The Sheet with Jeff Marek - J.T. Miller Named Rangers Captain ft. Mollie Walker & Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: September 16, 2025

On today’s episode of The Sheet on the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel, host Jeff Marek is joined by co-host Greg Wyshynski for a jam-packed show. The guys start with the big news out of New York: J.T. Miller has been named the 29th captain in Rangers history, and the team announced a new jersey sponsorship deal with Mark Messier’s Game 7 brand. They also reflect on the recent passings of Ken Dryden and Bob Goodenow, revisit yesterday’s wide-ranging conversation with Kyle Dubas, and dive into Wyshynski’s latest ESPN piece that looks at quirky player equipment habits and the ever-debated NHL playoff format. Later, Mollie Walker stops by to go deeper on all things Rangers — from the captaincy announcement and new leadership group to the jersey sponsorship and what these moves signal for the future of the franchise.#NYR #NHL #TheSheet #DailyFaceoff #JTMiller #Rangers #Hockey #NHLPlayoffs #JeffMarek #GregWyshynski #MollieWalkerReach 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/@Flames_Nation🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oh, hello there again. Welcome to episode two, season two of the sheet. Thanks to everyone who was aboard yesterday for the maiden voyage. As I mentioned yesterday on the program as well, Greg Wischinsky doubles it up this year from one appearance to two. Why do we just bring him Greg aboard right away? we'll get him involved in all the formalities of the show and all the janitorial work

which is how we used to do it back on the old MBSW days Hello Wish, how are you? Microphone, Greg, there you go Usually there's a bunch of nonsense at the start of the show as you're talking about sponsors and a rundown that we never stick to and some other what you saw out of the window of your house before you came on the show like real old band stuff

and then I get time to tweet the link to the show But this time you just bought me right on. It was a very big surprise. You know, I read a couple of articles about improv in the summer. And one thing stood out for me that I'm going to try to sort of commit to because it's a really good device to sort of make things work. One of the lessons of improv is start at the middle and then go back to the beginning later on. Starting at the middle, so you grip people early with actually something to think about or talk about or sort of be intrigued by and then go back. and then do the start.

It's a much better way to do things. This is sort of turning it to broadcasting 101. I thought the number one rule of improv was never turn to the audience and say, give me an occupation because they'll all scream gynecologists at the same time. And it just ruins it every single time. Every improv show I've been to, someone says, I need an occupation and someone will yell gynecologists. But if you're an improv actor, though, if you're an improv comedian, you should be ready for that.

That should be, oh, bonus fries. It's going to be an easy day. I'm going to put my feet up because I know what's coming. I know people in our industry that I've taken improv classes, which I thought was so do I. I've never taken one. I've never actually like been part of an improv troupe or anything like that either. But I thought that was always because like our jobs are essentially like roll with the punches.

Like you've got to be prepared for something that gets thrown at you, either from somebody you're talking to or somebody that you're working with and how you adapt to that and then take whatever you're doing in a certain direction. I mean, it's the essential basis of improv. When I was working, this is a million years ago, when I was working at 640, even before the Leafs Lunch Days with Bill Waters, one of the big, we had a new program director,

program directors, as you all know, and radio come and go quickly. And this one program director that we had decided that everybody on air was going to do improv. And so we all had to sign up and sacrifice three or four of our weekends one month to go do improv classes Saturday all day long. And I was really good.

I was excellent at it and I really enjoyed it too I really really went at it I didn't I didn't just half ass it I really went all in on it I don't know if I I've always wondered about like I never I never acted when I was in high school I was always interested in it but never acted

I was ever in like any musicals or something and I often thought that the reason why I didn't do that is the reason I didn't do improv which is essentially I'm a ham and would be unable to acknowledge the audience in a way that would break character or, you know, throw my, my scenemates under the bus. But it would be an interesting challenge.

I wonder if I could pull it off. I don't think it's a bad thing for anyone to do. And I probably should have given it a better try. But, you know, me. I really went half ass at the whole thing. Anyhow. So that's the old man preamble before the program, before we get into things. So now we'll do the sort of janitorial work of reminding everybody that, as always,

this program is a presentation of our good friends at Fandter. Daily Outline is powered by Fan Duel. Make every moment more with North America's number one sportsbook. Fan Duel. And coming up on the program, our lead guest is already here. And that is, of course, Greg Wischinsky. He was more of a co-host than a guest. And it's going to be on the show twice a week moving forward.

So look forward to that with Wish. Molly Walker will stop by. Why? Because J.T. Miller and not Vincent Trocheck. Am I naive here? I kind of thought that Vinny Trochechek was going to be the next captain. So much I know. J.T. Miller named the captain of the New York Range.

So some more Rangers news there. We should probably, because I didn't yesterday get much into the passing of Bob Good now, former executive director of the NHL Players Association and a little bit more talk about Ken Dryden as well. And you got a great piece at ESPN.com about amongst other things, equipment quirks and player polling and playoff formats and how the players feel about certain things and where are there wins in the new CBA? And why don't we start there? Because I want to sort of, I want to park the J.T. Miller stuff.

I want to get a couple of nickel and dime thoughts out of you as well. But I want to park that mainly for Molly coming up a little bit later on. But the piece at ESPN.com right now, essentially player roundtable, player pool. What jumped out at you? And there's one very specific thing that I want to get to. I want to see if you lead us there. But what jumped for you?

Let's start with the CBA stuff. Okay. Which I thought was interesting in the sense that I've had a lot of agents tell me, what did we actually get out of this deal? Oh, I know. And the NHLPA has their take on it, which is that there were some wins. Like, for example, the NHL teams now shoulder the entire bill for the playoff bonus pool. And that playoff bonus pool has also, I think, maybe doubled under this new CBA. So basically if you're in the playoffs and you go on a lengthy run, you get more bonus money.

And that used to be a bill shared by the owners and the players. And now the owners have all of that responsibility. So these are the little wins that the PA will note have been accomplished in the CBA, absent any top line, we got rid of the salary cap kind of thing that they can claim. The players, when talking about the CBA, all uniformly seem to, indicate they like a couple of things. They like that there is a shorter preseason. They love this, in fact.

They don't like the preseason at all. And now there's two extra games. Now, I didn't have anybody really extoll the virtues of two extra games without additional compensation, without there being some sort of huge give back from the NHL. But they like the fact that there are more games that mean something than games that mean nothing. So that's one thing.

And, you know, the other thing is the term of the deal. I think one of the big selling points for Marty Walsh and the NHLPA that the players certainly appreciate is the fact that conditions change pretty rapidly in this sport and in the sports landscape when it comes to rights, when it comes to expansion, when it comes to revenues, everything else. And so they're not locked into a, you know, decade-long deal with the NHL if things change, if they want to get more or, you know, the NHL tries to take back,

but who knows, like they're not locked into a long-term deal. So the length of the deal, bluntly, though, are the two things that they talk about a lot. Bluntly low, like these teeth have been filed down on the union.

We're going to talk a little bit in here about Bob Good now, but the teeth have been filed down from the NHL players association so they can talk all they want about major concessions. And next time around, I don't buy it. I don't see it. Not like, no,

Like, honestly, like this is everything that I look at for all the, the quote unquote player wins, to me, it's all under the umbrella of the players were also told hands off expansion money, i.e. maybe as much as $4 billion. And we'll give you a couple of cookies. But this is a no-fly-in. It's maintained what we have and get a few little victories here and there. But ultimately the system and the previous CBA for the most part remains in place. The other thing, you know, that these guys have talked about are the LTIR rules. That's the other thing, too. I found it really interesting, Merrick, that when before the CBA was signed sealed and delivered

and they changed the LTIR rules and they instituted a playoff salary cap, I had a hard time finding players that would go on the record to be like, this is, this is effing, terrible. Like, these guys are cheating. It's all BS. You know, a guy is resurrected like Christ in the first game of the playoffs after missing several months of injury. You know why? Why? Because their team might be the next one to do it.

And they don't want to be on record saying this is so BS. Or it, you know, it comes off as winding. It comes off as a pity party, boo-hoo. Now we have to play Vegas. And they got all their guys back or whatever. You know, like, like, whatever the reason was you didn't hear a lot of players talking about it. Now that the CBA has been, you know, sealed and they've moved up the rules to this season, everybody's talking about it.

Like, I had guys go on the record with me at the Player Media Tour about it. Nazan Codry's talked about it with me about how they felt it was cheating. They felt it did allow teams to have a competitive advantage and that they relieved that the league did something about it. So it's interesting how, like, now they're free to speak about it since it's been identified as a problem by the NHL and the PA. And a lot of them are really happy that it's no longer going to be a mechanism through which teams can hide salaries and then bring guys back in the playoffs. One of the things that that was interesting in your piece was a number of players focused on the dress code or lack of a dress code. Like first they got out, oh, I love that I can wear whatever I want to the rank. This is awesome.

You know, I had, and I don't think that this is the main motivation for this. I think the main motivation for this To be honest with you is The NHL has sent to like Let's give them a Pyrick victory here Like this is one of the wins For the players through all of this Yeah, we're hands off the $4 billion in expansion money

But you see what I'm wearing to the rank like dude But the one the one I've spoken to attorneys about this And one brought up a really interesting point with you I'm not sure if I mentioned this to you before There is a lot of There's a lot of issue And this goes state to state

So it's not uniform. About uniforms. And that is, what is your employer's liability if they mandate a dress code, i.e., are they responsible or liable for what happens to you if they institute a dress code? Because if so, then the minute you leave your tastefully decorated condominium or your house out in the suburbs, if you're mandated to wear a certain, suit or a uniform, then the team is liable. If that's off, then you're your own player on your way to the rink. Essentially, what it gets to, at what point, because here's my question, at what point is the NHL partially liable for what happens to you?

Is it only when you enter the rink? Is it when you park your car? Is it when you leave your front door? At what point are you a New York ranger, a Philadelphia flyer, a Los Angeles King, a Chicago Blackhawk. That's what I find interesting about this debate. When are you an employee at what point? Are you talking about, like, when you say something happens, are you saying that a team

mandates someone wear a nice suit and then like someone goes and sells them a scammy timeshare on the way because they assume they have money? Are you talking about a mugging? Like, are you talking about actual things because of the thing they're mandated to wear? Or just when does your, when do you punch the clock? Right. And there are, as one attorney told me, there are, and there have been, they've had this situation mainly with police officers, firefighters, et cetera, and what they wear when they leave home, which is very specific because you're not actually on duty at that point. If you're a police officer, although if you're wearing the uniform, you can make the argument that you are, and then the police force is liable. Again, I don't think this is the main motivation. But what it gets to with me, and I don't know why I've taken this so far, but I find it fascinating, it gets to the idea of at what point are you an employee? And I wonder if this was part of the motivation,

like, we don't even want to have this argument. I'm sure that maybe there was a lawyer at the NHL that said, you know what, don't make them wear suits. It may actually work out to our benefit here. I just wonder if that was part of the motivation for giving the players this Pyrrhic victory. Well, based on the Disney Corporation's reaction to some of my tweets, I would say that you're always an employee.

even when you're sleeping you're in a void considering our climate right now yes I think who knows if that's part of it but I will say that like when you look around the other leagues certainly there is a relaxed dress code in many of these other leagues

I think that when the NHL is putting a premium on trying to create ways to connect their players with younger generations having them dress like they're you know they're going to a shareholder's meeting you know is not necessarily the way go. I don't think you have to wear a suit to a shirt roll. I should have still like a board meeting. There you go. Shareholders can be anybody. I could be a shareholder in my underwear.

Point being is that I think that this is a way to bring out more personality in the players. Well, where I'm curious on this is, and I talked to a few of the players in the media tour about this. Have you ever had to buy a tuxedo, Merrick? I've only rented a tuxedo. I've never owned one. Okay. I've, I own one. You own a tux? I do. Who aren't? You are you? John Wick, who are you? Apparently the monopoly, man. Where's my monocle? But once you buy a tux. Who owns a tux? I don't know any of my friends who own a tux. More of a common. I mean, probably. But like, you own a tux? I do. But what happens when you own a tux is that then you start to try to identify moments in your life where you can then wear the tux. Because now you're a tux guy.

On ironically. Oh, there's a. Yeah. Oh, we're going to a fancy dinner. May I. May I. wear the tucks? Well, no, that you'll be completely overdressed and look like a fool. But you're trying to find reasons to wear the tux because you've laid out the money for the tucks. Now, I say this because these guys have more money than you and I and everybody watching combined, for the most part.

They have spent a good amount of dough or have acquired through sponsorships and other means a pretty banged wardrobe of suits that they have worn for years, right? And continue to acquire. So my question is, like, Even though they are now allowed to, I believe the term was dress in the fashion of the times or something is what the CBA says.

Like how many of them are just still going to wear the suits because they have the suits. They invested in the suit. That's what Robert Thomas said in your piece. And that's the one thing that stood out. We've been doing this since we were kids. A lot of us are probably just going to continue to wear suits. I remember who was it? One of the guys who worked in communications or maybe it was team services for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

So this is in the Matt Sundin era. I remember he was really fucked. I remember who it was. He was really happy because at the end of the year, Alex McGilney gave him all of his suits. And because they were a similar size because Alex didn't want to lug all these suits back to Russia. So instead of tipping me,

gave him like $60,000 worth of suits. Whatever I hear about like players tipping or suits, I always am trying to remember who that was. I realize McGillney is like, I'm not going to tip you because the guys, team services always get tipped by players. You just gave him like $70,000 worth of suits. I would have taken that. I realize you did this because you don't know any better because it's so new. But sort of that's Hockey Hall of Famer, Alex McGilney, who you're talking about right there.

Hell. Yeah, it is. Hockey Hall of Famer who surrendered suits instead of a tip and refused to fly back to North America from Russia to collect the Lady Bing trophy. No, thanks. I'm not coming back from the one. I mean, that is, that's Hall of Fame credential if ever heard it. So those are the things that they talked about in the CBA. Now, the other thing we asked, and it got a little bit of buzz because of what

Kail McCar said is we asked about the playoff format. And Kail McCar said most of the guys are in favor of going back to one versus one through eight or one versus eight format. And, and I've come to understand that myself and talking to the boys over the years about the playoff format. I think part of it is it's what they grew up with or entered the league in. A guy like Victor Hadman, for example, came into the league when it was one versus eight, and that's kind of what he knew. A lot of the younger players grew up with one versus eight.

It's what they knew. But the other part of it that you're starting to hear more and more of is the idea that you are starting to see the same teams playing each other in the same rounds every year. I think it was McCarr who bought up L.A. and Edmonton as far as like the wild card kind of cementing these matches. matchups over and over again. So, again, it's an interesting argument. The players like the one through eight better, I think, by far, just because it maybe, like, you know, gives you some fresh matchups. And maybe, in the words of some of the players, protects the higher seeds.

If you're locked into a really good division every single season, cough, Toronto, then you might not be able to get out of that division. Where the league will step up and say, hold your horses, though, is that the wildcard format does give you compelling first round matchups. And where I will agree with the league, and I say this as somebody who's worked for the rights, a right holder now for several years, you know, the peak interest of the Stanley Cup playoffs frequently is in the first round. And that's not just because hockey fans are traditionally ones that fall off as the weather

gets warmer and the pools open, but because you have the most teams and you have the most games. And if you have interesting rivalry matchups in the first round, you may be able to. to maximize that. And so I kind of see both sides, but I'm a one through eight guy myself. Well, let's be honest, Merrick. I'm going to expand the playoffs beyond the scope of 16 teams guy. But if we had to keep the 16 teams, I'd like to go back to one through eight as well.

You know my theory on why this isn't changing. Please. My theory on why this isn't changing is I think that Gary Batman, and let's just all assume that Bill Daly is going to be the next commissioner of the NHL, I think Gary Batman, who's closer to the end than the beginning. We all know that. I think Gary Bettman

is setting up Bill Daly for some easy wins when he takes over. I really, really do believe that. That there's a number of things that A, the players want and the fans want, and these are easy, simple wins

for the next commissioner when he comes in. We all assume that it's built here. That's the theory that I'm working on here. I did find it interesting because I asked the number of the players about expanding the playoff field because it's, you know, kind of my pet project.

And not a lot of support there. The guys kind of feel like if, you know, you are right now, given the number of teams, you should be one of the top 16 teams in this league to be able to get into the playoffs or the top eight in each conference. And expanding it would water it down. Again, I didn't necessarily present the play-in-game system that I favor or get into the weeds on it. I have very limited time with these guys. But for the most part, nobody really stepped up and said,

yeah, I'd love to see the 10th seed get in. Now, a few of them did say that'll change if we end up adding more and more teams. But right now, since it's, quote, half the league, I think they're fine keeping the field the way it is. You know what? I'm glad you got us to the adding more teams thing because that was part of like that sort of always in the background in the CBA negotiations. Like we're all looking at Atlanta, obviously, Houston.

This summer really spelled one thing out for me Really, really obviously That if I'm the NHL I'm really not like I'm not scared But I'm very sensitive about expansion right now Because how many teams were looking for a second line center How many teams were looking for a goaltender? Like once upon time it was like

Oh yeah, I need this guy there's plenty of these players around. The reason everyone wants a second line center is there's not a whole lot of them. The reason everybody wants a goaltender is there's not a whole lot of them. If I'm the NHL, I'm really concerned right now about over-expanding because for the first time and a long time, Greg, the players aren't there. There's not enough players for more than maybe one more expansion team. Like, I'm of the belief that after this next amount of expansion, it's quiet for a long time.

And I even say, like, right now, I don't know what the players are there. And this summer, like, hit me in the face really obviously. How many teams looking for forwards? How many teams looking for another defenseman? And you can't find them anywhere. Mac Gris looks like, what? What? What are you talking about right over here?

What are you talking about? There's two answers to that. to that to that theory yeah first is that the league believes that there are enough players bill daily told us where are they hiding they keeping him in a closet somewhere where are they he says that he's confident that there is a a deep enough pool of players and a strong enough pipeline of players where they could further expand and not you know run out of guys um but my he didn't he didn't say this but i'll say this i don't think they give a shit what has happened since in Seattle entered the league.

Offense value, I know. Chances Vire has gone through. Offense spiked to the highest levels that we've had since the early 90s. Power plays spiked to the highest levels of efficiency that we've had since the late 80s. And the games are thrilling.

Not only because of the high scores, but because teams are no longer out of games if they are trailing, getting into the third period. So to further water down the talent pool by adding four more teams over, say, the next decade would be then to make there be more goals. And as an American, let me tell you something.

We like goals. We like the little spitty light. We don't like one nothing games as a rule. We're dumb. We're a bunch of dumb dummies. And since if there's more scoring, then it'll be like basketball and more of us will watch hockey. I suppose so.

I don't know. I'm just really, I know I get in a lot of trouble in this country. would I remind people that, you know, players like Bob Yor were the best when the league was at its weakest. And so can you really call them the best? Like that late 60s, early 70s era of the NHL where the league doubled in 67 and then teams came in 70 and 72 and 74. And there was a whole separate league called the WHA that was added into the mix all together. And we went, wow, look at all those goals, Phyllispozito scoring.

He must be the best of all time. I know, that's not true. Bobby, or look at all those records. And no, that's not necessarily. Do you respect to Wayne Gretzky, but, you know, if the league isn't just a little shit, he's not scored like 190 points. Like, this is kind of how it is. I'm just saying. So you're saying is Ovetchen should hang around a little bit longer for some cheapy expansion goals.

Go beat up on another Atlanta organization. Absolutely. And again, like, that's what we've always talked. I mean, that's why we always talked about with that record. It's like he did it against really good competition. Southeast Division. A deep talent table? So that's, the league's line is that there are enough players to sustain other teams.

And my line is that I don't think they care because if you water down the talent, then you get more offense and you get more unpredictability. And you might get more people betting on a sport that has more wage for events. Yeah. Like gold. Yeah. And your audio is kind of cracking. What did you say? We missed that one.

You're audio cracked. Well, I, I probably have more things. Hang on, you there? I'm here. Okay, there we got. That's where we got you back. We're just having, we had a bunch of audio problems yesterday. Yeah, I know.

I noticed that with Zach yesterday. Yeah, Zach on it. Yeah, Zach on at the end of the show. And then all of a sudden, it became a scrambled single from a porno channel from my youth. Yeah. Oh, look at that up in the corner. Is that what I think it is? Um, you know, one of the things that, um, one of the things that I was interested in.

One more thing that I want to move on and talk about a couple of things. But I found, um, Travis Sandheim's, uh, description, uh, of his, you know what I'm getting out. I'm trying, I'm trying desperately here to find, to find it. Um, I can, I remember it. I could tell you. So, so Travis Sanheim has a equipment quirk. We asked a bunch of players.

That's it. New stick every game. New stick every game. You stick every game. And, and I stopped him and I said, what if, if, you score a goal like i think that most players like to keep the stage they score a goal if it has a bunch of goals and it's and he said uh new stick he said i got it here i get a new stick before every game that's just something that i've done i don't trust it i go cross-check a guy

and it'll snap in half i don't want to be standing in the d zone with a broken stick Travis Sannheim. I like that his go-to is, well, I need a new stick because, like, I'm cross-checking dudes out there. And I don't want this to crack in half. Yeah, I didn't include this in that little bit, that paragraph, but I said to Travis, I'm like, so here's to me that, you know, you get done with the game, the case of all the cross-checkings. And then you have to dispose and get a new stick. Hey, let's get Greg to reconnect.

We're having more issues here with our connection once again. The point that I wanted to make with Wish, oh, nice screen freeze there too on Greg. We've got to get this sorted out. This is so bad. One of the points that I've always wanted to make about sticks. I think you may have heard me say this before. I remember who was telling me this one?

I think Bernie Friederco. about how it would be different if players had to pay for their own sticks. Now, no one's suggesting that players need to pay for their own equipment in the NHL. But I always sort of look sort of sideways. Sometimes when I see players handing out sticks. No, it's a great thing. I love it when kids get sticks. We all do, right?

What's better than a kid like gets the stick and runs back to their parents or whoever they're with? They have a big smile on their face. And that's awesome. And everyone says the same thing. Look how generous that player is. Well, I got news for you. That player is not paying for that stick. That's more, look how generous that organization is.

And look how generous that player is being on behalf of the organization. And I've always wondered if players had to, here's another one. This might be a good sort of follow up, follow up to anything. and these questions about players using various sticks, if the players actually had to pay for their sticks, which sticks would they use? And how many would they use? And would Travis Sandheim use a new stick every single game?

Now, the answer just might be yes. And you just sort of sink it as a cost of doing business. But I really do wonder how many sticks would be given out if players had to actually pay for the, the sticks that they are giving out. As we stand by for Greg to rejoin us here, and once again, we're having various tech problems here that we're going to need to sort out here sooner than later and apologize for the issues that we're going through right now.

One of the other things that I wanted to get into yesterday and really didn't get a chance to and hoping to do it here with Greg coming up in a couple of minutes here. And that is, I spoke a little bit about Ken Dryden yesterday, spoke a little bit about Ed Jockman, the other passing that happened over the weekend that really does, that really does bear some commentary because he was so significant, a person in hockey for a long time and continues to be. And that is the former executive director of the NHL Players Association, Bob Goodenow.

Greg, just as we get you back on here, the passing of Bob Goodnow was sudden. You know, I talked to some people the weekend who had, you know, just been texting them, like a couple of days before. This caught everybody by surprise. You know, talking around with various people, and I know I sort of made the comment earlier

about the NHL Players Association now that has their fangs all sanded down, when Bob Good now ran the NHL, first of all, and we always think of the pendulum effect, when Bob Gooden ran the PA, rather, this is coming off the heels of Alan Eagelson and his criminal behavior

towards hockey players for which he was rightly penalized. But that became a nasty players association. And I shouldn't say nasty. That was one that really stood up and had their back straightened about their rights.

When I say the name Bob Good now, what comes to your mind right away? What comes to mind is that he, for about a decade, led a resurgence in the Players Association that bought about that exponentially increased players. So he let the salary disclosure so all the players how much the other one was making. Yeah. And it's not easy to do that. You have to get a bit of embarrassment. You have to get through levels of profit, to get through a lot of things for that happened.

And once it did happen, then salary started to increase. I think about how the NHL was, in fact, the last pro sports league to not have a salary cap or a luxury tax until it did. And Good Now and the players fought that through the early part of Betman's tenure. Ultimately, the legacy of Bob Good now is this, I think, Jeff, which is that, he was incredible at bringing the players together and it was incredible at increasing the community and keeping the members again which tells us and then what happened was Gary Betman was able to build a stronger coalition amongst the owners that didn't fracture when the pressure was completely turned up during the 05 lockout and the

communication and the relationship building that Good now had done for about 12, 13 years failed at the most critical time. And you had players that felt like the union wasn't giving them all the information they needed. You had players like Sean Avery saying at the time that Good now had brainwashed the players, which is something you didn't hear during the previous labor fights and and I think that you just saw the kingdom crumble and you know as as you know you've probably noted the minute the PA acquiesced and offered a salary cap was over the season was canceled was the moment the gig was up and was the moment the players coalition fell apart yes by the way and it seems like it was the only other other books have sort of dabbled into it

and sort of winked at it, but the only one that really has taken a big chew or a big look at what happened with the rise of players' salaries leading into the 0405 lockout was Bruce Tobigan with his money player's book, which for my money is like mandatory reading for all hockey fans that are interested in these types of issues. The thing about Bob Good now is, and I'll always remember this, one, the way he did free agency, like the way him and Ian Pulver, who's now owns Will Sports, him and Pauliver were sort of at the hip with how free agency was going to

go and, you know, come summer free agency. This player was going to sign first for this amount, and then this player was going to sign second. It was a thing of beauty that they had put together and, as you mentioned, player salaries rose significantly and their power rose significantly.

But the other one, like, I can remember, like Bob Goodnow going, you know, player to player, team to team, and saying, before the 04 lockout, if you guys don't want a salary cap. And I'm on, and our players were overwhelmingly saying, we don't want a salary cap. Bob said, prepare to be out for two years. And they all said, all right, we're on the same page. We don't want it. We're ready for it. We can, we can tuck it away. But then the minute they started missing paychecks, it all started to crumble. The players didn't realize two things.

One, they didn't realize how much money they'd lose and how much that stung. And then the other thing they didn't realize, and I think it was Avery who said this too in the same Los Angeles Times interview, they didn't realize how much money the owners actually had and how they will be able to stay out and not be as financially impacted by it as the players were. And good now, to his credit, tried to bring about that change. He tried to bring through, you know, let's bring cost certainty, as Betman called it, through luxury tax. Um, you know, I, listen, I'm a player's guy. I think the league is better off with the luxury tax. I think some the things he was fighting for were really important, but there's no question that the league was

in a not a dire necessarily, but in a pretty bad financial way to the point where there needed to be some curtailing of spending. I just happen to think that the player's suggestion on how to do it was better than the league's suggestion on how to do it. But as history is shown, Merrick, and you could agree or disagree, I mean, there's no question that the salary cap maybe had a beneficial impact on the health of franchises, would you say at this point? Are you kidding? The moment the salary cap got they remember the both sides signed off on a salary cap again like the number

one job for Gary Bettman has always been franchise value franchise value skyrocketed and continues to skyrocket and that's like there's the game of hockey and then there's the game of hockey and that's the big game of hockey franchise value yeah and I don't and you might have been able

to get there anyway again you may be like through a luxury tax but you know the franchise values grew the kinds of owners that were buying into the league and investing in not only arenas, but the areas around arenas changed? I mean, like, there's undeniable benefits that have come about under the cap. I just don't think it's a binary choice because I'm not of the belief that if we had a different system, some of those things wouldn't have happened as well. But you can't

deny that they happened under the cap that the NHL established. Do you find it as a odd as I do that the NHL at the NHL players association the employees aren't unionized it is it trips you up because you try to call it a union and it's not a union it's not um I don't know man like you like you mentioned it's it's a time in NHL labor where everyone's doing pretty well they don't want to wreck the system they're getting incremental wins they've got their international games you know the the the owners are footing some more of the bills and everyone's doing pretty good with the rights deals and with expansion um when things turn we'll we'll see where we are want to get to molly here really quickly final question

for me the answer is yes i'm curious what it is for you should bob good now be in the hall of fame of course he should be you know that the whole that's a controversial take for a lot of people that's a really controversial take for a lot of people yeah because they're big babies that don't want the guy on the other side of the negotiating table to be in the hockey hall of fame look the category is builders this guy helped build where we are right now insofar as as as player salaries and so far as a lot of the things that were broken about the PA under previous leaders to getting to where they are now and he's got a hell of a legacy he's part of the story of hockey this year I think about the hockey hall of fame

like it's you know for a lot of these things it's kind of just like are you part of the story of hockey. That was always my argument with McGilney. Like you can't tell the story of hockey without McGilney. Oh, by the way, he was also an amazing player. It's great player. You can't tell the story of the last 40 years of the NHL without Bob Good now. He pulled the players association out of the wreckage that was Alan Eagleson. Okay, let's get to the big hockey story of the day. And that is the New York Rangers have a new captain. It is J.T. Miller. We have deliberately stayed away from the story because no one can talk about it with the authority that Molly Walker from

the New York Post can. Let's bring Molly on to the program right now. on the sheet. Molly, first of all, thanks so much for joining us today. I naively, I'm going to throw in it, naively thought that this was going to be an announcement about Vincent Trochec. I thought all summer, okay, it's going to go Trubba to Trochec.

That's the way it's going to be. You're closer to it. Tell me why I'm wrong. I don't think you were naive at all. I think that it definitely came down to the two of them. And as we all saw when Jacob Truba departed the Rangers, Vincent Trocheck really stood up

and filled in that leadership role. I remember him calling all the writers together when he was debunking a story that was coming out of Toronto about all the Rangers talking about Chris Jury in one of their players-only meetings. Like he took the initiative to call us together and say, let me set the record straight, yada, yada, yada. So he really stepped up last season

and tried to fail that role. But I think that with J.T. Miller, I mean, look, the Rangers have wanted to get J. to Miller back since 2020. And I think that they look at him as someone who they want the entire team to emulate, both on and off the ice, especially with the way, you know, he manages his emotions. But I feel like it was the right decision because I feel like a no knock against Vincent Trochek at all.

He's an alternate. He, you know, he got elevated to them. But J.T. Miller has a different kind of presence to him. him. And he really walked into that locker room and they needed a little bit of that so desperately last season. So I think it was only a natural progression that he takes over this role. And the fact that they announced it now was pivotal, I think. I think that one of Chris Jury's biggest mistakes last season was letting Jacob Truba walk into the Rangers locker room. And I feel like, you know, Jacob didn't really know where he stood and all that kind of stuff. Nobody has to,

about their role coming into the near great season. And there's no question. Every does ask at hand and there's no confusion and it's set in stone, ready to go, no deliberation, down to business. You know, so I think it was really important for them to do that. Wish, are you a little surprised? Hi, Molly, by the way. Are you a little surprised that he gets the captaincy after everything that went down in Vancouver

where there's like locker room schisms and the accusations of bullying and he's always seen as this difficult guy like he didn't let leave Vancouver looking to win the mark messier leadership award no definitely not look I think that he I could tell just being around him when he got to New York it was like so much was alleviated off of him I didn't see that guy that a lot of people reported on in Vancouver. I saw a completely different guy who was so happy to be there, so comfortable, so light, which is, it's rare to call a guy like J.C. Miller light, but he was. No, it's true. So I think that what happened in Vancouver was a separate situation, and it clearly festered for quite some time and really reared its ugly head last season so publicly. And I came imagine what it was like for that locker room and for those two players to be dealing with that kind of scrutiny on a day-to-day basis and just being so publicly out there. But I feel like he's in a completely different situation. It's a completely different team dynamic. And I think

he's coming back to a place that he's familiar with as well. So I think he is a little different here in New York. So I wouldn't, I wouldn't necessarily say it's fair to compare it directly because You know, one of the, one of the, I'm wondering how much of the consideration or maybe concern this is. And I'm not saying that this is necessarily always the wrong thing to do. Sometimes we've seen, and I think about, you know, Winnipeg with, with, with, with, with Wheeler, who's now, of course, with the New York Rangers. Like, that room was run really hot. And some guys reacted well to it. And then other guys were called Patrick Line.

And they found their way, they found their way elsewhere. is there a risk considering how sensitive a season this is for New York Rangers about maybe running the room too hot? Like, let's make no mistake about it. J.T. Miller is an intense individual. We've all seen, you know, J.T. Miller before. Is that a concern? Is it a risk? How do you feel about the idea of maybe running a room too hot? I think there's always a risk, especially with a guy who has the reputation like J.T. Miller. But I also think to risk going into this season without a solidified leadership core. I feel like there's so much talk about how it hasn't been a team to win the Stanley Cup without a captain since God knows how long. You know, it's been a really, really long time.

So I think that that was something that was on their mind. And it was something that they just wanted to be clear with from the beginning and allow him to make his impact and make his mark on the Rangers. in this role from the first day of training camp and set the tone was also the verbiage that was used to me, you know, like, if anything, yeah, that locker room ran a little hot, but hot isn't it was, it was something completely different. It, the disconnect, the, the, the eggshell feeling, the just uncomfortable and uneasiness of it all. It wasn't hot. Like, it wasn't like everybody was pointing fingers at each other. It really wasn't that. that it was what the hell is going on?

You know, what kind of deal? So I think that you would hope that the Rangers are coming into this season, feeling embarrassed about what happened last season. I wanted to ask you about Adam Fox. Took a lot of shit in Four Nations, especially from inside of Team USA, about the goal that was given up to Connor McDavid. I thought a pretty good year last year.

A lot of people did not find it to be as a, They found it very well-ing, I think, would be the term. What are your thoughts on Adam Fox at this point? I think that last season was pretty unique. And I feel like the whole team took a dip, and that included Adam Fox. And, you know, like you said, being someone who's watched him, you know, from his Norris winning season, it was underwhelming for Adam Fox. By Adam Fox level standards is kind of how I would say it. And I think that, you know, again, I hate to use the word embarrassing.

but I feel like he was embarrassed by Four Nations and how much talk there was about it. So my expectations for him is that, you know, we should see a fired up box this season looking to reestablish himself as one of the top defensemen in this league because he is. And he knows he is. And I'm sure that making Team USA and impressing Mike Sullivan behind his bench is part of his plan as well. Makes sense. Last one, Molly. I think that Vladislav Gavakov has been for a number of years here,

one of the more underrated defensemen in the NHL. Nobody is underrated or overrated who plays on the New York Rangers because everybody watches and everybody knows, and there are no secrets here. A game will be exposed positive or negative. Expectations from the Rangers on Gavrachov. I'm excited. I'm excited to see Gavikov in action.

I'm excited to see he's probably going to start alongside Adam Fox, excited to see what they could do as a pairing. I think it'll be good. I think the expectations that they wanted a guy that could really play off of Adam Fox. And Lingren was so unique because they had spent so many years together. You know, they were teammates, you know, going all the way back to the U.S. National Development Team Program.

So I feel like they wanted to make sure that they were bringing somebody in who they felt like could compliment Adam Fox. and that is how we landed on Gavikov. So I think it'll be good and, you know, it'll be interesting to see Adam Fox with somebody else for a pretty long period of time. Never a dull moment. Well, go ahead.

I won one for fun. Can't go yet. Listen. Okay. Mika Zabana Jed. Sensitive soul. He's looking around the locker room. He's like, we're all my friends.

They all left. Where's Mika? Like, Mika's like, where's Kreider? They moved him to the wing last year, and that seemed to really have. help him out in the second half of the season. I've seen projections saying he'll probably start there, maybe alongside J.T. Miller. Do you think that Sabana Jed is still long for this team, or do you think they've, you know, with all of the drama of last year and all the, you know,

the sort of Damocles hanging over Chris Kreider's head and all this other stuff? Like, do you think that he'll be able to kind of do what he did in the second half of the season throughout the entirety of this season? I think he would ideally want to. I feel like, I feel like everybody in that room knows what went wrong, you know, knows how things really spiraled out of control and it was about kind of harbting on all the noise and what was going on outside of the locker room and things that they'd roll over. So, well, Mika Zavadad got a visit from Mike Sullivan in the offseason. So I think that the Rangers are really making an effort with him to kind of smooth over that

relationship. And I think Mika is so settled in New York and, you know, his family and they love it here. So I think that he would want it to work as well, obviously. So I think that it'll be interesting to see how this season goes. And he talked a lot at the end of last season about like needing to establish better communication with management and like how they handle things. So he was very open about that. So I'm sure part of it for him will be to see how they handle things moving forward to see how the relationship progresses from here. But I, Sullivan going to see Mika Zanajat in Sweden, I feel like, was a really big outreach. And I felt like it was obviously intentional and, you know, something that they set out to do. So I think he's such an

important guy on the team as well. You know, with the center, you know, longer team when he's but you know did so well next to j t miller he was playing the wing in sweden too so that does seem like that's where he's going to start but you know who knows maybe you know they pick someone up the deadline he becomes you know another center and suddenly they're stacked down the middle again so we'll see we'll see uh we just did a whole ranger interview and didn't mention will coolie once shame on me uh molly we'll do that next time uh thanks so much for for stopping by sharing your expertise. J.T. Miller,

now the captain of the New York Rangers. Thanks, Molly. We'll check in regular. Thanks so much, guys. I do like Will Cooley a lot, by the way. So you can always tell when a team was on the way for a player. He did a modeling shoot last year.

Yeah. company. He was their representative at the NHL Player Media Tour in Las Vegas last week. He's going to be great, man. Like, he's projected to be the top line winger along with Miller and Zabanajad. It's pretty obvious he's going to be the net front replacement for Chris Kreider on their power play. Like, if you're someone dabbling in fantasy hockey and you want someone that's got some upside, who will also get you all them little dirty stats.

that are so good for your team, like blocks and hits. Will Cooley is probably the way to go. He's the guy. All right, a couple of things here to get everybody cut up with here. First of all, this program is a presentation of and brought to you by Simply Spiked. The show brought to you by Simply Spiked. Gathering with friends is about creating memories, and you want those memories to last forever,

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with any occasion, hang out with friends, backyard bonfires, and more. Simply Spike launched in Canada in 2023 and has been bringing the juiciness since. Pick up Simply Spiked at your local liquor store for your next hangouts. Must be legal drinking age. Please celebrate responsibly. I want you to cherry pick something really quickly because you were with us yesterday in the chat for the Kyle Dubus interview. What stood out for you? I think I know what you're going to say here.

But shoot. Well, I mean, first of all, that you asked a question about the two phones, which was fantastic. Like, I ran and transcribed the answer as quickly as I could because I love when... This is why you and I get along swells because, like, both of our minds go to the weird places of why hasn't anyone ever asked him about this? Look, I... The Sid stuff is interesting in the sense that it's pretty clear. And Josh Yoey at The Athletic wrote something today that kind of speaks this to. It's a narrative coming out that there is a full-around Sid who's a statement that think for the

the better bit of the player and rank for the league he should no one and then you have city who wants to stay and which side will win out in the end and uh you know it's his comments about that were interesting um what did you take away from it i think right now and i i know that duba said in the interview he's not trying to speed up development for any of these players but i really think that they want to get all the uh the the covenants and the Magorities into this lineup as fast as they can so they can get the Sid-Rub. Like part of it here is, you know,

pass the torch to those that are coming up next and part of remodeling this franchise and preparing it for what's next is having Crosby be part of that development package. The question is, and this goes to Crosby, what's going to win out? Loyalty or competitiveness. We all saw Crosby at Four Nations last year and how cool that was.

Crosby involved in, you know, meaningful games that laid into a season. And can you imagine seeing playoff Crosby all over again? And he, I'm sure, felt that too. Doesn't want to turn into the guy that goes, you know, doesn't want to be the Ryan Smith that just goes to the World Championships every year. He wants to be playing in the playoffs. That's what he wants. So what's going to win out here?

And I think that none of it will be dictated by Kyle Dube. or the Pittsburgh Penguins, it'll all be dictated by Sidney Crosby. That's not going to be a conversation. I think that the organization goes and has with him. That is one that he needs to initiate with the organization. That's what I think. Do you think the Olympics by that hunger? What's that?

Do you think the Olympics will satisfy that hunger? Nope. Nope. I think it'll be part of it. I think that'll probably satiate part of it, but I don't think, like, I think the guy certainly, he's won gold medals. He's won Stanley Cups. He's like any other player.

Just wants more, right? Just wants more of them. I think he wants to play for gold in the Olympics, and I think he wants to play for the Stanley Cup. He wants to be on a team that you look at and you say, yeah, this team's got a shot at winning the Stanley Cup. And the conspiracy theory is still out there. The reason that Sidney Crosby came in at the price tag

that he did on this contract, perhaps, was to allow the Pittsburgh Penguins an easier chance to move them. I don't disagree and I also thought I've seen some people talk about how like the success of the capitals has played on the mind of Sid like he's jealous and sad that the penguins can't be the caps and the way that they've had a resurgence in Ovechkins later years I don't think Sid's stupid I actually think he's one of the smartest people that I talked to in the league the capitals were able to do that. because they had the benefit of not having a large veteran corps around which to build. They had a veteran. They had back Shurmanoshi, both have a cap. And also they hit on some bold, bold debts with Dubois and Chickren and Logan Thompson. And you need assets to acquire those players.

And I think that's the other problem for the penguins, is that they have a veteran corps that sucks up all the money and they don't have a lot of assets through which they can acquire they can make they can make the same bets that the capitals made right um before i bid you good afternoon uh we're heavy on time here any final thoughts or anything that we missed on that you want to get to um i i i mentioned i wanted to mention it to molly i forgot to did you see that the rangers their uh sponsor patch on the shoulder yes and that the Detroit is doing the same thing The integrity of the original six jersey is paramount in the sponsor patch thing. That is for a, you know what, hold on to that one because that's for a bigger discussion and probably, yeah, you know, that's for an even larger one.

But park that conversation for the next time and maybe it's tomorrow. We'll see how the Wi-Fi does. And we'll see how it goes here. Greg, have yourself a great rest of your day. Thank you, as always, for stopping by, and we will chat soon. There he is, Greg Woshenki. Thanks, everybody. From ESPN, really great piece.

By the way, at ESPN right now, playoffs, roundtable. Oh, sorry, NHL player roundtable, where things they discuss include meals, dress code, and playoff formats. Okay, a couple of things here before I wrap up. The shoot is powered by Fanduel. You know that. Home of the same game parlay, make every moment more on Fandual. Proud to connect fans To the major sports moments

That matter to them I'm crossing my fingers here Zach's going to pop on With something good and juicy What do you got today, Zach? Well, we did a lot of Metro Division coverage here today So I've got the Metro Division

Our third in the Metro Plus 550 following New Jersey Devils plus 300 And Carolina Her Plus 120 So I wanted to get your thoughts somewhere we're asking. Okay, so we'll finish up the program with this one. First of all, again, I really want Carolina to be, Columbus to be this team.

Not that I think the Columbus Blue Jackets are going to win the Metropolitan Division by any stretch of the imagination, but I really would like them to make the playoffs. Thank you very much. I still think the Washington Capitals are a really good team. We'll be curious to see how Ovechkin is in what we all believe to be his swan song season, now that he already has the record. The jersey is fascinating. You know, again, that's the team that you say to yourself,

I don't know that I can make up my mind about the New Jersey Devils until I see them healthy for an entire season and into the playoffs. But man, once again, I really like what the Carolina Hurricanes did. And under Eric Tulski here, they've been able to essentially completely redo their blue line. and still come out with one of the best blue lines in the NHL. I think a lot of us are really curious to see what this team's going to look like with out Brent Burns and Dimitri Orloff. I still think that this is one of the elite blue lines in the NHL.

K. Andre Miller seems like he's a wonderful fit for that back end. And does the hunt for a goaltender continue for the Carolina Hurricanes? But I look for the canes to win the whole thing. I still think of the class of the Metropolitan Division. Jury's out on the New Jersey Devils. I think it's jump ball with the New York Rangers here. Although I really do like the addition of Vladislav Gavnikov, as you mentioned to Molly Walker a couple of seconds ago.

And man, I want to see the Columbus Blue Jackets. I really do so close last season. And here you go. You want to do prediction time? By Christmas. All right? By Christmas, Jet Greaves is the number one goaltender for your Columbus Blue Jackets, and Adam Fantilli turns himself into a top 10 scorer in the

NHL. How's that? Great. Technology aside, thanks so much. It was a wonderful program. Thanks as always at Greg Wischinsky for stopping by. Thanks to Molly Walker from the New York Post. Thanks to everybody in the chat once again. Always some good goofiness there and some intelligent thoughts, too. Let's not discount that. On behalf of Zach Phillips, Merrick, signing off. we've got to fix a couple of things here as we're kicking off the season we'll get on that ASAP hopefully we're back tomorrow

with clean feeds let's just say in the meantime enjoy the rest of your day thanks for listening on your favorite podcast platform watching here on YouTube do the likes to the favorites to the subscribes do all those wonderful things it helps us so much for providing

this to you for free may charge of nothing thanks tip your Zamboni drag from we're back to that 16 hours last night every day this week, every day this month. I can't get up my head, lost all ambitions day-to-day, because you can call it all right. I went to the dark man and tried to give me a little medicine. I'm like, no, and that's fine.

I'm not against those methods, but I knew. It's me and myself and how this is going to be fixing my mind. I do on the backer I turned on the music I do on the bag of music I do on the music It's enough Yeah I don't get you sometimes losing

I've been on the days that we're wrong