The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Leafs, Habs, Marner, McDavid & Devils ft. Brian Burke & James Nichols

Episode Date: September 24, 2025

On this episode of The Sheet with Jeff Marek on the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel, we cover the biggest stories making headlines around the NHL. Jeff is joined by Brian Burke to break down the Toronto Maple Leafs’ new-look roster, Mitch Marner’s fresh start in Vegas, the Montreal Canadiens’ offseason moves, the Quinn Hughes contract drama, and what’s next for Connor McDavid’s future deal. Later, Jeff welcomes James Nichols to dive into all things New Jersey Devils, including the latest on Luke Hughes’ contract negotiations and potential replacements if he isn’t signed in time.If you’re a fan of NHL news, Toronto Maple Leafs updates, Montreal Canadiens rumors, Vegas Golden Knights analysis, or New Jersey Devils coverage, this episode has you covered. Subscribe to Daily Faceoff for more hockey analysis, trade rumors, player updates, and insider conversations all season long.#NHL #TheSheet #JeffMarek #BrianBurke #JamesNichols #TorontoMapleLeafs #MitchMarner #VegasGoldenKnights #MontrealCanadiens #QuinnHughes #ConnorMcDavid #NewJerseyDevils #LukeHughes #HockeyNews #HockeyAnalysis #NHLTradeRumors #HockeyTalk #NHLUpdates #DailyFaceoffReach 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/@DFOFantasy____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oh, hello, welcome once again to the program. Glad to have you aboard today as we just get things all set up on the social medes, as the kids say. Where are we here? I'll give this one sent out on Twitter here in a couple of seconds. In the meantime, welcome to the program. Glad to have you aboard here for this. So Wednesday, September 24th. Pleasure to be aboard and a pleasure to welcome back, Brian Burke here in a couple of moments.

Plenty to get to, and we're going to talk a lot about, you know, the summer that was from a general manager's point of view and then a little bit later on in the program. We're going to talk a lot about the New Jersey Devils and the Luke Hughes situation, which I'll be honest with you, I never thought was going to drag in the training camp. I thought that was going to be one of those deals that got done before, but that's reason 7,824, why you don't live. Listen to me on a consistent basis about when players are going to sign contracts. How about that? In the meantime, coming up on the program today, let's get right into our daily outline, presented as always by Fandul. Daily Outline, powered by Fandul, make every moment more with North America's number one sportsbook. And coming up on the program today, it is, we used to call it civilian Friday.

Now we're going with Civilian Wednesday. It is our midweek appearance by Brian Burke, former NHL General Manager, who is. standing by James Nichols from NJD Hockey now. We'll stop by as well. We'll talk about the Devils and the Luke Hughes situation. Also, with Brian, we'll get into the Toronto Maple Leafs season on the horizon and what was the Mitch Marner's saga over the summer. We will talk about Vancouver and Quinn Hughes.

We will talk about Connor McDavid and that situation. And if we have a little bit of time left over, more on the New Jersey Devils, as Sheldon and Keith already has in mind, who the replacement for Luke Hughes will be on the blue line if Luke isn't signed by the beginning of the season. In the meantime, it's a pleasure to welcome back. Someone who really needs no introduction. You've seen him, you've heard him.

You've read his words in Berkslaw as well. He is Brian Brooke, who joins us for another season here on the sheet. Berkey, first of all, thanks so much for being aboard for season two. How was your summer? Really good, Jeff. How are you? I'm doing well. Every time I texted or called you, you were traveling somewhere. And I want to show a picture here in a couple of seconds

that the Brantford Bulldogs crack staff grabbed of you that I want to show all of our viewers here. But you were a busy guy this summer. You're traveling a lot. Went to Stampede. I have a shooting event. Berkey's Targets for Kids at Stampede. Nice.

And I went to Stampede and I went to P.E.I. to visit Dion Pheneuf. Hey, pause on that for one second. How's Deion? Tell us, We've talked plenty of you and I whenever we get together about Dionne Funf. I know is one of your favorite players, one of your favorite captains. How is Dionne Funuff doing these days?

And what is Dionne Funuff doing these days? He's working for the parent company for the L.A. King, selling advertising and suites and stuff. He's doing really well. He still spends a couple months in the summer in P.E.I. He lives outside of L.A. That's awesome. So, sorry, finish your thought. You traveled around in Calgary.

I know you're in Pittsburgh briefly. Where else did Brian Burke get to this summer? Went to a wedding near Pittsburgh and I went to see my daughter in Portland, Maine, my old stomping ground. So that was fun. That's awesome. One more thing I want to show here. If we can get this picture up, this is, like I know you do a lot of work and you help out a lot of teams and a lot of managers.

And this is, I believe this is Bulldogs and Niagara Ice Dogs. and there you are alongside Mike Galatty, who's the director of scouting for the Bannford Bulldogs, Justin Ishmael, who's the assistant general manager and assistant coach Owen Bernal as well. This is a team that's owned by the Heimann family. What did you do for the Bulldogs this year, Berkey? Well, nothing yet.

I went to one game. I talked to the players after the game. Spencer Heimann is becoming a good friend. He's asked me to look in if I get a chance. The distance is. the problem in the traffic. Sure. But I'm going to spend

as much time there as I can. I really like the organization. I really like Zach. Really like Spencer. So I'm going to help them if I can. We'll see how much time I have. What did you say to the kids? I said, dance with a girl you're brung. That's what

Pat Quinn told us. We went to training camp. Dance with a girl you brought to the dance. If you're a checker, be a checker. Show them what they drafted you for. If you're a scorer, be a scorer. Don't go there if you're a score and think you're going to fight. Dance as a girl will admit a dance.

One of the things that, I mean, we've talked about plenty now in hockey at all levels. Everybody can skate, everybody can shoot, everyone can play make. There's a baseline of skill that's higher than ever across all levels of hockey.

Are you finding now that managers are saying, that's fine, but find me players that can bring me something else. Find me a player that can do all that and can bring some toughness, some intimidation as well. And even if you just watch the NHL preseason, and I know we're only a couple of games in, it's been rougher than we've seen in the last few years. Are we starting, like, is the pendulum burkees starting to swing back a little bit here?

Well, I think it did last year in the NHL with Florida. I think they play a style that lends itself to Brian Burke hockey. I think people are realizing it's still important. it still has the place that still has value. You didn't teach all the things you want, but if a guy's got to get out of the way because he's afraid of somebody, he still has value to us.

So I think it's coming back. I think that's a good thing. I think the game's gone too soft. Watching that Philadelphia Flyers, and I want to get to the Flyers and Bernie Perron here in a couple of seconds, but watching that Flyers Habs game last night, Nick DeLoree, who's just flat out,

one of the toughest in the NHL, may be the toughest. Takes on Florian Jack Eye, who led the American Hockey League in penalty minutes last year. First of all, I'm not sure if you saw it or if you saw the fight. Good on Floreen Jack Eye

for taking on one of the toughest. But how many different times and in different stops did you say, man, I really want to bring in someone like Nick Deloree, or I really want to bring in Nick DeLoree? I almost always had a Nick Deloree. I always had a heavyweight most of the time. I had a guy.

I always had a guy. See, I think that my theory of toughness is it's lonely if you're the only guy that fights. So I always would have two, three, or four. Ideally four. In Anaheim, we had four, we had five or six, but we had four that I could count on to fight if we needed to.

Had a heavyweight, a second guy to fight, who was a forward, Brad May, or Sean Thornton, and then a defenseman who would fight, Sean O'Donner, Francois Bochaman. I just wanted one D who could answer the bell. So I had a really thorough assessment of it. I never played. I never wanted to go into a game without a heavy way.

I mentioned the Flyers a second ago and Bernie Pront. This has been, like I framed this way on Monday. This has been the worst three weeks in the history of the NHL for goaltenders. It's Ken Dryden passed away, legendary Montreal Canadian. Eddie Jockeman, although he did play elsewhere, will always remember him as a New York Ranger, even though we'll always remember him at MSG coming back after being waved by the Rangers and picked up by Detroit and the tears in the crease. And then Bernie Perrant, who I've always maintained, Berkey is the best angle goalie of all time. Two Consumice trophies.

Man, he won those cups for the Philadelphia Flyers in 74-75. This is the first time we're together. Do you have a thought on these three goaltenders? now what a sad week or two weeks of losing great players and great people Ken Dryden was a great player and a very smart man a good man a good family man played a big part in the game at Jockman I only met a few times I really liked him he was an elegant guy elegant goalton elegant player Bernie Prong I knew the best Bernie Prong I scored on him in training camp one time I had made the mistake of telling him about it 20 years ago

like as if dirty prons can remember a goal i scored on him during training camp he let me he was very polite let me finish my story and he said burkey that is the goal you will never forget and it's a goal that i will never remember he's a good classy guy always in a good mood so uh yeah at bad time for goalies yeah you know if i can pause on bernie for a couple of seconds here because, you know, as you mentioned, you were with the Philadelphia Flyers organization as a player, called her Cup as a member of the main Mariners.

Even when his career was over, like Bernie was always a fixture. Like, you could really tell that, I mean, Ed Snyder loved his alumni. And you could tell that Ed Snyder loved Bernie Perron. He brought, you know, Bernie everywhere, you know, with his community initiatives, fundraisers, people love talking to them.

And it seemed as if that guy just throbbing. in environments where there were a lot of hockey fans, hockey people around, loved kids, like at every single level. Like, this guy had his life in hockey figured out. You certainly did. The thing that's amazing is you have, they win two championships.

They've never won one since. Yep. But they won two championships with really good teams, really tough teams. Everyone says really tough teams. They're really good teams, too. You can't win without a top bull tender. And the players will tell you, like Bobby Clark told me,

No way we went without Bernie. No way. Billy Barber was the same thing. So he was a great player, but like you said, he had a great sense of the community, great sense of humor, always smiling, always happy. He'll be missed sorely. He will. The times that I got to talk with him, I always share such a nice man, like such a giant of the game

and just such a nice man as well. Just some issues around the NHL, and I do want to get to some A Berkeley questions here from social media. But how did you, because we haven't been on all summer with each other, how did you see and what did you feel about the whole Mitch Marner's situation with Toronto and Vegas and how it played itself out? Do you have a thought on that? Okay, we have two weeks to do this, right?

According to Matthews, I'll answer questions about Mitch Marner for two weeks. Yep. People grew tired of the saga. Once a no-move, no-trade clauses were granted, I think it crippled the Toronto Maple Leafs and forced this to proceed. And once they had to approach Mitch about waving his no-trade to go to Carolina,

I think it really put a nail in the coffin. I think he was gone at that point. But I don't think Bradshaw having had a choice at that point. Once the team asks, I think they asked him to wave, and you have to approach the player and ask him if he wants to. So I think it was a foregone conclusion at that point. I think people are tired of Mitch and are happy that he's gone. Now, I caution anyone who thinks that, they're going to miss him.

He was a really great player for John Maple Leaf, at least in the regular season. I had that last bit, not to be a jerk, but because his playoffs were just okay, if that. But he's going to be missed regular season. He can't replace 100 points in 21 or 22 minutes of ice time, including a lot of short-handed ice time, he's going to be missed. I like the philosophy. Let's not go on trying to replace him right now. Let's build us some cap space in the meantime.

We try to do this by committee. I think it makes sense. You know, one of the things that I wonder about, and I think a lot of other people do is, you know, he's like he'll play with Jack Eichel, it appears at that top line, and it looks like it's going to be one of the best in the NHL, B. Marner playing with Jack Eichael and Ivan Barbashev. Good Lord. that's going to cause fits to the other team.

So he's not playing with Austin Matthews anymore, and he was always the setup man for Austin Matthews. Eichl is a different player. Eichl is more of a past first player as opposed to Austin Matthews, who's always been a shoot first player. Do you think there's a chance now with Mitch Marner now, playing with a different center, that we actually see Marner shoot more?

Like he doesn't have a bullet of a shot. Like, he's not, he doesn't shoot like Matthews. He doesn't shoot like Padar. He doesn't shoot like these guys. But as players like, you know, Tamus Salani showed, it's not always the hardest shot that's the most effective. Do you think that we see a different side of Mitch Marner now that he's playing with Jack Eichel?

I don't think he's going to play with Jack Eichael. I think he's going to play with Hurtle or somebody else. Because of what you said, Jeff. You're right. Jack Eichel is a passer first. Always been a passer first and a great one. I don't think Mitch is a natural finisher. I don't think he has a hard shot.

I don't think he likes to be the guy that gets a puck. I think you're going to switch that up. I don't think that pairing's going to work. So no, I don't think it'll work. All right. Let me get to a couple of questions and some of them are sort of crossover

with some of the topics we want to talk about today. Jody Vance, our dear, dear friend in Vancouver says, Hey, Berkey, looking back on a tumultuous Canucks season, How differently, if at all, would Berkey have managed the dressing room drama? How would he set the tone for this coming season? Man, we spent so much time talking about, you know, last year was Elias Pedersen and J.T. Miller. Now it is the Quinn Hughes saga slash drama. To Jody's point, how would you have done it last year?

How would you set the tone this year? I think I would have called them in. They tried this. So Rick Tocke tried this. So the remedy, which I've recommended and think, I would call. I'd call players in the case of beer on my desk and say, you two, sort this out. You're both good players. You both have issues with each other, sort it out. But they tried that. It didn't work. It's a pretty obvious remedy.

Jill is one in the history of pro hockey. Here's 50 bucks. You guys go get a couple of beers and sort this out. So I'm not sure what you could have done otherwise, except trade one of them. Now, the question is, do they trade the right one? And that's going to, going to be what people are going to ask now for some time. Unless the Leas Pedersen gets going, no, they didn't. You get the wrong one. But I think he's going to get going. What did you make of J.T. Miller getting the captaincy in New York?

You know, when it was, when the news came out, the first thing I thought of was that is a really powerful statement by general manager, Chris Drury. I thought it was going to be something like Vincent Trocheck. I thought it was going to be internal. Someone who's been on the team for a while. they go to J.T. Miller. I looked at that, Berkey, and I said that's a power move by the GM. What did you think? It's a power move, but I think you've got to be careful. J.T. Miller is a player I really like and admire, but he's got a bad temper and he said some things in the dressing room

that don't make a whole lot of sense to me from talking to other players. He's got to be careful to temper that, that leadership, that flame that burns so hot in him, with saying the right thing and doing the right thing all the time. He's going to need some help around him. You know, it's interesting you mentioned about running hot. How many times have you had to, if at all, sort of intervene with players and say like, hey, man, you're running this thing way too hot. You need to, I understand.

You want everyone to be accountable, work hard, all that. I get it, but you're running the room too hot. Did you ever have to do that? Yeah, a couple of times. But generally speaking, the captains that I was very fortunate, I've told this before, Jeff, I had great captains. I inherited some and I appointed some but I had great captains

I didn't have to say very much very often I'd say to a guy walking by me in the dressing room calm down a little bit you're talking too much or you know if this guy's back a little bit might be that simple walking by a guy or stopping him in the hallway never had to call a guy in and talk to him

a couple more questions here from Matt Piscoe why are general managers so risk averse compared to their contemporaries in other professional leagues. Star players seem to move all the time in EPL, MLB, NFL, NBA. It can't just be the salary cap, can it? There is very much a feeling that a couple of things.

One, managers overvalue their players. And two, that unlike in other sports, they're a little bit risk-averse to Matt's point and don't like pulling the trigger frivolously or otherwise. Well, the shelf life of a GM is so sure. now. We have a bunch of new owners that came in the last 10 years or so that don't have a clue of what they're doing. It's led to a short career for a lot of GMs, shorter career for coaches. It's a joke right now. The best thing about the Boston Bruins for me is that they're letting them give them a chance to sort out this mess. They had a great run. Now they've hit a little

bit of a bump in the road, and now they're getting a chance to sort it out, which shows great patience and deliberation to me that most owners don't have. So right now, being a GM, you're a risk averse. You're goddamn right. You're risk averse because you have no idea what the people on the team are going to do if a move isn't popular. How crucial is it then to have the ability to manage upwards and essentially manage your owner if possible? Well, I'm the worst sad. I shouldn't answer that question. I only last my duty was six years. I got

fired right after that six year. I got last anywhere. All these great players I drafted and brought in Cedines, prongers, they all developed after I left. I'm the worst guy to answer for this. In my view, the biggest thing for me was the team

was sold three times when I was working for a team. Three times the team got sold. I got fired all three times. I write that off to that's what happens. That's the way it works. Getting fired for cause or not getting the job done to a couple places where that happened,

but not so much. Most of it was getting fired because the team got sold. My G.M. is do what you think is best. Make sure your owner's on board if you can, but I don't think that these new owners, a lot of them have a clue. I don't think they know what they're doing. So how do you survive in that situation then?

Just try to win. Just do the best you can. Gwen, you have to, your owner has to always understand your plan. One thing I think my owners would tell you is Brian Burke always explaining things to us. Even if we pulled the trigger at the end, we didn't agree. I always knew what was going on. Here's what we're going to try to do with the deadline. Here's what I think might happen.

I think you owe them that. The owners are owed that level of knowledge that they got to know. The owner has to know almost as much as you do. That's what might happen. You know, it's interesting because we look at, you and I have talked to us before, you know, in Canada, there's 40 million general managers. Like, that's just the way it is. Everybody knows how every team should be run. There's 40 million general managers in Canada.

And, you know, now we're at a place where there are, there are more people who want to buy, and we'll focus on hockey teams. There are more people that want to buy hockey teams than there are hockey teams that are available to purchase. And a lot of people now look at it, and I'm talking about owners specifically, now kind of look at it is I have my business where I got rich. And now this is the business where I'm going to have fun. I think like this is what you're getting at here, Brian. Like there are much like there are 40 million general managers in Canada, there are owners that think that because they have the money, they know how to run a hockey team is that what you're getting at i don't think they even think they know how to run a hockey team they just want the cachet and the the glamour of being an

owner usually the third of the century was the house in the hamptons or a mansion in newport that's what big money was someone who had a mansion and then it became this then became that and private jets now that was the new big thing now private jets that's nothing that's part of being an owner now you want to want a team and the franchise values go up and up and up and so no one's content to be a somebody, somebody with the capital less

once they own team and the bigger the team the better. So price just keep going up. What did the Lakers sell for? 10 billion? I think. You're asking the wrong guy, but I'll go along with it.

It makes sense. Yeah, I mean, we're looking at We're looking at $2 billion for expansion now in the NHL. $2 billion, Berkey. Like when you started working with Betman in 1993, what were franchise values at? I don't know. Like $900,000? Maybe $700,000?

$700,000. Sorry, $700 million, sorry? No, they were all under $700 million, I'd say. When I started? How much a franchise worth when you started 93? Well, the expansion teams that came in in Minnesota were $200 million, I believe. Pretty sure. That was, what, 20 years ago?

Yeah. $200 million. It's wild. Let me, sorry, Lakers, sorry, Zach Phillips are produced, Lakers valued at $10 billion. So what you're saying is, I got it right for once. Yeah, you did. You did. You did.

I'm here, I'm here, look, I'm here doing, doing, dogface because I have no clue. And you nailed that one. You can never make that money back operating a team. Not to the Lakers, not any team. You can't put money back. You can't do it from television revenue. You can't do it from ticket sales.

You can't do it from anything. The only way you can make your money back and make your $10 billion back is when you sell a team when you die. It's a tough way to make a profit on it. It's an equity play. What I was trying to say is I think it was like around $200 million. maybe $100 million when you started with Batman back in 93. But the couple of minutes that we have left with you,

I wanted to get your thoughts on Montreal. Like the Montreal Canadians, A, they're an exciting team. That was a wonderful season they had last year. Flamed out against the Washington Capitals. But nonetheless, it looks like a team that took a significant jump. And listen, as we all know, rebuilds our bunny hops. You can take a step forward and then leap back to leap forward,

three. Are you all in on Montreal? What we saw last year, was that legit to you, Brian? Yes. I like their management team. I like their coach. I think they're a legitimate playoff team. Now, I think like a lot of teams, they're a little thin in terms of not thin, in terms of not enough players, but important players, like an injury to an important player on a team like Montreal can really set them back. So I think they're thin that way. Like if something gets banged up. and misses a month i think that's going to really set them back i think he's a really important player look at the important players on that team so i think they're thin that way but not there's

like four to thin if kachuk gets hurt we're going to find out without kachuk or if um grumpy gets hurt we're going to play with all those they're thin but everyone's thin in terms of numbers but in terms of the quality and importance of players i like my they're going the right way. I think people are really excited about the team too, which is fun. It's, uh, listen, I think there's been a lot of the right moves. I think no adoption is going to help them a lot on their back end as another guy that can, that can help on the power play. I'll tell you what, Brian, I know it was kind of maybe a more low key trade. I am a huge fan of Zach Bullduke. Like, I was talking to someone in St. Louis as well and said the one thing

about Bullduke as well is that we started to see at the end of last year, he has some, like there's some David Perron in that guy. game. It was at 19 or 20 goals last year as a rookie like a really nice player going to settle in on the third line will probably end up being a top six guy eventually. They gave up

Logan Mayu, the big right shot defenseman former first round draft pick. So they give up a quality player. But man, I think low key that was one of the best moves I saw all summer long. Yeah, Logan Mayu is that you guys got a chance to be special because he's a big mobile

right shot defenseman. I really liked him as draft here. I went to watch him play. So you look at that and say to yourself, why would they give up Logan Mayhew to get Zach Boldock? Jack Boldock's kind of a fringe player. I think you're right.

I think it might be a steal to get Zach Bolda. I agree. Yep. It's tough. He can fight. He hits. He can score goals. And you get a better opportunity now.

I really like that pickup. I think that's a real sleeper. Yeah, that's a real good one. Okay, I know you got a hustle. I want to get one more question in here. here for you. This from Bryce. Hey, Berkey, how many cups are the league handing out this year? I'll check with the league, but I'm pretty sure it's won.

Well, Lister, good job. I owe him here. All right, Bryce, thanks for sending that one in. Berkey, listen, I know you're busy. Thanks, as always, for stopping by. Looking forward to chatting with you every Wednesday. which is going to be a day that's much more amenable for both of our schedule. So it's going to be good catching up every Wednesday. Thank you. And we'll check back in seven days.

Exciting day. I'm going for lunch with Mike Pellick. Looking forward to him. Who has one of the best nicknames in the history of the game? Which is? Puk! Listen, I'll tell you what. That's, do we saw a brick here?

Brian, one of the, he was one of the, he was one of, Honestly, when you look at that early 70s Toronto Maple Leafs team that let all those players go to the WHA, that would have been specifically on defense. That would have been like a team that could rival like Philadelphia and Boston and Montreal, but they let all those guys go and Mike, the great Mike Pellick. Please tell him, Jeff Merrick says hi. The great Mike Pellick was one of them.

I loved Mike Pellick. Wow, that's great. Big ball hockey with him in Afghanistan, the first time I met him. so I have a way that's awesome please send Mike Pellick my best oh what a wonderful man you take care Brian we'll talk in seven days

thanks step Brian Burke going to lunch with puke hey Zach how'd you like that to be your nickname do we have Zach aboard yeah that yeah sorry that that's a tough one I was setting something else up in the back

yes that puke how did how did that come about? What's the story? I'm not sure the origins. There were some great nicknames for guys back then on that Toronto Maple Leafs team. I'm not sure.

I mean, I wonder if it's just a variation on Palick and a play on that or he actually, I know, perhaps was over served. My favorite from that era, from that era of Toronto Maple Leaf team was Jim Dory, Flipper. You know what they call them Flipper?

No, why? Nobody could be, you've heard me talk about this before. Nobody could flip Pucks out better than Jim Dory. And Jim Dory was tough, too. I remember at a, you'll love this one. So, you know, they used to always do this with the Maple Leafs. They would do just for like local kids in Toronto. They would do like a pre-Christmas Toronto Maple Leafs practice, right?

It would be a skate. And this was on like December 23rd. I want to say it was 23rd. And so the guys were sour that they had to do this skate. And the rink is just like full of kids. Maple Leafs fans packed the place. Maple Leaf Gardens. And the Maple Leafs are doing an intra-squad scrimmage, blue versus white, I guess they call it now,

blue versus white game. And Jim Dory's on one side, and Rick Lee is on the other. And every kid is a Maple Leafs fan in this building. Everybody knows and loves every single player on the ice. And the guys are pissed that they have to do this. And there's a scuffle on the boards. And I think it was my, no, it was Jim Dory. Jim Dory and Ricky Lee.

drop the gloves and go for it in front of thousands of children at Maple Leaf Gardens as all the kids are like horrify like these are two of our favorite players like can you imagine like William Nealander and Austin Matthews at like a little scrimmage throwing down and just throwing you know

like sandwich grabbers into each other's face imagine that for once but there it was but there it was Jim Dory and Rickley, Rickley, who I believe punched Valery Harlam off in the handshake line after a WHA Red Army All-Star game. What? I don't even.

It handshakes. Pop! Games over? Still not done. Still not done. Still not done. Now guys go and they play video games with each other later after the game. Yeah, and their idea of, like, a fist fight is, like, you know, distance someone on social media.

Yeah. That's what fighting is now. Yeah. I'm just going to send you a mean tweet. Uh, okay, uh, focusing on more drama. Hey, you know, if I told you to begin, if I told you like, I don't know, three years ago that the only Hughes brother that didn't have drama around them was Jack. That there's going to be a situation where the no drama Hughes brother. is Jack Hughes.

But here we are, Luke Hughes without contract, some rumors swirling around Quinn Hughes. Here to put the accent on what's next for Luke Hughes and the New Jersey Devils is a really good friend of ours and someone we've wanted to get on the program for a while. James Nichols writes for NJD Hockey now covering the New Jersey Devils. He joins me on the sheet. James, how are you, pal?

Good to be aboard with you. I'm good, Jeff. Thanks for having me. Dale, away from the rink. It's just, you caught me in literal dad mode. Hey, man, that's a step away and talk about it. That's the best mode to be, man. That's the best mode.

So one kid, two kids. What do you got? Two. I got a three-year-old and a one-year-old. And it's super fun. It's the best. And I can already tell that you're not a douchebag hockey dad because you didn't give us their birth years.

You actually gave us their changes. I always catch myself. I got like one of my, my oldest son is 15. and my youngest is 13. I always catch myself. I'm like, he's a 2010 to 2012. And I'm like, man, you sound like a douchebag, Merrick. You really sound like a douchebag when you talk like that.

But here we are. Okay, so if I told you a couple of years ago, the only Hughes that would not be surrounded by drama was Jack. What would you have said? I would have laughed probably. You know, there's always something going on with the Hughes brothers, it seems, especially, you know, these days. And, yeah, Jack's the one who gets to sit back and, you know,

watch it all unfold in front of them. So it is definitely interesting times for Devils fans. It's interesting times for Vancouver fans. And you wonder when this is all going to come to a head. You wonder if it all is, I mean, everything seems to be sort of marching towards what everyone believes is going to be, you know, the conclusion that I'm all playing together. Let's bracket the Quinn conversation for a couple of seconds here and focus on Luke. Naively, naively, I'm putting my hand. Naively, I thought this deal was going to be done by a time training camp.

around. Just understanding that it doesn't do anybody any good to have a player as young as Luke Hughes miss any time at training camp at all. How did you feel about it in the offseason? This was the one where I said, I get it's going to be posturing. You have a veteran hockey family with a veteran hockey voice in Jim Hughes and a very respected agency in CAA. And you have, you know, Tom Fitzgerald and the New Jersey Devils. And like you understand the dynamics here, but I thought that by the end there would be some harmony and some common ground. James, why was I wrong? Yeah, it's interesting.

I was with you on that. I thought that this would be resolved at this point, too. I didn't think that they were going to want Luke to miss the first day of training camp because you look at last year and Dawson Mercer was missing from the first day. And although it wasn't that much time, he was there on day two, by the end of the season, Fitzgerald admitted, like, listen, day one hurt Mercer perhaps. You know, he might have been a step behind this year because of it. So you do wonder, you know, what it's going to look like if and when he finally comes and makes it to New Jersey. But right now, I mean, the sticking point is average annual value.

They're both sides are prepared to commit long term. It's just trying to find that sweet spot. And I think everybody's been talking about the same thing, right? It's, it's there's an agreement on wanting to be around long term. There's an agreement on wanting a marriage here. But what's what's going on with the market, right? It's a market reset right now. The cap is going up every year for the next three years.

There's a bunch of guys right now who are in limbo, right? Nobody really knows what that sweet spot is. And I think everyone's trying to figure out, you know, how do we get here? And if you look at, and, you know, I've had this conversation with a few folks. And in the league, you look at, you know, Paperson's history. And he has had a couple of those bargain contracts that everybody likes to talk about, right? And, you know, it was Nathan McKinnon a couple years ago, which Jack is now, right? Matthews now, right?

So it's one of those things where you sit there and you say, you know, Pat Prasant's probably trying to make sure he doesn't have one of those bargain contracts again because we might look at Brock Faber one day who I look at, you know, in parallel to Luke Hughes and say maybe that's going to be a bargain contract soon. And maybe Brasson doesn't want to be in that category again. You know, it's a really good point, James, because this is the when the salary cap numbers, which I still think were part of CBA negotiations, like a really, really shrewd move by the NHL to put the numbers out to show the players how much money was at stake here and how much

money they stand to gain. You know, one of the complications with that is if you're an agent or if you're a manager, how do you do a long-term contract knowing that, you know, the agent's not going to want to sign, not going to want to have his client, to your point, sign anything that one day is going to look like the biggest value deal. Oh, I mean, imagine how many times Nathan McKinnon was told you have the best value contract in the NHL. Yeah, thanks for reminding.

What you're telling me is I'm leaving millions of dollars on the table here. Yeah, that's what, keep reminding me of that. But how do you do a long-term deal with someone like Luke Hughes where you're still, you're still projecting? Like, we're not dealing with like a body of work that we say, okay, you're going to be able to replicate this for the next seven or eight years. You're projecting what he's going to be at when the salary cap goes, you know, from 104 to to 113 here in a couple of years, starting next summer.

that's a that's a that's a really really tricky bit of business here and i just wonder too like by putting that out that it just sort of complicate contracts for for players like luke hughes or maybe now we see a player like mason mctavish in anaheim yeah for sure i think it did i mean you know you look at how things are going to change real soon too right you're not going to be able to sign an eight-year contract after next september uh for you know for for the duration of however long the cba lasts right and you know that makes you wonder how much How does that change average annual values year over year? You know, does that make things become more expensive year after year?

And maybe perhaps, you know, we're all sitting here saying, does eight by nine sound right for Luke Hughes? But, you know, the agent might be sitting there and saying, well, if he's going to sign an eight-year contract and then, you know, one year from now or a couple of years from now, another big name defenseman gets, you know, a max contract with his team. But let's say it's 10 and a half. Now suddenly mine's going to look, you know, like it's a bargain deal. And that's not something that I want for my player. I want him to be paid properly. So the whole landscape changing has really thrown a big wrench in the middle of all this. And I think that's really the sticking point for a lot of these players.

Like you mentioned, McTavish is one of those, Luke Evangelista. And then, you know, there's a lot of big-name players out there too right now who are eligible to sign these extensions. Conradar McDavid is one of them, you know, Jack Eichol, Karil Kappersoff, who just turned down the most lucrative contract in NHL history. This is going on everywhere. And it seems like the GMs are just trying to draw a line somewhere. but so are the players and the agents and it's just who's going to win this game of chicken who's going to move out of the way first and it's really hard to tell right now when that's going to be although um tom fitzgerald new jersey general manager can't say anything publicly

for that you know that little new and there's little uh you know nuisance called tampering um but i'm guessing that in the back of his mind as he's putting this roster together and signing contracts like he wants a donut hole here for quinn right like he wants to make sure that he can he can absorb that whether it's while he still has term or when he's a free agent like that has to be in the in the back of his mind as a legit possibility yeah i would think so you know it's it seems like we're all sitting here and it's not a matter of if but when this is going to happen when is that other shoe going to drop and and quinn you know does play with his brothers i mean we all heard what he said right let's see how this year plays out and that maybe will determine what i do or

don't do um but it just it has this feel right this this drama the chamber never uh leaves vancouver for some reason um and you know Quinn uses the center of that attention this year and um it just does feel like maybe it is inevitable that Quinn is eventually here and that makes you you know sit back and say well let's look at the devils then like what's going to happen here how much is Quinn i'm sorry how much is Luke going to make um you know starting as soon as this season and then what does that mean for Dougie hamilton who's making nine nine million dollars a year for the next three seasons, right? You know, is that going to be something that they're going to have to figure out maybe sooner

rather than later, depending on how much this contract costs? So I know he, you know, we spoke to him recently. He wants to stay. He said, I signed here for a reason. And, you know, I'm not suggesting that that's something that's imminent or even a thought right now. But there are these moves that are potentially going to have to happen around the devils if they're going to be able to pay all three of these superstar players.

Because I do think Luke is going to ascend to that level. if he's not there already. So then who plays with Brett Pesci right now? There's no Luke Hughes. Yeah, so that's the interesting thing, right? You know, I published an article this morning. I had asked after the game last night to Sheldon Keefe, I said, you know, you have that Ethan Edwards, Brett Pesci pairing up top, is that a mentor, mentee situation?

And how do you think that Edwards is, you know, handling that opportunity? And the first thing that he said instead of addressing Edwards was, well, that's Luke Hughes's spot, right? And it's one of those things that you sit there and you wonder, okay, I think a couple of things might be happening here. One, it's, you know, we want Luke here, right? That there is that message. We want him here. We want him to be, you know, part of this. We want him in training camp.

We want him, you know, getting his reps in. But two, I think he's also uplifting Ethan Edwards here a little bit because he continued that with saying, you know, yes, although this is Luke Hughes's spot, Edwards is there because he's earning that right. And he went as far as to say that Edwards might be the best skater on the blue line for the Devils right now. And that's for the entire roster, not just among rookies, not just among prospects, but the entire roster. And Edwards, you know, again, take this with the grain of salts, just the second game of the preseason. He's played both and he's looked really strong, but he's also played against, you know, some of the B squads for the opposition. But he's been stapled to Brett Pesci, just like Luke Hughes was last season.

Whatever Brett Pesci did, Luke Hughes followed, and, you know, that's what's happening now with Ethan Edwards. I think they do see a player in Edwards. I think he is, you know, really stepping up and taking a hold of this opportunity, which is ironic because, you know, he is the, right now, the clear, the clear club replacement. But he's also former Michigan teammates with Luke Hughes and they're good buddies. So it's, it's one of those things where I think Sheldon keep strategically, yeah, Sheldon is strategically saying, like, listen, you know, we want Luke here, but we have somebody ready to take that spot if he's not. So get here or we're moving on. Is there any chance? And let me, James, let me frame this with you one very specific way.

When Brady Kachuk was going through his contract situation with Pierre Dorian and the Ottawa senators, Matthew Kachuk said to me at the players tour that when you negotiate with one, you negotiate with all. So you're negotiating with me, my father. It's not just, you know, the agent and Braddock. You're negotiating with all of us. If this thing drags on, and I've been wrong about this from day one, that this is that he's going to get done.

Like I've come, you know, fully clean on how I misread this situation. But if this does drag on, and I'll say this, I don't think it will. Too many smart people on both sides of the table. But if it does drag on, how does this? Does this affect Jack Hughes, if at all? Jack will say the right things. He's his own man. He's doing his own negotiation, et cetera, et cetera.

Be a professional, all that. But I can't help thinking is a family that's as tight as the Hughes family, a family, much like the Kachucks that are steeped in his, in hockey history through their, through their father, Jim, and have grown up around it every single day of their lives. It has to have an effect on Jack, no? on the ice i would say maybe not there off the ice though you know looking at when am i going to become a free agent um do i want this best bargain contract the NHL again you know maybe not um and perhaps it's one of those things where he's he's going to have the foresight of um what's to come

you know maybe this is a looking at Fitzgerald and saying like when i'm up this is how it's going to go to like you're going to you're going to maybe meet our demands and paperson's in that corner saying you're going to meet our demands um but on the ice listen i think he's still got a lot to prove and look no one's doubting the skill right jack hughes if he's healthy is a 100 point player but the key words there are if he's healthy two seasons in a row with the same shoulder surgery um there is reason to to you know wince every once in a while when he trips over his own feet or if he trips on somebody else's stick and wonder hope he doesn't get hurt and miss the rest of the season again so um as far as having to you know or how how is this kind of

going to affect him on the ice. I don't know if it will. I think he has to, you know, prove that he can stay healthy and he can, you know, carry this team to where they want to go, you know, eclipse that first round exit, you know, maybe win a second round, perhaps get to a conference final. And ultimately, the Stanley Cup is the goal. But off the ice, for sure, I think, I think down the line, this is, you know, perhaps a message saying, like, listen, you're going to pay us. We are, we're the, we're the Hughes family. And we're, you know, not only the face of this franchise, but the NHL has taken a pretty keen liking to us as a hockey family. So it's almost like a what's to come for the Devils in Fitzgerald.

So you sort of winked at something I was going to ask you there. What would be considered a successful season for the Devils this year? Like let's say, you know, the minute we're done this conversation, the minute the show goes off the air, the CAA and the New Jersey Devils announce a contract for Luke Hughes. What would construe a successful season for this? year's edition of the Devils. Yeah, I think it's a couple things. I mean, you can't really control whether this happens or not, but one, they got to stay healthy.

And then two, you know, they just have to reestablish themselves as that team that we saw in 2022, 23. Now, do they have to be top three in the league? No, perhaps not, but do they have to be at the top of their division? I would think so. And then once they get to the playoffs, you know, it can't be an easy out, right? Yes, they won the first round against the Rangers a few years ago. And then they got to the second round and Carolina made with them, you know, the way they wanted to.

So they at least have to put up a fight in the second round of the playoffs, you know, try to get to the third round. And I think that that would be defined as success. But, you know, you look around that room. You look at a lot of the veteran leadership they brought in, you know, Connor Brown's here now, Genni Dadaanov's here now. And, you know, some of the guys in the room who have been there a while, like Nico Kish or Jack Hughes, like these guys aren't – Esper Brad, right? We always forget to mention him.

He's probably the most consistent offensive player on the team. But you look at these guys. They're not getting any younger, right? they're in their mid-20s, they're getting to their, you know, the other half of that now. And, you know, this is, this is the prime years of, of these core players. So they want to be squarely in the mix. They want to be, you know, one of those teams where they know that, you know, whenever a team is coming into town, they're going to say, we're going to have a hard night tonight.

It's not going to be an easy game. And ultimately, they're going to want to make some noise in the playoffs. That's what, that's what they're going to want. And it can't be, you know, first round it out again, that that would be disappointing. All right. Two questions for you. let you get on with your day and following the Luke Hughes saga. One, what happens with Simon Nemich this year?

It's a great question. You know, I think at the end of last season, he really came on well and he showed really strong. And they're really excited about that. So he's for sure going to get the opportunity to take on a full-time role this year. Ironically, the role that he's going to take is the one that was stolen from him by Jonathan Kovasevich. And the circumstance there is Kovasevich is hurt.

But, you know, on top of it, Simone Nemitz has come to camp looking really strong. He looks thicker. He's put on some muscle. Last night, you know, Sheldon Keith was very complimentary of his game. He looks like he's playing well out there. He says he's ready. So I think the thing for Simone Nemitz this year is just going to be established yourself as a full-time NHLer and, you know, clean up your game. You know, there was certainly some nervous, some nervous play out there from him.

in his sophomore year, you know, had something to do with the injury he's sustained at the Olympic qualifier the year before. But, you know, he just needs to come into his own now, right? His body is ready. His game is ready. He just has to get his mind ready. And I think that he is certainly taking those steps. He looked really good last night. He's looked really good through camp. Looks really strong. He's skating well. And his decision making seems to be on par. So I think that right now this year for him, it's just all about getting. getting your mind caught up to your body and your skill set. Okay, let me close on this.

I'm disappointed to see it go. We have 13 more games of the Jersey, Jersey. Yeah. I was sad to say, like, at first of what I first saw it, I didn't like it, and man, did it ever grow on me? And I love the, I love how the New Jersey Devils handled all of it. Yeah. I'm going to miss it.

Like, I never thought I'd sit here to say, I'm going to miss the Jersey, Jersey. Yeah. Will you, James? Yeah, I'll miss it. I mean, the one thing I won't miss, I like it up close. It's a really nice looking jersey. But the one thing I won't miss is up in the press box. If you've been to Newark, you know it's as close to heaven as it gets.

Sometimes I mix them up with the referees, the officials. So it happens once in a while. But no, they're nice jerseys. The fan base took to them really well. They marketed it, the way they marketed this jersey and everything else around it, they hit a home run on that. So we're going to have to get Wish a hat hat. I know he's missed out on. Screw him.

give me one of the hat hats. That's what I want. Yeah, for sure. You're that wish guy. Enough enough of him. That guy gets enough free swag. Listen, James, it's been a delight. Let's do it all again. Let's do it when Luke Hughes signs. Yeah, and if you're throwing a dart, is that going to be

before the season, or is this going to be? I mean, I've been wrong on all of it. I've been wrong on all of it. You're right there. You're closer to it. You want to throw a dart on this one? I think it has to be. I think it will be. I don't know if we get to the October 9th in Carolina. and he's not there. I would be real surprised.

And I think that, you know, again, yesterday's comments by Keith was a little kick in the, in the butt to, you know, let's get things going here. But, you know, I'd be real surprised if it went that long. Gotcha. You're the best. James, thanks so much for stopping by. I really appreciate it, pal. That was a fun talking. Yeah, thanks for having me.

I appreciate it. There he is, James Nichols, who joins us here from NJD Hockey Now, covering the New Jersey Devils. He's on the beat. One of the things, you know, one of the things, Zach, that I didn't get into just sort of run out of time here is, and Amanda Stein has a great piece on this on NHL.com about Brendan Dillon's ADR surgery. That's artificial disc replacement, which was, as we can all recall, a major. It wasn't the reason why, you know, Jack Heichael asked out of Buffalo. He had already asked out of Buffalo.

But this was a controversial surgery. Teams have always defaulted more towards spinal fusion. My late father had spinal fusion a couple of times and, you know, lived out, you know, the last few years of his life really uncomfortable and in a lot of pain. And people have had a similar experience. I know ADR pre-Eichael was virgin territory. It had been done in football. It had been done in MMA with Chris Wydenman.

But we hadn't seen it before in the NHL. And now there are Tyler Johnson, for example, more and more, and now Brendan Dillon, players that are choosing ADR. And, you know, it's interesting. I was saying this the other day. I talked to one player in the summer who said, you know, look, all of us now are way more in tune

with our bodies than ever before. and all of us now like every all of us listen to like you know the huberman lab podcast and we all at peter atia and drive line like these are great great pods for people that are interested in what goes into their body longevity health all these types of things is like we all listen to this and we all follow this and we're all sort of you know wanting to know like the cutting edge of you know nutrition and surgery etc etc etc we're tuned into this and where there's conflict is a lot of teams still have an old school mentality about rehab and old school mentality about surgery, et cetera, based on historical precedents.

I don't know where I'm really going with this other than it seems now that ADR, and I'm not sure if Buffalo still is no fly zone for ADR. I checked, but I haven't got an answer back yet. but it seems very much like this is going to be for athletes in the NHL from team to team to team finally something that now has precedent and you can point to Farabee and Eichol you can point to players that have had it before

and we should probably get used to it. Yeah, I just don't know how you could look at I mean the Eichol case is one that worked out perfectly like all things considered he comes back, he wins right i just don't know how you could look at that case and say um why would like no we're not going to do that for you no actually we can't do that i get case to case but like you look at that one how successful it's been the return just the ability for him to get back up the speed and at the level he was at before the surgery i don't know why that would be something

that teams would be shying away from now um it is case to case and it is a scary thing to go into because let's call it what it is. There's definitely not 100% success rate in anything that is going to happen, but that's just one that I feel like has set the tone here for people being confident about it. It's essentially going to become more and more of a battle

of who's in charge of what happens to your body. And I do understand and respect that teams pay these players millions and millions and millions of dollars. So they want to have some say about how players are being treated in recovery or for surgery, et cetera. But then the flip side of that coin is bodily autonomy. And I'm really uncomfortable telling someone what they can and cannot do with their body, even though, and if you're a team, you're paying them millions and millions of dollars.

It's an interesting, it's an interesting battle here. Well, the counterpoint to that would be from, for me would be you've seen it have success. Like it works. But that's just it. That's what I'm saying. Like now, like this is what makes, like Jack Eichol, whatever happens to Jack Eichael in his career, like, you know, he's won the Stanley Cup. He could have made the argument. He should have maybe won the Consumice trophy that year that Vegas won the Stanley Cup.

Like no matter what happens with Jack Eichael's career, I think one of the things that he'll always be and should always be remembered. for is he was the guy that fought for a very, very specific surgery that now has opened the door for other teams to say, you know what, this is okay. And now Tyler Johnson and Farabee, now Brendan Dillon can have this surgery. That's me. And remember, like, he, he fought for this. He fought for this against the Buffalo Sabres. It's like, no, I am not, I'm not doing spinal fusion. I'm doing ADR. Like, for what, like, maybe the bigger picture, like what Jack Eichel has, contributed to players we're always talking about like leaving a place you work or a place you live better than it was before i think jack ikel if his career ended tomorrow has left the nch l for players

a better place than it was before jack ikel so this is for one specific surgery i would say in a sense how do you think that this is it would impact it for the next one that comes up that's never been done before do you think i would imagine same fight same fight same i think it's the same Pushback from the team and the doctors and stuff. Depending on a team. It depends on what it depends on what is. I mean, the neck is so, obviously, the neck is so sensitive, obviously. And, you know, I go when, and again, he was a, he's a, you know, we just talked a lot about Papriesson.

He's a CAA client too. You know, they would, you know, present like this is where it's been successful in collision sports like the NFL. I mentioned Chris Wyden, you know, UFC middleweight. Yeah. He had the same, same type of surgery. and the argument back was always, well, it's never happened in hockey. Like, we don't have, we don't have anything for this. In hockey, it's, you know, as the Buffalo Sabres, this is too risky for us. We don't know.

We don't know, we don't know if this works for hockey players. And listen, Ikel has made hockey for players better because he has presented for them and fought for an option that before him, they never had. yep they never had and that's always like whenever I think about Jack Eichael many will think of the cup rightfully so many will think of like everything else that he's going to do in the NHL and I get all that for me it's about opening the doors for players and their own bodily autonomy and choosing how how they treat things like neck issues or back issues that that to me is like the legacy of Jack Eichael that's why no matter what he does

that's how I'm going to think about Jack Eichael and good on and does it Brendan Dillon like opened up to Amanda Stein. I love Amanda Stein. I think she's a tremendous writer, and she does a great job covering the New Jersey Devils. And this is one of the best pieces I think Amanda's ever written. I encourage everybody to go and read this. A great piece by Amanda Stein who made Brendan Dillon comfortable enough to completely open up about all of this. And he references conversations with Eichl and others, etc. Anyway, I encourage you to read it. So, first of all, have we left anything on the table here today? I always feel weird about like, oh, it's preseason. how much we talk about the preseason, how many things really happen in the preseason that are noteworthy other than someone did something dumb. I don't know that we take too much out of preseason hockey or really even the first couple of weeks of the season.

Has anything caught your eye at all, Zach? I know you watched Ottawa and Toronto yesterday. I watched your Maple Leafs blow at 3-0 lead. I was watching Montreal and Philadelphia mostly. Yeah, I was watching Matias Macheli, No look back, Anderson Matthews. No, no, no. I will say there was one thing that I wanted to give props to

because we have, I think we've covered pretty much everything here, like the big stories that have gone on today. There's one thing. I don't know if you caught the clip that the Oilers put out on social media of Chris Knobla announcing Pod Colson had a new extension. Did you see that at all? No, I know. I missed that one.

What do you got? Okay, so it's pretty much a nothing clip. and they say you know like congratsy he'll lead the stretch today he just signed an extension um and then i believe it's either nobla or one of the assistants has a line

in there where he says something along the lines of uh thanks to him for having an like signing an extension wanting to be here with us and the camera cut is to no no no they did not cut to Connor they did camera cut Connor

smiling at the assistant coach camera cut away and i was like oilers put that out to put the camera cut it was like an it was like an unintentional like here's what's happening in the the stretch like everybody's around connor's smiling everyone's tapping sticks but it was like oh the timing of that is impeccable here's pod calls in he wants to be here he wants to be here he wants to be in an oil or sign in extension camera cut to Connor, camera cut back to everyone else I'm like, hmm, his number

starts with 9-2. Okay. Oh, I'm going to go search that out as soon as we're off the air. That's right up my alley. That is, that's juicy, junior. That's juicy. All right. A couple more things here before you wrap up today. We're trying to be respectful of your time. It's only but an hour.

The sheet is powered by Fandul home of the same game parlay. Make every moment more on Fan Duel. Fan Duel, proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them. What are we looking at today?

Zacharoo. Look, there's some stuff that gets exciting about like when hockey season's coming and it's seeing the big boys in the lineup and everything like that. You know, you see Jonathan Taves is skating for the Jets.

Oh, that was so good. That was so good. Almost scored off the draw. Oh, it was so cool. You see all this. start happening and it's like okay we're getting there we're getting there one of the other things that makes you start to feel like hockey is back is when finn will starts officially posting game odds on the website jeff so they have a full slate for tonight's games this is just preseason for

preseason to get involved in the action they have preseason games like every day that we have done this show throughout the summer i've had to go on there and try to get creative and be like what futures can we talk about what yeah yeah yeah show here today today when and there's a tab that says preseason and I felt a little tingle and I was like all right it's cool. It's cool.

Like bless Fanduel for like how much do you do it? Like so much Hey this is beyond me. Like wow like bravo. But how do you have like put that together like Pit CBJ who's in the line? Wow.

Well, I mean, one of the, one of my favorite parts. Take long shots? Is this like, yeah, that's what's the horse racing, right? Whenever there's like rain that's muddy, take the long shots. Always, is that what you do here for preseason? Kind of. What I was going to say is it's nuts because you look at these preseason

and there's ones where you're like, yeah, that should just be the case where it's like, I mean, I'm going to go out on a limb. Let's look at the odds there for the first game. Florida plus 270, Carolina minus 345. just based on this, I'm going to, I'm going to stick my neck out and assume the hurricanes are dressing NHL starters. But you know what the thing about that is, though? But here's the thing about it. Like, this is where it's interesting.

The guys on the Panthers are hungrier to show something, whereas the guys on the hurricanes are like, let's get our legs under us. Would you agree? Well, you think like, okay, yeah, they're dressing more of a veteran lineup. You've seen a lot of straight legs in veteran lineups in preseason. Yeah. Guys are just going out for a twirl. Like, let's get to the real games here. Yep.

That's interesting. Oh, wow. Okay. But I was excited. I saw the preseason tab. That is cool. I saw games tonight and I was like, okay, we are like everything that happens and you and I talk about it. We have guests on the talk about it.

It's like we're that much closer. We're almost there to the legit stuff. Seeing these up today is one of those indicators for me. One of the things that I might be in the minority on this, but I really enjoy it. first game of the year. Do we know who the officials are? No. Isn't that announced a lot closer to?

It is. Check scouting the refs, which is the best official site going. Because I wonder if we get the little speech. You know, the welcome to the 25, 26 season, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Let's go, boys. Like, I wonder, I wonder if we,

we get that one. No, I look, I'm looking right now, it looks like the most recently updated officials would be for the Stanley Cup final game six, but there's nothing. Gotcha. All right, we will stay tuned to scouting the refs to find out who that is and who's going to do, if we do get one, because I do like it, that tiny little 15 second speech that we get before. Anyhow.

Yeah, I got nothing here. All right, you got nothing. All right, listen, thanks for dropping by. Thanks for sharing your time with us. Thanks for listening on your favorite podcast platform. Please subscribe, please like, leave comments. Please, it all helps. Thanks for watching on YouTube.

Always appreciate the crew in the chat, too. It's always the best. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. Tip your Zamboni drivers you always like to say around these parts. And we will return tomorrow at 1 o'clock Eastern. And then, Wysinski is on Friday for MBSW. and we do have in the next couple of days,

maybe as soon as tomorrow, another announcement to make about someone that's going to be a regular guest here on the pod for this season. So stay tuned for all that exciting information. Thanks for lending your time today. Much appreciated.

Conduct yourselves accordingly. Enjoy the rest of your day. We'll talk in 23 hours. We'll be welcome. I've slept 16 hours last night every day this week, every day this month. I can't get out my head

Lost all ambitions day to day Cause you can call it all right I went to the dark man He tried to give me a little medicine I'm like nah man that's fine I'm not against those methods But new It's me and myself

And how this gonna be fixed in my mind To on the record I turned on the page I do want to break Yeah, I'm doing on the music It's enough And I'm at the day of I don't get you sometimes losing

Have been on the days that we're wrong In the dead dark night