The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Leafs Tagging Issues, Hellebuyck Deadline Approaches, and More ft. Steve Werier & Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: October 20, 2026

On today’s episode of The Sheet, Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski break down the biggest stories around the NHL, including the latest in the Connor Hellebuyck saga as the Winnipeg Jets star’s suspension approaches its end. With the October 23 deadline looming, what happens next for Hellebuyck and the Jets? The guys also discuss Brady Tkachuk’s return to Ottawa, Quinn Hughes returning to Vancouver on Sunday, and more of the biggest headlines from around the hockey world. Then, Steve Werier joins Jeff and Greg to break down one of the biggest questions facing the Toronto Maple Leafs: their salary cap and tagging complications following the acquisition of Kirill Marchenko. What are the Leafs’ limitations when it comes to acquiring immediate assets? How could their current cap situation restrict their options, and what moves might Toronto need to make to get the money and contracts to work? From navigating the NHL salary cap to finding creative ways to improve the roster, the guys examine the challenges facing the Maple Leafs and what could come next. Plus, the latest NHL news, trade speculation, contract implications and analysis you won’t want to miss.SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!! 👍🏼Coca Cola: https://www.coca-cola.com/ca/en/offerings/coca-cola/hockey 👍🏼Sports Interaction: https://www.sportsinteraction.com/thesheet 👍🏼Taco Time: https://tacotimecanada.com/ 👍🏼Movember: https://movember.com/ 👍🏼DoorDash: https://www.doordash.com/en-CA Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Players be lipping off. Yes, welcome once again to the sheet for this Tuesday, October 20th, coming to you from the Sports Interaction Studio, an official sports betting partner of the NHL. Merrick along with you as always, joined by Greg Wyshinsky from ESPN and ESPN.com. We're all set to begin the show, and we'll still get to it by talking about the latest in the ongoing saga of Hellebuck and the Winnipeg Jets and what's next and Friday, etc. and the various returns, whether it's Brady Kachuk, whether it's Quinn Hughes. But did you see Adam Fantilli's comments in advance of this Toronto Columbus game talking about Karel Marchenko? You know, I breeze past them before the show. Tell the people that Adam Fantilli, a dedicated member of the Columbus Blue Jackets said. Let me just share this with you, Adam Fantilli, on the deal that honored Karel Marchenko's trade request.

Quotes, this from David Matzold. Happy we got guys who want to be here. Okay. It would have been a nightmare having a guy that didn't want to be here all year. I'm glad we got that trade done when we did. Number one, good for Adam Fantilli for standing up for his organization. I get it. Fans will appreciate it.

I'm sure the manager and the coach appreciates it. It's not exactly easy to be going through what the blue jackets have been going through, considering what the expectations are. But in this interesting, we keep calling it player empowerment era. Man, we're getting players going at each other now more so than ever. Like diplomas, like once upon a time, like a quote like that would be a week's worth of content. Now it's just like, that's Tuesday. And the other thing that I think about with this one, let me just pause. on this one for a second here.

If Zach Werensky would have accepted the trade to Dallas, would he have said the exact same thing about Zach Wrenski and only wanting guys that want to be here and glad we got this trade done? I mean, that was my first thought. He was madlib's Zach Werensky's name in their last season. By the way, all of this was spoken by, spoken like a man who didn't get an offer sheet in the summer.

He may, hang on, hang on. We don't know that. He may have gotten an offer sheet and may not have chosen to sign it. Kind of like how much Martin got an offer sheet in Columbus. And so, look, man, I don't think it's anything out of the ordinary for these guys to start sniping at each other after they leave, right? Like, that's, I understand what you're saying insofar as the player empowerment and everything else. But, like, at the end of the day, you know, these guys are all talking, they're all doing what the media in Boston does, which is talking about these guys on their way out, on their way out, right, while the door is hitting him in the behind. But, you know, I also think that you have to look at those comments within the context of what we talked about previously on the show, which is the Rick Bonus stuff and his comments about, you know, if you don't want to put in the effort, then we don't want you here and yada, yada, yada, which I of course said, don't threaten me with a good time trading me out of Columbus if, in fact, I don't give you the effort you're looking for.

But, I mean, I think it's part and parcel of Fantilli saying that in the wake of what his coach said, don't you think? I think it's part of it too. I think that he's going to be on side with Rick Bonas here, and that's going to be the line of demarcation, like your inner, you're out. And if you're out, then, you know, the general manager, Don Waddell is going to do something about it. I just, I don't know.

Like it's, put it this way. If it rises to the level where a player is commenting on it publicly, you know it's already been said privately. That's what I always assume. And I assume that with Winnipeg Jets comments about Connor Hallibovie. whether it's Adam Lowry or whether it's CaliConnor. If it rises to that level where they'd have to bite their lip, even though they're saying something negative about the player,

you know that it's been said privately as well and in probably harsher tones. I just honestly, I just also think that some of this is by, because they are so disappointed that the really good players aren't there anymore. Like I was, I just wrote about Brady Kachuk talking about what we'll get to a, later on, but like talking about what the reception is going to be like in Ottawa and having the genius idea of donating jerseys thrown on the ice and protests to the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa, which is, I mean, kudos to his agent, his wife, whoever suggested that is absolutely

brilliant. But I went back and looked at Thomas Shabbat's comments when Kachuk left. And while he was upset and he did the whole, we only want guys that want to be here thing, he also kind of said, he's also leaving right at a time where we really thought we were building something. And I'm sure that the subtext to what Fantilli is saying about Marchenko is also, this guy led us some goals for like three straight seasons

and we're all kind of young and we're all building something. This guy wanted out. And in Winnipeg whenever you hear anybody talk about Helibuck, it's very much the context of our best player decided he doesn't want a player anymore and then he called us trash. Like, you know, like there's a certain, I guess what I'm trying to say is there's a certain

mournfulness. to all of these comments about how the heart wishes for, human beings wish for reconciliation, Merrick. That's what we all want. We all are at heart peacemakers, I think. It's our greatest attribute as humans and maybe our greatest flaw. But I think at the end of the day, a lot of these comments are born from the feeling of, God damn, I wish this guy was still here.

So let me take this in another direction, because I always feel that there's a couple of different sides to things like this, specifically. trades or players asking for trades. Sometimes players are traded. They didn't ask for it. And we never hear players say, man, we were building something with this guy. I'm really disappointed that my manager moved him.

But when a player asks for a trade, it's okay, he doesn't want to be here. We want him out. Again, like I'll always remind you. Trades happen for a number of different reasons. Sometimes the player wants out. Sometimes a team just gets a better deal. What does Eric Tolski and Carolina always talk about?

I'm not going to rest until I have the 23 best players. in the NHL. Like that's it. That's why every day I go to work because I still don't have the 23 best players in the NHL. And whether it's trade or whether it's waivers or whether it's whatever, however I got to get players, that's what I'm going to do. But we never hear, and maybe this is another step. We did hear it a million years ago with the Maple Leafs when Daryl Sittler's best friend named McDonald was traded and Sittler was quite vocal and see off the sweater and all those things. But we never hear a player say, I'm disappointed in my team for trading this guy.

But if someone has the nerve to ask out, then it's an issue. And we only want players that want to be here. You know what I'm getting at here? Like managers always do get a free pass from players. Players are happy to snipe at each other now, which, listen, as a member of the media, looking for content every day,

Adam, thank you. Bless you. This is all wonderful stuff. But I wonder when it gets to the next level. Two things. First of all, do you think if Tulski ever gets 23 best players in the NHL, like if he gets McKinnon,

dry-sidal, McDaniel and McArrel. Can afford it. That he'll just hang up his helmet like Thanos at the end of Infinity War. Well, he'll... He'll just retire to a farm. Well, what he'll do is he'll... This has always been the one thing. This is the side that's always impressed me about Eric Tolski, too.

When you look at all the things that he could be doing, that he's qualified to be doing, that that massive brain of his will allow him to do, he's chosen the one thing that probably pays the least. It's hockey and it's value because it's fun. But like when you look at his resume and you look at his background and what he could be doing, he's chosen the one that compensates the least. But nonetheless,

I don't know. I want to say is that the only time recently that we heard players speak out against management and it wasn't necessarily in the, in the vein of this person shouldn't have gone because we're all building something special here. But that was the Rangers. And it was the way that players were being treated as they were being shoved out the door.

The Barclay Goodroo situation, the Jacob Trubus situation. Jacob Trubb was a big one. That was the last time we might have heard players speak up about the way that management was doing some of these transactions. But it wasn't, as you said, in the vein of like, if only Barclay Godro was still here, we wouldn't have had to send out that retooling letter. No, it wasn't like that. All right. And we'll see what happens now. there's a sidebar story every time

Fantillion Marchenko are on the ice together tonight in that Columbus Toronto game, you might want to pay attention to the interactions or maybe discussions around They should fight. They should fight McKinin Rupert Hintz style. Everyone's fight. You know what? Why not? This is

the season where just like goofy stuff happens. You're right. Like Rupa Hins decides to throw down with Nathan McKin. Now, there is a backstory to Rupé Hens and Nathan McKinnon. McKinnon has, you know, gone after him physically before he's been injured, et cetera. So that one isn't a sort of a fight technically out of nowhere, but I don't think anyone thought going into the season. Yeah, you know what? I bet Rupa Hins is going to throw down

with Nathan McKinnon. And that's going to be McKinnon's second fight of the season before the calendar turns. Third, third. He also, he had a fight with Brent Clark, remember. That was, so the hint. Hins was the second. Frank Clark was a first and Rupé Hens was a second fight. No, no, no, no, no. Sorry, misunderstood. No, no. No, I was just going to say, I have something that's going to warm your heart as a fighting fan. I don't know about that. I wonder about that. The Trent Frederick fight.

Oh, man. That we saw the other night, which was just a heavy weight tilt, baby. Oh, my God. That was, according to my friend Bryce Isaac, who is a coworker of mine, the number two TikTok video across all ESPN platforms. last week. So that was? Think about what we have.

NFL highlights, MLB highlights, the NBA coming up, college football. That fight was the second most watched TikTok video on every ESPN account last week. How about that? Wow. I did not expect to hear that. Listen, it was. And if you're watching us on YouTube right now, you can see McBain and Frederick. This one, this one went on and on.

this was like a heavyweight fight, but the guys aren't heavy weights, although maybe in today's NHL, you could consider them heavy weights long gone out of the 6'6-260-pound guys from the NHL. What? Donnybrook. No, I know.

Look at Frederick. Well, they're punches from the cellar. That is the right word that we just use Donnybrook. That is what this is. You know, I'm just glad that his ankle is like healthy enough that Frederick can do this because, he was always, Frederick has always been one of those guys that even if he doesn't win a scrap,

you know that you're in a scrap with a guy like Trentford, Ryan Vandenbush was that guy too. Zach, let me say, you're in a fight. Let me say something else, Zach. You know what this fight was? Uh-oh.

It was VHS worthy, Zach. How about that? A little early for you, my little friend, but VHS worthy was how good that fight was. Yeah, that was a beautiful. We should mention Steve Warrior is going to be stopping by the program and former assistant general manager of the Florida Panthers,

it seems, and we'll let Steve explain and let us know, like, what the main issue here is and how the Maple Leafs can solve it. It sounds like Zach's team may have a little bit of a tagging problem, may have a little bit of a salary cap issue that hasn't garnered a lot of attention.

And oh, yeah, now, by the way, Gavin McKenna, his full contract counts now. Yeah, but now he's an offensive juggernauts and no one cares. Everything's fine now. We're all fine. Everything's okay.

We're not talking about the benching. We're not talking about anything. It's full speed ahead on Gavin McKenna. Okay. That's for sure. Okay. Before we get there, where are you at on Connor Hallibuck in this situation right now? Because as I was saying on the program yesterday, something, like we're missing a piece.

It feels like something doesn't add, something doesn't add up well here for me. Because to the point about if it's true that the main issue is Connor Hallibuck's family and family harassment, no one would dispute one second or knock him if he said, like, look, I need to, for my family safety, we need to be somewhere else. But that's not how we're hearing players talk about him. Like, if that were the issue, you would hear Cala Conner say, like, look, this is a family issue, it's a security issue. We give them all of our support. We're not hearing that from Cala Conner. We're not hearing that from Adam Lowell. We're not hearing anything saying like Lithson, it's a very sensitive matter. You know, this is a security issue for his family. And they don't

feel comfortable or safe here so we give them all our full support. We're not hearing that from Adam Lowry. You know, the first comments from Scott Arnaill were essentially, I don't care. And so we're not hearing the sensitivity around the family from the head coach of the Winnipeg Jets here. So something doesn't add up. Like we're missing, I keep thinking and feeling that we're missing a part of this equation here. Like there's a piece of the puzzle that's not been made available to all of us. I don't know that we ever get it, though.

That's my problem. I think we're missing two pieces. We're missing that piece of how much that actually resonated with his teammates and how much of it was a real issue. How much of it was Kevin Shevoldeuf saying something that could give a player that he cares about? I think we can't lose sight of the fact that although this is happening and although all the jets are pissed at him, he's still a guy that care about, right? And Shevoldeoff saying that could maybe give a little bit of cover not only to Hellebuck,

also to his own team, so it's not simply an issue of star goalie thinks we stink. And that's why he wants out. You know, if there's another reason you could put out into the universe, then you're going to do that to kind of take the heat off of yourself and the team. The other piece we're missing, and I come back to this all the time, it's just like, if we are to believe that the reason that he wants out of Winnipeg is competitive in nature. His evaluation is that the Jets are not going to be good. His evaluation is that he would rather play on a cup contender. You know, it comes back to that question that was never really answered by Shevoldeoff,

which is that is, was there a handshake agreement with him in Helovac, or maybe him in Shifley, to say, if you ever feel this way, you can ask out and we'll acquiesce, and then he asked out, and then, and then Shevoldeo's like, but actually we're pretty good. I don't know, man. I don't think this is the time to ask out. Yeah. What do you think?

I think you and I have both talked to people that have said the same thing over and over again, which is that the family thing, while not to be dismissed and could easily be part of the equation, is not the driving force behind what Hello Buck is looking to do here. I'm trying to do the hockey player decoder ring still and try to read in between the lines and what are they trying to tell us without telling us. And the one thing that I keep comparing it to is listen to Detroit Red Wings players talk about Dylan Larkin who's also asked for a trade and this whole thing has become very public as we all know. There's a whole lot of, well, you know what, this is the industry.

We support Dylan Larkin. He's with our team. We'll support him while he's here. Chris Illich even said this. But there's no talk about, you know, if you want to play with this team, there's got to be a discussion. He's got to commit to us. If he's going to play with it, there's nothing like that.

So I still keep coming back to what are they trying to tell us without telling us. But I do, I'm with you on that hill, which is, I think it's more, I want to go to a competitive environment. I want to go and win a Stanley Cup, winning the gold medal this year was the best of all possible feelings. And I want that more in my year to year in the NHL. I want, I'm chasing that. I'm chasing that rush. I'm chasing that high. A couple things about Helibuck.

The first is that we should say that, as Elliot Freeman reported, and every other insight, are all of a sudden osmosis into their coverage, sometimes though, citing where they learned it from. Hell of buck suspension is going to end on Friday, and then a decision must be made as to what they're going to do with them. And I haven't talked to a single source

that believes that it'll be anything but we're going to pay a bunch of money to not play here. And that's where it's going to end up on Friday. Like stay home? Stay in Michigan. Here's your money. Don't come back. Have you heard from me?

anybody that believes differently? No, I don't. But here's what I keep coming back to. Is that not chumming the waters for a grievance from the Players Association? Ah, good question. So I reached out to the NHL Players Association yesterday. And their response was, we're going to cross that bridge when we come to it. And that is obviously that I'm not wanting to show their cards.

We expect the trade. But in case there isn't a trade, we know what we're going to do. Yes. That's what I think. I need to do a little bit more. I need to do, maybe Steve could speak to this in a bit. But like, I need to do a little bit more research on the player side of things to figure out.

Like, if he, if he, if he, listen, he wants a trade, right? Yeah. But if there is no trade and he agrees to stay home and collect money, like, what is there to grieve? But I, but I don't know. We'll see how it all shakes out. That he's not playing. He's an NHL caliber player.

Yeah. He's a trophy winner, a hard trophy winner, a gold medalist, like all of it. And you're keeping him at home when he wants to play and has a contract just so you can, just so you can make a. deal, even though he has an NHL contract, he's been reinstated suspensions up. Like, they could, like, there's a couple of things here because what they could do is they could bring him into the mix and say, like, look, you've missed training camp. You're going to need a two-week assignment in the American League with the moose.

In Manitoba. Yeah, Manitoba, which is like still in Winnipeg. They don't have to go anywhere, God, like you still, still be here. He's surrounded by a bunch of moose, a bunch of young strippers down in the AHL. But again, so the problem is one person told me recently, for goaltenders, the American Hockey League is not a walk in the park. Like with the NHL, you have a good idea of where shots are coming from, plays, all of it. The guys are like top of the line hockey players. And so it's easier because you're not going to get a ton of surprises.

You're going to get elite level players. You're going to get NHL shots. But in the American League, things break down all the time. And that can lead to goaltenders not looking great. And if you are in the trade the goalie business, as Winnipeg and Kevin Shevoldaoff is, that might not be the best place for him. But then you flip that over and say,

this is an important year for the Winnipeg Jets. And the start has been promising, are we willing to run the risk of scotching a few games here early in the season just to demonstrate to the NHL that this guy can still play? or are we content to just let him surf on the rep? Here's his reputation. Do you want him or not? You can send him to the American League after you make the trade.

If you have him play for proof of concept, because again, last year was not a very good year by whole of the standards either. He has a little bit to prove that he's getting up in years. He wasn't good last year for the most part outside of one game in Italy, which is all I care about. Thanks. Thanks for that. If he comes in and you're like, you're going to scotch a bunch of games,

well, there's a very good chance he's going to look like early season. Jeremy Swayman when he missed training camp. And he's going to be an absolute sieve. That's the name. That's the name. I am firmly of the belief that there are certain positions where, and depending on who you are, of course, there are certain positions where you can miss training camp and probably miss games and still will be able to jump in.

It's still going to be a little bit awkward at first. Timing is always an issue, but you can get acclimatized and you can succeed throughout the season. Those positions are in no particular order. Forward and defense. That's it. Goalie is different. And the most recent example is Jeremy Swayman. Jumping right in, NHL and your timing and your health, like all of it, it is so hard.

That's so hard. As a goalie to do that. And that's going to be part of the math for any teams. Let's talk about the teams for a second. But first off, I want to mention it has been fascinating to see how his teammates have handled this publicly. Yes. Kyle Connor, I know, was very close with Hellebuck. Yes.

I think they were both in each other's one. weddings and was obviously a national team teammate of Hellobuck's as well. And every time this man speaks about Hellowbuck not being on the Jets, it looks like someone who's done something terrible to his pet. Like he is just a very sad man. Lowry's handling it a little bit better. He's got the C's the captain. He obviously has been there throughout the entirety of Hellabuck's career predating him

with the Winnipeg Jets. Did you know that Connor Hellobuck went to Adam Lowry's wedding in late July, by the way? He did? He did? Can you imagine those conversations? Connor Hella Buck shows up. Everyone is kind of knows cards in the table now with Hellebuck within the organization. Did he have his table moved on the seating chart, Merrick?

I doubt. I doubt. All of a sudden, he goes from sitting with Cole Perfetti, sitting with the weird cousins. Like, did he have his table moved at the wedding? Let me, trade request. Let me give this one a little bit of a software landing here for Hallowgli.

buck like that happens all the time like there are plenty of trade requests like bluntly that we never find out about and we'll find out about years later oh yeah he asked for a trade it was all kept hush hushman all the players knew but they didn't say anything and then all of a sudden boom he got moved but the players always know and a lot of cases the players understand and that's why and see because that throws another wrinkle into all of this that's why I feel like we're not getting water to the village on here or enough water to the village on there or enough water to the village on the story, which is how does it go from a player's natural default position, which is we understand it's a difficult situation. General managers have difficult situations to navigate. You know,

we support Connor Hallibuck. It's unfortunate. Whatever happened to him and his family, if that's true and to be believed. Like, we didn't hear any of that. It's, well, is you going to come back to recommit? Is he just going to come back to play? Is he, you know, we're going to have, Conversations are going to have to happen. Conversations are good. Yes. Maybe it's one of those water under the bridge things. Again, trying to be the peacemaker, man.

It's our nature. It's our nature to want to reconcile with estranged friends and estranged relatives and everything else. Yeah, here's Perfetti doing the if he comes back and wants to recommit to the group and shows us he wants to be a part of this, then you know that's obviously good news.

Again, they're opening their hearts, hoping that the good player comes back and wants to be here. But at the end of the day, they're all very pissed at him. The thing that I'm really fascinated by as far as, like, the future of Connor Hallibuck, I was talking to someone with links to the Jets, and they were telling me, you know, he obviously wants to be in a position to be on a contender and try to win a cup. And taste that glory that he tasted when he had that gold medal placed around his neck, courtesy of one.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, move along, move along. So the question I keep coming back to, what is his definition of a contender? We know the Buffalo Sabres are hot for him, right? Despite Norma Kekalainen's commitment to Ouka Pekeleukinan for the future, the future could easily just be a trade. So listen, so are the Sabre is a contender? Or are they a team that is only a true contender if Hellebuck is on it? Are the Utah mammoth a contender?

Or are they only a contender if they are a team with Connor Hellowbuck on it? Because when I think about contenders, Merrick, and where Connor Hellowbuck wants to go, I assume he means like a team that played for the Stanley Cup like Vegas, a team that won the Stanley Cup like Colorado, a team that won two Stanley Cups like the Florida Panthers. I imagine this guy wants sure things. And that is one of the hangups here in this situation. It's like he wants sure things and the teams that are jockeying for him outside of Carolina

are not sure things. There's a lot of cons. I don't know. I'm sure they popped up in your DMs too. The conspiracy thing. theorists that are like, oh, this news comes out when Carolina's in Winnipeg. Isn't that interesting? Isn't that convenient?

But like Carolina would make a lot of sense for Connor Hallibuck. It does very much at least, although I have one person, like for the, let me say it. It feels like it's Buffalo, Utah. Okay. That's what it feels like. Take your pick. I have one person who is vehement that Buffalo, Utah are in the lead, but don't be surprised. if at the end of it,

if those two teams exhaust their communications for Halibuck and Eric Tulski comes in and gets them on a bargain deal. It would be such a Tulski move. So you're not buying this Los Angeles smoke. You're not buying the Los Angeles smoke. Show me how that works financially. Is what I keep coming, is what I keep coming back to.

I mean, it can work financially because they have both their goalies coming off the book. So they do need a goalie next season in theory. And that's fine. But how are you, like, put it this way. LA is in a really tough spot here because anything you're going to do to help your team right now, especially trade with the Winnipeg Jets. Winnipeg Jets, Winnipeg Jets want players.

They don't want futures. They don't want kids. They don't want prospects. They don't want young players. They want guys that are going to step into the lineup. So what you're doing is solving one problem over here and possibly, and most likely creating another problem over there. Yeah.

I mean, it's not as if they have done. They have oodles of center. No, they don't have a lot of, like, oh, okay, so we've, you know, we've, we've let go of, uh, Brant Clark or Mikey Anderson or, um, take a quitting by field. Well, you've just made another problem because you don't have someone to walk into those spots. The only reason I gave that report, those reports credence is because it does fit in what I assume, what I think is just a bat shit team building being done in Los Angeles. Oh, I don't disagree there.

A hundred percent. 100 percent. They don't know what they're doing. It just seems like, hey, we're throwing all this shit at the wall and seeing what sticks. And Hellebuck is a great goalie. Let's put them on this veteran team. I mean, it's completely antithetical to what they should be doing, which is looking at the post-doubty years and saying we have to go back in the tank for a little bit and rebuild. And you can't do that if Connor Hellebuck's your goalie.

But there's just such a lack of plan there to begin with that it wouldn't shock me if they actually were in the market for him. But could you see Connor Hallibuck look into Los Angeles Kings and saying like, give me some of that? That's where I keep coming back to. Yeah, they're not a contender. They've played six games and then the next stat is a cheerio. Yeah. Cheerio 4-2, two points. That's it.

I think to be a true contender, you do have to get out of the first round of the playoffs. Is by my math what you have to do. You have to win a game in regulation. Start climbing the standings. It's been a tough time there. It's been a tough time. Okay, before Steve comes on here, we all know that hockey nights mean figuring out dinner, ain't that the truth? Grabbing food before the rink or ordering in for the game, Taco Time wants to be part of that hockey tradition.

The hero offer, yeah. The hero offer right now is the new hockey night pack. For just $20, you get two classic burrito combos, including two classic burritos, beef or bean, two regular mexy fries and two regular drinks. It's built specifically for game nights and is available through the opening month of the hockey season. It sounds good. I know, right? Also available at Taco Time this month is the fan favorite deal. For $12, you get a large taco in a bag and regular drink for $12.

When it's game time, it is Taco Time. I think I know what I'm having for dinner tonight. In the meantime, he's the former assistant general manager of the Florida Panthers. And I always say this, Greg, whenever Steve comes on, enjoy him now because one day he will not be allowed to do interviews like this because he'll be working in an NHL front office again. Steve Worrier joins us on the program here. First of all, Steve, you're right in Winnipeg. On a scale of, you know, one to absolutely insanely crazy,

what's Winnipeg like right now with, you know, everybody watching, you know, the Hullabuck situation, minute to minute, second to second. What's the vibe check in Winnipeg right now? I think people are more concerned with the bombers after last week showing getting into a doer diga in this week. That's a CFL reference. I'm not. I listen, I have been a long-time CFL fan. Remember, for a while, it was also

an American. Yes, Vegas and Baltimore. So yeah, I love the CFL, nothing but love. Also, how can I not love to see you? Merrick, you're talking about a league that had a franchise with a team owned by Bruce Mcnail that had Rocket Ismail. Rocket Ishmael and John Candy and Wayne Gretzky were also owner-co owners of that team too. I know. I know. As a 1990s horse fan. Yeah, it was great.

You've got to watch that John Candy documentary if you haven't. I've heard it's fantastic. It's amazing. I know. Yeah, I've heard.

Any no, honestly, I think it's mixed. I think like the team's been good enough. People have sort of focused on that. And there's just been a lot of questions back and forth like how will this end? How will this play out? I think there's sort of like a bit of an overblown maybe reaction in some corners to the whole

suspension ending and like what happens next. I don't know. A total game changer. Like, you know, the amount of money the team will have to start paying him won't affect a couple of billionaires. But maybe like the idea of like, do we ever want to write this guy another check coming from True North? Might move him a little bit. Be like we're not doing that again. So, yeah, we'll see how it plays out.

But I don't think it's sort of, yeah, all consuming for now. But I think people are pretty intrigued to see where it lands. They're probably, you know, one or two four hours away. Let me, a quick follow-up here, because this is, this is a huge week for Winnipeg, culminating with the Heritage Classic, which is supposed to be this, you know, wonderful celebration as it always is, outdoor games. I know they may have lost some of their lure from a television point of view, but live event, it's fantastic.

It's tremendous events to go to. Am I misreading this or overplaying this by saying, I'm pretty sure that the Jets don't want the Hala Buc cloud floating all, all over what's supposed to be this wonderful celebration of hockey between the Jets and the Habs. Yeah, I think that's right. But again, like, will it be if they just stay status quo? You know, pick maybe a pick up a winner two. Before that game, I think people are going to still go out and enjoy the upper game.

And, you know, they'll have a couple of alumni goleys to watch and draft them from the goalie who's not there. Yeah, and then a giant fireplace on the ring I saw in the, in the, the mock-ups, a very exciting time. Hey, let me ask, I don't know if you know this, being that you were on the other side of the table for this kind of stuff, but like, what are the chances that if the Jets tell Helibuck, stay in Michigan, here's your money, shut up, that the PA would file a grievance and make life a little bit more uncomfortable for all sides? I think that's a question you're totally asking yourself, if you're Bill Armstrong,

Eric Telsky or one of the other GMs waiting for like the optimal moment to make a trade where your leverage reaches its peak. I don't know the answer offhand, but like the answer in short is it will take time, right? Like that's what lawyers are for. So, you know, the Jets will push back. Yeah, it's possible, right? Like this suspension was pre-not ordained, but like pre-negotiated. So there was known amongst the parties, even though we didn't know, that the end of the suspension was end of October. So it wasn't like it was a limbo and then there'd be all this.

chaos. So it may be like that piece has also been resolved, right? They may have mutually agreed come October or whatever the date is. We will begin to pay you, but we don't want you to come here and you don't necessarily want to come here either. So it may not be a massive vote of contention where the PA gets in. Short answer to Greg is that didn't come up in my day, fortunately. So yeah, my guess is they have an answer already though. It's not something that hasn't been planned for. You brought up an interesting term, and that is pressure point. I want to get to the Maple Leafs here and their tagging. issues. But before we get there, a couple more on Hellebuck.

I'm always fascinated. And I think it's because I still have PTSD from the 0405 lockout and still can't figure out why the PA did a deal when there was no pressure point in July of all them. I'm saying it's like, am I missing something here? Like talk about like a concession speech by the PA. But like what is the ultimate if you are, you know, as you mentioned, if you're Yarmokickelane and Armstrong, Tulski, whomever may be involved here, Tony Mehta. what is the ultimate pressure point to do the deal?

Because I'm with you. I think managers wait for that one moment where it's like, all right, now we pounce. What is it in this situation? So there's two sides of this, right? It's like when do we want to get the player in here? And not necessarily just because like do we need him to win, but do we want to assimilate him into the team?

And do we want him out for so long? And do we maybe have some concerns that the longer he has to go through this whole ordeal, it might impact him in some sort of way going forward. there's a bit of that. And then the flip side is the more fun angle of it of, you know, at what point will Winnipeg be, you know, most willing to make a deal at a reasonable price. That's a little hard to predict, though,

because all you need is two interested buyers and then it's a bidding warrior respect to, you know, where the jets are at. So, you know, a team really needs to be confident that there isn't another suitor out there. And if we slow pay this, you know, we might lose the deal. So, you know, I think the end of the day, you look at it sort of in a vacuum.

and impartially and say, listen, is there a deal right now that will make us better? And if we leave a little bit of money or assets on the table, but we get a player for a number of years who really we think we need. You probably err on the side of making the deal rather than waiting until that last moment. It's probably not what Jets fans want to hear, but like the real pressure points next July when Helibuck's no movement clause becomes a 10-team, no trade clause. Like that's when all of a sudden he has to start thinking about, you know, the pressure on him and their ability to move him to a place that maybe, I mean, listen, if he's only, if he's naming 10 teams, it's a place he obviously is okay going to. But he'll lose the control that he has now. So I mean, God, just none of us want to see it come to that point and have the guy sitting on his ass for a full year. But like, that's the real answer probably is when the no moving clause becomes a no trade clause.

We've got to do shows every day. Yes, we do. Yes, we need to comment. Yeah, 100%. You'd be shocked if they play it that far, but that is a nice moment to wait for. You just sort of think if they mutually agree on the suspension timeline, there's maybe some mutual expectation that will take, yeah. We'll use best efforts or reasonable efforts moving forward to not drive us out that long. Okay.

One of the reasons why I wanted to speak today is the Toronto Maple Leafs and the tagging issue with this roster. there's a lot. By the way, Adam Fantili having a swipe at Karel Marchenko here today in advance of the Columbus Toronto Maple Leafs game for a nice little sidebar, your honor, on tonight's matchup between the two. But for those that may not be familiar, and you can speak with a lot more authority on this than I can, the tagging issue for the Toronto Maple Leafs is what? And if you begin your answer by explaining why this tagging situation is particularly difficult for the Maple Leafs right now as a sort of, I know, I know that, I think that, oh, geez, who's had a whack at this pinata?

I think many people have talked about this. But, like, if you can sort of start with, you know, the tagging issue itself and how it impacts negatively the Toronto Maple Leafs here. Sure. Let me start up as a real quick story. Okay. I like stories. When I was AGM in Florida, there was a summer where I wanted to extend a bunch of our

young players. Okay. Jonathan Hoover, Stasbarkov, Aaron Eckblad, Riley Smith. And there were three reasons. I thought they were good players. I thought the cap was about to go up. And I thought we were going to have a really good year that would drive up their market value. I was right about two of those three things.

Anyway, as I went to the summer, extending them one by one, I got a call from the league office in New York or Toronto. And they said, hey, Steve, have you thought about tagging room? I said, yeah, but tell me more. They said, well, we sort of have a tracker of red, yellow, green, a beach club, and this doesn't come up often. In fact, it comes up almost never. But you guys are in track to add so much future cap space right now to your next year's cap, like two years out, that the tagging role you need to be mindful that basically says if it's, you know, year 26, 27, you can only take on so many cap hits for the following season that exceeds the current year cap by at most 10%

or else you're in the cap, regardless of how much your cap space you have. And for us, and Greg, I like this part, it was made more complicated by the fact we had a couple of confidential settlements that I didn't even know about the time, that were off the books publicly, but actually counted against our cap from old grievances that made our cap a little more trickier than met the eye before the era of Puckpedia and all that. Anyway, we could pay less catcadies going forward than we thought.

And wrap in the story up quickly, I, because of the tagging issue, actually had to move out a contract for a player on multi-year deal, who wasn't really part of our core or anything, in order to free up enough future space to finalize some of the last extensions, including namely Hoover, which is all to say, you remember when the Kirill-Marchenko, Matthew Nizondon, went down, there was a little talk the next day about how maybe the deal

was sidetracked for a few hours or so because of a tagging remission. And what that means is, If you remember when Toronto this off-season, they signed a lot of players, a lot of their deaf signings to, you know, two, three-year deals in the two, three-million dollar rating, which impacts tagging again. You're talking next year's cap. And when they made the deal, Nye's for Marshanko, they took on Marshanko and extended him for $12 million while Nyes was in the sevens, which meant they added almost $5 million

of future cash base. And my understanding is that put them up against the tag payroll limit for the following year. And that's why the deal ended up being reworked, where, Neil Andre who Toronto had just signed somewhat vanedly got traded to Columbus. And that deal by adding Andre gave Toronto just enough tag payroll room to move forward. And tag payroll isn't publicly tracked, but if I just do the numbers sort of on a sheet paper and apnea quickly, you take all the contracts for next year that are already signed, and you also add any QOs for players who are expiring. And that sort of gives you the rough number.

And it looks like they have under a million dollars in tag payroll room. And the reason that problem now didn't go away and in fact is a little bit worse is because when they traded Marshenko, sorry, when they trade for Marshenko, Gavin McKenna didn't count for next year's tag calculation because he hadn't yet been on the NHL roster. He hadn't played NHL games. But of course, since that he's played only NHL games, he hasn't been in the miners at all. And so his entire cap, which is the million dollars right now, does count for tagging, which means if you were to look on, you know, public website that tracks salary cap, if any of those are out there, you might look and say, oh, Toronto has about $3.5 million at LTI room. They could trade a defenseman for another defenseman who makes $3.5 million more next season and be fine. But that's not the case.

The case is actually they're in a far tighter predicament where they're basically money and money out for next year's cap, meaning if they were to trade a defenseman right now who signed for $27, $28, for $3 million, they could. not acquire defense for, say, six and a half because they're LTI space. They actually couldn't acquire defense in making more than the player they move out unless they make other moves to clear cap next year. And the last little footnote to just know how tricky tag is, it applied to LTI contracts. So even though a guy like Domi is on LTI right now, you have to count his full cap it for next year.

Because you might come back. Yeah. Yeah. So wait, so can you can you dial it back for a second? Like, what, why do we have this? Like, what is, why are these, why is this in the salary cap rules? What is it trying to prevent teams from doing? I asked myself the same question when it popped up for music.

Couple reasons. Like, one is, a lot of the CBA, and we hear this with no trace, too, it's like, owners ensuring against their own, uh, large S or whatever. Oh, God. And so at least this means like, go ahead. I was going to say you're going to give me and Merrick the shakes because whenever we start getting into, we have to save them from themselves. Yes, I know. Yeah.

It brings back a special kind of PTSD from 2004, 2005. I start to continue. I start to remember phrases like treadmill to obscurity and I start shivering like it's 2005 all over again. It's not great. Sorry, Steve, go ahead. No, so it's like a bit of that. It means you can only commit so much future space no matter how many agents are calling you. That's part of it.

And, you know, there's some other cap reasons as well for completely. competitiveness that you don't sort of sign a player and then extend them and it sort of is backdoor circumvention by making next year's number higher than this year's. But in any minute, the rule is there. And the important thing about the rule is even though there's been all this talk about how high next year's cap will be, the tagging room is next year's calculation is based on this year's cap plus 10%. So this year's number is 104.

Next year's could be 800 million. Doesn't matter. The least tagging calculation, everyone's tagging calculation stays the same. and you have to adhere to it again almost never shows up it only applies when you take on a bunch of multi-year deals or extensions to the next season um last thing i'll say in this interesting footnote it was odd that the leaps added miles wood in that columbus deal because wood is not playing game for them but it is signed next year at 2.5 so that's a contract that when you take on makes your tagging space disappear or reduces it whereas if the miles wood was expiring this year

you have no tagging issues on next year's cap. So they'll have some, you know, little maneuvering. Steve, can I ask a question? How do I put this delicately? John Chaka was out of the league for a while. Shouldn't he have known all this about what's happening to the Leafs right now? So like multi-frily answer. One, he might have, you know, a reasonable answer would be,

I knew my team needed a lot of improvement. I wanted to add these players. These players are useful. I couldn't have got them on one-year deals. If I had, we'd be over the cap. And so we're just up against the ceiling, and we're trying to make a deal that makes us better. And we're constrained, just like any team that's up against the cap right now

would be constrained in the same way. Having said that, you know, there is some peculiarity with, like, again, the Miles Wood edition, the deal being hung up a little bit, maybe with Columbus at the time. That makes it a little tougher to navigate. But, you know, on the flip side, you have a guy like Brandon, credit who's there and isn't there anymore. There's probably some institutional knowledge that disappears and you come into a team like

Toronto and you're moving. It's tough. And again, like I've been in that spot that John was in and you come in. So, want to do a lot of moves. Yeah. I mean,

I'm just trying to think like if you're a Mapleese fan, one of the things you're thinking of here is like, okay, so I'm listening to Steve here and I'm thinking to myself. Okay, so how did they get out of this, this nod before it gets too tight that they can't unravel it? And the easy, the easy answer is, well, they got to get rid of a contract. Is it that simple?

Like, do they have to, like, just bluntly, do they have to dump someone here? If they want to make them magical, here's a young defenseman who's really good with term, who another team wants to trade test deal, which I would. Yeah. They would if they were taking on future cap space. I don't think it would be cost prohibitive. Like there's, you know, multiple teams in Western Canada that aren't competitive right now who should be willing to take on a Miles Wood

or if, you know, Max Dolmy isn't playing again next year should be able to take on Max Dolmy without a big ticket. So there's ways to get out of that. And there's a cost to it. Yeah. The question will just be, you know, how high will that cost be? I know that's something we calculated a lot when we move out of it a few years back.

Yeah, for sure. I mean, like, you know, all the Leafs have to do is attach a draft pick to somebody they don't want their contract. That's never led to, deleterious effects to the leaves I mean that's been great in the past that's Seth Jarvis still injured how is that guy doing out here in Caroliners

Zach Zach is Zach just had a heart attack he's just slumped over the control panel right now Thinking about the whole Patrick Marlow situation Seth Jarvis haunts me Yes he does He has got a Stanley Cup ring now too by the way I'm always curious because like you have your sort of

of thumb on the pulse I don't even move away from from Maple Leafs here for a couple of seconds. I'm always curious, as someone who has worked as extensively in this industry and worked with an NHL team in a significant capacity, what interests you?

Like every day when you wake up, like, what does it, for some people, it's just like, okay, who won, what the standings, how many points did McDavid have? Like, oh, look, Caprizov scored again. Like, when you wake up in the way, what interests you about hockey?

That stuff interests me too, but it's always fun to just look at, Like who's doing something different, either really good or the opposite. Who's doing something really new? And, you know, that's still happening. And that's sort of the more interesting stuff. Like the story like, hey, let's look at like, old school mismanagement is amusing but not interesting.

But there's a lot of teams doing interesting things right now. Like I just saw it today, Florida's going on a road trip with like a 6-8 goalie. That's neat. It's sort of in line with if you follow. This guy, Ryan Padgetti, who worked for the Eagles. in which this country, who came out and said, you know, the smartest thing in NFL team can do would be to sign tackle fall. The NBA player is like 6-11 and having block kicks.

That's sort of a neat idea. Throw out a 6-8 goalie if he covers the whole net. But yeah, like just teams doing interesting things, or the signs the cap or roster management, anything fun or a creative or just, you know, total chaos. See, for me, if I can just jump at, one of the things that I'm, maybe this is why I'm a fan of, like, just reading. not just hockey, but like military history. It's a fan of like reading history books.

Um, is finding how people behave at the extremes. When everything is pushed and you're wound so tight and you're forced into a decision and the walls are, and I'll throw in a wish reference here like like Han Solo and Chubaka, the walls are closing in. In the trash compactor on the star star, exactly.

Yeah. Like how, how do people react? Like I look at like, Talduis, for example, right now. The Penguin just had a horrible road trip. Like every game they're, given up five like they can't win a game like okay so it's getting to that and you know elliott

reporting on saturday they're willing to start moving some some older players younger players we wonder about rust we wonder about carlson we wonder about rakel etc i'm always curious about like how people react under pressure where okay do something right now that fascinates me does it you as well or do you look at that and go like oh man i feel bad for dubs he's going through one right now um Yeah, that was interesting, little foreseeable. Like, maybe he just handles himself like Devin Kulay with a hybrid of the interview of tennis of data foster walls. And he's like, the score will take care of itself, which is like the book.

You know, I think Kyle probably is someone like that. Kyle is pretty well read and tries to be, I think, pretty stoic in managing stuff like that. But yeah, seeing guys, you know, under fire or just, you know, doing things radically different and testing stuff out whether it fails or doesn't. And that's a good example. You don't see too many cases with a team where, you know, like Kyle comes into where, you know, here's three or four legends. Yeah.

Managing, well, also managing, like, how do I rebuild some covers that are, you know, pretty super bare. Yeah, it's all easy. Last one for me, I don't know if we had you on post-Garry Betman talks about no movement clauses situation. No. What was your reaction when you saw the commissioner kind of say it's, listen, we're not saying it's a problem yet, but it's certainly on our radar.

Yeah, I mean, the commissioner is sort of like a backboard often for his owners. So I'm not surprised. It's popping up as, hey, this is something we're going to fight back on. You know, I think what's the number now? There's like 300 plus players with no trade or no move protection of some sort. And like as much as Alan Walsh can beat the drum of like, those were freely given. They were freely negotiated. There's no problem here.

what are we looking at, there are teams that will definitely want to use that hammer next time up to push back on them. So no surprise, Gary is probably saying what, you know, a few of his constituents feel very strongly right now. The one thing I keep coming back to on that one, if I can jump in, which is like, okay, but that's negotiated. And like, okay, so what's the cookie the PA gets back at you? And the thing that I keep wondering about is, okay, if you want to do that, I'm sure the

Players Association will listen. we'd like to talk about buyouts. We'd like to eliminate buyouts. Thank you very much. Like, I just wonder, like, how far those conversations go. And I understand that teams are upset about it. I know some managers are certainly miffed about the nature of no trade clauses, but give me something in exchange for nothing is not a transaction.

That's charity. And I don't think the PA's in the charity business. So what are you going to give up is what I keep asking? That's a good one, though. I mean, it cuts both ways. But if you're the PA, you say, hey, no. more buyouts for under 26 players, which are only at one third. One third, yeah.

You have all these young guys, you know, teams signed guys like Kristen Luno and Vili Coivinen. And it's like, oh, well, then, you know, those players will be guaranteed their money. On the other hand, well, will that make teams more reluctant to hand out? Those big money bets on sort of not the top tier guys. But I'm sure the PA has a long laundry list of things they try for beyond casual dress codes. I'm not worried, man.

We're in a time of labor peace. everyone's doing backstrokes into piles of money. It's all good. We got nothing to worry about come labor talks time. The PA loves not getting a piece of expansion. Now the players should be thrilled about that one. They asked and the NHL said, no one.

They said, okay, let's talk about dress code then. Not to open up that Pandora's box. I don't believe the player should get a slice of expansion. Do you? Like, their part of the pie when it comes to expansion is they get a bunch of new jobs, isn't it? They get more jobs. I don't know. To me, everything.

in negotiation and again to the point about pressure points that Steve mentioned a couple of of seconds ago. I found the players association. I'm one year and one and a half years out from doing a CBA. I don't cave on trying to get a piece of expansion or use it as a negotiating piece somewhere down the road. I say, okay, you know what? We don't have to do this CBA right now. There is no pressure point for us. Instead, it's like, yeah, let's get this thing done early. And then, you know, 501, it's late quarry, yabadabado, and Fred Funstone's going home. Like, no, You use that and say like, okay, well, maybe right now, a year and a half out you don't want to talk about giving us, giving the players association a piece of expansion. Maybe you will in 18 months.

Yeah, if you want to be fun about it, if you're the PA, maybe you take the position of, listen, the Macon-Sellebrinis and Leo Carlson's are worth $20 million a year. Shouldn't they have some control over whether or not they get traded? And let's apply that no trade protection down to post-entry level instead of for 27-year-olds. Ah. Opening stance. Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, see, trying to effectively end the trade deadline.

Like, we just won't have one anymore. Because no one will ever move again. Think of the money our industry would save, though. At the end of the day. Network time's expensive. I can't believe, Steve, we've gone through an entire interview and we're not going to without asking you at least one thing about the Detroit Red Wings. It's kind of gone, it's kind of gone quiet.

Let me, let me close on this one. how do you see anything moving with in your sphere from either Edvenson or the Larkin file? I would think they move Larkin soon-ish, I'm just guessing. Edmondson's hard to read. Like any time I hear a GM come up with like hyper-specificity and say like we've offered short, medium and long-term deals, I sort of read that if we don't have a deal close. That seems like it's sort of a statement sometimes. So I think I just saw a minute ago that Edmondson and his agents met again with Detroit's management.

So maybe that's a good sign. There's dialogue. They seem to have been pretty clear. They're not interested in trading him. But yeah, you think one of those shoes would drop. I'm just more mostly amused at the very loud chest beating out of Minnesota and their media about how incredible Daniel Eurov is playing. And notwithstanding he is playing extremely well, it just seems so transparent to be like. I know.

Look at this friendship that you could acquire. It's pretty funny. I still come back to the same thing. Maybe you can lend some in state here, Steve, too. Sean Horcough is an interim GM. Signing to Brinket, signing Edvinson, like those are things that make sense to me because ultimately it's ownership's money and you come to them and say, hey, is this a good deal?

And then they sign the check if it is and they don't if it's not. making the larkin trade is a more complicated thing ownership can't do that i still come back to the idea that you're entrusting an interim general manager with what could be the most important transaction for your organization in the next 10 years and i can't get past that yeah i can't either because i like i've been on the inside and it's not just the deals you're talking about that are big it's like all the phone calls you can't take all the deals you can't make um all those other things out there that like a very opportunistic GM might do that could change your teams next 10 years. You're not doing any of that and you haven't done it for the last, what, five and a half

months since or whatever months since you've been in limbo from the GM change. So I don't think I can help you read clarity into that. And I can't tell you you're wrong. That's a big deal to make. Yeah, I just sort of throw my arms up to me on that one and say, how can you arrive at that interim solution, which is really no solution at all. And that's really a question not for me, but for Chris Elish. Yeah.

Interesting. Great stuff. Steve, as always, thank you for your time. I know you're a busy guy. And we always appreciate it. Thanks for, I'm sure a nice, you know, chills gone up the spine of our producer here, Zach, and I think all Maple Leafs fans that have had a chance to digest now and understand what the tagging rule means and how it applies to this Maple Leafs team and how there's a trouble sign ahead for John Jacobs' team here. We'll see how they navigate this one.

Steve, as always, thanks so much for stopping by. appreciate it. Thanks, guys. See it. It's okay, Zach. The Argos has a home game. Steve's,

like, thanks, Steve. I'm really excited for the Argos game. What the hell? Listen, like,

like I was saying, like, enjoy, and we have Steve on as, as much as we can, as much as he makes himself available.

Like, enjoy Steve all you have them. Because like, just like we used to say about, remember we saw, we used to always have Delo on. You'll then VSW showing. And be like,

enjoy him while you have them. Trame I am. You know, he's doing, he's doing pretty much. He's got a cuffering. Got a Stanley Cup. So, that guy. We should talk about these big returns we mentioned off the top of the show. So I published something to DSPN right before I hopped on.

Maybe one of the only, maybe one or two bits of news to ever emerge from the Wingman podcast with Brady and Matthew Chuck. Brady said that if fans throw jerseys on the ice and protest on Wednesday night, if there's an odd. The Ottawa fans that take their number seven jersey with Kachuk on the back and toss it on the ice and protest. The Panthers will collect those jerseys and donate them to the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa, a place that Brady and his wife, Emma, made some real important relationships they said in their lives and an important place for them in Ottawa. So they will donate the jerseys to charity. Matthew Kachuk on the podcast, quite hilariously, said he hopes to see 10,000 jerseys in the ice.

in the Ottawa Panthers game on tonight. We'll see about that. But I thought this was ingenious, man. I can't imagine if like John Tavares when he returned to Long Island was like every rubber snake that hits the ice, he'll be donated to the Bronx Zoo or something. I don't know. But like I thought this is really a clever way for Brady to diffuse what should be a

raucous situation on Wednesday. A couple of things. One, yes, excellent idea. Sign me up. It's a fantastic idea. And if they go through it, go through with it, all the, all the better. The other thing, too, is, and I just saw another note on social media, you know, tickets still available. As of yesterday, there were still 2,000 seats available for the return of

Brady Kachuk. I know that ticket sales have been a story all around the league. We talked about Vegas last week. And Edmonton is another issue, too. Ottawa, you would have thought that for Brady Kachuk's return, it would be an instant sellout. But as of about an hour and a half ago, it was still, Ottawa senators were still, you know, pumping it out there. You know, some select tickets are still available for tomorrow. It's kind of weird. Like, you'd figure the ire would be enough to draw fans to sell out the place,

but maybe ultimately it's like apathy. Maybe he's just, I don't care about this guy. Like, he totally turned his back on us. He went from talking about being committed to the organization in April to basically forcing a trade to play with his brother in June. I mean, who knows? I mean, maybe there's a certain repulsion going on within the fan base to Brady Kachuk coming back. That might be it. I always do wonder about it, too, if it's not a beloved, I mean, at the same time, though, I do understand, and I think Maple Leafs fans had a lot of time, you know, heartily booing and then cheering

politely for the return video, but then going back to booing, Mitch Marner. I always do sort of try to personalize it for myself. Like if I was a fan of the Ottawa senators, would I want to be there for the return of Brady Kachuk? My initial reaction is yes, but I can understand the ones that are like, he did this to us. I don't want to be around for him going back on that ice. I can get it. I would just, I can get it. For me, I would love to be there. I would love to be just for the energy, for the event, for all of it, what's going to happen. All of it, you want to be part of experiencing as many different hockey feelings. as possible and how many times in your hockey lifetime do you get to experience something

like this in your hometown with a player as significant as your former captain Brady Kachuk. But I can still understand fans being like, yeah, you know what? He's done. I'll pass. Again, me? I want to be there. I've never made this list before. I'll have to do it at some point.

Okay. But I referenced it just earlier, like the night that John Tavares came back to Nassau Coliseum as a member of the Maple. believes was has to be in my top 10 experiences as a sports writer like I I really I forget oh my dude walking through the parking you know those fans you know those fans more than better than I do and even I understand it no no I just mean like it was such a walking through the parking lot of nassau calcum and people driving over his jersey yeah you know the rubber snakes thrown on the ice like all of the jerseys being doctored and bastardized with these messages of

protest against Tavares, like it was really, like I'd never, I've been in places where, you know, you had returning players catch it from the crowd, but I, I thought there was like, it was going to be like, you know, Con Edison, grab a torch night where you get a lit torch as you walk into the arena, you know, in front of us. Give them pitchforks. Oh, my God. I, I, that atmosphere, listen, maybe it never gets there for Brady Kachuk's return to Ottawa. There was a certain amount of treacherous nature to the Tavares thing that didn't exist, I think, in the Brady thing. But like, my God, like that night was something I'll never forget. And I'd still remember like, you know, interviews at the Maple Leafs under the bleachers at Nassau after the game and fans still hanging around chanting derogatory chance at Tavares as the media is all trying to record their postgame interviews of players on the Leafs.

Holy shit, man. That was an incredible night. Yeah. Wild one for sure. Quick thought on Quinn Hughes, and we'll maybe do more on this later on as the week progresses. But Quinn Hughes makes his return to – this is the return week makes his return to Vancouver on Sunday. Yeah, Quinn – Quinn's an interesting one. He'll get booed.

He'll get booed. He'll get booed, maybe. But, like, he never got to the point that Brady got where he actually got to play with his brothers, which I think is kind of the interesting thing. Would it feel different if he had orchestrated a trade in New Jersey? But I also think, though, Merrick that, like, the senators are in a different place in the Canucks. And there's a certain amount of, like, like, I mean Shabbat earlier, you know, of Brady pulling the cord at a time when that team is all of a sudden becoming a contender. Quinn's departure is a symptom of greater problems in Vancouver that I think ultimately, and I may be completely wrong on this, ultimately fans will probably sympathize with somebody who's like, get me out of here. it's toxic and terrible because the fans are like,

yes, it was. That's why the Siddins are back to fix all this nonsense. So here's the difference. So with Brady Kachuk, Ottawa Senators fans, whenever we would bring it up, you and I, or anybody else around hockey would bring up the idea that there are other teams that want to get Brady Kachuk and there had been conversations,

whether it's the Rangers, whether it's the Dallas Stars, like other teams had been. Ottawa Senators fans were vehement. Zero chance. That's media lies. Stop it. We hate you.

We're not hearing any of this. Brady says he wants to stay here. He's the captain. And then the trade for them was sudden. It wasn't sudden for Quinn because of Jim Rutherford. Jim Rutherford. paved the road that Quinn Hughes used to walk out of Vancouver. But if you asked Ottawa Senators fans, right up until he was traded,

is Brady Kachuk and leave? They would all tell you, no. He's staying. And he's committed. But if you ask a Vancouver fan, what's the future of Quinn Hughes? They would have told you, Jim already told us he wants to play with his brothers. Right. Well, the part that you left out is that, well, Jim Rutherford is saying that,

and he was prepping them for it. Yeah. Michael Anlauer is saying, you know, going up, railing against tampering and talking about his future. So the most important voice in that organization. Is that the term soft tampering? Soft tampering. Soft tampering. The most important voice in that organization was signaling something a lot different than in Vancouver.

By the way, keep in mind that Quinn Hughes will be greeted with candy and flowers because he is the reason the Vancouver Canucks have Zeev Bouillon. Zeev Bouillon with a fancy new contract and one assist in 10 games in a minus six. You know who's... Hang on. Hang on. You know who... No, it's not. And that's for a whole other conversation.

But just really quickly, yes, Ziv Boyam has not had a great start to this season whatsoever. But you know who has on that blue line? D.P.D. D.P.D. is what does he like three or four goals already? He's like maybe their best defense. But every time I watch it, Vancouver, can I see him? Like, holy smokes, how good does DPD look?

He has the same number of goals as the other EPD. Three. Okay, he's got three goals? So you tell me DPD is going to score 15 goals this year. DPD has three goals, no assists. And I guess CPD, FPD has three goals and seven assists. 10 points in 10 games for FPD. So there you go.

Everybody, yours perking up around the league. Caps going up, baby. Any five on five for EPD? Five, five even strength points, no even strength goals for FPD. All right. I think on Halbro they mentioned his last five on five goal was last January. It's a heart. Hey, listen, teams need power play help all across this league.

I'll score on the power play. But if you want me to score five on five, I'm going to need more money. Who are you, Mike Knoebel? How about his kid yesterday? Can we do this? Okay, I wanted to do this with you. I don't know which one to show. Let me, let's show the Knoble cut yesterday.

Did you see this yesterday? So Cole Knoble makes his debut for the Philadelphia Flyers, Mike Knoble in the crowd. And on one of his shifts, he makes this, you'll see here in the video if you're watching us on YouTube. this hard cut from the left side into the net. And bam, Josh Manson catches him old school. Oh, my God. Oh, yeah.

No, that's like, welcome to the NHL. Greg, we'll let you watch it one more time. This is easy. Hockey is awesome. Oh, hockey sucks. Oh, I hate hockey right now. He got it up, but he's like, that never happens on the video game. That never happens on the video game.

Now, the smartest thing. I saw all week in hockey happened last Saturday in the New Jersey game against the Washington Capitals. Watch Jack Hughes when he realizes there's Tom Wilson. Look at that bail. It's the best. He's just like, whoop. Slip on a banana peel. I'm down.

Listen, listen, Jack. Survive in advance, baby. There's no shame in what you've done there, my friend. None. But I'm just like, I saw the Canoval play last night. And I'm like, you know what? I respect a kid for going to the net hard,

but there's an element of where, you know, we're barely 10 games into this thing and let's preserve ourselves to fight again, just like Jack Hugh. Now, I think if it's like a game seven in the Stanley Cup playoffs, Jack Hughes is just like, okay, Tom, have that. I'm making a dangerous cut here,

but I'm going to get a shot off here. But that's Jack Hughes saying like, I'm like eight games into this thing. This ain't going to happen again. I'm bailing. Just you look at his, like if you look at it, you can freeze it.

You see his, Jack Hughes's eyes. There it is, right there. His eyes when he realizes it's 43. I have a theory. Okay, what's your theory? You know how we always hear, well, you always hear that Tom Wilson yells like guys if he's coming. Oh, you know what?

I think he yelled at him. That's a, you know what? That is a really good point. He'll do that, yeah. Right here, and I'm sorry, I'm rewinding it for people, but right here, he's driving the net, and then boom, he looks up and he goes, oh my God, I'm going to die.

And I don't think that that's necessarily, oh, I'm scanning the ice to see who's out here. I think he's aware, but I wonder if Tom Wilson yelled at him. He does that. Wilson does that. That's a really good point. It's a great bail out though, man. Wilson yelled, you stole my medal, is what he yelled. I'm going to kill you.

I'm going to kill you like that French guy. That's good times. That's fun. All right, listen, I'm sure you got plenty to do. Good to see the place getting more more decorated as you get more comfortable in it wallpaper next wallpaper next what are you going to have on your wallpaper you used to have the star wars shower curtains i remember in your old old old place what are you going to have on this wall i've been looking at some star based uh wallpaper stripes different colors i don't know i a lot of it has to do with what looks good in camera

and what looks good in camera is not always what looks good on the wall so i'll have to figure that part out but as you know you know this is my this is my medium baby this is i'm A mees and plas. Or a meisen sen, rather. This is all about trying to make the shot look as good as possible for this show. I'm expecting a Joe Sorrella homage. It's one of your crowning achievements in life was introducing me to Joe Sorrella at Foley's. Yeah.

I will take that one to the crematorium with me knowing I introduced Greg Wischinsky to Joe Sorolla. RIP Follies. And I remember the look on your face. I can't believe I'm eating Joe Sorrelia. I know. And I'm like, Caldoo's there too. He's a gym,

St. Sweet Man, Greyhound. Yeah, but that's Joe Sorolla. Oh, that's Joe Sorrella. Too freaking Sorella. Okay, but. Dubas is like, oh, it's so good to meet you and a big fan. I'm like, shut up, glasses. Joe Sorrella's here.

Shut up, point, extra. That's Joe Sorolla, man. Play with the New Jersey Devils. Now, look at you. That's why he hasn't returned your calls. Okay. You'll be good. We'll have checks out.

We'll catch up soon. Sick of her. All right. Greg Gersinski from ESPN and ESPN. We got a lot. We got to a lot there. Exactly. We got to a lot there.

In the first, oh, my God, it's quarter after. Oh, man. All right. Kept everybody along, just having a good time. Okay, so what's for hockey?

It's a presentation of DoorDash. Hockey night is one of those rituals that brings everyone together. DoorDash is an official partner of the NHL, making it easier to get your game night favorites delivered so you can stay focused on the action and not miss a moment. Whether it's wings,

pizza, burgers, or your own go-to order. Can we get Thai food in the script? DoorDash makes it easier to bring the whole game that experience together at home. Good food, good company, and hockey. So the player or storyline tonight, that will be the hottest topic by the end of the night. I'm going to go ahead and say thank you to Adam Fantilli because now in the Toronto Columbus game, that is one of the sidebars, we shall be watching whenever Fantilli and the player he

was traded for. Share the ice at the same time. What do you think? Nise. Nize Marchenko. No, no, no, no, no, no. Not Niz Marchenko. Oh, Fantillion.

Fantilli Marchenko. Fantili Marchenko. Yes. Nyes is like Nyes. Okay, like that's all cool. But all of a sudden, yeah. All of the sudden here,

Adam Fantili has put himself in front of Matthew Nyes by saying, yeah, you know what? You didn't want to be here, punt. Get lost. Glad you're not here. Yeah. point. That'll be a little interesting sidebar to this one here tonight. I mean, I can't see Karo Marchenko having the most fire to them when it comes to wanting to duke it out over the

situation. But I could see Adam Fantilli given a couple extra shots. Could be. We'll see. It'll be a fascinating one tonight between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Toronto Maple Leafs are 11 games on the go around the NHL. So, Zach, this concluding segment here on the podcast today. almost. It's brought to you by sports interaction, casino and sports book. Every game is your game when you bet with sports interaction.

Bet the action on every period, every shift, every shot with Canada's homegrown sports book. Sports interaction. Must be 19 plus in Ontario. 18 plus in Alberta. Again, this is Ontario and Alberta only.

Please play responsibly. Are you going to CBJTOR? For one of them, yeah. I figured as much. Okay, what do you got? Sometimes it's that easy. Okay. We're just going to go with a few different ones.

You got Matthew Nyes. I know you can do Matthew Nyes. I bet you're going to go Matthew Nyes. Of course. Matthew Nyes, Anytime goal. Matthew Nyes anytime goal. We're going to go across the board. We got Nize anytime goal here plus $195.

We got Adam McElabrini, excuse me, against the Montreal Canadians tonight. He was held off the board last night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Oh, he almost had one in the third though. That was a nice shot. He did. He got rid of that one fast. Defense of Woe is still an issue for the Maple Leafs. Clean shot.

time you can leave one of the best players in the world open after you've taken a one goal lead at home in the third period you got to do it you got to give him a chance to tie it up a defenseman do an elevator practice in front of them yeah that was nice too okay um so i think sell lubrini it's hard to keep him off the board and it's hard to keep him off the board twice think he'll be a little extra fired up heading into montreal tonight tyler segan anytime goal for the dallas stars because his old team the boston bruin the boston bruns here tonight is that still a thing like it's been so many years. I don't know, but sometimes it's just fun to just assume that there's like a revenge angle. So for the fun of it tonight, you've been hanging out with Albrega too much.

Revenge game. Loves the revenge game. For Tyler Sega, going back to 2010 when he's drafted by the Bruins. Exactly. I'm going to go with that. And then finally, no revenge angle here. This is just like the guy is on pace to break Wayne Gretzky's point records. Connor McDavid, anytime goal tonight, plus 140 for the Edmonton Oilers. They take on the Minnesota Wild. look, Jeff, that one's just as simple as what's the point of betting against like the inevitable. This guy scores or gets on the board in some way every single night. He's not going to get 240 points. No, but.

Although they have two extra games this year. He's not going to get 240 points. But like 165? I was trying to think about that yesterday of what's realistic. I do think like insane would be 170, but 165? I was thinking 160 was where I was like, I don't think that's ridiculous to say he can do it. 160, I think is a barometer that it's like, you know what? Yeah, it's lofty.

It's hard to do. But I think he can achieve it. And that's kind of where I came to last night when I was thinking about what a realistic number would be. So 160. 155, yep, I could agree with you there. 170 is where you start to get to like. This is insane. I don't know.

And he could do it. Like I'm not saying he can't do it. You know what? But he, the only thing that you worry about, again, like towards the end of the season when you're starting to get into like ridiculous numbers, if they're like shut them down for the last two, three games. Exactly. That's the thing. Exactly. That's exactly what I was thinking about anything beyond like 170, 180.

Once you get to like, once you're trying to project out those numbers, you got to realistically think about. He's not going to get that. There's two more games. He's not. He's not getting like 180. Playing two more games. You know what I mean? Yeah.

there's 84 on the schedule, but... Yeah, I know, I know, I know. I know. I don't think so. I think 160, though, I think that makes sense. Okay. Every game is your game when you bet with sports interaction. From puck drop to overtime, bet with live odds on every play with easy deposits and payouts. Go to sports interaction.com slash the sheet to open an account. Again, Ontario or Alberta only must be 19 plus in Ontario, 18 plus in Alberta.

Please play responsibly. One closing thought in a second, but first some words from our friends at Airbnb. Jeff and Zach here from The Sheet again. We had an interesting summer to say the least. There was so much going on in hockey. We kept the feed hot all through July and August leading up to the start of the new season. But we were both able to get away at least a little bit in between all the news and rumors and signings and drama that was the hockey season of 2026. Zach, I know you traveled.

What did you get up to? Yeah, I feel like I spent my... entire summer on the road bouncing from wedding to wedding. But staying in homes on Airbnb made the trips a whole lot easier. There's just something about staying somewhere that feels like your home rather than you're living out of a hotel room for a weekend. It makes the trip a whole lot more comfortable. No, actually a particularly fond memory for me this summer was pretty recent.

It was a wedding in Prince Edward County where we got to stay at a home on Airbnb. we were right near the main street, near the water, walking distance to breweries and everything that the county has to offer like Slake Brewing. For me, it was down south again with the family. And once again, since I'm an awful golfer, I drove a cart for the boys. Pretty much every single day we were away. But still, sun, ocean, good food, cool nights made it all worthwhile. Back recharged.

As for more trips this season, it looks like I'll be gone. a bunch, mainly to junior hockey cities across the country. And it's trips like these why I love booking homes on Airbnb. You actually feel like you're part of a place, not just passing through it. And it's always a reminder that when we're gone, our house just sits there. Choosing to list our home on Airbnb could be a great way to make use of that space on our schedule and maybe have a little extra money coming in at the same time. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca slash host.

Okay, a couple of things here, Zach, before we wrap things up, I don't know how much if any of the Philadelphia Flyers game you watch yesterday, 3-2 over Colorado, we had fun with the Cole Canobal hit with Manson. But Canoebill put in a line with Denver Barkie and Alex Bump. They were really good. Trevor Zegress asked afterwards and said something about, like yeah not a not a whole lot of IQ there or not a whole lot of brain cells there or something like that but it's a really fun line zegro's had three assists in that one matveh mitchcock with a pair

of goals it does you know what watching the game you know what it felt like what's that it felt like rickett talk it's been told to play the kids huh yeah you know what it felt like okay you know what we're a winless we're trying something else we're trying something else else and you're playing and you're going to play kids. Like the ice times were up for the young players. Like Travis Sandheim still, I think Sanheim played like 28 minutes last night still. What number gets game 11?

He gets Sanheim playing like he's Adrian a coin. But like you started to see some ice times for some of the younger players. And, you know, Mitch Koff now has a three-game goal streak going. Like flyers are still in it. It's still tough. like they're still in a they're still in a tough situation yeah but it was uh put it this way it was an easier game on the eyes if you're a philadelphia flyers fan yesterday and it was all because of

the kids yeah because of the kids it's a good point it did kind of feel like the reins were taken off a little bit and minutes would be would be an indicator of that as well but even some of the plays that i was watching mitchkoff like the second goal that he scored where he's ripping around the zone and basically spread eagle and carving the entire ice up all the way around and uses the screen, fires it in. It's like, that's a player

who's playing with more confidence. He looks a little more comfortable. So I could see that where basically they come down and they say, boys, play your games. Rick, fuck off. Let him be.

Yeah. The other thing I mentioned, the Penn's miserable road trip. Defense and issue, goaltending, an issue there. Wish kind of mentioned this. And I kind of had the,

initial, my initial thought was the same, which is cynical. Yarmou Kekyllian and general manager of the Buffalo Sabres saying that Ukapakalukin is a big part of the team's future. Yep. Is that playing or as a trade ship? That's good point. It's open to interpretation, Jeff, because no matter what happens from here, he can say, he played a big part in our future.

I said he was playing a big part is a huge part of this future. Now, I may introduce behind the curtain and Connor Hallibon. Yeah, exactly. So I'm cynical I've become. Eleven games. Anything you want to add before we call the curtains here? No. Excited for more hockey here tonight.

Leaves Nation, or Daily Face Off Toronto, After Dark following tonight's game yet again. 9.45 Eastern Time on the Daily Face Off Toronto YouTube channel. Make sure to get in the chat. How was the Leaves talk last night on After Dark? People are excited. I think the biggest reason and good and bad for this to be happening, Jeff, but I think one of the biggest reasons for people to be able to just forget that other stuff is going on, i.e. poor defensive zone play and the neutral zone looking like you can cut through it like a hot knife through butter is Austin Matthews. 16 points through 10 games. We're going to talk about on pace. On pace for 134. But it's not just the points. He looks good. And I think that's kind of getting Leafs fans excited here. Honestly, myself too. You know, obviously he plays for the Maple Leafs and.

I want to see him succeed, but just as a player, having those down years that he had, you kind of wonder, will he ever get back? I don't think he scores 60 again. I think that was, that's the peak. He hit it. He said hello to it and he ain't going back there. But he looks like a very, very dangerous player every time he goes on the ice now. So that's a welcoming site for these fans.

Still my favorite question that I ever saw in a leaf scrum when Eric Landross signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs. someone said Eric do you think you can score 60 and the look on Eric Lindross's face was I don't know if you're going to get the same Legion of Doom Eric Lindross here but I'm sure going to try kid I'm sure going to sure going to try there there were a couple of moments there yesterday because I think we're all sort of waiting for that moment for Michael Mesa

to pop there were a couple of moments there where he started wheel and he just like oh boy yep oh man you can you can really you can really see it this I'm biased. I've loved Mesa from day one for this first. I saw him in the GTHL, but there were moments in that game yesterday. We were like, oh, man, you just wait till this kid puts it all together. And then Shark's going to have like an incredibly special player.

Sam Dickinson, too. I thought he was really good last night. Six look good. Yeah. Six looked good. He sure did. All right. And that will wrap up.

Thanks to Greg Wachinsky for stopping by. Thanks to Steve Wariar from the, well, former assistant general manager with the Florida Panthers. for sharing stories about tagging and the Maple Leafs on a day where Maple Leafs might have wanted to enjoy, sorry, Zach, you know, a win last land against the San Jose Sharks. Here comes Steve, who essentially says, well, actually, look over here because there's a big, there's some storm clouds that are brewing over here for the Toronto Maple Leaf salary cap situation

visa v. tagging. Anyhow, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for watching on our daily face off YouTube. Thanks for listening wherever you get your podcasts. Both are appreciated. As we do, appreciate those people that are always in the chat. Thank you. Please feel free to subscribe.

We'd appreciate it. Please feel free to like. Please feel free to leave comments, positive, negative, suggestions, insults, whatever you want. We love it all here on the program. Thanks for joining us on the sheet. We're back tomorrow, 1 o'clock Eastern, right here at our daily faceoff YouTube channel and wherever you get your podcasts. We're back tomorrow.

Every day this month