The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Jack Hughes Puck Controversy & Chris Patrick Joins the Show ft. Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: March 19, 2026

Jeff Marek is joined by Greg Wyshynski for another edition of MvsW on today’s episode of The Sheet, and things get heated in a hurry. The guys dive into Greg’s controversial article from earlier this week surrounding the gold medal game puck at the Olympics, debating who truly has the rightful claim to one of hockey’s most iconic pieces of history and why the story has sparked so much reaction across the hockey world. Then, Washington Capitals GM Chris Patrick joins the show to break down a busy stretch for the organization, including the signing and debut of Cole Hutson, how the team approached the trade deadline, and the decision-making process around a player like John Carlson. Patrick also shares insight into the latest GM meetings, reflects on Alex Ovechkin’s legendary career, and offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the Capitals are navigating the present while planning for the future.#TheSheet #JeffMarek #GregWyshynski #ChrisPatrick #WashingtonCapitals #ALLCAPS #NHL #Hockey #AlexOvechkin #JohnCarlson #ColeHutson #NHLDraft #TradeDeadline #GMMeetings #Olympics #GoldMedalGame #HockeyTalk #SportsPodcast #HockeyNews #DailyFaceoffLeave a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheSheetEmail us: [e-mail] TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.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-faceoffReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, I'm trying to get social media to work. There we go. Ah. Just doing all the janitorial, just doing all the janitorial work here. Merrick had to update his MySpace with his new top five songs. He's got to get the socials working. Just for kicks about 10 years ago, I tried to get back into my old MySpace page. I forgot the password.

Forgot all of it. I don't. I think that might exist out there and live. Whatever. Did Facebook predated MySpace, right? I think, I don't know. I don't think so. I think Facebook was probably my first presence.

So there actually was like a, uh, an MVSW and a Puck Daddy face page that I used to manage. I can't get in. I see it every now and then on FB. I just can't get into it. I have no idea. I can't get that.

I can't get that. I can't get that. Anyway, uh, how was your week? It's busy. Just a regular, normal, everyday average. Before we get into, uh,

what's coming up on the program. And that does include Washington Capital's general manager. Chris Patrick. Before we get there, what was it like? We're going to go through all the Jack Hughes stuff with you. I'm just curious about like one moment of your week. And that was yesterday. What was it like being in that scrum and standing there with Jack Hughes

after the previous 24 hours of Jack Hughes versus the Hall of Fame? I went to Devils Rangers at MSG last night, which the first surreal part was being in the press box and having half the people congratulate me and halving half the people being like F you How did I not get that? So that was always a good feeling. No, it was weird because like they bought Jack out at the end. He was the last devil to talk.

And the whole, I was standing right next to him. We haven't spoken since I wrote that the Hall of Fame Puck story, which I'll get into in a second, like why that happened. And he's going through all of his stuff. It's good to beat the Rangers. You know, we still think we've got a shot at this. doing all the Jack stuff. And then all of a sudden, my friend Peter Baugh from the Athletic asked him about the Hall of Fame puck.

And there's Jack talking about the Hall of Fame puck. And me standing there being the reason he's talking about the Hall of Fame puck. And as you guys know, I'm not some insider. I'm not like Elliot Drager or some shit over here. You know what I mean? Like a trigger. Where is the opportunity for me to be the guy that breaks the news? So the fact that I did it and was sort of the fulcrum for all the things that Jack was

dealing with the last 48 hours was really, weird but the really funny part Merrick was the devil's communication staff sort of debriefing some of the reporters after Jack's comments last night and sort of motioning over to be like as Greg wrote there's the problem the problem over

there yeah I know it was it was funny but I got to give the devil's comms people credit because I was trying to figure out where they'd take this next after Jack wants Hall of Fame puck calls it bullshit he doesn't have it. Hall of Fame hits back and says it was never yours to have, son. What is the next step? And I think that they did a good job landing on. You know, I'm so happy that the puck is in a temple of hockey and, you know, it's in a shrine and, you know, it's where it's supposed to be.

And I'm like, all right, that's good. We can work with that. We can work with the puck is where it's supposed to be, Jack. So I give the devil's credit for helping him land on that. Yeah. Okay. More on this coming up in a couple of moments here on the program. The blueprint is powered As always by Fandul. Download the app today and play your game on Fandul. Yesterday is going to be a lot about Jack Hughes. And the last couple of days around Jack Hughes and the Hockey Hall of Fame. And it does get to a question that we're going to talk about with Chris Patrick.

The general manager of the Washington Capitals, amongst other topics, there will be Cole Hudson, who looked like he's been playing in the league for 10 years already. He debuts for the Washington Capitals. Yesterday, we'll talk about the John Carlson Trade. We'll talk about the GM meetings as well with Chris. Patrick. But let's begin with the, uh, the, the, the, uh, the Jack Hughes Puck with our man, Greg Woschinski here.

The one story that this does sort of wink at, and I want to get to it, but I don't want to focus on it right now is as a hockey player, what do you own? Yeah. Like, like, what, what do you own? I remember Colby Armstrong when we worked together, um, at SportsNet years ago, there was, I brought up something about like, oh, you must have like old Montreal, Canadian's jerseys from your time there. He said, they never gave me one.

I'm like, what? He goes, no, you had to give it back. And I was astounded because then I believe the Montreal Canadians, I think they sold, like the four Colby Armstrong jerseys they had to whomever. And then I think that person sort of put those out to market. I'm not 100% on that one, but I seem to remember that being part of the story. But I've always been curious about as a member of the team, what do you own? Like we've joked a lot before about how, remember our old Thailand, boxes we had to give back for MBSW when when you gave back?

I had to. But you didn't. Steve McAllister is listening. Steve McAllister, X of Yahoo is listening. You didn't. I certainly don't have it in an old laundry basket in my storage area right now. That would be where the tie line boxes. But like that's the question.

Like what do you own as a hockey player with your NHL team? We're going to get. Let's talk about this. Let's get there in a couple seconds. But let's do. Okay. Let's do Jack Hughes and the last couple of days that have been, you know, the biggest story in hockey, interestingly enough. I didn't have Jack Hughes versus Phil Pritchard on my NHL bingo card for 25, 26.

But there we were. Jack Hughes saying, man, this is BS that I don't have this thing. And Phil's like, it's never yours to begin with. Sorry. There's never yours to begin with. Putting it easily, I think he said, it was never yours to own Jack. I'm like, oh, Phil. I'm going to have to buy you another beer when I see you on the road next time.

I like Phil a lot. I like Phil too. So let's start at the beginning on why this all happened. The reason it happened is the devils were nice enough to give me a one-on-one interview with Jack Hughes because I'm writing a piece for next week for ESPN that looks at the last very surreal month, which just became more surreal for Jack. S&L with a night show, shooting Puck's Pat Mac, I feel like all this other stuff. And it was sort of focused on that.

But, you know, I've talked about my process before on this show. And like I like to write out my questions. And I like to go into interviews fully prepared and knowing what I have to hit and not trying to forget anything. So one of the questions that I had written down about midway through the interview was the hockey Hall of Fame had emailed me this week to let me know that Jack Hughes and Megan Keller's Pucks were going to be on display in Toronto. And my question to Jack was simply, are you a little bit bummed? You don't have the puck. Leading the witness.

Leading the witness. Leading the witness. He had already stated on TNT. Isn't this some BS? Is this some BS, Jack? I can't believe it. He had already stated on T&T's bewilderment of not having had the puck.

Like he didn't know where it was at that point. I, in the question, told him where it was. It was in the Hall of Fame. Yeah. To which he said, this is bullshit. I should have the puck. puck yada yada yada what happens then is that uh some of the questions that i have towards the end of the interview uh we throw them overboard and now we are going to ask about this this puck situation

for a couple more questions and i only had like 10 minutes with him but but i think i got the spirit of the thing for the thing you'll read next week and obviously drilled down on this puck issue now hockey hall of fame didn't get back to me immediately on the day the first story published um phil Pritchard, to his credit, emailed me at 6.45 a.m. the next day to be like, sorry I missed you. Can we connect today? He and I talked for like 20 minutes. It was a great conversation. He's awesome. Not only about Jack and puck ownership, but also about the function of a museum of the hockey hall of fame and comparing the golden gold puck to a dinosaur bone in the Museum of Natural History. You can't come calling for that femur if you already donated it to the Museum

of Natural History. And they kind of see it the same. way as the puck. We should, hang on. One thing we should point out to, it's a nonprofit. The Hockey Hall of Fame is a nonprofit. So it's not as if, hey, we've got this puck and we are profiting significantly off of this. Correct.

This is a non. I think it's a big part of this. It's a big part of it because it does affect the donation process and it, if there's tax status and there's all these things that are inherently tied into this legality-wise that Phil mentioned. But it was a very enlightening conversation. And it's what I really wanted to have because I honestly didn't know the protocol. the procedure, why Jack didn't get the puck.

And, you know, it comes to light that the double IHF, going all the way back to 1998, is the organization that collects all of the memorabilia from big championship games that happen in worlds, world juniors, the Olympics, authenticated it, preserves it, and then ultimately donates it to the hockey Hall of Fame. And so that's just the procedure. And so you guys all read what Jack said. I'm assuming you all read what Phil said.

Yeah. For me, it comes down to this with Jack. As you mentioned, Merrick, it's hard to figure out what you get to keep and what you don't get to keep as a hockey player. But what these guys mostly know is that when you score a landmark goal in your career, you keep that puck. You're a rookie. You score your first goal.

You keep that puck. 500th goal. You keep that puck. 300th point. All those milestones where you see the. guy in the locker room with a tape around the puck going, they keep that puck. And so I cannot fault Jack for thinking the most important goal he'll probably ever

score in his life. He didn't even get to see the puck, let alone keep the puck. And so I sympathize with that. His hockey brain is attuned to you score a goal, you keep puck. And I think he was a little bit upset about that not being the protocol for this puck. not knowing what the protocol was. I think a lot of us didn't know what the protocol was. I agree with that.

And let me give you another example. Matthew Kachuk at the Memorial Cup and Red Deer scores the Memorial Cup winning goal. His London Knights win the Memorial Cup. But crowning achievement in junior hockey. I remember when he was playing with the Calgary Flames, had a long conversation with him. And he said, I'm trying. I don't even know what happened after the game.

All I know was the stick that I would. using was gone and it appeared in the Hall of Fame and I'd like to get it back. And I don't know how to do it. I don't know how to get that stick back. So like Jack's not the old. Now, he was, he wasn't as public as Jack Hughes was with you. Or emphatic. Or emphatic.

I think he kind of said it with a sideways smile. Like, sure it would be nice to have that stick back. Oh. But at the same time, like Jack Hughes is not the first to wonder, hey, how come, how come my thing is gone? Right. Before I re-answer that question, Zach, our producer, our diligent producer, wanted to know before

the show what Jack Hughes's tone was when he said this. And I've been asked that a lot too, and I would say the tone is defiant. Kind of like he's not angry. He's not like, let's burn this this MF her down in Toronto and

bring this puck back to Lake Placid. He's sort of just like bewildered by it. He's a little bit defiant by it. He's like, I don't think they should have it. I think I should have it. And so that was sort of the tone. But to your point, one of the interesting things that Phil Pritchard told me was that over the years, a lot of people have asked for stuff, whether it's people that are alive, that want their memorabilia back because they think they have some level of ownership for it. Or, in many cases, obviously we know why, financially, you have the families of deceased players reaching out to the Hall of Fame and being like, this was my grandfather's, can we have it back? and then obviously you know what the next step is probably going to be after that.

So the answer is always no, because the Hockey Hall of Fame diligently believes that if it has been donated to them by the double IHF or whomever, whatever governing body, it's theirs to preserve. And I'll give Phil credit for this. It is unwavering the fact that he believes in the hockey hall of fame believes that everything in there is the arc of the covenant. Everything in there belongs in a museum.

Everything in there needs to be for the preservation of hockey history. Do you respect to Jack Hughes' dad who Jack wanted to get the puck for so he can preserve it for the family? But the hockey hall of him is like, leave it to the experts. We really know how to preserve this shit. So a few things there. Yes. And the other thing that they would be, whether it is a sort of family of an ex player or person in hockey who have fallen on hard financial times or someone like Jack Hughes. who's going to retire with 150 large in the bank.

It doesn't matter because they don't want to set a precedent once, because once you do that, then you open yourself up for, oh, what are those little things called lawsuits? If you did it for one, you have to do it for all. I think that's, I don't think that's legitimate concern, too. I think it is a concern, but I also think that they don't want to do it for one. I really think that they believe that they are the stewards of hockey history.

Oh, I, I, I, I, listen, I, you're talking to a guy who's, like who spent so much time at the Hall of Fame Resource Center, especially during the 0405 Lockout. Like that was my second home. I had like my apartment in the West End of Toronto. And then I had the Hockey Hall of Fame Resource Center, not the Hall of and stuff, like the Resource Center. Like the Resource Center for those who don't know is located in the Leafs practice

facility, right? Correct. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so there's like there's a, and they just don't have, I'm sure they've, a lot of people have gone through it, but they keep getting like the hockey Hall of Fame gets donations all the time. Hey, my dad passed away. I found this in his closet, in the barn, in whatever, and it could just be a stack of tapes.

Like, I went into one room there. Oh, man, wish it was like, this was like the first time. I remember as a kid going to Toys R Us in Livonia, Michigan and going like, all these toys all in the same. I walked into a room. And it was, it was stacked with, you know, old videotapes, you know, highates and stuff, like old, old videotapes. And I remember, like, obviously, like, well, what's these? and the person who was giving me the guided tour at that point, it was like, we don't know.

We don't, there aren't enough hours in the day, and we don't have enough people to go through and document all of it. And that's why, and this is why I love the Resource Center, and I love the Hockey Hall of Fame. I can't speak to other Hall of Fame. I can only speak to Hockey. I love it because in their minds, in everybody that I have ever spoken to there,

whether it's, you know, Phil Pritchard, who is, by the way, one of the great historians of the game, too. we should point out. Oh, yeah. They carry with them, like all the people, right to the late Ron Ellis, who he said, I love having conversations with. They all look at every tiny little thing as a piece of a puzzle. And everybody has it.

Like my last conversation with Phil Pitcher, Zach and I were talking about this on the program two days ago about hockey sweaters that they can't find any originals of, Hamilton Tigers and, and I didn't know about this one, the Toronto St. Patts. there's no known jersey anywhere if i saw a stack of as like history yeah if i saw a stack of unmarked videotapes in the hockey hall of fame resource center i would have bet at least one of them was a hockey themed porno named stick handlers like at least one of them had whenever you see a stack of unmarked tapes say in your parents bedroom like one of them is going to end up being a porno five for high sticking yeah exactly

Listen, the other thing I wanted to talk about, though, vis-a-vis the Hughes story is I, listen, I knew I had gold when he said it. That's exactly what I texted my wife when he said it. And I stayed in the arena and banged out the story as quickly as I could. We're moving to a different area code, hon. I got gold here. This is moving me into a corner office. That's right, the corner office. That's what I didn't, I didn't know what the reaction was going to be.

And honestly, I thought it was going to be more like Darren Rivell. who used to be at ESPN and I was like in the collector space. Yep. Had said the couple of like a week ago what a tragedy it was that the Pugh's Puck was going to be in the hockey hall of fame and that it belonged in the United States somewhere. And I thought there'd be more of the Ra Ra Jackson, an American hero, let's get as puck. So the reaction I think was interesting because one, I obviously underestimated how many Canadians were going to be like, well, Sid never asked for us puck. And then the other thing I didn't anticipate, and this is something that you and I talked about a couple weeks ago, is that these guys don't understand how much damage they did with their behavior after winning the gold medal. And the number of people that called Jack entitled, a brat, a hundred things worse than that, talked about the team being toxic, talked about this is typical for Team USA.

I like I there's so much of the reaction to this that I think is tied into the overall reaction to this team and the women's hockey issue and the White House issue I really didn't anticipate that level of blowback on this particular story but I think it's undeniable that it was I knew I knew I knew you would get the brat angle like I not and not jesper sorry for all you need Jersey Devils fans I knew you would get like the the all he's being petulant little hockey player who's never heard the word no now all of a sudden he can't have his little round black disc and he's got boo-boo face of i knew there was going to be that like as soon as i saw that i'm like i don't even need to open up my twitter x here because i know what the reaction is going to be

spoiled hockey player gets told no and doesn't like it and has tempered handrum i that that that one what's here's the wind up and there's the pitch he didn't really get told no until i asked the hall of fame myself because he had never asked the hall of fame that's a good point that's That's good. That's good. So he only heard no when still told me no. I sympathized with Jack on this one. Like I said earlier, like these guys are used to getting to talk to them out. Oh, hang on. I totally understand. I think it's a very sweet thing. He wants to get it for his family. And I also don't listen, there's a part of me that he accomplished something absolutely historic for the United States. Okay. First gold medal since 1980. Oh, did he play that? And it's Connor Hallibuck. Sorry. Well, but maybe, you know what if Keller Hellibuck wants. his catching glove from that day, don't be it. Like, you should get that too.

Oh, sorry. There's a part of me that's just kind of like, yeah. He made history. Yeah. And who are you to say

that he can never have that history for himself? Like, I understand the idea of in the near term, the hockey hall of phase being like, you, you, we should,

this belongs in a museum. The good people of the hockey world should come here and see it. But 25 years from now, like maybe you let them have the puck. I don't know. Like I don't like the idea that Jack accomplished this amazing thing. And never gets to have the thing that you accomplished.

So take the next step then. Okay. You're getting us somewhere really interesting here. The next step in this conversation is, will this now be a negotiating point with the NHL? If we go and USA slash Canada wins the gold or whatever, we keep the puck and the NHL decides.

Do you think it'll be a negotiating point? Who gets what? I don't. I don't. I don't think so either. But hang on. There's already negotiation. I've already talked to a couple of hockey people

have mentioned that to me. Like, will this be a negotiating issue somewhere down the road further to that point? Well, I just want to say that there has been negotiation on this stuff. Like, from what I understand, you are allowed to keep the last jersey you wear in the Olympics and if that happens to be in the gold medal game you keep that jersey

the double IHF has providence over the equipment I think but you get to keep your jersey I think I think that was the something I want to say USA hockey told me that but I'm not quite sure if that was who it was or not can I ask you a question because someone emailed me on this and I hate giving away a story but I might be doing it but I don't care Okay. Why does the double IHF have providence over things that I'm not entirely convinced they paid money to buy? I don't know.

Did they? Did they, did they foot? I don't. It must be part of their agreement with the IOC. The IOC runs the Olympics. The federations organize the tournaments. One would assume the IOC is the one who purchases all this equipment or the Milan court, Cortina organizers purchase the equipment.

And then donate it to the double IHF? I don't know. That's the part of the chain of custody that I don't know. I don't know. It's like why does the double IHF have probably? They have providence because they have experts that can handle this stuff. And they have a relationship with the hockey hall of fame to get the Hall of Fame this stuff. Like we know why they're involved.

But if you really wanted to Perry Mason this thing, Eric, if you really wanted to go all the way to like the legalities of it, So let's bring it. Why do they have providence over something they probably didn't pay the money to buy equipment-wise? It's obviously a relationship with the IOC who have agreed to purchase. Again, I'm hypothesizing. I don't know if the IOC has purchased all of this and then given it to the double IHF. Because I'm with you. I don't know if they actually wrote a check, right, to getting this.

Here, let me, let me take this to the NHL then. Okay. If this happens in the national hockey, Like you mentioned, players are used to just getting the puck, taping it up, doing the goofy picture, and everybody's happy, everybody wins, everybody goes away. I remember Brian Burke telling me the stories that when the Fox puck, which I believe you're familiar with, Greg, when the Foxx was the thing, yes. So the Fox Glopuck, which was very expensive at the time.

I was waiting for you to plug your book. And here it comes, folks. My first book, books. Lopox and Tencent beer, the 101 worst ideas in sports history was my first book I wrote. I wrote it famously as a series of really pointed essays about sports. And the person who bought the book at the publishing house that did it, Taylor Trade, I believe it was, said, no, actually your book is a square bathroom book. And I'm like, the money says that it is. This podcast, by the way, serves only as a vehicle for Greg to move the back catalog.

That's the only reason we're here. So Greg can slurp up a couple of nickels and dimes from some of his old writings. No, but he would tell me, like, when the puck went up into the stands, because obviously the glow puck technology inside of it, like the technology inside of the puck is much more than just like the little round black art Ross disc that everyone chases around. and for the days that they were using it on Fox, Burke, he would have to be there with cash in his pocket. And when the pucks went up into the stands, he would have to go and find the person,

A, and ask him if they would give it back. Technically, he said it is property of the NHL, but he'd ask him if they give it back and if they said no, then he would just start pulling out the bills and say, like, tell me when to stop. And would have to pay the guy to get the puck back. because there were only so many of these things. But I would imagine, like, legally as well,

Pucks in the NFL are won by the NHL. They're not owned by the player. Like, if you want to get legal, now, there is obviously. Well, or are they by the team? Well, the teams do buy it. That's a good point, too. Maybe they are owned by the team. I read something that they did on the Miami Heat,

who just passed Kobe's single game points mark. the heat owned a lot of that stuff that he got to keep. So I do wonder if it's the team that owns it, not the league that owns it. Maybe it's the team. But here's the thing about all of it, Merrick, is that if any of that stuff ends up in the Hockey Hall of Fame, it's not because the Hockey Hall of Fame

sends their shocktroopers to retrieve it from a locker room. It's because the thing is donated to the Hockey Hall of Fame on behalf of the player. And that was part of this, too, that I couldn't wrap my brain. around was the idea that a hockey hall of fame just gets it. And I think Jack, that's one of the reasons Jack was indignant about it. It's like, I never said they could have it.

I never donated it. And it turns out because it's not his to donate. But I think that was part of it too. It's like we're so used to seeing when we go to museums, here's a, here's a, you know, Van Gogh. And it's like courtesy of the super rich family on display for the benefit of the blah, blah, blah, family. Like, we see that all the time. And in the Hockey Hall of Fame, there are definitely things that have been donated at the

hockey Hall of Fame. But then you just can't get them back is part of the thing. Because again, once you give the T-Rex femur to the Natural History Museum, you can't come back and be like, he doesn't need two legs. How about this? How about this? Like either just Jack or every member of Team USA gets the puck for a day, just like Stanley Cup. Here you go, puck for the day.

Well, one of my favorite reactions to the story came from Sherry Ross, who used to be the devil's. Devil's play. Color analyst and a beat writer for the Devils for a very long time. And she said, she said some rude things about Jack. But she also said, why doesn't someone just tape a puck and give it to this guy to shut him up? Like, why can't just give him the puck and be like, give the baby. Here's a bottle.

Here's a pot. And then just keep the real one in the hockey Hall of Fame. I don't think she's alone in thinking that, but I don't know. I sympathize it, Jack. I wish there was a way he could at some point in his life get this puck. It doesn't have to be now if the Hall of Fame wants to honor. Why? This is massive. Yeah, why?

It's his accomplishment. No, it's the team's accomplishment. He was the last guy in a chain to put the puck in the net. Do you ask anybody who won that game? It's Connor Hallibuck. No, no. The guy that should be pissed. I understand that.

And I actually think it's kind of shitty that so many people have decided to make this a, Jack is a petulant eagomaniac when every, single time he's talked about this win, he's given credits to his teammates, including right after scoring the game winning goal in overtime and during my interview with him. Like, he's the first guy to credit his teammates for what happened in Milan. But he scored the goal. I'm sorry, what, for, for, I forgot what show him on. Who the, who was the goalie when Paul Henderson scored?

Vladislav Tretiak. No, for Canada. Ken Dryden. Should have been Tony. Ken Dryden. It's Ken Driden's the first good game with. the tournament. You know how I don't know that?

You know why I don't know that? Because no one ever fucking mentions it because Oh, you know why? You know why? Because that was Ken Dryden's worst tournament ever. And he always struggled internationally. And everybody, including Paul Henderson's Antonio was going to start.

Okay. You got a bunch of old Canadians that went Paul Henderson's name in the Hall of Fame, let alone the puck. So you think... So why can't Jack Hughes have this accomplishment? He's the one who scored the game winning goal. You think this is new.

Here's the thing that I've been thinking about this whole time. You think this is new. Canada went through the same thing in 1972. It's new for you. Of course, it's new from... But in 19772 at the Summit series, all right, Henderson scores on that horrible call by Foster Hewitt on television.

It's a terrible call. Bob Cole's call on radio, way, way better. Nonetheless, I digress. It's the most famous puck in Canada. No one can find it afterwards. And someone said, oh, I think Pat Stapleton grabbed it. And Stapleton always denied it. And then video showed up of Stapleton going into the net

after the goal scored and fishing. it out. And finally, Pat, who's no longer with us, Pat admitted that he fished the puck out and that he didn't know where it was. And then when people called BS on that, he said, oh, I just shot it into a snowbank in the backyard rink. But for years and years and years, in Canada, we had this discussion. What should happen to the 72 puck? Stapleton always denied having it. And I'm sure the hall was pissed about it. Always denied having it. So this puck drama. With Jack Q's,

our country went through it too. I understand the puck drama. Think back to the first Chicago Blackhawks Cup of the of the recent dynasty. Oh, against Flyers, Pat King.

We all suspect that a linesman stole the anti-Ni Emmy puck that he obviously gets credit for, not Pat McMahon. Spot quiz, who was the goaltender on the Flyers scored it against? Michael.

Was it Bouchet at that point? No, Michael Leighton. It was Leighton versus Oh, is Michael Leighton. Okay. Speaking, the Flyers went through a bunch of different goalies that play. Oh, it was revolving door. They were like the L.A. Kings when they had like a dozen the one year.

Speaking of history, when I think of hockey history, I've talked to you about this a million times. I'm sure you're sick of it. But I think of the Patrick family, the first family of hockey, the most progressive thinkers in hockey. The reason we and other sports have playoffs is because of the Patrick family, the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. Chris Patrick is the general manager of the Washington Capitals, who joins us now and is

part of this historic lineage. First of all, Chris, thanks for joining us. There's a lot to get to, whether it's GM meetings and Cole Hudson, who in one game looks like he's already played for 10 years. But before we get there, Greg and I were having a conversation about what do players actually own? You know, like, we just went through the whole Jack Hughes in the puck saga and Phil Pritchard versus Jack Hughes. I was telling a story about, you know, Colby Armstrong, who has always been a little bit miffed that the Montreal Canadiens never let him have a jersey. His dad grew up a huge Habs fan of the family. And I've always wondered, like, when players leave at the end of a season, what are they allowed to take? Like, what do you consider theirs?

What's their stuff? Yeah, that's a good question. I was actually listening. And we had our own puck controversy with the goal that Lars Ellard scored to seal the deal on our first Stanley Cup. And I can't remember the details because whenever it came to me, I said, I'm not getting involved. you guys have to figure this one out, but I know there's multiple people that claimed to have the puck. I think it got fished out of the net by a player who may have fired it. It looked like they fired it into the crowd, but maybe they didn't because we might have

video the linesmen fishing it out. And so we were trying to figure it. And at some point, Anthony Robbins got involved somehow. It was bizarre. But anyway, it all got figured out, I think. So I'm, okay, really quick, Greg, you're going to hate me for this. But a quick historical note here, one of my white whales of all times, is the 1993 puck.

And if you go back, it's L.A. Kings and Montreal, Canadians. And the clock is ticking down. And Bob Cole is counting it down. Montreal is going to win the Stanley Cup. And Darryl Sadorra grabs a puck behind Kelly Rudy. And he skates behind the net and the clock is winding down.

Three, two, one. And Sador flips it in the stands at the old Montreal. Like that puck exists. And it's a last Stanley Cup winning buck by any Canadian. Like that puck is somewhere. And it might just be in a bucket. It might have been reused. Who knows?

I mean, but that to me has to make a great documentary. So, so long ago, Merrick. It was so long ago. Yeah. So long ago. Rub it in.

Well, do you remember the procedures for Ovi? Like when Ovi broke Gratsky's record last year, like what did he get to keep? What immediately got shuttered off to the Hall of Fame? Do you remember? Yeah. Again, this is, these are conversations that I tend to stay away from. Just because I think there's people, I'm more capable of me and more, I think the memorabilia aspect to them is really important.

But with Alex, there's a whole different set of rules because he has his, you know, he has, you know, a set of criteria that he wants for what he wants to keep from his career, be it sticks that he scores goals with, pucks that he scores goals with. So there was some negotiation and back and forth for all those goals leading up to it. But it was very buttoned up and very well-tracked, the pucks, the sticks, the gloves. Our equipment staff did a great job of kind of on-the-fly tagging and barcoding everything as things happened so that we at least knew what the original equipment was and then figured out who is supposed to go to at what time and who has the rights to it based on everything we've talked about. And really, that's kind of continued with Alex as every goalie scores breaks a new record. So, you know, with him, we have a heightened level of kind of equipment, management,

inventory, and tracking for everything that he does. Wow. Okay. And Vetchins scored another one yesterday. So combining regular season and playoffs, he is at 999. So one more to get to magical 1,000. The big story coming out of yesterday, you know, I've been saying this to people last night and again this morning. Look, man, Caps fans got some catnep last night with the debut of Cole Hudson.

They really did. Like it's, and it was, it seemed like, again, I'm just watching this on television, but it sounded like every time he touched the puck, there was like a buzz or a cheer or something like that every time Hudson touched the puck. I thought Connor McMichael was a star pointing at the net at the end for the empty net goal, which is a really nice touch. I think the symbolism of Ovechkin being the first to hug him is more than just a little bit symbolic as well of the past and the future. But just from a GM's point of view, and I do want to go back to the trade too, but from a GM's point of view, like, what were your expectations? What did you see? At what point did you realize, like, okay, this guy's got ice water running through his veins, really poised, all of it. What were your thoughts on watching Cole Hudson last night?

Yeah, I mean, as a as a GM or even, you know, as a, when you're when I was coming up as a scout or player development guy, anytime a guy that you've invested time in or the organization's invested time in has their NHL debut, it's a fun night no matter what. You know, with Cole in particular, you know, knowing the personality a little bit, I didn't think the lights were going to be too bright for him. You know, he has a tendency to rise to the occasion, but, you know, you never know. And I guess for me it was first shift, you know, Spencer started him on the starting lineup. And I forget if we won or lost a face off, but the puck kind of regrouped.

And we went up ice, and he immediately was up in the rush, you know, full boat. And so you could tell he was comfortable and wanted to get involved in the game. And that first shift was a fantastic way to start a game. We got in the offensive zone for a good 30 or 40 seconds. He got the puck on a stick a couple of times, made a nice play. So from right there, you know, it felt like he was going to have himself a pretty good night. And he certainly did. That's awesome.

Chris, if you were in the Western Conference, you guys would be sixth. It's a bit of a different world over in the West and over in the East right now. Yeah, it's a little bit. Um, yes, obviously you were at the GM meetings this week. Gary Betman has been steadfast and not monkeying around with the playoff format or expanding the playoffs or any of it. We've all asked him. We know where he stands on it. The managers don't seem to push on it that much.

And correct me if I'm wrong on that. But I mean, it's just the case where like you know where the buck stops and there's no reason to bring it up. Are we, are we, um, are we wrong in thinking that there might be some GMs that like to see the format changed? Like, what's the vibe in the room for playoff format? Yeah, I mean, I think GMs are always trying to find ways to improve, you know, what they view, improve the game and the fan experience and, you know, help the business side as well. And a lot of times schedule or playoff schedule is an area they try to focus on. But, you know, it's definitely an area that Gary has very strong opinion on.

And, you know, I, it feels like this debate every year. it comes up and it's like it's like it's a novel thing i mean in in 2015 and 16 and 17 it was always kind of washington pittsburg were one two and three in the nchl and we'd play each other in the first or second round and yeah it wasn't ideal it'd be great if we could have gone to the conference finals and played them but eventually you're going to have to play them and and we just lived with it and and so every year it's kind of there's some division that's got very good teams in it and like this year with the Central Division and those, you know, a very, very good team is going to go home earlier than they would have under a different playoff format, but it's the constraints we live in.

And I think for me, it's more people need to kind of reset their gauge. Like a successful playoff run doesn't necessarily mean you made it to the conference finals and lost by, you know, a game of getting to the Stanley Cup finals. Like a successful playoff run could be, hey, we ran into the second best team in the playoffs or the best team in the playoffs in the second round and we lost and that's just how it went for us and um i mean i understand why fans feel like you know we should get rewarded with how far we go in the playoffs based on how good our team is but it's just not set up that way and i do agree when gary says the first round is is is great entertainment and it is i mean those first round games across every series are always

must watch for me and i think for fans as well and and it it really sets up you know for some great storylines going into the second round. And I think it's unique to our sport, the level of intensity, the quality of hockey, you know, series that goes seven games, overtime games in the first and second rounds of the playoffs. I think that's unique to our sport and a real strong point of our sports. So I understand why there's pushback there from the league and, you know, kind of I can live with it. just to put a Dallas

Dallas Colorado 3 on 3 last night oh my God that was so good it was so fun that was a great game too but like this is this is

it's interesting that that Greg took us there because this is an argument I can put a sort of historical note on it that's been going on since 1967 when the league doubled

right I mean they put all the expansion teams in one conference and all you know the as I like to call them not the original six but the solvent six put the

solvent six in another division. And you had the St. Louis Blues going in the Stanley Cup final every year because they were the best of the worst bunch and they didn't win a single game. And then you fast forward to like, I mean, I remember being a kid watching the Norris Division. And if you wanted to make the playoffs in the Norris Division, you had to get, wait for it, everybody, 60 points. And there was a hue and cry about should nobody in the Norris Division, Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago, Toronto, Minnesota, make the playoffs. So like, I kind of look at it all and say, I haven't seen. anywhere close to the perfect formula yet. I don't have one in my mind

and I haven't really seen one. I'll look at every single season and say like, eh, you know what? That matchup's not right this early, but then I always come back to, well, what's going to give me the best games? Because ultimately that's all I care about. Just what's going to give me the best games? Yeah, I'd agree

with that. And like, I think you know, honestly, I think with how much our players invest into the playoffs and the level they bring their game to, you know, whatever playoff format you have, it's going to be unbelievable hockey. But I do think the way it's set up now, it lends for some great storylines. Let me swing back really quickly to Cole Hudson.

One thing I am curious about, so Washington got Cole Hudson to the Beck Malenstein trade, and it's Malenstein, it's the second day of the draft. It's the Malenstein for second round draft pick. Can you take us back to that? Like, who should be, I know it's essentially the whole staff. But is there like, was there one person on your staff who was like, there's a first round value sitting here in the second round. We need to do something about this if we have a shot.

Can you take us back to that deal? Yeah. You know, so we obviously did have coal rated high on our list. And we're hopeful that we could get them if we could get a pick in that, in that spot higher in the second round. you know, at the time, Mac was still general manager, Brian McClellan, and he had been talking to Buffalo about Beck, you know, leading up to the draft and seemed like they would be willing to move, you know, either move draft order or move a pick to us for Beck. So there's a couple of different times

where it might have been on the table to maybe move up a little bit in the first round, but they didn't want to do it. And then it kind of came to fruition for that. second round spot, which which lined up perfectly for for us wanting to get high in that second round to try to get a chance at Cole. And, and then it worked out, you know, like any draft, there's some nervous moments where you're waiting for the name to hopefully not get called for a few picks before you. And then he was there and we ran up and did it. Is the, and maybe I shouldn't put the two things together, but is it easier to make the John Carlson trade knowing that you have Cole Hudson on the horizon? Or are they, you?

completely mutually exclusive? You know, I wouldn't say mutually exclusive. You know, but I think having, you know, having the prospect pipeline we have right now, I think that's helped guide some of our decisions going forward. You know, we're trying to set up our team for the next 10 years now with some of the young players we have, like the Ryan Leonard's, and Cole Hudson, you know,

Ilya Protas has had a great year as a 19-year-old in the HAL. So we're very high on him. And, you know, so those are kind of, as we factor in some of these decisions, you know, like a John Carlson trade, you know, part of what we're doing is trying to put ourselves into a position where we're back, you know, becoming a perennial team that's going to have a chance to win the East and be a strong team coming into the playoffs and compete for a cup. And so that was kind of more the factor in our decision. But certainly the strong prospect pipeline helps. Two questions about Alex. I know you recently said, I think it was probably around the trade deadline, that there was no decision yet on his future.

Does that still hold? Anything happened in the last week? Nothing's happened in the last week. How many sticks is he taken on the road trip? And then another question is, I remember when I went to camp for the Caps much, much earlier in the season, there was the notion that this decision from Alex, may not be, if he decides to, this is this last year,

it may not be Gretzky, it may not be like we find out with two weeks left in the regular season. It could be something that we find out in the off season from Alex. What's the percentage chance that the season ends, the fans react as they do, but we don't hear anything official from Alex until the off season? Yeah, I mean, hard to handicap it, percentage chance, but I think that's definitely a possibility.

you know, he has a process that he wants to go through. There's conversations he wants to have both, you know, with his family, with his advisors, with Ted, with Brian, with myself. And, you know, he's not going to rush to do it. He's going to do it on his timeline. And if that ends up being, you know, as we get towards the end of the season or if it spills into the off season, I think he's going to do the process the way he wants to do it. And we certainly are going to respect that. We should mention he tied a Gordy Howe record last night, 25th goal, 20, 20 seasons with at least 25 goals, except for Alex, it's 20 out of 21 career seasons with at least 25 goals. That's insane.

That's absolutely insane. I didn't even realize. I heard somebody he asked Cole that or Tom maybe in his press in his press after the game. And, yeah, it's incredible. It's like it's almost every time he steps on the. He's hitting another milestone. It's just the body of work is amazing. He's,

see, the thing about it too, and again, I always come shy of saying, oh, this will never be broken. I mean, listen,

I don't think Glenn Hall's record of consecutive games is ever going to be broken. I don't think that, you know, Billy Smith's 21 goalie fights in the history of the N8. I don't think that one's ever again.

Like, there's some things we know aren't going to get broken. And as much as I had never thought the Gretzky record would get broken, you know, there we were in that game against the Islanders.

And it was broken. but I just can't see someone staying healthy enough. Like to me, the story of Ovechkin and the goals are the goals, like we all know about Ovechkin and you score goals. How do you stay that healthy for that long to stay that productive? To me, that's the story of Ovechkin. And I don't know that we'll ever see anybody stay that healthy for that long to break that record in the next, I don't know, however many years.

To me, the story is the health. What is it for you? I kind of go another way. I mean, obviously, the health for sure. But I kind of, part of me is a little, I don't know if sad is the right word, but like the what if. You know, Alex lost a lot of games in the prime of his career to things outside of his control, work stoppages, a global pandemic. even, you know, his first post-draft year was a completely, the whole season was locked out.

So, you know, I can't imagine, you know, if you would have added whatever it was 30 or 40 extra games to that 2013 season, how many goals he would have had. Or even if he would have scored, you know, would he have scored 30 or 40 as an 18-year-old rookie in the league? Like, I mean, it could have made that number he's at right now even more impressive. So that's kind of where I go It's just like, man, I wonder what would have been If we hadn't lost those games. Greg? I'm good.

You're good. That's all I have for Chris. Chris, this has been awesome. We're up against the clock. Appreciate your time as always. And congratulations on 44. You know, I saw the tweets last night. I never thought we'd see Brooks Horpick skate like that.

But there it was. Incredible work. Thanks so much, as always, for stopping by. Really appreciate it. You've had, thanks, guys. Good seeing you. To say, I think of Steve Emiger, another 44 for the Washington Capitol skating the puck like that. You know what I did like to.

I really enjoyed the white stick and the black tape that looked like old man socks on white legs. I'm like, yeah, that's going to be me one day with the white legs and the black rolled up socks. Speaking of tape, shout out to the L.A. King social media team. I don't know if you saw this that they put out on their Twitter feed last night. It's probably on their website too. they had some of the players wives and girlfriends they blindfolded them and asked them to tape sticks yeah yeah yeah yeah oh my god it's so good first of all

they're all really funny and the jobs they do are are pretty admirable for it being the conditions that they're under but again the bits good but like the the ingenuity behind it I got a shout out the LA Kings have always been going all the way back to when they had the snarkiest Twitter feed in the NHL don't ask Vancouver don't have Vancouver Don't ask Vancouver. Don't ask Vancouver.

I always had a real cutting edge when it came to social media and I think this was a really good example. Were they the first? I think the Kings were the first for their Twitter feed specifically to really have that snarky personality.

Now everybody does it. But like they were the first. Were the Kings the first? I want to say it was like 2010, 2011? Who was it? Oh man. If I only remember, I forget the dude's name.

There was a dude that ran it that was like really. I think it was a her, wasn't it? Well, there was a gentleman that I once interviewed for Puck Daddy. I know that. Their Twitter feed was like, it's gotten a bit cliche because they're all sassy now, but theirs was like the first real sassy one. And it was at a time when the kings were really good too.

And it was the perfect sort of marriage between the tone of their social media messaging and their performance on the ice. Anything, first off, let's tie a bow. around Chris Patrick. What do you think OV ends up doing? I think that there's got to be some type of announcement beforehand. Well, first of all, again, I don't want to like harp on, you know, Steve Hats of Petros here.

But, and maybe they just thought, listen, Washington Capitol is going to make the playoffs. So it doesn't matter where his last game is this season. And I do understand that he started his career in Columbus, Washington at Columbus game, the Alexander Ovechkin era, I just would have thought slash hoped for Washington Capitals fans. I don't say this about any fan base with a retiring star, on Jacobitz are included, that they finish up at home.

Like when they're that close to the end and they can see the gate, do you not look at it and go like, hold on a second here. He can't end in Columbus. He can't. Yeah. He's got to end in Washington. I mean, the ticket prices for his last, their last game at home this season are indicative of some people believing that it may be a

historic moment. But I don't know. I kind of see where Chris is coming from. And I mentioned this in the show before, but like, Ovi didn't love what happened last year where his chase of the Gretzky record completely overshadowed his team. Yes. Everybody's talking to his teammates about him. Like, it's great.

I know he appreciates the accomplishment, but he didn't really love that aspect of it. And so I think that's one of the reasons why, you know, it's plausible that he waits until the off season. It's also plausible he waits until the off season because this ain't it. I mean, he's got 25. That's not 50, but it's 25. 25.

And maybe, again, like, it's all about, he said this to my colleague, T.J. Yoshi in a recent interview. that they did. It's all about how his body feels. Like if he feels he's got gas left in the tank, I think he probably comes back next year. If he believes the capitals are going to be competitive and there's no reason to believe they won't be. So I'm not convinced this is it. I know that there's a lot of reasons to believe that it is. His numbers have fallen off. It is tougher to come back when you're this age. He is in the last year of a contract. It feels like it's all set up for it to be the last year, but I'm not convinced until I hear it.

It's not to say I think he's coming back. I do think he's going to retire, but I'm not convinced that he's going to retire. Listen, I hope you're right. I hope Ovechkin comes back for another year. I always think that it's a better NHL when players like Alexander Ovechkin are involved in it, as long as he still really wants to play. You've heard me go on before about my love for Peter Forsberg. And even though at the end of the career, when he was trying to find, you know, the magical

boot that would alleviate all of his pain and would allow him to be the Peter Fornesberg Power Forward that we always loved and enjoyed for all those years. I was never one of those guys. I was like, oh, he's diminishing his legacy. I don't care how much his goals went down. Like, I always said, like, this is the kind of stuff that we should be getting behind as sports fans, as hockey fans. The guy that just, we spent our whole lives saying like, oh, I love this, the never say die attitude. And then we hustle guys off the stage really quickly when they're not scoring 50 goals every year because of,

the legacy and how I'm going to think. I actually like Peter Forsberg more for what he did towards the end. Like he just like refused to quit. So if he's if a vetchen still wants to, I don't care if he can't snap in 50 anymore. If he still wants to and he has the hunger to do it, someone's going to pay him to do it in the NHL. Let's not forget the salary cap is going up,

Greg Wichenski. And let's not forget the other thing too is how much money he's left on the table. So if he still wants to do it. with that contract that he signed back in the day. But not just like how much he's meant to like that. Because you remember what it was like before. How much money he's generated. How much he is generated.

But not just for the Washington Capitals too, for the NHL. Like I've always maintained him and Crosby are the two that have left the most amount of money on the table by way of what they've meant to franchise value, how much they have taken discounts to stay on their team. Like all of them. There may be. And like, this is going to sound outrageous. There may not be. two more underpaid players in the history of the game,

given how much money they've generated, than Ovechkin or Crosby? In Crosby's case, absolutely, to the point where I think he's cost other people money because the team has pointed to him and be like, be like Cid. Don't you want to win like Cid? You got to get paid like Cid.

But let's not forget, like, Washington, pre-Ovechkin, you remember the days when, like, Yager wouldn't even do like line rushes and warm up with his teammates. Like we all have this thing about, you know, Yager and the smiley guy and everyone loves Yager Like he was miserable

He was a miserable player Like he really was Yeah And it was bad It was awful in Washington It was awful I gotta say though Like you mentioned Forresberg before

The commonality between Forresbourg and Ovechkin Is thank the hockey gods Those guys won cups Like could you imagine what would be going around or on with Ovechkin right now if he didn't win the cup and how many people would be like, you know, swallow your pride, become an avalanche.

Like, thank God he won. So there's not that whole thing happening as an undercurrent to what could be his final, you know, season or two in the NHL because that would have been really annoying. But I don't know what he's going to do. It does look like it's lining up for that to be it. It kind of does. I was curious after watching last night,

What percentage chance do you put on the avalanche and wild playing in the first round now? Holy smokes, eh? All I know is, and I've been, like, again, I've said this as someone who, and I would just mention this in the interview with Chris Patrick, I don't have like a team that I cheer for. The closest that I get to are, you know, I grew up with the French connection. So I'm like, I'm happy for the Buffalo Sabres. I'm not, I don't like cheer for the team, but I'm happy for the team.

but I'm happy for people in Buffalo. I just want to see the best, I just want to see the best possible hockey. And the first round of the, there's nothing better than the first round of the NHL playoffs. There is nothing better. Zero I've ever found in sports

that comes close to the first round. And that's why I say, all I care about is like, give me the best possible matchups. And give me, like, I want those teams, like if the idea that one and two should only face off in the Stanley Cup final, then what you have to understand

is one and two are not going to be at the height of their powers when they meet in the Stanley Cup final. If you just care about the best possible games, this is a good format. So here's where I am on matchups. I think the Colorado Minnesota is a better, more compelling series than Dallas, Minnesota, for many reasons. Dallas and Longman is the part. Dallas, I mean, Minnesota.

I know that, but you get, you get McCar versus Quinn. Oh, I know. You get a lot. But here's the thing. Then you get Dallas. Like if I was to fantasy cast this, give me Colorado, Minnesota, give me Dallas against Celebrini. And the other two series that I want to see, if I could fantasy cast it, give me the Islanders

and the Sabres. I mean, that just to me could be a blast. And then give me, give me, we've talked, we just talked about this with Portsline. Give me the blue jacket. and the penguins. Give me the geographic, that should be the rivalry. That should be the Blue Jacket.

It should be the big rival. Oh my God. I know everyone's Keystone State. In a playoff series. It should be Columbus Pittsburgh. Yes on that. So that's my fantasy cast right now. Give me the Sabres making the playoffs for the first time since the Obama administration

against Matthew Schaefer. Give me Celebrity against the stars and give me Colorado in Minnesota in just thunderdome The series is thunderdome. Here's why, and you know what? You know what's going to make it great? If that happens, Mena,

I've said this for a few years now, and it's most pronounced against Vegas, it seems to be. Minnesota gives you great games. Consistently every year. Now that has changed a little bit over the past couple of years. San Jose's had some bangers

and some teams in the East that have had some bangers too. consistently over the last few seasons. And this year just adds to that legend. Minnesota matches up well against everybody. I've watched so many enjoyable games this year. And I don't care. Like take the logo and the name bar and all of it off and the numbers. And you just give me like two teams, like one blue, one red and match them up.

And I don't know that it's Minnesota Wild. You can tell, like that Minnesota Wild team just knows how to play. and can play a number of different styles of games against Dallas, against Colorado, against Edmonton, against Winnipeg. Man,

that should be a great border rivalry too. Minnesota just matches up well against everybody. There's such a fun team. You just get great games with Minnesota. And then, so yeah, Minnesota, Colorado. It would be awesome.

But to continue it down this path now that I just check the standings again, give me Vegas and Utah. That's a geographic. graphic rivalry we need to make happen. So give me that. There'll be a lot of, I bet there was a lot,

be a lot of Vegas fans in Utah. I still want some, I just want some Vegas, Colorado at some point here, too. Colorado's got to slay that dragon. And give me, give me a series that will provide seven games

of 12 to 11 final scores between the Edmonton Oilers and the Anaheim docks. You might get it with those two teams. Are you allowed to start your e-bug? That might be a conversation that you have in that series. That was one of the more interesting things from the GM meetings.

You see that note? I think it was in Pierre and Mike Russo's story from the athletic, where Bill Daly said that none of these teams are in danger of being over the playoff cap. I would assume. Except for the island. The Islanders, except for the islanders, if they activate some of those players. I got to assume the NHL feels great about this. This was all done to mitigate the chicanery that the lightning and others have pulled

as far as the playoff salary structure versus the cap, and it seems like it worked. What's good about it too is I think we're all waiting for this one. The way to max, are you all with me with Hart Levine? We talked about this from Puckpedia. Yeah. That the league minimum backup goaltender. The league minimum backup goaltender is getting. the automatic start just so you can maximize your money elsewhere.

So the guy wearing the baseball cap will have to do it. I think that everybody's in good shape. Yeah, I think everybody's in good shape. It is. It looks good. It looks good. Anything else for today before we, before we move along? I don't buy that the NHL hasn't heard from Sweden, Finland, and the checks about the World Cup.

I don't buy that. I don't think they need to. That's how I. You're probably right because they had to cancel the damn World Cup in 24 because of those those countries like I don't kind of know what the deal is no one's changed their mind there because nothing has changed globally I don't think I don't think you need to go back to those countries go so have you rethought this have you had a second I don't think you need to I don't think you need to so here's the thing it if you the folks that want Russia and the World Cup because you don't

feel it's a true best on best without Russia in the World Cup and I don't deny that although I think there are significantly important reasons why they shouldn't be held on any of this stuff it all comes down to whether or not the IOC reinstates them. That's it. You are waiting for the International Olympic Committee to Greenlight Russia back into the fold because once they do that, the double I-chuffle will do that. When the HF does that, then the NHL goes, well, it's out of our hands. It's where Russia's back, folks, kind of thing.

That's a wrap. That's a good day. Interesting week for your boy. Yeah, you had a good one. That's really good. I was happy for you. I really was. I know that the nature of some of the phone calls you must have had.

I've been on the receiving end of calls like that sometimes, too. It was mitigated because they were in the room with me and Jack. And so nothing was said. There were no red flags raised at the time. And the only, I mean, like, like, obviously no one wants their star player to be, you know. tarnished the way he was in the last couple of days. But ultimately, he said what he said. And honestly, again, there are reasons why I think he said it.

And there are reasons why you can maybe even support it. And I think the backlash was as hard as it was for reasons that had nothing to do with him asking for the fuck. I think it had everything to do with the Team USA reputation, maybe. And there's no getting around that. Once again, Merrick, we are proven right by recent history, which is really, You said they don't have any idea how much damage they did to the reputation of this team in the short term. I do believe, though, that what we talked about early, which was Jack Hughes has always grown up in an environment where you score a goal, you keep the puck. I do believe that this comes from, and I don't mean this as an insult.

It just comes because I'm ignorant about plenty of things, too. I just think it comes from a place of ignorance. And again, I don't believe that as an in, I'm not saying that as an insult. He just didn't know. Because he's just always growing up, whether it's a GTHL, whether it's the NHL. He's just known, I score a goal, I keep puck.

Like, that's the way that it's always been for him. And now all of a sudden there's just different beast part of the equation, which is the hockey hall of fame. Which on the one hand, this is the thing that I keep coming back to, too. If I ever did something like that, if I was ever part of that, I'd want it in the Hall of Fame. That lives on after you. Yes.

I would. Wouldn't you? I would, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would drive that puck to the Hockey Hall of Fame and present it to Phil Pritchard, maybe wearing white gloves to myself and say, here, this, this is what I've done. This might be, this might be the divide all time. I love the hockey hall of fame is my favorite Hall of Fame, like easy, like hands. down. It is so cool.

I have no frame of reference. I just love it. I still think the Baseball Hall of Fame plaque room is the most Vatican-esque thing you can find at a Hall of Fame. But the Hockey Hall of Fame has cooler stuff. But I do think there may be a little bit of a

North American divide we're seeing between you and I with regard to you would drive the puck to the Hall of Fame. I would want the puck for me and my family. And if I choose, hold on. Yeah. If I choose to let the Hall of Fame display it, I would like to get it back. If I choose Lake Placid to display it under a glass dome like the rose and beauty in beauty of the beast, I would like to get it back.

If I want to have it lie in state like a like a congressperson who's passed away, well, I would like to have it there and then I get it back. I want my puck because I accomplished the thing. but I would be more than happy to loan it to the Hall of Fame, but you serve at the pleasure of the athlete, you serve at the pleasure of the history maker, Hockey Hall of Fame. You do not have providence over my accomplishment. That's how I feel about it.

So this is a peek inside your boy's brain. So two things I've always wanted to do. One is I've always wanted to make a rule. and which is why I was thrilled. I still remember exactly where I was when I got. I was at the Don Beer Arena in Pickering, Ontario in the parking lot. And I got a call from Jana Hefford, the PWHL saying, explain this rule to me about short-handed goals.

And I laid the whole thing out for her. And lo and behold, that became the jail break rule in the PWHL. So I'm like, ooh. What? Have you talked about that you invented the jailbreak rule, the BWHL? Jaina's talked, Jaina did a piece in the National Post this year and she mentioned it. Yeah,

that's where it started. When do I ever see the National Post? Congratulations. That's a great rule. Yeah, I used to bang it all the time when I was doing the 32 pod with Elliott about rule changes and all that. And I was like, look, man,

like this, because the philosophy as I laid out, like the philosophy behind it is there's no such thing as a penalty kill. You just try to endure two minutes. If you really want to kill it, you score a shorthanded goal and you've killed it. The player comes out of the box. And so I laid the whole thing out. And like, like, the PWHL is a very, like, they're trying to do things the same but differently and put the accent on different things.

And it's kind of, I really admire that about that league. They're trying to do it their own way. So one tiny little small little spot in the history of, you know, the rules of the game. I've had a little bit of influence on it. The other thing is I've always wanted to have something that I did in the hub. Lucky Hall of Fame. That's why. Because as I've told you before and everybody watching and listening to this,

Hall of Fame was my babysitter when I was a kid. My parents would drop me off there. And then they go and they enjoy the C&E. And Jeffie would be there with a notebook and watching everything and taking notes and asking his dad to test him on it when he got home. Like that was my babysitter. So I've always wanted to be able to do something or get something that I did. Like I'm going to do anything to get the Hall of Fame that got into the Hall of Fame.

So I got the rule. of the Hall of Fame. That's why. If it's my puck, I score a goal, I'm taking to Phil Purcher myself. I, uh, I, I, too, had two objective as in life. The first, obviously, is to rob the Bellagio Mirage and the MGM Grand on Fight Night. Oh, is that you, you dashing, you dashing, good looking Greg Wichinsky. And it in a tux.

Yeah, that's well done. And the second thing is also to have one of my accomplishments in the Hockey Hall of Fame, but then eventually get it back because it belongs to me. That'd be my second goal in life. By the way, do we know for certain, hold on, do we know for certain that there is no mention of us in the Hockey Hall of Fame vis-a-vis John Scott? Because I don't know. I wondered about that.

Yeah. I'll text Phil. I'll ask him. I don't think so. But I don't know. If there's anything John Scott related there, I'm just going to write on the glass with a Sharpie. I did that. I did that.

I did that. Quite the legacy. I'm out here, Greg, quite the legacy. All right. Well, you enjoy the rest of your day, your newsmaker, you. And we'll see what you have up your sleeve next week. Godspeed. We'll chat again on Tuesday.

Oh, it's a good story. Again, I don't know if people will like it because I don't, now I understand how people feel about Jack Hughes. But it's a good story. He was a delight to speak to regarding his last month of existence. And there's some really good nuggets about what it's been like to be Jack Hughes in the last month. on the good side of things. You know, did anyone bother to ask Jim Hughes if he wanted it?

Well, Jack said that he's the keeper of all of their memorabilia. I know. I know. But given the nature of this and the presence of the hockey Hall of Fame, has anyone asked Jim Hughes if he even wants it? Or he thinks it belongs in the Hall of Fame? So you think that Jim Hughes in this case is Indiana Jones growling this belongs in the museum? I don't know.

I don't know. That is a question for Jim Hughes at C. I don't know if I knew some like plucky New York based writer who may have found himself in the middle of this controversy. I might want to do a follow up and extend the story a little bit more. Would you have even wanted the puck, Jim? Listen, obviously, he believes that it's where it belongs now because I'm sure devil's PR has reached out to him and let him know that the puck is where it belongs now. You know what, though? The one thing through all of this is we've learned about.

Hall of Fame process and how things we have to the Hall of Fame like through all of this this week I know everyone like picks aside like that's just the world we live in right now like everybody picks aside digs a bunker and then just starts lobbing grenades at the other side but like we've all learned through all of this like how these things happen if you've ever wondered how things get to the Hall of Fame I think now we have a better understanding and you know it's and it's there where it belongs for now Oh, Jesus. All right, go away.

We'll talk again next week. Bye. Greg Wischinski from ESPN and ESPN.com. Hey, Zach, where does that puck belong? It belongs in the Hall of Fame. It belongs in the Hall of Fame. I am firmly with you. That is the rightful place for it.

I would take much more pride in the puck being in the Hall of Fame. I don't know. There was nothing written about the stick. We never talked about that. But you want memorabilia. Don't you have the gloves, the stick? Do you not have a gold medal? to remember the moment from.

Isn't that good enough for you for what you got back from the moment? Here, we're giving you a gold medal, one of the most prestigious awards in all of sports that links you with a history that extends beyond the sport that you excel at. And in exchange, we just ask for this little round, this piece of rubber. That's all,

a tiny little thing. Yeah, I don't know. And like, the one thing to Greg said there towards the end, he said, it's the thing you've earned. You were in the gold medal. You got the gold medal.

That's the memory from it. And if you really want to see the puck more frequently, well, just go back to your childhood home where you grew up and played your minor hockey and spent your life with your brothers and your dad back in Toronto, Jeff, because that's where you were, that was home for you. And you know what?

It should be easy enough. Yeah, you can go to the Hockey Hall of Fame Resource Center and the Toronto Police Practics. facility, the Doc Siemens Resource Center, which is a great spot that I encourage everybody to check out great hockey researchers, living there every single day, pouring over old articles and videos

and cobbling together historical pieces of. I would love, like, one day, one day when I retire, just like when the kids are out of the house, just to, like, park myself at the Hockey Hall of Fame Resource Center every day and be the guy that goes through all the videotape. that all like box upon box upon box upon box and then works for the whole crew to try to catalog all of it

as my contribution to hockey as my give back to hockey that's provided me for the livelihood for my adult years go and document that. How about that? That would be a good return. I think that would be a good return.

I would love that. I would honestly, I would love that. That's like how exciting I am. I would absolutely love to do that. A couple of things here. I do want to play part of this Brian Crawford interview. I know time's getting real heavy here now.

But let's get the shine spot for a man with the great bulldogs hat on right now. It is the sheet. It is powered by Fanduel. Play your game. We remind you, as always, with Fanduel. It's the NHL season. And Fanduel 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, live

offerings, and more features to let you play your game. Miss Puck drop, no sweat. With a live same game parley, you can build your bets up until the final buzzer. download Fandual Sportsbook 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. Something I just thought about a second ago?

If you're Jordan Bennington, the next time Jack Hughes scores on you, do you fish the puck out and try to give it to him? Yes. would be the funniest thing possible. Remember the whole debate that we had last year about him taking the puck and keeping it? And he was trying to take it. And then we were talking about, could he have kept another puck in his pants? Oh, yes.

Took the goal puck, put it in, and then swapped the pucks. And then we got clarity on that one that he technically could. But if the puck fell out, it would have caused problems. Right. Yes, that would be the funniest thing he could have done. Take it up, put it in his glove or something. I never saw it. Or take it and he just picks it up and throws it to a fan in a stance.

Bennington skates over. Not your puck now. No one's puck. They'd be cool if you have the goalie that's just like because a lot of goaltenders superstitious about pucks. Like a lot of goalies won't like we'll refuse to fish a puck out of the net because they don't want to touch it because it's somehow now a cursed puck because it's gone past them.

It's like, no, no, no, a line he's going to take that. I don't want to touch that puck anymore. I always wondered if we could have like a heel goal tender who like grab pucks and just threw him into the crowd any goal that goes in on him just grab the puck and threw it to the crowd get that out of here if anybody would do it I could see it being

Oh Bennington Someone's just got to slip on the idea You just has to have that in his head All right We're calling St. Louis Blues then Calling St. Louis Blues to share this That's the text of thing

Attention comms team You'll be getting a phone call from me and Zach What do you got for us today Okay, well, we did see Cole Hudson debut last night, score. And I thought one of the coolest things from it was not just the goal, where McMichael is kind of flagging him down saying, you shoot it, you shoot it. But the camera cut to his parents in the crowd.

They've gotten to see two other boys here now, part of NHL clubs. Now watching Cole Hudson score that goal last night. I was thinking about how cool it must be for a family and for parents to have not just one of their sons, but three of their sons playing in the NHL, Jeff. And then it was really cool. The NHL put out on Instagram last night. I was scrolling through brother trios to play in the NHL.

So I'm not going to list all the names of the players themselves, but they put it out, you know, the trios of the Hughes brothers, the Hudson's, the Hunters, the Reinhards, the Stasneys. It goes on. And then you get to a point where there's the four brothers and the stalls. And I thought that's insane. Four brothers. and then I flip to the last page of it all, Jeff, and there it is. Brent, Brian, Daryl, Dwayne, Rich, and Ron.

And I couldn't help but think to myself, imagine having six sons playing in the NHL? You did not. You did not. I did. Victor Arvid's son, Drake Bathar son Marcus Johan's son

Simon Edvin son Elias Petter's son and Zach Ben son I am actually really effing proud of you for this one

I think that's fantastic six sons in the NHL $1 All right, $1,000, $783. And $23. If there ever was one that I wanted to see it, this is it. The craziest thing was...

Edmondson, Pedersen. The craziest thing, Jeff, was that there are so many sons playing tonight. I had to pick six. It wasn't like I maxed it out. There are like four or five more sons. Yes, ball playing tonight. He just had to go for the setter vibe. It has to go for the setter vibe.

I thought you're going to go with like the trio. My favorite trio were always the Richard's because of the nicknames, which got like progressively lesser. So there was Maurice Richard, whose nickname was Rocket. There was Henri Richard, whose nickname was Pocket Rocket. and do you know he had they had another brother Claude Richard who never ended up playing do you know what his nickname was?

No joke. There's the rocket. There's pocket rocket. And it's the best. No, what? Vest pocket rocket. That's

Yeah. Clude Richard. It's true, ma'am. It's true, ma'am. I'm not making this shit up. I swear you. I swear you, I'm going to make it up. Okay.

Let's get really quick before I wrap out the program today. By the way, that's a great one. That's like, I'm going to be laughing about that one as I watch games. Thank you. Brian Crawford, Commissioner of the Ontario Hockey League. So when we were in Brantford a couple of weeks ago, sat down with a number of people. Steve Thales would have been one.

We've put that one out, a number of Bulldogs players. Spencer Hyman, who's a general manager and co-owner of the team. We talked to him here on the sheet. Also had a chance to talk to the OHL Commissioner Brian Crawford. that interview in its entirety. And I want to say it's about 25 minutes or so. That's available right now here at our Daily Faceoff YouTube channel. I encourage you to give that a listen and a watch.

I thought one of the things that was particularly interesting here, we'll play the clip. This is Brian Crawford talking about the Memorial Cup, but not just the Memorial Cup, more so the future of this tournament and where it may be headed. Here's Brian Crawford. you know, first I think, you know, this past iteration of awarding the Memorial Cup kind of was the first time in this environment. It might not, it might be a much, much more settled, you know, within another cycle or two of awarding the Memorial Cup.

So who knows? So, you know, if there continues to be a lot of fluctuation and, and that kind of that arc on which a team is built is changing. You know, we potentially move to a process where we award the Memorial Cup earlier. give a team longer to prepare for hosting the event. And it might not be as heavily weighted on, you know, team performance because they might have a longer runway if we, you know, shift and award it even earlier. You know, that was one of the barriers to awarding it earlier was, you know, the team make-up and evaluating that. You know, I think generally there's a lot of opportunities with the Memorial Cup.

And this is something that we, you know, begun to talk about. You know, we have, you know, really four new leaders, including Dan McKenzie at the CHL office that, you know, do think about things differently. And we think about the opportunities for growth, you know, to refresh that event, whether it be format number of teams, you know, where it's being hosted, all those sorts of things. We want to grow that property. It's our biggest property. It certainly gets the most eyeballs.

It's the, you know, the pinnacle of junior hockey in the world. So, you know, we think about ways that we can better capitalize on that to help grow everything else that we do. So I think down the road, you know, we'll start to see, you know, changes to it to improve it. Okay, this isn't going to change. Zach, I don't think that that's any secret taken away from that conversation. The Memorial Cup format is going to change. How quickly that changes, don't know. You know, Crawford talked about, you know, different cycles and when things are going to change.

I've always wondered about, now, having said, I love the way that it is. Like, I love, like, every day you get a different game. But then I'm, like, a huge junior hockey fan. How about the idea of, and I think this one's been batted around, too, you make it like a Thursday to Sunday tournament like you make it real hot and you do two games a day. You do two games a day,

make it real hot, culminates in Sunday. Or you have, if you're going to have the week long or week and a half long, you have more teams that are involved and you still do two a days. Just to make it like, come in hot, here we go, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. We're getting this all go.

And then boom, there's the final. But I think we're starting to see the beginning of the end, I think safe to say, after having groused about this, going back years, about the format, I think we're starting to see the beginning of the,

beginning of the end of this format for the Memorial Cup. It may still go on a few more years, but I think this is very much now. There's a movement behind changing how this tournament is played. Did you take the same thing away as I did? Yeah, I did.

I think that that's for the best too. I think both the paths you just laid out there where it's either two a day and it's condensed like that or elongated and then you add in more teams is a good pathway as well. That's my preference. I'd rather add more teams into it and give a little bit more depth to what you see in the tournament. I don't know if there becomes a point where you end up having to play more games or whatever it would look like. There's people smarter than me who shake that all out. But I would like to see that. And, you know, even above that, and Brian talked about it in a lot of other things in that interview that we did. And again, go check it out. It is live on the Daily Face Off channel right now. But it was the willingness to embrace the idea of change, which I had a lot of appreciation for in anything that they were doing, whether it is the big thing in the Memorial Cup or he talked about the idea of expansion or new ownership or types of ownership, as you asked him about Zach Hyman and the Bulldogs where we were.

I thought that that was kind of cool to see this person in particular, but also an organization in one of which can have a lot of stubbornness here where people are like, we're stuck in our ways. We're going to do it one way and that's the way we're going to do it. But somebody to be like, no, we're willing to change. We're listening. We're talking to these people on this. We're exploring these opportunities.

It was refreshing to hear. A lot of talk about Cornwall as well in this one. And old school fans will remember Dale Howard Chuck and Doug Gilmore and Jim Kite, Vancouver Canucks fans will remember Nathan Lafayette's, for example. If you're a junior hockey fan, you're going to want to listen to Brian Crawford. Available now, I ask goofy questions and he gives great answers. That's the way it works here around these parts. I got a thought for you.

You tell me like this or don't like this. March Madness started right now. So you tell me what you think. They play the season, and then they rank across the CHL, the 32 best teams. Not 64. It's way, way, way, way too many. Even with like expansion and everything like that's too. That's nuts.

Let's go 32. There's 61 teams. Well, I know. That's why I threw in with expansion. That's why I was clarifying. You add more teams. So that's nuts. I apologize.

I'll step back. Okay, very good. Yeah. You go 32. Yeah. And then they showcase everything. And then the final four games, the final eight, like the final eight, that's the way that you would call it. They all go to a centralized location and play it there.

But it's one game eliminations after you've seeded everything. I love it. What are your thoughts? I love that. Is this after, I may ask you this, this is after regular season or after league playoffs? After league playoffs. Okay. All right.

This can't replace league playoffs. No, no, no, no, no. Okay. No, never, no, no. You need OHL, a WHL QMJL playoff still. Yeah. Yeah. I wonder to, if you do something, if you do something like that, do you need to shrink the schedule as well.

Do you need to play fewer regular season games? I don't think that's a bad idea. It's weird because I'm in, I'm going to get closer to college hockey. I'm in a spot right now where I think that, again, this is like three little bears. But I think that, like, college hockey doesn't play enough games. And I think that Canadian Junior plays too many games. That's where I'm at. Tom, always looking for you.

Either more college games, less CHL games. Would you have to shrink your schedule for this one? Anyway, discuss amongst yourselves. Interesting idea. And we're being really selfish with people's time. So why don't we put a bow on this one? Thanks to Greg Wischinsky, as always, we're stopping by.

Interesting week for your boy Wish with the Jack Hughes Puck Saga. And thank you very much to Chris Patrick for stopping by the program today. Washington Capitals general manager after the debut of Cole Hudson. And did he look fantastic last night? Caps fans talking to some people, the Capitals organization this morning, every time we touch the puck. Ken Capsin, there was a big win for Washington yesterday.

Tough one for the Ottawa Senators, almost a must-win game for them for their playoff push here. But Caps fans, you know, left the rank yesterday feeling pretty good about the future. having seen what they saw with number 44 on the roster. Thanks to the Washington Capitals for making Chris Patrick available. And thanks to you for watching. Thanks to you for listening. If you stuck this far to the program,

thank you so much for giving us your attention today. If you subscribe to our daily face off YouTube channel, thank you. If you haven't, please consider doing so. We are back tomorrow with Brian Burke and with Dave Peñota as well. So there's your Friday show. Join us tomorrow. One o'clock Eastern for the sheet.

Enjoy your name. Last night every day this month I can't get vicious day to day Kissing car