The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Marner Hosts Toronto and the Rangers Drop Another ft. Brian Burke & Vince Mercogliano

Episode Date: January 15, 2026

Today on The Sheet, Jeff Marek is joined live from Las Vegas by Brian Burke to tee up a must-watch first matchup of the season as the Vegas Golden Knights host the Toronto Maple Leafs — with added significance as Mitch Marner faces his former team after leaving Toronto for Vegas. The conversation digs into the emotion, pressure, and storylines surrounding Marner’s return matchup, what it means for both organizations, and how the Golden Knights and Leafs stack up early in the season. The guys also dive into the latest surrounding the Dougie Hamilton situation before answering listener questions from across the hockey world. Later, Vince Mercogliano joins the show to dissect everything going wrong for the New York Rangers, breaking down the on-ice issues and broader concerns surrounding one of the league’s most scrutinized teams right now.SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/caReach 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-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello again. Welcome back to the program. This is, of course, the sheets Monday to Friday, 1 o'clock Eastern for this Thursday, January 15th. And one of the great things about what happened normally on Wednesdays, but this week, because of travel, it's happening on Thursdays. It's always, guess where Brian Burke is? One of the great hockey travelers of our time. We've seen him in restaurants, in his tastefully decorated home, and his tastefully decorated home office. But we're going to get to him in a second here. Today we've actually got him from an N.A. H. L. Arena. Vince Burgagliana will stop by as well. We'll talk about the New York Rangers. Let's let you know what's going on in the program here. We have so much to get to. I want to jump in right away with the blueprint, powered by Fanduel, as always. Download the app today and play your game on Fanduel. As I mentioned, Brian Burke, normally Wednesdays this week because of travel, he is with us on Thursdays. Lots to get to with Brian. No shortage of topics from this week. And he'll be taken in the Vegas Golden Night. He's trying to make a belief's game. This evening, I can't think of any storylines revolving around that.

one. Whether it's emails, whether it's sheet line, we have questions for Berkey today, as I mentioned, Vince McCogliano from the athletic. We'll stop by. We'll talk about the Rangers in a free fall. Honestly, what were you thinking yesterday when Ottawa ran up the score, Six Cobb?

And everybody started chanting fire drury. We'll get into that with Vince McCogliano, and we'll get into what's next for NYR. In the meantime, he is waiting patiently in a very quiet arena in Vegas. He is Brian Burke there to watch the Vegas

Golden Knights face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs. First of all, Berkey, great to see you again. This is one of the places where you are most comfortable in a hockey arena, but I like the ambient sound of the puck's off the post and off the glass and angry players

calling their agents and people screaming. What is, I've always wanted to, what is your favorite sound at a rink? For me, it's puck sitting the post. What's yours? I have my favorite thing about being in the rink is when I get there early. I used to my scout games, which was always my favorite part of the job. I would get to the rink at 5 o'clock, be with both coaches. And at 5.30, they would have their meeting.

I would go up and just sit in the crowd. They were making popcorn. You hear the outshers yelling at each other. Very quiet. The lights aren't up yet. It's my favorite time. So you're in Vegas. I want to get to the Vegas game last night and the Vegas game tonight.

against Toronto Maple Leafs, but I know that every now and then you and I, when we talk about other managers, we'll talk about George McPhee. Have you had a chance to talk to George yet? I'm going to see him. They played in L.A. last night, so I haven't seen him yet.

I will see him later today. I always say hi to George. George is a great guy. George is one of the... He was so good to my family, too. Three of my kids live with George McPhee's family while they were going to school. Oh, no way.

I didn't know that. He's done more from my family than anyone else I know. He's one of, for me, one of the great gentlemen of the game. And people that meet him off the ice have no idea that on the ice, pound for pound, Berkey may have been the toughest to ever play the game. True or false. True. Scary middleweight.

Scary tough. And fearless. A good hockey player. It wasn't just a fighter. but he contributed that element and he fought I was like him and Gary Howitt and he jumped on probably

probably three of the best middle weights ever that Howitt fight with Gary Sittler where they started standing and then went down to their knees and kept going and then got back up is still one of the greats of all time before we get to Vegas Golden Knights and the game against the Maple Leafs tonight

and the subsequent Mitch Marner side show which is not getting be as big as it will be next week, but it's still pretty sizable. Yesterday the Vancouver Canucks, I mean, Jim Rutherford sort of made the media rounds, essentially saying like, all right, we're waving the white flag on the season. This is going to be a rebuild. And we'll listen on anybody from like, you know, depth defenseman right up all the way to Elias Pedersen.

Do you have a thought on what Jim Rutherford, Patrick Alvin, and the rest of the brain trust in Vancouver are poised to do with this team? And what should they be aware of as they do this? Like if you were doing this, what are some of the potential dangers here? Well, I think any time you do rebuild, getting value is hard. This is a distress sale. I don't think they got full value for Quinn Hughes. I think they did a good job, though.

I thought they got value given the circumstances. But the trick now is everyone knows you'll listen on anyone. That's when prices go down, not up. there are a lot of individual pieces that are certainly coveted by teams around the NHL. I know some may seem cost prohibitive to some teams, but nonetheless, whether it's Elias Pedersen, whether it's Philipperunic, whether it's one of the two goaltenders, and I know Thatcher Demko has the hospital bracelet issue, but nonetheless, on face value, it doesn't look like this should be a difficult job. to tear it down because there are a lot of valued players out there. I know it's always easier to tear it down than build it up here. But there's like, if you're just breaking it down individually,

there's a lot of good players that could find new addresses if Rutherford slash Alvin get the prices they want, Berkey. If they can get waivers on no trades and no moves as well, a lot of their good players have no moves. And those are really dangerous for our team. So my guess is the first phone calls that are being. made, arts of players' agents asking, would you waive your no trade? Right.

And that's your best chance to get value. It's the, I want to throw Jake Debruska to that conversation, too. I think that there's a lot of teams that value him. I do wonder about the Edmonton Oilers specifically. No trades, and we're going to get into this with the New Jersey Devils in a couple of seconds. No trades essentially means the player gets a chance to choose where he goes. You know, once a player understands that the team doesn't want him anymore, then you go into, okay, let's see what we can do with the no trade clause, the no move clause.

And the player gets a chance to flex to say, okay, I understand that you don't want me here anymore, but I'm going to be part of this process. Is that how you as a manager look at no trades? Yes. And also, keep in mind they're struggling mightily right now. If you're in Vancouver Canucks, you might welcome a trade that you would have said no to a month ago. Right. There were a lot of these contracts that were signed based on the idea that the Vancouver Canucks

we're building and we're looking upwards and we're going to build off playoff playoff performances and it hasn't worked out that way at all. Could you see a world where the Vancouver Canucks by trade deadline this year move Elias Pedersen? Yes, absolutely. I don't think anyone's off the table now. Jimmy Rutford is a serious guy. He's a really good GM.

Patrick Alvin is a really good guy and a really good GM. they're not going to make poor trades. They're not going to let no trades be the end of the story. They're going to go to those players and say, how many teams will you accept the trade to? Right. So if you're the Vancouver Canucks then, how quickly do you think you can, quote, unquote,

turn this thing around? Jim Rutherford talked about, if we do it right, it should only take between two to three years, whereas most rebuilds will take five to six, for example. How long, is the right answer in between there? Is Jim right on that one? How do you look at what Vancouver is poised to do?

I think Jim is right on that one. I think that's the proper time frame. But a lot of teams have jumped a gun on that. They've done a lot quicker than people thought. So much hinges on goalfending. And you get a good goaltender. Thatcher Demko is a good goaltender. He's hurt all the time.

You get a quality goaltending. You can speed that whole thing up. You know, one of the things that I think raised eyebrows for people was Rutherford essentially saying, I'm committed to this next year and then after that we'll just see. How do you see Rutherford's future here? Well, I don't think it's a real patient ownership group

based on my experience, so that might be a realistic time frame. Jimmy Rutherford's got three rings. He can leave whenever he wants. He's got a comfortable place in the Hockey Hall of Fame where he belongs. I don't think he's going to put up a lot of garbage. They want to do this, I'm sure, as quickly as possible.

You know, one of the interesting things, too, is I look at a team like the Detroit Red Wings and say to myself, you know, right now, the guy they probably want back is Philip Hironic out of anybody out there. I know Rasmus Anderson is on their list, and I mentioned Louis DeBrus. I mentioned Jake DeBrusk with the Edminton Oilers. I do wonder about Elias Pedersen because there was interest there before with the Carolina hurricanes. I mean, this is, this Vancouver team.

We'll move off of this in a second, Berkey, but this Vancouver team could be the most interesting team come trade deadline time. That's how it's shaping up right now. I agree with that. The first player on the ice is Willie Neelander. So now I got your puck noise. Okay, so I want to hear some crossbars. I don't want to hear mesh.

I want to hear some crossbars out of Nealander there. Did you get a chance? I knew you're traveling yesterday. I'm not sure if you had a chance to watch Vegas play Los Angeles last night. Did you at all? Yes, I did. Um, the one guy who, and every time I watch Vegas, he's the one that that pops to use a Brian Burke phrase is Jack Eichel. Now, Mark Stone was excellent yesterday. Absolutely. But to me, every time Jack Eichael is on the ice, something happens, either offensively or defensively. He's turned himself into one of the best two-way players in the game. Do you have a thought on what we saw yesterday out of Vegas, uh, overtime win for the Golden Knights? no one talks about his skating he's such an effortless compact skater it takes these long strides

looks like he's not even moving and he's pulling away from everyone on the ice and he's got a really hard shot i thought he was great last night look like his back was bothering him for a while but he came out of you know colby armstrong and i when we would all work together we uh we would always watch ickel mainly when back then he was on the buffalo sabers and colby's point was always he looks like, like, you know when you see like a velociraptor dinosaur running? That's kind of like how Jack Eichl looks when he's skating. Like no one, no one looks like that when they skate. It's almost like, remember in the 60s?

Like all the guys would have like their straight backs. Like the backs would be up. Shoulders pulled back, chest out. Ikel kind of looks like that as he strides. And then every stride is just, as you mentioned, super powerful. But you have a thought on Jack Eichol looking like a velociraptor as he. skates. He reminds him of a great blue heron. Great blue heron.

Takes one stride and he's moving slowly. He covers three and a half feet. That's what that reminds you have one big stride. He goes 12 feet. He's unbelievably efficient. You mentioned the Maple Leafs are hitting the ice.

Right now you're going to the game tonight. Maple Leaf is facing off against the Vegas cold of the nights. Next week, look like next week in Toronto, it's going to be a circus when Mitch Marner is back in town. But how big a deal is this one for, not just for Mitch Marner, because it's against his old team, but how much is it a big one for his old team playing against him?

I think it's a big deal for everyone. This is a high-quality player. Mitch Marner was a great leaf when he was here in Toronto. He was a great leap. He was a great player. He's a good kid, too. His tenure ended unceremoniously. I think people are not happy with him at the end.

But this is a great leaf. I hope he gets a nice reception when he comes back next week. You know, there's someone over your right shoulder right now has been Brad Tre Living, who just popped by and then realized he was on camera and then just split. What do you make of his thing right now? I gave him the finger, told him we get lost. Beat it, beat it, Brad.

First of all, just a thought on Brad for Living. back a long way with Brad Trilliving. Take us back to the Vancouver days, right? I invited him to training camp. I forget what year it was, but he fought Chino Ojic, which was a poor decision. But he was the only guy in the building that wanted to fight Chino Ojic, so I was impressed. Anyway, when I caught him, I called him and said, we don't have anything for it. We'll try and move you down back to a junior team or an East Coast team.

And Brad told me, he said, you're making a mistake. I'm going to play in this building. I said, son, the only way you're going to play in this building would be in this film is if you buy a ticket. And how did he take that one, Berkey? He was not happy. It was not a good start. That's like telling someone,

that's like telling someone the only way you're going to get a name on the cup is if you go to Starbucks. Yeah, exactly. Okay, New York Rangers. I'm going to talk more about the Rangers, the bottom of the arrow with Vince McCogliano know from the athletic.

But that was a tough one. The first period was a tilted rink. Ottawa's up for nothing. They stretch it out to 6-0-0 in the second. You know, going into the first intermission, they're chanting fire drury in the stands. Things are not going. 8-4 was the final, but things are not going well

with the New York Rangers. Bottom of the table in the Eastern Conference. I mean, this is a heritage franchise, one of the most important franchises in the NHL, certainly economically. what do you do here, Brian? I know Panarin's on the expiring contract and he might be Exhibit A,

but what does Drury do here? You know, James Dolan's already given Drury the vote of confidence. It's not just a rebuild, it's a culture rebuild. What do you do here, Brian? Well, Chris Surrey played for me. I've known him since he played for him in the Olympics. He's a quality person.

I think if you go back, if people look at the post-mortem here of how they've gotten down this far, It would be three things, three player moves and one coaching hire that have not borne through yet. So number one would be Jacob Truva. Number two would be Chris Kreider. Number three would be J.T. Miller. Number four would be Mike Sullivan.

Now, Mike Sullivan has two rings. He's a good coach. He's a good player, a good person. I don't think it's time to point the finger at him. But the other moves they made, it took a lot of character out of that room, brought back J.T. who runs hot. He's not always on the same page as everyone else. So he can go back.

If they decide to make a change, I don't think it's time yet. They do decide to make a change. You'll go back. The post-mortem will focus on those four things. See, the interesting thing to me about the Rangers situation and what Drury can do here is having a conversation with someone about this this morning is, okay, so it's not working out.

You go to Artemmy Panera and you say, okay, how do we work on this one and get you to a good place? But after that, what's the second act, Brian? What's the, you know, that's what this person says to me. It's like, you can do Panarin, but after that, what's your second act? Well, it might, there might be enough if you get enough assets for them. I think it would be a better announcement to announce they re-extended him, re-sign them.

I think that's what people are waiting for in New York myself. I think Chris Surrey should be given more time. He's a quality guy. Let's see if you can extend for there and not trade him. We're going to get in a couple of voicemails and emails here for you. We put out the call last night and some came in are pretty good. Zach, where are we going first with Brian? Let's start with this voicemail that comes in from General Soreness here.

Hey, Berkey, General Soreness here. A question for you. when you were a manager, what was your philosophy on speaking to the media? And did you feel any sort of obligation to keep the fans informed? And since you are no longer in management, has your philosophy on this changed? Thanks, Berkey. That's a great question. I'm no longer in management.

My view is not changed. I think when the GM talks a lot, the players get confused as to who's in charge. The coach should be the main spokesperson person. Now, the times you talk are at the start of the year, after the trade deadline at the end of the year, in between it should be very sparse. You shouldn't talk often.

Now, if you have to come out and battle for your players, it's a different issue. Let me pause on that, because you've talked about this before. I believe you're, what's the phrase that you've always used? Get the flies off? You can be a player that's getting nag, getting beaten down. And we've all seen you do it before.

You'll get out there and get in front of the cameras and talk about it and be confrontational and defend your guy. But by and large, generally you're saying if you're hearing from the GM too much than the team's in trouble. I remember talking to Bill Daly.

This would have been like 2005. And Bill said, look, if you're hearing from me a lot, then are games in trouble? Did you feel the same way about your team? That if you're hearing from the manager a lot, that means the team's in trouble. Yeah, and it also confuses the players. A player looks at the coach and says, why is Brian Burke talking? Why isn't Paul Holmgren talking? Why isn't Mark Romper talking?

They get confused. Well, maybe Mark Roberts not in charge. Maybe Brian Burke is. Once you have that uncertainty, it's a mistake. So say, speak as little as little as possible, it's less frequently as possible. Well, you know, one of the reasons why that voicemail is appropriate is, I know there are a lot of New Jersey Devils fans that were, you know, counting the days that they hadn't heard from Tom Fitzgerald. And yesterday he addressed the situation with the New Jersey Devils and essentially said what's happened. is on my watch and I take responsibility for it.

And then went on to detail a couple of things, most notably. The Quinn Hughes situation, he talked about no trades, no moves. And whether that hindered any deal for Quinn Hughes, he maintains that it didn't. Is that something that you would have done? I mean, it was pretty noisy in New Jersey. Now, they did themselves some good yesterday by winning a big game. But if that were you, would you have gone out there and said, like, listen, I know we're, I know we're struggling. and I'm going to fall on the sword here for it.

You've got to stop the bleeding at some point. The media has to hear from you. The fans have to hear from you at some point. So my general rule of not speaking often, that goes by the boards when you have a little bit of this blood in the water. You've got to say something to calm everything down. That's very different. No trades and no moves have really become more of an issue now than ever before.

And a lot of it is because of Dougie Hamilton. refused to waive, according to Elliot, refused to waive his no trade for a trade to the San Jose Sharks in the summer. A lot of New Jersey fans have wondered whether him not waiving his no trade, perhaps hindered any deal for Quinn Hughes. A lot of made the point that you look up and down that New Jersey Devil's roster. There's a lot of players that have a lot of control, a lot of no trades and a lot of no moves there.

What was your thought and what is your thought on, no moves and no trades. I've always been of the belief that if you're going to give one out, the player has to give a discount, but that doesn't seem to be so in a lot of cases anymore. Don't do them. That's my advice to anyone. Don't do them.

Do not do them. You should have one and full, no trade, no move on your team. Anyone else shouldn't be entitled to that level of protection. You should say we should be at eight teams. email list of 18, a no-flying zone of 8. I used to get Mac through all the Canadian teams were always on them. But I don't think I ever

gave a full no trade, no move in my life. I'm pretty sure I didn't. If someone points out I'm wrong, I'll happily admit it, but in general I said, I'll give you some protection, but not total protection. Don't do them. And that's

which is biggest problem right now, and Patrick Alvines. It's I remember you mentioned this to me once I'm actually probably a couple of times you'd be surprised Jeff how many Canadian players have all

the Canadian teams on their no-fly zone how much did that shock you? Almost all of them. They used to piss me off still does I'd be like I said that one time to one of them I'm not going to name him I said how come they have no trade no move

like Calgary is such a beautiful place to live and work you should be honored to live and work here He said, as my agent said, to put the ball on the list for tax reasons. Huh, good reason. That's interesting. You know, one of the, I was going to mention this a little bit later on,

having a conversation with someone who brought up the idea of, and this goes back to Dougie Hamilton as well, if you can get him to waive, one trade that might make sense would be Dougie Hamilton in exchange for Stephen Stamcoast. Stamcoast can go to New Jersey, play with Andre Palat as Tampa Bay Lightning former teammate and Jack Hughes in the middle and Dougie Hamilton can go and live and play in a wonderful city like Nashville.

Term is the same. Hamilton makes one more million dollars, but you can work all these types of things out. The problem is, if you're Stephen Stamcoast, by waiving your no trade to do that, what you're doing is agreeing to a pay cut because you go from a no-tax state to a tax state. I know various corners will say it's not a big issue. From the players that I talk to, they say it is. Do you believe it is as big an issue as we sometimes make it out to be? Yes, I think it's comical when people say it's not.

It's a huge issue. It's a huge problem. I think it's comical to suggest that it's not. When I see that, people say, it's not a big issue. It is a big issue. 5% or 6% issue. Okay. before we let you go

and I know you want to watch the Maple Leafs work on their empty net goals here and you're getting ready for the matchup tonight. I want to take a couple of moments to talk about a story that's huge in the NHL

but also use it to talk about those that those that have gone before. Oh is that Ryan Leslie? Beat it Leslie. Ryan Leslie, just cursed at me on the air. I'm shocked.

Berkey, I'm shocked. Tell him Tell America's horribly offended. I will. All right. The show Heated Rivalry. Before we get to that show and everything that's happened since, I do want to park some time with you since you've been an ally for a number of years.

Before this show, there was Luke Procop, who came out. Luke is now playing in Bakersfield. There was Ben is, Bain Pettinger, the agent, who had. has come out. Brock McGillis is another name and your son, Brendan, as well. I think that lost in all the discussion about heated rivalry and players now feeling more comfortable to come out, this isn't the first around hockey on the men's side of the puck. Do you have a thought on that? Yeah, I'm glad he said that, Jeff, because that was my reaction, too, not to the story. The story is a positive story.

A young man felt comfortable enough to come out, a hockey player from Minnesota, good for him. It's a good day for our cause. We like that in the story. But I felt that the guy who wrote the story, not the player, the guy who wrote the story, didn't mention any of the building blocks that went beforehand. I'm glad you mentioned that. There's Brennan and Bain and Brock and Luke especially. There's a lot of things in my mind.

they do like they were some of the the the the earliest um the earliest uh to come out and and open doors for other people the player you're referring to is jesse cordom uh who came out and and his statement was it was he felt more comfortable after watching the show heated rivalry uh and i i don't know what this is ultimately going to mean for the comfort level of of nchel players um or just hockey players in general to come out, but I think anything that keeps the positivity around it open and provides a safe landing place or an environment where players can feel comfortable doing so, I think is a positive thing. Like, Brian, I think I've mentioned this to you before. One of the phrases that I absolutely hate in hockey, which I believe has contributed to keeping players in the closet is don't be a

distraction. How many times the players told all the way up, don't be distraction, don't be distraction, don't color outside the lines. And players grow up with that

and then think, I would love to come out and live my life openly and honestly, but if I become a distraction to the team, what's that going to mean to my career?

Thought on that one. Yeah. Well, I think you're right. Let's not quibble about how the article was written. Let's focus on the fact that a player felt

comfortable enough to come out. And the notion that's not be a distraction. Be a distraction. We all know those gay players in our league. Somewhere between 4 and 10% are gay. We know that. Statistically. So it shouldn't

be as big a deal as it's been for players to come out, but clearly there's barriers to be uncomfortable. So be a distraction. You can play on my team if you are. I love it. We'll end on that one. Bricky, you're the best. Enjoy the game tonight. It's the

chumming of the waters for next week with which Martin in Toronto and enjoy it, my friend. We'll talk in six days now because you're back on next Wednesday. Thanks, Jeff. There he is, Brian Burke, joining us from Vegas,

cameo by Ryan Leslie and a brief glimpse of Brad for Living getting ready to watch his team. You have a thought on that one, Zach? I've always hated the phrase, don't be a distraction. From a gay point of view, I think that it really does contribute to keeping people in the closet for fear of being a distraction to their team. I really do.

Yeah. Like, it's who you are as a person. It's not, don't be a distraction is for guys who are going to go out and, like, cause actual problems for their team. In my opinion, at least, it's not about who you are as a person. And I mean, you can see guys now showing more personality. and I think it's one thing we see I mean I'll lean on it because he's here in Toronto

but like William Nealander the way they dress the way they approach interviews or YouTube videos Joey DeCord like that traditionally would have been don't be a distraction but that's just being yourself there's nothing wrong with that because you're not actually causing problems for the team or for your teammates

and I think that that also just ties back into what you're saying about players coming out players being gay and and openly admitting that or embracing that or whatever. Like, that's who you are. That's not a distraction. And if it's a distraction, that says more about the people around you.

That's not the player's problem. That ain't the player's problem. That ain't the player's problem. No way. That's everybody around that player. I do want to shout out to what chaos guys specifically. I don't think that they get enough credit for covering heated rivalry more so than just about anybody else. and blending it in with all of their content.

I'm telling you, man, Bean and Pete do an incredible job and have from like the opening puck drop of heated rivalry. I just wanted to shout out those guys specifically. I think it's really important to have people like them as allies on the LGBTQ plus side. So shout out to the What Chaos Program, which you should all be watching slash listening to. We're going to get Vince Murray. Do we have Vince aboard yet?

I want to we get in. Oh, we do. Yep. All right. So from there, we'll go to the New York Rangers. And what's next? After the losses, the post-game interviews, the chance. Vince Bricogliano, buddy, thanks for taking time today.

I know it's a busy one for you. That is the largest microphone I've ever seen, by the way. That is massive. Is it? I thought it was pretty standard. Complete distraction. Maybe it's just close to the camera. But, okay, so you're watching the game last night,

and it's four Cobb at the end of the first period, and they're chanting fire a jury, and then the second period starts, and two more go in, it's six bagel. Like, what's going through your mind at that point? Like, there's always the idea that you can never hit rock bottom. All you can do is decide to stop digging. Do you have any idea when the Rangers are going to decide to stop digging?

I do not. It felt like a here we go again kind of moment. It was almost, I found myself debating, is this worse than Saturday in Boston, which 10-0. Most goals, the Rangers had allowed in a game in nearly 17 years. The players talked about being embarrassed afterwards.

It was the most dejected locker room that I've seen in seven seasons covering the beat after the Bruins game on Saturday. And in some ways, I think they played even worse on Wednesday. I mean, the first period was atrocious. I looked at natural stat trick at one point.

It wasn't even that they weren't credited with any high danger scoring chances. They weren't credited with a single scoring chance in the entire first period. I mean, they were on their heels. They were hemmed in their own zone. Vincent Trocheck took a brutal penalty in the first couple minutes of the game. Ottawa's out to a two nothing lead before you blink for nothing before the end of the period. It's just ugly. And the fans, I mean, it's hard not to feel for the.

the fans right now. You look around the guard and this is a place that notoriously is filled, is exuberant. And the empty seats to me recently, each passing game, I'm noticing more of them. And the people that are there, it's like they're going between the booze and the fire jury chance. And you have to wonder, James Dolan, I believe he was at each of these last two home games, what is he sitting there and thinking? Well, he's already given the seal of approval then and went out of his ways, you know, to mention that, this isn't just about winning hockey games. This is about changing the culture in that room, essentially saying, not only does Chris Drury have rope here, he's got long rope, because changing culture isn't just, okay, you know, you're going to turn

it around in a couple of games. Am I reading this correctly? You're there. No, you're reading it correctly. And what he said on the radio last week reinforced what I've been hearing for, you know, pretty much as long as I've been digging on any of this stuff that he thinks very highly of jury. He has given jury full authority to kind of proceed as he sees fit. And increasingly what I've been hearing recently is that that means if there needs to be some level of sell off, some level of tear down, rebuild, whatever you want to call it, that jury has the blessing to do that. Now, I think the optics to Dolan are somewhat important here. I don't think they want to phrase it or frame it as a full-scale rebuild.

I think that they would like to think that they can turn this around relatively quickly. This isn't going to be a five-year plan. I think they'd like to take a small step back, sell off some pieces right now that they feel like aren't part of the long-term vision and then be able to flip some of those assets to acquire younger pieces that can help them in the next year or two as opposed to a longer-range plan. but I also can't help but wonder as the ugly losses compile, does that confidence at any point does that confidence start to chip away? Now, I've talked to people that have been around this team for a long time

in different capacities. And a lot of them have really stressed to me that Dolan doesn't really care about the public perception that when it comes to the chance or fans being up in arms, about what's going on, that that's probably not going to influence him very much. But how can you objectively look at the state of this team and think that they're in a good spot? A jury is going to come up on his fifth year anniversary taking over in May, I believe. The team is in a worse spot across the board than they were when he took over.

The roster has deteriorated. The pipeline is barren right now. Corey Promin from the athletic who does a lot of our prospect stuff along with Scott Wheeler. he put out his under 23 rankings the other day. He ranked about 150 guys. The Rangers had one player on that list, and it was Gabe Perrault at number 120. So there's not a whole lot coming in the prospect pool right now to feel good about.

The NHL roster in my seven seasons on the beat, this is the least skilled team that I have covered by a wide margin. And there's just not a whole lot to look forward to right now. So listen, I agree with you. All signs, all indications are that jury is, going to get to do whatever comes next. But it's just hard for me to look at this objectively and say that they're in a good spot right now and not at least wonder at what point do you look at this and say, hey, you know, something needs to change here. A couple of things there. I want to sort

to drill down on one, to the point about, about Dolan, watching and listening to that interview, he has, how am I going to phrase this? He has the confidence. of that guy calling balls and strikes on the fifth deck of the ball game. Like he is sure, I don't care what everybody else is seeing. I'm up here on the fifth deck and I'm calling balls and strikes and I'm right. That's the kind of confidence that I felt watching it and listening to that interview. I'll ask you the same thing that I just asked Brian Burke a couple of seconds ago. So there's the Artemi Panarin question, right?

and if they go to Panarin and talk about a different address and, okay, that works out, he goes wherever. What's the second act? Like, Panarin might be the easy one. And then, like, what do you do after that? You know, someone that I really, really respect who's on the trajectory to be a GM in the NHL asked me that question this morning. I had no answer.

Do you have an answer? I do. So I think the easy removes the low-hand. hanging fruit, the stuff that's probably not going to net you a whole lot in return, but seems very likely at this point, are you can look at another pending UFA, like a Carson Sousie. You can wonder if, you know, any of the other veterans at the bottom of this roster, can they trade them for mid to late round picks? I think those things are all very likely. The big question that I don't have a firm answer for you on in this moment, but that multiple

people around the league have posed to me, it within the framework of saying, hey, if they were to go down this road. This is probably the biggest asset that they have in the immediate right now to net a haul for and really kickstart this rebuild process is Vincent Trocheck. Because you look at this roster and it is laden with no movement clauses because Abanagan has one. J.T. Miller has one. Vlad Gavarkov, where they just signed, I highly doubt they're trading him, has one. Igor Shasturkin, who's the backbone of this team, has one. Adam Fox has one. So your most valuable pieces, are all locked in with full control.

The guy who isn't is Vincent Trocheck. He has a 12 team, no trade list. That leaves a lot of remaining teams that you can negotiate with. And this is a guy that I believe, and I've talked to people who echo this, a lot of contending teams would be very interested in him as their second line center.

And he's got a really reasonable contract. Three years remaining after this season, about $5.6 million per season in a rising cap world for a second line center, that's a bargain. That's totally bad. a guy who's going to be an Olympian. We know Bill Garron, among many other general managers, values the intangibles that he brings. This is a guy who's proven he can play with high-level

skill players like Artemi Panarin, had his best season a couple years ago when he made the All-Star team playing on that line with Panarin, but also kills penalties. He's a really good face-off guy. He's got the defensive conscious that Mike Sullivan always talks about. So he's a well-rounded player. I don't think he's a star player by any stretch. But look at the return. that the Islanders got for Brock Nelson last year when he was just a rental. He was a pending UFA. Trocheck, you're going to get three and a half years for. Now, it might not be likely now.

Maybe it's more likely in the summer. But that's a guy that if they're going to take this seriously and they take the necessary steps to restock, what I think we can all agree is a depleted pool of assets right now, I think that's the one obvious guy that you have to consider. If for no other reason, then because he doesn't have the no more. movement clause that a lot of the other guys we mentioned do. Okay, let me marry those two statements together. One, the first part about Corey Pranman's list and then Vincent Trocheck to market.

If the Rangers want to restock, you got to find a team that does have something sizable. The name that I keep thinking about with a player like Vincent Trocheck is the Detroit Red Wings, who have stockpiled and stockpiled, you know, Steve Eisenman. It's the old management saying of patience is action. And there's perhaps nobody more patient in the NHL than Steve Eisenman. And they've built up that pipeline. But right now, this is a team that's looking like they're finally going to snap the drought and get playoffs in a building that we've even stopped saying is a new building in Detroit.

Just a building that has never had a playoff game in it. Detroit, to me, makes sense. I like your idea of Minnesota with Bill Guerin 2. That one makes a lot of sense as well. and we all know that, you know, the rest of the league, everybody, even Montreal Canadians, everybody is looking for a second line center. If they do something, I always wonder about this too.

If they do that, if they send Trocheque, if that is the second act after Panarin, do you think that loosens up players for their no trades? Like, the thing that I wonder about is, Drury very deliberately brought in J.T. Miller and made him captain. It almost seemed like if that was a message, to the room to everybody who had boo-boo face about how we handled Jacob Truba and how we handle Barkley-Gadro and how, you know, Crichter exited and everybody had boo-boo-face on and didn't want to

play last year and were pouty. This seemed like it was a deliberate move by Chris Drury to bring in his guy to lead his team and it was either get behind J.T. Miller or get off. Yeah, well, it's interesting you bring this up because I was just five, ten minutes ago texting with somebody who we were kind of bouncing around the same question and they were wondering of the no movement guys who could you maybe see entertaining the idea, especially if it becomes apparent to everybody involved that the Rangers are going to take a step back. And the name that I wonder most about is Mika Zabanajad. I've gotten to know enough about Mika over the years to know that family is super important to him. We've seen this with other players recently as well, and that he loves being in New York City. His wife and young daughter love being in New York City. He has been resistant to the idea of waving the no movement clause in the past.

I don't believe the Rangers have ever approached him. He told Peter Ball, my colleague, during training camp, I believe it was that the Rangers did not approach him about that. and he's been pretty adamant that he has the power in this situation, and he's earned it. But this is a guy who's seen some of his closest friends on the team, Chris Kreider, top of that list, shoved out the door. He is going to be 33 very soon, another month or two, I believe. And if the Rangers are going to take a step back,

clearly not competitive and going to miss the playoffs again this year for the second straight time, and if next year is going to be part of some kind of rebuilding process and they're getting younger, and they're unlikely to be competitive, certainly not in position to compete for a cup next year. At 33 years old, does Mika look around and say, you know what, winning is important to me at this stage of my career and going somewhere else will give me a better opportunity to do that?

I would not be shocked. I'll just say that. I have not asked Mika this direct question, so I don't want to speak on his behalf at this moment, but that is a guy who I could see getting there is the way that I would put and he's having a much better season. A lot of guys in this team are having bad seasons right now, but last year was a really difficult one for him.

He's been playing fairly well. He's one of the few guys I would point to and say that. So I think the value has probably been propped up a little bit for him with the season that he's having as well. So I wonder if that's a road the Rangers try to go down, probably not now, more likely in the summer. A quick pick up on that, Vince. Like he's not going to win the Art Ross trophy,

but he's going to get some Selky trophy votes. He's not going to win the Selke, but he's going to get some Selky trophy votes. Like at the end of all this, those people that aren't really paying attention than Rangers are going to see Zabadad's name, sort of down on the list of getting Selky votes and go like, really? But that's the season Zavadad's had. It's really quiet, but that's the kind of season he's had. And he's putting up, he's putting up more points. He's just been even just watching the games. Like the points don't jump off the page at you as being that much better than they were last year.

I believe he's definitely trending toward having more points this year than he did last season. But just the overall game, he's playing with a lot more confidence. Confidence was a huge, it's a huge thing. He's been open about this. The mental struggle behind all that. It really got dented last year. And I think he went through some personal struggles as far as dealing with that and coping with that. And it snowballed on him.

This year, he just seems like he is much more decisive, much more assertive to me, watching him play. And he's had some good chemistry with Panarin. Like those guys have clicked. That's really been the Rangers' only dangerous line all. season. And so, yeah, I think he's, he's boosted his value and his reputation back up with the season that he's having. So I, I love what you did on Twitter X yesterday, putting two comments next to each other conflicting, one from J.T. Miller, one from Mika Zabinajad, where

J.T. Miller and Zach, if you have it, if you can fire it up here, um, J.T. Miller saying, and Peter Bott tweeted this one out, as you mentioned, bad first period, we responded, played pretty well after that. Mika Zabanajad, as you point. out saw things a bit differently. Is the truth in the middle here? Is one more right than the other? Do you have a gravitational constant that's stronger to J.T. Miller or stronger to Mika Zabanajad, based on how they saw the game last night?

I mean, I think anybody who watched that game objectively would lean more in the Mika direction here. The Rangers did not play well in that game. You can spin it any way you want. They got bludgeoned in the first period. They were down six nothing after giving up a couple more goals in the second period. They didn't score until very late in that second period. But Jonathan Quick got pulled. I mean, by the time they started scoring goals, the final score is deceiving.

They were out of it. The game was over. The senators had really no reason to push. They were already up six nothing. So you can spin it however you want. Listen, here's my read on that whole situation. There's a lot of different personalities in this room still. Mika is quieter, more introspective.

I think he's really been struggling. He's been super accountable. A lot of these guys, I'll give them credit. They're facing the music after these losses, which are tough losses. And it's hard for me to hammer the players over and over again. I mean, we've done plenty of it. But the reality for this team is they're just not that good. You look at this roster construction.

There are some pretty fatal flaws here. And especially right now, they don't have Igor Sisterkin. They don't have Adam Fox. what do we expect from this group in this moment? So it's hard to face the music every night when you're not playing well and you're undermanned. And even when you're fully healthy, you're probably not good enough. So I have some sympathy in that regard.

But you've got a guy like Mika who I think has been like, hey, I'm searching for the answers. I don't have them for you guys. I wish I did, but we're just not playing well enough. And then you've got JT. And Mike Sullivan was talking about the whole team, but I think Miller exemplifies this. He said they've been running through the gamut of emotions. And that nobody has that been more evident than J.T. Miller in a lot of these postgame settings where he wears his emotions on his sleeve.

You go to Saturday. Saturday, he was angry. He was embarrassed. He said all the right things. We need to respond. He called himself out for not being a good enough leader. But that was one version of JT that we got. Then Monday, after the loss to Seattle, he was Kurt.

He was short. He wanted to be anywhere else. else, but he was despondent at the same time. He was just kind of looking down extremely short answers. And at one point, when I asked him a question about, hey, you said you wanted to respond, you got off to a good start in the first period and then things tailed off. What did you see from your vantage point? He basically said, I don't know and walked away. That's not a great look from your captain. I mean, this is a guy who ultra competitive hates to lose. But when you're wearing the sea, you have to be the team spokesman and you're going to have to face the music in a lot of

these situations and we know that's not his favorite thing to do. It's a volatile situation. And then what you get on Wednesday is a guy who is more defiant and pushing back on the questions and trying to spin it and say, we played well for the last two periods. Like, that's not what the fans want to hear in that moment. And you're not really fooling anybody. You guys are not playing well. So he, I think, has been trying to navigate, like, how to handle these moments. And listen, it's not an easy task when the team is losing at the clip that they're losing, but I think it also speaks to how delicate, somewhat of a ticking Tom bomb this could be behind the scenes. This is the risk the Rangers ran in making him captain. This is a guy who, you know,

is going to wear those emotions on his sleeve and is going to be volatile at times. We saw it blow up in Vancouver. And as the losses pile up, you just wonder, how is this going to go? Last thought to pick up on there. You're right. There has to be some emotional, discipline if you're a captain knowing that these questions are coming and here come the cameras and here come the microphones. But there's a great example that I'll point at for J.T. Miller. Like you're like he runs it hot. We all know that about J.T. Miller.

Mark Schifley in Winnipeg runs it hot. And in the past when he was with Wheeler in Winnipeg, they ran that room real hot. But after every single game, there was Mark Schifley. and you would not know that he has certainly you can tell that he's competitive but you couldn't tell that this guy is running that room real hot and that there's an expectation he has of all these guys and inside it's just tearing them up but he's able to get through the interview to me if i'm j t miller i'm like i need to be more like mark shifley i'm just as hot as he's shifley just as hot as jt miller is but the cameras show up, bites down on the mouth guard and says,

all right, this is part of the gig. Yeah, and listen, again, there have been times where credit is due. I think he has done an admirable job of that. It's just the frustration is mounting right now. And that is what makes it feel like the situation where it's like you kind of don't know what you're going to get next. Each time we're walking into that locker room, it feels a little more tense, a little more volatile than it did the previous time.

And, you know, listen, you talk about running the room hot. The main thing that he's stressed repeatedly is we got to be mentally tougher, we got to be mentally tougher. But I don't know if everybody in the room responds to that well. Like there are different personalities in there. There are guys that might need to be motivated in a different way other than just saying, hey, you got to get tougher, you know. So that's another thing.

And you talked about, you know, that's the direction juries want to take this team. That's why he took the risk on trading for Miller. and then naming him the captain. But obviously, whatever they've been doing to try to motivate this team and push them forward and change the culture and all that, it's not working right now because look where they are in the standings. What's the old saying? 18 inches between kicking the ass and a pat on the back.

We'll see which direction this thing goes. Vince, you the best. Thanks, as always. Great to see you again, pal. Thanks so much for stopping by today. Really appreciate it. You'd be good. Continued great work.

I mean, you and Peter got this thing locked down for the athletic. It's really great to read. continued success. Appreciate that, Jeff. Good to see you. Thanks for having me, man. There he is. Vince Percogliano.

Man, is he ever good? He's been, I've been going on with him and used to go on my old show all the time covering the New York Rangers. That guy is, that guy's games tight. And I wasn't missing that, right, Zach? Like that microphone, I don't know, it might just be camera positioning, but that microphone is massive. How come I don't, I feel like so inferior.

Like, I'm holding this thing. I'd apologize for it. Criano. I know. I'm like, I got the little, like, ring dink microphone here now Vince comes on and Scott right there prominent like half half a man here with this thing I had to call Amel off of this I'm not going to say anything though I'm not going to say anything though because I mean as a producer him coming on and having that clean of audio

you do what you need you put that mic wherever you want you have the biggest mic in the world I don't care because you are a pro coming on and having it sound like that 100% you have any thoughts on what we saw last night with the Rangers. It's like part of me just like honestly, part of me just wants to say, hey Rangers, like, I'm sorry, this is what it looks like life without Shasturkin. And when you

don't have the goalie, everything crumbles around you and all the, all the mistakes aren't getting covered up anymore. I know it's not just that simple, but to me it's got to be a massive part of this. Like, well, welcome to what a lot of the rest of the league feels like, who doesn't have Igor Shishchern as their starting goaltender. Well, I

It's funny you bring that up to because during that conversation with Vince, you brought up the room in Winnipeg and how hot that was ran. And I don't know necessarily that it's still run that way. But similar situation, Connor Hellibuck, gone. And then Winnipeg more or less takes a nosedive in the standings. Yeah. Now it doesn't go publicly the same way the one in New York does. I don't think J.T. Miller always presents himself the best in the media,

which can make the storm around it a little bit worse, whereas, as you pointed out, like in Winnipeg, you just wouldn't know that that's taking place. Nope. But it's interesting. Both teams you see that lose a goaltender who can cover up a lot of warts

when things go sideways. And you bring up the point again about the rooms. It just gets uncomfortable. Guys maybe don't want to show up each and every day. I'm not saying that's the exact situation, but it's like, man, we're in some trouble here. guys aren't getting along, guys aren't happy.

Like, this is just a bad situation. And then to throw on top of it, Zabanajad and Miller, having very different opinions or at least publicly. Don't get started. Don't get started. Don't get started. Yeah, it's, geez. Ned Harkness, I think it was Ned Harkness who said it. We should change the name of the sport from hockey to goalie.

because really when it comes right down to it. But I was always a fan of Elaine Vino when he ran the New York Rangers. You've heard me say this before. Elaine Vino's point was always, hockey is a very easy game. If your goalie is better than my goalie, you win. But if my goalie is better than your goalie, I win. That's it.

There's a million goalie quotes, Jeff. What is the other one? Show me a good coach. I'll show you a good goalie. Show me good goalie. I'll show you a good coach. It's funny. You draw a straight line between the Jack Adams and the,

Vesna trophy. Like there's a lot of overlap between the Vesda and the Jack Adams. Or like, you know, you go look at, like, find me, find me coaches who have, find me Jack Adams coaches whose goaltenders are like 880. Ain't happening, but find me Jack Adams award winners who goalies are like 920. Oh yeah. Oh, yeah. I like that.

But even before you thank your wife and family, it's your acceptance speech, first thing you should do is thank your goaltender when you win the Jack Adams uh Jack Adams trophy um yeah I will I mean I'll say this too like it's about I remember this about the Brandon Nerato conversation that we had I talked about how I'm the team feels like they can stand 10 feet tall with the guy back there oh you lose that ability and you know you can kind of pretend that some things aren't going as poorly as they are with a goaltender who can wipe away massive mistakes where it's like well We can play a little bit more freely. We can play more confidently.

Next thing, you know, it's not Shosturkin. It's not Hellebuck in your net. And you're like, I can't maybe make this play at the blue line that I would have liked to. Or I can't make this play in my own zone. It just quickly gets wiped away. Totally true. By the way, one thing I wanted to mention, Morning Cup of Hockey today, Jim Craig. Jim Craig was on and Glenn Heffernan was on as well, Commissioner of the USHL.

and that was a really interesting conversation for those that follow hockey at that level. It was just cool seeing Jim Craig again. Just cool. And a sick setup, too. No comment other than, that was a great setup. And he's got the Lake Placid event.

But if you get a chance, go listen to that one or watch this one. Just super cool. And I always wanted him to do well in the NHL too. You know, he has such a miracle, well, Miracle on ice.

Funny, how come when Canadians win a hockey game? We don't call it a miracle. Anyway, more on that, date. But so the United States ends up with,

sorry, I had to sneak that one in. When I, they win the gold medal and Jim Craig's an absolute hero, I just wanted it to work in the NHL forum. You know why?

Because think about, I always talk about teams being successful internationally and the cascading effect. You have any more kids would have played net if Jim Craig was successful in the NHL?

You'd be great goaltenders we missed out on because Jim Craig, you know, had that great two-week slice of his career where everybody fell in love with him. If only that could have translated into the NHL and it didn't, how many more kids would have played net? Probably a ton more. Probably some Vesna guys.

Right? Fair enough. Like hockey's the sport where, and I really believe this, we will never know ever who the greatest hockey player could have been. And I'll make the argument that really there's only maybe one sport where we'll really know who the greatest athlete ever was in that sport and that's running. Because at some point, everybody runs. And at a certain point, you realize whether you're a good runner or a bad runner.

But not everybody gets the chance to play hockey or specifically play net, which is why I was but to be talking about who the greatest player is Mount Rushmore's and blah blah blah blah blah when you look at like potentiality we'll never really know who could have because the greatest potential

best player of all time maybe never picked up a stick or never skates or goalie pads yeah you're buying that one from me I'm selling that one into you pretty hard yeah everybody

I get what you're saying but it's also an idea everybody gets an idea if they could run or not that's how we know like oh yeah Yes, okay, but I think that's like the only one that you could kind of have that on. That's what I'm saying. That's the great distinguisher. It's also the same of any sport.

Yeah, yeah, that's the only thing I was going to say. But we do a show. And you can see guys who transition into other stuff. We do a show about hockey. So I'm trying to personalize people that. I get it. I get it. You don't want to hear me freestyle about football.

No, I get it. Cricket. The one wants to hear me pontificate about that. But nonetheless, all right, we got a big one here for you. today. This is kind of cool. Hungry for Hockey History. Presentation of Uber Eats. Uber Eats is enabling fans to maximize

their fandom all season long with exclusive game day deals on the app. From game day eats to paper plates and napkins if you're hosting to all the ingredients you need to make your favorite game day dip. Before, during and after the game, Uber Eats is assisting every fan's hockey experience all season long.

I love this one today. January 15th, 1840. Born on this day in 1841, Lord Stanley of Preston, the man who the Stanley Cup was later named after, he donated a silver bowl in 1892 called the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup. It was first awarded in 1893 and then later named the Stanley Cup. It survived wars, league changes, sit different cities, traveling, celebrations, all of it. and then today it now remains the oldest professional sports trophy in North America. Frederick Arthur Stanley is the gentleman's name,

and I am going to relate to you. I know I talk a lot about books, but like your boy was an English major and read a lot of books and read way too many hockey books, and so I'm going to recommend another one for you. From one of my favorite hockey writers, and one of, for my money, one of the best historians, the game has ever seen, Kevin Shea, he wrote this book along with John Jason,

Wilson is called Lord Stanley the man behind the cup. And I'll tell you one quick story about Frederick Stanley, who donated the championship dominion of the dominion across Canada. He was once hated in this country. Hated. Do you know why? No. He was hated because when he got here, his entire family played hockey and would skate

in in Ottawa every single day including which at that time was considered a desecration of the Sabbath Sundays it would skate on Sundays and this was a major major issue across Canada at the time and the gentleman who donated the cup which everybody bleeds and sweats and cries over was one of the most hated people in the country because him and his family played hockey on Sundays in Ottawa. Rito Canal, I believe. Anyway, one of the great stories about Frederick Stanley in this awesome book, which I recommend to everybody.

Kevin Shea. And now you're praised for it. If you get up early on Sunday morning and go to the rink, you're a warrior. My dad, high park, outdoors, right? Or sometimes Grenadier Pond. We'd get up. Super early on Sundays. You know, your boy here would watch Hockey Night in Canada with his family.

And my dad and I would head to High Park and skate Sunday mornings. Yes. And now it's celebrated and encouraged. And now kids do skills sessions early in the morning when the ice isn't as expensive. Got to work on my to-ies. Got my pep. I got a pep session Sunday morning at 7 a.m. I'm going to try to get out this weekend.

We got a nice cold. snowy weekend here downtown, so I'm going to try to get out to some outdoor rinks. I mean, I'm a few times this year, so I'm going to try to get out more. Do you have to get your blade scraped or what? No,

we went to Scotia Pond. This matters to zero people outside of GTA. But we went to Scotia Pond. Tell us all about Downsview next. And one of the guys on our team got a skate trip and he said it was really good. So I gave it a shot the other day.

We're good. We're set. I can go to the arena that we play at and get them sharpened before the game. So no need to go back to Aurora anymore, Jeff. We're good on that department. You're going to Scotia now for it. It's going to Scotia Pond for the sharpening. Yeah, that's where we play our games.

Split their chess wood and Scotia Pond. Oh, so it's just like you're playing in the GTHL then, but you're a beer league losers. You got the GTHL ranks. Congratulations. Don't say losers. We're first place in the league. we've only lost once this year. 12 and 1, Jeff.

So let's get that right. Not losers. We're number one in our beer league, comma, I'm the toughest clown in the circus. Hey. I don't have any defense to it. There's nothing I can say about that. It is or it is.

Keep the show going. No, babe, I got to go. No, I got to go. No, we're first place. No, I don't care if your mother's coming to town. I don't care. We're first place And I'm bringing the beer tonight

I can't miss I can't miss I don't care Do whatever you got to do Okay fine call the lawyer I don't care I don't care Where I'm not missing Are you that you're not missing

Are you that guy First place in beer league Don't be that guy No no I'm not that guy Can never be that guy Who's leading score on your team A guy who came from the OHL

Oh fresh meat Just finished up Well he's He came through The OHL played a couple years of university and now he's playing on our team. So, yeah, he's pretty good. Let's just put it that way.

It's a pretty good player. Yeah, no one gets in the OHL by accident. Okay, the sheet is powered by Fandul. Shine spot for Zach here. Play your game with Fandul. It's the NHL season and Fandul is your 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.

Miss Puck Drop, no. sweat with a live same game parley. You can build your bets up until the final buzzer. Download fan dual sports book 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 at 1-866-531-2,600 do speak to an advisor free of charge. What you got, Shakespeare? Well, we just talked about my beer league.

and I played last night. Haven't been in the gym as much as I would have liked to start this year, just off-ice stuff in terms of personal health, Jeff. And sometimes if you're not getting the cardio going as much and you're not as active or stretching properly, then you go play hockey. You might get a little banged up. So the best way to deal with that is getting the jacuzzi

because the jacuzzi always gets me right. This is a little help. Jack Uzi, right. Oh my God, Zach. Okay, you know what? You're taking me for a ride getting there, but it was worth it. Jack Uzi right.

Jack Eichel, Tyler Bertuzi and Shane Wright. Oh, it's so good. Five bucks wins you 216. That's a hot one. Now, is this some two cups of coffee? You don't even know if you're a coffee guy. Are you a coffee guy? Oh, yeah.

You are way too much coffee. Like actually problematic. Yeah, same. Trust me. Is this like two cups first thing in the morning? This comes to you or this is like staying up late last night. Oh, nice mug. Nice mug.

No, this is usually I look at it and then I get an idea of what I want to do or maybe the players. The problem is always coming up with how I want to close this thing out and get the name. together or the story if I have to do that. So this one came to me. The name and the story was helped by NY Boost, who came up with the Jackozy. I already had something with Ikel. I was trying to put right in there because I was thinking about like revenge or something. Then he threw out the Bertuzi and he said Jacozy and I was like, well, there it is.

That is the one. So he helped close the deal on this one. Okay, so Jack Eichel and the Vegas Golden Knights facing off against the Toronto Maple Leafs tonights. We have Shane Wright and the, can we say surprising? We can say surprising. Surprising Seattle Cracken facing off against the, do we really think they're good anymore? Boston Bruins. And we have, who are the Hawks playing?

Hocs are playing the flames. Yes. That's what we got for your trifecta. tonight. $5 pays $2.16 on that one. I love it. We've got the Allenders in the oil. We got a good night of hockey man.

We got some really interesting stuff. I'm curious to see the Columbus Blue Jackets with Rick Bonn. We haven't spent a lot of time talking about that. I guess I was in Washington when that happened. But we haven't spent a lot of time talking about Rick Bonas taking over for Dean Everson. But Vancouver Canucks facing off against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Habs and swords for all you olds like me.

think back to the old Adams Division Days. The Scotty Bowman Bowl, I don't know what you want to say. Flyers facing off against Penguins Keystone State Battle right there. For all you people in the East, Colby Cohen is making this point this morning. For all you people in the East, watch San Jose in Washington so you can watch Macklin Celebrini. So you can just get a sense.

For all of you who aren't, you know, don't work a goofy career like Zach and I do where we have to stay up and watch everything. You can actually have like a normal sleep pattern in your life. So you don't need to be fueled by. caffeine like me and Zach here. Watch that game. Just you get a sense of like just how good

Macklin-Cellibrini is and how important he is to this team and how good he is in his own zone. Like the guy does not get lost. And how many rookies have you watched? You watch every single night. This happens for years. Just completely get befuddled in their own zone because of how fast it is and how you're not used to it.

And it gets hard to play. play in your own zone when you're a rookie. It's hard to play in your own zone until like how four or five years in the NHL to you really, really get comfortable. Watch how comfortable McElhen Celebrini is in

his own zone. So Canucks Blue Jackets, Crack and Bruins. Oh, Winnipeg Jets in the Minnesota Wild. At times this has been like a really good rivalry. We all know what's happened to Winnipeg, even though they're on a nice little uptick right now. I've always thought that this would

one of those great cross-border, heated, violent, dangerous rivalries. Still waiting for that to happen. There have been times where, yeah, they kind of got there, and then they backed off. Still waiting for that to be the great cross-border rivalry with fans going back and forth. Flames and Hawks, you mentioned stars and mammoth, New York Islanders face off against the Edmonds and Oilers, and Mitch Monter faces off against his old team.

What's a reception going to be like next week, by the way? split um i think that this should not be overwhelmingly positive towards him just i know what burkey said uh this is not me trying to say like a personal grudge or anything against the guy it just why would it be so positive you he left you got nothing i know that the fan base wanted him to leave as well like that which is why i think part of that is it's going to be split but why should it be so positive that's just my rebuttal to it. It's not that I think it should be like pitchforks and throwing things at the guy, but I don't know. Like there was no success here team wise. He was the face of that. A lot of times he went

back and forth with the fan base. On his way out, he kind of kicked dirt at them a little bit. I don't think it should be overwhelming love and positive reception and standing ovation for his return. I don't. What if he came back at the end of his career? But if he came back after this thing? Well, it depends on what happens between. It depends on what happens between. If the Leafs have no success, they fall into some pit of doom.

Well, I'm just saying this could be a long time. That's eight years. Like, who the hell knows what happens? I'm just laying out scenarios. If that happens and they win a Stanley Cup, zero percent chance. Like no shot that he comes back and welcome with over. open arms at the end of this. I don't think that would ever happen.

If this goes the other way and the Leafs are competitive and they are around, but Vegas never wins. Okay, sure. Maybe if he wins a Stanley Cup, if they win a Stanley Cup, sorry, they will open this guy with, welcome him with open arms. They will be bringing him back in with flowers and chocolates. Oh, Mitchie. You're forgiven.

You left and we won the cup. Only if your team wins the Stanley Cup. Other than that, you're just going to be bitter. Yeah. Why would I view it any other way? Why would it view it any other way? It wouldn't change a thing. It wouldn't change the past.

Like if your team wins the Stanley Cup, it doesn't, and it shouldn't change how you feel, you're just feeling better because you're like a lot of Maple East fans just frustrated. and then you do what, you'll just be in a better mood to be more accommodating and more human? Should matter. Probably. Yeah, exactly. That's why.

Sports. I am not saying it's reasonable, Jeff. I'm just telling you what the answer is. Sports. Yeah. Sports. Yeah. It's, trust me, I know exactly what you're saying.

But every now and then I got to catch myself and go like, that's really like stupid. I don't disagree with you. I also think it's stupid, but that's how I know about it. If they win, I'm, oh, Mitch, come back, do whatever you want. Sign your one-day contract. Come back as a leaf, too. Oh, do it all. Do it.

Babs, you want a coach? All right. Come on, Babs. Come on, buddy. We got our cuff. We're good. Also, just quickly here, the biggest most blatant lie of all time in the history of lying to microphones is Mitch Marner saying that he never.

thought about this game once and it just popped up. That's paraphrasing. No shot, Jeff. I'm sorry. Zero percent chance. He didn't think about this game. And Jackie Redman went on Leap's Morning Take this morning. She was awesome as always. But I loved it because I've been tinfoil hatting myself through this one as I was yesterday with the Jim Rutherford, New Jersey, New York stuff. And saying at least to myself that the Marner camp had a hand in the schedule. this year to avoid the media avails. Played last night again. LA.

Next week they play Friday. I think it is in Toronto. I think Vegas is coming in off of back-to-back on that one as well. Oh, no, Mitch can't do the media and get asked all the questions the same way. Very smart play. Jackie also brought that one up on Leaf's Morning tape. Oh, okay. Yes.

Shield him away from the dangerous microphone. Yes. Oh, poor Mitch. She'll be looking for his fainting couch. Oh, no, too many cameras. Which also to me just insulates or reassures my point. He's thought about this game, Jeff. Of course.

How can you not? It's like whenever you hear a player go like, oh, I don't read any of that stuff. They read it. All you got to do is like wait until they retire. And then they'll say like, oh, yeah, we read everything. Yeah, they read everything or you had someone tell you what happened or what so-and-so was saying. Yes, they know. They know.

He was waiting for this one. Okay. Well, thank you, Zach. That one made my day. I'm glad. I'm glad that was... Jack, Uzi, right? Come on.

Yeah, the jacuzzi always gets me right. Be proud of yourself. Be proud of yourself. All right. Thanks to Brian Berg for stopping away from Vegas, a cameo by Ryan Leslie and Brad for Living. Thanks to Vince McCogliano, our buddy from the Athletic

for talking about the New York Rangers. Thanks to you for chatting. Thanks to you for watching. Thanks to you for listening as well. Thanks to you for subscribing. Those are always well appreciated around these parts. back tomorrow. It is Friday, so we'll get you started for your weekend with Dave Panyoda. Daily Faceoff, Insider Edition. Check it out. The latest edition went up yesterday.

And you see Dave sort of all over the network and he stops by every Friday here for our little act. Thanks for joining me. We're back tomorrow. One o'clock Eastern. More of the sheet dismissed. Enjoy the games.