The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Leafs Fire Craig Berube and Sabres Even Series ft. Brian Burke, David Pagnotta, & David Alter

Episode Date: May 13, 2026

Today on The Sheet, Jeff Marek is joined by Brian Burke, David Pagnotta, and David Alter for a jam packed episode breaking down the shocking news that the Toronto Maple Leafs have fired head coach Craig Berube. The crew digs into what led to the decision, how the organization reached this point, what it says about the current direction of the franchise, and where the Leafs go from here following another disappointing finish. They also discuss potential coaching candidates, how this impacts the future of key players like Auston Matthews and William Nylander, what changes could still be coming in Toronto, and how the front office approaches a massive offseason. Plus, the guys take a spin around the Stanley Cup Playoffs with reactions to the latest storylines, standout performances, coaching decisions, and everything happening across the NHL postseason. Don’t miss another loaded episode of The Sheet.#TheSheet #JeffMarek #TorontoMapleLeafs #LeafsForever #CraigBerube #NHL #StanleyCupPlayoffs #AustonMatthews #WilliamNylander #BrianBurke #DavidPagnotta #DavidAlter #HockeySHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Ninja: https://www.sharkninja.ca/ninja-crispi-pro-6-in-1-countertop-glass-air-fryer-rose-quartz/AS101CRS.html?utm_source=Meta&utm_medium=Paid+Social&utm_campaign=H1NinjaCrispi&utm_content=NinjaEN&dwvar_AS101CRS_color=cdb9b8Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoffReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Okay, so the big news of the day, which will be the big news probably of the remainder of the week, is the Toronto Maple Leafs and the dismissal of Craig Barubi as the head coach of that franchise. What does that mean for the roster? What does that mean for the bench? What does this mean for the future of the Toronto Maple Leafs? We're going to get to all of this with all three of our guests today. We will also have a whack at the pinata from last night. The Vegas Golden Knights go out three, two over the Anaheim Ducks, Pavoldore Fia, front and center there. and a stanchion probably should have got the first star last night,

but nonetheless, the Buffalo Stavours pull even with the Montreal Canadiens heading back to the Key Bank Center. We're going to get there as well. In the meantime, the blueprint is powered. We're all business today, folks. The blueprint is powered by Fandual. Download the app today and play your game on Fandual. Coming up on the program today, the headline stories, of course,

the Toronto Maple Leaf's firing Craig Barubei as head coach, Brian Burke, who has fired coaches before. will be aboard Dave Panyoda from Daily Faceoff or Insider. He will be here as well, as will Leaves Reporter, David Alter, from the hockey news. Did I mention the Toronto Maple Leafs have fired Craig Barube? And also, we will talk plenty about the playoffs last night. And we'll start off with our headliner who joins us each and every Wednesday. We'd like to call it civilian Wednesdays around these parts.

He is Brian Brick and he joins me on the sheet. Brian, first of all, thanks, as always, for stopping by today. Of all the people that we talk to on a consistent basis, I mean, you are the most uniquely qualified. to discuss this. You've been in the chair to hire, you've been in the chair to fire. Floor is yours. Wide-brushed thoughts initially here.

Wide-brushed thoughts on what we saw out of Toronto today. John Chaka, general manager, making it official. Craig Barubei, not wanted on the voyage, fired by the Maple Leafs. I'm not surprised. I said this on a webcast podcast yesterday. I don't think Craig Barrube deserved to get fired, but I thought he would get fired.

I never fired a coach who I hired by the way, never once. Never fired a coach I hired. Only fired coaches that were hired before me. And so that to me is a difference. I think you're entirely to replace a coach much more readily than if you hired him, then if you inherited it. So that would then, of course, make it easier for John Chaka here to dismiss Craig Brew. The one thing that I do, we can quibble about, you know,

did he deserve to be fired, the timing of it, The one thing that I do like here is at least they did it early. There's nothing worse for a head coach and going into July and not knowing whether he's going to have a job next season. And then all of a sudden, the coaching vacancies are all done. The music winds down and a coach doesn't have a chair to try to grab. That's the one bonus here. At least they were going to do it, to your point earlier, they were going to do it.

At least they did it early. I have no problem with firing a coach. I have no problem with John Chaker saying, I want my own guy. And Craig Ruby doesn't fit what we want to accomplish. I like Craig Ruby. He's a great guy.

I think he's a great coach. He didn't become a dumb coach since he won a cup in St. Louis. He's had to deal with all these metrics and analytics and all that. He's not an old school coach. Old style, maybe they're not old school. So I think he's had a bright future out of him.

I have no problem with John Chacken's decision to fire him. And you're right. Do it quickly. It's very charitable. It's the kindest thing to do. You're not obligated to do it, but it is the thoughtful thing. And also, just as a quick aside, do you have a thought on what Vegas is doing right now with Bruce Cassidy, not allowing him to talk to the Edmonton Oilers specifically?

Maybe they will at a later date, but right now they're saying no. That should have been done much more quietly in my view. Because now you've got a dead man walking, coach. No one's going to be put through that. Now he's a dead man walking. I think it's really wrong that leaked out. I don't know who to blame, but I don't mind if they said no. You have to have permission to talk to someone.

They can say no for the next 12 months and pay them off in full, or however long he's got, that's well respect within the industry. But to say no and leak it, whoever leaked it, that's really bad. Having said that, is there not, we all know how this works, you dismiss a head coach. Generally, you give the, okay, we don't want you here, so you're free to talk to anybody else. It relieves us of the burden of paying that coach.

Is this not a moment, I want to get back to Ruby in a second, but is this not a moment where, you know, the NHL steps in and says, whether it's to maybe even right at the top to Bill Foley, I know you don't have to let him talk, but other coaches are watching, and everyone in the league is watching, and it comes across as really pay.

technically you don't have to give him permission. We understand that. We get it, but that's kind of not the way we do business in this league. Do you think like the NHL weighs in on this at all? I don't think so because of the divisional rival. If they were talking to Calgary or not the Calgary, they're talking to Columbus or someone else to be different, but they're talking to a divisional rival.

I could see them say no right to the rest of the summer. Interesting. All right, back to Craig Barubi. A number of different names have all. already started to emerge. Some of them obvious. Some perhaps more of a long shot. But right now I think everybody's got their potential list here.

And before I get to a couple of names, does this feel like this is sea change for the Toronto Maple Leafs? There's a, you know, certainly some familiar faces around in Matt Sundeen. But John Chaka wasn't the most obvious candidate for a lot of people. So there's a major difference there. Keith Polly talked about this at various press conferences. Does it feel like this is a sort of sea change here for the Maple Leafs or about to be sea change for Toronto?

It is a sea change. It's a massive sea change. I mean, C change probably is an understatement. You're talking about a revolutionary change and a very big gamble by Keith Pelley. I like Keith Pelley, I've said many times I respect my trust's judgment, but it's a big gamble boy. If this doesn't work, he's going to be out of work. So some of the names that we wonder about, both for our head coaching position and potentially assistant coaching, too, we have to consider the entire bench.

Mani Malhotra's name very much front and center. He's, of course, the coach of Abbotsford, won the Calder Cup last year in the American Hockey League. Mike Van Ryan, who's an assistant coach who Chaco would have hired in Tucson when he was with the coyotes. a couple of other names that we wonder about, maybe even Steve Sullivan, who replaced Mark Savard this season. Jay Woodcroft, currently assistant coach with the Anaheim Ducks,

who's certainly used to big Canadian markets and coaching superstars. You ever thought on any of these names, Berkey, and even if you don't, you ever thought of what kind of coach you think John Chaka may look at hiring here? Well, I think they've indicated they intend to be data-centric.

So they're going to focus on a new wave coach, guys more into analytics than perhaps in the past. But everyone uses analytics. Everyone's always used them. Just some teams rely on them more. So I don't know which way I'll go. I don't really care to discuss 20 possibilities. So I'll get down at three.

Okay, let me throw one other. I had a conversation with someone this morning who said, listen, the person I'm about to bring up here has, because we have to consider too, this isn't just John Chaker's decision. You know, you listen to John Chaker at his press conference in subsequent interviews. He'll talk about the input of Matt Sundeen. And we know that, you know, Tidomi is, I guess, loosely working as a type of consultant here for various members of MLSE.

You know, someone put a name to me this morning, which is really interesting. And someone that you have a background with, who is a forward thinker, a disciple of Roger Nielsen, currently coaching in Mannheim in Germany, and that's Dallas Aikens. Would that be someone they should talk to? Well, talk about stanching goals. Let's talk about Dallas Nguer. Mike Kostka.

I called her cup on a stanching goals scored by Mike Kopp. I couldn't believe it. No, I think Dallas Eakins is a great coach, great guy. He's gotten a raw deal twice now, going in the wrong location. I think he should be considered for sure. He's an excellent coach. Great guy.

Very progressive. One of the things that Chacon did mention today is that this wasn't a decision based on not knowing what the decision that Austin Matthews is going to make will be. Do you believe that it's even possible to hire someone without considering what this is going to mean for Austin Matthews? Like, should we look at these two issues at loggerheads? or are they just the same, you know, two different ends of the same log? No, I think they're different. I think you could fire, in your mind, you could justify firing Craig Barouba, without talking about Austin Matthews.

I don't think one is reliant on the other, but I think the other one is reliant. Whoever is replaced and it is, whoever is hired by the Maple Leafs, I think Austin Matthews will have some input on that. At a very least, it would be consulted. He's not a big mistake. It's a very bad start. All right. We're going to do more on the Maple Leaf situation coming up here in about 10 or 15 minutes.

Dave Panyoda is aboard. David Alters is aboard as well. I did want to get your thoughts on what we saw last night in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Specifically with Montreal and the Buffalo Sabres. And I'm glad you mentioned the Stanchion goal. And I had a really, really sort of a quick tweet out last night. Where do you got there? Bulldogs?

You got a Bulldogs mug? Blackball. Oh, nice. Nice. Nice. Love it. Love it. Love it.

You mentioned the Mike Koska Stanchin goal as well. In Buffalo, for the longest time, there was a gentleman who worked for the team by the name of Ensel Parky Palmer. He was a goaltender to play with the Buffalo Bisons. And May Day told me the stories when he was playing on a line with McGilney and Lafontein.

You remember the old odd, there was the Zamboni doors in the corner, and the play was Mayday would hard rim it. McGilney would go to the front of the net and Porky Palmer would stand behind. the Zamboni door and as the puck went around the boards, Porky would body check the Zamboni doors. It would jet out a little bit.

The goaltender would go behind the net to play the puck and it would squirt out front to Alex McGilney who had a tap-in. May Day figures, Porky Palmer got about a dozen assists in his career that don't appear on any score sheet. But what did you think when you saw the stanching goal yesterday by Tage Thompson? Sounds like a little like a tall tale for me. May Day, frankly.

People in Buffalo have talked about Porky Palmer doing this all the time too. I remember when we, when we, when it was in Vancouver, we played in Boston. Our goalies would not go out and dump in Pucks on the one side because of the Zamboni doors in Boston.

There's so many bad bounces. When it dumped in on that side to the right of the goaltender, the goalie would say, Danny Clute would stay in the net. If it's the left to the goaltender, he'd go out and try and play it. So it's the real thing. I'm surprised that the goalie wasn't looking for this. It is interesting because, you know, as we know,

as we know, goaltenders will and goalie coaches will always have a book on. You know, some boards are hot, some stanchions are thicker or thinner and you have to be aware of what could happen with the puck. Nonetheless, it does happen. You know, I know various people are treating it like it's, you know, an UFO just landed at Center Ice and the Buffalo Sabres or the Buffalo Sabres

you know, ice, you know, five aliens on the ice. This things do happen. Like we're watching a couple of here. Like Boston against Winnipeg with David Pashternach. That's a Stanchion Pass in front. Hellebuck goes out to play it. Pasternak has the tap in there. That's the Boston corner I told you about.

That's the Boston corner. That's the Boston. And here's another one. And this was just January with the Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Canadian. So it's not as if this doesn't happen. I don't know that it's anything that the NHL necessarily has to or wants to do anything about. But if you were working in the NHL and you're looking at the Detroit goal, the Boston goal, and then last night, are you saying we need to look at stanchions or do we just say it happens so infrequently?

Let's not overbake this pie. What was the Pashtonacle? How many years ago is that? That was Boston Winnow. Do we have a date on that one, Zach? I mean, there are more. There are more that I'll try to find it happen. My point is they're very rare.

I'm not going to change a rule for one in a thousand games thing. I think most goalies are aware, but it's very rare. Let's move on. The rink people, the rink guys try to make those joints perfect. Sanchez and joints at the Zamboni door. the only thing, and I don't know if you, I think we've had this conversation before, the one thing that I always do, and I did this on the disallowed goal yesterday, which was originally called a goal and then was waived off on goal interference, a really good video review there called by Marty San Luis. The whole thing took like, well, the whole thing took like 10 minutes, but here's what I always ask myself at this time of year. And I said it with the stanching goal, too. Are we good if that's a Stanley Cup winning goal in overtime?

Yes, I am. I've had that discussion. I lost a very important playoff game of the American League on a goal like that. You did. No problem with it. We're not going to say, okay, we're reviewing that goal, on my view. We're not going to have a 10-minute review every time there was a standard of goal. That was an 11-minute review. That was way too long. Way too long. They've got to have a time limit on us. They've got to say, make the call on the ice. Review. Yeah, five minutes you get the call right. Less than that during the regular season, with five minutes max. And then look at it. They got the call right in my mind, at least on the whether it was a goal or not.

Interference or not we could argue about. I think they got both right. I really do. I think like the goal, like you're, I'm with you 100%. That goal was a goal. It took a long time to get there, but they got the call right. And then you could make the argument like there was both Hellenius and also Samuelson. You could have called either on goal interference.

One dragged the paddle across in the crease and the other held it there. So Marty had two choices. Like, that was coming back. I think I'm right. Just 11 minutes. That's inexcusable to me. Yeah, I just, like, how do you, again, what you've opened the can of worms, how do you start to make it a more manageable time?

Like, do you have a time limit? Who talks to the referee story reviews? I'm curious about that. Who is in the headset? Obviously, the situation room is. Anyone else? I'm curious about that. I don't know for sure, but the officials and the war room in Toronto would be in conversation there.

I keep coming back to this idea again. I kind of like that the NHL, like hockey in general, isn't being drowned in technology. I kind of still like that old school about it. That's why I can't stand like, you know, offside reviews. To me, close enough is good enough. Goals are different. but I still wonder how close the NHL is to having technology

that allows a chip in the puck that will tell you whether that thing went over the red line. They'll come up to the glass system that's seamless. Yeah. For the stations are built into the glass and someone will hit one of the seams on the glass that will bounce funny.

Nothing perfect. I think we can't really right often enough. Listen, you were there for the Fox Puck So you know all about Puck technology I'm just wondering like Is there is that And you used how like

By the way How much money did you take up into the stands To try to bribe people to give the Pucks back Back in the day The Pucks cost 400 bucks So we gave two tickets to a Bruins game And some kind of merch Some like 500 bucks for the stuff

And couldn't get one So it's awesome Collectors items Collectors items So I'm just saying like Is there a way because you're like on that on that goal man like you're right like so long to figure it out other sports have technology at an advantage to to make calls quickly just seems like now more

so than ever there's been controversy with reviews and goals and calls and taking so long just disrupting the flow of what is supposed to be the fastest and best flow sport in the the world. Well, we were all reluctant to go to replay, baseball, football, basketball, hockey. We all said no to replay. Then we gradually went to limited replay. Then we gradually expanded. We expanded to the point now where I think we should say enough. Enough. I don't want to add replay on stanching goals. I don't want to add that. We'll live with that. That's a handful of goals every year. Yeah. Okay. Quickly, before I let you go, thoughts on Vegas and Anaheim last night. Pavl Dorofiev doesn't get a lot of headlines, but here's someone who just

scores 30 goals every year, bluntly. And he was the start of the show yesterday. It's a Vegas called the Knights Grabby, 3-2 series lead over the Anaheim Ducks. You have a thought on that one. I saw him limp off. I thought he was dead. I thought he was dead. He came back and scored twice. He's pretty good player. I thought the Russians were both really good last night. Barbership was really good, too. Yeah. A bunch of big hits. I thought that they all played Anaheim for good chunks of the game.

I thought Anaheim played better for the most of the game. Yeah. Stretches there were Vegas dominated, I thought, short periods of time. One of the, let me close on this. And the guys on the morning cup of hockey show here at Nation Network, we're talking about this this morning. And Colby Cohen, who played in the NHL, I think brought up a really good point. We see this with the Buffalo Montreal series,

specifically. Is it just me, Berkey, or are there a lot of really undisciplined penalties? And by that, I mean, I can't remember seeing this many double minors for high sticking in the playoffs, as I've seen.

Kobe Cohen's a really good commentator. I like his work. I don't know personally. I've met him, but I don't know. I like his work. I'm shocked at the undisciplined, senseless penalties that have been taken. Like the only second two interference calls

They're just ignorant That's a captain Putting his team short in key times I don't get it I know why Lindy puts up with it But I think the league's not Cracking down on this These are calls they have to make

They turn on to be double-miners Because someone Now the drop of blood thing really bothers me Whereas biting is looking at a drop of blood It should be a little more profuse than that The bleeding Should be at least a table spoon of blood I don't know what the right quantum is,

but I think there's these are real penalties. If it's not a four, it's a two for sure. Either way, you're putting the team short for no good reason. Wake up.

So now you want a spoon in the linesman's pocket, too, just to see how much blood can be drawn to determine whether it's... Just what to say... Send a camera, take a camera, take a shot on their phone and send it to the league

and see if it's enough blood. Is this enough blood for a double minor, Gary? the rule says it's a double minor if there's nothing specific about blood they just say injury but the caveat is when you see blood that implies injury but there's nothing specific in the rule book about blood okay so the butt ending penalty they don't understand it says it's a major penalty but they don't give them a major I think it's the right call there's no force that but no risk of injury they're stupid it was on this point but it wasn't risky so they left it in the game.

I think that's fine. Same with the blood. Don't get injury. A little bit of blood's not injury. If he's got a big welter or a mark, doesn't have to be broken. That's be sensible. So what I was told about the butt end was,

and first of all, if anyone's going to know anything about butt ends, it's going to be Lindy Ruff, going back to the Billy Smith situation between Buffalo and the New York Islanders, but that's a conversation for another day. But what I saw the butt end in that, Minnesota, Colorado game.

What I was told about why it was a double minor and not a major what the game was, A, to your point, there wasn't a lot of force to it. Second of all, they couldn't really determine whether it was the butt of the stick that hit McCarran or it was the glove. It was sort of inconclusive. It was the butt of the stick.

I think so too. I think so too. I think so. They got the call right. The referees get most things right. Let's stop pile around the referees. they get 99% of stuff right. They're the best of the world.

I agree. One drop of blood, that's not a four. All right. Berkey wants to turn the tap on if you're going to go for four minutes here. So fellas, fellas start your blading. Here we go. We're going into pro wrestling territory. Brecky, you're the best.

We'll catch up soon, pal. Thanks, Jeff. There he is. I love it. Not enough blood. That's barely a shaving cut. I love Burkey. love him. And I love Dave Panyoda as well, who's a standing boy, DFO Insider from the

fourth period who joins us here on the sheet. First of all, Dave, do we want little blood spoons now for officials wandering around to make sure there's sufficient blood to call a double minor? That's what Berkey's lobbying for here. I saw, yeah. Yeah, I mean, might as well. Give them, give them all the tools. Why not? Okay, the headline story of the day. We'll get to names. We'll get to all of it. But I don't think it was a surprise, considering there's a new general manager. One of the slight surprises is, though, like, let me frame it this way specifically. I was always told that when a general manager gets hired, his job becomes to keep his job.

And you have so many bullets in your chamber. And the coach is one of them. And generally, that's why the first thing a manager never does is fire the coach, because now you've just used a bullet. And you can only use so many until the attention turns to you. That's why generally, when a new manager comes in, it's a wait-and-see approach for one season, and then they make their move on the coach. That's just sort of accepted policy. That didn't happen here.

What does that tell you? What point does your radar go off and say, like, this is different and why? Yeah, I mean, you know, Jeff, what stood out to me that wasn't properly defined when he spoke with the media, John Chaka, spoke with the media. But when in the press release, they said they're going through an organizational shift. And that's the primary reason as to why they're not moving ahead with Craig Barouba as head coach. The indication last week was they had initial talks. It was positive. They will continue those conversations.

And that kind of suggested that maybe, okay, wait a second, maybe, yeah, Baroube is going to stick around and then go through exactly what you described. Give it a year or give it a part of a season and whatnot and then use that bullet. But the conversations that they had and the meetings that they had over the weekend, clearly it didn't align. His – Burubase tactics, style, structure, et cetera, just didn't align with whatever shift is now going to occur for the Toronto Maple Leafs. So I get that. You make that decision – you make that decision now. But it just – I'm more curious as to what exactly that direction is going to be for this team. and which head coach or what type of head coach is going to come in

and align himself with whatever this direction is and whatever moves are going to follow for this roster over the next, let's say, still, what, seven, eight weeks? So cynical me said, okay, because I'm always wondering like why things happen when and fueled by the idea that there are no coincidences. So we had the situation yesterday with Bruce Cassidy. and the blocking by the Vegas Golden Knights.

And I think a lot of people will look at that and say, oh, I wonder if the Toronto Maple Leafs are there. And now the Maple Leafs know that the Oilers are in the hunts for Bruce Cassidy. We might want to close them off at the past. I don't think about Bruce Cassidy there. But I will go down the road on a conspiracy theory. And that is, it seems like Vancouver's getting closer. Okay?

like to finalizing what their management structure is going to be. It's, it's, this is like, what's the term that I always use? Roller skating down a gravel road is what this search really kind of has with all this sort of fumbling along the way. But nonetheless,

they are inching closer and we feel it's almost at the finish line. And I wonder too if this is before Vancouver gets their management structure in place, is this Toronto opening up a spot where they can. talk to Mani Malhotra. Yeah, and that wouldn't shock me. Because there is competition out there, obviously. There's Edmonton. There's L.A.

They're actively going through their coaching search right now, even though DJ Smith has the interim tag. And there was a report that they had interviewed Bruce Cassidy that I was told not the case. But I think they will. I think the Oilers will. But with Vancouver, yeah. And a lot of people thought that this was already going to be announced, that the Canucks were already going to be mapping out and describing and telling everybody,

here's our new GM, here's our VP of Hockey Ops, here's this, here's that, here's where Daniel and Hendrick are. And presumably what's going to happen with Adam Foote as head coach. Toronto, like, Manny Malhotra is the type of coach that I could certainly see Toronto going after. Yes. this group going after. And talking to a lot of people around the league, a lot of people believe it's only a matter of time

before Manny Malhotra becomes a head coach in the National Hockey League. And, you know, seeing how well some first year coaches have done, Pittsburgh, Boston, this season, it's kind of adding a little more fuel to the fire that these first-time NHL head coaches are worth their weight. And I can certainly see Toronto going in that direction.

You know, there's another name, too that I, he was in the mix for a couple jobs last summer. I could certainly see him being a potential target at least to have a discussion with her. It would be Jay Leach in Boston. That's another one with so much emphasis that seemed to have come out of their original press conference last week in Toronto of reshaping the decor and, you know, that's going to be our plan of attack moving forward and that's where we need to upgrade. You know, Boston's done a really good job with a lot of their young D in their in their system. And Jay Leach has been a part of of that, even though he was a forward,

wasn't a defenseman, I believe. But that's a guy that I could certainly see being another potential, you know, target for Toronto. These younger coaches or first year, potentially first year NHL coaches. And Jay Woodcroft might be another one that I could see being a potential target for the Leafs to want to talk to, an assistant right now with Anahe.

That's a really interesting one. We mentioned his name a little bit earlier. I wonder about it. And maybe, again, like Occam's Razor, just like the most obvious and simple root and the simple explanation. Oh, by the way, Chika is saying the search will, hang on, let me grab this here, the quick note here, Sue. No timeline.

The search will start wide and mentioned experience in the NHL in larger markets could be an asset. Jay Woodcroft. Sorry, clear my throat there for you, Dave. Okay, you good? Yeah, no, Chey Woodcroft. but what about Mike Van Ryan? On the bench, John hired him in Tucson once upon a time.

Just familiarity. Familiarity. I don't know. I think I can hear a lot of names. You know, like I think if the search is going to be wide, like at what point do we start to hear, you know, Gardner McDougal from Moncton? You know, like let's get that room feeling good again here. Yeah.

It does sound like they'll cast a wide net. Yeah. And they should. I mean, you know, he said, you know, John Chike, I said, perfect world. You have your head coach before, you know, draft and free agency, but they're not putting a definitive timeline on this because of the wide net that they want to cast. And I think for a team, especially up top that loves their due diligence, having a conversation at least with Bruce Cassidy, I've got to imagine would be,

you know, something that they probably would want to do. That might not be a good fit. I agree with you. but from from Cassidy's perspective, but you're casting a wide net, you better make sure that you're at least having conversations with some of the best candidates history-wise, historically, that are currently available.

You know, does that mean they go after or at least have a conversation with a Lavio let or Gallant or whomever? It's possible, I think, with the direction of this franchise, and again, I don't know the definitive definition, of what organizational shift means. Nobody does yet, but, you know, I would presume that they're going in a younger type of route. But we will see.

Whether it's a Malhotra or Leach or, you know, Van Ryan or whomever, Woody, again, I could see them going there. And with the cat pretty much out of the bag in Edmonton, would they want to have a conversation with Chris Knoblock, if slash when, he becomes officially available, I guess? You ever thought on that situation specifically and how it's like the point. Well, here's the thing, though. No one likes it.

It's public, right? Yes. Certainly not the primaries. But this is the way things are done. Well, the fact that it got out, like, listen, Colton Perrako went through it at trade deadline. No one has to, no one has to like it. But this is, this is the way the sausage is made. What it said, like Colton knew that this was happening.

I don't think Noblock knew that this was happening at that moment. I think it got out a little early. Hang on, hang on. Can I push back a little bit? Did he hear Connor? Did he hear Connor and Leon talk? No. Because if he did, he's got to be saying, honey, let's not buy real estate.

Fair. But to get that from, you know, Stan and or Jeff or whomever to say, hey, look, just a heads up, we're probably going to be going in, or we are going in a different direction, or probably will or whatnot. Or we're, even if it's straight up as we're reevaluating, multiple layers of this organization, including your position. So I'm exclusive to you. We're doing it across the board. At least there's some type of heads up in that regard.

And maybe that's happened. I don't think so. But that's the only reason I don't like how this kind of happened. And a few people in Edmonton, I believe, weren't too happy that it did get out. when it did. Of course. Of course. But, you know, I mean, it's out there.

So what are you going to do? It's out there. So what are you going to do? It's true. But like teams, I hate to break the news to everybody out there. But like Dave knows this is how business is done. Like this is how one coach gets fired. And as part of the press release, there's an announcement about a new coach,

which means they've been talking to another coach for a while. Nick Alberger and I last week on Leif's Morning Take we had David Carl on and everyone's already saying that that's your target, that's your guide isn't that. And I would say the same thing. Had Carl not said he's not interested

in leaving University of Denver and one of the reasons, one of the most striking things that or takeaways I should say that I had from that interview was when he talked about the job security slash longevity of coaches in the national hockey league nowadays. He's got that in Denver. He can stay there as long as he wants.

He's probably getting paid pretty nice. But in the NHL, this is a very what have you done for me lately type of league. And two, three years, that could be it in one environment versus, you know, you may have a 20-year coaching career, but three years here, five years there, two years, this place. so on and so on. That's not appealing to him. And it's continuously proven to be true. Craig Brubate, two years out of four, he's out. Chris Knoblock signs an extension, by all indications, he'll be out with a brand new contract kicking in July 1. So it's tough out there in certain spots. I'm glad you brought up Carl because that name, of course, very much out there, University of Denver

head coach every year, like Pioneers win. And probably to be more of the same next season. We'll see what they do with that blue line. See, I was told about him that to get him away from Denver, he needs what he refers to as life-changing money. Like, I could have seen him in Chicago, but would Kyle Davidson have been able to go to the words family with the number that he wanted?

Like, to your point, like, you're right, he has a job for life. But let's say someone offers him four times four. If you look at Denver and making like what a buck, maybe buck five, which is great. I'm not turning my note. Like that's, that's good money.

I think it would be more than that. Take 16 years. I don't know. It's Denver. Again, like I'll defer. I'll defer because I don't know 100%. But like someone offers you four times four. If you're David,

like he like right now, if you're David Carl, you're super hot. Like you always look at sort of timing when when guys can ring the bell. if you're going to do it isn't like right now the best time for David Carl but if yes presumably but exactly to your point echoing what you just said you've got to give him one hell of a bag yes you do yes to convince him to move young family too I believe so that's another factor so you better make it worth yes 100% like I don't even think I don't even think four times

four starts the conversation like this is you're probably going to higher. You're like you're going to have to reach pretty high right now anyway. Like maybe later on, maybe in five years he changes his mind and he's ready for a new challenge. But yeah, he's been there for a long time already. But yeah, like like I'm talking 25, 30, 40 million over whatever term. Like that's, rookie coach, but he's hot, but he's hot. But he's he's the guy. He's your first overall draft pick hands down, no question. Yeah. But there's no, there's no, there's no, there's There's no salary cap for head coaches. Real quick before I let you go.

Do you know what's going on with the slowest hiring process we've ever seen? The Nashville. Nashville. It sounds like it's a combination of finding the right individual that not only will lead the hockey ops, but have the business side aligning as well, which is where Nick Savans kind of come in to the equation in terms of. of building the overall organization. There are some people who believe one of their prime candidates is on a playoff team at the moment

or two of them. That could be part of the delay. But it sounds like once part of the ownership group got into the mix, the search or the criteria expanded beyond exclusively hockey ops. Like if I, if this were exclusively a hockey, hockey thing and Barry Trots was making the call, I think Tom Fitzgerald would be the guy already. But it sounds like this is a broader approach and part of the reason why things have slowed down.

Now, keep in mind, Barry Trots is still under contract for another year. So they kind of warned us in the beginning that they're going to take their time with this, even though they're starting this now and whatnot. So I guess we probably shouldn't be surprised. but it looks like this is an all-encompassing type of decision, and that's what's kind of delayed things. Like last week, the word was that nobody's blown Sabin socks off. So maybe that's part of it,

and they've expanded their search even further as a result. But that's definitely influenced. He's definitely, him and the other minority owner, I forgot his name, they've influenced part of this process. Well, Bill has – Bill Haslam's a big part – a huge part of these. Well, yes, of course. Yes, the big guy. But, yeah, certainly.

Like, I'm – I'll be honest, I'm a little more surprised right now that Vancouver hasn't announced anything yet. Because going into the week, it was – this is happening, like, tomorrow. And it's been – this is the third tomorrow. So maybe we get something today. It's a great lie. Yeah. So I don't know. For their sake, I hope.

There will be additional changes, by the way, to the management group in the front office staff in Vancouver. And maybe they're restructuring everything before. I'm not sure. It sounds like they have their people, but there will be additional changes beyond whoever's heading hockey ops. So real quick, swing in on Vancouver, that is another never-ending story. I don't know if that's it was going to be Evan Gold. until Evan laid the cards on the table and here's the money I need and here's the staff I need. I don't know if that's what that was.

I don't know. But it seemed like it was, that was lining right up, right? Something like that. Yeah. Like every indication Sunday was Evan Gold was their guy. Right. And or going into Sunday.

And then everything kind of changed. I mean, he's considered a master negotiator. Maybe he negotiated too masterfully with the Canucks. I don't know. I'm with you. I don't like every indicate and people around the league on other teams thought it was him as well. Yeah.

It appears not to be. Last one thought on this one. If it is from a team that's still in the playoffs, for Nashville for for for for for the Nashville predators Kelleher and Bergevin would be would be the two that I would be warmest to and I could see I could see Nashville saying you know what we'll give you two rounds

but if you're past that and you're still not signing a contract coming over we got to go somewhere else because that makes sense yeah I can see that I can certainly see that we know Bergervain has been trying. He's kind of put his hat in the ring on every spot and whatnot. And he's made, he made a lot of good decisions in Montreal. I know he gets burned a lot for a variety of reasons. But, you know, he made a lot of good calls. He did. They're paying off now. Especially on the trade front. He really did. So, and Nashville's going to be an interesting, like, I know everyone's,

everyone's focused on Connor McDavid with two years on his deal kicking in. Everyone's focused on Austin Matthews with two years left on his contract. You know who else has two years left? Roman Yossi. Yeah. And they have the same agent, all three of them. They do, as a matter of fact. I'm curious what the direction of that team will be and how that might affect.

Like, Yose loves it there. This is another scenario. He absolutely loves it there. But is this team going to be able to get to a spot where they can win in the foreseeable future? and if they're not on track for that, that's another, you know, discussion point that I think will have to happen once the new guy is brought in there.

Apropos of nothing, any idea why Ken Holland only gave Artemey Panera in a two-year contract? I think that was a no. Clear the decks. Nice. Oh, yeah, sorry. Any reason why it was a two-year deal for a Timi Panera's?

Not bad. Lob it out there. You've been traveling, I know. right, buddy. And I know, one of those things makes you go. Listen, thanks for stop. I know it's busy. You're traveling and on the phone, burning it up, getting all the latest.

And we thank you for stopping by the program today. Much appreciated, Dave. You'd be good. Of course, you too. Thanks, buddy. There is The Great Dave Panjota, daily faceoff insider around these parts from the fourth period. Check out his show with Earth every Wednesday right here on our daily faceoff YouTube channel.

Okay. more on the story of the day, namely, what's next for a team that is now coachless? No, not the Edmonton Oilers. They still have a coach. Thank you very much. Although that is very much in dispute right now, whether it is the new one or the soon-to-be-old one. Anyhow, in the meantime, we're talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs with David Alter from the hockey news, who joins me now. More on this story.

First of all, David, thanks so much for stopping by. And on a day like this, you make sure the batteries are charged and the phone doesn't burn out. Quick thought on this one. I don't think anybody should necessarily be surprised, but has anything caught your eye here that you would say, well, I didn't expect that? Not necessarily. I thought there might be some detail into the thinking

as to why the Leafs decided to move on from Barubei, but Chaka offered little to nothing, just kind of sticking to kind of a corporate-speak, organizational vision, all that kind of stuff, and not really kind of getting to why he did kind of mention, that they didn't solicit player feedback as to as to if they should bring Brubay back or not, which I thought was pretty interesting. But other than that, I mean, I think this is kind of shaping of what it's going to be like

where whenever we do hear from some of the organizational principles here, you're just not going to get a lot of detail and everything's going to be assessed by what they do as opposed to what they say. Everyone understands a rationale behind it, but some insight as to why they made this. decision, why they did it now, why they didn't let Burbé kind of go through maybe a month or so to see if they can kind of get things back. We didn't really get any of that. Right. I asked Brian Burke this earlier before he came on. It said, is this sea change? And he said, no, this is revolution. He said it's even more than just sea change for this organization. Do you believe that,

that this is more than just a sea change for the Toronto Maple Leafs, that this is indicative of something even greater that is going to start to play itself out in the not too distant future? It's possible. It's just kind of hard to really get a sense of to where that's going to be. Like we do know at some point this year, the ownership of the franchise is going to change from 75% Rogers to 100% Rogers. And then, you know, maybe everything organizationally might completely change in terms of who's at the top of a lot of different sports properties. So I see something along those lines. Maybe it makes sense there.

But outside of that, it's kind of hard to gauge what's really going to change. Is this a long-term vision? Are they going to more of a rebuild than a retool? There wasn't really a lot of details as to what Austin Matthews thinks of this yet. It sounds like they haven't met and they're still trying to nail down a date as to when Chaka and Matthews will meet. So there's still a lot to kind of wade through here in terms. terms of the messaging and what the Leafs are going to do. But if fans were kind of looking at this and kind of looking for an answer,

they didn't really get any sort of clarity as to what's going on, apart from the obvious that a change that they probably would have made eventually got made today. And, you know, to that, I say good for them. You know, if you made your mind up on an individual, the best thing you can do is do it early this way. At least Barubi has a chance to interview for other positions, unless the Maple Leafs decide to go Vegas and block them, which I can't see happening.

Just throw that one in there. A quick couple of, you mentioned Austin Matthews. Is that the next? I guess there's the draft too with Gavin McKenna or whatever they do with the pick. But is that the next sort of order of business now for John Chacon? Now they made the decision. The GM decision was made.

The coaching decision is now the next decision. What happens with Austin Matthews? I think so. it just depends on when they both can kind of agree to to kind of meet like it sounds like that they still haven't figured out a logistical timetable as to when that can happen you know if there was an urgency for it you would have thought it would happen already right it's not that hard to hop on a jet go down to Arizona or do whatever you have to do to meet with someone so clearly there's there's something going on there and and with all the reports out about what austin matthews wants to see he's

probably reacting the same that we reacted, which is he wants to see and not hear. Like, I don't think hearing is going to be enough for Austin Matthews at this point anymore. I think he needs to actually see what John Chaka does. It could explain the vaguerities of the details that are kind of being kind of pushed forth towards a media in terms of what the vision is. And as far as what they're going to do, it's just kind of making that happen. it's high on the priority list like when you talk to Brad Tree living a few years ago it was the number one thing he had to do is go down and meet him and and figure things out there

because there was questions about his future not to the same magnitude but there was and so it's really strange as to kind of what's going on here but they are dealing with a lot in a short period of time and I think they will kind of figure that part out at some point or another but it does kind of speak to why there aren't a lot of details being revealed at this moment in time. And so there's there's a lot of guessing going on as to exactly where things align in terms of the priority of who they're going to meet with and when. Is it going to be difficult to hire a coach until the Matthews decision is made? I'm just trying to think like if I'm Jay Woodcro, Mani Malhotra, like all the all the sort of hot button names that are that are out

there, Mike Van Rine, Steve Sullivan, like all the names that are that are already out there. before I take this job, do I not need to know what the direction of this team is? And even moreover, until you know from Austin Matthews, who are John Chaka, how do you make a coaching decision? Like, David Carl is different than Dallas Aiken's.

Yeah. You know what I mean? I know what you mean. I think it comes down to some of those names you mentioned. I think it just depends on how much interest there are in these guys. Like, if it's Bruce Cassidy, then you know you're Bruce Cassidy you can ask those kind of questions and maybe buy your time a little bit but if you're Jay Woodcroft who hasn't been around for a little while and you know there's an opportunity with someone with serious interest I think you believe in yourself in terms of what you can provide and you make the best of the cards that are dealt with because as you know these head coaching positions don't come around for everybody all the time so I think it's going to be situational you know guys like David Carl who like have had opportunity to and sniffs to kind of come back in here or go into the NHL and have decided not to.

You know, it all depends on what you're comfortable in the situation you think. But if there's a chance to coach in the NHL and you don't think it's going to happen again, and there aren't multiple teams talking to you, I think at that point, you're just jumping right into it. Like a lot of people weren't talking to John Chaka and he got this job, right? So it's interesting to see where it goes. Do you have a couple of names in your hip pocket? Like, again, we'll stick with the college coaches and whether it's, you know, Pat Ferschweiler or Brandon Nerato, we already mentioned, David Carl.

I threw a couple of the more obvious ones. I don't know that John Gruden is going to get the bump here. I do wonder about someone not necessarily for the head coaching position, but for an assistant coaching position, and that's UCO Hocus with the Kitchener Rangers, just won the J. Ross Robertson Cup last night. They're going to the Memorial Cup. And if Kitchener wins in Colonna, all of a sudden, what happens to hit? his future, CHL coach of the year, et cetera.

But who are some of the names in your mind, David, that we should be keeping in front of mind? Yeah, I think some of the lesser known names out there could be the one, but I'm still waiting to see what the Leafs do with someone like Bruce Cassidy. Like, I do think that that's a bit of a wild card. I don't think the timing is necessarily a coincidence. Like, if the decision was made, like the decision was made. And then there was some holding on.

I really, I don't think, I mean, whether they get them or not is another question. But, like, I mean, I would look at him as someone that's number one on their list. But if it's not that, it's going to be someone completely off the board and someone new and maybe pulling into the play the playbook of what Pittsburgh did with someone like Dan Mu's, like a lesser known that that the Leif's feel or Cheka feels can kind of be groomed into that spot and can see some success. But, you know, the number one thing I took away in terms of timeline stuff is that Cheka didn't want to say there was an ideal of having someone ready by the draft.

I think a lot of this is going to be dictated by where the Leafs stand with Austin Matthews, where they go, and you're going to have a bucket of retool, vision, future, pluck from out of nowhere coaches for the future like a Dan Mews or Matthews that's in. We've got to go short term. load up and change and move the puck faster and get the current core nucleus with someone like Cassidy in there. There really is like it really can kind of go from one or the other based on what the indicators are within management.

Give us a sense of what the Maple Leafs reporter barking chain feels about the Maple Leafs having the first overall pick. Is the sort of whispering class saying hang on to it? is the whispering class saying they got to get rid of it and pick up assets what's the what's the barking chain saying here it's all over the board like it really is like everyone's kind of saying that um you know there's the Gavin McKenna is the pick but if you're not 100% certain you can hit a home run outside of that um then you should kind of no one's going to fault you for going into that number one spot even though by some standards he may not be the consensus number one

At the same time, if you're rebuilding, maybe you go for picks one and two. If you can work out some other pieces that you need, if your core guys are not part of the factor. The problem is there's just so much not answered right now. And there's a lot of different ways this can go wrong for the Maple Leafs. If the timing doesn't align with what they want to hear from their players. And if the players are of the mind that actions speak louder than words at this point, and they can't move on that impetus, then as your GM, you're going to have to do what you feel as best and then make adjustments as you go onwards.

But, like, you know, in a lot of ways, Vancouver kind of lucked out moving down to number three because I don't think anyone's going to fault them at number three if Stemberg and McKenna are not there. Like, there really isn't a wrong decision at that point in that spot where if you're in one and two and you don't make that wrong decision or you want to trade down for pieces and then those guys look like elite players, you're wearing egg on your face. So there's a lot of debate about where this can go. The Leafs definitely need a blue chip defenseman,

and that's not necessarily the need-based opportunity for the Leafs right now at number one. So it's really all up in the air in terms of where it can go and hear a lot of different things, but nothing concrete. You know, most years, most years we all say, oh, it's a luxury, having the first overall pick, I don't know whether I want to be the GM that makes a decision on Gavin McKenna. I don't want to be the one that makes a decision.

Yeah, but at the same time, if you're a new GM, you come in here, you inherit number one when you have a pick where you were, it was either that or you weren't going to have a pick at all if you fell outside of the top five. Good point. Fair. I think you get scrutinized more if you try to galaxy brain it a bit

and add a lot of pieces to move down, and then that player ends up being the key to Kutjurov, and you aren't better off as a result of it. That's the bigger risk. That's the fear. So, like, it almost seems like, hey, you were given number one, you kind of have to go this way, unless there's some sort of crazy Quinn Hughes-type opportunity

that falls in the Leafs lap, that they're going to get a lot of pieces to kind of go long term instead of short term and your best player is saying the grass is greener for me to kind of be in my win now moments somewhere else

and you can swing that kind of deal it's tough you're going to have to take the pieces as they may and it's not going to be easy for Chaka that's for sure glad we have you to break it down David excellent as always thanks so much for taking time out of what is a very busy day for you. So we appreciate it. Be well.

Keep that phone charge, pal. You'd be good. Glad to be on, Jeff. Thank you. There is the great David Alter from the hockey news covering the Toronto Police as he has done for a number of years going back to when we were colleagues together a million years ago at the fan in Toronto. Okay. Zach, this is over to you now, man. This is your team. This is the big move.

This is you. Everyone's been built. 57 minutes, the show's been on. And everyone's been asking one thing. When are you going to get rid of you, Merrick, and let Zach share his opinion on what's next? He's got does a leaf show after all, donkey. Let him speak. So, Zach, speak. Put a quarter in Zach. Let him go.

So I agree with you on the timing thing, the, of Burubang, getting this out of the way. The thing that I'm confused about as somebody who's been watching this all along, or not confused, but intrigued by, I guess, more. is I felt like they would use Brouba as the bullet in the chamber. And I know it's been kind of played out here of, well, the GM comes in and he's got the guy and he waits and sees. And then he uses that one because after he does,

it turns to him. But I did feel like that was going to happen. Now, on the other side of things, I think this is the right move for the organization because of the way that we saw the team play. And I'm not going to do the X's and O's of everything. but we saw the team play slower. We saw the team struggle to get out of their zone.

We saw the team start to go to- Game one against Montreal. Game one against Montreal, we saw that. In which they hadn't been shut out in years. I don't know the date off the top of my head right now, but years, Jeff, they hadn't been shut out in a game. And game one under Brube, as you just pointed out, they got shut out. This needed to happen for a number of different reasons,

one being the way that they played, two being separating themselves from each other, whether it was Barouba and the players. We talked about it on the program, but that one line that he had that you continued to go back to, and it was a big one, ask them. When you say ask them, in my mind, that's the end. That's it, because the players sit there and say,

what the hell does that mean? And Baroubae kind of sits there and says, I've done all I can. It's up to them now. There's a clear disconnect. And I don't know if it was Brouba in particular, but one of the themes that came out of Locker Cleanout and end of season with these guys even before we got to that point was this sentiment that there's something going on and we all know the problem, but we're not going to tell you. Troy Stetcher brought it up, William Nealander brought it up. I might be wrong in this, but I thought Jake McCabe had alluded to it as well.

What was that thing? You know, the easy thing to do to connect the dots for me was look back at the coach. I think this was something that needed to happen. They need to play differently. They need to look differently. They need to attack differently next year. But even the bigger than that and the X's and O's of everything is these guys just seemed like they were on completely different.

Not even completely different pages, Jeff. They were reading different books. It wasn't even like if one guy was on a different one than everyone else. They were on different books here. And it felt like that was just. just exuding through everything they did. Like, I'm sorry to do this to Craig Baroube, but it, it was a firing that needed to happen for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It was. And I'm not, you know, sitting here with overjoyed that somebody's lost their job. It sucks. Yeah. But it's a part of the business and this needed to happen for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The moment where it became pretty obvious for everybody was the St. Louis game. Saturday night, hockey night in Canada, go back to where Craig Barabee had the highest of high, Stanley Cup, and they mustered 12 shots, 13 shots.

and a loss of the St. Louis Blues. Is it that much? I can't remember the shot. I think it was like 13 shots in the entire game. And I'm like, oh, God, this is so bad. They have so checked out on this coach. They have so checked out on this coach.

All right, so more on this is the week progresses. But I want to make sure you got your thoughts here on the program because you're the guy that covers this team, heart and soul, every single day. Zach, and you're wearing a kitchen hat. Does that mean you're cheering for UCAHocas to be the new head coach of the Toronto New Police? Once he's done a colon and all that stuff. I don't know if it's a hoaxe in particular,

but what I am cheering for, I guess, if you want to put it that way, is somebody progressive, whether that is Jay Woodcro, whether it's Mani Malhotra, David Carl, I don't think is happening, but sure throw his name in the mix. If it's a hoax, if it is Jay McKee,

I don't care. But if it's somebody who's going to be a little bit more progressive, somebody who's maybe new to the league and specifically, Jeff, somebody who hasn't won a Stanley Cup before because if they have, then just cross off the list. History would it.

The ghost of Tommy Gorman, the ghost of Dick Irvin Sr. comes back to coach this team. I like the idea of having somebody progressive. You need to think differently here. You need to get back to being more offensive. And if somebody can come in here and rethink this because one thing that you're going to have a hard time doing unfortunately with the Rossi you have is changing it.

It's going to be hard to overhaul this the way you really need to if you want to say that this team is going to be a cup contender soon. So flipping the script and saying, hey, let's play differently. And then we'll work on how we can get players in here to do this. I think is the first step to getting you in the right direction. And sure, I don't know. I like the idea of bringing in somebody new here. We've seen a lot of first-time head coaches.

And I know Woodcroft isn't a first-time head coach, but still, you know, younger coaches in the game. A guy on a first or a second chance coming in here. They've had success. And I think that should be the direction the Maple Leaf should go. Never a dull moment. Okay. Before we get to, you making everybody rich a – and it's always one of our favorite segments as well. Man, did you have me twisted up yesterday?

Holy smokes. Quick note from our friends and quick word from our friends at Airbnb. Feeling at home when you're on the road. For me, that's the way to travel. You know, Zach and I have been doing a lot of travel lately, mainly to Western Canada for hockey games and interviews. Penticton and Colonna were gorgeous. If you've never been to the Okinawagon, do yourself a favor,

no matter what time of year. Highlights from the Okanagan for you, Zach. It was my first time out there, and I can't wait to get back. It was amazing. trying to go in the summer and see some of the national parks and those kinds of things. You know, if you're heading out there, I've had great experiences staying in local and unique places on Airbnb. You know, you can really find something that fits what you need. And, Zach, because we do our shows and podcasts on the road a lot, we need a lot of space for our equipment.

We can't be cramped. And we need to feel comfortable. Plus, it's always nice to find a place with cool amenities like, I don't know, a pool table, outdoor space. outdoor space or, I know you love this, a hot tub. It's also always nice to feel like you're going home as opposed to just going back to your room. Yeah, I think we all know that feeling. You know, I remember thinking this while we were at that cottage we booked on Airbnb last summer. While we're out on work trips like that, our place back home is just sitting there.

So hosting our place on Airbnb could be a way to make use of that space on our own schedule and maybe have a little extra coming in while we're gone. In Zach's case, maybe that means a few more additions to his junior hockey hat collection. What do you have now, Zach? I'm stocked up now. Kitchener, Brantford, Colonna, St. John. I'm hoping this isn't the end of it,

and I've got a lot more coming. We all need passions, folks. We all need passions. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.com. slash host. You know, I referenced, and by the way, I think we're wearing the exact same things today as we wore in that spot as well. Do you have a Nike hoodie?

Is that the only different? Anyhow. It's a different hoodie. Oh, a different gray hoodie from your... Yeah. You know, Albert Einstein used to... Albert Einstein, one of the smartest individuals in the history of the world, obviously. Albert Einstein used to have, in his closet, seven identical suits.

So, and his logic was he believed that the huge... the human brain had the capacity for, I don't know the exact number, but I'm going to say for sake of argument 10. He said, the human brain has the capacity for 10 good ideas every day. And he always said, I don't want to use one of my good ideas

on what I'm going to wear that day. So he had seven identical suits in his closet that he would just rotate and wear every single day that we did not want to use up one of his ideas on what he was going to wear that. day. So maybe that's, maybe you and Albert Einstein share something.

Yeah, I appreciate that. I'm going to tell everyone, that's why. Yeah, you should also tell everyone. You also think that Winnie the Pooh and Alexander the Great were similar because they had the same middle name. They're the same, right? They got the same, Winnie the Pooh, Alexander the Great.

They got the same middle names. All right. We got one game on the, yeah, thanks. Yeah, we got Minnesota, Colorado. One thing I wanted to mention, Burkey, when he was on about a million hours ago. We talked about Colby Cohen. And there is a point made today by Dan Dunlevy. And I want to get to this because it's on the Zach Benson goal last night. Now, the Buffalo Savers I've always maintained have been historically blessed with great play-by-play voices. It started with Dave Hodge. And then

Ted Darling, the voice I grew up with Pete Weber, RJ, of course, the legend that everybody loves. and right now that torch is being carried by Dan Dunlevy. Del Levy was on Morning Cup of Hockey this morning and brought up a great point. I'm not sure if you've had a chance to edit this down yet, Zach, but it brought up a great point about the Zach Benson goal specifically and what a lot of us may have missed because it looks like, you know, Montreal just left Zach Benson alone. Not so fast.

Here's Dan Dunlevy from our morning show. Zach Benson, first of all, do you see what he did to Matheson? So Mathes is he's got to make a choice, right? He's in a good spot. And they know Benson's in that bumper spot. So that could be usually Alex Tucker Norris in there. But now it's Benson. He's not as big a presence, right?

So maybe he's not viewed as this big threat that the goal look, the goal he can't see around him. But watch right there. He just gives a shove to the hips of Bathison, who I don't know if he intended to go out. Yeah. I don't know if he intends to go out right here. Watch, just a nudge. And then it's a definite, oh, I got to go out and cover him. this potential pass.

That past was partially covered already. And now he's got all this space. Great point. Like just a sublime point by Dan Dunleavy on that one, echoed by, of course, Kobe Cohen who played in the NHL and recognized it right away. And then went further to add, sometimes your defense partner will actually push you

into position saying, you go get that guy. I've got the guy in front. So maybe Matheson doesn't even know that it's bent. Anyway, really astute point. Just wanted to make sure that we got that on the program. program today and another reason why you should never miss morning cup of hockey. Bluntly.

Anyhow. We have the wild. We have the avalanche and Zach's about to make you a lot of money while you watch this game tonight. All right. The sheet is powered by Fandul. Play your game with Fanduel. Let's the NHL season and Fandual is your home for all the action on the ice. from Blue Line to Bet Slip.

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Yes, Jeff did in fact lose his internet, so I will finish this thing off for you guys with the parlay of today. As everybody knows, I love golfing. I went golfing last weekend. It wasn't that great for me. I've only got a couple rounds under my belt here. To start this season, I was just tearing through the fairways and doing damage to the land.

Turns out when I go out this weekend, I might need a caddy. If you picked up on it, great. If you didn't, try better next time. Vladimir tear Asanko tearing through the fairways doing damage to the Gabriel Land Escog. Turns out I might need a Nazim. Cad E, Cadree, $5 wins $210.80. Thanks, everybody who watched and listened here today. Appreciate you guys, as always.

Make sure to hit that like, and subscribe here to the Daily Face Off YouTube channel as well. Check out the channel later today because Lou Lamarillo will be joining Arthur Staples, Mike Rupp, Johnny Lazarus on their latest episode of Tri-State Hockey. Thank you guys. tomorrow.