The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Live From Kitchener with Rangers GM Mike McKenzie

Episode Date: March 26, 2026

Live from Kitchener, Jeff Marek takes The Sheet on the road to the historic home of the Kitchener Rangers, sitting down in person with GM Mike McKenzie for a deep dive into one of junior hockey’s most storied franchises. From the legacy and atmosphere of Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex—“The Aud”—to the day-to-day realities of managing an Ontario Hockey League club, this episode explores what makes the Rangers a cornerstone of Canadian hockey. Marek and McKenzie break down the organization’s development pipeline, highlight emerging prospects to watch, and discuss how the team balances tradition with building for the future. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at junior hockey operations, player development, and the culture that continues to shape the next generation of NHL talent.#TheSheet #JeffMarek #KitchenerRangers #OHL #OntarioHockeyLeague #JuniorHockey #HockeyProspects #HockeyDevelopment #NHLProspects #HockeyTalk #MikeMcKenzie #Kitchener #HockeyLeave a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheSheetEmail us: [e-mail] TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Ninja: https://www.sharkninja.ca/ninja-crispi-pro-6-in-1-countertop-glass-air-fryer-rose-quartz/AS101CRS.html?utm_source=Meta&utm_medium=Paid+Social&utm_campaign=H1NinjaCrispi&utm_content=NinjaEN&dwvar_AS101CRS_color=cdb9b8Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoffReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

That shot was high, wide, and not so handsome. One of the great lines from legendary and former play-by-play voice of the Kitchener Rangers, Don Cameron. We are here in Kitchener at the Odd in the Don Cameron Media Center, aptly named one of the legends that helped put the Kitchener Rangers on the map. Welcome to the program. Welcome to the sheet once again here for this Thursday, March the 26th. Glad to have you aboard here. We're back doing OHL and CHL interviews, which you will.

We'll see in the coming weeks. A couple of things from the NHL before we get to what's coming up on the blueprints on the program today. A few things that I want to clean up from yesterday. One, in our conversation yesterday with Brian Burke, we parked a little bit of time talking about Steve Eiserman. And his future as a general manager of the Detroit Red Wing, should the wings fail to qualify for the playoffs, comma, again. And there has been some speculation about could he be on the hot seats?

that would be seven years without playoffs under the watch of Steve Iserman. Had someone reached out to me who, let's just say, is close to the Red Wings orbit, actually a couple of people. And the great line coming back was, Chris Illich is not Mike Illich, meaning it sounds very much like

whether the Red Wings make the playoffs or not, Steve Iserman will be fine. As the general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, I just thought that line was fantastic. Chris is not Mike. So it sounds like Eisenman fine, even if the team doesn't qualify for the playoffs. Sabers lose 4-3 last night, but they do pick up a point in the process. They remain top team in the Atlantic, which is a shock to many based on what happened earlier on the season.

But the story there, Carolina, the fiancé of Rasmus Dalline yesterday at the Keybank. And yes, the place did pop like a cork out of a champagne bottle when they showed her on the big screen yesterday. bad for the Ottawa senators. Thomas Shabbat, Travis Green saying today will be out somewhere six to eight weeks, broken bone in his forearm. This is coming off the cross check by J.T. Miller and the win against the New York Rangers earlier on this week. So bad news for the Sends there. Sounds like Jake Sanderson's going on the road trip though. So maybe some reinforcements there, but they got Carter Yakumchuk. So everything is fine, right? They got Carter Yakumchuk. One goal, one assist in his NHL debut.

Before we get to our special guest, Mike McKenzie, the GM of the Kitchen Arrangers, something I wanted to play for you. We'll file this one under the category of no pressure kid. So, Carrie Price, legendary Montreal, Canadian's Net Minder, was on the Never Offside podcast

with Julie Petrie and Cat Tofoli. And one of the questions was, does anyone remind you of you in the NHL? Let's have a look and listen. and to Kerry Price. Is there a goalie in the league right now that reminds you of yourself? You're like, oh, looks like me.

Yeah, Jacob Fowler. Yeah? It reminds me. Like, I watch him play, and he just reminds me a lot of me when I was his age. Have you talked to him? Like, about, are you, like, about that? Yeah, like, I've talked to their goalies a little bit. I've talked to Jacob a couple of times.

I don't want to, like, I'm not trying to, like, get in his head or anything. Yeah. I just, like, I gave him my number, and if he ever has any questions about anything, I'm always open to help out in any way I can. But, you know, he looks like he's doing just fine to me. No confirmation whether the ghost of Maurice Richard will appear on the podcast saying that Cole Coughfield is the next rocket in Montreal.

Welcome, once again, to the sheet. The blueprint is powered by Fandul. Download the app today and play your game on Fandul. up on the program today. As he snuggles up right next to me, he is a general manager of the kitchen arrangers. He is Mike McKenzie. We're going to talk a little bit more about the Detroit Red Wings and Thomas Shabbat in a little bit here. In the meantime, let's bring him aboard.

Teams of Wagon, Mike McKenzie. Thanks so much for joining me here today. Pleasure to have you on board. Yeah, thanks for having me and thanks for being in Kitchener. The pleasure is all ours. I don't know. I mean, my history with this rink specifically goes back to when I was at University of Guelph in the early 90s.

and I would go to see every Guelphstorm game. This is in the era of like Jeff O'Neill and Todd Bertuzi and Jeff Besson and that group. I remember first seeing Chris Pronger here and saying to myself, what is that thing as he to cross-checked everybody on the Kitchen of Rangers as a 16-year-old? First of all, for those that don't know, how did you end up in this position right now as GM of the Kitchen Arangers? Yeah, so I eventually, many years ago, it's crazy how fast time goes. You were a good minor pro player, man.

Don't sell yourself short, by the way. Not for very long. I do went to pack it in, and there was a two years was plenty for everyone to see me play pro hockey. So I was really fortunate, actually, and Steve Spot was here at the time. And I was invited to the Rangers' rookie camp in the spring as a guest coach. And they would often bring in guys, the younger guys, that were kind of looking to get into coaching just to get a taste of it. And I was actually really fortunate that was year Steve was. coaching the Canadian World Junior team and Troy Smith at the time I think was coaching the

U-17 team that year as well. So I got lucky and came to rookie camp and I think they felt like they could use an extra hand around and with those guys being away for extended periods of time throughout the year. So it was a lot of right place, right time and I was really fortunate to get hired and doing a lot of the fun stuff like ordering meals and buses and hotels. and not a lot of actual hockey and coaching, but more on the side of that stuff. But yeah, and I've been here ever since. So really fortunate.

You know, you come to hockey naturally, your father, of course, Bob McKenzie, your brother, Sean McKenzie. I still think one of the best things we ever did. That one or anything you want to share about being interviewed by your brother, file under things I never thought would happen growing up. But you have a thought or two on getting interviewed by your brother once upon a time. Yeah, we still have the picture, actually. but we both like it because we look a lot younger.

And my mom was really happy and I think she still has a picture too. So it was very early in my coaching career at the time. So it was a really cool. And it was early in his career too in terms of broadcasting. So it was just one of those things where our two worlds kind of collided. And it was a really cool moment. We still have the picture, like I said. And yeah, it's one of those things where you look back on it now.

and just a really cool moment at that time. This is a legendary organization in junior hockey. Started off in Guelph. The Guelph, Biltmore Mad Hatters, who then moved to Kitchener and now, you know, the outstanding organization. We see now the Kitchener Rangers. What is, from your point, if you're like,

what is the Kitchener Rangers story? Like, older fans would be like, I remember seeing Brian Bellows. I remember seeing Al McKinnis and Scott Stevens and then maybe it's, you know, Derek Roy and Pete DeBore behind the bench and Dave Clarkson, etc. What is Nazim Codry? What is the Kitchener Ranger's story for you? I think you hit the nail on the head with just the tradition and everyone has a different memory or different story.

And the Rangers have been around for such a long time now and had so many good players come through and good teams and different people throughout that time. But I think there's just such a passionate fan base, season ticket holder base. where you can come to a game and you can sit beside someone that's been a season ticket holder for 35 plus years. And you can sit next to, you know, a little kid that's just starting and their parents are bringing them when they're five or six years old. So you always hear the stories about, you know, season ticket holders, you know, sitting beside people and they're young. And then they get older and older. And then they see their kids coming to games. And it's kind of like the passing of the torch.

And we always talk about how, you know, we're just passing through. And it's been here and been successful long before I was here. And it'll be successful long after I'm gone. And the same goes for our players and our staff. And we're just passing through. And I think that's the unique part about it is there's such a rich tradition in history. And we're just trying to leave it in a better place than we found it. You know, whenever I think about teams like the Kitchen Arangers or the Peterborough

Pete's or the Ashwa generals like heritage teams in the Ontario Hockey League. One of the things I wonder about, does that make it harder to do things because you have that sort of weight of, I think like the Montreal Canaanians. I think of like the weight of history that's behind an organization like this. Like when you're a new franchise, go try stuff, you know, be as innovative, try things, take risks. Is it more complicated considering this is a organization with a lengthy history that goes back decades? I think there's definitely you feel a little bit more of a responsibility. I don't know if

pressure is the right word, but that's the beauty in it too, because you want to be in a situation where people care and people are passionate and people want to win. So, you know, it's, that comes with the territory of being one of the premier franchises in the CHL is that you have a responsibility to uphold. And I take that really seriously. And I know our staff and our players do is well and it's it's one of those things it's the same in the NHL right with some of the original six teams or some of the teams with really big and passionate fan bases that that just comes with the territory and you know what you're signing up for when you take the job give us a a snapshot of the team here before you open up against against Saginaa tomorrow as the oh-h-l playoffs gets going

here tough to take your eyes off someone like jack prudam who going back to december just like had a rocket attached to his back. But like, give us a snapshot of your team right now. Yeah. So we had a good team from the start of the season. We really added at the trade deadline. And that's when we, you know, got a lot better. Adding players like Sam O'Reilly and Jared Wolley and Gabe Chirot and Dylan Edwards and

Matthew Andonovsky, who you're familiar with as well. I know, I know. I know the family. I know. So getting those guys was, you know, it took us from a good team to a, a very good and serious team. So, but we've got a real good mix of guys. We've got some skill.

We've got like players like Pridum that can put the puck in the net and guys are skilled. But I think we also play a competitive and physical brand hockey, especially with our guys like Andinovsky and Wully on the back end. And so it's a really nice blend, I think. And our coaches do a really good job with the guys. They show up every night to compete and they work. And yeah, it's a really good.

blend of everything. You know, speaking of coaches, the one coach, and I'm going to get finally get a chance to talk to him later on this afternoon, you see a hocus I'm fascinated with. I know like when it comes to players, you look at them and you say like, okay, I've got these guys for a couple of years. I look at someone like a hocus, coach of the year and say to myself, like, this guy is, this guy is destined for the next level at some point here. And, you know, there have been a couple of interviews where he's talked about the idea of hockey evolving to becoming positionless. You line up where you line up on a face-off, but after that, it becomes whoever is essentially closest to the puck is the F-1. First of all, how did you get

a hocus? And second of all, your thoughts on him, you know, guiding this team. Yeah, I mean, UC's been great. His record speaks for itself. And our whole staff's been great. I think he'd be the first one to tell you. It's a really tight group down there. And they do a lot of things together. and, you know, that's a big part of their success, I think, is that they work really well as a group and they all bring different things to the table. But in terms of UC, he has been great for us, a little bit unique, a little bit outside the box, bringing in a European to the OHL. It hasn't really happened before. So there's a lot of people that, you know, thought it was really cool and an awesome idea. And there's other people that thought, you know, we're over thinking it and trying to do something, you know, be the smartest person in the room.

Can you pause on that for one second? Because I'll be like, the kitchen rangers had the same questioning or the same criticism when this team named a European captain. That was Gabriel Landisg. Right. I think Joseph Vasichek may have been the first European captain with Sue, I think. But certainly Landiscag was either the first or one of the first. And the same criticism was leveled at the Kitchen Rangers for that.

And there's one of the most progressive and smartest things that we saw in junior hockey. Yeah, I think anytime you do something a little different, it's going to be met with different. I mean, that's the world we live in. Sure. Everyone has different views on everything. We even have platforms where people can criticize. Yeah, yeah, consistent basis. Yeah.

So that's part of being in sport. It's not just hockey. It's just society and sport. But everyone's got an opinion now. But he was the best guy for the job. That's the bottom line. We interviewed a lot of people. We went through a pretty, you know,

big process in terms of the amount of people we did and how many times we interviewed them and how much time we took doing it. We wanted to make sure we really got it right and did it properly. And he ended up being the best guy. That's the bottom line is he's got a finish passport, but we felt he was the best hockey coach for the team at the time. Was there a moment, if I can interrupt? Was there a moment where you said that's the, that's the guy, like in the interview process? I don't know if there was a moment. I mean, his resume speaks for itself. And then it's more, for me, it was more wrapping my head around the stuff we had talked about, right, bringing in a European and more on the logistic side than anything, honestly.

I mean, practice starts and game start. This guy's coached the world junior team. He's got a gold medal. He's coached in league. You know he can coach hockey. And once you start talking to people around him and some people, you know, it became very clear. He's very good at what he does. for us it was more, you know, wrapping our head around the logistic side of it. You know, he's got a family. Are they coming? Where do they stay? You know, right?

Immigration, things like that. Little things that you don't really think about and wouldn't really have to think about if you just grabbed a guy from Toronto. So for us, it was more thinking about all those different little things that might pop up. Once the puck drops, we knew he was a good hockey coach. Yeah. He's been fascinating to watch. And, you know, when I, when I look at the kitchen arrangers this year specifically, like the sort of like one of the elephants in the room is you went right down to the wire along with Guelph for the Memorial Cup. And it seemed as if the moment that Guelph was awarded the Memorial Cup for next year, you and your crew said, all right, we're not building to next year.

We're building for right now. And you mentioned, you know, the trades at deadline, headline by Sam O'Reilly and And Donovsky coming in from the AHL, Bellville. after playing a handful of games there. Was that like, was that the vibe? Like, okay, you know what? We have a good team right now that's run into a great team. Yeah, it was, it was an interesting couple weeks for sure because we were obviously bidding for the Memorial Cup

and we thought we had a good chance. And, you know, Guelph put in a bit as well. And it came right down on the wire. And once we got the news, we were, I'm not going to lie, we were disappointed and upset. And kind of, you know, you take, took a few. few days to kind of get over the shock of that. Sure.

And then once you got over, we got over the shock of it, we started thinking about, you know, like where do we go from here? Because everything we had talked about doing for the last couple of years had been centered around 2027 Memorial Cup and how we use our assets and the players we bring in and all these different things. It had always been done with that in the backdrop. And so, you know, once we didn't get it, that was the first time where it was like that was, that was now gone.

and there was no Memorial Cup anymore. So we had a decision to make. We could either, A, continue on that path and say, just because we're hosting, not hosting the cup, we can still try to make it to Guelph and put all of our assets in the next year and stay on that, you know, track and try to do the same thing. Or we can try to do what we ended up doing, kind of, and put all our eggs in this year's basket and acquire players and use our assets this year. or we could try to kind of like manage both and like do a little bit this year but also do a little bit this year. And so we we took a lot of time to think about that and I took a lot of time to think about it. And we ended up landing on, you know, doing more of this year.

And at the time we were in first in the Midwest Division. And we just thought that, you know, if you have a chance to win the Midwest Division, especially with how good London's been the last few years, then we got to take this opportunity. And that was our decision. we push the chips in the middle. Is that the way it's sort of like one of the one of the criticisms historically I'm not going to ask you to comment on this specifically but just as far as a vibe goes one of the criticisms of teams from the Western League historically and this is changing is they never loaded up.

They were just happy you know have a competitive team get one round of the playoffs and just sort of always sort of stay neutral and that's why we look at the last team to win the Memorial Cup from the West would have been. Edmonton. I want to see in like 10, 15 years or 2013, Chris? When is it? When is it? 2020 and 2014. That vibe is changing. We see teams loading up. Is that the way to success? I get it is so hard to sustain year over year. So when you're having these considerations about, you know what, we'll be good this year and we'll be good next year or we can be great this year and really go for it. I think of the old Jim Collins business book, good is the enemy of great. Does that resonate with you? That's a good book.

It's a great one. I love that. John Tortorella told me about that one. He's like, this is my philosophy. Good is the enemy of great. Is that something Mike McKenzie subscribes to? Yes and no. It's very situational.

I'm a fence sitter and I love to live in the gray area. I know everyone likes black and white nowadays and it's like, give me black, give me white. Everything is puck over glass. Everything is puck over glass in life now. Yeah. I like to live a little more in the gray area. And so it's really situational, I think, on your team, what you have that year and what's around you too and who's around you and trying to get a feel for, you know, what your chances are. You know, it comes down to percentages on like, can you win and what's your percentage of winning.

And, and, you know, you want to add, you want to give your team the best chance to win. And by adding more, you do that. but at what cost and what sacrifice and how do you leave your team for the next year, two, three years. Yeah. You know, it's really fun when you are, you know, winning and the season's going well. But if you have to go through two, three, four years of not so fun and losing, you know, that's not fun either.

So it's a balance. Like this year we did, we were very aggressive and we spent a lot of draft picks and we traded young players, but we didn't, you know, all in versus all all in. And for me, like, there's still draft picks in the cupboard. We have a second row pick this year. We have a second round pick next year. So we have a third round pick this year. We didn't trade some young players that we really value a guy like Alex Balecki, you know, Weston Cameron, these guys. So we kind of, you know, I think we did a lot, but we didn't, you know, completely sacrifice our few. future, which I think is important for myself and also the organization. Did you get everything done at

deadline that you wanted to? I think a GM will always tell you. There's always something more you can do. So a couple of weeks ago, we were in Brantford, and I was talking to Spencer Hyman, who's the general manager, and we talked about Michael Mesa. If San Jose had sent him back to Saginaw, that was going to be someone that he pursued like that last piece. Again, did you get, not that you're going to shoot your, you know, shoot your brains out for something like Michael Mesa,

but was there still a white wheel that was out there for you? The best way I can put it is we had a plan and we had certain players that we wanted to acquire and it actually, for the first time ever maybe, it actually went according to plan. And that never happens. It rarely, It rarely happens.

And so we were really happy with how it unfolded. You know, Dylan Edward, we wanted a game breaker, a guy that could be dynamic and break a game open. That was Dylan Edwards. We wanted a guy that could, you know, play a 200-foot hard nose, win battles, energy, drag guys into the fight type of player. That's Gabe Chirot. And we wanted an alpha dog, you know, do it all, like the best guy. and that was Sam O'Reilly. And we wanted a big shutdown, hard to play against mean, physical defenseman.

That's Jared Woolley. And Andinovsky was the cherry on top because we know what he's about having them for the last four years. Describe how that came together because that was the gift. Yeah. He's a, he's a, he's a, he's, he's turned pro. He's moved on from the kitchen arrangers. And then all of a sudden, I don't know if you got a call from Belleville, from the Ottawa senators or from Wu saying, Andanovsky.

Yeah, it's one of those things where you're just tracking the whole year and you're kind of like seeing how things are going and you're keeping in touch. But you never know what's going to happen for sure until you get the final call. So we were fortunate that and part of the reason was was And it was hurt for a good chunk of the season. So he just, you know, first year pro now you get hurt. It's really hard to jump onto a moving train, especially as a 20 year old and pro hockey. So some of it was very situational.

But yeah, we were, we were thrilled to get him back. He's such an impact player on the ice, but he's a guy that's been here for four years, so he really understands, like, you know, how we do things. And he's a leader. He was our captain last year. So you can't put a value on some of the off-ice stuff that he brings. And our group really changed, our mentality changed. I think when you added guys like Andinovsky and O'Reilly and Wully,

who were guys that had, you know, been through playoff battles and won championships. Like the DNA of our team kind of. changed a little bit off the ice, not only on the ice. You've done coaching. You're a manager. Why this track for you? On management? Yeah.

Why is this appealing to you? Yeah. The coaching was great. And I enjoyed that part of it. But yeah, I really enjoy the management side a little bit more. It's a little bit more flexible. I have two young kids at home. So that's nice.

The coaching is, you know, if the team plays inside. Sarnie on a Wednesday night. You're in Sarnie on a Wednesday night. Practices at this time every day. Yeah. It's like you got to be there. Like that's your job to be there. So it provides a little bit of flexibility for me.

But I really enjoy that side of it more. I really enjoy the scouting player evaluation, you know, trades. Like all the hockey stuff is is really fun for me. And I really have a passion for it and enjoy it. And the coaching is exciting because like the wins feel you feel the wins more when you're doing. down at ice level, but you feel the losses more as well. So it's a bit of a trade-off, but yeah.

So let me ask you about that, because I, and this Brian Burke comes on the program every week. I've been great friends with Berkey for years and work with them at Sportsnet for a number of of years, me, him and Elliot doing the Wednesday show. And I always had the feeling that when he left the studio after doing a show with us, that he didn't like the feeling of not being. being invested in the game that he's talking about. Like, he needed skin in it.

He needed to feel great for a win or awful for a loss. He just hated the idea of just walking away and not caring, who got two points. Are you wired the same way? Yeah, I can relate to that for sure. Yeah, I've thought about that actually in different times. And you're thinking about how it would feel not to work for a team that has like wins and losses. And in business or even in sports, you work for a league. you work for, you know, an agency or you work for something or a business. And there are wins and

losses in those different businesses or those different areas. You know, you close on a big deal. Sure. You get a big client. Those are all wins and you lose one and that's a loss. But for me, you know, there's definitely something different about in sport, you know, at the end of the day, you go home and you're either a winner or you're a loser. And, uh, uh, yeah. feeling of winning and also the feeling of losing, it's something that's definitely hard to replace. Cassie, a couple of things about your dad. Sure. Because your dad is the reason that I got into this industry.

When your dad was the editor-in-chief of the hockey news, he published a letter that I wrote to the high. He's a longtime subscriber as a kid. Dino Cisterrelli, stick-swing incident with Luke Richardson and a 16- or 17-year-old Jeff Merrick dashed a note off to the hockey news, never thinking for one second that it would be published. And then a week later, there it was. And I still have it, the magazine, you know, friend, not frame, but I have it at home. And it's Christian Routou with the Buffalo Sabres is on the cover. The other thing on Muskegon, Lumberjacks as well. And that was the first thing that I ever did that was under the umbrella of media. How many times have you had people come up to you and say, your dad got me a start or your dad helped me get my start in this

industry or your dad's a reason why I do this. Yeah, a lot more now that he's retired, I think. And he comes to a lot of games, actually, with my daughter. That's kind of their thing is Friday night. So she's starting to learn, too, about what he did. And she was a little confused at points when people are asking for pictures with them. And now she's figuring, figuring it out. But no, I definitely have had some people. And I think that's a kind of a guy is and I think that's part of the reason for his success is he always tried to treat people with respect and no matter who it was, NHLGM, but also, you know, someone you're working with that's, you know, helping out or an intern or things like that. And that's something I took

from them is just trying to, you know, treat everyone with respect no matter who they are or where they come from. Even though you're his son, were those, were there ever moments where you'd be watching Trade Center and he would just show up and drop Tomash Hurdle to Vegas, boom, and ever, whoa, where did that, were there ever like moments where you're like, holy smokes, dad, that was a bomb. Yeah, I used to always watch and no offense, but I was always on TSN. Shocking. We can say this now, but I mean, I should be more loyal to the other one now.

Your brother's on the red company, not the Blue Company on the Redmond. Exactly. So I might have to switch over now. But yeah, I used to always watch them and be just as interested. probably in the next person as what was coming. But on trade deadline days and things like that, you just wouldn't answer my calls or text. And then eventually I knew just not even to bother.

So I was watching like most other people figuring out what was going on. You know, I had an interesting conversation once with him about you. And I thought of this conversation with a while ago after watching a video from a baseball training company called Drive Line. And it was a video of a pitcher who was drafted like sixth overall in MLB by Colorado. Never went anywhere. But he was like the all in guy. Like he gave everything.

Everything about his life was all revolving around. He was going to be a major league pitcher. And in the video, he talks about what hard work gives you. And he said, hard work doesn't give you anything. Hard work doesn't guarantee you anything. It doesn't mean you're going to be successful. But if you work hard and apply yourself as as much as you can, can, what it does is it gives you the answer to one question that a lot of people never get.

And the question is, how good am I? And you only really get that answer if you apply yourself fully. And I remember having a conversation with your dad about you and he said, you know, the one thing about Mike is he got the answer. So we're talking about how good am I? He got the answer because he was 100% with everything that he did. So he was one of those people that got the answer. feel that way that you got the answer to how good am I? Yeah, definitely. That was something that he instilled in me at a pretty young age and somehow I figured it out on my own at some point too.

And looking back on it now, it's nice because, you know, regrets a crappy feeling. And a lot of people live with regret on, I wish I would have just done this or I wish I would have worked harder at this. And I don't have that feeling. I maxed myself out completely. I have no clue how I played in the American Hockey League and went to an NHL training camp. I somehow found away. But I completely maxed myself out. But there is a negative side to that there also is moments where I look back and I'm like, I could have enjoyed the game a little bit more too.

And when you're that in tune and dialed in and you're trying to do everything in your power to get to the next level or play well that weekend, you know, there's things that you skip or things that you miss or you're more serious. And so looking back on it, maybe that's the only regret is that I didn't maybe enjoy it as much because you're always so focused and you're always looking towards the next game and things like that. So it's a blessing and a disguise, but it is nice to know that I don't live with regret on how good I could have been. You know, there's the great gym saying, suffer the pain of discipline or suffer the pain of regrets, right? Like, you know, quit or work harder. You know, the pain is the same.

You know, I think about athletes this way a lot. And I think that, and this is like a condemnation of media. You know, when we do like features on players, we try to make them quote unquote human, I find that we ignore the fact that they have to do, that part of their lives in a lot of ways has to get shut out so they can achieve this greatness. Like try to find like some different quirk in the personality.

No, the quirk and the personality is they are all in 100%. And they have to, and they make sacrifices and say no to things that regular people say yes to all the time. Does that resonate? Yeah, I think so. You probably see it with their players. Yeah, you see it with certain guys. I think the elite of the elite too, like the guy, you know, Crosby and McKinnon and those guys. Like they're just completely wired differently than others.

And it's part of the reason why they're so good is because, you know, you know, You know, a lot of people get complacent very easily. And, you know, so much is good enough. And I think for those guys, it's almost like a disease that, you can't. Yeah. There's nothing. There's, you know, there's no mountain top to reach. It's like a, it's a, I call it the, the infinite game, you know.

You're playing an infinite game, not a finite game. It never ends. And it just keeps going and going and going. I remember Colby Armstrong told me the story when he first got called up from Wilkes-Berry to the Pittsburgh Penguins. and he went in the gym after a skate and Crosby's in there like the Crosby story, right? Working harder than everybody in the room. And Colby said he went up to Crosby.

He's like, is there a league higher than the NHL that you're trying to get to? Like we're in the NHL, right? Like, is there a higher league that I don't know about? But that's how all these guys are wired, right? Like Crosby, you know, summer skates only, you know, never playing on the clean sheet, always wanting to play with the ice is chewed up because it's harder. Like these guys are just wired different, just wired different. Yeah, absolutely.

I think in any. field too that's that's relevant like we're talking hockey and hockey players but it's the same for coaches and management and even in other sports or other businesses it's like some people that are just wired to want more and i want to do more and um you know it usually leads to success or leads them down a road that you know other people maybe don't get to so it's definitely a big part of it i think a couple moments left with you you're being generous with your time so i'm going to take advantage of it Um, have kids changed? Have players changed?

Well, how long do we have here? I'm going to sound like the old guy. Uh, I turn 40 in a month. So I guess I'm old now, but, um, the old guy yelling at the clouds. But, um, there's definitely been a change. And I have two young kids now, so I see it firsthand. Yeah. Um, I try to raise my kids a little more old school.

Um, but, uh, I mean, it's one of those things where you can either say, oh, yeah, kids have changed and you can, you know, just say that and not do anything about it. Or you can say, yeah, kids have changed. We need to find out how we get the most out of this generation because of that, right? So I think, you know, kids are going to be kids. And, you know, it's changed a little bit for sure. I think there's just more, more now, like technology too and everything with all social media and stuff. And when you and I grew up, we would go to the ring and play hockey.

and you'd go home and whatever your parents said in the car ride home, whether good or bad or somewhere in between, that's what you got. And then you'd go back the next day and you'd do it all over again. But there was no one scouting you online. You couldn't punch your name into a search bar and see what people were saying. No elite prospects. No independent scouting services, scouting 14-year-olds, ranking players.

So they live in a really much more challenging time. And some of this stuff isn't even their fault. It's just the way, you know, the world is now. So I don't think it's, you know, the fault of kids. But they live their lives publicly. Like, yeah, I remember like one of the things, someone said this, and it really resonated with me. Growing up, there was this saying, like, you know, one of the greatest fears is like,

people are watching you. People are, someone's watching you. Now it's almost a greater fear for kids if they're not being watched. Like, like, all their whole lives are lived online. The idea of like secrets or mystery, like, that's gone. Everything, like, they live. live everything publicly, and that's what they expect about the world around them. Does that make sense?

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, for sure. It was definitely different when I grew up. We didn't have any of that. Yeah. You would just do what you did, and that was that. I'll tell you, every time I see, and listen, Jack Pridham did it against, against Guelph.

Every time I see someone score a Michigan, a Michigan goal, or the high rap or whatever you want to call it, I always think about how, you know, the coach's corner, how to, how to go with Sydney Crosby and Ramuski for doing the same thing, like how far we've come here so quickly. Where now, you know, Pritam goes back to the bench and it's high fives from everyone. I'm guessing including the coach. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's the, that's the, I mean, that's one of the most important parts of coaching junior hockey now, I think, is finding that balance between they are going to do stuff like that.

And it's like, how do you get the most out of them? Yeah. And they still need to be taught, you know, certain things, accountability, how to play defense, when is the right time, you know, to chip a puck in instead of carry it. And so, you know, I think great coaches and our guys are really good and they do this very well is they find a way to get on their level and still relate to them and still give them enough freedom to do things like that without feeling like they got the handcuffs on and every time they get the puck, you know, they're nervous. And yeah, but also understanding that, hey, when you get to the NHL

or when you get to the HL, like that might not work. So you might need to, you know, add something to your game. You might need to tweak it a little bit while still, you know, allowing yourself, you know, the other stuff, the skill plays and, you know, some of the other stuff that you just talked about. Let me, let me close on this one. I remember, like I was saying earlier, when I used to go to, when I was at university, and going to Golf Storm games and Kitchen Rangers games and London Knights games,

like everything in the area. Joe McDonnell was a coach of the Kitchen Arrangers, now one of the great architects of this outstanding Dallas Stars team. And I mentioned some of the players that I would have watched as a kid in legends, you know, retired numbers of, you know, McKinness and Stevens, mentioned some of the players a little bit later on too. What I say, Kitchen Arrangers, is there a person or player that comes to mind for you right away? Like, is there someone we're like, Mike McKenzie right away thinks about player X or coach X. Maybe he's Pete DeBore. I don't know. Yeah.

I think it's, for me personally, it's probably Steve Spott and Pete DeBore. Just because I grew up in that time when they were in Kitchener. So when I was coming through minor hockey. Yeah. And junior hockey. I didn't play in the OHL. Buzzers. Yeah.

You and Andrew Cogliano. I used to go out of the rink and see you guys. You couldn't do the, the, the, the, the, the, HL, the NCAA back then. That wasn't a thing. But, uh, so when I was growing up, that was, they were always, you know, the guys in Kitchener. And I remember my dad telling me about them and, you know, they run this awesome program. And, um, you'll never play there because you're not good enough. You need to play four years of junior A hockey.

And then maybe you can get a scholarship. So don't even worry about playing there. But, uh, he used to, yeah, tell me stories. Yeah. London and Kitchener and these guys coached there and they run a really good program and stuff. So for me, and then getting hired by Steve, obviously. Pretty cool. I never worked with Pete, but got snowed a little bit.

We had his, he was put up in the level of legacy. I was here. That was a great night. That was a really cool night. So I think for me, those are probably the guys I think about first. I remember having a conversation with Peter DeBoer. This would have been when they brought in. I remember the Rangers made the trade.

Pete did. with Peterborough Pete's for Steve Downey. I play against Steve. So, you know, like keep your hat up. Yeah. When Steve Downey's out there. And I remember talking to Pete, I said, look like, I'm not a coach. And I can't tell you how to do your business.

But like, you guys are one of the top teams in the entire CHL. Downey's a good player, but he's a little bit wild. And I say a little bit kind of tongue in cheek because he was a really physical, aggressive player. And I said, like, you know, it's going to be penalties and maybe suspensions and hurt kids and all that. And I remember what Pete said. to me, I'll never forget. He said, first of all, you're right, Jeff, you're not a coach. And he said, I am. And as a coach, I would rather have to tame a tiger than paint stripes on a kitty cat.

He goes, I can't paint stripes on a kitty cat. I look at hockey now. And in an era where everybody can skate, everyone can play, make everyone can pass, everyone can shoot. You know, once again, here we are looking for who brings us something a little bit extra. And are we going, we see in the NHL, we're going back to where a lot of the premium is still on physicality. Are we getting back there now at this level too? Yeah, I think so. Our leagues, I think I've noticed a big change in the last two to three, maybe four years, like coming out of the COVID year, canceled year, I would say.

I feel like our league's gotten a lot more physical and harder on a nightly basis. I think there was always that element to it when you put, you know, 10 teenage boys on the ice. 16 to 20-year-old boys, yeah. And you put one puck out there. That's going to happen. But I think there definitely has been a little bit of a shift in terms of the physicality.

And, you know, I learned that, you know, my last few years is we played some real hard, tough teams and playoffs. And some of those London teams were hard. They were physical and they were hard. And I learned from that a couple years ago and a few years ago on, you know, how to build this team. And we like to play physical. hard and there's definitely a line

as you don't want to be in the penalty box and all night, but there's definitely that element to the game still is it's a hard, competitive game and the team, most nights, the team that plays the hardest and wins the most battles is probably going to win the game. I know he did like

take a shot of your goal tender. What do you think of Vandenowski on Brady Martin? No comment. I'll leave that one to the fans. They're both great players. They're all great. They're all wonderful. Mike has been a pleasure.

Thank you for me. Continue to success. Good luck against Sagina on the opening round and good luck the rest of the way. Thanks, Jeff. Mike McKenzie is the general manager of the Kitchener Rangers opening up their playoffs, opening round starting tomorrow against Saginaw. A couple of things here. I want to let you know and welcome aboard once again our friends at the Ninja Krispy for being

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six-and-one functions, max-crisp, air fry. bake, roast, re-chrisp, and dehydrate. For more information on the Ninja Krispy Pro, visit the link in our description, or go to shark ninja.ca. Hey, Zach. What's up? Haven't heard from you.

It's been nice. Thanks. Appreciate that. Thoughts on Mike McKenzie, Kitchen Arangers, anything junior hockey, maybe even Bob McKenzie. Well, I mean,

the Kitchen Arranger that I always think about is Gabe Landisog. That's for me. That fits the air. era of growing up in junior hockey and everything. I do remember, which isn't necessarily Kitchener, but I remember going and I was at Nazam Codry's first game as a London night in London. So I remember like a couple of things where Rangers always stood out.

But yeah, it would be Gabe Landiscag for me for sure. There was a moment that really sort of cemented Gabe Landiscag and a lot of OHL fans' eyes. It was, I think he would have been a rookie at this point. and Jake Muson, who was one of the toughest players in the OHL at that time, defenseman for the Sue St. A. Marie Greyhound, Sailing Cup champion, of course, with Los Angeles Kings. Muzin had taken a run at someone from the Rangers younger kid, and Landiscag went out of him right away.

And everybody was like, oh man, Landiscag is biting off way more than he can chew and just started feeding Muson. And everybody went, who is this guy? Wait a minute. Landis guy. There's no way he's Swedish. and feeding Jake Muzzen like this. But I remember talking on the coaches of the Kitchen Rangers at that point too.

And they're like, oh, yeah, he's one of the sneakiest tough guys in the league. Yeah, that was the one thing that stood out to me about him going through was like the stereotype that would get handed to Europeans. Now, obviously, there was people before him. Don't get me wrong. There's a lot of people before him. Yeah. But I just remember as a kid being like this Swedish captain who I don't remember that incident

in particular. but was tough as nails. Anybody who would talk to, I'd go to skates and stuff and it would be like, yeah, the guy who plays for Kitchener, I don't know, and they would just reference him.

Oh, the guy from Sweden, like unbelievable talent, incredible skill, whatever, yada, yada, yada, tough as nails. Not just the guy would just take it, but he would give it out there as well. Like, you talk about the toughness

of the Siddines and they would be able to battle through everything. Yeah, but then he would just go out there and he would lay a lick on somebody and you're kind of like, holy shit. Yeah, he was like, like the next era of like there was Peter Forsberg and then there was Gabriel Andescag as far as like power forwards go in the game. And I've said to see a couple of times. My favorite player. Yeah. Just glad that he's around. Glad that he's around. Glad that he's over the injury and glad that he's back with the Colorado Avalanche. By the way, anything from it's interesting. It's interesting. It's interesting. It's interesting. It's interesting. It's interesting. It's interesting. It's interesting. It's interesting. It's interesting. It's interesting. And again, the line, Chris is not Mike. he'll be fine.

Does that surprise you? Yes. Well. Because if it was anyone, if it's anyone other than Eiserman, the seat is hot. Yeah. So that's what I was going to say yes and no.

What you just laid out is why it doesn't surprise me, that he would stay and have job security beyond this. But yes, he took the job in 2019. They haven't made the playoffs. We talked about it yesterday on the show, so you don't have to completely rehash it from what I was saying to you.

But like, there was expectation. of playoffs. They probably could have made it last year. Let's just like, okay, you could have made it in, bubble team, whatever. We blame the goal tending. What? You didn't go and get anybody sure. Okay, fair, whatever. Take that. It wasn't there this year. Like, that excuse wasn't there. Again, mind you, they still could make the playoffs. This conversation may be premature. That being said, you should be taking steps. And it shouldn't be, in my opinion, at least. and it shouldn't have been like, well, we're going to be competing for a playoff spot this year.

Is that good enough? Like, no, no, no. You should have been taking the step to be a playoff team. And the second that you saw Florida fall out of the picture, the Toronto Maple Leafs fall out of the picture. And you start looking around and realizing, okay, Tampa is still here, obviously, but it's going to be us, Montreal, Ottawa. How does the rest of the wildcard spots filter out? We need to be firmly in one of those spots. And to me, just not even being in one of those spots and being on the outside looking in at this point in a year is a failure.

And I don't know how from the outside looking in, you don't look at Steve Eiserman and say, you didn't do enough here, brother. You mentioned Montreal, what did you make of that clip that we played off the top of the program where Kerry Price says? Jacob Fowler reminds him of him of pressure. It's one thing when. Oh, Michael Hage, the ghost of John Belvoir says, remind him. Exactly. It's one thing when he goes online and reads. comments from like idiots like me who's like, wow, here might be the next carry price.

And then when Kerry Price says, oh, this kid's like me, it's like, oh, no, we're in the same uniform playing in the same arena. So then it's Dobish going to be Halak and we're going to have the same Halak, Carrie Price controversy we had in 2010 in that series of Washington Capitals. Right. Yeah. Interesting. All right.

We've got to wrap up because we've got interviews to do here with members of the Kitchen Rangers, both the players, the coaching. staff and executives as well. The sheet is powered by FanDuel. Play your game with Fandul. It's the NHL season. FanDuel, you're home for all the action on the ice. From Blue Line to Bet Slip, we've got you covered all season with unique promos, live offerings, and more features to let you play your game. If you miss puck drop, no sweat with a live same game parley. You can build your bets up until the final buzzer. Download Fandul Sportsbook today and play your game. Please play responsibly 19 plus and physically located in

Ontario. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you please contact connects ontario 1 866 531 2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. Zach. Do you get intrusive thoughts? Are you familiar with your intrusive thoughts? Every Friday have two Saturdays? What? You know, there's a bank in the bottom of my new building.

And I've been walking around at different times exploring the area and it's three times now. I've seen the guys out front loading up from the Brinks truck into the building. And every time I pass them, I kind of get these intrusive thoughts. The Brinks truck. Yeah, look at the Brinks truck. And I'm thinking, like, you know, what would life be like if I were to rob a Brinks truck? But ultimately at the end of the day, even if I got away with it, the guilt would outweigh

the riches. What do you got? I don't have a monitor in front of me. Jason Robertson, Bobby Brink, Callum. Richie. $5, $266. $25. We went out to ruin around the block for that one, but it was worthwhile.

I want to repeat it again for a friends at Fanduil? Yeah. Jason Robertson, Bobby Brink, Callum, Richie. Sometimes I think about life if I were to rob a Brink's truck, but ultimately the guilt would outweigh the riches. This country does have poets. Ladies and gentlemen, Zach Phillips. Thanks to everybody here with the Kitchener Rangers for being so hospitable.

We're off to doing a bunch of interviews here in a couple of moments. Thanks to Mike McKenzie for stopping by the program today. The general manager of the Kitchener Rangers, again, they open up against Saginaw tomorrow here at the Odd in Kitchener. On behalf of the crew here, thanks so much for joining us today. The sheet returns tomorrow. Greg Wischinsky from ESPN, a full slate of games around the NHL tonight. We talk about them all, and we'll get in more to the Thomas Shabbat injury with the Ottawa Senators on tomorrow's edition of the sheet. One o'clock Eastern.

Join us then. This week every day this month I can't get out