The Sheet with Jeff Marek - La Belle Province ft. Jonny Lazarus

Episode Date: April 2, 2025

Jonny Lazarus joins Jeff Marek on the Wednesday edition of The Sheet. Discussing Nick Suzuki's massive night in Montreal and the Canadiens staying hot, the Rangers' chase for a playoff spot, the Viel/McIlrath fight, and much more...Shout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Ninja Kitchen Canada: https://www.ninjakitchen.ca/products/ninja-crispi-4-in-1-portable-glass-air-fryer-cooking-system-zidFN101CGY?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=olv&utm_campaign=25Q2-Crispi&utm_content=enReach 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.

Okay, unless your name is Robert Thomas, you cannot say you've been the best player in the NHL since the Four Nations faceoff. Nick Suzuki, I'm looking your direction. We're going to talk a lot about the Habs today. What a performance by Nick Suzuki yesterday. By the way, it looks like he'll be on the program next week. I wanna say Wednesday. Chances are he'll still be the best player

in the NHL by then, right now. I know Nikita Kucherov, I know, sit down. Again, Robert Thomas, friend of the the show former teammate to Philly back in the old YSE days but like honestly Zach after watching last night's performance and I know I know I know Reinhardt this Reinhardt that I get it like do you not say that like, right now, since the Four Nations, Nick Suzuki has been the best player in the NHL, period? Robert Thomas has been great, Nikita Kutraff has been awesome. Buddy, Nick Suzuki's it, no?

I'm still giving the edge to Robert Thomas. Based on? Look, part of the problem here I love him too I think Robert Thomas is awesome he's great player he's got a great family he's got a great story the Blues the hottest team in the NHL beat Detroit

last night 10 wins in a row nobody wants to go near these guys WC one in the West but dude like Suzuki's been incredible. You know? I know. And you know what too? They're both kind of in that similar position where it's like they're the onesie,

they're on a team that was pushing outside of a playoff spot, they're both on these unbelievable heaters with their teams. Yeah. I'm still going Robert Thomas. Okay, listen. Kudos to you Nick Suzuki.

All the credit in the world, but. I love me some Robert Thomas. I know I love you some Robert Thomas. Okay, so here's one quick point. We have a lot to get to today. And we're gonna get to Daily Outlines here in a couple of seconds. And Johnny Lazarus is gonna stop by

in a couple of seconds as well. And we have a new partner to welcome to the program as well that we're gonna get to a little bit later on and this feature involves the inbox which has a new title to it as well. And we got games tonight. Now, Vetch can score and more goals but you look at that crowd last night in Montreal. Again, I don't cheer for teams, I cheer for great moments, I cheer for people that I want to do well etc. and I don't know man but did not that not feel like a playoff crowd in Montreal? I know you've never been outside the borders of

Ontario, I understand that. But like even just watching that like you who have never been there before for that experience, I know you're a Maple Leafs fan, but do you not get that amazing hockey tingly feeling when you see that in Montreal and hear that in Montreal? Come on, man, you don't want that in the playoffs? I do all day long, all day long. Yeah, I do. As someone who is a fan of hockey, I want that there.

As a Leafs fan, they could stay outside the playoffs and Laz's Rangers can get in. I'm okay with that. I'll be a Laz supporter here until then. But yeah, it's annoying. It's annoying. That place is unbelievable. How loud it was. Nick Suzuki, the tying goal.

It sounded like the roof was going to come off the place. It's electric and there's no place like that. It sucks to say, but there's no, I mean, for some people it sucks to say, but there's no place like that. It's incredible and like, we got that hint of it, like you've seen it before, but then they were robbed of it on the cup run

in the bubble. You got the hint of it there in the Four Nations where it was like, wow, this is what this place could be like. It's like a tease. And then all of a sudden the Habs come out of the Four Nations. I don't know, even fan base and the fact they just work back and forth off of each other and now it's an unstoppable force.

Eric Engels was on Morning Cup of Hockey. By the way, can we change the name of the show to Afternoon Cup of Hockey? Can we just, can we move to change all the show to Afternoon Cup of Hockey? Can we just, can we change all the branding? We just call that and just create like, just like create the total synergy between the two and just like completely ravage their chat and take everybody from their chat and bring them over here. Afternoon Cup of Hockey, I think it has a real ring to it.

What do you think? And then maybe DFO Live can be like Midday Cup of Hockey. Just really, really capture the Cup of hockey space and really own that. Like really you gotta drill, in this new media environment, you gotta find out who you are and drill down on it, Zach. Maybe we just turn this into afternoon Cup of hockey.

Anyhow, that was fantastic last night. That really was tremendous. And Nick Suzuki's coming aboard here sometime next week. Also on Monday, so Friday we have Brian Burke, on Monday we're gonna have Patrick Burke from the NHL's Department of Player Safety, also works very closely with everybody involved

in the All-Star festivities. And one of the things we're gonna talk about with Patrick on Monday is the best or some of the best ideas that never made it into the All-Star Skills competition. The ideas that were rejected. You know we always talk about the trades that never happened? About like the All-Star events that never happened. We'll do that on the show on Monday. In the meantime we have a lot to get to today and we want to get to our first guest. The Daily Outline is as always presented by FanDuel, powered by FanDuel,

make every moment more with North America's number one sports book. That is FanDuel, our friends and our presenters here on the program. Coming up on the show today, we do have a lot to get to and I want to do a sort of side by side between one of my favourite long fights and then that Vial-Macklerath fight that we saw last night. Johnny Lazarus from Morning Cup of Hockey is going to stop by. We will get into some Rangers talk, I'm sure. We'll talk plenty about the Montreal Canadiens. We should probably talk about coaches Montreal Canadiens. We'll talk about the New York Rangers as, I guess like Montreal is now the belle of the ball for that wild card spot, but don't sleep on the Rangers, as Johnny Lazarus will tell us here in a couple of moments.

And a few things I want to pull out of the blog. You can have a peek at it at dailyfaceoff.com, mainly around coaches. For whatever reason, I was thinking about coaches on the weekend and sort of made some phone calls and jotted down some thoughts and we'll see what we can drag out on today's program. In the meantime, today's program now punctuated by the one and only Johnny Lazarus, who joins me now on the sheet.

Laz, how are you? And what do you think of the idea, by the way, of changing the name of the show to Afternoon Cup of Hockey? you and what do you think of the idea by the way of changing the name of the show to afternoon cup of hockey I was actually laughing my ass off behind the scenes funny like when we first came up with the name I like I loved it yeah now when I tell people I host a show and they're like what's it called it I'm like morning cup of hockey I feel like I sound like an idiot like I know it's like I don't know I feel like it just sounds a little goofy, but I guess that's like my personality and, you know, me and Colby, I think, have made

it work, but I was cracking up at the afternoon cuppa hockey. Whose idea? I'm just gonna call it like the sheet, your afternoon cuppa hockey. I'm the creative. I'm the creative. Okay. Anything creative on the show is for me. Anything smart from the show is Colby.

And then anything that's pretty... Anything that's pretty from the show is me. Anything that from the show is Colby and then anything that's pretty anything's pretty from the show. Anything that's like venomous comes from Colby anything that's like you know slander or insulting that all comes from Colby and your sunshine and lollipops. Usually. Really good. I got one thing though actually speaking of Colby. I'm gonna challenge your best player since Four Nations.

And I feel like I have Colby's voice in my head. All right. Lane Hudson. Oh God. Yeah. I know, I know, I know, I know, I know. It's interesting too, because for me, the race isn't between Lane Hudson and Macklin Celebrini.

It's Lane Hudson and Dustin Wolf. Yeah. That's what it seems to be now. And obviously the Midtown fans are- I know, but yeah, I know, but you're like, okay, so you've just arrived here, you just arrived here like five minutes ago in the Calder conversation. Let's just, let's just cool our thumbs here a little bit. Like, Michalov had a lot of, even outside of the relationship with John Tortorella, like anyone in the Flyers organization will tell you, like he had a lot of stuff to work out

to get him to this point. It wasn't as if there, you know, if there was a, if Brad Shaw was coaching the team at the beginning of the season that, you know, Matt Faye Michikoff would be running away with a call. That guy had a lot of stuff to fix, whether it was pace, whether it was, you know, playing on the smaller surface, like all these things and he's done it.

He's improved himself. I would make the argument that John Tortorella, as painful as it may have been for Michalov along the way, really helped turn Michalov into the player that he is now. I mean, how many times, Laz, have you seen a player say like, yeah, you know what? I'm at this height because I had a coach that at the time I really didn't like them, but I realized at the end of it, what he had done for me.

You know, there's, there's an old, there's an old saying about Scotty Bowman, you know, maybe the greatest coach of all time, Scotty Bowman. They used to always say, you know, 364 days of the year, all the players hated Scotty Bowman. And then on day 365, they got the rings. That's the old saying about Scotty Bowman. So I would still maintain like to the point about Michkov, Tortorella helped him get there.

He had a lot of stuff to clean up in his game to get to the place where now it's like, Oh yeah, he's snapping into a cyst last night. It's a two plus two day. Like Torz helped this guy. Let's not make a mistake about it. I fully agree. And I only bring up his name because I am sick and tired of having this conversation and not saying Mavay-Michv and then having people DM me or tweet at me saying, why won't you bring up Mitchcov? They get so angry. They're so defensive over him. And listen, that's why you got to love the Philly sports fans, right? Like, you know what they are

and you know how passionate they are. And it's the one thing they have to cheer for right now. That is true. Now to the point about Hudson, like I'm voting today right now as this when the show goes off the air Lane Hudson has my call to vote. Lane Hudson does. Like what he's doing is outstanding for the habs here. Nothing taking nothing away at all from Macklin Celebrini. It's not an either or conversation. Like you're both beautiful. It's okay. We love you both. It's all right. But like Lane Hudson is next level. I want to get to Rangers in a couple of seconds here, but great job with Eric Engels. One of my favorites from the old shop.

Thank you. Love Engels traveled with him, worked with him. Wonderful guy. Like when you look at Montreal now, a couple of things spring to mind. One, we're giving the Jack Adams, Spencer Carberry in Washington, but where's Marty St. Louis in all of this?

Uh, Lane Hudson for the call. They're cool with that. You know, Nick Suzuki is turning himself into, into Bergeron light. Uh, and they're getting, you know, really good goaltending performances. Samuel Montembeau, uh, Jacob Dobish, like they're getting good, like, but when you see

the haves, like what stands out for you? For me, it's Suzuki, Slavkovski, but like, who does it for you or what does it for you? Oh man, I mean, there's a lot there. You know, honestly, one of the weirder things too that I've been trying to figure out, the same thing is happening this year that happened last year with that line getting hot,

Suzuki, Slavkovski and Caulfield, right? Like the second half of the year, they were the best line in hockey and the same thing's happening again. Like I think Slavkovski and Caulfield. Right. The second half of the year, they were the best line in hockey. And the same thing's happening again. Like, I think Slavkovski had two goals maybe before four nations. I think he's at like 18 now. You know, like what's going on with the team the second half of the year? They just explode. I don't know what it is.

You know, obviously Patrick Laine coming back and being healthy is obviously sparked them to on the power play. You know, Montembo, the beginning of the year he had, he's obviously not been as consistent throughout the entire season. But, you know, I think his play has been good enough to help them win. One name that you haven't been hearing enough about, or at least lately, like I haven't really heard Arbor Jack guys name that much lately. Like, I don't like, is he just not, you know, again, I don't watch every Canadians game. He's not like in the beginning of the year, he was doing something crazy every single night.

And I think, you know, it seems like he's toned it down a bit. You know, you know, I thought you were going to say there and it's a name that I did want to get to because, you know, all season long we've been running, oh boys, he just headed for that, for the biotech in the off season. Josh Anderson's got 14 goals. Yeah. And you know what a guy like that means for a team in the playoffs. I know it hasn't been, you know, the best of all possible situations between with Josh Anderson and Montreal, but I don't know, man. Like all season long, we've been wondering, okay, so what's the future with Josh Anderson and Montreal? Guys like that don't come around. And he's one of only, one of the things I always love mentioning about Josh Anderson is, you know, he's one of only like three guys in the history of the NHL

to have fought both Sideno Chara and Milan Lucic. I think it's only three that have done that, but he's one of them. He's fearless, he's got a big body. Every time he plays Zach's team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, he turns into the ghost of Rocket Richard. I mean, if Montreal played 82 games against Toronto, we'd put this guy in the Hall of Fame. I thought you were going to say Josh Anderson. I really did.

Well, just to add to that sentiment, too, like I don't remember what month it was. It was earlier in the year, obviously, because Jacob Trubba was still here. But Trubba laid a huge hit on Justin Barron in Montreal earlier in the season

and the guy who answered for it. Center Ice, MSG, Josh Anderson. That's great fun. He I think he beat the wheels off Truba, honestly, like Truba. Truba had to like hold himself together in that fight. Well, like, you know, listen, whether guys want to say it or not, everyone's aware when number eight and blue and white was out on the ice.

You know, when Jacob Truba was here, they kept their heads up. At least tried to or or at least thought about it. And for Anderson to step up and fight him like that's not an easy task. And you know, that's a guy you love having on your team. And I think he's a guy that every organization would want on their team. It's interesting. You know, he's he's five and a half on the on the AAV. It's a very reasonable number that given 14 goals, and

we'll see what happens if the Montreal Canadiens can make it into the playoffs. And if they do, it'll be to the chagrin of the New York Rangers. I know that Montreal is like the new shiny toy here within the wild card conversation, but can you make the case for the Rangers? To be in the playoffs? Yeah.

I mean, listen, if there's one thing about the New York Rangers, it's Igor Sesturkin. He's been unbelievable. I know, you know that there's one thing about the New York Rangers, it's Igor Shusterkin. He's been unbelievable. I know, you know, this past stretch, the Anaheim game was tough. I don't necessarily put the blame on him. I was at that game too. And I will say the people in Anaheim,

the PR team, you know, the social media team, the players, like that is one of the most like chill organizations I've ever been around. You know, I got to go to their morning skate and just like hang around the guys like talk to Frankie Utrano talk to Zegra talk to Truba. And like everyone was just like, so happy. You know, that's a team that I'm like now rooting for. But if I am playing against the Rangers that they get in the playoffs, like Igor Shasterkin,

he is the problem. Again, though, like he faces so many chances and so many shots any given night. And that's where it's like, I'll always take his side when it comes to the $11.5 million contract because everyone's like, if you're going to make that much money, you better make that save. Well, guess what? He's making that much money because he has to make those saves every time in every game because he's just seeing slot shot after slot shot, slot shot that not every other goalie

in the NHL sees. You know, so... Quick, quick, quick aside on Shusterken. I don't know that I've seen, and like there are smarter goalie people, you know, like Kevin Woodley, if you're listening slash watching, correct me on this one. I don't know that I've seen in the NHL right now a better, a goalie who better anticipates a shot than Igor Shusterken. It gets freaky. I think I like, like whenever I talk to goalie people, they'll a shot than Igor Shosturkin. It gets freaky. I think a lot, like whenever I talk to goalie people, they'll always say like Shosturkin, as far as a skating

goalie goes, he's the best. And we never see an accent on like how well a goaltender skates, Shosturkin is the best. He's the best skating goalie and he anticipates better than anybody else, at least from these naive eyes. And one thing I will say just to like get back to the question. If I if I'm outside even honestly, even the people in New York right now, even Rangers fans, I think 95% of people would tell you they rather see Montreal get that spot in the Rangers. And I'm saying that as a Rangers man. And I think most Ranger fans would actually agree with me. Montreal deserves it

more than the Rangers do. But okay, first of all, quick pause, Ali Quinn in the chat. This is awesome. I know Merrick loves Shisterkin's hips. You know, okay, so I used to, I, okay, so I have this thing. Okay, let me just break, let me just break with it with this one second. Let me just level with everybody here.

I got this thing about Russian gold tenders hips. Okay, Colby's in the chat too, great. Okay, so here's my thing about Russian. So Ali's right on this. Ali pays attention. So my thing about Russian goaltenders hips, like I look at goaltenders around the posts and I swear that they don't have hips.

You know how like some like runway models will remove a rib to make themselves look even leaner? And you go- I can't say I do. They're missing a rib will remove a rib to make themselves look even leaner. And you go, they missing a rib, missing a rib. And then, but I look at, I look at Russian goalies and I've asked Woodley about this too. Like there's just something physiological about their anatomy that makes it look like they don't have hips and that's why they're able like to

move around the, like watch like Sorokin, Vasilevsky, Shostryk like watch all of them. Their post play is like no one else in the NHL. It's freaky. Like I'll look at Jake to Ali's point like I'll watch Shostryk and go he has no hips. I don't get it. It's freakish. It's one of the weirdest things in the NHL to me is Russian Goal tend to post play. It's bizarre. Anyway, that's just my side. Ali's Ali's right yeah I got the thing about Russian hips I guess weird okay I can't say that I have the same feeling or emotion toward it you want to talk about Russians hips or Swedish knees or Finnish shoulders anything jumping out at you Canadian wrists anything jumping out of you you

notice about anyone from various countries? I don't know. I can't say anything does, no I can't. Bella Russian ankles? Anything? No? Nothing? Okay. Russian hips and gold tenders for me, anyhow. Uh, where were we? I actually have no idea. Oh yeah, you're making the case for the New York Rangers

and then Ali got me talking about the Russian hips around posts. Well, I was actually making the case against're making the case for the for the New York Rangers and then Ali got me talking about the Russian hips around posts. Well, I was actually making the case against them to be honest. Okay, very okay, very good Elsewhere elsewhere around the NHL Let me ask you about you had Tarek al-bashir on who's one of my favorites I love him and the Washington Capitals a little bit later on I want to make a couple of points about protus But in the meantime, I mean the the story is Alex Ovechkin. I've made the point that I and you and I will disagree on this one just like you got tag team with with Pat Maroon and Colby Cohen about this one I don't know that any gold tender wants to go into the hockey hall of fame with their picture with Alex Ovechkin

celebrating but nonetheless I think that there's probably some e-bugs out there that would think that would be really, really cool. But just to have like a general thought on Ovechkin, like you're younger than me, so I'm curious what you think about this record, because I've kind of equated it to when I was a kid growing up, my dad would always tell me Terry Sochuk's 103 shout out record will never be broken. And then Marty Bordur came along and it was like, oh, that's awesome. But like, where does this rank amongst your like,

I'm growing up and I'm watching this guy, you know, fill the net and now he's gonna knock down, you know, another record that people, a lot of people said would never be broken again, specifically when we were going through the dead puck era in the NHL. Well, this is gonna piss Jeremiah off for sure. Do it a tough thing about it. I think the tough thing about it is that

like, Ovi will be the greatest goal scorer of all time. Yes. But I think when we still talk about greatest players, like I don't know where he falls. You know, I really don't. And that's I'm not trying to take any credit away from Obi. Like, he's been one of the most fun, electrifying players to watch. Like, my entire middle school and high school years, the Rangers were playing against the Capitals, and I, like, hated him. You know, as a fan, as a young fan, I hated him.

It's like I hated Crosby. Like, just like I hated anyone. The Rangers played again when I was a kid. Like, that's just how you're programmed as a fan. And now, like, when you get older and you play at Mount Rushmore player? And it's hard to make that case. It's hard to say no. I think it's hard to say no. It's hard to say yes.

But it's hard to say yes. See, for me, I think it's hard to say no. I think it's hard to say no. I think it's hard to say no. I think it's hard to say no. I think it's hard to say no. I think it's hard to say no. I think it's hard to say no.

I think it's hard to say no. I think it's hard to say no. I think it's hard to say no. I think it's hard to say no. I think it's hard to say no. I think it's hard to say no. I think it's hard to say no. I think it's hard to say no.

I think it's hard to say no. I think it's hard to say no. I think it's hard to say no. I is he now a Mount Rushmore player? And it's hard to make that case. Hard to say no. It's hard. I think it's hard to say no. It's hard to say yes. But it's hard to say yes. See, for me, it's hard to say it because the job of hockey is to put that little round black thing over the red line.

Like that's hockey. That's what hockey is. But let's talk about goaltenders too, because what, Flur's second all time and wins? Wins is a team record though. That's a team stat. I know you can make the point too that no one's just scoring goals on their own, but like, put it this way, goals against average is a team stat, save percentage, although as faulty as it might be is more of a goalie stat, but like goals. And the thing about Ovechkin too that still kills me is, and you know, like I was always told that when you get to the NHL, you can't blow pucks past goaltenders. You can't, you cannot do it. Now I know that Ovechkin is very precise in his shooting, but I mean, we've all seen him just blow pucks past goalies. I was told you could never do that. And here he is. I'm going to the chat right now to see what Jeremiah reacted, how he reacted. We've been

fighting about this all year. Yeah. Oh, we've been, I don't know. There's a lot of, a lot of people in the chat today. It's buzzing right now. It's good. See what he said. It's good. But again, are you confident in saying that like, like you think everyone would agree that Alexander Ovechkin is a Mount Rushmore NHL player? It's going to be hard to say no. I'm not saying that I agree but I don't. To me the question is who does he take off? First of all, is who do you have on there? And then secondly, who does he take off?

I'm putting Sid there over him. See that's going to be the big, that's going to be the big debate from this era, right? But the thing is, the Mount Rushmore always changes. Like there was a while, there was like, I don't know, like 10 years ago or so, my own personal Mount Rushmore, I took Bobby Orr off and put Nick Lindstrom on.

To me, he's the greatest defensive of all time. And when I say that in Canada, I know, it's just like scooping him up. Now I know if we had, you know, sophisticated medicine back in the 60s, 70s, like we do now, Bobby Orr's career would have been extended, but still, like I don't know if I've seen a better defenseman overall for as long as Nick Lidstrom played in the NHL, but still like, to me the Mount Rushmore always changes and is always evolving. You know, old, old, old timers will put Eddie Shore on there but nonetheless I might well that's the thing too. I tweeted a clip of like Kale McCarr from like a couple years ago like two weeks ago that

actually like people were commenting on all the time like go watch a clip of Bobby Orr and tell me that Kale McCarr is the best offensive all time and I was like well I don't actually have clips of Bobby Orr because it's so damn old so I don't know where do you think. Here's the thing about him here in this one, Canadians hate hearing cause it disqualifies a lot of people automatically. In 1967, the NHL doubled in 1970. There was expansion in 72. There was expansion in 74. There was a whole new league. You can make the argument. We'll end it on this one.

You can make the argument that all those players in that era, sorry, Bobby Orr fans, sorry Phyllis Bozzito fans, is that they were the best when the NHL was at its weakest. Yeah, I mean, listen, I wasn't around to watch those guys play. I'm not going to sit here and say, like, I can't speak to it. I wasn't around. So Tommy T, from one wayels to Mount Rushmore, we're rolling. We are rolling! That's how the sheet works, right? That's how the sheet works. And I know you got a roll too. Listen, I appreciate you popping by and and hopping on here with me.

Any closing thoughts? I understand you got a great clip from Marc-Andre Fleury. Yes, I, uh, well, that's where where Pat and Colby dunked on me the other day. Again, I told Colby and Pat, like I wasn't the most competitive guy. Like that's why I never made it in my hockey career. I wasn't out there to like be a killer, to prove that I was the best. I was out there having a good time. That's what I do in my media career. You know, I just try to have a good time and make people laugh and talk about the game. But yeah, Pat and Colby dunked on me the other day.

And that turned into like a funny clip on social. And then, you know, we were talking about about um you know what a goalie would feel like to be a part of history you know being the one to allow that 895th goal because it's gonna happen it's gonna be somebody so we're gonna have to ask them their thoughts when it does is it i mean eventually at some point i think it's gonna be this year so if it's if it's an empty net then does that net go into the hockey hall fan? Oh, that's what you mean. Yeah. Um, who turned the puck over? Someone turned it over. Okay. So, okay. So it's a, it's a, okay. Let me give you, give you a scenario here. So Ryan Leonard and Alex Ovechkin are on a two on O on two versus empty net. Ryan Leonard doesn't have his first goal in the NHL yet. Ovechkin's got the puck.

He passes it to Ryan Leonard. Now what's on the line is the Gretzky record. Ovechkin scores, he gets the record. Leonard scores, he gets his first goal in the NHL. You're Ryan Leonard, Ovechkin has just passed the puck to you. Do you shoot or do you pass it back to Ovi? Jeff, this is the easiest answer of all time. Why would Ryan Leonard shoot that puck?

He'd get- Because Ovechkin has given, because Ovechkin, because maybe in his mind he's thinking, Ovechkin's given me this puck because he doesn't want the record breaker to be on an empty net. Do you give it back to him? Well, guess what?

I think, I'm not gonna speak for Ryan Leonard if that's immediate puck from Ovechkin, I'd rather the team go the other way and score the goal and tie the game. And why would Ryan Leonard want his first NHL goal to be an empty net or two? Why not? Just take it. Whatever, man. You tell me like even just to get that first one out of the way and it's an assist from Alexander Ovechkin, take that all day long. You pass that puck back 11 out of 10 times. There's no way I'm putting that in the net. No way. I'd actually probably miss on purpose. Fire it over the net. Just sizzle one wide.

I don't even know. Yeah. There's no way. Two on one on an empty net and you dump it in the corner. Oh, it's coach wants me to do. Keep the puck in safe places. You're the best pal. What does the chat say about that? Let's see. Oh here we go. J Rock says I stop, look at Ovi and shake my head and slide it back to him. Yeah I agree. I agree. Hmm. Alright you kicking me off now? Yeah. You got a punt? I thought you had to punt. What do you mean? You got to take off? Or you got a couple more minutes. I want to ask you about coaches. You got to take off? I got two. I got two. Okay, two minutes. Okay, so a little bit later on I'm going to talk about coaches here.

On the program. As from a person, I'm leading the witness because I know where this one is going. Your favorite coach of all time, whoever coached you is who? John LaFontaine. Pat's brother. Why? John LaFontaine basically was the first coach not to necessarily like punish me, but he

was hard on me in a, in like a caring way. You know, I knew it was genuine. Um, you know, he would scratch me earlier in the year, but he would tell me it's for my own good. You know, it wasn't like he was out to get me. I never felt like he was out to get me. And there were moments of weakness where I was like, you know, I need to go somewhere where I'm going to play and like, you know, I'm not

committed. I'm not talking to colleges, like, you know, I actually considered going to like the Merit Centennial is in the BCHL and leaving the North American League because I got scratched like two games in a row. When I knew, like, I think Penn State was there watching and I had like just talked to them the year before. And I got scratched that game. I was pissed. But John also like, okay, here's actually my favorite John LaFontaine story.

He comes up to me my first year junior one game and this is obviously anyone who knows me knows the story, you know, is so believable and predictable. But he came up to me and said like, hey, listen, like, you know, I think you should drop the gloves. You know, your teammates, I think they would respect you for it. You know, you're playing the game a little bit soft right now and I think you should drop the gloves, you know your teammates I think they would respect you for it You know you you're playing the game a little bit soft right now And I know you're not one to get your nose dirty like I think you should do it He basically called me, you know a bit CH without saying it

Which was very kind of him to put it nicely The next game next game cam night one of our defensemen hit from behind I you know, reactively dropped my gloves fought I held my own. I don't think I lost it. But the way I felt after it was like something I hadn't felt before. Right? Like it's a different kind of feeling that you get from your teammates. And you know, now I can now speak on like, what players feel when they're on a new team

or, you know, kind of get that respect from a teammate when they actually dropped the gloves. And listen, I didn't do it at the NHL level. But you know, that feeling of fighting is different. And I thought about myself in like a tougher way after that. Like everyone knows I'm a soft, sensitive, you know, puppy, I guess, as Colby says. But in that moment, like you kind of feel like you're tougher than you actually are

in your own skin. And John was the first one to really kind of, you know, get that out of me. And you know, my coach Bob Thornton, my senior high school always called me nice slazz. He said I had to be, I had to get meaner, you know, like I was like Gordon and dodgeball. You gotta get angry. You gotta get mean. Like that was me. You know, so I'm off on team. Yeah. And actually I ended up seeing him on the ice at the 2023 Stanley Cup final. His daughter's married to Teddy Blugher. I hadn't seen John's, I played for him and we're on the ice at the cup final. And I like just saw him. I was like, John, what are you doing here?

But that was great. So thank you for letting me tell that, Gary. Dude, I absolutely love that. My final question for you, I know in the chat, who was it that said, yeah, to Jeff, oh yeah, Camp Demamp says, two minutes to Jeff is 10 minutes to everybody else. How many times, I'm just gonna do this one to you

as you've said before, how many times, what is your own personal record for saying one more question? I mean, I'm just gonna do this one to you as you've done before, how many times, what is your own personal record for saying one more question? I mean, I think I do it. We do four shows a week. I probably do it 75% of the shows. So whatever that math is. I just love it.

Oh, by the way, real final last question. I'm gonna show Vial McIlrath here in a couple of seconds. I wanna put it sort of frame to frame to another one, Prober McSorley from a million years ago. What did you think of Vial McIlrath here in a couple of seconds. I want to put it sort of frame to frame to another one, Prober McSorley from a million years ago. What did you think of Vial McElrath last night? Now you're talking about your fights. I honestly didn't see it. Oh, dude, do yourself a favor. It's one of these, it's a fade back to center. It's a fade back to center and it's long. Yeah, like everyone was saying like fight of the like, it's long. You know, like- Everyone was saying like fight of the year, right?

I don't know why they didn't click on it. I gotta go back and watch that. From me to you, my gift to you. Thank you. Thank you. Whatever you have going on tonight. You're the best, my man. We'll chat soon.

Thanks, Jeff. Love you, later. Johnny Lazarus, the one and only, one half of the awesome morning cup of hockey. The compliment of the afternoon cup of hockey, I should point to. What do you think? Is that one going to stick? Zach, the afternoon cup of hockey? A shitty cup of hockey.

I don't know why that's funny. I have no idea why that's funny. I have no idea why that's funny. I just maybe because I didn't expect it. Yeah. Of all the jokes that you've told that one and I tell you they're bad, that one that I just wrote there, that's at the bottom of the list. But I don't think. I've given you some good ones lately.

Could you like, in the middle of the day? Yeah. At my age, I just want to talk to the frog like that's a good Towards the end of the season we'll just start telling jokes here on the program in the meantime mention that Vial McElrath fight And the one thing I thought of whenever I think of Marathon fights. I always think of Bob Probert. And I was watching this one last night, I was thinking to myself, okay, so what does this one kind of remind me of?

And it's more like the hostility was there. But I wanna go sort of screen to screen. Yes, Tommy T, he said, shitty cup of hot tea. Yes, he did. I did. I did, regretfully. That's alright. And so I want to go sort of split-screen here of Vial and McElrath last night. By the way I met Vial. He was playing for for Akhadi Bathurst in the Memorial Cup, the 100th anniversary in

Regina and he was like a really skilled player. They won the Memorial Cup, his team did. Noah Dobson was on that really skilled player. They won the Memorial Cup, his team did. Noah Dobson was on that team, and I remember I met him, and I met his dad, and trust me, like, Vial comes by his toughness honestly. Really, really honestly. He's a tough dude. Also, like anyone who makes it in the NHL,

I don't care what your role is, skilled guy. In junior, that guy was tough and skilled. Don't ever lose that idea that you just make it to the NHL just by being tough. No, not even close to true. Anyhow, so here is Splits Queen, and we'll sort of chat over this here, Zach. This is Vialen McElrath from last night, along with another another long one and that is Marty McSorley and Bob Probert. That one would have been from I want to say 84. McSorley was playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins at that point. Bob Probert was still with the Detroit Red Wings. And like McIlrath and Vial goes on and Vial has given up some weight here and given

up some size. McIlrath is a killer. Think about McSorley and Vial goes on and Vial has given up some weight here and given up some size. McElrath is a killer. Think about McSorley and Probert. These are like top three guys doing it at that time. And I remember working with McSorley on Sportsnet a million years ago when Marty was with us and I love it. Go out to dinner or go out for a drink with Marty afterwards and I would just bore him with a million questions and I asked him about some of the Probert fights and imagine this like as you're seeing this like these guys are going everywhere he said one of the things that Probert liked to do and He had some doozies with Craig Cox as well

Probert as he would, he would love guys that could go on and on and on because Probert would get stronger as the fights went on. He told me that the whole time Bob was talking. Just psychotic by the way. Yes, I know. But the thing is, imagine this Zach, everyone in the chat, everyone listening, everyone watching, as this fight is going on, Probert is telling Marty, now let's go over here and show them the fight. Like he would take like his partner like around the rink, like oh they haven't seen, let's go into this corner now. Oh now we're going over here. Like there was there was so many Bob Probert fights where he would do that like drag the guys would have all over the ice like okay let's go to this corner now and fight.

These guys need to see this. Now let's fade back to this corner. These guys want to see this. That was back to this quarter. These guys want to see this. That was Probert's maybe the best to do it of all time. Now that Probert McSully fight went on forever. Yeah, that's one of those ones where, you know, you go back into the room after and you've thrown so many punches that the trainer has to cut your shoulder pads off because you can't even lift up your arms. Yeah. It's a minute 40.

Start to finish and I cut them, I set them right at the beginning of both fights so that we could play that through like that. So like a minute 40 run time on the full McSorley fight. And honestly, one of the funnier parts too there at Jeff at the end while it's like that's going on which you I would have no idea about which is hilarious let's go over there. Bob would talk the whole time. Like you're a nut job like that's insane. Bob and such a nice guy. The refs if you notice the refs, they keep, they're following the whole thing, right? And then you see them, they'll be like, oh, now we go in. And then they're standing there.

You know, and then it's like they both look at each other and it's like, we could stop. No. And then they move two feet over to the other side and then they start dancing across the ice. The ref's like, oh, no, I can't do it. I can't do it. And then they just start chucking again. And that's why so many of the guys, you've heard me make this joke before, there was

a linesman with the name of Kevin Collins who always had the repute. The way that it works, you've heard me talk about Kevin Collins before. You know, guys like Marty would hate Kevin Collins because Kevin Collins, like the way to do this as someone who's a liney is, because the referees don't break up the fights as we all know, it's the linesmen that break up the fights you have to do it at the same time both guys like you pick your guy that you're gonna grab on to and you have to do it at the same time because if you just grab one there's gonna be trouble and the thing about Kevin Collins always was he was the

linesman that got overly excited about breaking up fights and it cost guys like punches in the face broken noses Cut scar whatever that's what all the guys were like, uh Collins is working the lines and I yeah, we're not fighting because we're not gonna we're not gonna take the risk by the way As we're talking about this the best linesman and I think he's writing a book now last time I talked to him. He was talking about writing a book the best linesman. I ever saw breaking up fights Was and he's recently retired like it's not that long ago Jay shares Remember Jay shares Jay shares who yeah, so so strong Jay was so tough and you talked to guys You talked to guys who had fights and had

their fights broken up by Jay Schaer's. Schaer's had this thing yeah I see you John Benkart story time with Gramps I know here we go gather round everybody you're just talking about Jay Schaer's breaking up fights but he would like grab you and he would do this squeeze on your arms and like you would watch guys like go limp because he was so snap mind was the end of a fight but still like he would grab both arms and then Sharers would do this like squeeze and you could see guys like buckle like okay yeah the fights over. Like when Jay got the hooks in like there was there was no one. Like you've seen officials get manhandled a

little bit like pushed around like I'm gonna when shares got you that was it the fight was over. Shares was the best at breaking up fights. So that AHL fight that we watched where the guy like did the karate chop on the hands and top three and chased the guy down that wouldn't be happening with shares that's what you're saying. Not on Jay's shares watch hippie not on Jay's watch. He's got the hooks in ya. You are done. All right, hey, something we should probably do here. We have a new partner here on the program

that we're really excited to have aboard. So I thought a lot about this this afternoon. And it's something that they had a lot of fun with on the morning show, and we're gonna have a lot of fun with on the morning show, and we're going to have a lot of fun with here. And with that, we want to present the Crispy inbox. By the way, the email address is thesheet at the nation network. We'd like to welcome aboard the Ninja Crispy, ninjakitchen.ca. Meet the first of its kind, the Ninja Crispy Portable Cooking System, the power of a full-sized air fryer in the palm of your hand so you can cook big or small batches. Just prep it,

crisp it, serve it, and store it all in one. Okay, so here's my question. So I'll get to the tag here in a second. So I would put like sweet potato in that, I'd put my question. So I'll get to the tag here in a second. So I would put like sweet potato in that, I'd put broccoli in that, I'd put cauliflower in that. Can you do corn on the cob in that? I think you can do pretty much anything. Like I got my parents a Ninja two years ago. The amount of stuff that they've told me that they've cooked in that is unbelievable.

You not imagine that you could be air frying things. And this is basically just like a condensed portable version of it to my understanding. So like it's gotta be able to do that. Travel with that. But my question is corn on the cob. That was the one, cause I'm like, yeah, throw asparagus in there, that'd be cool.

Corn on the cob is the one. Now it is an all in one system that includes four quart, six cup temp wear glass containers and two storage lids. The Ninja Crispy is the thermal shock resist, is thermal shock resistant and can go from frozen to crispy in minutes. With the Crispy powered, you get the power of a full sized air fryer in the palm of your hands. The four quart container fits four pounds of chicken or veggies. Cook a personal sized meal in seven minutes in the six cup container. Max crisp, bake, airfry and re-crisp with the Ninja Crispy. You can prep, cook and

store anything from Crispy's favorites to one dish meals. Visit their website in the link in the description and stay tuned for a chance to win a free Ninja Crispy for one of our lucky fans. Very much looking forward to that. Now we've rebranded the inbox to the Crispy Inbox. The sheet at the Nation Network is the email that you send to the Crispy Inbox. What do we have today, young Zach? This one comes... You read it, good timing there about the fights.

Hey Jeff and Zach, watching scrums slash fights freaks me out for a reason never really brought up. I saw scrums slash fight the other night in a game and I saw that the gloves were off and players were down with other players still up and the linesman around them. Watching it freaks me out thinking of all the exposed hands on or near the ice with all the skates going on around them. I never really hear about these kinds of injuries, but it seems like it should happen all the time. Why doesn't it?

And are the players and refs slash linesman just inherently aware of bare hands on the ace or are the players just insanely lucky? Also the women are smarter than the men. There should be face masks out there. Thanks for everything. I don't disagree with that at all. That's true.

First thing, I think players are sensitive to it. I think players are aware of it. I think even growing up in minor slash youth hockey, I know on one of my kid's teams, one of his teammates, this would have been when they were like seven or eight years old, one kid lost almost half of his finger in the dressing room,

getting stepped on as they were just playing, which is absolutely horrifying. I just saw his mom not too long ago, and he's doing fine. This is years, years later, but absolutely horrifying at the time. This is, by the way, one of the reasons why you're not allowed to kick goals into the net. Did you know that? This is the reason why you can kick the puck anywhere. You can kick the puck to a player in the neutral zone. You can kick the puck

soccer style. Look at this great pass. Mitch Barnett is doing it behind his back. Look at this. This is awesome. Like you can do that everywhere except kicking the puck over the line and that is because They understand that you know There's a lot of bodies in front of the net and the last thing you want people to do is essentially to swing their feet That have knives on the bottom of them Right, like I think we've all had the thought about like well Why can't you just kick the puck in there like just leave it direct kicking motion? Who cares you put the puck in the net? So what didn't come off your stick? Who cares you got it in the net and the main reason is is they don't want these injuries to happen

I think players are really really sensitive about it, too And I've thought about it as well and you really started to I mean I'm old enough to remember when they didn't have like the Short cuff glove like they have now. Gloves used to, let me get a good shot, gloves would go down to like here on you. Like almost like halfway up your forearm. Like you look, go to the Hall of Fame and go look at old gloves. Like you're like, holy smokes, how do they move their wrists? Now it's all wrist mobility, wrist mobility, short cuffs. And I always think to myself, that's a lot of exposed flesh. There's always a lot of exposed skin. And when everyone's down and around the crease, flesh. There's always a lot of exposed skin and when everyone's down and around the crease,

I think that there is a sensitivity amongst players about that happening. You watch when a player gets cut how a lot of guys will freak out right away and almost like, okay, stop the game. This is a serious cut. Like everybody stop. But that's the reason why they don't allow kicking, they don't allow kicking the puck into the net because they don't want to encourage. And you know what the other one is? Here's another one for you. While we're on this tangent. Yeah, it's more Gramps Tell Stories. So once upon a time, once upon a time, there was a movement around the NHL at one of the manager's meetings about getting rid of the gate at the bench. Yeah, because you open the gate, it's really, really dangerous. The idea was players could just jump over the bench. Yeah. Because you open the gate, it's really, really dangerous. The idea was players could just jump over the bench and jump back on. And the reason they didn't do it was they didn't

want blades that high in the air. Now it does happen, but they don't want to encourage like blades that high in the air coming on or going off the ice. They would like the blades as often to stay on the ice. So I don't know if that answered the question but when I think about skates and cuts and blades and things those are things that come to mind. It gets imperfect when it comes to changing. Make the argument, do you want blades in the air or do you want gates opening? Both can lead to disaster. It's just one of those as we, costs of doing business. Assumed risk. There's no really 100% safe way to do it. It's one of the things that is most unique to

hockey that doesn't exist in other sports. The ability to change while the play is going on. I think this is something that... Quick tangent. I think this is something that we don't pay enough attention to as a point of differentiation between hockey and other sports, right? This doesn't happen in basketball, this doesn't happen in football, this doesn't happen in baseball. This does not happen in other sports. I remember talking to the original play-by-play voice of the Birmingham Bulls and I said like, you know, when the Toros went to the Bulls, WHA story, when the Toros went to the

Bulls, what did, because it was a Virgin Market, like fans really didn't know hockey, what did the fans love? And I expected him to say, well it's a WHA, so it's like bench-clearing bras, big fight, long hair, back scratch and slap shots, all that kind of stuff. That's what I expected. And he said, you know what fans went crazy for? I said, what's that? He goes, line changes, especially wholesale line changes. I said, why? He said, you don't see that in other sports. Players would leave the surface and the fans would go,

what are they doing? Where are they going? And then others would come on. And if it was a wholesale line change, they'd come on in perfect formation. And he said, you never see it. And you Canadians take this for granted because you just sort of grew up around it.

But imagine if you've never seen a sport where you change while the game is going on because that's what you have in hockey. And that's one of the reasons why, if I can wrap this story up here, as wordy as it might be, that's one of the reasons why I hate it when I see players deliberately throwing pucks

at the bench to try to get a too many men on the ice call. I'm like, don't wreck one of the most unique things that this sport has to offer. Just so you can get a two minute power play. Like, I don't know that we go as far as the little lacrosse box. I mean, you would know that one better than I would, Zach. That's what I was going to say. But that is so unique.

Like, the ability to change while the play is going on, so unique to hockey, that we all take it for granted, because we just sort of grew up with it. But other sports don't do that. We don't pay attention to it. Yeah, it's hard, it's like, again, I think I said this the other day, but something that's like the damned if you do,

damned if you don't situation with changing stuff, you go, okay, you can strictly go over the boards. Now you probably Increase likelihood of that injury being the case Yeah, I don't think it's as prominent of guys going over onto the ice But if you're gonna have to have guys coming off the ice in a hurry jumping over the boards every single time Into the bench risk of guys on the bench getting hit risk of guys who are near you changing while you go off the ice That kind of stuff it can increase risk risk of guys who are near you changing while you go off the ice, that kind of stuff. It can increase risk,

risk of the coach, risk of the coach leading into yell to someone as someone jumps onto the yeah, great. Yeah, that's what you need. I think the best way would just be the lacrosse box experience that it's like very, very rare that you get any kind of injuries coming out of that. It's not non-existent, but very rare. But also, just a quick thing on that, the wholesale line changes.

Lacrosse is one where you're, wow, do you have to get wholesale line changes. Yeah, it's cool. Because you get one guy who carries the ball, all four other guys go off the court, it's so cool. Or whatever you wanna call it, and then four guys come out running,

and then that's how the change happens. Those ones are fun, but yeah. I love it. I don't know. Damn if you do, Dan, if you don't. I know. I don't know if that is a thorough enough answer. Kind of went on a couple of tangents there, but there it is. The sheet at thenationnetwork.com.

Your way to get into the crispy inbox here on the show. Tony Andriukaitis covers the American Hockey League and is excellent at it. He's one of the best. Him and Patrick Hoffman, like there's some really, really good ones out there. And he put out a picture from the Toronto Maple Leafs flicker of Ryan Reeves. My kid, my 2012, I'm gonna sound like a douchey hockey guy, but 2012? My 2012 was at this game, Zach. This is today, right? This morning? Yeah, yeah. My 13-year- old was at this game and there's a picture of Ryan Reeves. Now, Visors are mandatory in the American

Hockey League, although Revo here is going with the Uncle Leo old AHL style with the Visor popped up. Now, a couple of things come to mind. First of all, technically by the AHL rule book, as Tony points out as well, that's a violation. But still, I think we're all going to sort of look the other way on this one. But more story time with Gramps here. Remember in the OHL when they made this mandatory, there was a coach by the name of Bill LaForge, the late Bill LaForge. Maybe you've heard me tell Bill LaForge stories before. If not, get Jason Yerke on the program and him and I will just swap Bill LaForge stories and your jaw will drop.

Or maybe get Shane Corson on because he had Shane Corson as well. So Bill LaForge hated the fact, hated it, that they made visors mandatory in the OHL and he didn't like any of his players to be wearing the windshield. And so what LaForge did with all of his players is he instructed the trainer to get all the helmets put visors on as mandated by the Ontario Hockey League but file the end

point down to a sharp point of the visors so when you're fighting any one of his players as you punch the visor would slice your hand open he got caught doing it he got fined and all that. I said, okay, well fine. He said, all right. As if that's not bad enough, Zach. This is what the OE shell used to be. You put the visors on, get extra long screws.

And instead of screwing it from the outside in, screw it from the inside out. Oh my God. That one is nuts. Like's like the visor is brutal but. So the yeah like Frankenstein's screws sticking on it. This is the same guy that put body bags in the Guelph dressing room for the Kitchener. Todd Warner told me this story. Kitchener Guelph playing in a playoff series. Joe McDonnell who's now the head amateur scout with the Dallas Stars would have been the coach of the Kitchener Rangers and all the Kitchener-Guelph playing in a playoff series, Joe McDonnell, who's now the head amateur scout with the Dallas Stars, would have been the coach

of the Kitchener Rangers, and all the Kitchener boys are going into the Guelph Arena, and they go into the room, and McDonnell says like, uh, get out of here, boys, get in the house, like, what's going on? And he had a really rough series, had body bags on all the stalls. And body bag, I think hanging in the rafter.

Can you imagine now, 2025, kids walking into a room and the other teams coaches put body bags in the room, in your stall? It's hilarious. I love it. But no, I cannot imagine that happening today. Yeah. How do we get on this topic? We're talking about the ninja.

I remember when the NHL implemented it. The ninja crispy a second ago, it was all fun, and we're going to make cauliflower and zucchini and all that. Yeah, corn. This is great. Now we're talking like Frankenstein helmets and body bags. Remember when Leo had to do it at first where they weren't allowed to tilt the visor, and then every time he would be on the bench and like putting it up and then falling down and like, oh that was so funny and then finally I think the NHL was just like, alright, what are we gonna do here?

Rantinen has the crazy tilt right now, tilts as well. I don't know if you've noticed that. Rantinen is all the way up. Old junior hockey style. Old junior hockey style. Old junior hockey style. Okay, so how many games we have on the go? Last night was boffo for games. Last night was a lot of fun. I paid specific attention to that Montreal game. God, that was good.

That was so awesome. St. Louis and Detroit. Ovechkin scoring again, now four goals away. With that, the games tonight, as always, our friends, our partners, our pals at FanDuel, proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them. The sheet is powered by FanDuel,

home of the same game Parlay, make every moment more on FanDuel. The Minnesota Rangers facing off against the New York Rangers at MSG. I don't think many's gonna fall out of this thing at all but they kind of been mid for a while. Rangers trying to scrap here with the Montreal Canadiens and to get themselves a WC2 spot and Gabe Perot makes his debut for the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. No pressure kid

Washington Carolina face off against each other saying shades of the old Southeast Division Frederick Anderson starts still no Jordan stall on that one Alexander Ovechkin four goals away from the record the Florida Panthers facing off against your Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank. It's Scotiabank, you're going to be busy tonight. Yeah. I am. This is an interesting one. I was watching the morning take and they were, I like joking about what my show could potentially

be like tonight. This could go many ways, Jeff. I thought Carter Hutton was particularly strong today on Morning Cup of Hockey talking about your Toronto Maple Leafs. Yep. I'm excited for it. Carter Hutton was particularly strong today on Morning Cup of Hockey talking about your Toronto Maple Leafs. Yep. I'm excited for it. Look, you got an opportunity here.

You played a playoff style game on Saturday against the Kings and the big boys showed up there, especially in the third period. They do that. They've got a chance for success, but I don't think anybody, myself included, thinks that that's going to be something they sustain. And tonight's another opportunity to test that out. Because Florida's not going to take their foot off the gas here against you tonight. And they're going to be pissed off about another loss last night.

That was a tough one. That was a really tough one for Florida to endure. Anyhow, Colorado, Chicago, the United Center, Seattle and Vancouver, Filipino likely done for the season. That is a drag for the Vancouver Canucks. What a season. That has been drag for the Vancouver Canucks. What a season that has been. This is, you know, there are just some seasons

where you say to yourself, they got to write a book about this season. When it comes to the Vancouver Canucks, I don't know who they are. Someone's got to write a book about this season. Do you think like we find out what's happened? Like Pierre even said it on Monday on the show, he's talking about the Vancouver situation and stuff and he's like, well, we don't know.

We don't know. Yeah, they didn't like each other. It caused a beef. Do you think that this is something that ever comes out or like in typical hockey fashion is this tucked away and we just remember that they didn't like each other and they couldn't figure it out and that's what happened in Vancouver. I think eventually we will. I don't know that it's going to be anytime soon.

You do get the feeling that if it is going to come out, it's going to be Elias Pedersen telling the story more so than JT Miller. Does it ever happen? Does it ever like, well, what was the beef? Because it's got to be more than just like a little personality clash. And both went from, you know, denying it to sort of sheepishly saying like, yeah, okay. Yeah, we didn't get along. Even though the coach and the captain and the former coach all

I don't want to rehash the whole thing, but I mean we all know that there was, you know, major issue between the two. But again, the only point that I was making is like some seasons deserve a book. Yeah, that season deserves a book for the Vancouver Canucks. Just like this year's Ovi Chase deserves a book. Goal by goal. Tarek Al-Bashir, I'm looking your direction. I'm gonna give you, Summer Project, write a book about this season, Tarek.

He was great on One Cup of Hockey, by the way. Anything more we need to go over? So I wanna mention someone here at the end. No, that was going to be it. Oh, unless you want to talk about quiet 30-goal seasons. That was the only other thing we had prepared for today, but we can also hold off on that. Park that until tomorrow. Because I do want to talk about quiet 30-goal seasons.

I really do because there's some interesting names and there's... I actually have a point about one of them and that's rare. So we'll save my brilliant point for tomorrow. Okay, in the meantime, I want to offer condolences to the McCurdy family. Many of you have read the work of Bruce McCurdy, the cult of hockey in the Edmonton Journal. Bruce, I never got to meet personally. He's someone that, you know, years ago would DM every now and then.

When you read Bruce McCurdy writing about hockey, maybe you followed him on TwitterX, maybe you read his work in the Edmonton Journal. I don't know about you but I always got the sense that I was, you know, sitting with a wizened person. Someone that has seen a lot, someone that has a huge frame of reference, and someone that has an understanding of hockey and specifically the Edmonton Oilers all mixed in with an understanding that we're talking about hockey here. Bruce was one of my favorite Edmonton Oilers follows. He had a lot of

friends and a lot of friends of people that work in the NHL now. He was widely admired and respected and was fun and as I understand it, always had a great smile. His son Kevin tweeting out today, this will be the hardest thing I've ever had to write last night shortly after the hockey game, the Olders game, and this tweet was written, that was his dad tweeting out, never in doubt, hashtag never in doubt. That was Bruce. My father, Bruce McCurdy, experienced a medical emergency and became unresponsive.

My family called 911 and resuscitation efforts were performed to the maximum extent possible. He was transported to hospital, unfortunately, despite the valiant efforts of St. Albert Fire and Rescue and the medical professionals at Sturgeon Hospital, my father passed away. On behalf of everybody here at the Sheet and the Nation Network, certainly, look, this is a company that's headquartered in Edmonton. I know this one will hit hard. Offering condolences to Kevin and the entire McCurdy family. May peace come to the McCurdy's not soon enough.

Bless Bruce McCurdy. You'll be missed. You'll be missed. Thanks for joining us on the show today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm like, nah man, that's fine I'm not against those methods, but no It's me, myself and how this gon' be fixing my mind I do wanna break it I turn down the music I do wanna break it I do want to back up I took it all easy It's enough, they're bad, I'm getting sometimes losing

Helping on the days that went wrong Mmm, in the dead dark night