The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Leo Carlsson Signs $90M Flyers Offer Sheet + Ducks Under Pressure ft. Steve Werier & Emerson Etem

Episode Date: July 6, 2026

On today’s episode of The Sheet with Jeff Marek, Jeff is joined by former NHL executive Steve Werier for a deep dive into the changing world of NHL player contracts, roster building, and the future of team management. They break down the fallout from Leo Carlsson’s massive $90 million offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers, what it means for the Anaheim Ducks, and how it could reshape the way NHL teams approach restricted free agency moving forward. Jeff and Steve discuss the rise of offer sheets, potential loopholes in the system, salary cap strategy, market inefficiencies, contract negotiations, and where front offices may look for advantages in the next era of the NHL. Later, former Anaheim Duck and current Ducks color analyst Emerson Etem joins the show to give his perspective on the Carlsson situation, Pavel Mintyukov’s new contract with Anaheim, the Ducks’ current salary cap challenges, their young core, and what comes next as the franchise navigates a crucial offseason. Don’t miss another packed episode of The Sheet covering the biggest NHL news, rumors, contracts, and analysis from around the league.#TheSheet #NHL #Hockey #AnaheimDucks #Flyers #NHLOffseason #NHLFreeAgency #NHLRumorsReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Flames_Nation🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You know, I thought we were just going to call these the summer shows or these summer editions of the sheet. Welcome to it for this Monday, July 6th. But, Zach, I think we might just have to go with the offer sheet edition. And maybe we're just going to have to continue to go with the offer sheet edition because who knows what's going to happen next around the NHL. So a lot of today we're going to talk about the Anaheim Philadelphia situation, which has really turned into the Anaheim conundrum. and the Anaheim salary cab Gordian knot and how are they going to untangle this and what's the cascade going to be for

not just the Anaheim ducks or the Philadelphia Flyers but the rest of the league as general managers now more so than ever are probably checking in on their younger players Yeah You guys want to get deals done now? Do you want to maybe start thinking about getting something done now

before we have to use that ugly term and I have to go to my owner and talk about that ugly term. Five years, $90 million. It's the offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers to the I'm Ducks Center, Leo Carlson, who will now be the highest paid player in the NHL. It is only a matter of who is signing the checks. Who is sending the cash? Is it Anaheim or is it Philadelphia? Here's what we have coming up on the program today.

This should come as a surprise to nobody. A lot of it is going to revolve around offer sheet drama. Steve Worrier is a former assistant general manager of the Florida Panthers. While he was with the Panthers, they put together a plan once upon a time to offer sheet Nikita Kuturov. We'll talk about that, but really we're going to talk about the situation right now between the Anaheim Ducks and the Philadelphia Flyers. And we'll talk to Steve if there is a fatal flaw. or a strategic or structural flaw. That's the word I'm looking for.

A structural flaw in the Philadelphia Flyers offer sheet. And if so, where is it? Emerson Eaton is a former NHLer and a standout with the Madison Hat Tigers in junior previously snipped 61-1 season. Man, could that guy fly? He is the radio voice of the Anaheim ducks. He'll be stopping by to talk about all things Anaheim, specifically the offer sheet.

And we should throw in the Pavel Minchikov contract And considering the AAV there is $7.2 million, it looks like someone was prepared to offer sheet the defenseman at the first, second, and third round pick level. We'll get there. Cap pressure. We'll talk about creative general managers who's been exposed as being a dinosaur and who are some of the more progressive thinkers around the NHL. And if we get to, we'll talk about contract loopholes as well. We should probably park some time to talk about players like Shane Wright. with the Seattle Cracken, at least for now, the Seattle Cracken.

We should talk about players that have filed for arbitration. I can really only see one getting there. And that's Jason Robertson. Although at this point in this saga, you know what would surprise me, Zach, about the Jason Robertson situation? What's that? Nothing. Yeah.

Anything could happen. Like, aliens could land and abduct Jason Roberts. And I go like, oh, yeah, this is according to plan. Like, this is just part of like what happens in this. this Jason Robertson situation. But we'll spend a lot of time talking about the little Carlson offer sheet and the four picks in the next five years. Philadelphia owns the next four. So that's it.

Although if you're the Philadelphia Flyers, might want to plug your ears on this one, Zach. They already own the Toronto Maple Leaf's first round picks. So it's not really four. You can make the argument. It's only three because the Maple Leafs help them out a little bit and lessen the bird. Yes, I'm aware. Are you aware of how that works?

The Anaheim Ducks, as we all know, have seven days to respond, either to say we're matching or he's all yours. Go screw up your salary structure and do something with Jamie Driesdale and Trevor Zegris now. And heads up, there's a certain winger on your team that we may have eyes on in a couple of years now. His name rhymes with Porter Martone, which we may be looking at closely as well other deals. Again, like this is, like out of all, of this. And I kind of joked about it off the top, too,

like the lesson in all of this. And a lot of teams are doing this now, more so than never, identify your core and lock them up. Because now we've had, you know, the opening of free agency and we've had two offer sheets. The Barrett Hayton situation

with the New Jersey Devils and the Utah mammoth and now the Philadelphia Flyers and the Anaheimdux. Lock up your kids. Lock up your kids. Yes. Does Kent Hughes come out of this, like looking like the biggest genius in all of it? A, the A.AV on the Demadov deal

and the kids before, if you want to even go looking at those. But then just the fact that the timing of the Demidov deal and the AAV he gets him at. And then, oh, there's Leo Carlson, 18 million years. It's like, what the hell? Ken Hughes is over here. He's like, uh, don't mind me. I'm just locking up kids to these unbelievably friendly contracts and nobody's questioning anything about it.

Well, the one thing you have to remember, too, is Kent Hughes and the Montreal Canadians enjoy certain tax advantages that other teams don't. Montreal has now relocated to the state of Florida somehow and are getting all the benefit. They palm trees. Oh, wait a minute. Hold on. No, Quebec is the highest tax province in Canada in the highest tax area in the entire NHL. And somehow they are signing these incredible deals, which is why we look at the Montreal Canadiens and say they're going to be good for a while.

And they're not going anywhere. And they're locked up. And everything looks groovy movie there. And they're a playoff team. And, and, and, and, and. and they can't get their kids off the ice either. Let's get to the story of the day, which has been the story of the weekend

and will probably be the story of the week leading right till Friday, because if you're Pat Verbeek, the general manager of the Anaheim Ducks, you want to drag this one out to the last possible second. Steve Wier, a former assistant general manager of the Florida Panthers. He's been part of decisions like this,

most notably Nikita Kuturov once upon a time when he was with the Florida Panthers. He joins us now, and first of all, Steve, thanks so much for stopping. and by and almost right away. Like I love when you go into GM mode on social media because there's an educated imagination that you have about these things. And so initially, before we get to this idea, maybe like some sort of like conceptual

flaw in the offer sheet itself, what did you think? Like when you saw this thing come out Friday afternoon, Steve, like what went through your hockey manager's brain? Yeah. I loved it. I mean, listen, it's great when good managers, you will use every tool in the CDA to get better. And I think it's good in the long run for even other teams for managers who aren't using those tools to maybe be exposed quicker and to level set and do better things going forward. So I thought it was an exciting moment. I think, you know, there's more

offers piece than there were before, but there's still like more often not. They've got a little a bit of fighting them. I think both of the main offices like Hayton and Carlson have some backstory to them as opposed to just sort of a sterile, hey, here's a player on another team that we like. And that also makes them more exciting and fun and sensational. I'm fine with that. Like I've always, I'll tell you, Steve, I've always found it weird that, you know, a lot of management groups feature and certainly at the general manager level, people used to be players. And they competed against one another. And it was prison rules. They didn't care what they did to each other. They were just trying to win a Stanley Cup and win hockey games along

the way. And then all of the sudden, they signed their retirement papers. They put on a tie and they turned into proper gentlemen who would never want to offend one another with a mischievous offer sheet here. So I don't care how it happens, whether it's out of spite. And we all remember what happened between Montreal and Carolina. And I think there was an undercurrent of Montreal saying, we think your owner is too cheap to match this offer. And Tom Dundon said, I can write a check as good as anybody else in this league. So, like, for me, Steve, I don't care what the motivation is, whether it's spite. That's fine.

That's entertainment. Or whether it's we really want to get this player and we have a long-term plan for him. How do you see the Philadelphia one? Because it's almost impossible to remove the context of the Cutter Go-Chase situation from the entire conversation. But do you see this one as strictly spiteful? or do you see this one as maybe a little bit spiteful because we can't remove context, but really there's a long-term plan here for someone like Leo Carlson. Yeah, let me use the jumping off point of what you just said about Montreal and Carolina

where Dundon wrote the check. I think it's probably a good general rule not to ever underestimate how far a multibillionaire is willing to go when they feel like they've been attacked personally and professionally. And I'm reminded of the line of the big Lubowski, right? Yeah. This is a ground cannot stand, man. And so, like, I'll answer your question this way, what I think will happen, and where there might be maybe a weight, you know, you're putting weights on me, you do an offer sheet, right? It's, you know, I want this team to not match.

I want this team to sign my player, but then also, like, what happens down the road. And you're just reapportioning weights the road to sort of get what you want as the player, as the agent, as the target team. And it's tricky. If I'm Henry Semwell, and I'm sitting there right now with my advisors and making a mistake about it, you know, this offer sheet is an necessary. escalation. That probably means Henry's sitting there with the guys who are advising him, his family office, his major assets, not just his hockey guys, so to speak. I'm sitting there and I'm probably asking myself, where is there a leverage point in this offer sheet where down the line I have power once again? Because right now I've been put,

you know, behind a gun where it's been very publicized that, you know, other teams and agents think, you know, my team is chief, my GM and AGM are hard to deal with. I've been hit with not only your point of strategic offer sheet for a great player that's $18 million a a B over five years but also it's sort of like you know a little bit of bully ball where it's front loaded with you know an 18 or 19 million dollar signing bonus on day one and then another 18 or 19 million dollar signing bonus on the first year of the 2027 28 season which means as long people have hit on you have to pay out almost 40 million dollars in the first 365 or so days if you want to keep this

player and it's tempted to think wow that's going to be make it harder for Anaheim to match. But that's actually where I think the flaw is. And if I was advising Henry, here's what I would say. You match. Leo Carlson is a great player. Four mid-first-round picks. They're nice. But if you've been called up a month ago saying, hey, we'll trade you four or 17th overall picks over the next four years for Leo Carlson. You take out the phone right away, right? Probably. Yeah. So if I'm saying with Henry, I say you do this, Henry. You match the offer sheet. And you keep Leo for this year, which you have to do. He's a great player. You bring it in with the room where you have an experienced coach with Joel, you've

gone out, his killer, and Macaule, a bunch of vats, and you say, there's business, there's hockey, he's a great hockey player who's here to stay. You keep them. You take your medicine on July 1st, 2027, and you pay lealed at 18 or 19 million dollar signing bills in year two. And at that moment, when you cut that check, the leverage flips. And then what do you have? You have an amazing young player, locked in for four more years, with no trade protection, you you can move him wherever you want. You've paid the $18 million signing bonus, so he's got a $1 million salary that year. His average cash over the next four years is, you know, 12 to 13 million.

His cap is still 18, but you could retain two or three mil, cut him down to 15, which two or three years from now is an eminently, you know, desirable caput for that player. Right. And now you can sit there and trade him wherever you want, or you can keep him, but it's your choice. But he doesn't go to Philly. No one's writing about how Henry Sanwellie was bullied and was too cheap and didn't match and so on and how the Ducks cap was blown up

and how the franchise is now in peril. And at that point, you do whatever you want. And that's when you make the decision, where do I want to move them? Do I want to keep them? You can probably buy a year with, you know, you've got Goche on 102C, so he doesn't have the leverage of an optione eligible player.

You also have four or five veteran players who have one to two years left at around a $6 million cap hit and I think a 15-term-so trade protection. So you can get through this evening. You see where you're at, and then you do whatever you want. But you don't make the move right now of sort of gun to your head, letting him walk,

and letting Philadelphia win and letting this player leave. You wait until the leverage flips to your side, and then you make the call. So then essentially for those who may not have thought about this as deeply as you have and don't have the background that you have, essentially what you're saying is, look, if Anaheim can just get through this one season and pay that massive bonus next July 1st, they're back in the driver's seat. This is all up to them at that point where the cash you're paying is going to be around 12, but the salary cap is going to be 18.

We know all teams aren't going to use the cap as a magnet. There will be some teams that want contracts that are less cash, more cap involved. So if you were the Philadelphia Flyers then, in retrospect, if you wanted to throw another poison pill into this one, could you have done it with the bonus structure? And if so, how? So here's what I think I would have done. I think I wouldn't have over in-depth on saying,

I'm going to bully Henry and the Ducks with this $40 million front-loaded. I don't think Henry gets bullied by that. I only the ducks are played by that in the end. What I would have done if I was fully, and maybe depending on what Matt Peter, what wanted to do, depending on his players' interests, is I would have shifted the year two, signing bonus, which you can do under the CBA to the day after the 2020,

2027, 28 trade deadline. And if I did that, then instead of that 18 million being a problem for a multi-billion dollar owner in Adaheim who's got a chip on his shoulder right now, it becomes a deterrent to the thumb that's going to acquire him because the way it's structured right now at the start of 2027, 28, the duck can call, you know, Winnipeger, Columbus, whoever, and say, here's an amazing player on a $1 million salary this year, but he's shifted that signing bonus to March whatever the day after the deadline is in 2027, 28, all of a sudden it becomes, here's a great player, but you own 18 million cash the day

after the deadline. And he's also got the other running salary. And that's why teams historically like front loading salary, right? Because the player becomes more tradable when cash is less than that. So yeah, short answer, I would have shifted the sign votes to later. At that point, you're speaking the player, you know, maybe for two full seasons out of five and it becomes more of a problem for Anaheim to wait that long. I think the way it is, you can take your medicine for one year, you have a super tradable asset that you wouldn't otherwise have if that money was shifted out. Is one of the issues here, like I look at, like, it's a whole bunch of different fires

that are burning right now in the NHL. Like I look at the Dillon-Larkin situation. I see the overarching story here, Steve, is how did this relationship get this bad? Like, how did it get to this point? And I look at the Anaheim Ducks situation. And I again, I'll say the same thing. Like, how did this get to a situation where, and I understand like the numbers are staggering. And if you're Leo Carlson, even if you are the most loyal foot soldier to the Anaheim ducks, someone puts that number in front of you.

It's really hard to say, no, my loyalty is to the team that drafted me and has developed me and been patient with me. But is there any lesson here? I mean, the one that we've all been looking at is identify your core early and lock them up for as long as you can. Before we get back to sort of the ramifications of this one, as a manager, is that one of the lessons that you think everybody around the NHL is looking at right now and saying, okay, we don't want to be, like, I'm sure every GM is sitting there saying, I don't want to be Pat Verbeek, who needs to go to my owner and say, look, boss, all we need is 40 million to get us through this. and then we're going to be okay. No general manager wants to go and tell their owner all we need is 40 large and we're going to be fine.

But is there any lesson here or is this just, hey, this is just business and Anaheim's going through a tough sit for a week? Sure. So a couple things. One, I don't know if half the week says that, but I'm certain other guys in Henry Sanoi's orbit will say that. Second, it's a lesson. You're right.

Everything you said is accurate, but it's not a new lesson. And, you know, thinking back to, you know, I was managing in Florida and we were looking at launching a significant offer sheet one summer. We made sure to lock up every young player who we thought could be vulnerable to an offer sheet down the line so that we couldn't be attacked. And again, that wasn't anything new when we locked up, Barkov, Rubio, Gochak, Riley, Smith. You can see what Carolina's done. Carolina has been the most aggressive team with using offer sheets to go after, you know, Bouchard, to go after Kendraud, to reportedly have gone after a couple players recently.

But look at Carolina's cash sheet. They went out very early. have Seth Jarvis locked in long term. They traded for Logostankov and they locked him up long term. Even Brandon Bussie before he broke out again in this year's playoff. They signed him for three more years. I'm not an option issue. But Carolina was mindful of this. And they're they're keeping their side of the street clean. And you know, that's something Philadelphia will need to think of as well with the Martones, maybe mixed shop as well. But for sure, you know, players like that coming up in the future of, hey, we're going to be a team that gets targeted. But it's just a cost-benefit analysis of, hey,

we're still getting a Leo Carlson potentially, and that's a risk worth taking. But yeah, you're right. I think the lesson is always, if you want that surplus value of young players leveraging the CBA to get them at a, you know, a cap value that over time is far below their actual value, you make those bets early,

you make those bets often, and you hope you don't make those bets incorrectly because there's certainly examples of teams, you know, that took your principle, but applied it maybe to the wrong player, and now they're in a bind. I'll come out with another movie quote. You use Big Lobosky, I'll use usual suspects.

How do you shoot the devil in the back? What if you miss? So let's say Anaheim matches and then they turn around. And you're Daniel Breyer and you've shot your shot. Like this is nothing new. Like I'm not the first to make the point that this is three days after the expiration of the Shea Weber contract, which was another massive offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers. We can remember actually his agent at the time.

saying like we hope that the National Predators will respect my client's wishes. He wants to be a Philadelphia flyer, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. We didn't see that this time after Keeter. But there is that element to it. And I want to touch on what this means going back to the room if Anaheim matches. But you're the Philadelphia Flyers now. You've tried to shoot the devil in the back. Let's say they match.

That means you miss. What next for Philly? Do you figure you're now moving with a target on your back? Like maybe, but I think you should feel like you're always moving with the target on your back if you're a good manager. I think to something you've talked about recently with the trend in both ownership, but you know, GMs as well to maybe a way of the old boy club more of, you know, the next Derek Kelski, guys like Sunny Met or John Chaker coming back in, you're going to have that mark on your doubt whether or not you throw an offer sheet at a, you know, Carlson. And it may be a case of historically that type of offer sheet, you know, stigmatizes you and makes, you know, a guy that a dark oak room smoking cigars want to teach you a lesson.

But I think if you look at other sports, it's just, you know, regular business. Those are the rules. Teams play by it. And as we go on, there becomes, you know, higher stakes involved and, you know, franchise values and winning becomes even, you know, bigger than it was before. You know, I think whether or not they went after Alito Carlson, if they had a poor Marconi type player and they strong armed him or slow played him, they'd be vulnerable either way. So, yeah, short answer, I wouldn't have, if I was in the room in Philly, I wouldn't say,

oh, if we miss, let's not do it. I would say if we, you know, if we hit, it's a huge win. And if we miss, we move on to the next one. Okay, last one for a week. So I know you've got, you've got business here coming up. Let me ask about the player himself. It's not all, most times players can go back to the room and everybody understands. Right now, though, like I look at a situation like Zach Werensky with the Columbus Bluejackets

and say to myself, even if he's still, you know, he's still, you know, he's still on the roster and I don't think that's a guarantee come opening night next season. It's going to be tough for those fans because they know. Because they know. It's another name and a list of players that tried to go somewhere else.

I know it's difficult for Ryan O'Reilly after the Calgary offer sheet. Going back to Colorado, there were certain people there that were like, hey man, you tried to leave. Hey man, you quit on us and you tried to go. Considering how public this is. And considering, you know, the the amounts involved at the end of it, you know, Leo Carlson signs this sheet and how public this is and how offensive perhaps it is,

the Henry Samuel slash Pad Verbeek. Is there an issue there at all? Or is this just got to be, everyone just, you know, everyone's just got to say, this is business and that's it. There can be no emotion involved here. But knowing full well, there's always emotion involved. Sports. Yeah, I think it's case by case. But I want to say that's probably overblown. Like he's walking back into a lock room. A lot of those players probably think, wow, you know, you just set the bar higher. If I'm a young player now coming up in a similar situation, you've probably increased my earning power. And that's a good thing.

And maybe even some of the veteran players think, hey, you know, I wish someone did what you did a few years ago. So I don't know if it becomes a problem in the room. I do think it becomes a complexifier to use a made-up word. But it becomes a complexifier for like the player-agent relationship. because if you are a player with that same agent, and that doesn't exist here with Matt Peter, I'm making a hypothetical, but if players are able to sign these massive offer sheets

that have significant ramifications particularly for others in the room because of how it impacts the cap, it might be complicated to the extent you have, you know, one agent representing multiple players and one player goes out and signs something like this, which really jeopardizes another player's potential future. I think that's where you might have some awkwardness going forward. But yeah, you know, I want to say with a player like Borensky or a player like Leo Carlson,

they walk back in and players, you know, respect the business side. And I think a lot of fans do as well. And they understand there's sort of a separation there. And, you know, I think the bottleneck or the issue might be, you know, with management in players. And, you know, you've touched on that before. That might be where it needs some bandities are patching up or other changes. But, yeah, I don't think it's necessarily a deal breaker. If Danny Gallivan can call a slap shot, a cannonating drive, you can use complexifier in hockey any day of the week.

I know you're busy. Thanks for parking a few minutes for me today. Much appreciate it. Thanks, Steve. Awesome. Thanks, Jeff. There is Steve Orier, former assistant general manager with the Florida Panthers, sharpening on the pencil on the Anaheim Ducks. And what may be the one sort of structural flaw in this offer sheet, which may allow the Anaheim Ducks provided, again,

provided that the owner is cool with $39 million in the first 12 months of this deal to get control back. And again, it's not as if it's new money, right? Like the one thing I think you need to understand here too, like this is all money that's all in the system. And, you know, it's all a 50-50 split between the owners and the players. This is all H.R.R. folks. There's no new money coming in here. All it does is force Anaheim if they do match. or Philadelphia, if they don't,

to redistribute that money around their team in a way that perhaps they didn't think they would when the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup. The way that I've sort of, there's an old carny term, okay, there's an old carnival term, which goes like this. What we gain on the roundabout, we lose on the swings. So for every $18 million contract, and this is where I'll take slight exception with Steve

about players saying, hey, you raise the bar for, us. I think some players will be like, well, you left less for us. To which I've always said, that's fine. Because one of the things that we saw, you know, coming out of like the third year of the NHL after the lockout was players seem to want to bear the responsibilities of being the general manager of the team when it came to dispersing salaries. Players aren't the general manager. The players should not even think about where your cap is at. That is not their job. It is not a player's responsibility. It take care of your salary cap.

That is your job. But for the longest time in the NHL, essentially after Crosby came out of his ELC, both players, some and agents, believe the BS that somehow it was players' responsibilities to take care of their team's salary cap. That very much is changing. For more of this and the Anaheim perspective, Emerson Edom is the radio voice of the Anaheim Ducks. He joins me on the program now after, listen, I was a big fan of yours going back to the Medicine Hat Tigers. I remember when you sniped 61 and you were flying up and down.

Thanks so much for doing this today. It's much appreciated. It's been the talk of the weekend. It's been the talk of the hockey world. Emerson, your thoughts on the offer sheet heard round the hockey world on Friday, the $90 million five-year offer sheet to Leo Carlson. Yeah, first and foremost, thanks for having me. It was, I think I was just as surprised as anyone.

And when I say that, that number, it just obviously sticks out of you. And I thought when that number came in, it was the same with the Caprizo signing. I mean, it's one million more. And it's one of those things where it just, it takes you a back. So, yeah, any GM is going to take their time with it. And that's exactly what Pat Rebeek is doing. He's taken more time than I think people are rushing to their conclusions, right? So I think when it comes to all things considered, I owned a junior team a few years back.

I sold it in three years. It was just the perfect time for an exit. But the regulations are just, they're so cut throat here in California, just terms of the buses. You need to have a carb compliant bus. you need to have a over 2,011 bus here in California as opposed to maybe 600,000 mile 26 bus that runs just as fine, right, with the diesel. And so when you talk about just the overall numbers when it comes to the cost of doing business here in California, it is so much more of a conversation of all things considered. And I just think you see a lot of people online who, whether or not, they own a business. Maybe they own a business in Texas or middle America. It's just the

regulations are through the roof here. And that definitely goes into the decision making maybe more than a team out in the Midwest area. So with this situation, like this is coupled now with the Pavl-Minchikoff signing that we saw yesterday. The idea of like things are changed right now. And right now this has sort of been described more and more. in other sports, and since hockey is last to everything, it's now coming into hockey, the idea of player empowerment. And using whatever you need to use to get the number you want, get to the team you want, et cetera,

do you think this is indicative now that there are more managers in the game that will use the offer sheet tool? Do you think that this is another sort of, another hurdle that the players have jumped over in this idea that players now, even though it's a triple cap league, are taking back a lot of the power that traditionally they always said,

oh, we don't have it. You know, we're trapped in our ELC. We're trapped in our second contract. We're trapped here. We don't have free agency until this age. Do you think this is just another example of players taking power back? That's a great question. Yeah, I think a little bit.

I think the pendulum always swings, right? I think there's years where the revenue is sky high and maybe there should be more dispersed from a salary cap perspective to the players. I think you can make the argument that the pendulum is shifting from the owner's power to the players' power as far as leverage is concerned. And I just think it goes back and forth. So this is one of those times where it is a shift. And I think over the next couple of seasons, teams are going to monitor what the impact

of a one single player and the percentage they take up when it comes to the salary cap, what that does to the overall team's performance, right? Caprizov signs that big ticket. Everyone saw the number. Wild, don't get past the Colorado Avalanche, right? So I think people are going to keep an eye on what teams do what, the teams that do sign the one player for the 16, 17s, and 18s, what their long-term sustainability is as far as success is concerned. So once again, I mean, you, you kind of nailed it on the head there. The pendulum, it's shifting back to the players. And I think this is just a kind of feeling out process. Maybe you can say, unfortunately, the Anaheim Ducks are the team that are first in

this situation. Maybe you could count wild being in it, but just a totally different ballgame when the pressure is on right with that offer sheet. How do fans feel about this one? I'm always curious, because I look at, you know, just talking to Steve a second ago about the Columbus Blue Jackets with Zach Werenski, and I know him and Waddell had, you know, dual notes and said everything's fine, want to stay here, et cetera, et cetera. But again, it's going to be tough for Werensky to start the season with Columbus because everybody knows. And everybody knows, obviously, that Leo Carlson did sign this thing. Is it the cost of doing business? Perhaps, probably.

But fans are fans. And this is sports. And you lead with your heart, you don't lead with your head. how do Anaheim Ducks fans feel about being the target of this offer sheet? I've really been following it every step of the way, just in terms of reading comments, right? And I think they're kind of moving with how I think everyone's feeling, right? And that's just managing it out. I love the decision that Pat Rebeak and the management staff has made as far as not panicking, right?

rushing and just signing it. They're really taking their seven days. Well, we'll see, you know, if it gets down to the very nitty-gritty as far as down the water. I think it will. I think it will. And rightfully so, they're taking their time. Yeah. They're doing the math.

They're doing the numbers. They're trying to see. And I think everyone's seen the headlines of what that value is, right? What that market value is for the four-first round picks that the Anaheim Ducks would get in return if they seek not. to match that offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers. So I just think just like the management, the staff is here with the Animdox, the fans, the passionate fans here in Orange Country, they're doing the same thing.

And it's great. It's healthy. It's, hey, this is all the players that are making the 12s, the McKinnons, the Connor McDavid. They're all in that 12, 12, 5 range, right? And I think that's healthy to see, oh, boy, what would be as an organization? as a fan how would I feel if all the pressure is on one guy's on his shoulders to really lead the way so I this is a has it really been done before yes it's been contract offer sheets have

been dealt they've been matched in the past but certainly have not to this magnitude so I think the whole hockey world is really just monitoring the situation and kind of just trying to take it step by step. Talk to me as a player. I mean, it wasn't that long ago that you were playing in the, in the NHL. And most teams, after a player signs an offer sheet that gets matched and the player comes back, most teams are like, that's fine, that's business. I understand it.

I'm not going to interfere with your business. That's your business. Welcome back to the team. There have been some situations, and I cited Ryan O'Reilly as one after the Calgary offer sheet, had a tricky time getting back to the Avalanche room. There was some, you know, you quit on us, you tried to leave, et cetera. Sometimes this does happen. From your experience in the NHL as a player, your teammate signs an offer sheet, the team matches it, the player comes back to the room, is everything fine or not?

Well, maybe in this situation, look, Leo is a phenomenal human being, a leader through and through. And quite frankly, like, if you were to ask me straight up, right, is Leo Carlson worth 18? I would say, yeah. I think if not now, 100% he's on his way to be in at that number, right? So I think it's unfair to criticize the player at the end of the day. Look, they're trying to look out for their best interests. Players don't know even at practice if that's going to be the last time they step on a sheet of ice, right? and the players need to protect themselves.

They need to protect them their career. And I think it goes back to the first question, the ownership to the players, right? It's a balancing act of leverage. So if the owners had it their way, they want to maximize profits. If there's multiple owners and one, any organization throughout the league,

you want to make your shareholders happy, right? So it's just, it continues to be a balancing act. Look, you're asking me straight up a former player. Would I hold it against Leo Carlson, say even if the Anime Ducks were to match that? No, right? Because we're all, every player is trying to get theirs, right? Everyone is trying to secure their retirement. Everyone is trying to, and look, these are the top athletes from a mentality standpoint. They feel it's justified, right? They know how much time they put in as far as shooting pucks since they were three years old, countless times in their backyard over and over and over.

You know, when these dissensions are made, the players, they go back and they feel that, right? They go back to when they were three years old, they first decided to be a national hockey league player. They said, you know what, I'm going to play in that league and I'm going to make a ton of money. Well, here they are. They have the opportunity to do so, and they're taking full advantage of it. So now it just, it solely becomes up to the market to pivot and really.

balance himself out because there will be organizations that say, hey, no, we're not going to go that route. We're going to maybe go a two-for-one route if you want to, you know, think of it from a service-level perspective. And we'll just see how it all plays out, really. This has been great. I know you're busy. You're driving. Have a great rest of your day. I appreciate it. I mean, this is, it's an interesting time. Like, long gone, I think, are the days where, you know, July 2nd or 3rd, you know, once the arbitrations are filed. We sort of piece out till the end of the month. Not so fast. We're still talking about plenty of hockey. Emerson, thanks so much for stopping by. And I got to tell you, it was a delight to watch you play, both in the NHL and junior hockey too, man. It was a lot of fun. Enjoy the

rest of your day. We'll check back soon. No, I was glad I was able to pull over here, wouldn't miss it for the world here, so thanks for having me. And anytime, I love the show, and I look forward to tune it in to many more episodes. So thanks for having me. Pleasure is mine. Thanks so much. Emerson Edom is a former N. N. I don't want to say victims. Although some people I think are framing it that way. The victims of an offer sheet by the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday, which is a story that continues into right now. And, you know, we haven't even talked about the Pavel Minchikov of it all because that is another reflection of a team that was concerned about an offer sheet. I don't think anybody thought that Pat Verbeek was signing Pavel Mitzikov to his

7.2 Aav. Not a chance. No. Not a chance. And I saw your tweet that you had put out, I think it was, like within five minutes of Louis O'Reelson offer sheet maybe about that, where you would basically put out what the compensation would be for a Minchikov number.

I think it was at like 4.7 something. That's probably where my brain was headed as well. And I think a lot of other people of what his cause. Second round pick. Right. Exactly. It was like, okay, this is about what the cost would be. This makes some sense.

And I saw that number come through on Sunday and it was like, there's a couple of things that are part of this, obviously. There had to have been a looming threat where they knew what the number was that someone else was coming in at. They had to have been aware of that. It was with seven. It was with a seven. Exactly. And a little bit of urgency on their behalf there as well.

You take some time on the Leo Carlson thing and, you know, make sure your ducks are in a, no pun in ten. on that. We've all said it. We've all said it. Yeah. But, yeah, probably a little bit of extra urgency on that one as well. You know, it's so fascinating, too. And again, like I think Steve brought up the really good point, which is this isn't just

a Pat for Beek issue. As a matter of fact, this is maybe more Henry Samueli than it is Pat for Beek. And right now, even it's more the advisors around Henry Samueli saying, here's how you get back control. Because again, like you have to try to put yourself in an owner's mind and not just a general manager's mind. Your general manager, you're looking at your salary cap and your decimal point and the players and all these types of things.

When you're an owner, you're looking like, okay, A, this is a threat. This is an insult. And how, are there any moments where we can gain control? And gaining control in this one, gaining control over this player, who, again, has no trade protection in this. just going to cost you $39 million. It's expensive, but it's not new money. Now, the other factor that I think is salient here too is,

I don't know that Anaheim was planning on being a salary cap team. Like one of the stories I think by the time this offseason is done is how many teams are not salary cap teams and how many teams have come in much lower than the upper limit. I have a hard time believing that Anaheim thought that they were going to be spending like to the dollar to the upper limit of the salary cap. But here's where we find ourselves. But then the question becomes for Henry Samuel and for his advisors. A, do you are, first of all, are you interested in matching? B, if so, where are the moments where you have control in this contract as submitted?

by the Philadelphia Flyers. And I think Steve's right. It's after the $39 million. Then you have it back. It's just going to be a tough ride that first year. It's just going to be really, and then you can take the player to market. Right.

If you want, then all of a sudden you're trading Leo Carlson, as opposed to saying four middling, like mid-to-low first-round picks. Right, right. Then you have more power. Then you have power. I was curious about when we have, haven't talked about very much here, but I saw Steve put it out. I saw you kind of echo the sentiment there as well online over the weekend.

The power in Anaheim we've just outlined and how they have to eat some costs, essentially, to get to the point where they have the power back. Now, the flip side of this is what teams can do with players once they've acquired them via offer sheet. Because as I think most people watching the show know, but just to reiterate, If you are the Anaheim Ducks, you're the team whose player was offer sheeted, you have to wait a year before you can trade that player. That's why, you know, Jeff and Steve are talking about how they'd have to pay the $39 million

to get to that point. Control is expensive these days, you understand. Control inflation is hit hard everywhere around the NFL. Well, someone, 39 million dollars. Someone please think of the owners. The flip side of this is the team who goes out and, let's say, poaches, the player via offer sheet if it's a Philadelphia flyer successfully do so they don't have to wait a year Jeff no and it seems like there's some buzz out there right now that there's some teams who have

interest in being maybe broker is the way to do this like I know Steve said there's arbitrage opportunities in the market do you think we're going to see throughout the next little bit yes 100 for teams that don't have the the draft pick compensation for it the way around it is essentially you use a team as a proxy to go in there and get you the player because you have the appropriate draft picks to surrender for an offer sheet. Then you turn around and trade that player to another team who otherwise wouldn't be able to acquire that player because they don't have the picks. So they wouldn't be able to submit an offer sheet. Absolutely. You're essentially, you're a player broker.

You're an offer sheet player broker is what you're doing. And I talked to people on Friday who said, oh, yeah. where this isn't this isn't something that you guys have just stumbled into like trust me we're we're we're thinking about this and I don't think it would surprise anybody if the pavl mitchikov situation were one of those where there was going to be a team that had the appropriate draft picks to submit an offer sheet get that player and then flip that player to another team for whatever compensation and though even though that team can't offer sheet to get that player initially oh yeah Oh yeah, that's good. Oh, yeah, it's fun. This is fun. The only problem with, okay, I'm going to really nitpick here. You should be used to this with me.

There's anyone listening or watching right now or you, Zach, you know me long enough. I'm going to, I got to nitpick everything. I'm going to nitpick one thing here. And I know that players will push back on it. There's no way it'll ever happen. So right now, coming off of July 1st, and this offer sheet and the Minchikov situation and what's going to happen next, there's a real momentum with hockey.

Everybody's talking about it. Wouldn't it be great if this led into the season? But no, it's going to stop. It's going to stop and everyone's going to go away. Like if the NHL, like, oh, this is awesome. People are talking about our product more. People are talking about hockey into July. This great.

These shows are. staying hot just so they can stay on because there's an appetite for this and gobbling up articles and listening to podcasts and watching podcasts, this is awesome. Problem is it stops and it stops for a while and the momentum dies. And I know the Players Association will say, well, tough luck, our players need to know where they're going to be and where their kids are going to be at school by the time that summer's over. We can't do all this in late August just to provide a good momentum ramp for

everybody else. But in a perfect world, wouldn't this all be happening in late August? Yes, yes. Yes, from a entertainment, from a buzz. Are you allowed to submit offer sheets in late August? For those of you that need help that might not be, that might be newer to the game, the answer is yes. The answer is yes, you can.

You can submit an offer sheet when you want. Absolutely. You can do that. But then to do it the way you want, what they have. have to do is you can't start until a certain date. Because you got to like, you got to like push it down the road a little bit. Because we got to open, we got to have like a little bit of period of time where we can close out that free agency, you know, like Patrick Kane's still available.

And we could spend, you know, this next week here, Jeff, talking about where does Patrick Kane land? And then next Monday when we come back and then I look at my phone and I'm like, okay, Jeff, it's mid July. Now the offer sheets start coming up. rather than Friday after we go off air because then it just kicks it a little bit further. Then we can drag that out. But I also understand the player's side of things.

You know what the problem is? We want to like have a house. The problem is we're dealing with human beings who want to know where their families are going to live and where the kids are going to go to school. If we could find a way around that. Yeah, exactly. If we could find a way around that life and like finding homes and schools for kids and jobs. life stuff, yes. Yes, I know. Players are human beings. Remind ourselves. Anyhow, we have a few things else. We have a few other things to get to here today.

But before we get there, I want to talk to you about Canadian blood services. The segment of Canadian blood services who invite you to experience what giving feels like in a world that can feel isolating and divided. Blood and plasma donation offers something rare and fulfilling. Real connection, real purpose, real impact. Every summer, people across Canada, get swept up in the excitement of the season and donation routines can slip, but the need doesn't. This is a moment to rally together as a nation and for new donors who experience firsthand what you get when you give.

At a moment when many Canadians are looking for positive ways to show up for each other, Canadian Blood Services is issuing an invitation to new donors and here it is. Fill every donation share in the country this summer. We can do it. Book at blood.ca through the Give Blood app or call 1-8-2-donate. that is one, triple eight, two, donate. Again, my next one's mid-August. I go every three months.

I encourage you to do the same. Fill a chair this summer. Start us off that way. Also around the NHL, in non-offer sheet news, Shane Wright and Seattle Cracken. So the agent there is Kurt Overheart, who has now indicated publicly that Jason Botterl has agreed that it's time,

for a separation of the two sides and Shane Wright will be dealt. This is not new. I think we've talked about it a couple of different times in the program this year. This has been going back like a year, year and a half. And I mentioned this to Gregor on Rundown. It almost seemed as if this thing was doomed to this the very first season. When they didn't send Shane Wright back to junior, he was property of Windsor at that point,

and started him in the NHL. And it was scratch for five games, go to the American League, conditioning stint, come up, play a game, scratch for five. And then it was like up and down between conditioning stints and scratches. And then off to the world juniors and then back and a way to trade from Kingston to Windsor. You remember all of this, right? Yeah. Like I don't know that Shane Wright lived in the same place more than a couple of weeks at a time all season long. Wasn't the best of all possible.

And then there was a frustration of multiple scratches too at the same time. Like he wasn't, it wasn't the best way to treat a high first-round draft pick or any player really into the NHL. Now, does a player bear some responsibility for performance? Absolutely. I just don't know that the Seattle Cracken put this player in the best of all possible situations for him to excel or for him to develop and now there will be a trade. and Shane Wright will go somewhere where they need a second slash third line center. I've wondered about the Carolina Hurricanes, who have one more year of Jordan Stall and then question mark.

Could you see Shane Wright as a third line center there? Hmm. Behind Aho and San Antonio. I've wondered about the Pittsburgh Penguins. Yeah. We think we've all wondered about the- Montreal. Can I say something about the Carolina one?

Canadians? Yeah, I've thought about that one too. The Carolina one, I will say, and I could be proved wrong pretty quickly, but as it stands today, I don't see Shane Wright being a Carolina Hurricanes type player just from the body of work I've seen. That doesn't mean it can't change, and that doesn't mean the people in Carolina don't look at him and think that he could fit there and could work there, but it's just one of those ones that doesn't, there's a lot of players you could say there, name and I'd say, yeah, I could see that guy playing for Carolina. You know, we did it during the playoffs and said that's a hurricane. William Carlson. William Carlson belongs on Carolina yesterday. Yes. Bingo. I know. I know. Yeah. Shane Wright just seems like he's missing

the Carolina piece that I feel like in my head I just would mentally associate with right away. Everybody around the, if I would have told you two years ago that Taylor Hall is going to be a consummised trophy candidate with the Carolina Hurricanes, what would you have said to me? You're eating.

space, cake, Merrick. Yes. No chance, Merrick. Right? You're right. You're right. But I don't know. You're right.

That's just one of the teams that I do wonder about. Although, like, part of me feels really bad for how things have gone for Shane Wright. Hasn't been the best of all possible scenarios. Now, the Montreal one is a... Well, that's juicy because of... Well, it's juicy because of the draft in Montreal and the stair. Yes. stare.

I think it was at the exact same time. I think there was someone that caught, was Marty San Luis like downing a bag of chips when Shane Wright was staring at them? Was it that exact? I know there was something like, someone mentioned something to him. It was just like, yeah, whatever. And just like plunging himself into a bag of chips at that point or something like that.

Put it this way. I don't think the Montreal Canadiens table was too taken aback. Yeah. But. There's another draft photo that came out from that draft that I remember, but it had to do with a makeout in the stands. I don't know if you remember that. That's the only one I remember. One of the players who got drafted in the first round's parents, they cut to them in the stands, and he hugs his parents, and then his parents were making out in the stands.

I'm 99% sure it was the same draft. The chat can let me know if I'm right on that one. Yeah. That's the only other one I remember. from that one. It's possible. St. Louis was doing that at the table. But I don't know.

There's an image that's taking precedent in my mind right now of that draft. The draft happens in the spring. Montreal in the spring. Come on. Oh, you haven't been to, I was going to say you've been to Montreal. I've been to Montreal. A couple more things here quickly. As far as the remaining free agents.

Oh, by the way, are you following? Because I've just been doing the show. Are you following the Oveshkin stuff in Washington right now? Aveshkin Presser? No, I've been checking for anything. There's nothing that's come out here. So, yes, I'm looking. Nothing's, I've got nothing here.

Does it not feel like Seattle should be looking at Anthony Mantha? 31 goals, 33 assists. Does that not feel a little bit more like, um, complimentary piece to the, dude, they're not getting, they're not getting like Logan Cooley.

Like, they're not, getting like they've they'll keep trying jason bottle will keep swinging and keep trying but i don't know you know that's a team that's like bereft of goals i know what you're trying to say but size hands 30 goals stay healthy tons of ice power play i okay so they mean yeah i like anthony you just quit but i just don't know that you just did just quit that if you're jason boss it took our swings sorry boss we try on fishing.

Quit is, uh, no, that's not the word I want to use for him. Maybe, because, okay, but Jeff, here's my problem with it, though. And I guess then the answer is yes, quit, but it's not what I'm trying to get at with them. But how long are you just going to be in, in this gray zone of acquiring middle area players? And what I mean by that is, like, you have, you've said it so many times. It's that line that you bring up where you say you have guys playing one line above where they should be. Yeah.

It's great. Go get Anthony Manta. Okay. Now what does he play with? Who helps him? Okay. And then what are they? Here's another one.

So Maddie Baneers, University of Michigan. Mackie Samiskevich, University of Michigan. Jason Botterill, General Manager, University of Michigan. Yes. Adam Fantilly. Yes. Those are swings I would say yes. 100 billion percent.

Go take that swing. Because if you get Adam Fintilly, Jeff. Go get everybody from Michigan. Yeah, the Michigan one is a convenient connection, though. Right, okay. For what I think we're both getting at here with Seattle, you go and get an Adam Fantility, Fantilli, excuse me,

now that you have Adam Fantilli, adding an Anthony Mantha starts to make more sense and having these other pieces around starts to make more sense because you have more players that we all look at and say that guy is a star, or that guy is a top line, top tier player, that it makes sense to have these complimentary pieces. Like right now, Jeff, you just have a room full of guys

who walk around shaking each other's hands saying how good everyone else is because all they can do is compliment each other. There's nobody in that room who's saying, all right, get on my back, let's go. Like, there's nobody to do that for them right now. That's my concern with Seattle. And that's why I say, to the Manta thing is just like,

go get Anthony Manta. Now what? Like, are you okay, you make the playoffs? Are you going to win? Are you actually going to be able to compete? can you go up against the other teams like a Vegas, like a Colorado, like in Edmonton, and actually be successful? I have a lot of questions around them when it comes to that.

And then do you want to just like keep kicking that like middle ground can forever? Or do you want to say, hey, this didn't work. Let's strip this. And you used the word quit. I wouldn't quite use that. But I get why you said it. But you say like, hey, let's strip this thing. Let's go and get Landon DuPont and then let's try again after.

Because then maybe when you go out and you make a trade for Jason Robertson the next time, and not him specifically, but that type of player, the guy says, they've got a Landon in DuPont there. They've gotten Alexei Joseph there. They went out and they got Adam Finlay. I'll come there and I'll be a part of that. And I think it changes the complexion of going to Seattle. Okay, a couple of things. I don't disagree. I'm just saying it's like you have a chance to improve your team and you need goals.

You could not score. I don't know. I'd be looking to Anthony. nonetheless. Okay, so players who file for arbitration. Now, 99.99% of these never get in the room. Like, Troy Terry with, again, with Anaheim, Troy Terry with Anaheim was in the lobby.

I don't know if it was like the door was opening and then all of a sudden the contract popped out. And then it was, everyone was, okay, yeah, we're all going to stay because we got to the right number. But something really interesting happened yesterday. Cole Perfetti was one of the players who filed. Winnipeg Jets and then like

a couple of hours later the Pittsburgh Penguins announced that Igor Chinikov has signed a three-year deal at 6.25 AAV if Chinikov is 6.25 what's Cole Profetti? Like if I'm Cole Perfetti

and I see that I'm like oh and I just filed for what's Cole Perfetti's number? And by the way for the Flyers players like I was under the impression and I think a lot of us were that the Jamie Drysdale deal, Jamie Drysdale deal was close to being done.

Yeah. Don't know about Zegroos, but that one is just, I think that one's just a byproduct of the offer sheet. Right now the Philadelphia Flyers are frozen from doing business. And this is why when someone offersheets your player, you wait for the full seven days because you freeze the other team out because they don't know how much money they're playing with.

They don't. So right now those guys are frozen. So no surprise Zegra's files. No surprise, Drysdale files. Like, it doesn't mean that it's going to get into the room whatsoever. All it means is the Philadelphia fires can't do business because they don't know what they're working with right now. Because they don't know if they have Leo Carlson or they don't.

That's it. That's how I look at that one. Jet Greaves files. I have, remember Portsline told us that his arm number was six? Holy geez. Okay, I don't think it goes that far. I really don't. it's year one of the career.

He's really distinguished himself. He likes Columbus. He wants to stay there. Right now, Don Waddell needs a really good news story. And I think Jack Reeves can be that guy. For the Columbus Blue Jackets, I don't think that, barring something exceptional, unforeseen, I don't see that getting into the room. Because I don't think that Jack Reeves is thinking, I got to ring the bell right now.

I think he likes it there. I want to be there for a long time. So I have a problem with seeing it. But as far as Jason Robertson, again, like, could be aliens. I don't know. Like, could be something wild that just, and you would, at this point, we just kind of go like, oh, yeah. Yep. Yeah, I'm in the same boat as you.

That's the same one. Yeah. I agree. I agree. I don't know if anything raised your eyebrows about the weekend and exciting things like salary arbitration, but I know we're kind of dominated by offer sheets. But anything raised your eyebrow over the weekend. Anything that you looked at and kind of went, hmm, I mean, Clodjeru is still very much.

out there. Yeah. Claudeau-Rue, I think there was some noise here this morning. I think he was Elliot said that, you know, the Leafs were involved in that one. He believed they had given or offered, excuse me, the most money. Don't know what the term or anything like that is, and he's kind of sitting there waiting around seeing what else is available, but that's an interesting one. I still was sitting around waiting, thinking Edmonton was going to, I know you talked about

that on Friday, waiting to see if more perculative. related around that. Edmonton's try. Honestly, the biggest thing from the weekend that popped up and I just went, whoa, was the Minchikov contract because it came in a lot higher

than I went. Yeah, and all it did was just to his confirmation that there was somebody that was really threatening, really giving them what do you think about this that we're about to put in front of this guy

or that he's about to put in front of you because he's going to sign it. Again. That was where I got to that. We've talked a lot about Matt Keeter, the agent for Leo Carlson. And that offer sheet, but gold star man, Dan Milstein for what he was able to get his client. And the GIF that he put out. The popcorn.

He's hilarious. Like, honestly. From on behalf of everybody from this side of the microphone, Dan Milstein, thank you. Look, Dan, I will say this. I will say this. If you, if you hear this Dan or see this in some way somehow, I cannot get enough of finishing off his tweets with hashtag we are gold star. Like, it is just the extra kicker, the little cherry on top of the tweet that I just love every single time I see this guy put something out. Popcorn a GIF hashtag we are gold star.

Like this guy. Content factory. He doesn't need us. Yeah, it's so good. Look at Dan. He doesn't need us. It's so good. He doesn't need us.

All right. So that's it for the program today. Again, we're keeping this thing hot. I'm going to be taking, actually, I'm taking the family on vacation next week. So I'm going to be off next week, but then coming right back at it. We will be at a slightly, again, slightly reduced schedule, but we'll be on regularly here. And look, we're on tomorrow. Is Greg gone tomorrow's wish.

Wishes coming on tomorrow. Yeah, wishes on tomorrow, not Thursday this week. Not Thursday this week. Also, Mike Babcock, Jr., who's the new head coach, the band for Bulldogs, will be on the program on Wednesday. So stay tuned for that one. I do like your Cloner Rockets hat, by the way. Speaking of Junior Hockey.

Ode to Shea Weber and his software sheet. I stole that from you. Which team was that from? Which team was that from? Who made that? Philadelphia Flyers. It was a very awkward... Please respect my client's wishes.

You'd like to play for photos. It was weird living in an NHL universe where a massive offer sheet contract wasn't in existence. We had to live through that for three whole days while the Shea Weber contract expired. Before we got to the Leo Carlson offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers. So like everything is balanced. We're still living in a massive Philadelphia Flyers. offer sheet contract universe. It just makes everything go a little more smoothly.

What are you looking at now? I just was looking at the year of something here. You want to know a funny story about that Shea Weber offer sheet? I just remember this. Always. Dan Bilesma was with Pittsburgh at the time when that happened. And so obviously the flyers were rivals or whatever during that period of time. Yeah.

Yes. Still don't like you to. Same state. Did you know that? Keystone State, Pennsylvania. Nick Alberga was on vacation and ran into Dan Bilesma on vacation. And Biosma did not have his phone. And Al Borga broke the news to him that Cheape Weber had been offer sheeted and accepted with the flyers.

Yeah. And Al Berger told him and Bilesma was like, what the hell are you talking about? Who are you? What are you talking about? I'm on the beach here with my. family who is this crazy man security security but he told us he told that story i thought that was funny he broke it to balsam he broke to the hell like yeah because balsma was with pittsburg and he finds out the flyers again webber i was just making sure that that the time lined up the time

lined up yeah that is so nick alberga by the way that is so nick alberga that is like oh by the way and this this offer sheet by the way has like ed sniders approvals written all over it. Like I mentioned our friend, like, somewhere Ed Snyder smiles. Like, oh, yeah, that's how you do business, boys. You throw it around. It's only money, boys. It's only money.

This one's got Ed Snyder written all over it. So you put that out. Yeah. It's true. A little nod to Ed Snyder. I miss Ed Snyder. I miss Ed Snyder. He was great for Philadelphia, great for the Flyers,

and great for hockey and great for the hockey community. in Pennsylvania. And a charitable, charitable man, too. Like, I know he wasn't, he was tough to compete against. I get it. And all the conspiracy theories are out there. I get it. But still, I miss an NHL that had Ed Snyder as part of it.

I really, I can't say that about every single owner. I really, really can't. But Ed Snyder, I really miss. I really do. Anyhow, on that lovely note, Thanks to Emerson Edom for stopping by the program, radio analyst for the Anaheim Ducks. Thanks to Steve Warrior for stopping by as well,

former assistant general manager with the Florida Panthers. And someone that, here's why I always appreciate Steve coming on, because there's going to come a time when he both can't and won't because somewhere down the road, probably sooner than later, if he wants it, that guy's working in the NHL again like that. and thanks for sharpening the pencil on the offer sheet and where perhaps the strategic flaw is in it for the Philadelphia Flyers. Again, just spend $40 million and you got the power back. Easy, right? Pull it off the tree.

All the money is accounted for. Again, remember, if you take one thing away from this one with the $18 million AAB, what we gain on the roundabout, we lose on the swings. What we gain on the roundabout, we lose on the swings. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. Thanks for being in the chat. Thanks for paying attention, even though technically the NHL hockey season is over,

but the business season continues. And thanks for being aboard today. We're keeping it hot here. Thanks for being aboard. We'll talk to again tomorrow. One o'clock ago. This year.