The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Markstrom to FLA, Robertson/Werenski/Marchenko, and Free Agency ft. Greg Wyshynski & Michael Russo

Episode Date: June 30, 2026

The NHL offseason is in full swing, and Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski are back for another edition of MVSW to break down everything happening around the league. The guys recap all of the biggest stories from the 2026 NHL Draft, analyze the flurry of trades that have reshaped rosters over the past several days, and look ahead to what promises to be a chaotic opening of NHL free agency. From blockbuster deals and draft winners to the latest rumors surrounding the league's biggest names, Jeff and Greg cover everything hockey fans need to know heading into July 1.Later in the show, Michael Russo joins to provide the latest on the Minnesota Wild and the uncertainty surrounding several of the club's pending unrestricted free agents, including Vladimir Tarasenko, Bobby Brink, and Mats Zuccarello. Russo dives into the latest negotiations, what could happen once free agency opens, how Minnesota is navigating its roster decisions, and what the Wild's offseason could look like moving forward. Don't miss another packed edition of The Sheet featuring in-depth NHL analysis, breaking news, trade reaction, draft recap, and free agency previews.#TheSheet #NHL #NHLFreeAgency #NHLTrades #NHLDraft #JeffMarek #GregWyshynski #MichaelRusso #MinnesotaWild #VladimirTarasenko #BobbyBrink #MatsZuccarello #HockeySHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Canadian Blood Services: https://www.blood.ca/Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!#NHL #TheSheet #JeffMarek #DavidPagnotta #TorontoMapleLeafs #LeafsForever #JosephWoll #SamuelErsson #EmilAndrae #PhiladelphiaFlyers #VegasGoldenKnights #JohnTortorella #CHL #DanMacKenzie #MemorialCup #HockeyReach 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.

Hope you like fighting because Jacob Markstrom, you are a Florida Panther. Welcome once again to the sheet for this Tuesday, June 30th. The day, Greg Wushinsky from ESPN and ESPN.com, before the opening of the free agent gate. We'll get there in a couple of seconds and we'll get to the blueprint here in a couple of moments. But the New Jersey Devils getting together with the Florida Panthers. I don't know the association there. Maybe an AGM now, GM. Sunny Meta and Bill Zito get together.

and Jacob Markstrom is, lo and behold, now a member of the Florida Panthers. Again, the NHL is not beating the nepotism accusations and the incestuous accusations. Okay. Jacob Markstrom started his career with the Florida Panthers. He gets traded for Roberto Luongo, who is now the head of gold hunting excellence with the Florida Panthers. Yes. Son and Meda makes the trade between the Panthers and the Devils being Bill Zito's former assistant

GM. Now he's running New Jersey. And he gets back of the trade. Yesper Povequist, who of course was drafted by the Devils and played his first four or five seasons of his career in New Jersey. So again, like, why are you making this trade? Oh, he was, he's my cousin. Why he's making this trade? No, I was my roommate in juniors.

It's all just a bunch of, it's a big, jerk Merrick. That's all it is in the NHL. What it is is these are players that these teams know very, of course. And they're very comfortable making these D.L. I don't think for one second that this is just the backslap and old boys club here on this one. I don't see that whatsoever. Well, here's what I see, Merrick. I see the, I see two things.

I see Sergey Bobrowski having made a horrible mistake, which we'll get to in a second. And secondly, I see Bill Zito seeing his goaltender and thinking, okay, or should I do a Bill Zito voice? Okay. So I won two Stanley Cups with a guy who plays like shit in the regular season and then gives me two good months in the playoffs. And now I got a guy who I know will be complete shit in the regular season that can hopefully give me two good months in the playoffs and costs me about $4 million less against the cap. And he's one year younger. Yeah. That's right.

And I don't think, you know, and look, like there's a lot of ways to go on this one. I'm going to cover all of them. I think the big question here outside of the actual trade itself is, what's the goalie market now? And what's the goalie market for Connor Hellebuck? And what's the goalie market for Sergey Bobrovsky? It doesn't sound like it's particularly vibrant out there. Like, honestly, Buffalo Sabres, maybe. Okay?

That would be one team that we'd be certainly looking at. the Carolina Hurricanes. You know, I was having a conversation with someone this morning who said, like, would it surprise anybody if, you know, the goalie market completely dries up and in comes to Carolina Hurricanes with a quote-unquote soft offer, but because it's the only offer that's out there and they've got to make the deal, the Carolina Hurricanes end up with Connor Hellebuck. I've been saying for months.

All right, not months. Weeks. All right, days. That the Carolina Hurricanes have the right package to acquire Connor Hellebuck, okay? because they've got Nikitian, who obviously is a controllable asset for a Winnipeg team that needs an asset to control. And he's a defenseman, which they're obviously looking for. They've got draft capital. They've got, what's that cat's name?

The young forward, Nadeau, is it? Bradley Nadeau, if they want to throw him into the deal, they can because it's not as if there's a lot of room at the end at the forward group right now. And so they've got the most compelling package for Hela-Bucke. if they want to do business with Winnipeg. But like you said, we have to see how this shakes out. But Brovsky right now, we'll get to his decision a second. But Bovrovsky right now, like, it's every team that has a Russian goalie. It's San Jose.

It's Toronto and the system. You know, are we throwing out the idea that it could be Carolina or that it could be Edmonton? I don't think we should dispel those ideas, although I think that in Carolina's case, they could obviously do better. And so we'll see where it goes. But here's the thing, man. Like he wanted term. He didn't want to take the haircut that Florida wanted to give him. Because Florida's contention the whole time was like, look, man, seven years you've been here.

You got roots down. Your family's here. We had a very successful relationship. Three trips to the cup final, two cups. One more cup, buddy. And you're probably a first ballader in the Hall of Fame. He's already going to the Hall of Fame. He's already between the President and the Cups is not going to the Hall of Fame.

So let's just do business. Let's find a number that works for all of us. And the bottom line for Bobrovsky and his representatives was that there was no movement. There was no wiggling. There was nothing. It was a very bizarre negotiation from what I gather for the Florida Panthers because at no point was there ever a come to Jesus moment by the other side of the table to be like, let's just get this thing done and go back to work. And to the point where I, you know, there's been some suspicion that maybe he's already got something lined up to the point where he's not coming off that price. And if that's the case, I don't know where it is.

But from everything I gather, it was a really weird negotiation for the Panthers in the sense that this guy who you assume here's the thing with his age would want to come back was never going to take less than what he believed was going to be market value for a guy that had a $10 billion Aavie in his last contract. Well, and that's the point that I don't want to get to here. This is, you mentioned you've been here for seven years, seven years and $70 million and a couple of Stanley Cups and your spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame and your spot on a winning team. Who knows how many more Stanley Cups, the Florida Panthers are going to win. That's part of it. That's part of it too. Now, we should do more on Bobrowski, but this is the Markstrom trade. This is New Jersey and Florida.

Pause for one second. We'll get to the blueprint and let you know what's on the program today because as much as it will be dominated by goaltenders and Jacob Marks. There is more. The blueprint is powered by Fandul. Download the app today and play your game on Fandul. Greg Woshensky is aboard from ESPN and ESPN.com. We will have a look at what tomorrow's free agency will look like with Greg. We'll also talk to Michael Russo about, whether it's Vlad Teresenko,

whether it's the Quinn Hughes of it all, whom they can extend officially tomorrow. We'll get into all of it with Mike Russo. We'll talk more about Markstrom to Florida. We'll talk about wild contract updates, Worensky and Marchenko, and the future of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Oh, my goodness. And trades, trades, trades around the NHL. That continues and the latest one.

We'll pick it up from the Markstrom angle on this one. Jacob Markstrom goes to the Florida Panthers. I always like it when general managers make, when new general managers make trades with their old teams because you can kind of tell who they really liked when they were there. Like, you're Sonnyi, like, yeah, give me some Evan Rodriguez. Give me Jasper Bowquist. Yes, 100%.

Ben Steves, who's a winger in the organization, played in Charlotte last year. So Sunny frees up some cap space, brings in players that he likes, and did they go then to the front of the Connor Hellebuck list? Because I don't think anyone thinks that Sunny Madda is not going goalie shopping here. Well, he has to. I mean, he has Jake Allen. I mean, they've got goalies in the system, but they're nowhere near being ready. They're not there.

No, they're not there. So right now it's Jake. and a restricted free agent Nico Daz. So they're obviously going to go and add a veteran to that group. Listen, I love this trade for the devils for a couple of reasons. One being that the depth on this team needed some serious reorganizing. They didn't qualify Paul Cotter, who I thought was all right. But ultimately, the numbers probably didn't add up for trying to give him the 1.5 million qualifier that he would have earned.

And they go and they get Rodriguez and they get BoQuest. And both those guys are better than Cotter. So I think this really helps. And Rodriguez, by the way, I mean, I say bottom six. Like, this guy's a Swiss Army knife. Like, you can move around the lineup. He can do a lot of things for you in different spots. And I think he's a fantastic player to have on your group.

And I don't think a player that necessarily Florida wanted to give up to make a goalie change, goalie acquisition work. But he was going to be the guy. Like, no matter what the Florida Panthers. He didn't have trade protection. Evan Rodriguez was going to be the guy that they used to get there. So this becomes a surprise. Because he's not on the top, he's not in the top three lines. Like the idea they were going to ever trade Lundell is insane.

Like he's an advantage that very few teams have to be that good up the gut. And Luce the Ryan and they love to. That line with Marshand is incredible. So they weren't going to tinker with their top nine. But the fourth line was fair game as we've already seen A.J. Greer get traded and was going to walk away anyway. And then Rodriguez goes too. So the other thing I love, and I thought this is where you were going to go with new general managers. I love what new general managers are not married to their previous.

general manager's mistakes. And signing Jacob Markstrom to a two-year extension in November was an absolute, just gigantic goof up by Tom Fitzgerald. He went on to have a not only his worst regular season since 2014, Merrick, but a regular season, I would argue that completely short-circuited anything the devil's tried to do positively last year in the regular season, constantly giving up the first goal in the game, constantly failing in big moments. Like, he was just bad.

He was bad for them. And he had an extension in his back pocket from Fitzgerald. So to move that contract off the cap was a win already. To get assets that are going to help this team be deeper was a huge win. Absolutely. We saw this as well on the weekend with the Toronto Maple Leafs and John Chaka moving branding Carlo, a tough one from the Toronto Maple Leafs with the previous regime with the St. Louis Blues for a pair of third round draft picks. So like I'm with you, I love watching, I love watching new general managers. It's a quote of Brian Burke phrase, shovel out the barn.

Like, okay, I got, I got some, I got some work to do here before we show the horse. With this guy in Barnes. Everything we know about Brian Burke surrounds barn fights, shoveling out barns. By the way, just as a quick aside, did you hear Patrick Burke on the program last week when he proposed Kevin Lowe did the induction, introduce Brian Burke and do the official induction? That would be fantastic. That is not going to happen here. So the New Jersey Devils are very much involved in the goalie market.

We believe that there is some interest here with the Buffalo Sabres in the goalie market, which is interesting because the vibe around Buffalo, once the emotions calm down, around Ukepeka Lukanin and Alex Lyon, because both goaltenders leaked Bucks at times, the feeling was for Luchanan, this was his first playoffs. So don't judge too harshly. But then when someone like Connor Hallibuck becomes available and you have an owner in Terry Pagula, who is a massive supporter of USA hockey, people start to connect the dots. But these are the only three teams that I'm really seeing right now.

I know people are going to say Edmonton, but I'm not so sure that I see Connor Hellebuck going to the Edmonton Oilers. Thank you very much. These are the three main teams that are involved here. We'll get to some other players here. But a final thought on the goalie market right now from your perch. Well, you've got the you've got two parts of the goalie market. You've got the trade market and the UFA market, obviously.

The trade market is Hellebuck way at the top of the pyramid. That it's going to be a huge cost of acquisition. Then you've got Jordan Bennington still flitting around in St. Louis Bluesland with more year left on his contract. Worst regular season numbers than Sergey Bavroski, it should be said. And then you have one that's kind of an interesting one, which is Aidan Hill with the Vegas Golden Knights. Obviously, the Knights just traded Akir Shmead.

So is it to keep Hill? I mean, that's a lot of scratch to begin. given your two goaltenders. One assumes Hill is going to be the latest sacrifice amongst many for the Golden Knights. What does he have left? What is he? I don't know, but that's a possibility. And then you look at the UFA market American, obviously, you have Bovropski.

You've got Freddie Anderson from the Carolina Hurricanes. You've got Connor Ingram who may be, you know, the plan B for the Edmonton Oilers, if things don't work out otherwise. Then you've got like Stort Skinner and then you have like Cam Talbot who definitely played in the league last year. So, you know, there are options. Not all of them are great. Utah signed COSA today, by the way, to a two-year, two-million-A deal.

We should throw that one. And that's a, if they put him along with Vemalka, that's a good battery for them next year. So we'll see where the devils go. I mean, they obviously aren't going to go into what is a very crucial season for this franchise with just Jake Allen under contract. So you assume they've got some. Sonny's not making this trade unless he's got something already on the back burner. And we'll see what that ends up being. Tomorrow.

By the way, one final note on the Florida Panthers, Radco Gudis in the mix. Like, seriously? I know, right. It's great, right? I don't think you about AJ Greer for him, but like, seriously? Radco Gudis in the mix, too? On top of all of this, Radco Gudis in the mix? By the way.

So Radco didn't win a cup with them, right? He was gone after the conference final. I mean, the Stanley Cup final run where they lost to Vegas, right? Am I right on that? You are correct, sir. Yes. Okay. So is Goudis the latest in the unending parade of Bill Zito veteran defensemen who are going to play their asses off to win cups?

You've had Ekman Larson. You've had Seth Jones. You've had Nate Schmidt. Now you have Goudis as the latest example of this? Probably, I would suppose. I don't think he's going to. I don't think he would play on that blue line as much as those other defensemen that you just mentioned. But yeah, probably.

I just think that like as as someone mentioned to me this morning, the Florida Panthers are putting together a prison team. Like that's what the Florida Panthers are putting together right now. Like they are putting together a prison team figuring that in the playoffs, you're going to be, you're going to be penalized three times per game. So commit 10 fouls. And maybe two of them are injuries because you're only going to go on the penalty kill three times per game. Hey, I mean, listen, there's something to that.

Let's be honest. That's part of the M.O. That's part of the M. Carolina wins the Carolina wins the Stanley Cup in a season in which the Florida Panthers don't make the playoffs. The bully wasn't there. They didn't have to go through them. And so, you know, knuckling up and thinking about what sort of pain they can inflict on a Seth Jarvis or a Logan Stankovin is exactly the modus operandi for the team. Now, before we get too far away from their gold-thudding situation, though, Eric,

do you believe that they can win a Stanley Cup with Jacob Markstrom? I do. I do think they can make. Because here's the thing about, about big goaltenders in general. And I've been saying this for years, accidental saves. That's the thing about having a big goalie. When you have a small goaltender or a smallish goaltender, you don't get accidental saves. I'm not saying that Sergei Barbrowski was a tiny goaltender. When you have a large gold tender, you get accidental saves. And I don't think, as great as Bobrovsky was, I don't think that the Florida Panthers,

as constructed with that top nine and that back end necessarily needs all-star goal tending to win cups. It's great to have it. But if you're the Florida Panthers at this point, isn't having a great goalie a luxury item? It's like, yeah, it's great to have. Could you do without it? You probably could.

But I don't know that the Florida Panthers. There are just some teams that need to have great goaltending to win Cups, I don't know the Florida's at team. I feel like they can win. I feel like I'm talking to Thomas Drance here. Look, you guys always underrate how important Bobrovsky was to these runs to the cup final. I think that he is a special goalie who will get you that save that you need to get at a certain time. His numbers aren't always going to be great.

He's not going to be the reason you win a series, but he sure is going to be the reason you don't lose a series. And I think that is an underrated aspect of why they've had the success they've had. He ain't playoff Jacob. He's playoff Bob. There's a reason for that, Merrick. And I do think they'll be fine in the regular season. And I'm sure that Markstrom's numbers will spike in Florida because how wonderfully hilarious it'll be when the devil's trade, the guy that was supposed to fix their goaltending to Florida. And he fixes their goaltending.

But I think that there's just a special part of Bobrovsky's game that fit well with what the Panthers do. and he came through in big moments and there's something to be said for a guy that's been on that road several times in the playoffs and Marksdra hasn't. I think that there's a little bit of revisionism going on here about Broboski because in that series against the Boston Bruins

if Brad Marchand scores that goal on that breakaway but Brofsky's probably traded. He's got, don't forget what the conversation around him was going into that one. It's like, no, he didn't start the series. He's lying. It was like they don't need them. And if they bow out, they're probably going to trade him. Like I know we all think about goalie bob and the two cups and all that.

If he doesn't make that one save, like that one save, because who knows what the Florida Panthers would have turned into if he doesn't make that save and they don't beat the Boston ruins in that series. That one save in the Florida Panthers organization is probably, I'm just got a quick recall, but that's the biggest save in the history of the Florida Panthers organization. Because if he doesn't make that save, everything changes. starting with him. He's gone.

That was a talk going in. It's Alex Lyons show. They don't need Bob. They got to move off of them. And then had back-to-back great Stanley Cup appearances. I was going to say that. And then what happened? It's like, I understand that it all comes back to one save in one series.

But then he went on to win two Stanley Cups for them. It wasn't Alex Lion. A seven-year contract with two good years that got you, Stanley. Cups. Yeah, behind two good teams because the team was shit for most of the time that he was there. Took a while for them to get Cichuk, right? Cichick was injured in that playoffs too. Took a while for them to get Reinhart and Bennett.

I mean, it is a seven-year contract, but a lot of those years were spent meandering on bad Dale Tallon teams. And then they got good. And you know what he did? He backstopped them to two Stanley Cups and three Stanley Cup finals. I don't, I am never going to subscribe to your newsletter. sir, where Sergey Mavrovsky is just a passenger on the bus for the Panthers winning these cups. Like, he served his purpose.

He did what he needed to do. Ask the Edmonton Oilers about having a goalie who can make the save you need to make. That's the difference between winning and losing in these playoffs. And having a blue line to make sure that everything is a one and done. And that's a cluster right in front. I just realized you've made my argument for me, which is that you're going back to a save. he made in the Boston Bruins series. That's what I'm saying.

That's the save they needed to get made and he made the save. If he doesn't make that save, everything's different. I'm saying everything about the Panthers and Broboski's rep, because it put him in the position to do that. Now, he did it, but everything was about that one save on Brad Marchand. That's it. Made the save that needed to be made. Now listen, it's a symbiotic relationship.

I'm not saying that he is the reason they won cups. I've seen people say that today. I'm not going to go there, but I'm certainly saying that he was a big reason why they won the Cups, a factor why they won the Cups. And I'm going to say that wherever he goes next, he's going to be a sieve in the regular season, and they're probably out in one.

Let's be honest. Do you think that they're sunk with Markstrom and Nett then? I think that they've got more question marks at a position that they didn't necessarily have question marks in now with Mark. Okay. We don't know what he looks like in a long playoff run. Listen, as a devil's, fan. I've seen a lot of Jacob Markstrom, and he's looked terrible in the last two years. Now,

that could just be playing behind the devils, what have you. But he was a, well, I looked it up on money puck before. He was a minus 12 and goals saved above expected last year. So it's not all the system in front of him. And so again, I think there is something to be said for a guy that has been on this journey for you now three times that has shown himself, even before he went to Florida to have been a quality goaltender in the, in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and a few times that he's made it. I don't know. I think the assumption that Markstrom just takes the baton and leads them back to the promised land, I think, is a little bit specious. We shall see. Okay, a few more things before Russo joins us, bottom of the hour. How are you feeling about Columbus right now?

Sad. How are you feeling about Zach Werenski and Karel Marchenko? Well, again, I'm fearing for their safety if Aaron Portsline's going to keep chasing. them with a machete like he did in that story on the athletic. Did you see that excerpt I tweeted earlier today? Man, the body's not even cold. Don't let the door hit you in the ass, boys. But I will say one thing. At least he's doing it while they're still there.

That's true. That's true. At least he's doing it while they're still there because usually we see all the time when a player exits and all of a sudden, okay, now we're going to sharpen our swords and we're going to sharpen our knives and we're going to stab the guy now that he's out. At least Portsline did it while they're still. there. I'll give him credit. I'll full credit for that. For sure.

Murchenko's gone before Worensky's gone, I think. I think with Werensky, they've got some runway with him with the two years remaining on the contract. I could see this maybe being closer to the Rick Nash saga when Scott Housen waited like, what, like half a year after Nash kind of said he wanted out before making the deal. Like they, they got to get this right. And I think that there's probably a way to do this. I don't think you can do that. Why not? I don't think you can do that because you don't want the same thing. thing is the same thing that, you know, Steve Eisenman can't let this Dylan Larkin thing linger. They cannot take a step back and everything has to be about the playoffs and getting every,

all the ducks in a row in order to do it. And you, so you can't dither. You can't say, you know, what we're going to put this off. We'll see what it looks like in November, in December, February, trade deadline. We'll think about it. We still have some runway here. These stories will hover like a fog over the team every single game. I don't think that matters.

You don't think it matters to Columbus? Did they have to make the playoffs next year? I do think it matters that they have to make the playoffs last year next year. So what is the best way to do that? Is it with a guy who led you in scoring consecutive seasons and won a Norris trophy this year being on your roster? Of course it is. They do respect to Zach Werenski, but they're not on his clock on this one. And if he wants to, he's giving them the heads up that he's not going to resign.

great, you've got two more years left in your contract. So if the right deal comes along, trade them. If Dallas wants to give up Harley and Bork and a bunch of other shit for him, trade them. Yeah. But like if they don't, then, you know, you can wait. You can totally wait. And have that story hangover every single game. Like, he's your leader.

It's the same with Del Marcon. He's your leader. What is going to be the worst result for the Columbus Blue Jack? next year, having Zach Werenczi on their roster or being asked about him. Like, the obvious answer is that they're a better team with Zach Werenski on it. You don't think that that affects everybody else in the room? I completely do. Oh, here's our leader.

It doesn't want to be here. Doesn't want to be here. Sure. Absolutely. But it also think, I also think that him being there is probably more meaningful for them than him not being there, don't you think? It's two years. I understand that.

It's two seasons. I understand that. And this has all gotten very public. Like the smart, I've always maintained. If a player wants out, put out there that you want. The one thing that I always hated, like, the final was foolish when players like would help keep the secret that they want out. If you want out, make it public because then there's support from there's, there's, there's,

there's the fan base that'll turn on you. There's an issue with sponsors. There's an issue with ticket sales. Relationship with the team. Here's a leader who wants out. it's only good for the play. I never understood why players went along with the idea of keeping it secret. If you want out, I think it's probably out there that you want to.

And they don't want to get her. It's only in service of the team. The fan part of it's fair. Like the fan part of it could get ugly, as we've seen in situations where, you know, players want out or, you know, fans are not going to be quiet about this. And I think that that might be a good point on your part as far as like what the reaction is going to be on like opening night. But this, I think what you see.

start the premise of your of your point here though is that they will just have to take whatever comes their way to get them off the roster and i don't think that's the case i don't think no i don't think they train for pennies on the dollar but i don't think they train them for pennies on the dollar for him i think you can like right now make a really strong trade for zacharence like i don't think that this is like okay uh like the goalie market with halibuck in winnipeg oh the market is depressed we can't we think we can get for connor hellabuck we're just going to be we're just going to ourselves into a bad deal. No, I think they, you can get a lot for Zach Werenski right now. I think you can. I think you can, but I also don't, I truly don't understand why they didn't trade him before the draft

if they, if they feel like they're going to trade them this summer. Like, why wouldn't you do that? Because why would you get the second overall pick from San Jose? Because they don't want draft picks. They can't. They can't wait right now. Like they need, that's why the Dallas deal makes so much sense. Like if it's, if it's hardly, that makes a lot of sense because they need body. They cannot false start this fan base again. But how many times has Columbus false start of their fan base? They can't do it again. There needs to be players in there and they need to keep pushing for the playoffs, period.

Here's the problem with the Werenzky deal, the Larkin deal on all of them. The teams that really want these guys also don't want to break up their rosters to get them. And that's the trick. Like, Werenski obviously wants to play in Tampa. What is Tampa giving them? The Columbus Bluejack is to compel them to make that trade. What do they have? That's why the Dallas deal makes a ton of sense.

Because right now, Dallas is on the verge of being the new San Jose sharks and they know it. And that's why they're not going to be shy about as far as not being able to break through. As far as being the one team that everyone said, oh, this is Dallas as year. They're going to win the Stanley Cup. Put your hand up. Who bit on San Jose and winning the Stanley Cup every year with Thornton and Marlowe, etc. That was me. that was a lot of people.

Oh, this is the year for the San Jose Sharks. Oh, sharks are going to do what this? This is going to happen. How many times we said that about the Dallas stars over and over and over again? Well, here's the question. Does he want to play in Dallas? I mean, that's the ultimate question with that I don't know. It's like I said the other, it's like I said the other day.

He'll get a raise. The two funniest, the two funniest things that we're dealing with with Horensky are like articles that are that are like listing the teams who would like to get Worensky. Everybody. Just everybody. publish the standings. It's everybody. Everybody wants Warrensky. The second funniest thing is like the articles where there is trade packages from like Calgary,

how Calgary can get Worensky. Like there's not a chance in hell he's going to Calgary. It's not a chance of hell it's going to half the league, maybe even three quarters of the league. He probably has the two teams in mind he'd go to. And so all of this stuff is academic. Like it's, it's great to say that San Jose would be maybe a cup contender if Worensky joined their blue line. But who knows if he wants to go west?

Dallas, who knows if he wants to go play in the West or play in Dallas? Who knows? So, you know, that's part of the math about this, too. What Don Waddell needs is a good news story right now. And outside of a Jetgreaves contract extension, I don't know what it could be right now. Unless overwhelmingly, I mean, an Adam Fantilli contract would be. be massive, obviously. But like, what do you do?

Because you've got to change the story. Because the story now is about what everyone's seeing the list of all these players who asked out in the history of the Columbus Blue Jackets. You need to change this story. I just think that you think he waits? I keep on coming back to Detroit. For Zach Wrenski? Yeah.

Like, I wonder if he'd go there and then what that package looks like. That is interesting. Before tomorrow, what are you most interested in? Do we have Russo standing by? Do we got Mike standing by? Okay, let's get to Mike. By the way, one of the biggest days on the hockey calendar is tomorrow in advance of Mike Russo, joining us here.

Daily Faceoff has you covered. I'll be on with Tylery Ramtrak, Carter Hutton, Dave Panyoda, live from Toronto, the Daily Faceoff Free Agency Special, from breaking news and insider analysis to the Puckpedia-powered signing tracker following every move in real time. We'll break down every signing.

every rumor, all the biggest moments as they happen. Catch a live show July 1st. That's tomorrow at noon Eastern on the daily face off YouTube channel and on all of our socials. With that, we'll bring in, geez, one of our favorites here, Greg Woshensky. That is Mike Rusci. And Mike, first of all, have you ever seen anything like this right now at the conclusion of June?

You know, I ran down the list yesterday of all the trades sort of in order of how they've, how they've happened, starting with Brady Kachuk and going all the way down to the most recent moves from, from Brady to Nemish to Eklund to Kairu, to Byram, to Drury, to talk, to Hathaway, Nachushchkin, Erisson, Zellwiger, Burakowski, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I've watched hockey my whole life, and I've never seen anything like this, this late in June. What says you?

Yeah, no, I as well, I've never seen anything. Like, it's basically what we say is going to happen every single summer that never happens. And it's not even July. Yeah, it's crazy. By the way, what Wish just said is the one thing that I've wondered is like, you know, could you trade Werensky to Detroit and then solve the whole Larkin thing right there? That would probably change everything with Larkin. The question is, would the fans kiss and make up, would Izerman kiss and makeup,

with the, you know, inside the locker room? But that would be, that'd be a way to solve this issue because those two are besties. And, you know, I think there are teams that would love to get them both. But if you have Larkin, the way to get them both is to not trade Larkin to get Werenski. And so, I mean, it's just one of the things that have popped in my head. But I agree with Greg. Like, I just think this is going to be a really hard trade to me because obviously Don's pissed. And also Werencki could really, you know, he drives the bus here. He's, you know, if he doesn't want to go to Dallas, it doesn't matter if Dallas offers Harley. You know, same thing with every,

with every team out there. So, you know, we're seeing that with Larkin right now. He's being really selective on where he wants to play, which is one reason why teams like Minnesota are being really selective on what they were willing to give up. That's, and there's a part of me that is like, okay, you earned the no movement clause. So wield it as you will, right? And obviously something's flipped in the last couple of years where the no movement clause went from being a protection for the player that his team's not going to screw him into a way a player can screw his team.

when he tells him that he's not going to resign there. But there's also a part of Eruza that's kind of like, all right, like you're Dylan Larkin. You're in the middle of a long-term contract. You're Zach Warnski. You've got two years left on your deal. There has to be a little give and take, man. Like there's got to be a little bit of broadening your horizons

beyond the two or three teams you really want to play for if you actually do want to end this relationship with your current club. Like I do sympathize with Eisenman and sympathize with Waddell from that perspective. Well, how about Steve Statoz? I mean, you know, Brady gave him four teams, but really was one. So, you know, like it didn't matter. Like, you know, I think the wild field, they offered a better package, but it's just at the end of the day, it didn't matter. And so, like, that has become the issue.

You know, and if Werencky really wants to make things difficult for Columbus here, he absolutely could just say, you know what? I only want to go one place. And I think that, you know, look, as Jeff just alluded, man, Don Woodell is in one right now. I mean, you have Dan Milstein texting, you know, Kevin Weeks, as Columbus is taking their first round pick that Marchenko wants out. I mean, I've never seen anything like that. You know, it's just, it's, you know, that I just, I feel bad for the Columbus fan base, man. Like, they, this, this, this. 100%.

This group of fans for 26 years have shown up and packed nationwide arena. And they just, and they've got what, one playoff win to show for it. And it's just, it's, it's truly sad because that, that is one devoted fan base. But, you know, I don't blame Werensky here either. I mean, like, look, at some point, these guys want to win. Like, everybody could talk about the whole America thing and colluding and getting together at the Olympics. These guys want to win.

And that's what it comes down to. And I think that's what's going with Larkin is, you know, you're watching your career go away. And, you know, you've, look, Larkin's part of this too, right? you know, he could be a big reason why Detroit wins. But when you've now invested 10 years into a place and you just see this rebuild continue to be a rebuild and a rebuild and nothing ever comes of it, there just comes a point where you're just like get me out of here. And I'm sure this has been a very difficult decision for Larkin.

And, you know, I just, I think that there's, there's blame to go on both sides here. You know, Werenski is tired of losing. and Larkin's tired of losing. But you're right, to your point, Greg, you just wish that there could be a little more compromise. I just don't know how you get, like I know that this will most likely be an issue around CBA negotiations. But having said that, what's the cookie the NHL is prepared to get rid of that?

You know, we see fan after fans and get rid of no trades, no moves. Well, these things are collectively bargained. Okay. So what are you offering the players association? in order to get really like listen the first no trade i'm going to get all all historical the first no trade in the n hushal is king clancy 1923 ottawa senators and it didn't really rev up until darrell sitler refused to waive to go over to the minnesota north stars and then the makeleves went about trading all of his best friends but right now like no trades have been with the

n hl going back to the 20s okay it's like it's a hundred years old hundred years old right i believe it might have been the first league that had a no trade um But I just don't know how you're going to get around this. If anything, it seems like this is going to be the way of the future. This is going to be the way of the future in the era of player empowerment. And it's not going to change. Yeah, especially now that we're seeing teams lock up their guys. So then, you know, also we're creating really lackluster free agency period.

So it's going to lead to a lot more player movement. So these players are going to want control. And obviously the league, I think is going to go to the PA and say, all right, you know, if you have a no trade, there's got to be some sort of compromise made that if you're, you know, if you got this power to you, and then all of a sudden you want out, that there's got to be some sort of lax, you know, lacks there. So we'll see. I mean, this is just sort of the beginning. I mean, obviously, Helibuck's going to be on the move here. You know, we got, you know, we just saw what's happening with Brady, you know, who knows when Jack Hughes goes.

I mean, it's just, it's, this is just one of those things that's going to continue. But I don't know how the league and the, and the PA solved this, you know, this issue. but it's clearly going to be an issue as we get to. Luckily, the next CBA negotiations aren't for a while, though. Well, Merrick has that idea of being able to buyout trade protection, which obviously has its own capital implications that make it complicated. I do wonder if you could do it outside the system. Then do it outside the system.

I know owners hate it, but do it outside the system. You can't do it outside the system. We're a capped league. We're a capped league. I can't do things outside the system. I get that. Amnesty buyouts are outside the system. They were fine with that previously.

Amnesty buyouts weren't captured under the cap and everyone was fine with that. It was proposed before amnesty buyouts coming out the COVID lockout and the owner said, no, we don't want to do that. So they have entertained the idea of going outside the system before. That's because of financial problems with the leagues and the teams. The thing for me, though, Rousseau, is that like we're getting into the territory both in salary growth and then in these trade protections where the owners and the GMs have to be saved from themselves.

And that's usually bad news for us. It means that seasons get canceled. So maybe the idea is you limit the number of no movement clauses you can give, you can give out. Like, like you make it kind of like, you know, how much dead cap space you can carry. You know, you limit that to three slots. Maybe you limit no movement clauses to five slots or six slots or some such. Like, I just think that it's okay to have trade protection for certain guys. Like, Zach Werenski should have it.

Dylan Larkin should have it. Jonathan Kovicevich. Cam Fowler probably should not. Like in a perfect world, they should not. I remember a couple years ago, the while gave Freddie Gujaro a five-year deal with modified no trade clause. I'm like, what is going on here?

Like, you know, like it just, it made no sense to me. No, you know what, hang on. Can I just pause on once? Where it does make sense. This has got us to a really good place. Where it does make sense is if you are on a team in a no-tax state, having generally you'll you'll take a little bit less money in order to have trade protection

because you run the risk if you don't of being traded to a heavily taxed state and all of a sudden the number you negotiated is less so that's like the one we saw that with Ryan Ellis in Nashville. I'm Canadian. I'm in Canada. Why do you think I'm obsessed with it? You're obsessed with the no tax to tax state. It is it is like one of your one of the defining.

things that happens in a transaction for you. Yes, correct. I do wonder that if you can start putting language into these no trade and no move clauses, that if you ask out, this is what happens, your no trade becomes this, you know, whatever. Because, you know, look, lately what we're seeing with expansion being potentially on the horizon, we saw it with Charlie Coil's deal, we just saw with Michael McCarran's deal, is that these players are getting no move clauses, but there is language in there that you don't have to be protected in expansion. So clearly, there are things that you can do language in these contracts to tweak what a full no move clause is or what a no trade clause is. And so, you know, if that could be happen, if you could do that for the potential, the likelihood

of expansion, why can't you come up with some sort of language that just at least nuances that if you have a full no move or a full no trade, but you're the one asking out, suddenly that no trade becomes a 15 no trade. Or, you know, I think there's ways that now agents and teams can do this. There must be some answer to this from someone who's much smarter than me, and that is probably more than half of the audience right now. But the one thing that I'm, to Greg's point about America has a fixation on it, the one thing that I'm fixated on right now, as far as like making the no tax teams less desirable, I don't

know that there's ever been a movement towards changing the way that salaries are captured for salary cap purposes. what if your salary the net of your salary of your salary was captured as opposed to the gross because that gets away all tax advantage like that does level it then there's a whole lot less of i'm going to go to florida i'm going to go to texas i'm going to go to tennessee i'm going to go to nevada because then every because it all gets accounted for again this would be an accounting nightmare but it all does get accounted for when you figure out what that player's number is is don't do the gross do the net yeah well that you know you're way smarter than me i've i'm not i'm not

i'm not so that's way above my head but you know i think when it does come down to it is that teams to want to win because the one team one state you didn't mention there is washington and clearly right now seattle's in one as well so you know like uh you know and they've obviously got no no state tax but i i don't know i mean there's there's just this is just going to become more and more of an issue because this is this is like this could just be the beginning this is like this is like a a new world that we are in in the national hockey league with, you know, with teams locking up their guys to the point that we are seeing very underwhelming free agent classes for the most part now, I think is going to be the way

it is in the future that I think player movement and trades are the only ways that you are going to be able to improve your team or to move things out. So if more protection guys have, the more difficult it is for a lot of different teams. So there's going to have to be some sort of mechanism here to just at least relax some of the protection that some of these players have. I wonder how farther to the right we can push the league's players politically if we publish their salaries after taxes on Puckpedia. Rousseau, let's talk about the wild, buddy. So first of all, Craig Leopold, Minnesota owner.

Of course. Craig Leopold, Minnesota owner goes on public radio in Minnesota and tells everyone that Quinn Hughes is going to sign a three-year contract. What did you think about that? You know what I just had a flashback to? The first time I was on with you guys when it was Puck Daddy and being so nervous to come on with you because I was like, there's something that Craig is going to say that's going to get me fired. It's not going to get you fire.

I remember. His right leaning is not getting you fired. I remember when I, the first time I went on and spit in shicklets, it was after the whole Paul Fenton story that I wrote. I remember texting Vizanet saying, look, just whatever you do, I got to play this by the book.

like down the middle. I don't need me here. I don't want to get sued. Nothing. So anyway, yeah, Craig Leopold. Yeah, Craig Leopold after the Carill comments, he probably should, you know, just probably not talk publicly about these type of things

because it just doesn't help matters. I think that the Quinn is going to be a very different negotiation than Carreldo. You know, they are, quote, unquote, starting this soonish, I think, in the next little while. You know, I do think that, look, Bill Guerin met up with Quinn in New Jersey earlier this off season. And I think he left there with feeling, you know, really positive about where things are going to go. If people haven't noticed, Bill Garan's been extremely busy here the last couple weeks. And his agent, Quinn's agent, Paperson, has been unbelievably busy here the last couple weeks.

So I think that once things die down here with free agency, you know, Pat's got a ton of UFAs coming up, obviously he's been dealing with the larkin thing who knows what else behind the scenes i think that they're going to sit down with quinn and uh and and iron this out i do think the one thing that that craig leopold said there that that to me was the most intriguing thing is something that we have been speculating for um you know several months at the athletic and that's that that quinn most likely is going to want a three-year deal to align him his contract with jack now obviously at some point here if the wild don't get larkin you could bet the wild will be beating down New Jersey's door for, you know, many, many, you know, times in the future on trying to get Jack here.

Then that really doesn't matter on what the term of his contract is. But Jack's got obviously four years left on his contract. Quinn's got one. You give them a three-year extension. Now they're both up in four years. Quinn's only 30 at that point. Jack's only 29 and they could figure out a way to play together in the future. You know, what does, what, you know, it's hard to figure out is, you know, if one of them would,

if both of them would leave Luke alone in New Jersey or how that would work. We've got a lot of term past this. We'll see. At some point, I expect the Hughes is to pull a chuck. It's just a matter of where. Do you think, further to Quinn and sort of when this deal all gets done,

do you think that Quinn Hughes, Pat Prys, CAA, wait to see what McCar does and what McCar's number is and then negotiate off of that? Yeah, it could be the opposite. I mean, you know, I don't get, I get the impression that both of these are very preliminary, both of them are preliminary, you know, spots. And Brian Bartlett is a really, really smart guy. Obviously, has aligned himself with, you know, making sure that these contracts are over at the same time. But look, obviously, I would think that McCar is going to be number one when it comes down to it.

The other thing here is that if, you know, I think McCar would like to sign long term. And if Quinn is going to go short term, most likely that keeps. his AV down less than what he would get like on an eight-year deal like Carill, let's say. So we'll see. I mean, as we're saying, we're in a different world. These two contracts are going to reset the defense market, especially for high-end guys. So, you know, it could be the opposite. It could be that Brian Bartlett's going to wait for Quinn to sign first.

Then you know what to play off of with Cal. I do think that Cal, you know, he wants to stay in Colorado. I think that he understands that also if you're going to put a really good team together, you've got to kind of play ball a little bit. You know, obviously we saw Connor McDavid do it. We've seen Jack Eichael do that as well. And so we'll see where it goes. But I, at this point, like, I always thought

Coral was going to be a very difficult negotiation for the wild. Everything that I'm hearing from Quinn's side and from the wild side, I don't think that wild fans have a reason to panic yet. One of the things I've been enjoying with your coverage is the saga that I don't think a lot of NHL fans are. cognizant of, which is the Matt Zuccarello saga. This guy has been feeding Pucks to Krill Caprisoff with regularity over the last few years, an important player in that lineup to set up your best goal score.

But like things are kind of weird and bitter between him and the wild as far as this negotiation. Like he's going to probably go UFA. Yeah, I don't think it's bitter with the negotiation. I think it's more the lack of negotiation. That's what I get. I think that the Wilde after or right before the end of the playoffs, you know, were pretty public in our story that they wanted to bring Matt's back. And then Matt's when he said after the season that he had a couple years left in him,

I think it just was assumed by him and assumed by definitely us as the media, that it would just be done in a phone call or not. Now, the Wild, obviously, they need centers. They made priority number one, Michael McCarran. And they got him down at an actually a quality AAV compared to what I think he probably could have gotten on the open market. But then they hit a pause here. And the belief was that they hit the pause because they have so many balls in the air. They were trying for Larkin.

They're trying for other trades and things like that. But then it started to really become obvious that one, cap space is at a premium, but that they weren't really even trying to resign that. I think that they decided that, you know what, it's time to cut the court. He turns 39 by the start of next season in September. And yeah, it's a little bit perplexing because I do think that he probably would have played ball on a quality contract, whether it be a 35 plus contract, which artificially keeps the AV down or signing a cheapish or reasonable two-year deal. And the wild are trying to, you know, they're going to have to spend this money anyway in free agency because they're down three top nine wingers.

But I think that he's more ticked that just that the wild have clearly decided to walk away from him. Now, why are they walking away from his, the bigger question? I think that, you know, as hard as this is for maybe Carill to understand and definitely the fans to understand, is that they feel at times when Carill strays from the team game and doesn't conform to the style of play that the team likes, it's because he's playing at East West, Give and Go brand of hockey with mats, that leads to a couple turnovers and kind of plays to the hand. of the other team. And I think the turning point for this was game four, the, the Colorado series where that happened between the two of them. You know, it was, it was so obvious in game three that that, that Carill was playing the way that the team wanted to play. It was unbelievable.

And then all of a sudden things changed in game four. And when they autopsied that game, I think they blamed the two of them. So they're moving on and they're going to change the complexion of this team. They want Carill to start playing with different types of wingers. And we'll see. There's going to be a lot of, uh, opportunity for Matt's tomorrow. You know, I really think that if I were Zuccarello, I would look at teams like the L.A. Kings that, you know, have Panera and Fiala that you can put Pucks on a flatter

for somewhat like Carill. You know, he's got a buddy in Anaheim and Crider. There's a lot of teams that could use a Matt Zucrello. He could still play at a high level. I think this is going to be a big loss for the wild. You know, they got off to an awful start this year, guys. And when he came back, they went 10-0-2 in their first 12 completely turned the season around.

But he is still a great, great player. and somebody that could still play for a couple more years. But the wild decided now is the time to cut the court, it appears. I can't begin to tell you how weird it's going to be. I know we've seen him in other jerseys, but like it is just going to be so weird, not seeing, I don't know what's going to be more weird. Seeing Zuckarillo in a different jersey or not seeing him in Minnesota.

You know what I mean? Right, with Carill. And look, I mean, somebody asked me the other day, do you have to, you know, respectfully call Correll and explain your rationale? I don't think you do. Coral made his bed. He signed for eight years. You know, if you signed for eight times 15, they'd have the money to sign Zucarillo.

You know, like, I mean, it's, it really is that simple. Player versus player. Yeah. Player, we heard it. We heard it back in 2005. Salary Cap, it's player versus player. Yep. And this is, this was our point when he signed.

Look, the Wild have other contracts that they didn't necessarily have to do. They have a lot of bottom six guys making between three and four million dollars. That's also part of the equation here. here as well. But look, this is this is what we were saying at the time. You know, like when Kareil Caprisa was offered 15 million, then they offered him 16 and he turned it down. They offered him 17 and Paul Theophanas came back within 18. Like, like we knew then what this was all about. And it was eventually going to affect their roster in a significant way. And now they are. It's like they went one year with having no cap issues. And now they are, they are going

bargain shopping again tomorrow because of the, you know, the number of deals that they have that are way up there. I mean, look at their cap sheet compared to a team like Florida where everybody signs for eight or nine, and here it's just all over the map. Thank God for them that they have Boldie at such a unbelievable contract. I mean, he's making $10 million less than Karel next year.

Last one for me, Russo. How do you see this Jason Robertson situation shaken out in Dallas? Well, it's crazy because this has been three years in a row. They've essentially tried to trade them, right? I mean, so like, you know, I keep on kind of giggling to the fact that he wants to go back there and they're still talking to his agent. Like, it just seems like they have, they've tried to do this for essentially three off seasons in a row. At least gauge his, you know, gauge his market.

So, you know, I don't know where it's going to go. Obviously, I mean, they're either going to have to have to sign him or trade them to be the, you know, fair of obvious news. But I don't, I don't know. I mean, like, you know, there's a lot of teams. make sense for him. I think that Toronto makes sense for him if he's willing to go north of the border. Obviously, Detroit makes sense for him, but I do think that, especially if Lark and leaves, they're going to want centers, you know, but it's just, it's fascinating that he turned down that deal from Seattle. So it's really, to me, that it's gotten to this point. It's just,

it's unreal. But when he fired Papperson last year and went to Andy Scott, I think it was a sign that Clearly, he wanted to get significant dollars and be the highest paid player on that team. I think a lot of people then think it would be this much of a fight because Andy has so many guys on Dallas stars. So it's hard to say where this was going to go. Somebody asked me the other day if the Wild would be on him. I'm like, I think you're forgetting who left him off the Olympic team. You know, even if Bill Guerrion wanted him, I don't think Jason is going to just suddenly forget that. If they hadn't, if USA hadn't won the gold medal, you can be sure that there was a,

a letter ready to be written from the Robertson camp to, to Bill Garron. Needed a goal, huh? You needed a goal. Did you? Okay. Needed a goal in overtime. Listen, always on top of all. Like, the Robertson thing is, is fascinating.

And this continues to bear fruit. And you're right. Like, they've been gauging the market on Jason Robertson for a few years now, waiting for, I think that Jim Nill has waited for push to come to shove. but he's done all the preliminary work about how he can make these different things happen. I just wonder here at the end of it, Dallas is married to 12, Robertson's married to 14 in Texas. And if they can't do it, even without an extension, did they still just say, you know what, we have to move on here. We're going to use that cap space for someone else to bring into the mix.

But like this is, this is at a place right now, which I think the Jim Nill and probably the camp too, just wish they, never arrived at, but I have the feeling that Jim's, Jim's prepared to move them. Jim's very much prepared to move. And it's the market. Especially, you know, especially if Dallas has, you know, their druthers that they want Werencki or a lark. And, you know, it would make sense to, you know, kind of read yourself of that. And maybe even just risk the offer sheet and see what happens.

It is, it is shocking me because I will say that I was really impressed with Jason Robertson in the playoffs. Like, he had a great regular season. Yeah. far the best player against the wild in that first round series scored in every single game. In fact, so, you know, I think that he is definitely, you know, and he's no longer just a one-dimensional guy. That's the other thing that I've really grown to appreciate about Jason.

He was playing like a guy who wanted to get a contract from the team with whom he was playing. And I will end this conversation by simply saying what I always say, Rousseau. His stuff is there. Yeah. He was playing like a guy that wants. to eliminate the Minnesota Wild because of another reason, too. That's true. There were mitigating sidebar to the, to that series.

I actually have a funny. I have a funny story. So when Billy was picking the roster, I said, are you really going to leave Jason off? You realize you're going to play Dallas in the first round. He's just going to be super motivated to play you. And he goes, what's he not going to be motivated to playoffs, even if I put him on the Olympic team? And it turned out to be true. I mean, he scored in every single game.

He was awesome. Yeah. So he really was. We'll see where it goes. You're the best, so much for stopping by, pal. You'd be good. All right, see it.

I do, by the way, I do like you in the humidor, though. I really do like the last time you're on, Greg, you missed it. Mike came on from a humidor. Yeah, I did. Well, yeah,

from the cigar bar that I want to always take you to down here. I know. I actually almost came. Yeah, I almost. Yeah, I know you don't get to come to Minnesota a lot because they don't go on long player friends. So they need that,

to happen. I almost did start this interview of the cigar in my mouth, but I thought that would be a little cute. Dude, I had the same thought to start the interview with a cigar on my mouth. You, that's so funny. Rousseau and I had a couple sticks on the road. Nice. It was a great time covering the playoffs. It was fun time this year. Mike's the best. Thanks,

we'll talk to you. Gentlemen, take care. There is. A great Mike Rousseau from the athletic covering off everything from salary cap futures to trade protection futures to Quinn Hughes, lining up with Jack Hughes. to Minnesota while, just saying, okay, Sunny, what's it going to take? So before, I hated that part of the conversation. So before I hopped on the show today, Merrick.

Yeah. I texted my colleague Kevin Weeks. Yeah. Because I was curious about his thoughts on whether or not the trade of Jacob Markstrom was the devil signaling that they were going to go down the Connor Hellibuck Road. So we should report that Kevin Weeks, has tweeted a picture of Connor Hello Buck and two little eyeballs. Yes.

So I did not hear back from Kevin. I just want to double check that. You know, I have not heard back from Kevin, but he has tweeted a picture of Connor Hello Buck and two little eyeballs, which to me would indicate that this is about the team that all of a sudden needs a starting goaltender and may have a package to send back the other way. What that package looks like, I don't know. you would assume that, you know, the trade piece the devils have been talking about in a number of different scenarios has been Dawson Mercer as being a part of it.

Yep. I do think that the Jets would want a defenseman out of this whole thing. But like all the devil's defensemen basically have trade protection outside of Luke Hughes. And well, that'd be funny. But I don't think that it would happen. I really can't see that one happening. No, one of those situations where he doesn't need trade. Listen, man, Sunny wants to leave his mark.

Sonny wants to plant the flag. This is my team now. That's what you do is. If Sunny wants to double the number of Hughes is on the Minnesota Wild by opening night, a good way to do it would be trading Luke to Winnipeg. I'll say that right now. Yeah, and they may get the jack in at all. I do, I do wonder, like, I love this.

I love this player, and I don't want them to trade them. if you're the devils. But I do wonder, like, Gritzuk's a restricted free agent, and he's controllable for at least a couple of years. I wonder if, I wonder if like they would, hang on, he's great. I like him too. Do you not think he's like a sneaky, underhanded offer sheet candidate? I mean, he could be, and that might be why you trade him to,

to Winnipeg if you're trying to get hell of buck. I don't know. It's, it's an intriguing. I think they've got some pieces that would interest the jets, including now those two first rounders that they got for Nemich as well. I mean, they're not great first rounders. It's Vegas and Colorado, but their first rounders nonetheless. So we'll see what happens here.

That's a great tweet. That's a great tweet by the next week. Swapping out two years of Jacob Markstrom and bring it in a multiple Vezna winner to go play with his new Team USA buddy Jack Hughes. Wouldn't that be fun? Yeah. That would be very much fun for you in the New Jersey Devils. I try to.

Would that be fun if the old GM gave Jacob Markstrom a two-year contract to fix the devil's goaltending and the new GM's like, I'll just get Connor Hellebuck. How about that? I'll just get that. I judge trades with New Jersey by how insufferable does it make Greg Wischinski. And I think this one. This one might, this one might do it. Not to dig up old podcast, but like I don't think you probably ever heard the episode that me and Lozo were doing the show live when all of the stamp on the stamp coast.

Oh, Carl Larson. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, which I think just had, or you just had our like 10 year anniversary that day. But like, yeah. Yesterday. It was yesterday was the anniversary of it. The levels of insufferable that you'll see from me if the devil's trade for Hallibuck will never equal the levels of unsufferable that came from me when the trade was. One for one.

Adam Larson for Taylor Hall. Oh, my God. That was one. If we had an insufferable off. Yes. Who wins? Wischinski and the devils get Connor Hullabuck or myself and the Toronto Maple Leafs get Zach Werenski. Who wins the insufferable off?

I don't know. How would you feel? Hang on. But you know what that would that would cost the maple leaves, Matthew Nyes. Yeah. That would be the mitigating factor for Zach here, Greg. Is that Matthew Nyes would be one of the pieces on the. other end.

Like, we've spent so much time talking about all these Americans trying to leave Canada. Like, do you feel that there's a viable way for the Leafs to get Werenzki here? I do. Yeah. I do. I'm just going off of what we've seen that he would be open to it. I think they've got the pieces. They do.

Now, would somebody be able to up them likely? and then would they be able to go past that? I don't think so. But I think that there is a path here for it. And I don't think it's that difficult to get there. In regards to the Canada-America thing is more. That is, by the way, I'm not glad you brought up right now because we're running out of Showtime,

but there is a space here for us to do that conversation because there's an even bigger conversation around it. And that is ultimately, And I'm not like, oh, yeah, complaining about Canada, not winning cups, blah, blah, blah, go piss and moan Merrick. How significant an issue is it for the NHL that the cup hasn't been in Canada going back to 1993? Not for now, but just know that conversation's coming. Hey, Zach, can I ask you another question? Yep.

Is it possible Werenski would go to Toronto without an extension and just play out the next two years with Austin? Yes. Yes. Big time. Yes. 100% yes. That'd be fun. 110% yes.

Isn't it fun that our league is like all about trades and stuff now? Like it's what a fun time. For so long everyone said, oh, don't be like basketball. We don't want this league to be like basketball. This is awesome. This has been, this has been two weeks of fantastic engagement after the Stanley Cup was handed out. Cups been handed out and the NHL is now more interesting since it's been handed out.

Yeah, don't be like basketball. And again, be like basketball. And again, the nerve of LeBron James, a nerve of the brain. I saw you. To make news, the minute the Markstrom trade happens, and LeBron James is like, I'm not going to play with the Lakers. And then all of a sudden, you know, I was going to be on Sports Center for an hour talking about the Jacob Marks from trade.

And now they're talking about LeBron. So, geez, guys. Okay. You go warm up for your appearance. You'd be good. We'll chat Thursday. You back Thursday after Phagians? I am.

Yeah. I'm up in Bristol tomorrow where we'll be doing. Nice. I don't know what. But like then then yeah, Thursday I'll be back on the show for the post-mortem. The Mason Marchment Watch, will it continue or will it be settled on July 1st? Hey, hey, hey, hey, respect. Anthony Mantha watch.

Come on. It's the Anthony Mantha watch. Can he get, is the number seven out there for Anthony Mantha? Stay tuned. Oh, oh, one last thing before we go. One last thing. Yeah. I have a new washing machine.

The washing machine saga is over. It was delivered this morning. Were they able to get it up the stairs or the service elevator? Last time I was on, I was late because I got into a fight with a guy who refused to deliver a washing machine in the manner in which we needed it delivered. I was standing on my stoop and we had an FU Fest. I was speaking in my native tongue. It turns out the equipment that they needed to deliver the washing machine to my apartment, Merrick, were three strong Romanian men. and that's who showed up at 7.30 this morning

and lifted the old washing machine out of the basement and put the new washing machine in the basement and that is what happened. When they talk about we need the equipment to make it happen, the equipment in fact were three strong Romanian men. Thank you, three strong Romanian men. So we don't have to hear Greg piss and moan about his washing machine anymore

and he can have clean clothes for his appearance this year. Thank you. And also on ESPN. Thanks, everybody. Thank you, Greg. Bye. There he is. Greg Woshenki from ESPN.

He's got clean clothes because he has three strong Romanian men delivering his washing machine. So he's got clean clothes. So thank you to three strong Romanian men for helping make that washing machine possible. Friticulous. For Greg Wyshinsky. Oh, yeah. You're surprised? It's like they also said, hey, what days do you do that MBSW show?

Tuesdays and Thursdays? Okay, yeah, we'll be there then. Yeah, we'll be there. We'll show up. Yeah. All right, so concluding here in advance of tomorrow's free agent window opening, NHL season is done, but FanDul is still your home for all the action on and off the ice from Blue Line to Bet Slip.

We have you covered with all season with unique promos, live offerings, and more features to let you play your game. If you missed puck drop, do not sweat it 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 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 at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to one advisor free of charge. Tomorrow's markets today.

Is that what you're giving us? Yeah. Okay. We're just going to do a couple of questions for you and we're going to base it off of last year and see what we might get. So there's no right or wrong answer until tomorrow, I guess, technically. but I'll ask you over or under. So let's start with this. Last year on July 1st, on free agency opening day,

there was a total contract value signed across the entire NHL of approximately $672 million signed. Under. Okay. Under. Under. Under. I wasn't going to ask you $6.72.

Oh, okay. I was going to change the question because I want to make it a little bit close. to where we can get to. Okay. I'm going to drop it 100 million. Under still. I'll still say, I'll still say, just, just for the day. For the day. For the day. Under. Okay. I'll still take under. Yes. Okay. And probably significantly. Last year, there were 121 signings. Under.

Total. Under. I'm not even getting to my number. Oh, okay. Okay. I'm just prefacing what the number layups for people. This is a layup. I was going to ask 75 over or under. Total signings done tomorrow. 75. The Anaheim ducks may need 75 defensemen. By the way,

I've got no defense will left. Like three guys under contract. Not the best way to promote our show tomorrow. No, I know. I know. Oh, way over. Way over. Oh, there's so many contracts.

millions of dollars, surprises everywhere. Yeah. I'll say under. Okay. I'll take under. But again, like tomorrow as a way to promote the show too, tomorrow's going to be as much about trades as it is about free agent signings too. So this is going to be like another trade deadline show because we've had two weeks of trade deadline shows.

Okay. And the last one that I want to ask you because this one, no, you might not on the cent. This one is the one that always makes me laugh because what time does free agency open at, Jeff? noon and how quickly do these agents and GMs and everybody seem to come to a conclusion on deals that is an excellent excellent point listen I'm the the one of the most egregious ones was still at least they don't show up at like 1205 with like you know three players on state three new players like on stage already for a press conference like he just did like these three deals and you've got everyone together for a press so the NHL sort of have tamped all of this down. I don't know why I used the word tamped. Tamped all of this down a number of years ago and encouraged teams because it looks really bad.

Like I remember when Charra was signed by the Boston Bruins because Ottawa had the decision to make whether it was going to be Redden or Charra and they decided on Redden. Charra became a free agent. Boston signed them. And then all of a sudden like 1202, there was this press release from the Boston Bruins. a really sophisticated multi-year, multi-million dollar contract. And we all kind of went, hmm. Yeah.

That's interesting, considering the manager had just left Ottawa. Anyhow. But the question. Yeah. What's the question? So last year, and it's kind of hard to get an exact number because things get announced, but they're not official at this time. So approximately 25 contracts were signed slash announce between 12 Eastern Time and

12-10 Eastern Time over or under 25 contracts in the first 10 minutes announced. The NHL doesn't like that. I know. I know. I know. They try to tamp down that kind of behavior. The market's not that vibrant, so I can't see it. So I'll still take under.

Okay. I'll still take under. Yeah, I'll take under on that one too. Those are the three I had for you. Yeah. And I took under on all three. Not a great way to hype the show. But again, tomorrow, join us at noon Eastern for our free agent special because it's

going to be about trades. Like it will be like tomorrow like catch the action live. Yeah, catch the action live. Come for the free agency and stay for the trades. That's what is going to be. Starting at 12. Like this is going to be another day where Dave Paniot is going to be very, very busy. And it's going to be trades.

more so than signings. I think that that's what the juicy is going to be. Like I'm interested in a lot of different things. Like I know I throw out this sort of Anthony Manta about it, like tongue in cheek, interested about that and want to know where John Carlson's going to go. Carolina hurricanes have the first in on that one. But does he get to market? Like there are still a few that are, I think like you're a hardcore fan you're curious about.

But if you're a casual fan, tomorrow's still about trades. Dude, here we are one day away. What are we talking about? Jacob Markson just got moved to the Florida Panthers. tomorrow's going to end does Connor Hallibuck go tomorrow yeah does he go by the end of the day today does he go first thing in the morning like where we there's a lot of potential moving pieces here lot of stuff that's out there so join us tomorrow noon eastern our free agency special catch it live right here at our daily face off YouTube hope to see you all in the chat um thanks so much for joining us today either in the chat or on our daily face off YouTube or on your favorite podcast platform thanks for my Bruce over stopping by. Greg Wyshski, as always. He's back on Thursday. Join us tomorrow at noon. We do it all again, but with a bigger staff and for longer. And with more news, you pretty much

guaranteed that's going to happen. We'll talk to you tomorrow, 12 Eastern, right here.