The Sheet with Jeff Marek - LA Kings, Pietrangelo's Health & Confusing NHL Teams ft. Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: September 23, 2025

On this episode of The Sheet on the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel, Jeff Marek is joined by ESPN Senior NHL Writer Greg Wyshynski for a wide-ranging conversation on the latest stories around the league. The two dive into the situation with the LA Kings, including the impact of Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe, take a look at Alex Pietrangelo’s health status, and break down a few teams that continue to leave us scratching our heads. They also discuss Vasily Podkolzin’s new contract extension with Edmonton and the New Jersey Devils announcing this will be their final season wearing the “Jersey” jerseys. Plus, plenty more insights and analysis from around the NHL.Reach 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.

If you're a Chicago business looking to give back locally, Gardeneers is your kind of nonprofit. We work in under-resourced schools across the South and West Sides, helping students grow fresh food and learn about health, sustainability, and equity. Your corporate sponsorship supports hands-on education, youth mentorship, and the transformation of school gardens into vibrant green spaces. Learn more about sponsorship opportunities at Gardeneers.org. let's grow something together. Hey Greg, guess what I want to talk about today on the sheet here with you? Oh, I bet whatever it is, it happened in 1950. Okay, I kind of walked into that one.

Yeah, that's fair. But today I want to. to talk to you and everybody listening watching or in the chat about luxury items in the NHL. We're going to get to that one here in a couple of seconds. Welcome to the program. This is the sheet. For Tuesday, September 23rd, Greg will be with us twice a week. Normally, it'll be Tuesdays and Thursdays, but in true Greg Wichinsky fashion, he's already punting on this Thursday and moving it to Friday. The Thursday is a suggestion. But we get double dose of Greg Wyshinsky every week.

I have a good reason. What's up? What do you got? My college roommate, this guy Kevin, lives in Seattle now, is coming to New York for like one day. And I'm going to go grab a beer with him, hopefully on Thursday afternoon where we would normally do this show. And I say this because I haven't seen this cat probably in a while, not to date myself as far as I went to college. But he and I, he is the reason why I got the radio bug. why I got the podcast.

No way. He and I hosted a radio show on the campus of the University of Maryland called Jester and the Monkey Boy. You'll never guess who Jester was. You'll never guess your monkey boy was. Yeah, three guesses. But we used to host a show, get this, 9 o'clock to midnight on Saturday nights, so you could tell that we were really cool in college. And the beauty part of it was that it wasn't on a station with an actual signal.

The only way you can listen to the show. If you were a dog. You could only hear it if you were a K-9, okay. Or if you lived or were in one of the buildings on campus, then you could hear the show through some sort of wiring within the building. So no one could hear it. What did you talk about?

Hang on. Was this a sports show? Was this a movie show? We played a bunch of, we, I'll say exactly what we did. We played a bunch of 90s alternative music. into the early 2000s and then we also Mystery Science Theater 3,000

some public service announcements that we were required to play on the show that we just talked over and that was our show that's where I got the bug I was like it's the greatest thing ever to just talk to your friend for three hours and so I'm happy to see Kevin

for the first time in forever this Thursday that's fantastic well for the purposes of this program we will be forcing you to talk about hockey for the next 60 minutes and there's kind of a lot to get to. And I do want to bring up my idea about luxury items as it relates to the Edmonton Oilers

and getting Connor McDavid to sign. So park the idea of luxury items. And we're going to get there in a couple of seconds. In the meantime, this program, as always, powered by our friends, our good friends, at Fanduel. Make every moment more with North America's number one sportsbook. That is, of course, Fandual. Coming up on the program today,

we're going to park a little bit of time, I'm not just talking about luxury items, but also talking about the Los Angeles Kings. I'm really curious. I talked about this yesterday and I talked about it on the DFO rundown with Gregor, the idea of the farewell tour by Anzee Kopitar, and I'll make a couple of points about Dennis Potfan in the process as well. Alex Petrangelo, fueling rumors that he may just end up playing this season, which I am even more than skeptical. about, but I guess we'll entertain the conversation, I suppose. No chance, no way, but I don't know.

I guess you can't say 100% with anything, but as close as you can get to it. Teams that confuse you, Greg Wischinski, teams like perhaps the Buffalo Sabres or the Columbus Blue Jackets or the Anaheim Docks, who will get to all those three teams and perhaps more. And something that, you know, when I first saw it, I thought of you immediately, the end of the Jersey Jersey. and I guess by extension the end of the hat hat we'll get there in a couple of seconds and if we have time we'll take a whack at the Brad Marchand state tax statement by essentially said yeah if it wasn't like no state tax you're like you might get one of the three of us and that's and that's about it even though we're all told that players don't care about these types of things they just care if you have a nice practice facility um but to begin indulge me in a couple of seconds and the news of the day so far is um um The, the, the, the, the Edminton owners have re-signed Vasili Pod Colson to a three-year contract, AAV, just under $3 million. Listen, when you're, not that it always happens, but generally, it's good when the top players like playing with you. I remember Colby Armstrong told me like, man, I asked him when he got traded to Atlanta.

I'm like, did you, did you think like you had sit insurance because he liked you and liked playing? He's like, oh, yeah, I thought I had sit insurance. I thought I was going to surf there for a while. But not so fast, but, you know, not that Todd Colson doesn't deserve it. Good two-way guy, really good four-check. I'm still waiting for the offense to come. But it does help when Leon Dreisidal likes playing with you. Do you think Colby ever looked at, do you think Colby ever looked at Chris Coonis?

And he's just like, son of a bitch. Oh, that should have been me. I think all guys, all players do that, don't they? Like, don't you think, like, we'll go to the 94 Rangers. You don't think, like, Mike Gartner looked at Glenn Anderson and said, damn, really? Really? you, you're the one that's going to be there for the cup and not me? The Coonitz golden ticket, though, from Sid, like, extended to him being an Olympian.

I mean, that is one of the all-time co-pilot situations in the history of sports is the benefits to Chris Coonitz's career, having a scintilla of chemistry with Sidney Crosby. Yeah, you know what? It happens in post-hockey life, too, and I think of Mario Lemieux and Pierre LaRouche. Now, when Pierre LaRue played, it was a very good player. He's gone on to be essentially Mario Lemieux's best buddy, right? Like I've always said, like Pierre LaRouche has the best job in the world. It's his job to be Pierre LaRouche and be Pierre LaRue and be Pierre LaRue and when Mario wants to go golfing, we're going golfing.

And when Mario's doing something, Pierre's coming along too. Like it's the writing shotgun gig is a great one. Oh, yeah. It's a real Vinnie Chase Turtle Entourage situation. You're absolutely right. It's that whole thing. Well, that's good. But here's what I want to talk to you about today.

Here's what I wanted to get your thoughts on. Because we are all and have been for a while, you know, wondering and parsing the, the statements, wondering about, you know, what Connor McDavid is talking about when he says he's not quite there yet and ready to sign. And we wonder what type of massaging of the lineup that Stan Bowman will have to do. and we all just assume that he wants a goaltender. Okay? I'll just assuming that he just wants Connor McDavid is waiting for Stan Bowman

to overpay for Leah Sorokin and then everything will be fine. I don't think that's happening. And a lot of people don't think that's happening. I do wonder about the idea of, you know, is Connor McDavid as he looks to massage his team? Is he just bluntly looking for a score

to play with on his line? And if so, how do you get there? And that's where I want to get to luxury items. Like certain teams of win Stanley Cups have a lot of luxury items things that are just nice to have and can help you win Stanley Cups but you don't

I mean just think of your car think of all the luxury items you have in your car you don't really need them but damn it's great to have them it just makes it that much more luxurious I was having a conversation with someone this morning about Edmonton who said look Edmonton's got two really big luxury items

and if you think I'm going to say Leon Drysidal. No, I don't think that's a luxury item. He's your carburetor. 100%. That's not what I'm talking about. He's not a luxury item. He's not a luxury item. He's one of the best players in the world, at times the best player in the world. He said there are two that if you're Stan Bowman, maybe you're looking at to get your team to a place where McDavid says, okay, now I really believe we can win it for a long time. And one of them is an uncomfortable conversation because he's been there for all of it.

that's Ryan Nugent Hopkins. And when you look around the NHL, and right now, you know, unless Connor and Leon are playing together, you're slotting down the middle goes Connor McDavid, David, Leon dry-settled Ryan Nugent Hopkins. And he can also slide over under the wing and he can kill penalties and, and, and, and, and, and when you consider how many teams are looking for a second line center, right? And how much, like, we all wonder, is this the year that the Vegas Gold, the Knights finally pull the trigger and move William Carlson? When you look at how many teams and the obvious ones, and there's more, but like, you know, Carol, Carol, Lina and Montreal and Vancouver. Like there's a lot of other teams as well that are looking for second line centers.

Right now, Ryan Nugent Hopkins, as a center is slotted as a third center, thereby making him a luxury item. And the other luxury item that this one person mentioned to me today was Brett Kulak on your bottom pair. And do you need to have, I mean, it's wonderful that, don't get me wrong. I like Brett Kulak a lot. I think a lot of us do. But on the Oilers, is he not a luxury item?

And can he not be used in trade to get a draft pick, which you then use as a resource and free up cap space for Stan Bowman? But the big one is, if you want to get the scoring winger with Connor McDavid, and if that's what it's going to take to get him to sign on the line that is dotted, do you look at Ryan Nugent Hopkins? Because he can make the case, he's one of the best luxury items you can have. Thoughts. Now, wasn't the scoring winner going to be Matt Savoy, who serves two purposes, one, giving Connor a scoring winger and two showing Connor that there are players under the age of 26 on the team?

I don't disagree with you, but I'll counterpoint by saying this, if the end goal for Connor is winning the Stanley Cup in Edmonton and that is his stated goal to stay there, the team that thwarted that dream in consecutive seasons has. as a third line center exactly the guy that you're talking about, Anton Lundell. And while there are a lot of reasons the Florida Panthers have made the Stanley Cup final in three consecutive seasons that are now going for a third straight cup, which we haven't seen since the Islanders dynasty of 1980s to reference your Dennis Potvin thing that will come up later in the show. Don't you need those luxury items? Isn't having Lundell one of the things that separates the Florida Panthers?

from the pack to have that kind of guy down your lineup playing on a extremely important checking line that you've established? Yes, I don't, I don't disagree with that at all. And you can make the point, and rightfully so, the roster construction of the Florida Panthers, although aided by some outside factors, has really been, has really been a stroke of genius by Bill Zito, like how he's, you know, taken, you know, what, what, what, what, The pieces from the Dale Talon Panthers, you know, the good pieces that are still serviceable here and then complement them, compliment to them with what he wants on his team.

Like that really is, when you look at the roster construction of this team, that really is a Picasso that Bill Zito has painted here. It really is brilliant. But again, the Oilers are not the Florida Panthers. So it can't just, I mean, if you're going to get something, if you're going to get Connor what he wants slash needs, if you're going to look around this roster and say, all right, who has to go so we can get what we need here, I don't think if you're the oil is, you can afford to just nibble around the edges. So I really don't. And that's why I come back to luxury items.

What's the first thing that always goes? Like, look at, like, even look at our, look at media, for example. When it's time for cuts, you know, the, the department that does features, generally they're the first to go because features are a luxury item when it comes to game presentation. It would be wonderful to have a features department where you can introduce players

and know their backstories and all these types of things. But generally, they're the first ones to go. They're considered luxury items. So I think when you're looking at teams and how they're going to get what they need, I think the first thing you look at are, okay, who are the luxury item players on this team? And as it relates to the Edmonton Oilers,

to me, one of the most obvious ones is Ryan Newton Hopkins. when i worked at the newspaper they hit the copy desk pretty hard which i thought was insane which is why the wrong form of there would end up in many of my football game stories um so i wanted to say though you bring up an interesting thing about connor which is that as you said we're all trying to play pop psychologist we're all trying to get inside of his head and figure out what it is that motivates him to resign in edmonton or to leave edmonton and i think a lot of us think about Edmonton in totality in the sense of like where is this team going? What is

the age of the roster? What is in the prospect pipeline? Do you have a goaltender? Are you securing the assets around the lineup that the sum total is a championship team? But the thing you bring up that I find interesting because it kind of got danced around a little bit when players like Miko Ranton and were kind of nearing free agency. What if it's as simple as give me my guy for Connor what if that's as simple as where's my ranton or you know where's where's where's my winger that that I know was going to be here you know who's 26 that's going to you know grow with this team if I can if I can use a a Gretzky example where's my Yari Curry where's my Yari Curry and so maybe we're misreading it maybe maybe the the listen he obviously wants

a goal he obviously wants to make sure there's a there's a pipeline of players where if he signs long term the team can stay in contention long term but maybe it is as simple as give me my guy and i will gladly spend the next three to four years of my life with this organization that's it's something that i think you know maybe he's just being a bit more selfish than we think it's not to say that he's made requests it's not to say that he's a selfish guy but maybe ultimately when it comes down to his decision process it's as simple as where's my curry or where is my rant in them? And the ways you get there are you look around and say,

okay, what do we love but don't need in order to get to the Stanley Cup and what can we turn? Because listen, the Oilers are in a very unique situation where they have too many centers. Trent Frederick, Adam Enrique, like go right down the line in addition to everything they have already, whether it's Connor, Leon, or in this case,

Ryan Nugent Hopkins. And most teams need centers and have too many wingers, right? They are donuts, holes in the middle, holes in the middle. And so it was interesting conversation this morning. He's kind of turned around how I sort of look at the oilers and how I feel about the Oilers and how I feel about Connor McDavid. And what could the motivation be here for show me that we can win for a long time? And trust me, like in someone like McDavid's head,

like I believe that, and this is not a knock, this is actually a compliment. Superstar players believe they can take a team and win a championship. ship with them. Get on my back. We're going to do this. You know, the NHL world just lost one of the players that actually did that in Bernie Perrant. With all due respect to those flyers, Bernie Perrant won those Stanley Cups for the Philadelphia Flyers full stop. Like that type of arrogance and confidence fuels these guys. And you kind of McDavid, you're like, all right, to your point, give me my ranton, give me my

curry. Where's that guy? Give me my marner. That's what I want here. Give me my marner. If you're Jack Eichael, give me my marner. Hey, speaking of Vegas, let's use that as a transition point um and i sort of said like i wonder if this is the season that you know the william carlson rumors finally come true right now that top nine looks like a killer and then we had this sort of and then we had this sort of whispers about Alex petrangelo and oh well you know we'll see maybe i'll be able to to play this year i don't believe for one second that i can't talk about next year i have no clue but this season i cannot see Alex petrangelo playing a single game for the Vegas golden nights agree disagree everyone lost their minds yesterday about his statement and in

watching the the video of the press conference yep and then going back and reading his his comments last summer in the press release that he put out jointly with the golden nights he said he was stepping away from the intensity of hockey to see if his body could heal he said that um not only heal but have a normal quality of life as a father and a husband. And, you know, even if he has the surgery, the bilateral femur reconstruction, GM Kelly McCriman said there's no guarantee of it succeeding. And Petraigula himself said, quote, the likelihood is low that my body will recover to the standard required to play.

And now a scant a few months later because he's seen some positive results in rehab, all of a sudden it's like, I don't know. Maybe daddy's coming home later this season. Who's to say? I don't know. I don't know. Dude, I read that. He even believes that.

No, man. It is very much a guy getting some results in rehab and maybe putting a positive thought in his head that it won't be the end. And then on top of that, the pride of a champion to hope against hope that he could return to the team and not wanting to close the door on it. that's how I read it. I don't think the Golden Knights have to start calculating their postseason

salary cap with the intention of Alex Petrangela coming back because like everything that they've said about his body is that it's broken

it's kind of it kind of gives Shay Weber vibes a little bit doesn't it dude like the idea of like you've played through all of this for so long but now you've reached

the point where you can't play through it anymore it kind of reminded me of the Shea Weber situation and we never saw him again either If you're a Chicago business looking to give back locally, gardeners is your kind of nonprofit. We work in under-resourced schools across the South and West Sides,

helping students grow fresh food and learn about health, sustainability, and equity. Your corporate sponsorship supports hands-on education, youth mentorship, and the transformation of school gardens into vibrant green spaces. Learn more about sponsorship opportunities at gardeners.org and let's grow something together. I don't get the sense knowing the albeit little that I know about him as a person. I can't see Alex Petrangela wanting to try to do, A, what Gabe Landiscaug just did, or B, I don't think he wants to be the, old guy, you see it on teams all the time, the old guy that hangs around to rehab and cross his fingers and hope that he might be, I don't think that Alex Petrangelo wants to be that

guy. I don't. I mean, it sounds like a thing that you need surgery for because he's talked about the hip injury being something that lingered that finally kind of came to ahead this past season where he couldn't deal with it anymore. And, you know, once you've gotten there, it's, it's not like you got a hang nail, buddy. You got a hip that needs surgery. And no matter how much rehab you're doing, You're going to probably have to go under the knife at some point and then hope that it works and you can come back. And at his age, who knows what that rehab curve looks like. I love the fact that this happened though, Merrick,

because it did create this immediate buzz around the Vegas Golden Knights being one of these teams that miraculously has a Christ-like resurrections in game one of the playoffs. They just added a Hall of Famer. What's going on? Yeah, I know. And so, like, I don't think that that's going to be the kids. case with this injury. I think that was some wishful thinking on his part. A lot of his

conversation was much more reflective and talking about the, just hoping his body can get to a point where he can lift up his kid without pain. But again, I think the Golden Knights have certainly earned the reputation through the years of being a team that might pull this chicanery, even under the new salary cap rules. The Golden Knights, the Florida Panthers, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Chicago Block. I'll make a little news here. So, okay. We talked to San Bennett on the drop, me and Arda, the show that we do for ESPN. The next episode, I think, comes out next week, season preview.

And then we have one coming out for opening night. We talked to Sam Bennett. And I asked him about the LTIR thing. And he used the phrase, I kid you not, he used the phrase leveling the playing field. And I'm like, well, who unleveled it, buddy? There's a, there's a, leveling playing fields. There's a mirror right over there in case you want to go and have a look at, put your jersey on, Sam, and then we'll have a look in that mirror over there. Your team's an 800-pound ground hog popping up them under the ground, unleveling the playing field, sir.

Carl Spackler's running around trying to replace that divot. I love, but hang on a second. That is such a Florida Panthers thing to say. Oh, it's about time. It leveled the playing field after, you know, hand caught in the cookie jar. for two years. And oh, it's a good thing. They leveled the playing field.

It's about time that happened. Can you circle back to Vegas for a second? I think the Oilers can make the Stanley Cup final, but I think the Vegas is going to be a tougher route, provided everyone stays healthy, of course. It might just be a tougher out than ever, even without Alex Petrangelo. Like, that top nine.

Like, first of all, you're going to have one of the best lines in the NHL with Ikel-Marner and Ivan Barbashev. that is going to be trouble every single night. Hurtle and Dorofiev and Sade really found some incredible chemistry together as well. And then Carlson, and again, I'll go back to my, circle back to my point about luxury admins, but here you are, Carlson was Stone and Riley Smith.

Like, honestly, like, if you're someone that just like follows the matchup game, like this is going to be a nightmare for matchups. Like, how do you match up against this team? Like, if you're like a line matching coach, good luck, man. Vegas is going to give you fits. I know that Barbashev and Eichel had decent chemistry together, better than decent chemistry together. And I think that they like the idea of Barbishov's bowl in a China shop act being on that top line. But ultimately, Bruce Cassidy said something interesting when they made the Marner signing and trade,

which was that Eichl and Marner of both two guys like to have the puck. They're similar in their wanting to possess the puck And maybe ultimately you need a trigger man on that line That can benefit from the playmaking abilities of Marner and Eichael And I wonder if that's Dorothea at the end of the day If you need more of a sniper And I think he's probably maybe their best one on the wing And I wonder if he ultimately ascends

To that top line with Eichl and Marner I'm saying this purely for fantasy hockey purposes by the way But I also think that it could be something that happens during the season as well I'll tell you what I wonder I wonder about does Marner start shooting more because now the default the default for marner has always been just get it to matthews because that guy can rip and like i'm not saying that you know marter can shoot like you know connor bedard can or patrick linae can or or or or austin matthews can but it's not as if this guy's

just like fire muffins out there like Mitch marner has a decent shot and i really do wonder through all of this now um if we see marner shooting more because it's always been defer defer defer defer defer to Matthews now all of a sudden Martin's in a spot where you throw the puck to Eichl, you're probably going to get it back right? It's not just going to be okay, you're going to have to go chase a rebound now. The

Western Conference might be our greatest argument for the 1 through 16 playoff right now. Like, you think about the top four in the West, right? You got Dallas, you got Vegas, you got Edmonton. The fourth one can either be Colorado or Winnipeg, depending on how you feel about either of those teams. And because of the current playoff format, each of the

them are going to have to go through each other, you know, before they reach the cup final. Like if we went one through 16, we can get two of these guys in the final. And I think arguably you have, you might have five of the top six teams in the West, potentially. Yeah.

I mean, it's, it's pretty, it's pretty astounded. Five of the top seven. Let's go Florida, Carolina, in the east. And then, and then, and then the top five maybe in the west. you know one of the interesting things too is every year there's someone who had a hundred points that falls out like at least at least one and i think we're all sort of circling the los angeles kings and saying if there's going to be a team that falls out it's them um adrian kempay who's been one of my favorite players for a long time and one of the more underrated uh skilled players and just full on speed demons

in the NHL is do a new contract and given what the salary cap is at right now, we're probably looking for double digits for Adrienne Kempe. And swing back a few years and think to yourself if we were talking and ever be talking about double digits for Adrian Kempe,

but here we are. Here's the question about Kempai, Merrick. Here's the question about Kempi. So how does he play with Elias? How does he play with Elias Pedersen? The, the, the, the, the, the, Uh, high watermark for AAV on the Kings right now is, is it Dowdy at 11 or what is, what is what is Copeland?

I'm going to tell, I'm going to tell you right now, courtesy of our friends at Puckpedia. Uh, right now, uh, yes, uh, Dowdy at 11 up front, Kevin Fiala at 7.8. Okay. So he's clearly going to eclipse Fiala. The question about Kempe is if you look at his stats over, I think the last three seasons, They are very similar to a young plucky gentleman by the name of Jordan Kairu on the St. Louis Blues. And Jordan Kairu, a few years ago, signed a massive extension that carries a 10.5 million AAV. Now, Jordan Kairu is a few years, Kempbe's Jr., which I'm sure plays into the amount of money he was given by Dr. Armstrong. But the question that becomes, if 10.5 to Kairu commiserate stats cap now astronomically going up,

Kepe's going to get over 10. Does he get over 10.5? Does he get? Yeah, I thought you're going to say, does he get rantin and money? Like, are we talking like, he's not going to get rat in money? How goofy are you about to get here?

I thought I mean, he's a premium goal score on the wing. They don't grow on trees. They don't grow on trees. But he's also 29. Yeah, he's also 29, though. I get it. No signs of slowing down.

And look, goals are really hard. and I listen I I sort of say Elias Pedersen kind of side with a sideways smirk but couldn't you see it if he hits free agency wouldn't Vancouver Canucks be all over this guy after playing against him and knowing him for as long as Vancouver has and if you want to plunk someone on the on the

wing with with Elias Pedersen you want to try to prove to Quinn Hughes that you know we're doing everything we can here to keep this team competitive one other one other thing is Kemp based Swedish for Hughes Like, the only way you're keeping Quinn healthy is if you get his brothers there. Everything in Vancouver revolves around.

This is Operation Keep Quinn happy, okay? One more thing on that. Are you trying to say that Adam Foote hasn't earned his way to the head coaching position in Vancouver, sir? He hasn't paid his dues to earn that position that there may be another reason they made the defensive coach, the head coach in Vancouver? It's a, it's a very, very important season for the Vancouver Canucks. and they're still going with the rookie head coach, someone that Quinn Hughes really likes. One more thing about the Los Angeles Kings

that wanted to get your thoughts on. People are actually mixed on this, and I was kind of surprised about it. You'll probably remember this in 88 when Dennis Potfan did this as well. Announcing the farewell season. Now, what it does is it removes the conversation about where is the extension.

Is he going to resign? Is Kopitar coming back? But what do you think about the idea of announcing this is the final go-around? I mean, Wayne Gretzky didn't do this. Wayne Gretzky announced officially, even though the rumors were all out there with like two games left. I'm going to play one game in Canada. I'll play one game in the States and then peace out. Players will do it towards the end.

But what do you think about doing it at the beginning? And the reason I bring a pot fan is a couple of things. One, that tour, I don't want to say it was embarrassing. but like it was a ceremony every night and it's like how many bouquets of flowers is pot fan going to carry back to the bench as like a big thank you from these organizations now i don't think that teams a should or will do the same thing for anse copatar but pressure's there to do the to do the classy thing how do you think this one plays out everyone knows this is the farewell tour i don't know if they gave pot vanser Modi at MSG. They chanted his name. I'll tell you what they did. I'll tell you, hang on, hang on.

I'll tell you what they did. What? And this is when I worked with Dennis at SportsNet, the few years that he was there. He told me there was there was the one year. I think it was a year or maybe two after he retired. The Rangers asked them to come out of retirement, which would have ruined one of the great chance in the history of the game. And initially he said no, but then he said, someone gave me a pair of rollerblades.

And so I spent the summer kind of wheeling around the rollerblades. the rollerblades my back felt okay and i was thinking about maybe i can do this and then after all i just said yeah i'm not going to do this but the rangers tried to get him out of retirement which would have just like if you think of like the absolute last team you would have figured to try to get pot fin out of retirement is probably the rangers and again it would have ruined one of the great chance and in the history of hockey but nonetheless copatar and the i mean would it have i mean his first turnover in that arena Fair, fair, fair.

It probably sparks a chance again. So Copatars announcement, funny enough, happened while I was at Washington Capitals camp last week. Okay. Having a conversation with Alex Ovechkin about his future. Wayne Gretzzi, he said he hasn't determined anything yet and asked the Capitals both on and off the record. And they don't have a sense of what he's going to do yet. And there are people within the Capitals organization who feel that, If he goes out and scores another 44 goals this season, it is not set in stone that the end of this contract means the end of his time in the NHL.

But I think that's yet to be determined. I lean it's his last season and I lean that he probably does the Gretzky thing, which is announce it later in the year rather than doing it now. So the reason I bring this up is because he's not doing it now. He's not making a declaration that it's his last season. And my pet theory on that is that I think he probably, if it is if it is, if it is, isn't the back of his mind that it's his last season. I think he probably feels a little guilty having him be the overriding story in consecutive seasons, because it would be a situation where Alex Ovechkin gets a gift in every port if he announces it's going to be his last season

in the NHL. It would be a situation where it's a farewell OV in every place. And these guys just went through it last year where they're playing games and all of a sudden, you know, the director of the FBI is showing up at their hockey games because he happens to be a hockey guy he's a hockey guy so he's good to a hockey podcast he's a hockey guy yeah he's a hockey guy so um so we like uh i i i thought about the copatar thing in the sense of when do you announce these things will it detract from anything and i think in copatars case it actually sort of leans into the narrative that the kings have had now for a couple of seasons which is that him and dowdy aren't aren't getting any younger.

That's kind of the whole thing, right? Like we're building around these guys, these iconic players from two Stanley Cup championships for the organization, and we are trying to maximize our time with them and succeed the most while they're still here. So the idea that now Kopitara has put a time, an expiration date, rather, on his tenure in Los Angeles, is kind of in keeping with what's already been the vibe there, in my opinion. Well, don't forget, like let's not forget one thing here as well. it was both Doughty and Kopatar

who essentially ended the rebuild remember the kings were going all in on a rebuild and they did it for a year and Doughty and Kopitar were like yeah, none of this like we're not we're not hanging around for this one like no forget it this is not how we're going out we're not going out as part of a rebuild here they were the two that essentially put the kibosh

on the rebuild for the Los Angeles Kings and the kings went all right like I don't know what was a quicker rebuild the kings of the Rangers Rangers Was faster than LA? The ink wasn't dried on the letter by the time that they signed Panarin and, you know, got Fox and like it's insane how quickly that whole thing turned around. I like, I like you want to something about, I like the justification for Panarin during the rebuild, though.

It was like, oh, rebuilds are just about getting good players and here's a good player. And so we got them. They can still be part of the rebuild. Their justification, their justification was that like when they when they're good again, they don't know of a Panarin would be available to them, to which I would say, you're the. Rangers, everyone's available to you. Everyone's available always. Yeah. Yeah, you know, I think

that you guys would have been fine. You brought up something about the Kings, though, about regression. Yeah. One of the things that is kind of fascinating to me about that concept, because I don't disagree with you, is the fact that they are playing

in a division where historically teams like the Kings and the Golden Knights and the Oilers have been able to bank points against your sharks and your ducks and your crackens and previous last year to the flames. How do we view the Pacific? Is it still a place you can bank points if you're the Kings and crest over 100 points

because you're beaten up on lesser teams? Or are, and this kind of ties into the teams that confuse me, the crackin confuse me. I've seen projections where they might be an 80 point team. I don't see it. but maybe they get there. This is a great transition point because there's a lot of teams here that I want to get into with you.

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Because there's a few that have a lot of question marks attached to them. In the West, I want to start with the Cracken because, I mean, like, I don't see an 80-point season out of them necessarily. And maybe that's just me making my heart making a wish here in the sense that I think it's time for them to tear it down and go in the tank and re- How can you tear it down when your expansion team? You tear it down when your expansion team. You tear it down because you did get a good downy of players in the expansion draft, not as good as Vegas because everybody wise up to what to do in the expansion draft. but like they've been kind of doubling and tripling down on the same group living off one good playoff series against colorado and i think it's obvious to anybody that what they should do is regress

what they should do is kind of you know cast their luck in the lottery for a couple years and then really kind of ramp it up with the players that they have in the system so you know what the seattle cracking look like to me i'm glad you i'm glad you jumped right in with the seattle Cracken. The Seattle Cracken look like a team where a lot of people have made decisions. Does it not look to you? Like this is a lineup where there were about five, maybe six people all making roster decisions all at the same time as opposed to. And of course, like the way that it works now, you work with all your departments before you make big decisions. You always consult with ownership.

That's just the way you do it right now in the NHL. Managing up is more important than how you manage down. But when you look at this lineup, does it not scream to you too many people making decisions? And I know technically Ron Francis

and now Jason Botterall, you know, general managers, but does it not look like, holy smokes, this can't be one person's work, especially not one experienced person's work. I can't, I'm not sitting here saying like, oh, everybody had us,

you know, a hand on the wheel in the Seattle organization. But man, does it ever look that way to me? Does it not to you? Because this looks like five or six people making decisions for the manager. You're doing this thing where you know what you're talking about. No, I'm fishing trip. You don't want to spell out what you're talking about.

Fishing trip. I don't think you're going on a fish. I'm going to sip of coffee now. Woo, gone fishing, gone fishing. You have ownership that probably has some aims to what they want the organization to be, which is why you probably go out and get a Brandon Montour, for example, and a Chandler-Stevenson, for example, in the hopes that you can kind of push towards the playoffs again after regressing.

You have a very respected analytics department there trying to guide the organization in a certain way. You've got Ron Francis, who was running the team, but they went upstairs and still was kind of running the team, and they have Jason Bottle with his own ideas. Yeah, it is a lot of cooks in a kitchen that's not exactly churning out Michelin-Star meals to begin with. And so then you wonder what the ultimate decision-making process should be and what the ultimate direction of the team should be. And to me, that direction is down.

That direction should be down because whatever they're doing right now is trying to hang in the mushy middle with no hope of really elevating towards championship status unless you get some real five-star prospects into that pipeline besides a guy like Beniris is already there. I'll tell you what, like they've drafted. really well. Like, you look at the pipe. I really like Jake O'Brien. Like, where they got, Jake O'Brien?

Holy smokes. I really like Berkeley Caton. Like, Berkeley, Burton, you can look at him and go, like, this guy's going to fill the net. Like, he's already, you know, one of the best shooters on the team. And he hasn't even played an NHL game yet.

Like, that guy is fantastic. Nathan Villan was a very good Jagger Furkus and David Coy. Like, this is Carson Raycoff. Like, this is a really good team. But, you know, the analogy we always like to use, these are still all green bananas. These are still all, you know, And here's another one.

Here's another log to throw on the fire. Sometimes winning is losing. Can you not make the argument that beating the defending Stanley Cup champion, Colorado Avalanche, the year after Colorado won the Stanley Cup and that opening round did more long-term damage to this team than short-term game? Without question. But I will also say that you can have a robust collection of prospects, but without having gone into the tank and then also getting the commiserate lottery luck. you end up being the Detroit Red Wings. That is where you end up being.

You end up being a team that has got the promise of the future, but not the actual top line franchise level prospects to build around. Then you augment them with veterans, and then you end up out of the playoffs or looking up at the bubble. And that could be Seattle's future if they don't go all in on a rebuild, in my opinion. The other team that I can't figure out is a team that has gone all in on a rebuild, which is Anaheim. they've got a goalie they've got some real interesting veterans on that team they've got a collection

of insanely talented kids more on the way and a guy Leo Carlson who is on the precipice of superstardom and now they have a coach in Joel Quinville who we all have our feelings about Joel Quinville and what he did in Chicago he's back in the league and when he's behind an NHL bench teams generally get a lot good very quickly and so that's a team that I've been kind of like eyeing as what sort of leap do they make this year and i don't know the level of leap that they make because it could be they've got the potential on paper to be a playoff team this year in that division does it not feel to you and we saw last year with the edition of jacob trauba and we see this year with the addition of chris crider and the edition of mackle

Granland that for the first time since he's been a manager that Pat Verbe kind of feels a pressure of okay now we need to do something oh totally this is the year where they have and here's let me let me just do the um let me do the irresponsible thing let's just have some fun and be irresponsible here okay I'm just throwing this out of left field okay I'm just going to see what's what's what sticks to the wall here and here we go all right if Dallas can't do a deal with Jason Robertson. Could you see Jason Robertson to Anaheim for Mason McTavish, Olin Zellwiger, and a first?

Wow. Considering how this is a team that's now using not just draft capital, but using prospects. And there's still plenty of prospects in this lineup. Let me say this one. Robertson for McTavish, Zellweger, and her first. And then you got Robertson up with Carlson, right? And you have McTavish in the middle, kind of maybe even playing that sort of that, that, that, that markment role, right, of, of snarly score.

And, and he also learns at the foot of, of Jamie Ben, who is the patron saint of snarly scorers on the Dallas stars. It's a great idea. It's a great idea. I think it would help both teams now and in the future. Yeah. Again, I'm just, hold on, where's McAvish? We're just spitball. We're just spitball in here.

What's that? But where does McAvish slot in that? Metavish slots in the Sabbathswood slot, second line center, playing behind Rupa Hens. Where's Wyatt Johnson in this situation? Playing wing. Oh, okay. Playing wing. So you do a line with McChairns.

Tavish, Wyatt Johnson, and Maverick Bork. All right. And all of a sudden, you got Rupé Hens, Miko Ranton as your super duo up top. And then Mason McTavish with Wyatt Johnson and Maverick Bork on your second line. And Matthew Shane being like, what happened to my friends? They're all gone and now I'm on the third line. where are you on Jason Roberts you were you were the torch I think that no I think that I think that Dallas

I think Dallas wants to resign Jason Robertson I think it's their it's their complete preference to to resign Jason Robertson I just don't think that they're going to that they for that first of all they have to sign Thomas Harley too and that's going to happen before Jason Robertson but I just don't think that they want Robertson's number anywhere close to Miko Ranton and that's why as much as people say hold on they have team control he's a restricted free agent I don't think that they want to risk an arbitrator awarding him more than Miko Rantonantin. Yeah, that'd be a problem.

Do you think that he's, I mean, one of the things that I've heard of Dallas is the idea that he's sort of in that row of dominoes behind Caprisoff right now where, you know, they want to see where a Curl's contract comes in and then everything can kind of Kyle Connor slots in behind that. I don't, I don't think that matters for Dallas. I think Dallas, I don't think that Dallas is going to go. jeez well it'll matter i don't think i don't think i don't what's that it'll matter for his ask yeah he can ask for 15 like he can always ask right i just don't think that dallas wants his number anywhere anywhere near miko rantan's number right nor should it be and i and i and and and furthermore if they don't want to go into next year and have them you know have them uh you know get killed in restricted free agency.

Do they want, here's the thing that I wonder about. Do you need to know now if you're the Dallas stars about Jason Robertson, like what the sort of final number is going to be like his line in the sand? Because the last thing you want to do is, you know, start to create, you know, chemistry with wherever Jason Robertson is going to end up playing and then have to move him in a year that, again, is going to be a go for a year for the Dallas stars. Yeah. Dallas's name is going to be attached to Cadry again.

It's going to be attached to Rasmus Anderson again. And I think that the Robertson thing is fascinating. And I don't think that they ever want to be in a situation where he gets a bigger number than Rantan and then walks away. I don't think they want to get martyred. So here's the real question to tie it back to your earlier statement. How much does Dallas have to keep their powder dry in case? of a McDavid emergency. Well, you can say that about every team, right?

Boston Bruins, Philadelphia. Not every team has Glenn Gulletson, though. New York Rangers. I get that. Like, I think that, you know, it's funny. You mentioned Sam Bennett earlier, and I think that that's exactly what Jim Nell has been looking for for a long time. Yeah.

Like, he's been looking for either a Sam Bennett or someone like Sam Bennett. Like I think that if ever, like Ottawa Senator's fans, I don't think this is happening right now. So I just say everybody calmed down. But if Brady Kachuk was ever available, I know there's always a noise about Rangers, Dallas is the team. I think they move heaven.

I think they move heaven and earth for someone like Brady Kachuk. These types of players is what Dallas is looking for. Look like they try to get, even just on a, in a minor key. You know, how long did Jim Nell try to get Matthew Olivia? from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Like, this is a team that wants tougher, more robust hockey players in this lineup.

Yeah, because the toughest guy in their lineup, Jamie Ben can't really do much anymore. And there's the other thing, too. Like, do you want to go long-term on players where skating is not the big accent? Right. That's another issue. If Brady Kachuk ever became available,

Doug Armstrong is, like, throwing the Budweiser Clyde Stills. Alex Steen. It'll be Alex Steen by then, by the way. Oh, Alex. Alex Dean, by then, you're right. Yeah, Doug will be wherever he's going to be next. That's a good point.

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at gardeners.org and let's grow something together. No, listen, you're completely right. It's going to be another all-in season and they'll look for the snarl. because they know what's on the other side of the bracket. And they actually know what's in their own bracket, too. I mean, like, there's some tough customers in the central. But you're absolutely, you've got to be able to match what Vegas is going to throw out you this year in particular.

And Dallas probably knows that better than anybody. Okay, so there's, there's Anaheim, which is intriguing to you. What about in the East? What teams can you not figure out in the East? Which teams confuse you in the East? Well, Columbus only because I think that division is going to be dog shit, and they have the opportunity to maybe be the fourth best team of that division, depending on what the Rangers end up becoming this year.

You know, they showed a lot last year. I think Jack Greaves is going to easily take over the crease from Rizlickens at some point, in which case a major problem for that franchise for like four years running gets solved. And do the young players in that roster coalescence becoming a playoff team this year? And I've struggled with it because I think they can have the opportunity, especially if Worensky plays as well as you did last year, this year, to be real good. But are they good enough to make the leap over a team like New York

or over a team like Washington or over a team like Jersey? Who the hell knows? To make the playoffs in the metro. I think that this is going to be an incredible year for Adam Fantilly. You look at Adam Fantilly down the stretch last year, and like all the production is like five on five, you know, hardest minutes, like all of it. I think, and again, like, this is, we're going to do a show coming up where it's just like sort of all predictions.

And one of the things that I really do wonder about is can Adam Fantilli get into the top 15 scorers list in the NHL? 15. Wow. There's always, listen, we always say like, stuff like that always sounds outrageous. Like, I say the same thing about Macklin Celebrini. Like, is he going to be a top 10 scorer? That's how much I feel how strongly I feel about Macklin Celebrini.

We had this conversation last year. I really do wonder if Fantilli can get himself into that rarefied air. this year who has more points this year celebrating your fantilli don't do that come on I still think Celebrani

God I just love him I love you badard or Fantilli Fantilli Chicago didn't do anything Chicago didn't do anything Chicago didn't do anything

Chicago didn't do anything Chicago didn't do anything Chicago didn't do anything well like how did Chicago How did Chicago make that environment around Madard better? Well, I mean, they didn't do anything, but they know that his second-line center who will play with him on the power play

is a much better player than we anticipated at the beginning of last season. That is true. That is true. So there's that. I just, you don't think that given the accent on offense that Adam Fantilli is showing right now and given the players around him and how well he performed five on five last year, in the second half of the season that Adam Van Tilly is poised

to just break out large for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Like we're still wondering about is Bedard a center or a winger. We're still having that conversation. We have that same conversation about Frank Nazar too. That's still out there as well.

I mean, I think so. But these are still like legit conversations to happen. Now, absolutely boned as a franchise, the Blackhawks would be of neither of those guys can actualize as an NHL center. Like, they're completely screwed. Yeah. But they got a million great. They got a million great young defensemen, though.

Sure. It's a murderer's row of like young defense, but like, first of all, like, there's only so many defenders you can dress and there's only one puck. Yeah. Holy geez. Yeah. Higher, higher Ken Hitchcock and play the trap, then. You got a good bunch of great defensemen. Nobody didn't play in the middle.

Anyone else in the in the in the in the east have a lot of question marks around I mean it ain't it ain't a new NHL season if we're not wondering what the hell the Buffalo neighbors are going to be like I think that I think Ottawa is a playoff team again I tend to believe yeah yeah I do I don't I'm not I don't think even with the the improvement in goal that Detroit's going to do anything I think Montreal probably falls a little bit back to the pack as well. But Buffalo is the one that I'm still trying to figure out. Like, they're stacked in the back.

They've got some good pieces up front. I think Tage Thompson's going to be on a murderous rampage to start the season because he wants to be on the Olympic team. I believe that. And so what do they end up being? Out of the money again? I don't necessarily know if they're better than last year. But then again, I thought they were going to be better than they were last year.

What are the things I wonder about, considering the history of the Buffalo Sabres, if it's the same thing over again this year. And I don't want to say, like, even though they lost J.G. at Buterka, I think it is a, it is a more balanced team. Like, I think that they're internally hoping that, you know, Jack Quinn can pop and they can replace the 20, it was a 29 goals that Paturka had with a healthy Jack Quinn. With a healthy Jack, yeah. I wonder if, like at some point, if it's going to be the same thing again. it's interesting you mentioned tage thompson if you're tage thompson and it's the same thing all over again what do you do like you're really going to hand over another season are you are you saying he's about to rhino riley himself out of i don't know i lost my was this the the the the

postseason interview of i lost all my passion for hockey i lost my passion for hockey playing in Buffalo. Lost the smile. That was like... Somehow didn't end up the slogan for next season for the Sapers. But like... Buffalo Saper's hockey, Colin, we've lost all our passion for this. But does someone like, you know, Tage Thompson, like, just say like, okay, like, that's it.

I'm done. Like, there's only so long you can do this where it's like really detrimental to your career to say nothing, your mental health. But I do think Buffalo is a better team this year. Having said that, I do. I still wonder about them down the middle. And of course, it's always going to be the Josh Norris. injury issues that we that we are all wonder about don't love don't love them down the

middle but like many NHL teams I do like them on the wing and they got it really and I think that on the on the blue line like look like Rasmus Dahlene is like amongst the elite defenders in the NHL he's a Norris guy he's fantastic I've always liked Michael Kesselring and I think that helps a ton on that back end that's why I don't think that trade is a disaster for the the Buffalo Sabres in any stretch of the imagination you know Josh Stone and Michael Kesselry. I think that's a good return for J.J. Patyrka.

Again, maybe not a more explosive team offensively, but a more balanced team with that deal. I thought that was a really good deal by Kevin Adams. I know it's not cool to say that Kevin Adams made a good deal, but I think he made a good deal. I think he made a good deal. And then you're hoping that the goaltending kind of figures itself out. Okay. Now, you, I know we're running up against it, but you seem to be a little bit skeptical about the Ottawa senators playoff chances, sir.

I just don't believe the goaltending. You don't believe in Linus Allmark? No. I don't. I never, I never, I never, now I, let me say it this way. I don't believe in it, but I really want Linus Allmark to be an excellent goalie because everything about him I really love. His skill is amongst the elite as far as goaltending goes in the league. I think he's a dynamic personality.

I think he's a wonderful sort of, you know, just. great guy that you want to talk to. He is a delight for Ottawa Senators' media. But I've never seen a situation where Linus Alamark has just said, I'm biting down on the mouth guard and we're going to win this effing game. I haven't seen that.

I've seen, we always talk about it with, with players. We talk about, oh yeah, he's a good player, but it's soft skill. It's soft skill. you want to see some battle,

I want to see that from Linus Allmark. We never saw it in Buffalo. In Boston, it was platoon and then crunch time in playoffs. It was always swayman that got it. And until I see Allmark, like really bite down on the mouth guard and like compete hard,

I'm always going to have the question marks about the goal team. Sounds like he's playing for the wrong team in Ontario. No, I think. he's a five i don't disagree with you put this way he does this thing that always makes me laugh where i'm not sure if he if he still does it but in warm up what he used to always do is he would he would take one step off the bench and he would do one push and it's like right out of the pages of like uh charlie brown and there's like almost you're just like

he'd do this like glide to the net and every time i it's it just looks hilarious like it's charlie brown kind of head down like i'm just gliding to the net i can't i'm not doing justice to describing it, but it used to make me laugh every single time I saw. Honestly, I love Linus Allmark. I just want to see some dirt in the game. This is why I've said for years that to appease his critics, instead of doing the big exaggerated goalie hug, he should punch his back up in the stomach to show how serious he is. Where I do disagree with you, though, is I do think that he can be as serviceable and as

consistent and as dependable a goalie in the regular season as Ottawa will. will need to make the cut again but i don't again i don't disagree with you that when it comes to playoff hockey he's yet to really show that he can be the guy that that hunkers down like and wins a serious view i like i like your idea of like him like punching marilyn in the face instead of the goalie dropping the backup yeah and then and then turning to merrick up in the press box of being like are you that tough enough for you that could that billy smith enough for you that dwayne rollis it enough for you and i turned out by the lindon Not hard enough for you, sir.

Take that, Merrick, some of that. Take that home. On that note, why don't you go and have a lovely afternoon, Greg Wichenski? That was a lot of fun, as always. We will talk again on, we're back on Friday, right? We're back on Friday, yeah. Yeah, I'm in the midst of bold predictions. That's the next story coming out tomorrow.

Adam Fantilli, Adam Fantilli, top 15. I already made my bold prediction about. Oh, okay. And it is about their goaltending, hence I knew more than I usually do about their goaltending situation. But there are a few bold predictions in the piece coming out tomorrow on ESPN that will certainly peak the interest of the NBSW fans, to be sure. So you're not going to ape the Robertson for McTavish and Zellwiger in the first round

draft pick? You're not going to try to sneak that one in the boy? No, I'm not. I haven't done one for Anaheim yet, but I do have one already in the bank. You want to tease who it involves or what it involves? It will involve regression of a very statistically successful player last season. But I will say, just to tease the piece tomorrow, I will be revealing within the piece the two teams, I believe, that will play for the Stanley Cup next season. Edmonton, Florida.

Nope. Neither one of those. One of them is a team that I think is not one that a lot of people are very high on. I'll put it that way. So it's the Los Angeles Kings facing off against the Columbus. I'm not going to tell you what you can see tomorrow who it is. One is a team that everyone every season says when I took a final. And then the other team is one that I think when you stack it up against the other teams in its conference may not be great.

Right. But I think can be great. Let me put it that way. Who the Dallas Stars plan? All right. We'll leave it at that. All right, all right. Tomorrow at ESPN.com.

All right. Thank you. We'll talk on. Thanks, everybody. There he is, the great Greg Wischinski from ESPN and ESPN.com. Zach, we kind of ignored you, as we tend to do when me and Wish sort of get together here. But did anything stand out there for you before we wrap up the podcast today? Yeah, I mean, it was a good point by Wish or interesting.

I didn't think about it that. This conversation is over. This is supposed to be where you like shine me up real nice, butter the bread on both sides. Well, Merrick, I thought you were pretty ingenious when you have. Sorry, I, sorry, I got to stay. Okay, go ahead. Fanboy, Greg Fanboy. I never thought about the whole Ovechkin situation and the fact that they haven't announced anything.

And then, by the way, he said that he said something along the lines of this wouldn't be the end of his NHL time at the end of this contract. I don't know, was he just alluding to the fact that he would just resign Washington or that he could go elsewhere? I can't see him going elsewhere. I can't see him going elsewhere. Yeah, I couldn't either, but he said it, and I was like, but you know what, though, if there is, I've said this before, like there are some players that are underpaid at any number. Yeah.

Would you think about, and I would say the same thing about Crosby for what he did to the Pittsburgh Penguins, but we tend to forget, like, the state of affairs of the Washington capitals before Ovechkin got there. Okay, like I remember the dog days when, you know, when they went out and they made the, big deal for yager and this was in the sort of you know emo phase of yarmur yager where like you wouldn't even do like line rushes with the guys like free game and stuff it was like it was

bad it was like really bad and was a really bad team and they they ended up like screw this and get to tear everything down um but like it was it was awful it was awful the the brand the brand was really hurt um there were a lot of fans that came dressed as empty seats uh was costume night all the time and I'm going to dress as a red empty seat. I'm going to dress as a blue empty seat. And Alexander Ovechkin and that phenomenon that he was slash is put that team back on the map. What's that worth you?

Like think about like what that did for that organization for that brand. There are like, you know, brand managers that will tell you like how many millions of dollars like the presence of Ovechkin and his performance accounted for. And same thing with Sid, right? Yeah, same thing with Sid. Like, Sid is another one that saved their organization. And then you look at, like, how much he was actually paid. When you look at, like, the most underpaid players in the history of the game,

we tend to go back and look at, like, the non-union NHL, the non- Players Association, NHL, and see, like, Gordie got what? Rocket got, what? Like, this is, like, insane. But you look at what Alex Ovechkin has meant to the Washington Capitals. and those full buildings and that Stanley Cup and the goal of chase and the rock the red rejuvenating the entire organization and that fan base he has been and again this is a salary cap issue they can't couldn't have paid him more money he may go down as the most

undercompensated player in the history of the NHL when you look at how much that organization is worth pre-Ovechkin and post-Ovechkin it's night and day it's night and day Crosby same thing Crosby the exact same thing anyway that was there's some interesting stuff in there I hope for

I hope there's some Tuesday September 23rd catnip in there for hockey fans yeah the OV1 though is interesting because you're 100% right if he announces it it's a full oh yeah we talked about the Copatar thing

you talked about it with Wishier today but like it is we're doing like flyovers over arenas like the team you know you're right the teams falling over themselves to show like proper honor to Alex Ovec

and like every single you know how grading that would be for his teammates like you know you're Dylan Strom Connor McMichael a Martin Fairivari like standing there at the bench like oh god here we go again can we just drop the puck can we just play

like you think about it he goes through new york on on uh i'll just throw out there like a like tuesday night or thursday night or whatever and then he's going through toronto on saturday and you know the rangers unru like do this big thing they bring out gretsky and they've got pictures and jerseys for him but you know what watches it and they're like oh no 10 exit Saturday night Up the ante You know what though If you're

If you're in the other 31 teams You probably want him to do it Because it's a guaranteed sellout Your last chance to see Alexander Ovechkin Yes Yes I think the one that would be

Okay let me let me ask you this What is the one matchup Sorry I'm pushing time on us here But what's the one where you're like if I had to be in the building or if I could get to go to the building be in the building for it, the one person I would want to see him play

his last game against. It's automatically sit, right? Is there anybody else other than Sid? Who would want to see him play? I mean, Sid's the obvious one because the rise of the NHL post-lockout 2005. The whole thing was built around Sid versus Ovi. HBO 24-7, the Road of the Winter Classic,

all of it, Bilesma versus Boudreau, but this is all about Sid versus OV and it was that was the rise of the new NHL and they hitched their wagon on these two guys and forever they will be linked forever they will be linked it is the obvious one I will say this

the sidebar to that is OV versus Malkin don't forget for how many years and interesting enough I think it was the all-star game in Montreal where Ilya Kovalchuk actually like brokered a truce between the two these guys didn't get along like we all think like oh sit in Ovi don't like each other no it was actually Malkin and Ovi that really did not get along for a lot of years I think it was that Montreal and I could be wrong but I think it was a Montreal all-star game where Colvichick was like

guys like for the good of you know Russian international hockey you guys got to put this you guys got to get past this you guys got to put this behind you um so yeah it would be washington versus pittsburgh i i can't even like hot take it and say um you know what it's carolina and here's why like no oh be the aladdin thrashers and here's why like no i can't like no yeah no i wasn't looking for you to go like hot take you on it i just didn't know if there was one that i wasn't thinking about or was missing or something because i think it's just one of those ones where if you're a penguins fan yeah or or or or or a cap spin, and it's like, you know you could get to go to one last game of said matchup,

which is the one that you would want to go to. I think that that has to be the one. I think it does. Yep. Absolutely. All right. Let's wrap up the show today. You're right.

We've taken too much time out of people's day today. The sheet is powered by Fanduel. Bless you, Fanduel. Home in the same game parlay. Make every moment more on Fanduel. Fanduel, proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them. Do you have something go vetchkin for us? What do you got?

No, I don't. Actually, I didn't. I wasn't thinking that far enough ahead, unfortunately. But we have, which we'll see what happens in the next little while. You tease it here with Wish about these fun predictions we'll do and a show we'll do in the future. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's going to be fun. I hope we get the green light for that. I really hope we get the green light for that show.

Well, our friends at Fandu will have a very cool market kind of in that range. up rate and it's will a team win the Stanley Cup for the first time a first timer to win the Stanley Cup in 2025, 2026. The odds for no are minus 900 and the teams that would fall in that category for those who aren't aware would be San Jose, Seattle, Nashville, Columbus, Vancouver, Utah, Minnesota, Ottawa, and Buffalo. Yes, would be plus 550. I think it's a definitive no for me, Jeff, that these teams aren't making it. I'm sorry to your fan bases to anybody from the organizations

who may be watching I don't think I don't think any of these fan bases are looking at it saying you'd affect how dare you offend us I say we're not going to win the Stanley Cup yeah I'm hardcore

putting my foot down saying the answer is no who would be the who would have the best chance from that group though sharks no crackin no Preds no Columbus bless them but no Vancouver no

I think it's three Okay I think there's three You think it's the best chance I think it's the last three Nah No no you know what not even I can't throw Buffalo in there I think Minnesota or Ottawa

I can just like like honestly We're talking about like okay Who's the toughest clown on the circus here Like okay it's either Minnesota or Ottawa Yeah And then the only other one I would throw in there and it would be fringe is Vancouver and it's is Demko healthy

is everyone else get you talk we talked to go to yesterday does everything fall in order Pedersen's got a hundred 20 points he'll he'll stays healthy Demco wins the Vesna Adam Foots is going to win the Jack Adams oh yeah yeah yeah yeah but that's like you have to check every single box

to get that and then So, again, my answer is still no. Yeah. And they win the Stanley Cup, and Quinn Hughes still says, now I'm peace and now. He says, thanks for having me. Now I'm going to go do it with my brothers. I'm not going to take my cup bring to New Jersey now.

Thanks, boys. Hey, this cup was a lot of fun. Thanks. It's been real. It's been real fun. It hasn't been real fun. They need some rings in the room and at the potential center there. I'm going to put a couple more million bucks on my paycheck there

to move the decimal point for me. Thanks, boys. On that, we'll wrap. we've been selfish about your time, so we appreciate your attention today. On the program tomorrow, it is a return to Brian Burke. And Wednesdays with Berkey,

we'll have Brian on the program tomorrow. A couple of more announcements are coming up in the next little while as well about bookmark guests and feature guests that we'll have here on the program. So stay tuned for that. Thanks for tuning in at our brand new start time of 1 o'clock Eastern, 11 Mountain,

10 Pacific. Thanks so much for joining. do the thing hey like do the uh the thumbs up the favorite uh do the uh subscribe do the like do all of that fun stuff that means a lot uh to people that you're looking at uh front facing and others behind the scenes as well most notably my boss amaldela she always loves what i go you thumbs up you get that he's got more subs really important uh tip your zamboni driver on the way out and thanks for watching thanks for listening thanks to everybody in the chat as always We are back tomorrow with Berkey, right here on the sheet.

Talk to the moment. I sweat 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month. I can't get out my head, lifestyle ambitions day-to-day, because you can call it all right. I went to the dark man. He tried to give me a little medicine. I'm like, no, that's fine. I'm out against those men that's pretty new. It's me, myself, and how this is going to be fixing my mind.

I do want to break it. I turned on the music. I do want to beg it. I turn it on the music. It's enough, help, out, and I don't get you sometimes losing. I've been on the day that's the way we're wrong. Want to get your hands dirty for a good cause? Volunteer with gardeners and help support students in Chicago's South and West Side schools

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