The Sheet with Jeff Marek - King of the Dot ft. Don Waddell

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

Jeff Marek is joined by Don Waddell for an action-packed show... covering Sidney Crosby taking the throne as the new faceoff leader, the Oilers defeating the Bruins, Braden Schneider and Rangers rumors, Brayden Point's game-winner, and of course... the Columbus Blue JacketsShout out to our sponsors!👍🏼Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/SHOW INDEX00:09 Intro02:59 FanDuel Daily Outline06:13 Sidney Crosby Faceoff Milestone15:49 Oilers vs Bruins23:55 Don Waddell47:19 Drew Helleson Knee55:13 Brayden Point GWG57:38 Warroad Hotel1:00:23 Tonight’s GamesReach 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.

This thing on, this thing working. Welcome to the program today. By the way, by the way, before we get going, Don Medela, GM of the Columbus Blue Jackets will be aboard. Big win last night for CBJ in Pittsburgh. It's been some time since that happened. Zach, you got two seconds? I do.

I don't know how much of a spiritual person you are and how much of a meditation and chanting kind of person you are. Can you join me in something here really quickly? Okay. Deep breaths. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, there you go. Now you're embracing it. Zach. I like this. You're coming out of your shell. Do you know why we are calming ourselves?

No. Why? Daniel sprung is on waivers. No, why Daniel sprung is on waivers Seattle cracking had the nerve to put Daniel frickin sprung on waivers It's one of my favorite players on waivers right there She's kind of sound like grapes. It's one of my favorite players there on waivers Not a fan of this move Zach Mentioned on Twitter X. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do a show today Zach. I saw that. I was worried. I don't know what that meant for me.

I don't know why I've been so goofy about Daniel Spong but I just always have forever going back to when he played at Charlottetown. And I just loved him and I loved his story and I would talk to Grant Sonier, he was his manager all the time. And I love Grant, he's a wonderful guy. And I love Charlottetown, some great people there. There's a guy by the name of Jonathan Dunfue who sends me stuff all the time and information about the Islanders and all this. And there's Sprong, second round pick, Pittsburgh Penguins, et cetera.

And his story is great and the family moved Amsterdam to Montreal and the kid was like seven years old and every year it was a different team and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't know, I just kinda like him. I like the the way he shoots and I know he hasn't been shooting that well this season unfortunately. It hasn't worked out so well with Daniel Sprong, where it once upon a time did with the Seattle Kraken. But nonetheless, to me it's the big story of the day and that is Daniel Sprong on waivers with the Seattle Kraken. Please go gentle with me today, whether it's in the chat or Zach yourself as well.

It's gonna be a tough, it's gonna be a long night for me. I'm not sure I'm gonna sleep tonight. Anyway, what's Zach Phillips, if that is indeed your real name, do we have on the sheet today? Time for daily outlines presented by FanDuel, North America's number one sports book app provider. And we are gonna start off in a couple of seconds here

by talking about Sidney Crosby and face-offs. And there's a couple of things that I wanna point out about this. Tyler and Frank were talking about it on DFO Live this afternoon. A couple of things I'd like to add to this and advance it a little bit further. So we'll talk about Sidney Crosby and the face-off record

or is it? Coming up here in a couple of seconds. I mentioned Don Waddell, general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets and last night they beat the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena. They haven't won in Pittsburgh. Going back, CBJ that is, going back to November 13th, 2015.

And don't look now, but the Columbus Blue Jackets are in a wild card spot. I know Ottawa has games in hand and I know the percentages, etc. etc. But let CBJ have their day as I mentioned yesterday. I really hope Columbus turns into a good team sooner than later. Fingers are crossed on this one. We'll talk about kneeing and Drew Hellison and Conor Zeri last night in that Anaheim-Calgary game as well. I understand why they made the call that they did although when it comes to kneeing penalties sometimes you look at it in its shades of gray sometimes it's black

and white. I would have been fine if it wasn't even a penalty at all on that call. We'll get into that coming up in a couple of moments. Also, also Warroad Hotels. Want to play this, play this viz that popped up on on Twitter X over the last couple of days about one very specific hotel which I would imagine entertains a lot of hockey tournaments and you'll see why coming up here in a couple of seconds. Also on the show today, did you watch, because you should have and shame on you if you didn't, did you watch that Carolina Tampa game last night? Like I know a couple weeks ago I was going on and on

about give me seven games of the New Jersey Devils and the Carolina Hurricanes. Yeah, I also want seven games between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Holy smokes, was that a game winning goal? Kucherov to Braden Point. I don't know what was better, the Kucherov pass, which kind of, by the way, and we'll get into it

when we show the viz later on, kind of reminded you, at least it reminded me, maybe it reminded you a little bit of Mark Savard when he used to play. There was no one better in his day at taking hard rim pucks off the boards and firing them to the middle of the ice for scoring chances, but watch Kucharoff do it.

Like Savard to me was like, and in his era, it was between Mark Savard, who's now an assistant coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Mark Savard and Joe Thornton vying over the title of who's the best passer in the NHL. We tend to give a short shift to Mark Savard in these conversations. We tend to have forgotten just how good a player Mark Savard was, but watching that play last night, I'm like, oh, that's a Mark Savard play right there by Nikita Kucherov. And then defeat at the point, perfect pass. And the two players, we'll get into it, Orlov and Jordan Stahl end up doing dog face on

it just watching the play happen. Anyway, we'll get into that coming up a little bit later on. But I want to open up by talking about Sidney Crosby. Now, Sidney Crosby yesterday in that Pittsburgh Columbus game broke a record. And so the record and he wins a draw off of Sean Monahan. And here's the here's a tweet that goes out from the Pittsburgh Penguins public relations. 15,183rd career faceoff win Crosby has won the most faceoffs in NHL history since the NHL first started tracking the stat in 1997-98.

Okay, Zach, spot quiz. Okay, the sheet chat, spot quiz quiz for everybody we're done with the Buddhist chanting by the way you can you can stop that now you can go back to host case her okay I was muting my mic in between you kind of in that zone there who has so Crosby has the record for the most face-off wins in the history of the NHL beating Patrice Burge won officially last night. Do you know who has the most face-off losses in the history of the NHL? I do, but I'm gonna let you tell the chat here because I don't want to spoil it.

Cindy Crosby has the most wins and the most losses. Like not taking away and Frank and Tyler were talking about this today and bringing up the rightful point. When Cby first started like by his own admission he was awful at face-offs. Face-offs well no are sort of a matter of strength in a lot of ways strength and leverage so rookies tend to not do very well. I remember in some of those Anaheim Edmonton games when Ryan Nugent Hopkins was a rookie just how Ryan Getzloff would just play with Ryan Nugent Hopkins at the dot like it was hilarious but listen it's tough for rook Hopkins at the dot. It was hilarious

But listen, it's tough for rookies on the dot, but then it was like that first summer It was if I don't know Crosby just spent like the entire summer taking face-offs but he came back and he turned into like a combination of Joel Otto, there's one for the olds in the audience and Mark Messier. I guess that's one for the olds too in the audience He was just tremendous Doug Jarvis. There we go. That's one for the real olds. Ryan Walter is one for the real olds as well. Just fantastic at the draw. So maybe, maybe we need to sort of have a look at not who's won the most face-offs in this particular sense because it's Crosby and congratulations awesome but

who do you think has the best face-off winning percentage with taking at least 1,000 career face-offs in the history of the NHL minimum 1000 number one is with a staggering 61.14% this is according to Quant Hockey. Yannick Perot. Yannick Perot who was the master. Like there are plenty of shifts where Perot would just go on,

win the draw and then go right to the bench. He extended his career just because he was good at face up. Just go win the draw dumb dumb and then go go back to the bench. He was fantastic. You know what that's called in lacrosse? It's a position. It's called Fogo face-off get-off oh no wait well I like that face-off get-off okay Fogo okay so it's for part of

Yannick Perrault's listen and I know about Gabe and Gabe's gonna be a star etc Yannick Perrault part of his acumen was Fogo. Face off, get off. Number two, Zenin Kanopka. Tough guy, Zenin Kanopka, who is a master at the face-off. I think he runs a wine company now in Niagara. That was the last time I checked. Number three, should come as no surprise, Joe Neuendijk, who is a master at 59.31%.

Kanopka, by the way, was just over 59%. Rod Brindamore, number four, by way of percentages, 58.74. And coming in at number five, your first American on the list. Actually, man, these are all Canadians, until you get to Nico Sturm at number 22. Dave Stechel. Let's run this back for Wish.

Yeah, no, okay, we should have done this yesterday. Look at all these face-off winners here, Wish. We start with the puckin' Canada Wish. Yeah, no kidding. We should have done this yesterday. Look at all these face-off winners here, Wish. We start with the Puck in Canada Wish. Dave Stechel 58.35%. Okay. So I don't know what you put more of a premium on, what Yannick Perot was able to do. Percentage with the threshold is my... That's what I think too. Yeah. That's what I think, right? It's kind of like the Curtis Joseph one lost record. Look at all the games He's won. Look at all the games he's lost. Anyway, so congratulations nonetheless to to Sydney and by the way, if you want to look at face-off percentages Yannick Perot is number one And he beat

Patrice Bergeron Patrice Bergeron on this list by the way is ninth Patrice Bergeron on this list, by the way, is ninth overall at 57.93%. That is a staggering number. Where do you think Crosby is? What position? Like what number overall? History of the NHL. I'll give you a clue. It rhymes with 124.

Okay. 124th. Well, based on the fact that you just rattled off a bunch of guys there, I was gonna say like, yeah, he's gonna be lower, but I was gonna say like between 50 to 75, so I still would have been off. All right, anyhow, that's enough on face-offs. You have anything you wanna add on Crosby face-offs here?

Actually, you want a little quick story here. Yeah. One, you're talking about the rookies and There's how they struggle. I found a Once in a lifetime opportunity. Thanks to our friends at FanDuel nonetheless couple years ago the debut of Connor Bedard They had listed the opening face-off who would win Connor Bedard Crosby. Yeah, cuz Crosby Bedard Crosby Yep, so and it was lined up basically 50% either way. They either had a 50% chance to win it.

And they said, no they do not. Sidney Crosby has the edge in this one. If I remember that face off correctly, and I say this nudging my producer here, if I remember that face off correctly, Crosby won that thing without a doubt. He snapped that back hard. Snapped it. that he could have scored on his own net like we could have had an own goal from the opening face-off like that you just you just know that Crosby that entire summer like when the schedule came out Crosby was looking at saying oh yeah look at this look at this we're playing the Chicago Blackhawks I'm

guessing Connor Bredara is gonna take the opening draw. Like I didn't think for any, for one second, that Crosby in his mind thought he was gonna lose that draw to Connor Bredard. He was probably knowing Crosby, obsessed about it all summer long. Pictures of Bredard all over his chair. Buckets of bucks.

And I had someone be like, oh, like don't you think he'll like, he's not gonna go hard on him or whatever? Like, Sidney Crosby. Like, Sidney Crosby. Dude. Sidney Crosby. Do you know, do you know how hard? He snapped it so hard.

Do you know? I just pulled out a video. I'll try to get it in here. Can we get it in? Cause you know, he was thinking about like, I'm sure that he had like buckets of pucks with Connor Bedard's face on it in the summer. Yeah.

Just like, I am not losing this draw. If I do one thing this year, I am winning that opening draw against Connor Bedard. Because, don't forget, when Sidney Crosby started the NHL, you know who went easy on Sidney Crosby? Nobody. Nobody went easy on Sidney Crosby. As a matter of fact, the opposite. And I'll give you one more Sidney Crosby story as well. I remember at the NHL players media tour a few years ago when it was in Chicago, one of the questions that I asked him when it was in Chicago, one of

the questions that I asked him when I was doing 32 with Elliott was is there one thing because you're like listen Crosby's on the shady side of the mountain right the sunny side of the mountains over the shady side of the mountains happens to all of us. I said is there one thing that you regret from your early years in the NHL and he went, oh boy there is. And I'll ask you, what do you think Sidney Crosby regrets from early in his career? Regrets?

Regrets. I'll never forget this answer. It was like really, like someone who's really thought about this obviously and is really honest about himself. I don't know, I can't even think of anything. How he treated officials. He said he's done a lot of apologizing throughout the year about how he would complain about officials

and complain about calls. I think that's just a maturity thing, right? You join the league and complain about every guy that slashed you in the wrist and poked you behind the knees and Did whatever to you anyhow? Did you find did you you really get that because it's one of my favorite things in hockey You're working on that one all right, so we got that a couple of other things that I want to get into today Oh by the way don't look now

But the Detroit Red Wings have now won five games in a row and according to Elliott Friedman the 32 thoughts blog They're having a look at Dylan Cousins I would imagine a lot of teams would be looking at Dylan Cousins as well I don't think there you go thought 15 I believe the Buffalo players the Red Wings were are looking at is Dylan Cousins that from Elliott Friedman some is gonna give eventually here in Buffalo. It has to. Although I do wonder, I do wonder how much given the history of Buffalo Sabres deals that have gone south and watched Sabres players march off to greener pastures and do things like, I don't know, win Stanley Cups, for example, Ryner Riley, Jack Ikel, half the Florida Panthers. You

may be a little bit gun shy, but I'm sure Don Woodell will tell us, you're a general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets. You can't do that if you're a general manager. Like, you know, Don Tortorello would always quote that Jim Collins book, Safe is Death. It's true. You can't. You can't double-guess yourself like that. Anyhow, the Trent Redwings looking good. Edmonton Oilers sticking it to the Boston Bruins last night. And speaking of GMs, you know, we were hearing, you know, fire Sweeney Chance last night in that game.

But the big touchstone in that one that's got a lot of people upset, certainly Oilers fans, Maybe oilers players as well Even though they won the game and Trent Frederick dragged Corey Perry into something He didn't want to do obviously veteran move by the way for Perry to turn his head to the side So all Frederick could do is crack knuckles on his helmet. That's it's helmet. It's a veteran move by Corey Perry there last night Nikita's a doorov running Stuart Skinner. We have that one. Let me show that one. That one. You know that one? So Nikita Zadorov runs him and the first one of the first things that I thought of

because the minute it happens Skinner goes down he gets pulled out concussion spotting. Good. And the first thing I thought of was something that really, in some ways for me at least, began the Buffalo Sabres tailspin. And this goes back to 2011, I want to say it was sometime in November. It was a Boston Bruins Buffalo Sabres game. Old Adams division rivals. Teams that never made an official NHL trade until the, wait for it, Danny Paille deal. One of the great rivalries in the history of the game where two organizations really hated each other and just never did business with one another, but we never really talked about.

And in this game, the touchdown moment was Milan Lucic running netminder Ryan Miller. And much like we saw yesterday after the goaltender was ran there's a whole lot of statue practice on the ice so Doroff hit Skinner so Doroff ended up going down and everybody stood there as the goaltender lay on the ice. Do we have that Luchich viz back from 2011? Yes we do. Zach let's run that real quick. Buck gets away from Luchic, he sees Miller and says I'm filling my boots. Miller takes a swipe at him with his stick. You can tell that some guys want to kind of get close to Lucic, but not really.

Sekara's not going near him, Palminvil's not going near him, Tyler Myers, Paul Gostad, who ended up eventually, games later, having to fight Milan Lucic over it, is on the outside of the scrum. And then afterwards, as many will remember, Ryan Miller gave one of the most Zack as I can recall emo interviews about me a lot of luchich that that maybe we've ever seen and You know what happened after that?

Buffalo Sabres never made the playoffs again I'm not saying it's directly that and they came like I think it was like two or three points shy that season. Only two from that division would have gone. It was Ottawa-Montreal. But the Buffalo Sabres haven't been back to the playoffs since. Like that was a moment that almost defined that season. And the Buffalo Sabres haven't been back to the playoffs since. Were you surprised that no one, I mean, I guess like who's going after Zador?

That's where you say like, man, you wish if Andrew Kane were in the lineup, nobody did anything, nothing. Yeah, like, yeah, but to your point though, it was like, okay, nobody, who's gonna go after him? You gotta do, there has to be some response and there was nothing. I'm pretty sure one of the worst parts about the video,

about it, like when I watched it happen, was Kulak, not only did nobody go and fight him, whatever, even if you're not gonna fight him, there's a video, camera cuts in, zooms in, I think it was Kulak standing in front of the net, or I can't remember who was standing in front of the net, and he just turns and looks, and he goes like this, shrugs his shoulders and looks at the ref.

He's like, I'm like. Are you gonna do something about it? I like, well, okay, he's not, so someone's got to. I don't know, there needs to be a conversation, there needs to be something pointed out, something said. I don't know, nothing happens. I don't care if there's a fighter or not in the lineup. Someone's gotta stand up in that situation.

It's accidental, intentional, it doesn't matter. So also in that game, you know, there was a lot in that game and listen, it's dark dates right now for the Boston Bruins. Well, it's funny too and on Morning Cup of Hockey this morning the guys were talking about Colby and Laz and I can't remember who made the point, either Johnny or Colby, because they had Andrew Raycroft on, former NHL netminder, now Boston Bruins analyst. One of the points that they were making was, well, it must be nice to be in such trouble, or be such a bad team, yet still be in a playoff position.

Like, don't lose sight of the fact that the Boston Bruins are still in a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. But nonetheless, it hasn't been great for the Boston Bruins. And I want to play a clip from Morning Cup of Hockey today, something that should start your day every day as it does mine. Great hockey show. The guy's talking to Andrew Raycroft and essentially asking, what's at the heart of this? When did all of these problems start for the Boston Bruins? Like was there one injury, one moment, one game that began these dominoes falling that have brought

the Boston Bruins and specifically their fans who are now chanting Fire Sweeney to this point? I thought the answer was interesting. Here's Andrew Raycroft from Morning Cup of Hockey this morning. Hampus Lindholm hasn't played for six weeks, six and a half weeks, and it has absolutely had an effect on the back end. It's had an effect on the offense. It's had an effect on the power play. It's had an effect on everything. And I think we've, there's been times where you've over or underrated What hampus Lindholm meant to this team winning the most games in NHL history like this guy's legit and Not how you look at this left side if everyone's watching its water spoons the door of and low-ride

There's no that that's that's not what was expected going into the season. And wherever Lindholm goes within those three pairings makes them remarkably better for Mide. And I think, of course, you can handle that for three, four weeks, which is what they did. The coaching change, the defense mentality really buttoned down, allowed them to get through that without Lindholm, but now we're seeing it offensively especially. The back end's just not scoring,

they're not getting offense, and a lot of that is because Lindholm's not in the line. That's such a great point by Andrew Raycroft. Hampus Lindholm, from my mind, even is playing with the Anaheim Ducks, and this is at sort of the height of Drew Doughty as well. You know, I talked to a couple of people in that era who always said, like, everybody's sleeping on Hampus-Lenholm because he plays with the Anaheim Ducks and he

doesn't play in one of the sort of the power cities of the NHL. They said, like, you know, I know everyone's crazy for Drew Doughty and rightfully so, excellent defenseman, but they said, don't, in some ways, like, Hampus-Lenholm is more important to the Anaheim Ducks than Drew Doughty and rightfully so excellent defenseman, but don't in some ways, like Hampus-Lynholm is more important to the Anaheim Ducks than Drew Doughty is to the Los Angeles Kings at that point too. And I still maintain, you know, if you go back to 2022 and that opening round series, Boston versus Carolina game two, Andre Swechnikov catches Hampus-Lynholm, who's coming out from around the net, catches him with a body check, like a really hard hit. Svechnikov's a big boy.

Svechnikov catches Hampus-Lynholm. I still maintain that if that hit doesn't happen, I don't know that we're talking about Bruce Cassidy losing his job at that point. That's how much Hampus-Linhol meant to the Boston Bruins. The then-general manager of that, Carolina Hurricanes team, is now the general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets that broke a streak not even too soon enough for them last night as the CBJ marched into PPG Paints Arena and won, breaking a streak that goes back to November 13th, 2015. Smiles all around.

I love the Columbus Blue Jacket social media Twitter with Voronkov with his arms around the guys, counting down the final seconds. This one was a beautiful visual put together by the Columbus Blue Jacket social media team. And with that, let's welcome to the sheet, Maiden Voyage for Don Waddell, the general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Don, first of all, thanks so much for joining me today. And second of all, congratulations.

What was the mood around the squad after breaking that unfortunate streak? Thanks for having me, Jeff. You know, what's interesting because I went into the game not knowing we had a streak in Pittsburgh. I don't pay attention to a whole lot of things, especially just being here, but I learned it in the first period watching it on the video screen there in Pittsburgh. So I'm extremely happy with the guys. I'm very pleased for all the guys that have been here and been through a lot of losses in Pittsburgh. So I can't speak in the volumes about coming back in the game

that we're down 3-1 and then they put in a shoot-up. And you know that is a that's a tough one too because Sean Monahan's lost in the game as well. Adam Fantilli gets bumped up to that spot as well. First of all is there any update on Monahan or are we still waiting? We're waiting. He's getting a bone scan today. We don't have that back yet but I think either way, I mean his wrist is pretty swollen and that we'll miss him for some time, hopefully not long time. Okay, fingers crossed there. A couple of things that I want to get into here with you. Now that you've, listen, Lindy Ruff not too long ago in Buffalo

saying like look I've had you know 20 games with this team, I know what the team is all about. When you first took over the Columbus Blue Jackets as a manager in the NHL you have an idea of what each team is all about. But since you've been there and had a good peek under the hood and know what CBJ is all about, what's turned your head? Sort of, you know, what's impressed you? What did you think was true as opposed to now what you know is true about your team? Yeah, you know, when you take over, you know, you do an assessment of the team and, you know, being in the NHL and playing Columbus many, many times over the years, I had a pretty good feel for what was going on here. And, you know, we knew we needed to make some changes.

And obviously, it's all started with hiring Dean Emerson as our coach and building out our coaching staff. But, you know, we had to bring the guys together. And certainly we faced some adversity off the start of the year, obviously. And then we lost some key players injuries. And what I really like is how this group has come together. And it's really been, you know, Boon Jenner is our captain, Eric Brunson is one of our leaders, but both guys have been out. And so it was up to other players, Zach Renske, I just can't say enough good things about him

on and off the ice. He's really taken on a leadership role, along with Sean Monahan, you know. And I was really concerned about Sean coming into the year because of everything that happened in the summertime. and the reasons, one of the reasons why he wanted to come to Columbus. And again, he's been a, not only a great player on the ice, but a great leader for us and a great guy for our young players.

We got a lot of good young players, but they need, you know, players to look up to. And certainly both those players are guys that they gravitate to. So very, very pleased with that. And, you know, overall we got some really good young talent here, you know, and some guys that are still learning the 200 foot game. You know, I find with the young players today, it's all about points. And I keep telling these guys, you know, you're going to make your money, you know, that you're, you're playing the league for a long time.

The way you get more points is by earning more ice time and that's playing the 200 foot game. So I think some guys have gone through some transitions that way and we were starting to get some payoffs from that. Is that the main teaching point by Dean Everson? I mean, he's done like a wonderful job with your team so far here. Is that the main teaching point from Everson you think? Yeah, 100%. You look at a guy like Marchenko who's always scored goals for us and some people

thought he was only out to build up his resume and you look at what he's done for us this year. He's playing in every situation because he is playing the 200- game and you know he's got a big frame gets in a way you know finish his checks so forth so I think you know it starts with the coaching but then it goes to the locker room and it's up to the players and to buy into that identity and certainly they have done that. Let me ask you about Murachenko a little bit a little bit more 45 points 3.8 million dollars a lot of people look at him and saying like wow that's a that that's a great deal for for this player who's really producing for the Columbus Blue Jackets. I want to ask about Voronkov here in a couple of seconds as well. Um but what have you learned about him? I'm always curious again maybe I'm focusing in too much on

you know new eyes on the team but you know what did you think going in and what do you know now about Marchenko? Yeah Marchenko's an an interesting guy because you know I tried not to When I got here, you know, obviously people want to tell me a lot of different things and I wanted to form my own opinion And you know once I got to meet Marchenko I talked to him in the summertime and once he can't got here in camp and I really started spending a lot of time around The locker and that this is one good person who speaks perfect English, wants to be a good player, great player in this league. His work habits are very, very strong. And again, I don't want to can't speak for what's happened in the past. I can only speak for what I've seen. He's been tremendous.

He's always got a smile on his face. I don't think he's ever had a bad day. He shows up for work every day, whether it's game or practice, and gives you the same effort. So again, nothing but very big praises for Marchi. I mentioned the great visuals last night that your social media team put out about Dmitry Voronkov, you know, with arms around the guys and then at the end of the game last night at PPG Paints, 28 points so far for Voronkov and he seems to have really, I know you weren't there last year, but he seems to really be in a better place overall in Columbus on this team. Everything about Voronkov just seems different than it was not too long ago. everything about Verankov just seems different than it was not too long ago.

Yeah, you know, he started off a little slow, he had an injury that held him up for a little bit at the start of the year, but once he got going here, and I'll give a lot of credit to Marci because Marci's really taken him under his wing and really helped him, you know, it's his second year in the league. But Verankov, you know, his hands around the net,

you know, he goes to the front of the net, he scores, I think all his goals from within five feet of the net, which is a big body, impossible to move out of there. And he's got great hands around the net. So he's a guy that has really grown on us here. The upside is still way in front of him, a young player. And I think as he gets more experience and more time in the league, he's going to be a more effective player. You know, he sticks up for his teammates. You know, he's team first kind of guy and

it's great to see. You know, I've always considered, Don, old-school toughness to be a luxury item You love it if you have it and generally you want to keep it But sometimes those guys have a hard time staying in the lineup. I want to ask you about Matthew Olivier And his future with Columbus because listen, I don't need to tell you this. He might be the toughest guy in the NHL full stop And it's a great luxury to have. Is there any update with, with Matthew Olivier and your, your thoughts on him as a member of Columbus? Yeah, certainly we're in talks with, uh, uh, his representation. You know, I've said publicly that that's number one priority of my list is to get

him signed and locked up for years to come here. You know, he's another guy that's really stepped up in the locker room. And I think it comes with maybe before he was only playing 8, 10 minutes a night. Now he's playing 15, 17 minutes a night, taking a bigger role in the team. He's having a career year, scoring goals. But as you said, he makes our team better

because of what he brings to the table. And an important piece that we're hoping that we can get locked up for a long period of time and we'll hopefully continue to move forward with them but I can't again he's been another guy that has stepped up in the locker room taking on a leadership role. What did it feel like this morning, waking up in a wildcard position? I know about games in hand and percentages and all that, but what did that feel like this morning? Yeah.

You know, we looked at the airplane last night coming back from Pittsburgh. And it's a good feeling. We know, you know, we played our 41st game, so we got half the season left to go. And a lot of work in front of us. But, you know, at least we're in the thick of things, you know, and that's the start because, you know, it hasn't always gone that way here. So, you know, we want to make sure

that we do everything possible to maintain at least, you know, I always say, if we're gonna be playing meaningful games in March, I think that's a big step for our young players. You know, the more harder games you have to play down the stretch is only gonna make our younger players better. Is this team right now perhaps changing the way you feel about Columbus around trade deadline?

Now I remember asking Daniel Brieira this last year with the Philadelphia Flyers and their rebuild, et cetera, and Dan took over and was eyes on the prize and rebuild etc but then the Flyers won a lot of games. Is this team making your decisions complicated or is it still full steam ahead with with decisions that have already been made in your head? No because you know I'm not told that because a lot of calls and some of our free agents who going back the last month and a half or so and I've told them, I've gotten a lot of calls from our free agents who going back the last month and a half or so, and I've told them all that, you know, we're not willing to just get rid of players at this point. We were looking at, you know, if we can improve our team

through hockey trades and all that, that's our job as a general manager to continue to look at that. But, you know, a guy like Provaloff, who I get a lot of calls about, you know, he's one of our best defenders, if not our best defender. And, you know, he's one of our best defenders, if not our best defender. And, you know, there's an opportunity and potential to sign them. And if we can sign them, that would be great. And if not, you know, then come March, you know, we'll have to make a decision what we do. But if, you know, I owe it to the players, I owe it to the fans, I owe it to the ownership that if we're in the hunt, we got to try to continue at least to stay in the hunt and play it out, see how it goes.

You know, it's funny too, because a lot of fans I think would hear that and say, well, hold on a second on an expiring contract, you have to get something for them. I've always been of the mind a couple of things. One, to your point, being in the hunt is valuable experience for your younger players.

How do you put a price tag on that? And two, Don, I've always kind of admired GMs who have said, I don't mind if a player walks away at the end of their contract. I look at cap space as a commodity. Give me that challenge of having $5 million to find another player that can plug in that spot. Like I've always admired GMs that look at that as,

you know what, I'm a professional general manager. I can handle this. I can find someone to go into that place. How do you see cap space? Cap space is always important. Obviously everything that's happened to us this year, we have lots of cap space and we're gonna have tons of cap space

going into next year. So, you know, puts us in a good position, not only to retain our own players if we can. And it's also come July 1st when the market becomes open, you know, we got me spart about it, you know, it's regardless of what the cap is, we're going to be able to spend money to make our team better. And we won't try not to waste any money, that's for sure. But we know we've got some holes we gotta plug.

We got eight, nine guys for sure that you'd like to keep moving forward with. But if you can add some spots on your team through free agency or through trades too. At the draft there's always people looking for picks. And, you know, sometimes players need to, teams need to make a change or other teams are in cap problems, you know, are trying to clear up some cap space. So we're going to be all eyes and ears and try to pay attention to everything happening

where if we can make an addition to our team and use some of our draft capital, you know, we have lots of draft picks coming up in the next few years. So you know, we want to make our team better as soon as we can, but we've got to be careful of how we just don't waste money. You know, when Patrick Liny made his comments about Columbus, Zach Wierenski was quick to jump to the defense of the organization, the city, et cetera. He did what you would expect a captain to do. How did you react to those comments when you first heard them? You know, I didn't really have any reaction,

obviously not being here and living through it through the summertime, dealing with Patrick and his representation. They were very professional. They told me that just it was time for them to move on. And, you know, I said, if we can do it, we'll obligate it. And we're able to do it. So, you know, again, when you're not here, you know, didn't talk beginning of the year that let's not even talk about the past. Let's just talk about the future. What we want to do, how we want to build a team, how we want to build a locker

room, how we want to try to bring the guys together. You know, we want players that want to play for the Blue Jackets and if you want to play for the Blue Jackets, we're going to have an opportunity for you. And if not, you know, that we'll have to look at our options. What did you make of how your captain handled it? Well, I think the players were not too pleased to read about the ones that were here last year. Um, so I think, you know, uh, what Zach did, it was Zach by choice. And, uh, you know, I, I'll support Zach and our team, uh, every opportunity I can. You know, it, uh, one final, um, remark on it when, when Laine said what he did and,

and Warrenske reacted the way that he did my first thought was and you know hockey players give them an issue to rally around and they'll do it. I kind of thought it in some ways although it was uncomfortable and insulting I kind of looked at it as if you know Patrick Lina just gave the Columbus Blue Jackets a gift because now all the guys in that room have their backs up and they have an issue. And you know, when you give hockey players an issue, it's pretty easy to rally around.

You think I'm on base or off base there? No, I think you're on. I think it happens in all the sports. You hear all the time about bulletin board material, you know, and all the professional sports. You know, hockey is no different than other sports. So certainly I think, you know, the players I know were aware of it and they were talking about it

and they weren't happy about it. So however they use that as a motivation, you know, I'm going to support. One quick thought on the World Juniors and Luca Panelli, a thought on how the whole tournament went and your thoughts on Luca Panelli, Blue Jackets prospect. Yeah, I was fortunate to be in Ottawa there. and your thoughts on uh... luca panelli blue jackets prospect yeah i've got those fortunate to be in ottawa there and uh...

you know i thought uh... lucas did what he usually does that she plays hard he's uh... in in uh... for checking was very good i thought uh... you know in the face of uh... the opposing teams special there d uh... you know canada

that ran across, so they just had our time scoring goals. And, you know, it's when you're up there and you're listening to everything going on, I try to put all that out of my mind and just watch the games and, you know, they had a good team. I mean, what we forget is that this is a great tournament now. And, you know, years ago, when Canada dominate, then US started to get better than, you know, years ago when Canada dominated, then the U.S. started to get better, then obviously the Swedes and Finns and Czechs are both kept right up there. So it's a great tournament. Anybody can win it any given year. And the U.S. was fortunate to win the gold medal this year. Let me close on this. A quick thought on Team USA with Johnny Goodrose, Jersey and locker space?

Yeah, I'm not sure what the whole plan will be with Billy and their team there. I've talked to Billy multiple times. I think certainly they're looking to do something to honor them, just like we've done all this year, carrying his locker with us, his jersey and the locker home and away for our guys. It's something to rally around and, you know, what really gives us strength is Meredith's wife. You know, she said multiple times at the funeral and our building open night, you know, Johnny wants you to go play hockey. I want you to go play hockey, go play hockey. So, you know, we've rallied around that for sure. You know, as you can imagine, it's devastating to everybody, but particularly the family and being able to have the

wife support us like that has been a nice bright spot for us. That is beautiful. I was more referring to the world junior team, the USA squad with Johnny's jersey. And I just thought the whole thing was listen I I'm a Canadian and I want Canada win all these tournaments and all that but I was really happy for that American team and I I loved watching watching you know the good row name front and center there by the end yeah no I I'm sorry I jumped ahead on you yeah you know he was such a big part of your say hockey, not just world juniors and

and world championships and so forth. So you'd be honored like that well deserved and it's nice to see. This is great. Really appreciate the time. Congratulations on on ending the streak. Congratulations on on being in the wild card spots. Continued success and we'll check back soon. Thanks so much for for doing this with me, Don. No, you're always welcome, Jeff. Look forward to it next time. Thank you. Thanks, Bill.

There he is, Don Waddell is the general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets. ["The Blue Jackets"] Couple of interesting things there. Not surprising, looking to try to extend Matthew Olivier and Door Open to perhaps extending Ivan Provarov as well. We'll see what happens there. But emotionally, I think a lot of people, I know I include myself as one, wanted Columbus

to have a really good season for the obvious reason. But also, I just want, and it's interesting that we saw last night what could be, should be, a great rivalry in the NHL and that is the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Pittsburgh Penguins. It hasn't worked yet where both teams have been on that same footing where they could legitimately have a sustained rivalry. But you hope that this team is close to putting all the pieces together and getting to that spot where they are consistently qualifying for and challenging for a playoff spot in the metropolitan division.

And you hope the Pittsburgh Penguins can be right there with them because I think that could be a great rivalry in the NHL. Zach what did you think of what did you think of Don Waddell? I've always I've always liked Don because when you ask him a question he just gives you an answer like he doesn't he doesn't dance and he's he's always been that way. What'd you make of Don Waddell? I thought it was interesting how he answered about the LINEA stuff. You know, it pretty much came in and was like, I wasn't here. I can't really speak to what happened prior to.

We handled the situation professional in and out. And then it was also like, I can't touch on that. I'm going to support my players. Zach did that on his own volition. I support Zach. I support the team like That goes a long way Having your general manager from the top support what you're saying He never really said Too much like one of the things that I thought was interesting when the line a stuff happened was kind of how the management Columbus

Had also kind of said some of the same stuff, but it wasn't really like thrown in your face. You know, we can't be happy with not winning. But obviously, LINE saying it made it a whole lot bigger of a deal. Didn't really say it wasn't, but just said, I support the team. I support the players. It's true. We thank Don Widdel for stopping by and we thank the Columbus Blue Jackets for making them available as well. Okay, we have a couple more things to get to today. What do we still have on the list

that we haven't hit before we get to the game center? Oh, I should vote, by the way. I should vote at the poll. The poll is, will the Columbus Blue Jackets make the playoffs? 100%, I think so, but it'll be tough. They'll battle, but just miss. No shot, this won't last. I. They'll battle, but just miss. No shot, this won't last.

I think they will battle, but just miss. That's gonna be mine, and that is 60%. Yeah. Of it so far. I try to give people like some options that might encompass all like your feelings towards how they would finish. I don't want yes, no.

Bob Joe says, should have asked him about claiming Daniel Sprong. First of all, he probably was, oh, we have to discuss internally what our decisions might be here with any player. Like he's going to tamper, commenting on players that aren't his. Curtis DiMarcenco has two additional years after this one, but they do need to start planning for those extensions. Yeah, that's it. Like you look at Karel Marchenko he's been awesome he's been so good for this team this year and it's two more years at 3.8 million dollars with that salary cap going up up up and the Columbus blue jacket still with tons of cap space. Okay what do we still have on the list today? There's a bunch

of stuff here so first of of all, peek behind the curtain for people. Okay, I apologize to you and the chat. I do have the Zdorov clip I got lost in the other class I have, but it is in here. Second of all, I did get you another clip during that interview. Oh, if you would like to see Sydney Crosby, for lack of better term, dummy, Connor Bidart on an opening. Honestly, so if you're just dropping in here on YouTube, I mean if you listen to the podcast,

you listen to the whole thing, you know what we're talking about. We talked earlier about that first, because Crosby breaks the record last night, face off wins of all time. This is going to be one of his most famous ones and you know he was thinking about it all summer. You want to run this one here for our YouTube viewers? This is the opening game last year. Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Crosby and Bedard at the draw. Nothing gentlemanly about this. Bam! What a snap! Yeah. When I went and watched, because I remember watching it live and then when I went and watched

this again, I went, yeah, it's even better than I thought. Just snaps hard. Yeah. Bam! Grabs that one back. Oh, sorry, you're not in Kansas anymore, Toto. Yeah, that was a hell of a face-off there by Sydney Crosby. Okay, great fizz on that one. What else we have up for grabs here? Okay, I want to get into the kneeing. The Drew Hellison hit on Connor Zari. It was called five in a game last night. Hellison gets kicked out, hoping for the best here for Zari.

But the hit itself, I want to get your thoughts on, and not just that, but the penalty that was called after the fact. I know why they made the call because again, like I would have been... First of all, not all collisions are identical certainly and not all of them are deliberate and sometimes you have just bad outcomes because you have players moving at high velocity and bodies are going in all kinds of different positions. Like I look at Helleson, I look at what the intention is here on this particular hit and he looks like he's going shoulder to chest. I'm not a big fan in these hits of going because again like he's leading with his he's leading with his shoulder trying to make that hit with his shoulder and I always do think you need to watch these things in real time more than just when

you when you have them slowed down but when you do slow it down you look at he is leading with his shoulder he is slowing down he's trying to catch Kondazeri who's cutting towards the middle of the ice. Now as for the five in a game, I understand why they did it because if they don't the game's probably... that game still might be going on now. Yeah. I look at that when I say we keep hearing about game management and you know as opposed to just just call the rules, call every infraction, if you call every infraction you get 60 you called every infraction? It's 60 minutes of panel of power plays This hockey is a game where on every single shift technically you could call a penalty

Yeah, again, I know people don't like it and all the stereotypes are out there Oh every ref just wants to call the three penalties and then just get done with it Look, I got my quota in and now we're done but I think that that was a that was a game management call more than anything else and there's nothing from the NHL Department of Player Safety so it seems like they're on the same page about this one. What did you think when you saw that one? Did you think dirty? Because I didn't think dirty. I didn't think, oh look at Hellison going after his knee here. Oh that's so vicious. I didn't think that for one second.

I didn't either. I thought he's going at the chest. The one thing, the biggest thing for's Zary who this is a bigger conversation that I've had that people have got pissed off at me for and it's started with the Darn on Lyrs thing as well but it's players need to also take some onus on themselves to protect themselves in some of these situations I think. You're skating open ice. You have to be prepared that you're going to get hit. You open your legs up and try to cut across the guy. Sorry for the physical demonstration of that one, but you try to cut across the guy. You leave yourself in a vulnerable position. I don't think Drew Hellison had bad intent. I don't think that he changed the course of which he was taking

to go to the hit. I don't think it was dirty at all. I think it's a terrible result. I feel bad for Zarya. I hope that he's okay. We'll recover from this, but no, I don't think it was dirty at all. I think it's a terrible result. I feel bad for Zarya. I hope that he's okay. Yeah, we all will recover from this, but no, I don't think it was dirty. I don't, I know why you're saying that you think, I also agree with you that I get what the five in a game is on that one. Still, I am not,

I wouldn't have given it five in a game personally, if I'm the ref. I would not, I'm not a ref. Would you have given it anything? Would't have given it five in a game personally, if I'm the ref. I would not. Would you have given it anything? Would you have given it anything? Would you have given it anything? No, I don't think so. I wouldn't either, but I know why they did it.

I understand why they did it. Yeah. I get it. But like, okay, but what about this? But here's the thing too. Is it possible? Cause I know everyone wants to declare, wants to be quick to judge and say that everything is intentional that happens. You play, is everything, you know this would be a great question for Colby Cohen, who played in the NHL.

Not every collision is intentional. Like where's the room for accidental collisions or accidental body parts getting hits. Like not every hit to the head is deliberate or intentional. Just like every knee is not deliberate or intentional. Are some players sloppy? Yeah, but I've always made the point. I've always tried to make the points, Zach. You know what's really hard? What's really hard to do when you're skating that fast? Make a clean body check. You know what hard clean body checks are? I know Jacob Truba, and man that was a tough one on that goal last night by Truba, but you know what Jacob Truba is always great at?

Getting right to the line. And not going over. Now a lot of people will scream at me and say, what are you talking about? Look at those hits. Like they're vicious, they're dangerous, but the overwhelming lion's share of them are not dirty. By the definition in the rule book, they are not dirty. I've always admired Jacob Truba for that. But then again, I come back to this other thing, which is, I think you can, it's like the old line about, you know, you can expect someone to walk a tightrope for two minutes without falling

off, but you can't expect them to walk on a tightrope for 20 minutes and not, and not fall off. when you're asking someone to play at the edge and play physical and play fast it's gonna go over the edge it just is like if you want these elevated rates of speed and you want it safe I've always said like it's like it's kind of like this Zach if I said to you Zach Zach, starting today, right now, when you park your car, you have to be driving 30 miles an hour. Or 40 miles an hour. However, like it's a very uncomfortable speed. You have to be going 45 miles an hour when you park your car.

Eventually you might learn how to do it, but you're going to smash a lot of cars along the way. And I kind of see that as hockey. Hockey keeps getting faster and faster and faster and faster and faster. It's still a contact sport. It's no longer actually, I don't even call it a contact sport. It's a collision sport now. It's billiard balls more than anything else right now. And we have this almost unreal expectation that you can play at this speed and it'll be safe. Again, I was born at night. I wasn't born last night. The faster you make it, the

more dangerous it is. And you play, you watch, you're right there, you go to games at every level. It's faster than it's ever been which automatically makes it more dangerous that's my only thought my only thought on this one and I'm like you said that Conor's area gets gets back soon and recovers quickly here yeah by the way you said oh not a good look for true bond that goal last night one of my Rangers friend fans texted me, oh what a play by Truba, eh? And then I responded and said, oh what a play by Keandre Miller, hey? Did you see that? Okay that was a tough one. You know it's funny too because Colby Cohen on Morning Cup of Hockey brought up the great point and one of the lessons that you're taught when you're like 11 years old is,

don't make a pass when you're, don't make a play when your feet aren't moving. And he was very guilty of doing that in the Rangers own zone. Nice thing you know the Dallas Stars tie it up because they're the freaking Dallas Stars and they might win the Stanley Cup this year. But it's interesting cause there's some symmetry

with another play, which is kind of a gaffe by two players. One more expected than the other. Do you have the uh the Braden Point goal from last night? I want to get this before we get to our games. Make this our last topic before we get to the games. Do you have that one quickly? It's it's it's a gorgeous goal and it's like a hockey players goal. It's one for the fans because Point is spectacular but I'm pretty sure like all the hockey players will look at that and go the way the Kucherov peeled that puck and fired it to the middle, that is the beauty of this goal. If you're watching us on YouTube have a peek at this one. If you're listening to us go to the Tuesday games and look at the game winner.

The Braden Point game winner against the Carolina Hurricanes. Let's have a peek at this one, Zach. It's beautiful. It is a thing of beauty. I know we're all going to focus on the Braden Point part of it and make no mistake about it, it's great. And you see the player who's

defending point in front, that's Jordan Stahl. That's Jordan Stahl who by now should probably have about three selkie trophies in his hip pocket. The problem is he just unfortunately played at the same time as Patrice Bergeron. Sorry You know, it's like Brad Park, you know played in the played in the era of defensemen where there's like a murderers row of you Know Bobby or and Larry Robinson and Dennis Pot fan. It's like sorry Brad. No trophies for you here

There's all these other guys poor Jordan stalls got to play at the same time as Patrice Bergeron We got some Mikko Khoif was the same way, would have had some selkie trophies along the way. But to me it was the Kucherov play. The Kucherov play and the defender, the defender there is Dmitri Orlov. So it's a couple of Carolina players here. It's Orlov that gets schooled a little bit by Nikita Kucherov, and then it's Jordan Stahl who gets schooled by Braden Point on a gorgeous one. Again, give me some of that Carolina Tampa Bay in the stand that was it a good goal no it was a goal it was a goal you call it a good goal because you like potato chips in your vocabulary I'm just gonna add extra curricular words I'm just gonna add extra words

here this is an all-address chip this one's salt and vinegar this one is sour cream and onion I don't know what your favorite chip is maybe ketchup the Canadian chip after all Yes, okay. Actually, I'm gonna throw one more thing to you. Okay, one more war road hotels Oh, we got to get this one. This one popped up and I and I loved it. I love this vision I love that this hotel does this If you're listening on on the podcast version of this you can go to my Twitter and see exactly what I'm talking about. Zach, roll this for our YouTube audience.

This is maybe the best minor slash youth hockey hotel in the world. You're smiling just thinking about this because you're like, yes, I'm not that far away from being a kid and wanted to play in this thing. Have a peek at this. Correct. It's gorgeous. You're about to see the coolest part about the Hampton Inn and Warroad, Minnesota. Come on This is from youth hockey hub on X

You open a room with this hotel, right? This is ridiculous and it is an indoor floored boarded benches, viewing gallery, mini stick arena. This is hockey paradise. Yeah, it's a hockey paradise. A tiny mini sticker in the hotel. Here in Hockenshaw USA, they encourage youth players to play in the hotel.

That is what I love. Encouraging kids to play mini play in the hotel. That is what I love, encouraging kids to play mini sticks at the hotel. The hallways are for boozy parents. Let's get that straight. That's for parents to get boozed and embarrass themselves. Place like that is for the kids and mini sticks. But as someone tweeted me afterwards Did you even play if you didn't get you know if you didn't get?

Scars on your on your knees if you didn't get run your hockey These rip your hockey track pants. We would happen you do these are many sticks. I think okay you kind of earned it I just thought that was so cool Zach what how much would you have loved that young little 11 12 year old Zach playing York Simcoe Express rolling into that hotel and seeing that this would have been awesome. I the amount of times to you the only thing that I would have taken away actually let me throw this on that a negative side okay in the hallway pick it up pick it up pick it up and everyone runs to the stairwell to hide because hotel security is coming to get tell you not to play anymore.

Oh so it's it so it's only the fear of getting caught no like that's awesome there come on you were like that but I do appreciate what you're saying with about hallway hockey but no this is awesome yeah again how is it for boozy parents yeah sure you see your share of those along the way yeah okay let's get to our game site there was supposed to be four but because of the the Los Andes the fires in California man those visuals of the Palisades are horrifying there's only going to be three today. So three games on the board brought to you by FanDuel, proud to connect fans to the major

sports moments that matter to them. And with all due respect to Colorado and Chicago, oh, by the way, Pat Maroon is scratched tonight. Lucas Reichel is in and Pat Maroon is out, so morning cup of hockey. And I believe he's supposed to be on tomorrow. Morning kappa hockey might be that much more interesting. Florida's playing Utah. As I mentioned, Calgary and Los Angeles, that game will be rescheduled. I think this one is all eyes on Vancouver and Washington, the Capital One arena.

Kevin Lankenen starts for the Vancouver Canucks. Logan Thompson starts for the Washington Capitals. Caps have kind of had a pedestrian 4, 5, 4 and 2 record in their last 11. Alexander Ovechkin, 23 goals away from beating Wayne Gretzky. This is game number 41. So this is the official halfway point of the season for the Washington Capitals. And Zach, if I told you at the beginning of the season, we'd be at game 41 for the Washington Capitals and Zach if I told you at the beginning of the season we'd be at game 41 for the Washington Capitals they would be number one in the Metro they'd be third in the NHL you would have said Merrick you're eating

space cake buddy there's no way that's gonna happen but here we are game time decisions for Vancouver Elias Pettersson and Derek Forbert. Philip Peronik has been assigned to Abbotsford as he makes his way back. Do you have a thought on this one? I'm kinda thinking we're gonna get some game here where Washington just dictates play. The way I know, just their goaltending, the teams, the systems that they've implemented,

the buy-in from everybody here, Vancouver is struggling and all aspects of the game can't hold leads. It feels like Washington can basically kind of just say, hey, this is how we're going to play tonight. This is the way we want to play. Good luck trying to figure it out otherwise because that's what we're going to do. And wouldn't be surprised if they get out out here with just a low scoring one. You know, one of the interesting things

about the Washington Capitals, to me, and I remember having this conversation with Doug McLean when we used to work together, former GM of the Columbus Blue Jackets, so it's Blue Jacket Day, we had the current GM of the Blue Jackets on. So he used to keep the stat and it was all about offense from your defense.

And I think the number was 125. That if you got 125 points from your blue line, you were going to the playoffs. That's what his staff always believed. Now, the number one team in the NHL for offense from the defense are the Colorado Avalanche. Right now, halfway through the season, 110 points. Avalanche are going to the playoffs. You know who's number two? Washington. Washington Capitals have 104 points from

their blue line. And, as we celebrate, John Carlson hit the 700 point plateau for a defender, the 31st defenseman to accomplish that. He did that a couple of nights ago. So if the Doug McClain stat holds, Washington's going to the playoffs. Not that you need the Doug McClain stat to tell you that Washington's going to the playoffs, but I just thought I'd throw that one for a little bit of spice. It's just something, because I had never heard that one before until I talked to Doug about it. He said, yeah, internally we have a number about 125. If we get 125 from our back end, we're going to the playoffs. I don't know that his team's ever had 125.

You want a good segue here from what you just said. told you before the show I did some producing today and prepared some stuff you talked about going to the playoffs you talked about a former Blue Jackets GM a current Blue Jackets GM and it's Blue Jackets day I've got something for you that I found over on oh yeah okay what do you got I'm gonna show you this I took a screenshot earlier of the NHL standings Eastern Conference in particular you'll notice obviously the Columbus Blue Jackets sitting in the second wild card spot right now I went over to FanDuel and I took a look at who will and will not make the playoffs odds that they have listed there okay okay the Columbus Blue Jackets currently sits plus 520 to make the playoffs okay you might say to

yourself whatever that's not that big of a deal I don't really expect them to make it Jeff. Here's who is ahead of them on that list the Ottawa Senators minus 113 the New York Rangers plus 235 the New Yorkers are Islanders Yes, also the Islanders plus 340 the Penguins plus 360 the Flyers plus 340, the Penguins plus 360, the Flyers plus 470, and the Detroit Red Wings plus 480, all ahead of them. So what do you do with that and those coins that make noise in your pocket? Well I also then went over to the schedule and again I'm not trying to diminish any of

these teams and say there's given wins, but these are some of the teams that they play coming up. So, okay. Yeah. Seattle, St. Louis, but then you play Philadelphia, San Jose, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Toronto, Carolina, Los Angeles, Vegas. Okay. A little bit tough, but then you go Utah, Dallas, Buffalo, Utah, New York. You have games against Detroit, Detroit.

Like they're loaded with these teams who are ahead of them and right around them obviously, okay Thank you, Zach captain obvious. They are in the Eastern Conference They play some conference teams But my point is more so these teams that are right there in the race with them fighting against them They have plenty of games left against them five Twenty plus five twenty five to one to make the playoffs with the New York Islanders ahead of you, the Ottawa Senators at minus money ahead of you.

Like that's something that I think is interesting. The thing about the Islanders is like, Siroken can just get them there. I get it. I don't think so, but we've seen it before. Yeah. Like you're not wrong. And it's not like they're far off. They're five points back of Columbus right now. But some of the things about it, I thought at least.

Are you gonna make a contribution from the Zach Phillips Benevolent Fund? Or did I make a contribution? Yes, I did. Okay, one thing I wanna ask you about I kind of threw this out there is a maybe it's got some type of life here. Nick Davis the Salt Lake Space Cakes might have usurped the Utah Yeti in the name race. I kind of like that. I don't know where I got that from. I think probably someone said it to me whenever someone says something dumb or I say

Some even my kids say it to me now if I'll say something dumb like my son will be driving a hockey Oh, thank you dad you eating space cake man like you're way off on your way up on this one Utah space cakes Like it. I'm in it's a big picture of a man Astronaut mask UFO ring floating around in it. Yeah, maybe. Bozo Mustgo.

Mini sticks in the hotel hallway was a staple at every tournament. Kudos to that hotel for what they made for the kids. That from the chat as well. How was chat today, by the way? I've got to figure out a way that I can be more in the chat while I'm on the show. The coffee boys, they do it so well. How was chat today, by the way? I got to figure out a way that I could be more in the chat while I'm on the show. Like the more the the coffee boys, like they do it so well. Like they are effortless with it. Maybe it's because they're not paying attention to each other. So maybe I need to ignore you more. No, the well, yeah, probably should do that. But the chat is very active today. Usually

when they're sending questions, I try to send them to you. Today was a lot of them talking to each other and or pumping your tires. So I just tried to keep that away from your eyes. I didn't need to see you getting your tires. Well, let's just widen the door frames that fit in my head. What were they saying, Zach?

No, no, no, no, don't bore people that way. All right, well, that was an interesting, did we leave anything on the table from yesterday? I wanna make sure we get all of our stuff in here. Is there anything that we... That was anything that was important from the last couple of days that we... Oh, hang on, hang on. Obozo Musko adds another great one. Devils can be renamed the mysterious drones.

The new Jersey Devils. Drones. The new Jersey Devils. Mysterious Drones, that's good. Colin Atkinson mixed bags, my team is trading everyone away. Why isn't Johnny allowed in Minnesota? Big Willy Stiles saying Johnny's not allowed in Minnesota. Do you know this story? No, I got a follow-up. Also, wait, this will tease for tomorrow. Have you perhaps seen the video that's going viral of some girl singing

karaoke with a familiar face? No? Okay. No'll leave it there and we'll pull it up for tomorrow. Are you a karaoke guy? You a karaoke dude? Uh, it's fun but usually it's gotta have a few uh... Do you have a go-to? I have one. Beverages. I have one song that I've figured out is the only song I can sing. What's yours? It's mine's Red Solo Cup. What's yours? Donkey No, mine is secret agent man by Johnny Rivers

There's a man who leads a life of danger at all he meets he stays. Oh, yeah, it's a great It's the only one that I can sing anywhere remotely in key Okay That's good. All right. well the chat is good today. The show was fun. Thanks to the Blue Jackets for making Don Waddell available. It was Blue Jacket Day today. Do you have a favorite blue jacket by the way of all time? Yeah, but it's the obvious. It's Rick Nash. But part of that is when I was a kid, my parents went away on a trip for something and my dad happened to see like a or they went to some event it wasn't a try don't think it was a trip but my dad brought

back an autographed Columbus Blue Jackets hat signed by Rick Nash it was one of like the only memorabilia I had in my early days that was not a Maple Leafs player and it hung on the wall and it was like why do you have that Blue Jackets hat? Rick Nash signed it. I thought it was so cool. That's awesome. I can recall Jim Lang told me this story. So Jim used to work at Sportsnet and he was doing a regional Maple Leafs game. Was it Lang? Yeah, it was Clever that told me this story. And it was Columbus's first season and so they're driving to Columbus and they got stopped at the border and the border guard didn't want to or refuse

them entry. Maybe they even had to go back although I think they had this sort of standard argue and prove that this actually existed. The border guard wouldn't let them into the States because he didn't believe that Columbus had a hockey team, had an NHL team. So they weren't't let them into the states because he didn't believe that Columbus had a hockey team, had an NHL team. So they weren't going to let him into the United States of America. You got all their gear, everything in the car and all that. The border guard's like, okay, you're eating space cake. They don't have a hockey team.

What are you talking about? No, we're going to get some maple leaves. Columbus doesn't have a hockey team, son. Can you step out of the car place? Let me see some some identification Yeah, that one always stuck with me just that was one of those like oof You hate to get reminded of things like that that you know, not everyone is down with the hockey vibe, but nonetheless My mom also just text me she's watching and she clarified it was a fundraiser for your novice hockey team just text me she's watching and she clarified it was a fundraiser for your novice hockey team. Fact-checking me on the show my bad mom. That's awesome we

get your mom fact-checking your goofy stories. Hey mom your son's great but he's eating space cake on today's show I don't know. Not so sure. My bad. Sorry mom. If I were you I'd go to his apartment and look at his medicine cabinet I'm not sure what's in there, mom. Not sure. I might want to have a peek there, moms. All right. There's a show for today. Thanks for joining us on the sheet. Thanks to everyone who took part in the chat as I just like honestly do. Like it's such a great side, Breck, cause I just, I just read it and laugh. It's great. And oh, by the way, like,

if any of you know any general managers specifically or team personnel for any NHL team, please remind them that Daniel Sprong is available. Trust me, he can score goals. Trust me, I know 5 on 5, he's had a hard time this year, but we've we've all seen it before at a Daniels sprung Just don't want it to end in the NHL like this for Daniels sprung Anyway, we'll see what happens by the time we hit the air tomorrow. We'll know the fate of Daniels sprung anyone claims them Or if not, we went on a mouse Daniel sprung to the sharks. Come on, let's go, alright?

Jeff would love that. What's that? You would love that. I'd pop like the Corkut of a champagne bottle. I'd be so excited to put that. I mean, they're still a bad team. I watched it on last night against Vegas.

I don't know how much that game you watched. Again, I'm addicted to watching sharks. I watched it last night. I'm like, this is against Vegas. I don't know how much that game you watch again. I'm addicted to watching sharks watch last night I'm like This is awesome. I love the sharks, but man are they ever bad and then Celebrini just gets freaking schooled by Mark Stone at the end of the game Just like alright rookie enough of this like I'll just take the fuck off you Brother all right Oh brother. Alright. Alquin, OhNo, SprungTrutherJeff, yeah it's true. I could see him just read the chat. Like it's more entertaining than I'll ever be. Okay, again, like and subscribe

this show and our daily face-off YouTube channel. Rate and review if you are listening on the Spotify, on the Apple Podcast, wherever you're getting your podcasts. On behalf of Zach Merrick signing off, the sheet returns tomorrow. Thanks to Columbus and Don Waddell again. Sheet returns tomorrow, three o'clock Eastern at noon Pacific. Don't forget to start your day with the Coffee Boys morning cup of hockey, nine o'clock Eastern right here on our daily face-off YouTube channel. I slept 16 hours last night Every day this week, every day this month I can't get out my head Lost all ambitions day to day

Guess I can call it a rut I went to the dark man He tried to give me a little medicine I'm like, nah man, that's fine I'm not against those methods but it's me, myself and how this gon' be fixing my mind Rebecca, turn on the music When you're sitting down there, I don't think you're sometimes losing Helping on the days that went wrong