The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Instagram Hockey ft. Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: December 3, 2024

Welcome to The Sheet with Jeff Marek for December 3, 2024! On today's show Jeff breaks down recent comments by Steve Valiquette and Jack Hughes playing "Instagram Hockey", the New York Rangers struggles, and is joined by Greg Wyshynski of ESPN for a reunion of MvsWConnect with us on ⬇️Daily FaceoffX: https://x.com/DailyFaceoffInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailyfaceoff/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoff/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dailyfaceoff?lang=enWebsite: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/The SheetX: https://x.com/thesheethockeyInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesheethockey/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thesheethockeyDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at one you need, whenever you need it. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. I like Steve Valliquette. I like Steve Valliquette a lot. He is, hands down, one of the best broadcasters in our industry. His company, Clearsight Analytics, has showed us as well the

best way to measure goaltenders' performances to the point where once Valaket's Clearsight analytic numbers are referenced in any discussion, the debate is over. That's the weight it carries. As a broadcaster, he's part of one of the most beloved and respected teams was Sam Rosen, Joe Micheletti, and John Giannone. When Valaket is on, I watch and usually I learn. He has this real ease of comfort in how he delivers information and his opinion as well. Now, last night in the first intermission between the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers,

Valaket took aim at Jack Hughes and what he perceived as a disrespectful slight that was Hughes slowing down on a breakaway and trying the Forsberg move on Igor Shcherkin. Valaket thought that was rude, referred to it as Instagram hockey, which the New Jersey Devils social media team had a field day with, but we'll get to that a little bit later on. Criticism of Valaket was swift and sharp online. All you have to do is type in Valaket on Twitter X to see what I mean, so I won't bother with it here.

Although I think people are missing the point about last night. As I mentioned earlier, Valaket is part of the New York Rangers home broadcast, and as such, should have a Rangers default position. It's what makes a great local broadcast. Homerism. Tribalism. My main takeaway from his comments last night were that the Devils were clowning the Rangers in front of their own fans at MSG, and his question was, is anybody going to do anything about it? That's probably why he barked about the Dougie Hamilton celebration after his one-timer goal as well. As part of the

local broadcast, I've always felt that announcers should, as part of the show, reflect and articulate the adulation, or in this case, anger of the fan base. How many at MSG last night hated watching Jack Hughes do pretty much whatever he wanted, or wanted to launch a shoe at Dougie Hamilton?

And they also wanted to see their team do something about it. But they did nothing, the Rangers, that is. They slunk back into their room after a 5-1 loss to a key divisional rival. Now, the Instagram hockey player comments. So let's hear Valaket on Instagram hockey players last night. Hughes set out to embarrass Shusterkin there by slowing down and going to one hand. And that should send a shockwave to everybody on the bench.

He's had success against Igor, playing him straight up. And I thought he slowed down. He wanted to put a fancy move on. It was more Instagram hockey than intense hockey. Cue the hashtag. Oh, by the way, anyone remember Skill It Up? Tyson Nash's comments about Trevor Zegers and how he deserved a J. Beagle cross check

because of the skilling it up against the then Arizona Coyotes? Anyway, I wanted to show you the breakaway in question. Jack Hughes on a long breakaway. Fire this one up, Zach. He's got a lot of distance here. Does he slow down? Yeah, a little bit. But I thought that Valaket's comments were more of a shot at the Rangers.

There's no blue shirt in sight. He's allowed to slow down because there's no one trailing. Tries the Forsberg. Okay. Instagram hockey player. Hmm. Can't remember seeing that one before in a competitive game. Now here's who I consider the world's first Instagram hockey player based on Valaket's definition. Let's go back to the world championships. 1989, Sweden playing USA. Watch Kent Nilsson on the breakaway.

Does this look familiar? Does that look familiar to anybody? Kent Nilsson did things like this on the regular. I don't remember anyone complaining about him showing off or calling him an Instagram hockey player. Probably because Instagram wasn't around then. Wayne Gretzky called Kent Nilsen the most skilled hockey player he'd ever seen. Let's just all calm down.

I think we know what Valaket was getting at here. Had fun with the hashtag, nonetheless. Ohio here. Welcome to Sheep for Tuesday, December the 3rd. The band is Small Town Strip Club. The song is Through on a Record. And texting with John Yount of Small Town last night, he reminded me, as I was running down the list of all the players from Stratford, Ontario,

your Joey Hitchens, your Howie Marenzes, although he was really from Mitchell, Ontario, reminded me that Jake Middleton of the Minnesota Wild is also from Stratford, although technically he's from Alberta. But he would have played at the William Allmarina. I believe he moved to Stratford when although technically he's from Alberta. But he would have played at the William Almond Arena. I believe he moved to Stratford when he was eight years old. Mike Russo has a great piece on Middleton not too long ago at the Athletic. He would have played at the William Almond Arena.

And why I love Middleton is he was one of, and this is a proud group of people, he was Mr. Irrelevant once upon a time. Mr. Irrelevant is the last player selected in the draft. He was Mr. Irrelevant once upon a time. Mr. Irrelevant is the last player selected in the draft. He was Mr. Irrelevant in 2014, last player selected in Philadelphia. That was the Aaron Ekblad draft. And there's only been one time, by the way, and I don't know that we really gave this enough concert.

There was only one time where a Mr. Irrelevant coached another Mr. Irrelevant, and that was Paul Maurice, who was Mr. Irrelevant in 1985, coaching the Florida Panthers and had on the team, albeit briefly, Patrick Hornquist, who was a Mr. Irrelevant in 2005. That would have been the Sidney Crosby draft. Paul Maurice's 1985 draft was the Wendell Clark draft. Greg Wyshynski is aboard here in a couple of moments for MPSW Tuesday. I want to catch up on the topics. We're going to go over here and we're going to have a lively chat as well. I want to sort of borrow and steal from the tradition of Morning Cup of Hockey. Morning Cup of Hockey, by the way, Morning Cup

of Hockey is actually two shows. There's the actual show with Johnny Lazarus and Colby Cohen, which is outstanding, but there's also a side show, which is just as entertaining, and that is that show's chat. Love that show, love the chat, and I'm trying to steal as many people from that chat as possible. So Singzy, Chef Richard, New York Marine, Olivia, J-Rock, Jeremiah Maxwell, all of you, Jim the Sweet, Darcy Sagan, Ben Ben Benya, Ariel Cornfield, all welcome here on the program. So I just try to steal people from the chat in the morning show that I love so much. Okay, coming up on the program today, we're going to go over a lot about what we saw yesterday at MSG involving the New York Rangers and what happens now with that team. Also on today's program, we'll talk to Greg Wyshynski about what is wrong with Conor Bedard.

Is this just the sophomore slump, the sophomore jinx, or is there more to it? And also, we should talk a little bit. Although yesterday, I went out of my way, out the door and around the block to complain about all the Four Nations lists. And let's just get to the team. I want to share some things with you about that. Coming up here in a couple of moments. By the way, a sort of PSA, I mentioned Morning Cup of Hockey there a second ago.

That was, this morning, I think the best show that I've heard those guys do. Arthur Staple was on. Carter Hutton was on. Hutton talked a lot about Igor Shcherkin. Arthur Staple talked a. Carter Hutton was on. Hutton talked a lot about Igor Shcherkin. Arthur Staple talked a lot about what's next and have the New York Rangers by putting, you know, a couple of names out there, not just Jacob Truba, whose name was out there in the summer as well, but also putting Chris Kreider's name out there. Have the Rangers kind of shot themselves in the foot, pulled the

pin, rolled it into the dressing room. Is this the proverbial self-inflicted wound that we're seeing on the Rangers day in and day out? And don't forget, like you could always go lower, right? Like it doesn't matter. There's no such thing as rock bottom. As Darren McCarty once told me about his personal situation, when I asked him about being on rock bottom

and hitting rock bottom, he said, there's no such place as rock bottom. All you can do is decide to stop digging. You can always get lower. In that spirit, a little bit later on this week, the Pittsburgh Penguins will visit MSG to face off against the New York Rangers. In that spirit, I believe we have Greg Wyshynski

from the old MVSW aboard. Greg is going to be with us every Tuesday here on the program,SW aboard. Greg is going to be with us every Tuesday here on the program, on the sheet. And I dug up, Wish, my old MVSW littlest hobos shirt. Now,

a little backstory on this one. And by the way, great to see you again, pal. A little bit of a backstory on this shirt. So this shirt, like the old MVSW audience was great at like coming up with designs online and t-shirts and all this one.

This one I've always kind of held special because our good buddy Patrick made this one. Patrick Manager lives in Seattle. Him and his wife have a lovely boy who I get pictures about all the time. Love Patrick. He made this. Everyone watching slash listening

who was back in the OG days of MVSW probably know him better as at NHL ties, which to me was like the greatest thing every single night. I was a target. I don't think I was ever top three. No one came close to touching Drew Amanda, who I believe Patrick used to refer to correct.

If I'm wrong here, wish as tie 99, like the, the impeccable, the greatest, the greatest ties of all time where we're worn by Drew Amanda. We're all competing for second. Anyway, happy MVSW Tuesday.

I'm glad to be aboard with you. Oh, one more thing before you can actually say a word. I know, cat's got your tongue so far. I'm really excited about this because I woke up this morning and Claire said to me, oh, you have Wish on today. It's MVSW Tuesday. And I said, yeah, and I'm thinking about like old MVSW memories. And you know what the first thing that came to my mind was and you can help me out on this one 2013 this was the

draft in new jersey okay this is the uh the uh the bohorvat draft the uh the new jersey this is the cory schneider uh yes a trade to announce and you're gonna want to announce, and you're going to want to hear this one. You're going to want to hear this one. Okay, so that's that draft. But do you remember we had our first MVSW meetup? I can't remember the name of the place in New York. Great place. I think it's like a legendary baseball bar. I don't even know if it's still there.

Oh, you're talking about Foley's. Foley's, that was it. Yeah. So we had at Foley's, and I remember you popping like the cork out of a champagne bottle because Darnell Nurse was being drafted that year. So the Sue Greyhounds guys were all in town, and that included general manager Kyle Dubas,

who was at the restaurant with us. That included Sheldon Keefe, the head coach. Richard Rottenberg was there as well. But you are so excited to meet Joe Cirella, who's now an assistant to the Calgary Wranglers of the American Hockey League. I remember you walking in like, Joe Cirella's sitting over there.

I don't know what I can go, the former New Jersey Devil legend. I don't know if I can go over and talk to him. Again, like the first team I was cognizant of of a hawk as a hockey fan was the 87 88 devils who are the first devils team to ever make the playoffs if you don't know the story they made the playoffs in the last game of the season uh i think eliminating the rangers at that point too and then went on this kind of a uh a beautiful uh fairy tale type run over three rounds where they got eliminated

by the Boston Bruins. Anyone from that team is going to be like, you know, my daughter meeting Taylor Swift. Like it is. It's a mind blowing thing that I can touch

and say hello to these people and speak to them. They don't just shoo me away. And yeah, so we had like the future general manager of the Leafs and the Penguins there. The future head coach of the

Leafs and the New Jersey Devils there. And I'm like, get out of the way. Get out of the way, glasses. I'm trying to be Joe Sorella. Beat it, you two scrubs. You're going nowhere. Where's Sorella? I hear he's at... By the way, a couple of people in the chat saying, see JP Roney saying that Foley's RIP? Foley's not there anymore? Yeah, it's done. It's Sorella? By the way, a couple of people in the chat saying that Foley's

RIP. Foley's not there anymore? It's done. Yeah, Foley's closed. We had drinks there. Me and the great Sean Leahy of Puck Daddy fame had drinks there before it closed. And I don't know what happened to all the baseballs. That's another part of MVSW

lore is the fact that you and I signed the baseball, had it on the wall. Proving that literally anyone could get a baseball on the wall at Foley's. You made a middle reliever from the Mets. By that point, no one was going to Foley's and a couple of podcasters,

one from Canada, one from New Jersey. What's their name again? Whatever. Just get them to sign a ball and put it up and make it look like Can you kind of make your autograph look like Lou Gehrig, Merrick? Can you make it look like? The J is a little too sharp. But Foley's, canonically, and more importantly for some of the folks that are listening and watching right now, was the bar where I took tequila shots with Tim Peel.

That was Foley's. Was that Foley's? It carries a lot of history in hockey lore and that is where tim peel and i had our tequila shots that then led to uh his suspension uh the following night for a game in new jersey and uh the legend of tim peel was well not born i think the legend was born when he used to call him the most horrible referee no that was a shocker that was that like that was as far like, as far as like shocking photographs appearing on hockey Twitter.

That was, that was right up there. Well, when I finally met John Scott at a restaurant, I threw that one up there. That was mild compared to you and Peel though. And for the record,

he wanted to take the photo. The NHL for a very long time thought it was the dirty blogger who tricked the referee into taking a photo. No, Tim Peel wanted to take a photo and put it online. And to his credit, it was a photo that continues to live in infamy. You know what?

You know what I'm embarrassed about? And my producer, Zach Phillips, mentioned this to me. And someone in the chat, Tyler Mulek, just mentioned this as well. So I had Jay Woodcroft on the show yesterday. Okay? Yeah. And so we talked a lot about what he's been doing the last 12 months and traveling Europe and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And quickly my producer and now in the chat as well, remind me,

Jay Woodcroft was in the pilot of Littlest Hobo. The pilot. That's right. That's correct. For the record, he's a dog. Yeah, I know. It's new for many years. Yeah, I know. Yeah. Jay Woodcroft was in the Littlest Hobo. I wanted to ask you about the Kent Nilsson goal, by the way. Sure, shoot. So I was obviously a little bit young in the 1980s. Did most goaltenders play breakaways on their backs with their legs kicking in the air like a toddler being changed? Has technique come to goaltending more in the last three decades barrick i cannot

think of and listen i have a lot of friends that are goaltenders and we're goaltenders and i just had a lovely conversation with john garrett yesterday and we reminisced about stories of the wha and blah blah blah and i always kind of feel sheepish when i say this because i'm essentially assaulting insulting a lot of friends of. I don't think that goaltenders really learned how to play the position until like 1993. Like I can't think of one position in sports that took one specific player that long to figure out. Now things like the butterfly, you would see it from like Glenn Hall would do it,

Tony Esposito would do it, and then it just sort of stopped. And listen, we saw a lot of great angle goaltenders, like Bernie Perrant, the best angle goaltender of all time. Over one of my shoulders here is a picture of Joe Malosh, who was a great angle goaltender. But like as far as learning how to play the position efficiently and economically, it took until about the mid-90s for them to really, really figure it out. But I always made the point that hockey was better when goalies didn't know what they were doing, man. You've always been very high on mistakes, but that's that's one of the reasons why on the old show. Well, before he got within spitting distance of Gretzky, we used to say that Ovechkin is the greatest goal scorer of all time because he was doing it against goalies that knew how to play their position, wearing equipment, I mean,

to the point where they actually had a piece of equipment called the cheater because they know exactly what to wear now and what size it needs to be. It's on the glove. Yeah, and then also, you know, playing against defensive systems and things of that nature. Well, you know, the other great point about that

is about Ovechkin and like all the goal scorers before, and again, no slight to Gretzky or Mike Bossy, et cetera, or Rocket Richard. But do you know what a winger's defensive responsibility was on a back check back then? Make sure the trailing defenseman doesn't get in front of them. There's that.

That was your job. You had all this ice. That was it. Yeah, exactly. There's like that great video of Wayne Gretzky scoring that gorgeous goal on Mike Vernon. It's a shot off the tip of, and he pauses a little bit. How long did he skate with his arms in the air?

Like, guys are scared to take slap shots now because you're going to get stripped. So, like, everything's snapshot. It's a wrist shot game. Essentially, it's turned back into 60s hockey, right? It's a button-down wrist shot game now. But, like, Gretzky's, like, before the blue line. He's got his, like, stick up, and he keeps it there. But like, of course, he's like before the blue line, he's got his like stick up and he keeps it there to like past top of the circles.

And you're thinking, where's the back check? Like you look at it with eyes now, like where'd the back checkers go? Curry, Bossy, like it's pretty easy to pile on the goals when the only time you're in the corner is in the offensive zone. Like it's, you can really, you can really ply a pretty good offensive trade if you don't actually have to visit you know the back of your own net at some point to defend but you know that was always the thing about Ovechkin it was like you know when he was doing it error adjusted if you wanted to call it that and and now it's gotten to the point where I think you know it was a fun

debate to have I think he'll he'll catch Gretzky and then we won't have to have the debate because I'll have the numbers but I think that just speaks to it with the way he played cool so the hughes thing last night yeah let's get there was was interesting for me for a couple reasons first thing is that like you i'm a big valaket fan he's somebody who's helped me out with articles on goaltending um i find it to be really interesting and I also find it to be interesting because he is delightfully opinionated in a way that a lot of ex-pros are not. Is he always right? No. He really thought that Capococco was going to be a better NHL player than Jack Hughes.

Something that was brought up, oh, maybe three or four hundred times last night when he was slagging on Jack Hughes, doing a dangle on Chesurkin. And people were like, oh, are you just upset that you blew the draft scouting that poorly? Hang on. Hang on. Capo Caco has been good this year. He's not. He was good. He was good.

Nor was he. Jack was good in their draft year either. Let's, let's, let's give a softer landing here a little bit. Like he's been all right. He's been good this year. My,

my opinion on what he said about Jack though, is that it was misapplied. Like internet. I mean, Instagram hockey is, is that it was misapplied. Like, Instagram hockey is a beautiful... I mean, he and I have the same birth year, me and Valaket. It's a beautiful Gen X criticism of a modern-day player. Like, you're doing it for the gram.

You're not even doing it for your teammates. You're not even doing it to score. You're doing it for the gram. You're at a table overlooking a beautiful vista, and you don't even care what's on your plate because you're doing it for the gram you're you're at a a table uh overlooking a beautiful vista and you don't even care what's on your plate because you're doing it for the gram it's just a beautiful like old guy criticism of a modern player misapplied like like you mentioned zegras before like if he had said that about zegras circa 2022 like it totally makes sense that thing last night was not an instagram hockey play. It was Jack Hughes trying to pull something out of his bag of tricks.

And listen, I've made like ham-fisted analogies before and like reached for metaphors that just weren't there and just ended up blowing it and just paused and said, we'll be right back. And then, oh, what did I was saying? I think the point that Valaket was trying to get across, and so I was trying to get across in my little nickel and dime intro as well. I think that on the one hand, as the home broadcaster, part of your job is to articulate the vibe of your fans and sympathize with that vibe. And at that moment, the vibe is,

Jack Hughes is doing whatever he wants to do to us tonight, and we're not doing anything about it. Right? Yeah. And I think that he was trying in some ways to come up with some type of thing you could point at and say, look what he's doing to us. Look what he's doing to the New York Rangers.

You know, this is like, at times, I mean, maybe a better analogy would have been like, they're treating this like it's a father-son's game. Like, you know, when your kids are like eight years old and all the dads are dangling the kids and ripping shots. He's trying to say they're clowning them. Clowning them. That's what I, yeah. That's your point.

Because he bought a Colt Norris name and he's doing that in the context of like, you know, back in my day, Colt Norris would have, you know, done whatever. I don't know. Scared Jack with his fists or whatever. But like, no, I think your point is taken. But like, no, I think your point is taken. But at the same time, though, he's he's clearly criticizing, you know, he's treating it like Jack Hughes took a devil's flag and planted it at center ice after they won. Like it's it's it's clearly a criticism of the way he's acting when the devils are out playing the Rangers, even though the game, I believe at that point was kind of close

to nothing. You know, I it didn't sit well with me. I mean, I think it's one of those things of just you know you are you're saying something about a player when you clearly are trying to criticize the team that he's facing and again i mean if we're talking about jack hughes playing instagram hockey like what's the rangers defense at this point myspace geo cities well it's not tumblr i'll tell you that they are 30th in the league right now

in expected goals against a 5-on-5 they are atrocious they are a odd man rush the other way factory like you said the criticism should be about the Rangers it probably was at the end of the day more about the Rangers than it was Hughes but at the end of the day

Hughes gets dunked on a little bit by Valaket. And rightfully, he's getting dunked on by the Devils. has thousands of classes built to push you. We know how life goes. New father, new routines, new locations. What matters is that you have something there to adapt with you, whether you need a challenge or rest. And Peloton has everything you need, whenever you need it. Find your push.

Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. You know, if this were, if Valaket, let me frame it this way. If Valaket were a coach, we would be applauding that coach for distracting the conversation away from

how bad the Rangers are into his comment about Instagram hockey. Like this was all, Pat Quinn used to do this, whether he was with Vancouver, Toronto, like wherever Pat, he was the master of this. Quinn was so good at,

you know, the team lays an egg, he'll stand out in front of the door and he'll answer all the questions and he'll say something that'll take the media over there. Or maybe we're going this way with it now. Ignore how bad our team played. I'm not saying that this is something deliberate that Valaket did, but it's kind of taken the conversation, albeit briefly, away from how bad the Rangers have been. No one's talking about how they were gifted a win on Saturday afternoon by some

interesting calls. I was guilty as anyone else. I started the whole show talking about Valaket, but the conversation has now changed away from let's have a look at the Rangers to okay, let's have a rip on Steve Valaket. Yeah, but I think it's something

more primal than that, because I agree with you. I don't think he's playing 40 chess here it's it's more primal than that what is he he's a goalie what happened to let you shirkin last night the defense allowed someone to come in and clown him and and I think that that's kind of the basis for it like Valak gets there grit in his teeth because he's thinking about you know Igor being put in that position or any goalie being put in that position I mean for how for how many years did Lundquist have to bail out this Rangers team because they play poorly defensively in front of him? It's like history repeating itself right now. So I think it was more putting himself in a goalie shoes and saying, you guys are 30th

in the league right now and expected goals against the five on five and goalies. Me, Igor, our union. We're the ones that have to suffer when, you know, guys away, 130 pounds are pulling out Forsberg's on us on the breakaway to no repercussions. Uh,

Johnny Lazarus in the chat disagree, Jeff, we suck there. There, there becomes the, the, the ultimate sports question, the Beavis and butthead question.

It's either great or it sucks that was part of the brilliance of that show it's either great or it sucks flat out the Rangers just suck right now like really I've maintained that they're a good team with a great goaltender but their great goaltender in the last 10 games has been

anything but where are we at on the Rangers right now and as Arthur Staple mentioned with the coffee boys this morning, is this a self-inflicted wound? Is the lobbing out Trouba and Crider's name out there? Has that just completely blown up the room? Like you look at like, how many guys did you, did you see last night? Either going to the bench or after their lone goal was scored, just do this?

We refer to this as dog face. Listen. Okay, hold on. So I think trying to trade Trouba and failing in the offseason is a self-inflicted wound. And by that, I mean once you've done that, you've probably lost Druva. He's a lame duck defenseman at this point. He knows what's going to happen after this season. And so you've fumbled the bag there

in distracting your captain. And then probably also, along with the Shichurkin contract situation and the Bartley-Goudreau situation, I think Chris Drury did a lot to pollute the water a little bit before the season for the Rangers. Not to Hudson River levels, but polluted nonetheless. The Kreider thing, I'll defend Drury on.

I thought that was pretty smart. I think sending 31 memos to all your other GMs, knowing that someone's going to hop on the horn with your old pal Elliot and be like, hey, by the way, Chris Kreider's name was on this document. Everyone knew that was going to happen, especially Chris Drury. So by doing that, you kind of knew that that was going to get out there. And then the message is sent not to Chris Kreider, but to Mika Zibanejad, not to Chris Kreider, but to the other veterans on the team to say, by the way, this thing's going sideways.

None of you old guys are safe and I'll figure out a way to make trades if I need to, but let it be known. I put Chris Kreider's name in this memo, so you better all step up. Did it work? No, it failed spectacularly because they've gotten worse since then

because now they're all in their own heads. But I defend it in the moment. But is that not a case then of not being able to read your room properly? Because I'm with you, Wish. calling their own heads. And, uh, but I, I, I, but that in the moment, but, but is, is that not a case that I'm not being able to read your room properly? Because in some, I'm with you wish like in some cases that works like in, in some examples, like giving them like the,

Hey, you know, your name's out there and we're this close to, to pull in the tree. Sometimes that works. And sometimes it doesn't. And this Ranger team. And again,

I'm going to, I'm going to bracket that Montreal game because I got to hand it to Marty St. Louis. We played it on the show yesterday. I thought our team played really good.

I'm not going to comment on the officiating. He said that four times in a row to any question. I was saying, like, you could ask him who shot JFK and he'd say,

I thought our team played really well and I'm not commenting on the officiating. Right now, the team just looks pouty it just looks like now i always catch myself too like rangers are a big city club maple leaves flyers habs like chicago like these are these are these are these are big teams is it just because

of who they are that everything seems to get magnified and we're going through all of their games pixel by pixel by pixel, not inch by inch by inch? Do you believe that? No, the vibes are off. They've been off since the beginning of the season. I don't think Drury should be off the hook as far as construction versus coaching either. I talked to Mika Zibanejad after last season

and it was pretty clear what kind of winger he was looking for for himself and Chris Kreider. And the winger he described was much more Matt Zuccarello than it was Riley Smith. And in the time that Riley Smith has played with those two guys, which has not been, you know, all that frequent this year, but it was at the beginning of the year, they got cratered in possession.

It got cratered as far as defense goes. So, you know, there was that, there was the inability to trade Crider and repurpose that cap, Truba rather, repurpose that cap space, the inability to get maybe a little bit more help on the blue line. Like, I don't think Drury had a very successful off season. And that's one problem with the team right now. But it gets you back to the question of how good is this team? It gets you back to the question of effort. And it gets you back to the question of how good is this team? It gets you back to the question of effort. It gets you back to the question of now they're boo-boo dog-faced all the time when things aren't going well. When that starts happening, it's not necessarily a trade that happens, especially on a team with as many guys with this kind of trade projection. It's usually the coach that has to pay for it.

Which brings me to this theory, Merrick. All right. Who was the person that was rumored heavily that the Rangers wanted to hire before they hired Peter LaBulette? Joel Quenville. Joel Quenville. Does Joel Quenville have a job? No, he does not. No.

Does Joel Quenville have an asking price? Yes, he does. Does James Dolan have money? More than both of us combined. 17,000 times over. Yeah. I don't know nothing about nothing. Time's over.

Yeah. I don't know nothing about nothing. What I do know is that Stan Bowman was hired by the Edmonton Oilers, breaking the glass on one of these Blackhawks getting another job in the NHL once the NHL cleared for them to return. And that they wanted Quenville before. If you believe the team is good enough and it's a matter of effort, there's clearly something going on with your veteran core and the current coach a current coach who by the way has a reputation

of getting the most out of his team and like the first year he's there wonder why um maybe they make a change i don't know if they should but i do think that the possibility is there and i do think that the guy that they would hire is probably Quindle. Don't you? Well, he's very much out there and I don't disagree with that. I know that in most situations, like look, Laviolette is in the second year of a three-year deal that pays him. I think it's five or maybe just under $5 million a year.

And I know that James Dolan has a tree in the backyard and there's money on it. He can pull some off and hand it to Peter Laviolette and welcome some in with someone like Joel Quenneville. I've always been sort of of the mind that I've, I shouldn't say I've always been in the mind. I've wondered if the landing spot for Quenneville could be Detroit. could be Detroit if slash when they decide to make a move behind the bench. The Red Wings have only made one in-season coaching dismissal in the Illich family history. And that was Harry Neal after 30 games. It's only happened once. The Illich's don't do this. Now, mind you, they've had some legends behind there. They've been there for like 10 years and they're not going to get hunted.

But like Harry Neal, they've had some legends behind there. They've been there for like 10 years and they're not going to get hunted. But like Harry Nilsson, they've got a couple of years. But hang on, I'll say one thing about that. That was a tough act to follow. Okay. But I've always wondered if the ultimate play this year for Quenville is going to Detroit. But if the Rangers job pops up, like what's the one thing that Joel Quenville is looking for right now? Because I don't think he's just, I don't think he's just looking for any

job. Like let's say, let's say I'm just going to pull a team out of the hat here. Let's say Anaheim becomes available. I don't know that that's warm to Quenville because I think what's warm to Quenville at this point in his career is legacy. And that's wrapped up in wins. Like I think Quenville wants to go somewhere where he can win and

Detroit. He's not out of range of, of catching. That's what I'm saying. Like at this point, at this point, at this point, like his plaque at the hall,

I think he wants it to say winning his coach ever. Like that's what we're talking about. The hall is going to say a lot, Merrick. It's going to be a length. It's going to, Merrick. It's going to be a length. It's going to be a length. It's going to be a lengthy one. With how much we got to talk about him.

If it gets into the hall of fame. Look, I don't disagree with you. I checked in on Quentinville a couple of weeks ago when I did a coach's hot seat thing. And I had someone in the coaching community tell me, look, there's a couple of issues with him in Detroit.

Okay. There's the asking price, which I don't know if the Illich family wants to meet necessarily. There is the legacy part of it, like you said, where you expect him to want to go to a team that he assumes is going to have a good degree of regular season success over the next several seasons and then hopefully some postseason success. And I don't know if that's Detroit. I mean, if you compare the two gigs, even with the aging of the Rangers core, what you're essentially looking, which I don't think Detroit has anything close to that as far as the quality of the foundation that they could rebuild upon if Quenville was there in New York. Let me take your argument one step further.

There is always, and Quenville's talked about this before, he's mentioned this to a number of people. When he interviews for a job, Quenville asks one question, and that question is this, who's our goal to a number of people when he interviews for a job quinnville asks one question and that question is this who's our guy can i keep my mustache oh no so no there'll be no islanders coaching for him and i'll be behind the bench with the islanders the mustache it's gotta go lou buddy come on this is me this is sorry quinnville spends two years on the island going, Lou, no, I got rid of it. No, Lou, we're all good.

So I'm going to keep my hand here. But trust me, I shaved. No, he asked one question. Who's our goalie? We've talked about the through line between either Jack Adams or a sheet of pink paper, if you're a coach, is your goaltending. And Quenneville at interviews only asked one question.

Who's our goalie going to be? That's it. Everything else he can work with. Just tell me who our goalie is going to be. That's his deciding factor. And yes, if you're deciding between the Rangers and Detroit, based on the four by six, you're going to go with the Rangers all day. They're a $13 million goaltender. Yeah, versus going to go with the Rangers all day. They're $13 million.

Yeah. Versus Cam Talbot in the cast of thousands. The real question. Come on. Sebastian. What do you, what do you, what do you make a difference in New York at this point? Like is, is, is the, is the essential problem with the Rangers, a lack of effort, a lack of execution, a disconnect between the coach and the players, a veteran core. That's kind of checked out right now and playing the type of hockey that you see teams play

when they want a change to happen. And would Joel Quenville walk through that door and automatically make the Rangers the contender many felt they could be before the season? He carries some heft, no doubt. Like, he walks into the room. You talk about coaches that command a presence. Quenville's one of them.

He really is. Okay, anything else on Rangers for you? coaches that command a presence. Quenville's one of them. He really is. Okay. Anything else on Rangers for you? Or do we bracket that conversation? Because I want to go to a couple of things here. And one specifically. Now, I was complaining on the show about how I've read my last roster. I've read my...

Okay, just get to the team. And then a couple of things happened. It sort of changed my mind on how I feel this thing is going to shake out. And if this happens, and I believe it is, I think we might be in for something delightful here. I'm of the mind that Team Canada will have a line that goes like this. Anthony Sorelli, Brandon Hagel, and Tom Wilson. Oh, I didn't know about that last name.

The first two I had heard before, obviously, with Cooper coaching, there was always a notion that Sorelli was going to be part of the team to do heavy lifting on the fourth line. And then, know i think it might have been pierre lebrun who mentioned today that hegel was most likely going to make the team and given the season that he's had uh it may be controversial oh you know coops getting his own guy but i mean he certainly has the numbers this year the tom wilson part's really interesting how do you feel about tom wilson being on a canadian national team mean, listen, if you listen to anybody, last time when the Olympics got scotched,

Tom Wilson was probably going to be on that team. Like, as far as his management staff goes, like, he's very well thought of. And I think they're, I think, I can't speak to the USA here. You can probably shed some light on this one, but I think Canada is looking at this kind of at a 180 away from the way that they've constructed international teams, which is skill adapts. Like for the longest time, Canada said, we're going to make it look like an NHL team.

And then that didn't work. And Hockey Canada just said, let's just get the best players. I don't care what position they are. I don't care which way they shoot. Skill can adapt. And that's worked for Hockey Canada. This one feels different. This one feels like this is going to be an NHL-style Team Canada.

And if it is, and the United States puts together an NHL-style USA, this might be the closest to one of the greatest tournaments we've ever seen that Canadians don't talk about and neither do Americans Canadians don't talk about it because Canada lost in spectacular fashion and Americans don't talk about it because not a lot of Americans watched it and that is 1996 1996 and the World Cup, which is, and again, I love 87. I'll put 96 right up against 87 any day of the week. Then we're talking about Lemieux and Kachuk and Primo

and Guerin and fights and slashes and cross, like all of that. If USA and Canada play ball. I think Sorelli, Hagel, Wilson are on this team. I see what you're saying. And again, like I do wonder ultimately if Canada does go in that direction,

if that informs 2026 or not. Like they might just see this as a four-team tournament. They're going to play, what, one what one two three but what but four games um you know so maybe they view it maybe they view it a little bit differently being it's going to be a mid-season nhl tournament versus being the olympics but um there is a chance they actually do a little freaky friday switch because i talked to bill garan uh a couple of weeks ago about the construction of this team, team USA. And I asked him,

I'm like, you know, one of the things that Mike Medano, who was a teammate of Guerin's and the national team had told me is one of the things that separated Canada and the U S for years was Canada's ability to, you know, have their skill players play roles on the team and,

and, you know, adapt to lower ice time and adapt to playing a more defensive role if that's not necessarily what they're known for. And I asked Aaron, I'm like, can you get these kids on Team USA to do that? Because you have a lot of skill there. You have an incredible amount of skill. Can you depend on these young players to be to have that adaptation and he said he thought so like he said you know every successful team has guys that have to play a different role sometimes and and he kind of put it out there you know we expect these young players to be able to do that now ultimately does that does that is that what actually happens or is this team usa roster going to have vincent trocek is this Team USA roster going to have Vincent Trocek?

Is this Team USA roster going to have Chris Kreider? Is it going to have a bunch of guys that are known more for their 200-foot game? Possibly. But it is fun to think about how Team Canada puts out a roster with Hagel and Sorelli and players like that. And Tom Wilson. And, you know, Team USA is USA is like who cares Cole Caulfield fourth line let's go I just I just want like it's it I had a conversation with someone the other day who said like I I wonder how many players are gonna miss like the first game back because this

this could be like a really rough violent tournament like I don't know if it's gonna treat it like all-star and if you you miss a game, you're getting suspended. But if you're looking for flexible workouts, Peloton's got you covered. Summer runs or playoff season meditations, whatever your vibe, Peloton has thousands of classes built to push you. We know how life goes. New father, new routines, new locations. What matters is that you have something there to adapt with you, whether you need a challenge or rest.

And Peloton has everything you need, whenever you need it. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. The other thing that I do wonder about here are, like, I'm of the belief that there's going to be one major surprise for Canada. One major surprise.

Someone told me this a while ago. Like, everyone's missing out on one thing. Could that be, and I'm wondering about the blue line specifically, because when you look at this team, like, how many PP1 quarterbacks does team Canada need? Probably just one kill my car. Okay. So then I give them the full two minutes on the power play.

So then how do you start to piece together a blue line? There are two names that I wonder about. Chris Tana. And hang on, hang onv and Colton hang on hang on and Colton Pareko I mean Pareko makes sense because I'm told there's

one big surprise coming for Canada but is Pareko surprised if it's just like Doug Armstrong's guy that makes the roster no because I think everyone's, like all the prognostications of what Team Canada is going to look like. How many of them have you seen Colton Pareko on?

How many conversations have you seen Colton Pareko in? I understand what you're saying. I think he's in the mix. I think the second name, I think the first name you said would be a shock. Like that would legitimately be a shock. Honestly, the Canadian national team?

Yes. Dude, I'm honestly thinking that, I mean, how do you, okay, how do you win Stanley Cups right now? You have to defend.

Now more so than ever. And you know how vibes go through the NHL? That vibe is through every, every single, you're going to win the cup. You have to defend, right? What does that, what does everyone Marvel at with Vegas?

They defend. You look at all the runs that they had when they won the cup, they defend. And that's why I just wonder, like, are they, is team Canada going to put someone like Tana, someone like Colton Pareko on this lineup in lieu of

another superstar it's i'm just i'm just i'm just fishing i'm just fishing i'm just fishing because i know there's a big surprise coming yeah i i don't think that's too crazy i mean i i my reaction to tan it was just the idea that chris tan is on the canadian national team over a litany of other name players but if you're talking about putting together a winning roster, like sticking him next to, I don't know, like McCarr, where Tanev's taking care of all the business in the back, and then McCarr can fly around like Bobby Orr for four games. That totally makes sense from a construction aspect.

And the other aspect too, Merrick, is that all of these things we're talking about, a Sorelli, a Hagel, a pareko a tan of this is all in service of the three guys that are going to be in the crease for this team this is all in service of being a little bit or a lot bit worried about your back end you're no you're looking over your no goaltending's fine look you're. You're checking out the back of those jeans and seeing how it looks because you know inherently it does not look good.

Yeah. Okay. Anything else on Four Nations? I'm just really interested. We're going to probably start to see some leakage at some point of these rosters in the next 24 hours before they're formally announced. And I'm just really interested to see the direction

Bill Guerin decided to go. Because there is a reality in the multiverse where the U.S. decides to just put the pedal down, score, score, score, score, score, because this is the first time they've ever had the horses to do that. And so maybe, there's a part of me that's curious to see, and by the way, it's great to use the word curious

with Jeff Merrick on the other side of the mic. Thank you. How many times have you heard that? Curious. Curious to see. And by the way, it's great to use the word curious with Jeff Merrick on the other side of the mic. Thank you. Thank you. How many times have you heard that? Curious. Curious. Transition word. Transition word.

I'm curious to see. Broadcasting 101. It is. Yeah. I haven't used my transition word yet because I don't know if I'm allowed to on this show. Go for it. So the thing I'm curious about is I would love to see a tournament where the US just goes for it. So, like, so fucking, so the thing I'm curious about is, like, I would love to see a tournament where the U.S. just goes for it.

Just, like, puts Caulfield on the roster and Larkin and any guy that's more offense than defense and just loads up and just puts the pedal down and plays that kind of hockey and see what the result is. It may not necessarily inform what you do in 2026, but it'd be a fun, a fun tournament. Now.

I don't, I don't think with Bill Guerin is the GM. That's the direction they go. I do think they're going to have some people to do some heavy lifting. So you're not depending on, you know, Jack Hughes to be, you know,

one of your primary checkers. Although I will say in Jack Hughes's defense, he's been in a very good effective penalty killer for the Devils this season. I just want to see Jack Hughes play with Chris Kreider, sir. Well, don't we all. Give me a line with Jack. By the way.

Hey, one phone call to Chris Drury, that could happen. Yeah, the Devils and Rangers are making a deal after 25 games. Patrickrick manager by the way at NHL ties in the chat nice t-shirt hoser um adam m here here here's an interesting one i got a theory on this i'm gonna my my first time talking to you for a while so i'm just gonna blast off all my theories to you adam m asks how did we canada how did we get so bad at goaltending you want to hear my theory i have a new theory i would love i've been workshopped now is this asks, how did we, Canada, how did we get so bad at goaltending? You want to hear my theory?

I have a new theory. I would love to hear it. I have a workshop. Now, is this your theory, or is this one of those world junior goaltending symposiums putting out a report that you're in? Nope, nope, nope, nope. There has not been a symposium yet,

although I do wonder with Catherine Henderson now at the head if there's more hand-wringing about the future of goaltending. And there should be. You know who I blame? I blame Canadian hockey parents. This is all anecdotal. This is all anecdotal. This is not scientific.

It's just been from spending as much time around the rink with my kids as I have over the however many years we've been schlepping them to hockey games and practices. I cannot begin to tell you how many Canadian parents hate the idea, I don't know where it comes from, of their kids playing net, of their kids being a goalie. Every kid in Timbits hockey, might hockey, whatever, has to have a chance at playing goal. And listen, i'm guilty of this too because i had the same feeling i hope my kid when he goes in that in his mandatory okay so it's your turn brody you got to get how many hockey parents said i hope my kid is crying when he comes off the ice and never wants to play net again it's like, okay, good. Because I'm so convinced.

And my late mom was one of them. And she passed when I was 16. I never got a chance to thank her because I never understood it. But there's a special place in heaven for goalie moms. Like a very, very special area that is carved out just for them. Because if you've sat and watched what goalie moms go through,

it is like no other position in hockey, period. But my theory is goalie moms and dads are the reason there's no goaltending in Canada, because they don't want it. I don't know where it comes from. I don't know. I haven't got that far in my little research project here. But I've just seen it before so many times.

I don't want my kid to play goal. I don't want my kid to play goal. It's here, I mean, my theory is that Carter Hart got arrested, definitely advised in the NHL and every other single Canadian goalies in a tandem. Josh, Josh Raffensperger and Prince George is going to change all of this. He's going to go top 15 on the draft book. It, I think, I think, listen, I i your theory is kind of fun because it does speak to something that we experience here in the states which is that you don't you don't want your kid to play offensive tackle you want yeah exactly the running back or the quarterback like that's essentially what it is i mean goal is there is a certain glory to being a goaltender no doubt right but

like at the end of the day you'd rather him be number one center than be the goaltender, right? That's what you're looking for. Yeah. Goals. Fun. Yay, everybody. Cheers. Yeah, not being a depriver of joy, but being someone who creates joy. Ah, okay. All right, I want to get into, we got about 10 minutes left here. Okay.

Let me ask you about Conor Bedard. You know, as we talk about Team Canada. Beginning of the year, I think everyone made up their Team Canada here for Four Nations, and a lot of people, maybe the majority of them, had Conor Bedard on it. That's not happening. What do you chalk this up to? Or is this just another case of great rookie season,

and then you hit the speed wobble? Hello, Matty Beneers. How do you chalk up this Bedard phenomenon? The NHL is hard? I don't know. It's hard, but it's not hard to the point where your shooting percentage gets cut in half at 5-on-5. The drop-off in his goal scoring for a guy

who simply had to fling the puck at the net for most of his life for it to go in because he has that ethereal shot. For that not to be happening for Bedard is a really weird thing. I think it's a couple of things. I mean, first of all, the Blackhawks are a terrible team. And some of the augmentations that Kyle Davidson made in the offseason, Tyler Bertuzzi being one of them, have not necessarily panned out, have not helped them in other facets of the game and i think bedard suffered because of that but more to the point though like he he doesn't seem to understand how bad chicago had to get to draft him doesn't it seem that way like it seems like he thinks they should be

moving up the standings in year two like it should be a situation where incremental success is happening uh but incremental success in bedard's eyes is leaps towards the wild card. And this is a terrible hockey team. Like, they had to strip it down to the foundations in order to get Bedard. And now, you know, the rebuild is going to be slow. And, you know, he's too young to know this reference, to be quite honest with you.

But Ovechkin made the playoffs with Backstrom and Green. Crosby made the playoffs in advance to the cup final, no less, with Fleury and Malkin and Letang. Like you have to wait to get the supporting cast in order to really be a relevant team in this league. And he simply doesn't have it now. Now, they have some good pieces in the pipeline that might actualize to become that supporting cast, but they're not near ready yet. And Bedard's kind of on island right now. And I feel like the combination of, yeah, maybe the defense is now a little bit more about him. Maybe there is a bit of a sophomore jinx, but mostly it's, I feel like he's putting the

pressure of the world on his shoulders to make this team a success before it's anywhere ready to be a success. A couple of things. One, I think this terrifies teams that want to strip it down and rebuild. I think they're more terrified than ever because they look at just how long it takes. I mean, have a look at the Anaheim Ducks. I know San Jose is playing well right now and they're a lot of fun to watch, but we know what's going to happen here with the San Jose Sharks and Macklin Celebrini is must watch television and I love him as much as you do

and Celebrini is awesome, but it takes a long time to get good. It does, but it doesn't. Why would they be frustrated by that? They have the guy like at the end of the day, the Anaheim Ducks have a lot of really good young players. Do they have the Carlson the day the anaheim ducks have a lot of really good young players do they

have the carlson might be the guy it's taken him a little bit but you can see the seeds planted of him being that elite franchise level player like yeah the comparisons to evgeny malkin in his draft year were not completely outlandish but but he's not the the born into it star franchise player the bedard and Celebrini are. So I don't think these teams really care about not being relevant for like three seasons while these guys are on the roster. God bless restricted free agency. They're not going anywhere.

So, you know, you, you, you, you, you made yourself terrible to find that one guy and all these other teams that flail about in their tanks, hoping to find that player,

you got them. And so you can wait three years to be good. It's not going to be healthy for Bedard, but you can wait three years to be good and feel pretty good about yourself. I just think that managers are much warmer to the idea of being what we've seen with the Boston Bruins where, yeah, there's not first overall picks, but they're hitting later in the draft and developing them and getting, you know, the 2-14 draft. Where did Pasternak go?

Like 26 or something like that. And Brad Marchand in the third round. And just having this, like, steady, and every now and then you make it to the Stanley Cup final. And before that, the Detroit Red Wings. But that is, I get it. That is the hardest thing to do.

I just think that they're terrified of how long it takes to get good again. Ask Buffalo what that feels like. Ask Ottawa what that feels like. Ask Detroit Red Wings what that feels like. And they'd rather just tinker and hope that they turn into the next edition of the Detroit Red Wings who fall into Datzik, Zetterberg, and Nicholas Lidstrom in late rounds. But look who's won the Stanley Cup in the last decade. There's only one team that doesn't have a franchise-level top three pick

on their roster, right? Like Vegas at Eichel,, Colorado had McKinnon, you know, Florida had Barkoff and Eklat, if you wanted to put him in there, you know, Hedman, Sid,y blues run where all of a sudden you're resurrected and no one can beat you, which might happen once every 10 years, you need to have that guy and you have to be horrible to get that guy in the draft. And then you wait until you're good and then you circle back and you contend.

But the idea that you can nibble at it, that's why it was so hard on the Flames this year. I know it's going to be really hard to tank with, with Wolfling as well as he is. But my contention was like, you're, it's, it shouldn't be a retool.

It should be a rebuild. Like that's the only way you're going to contend it for the Calgary flames for a cup is if you tank and get a guy, because that's the way of the world. Okay. Carter Hutton this morning was on with Laz and Colby. And he said something hilarious that I'm still laughing about, about right now, because it's something that everybody says every year.

And that is with the Toronto Maple Leafs, this year feels different. And he laughed as he said it, this year feels different. How many years has someone, has everybody said, yeah, but you know, we know what happened last year in the first round, but this year feel, I everybody said, yeah, but you know, we know what happened last year in the first round, but this year feel, honestly, Carter Hutton, I'm still laughing watching him say that with like this shit eating grin as well. Cause like, he's like, I know that everybody says this, but I'll ask you with this coaching staff,

does it feel and look any different to you? Or is it just they're getting saves? Stolar has been fantastic. Yeah. Is that just it? I think there's two things that feel different. The first thing, like you said, is having two goaltenders that can get you a save, maybe, which is a novel concept in Toronto.

having two goaltenders that can get you a save maybe, which is a novel concept in Toronto. Yeah. The other thing that feels different is that there's a very good chance with the way that they've played that the Boston Bruins will be off the board. Like honestly, like, like when you think about the Leafs and you think about the struggles and

the troubles, have you seen years of promise? Have you seen, hang on, have you seen how they're playing like under Joe Sacco? Who's like the ghost of Toe Blake here. Like he's been fantastic. Joe Sacco is going to win.

Joe Sacco is going to win the Jack Adams this year. I, I don't think quite that's going to be the case, but I do think that there is, I think, I think there's a chance that Boston will be off the board. And if that's the case, then,

then it is different for the Leafs because you know, you know why it's not have that looming on the that's the case, then it is different for the Leafs because you don't have that looming on the horizon. You know why it's not different for the Leafs? Because they have to go through Florida. And Florida abuses you, right? Like we used to talk about the Philly flu back in the 70s. Oh, do you want to play Don Selesky and Dave Schultz and Hound Dog? Do you want to go to Amoostupon? You can't go through.

Shoulders lost. I don't know if I can go today, coach. Oh, we're playing the Flyers. Look at that. That's the Florida Panthers now. It's the Panther flu. The other thing that could be different about him, like you said, is Berube. If there's one thing we know about Berube and his like, you know, his mystical skills as a as a bench manager is his ability to force teams to forget adversity.

That was his calling card when the Blues won the Cup. It was like, yeah, let's move on to the next thing. Oh, hand pass, whatever. Let's move on to the next thing. imprint that psychology on a Toronto Maple Leafs team to forget about what happened and just move on to the next thing and not have the demons haunt you. That could be different.

That'd be new. That'd be novel. So it is different this year. It could be. It could. Bulltending? Bruins suck. And Berube as the master psychologist. Like, obviously not in the Mike Babcock way.

I mean, Mike Babcock, the modern-day Freud of NHL coaches. Let me see your cell phone. But no, Brubé has that ability of being able to get guys to kind of like put the blinders on. And if he could do that with the Leafs, that'd be remarkable.

It's like when you're thinking about one thing but say a mother. All right, Greg Wyshynski on that. That will wrap. First of all, thanks to everyone who joined the chat. still maintain like the morning show chat is the best one goal but this one's been really entertaining too uh buddy it's so good to be on with you again uh mvsw rides again every tuesday here on the sheet uh continued success before i let you go promo what you got going on wish uh who cares point being is this i'm so happy that we're doing this again uh we were doing it on

your old show now we've supersized it to do it as a i don't know if i'm allowed to say podcast in the eyes of my employer so as a long guest hosting stint and and again like whenever we bring up the old show there are probably a lot of people that are watching this who listen to this that have no idea about the heyday of mbsw and the Tim Peel stuff and the John Scott stuff and everything else. But there's a lot of people that grew up with the show or love the show, listen to it at work, and it's still held a very, very important place in their hearts as hockey fans and as being part of a community. fans and as being part of a community. That's the one thing, last thing I'll say about this self-flagellation that's going on here, which is that

I take a lot of pride in my work in building communities. I did it with Puck Soup, I did it with Puck Daddy, but the community that we built with MBSW, with the meetups, and the interaction, the game show projects that I hated but I loved. Joe Cirella came! The family that

we built is by far one of the things I cherish most about my career and to have that same feeling when we start doing the show again on Tuesdays is dope as hell hologram Bill Masterton will make his way back he died

what have you done so I can't tell you how much I, A, enjoy it, but B, can't help but treat it like it's a, it's a shot at me. And this is like people, like younger people that have found careers in the NHL now who I'll talk to and I'll say, yeah, I used to listen to MBSW when I was young, or I used to listen to MBSW when I was growing. Or I used to listen to MVSW when I was growing up. It's crazy, right? When I was a kid, now it's like,

now you're in the cradle of power in the NHL. Making decisions. There was somebody on Twitter who was just like, I used to listen to you guys in middle school or elementary school. I hope I can still do the show today with my bones turning to dust after hearing that news.

Help me out of my role. It's awesome. Shayna Goldman from The Athletic. So I was like, yeah, you should listen to you guys when I was young. Well, again, it's wonderful that we've played a role. It's wonderful that we continue to play a role. It's wonderful that people are along for the ride. And my thanks to Daily Faceoff for making this reunion happen.

My thanks to ESPN for allowing this reunion to happen. And my thanks to Jeffy for still wanting to speak to me. After all, 2011, November 2011. What day? The first time Merrick and I shared a microphone. I don't know what day, but it was November 2011. November 14th. Oh, there you go.

And there was, I remember, because it was a Joel Gertner reference. And they all ECW, well well well on that god damn eric we almost made the entire show without making a wrestling reference for the people that are sick and tired of us talking about wrestling so you go you go ecw on them but no again like the idea that it's 2024 nearly 2025 and we still do this and still make an hour absolutely breeze by is is nothing short of a miracle and i love it beats working for a living wish it beats working for a living i'll talk to you in seven days but have a good rest of your week pal all right bye there is great greg

from espn and every tuesdays here mbsw tuesdays on the Sheet on Daily Faceoff. Thanks to everyone who took... I'm just going to, like, later on tonight just read the comments in the chat because they're so awesome. Thanks to everyone who took part. On behalf of Zach Phillips, Jeff Merrick signing off another edition of the Sheet. Don't forget, we're here Monday

to Friday, 3 o'clock Eastern, noon Pacific. If you like it, hit the button. If you want to leave a review, bless you. To everyone who's downloaded this and listening on podcast, we love you and appreciate every single one of you. And that's it for me. Back in 23 hours for another edition of The Sheets. As you were, as you were.

I said 16 hours last night Every day this week, every day this month. I can't get out my head, lost all ambitions day to day. Guess you can call it a rut. I went to the doc, man, he tried to give me a little medicine. I'm like, nah, man, that's fine. I'm not against those methods, but I knew it's me and my son. If you're looking for flexible workouts, Peloton's got you covered.

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