The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Hockey Holidays! ft. Greg Wyshynski & Jesse Granger

Episode Date: December 23, 2025

Today on The Sheet, we wrap everything up before the holiday break as Jeff Marek is joined by Greg Wyshynski for a Christmas-themed quiz and a look at the latest buzzing around the NHL. The guys get into Jack Hughes’ new thing with Tate McRae that’s taken hockey social by storm, react to the Maple Leafs firing power-play coach Marc Savard, and break down what Toronto’s next move could be. Then Jesse Granger stops by to dive into his new piece in The Athletic on shots on goal—what’s real, what’s noise, and how teams are evaluating it heading into the new year. A fun, festive, news-packed episode to close out 2025 before the holiday break.SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Bauer: https://www.bauer.com/👍🏼Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/caReach 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-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Not going to lie, Greg. Little disappointed. That is, um, by your standards. And okay, Christmas sweater. It's all right. I expected something. But like, by the Greg Wershinsky standard. Like, I'm expecting you to roll in and look like half like a snowman corncob pipe the whole deal.

There must have been some magic. And that's kind of what I expected out of you today. But first of all, this is what we get. First of all, not showing you my cornucb pipe. Second of all, for the benefit of those watching at home, I am in fact wearing a Star Wars Christmas sweater. It's got, it's got Java on it. It's pretty good looking. Nice.

Very nice. I wanted to be making it a bit festive. You know, I wanted to festive it up a little bit for the old show. Yeah. Only to get smacked back to say that I am not festive enough by your standards. No, you should actually. By the standards of a man looking like the looking scroogeish, if I'm being honest.

A blazer. A button down. You look like you're someone who's about to tell the family that the Christmas bonuses didn't come this year. Is what you look like. But we all have each other. And we're all together. And these are going to be the memories that you remember for all time. No, you know, like I got roasted a few weeks ago here on the show because I had that Steve Bouchemmy hello fellow kids.

Look about me this one day. And man, did I ever hear about it in the chat? So after that, it's just like, you know what? Just like dress your age. Well, as long as I can keep this cherubic face. And by that I mean angelic but chubby, I think I can get away with all manner and say. sword of clothes you can do it hey but i'm gonna it's it's only a matter of time before it falls apart and then i'm shamed just like you into being like and by the way when people say like like when i when i

put out there that i listen to like chapel rhone as i'm sure the chat will now ignite with the news that i listen to chapel rhone what what should i be listening to when someone says hey and then they they they they tweet a a screenshot of my age from wikipedia like what should I be listening to funeral dirges like you know music forever changes we could be into things that are

skewing a bit younger yeah is there wrong with that no it shows you still have a vibrancy and the cement hasn't hardened around all of your ideas I encourage I encourage you to listen to a thing that the kids are doing

the youngans are doing it's like hey I like the new Olivia Rodriguez album why aren't you listening to Gregorian chance you ancient shithead. You know, that's the, that's what I'm not coming. You know what it is? It's, it's, it's, uh, it's, uh, uh, gatekeeping is what it is, Merrick. It's, it's the thing that as hockey fans we always deal with, it's gatekeeping is what it is. Well, okay, so then gatekeeping

would be one of your grievances. So I was on with Tylery Remchek and Carter Hutton on daily face off live this afternoon. And they did the, the airing of grievances. Now, we have many, many of which you've already heard from me in specifically good goal and slot area. I added a couple this year. Please. You want to hear them? You don't have a choice,

but I want to pretend like you do. This is the illusion of democracy. The penalty was killed successfully. As opposed to just the penalty killed. Just extra words that we add around. Here we go. New personal best. I was opposed to just personal and best.

Here's another one that we probably never thought about, but now I'm going to make you think about it. Scored a goal. As opposed to scored? Scored. Why do you have to throw in a goal after that? And the other one. There's no other way to score in this league.

No, no. But we throw in again, this is the curse of football, which entered hockey a number of years ago, and now we can't get it out. And the other one is, I still laugh at this one. End result. Well, I mean, if we're going to strike all these things from the record,

I mean, my game stories are going to be about half as long now. I'm making it tough for everybody to flower up their pieces to hit 1,500 words. Sorry, everybody. Merrick's wrecked it forever for all of you. Oh, you know my other one? I think maybe you and I have talked to it. Elbowing should not be a penalty. Actually, no.

Elbowing isn't a penalty. Elbowing actually isn't a penalty in the NHL. Because it's only called if you elbow someone in the head. Have you ever seen an elbowing penalty to the back, to the shoulder, to the chest? No, never. It's only to the head. So really, essentially, what we're talking about here is just head contact. That's all.

Elbowing is only elbow. Slashing, you can slash everywhere. Arm, you know, wrist. shin pad knee like you can slash a guy at foot you know you can slash something but elbow it's only an elbow if it's to the head my main grievance these days is and this is somewhat personal but also somewhat general is hey stay up and watch some west ghost games once in a while listen first of all i'm an insomniac so i'm watching west coast games all the time but for my friends that aren't insomniacs that might not be dialing up vancouver and seattle at like

10.30 at night. Guess what? Here's the shocking part. Those teams, they travel. They go on the road. They come to the East Coast and all their games start 7.30 or 7 o'clock local time.

We can sample the sweet buffet of the Western Conference whenever we choose here in the East when they come through to play our beloved Eastern Conference teams. I like it better, though, watching them in their own habitat. Of course. I want to watch

Vancouver in Vancouver. I want to watch Seattle in Seattle. I want to watch L.A. like last night in L.A. I like him in their own habitat. Do you watch the Kings for their offensive vacuum in? Holy geez. There was a look, there was a tough, a couple tough

games. So like the early one, Tampa and St. Louis was a tough watch. Yeah. Yesterday. St. Louis looked both out of gas and scrambling. In that game, I I'm at a loss for St. Louis to all you long. But it was a tough watch.

Having said that, one of the great stories that probably doesn't get the attention it deserves is how good Darren Radish has been this year for Tampa. Oh, he's been awesome. And it was awesome again last night. Darren Radish had been fantastic for this team. Anyhow, you were going to say? If you were Pete DeBore, would you take the Toronto job or the L.A. job if they were both available to you? L.A.

Tell me why. because right now this is this Toronto situation is the most I don't want to say toxic that's such a cliche potentially explosive situation anywhere and I don't know that because Pete DeBore's reputation is he coaches winning teams okay and I know Los Angeles has his challenges and they're going to get tougher when when Kopitar retires yeah But how many careers have been ruined behind the bench by being part of bad Maple Leafs teams? Ron Wilson is, of course, the most obvious one. Yeah. Like there's been a lot of coaches that have gone down with the ship in Toronto and taken their career and reputation along with them.

Do you not get the feeling that that is happening here in Toronto right now? That's why I would look more fondly at L.A. Should that position arise? That, and I think there's also just more path forward with the Kings. Like, they've got a good core of players. They've got some real good young players. I think that being where they are and what they are, despite the tax situation, they could probably attract some talent out there as well for Pete DeBore.

Get to live in L.A. You get to live in L.A. I think also, as Craig Rube is finding out firsthand, there's a bit more maybe job security. if you just meet the moment in L.A. and contend. I will say, though, for a guy like Pete, the lore of being, it's the same thing as Babcock, right? Like, the lore of being the guy that gets the maple leaves over the hump. I'm sure there's probably a part of him that would like to meet that challenge, knowing Pete. Yep.

But like you said, man, I mean, two things about the three things about the Toronto situation real quick. First of all, the Marks of Ard thing. How did that play for you? Because for me, that was, I know that there's some talk this morning about, like, Brubay is really upset about it. It's his guy. Yep. There's also talk about how it's completely warranted because the power play is shit.

Let me run some numbers here. The Leafs have scored a power play goal in just 11 games. There are four, six, and one in those games. They have been outscored on the power play in 10 games this season. Those are ghastly numbers. Yeah. I was what when I saw that firing though dude I said to myself is that a guy it was Savard a guy the players liked because usually when you see a bloodletting bloodletting like this

it's trying to have someone the players like pay the price for their malfeasance and my first reaction was I wonder if Savard was the was the good cop of those two and then he just gets gassed as sort of a sacrificial lamb in this situation. I think the Maple Leafs right now need, first of all, I don't think that, hang on, you know what, let's do this because I want to make sure we get, I want to make sure we start the show proper because we're already 11 minutes in here. And I want to, and that's something that is important for you, but let's come right back here on the marks of art issue.

The blueprint. That's what's going on the program today is powered by Fanduel. Download the app today and play your game on Fandual. He's wearing a Christmas sweater. He's from ESPN and ESPN.com. He is Greg Wischinski. He has a board for the full hour. The Hughes returns.

We'll talk about the Savard situation in a couple of seconds here. Jesse Granger and James Myrtle have a really interesting piece at The Athletic right now on how the NHL calculates shots and why we're seeing so many shots on nets come off the board. Maybe you've noticed, if you haven't. It's very much a thing around the NHL. Okay, to Mark Savard. This is one of those.

Now, I've always been of the mind. You know me. You've known me long enough. That I believe in the saying, patience is actually action. Like, there is a way to be patient where you are actually doing something, much like in the same sort of Zen philosophy, the nothingness of the cup inside the cup allows the cup to be the cup. The nothingness around the door allows the door to be the door. As we all know. Patience is an action.

But right now, the Maple Leafs don't have the luxury of being patient with. with anything, much in the same way that when you watch like old 1950s movies, sometimes the volcano demands a virgin, there needs to be a sacrifice that's made here to calm down the gods. And the only way is to calm the gods down right now. And listen, right now it's like they're real close to peasants with pitchforks around Scotia Bank Arena. So I think this was the first throwing off the side of the boat by the

Toronto Maple Leafs. Will it calm everybody down? No. Of course it won't. But I don't know that the Maple Leafs brass were going to sit idly by anymore. Having said that, I think that this was a sudden reaction to, or listen, it's a bad power play. It's no way around like 13%. Yeah. But at the same time, I think this entire organization wish, I was saying this yesterday on the show, I think at every single level, on the ice behind the bench, in the GM suite, in the owner's suite, I think everybody's frozen and stunned. I don't think that they thought for one second that this was going to happen. The beginning of every year, you sort of plan, okay, what's our contingency? If this happens, if that happens, this situation arises, what do we do? That's just the course of

normal planning for every single team. I don't think for one second. Anybody said, what if for last at Christmas? What if we're in the last place at Chris? And the Buffalo Sabres are ahead of us. I don't think that came up. I think that they're all, I think that they're all frozen because they never thought about this happening for one second. Yet here they are.

And the knee-jerk thing to do is get rid of the guy that ran the awful power play. So there's two ways to look at that, which is that they are either. correct in their assessment that things should not be as bad as they are and look injuries the lack of effectiveness for the goaltending for most of the season yeah like all of it does add up to an understandable dissent in the standings but the other part of this is naivete because they did lose a hundred point winger and they lost a vital part of their power play and penalty kill and they lost a player

that has played a minute or two with their star center who now can't put the puck in the net. And so I do wonder if there is a certain amount of like, hey, we'll just throw Matias Pichelli at the problem, it'll be fine. We don't need Mitch.

And being completely naive about how important this player was to them in the regular season. Let me please caveat that for all the people watching at home. The regular season is when Mitch Marner would make the biggest impact of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

but he did make an impact and with him not there they are a very very ineffective team yeah they are but now here comes the question and this is the question facing Brad Trilliving Keith Pelly all of them right now do you double down or do you punt this was the question that I've talked about on the program before and I first started my career and spent an afternoon with Jim Rose who ran the legendary Jim Rose circus at Lollapalooza, appearances on X-Files, like all of it. And one of the most interesting guys I've ever spoken to. He said, you're just starting your career, right?

I said, yes, I am. He goes, here's what's going to happen in your career. One day, you're going to arrive at a point, and there's no obvious answer at the time. You'll only know if you chose properly years and years later. I said, what's the question? He goes, you're going to come to a point where you're going to say, I need to either work harder or quit.

And that's what's facing the Maple Leafs right now. Do you double down or do you blow it all up? But what does blow it all up look like? Well, that's where you start to get into this, you know, and we saw Patrick Galvin yesterday talking about, you know, hybrid rebuild, retool, different. That rebuild lasted roughly four days, I think, maybe. I mean, it is insane.

How quickly it has to change out there. Okay, anyway, to every general manager out there, just call it a renovation. Yeah, we're doing so. We're doing some renovations with the cheap. Just call it our renovation. Stop with the rebuild. Everyone hates to say it.

All of a sudden, it's like, let's switch it up. No, I just think. That's the problem with that. No, you know what it is? No, you know what it is? Owners hate hearing the word rebuild because what that says to the fan base is, don't bother coming for a few years. I don't think the general manager's mind saying it as much as the owners say,

don't say rebuild. Yeah, I was going to say. I think it's directly from ownership. It's owner. Don't say rebuild because these ticket prices. are expensive. And if we say we're rebuilding, fans will go, yeah, I'm not going to pay that for a rebuild. That sounds like, yeah, we're going to lose every game, but patience, patience and keep the wall. Can I ask a question? Because I don't know the answer to this. I know what the answer is

in other markets. But in a Canadian market, like Toronto or like Vancouver, like what is the actual attendance hit if they go into a rebuild for like two, three seasons? Not as bad as it is in smaller non-traditional markets. Yeah. There is still a hardcore fan base. Like the way you make your money is by drawing in the casuals. Maybe I want to go. Maybe I don't like those are the people you have to get to, right?

Like your season ticket holders baked in the, you know, those are baked in the pie. They've been with you forever. The season tickets last generation upon generation, you know, to Ken Dryden's point during the lockout of 204, 205. He said, what we're going to, he said, it was a really good point by Ken. And he said, what we're going to find out here when there's no hockey is, for Canadians, is hockey a passion or a habit? And I think for a lot of people, a lot of people, it's a passion. I think for a lot of people, it's a habit too.

And as long as you can, it's bicycle theory, keep peddling and everything's fine. I think for a lot of people, as long as you keep the thing rolling along, the habit will carry it, and they'll still buy tickets. They'll grouse and they'll grumble and you've got to do special nights. There's got to be a lot of retirement ceremonies. to get to the rank. Like, there's a real structure to when teams do these things.

Right, that's when you call back all the old heroes to do special nights. But there is a hit that you take. Absolutely. You take a viewership hit. You take a butts in the seats hit.

Although I would maintain it's not as significant as it is in some of the smaller non-traditional markets in the United States. The devil's go into a rebuild. they average like 11,000 a night. Like, I mean, it's, in certain markets, it certainly hits you more than others. To go back to our conversation about Toronto, if you were going to rebuild, if you were

going to punt, as it were, then you have to trade Matthews. It's as simple as that. Trading Matthews turns the page on this era and trading Matthews launches you into whatever the next phase of your team is going to be. I think that is, I think they never thought they'd have to contemplate that right now. but I can't sit here and tell you that for sure they're not thinking about that. They have to be.

They have to be saying to themselves like, is this really the end of the road with this group? And what's the NHL littered with? Teams that have misread when it's time to rebuild. Because they try to squeeze as much out of that last group as possible and then they miss it. So in some ways, perhaps this is a gift for the Maple

beliefs if they choose to see it that way, that this is the team saying this era of this team is out of steam. Right. And that's it. And we need to get ahead of this and make this decision now. Again, to my previous point, though, I don't think at the beginning of the season, they're planning for the other, that they contemplated this for one second. The idea that we may have to look at Austin Matthews and say, do we need to make the decision

now? Or William Nealander and say, do we need to make the decision now? I don't think they contemplated that for a second. That's why they keep closing. So what do you figure, what, Cooley, Perrault, Schneider, and two ones gets you to Matthews in New York? I would, I would, I would, no, I would, I would, again, if we're going to play like, you know, late night call in radio here, propose your favorite trades in the NHL, I would look at Los Angeles. They're losing Copa Tar. Austin Matthews was born in, raised in Arizona, but born in Los Angeles.

I don't know. that one that one to me makes makes too much sense if you're going to pick a team if they are going to make a decision on matthews he's much more l a than he is new york if we're being honest right that's what that's where i would be looking do you have to give up byfield to get yes matthews yes okay do you have to give up frank clark to get matthews yes so clark that's where it starts and byfield and that's where it starts so in one season you lose your top three centers and replace them with matthews and you hope that and you throw an elk's turkot and if he turns into something for you you hope that that like turkot and hellanius can be like two three and that's it okay you keep turkot obviously

if you're trading way oh yeah he can i mean but that's again like that's if you punt like that's what it means it means you trade matthews it's just no two ways about it like you're not sitting around waiting to rebuild around matthews because it's going to be a process and you need to start the process somewhere much like vancouver started the process but bringing in you know booge him in those and those guys like that's a that's a good starting point but here even though even the people that were like you should get more for him we're like you know what that's a pretty solid foundation on which they build if you're Vancouver there is like with everything with the Toronto Maple Leafs a mitigating factor to all of this and we'd be fooling ourselves to think that this

wasn't a factor in any decisions for the Maple Leafs um Rogers is is taken over MLSC okay so with the last um rights deal, it was 12 years. Now, the Maple Leafs are the cash cow for Canadian national rights deals. The Maple Leafs only made it out of the first round twice. They're about to begin a new 12-year cycle with the rights. I don't know that MLSE wants to start a five-year national relationship. Five-year Toronto Maple Leafs rebuild. I wouldn't take that long, though. I mean, given what their first round pick situation is, maybe it will.

The, you know, yeah, I mean, I think that's part of it. But here's the other part of it, too. There's six points out of a playoff spot with one game in hand. It's not as if the punt part of the equation is as clear and glaring. It's not a flashing neon light that says punt at this point. there's something to be salvaged from the season potentially now i don't think anybody looks at this team and says it's a championship team but you know a team that's near the bubble or makes the playoffs certainly uh presents a different mindset than a team that is lingering in the basement

in the eastern conference does it have you seen any signals from this team that they can go on one of those runs none not a single one so we're watching the same team and here's the So is Brad is Brad going to be Doug Armstrong and like raise the white flag and admit that the team he built's not good? Brad Trillivin watches the same team. Keith Pelley watches the same team. All right. They may say different things publicly than we do. A lot of different reasons for that, obviously.

But we're all watching the same team. Now, they may have more patience, I think, than fans might than commentators might for sure. but they're still watching the same team. They may just say like, look, let's see what happens and then we'll make our decisions at the end of the season, which is what they very well may do. Yeah.

But right now, they didn't, I don't think anybody, like hands up, everyone watching and listening, who had the Maple Leafs in last place at Christmas. That's why this game this afternoon. The chat is full of people right now of being like me, me, me, me, me, me. I did, I did, I did, I did.

to go back to your to go back to barubi for a second because you bought this up about about about sorry i'm talking about toronto about ron wilson um the biggest the biggest hit for me on barube is that he was bought in for two specific reasons one because he is a stanley cup ring and two because he earned that stanley cup ring by being the n hl's master psychologist a guy with the innate ability to have his team move past adversity with mental toughness and we were all like you know what's going to be fascinating about Craig verruve being with the Toronto Maple Leafs is if whether or not his Freudian knack for mental acuity and pop psychology could overcome the years of toxicity could overcome the failures in this point to overcome what Paul McClain once called the demons that haunt the team and I

if we have our answer. The Leafs have defeated Craig Rubin. Again, I come back. And by the way, let's not forget who was also on that Maple Leafs bench about five minutes ago. We just won the Jack Adams as the NHL coach of the year. Of course, he didn't have a Stanley Cup in his hip pocket. But as I'm always quick to point out, tell me what Tommy Gorman, Dick Irvin, senior and Scotty Bowman all have in common that the only coaches in the history of the

NHL that goes back to 1917 to win a Stanley Cup with two teams that's it I hate the well you know what he coached this team to the Stanley Cup he knows how to do it history tells you you're a liar when you talk like that history tells us that's not sane logic when you talk like that. And I think the league understands that. That's why Pete DeBore gets all these jobs. They're like, he never won. If he won, you couldn't win again.

But he came close so many times he's due. Yeah. But like at the same time, like you look at, okay, like Spencer Carberry was ready to be a coach, a head coach when he went, when he went to the Washington Capals. You can make the, you can make the assumption deal. There's probably ready to be a head coach when he was still the assisting coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs. And again, like, I don't. know what's going to happen with the general manager, but Brandon Pridham's been sitting there a long time. Yeah. As one of those next ones, one of like really smart guys that doesn't do a job at all

of marketing himself. So a lot of casual, you know, hockey fans won't know the name. Brandon Pridham. Outside of maybe people that are like, oh yeah, that's a guy that's a guy that put the salary cap together for the NHL, original salary cap. Like that's how far back and how much of a big brain Brandon Pritam is. But he's not like a big, sexy Toronto, New York name. but is it time maybe to stop thinking like that if you're Toronto I mean it is but that won't stop them from hiring somebody who built a champion to take over the team right you're probably right

this is why again this is going to be so weird normally like this was there 13 games today 14 games how many games are they 13 or 14 games today the first game is 4 o'clock it's Toronto Maple Leafs and the Pittsburgh Penguins Normally games like this It's you know what The guys just don't want to get hurt

You know get out clean Still want to play a competitive game But at the same time It's getaway day Like okay guys Let's just get over this And get to our families here For a couple of days

This might be the most important game In the Maple Leaf season And you know how Crosby You know how Crosby just wrecks the Maple Leafs Like on the regular and always has Mm-hmm I don't know man I also like the reaction that Marks of Ard shouldn't be fired this close to Christmas.

I'm like, okay, so when then? Right after Christmas? How dare you fire someone before the new year? How dare you fire someone two days after the new year? How dare you fire someone any time you want? It doesn't matter. Just how it works. Because you fire him like two days after Christmas.

The same people saying don't fire Marks of Ard a few days before Christmas are also the people being like, the Leafs have to do something. Just thought around. Christmas. Just, yeah, and not right after Christmas because that's mean because they've got, you know, they've racked up credit card bills. And then New Year's is right around the corner. I know.

There's never a perfect time to do it. There never is. Anything else before we get to Granger here is going to be standing by in a couple of seconds. Anything from last night, anything from the last couple of days. I mean, listen, the big one that we knew we were going to talk about of the Maple Leafs today, but let's not lose sight, too, of the team that's a little. bit north of them before we get to the Granger. I'm not sure if he's standing by yet or not. And that's the Buffalo Sabres. I saw

them live on Sunday. You did. And the return of Jack Hughes too. Yeah. I mean, return to Jack Hughes, Jake Allen playing Timo Meyer back. Like it was all set up for Jersey to have a really, really good game. I want to say one thing about that Devils. I know we'll talk about Jack probably later. I do want to bring up Tate McCray. I found it a little interesting that, one, they didn't have Jack Hughes in the starting lineup. Now, how many times have we been to a game where a player returns from injury or is acquired via trade or is making a big debut or something? Yeah. And he's in the starting lineup so you can get the giant pop from the crowd to launch the plays into hysterics when the game starts.

They didn't have him the starting lineup. And while it appears they're rectifying this tonight against the islanders, They also didn't have playing with Yesper Brat, who is his long time line mate. They had Brad playing with Heeshire. And I thought to myself, Merrick, is this a little punishment? It's a little.

Don't get too big for your birthday. I don't know about that one. I'm not. I honestly, Occam's Razor. The, you know, the home team fills out the lineup card second. And all that Sheldon Keith was doing was just

reacting to what Lindy Ruff in his one of his one of his many returns um to the prudential center that also was hilarious they at the game on on Sunday they did a welcome back to to New Jersey Lindy Ruff and rough rough was the word of the night for the reception that that man got from the devil's fans on the crowd let me tell you what uh listen on that we'll bring in our our guest of the hour he is a Jesse Granger no stranger to this program we always having back, because he's so damn good. Yeah. Covers NHL issues, covers

goaltenders, and covers shots on goal. Now, on this day of airing grievances around these parts and other parts, I've always had an issue with how hits are calculated. I'll bracket that for a second, but listen, Jesse, really

fascinating article. I just finished reading it this morning that you and James Myrtle put together about disappearing shots. Disappearing shots in the in the Now, there was one Goaltender, I'll give one, it was one junior hockey goaltender

who made his way to the NHL who believed that he was getting ripped off by shots and it was affecting his save percentage. And so he actually paid a kid, it was like $100 a game, to go to all of his junior teams game and actually count all the shots on net because he felt he was getting ripped off.

Goleys take shots on net very, very, very, seriously yet at the same time we're seeing the numbers come down can you explain yeah thanks guys it was it was super interesting getting into this um it's all the puck tracking technology which is not surprising um the fact that they can now take a puck's trajectory and no matter how early it hits the goalie no matter how early it hits something they can just extrapolate out where that puck would have been heading yeah which is something we didn't have prior to a couple years ago they're using those numbers to help the guys up top. So for anyone who doesn't know, the way they count stats, whether it's hits, takeaways, shots, they've got a crew of people up there above us in

the press box. They're way up at the top of the arena and they're counting all these stats throughout the game. Now, for shots on goal, they use replays. They'll watch multiple angles because it's obviously really tough. I mean, the puck's hitting bodies in front. It's sometimes there are multiple rebounds. It's not an easy job. But they've now started to use this technology of using the puck tracking data to determine whether a shot was going wide. And the biggest effect is that these shots that are going two inches wide of the net, but a goalie gloves it because he's at the top of his crease, cutting off the angle.

There's pretty much no angle that you're going to be able to see where you can definitively say that that puck was for sure going wide of the net. But because they have the data that says it's going wide, they're no longer counting those as shots on goal. So I'm sure everyone listening or watching this, that is watching a game this season. I'm sure you've seen the shot on goal counter go backwards, and you're like, what is going on?

That's what it is. So, Mertl and I spoke to a handful of people around that work for the league. I spoke to a couple of goalies, Joey DeCord and Devin Cooley, and they both talked about how they notice it in games. Cooley mentioned, like, yeah, you'll make a flurry of saves and feel good about it. And then you look up on the scoreboard a couple minutes later, and all those saves are gone.

So, yeah, it's interesting. And the underlying thing, and like this is something that the players are talking about, the league obviously doesn't want to talk about it, but it is because of gambling. Prior to prop bets and being able to bet on how many shots on goal a player had, there was no real consequence to getting these numbers wrong, right? Like if you count a shot as a save when it actually wasn't because it was going two inches wide, who does it hurt? It helps that goalie save percentage.

In fact, it was a good play by him to freeze the puck, so he's getting rewarded for that play, even though technically it wasn't a shot on goal. But there's no real negative consequence. But if there's people out there who need this guy to have under three shots on goal and you're giving him that shot on goal when it wasn't, you're essentially taking money out of these people's wallets because they have bet on it. So it increases the need to be accurate on these types of things. See, my, just jump in one real quick point.

My first thought was that this was about artificially suppresses, saving save percentage for goaltenders for contract negotiations. That was my naive take when I first started reading like, oh, goalie's going to get screwed out of this on the safe percentage. Well, the thing is, though, so the goalies obviously aren't happy about it. On one hand, and like even Cooley said, it's like you can't really complain because we're not getting cheated out of saves. These weren't technically saves.

Like, it is fair. However, where it is unfair to the goalies is that these guys are all still being judged based off of historical numbers and the historical numbers use all those shots on goal like you can as a goalie you can steal yourself a couple cheap saves by just grabbing a puck that you know was going wide and that's what people

have been doing for the history of the sport and now all of a sudden these guys all have safe percentages that start with an eight and it's a disaster for them and the way it looks for them but they're not being counted the same way they always have so it is hurting the goalies the gambling part of this is my first thought too obviously and

And I believe in your story, and this isn't like too unique. I know they do this at times, but the recalibrating of shot totals, like, days after a game is, like, that's pretty bad. Like, there's an immediacy to gambling that I think is one of the reasons why it thrives. And the idea that there would be stat corrections happening, you know, 48 hours after a game or something is, is kind of. kind of counterintuitive to the whole the whole thing, isn't it? It is. I think those situations are super, super rare. Like, speaking with the, usually it's a couple minutes.

Like, the way it works is the guys who are doing it visually at the game, the way they've always been doing it, they'll count it as a shot. Then they see a couple replays. Maybe a replay will show them and they'll take it away. But if not, they get that data from the puck tracking stuff pretty quick within a few minutes and they take it off then. Like you said, there are stat corrections. and this happened, like, I'm a fantasy hockey player.

You'll wake up the next morning and the score won't be the same as it was when you went to bed. That does happen, but it's super rare. For the most part, it is happening within a couple minutes of the shot happening. You know, what's part of time we had... Oh, go ahead, Greg.

Sorry, go ahead. No, I was going to say about the save percentage bit. You know, obviously we've all seen seen save percentages kind of plummet over the last few seasons. And I know that you are one of the preeminent goalie gurus on the athletic staff when it comes to the art of net minding.

Was this part, is this, is this the reason why we see things starting with eight now? Or was there already an overall trend of say percentages dropping because offensive, offenses have just gotten better? No, I think this is a small part of it. I think the bigger part of it is the trend of the game. The, the game trending more towards younger skilled players that maybe aren't the third line grinders that used to hold those roster spots. Like, not only are they way better offensive.

than those grinders were. They're worse defensively. So you're getting more skill. And then the other part of it is I think the overall offensive philosophy that these coaches are using is quality over quantity. They're not giving like Vasilevsky has said it. Multiple goalies have said, you're not getting the cheap saves. They're not just throwing the puck at you. They view that almost as a turnover now. They will hold the puck and wait for a more high dangerous chance. So the shots you are facing are more difficult. So your safe percentage is going to go down. it's one of the things that we always hear too right it's all about pre-shot pre-shot movement pre-shot movement like we all grew up jesse you're probably the same as me and greg we all grew up with this idea how many times if you hear it greg you can't teach touch goal scorers are born they're not made oh mike bossy was you know born scoring goals it's bullshit like we were lied to all those years you can't teach offense you like all the stuff that i grew up with the greg grew up with jess and you're probably the same way it was all lies like

complete lies like you can coach offense you can coach skill you can coach goal scorers I mean I remember Elaine Vino remember like we'd have first of all one of the conversations we never have anymore is about we need to shrink the goalie equipment or make the nets bigger like that's gone because like I can't tell you like

the last time I had that and that used to dominate every single conversation oh wow the pads are too big we got we got to we're not doing the The parenthetical pipes anymore on the sides of the net. We don't need those anymore. We were going to do those, but now we don't need them anymore. We don't have those conversations. And it would dominate shows like this all the time.

And Elaine Vino said it best. He said, if the goal scores want to score more goals, they should spend the summer working on their shot instead of just lifting. Goalies go and work on their craft, go and work on gold. And guys just try to get their strength back. And it was like a light went off around, the entire NHL and everybody started to get shooting coaches and people were coaching offense and all these so naturally the goal scoring is going to go out the safe percentages are going to

come down but to the purpose of this conversation what I'm curious about too as to Greg's point we're seeing more eights than ever before once upon a time when things like this happen the likes of which you know you and James write about in the athletic you could count on Ryan Miller to have a take. Pretty spicy one. You can count on Marty Breder to have a take. Pretty spicy one. Ben Bishop.

Have a pretty spicy take. There are a couple guys around there. There are a couple of goleys. You're like, all right, here's how we're going to advance the story. We're going to put a microphone in front of Ryan Miller and he's going to say something about this. Do we have those guys anymore? Do we have Ryan Millers and Marty Bredeurs and Ben Bishops? Do we have the goleys that are going to stand up and say, you know what?

This is bullshit. I think we do. Maybe not quite the personalities that those guys were. I think I would love to hear Connor Helibuck's take on this. I will say since that story came out, I've had multiple goalies and goalie coaches reach out to me about the story. So they have noticed it. They're not happy about it. And even in the story, it wasn't quite as spicy as you say.

But like Joey DeCore in the story, he's not happy about it. And he made a pretty decent point. he argued the shots from behind the net they aren't obviously shots on goal because there's no way it's not physically possible to have a shot from behind the goal line be on the net and yet when he said when it hits off the back of my head and goes in is it a shot on goal now so you're telling me that a goalie touching the puck makes it a shot on goal so he's his argument is even if it's two inches wide that puck could go off my glove and into the net so I should get a say for for gloving it and not putting it

into my own net, essentially. It's like, it's a solid argument. It's hard to argue against. Leon Dreisital and Jack Hughes are the two that come to mind right away that shot right along the red line. That is, that is, and listen, I tell my kids to do this too.

Like, when you're on the side and the goalie goes into RVH, shoot at the head and bounce it in. Like, sorry, I'm telling my kids to shoot at goalie's heads because that's what they're giving you. They're giving you a chance for for a bounce in and dry settles the master at it jack hughes is right there too there are others but what do you do with that shot because that shot's going wide

it is and and like i said decord makes a good point and he's not the only one that feels that way and uh akir schmidt mentioned like oh yeah we're it's it was all the talk at the christmas party this this has been a topic amongst the players they they have noticed it's not just the people betting on these shot props, watching the shot clock counter religiously as the game goes on. Those aren't the only people that have noticed this. I think Merrick should just be honest and say that he's raising headhunters.

It's pretty much what he's trying to say, right? All kids want to do is shoot high now. Everybody wants the bar down shot, whereas, you know, the smartest shot is that shooting at the triangle, the Matt Zuccarello shot, right, right, in between the heel of the stick and the right skate. They're not actually shooting five-fold. They're shooting at the

right skate. You know this, Jan. The triangle Zuccarello shot, everyone's doing it now. Yeah, well, they get them moving that way, right? They know you have to push off with that leg, and then the push-off leg, they shoot underneath that five-hole because they know that when you're putting your weight on that foot to push across, you can't drop it fast enough. You can get the other leg down fast enough, but not that leg.

So they get the goalie moving laterally, and they shoot at the skate that's pushing off. It's pretty hard to stop. But I was told you can't teach touch. I was told goal scorer's a ball scorer. born i i was lied to all these years what what we've we've mentioned the in arena scores a few times it probably we should probably pause to mention most of these people are oxygenarians maybe having the shots tracked electronically ultimately will provide a better understanding of

what is happening on the ice but i do want to mention analytics that's one of the things i was thinking about reading yours and myrtle's article is like with the the accuracy or or at least the definition of these stats changing. What do you think that means insofar as publicly available data? Is that going to, is it going to dramatically change anything that we're seeing and that we kind of rely on as hockey writers? I think it is throwing these models for a little bit of a loop. The expected goals models that we all look at,

whether it's money puck, natural stat trick, evolving hockey. They all have their own models. And they're using shot location is the number one. factor. I mean, they put a bunch of factors in, but the biggest factor is where the shot was taken. And I find it interesting that so prior to the puck tracking data where we actually had the shot locations, it was just these guys up top and they would say wrist shot from the bottom of the circle. But it wasn't actually from the bottom of the circle every single time. Sometimes it would be two feet closer to the net than the bottom of the circle. But the game is fast. You're just,

you're trying to keep all these numbers. So you're just yelling to your buddy. Hey, bottom of the circle. Well, ask any goalie. And he'll tell you. a shot from the bottom of the circle and a shot from two feet closer, that's a big difference in terms of how difficult it is to save and how likely it is to go in. So all of these expected goals models are using historical data. They basically take all the shots from that spot and they calculate, okay, how likely is the shot to go in? Well, they weren't using exact data. They were using vague, rough data. And now all of a sudden we have exact data. And I do think that that change, that transition is messing with these models. Like, if you look at the goal saved

above expected numbers this year, they're about 60 goalies with positive goals saved above expected and only like 20 or maybe even less under zero. Now, this isn't a net zero stat that has to equal zero. It's not like PDO or whatever. But it does tell you that maybe something is a little off on the way we're looking at these numbers because that many goalies being above zero tells you that it's not a perfect representation of what an expected goal is right now. I am not nearly good enough at math to tell you exactly why and how to fix it, but I do think that it is throwing these models off. You'll be both.

Last one for me. goalie question for goalie guy does a successful poke check end a penalty shot oh my God I immediately looked at Greg for this one

it's interesting it's like okay I'm a card carrying member of the goal of union yeah it should I mean it's that's you're defending the play however I see the argument against it and I think the fact that it's defined

this way if they change the definition in the rule, I'd be totally fine with it. And I think the other police would too. Same. But under the current definition, it should stop it. But like I said, I think if they want to change that, if they want to say, hey, if you poke it into the guy and it goes into your net, then it's a goal, then I'm fine with it. I definitely don't think the shooter should be able to recollect it. Like, if you poke it off as stick, I don't think they should be able to recollect it,

pull it back and fire it in. That's too much. But if the poke causes a deflection that goes in, I'd be fine with that counting as a goal if they want to change it. you had a future in politics granger that was that was well played last one for me so it's it's subtle for those watching on on on on on on youtube uh but jesse covers the golden nights um in Vegas and uh there's like a few golden nice things back you jessie uh tell me about tell me about the golden nights at this point so obviously the landscape in the western conference has shifted a bit

with the Quinn Hughes trade, you got the three monsters in the central. Obviously, the ducks are playing beyond expectation for a lot of us. And the Oilers, thanks to Mr. McDavid, have certainly found their groove again. Now they're getting goaltending. That's kind of scary. Where did the Golden Knights fit into this fabric in the Western Conference insofar as a cup contender status? Yeah, that's a tough question to answer because they haven't looked like a cup contender this year, even at any point. Like, even at their best, they have not looked like they're on the level of Colorado, Dallas, even Minnesota now, Edmonton just because of their pedigree. They're really good, though. I mean, this team has the talent. Right now, they're hurting bad with

Jack Eichel and Shay Theater out. They just have not looked dangerous with the puck since those two went out, which is unsurprising. They're two of the better offensive players on the team. But when healthy, I think this team can compete with those teams. I think right now they're a step below those real like top contenders in the west the Pacific division has made it tougher on them like this has been the worst division in hockey for most of their existence and now all of a sudden with anahm coming up and Seattle's playing better hockey it's it's a much tougher division and these give me even San Jose who they play tonight that's a team that they've beat up on at an insane rate over the years and now all of a sudden it's it's a real hockey game when the sharks come to

town. So, yeah, the Pacific's gotten tougher. I think the Golden Knights are banged up right now. When they're healthy, when fully healthy, they're very good. The defense isn't what it used to be. Missing Alex Petrangelo is a big deal. But Bruce Cassidy's defensive system, I think, covers a lot of that up. His system is so good, and these guys have been running it for so long. They've perfected it. It is incredibly difficult to get the puck into the slot against the Golden Knights, and that won't change. You mentioned the San Jose Sharks. Do these two teams still remember, how much they used to hate each other. Does that still exist or is that memory faded? I think it has. The sharks falling off the cliff kind of and the Golden Knights just beating them six times a year kind of ruins the rivalry. The fact that Ryan Reeves, who is like the biggest instigator of it all, is now in San Jose is funny.

Yeah. Was chatting with him the last time the sharks were in town. And he was talking about that series where he was saying Joe Thornton is going to need his glasses so he can see from the press box. after he gets suspended. That was an all-time series. And then the game seven, the way it ended and Marcia So's rant after, I mean, that was a all-time series. It's so good. The sharks are on their way up, right? Like they've got three superstars with Celebrini, Will Smith, and Ascarov. If all three turn into the players, we imagine they will, they're going to be a powerhouse. So if Vegas's

window can last long enough to overlap with their window, I think we could see a renewal of that rivalry but for now the rivalry is kind of dead who's their biggest rival right now is it la or the oilers probably edmonton i think you can do like the geographical thing and like the fact that a lot of kings fans live in Vegas like a lot of people from Vegas are from california so they were kings fans so and and when those two teams play the fans travel both ways so that part of it is l-a but like if you go in the locker room and ask the players i think it's no question it's the Oilers. Like the fact that they eliminated Edmonton on the way to their cup. And then last year, Edmonton eliminated them. In the locker room, the rival is, the rival is definitely Edmonton.

One of the things that I've, I'm going to end on this. I know like three questions ago, I said last question, Jesse, but here I go again. One of the things that I'm familiar with the show. I know. Yeah. Jesse's no straight. It says in his first rodeo. He gets the deal. One of the things that I've always admired, and this continues now still for more obvious reasons, is how the Vegas Golden Knights don't just market to their own immediate area, but into Arizona too. I've always thought that was real, real smart marketing

by the Vegas Golden Knights. Like you don't see that with other teams. You know, like you don't see the Buffalo Sabres, you know, stretch much past like St. Catharines, maybe into Hamilton, but certainly not into Toronto. But Vegas has done this for years. like dip down into Arizona like hey pay attention to us over here I don't know if there's any question attached to it other than I just think it's a real smart

thing to do it is and it's it comes from Bill Foley from the very beginning and it was brilliant I mean when he and this is okay so when the Golden Knights first came in the league Utah obviously didn't have a team and they were all about trying to get the Utah fans to be Golden Knights fans they their television broadcast extended to that market they would do a a little like bus trip every pre-season season where they'd play a game up there and they would like drive around to different spots in Utah and have the players get off and like they'd have like street hockey games and just ways to try to connect with those fans fully I think his line was we want to be the team of the Rockies which I immediately was like that's going to be tough considering there's a team called the avalanche but it was at least at least the vision was there at least the vision was there Bill Foley owns a ranch in Montana a lot of his businesses are in Montana he has done a lot of work to try to make the goldenites the team of Montana. Basically all those states above Nevada that don't have hockey teams, Wyoming, Montana. Bill Foley was trying to get that. Well, then Utah gets a hockey team. What did Vegas do? They immediately pivoted to Arizona. They got their television broadcast down there. They're trying to convince, hey, if you're an Arizona fan and you're mad at the team for leaving to Utah, we've got a team here for you to root for. So, yes, brilliant marketing strategy. There are a lot of states over here on this side of the country with no hockey teams. And Bill Foley wants the Golden Knights to be the favorite team for all those fans. Fantastic.

Okay, listen, kept you way too long. Thanks for this. Great piece at The Athletic. I encourage everybody to read it. About goalie is getting pissed, about getting shots on goal taken away. Jesse Granger alongside James Myrtle, the authors of this piece.

Jesse, thanks so much for stopping by, as always. Best of the holidays. Thanks for having me, guys. Happy holidays. Jesse Granger covers gold tenders, covers Vegas Golden Nets, covers NHL issues. That was one of those pieces that I'm just,

I was like really proud of Myrtle and him for writing. I thought that was incredibly insightful, but also just like a trend that probably no one's talking about. And like Jesse said, he got some really good shit in there from Decord and from Cooley about what this means for goaltenders and also for sports wagerers as well. But it's funny, you bought up the Arizona recruitment for the Golden Knights. That reminds me of when the thrashers left for Winnipeg, the Nashville Predators made a huge, marketing push into Georgia to try to like recruit fans that were disenfranchised uh to come join uh the predators at one point were we're angling to be like the team of the south i don't know if they're still on that that that that that tip or not but like

when the thrashers left that was sort of their modus operandi smart make it is it's just that's just that's just smart thinking um so you know what hang on one thing i one thing i wanted to the the next piece like that and maybe I'm just handing you some homework Greg I don't know maybe you're interested in this maybe you're not do the same thing but for hits oh god you were so obsessed with hits I hate it I just hate it for everyone who hasn't heard me go on about it before can a definition of a hit is body contact that forces a change of possession puck separation right separating player from puck right change of possession now you can be i don't know i'll pick a name cal martin buck

every single one of just make it up a name 30 hits that's using separated the puck from the player you know that there were that many uh changes of possession on on those heads, eh? Yep. Okay. Tate McCray. Yes. By the way, first time I saw Tate McCray was at the All-Star Game in Toronto, and she, I was

like, I don't know who this is. I've heard the name before. I've seen her in the stands at Flames Games. It's one of those situations where you feel all because you realize, like, oh, I've heard that song, like, at the gym. Never, like, listen to it, but I thought she was amazing. As far as being a performer, I don't know what you're going to go on me. I just think she was.

incredible great performer my daughter my daughter vivian is a huge tate mccray fan and she's also a huge jack hughes fan so we're at the game oh boy chocolates in my peanut butter chocolate's in my peanut butter and she first of all she's losing her mind because hughes comes back from injury at a game that we're attending and then uh at the game livi done and paul skeins were at the game so like they were on the jumbotron and got announced as being at the game but they never announced that tate mccray was at the game which i thought was interesting but then we come find out well i think because she was there as a guest of Jack and it wasn't like a thing to be publicized and so afterwards there's all these sort of like spy photos of her from fans being like I'm pretty sure that's

Tate McCray and then someone got a shot of her credential and it said Hughes which was funny because the way that someone described it was she's wearing Jack Hughes's necklace I was like no no no that's a credential that means she gets into the game it's not a necklace um but like it's kind of amazing. Look, look, it is a really wonderful, weird time for hockey in pop culture. I think it's awesome. Things great. Is a sensation. Big time.

I saw the Hollywood reporter did a story on it that got a statement from an NHL person that you can read for yourself. And then also now you have Jack Hughes, potentially in a high profile relationship with a major pop star. They were having a flirty walk through New York yesterday, Merrick. where Jack was wearing a flirty walk I mean I I don't know this is what that what doom wah I believe it was

described it as was a flirty walk but like all right man like we got our own little little little Travis and Taylor situation here maybe that's yeah that's great and lean into it and that's wonderful lean into it's a wonderful thing for hockey 100% now I do I do look forward to the conversations that Tate will have to have

with the media about the Olympics and you know boyfriend is on the West you're a proud Canadian girl let's say you to this conundrum. That kind of thing, obviously, she'll be asked about. But in time, you can get a current NHL player that is TMZ fodder. It's very exciting. It's very exciting for the sport.

No, I think it's great. I think that's awesome. And again, like I have nothing to offer on the Tate McCray conversation other than I saw her perform at the All-Star game and I thought she was incredible. All right. Zach, as Zach knows, I have prepared a very short. Oh, okay. Hold that. Hold that thought because this is a great place to insert a reminder of our friends at Bauer.

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Get your hands on that shaft and put the energy in the shaft and get the game on the shaft. My oldest kid is in love with the pulse too. He just got another one the other day. He swears by it. He swears by it. So we are less than 48 hours away from Christmas Day.

A very exciting time for all of us. I'm sure. Happy holidays to everyone that listens to the sheet and listens to the NBSW episodes of the sheet. We love you all and hope that everybody has a happy and healthy holiday season and a wonderful Christmas day. But to celebrate this, I have created a very short and concise five-question quiz for Merrick. And the name of this quiz is, does this Christmas-themed hockey player exist?

It is really, does this Christmas-themed hockey player exist? Zach, are you ready? There we go. Number one. Yes or Noel. Greg Jolly. Does Greg Jolly exist? Drafted first overall by the Washington Capitals.

Yes, that is a real name of an NHL defenseman. Yeah, I started you off easy. Greg Jolly, of course, played nine NHL seasons with the Capitals and the Red Wings. He very much does exist. Great first name. Maybe even a better first name if you think about it. Okay. Player number two.

Johann Tinsel Yes or Noel Does Johann Tinsel exist? No That's correct Johan Tensel does not exist Great name though I really wish Johann Tinsel did exist

But All right That's very creative Player number three Do we have graphics for all these I want graphics There it is Gord Candy Does Gord Candy exist

Yes or no First of all it's the ultimate Canadian name So I can see why you would want to go with this one. If you were making a fictitious hockey player, you would use the name Gord, which is the ultimate first name for a Canadian male. Candy is obvious. So I'm going to say no.

It does not exist. The answer is not Noel. It is yes. Gord Candy played from 1960 to 1962 with the Stratford Indians in the OHA Senior A League, Merrick. This is according to Hockey DB. Hang on.

I've got to know players from like the senior loop, like the Allen Cup loop from the early 60s? First of all, I'm flattered. I'm flattered. Not that this player exists in the H-L, not that was this player in the E-C-H-L or the NHL. Did the player exist?

So you played for Stratford. He would have played at the William Allman Arena then. Yeah. A guy named Candy playing at the Allman Arena. That seems a little bit too long. No, Allman. A-L-M-A-N. Thank you, sir. But no, that's good, too. Wow, really, eh?

Gord Candy. Gord Candy. It's a great name. Okay, so I'm wrong on that. All right. But you want me to know the senior loop of the 60s? I'm flattered. I'm flattered, but you're going to be disappointed.

If anyone would. Player number four. Okay. Yannick Santa. I really wish this were true. I can't say that it is. No way. Yonik Santa is a 17-year-old forward with Marano H.C.

of the Alps Hockey League in Italy. The Alps Hockey League, Merrick. The AHL, but it's Alps. I freaking love it. That's a real name in one of the most obscure leagues you could name. That's great. Yannick Santa. Once a year, this guy's the best.

Hey, what's the matter, man? I got demoted down to the A. Oh, yeah? Yeah, Alps. Alps. He's playing in the Alps. Oh, bud. All right.

Finally, the fifth player for this brisk and quick quiz that I want to ensure all the people in the chat is brisk and quick. Nicholas Present Yes or Noel I'll say no Because all of them have been yes See this one I thought was pretty easy Because it spelled different Than the normal word present

It's yes Nicholas Present played from 2004 to 2006 With Huddidge Jr. in the Swedish Junior League Nicholas Present A great Christmas name So there you go I thought you did okay No no two to five

It's not good no Or does this Christmas themed hockey player exist? That's your quiz. Your final quiz of 2025, ladies and gentlemen, on NBSW on the sheet. Do you know that there's only, I don't know why I find this interesting, but speaking of holidays and hockey names, I'm surprised that there's only one Valentine in the history of the NHL. Wow. And I will get you. I was trying to find NHL themed names, but a lot of them were either like,

way too easy or they i couldn't really find a lot of them you know i'm not going to give you like morgan frost okay morgan frost like this like you know i had to go a little bit more obscure than that actually there's two there's a there's a scott valentine as well so there's two valentine is a scott who hasn't played in the nch l and but chris valentine is the one that played for the washington capitals in the 80s okay so maybe there's two now maybe i feel better about myself. Anyhow. I like the Christmas. Next year, Hanukkah theme names.

Ooh, okay. I'm in. Yeah, we'll see what we've got there. I'm down with that one. There's like a, like a, like a, like a, like a dreidel or something. Drysiddle is close. Drysadle is close. Let's see what we come up with. We should get, we should get Johnny Lazarus involved in that one, too. Get John Laz to do the Hanukkah themed, Hanukkah themed trivia contest for us.

I'd like that one Okay You want to hang out for the For the last segment As always What do you got to do What do you have going on today All right

The sheet is power by Fandole Play your game What do you got to do Like you just had a kid or something like that Like please I have to still have to shop That's part of I mean I've done most of it

But I still have some things To pick up for my family Dude that's what tomorrow's for That's today's task No it's not today's task It's tomorrow's task For all the years that I've known you and you've known me.

Like, that's what tomorrow was reserved for. I need that deadline. I need that pressure. Yeah, that's why most of my kids' toys come from the pharmacy. Those toys from movies that were in theaters seven years ago that just linger on in the pharmacy toy aisle. That's what my kids get. The sheet is powered by Fandul.

Play your game with Fandul. It's the NHL season. Fandul is your home for all the action on the ice. From Blue Line to Bet Slip, we've got you covered all season, with unique promos and live offerings, and more features to let you play your game. Ms. Puckdrop, no sweat with a live same game parlay. You can build up your bets until the final buzzer.

Download Fandualsports book today and play your game. 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. What was yesterday's parlay? What was it? Bro.

Um, Bro don't cry. That's silly. It was Philip Broberg, Chris Kreider, Cole Sillinger. Yeah. I thought you'd like that. Philis is coming up to the very own brand.

The former Mr. Tate McCray. Yes, that is correct. The former Mr. Tate McCray, Cole Cillinger, yes. She wrote a song about him. She wrote an entire album and did the music videos in hockey gear and in an arena so never date a musician guys it's a tough look at the next next

next bluejacket's devil's game should have a little mustard on it shouldn't it oh spicy quick tape mccree I was at the I was at a bar when the all-star game happened in Toronto and it was the same one that a lot of the players and some of the musicians and celebrities and stuff

had ended up being at and I was walking out of the washroom As I was walking out, security comes running back and pushes me back. And so I have to stand and wait at the exit to the washroom. And it was Tate McCray being ushered down the hallway. So all the security is like pushing everybody back. And I'm just kind of looking like, that's pretty cool. She's pretty hot.

She smells good. That's nice. And then this guy taps me on the shoulder. And he goes, yo, is that Tate McCray? And I didn't look. And I just said, yeah. And I turn and look. And it was one of the.

the NHL players participating in the All-Star weekend, who it goes, no way, and was in awe to the same degree that I was of tape. Okay. I know you don't want to say who the player was, so just tell us what his name sounds like. What does it rhyme with? I don't want to do that. It was funny. My favorite thing about the Jack-Jose Tate McCrae relationship right now is when it first

started and they were first spotted together. It was Tate McCray. At dinner. Pictured here with friend in cast. Yes. Is that when, like, the Weather Channel, like, ended up interviewing Roberta Lwango on the weather in Vancouver and didn't faunt him as, like, Vancouver connects cold tender, Roberto Lohango, which is like random citizen. Like, I can see that if you were, like, some other market, like, freaking Vancouver. The local DC news went to do that with Ovechkin at a gas station, but I think they knew it was Ovechkin, but it was just hilarious.

They're like talking about the snow. Like, what's the snow like for you? He's like, well, you know, like, my car here. Come from over there, it's even worse than here. More snow. All right, what do you got for us today, silly? Okay, this one's Christmas-themed, as it should be, as our last show before the holidays here,

and Greg almost spoiled it by bringing up a player that he thought about putting and didn't put it. Is Gord Candy? Is Gord Candy involved in today's parley? What do we got? Well, that would be a little difficult, but today is Jack Frost nipping at your nose. Nason, there's the closest weekend. Jack Drury, Morgan Frost, Stefan Nason for today. We, uh,

Vic tried to help me with the final part. Yeah. The money you can win on these. Man, Jack, Jack, we were going to do, really, really a lot of freight. But Nason, hey, listen, he might have a shot now that Jack's back. It's all good. Yeah. Yeah. So Jack,

Drury, Morgan, Frost, Stefan, Nason, but for the sake of this, sorry, Stefan Nason, we're going to say, Stefan Nosen for the sake of my silly parley for today. That's Nosen, and if it fits thematically, it's Jonathan Toes, I get it, it's not Dave's. Exactly, but Jonathan Taves, Toes, doesn't play today. Vic suggested we go with Devon Toes. Again, I'm well aware I'm saying the player's name wrong, so let's just be clear with that.

We suggested I go to that, but he scored one goal this season and I was like, okay, maybe that's little bit of a long stretch so we'll go with Nosen. Again, I'm well aware I'm saying the player's name wrong for people who are going to come after and say this idiot doesn't know what he's talking about. I know I don't know what I'm talking about, but I know the player's name is being said wrong. It's for the sake

of nicknames, all names can be malleable. Whoever screws up this parlay for you should be shipped off to the AHL, the Alps Hoculis. Alps Hoculid. By the way, when you guys were talking about that, there was a comment in the chat that came through

And it said Stephen Ellis has him on his draft board. Dude, I mean, Ellis, like, laugh all you want. Ellis probably knows this guy's buyer right now. Like, if this were a call-out show, we can call Ellis right now. He'll give you the guy's a cool rap. Yeah, Alex. Ellis is the guy. Yeah, Ellis is the guy.

Like, you want, like, those sicko stats from, like, obscure places all around the world. He'll tell you top, he'll tell you top 10 scores in the Cameroon League. Today, right now, call him. He's got it in his hip pocket. I want to find out more about the Elfell. hockey league. I'm kind of like fascinated by it right now. Okay.

So you've got homework about hits and the Alps Hockey League. Do all the referees to get around with those little barrels around their neck like at St. Bernard? You're making martinis? I guess crushed to the corner. Make a little martini. Is there a team called the Avalanche, the Alps Hockey League?

There better be. It's kind of an obvious one, right? And that's, but that, and the St. Bernard's got to be the logo. you would imagine. Man, that'd be fantastic. I'd buy that shirt. I'd buy that hat, wouldn't you? Yeah.

Of course. All right. We're going to punt, Greg, you and your family, have a wonderful Christmas, a great holiday season. Your schedule regular next week?

I'm going to be in Minnesota for World Junior's watching. I will talk to you. I'll break some American hearts. Oh, man. I've not really studied up on World Junior. Are we not projected to win? Is Canada demonstrably better than the U.S.

in this one? Canada should win this one. USA's really good. Not as good as last year's team was freaking insane. This year's American team is good. I like the Swedes a lot. The Czechs might be the dark horse and all of it, but dollars to donuts,

it's Canada, US. Just tell me, what is the percentage chance that your goaltending fails and then you guys have to have a national symposium again? Goaltending is not bad. You know what the weird thing about the goaltending is this year? So Carter George, who was Canada's best player in the entire tournament on the team last year. He'll get the starting job.

Carter George? Carter George. Yeah, he plays with Owens Sound. He's a last name. King's. Jack Ivan Kovic, who plays University of Michigan. And the second round pick of the National Predators, he'll be the backup. But it's weird.

There's a goaltender who San Jose took in the last round last year, who is for Josh Ravensburg. It's probably the best goaltender of the bunch and probably projects to be the best NHL goaltender out of the three of them and can't get a sniff. Wow. Ivan Kovic has been a great junior goaltender and so was Carter George, who was phenomenal last year.

Is it weird for you seeing a Canadian national team where goaltending isn't the problem? Oh, no, we'll blame it on the goalies. But yes, no, this is, trust me, this is a freak. And listen, we've beaten up the goaltending for the, we've beaten up the goaltending now for the, for Team Canada for the Olympics for a while. Watch whoever it is.

Like, watch Logan Thompson, like, shut out the Americans in the final. I'm fully prepared. Fully prepared. We scratched T.H. Thompson for the game. Do some dumb shit like that. Get Trocheck in there. Need that. Don't need guys that can score.

can you play austin matthews for 30 minutes there's like there's somebody asking me the other day i was i think i was on toronto radio like should they strip them of the captaincy i'm like who cares it's it's not as if austin matthews is like the spiritual leader of that team it's the kachucks like all day that are the spiritual leader of that team so it doesn't matter who wears the sea i don't think true if i was going to give it to anybody i'd give it to brady but you know it's neither here or there

you would hey give it to brady kachuk either brady or slaven probably right i thought dylan larkin was the best player like forward for usa at the four nations do you why what is it hold this show's honest what is your problem with brady being like the cat i thought brady was considered to be one of the better captain no he is like i don't i don't have a problem with brady at all like that would make total sense to me i'm fine if you want to make brady kachach the captain totally get it one of my favorite players all of it full stop i just want to think about the entire roster here and say like who else would i put in there i would be tempted to put dylan larkin just based on how great he was at four nations and how

you know detrit red wings are kind of like the best team in the atlantic right now which is weird like ultimately they'd probably just go into like brock nelson you know that's the way it works on team you i say slaven's an interesting choice i mean he he'd be a lead by example captain So who's managing this team again? Billy G. Quinn Hughes. You know, you think it'd be Quinn?

Trying to get him to decide. It's all about July 1st. It's all about July 1st. I read Russo's like roster projection, which I assume is like what's going to happen just because of his relationship with Billy. And it's kind of stunning that there's like one forward spot and then that's it.

It seems like is open. So we'll see what it comes down to. It's like Keller, Caulfield, Robertson, all vying for like the last forward spot. I would imagine Robertson has the inside edge there, no? I would imagine. I think it'd be insane to leave him off with the year he's had. But we'll see. I do like Keller.

I like Keller too. I do like Caulfield. Oh, but they're playing on a postage stamp of a rink, Merrick. How could you put Cole Cawfield on a rink that small? knocked around like a pinball. He's fine. He's got smaller legs in everybody else,

so it'll be fine. They're great for him. Fine. You could sneak under people's legs as they're trying to hit him. It's like you thought the littleest hobo was a person. A little tiny guy.

That's a deep pull from back in the day and that means this show is over for today. Have a great Christmas to you and your family and everybody watching and listening as well. Have a great holiday season. Merry Christmas. We'll talk to you again here on the sheet next Monday. Greg returns on Tuesday and Thursday.

We'll be in Minnesota. Greg, you will be in Brooklyn. Let's go. We'll talk to you. I'll have a great one. I.

I'll sweat 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month. I can't get out my head, lifestyle, ambitious day-to-day, because you can call it all right. I went to the dark man. You're trying to give me a little medicine.

I'm like, No, man. I'm not against those methods but new it's me and myself and how this is going to be fixing my mind I do want a bracket I turned on the music I do want to break it I turn on the music

It's enough I'll get you sometimes losing on the days that we're wrong in the dead dark night