we got them. We got this series. I'm like, you're down to Cobb. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. We know it. We know exactly what we need to do to beat Colorado. I'm like, okay, glug, glug.

And they were right. They were 100% right. And me, the hater, was wrong. Completely wrong. Completely wrong about it. So I kind of look at Vegas for both of them. But look, man, if you can knock off Colorado top team in the NHL on route. Like, it's not the same.

way is like I've always felt that if Ottawa ever gets there, the team that they have to beat psychologically is Toronto in the process of getting there, much like the Caps had to finally beat Pittsburgh in order to slay that dragon and answer that question. Otherwise, that was still going to be dangling out there. It's kind of funny. The Sends have to beat the team that can't win anything. I get what you're saying. That market still has nightmares of like Joe Newendike knuckleballs going through Patrick Lillim.

Like, come on, man. Like that's, ask some of your older Ottawa Senators fans. And they'll tell you, oh, so wake up in a cold sweat thinking about those shots on the left side from Newndyke, just finding holes and Pat Lillim. Was it really good goal tend to? Oh, God. Beautiful shots wouldn't break a pain of glass. Grino. And I love Joe Nguyen.

One of my favorite players, too. but woof those shots man I'm looking forward to tonight man what those were what's that what were they ugly they were ugly goals listen man that's why I mean you know how I feel about game winners although I will say one thing in the OHL on Friday night

game two between Barry and Kitchener Matthew Andinovsky had a gorgeous overtime game winning goal And there's a beautiful, you go to Kitchener, Kitchener's Instagram, the beautiful picture of it. It's like, I'm like, part of me is like, no, it's not ugly enough for playoff, but when there's a goal, like that's that nice,

okay, I'll give it a pass. By the Kitchener out, three nothing in that series, by the way. Yeah, and I mean, game three was like the Jeff Merrick hockey karma gods taking place because Acheson scores a beauty to tie it with 12 seconds. And then the OT winner was the ugly one, double O.T. Jamming away. It has to balance out somehow.

The thing about it is it was like Acheson, Islander's first round traffic, man, they're going to love Acheson on the island for like the next 10, 15 years with Matthew Schaefer. It's an embarrassment of riches on the back end. Acheson's so fantastic. In game two, he tied it to send it in overtime with three seconds left. So in back-to-back games, it's Acheson with like 10 seconds left or in game two's case, three seconds left to send it into overtime. Enjoy Islanders.

I know it's been a tough go, but you have more really good players coming. Things are going to be good for the Islanders for a while here. Hey, you know, one thing, and we've just been like so completely busy with playoff stuff. I wanted to start getting back into, now that, you know, series will be, you know,

winding down, I'm assuming, unless these things are all going to go seven. to do more interactive stuff and specifically take an email the sheet at the nation network.com comments, questions, takes insults, corrections, all up for grabs the sheet line.

By the way, speakpipe.com slash the sheet. We're going to be doing more of these, including with Wish. Greg Wischinsky, who joins us Tuesdays and Thursdays. So what are we got for today? We got one left over

from like a week ago, maybe even longer. Yes. So there's going to be a lot of words on screen, but it all makes sense. I'll read this for everybody here. Holy jeez.

It is a lot more visually, but it'll make sense as we go through. So this comes from Eric from Boston area. He was a high school math teacher. Has a student who's a huge Taylor Fan Hall. Taylor Hall fan. Words. Newton. Good.

Put them in the right order. Recognize them. One such trade I'm looking at for insight is the trade that led to Taylor Hall's best season, the Adam Larson, for Taylor Hall trade. The deal is one for one. Everybody remembers that one. Always wondered about draft day in 2016.

It's a crazy thought, but I wondered if Shirelli in Edmonton in Berseron in Montreal had a deal in the works on draft day, but Columbus prevented it. My thought was that if Poolyarvi goes to Columbus at 3 and PLD was available at 4, then Edmonton trades the number 4 pick for P.K. Subit. They don't need to lose Taylor Hall, and P.K. would not have been traded days after the draft as well. Taylor Hall stays with Edmonton and has a different career. Again, we'll never know unless there are more GMs sharing.

They should. And then it says, P.S., I thought Shirelli looked shocked on the draft floor when Dubois went before Pouillier. There's also a music question at the end, but I'll let you answer that first. No, let's do the, throw that one in there too because I love this band. I'm addicted to this band and I'm dying to go see them. Okay. Also, music question, what are your thoughts on Engin de Poit-Turine? Love them.

Would you say they had the best 20, year for anyone from Quebec, not named Anthony Mantha. Yeah, that's great. So Anjean de Poitrain is a band from Quebec that, but like starting about like two months ago, just all of a sudden were everywhere. My father-in-law actually sent me the video saying,

I don't know if you'll like this, but it's really different. It's all microtonal music, right, two guys, from Quebec. There's a really cool video that popped up on the weekend of a music journalist in Ireland. interviewing Dave Grohl and asking him like what new music do you like? He goes, oh, my buddy of mine just sent me this band

and I can't get over watching and listening to them and if it was Agen de Poitrine. I'm going to get to the hockey here in a second. I love this band. I'm dying to see them. They're playing in Toronto Planet 3. I think they're opening for an act and then playing two shows

and they're also playing the Montreal Jazz Fest. I am in saying like, put it this way, Like after the show today, I'll probably, oh no, we have a meeting at three. After that, I'll go for a run and I'll listen to Anjean de Poitrine. I am so in love when, like, the music has the drug, man. Like, for whatever it is, like, you just, like, have those melodies. Like, the music has the drug. I don't know what it is.

You can't describe it. It's got the worms. It's got the drug. Yes, Anjean de Poitrine. Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, on Jean de Poitrine. Here's the thing about that draft. Let me call this up. Because there were a lot of things.

going on. So this is the 2016 NHL draft in Buffalo. The, um, who did the Maple Leafs taking that one again? I'm trying to remember a little Amarillo making the, it was a 10 years ago. I know, I know. Go ahead. You all you conspiracy theorists. I know. Here we go. So there was a few things. So there

was, um, the surprise was Pierre-Luc Dubois going to Columbus. That is true. And it kind of screwed up a few things. So yes, it pull the RV everybody thought was going third. So there were a couple of deals on the table here.

I want to focus first on the P.K. Suban deal. So there was, and Jim Benning ended up talking about this and then also talked about going after Stamco's and was fined, I can't have, $50,000 for tampering. It was pretty sizable. Is it hard or soft? I guess, I guess that's. No, this was hard tampering because he got, not the soft tampering. So the deal was if Pierre-Luc Dubois made it to five at Vancouver,

then Vancouver was going to move that pick to Montreal in exchange for P.K. Suban. What's going on here? There we go. For Suban. The other part is about Edmonton. Edmonton, of course, ended up taking Odeo Levy. One team that tried to get into the first round, and I believe they're trying to do it with the deal with the Oilers were the New York Rangers and it was names like Chris Kreider and I believe Ryan McDonough

I don't know if it was both of them but these were like this is sizable because the Rangers as I'm told wanted to draft Clayton Keller at Fourth Overall they loved Clayton Keller

how different is the NHL world if either of these deals happen Sue Bands of Vancouver, Connock, and Clayton Keller is a member of the New York Rangers. So those were a couple of them. There was a belief. This is tough. There was a belief, we're just talking about Marty about the Buffalo Sabres, that after Grigorenko and Zedoroff, the Buffalo Sabres were like, we're not drafting any more Russian players. We're not taking Russians.

We're not taking Russians. It's just like, we're just not drafting Russians here. and so it got to eight after Keller went to Arizona and Mikhail Surgachev was sitting there and it was no fly zone for the Buffalo Sabres so instead they took Alex Nielander Montreal ended up taking Surgichiev ended up trading

of the Tampa for Jonathan Druand but nonetheless so sometimes you don't let the passport get in the way. There are just some teams that always wonder about too, right? Like, when the Washington Capitol is ever going

to draft a Finn? Eh. Yeah. Go ahead. Think. Like, one of the Buffalo Sabres they could take a significant, oh yeah.

Go on. I know what you're doing. You're off the hockey DB when the shows are. We're like, yeah. I can't, I can't think of any.

Because Dallas takes them all. Florida, too. Yeah. They're all gone. Yeah. They're all gone by the time they get a chance to. Dallas and Florida grabs all the fans. Interesting.

So is it the same group still in Buffalo doing the drafting and stuff? However they amended such rule? It's the same owner. And I think more than anything else, I think the owner didn't like the way that things worked out with was Adoroff and Grigorenko, the two first round picks and they used high picks on them. Didn't work out well.

Griggenko was kind of entirely predictable, Well, although man, was he ever high-skilled? Zadora probably just needed more time than mature, as we've all seen. But, yeah, that experience wasn't great. And again, there was the belief very much that they weren't taken. I think they've taken a couple of Russian players

like deeper in the draft, but as far as like picks that you have to hit on and not just like, hey, let's, you know, passion pick for a European scout. Like, they weren't taken, they weren't taking Russians high. Nope. That a good answer?

So there you go. So things that almost see, stuff like this has got to be a book. Or every GM when they retire has to write a book and talk about things like this. Once nobody's, you know, fragile egos will be harmed. Oh my goodness, you tried to trade me. How dare you? They did throw in in the email as well about potential GMs you'd like to see write books. But I think one of them we know for sure will never happen.

and that was Lou, he suggested, seeing Lou write a book. I don't think that would happen. No. I'm trying to think of a way to be clever about it, but really the answer, like, Lou Lamrilla going to write up. I'm sure he's been offered.

I'm sure people have approached Lou Lamrilla about writing books, but I just can't, no chance. There's no way, no way, no how. No, it would be kind of cool if the last, thing that happened, like Lou writes a book and then when he passes, that's, the book comes out. We have no idea that this thing is coming, but it's just like the last thing he leaves with everybody on his way out. I'm not trying to call Lou.

The cloud of smoke and a book. Yeah. Lou, Lou goes and with him at his bedside table, he just has a book. There's one copy of it. He just has a book. It's got everything in it. That would be a gift to the hockey world. That would be wild.

Again, like you've heard me say it before, I think every general manager should do this. We talk about the good of the game, the good of the game, do things that are good for the game. That's good for the game. Letting people and hockey fans know if you're a Maple Leafs fan or a Minnesota fan or a Montreal fan or a Kings fan or a Dallas fan or take your pick, St. Louis, Blues, Florida Panthers, Tampa, Late, all of it.

Let your fans know what's going on. You don't have to do it at the time. We understand the sensitivities. But, you know, once years have passed and players have retired, give a little more depth and their knowledge of their team and how it was constructive and the decisions that were made. You know, Jay Feaster could write a great book about his time. What's that?

Some of them I don't want to hear. Some of them you specifically don't want to hear. Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. You don't want to hear about your trying. automate beliefs and the discussions and why things happened and why other things didn't happen. Yeah, I know, I know, I know, I know.

It's a fine line here, Jeff. I know. I know. I get it. You want to know. But then on the other point, you just don't, you know, you can only bruise your forehead so many times. You could only bruise your forehead so many times, Zach. All right.

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All the action begins at 8 o'clock, and we're very much looking forward to what Zach has cooked up here in order to put some money in our jeans to kick off the week. The sheet is powered by Fandul. Play your game with Fanduel. It's the NHL season, and Fandul is your home for all the action on the ice. From Blue Line to Betslip, we've got you covered all season with unique promos, live offerings, and more features to let you play your game. Miss Puck drop, no sweat with a live same game parlay.

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Make them rich. I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day yesterday. I know that the hockey moms are some of the most amazing, hardworking people in the world to get us everywhere we need to be. Hockey moms. And I know that I got to spend yesterday with my mom, but. But one of the things that happens every year is going out and doing brunches and all that kind of stuff. And if you're not well prepared, Jeff, sometimes you can run into trouble trying to find spots to leave your car when you get to some of these locations is something I did not foresee when I was pulling up to the golf course yesterday for brunch with my mom.

And he got there and I was driving around, driving around trying to make sure I got in on time to get in to my brunch. and the lot was full. You know, I was looking around and I had to find somewhere to park McCar and it was causing some problems. Apparently if the lot's full, Jeff, you can't just leave it on any spot of open land. Well, I got McCar.

Yeah. Let's see what you got here for. Oh, park or cow course, park or Kelly. Kale McCar and Gabriel Lent. I'm embarrassed. I didn't get land, considering he's my favorite player. Land. And I really tried to put some emphasis on it for you.

That's good, too. I really tried to push. Like maybe when you're in King's City and you're looking for a lot to land on. Okay. $5. $156. And $89. Courtesy of Zach's own bank account.

He'll pay you. Actually, he'll walk to your house. Don't. With cash in his pocket. There's people waiting for puppies already. Handed it out. Because of promises you made. Hoppies and cash.

He's like a politician trying to buy votes. That's what he is. He's walking around. Walking around with Bert Reynolds' money just in his pocket, just tumbling out of his pockets, poor fellow. Causing problems for me. By the way, did I ever tell you, I'm going to ruin something for you.

Speaking of looking for a place to park, ever tell you about when I was doing open line, 640? This one changed. And it's going to change you. It changed everybody watching and everybody. listening. You'll never look at this one event the same way again. So I had this producer.

James, oh God, what was his last name? We used to call him shaky. And every day he would have like a different, I was doing an open line, seven to eight. And he would always have like a different, quote unquote, celebrity from the city coming live for me to talk to for an hour. And one day he brought in a sex trade worker. And I had the interview.

It was a fascinating interview. right and took calls and she was great and at the end of the interview i asked her i said is there because in other industries there's some days where it's like all hands on deck trade deadline for example at our shop everybody works no free agent age lot everybody it's full it's hands on deck i said is there something similar in your line of work and she said yes there's one day where we all know we can make a lot of money really really fast and we're all we all know like like this is, this is a, this is a big day for us. I said, what is it?

I want to take guess? I don't know, man. What day is it? Santa Claus parade. Dad drops the family off at the parade and then goes to look for parking. There was nothing available. That's what she told me. I have now just ruined the Santa Claus parade for everybody.

I live downtown Toronto. Yeah, I know. When you see the Santa Claus parade. Yeah. It's going to be tainted. Next early December, Santa Claus parade. Yay, look, here's the flow. Where's Santa?

Just understand. It's a big world. Oh, my God, Jeff. Look, man, I'm just calling balls and strikes, man. It's like Doug McLean used to always telling me. I'm not saying as a truth. I'm just saying what I heard. That's what she said.

Does that make our most money in the shortest amount of time? Santa Claus parade. Anyway. That's dark. I thought I'd share that with you. Look. Thank you. People are just trying to make ends meet.

Okay. Like, don't get in the way. All right. I never thought of that one? No? I'm reading the chat. Portuguese walrus says Santa wasn't the only one delivering presents. Oh, walrus.

How dare you? What else the chat doing with this one? Jeffrey says Santa Claus was coming. Oh, geez. Oh, come on. Pause. I remember I got in trouble with a pause once really bad. Ever tell you this story?

No, I don't think so. In Toronto, I used to work at Chorus Entertainment. So I worked at the talk radio station, AM 640, and one of the other stations, the after they had two FM stations, Q107 and 102.1, The Edge. And Tina Trajani did news for The Edge during the afternoon drive. And she was off for a week, so they got me to do news and sports. read a couple of basic headlines from the news and then do like, I don't know, read like a story on the Leafs and then call it.

It's just essentially it's a really, really quick read. And I got a lot of trouble. So it was Leafs and I think they would have been planning against Carolina. And Pat Quinn had head coach the Maple Leafs was having heart issues. Right. And so he wasn't going to coach the first game of the series. And so young, immature idiot Merrick goes on the. air with this read.

And meanwhile in sports, Trotamapal Leaf's head coach, Pat Quinn, has passed. On the coaching duties tonight to Rick Lee, he'll be behind the bench as the Maple Leafs open up against a Carolina hurt. Dave Farrow is the program director. Man, did I get in trouble for that one? It was really bad.

Yeah, no kidding. That one of my final. All of Toronto having an aneurysm when they heard you say that on there. Toronto Police Head Coach Pat Quinn has passed. On the coaching duties to Rick Lee tonight? No. I thought I was being clever. What a jerk.

Yeah, real clever. Way to go, America. That is a, as you put it, C-L-M. Want to let everyone know what that stands for? Career limiting move. Way to go, kiddo. All right, on that, thanks to everyone for playing along today, including Martin-Barrant, analyst for the Buffalo Sabres.

Fun one last night. Let's see what happens in Game 4. We know this game tonight. Mike Russo telling us how about the Minnesota Wilde'll face off against the avalanche game for there. Thanks to you. Thanks to everyone in the chat for making now Santa Claus jokes. I can't believe I haven't told that story before. Santa Claus jokes in the chat.

Appreciate that. Thanks for being part of it. Thanks for watching on our daily faceoff YouTube channel. If you have not yet subscribed, please do so if you have. We thank you. And thank you for listening on your favorite podcast platform. We thank you for lending us your ears. We're back tomorrow with Greg Wischinski from ESPN and ESPN.com.

In the meantime, enjoy the game tonight, folks. And we'll talk to you tomorrow, 1 o'clock Eastern, right here on the sheet.