The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Marner in Vegas, Schaefer Debut & Canucks ft. Gary Lawless, Jeff Paterson, Stefen Rosner

Episode Date: October 10, 2025

He’s joined by Vegas Golden Knights insider Gary Lawless to discuss Mitch Marner’s arrival in Vegas, the team’s early chemistry with Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev, and how Vegas continues to build around its championship core.Then, Jeff Paterson (Rinkwide Vancouver) checks in to react to the Canucks’ season opener, including Thatcher Demko’s performance, Quinn Hughes’ play as captain, and early takeaways on Elias Pettersson and Filip Chytil.Finally, Stefen Rosner (The Hockey News) joins to break down Matthew Schaefer’s NHL debut and the new era under GM Mathieu Darche with the New York Islanders — plus how Schaefer’s skating and transition game are already changing the team’s identity.From Vegas’ balanced lineup to Vancouver’s big start and the Islanders’ youth movement, Jeff and Zack cover the league’s biggest early-season headlines.Watch new episodes of The Sheet every week on the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel.Shout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Simply Spiked: https://www.simplyspiked.ca/en-CA👍🏼Shark Ninja: https://www.sharkninja.ca/ninja-crispi-4-in-1-portable-glass-air-fryer-cooking-system/FN101CGY.html?utm_source=Better+Collective&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=H2+Air+Fryer&utm_content=EN👍🏼Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/ca👍🏼Prime Video: https://primevideo-row.pxf.io/c/5560083/3303015/20020Reach 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.

Hey, it's Greg from the Side Note podcast, and I'm here to tell you about the new Google Pixel 10, which for those of you who know me, no pixels are my favorite phone, so I was delighted when I was gifted one. Now the Google Pixel 10 comes with Gemini built in. It's essentially like an AI assistant that's there to help you at any time. It can go through my inbox and summarize it for me, which has been super helpful. I also struggle with meal prepping and it can make custom recipes based on the food that's in my fridge. Recently, I used it to help me plan a trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Day one, start your day in old San Juan. Grab a coffee and light breakfast at a local cafe.

Again, the Google Pixel 10 has Gemini built in, so it helps me get things done faster, learn new things, and find inspiration seamlessly. Learn more about the Google Pixel 10 at store.govore.com. Friday, October the 10th. One game in. Josh Norris is injured and Sabres fans are booing. And I don't know what's happening with Alexander Georgiev either. We're not going to talk a ton about the Buffalo Sabres today. We will talk a little bit about what we saw last night,

a resounding loss of the hands of the New York Rangers, and some of the fallout, most notably the, the Josh Norris injury will find out how long that is and what the response is from the Buffalo Sabres. But things have not gone swimmingly already for the swords, as we like to say. But, hey, Zach, am I allowed to get ahead of myself here a little bit? Am I allowed to do something really here really quick before we bring in guests and have conversations about Vegas

and the Islanders and the Vancouver guests? Am I allowed, put my hand up nicely, teacher, and ask if I can jump ahead on the program and do something? Your name is on the show. That goes me under the chin? Not mine. You can do whatever you like. I just fall and react as fast as I can.

That's right. You go where you're put, Zach. You go where you're put. The QOD today, the QOD is essentially, what's your biggest surprise a couple of days in? I know it's early, but let's get ahead of ourselves. You're like, I'm trying to get ahead in the show. So the QOD is brought to you by the Ninja Crispy, and we'll get a little bit. more into that later on the program. But I wanted to present you with my two biggest

surprises that I've seen so far this year. It's a similar play and last night it resulted in a goal. You've heard me talk about flipping pucks at goaltenders before and we've now seen it in two nights in a row. So let's really quickly rewind to open it to, no, to Wednesday night, the Battle of Alberta, Blake Coleman flips one in on Stu Skinner. Let's just roll this one here first, right? Let's just see, Blake Coleman, this will end up being the game tying goal. Coleman comes in just a little flip right at Stu Skinner,

plays it like a bag of toys, and next thing, you know, we're all tied up. Again, it's a little simple flip to the goaltender. The point that I've always made about these plays is you should do the more because you know where the puck's going? No, no one does, not even the goaltender.

That results in a goal. Okay. And then, so I'm feeling pretty good about myself. Like, oh, okay, that's great. Zeri flips it in and Blake Coleman's there to tap it between Stu Skinner's legs and we're all tied up and the Calgary Flames end up winning this thing. And then last night in the Vegas San Jose Sharks game,

Jack Eichel takes it to a whole new level. Jack Eichael pulls out the J.C. Tromblay. I'm going to get into him here in a couple of seconds. Let's see for those that didn't stay up to watch this thing last night. Let's see how Jack Eichel handles things. Newly

minted $13.5 million a contract, steps over center ice, and just blunk, drops it in front of Alex Nadelcovic, and it goes in. Now, you might look at that and go, oh, wow, what a soft goal. That's a hard shot to stop.

That really, anyone on the ice knows, A, you got to short hop it if you're the goaltender. You got to get out in front of it like you're a second baseman. But I'm constantly surprised that more players don't do that. Just step over center ice and flip it at goaltenders.

Now, I mentioned J.C. Tromblay a second couple of seconds ago. Oh, yeah, that's the... Oh, man, shades of Patrick Stephan. The easiest empty netter. Oh, the easiest empty netter. And then here's Jack Eichael with the flip. Oh, it's such a smart play. So, J.C. Tromblay, who was a defenseman for the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL

and then Quebec Nordiques in the WHA. Do you have a picture of J.C. Tromblay? This was a... What I'm talking about here. is what J.C. Tremblay used to do on the regular. This guy had incredible hands. Like he was a defenseman in that era

who had the hands of a forward. And Red Fisher said outside of Bob Yor, he had the best set of hands in the offensive zone of anybody in the NHL. I agree with Red Fisher on this one. His hands were incredible. What J.C. used to do is just what you saw Jack Eichael do. He says it added about 25

goals to his career. Just from flipping pucks at net minders and just have them. Oh, yeah, man. and just have the puck bounce in front of a goalie because no one knows where it is and there's a chance that this thing may come in. Now, I want to make your weekend. Zach, I want to make your weekend.

I want to make everyone's weekend in the chat. I want to make everybody's weekend who's watching live on YouTube or listening to us on your favorite podcast platform. Here's how I want to make your weekend. My favorite thing about J.C. Tromblay? Now, you're not supposed to do this, but he did. And it was awesome.

J.C. Tromblay gave himself his own nickname. now you're not supposed to give yourself your own nickname but he gave himself his own nickname you know the nickname that j c tromblay gave himself no but hopefully it's good because he gave it to himself yeah yeah he gave himself his own nickname and his nickname was j c superstar True story. Oh, God. I'm telling you, Zach, just stay alive and you'll see some crazy stuff. And you'll hear some crazy stuff.

And today, you head into the weekend knowing that J.C. Tromblay gave himself his own nickname, J.C. superstar. And he is a man responsible for the idea of flipping pucks in front of net minders. And as I said, he feels it added. 25 goals to his career. All right. Time for the blueprint right now. What's coming up on the program? The blueprint is powered by Fanduel.

Make every moment more with North America's number one sportsbook, Fanduel. And coming up on the program today, it's kind of like reporters day. We might end up doing a lot more of these if they really work out on Fridays, just like shotgun style, like a bunch of reporters and insiders one after the other.

We'll talk to Gary Lawless, insider for the Vegas Golden Knights. We'll talk about Mitch Martyr there. We'll talk to Jeff Patterson. about the Vancouver Canucks. Good opener, great opener by Philip Heedle yesterday. Thatcher Demko was excellent. Steph Rosner from the Hockey News and the excellent L. Monter's newsletter will stop by.

We'll talk about, even though it was a loss, Matthew Schaefer's debut with the Islanders yesterday. In the meantime, do you have a favorite so far two days in or a surprise? Maybe it's the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2 and O. maybe it's how competitive, albeit in a couple of losses. The Chicago Blackhawks have been early on. or maybe it's just the woes of the Buffalo Sabres getting booed in their home opener and dropping a tough one to the New York Rangers and Josh Norris gets injured, comma. As someone pointed out on Twitter today, I should have grabbed it for you.

I don't want to, I'm not going to make fun of the guy, injuries, nothing to make fun of. As someone pointed out, Josh Norris has played four games for the Buffalo Sabres and only finished two. oh i didn't even realize that yikes um non-contact yesterday too was tough it's a face off goes down you can tell just immediate immediate pain um but if we're talking surprises the one for me right now or the some of the most entertaining has been the bruin's the bruin's two and oh here to start the season they may as we all predicted as we all predicted as we all predicted as we all predicted can't go 82 and oh if you don't go to and oh good competitive kind of fun young guys

I texted you last night after I saw Fraser Minton score I'm not ashamed to admit it and I just said Fraser Mito Eagle of course the Leafs are cursed this is the way it is time for me to give up cheering on teams I'm just going to watch and cheer for hockey Are you going to come over to my side of things

be the teamless fan just cheer for players in good games you're going to come on snuggle up next to your boy Jeffrey here on on this one? I think as hard as I tried, I would always still be a fan of the Leafs, so it wouldn't matter. But no, the Bruins have been fun to watch,

not just surprising, okay, 2 and 0, and they won and whatever. Like, anybody can start 2 and 0. It's just, it's been fun to watch them. Turn on any game, you check out the highlights, whatever it is, it's entertaining. Yeah, it has been. 14 games on the go-around the NHL last night.

Tonight, exactly zero games. I don't want to grouse about it, because it would just feel like I'm sort of, you know, nitpicking something to grumble about. But in your opening week, I know it's all based on building availability and it's a very, very sensitive calculus that Steve Hatsapetros and his team, I'm assuming he has a team behind this because if Steve does this all himself, holy smokes, what an undertaking that is putting together the NHL schedule for 32 teams. I know it's all based on arena availability and when teams want to play and when they don't

want to play and competition from either major league baseball you want to program around it football college football um i remember talking to to Doug mclean about to talk about um about his scheduling and what he would request and what he wanted to stay away from and college football was obviously a big one but he also said uh what Canadians can't wrap their minds around is we don't want to compete against high school football that you want to stay away from high school football as much as you can

because there are so many people that go that it puts a dent into their attendance. Gary Lawless we're going to get to here in a couple of moments when he chimes in. Also, as I mentioned,

we will be talking to Steph Rosner from the El Monters and Jeff Patterson on a really interesting game by the Vancouver Canucks just to sort of get into Vancouver here for a couple of seconds before we bring Gary aboard.

Zach, just let me know when Gary's chimed in. All the questions about Philippeitel through the preseason answered. Look great. Game one looked great again. Now, a pair of goals yesterday, the first one, the puck hits Kevin Ball in the head. You can understand the irony of Philippeel scoring a goal off someone else's head, not his own, considering his history of concussions.

But he looked great. Thatcher Demko looked fantastic. Quinn Hughes had the one turnover, but whatever. when you play high-risk hockey like Quinn Hughes does. That's going to happen sometimes. He looked great. As a lot of people mentioned on social media last night, was it the best of all possible games for Evander Cain?

I don't necessarily worry about veterans really in a season. So I'm going to reserve judgment on Vander Cain at this point. Jonathan Lekker-Mackie scores. So early on, and again, it's a game you have to have because Calgary's on the second half of a back-to-back. You have to have it. all you can do is play the games that are presented to you. And that was a game that Vancouver had to win and a game that they did win.

So a good start for the Vancouver Canucks. The weekend should be full of hockey action as it is every Saturday. Essentially, the league is a Thursday, Saturday, Tuesday league for the maximum amount of games. Everybody in sports wants to stay away from Mondays. Hockey is no exception. people generally stay away from Sundays. And basically they run a ton of games on Thursdays as we know and they run a ton of games on Saturday all day long.

It's fantastic. We're all glad that hockey is back. And we'll see plenty more of it coming up this weekend. But give us something on the Friday. Give us something today. Right? Again, the poll question. One of the biggest surprises through the first few days of the NHL regular season.

My pleasant surprise has been two, flipped pucks towards goaltenders that resulted in goals, shades of J.C. Tromblay. I wonder how Vegas insider Gary Lawless will answer this question. Gary joins me now from as one person just who's listening and watched or what may be watching the show right now, just texted me, Gary Lawless, Peterborough Mafia. Gary Lawless, Peterborough Mafia. I was delivered just on Wednesday night, Pete Dalladay, the great and longtime voice of, the Pets, son of the great Gary Dalladay.

Great family. Great family. The boys of the Pets when I was growing up. I should mention Tim and Krista. There are other kids, good people. He delivered a hoodie to me on Wednesday. This guy, Jay Rowan from Peterborough, he owns Sandbagger. It's a hard cocktail that you can drink in Canada.

And he just expanded to the U.S. and into Vegas. and he did a sandbagger open in Las Vegas this week, and they got a plane from Peterborough. It flew from the little airport in Peterborough. They didn't have to drive into Toronto. They chartered a plane. Peterborough to Vegas. Yeah, they stayed at one of the hotels on the strip.

They played a bunch of golf. But anyways, they got tickets to the game, and at the last minute, Pete decided to come. He didn't have tickets, so I gave him my tickets. he delivered a fantastic TPP's before they were TPP was a transport the trucking company

that are once really owned them That was the sponsor Yes and they weren't maroon They were black and a bit of a goldy color He delivered me a hoodie on Wednesday night That's awesome That's what they would have been a development team

For the Montreal Canadians Which was one of the origin stories of the Peterborough piece So the TPPs as you mentioned Yes that's in the Scotty Bowman was one of their first coaches there and went to the Memorial Cup they lost

Pat Casey was one of the players and we could go on and on forever and ever but anyway I think there was now correct me if this is this is better for a question for Scotty I believe and I think this did happen in Peterborough the Plager brothers both fought they fought each other under the stands

have you ever heard that story that guy has a lot of Corrine yeah yes it is for sure So I knew Barclay a little bit better than Bill, but I grew up kind of hanging around Quartha, golf and country club. I worked in the back shop there. And on certain days, you know, Mickey and Dickie Redmond and their dad, Ed Redmond, would show up to play.

Other days, the Plagers would be around. And, of course, they had this great amateur tournament every August, the civic holiday. I don't know what they call it now. but and Pete Mahavage had an old restored Bentley and Pete would roll in in this open air Bentley and play the tournament and he was a good player not good enough to win that tournament but that's enough Peterborough history for you well let me throw one more and I've always been trying to find out what the stories are but so many people are no longer with us the New York Islanders had their first ever training camp there in Peterborough this was beaten this would

be 1972. I think there were like 75 players that they brought out. And some people's, let's just say, how do we say this delicately? Significant others had to be asked to leave for extracurricular reasons from this wild training camp with the New York Islanders. But I digress from Peterborough stories. Well, just before you go, like that's, the Toronto Maple Leaf had camp in Peterborough. They would play, they practiced. They practice. at the Memorial Center and stay at the old Empress Hotel. And that is the setting for Scott Young's great book, Boy at the Leafs Camp, which, you know, is the first one is Scrubs on Skates,

then it's Boy on Defense, that's Bill Sponska gets introduced to the readers. And then Boy at the Leafs Camp is when Bill Sponska makes the Leafs. And then the last one in the series is that old gang of mine, which he wrote about, Scott wrote about, them they were in their 40s and for some reason team Canada needed to put cobble together a team at the last minute minute to play in Europe and it's they're divorced they're smoking they're drinking too much and uh if you read the first ones like these your heroes are shattered it's uh clay seat and all that it was really good yeah Scott young of course the father of

Neil Young and if we're going to go story for story with the with the young family. Johnny Bauer recorded a Christmas song called Honky the Christmas Goose, which is legendary. And they used a bunch of studio musicians from Yorkville at the time where Neil Young was hanging out. And if you look at the original credits for Honky the Christmas goose and the musicians, there is listed an N. Young. I've never got it confirmed. I don't know how to get it confirmed. But there's it. I'm wondering if Neil Young was actually the guitarist on Johnny Bowers, Honky the Christmas Goose. These are the things. Gary, I'm going to be blunt with you. These are the things that kept me single for a lot of years. I'm just going to be honest. Like stuff like this, like being fascinated with honky the Christmas goose, kept me single for a number of this, my friend. Is there an R. James on the,

because famously Neil Young and Rick James were hanging out in Yorkville together and then drove to the west coast in a hearse together. In a hearse? I hadn't heard that one. Oh, that's a hearse. Yeah, no, yeah. Have you not read Neil and me? I have not. No, I have not.

Oh, you got her. Yeah, thanks. Scott's great book about him and his son and their their fractured, at times fractured relationship. Really good stuff. Okay, so let me draw another one here. So Neil Young noted San Jose Sharks fan last night, San Jose Sharks facing off against the Vegas Col de Nights, and Jack Eichel made my day.

And this is a tribute to J.C. Tromblay, the flip puck in front of, Alex Nadelcovic and I was given a little sort of history lesson about J.C. Trombly before he came on and how he popularized that move to some extent. He said that it added 25 goals to his career, doing that

very thing that we saw Eichel do. Before we drill down on the Vegas goal, the Knights here, I'm surprised the more players bluntly don't do that because it's a hot potato no one knows where the puck is going. To me, it's just a smart thing to do. I guess coaches want the puck in quote-unquote

safe areas, but To me, it's a high percentage play because no one knows where that thing's going. And we saw Connor Zeri do it on the Blake Coleman goal the night before. Yeah. And actually, the sharks did it a couple of times to Akira Schmidt after the Nadelcovic goal went in. And Schmid, the first one, he did not handle it.

It wasn't an easy handle for him. He did make the stop. But, you know, I don't know why they don't do it more often, probably because I want to make better play. it also well and also it confuses the forecheck right when you can't see the puck

when the puck is up in the air when can you cross the blue line etc etc it becomes a little bit of if someone's trying to get in heavy on the forecheck it's a difficult it slows you down right so and Jack Eichel is uber talented

he can do lots of things other than flip the puck we see more of it of defensemen flipping the puck out of the defensive zone, which has become quite fashionable in the last years. Jim Dory. Jim Dory, whose nickname was literally Flipper.

Old Maple Leafs defensemen from the early 70s there. As we continue with our historical series here, yours truly Jeff Merrick alongside. The historian Gary Lawless, also occasional Vegas Golden Knights insider, but mainly a hockey historian from the Peterborough area.

I look at the Vegas Golden Knights, and I say to myself, top line with Barbashev, Eichel, and Marner has all the potential in it to be the best line in the NHL, period. What do you say that? Well, how long are McDavid and Drysiddle going to play together this year? Like, that it's, that's a pretty, you know, listen, I think Jack and Mitch and Ivan are going to be dynamite. And best line in which sense?

Are they going to be the best offensive line? Or are they going to be... No. No. All around. You have to play against. You have two sulky trophy candidates, guys that can score 100 points,

guys that could win a hard trophy. And to the point about McDavid and Driesidal, I wonder now with the addition of Jack Roslovek, whether they're trying to construct a third line, like a solid third line with Ryan Neutcher Hopkins, which would necessitate separating Connor McDavid and Leon Drysidal to go strength down the middle. That's, so I don't know that, I know it's,

it's always for Knoblock and for every other coach that's been there, it's the in case of emergency break glass moment. Like, okay, we need a goal. It's like, okay, we need a instant offense. You put Leon and Connor together. But I think, like, long term, probably better off to separate the two. That's why I look at that Eichol line and say that, like, as a proper line that you're not going to,

outside of, you know, barring injuries, obviously, you're not going to mess with. They can be the best in the NHL, both ends of the ring. Hey, it's Greg from the Side Note podcast, and I'm here to tell you about the new Google Pixel 10, which for those of you who know me, no pixels are my favorite phone, so I was delighted when I was gifted one. Now the Google Pixel 10 comes with Gemini built in. It's essentially like an AI assistant that's there to help you at any time. You can go through my inbox and summer. it for me, which has been super helpful. I also struggle with meal prepping, and it can make custom

recipes based on the food that's in my fridge. Recently, I used it to help me plan a trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Day one, start your day in old San Juan. Grab a coffee and light breakfast at a local cafe. Again, the Google Pixel 10 has Gemini built in, so it helps me get things done faster, learn new things, and find inspiration seamlessly. Learn more about the Google pixel 10 at store.google.com. Fall is here and everybody's getting back from vacation, headed back to school. And you know what that means? Yep, it's time to slide into some bombas.

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They're actually playful and fun. They've even got new sweat-wicking socks that keep you energized for those fall workouts or, you know, just running after the kids as they head to school. And can we talk about the comfort? Bomba's marino wool socks are so cushy, they're like walking on pillows. Plus, Bamba's underwear feel like nothing, but still support everything. They even have new heavyweight cotton teas that are extra thick and soft, perfect for layering season. Bombas make slippers that make it hard to leave the house, you know the kind,

slippers with indulgent Sherpa lining, cushioned footbed, and even memory foam. Of course, the best thing about Bambas is that for every item you purchase, they donate one, is someone experiencing housing insecurity right here in Canada. It seems small, but it does add up. In fact, with the help of Bomba's customers all over the world, Bombas has donated over 150 million essential clothing items to people who need them. That's a whole lot of good. Bombas has a 100% happiness guarantee.

That means you're covered for life. Reach out to their happiness team for easy returns, exchanges, or replacements. Go to bambas.ca slash the sheet and use code the sheet for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot CA slash the sheet and use the code the sheet at checkout. Yeah, so I won't, I won't quibble with that. And it's the, what McCormin has done is he's put together four really good lines so that, you know, Bruce Cassidy doesn't, like, it's not like they're loaded up on one line

when they have Marner and Eichel together, because if you're paying attention, Dorofiev has four goals already. He's on the second line with hurdle and sod, and the line of Carlson Smith and Stone, they have been dominant for stretches. They get the puck in the offensive zone, really hard to get away, to get it away from them.

And then just when you think you've, you know, you've broken out and you're going up up ice and you're going to start to have some fun. Stone will reach in and steal the puck or Carlson will track you down and take the puck from you and all of a sudden they're going the other way again and the Sizzins like Brett Howden scored on the fourth line last night. He had 23 last year. He's already got one. He's with Sizzins and Colissar and they look really good as well. So like I think it's the best, I think it's, I think it's the best line that doesn't sacrifice anywhere else in your lineup. And because that's how you lose in the playoffs.

It's not your good guy's kind of, you know, getting ground down. It's what you don't have. You can't play your third line or you can't play your fourth line or your last pairing. And then all of a sudden, in a seven-game series, the other team is able to take advantage of it. And you're looking for your golf clubs. So the depth of the ballot is cheap. Last one for you, because we gushed so much about Peterborough,

but it's one of my favorite topics. As I'm off to quote, Peterborough is a hockey word. Peterborough is a hockey word. Let me ask you one more question, though, about the Vegas Golden Knights. We know that this is an organization that does not sit on its hands. This is an organization that, unlike other organizations, understands it in a salary cap universe,

I mentioned it's yesterday to Colby Cohen. In a salary cap universe, if you have a chance to improve your team, even the slightest, you have to do it. You are obliged in a salary. Even if it's a tiny little percent, you have to do it. And Vegas understands that better than most teams in the NHL. You're Kelly McCrimmon. What area are you looking at right now?

I know it's so early. I get it. But is there an area that if you're Kelly McCrem and you're saying, you know what, I have my eyes on this area? well it would have to be the blue line and you know I think he's going to give them time to if he has any worries to he'll give them time to alleviate it but you know Alex Petrangel isn't playing this year and you know that there's that's 22 23 minutes a night of the hardest minutes against the opposition's best players huge in the dressing room huge on the bench like you know things are going to bad and Petro is like everybody just relax we're good let's let's get back to what we know how we know how to play and we'll be fine he's you know there's just so much going to be missed with with him and then on the ice great in his own zone physical uh and then can skate the puck can shoot it

just did so much for this team uh you know i would have to think that if they if they if they if they if If they run into any trouble, it would be there. And Kelly will do something about it if he thinks he needs to. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Thanks for sharing your expertise on the Vegas Golden Nights and more Peterborough stories, please. Always interesting in the town stories. Thanks, Bal, Gary Lawless, Vegas Golden Nights Insider.

You can watch them on the intermissions in your Vegas Golden Nights game and you can listen to them on radio as well. Before we get to Jeff Patterson, this segment is a presentation of Prime Video and Monday night hockey. Your exclusive home to the NHL streaming games nationally in Canada every Monday. Prime Monday Night Hockey opens next week, October 13th with a big double header. It is Detroit in Toronto, followed by St. Louis in Vancouver. More on them in a moment.

Also on Prime Video, Face Off, inside the NHL Season 2. Subscribe with a 30-day free trial to Prime Video to watch Monday Night Hockey and the new season of faceoff. Download the app or go to Prime Video.com. With that, we bring aboard. Our good friend Jeff Patterson, who I would imagine, like many Vancouver rights right now, enjoying what must be the sun shining brighter, the beer a little bit colder, everybody's smiling, the teeth are a little shinier after a pretty convincing win by the Vancouver Canucks last night.

A little bit of rust on someone like Evander King, but player to player, Jeff, that was as much as a game they had to win, Calgary's on the back-to-back. You can only win the games they present you with, and Vancouver looked really, good last night. Yeah, but you lost me at the sunshine in Vancouver. It's October and we're digging in for a few months here. But no, look, I feel whole this morning. I was at the rink to watch regular season hockey again. It was a great thing. And it connects do a nice job with all the pageantry of opening nights and ceremonies and then the team backed it up. But as you said, Flames had played the night before. We know the story there. They looked a little more

battle tested, even if it was just their second game of the season. I think the Canucks kind of had to dip their toe into the water, and that's where you see the value of Thatcher Demko, who only faced 18 shots, but sometimes it's the situational saves you get. And in a scoreless game

and at 1-0, Demko was sensational. And I've said this from the first time I laid eyes on them out at UBC and summer skates, and I get that that's all they were, but just to see them back on the ice, happy, healthy, looking free in his motions, he has looked sensational through training camp, through the preseason, and then looked like he was going to pitch a shutout before the late

Morgan Frost goal last night. But this is a guy, Jeff, that made his season debut last year. His injury is well documented. Season debut on December 10th, his first win of last season, December 16th. He had two victories at Christmas time. I mean, he's halfway to that total after opening night. He has the ability to truly change the conversation, I think, about what's possible for the Vancouver Canucks if he gets back to his Vesnik caliber and he's not there yet, but boy, all signs are trending in a massive direction. It's just, we're all going to keep an eye on him after every, you know, is he going to be on the extra practice today because of the health issues?

He's got to come through every single game and be ready and available for the next one. And he taught us a new word last year. Pop, was a popliteus. We all got to know the popliteus. That's a new one in all of our vocabulary. You know, I was on secure. I do a weekly hit on Securison Price. And I was like, look, I don't want to get sort of carried away about one performance.

But, you know, watching Demco yesterday and there's like this, this is shades of Ian Clark from years past, like economy of movement around Thatcher Demco. I always maintain that Kerry Price was the most athletic goaltender of his generation, not because he's making big wild saves and rolling around the crease, but he got to position quickly and efficiently and move post to post quickly and efficient. Like that to me is an athletic goaltender. How quickly can you get to position to, make a save look boring.

It's hard to make saves look boring. It's the NHL, but, and again, I know it wasn't the heaviest workload. He didn't face 40 shots last night. But part of me is looking at this and going like, all the same reasons that we all looked at Kerry Price and said, that's a great goaltender. I saw at least last night in Thatcher Demko. Well, I always laugh when I hear people say, you know, he looks big in the net. Well, Thatcher Dupco 6'4 wearing all that equipment.

Of course he does. But, like, I understand that. saying because we also see big guys that don't fill all the holes in the net. And teams that have goaltending, they know it. And the teams that don't, they know it too. And boy, the Vancouver conducts feel good about what they've got as a one-two punch. And, you know, workload is going to be a massive issue here. And I'm curious. Like, if I'm making the call, coming off last night, I come right back with Thatcher in Edmonton against the rulers on Saturday night. And then go to Kevin Lankham in against St. Louis on Monday. And then you sort of set the ball rolling because the next

games after that are a pair of back-to-backs to start a road trip and they'll split those and then five games in demko would have three starts lincoln and would have two and i think you're kind of you know pushing uh the rock down the road in that sort of pattern that if in a perfect world if thatcher can stay healthy you know he's probably getting 60% of the starts and they go a 6040 sort of split here because really it's not what that tree demko does on october the ninth as good as he lord uh they need him down the stretch and then ultimately uh this is a guy who's going to turn 30 in December. He has four playoff starts on his resume, which

is wild. Three of them in the bubble. And then the one game against Nashville before he left that series two years ago. So he knows it. He's talking about it. He burns to play play playoff hockey. And he burns to change this narrative that he is injury prone. He knows that injuries are a part of his story. But he

doesn't want that to be the focus. He wants to get it back to where we're all raving about his on-ice performance. And so for one game at the very least, so far so good. You know, it's, we looked at the preseason and everybody that we had questions about, like pretty much to a player, they jumped over those hurdles, right? Whether it was Heidel, whether it was Mancini, whether it was Elias Pedersen, whether was Jonathan Lechromacki, Braden Coots, like, everybody looked good. And in preseason, you always have to wonder, okay, what's a mirage? And I don't know if we can really judge what was a mirage from the preseason.

but I look at, you know, Lechromacki in that goal last night. Like, man, that guy can, that guy can shoot flat out. It's the hardest thing to do in the NHL score goals. He can do it. Philip Heedle looked fantastic. You know, it was the first one a gimmie, the puck hits Kevin Ball's head, and it's a tap-in. You got to play to the whistle.

But based on what you saw in preseason, and again, it's only one game, and then what you saw last night against the Calgary Flames, does it look like any of what we saw in the preseason was a mirroar. or you can take the you can take you can take you can take you can take the trap door hey it's still too early merrick well it is too early but look philip he'll scored twice for the conucks after the trade and then they shut him down on march 15th he hit two goals last night so uh nice start for him and really he should have the hat trick there was a puck in the blue paint there in the third period that was just sitting waiting and somehow scored it out the other side so uh his

speed is undeniable uh you know he's been reckless at times and i think put himself in some bad spots and I know that the Canucks have worked hard with him, done a bunch of video work here, trying to figure out ways that he can just put himself in better situations and avoid harm's way, you know, running headlong into big strong defenders in the national hockey league when you have a history of concussions. That's not playing particularly smart. So you're right. First goal was a bounce. The second one, though, you know, head up all the way, pulls away from the defenders, a couple of nifty stick handles and then picked his spot and scored. And at that point, three nothing and the connects were off to the races.

So really nice start for Heidel. You know, Archie Baines, the story's well documented. Local Boy makes good, makes the NHL. But in 21 prior NHL games, he had one point and he starts the season in the top six role. Great pass. Great pass last year. It really was. In fact, in real time, I saw the three on the jersey and I just figured it was Quinn Dishing.

And I was like, wait a stack, no. That's 13, not 43. But there are a lot of people out here. It's quite a talking point of, you know, should he be in a top six role here? Skates well, thinks the game well, has figured it out at every other level. He led the Western Hockey League in scoring one year. It's been a high score down in Abbotsford. But in his limited time, usually lower in the lineup, in the NHL had just the one goal against the Penguins last year. Otherwise, didn't have a point.

That was his first assist in the NHL, so a bit of a keeper for him. But, you know, can he hold his own? And that's going to be the mantra here for a young guy like Braden Kutz has been earned another day. I think that applies to Arskey Baines. He's probably earned another opportunity to stay on that line with Heedle and Connor Garland. They were really good last night. But it was the flames. It was the back-to-back-to-backs in that third period.

Connects took advantage of a tired team. And he had to do that. They'll be the tired team some nights. But there will be stiffer competition ahead starting on Saturday going into Edmonton, or there's will be a little jumpy after what happened to them. So, you know, let's see how it goes. And just speaking of Coots, you know, a Sherwood Park boy going back to Edmonton. He played them in the preseason.

But now you're playing for keeps. But one thing to be able to protect them on home ice, it's a little different when the Oilers can throw McDavid and Drysiddle or the two of them out and gang up on the kids. So I'm really curious to see how the Canucks go about spotting Braden Coots in his first road game in the National Hockey League. Okay, I want to be grumpy media here for one second. Ah, the power play stunk.

Ah, the Vancouver. Yeah, it was a win, but the power play stunk. I know I'm, you know, never criticize a win, as the old saying around the NHL. but the power play, Jeff, the power play. I liked grumpy media guy. Usually I'm the one being accused to that, but I'll play along. Yeah, power play didn't look very good.

Quinn used, but they score five goals and Quinn doesn't figure in the scoring. I had to look it up. They got to five goals 12 times last year. Yeah. Point in every single one of those games. So that's how rare a five goal performance from the Canucks without a point from the captain. And so he's going to have to wait to make Connuck history because his next point, his first point of the season,

we'll move him past Alex Edler, and he'll become the highest scoring defenseman in franchise history. It's not the highest bar in the world. The amazing thing there is that it's happened in 500 fewer games than Edler played as a Kinnak, which just tells you the greatness of Quinn. He'll get his point. I don't think anybody here is worried.

But yeah, Evander Kane on the first unit power play when Jonathan Lekromackie is dealing right now, I think people want to see the young guy get an opportunity there. Kane didn't really help himself. There were a couple of careless passes last night. We're all still trying to figure out what his role ultimately is going to be on the power play. It looked all right in the preseason, but yeah, last night, again,

I think they can sort of overlook it. They know they're going to need it. There will be games where it has to win them, hockey games, but they get by last night. And really, it was funny because in my timeline and social, I saw Flames fans freaking out about their power play and the fact that Zane Perrek is sitting in the press box for the first two nights of the season and they generated.

I think they had three shots on goal in eight minutes of power play time and a tight hockey game. It was a tight hockey game for a while there. So, yeah, I've been putting it on the to-do list. It's early. I don't think anybody's worrying about it. But, you know, if it's not of Andrew Kane, is it going to be Connor Garland?

Will it be Jonathan Leckermacky? So I do think the dust has to settle there before the Connects really figure out what they're doing with their top unit on the power play. You know, first week this season, we've seen a couple of rookie coaches get their first wins, Dan Mews with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Marco Sturm with the Boston Bruins

and now you can throw Adam Foote into that mix as well. Hasn't been very long with the head coaching title, but is there anything that you've learned or gleaned or think that fans should know or understand about how Adam Foote is going to run this operation? I think we're all still in find out mode ourselves. This is a guy with such limited experience as a head coach. I mean, you've got to go back to a season in the Western Hockey League

five years ago, and that didn't go so well for him. And I think certainly, and I don't think I was alone, thought that he was just going to go with Rick talking to Philadelphia, and those two would continue on their way. Canucks convinced him to be the guy and take a chance here to be a head coach in the national hockey. He's been terrific to deal with in the early going. Again, hasn't lost a game that means anything.

So we'll see, you know, you'd say grumpy media. We'll see about grumpy coach after, you know, there's going to be some losses. he's not going to win them all. I think he knows that. He's been around the game long enough. So let's see when that sun that you were talking about isn't shining here in Vancouver, but so far so good for him. You know, it's funny. You know, he's cut from the same cloth as Rick Tocket. You can understand why Rick Tocket wanted to bring him along as an assistant, but now he sort of has to set out and be his own guy and he's formed his own staff here.

And yeah, I mean, I think he wants to be a little more aggressive in parts of the ice than Rick Tock, it was, certainly wants to get the defense involved more in the rush. They scored five last night and no defenseman had a point. So, you know, for night one, maybe they didn't get the defenseman involved, but they still won the game going away. I think it'll take a little while here before we could truly identify trends. It's all sort of talk at this point. But again, you know, it's funny.

I'm sure you've seen like the vibes out here are good. And they are different. And to a man that connects from the day. first day of their team golf tournament that kind of signified the start of training camp, you know, they made it clear. They're hell bent on putting last year behind them, turning the page and not allowing the dysfunction that really did them in last year to seep into this season and stay with them moving forward. And I would say they've done a pretty good job of that. Winning will help obviously. Yeah. But they want to prove that last year was last

year and that they are a better team ultimately. And they're better prepared in the event that, you know, the inevitable adversity hits them. And last year they didn't deal with it very well. They want to do a better job of that this time around. A lot of expectations will close on this. I got about a hot 60 left. Elias Pedersen. First of all, the hit yesterday, the Uyghur hit. I mean, it looks to me like Pedersen is trying to initiate that Peter Forsberg, bump back, hit that we've all you know, associate the great power of Swedish power forward with. A, any problems with that hit?

And secondly, how do you, I'm one assist. How do you evaluate EP 40 from last night? Yeah, no problems with a hit. It was, you know, that awkward couple of feet from the boards and the collision and the way he went in, didn't love that part. But he himself said, hey, contact game, I dropped the puck off, probably should have put myself in a better spot. So, yeah, I'm just happy that he returned to the game.

and then obviously the other, the Elias Pedersen hit on Conner's area on the other side. Again, just awkward the way he went into the boards. And I like the way the officials handled both of those, though, apply the major and then review, and they reduced both of those calls. And I think that ultimately those probably were right. Look, as for Elias Pedersen, the forward, the jury's still out. He had a nice assist on the Brockbester goal. It came late.

It was garbage time. But, you know, he's opened his account, as you say, at least with an assist. He was on the score sheet, all four lines scored last night. But they need more, and he knows that. It was sort of mediocre preseason. He looked like a veteran that was kind of pacing himself. He's been invested since day one of camp, but when you're getting paid close to $12 million,

you better be invested. He understands all the noise around him, but really he couldn't prove a whole. He led the NHL in scoring in the preseason. It wouldn't really matter. People would have said, okay, show me when the lights are bright. So, again, I'll give him a passing grade last night. I thought there was some decent defensive plays.

He was the first guy out killing penalties in the absence of Teddy Bluger. It's not the sexiest part of the game, but somebody's got to do it. And if that's an area that he contributes, you know, they need offense from him. He knows that. We know that. And we'll see if it comes. But I would give him a passing grade on the first night of the ring. He's one of those guys.

Again, like I don't cheer for teams. I cheer for players. He's one of the guys that I really want to see bounce back and have a great season. And if he does, that answers a lot of questions for this year's edition of the Vancouver Canucks. Jeff, always a pleasure. Enjoy the Edmonton game. You're right. It should be a big one for Coots and a big one for the Vancouver Canucks. Thanks for sharing expertise with us today. Much appreciate it. All right, Jeff, thanks. Google Pixel 10, which for those of you who know me,

no pixels are my favorite phone, so I was delighted when I was gifted one. Now the Google Pixel 10 comes with Gemini built in. It's essentially like an AI assistant that's there to help you at any time. It can go through my inbox and summarize it for me, which has been super helpful. I also struggle with meal prepping

and it can make custom recipes based on the food that's in my fridge. Recently, I use it to help me plan a trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Day one, start your day in old San Juan. Again, the Google Pixel 10 has Gemini built in, so it helps me get things done faster, learn new things, and find inspiration seamlessly. Learn more about the Google Pixel 10 at store.govore.com. There he is, Jeff Patterson, who joins us here on the program, breaking down the Vancouver Canucks,

and really, again, like all you can do is play the games they present you with. It was a back-to-back for the Calgary Flames, a little bit drained from the night before. quick thought on the Flames, and I know it's only two games, but Nasm Kodry is already playing, like, a guy that wants to play for the Stanley Cup this year. And it's probably looking at this year's edition of the Calgary Flames and saying, yeah, you know what, this is probably going to be a rebuild. Am I going to, you know, probably going to let go Raspus Anderson at some point here.

They're going to take that proverbial step back before they step forward. He's probably going to end up on another team if the offer is right. I wonder, again, like last year about the Dallas Stars with Nazim Kodry, it seems to fit what Jim Nill wants. wants in his team, we shall see, but Cadre is making it very, very obvious that, and he always plays hard, but like first couple of games, Cadry's out there every single shift, really battling hard. Let's see what happens.

One of the stories will follow where does Nazim Kadri end up by trade deadline this year. In the meantime, all eyes on Matthew Schaefer last night, albeit in a losing cause, New York Islander's first overall draft pick. recording an assist in his first NHL game. Here for comments from the hockey news and the excellent L. Monsters newsletter. Steph, first of all, how did you put on your evaluator hat, your scout hat? Actually, if you're a scout,

you have to all be wearing blacks. We'll give you a pass on the scout fit look today. Give us two thoughts on day one, Matthew Schaefer, NHL. This was a big moment for that young man and his family. Yeah, one thing you noticed about Schaefer, no game is too big for him. He treated that game as if it was a regular game. He talked to his dad, he talked to his brother, he talked to his teammates.

They were all ecstatic. They were all nervous for him. He said, I'm just pulling hockey. You know, I don't care going up against Crosby, Malcolm, like, it's cool, but we're all playing a game of hockey. We're all trying to win. And I thought he played really well. Played a tad over 17 minutes. He gets the assist, but his skating and fans outside of the Islander fan base are going to see this.

He's an unreal skater. It allows him to do so much in transition, escape to D zone, closed gaps. I mean, he was exceptional. He earned minutes six on five late in the first. the game when the out of trying to score leading the third period there. But overall, it was successful first game. He's just going to keep building on it. One thing we've learned is that this guy is a very, very fast learner. But yeah, he looked like a 10-year vet out there for sure. Let me share something. I was mentioned this on the show either yesterday or the other day before.

I got a note from a coach. I sort of did like a montage of the Schaefer back checks that we've all seen, one against Michikoff and one against Matt Rempey. And it's like, the guy's the roadrunner. I saw this plenty, you know, in minor hockey in the area and saw plenty with the erie otters. and now everyone, NHL fans are getting a look at what this guy can do. And I had one coach text me saying, you know why he's back checking so hard because he's caught deep too much?

What does Patrick Wad do with this? I mean, it is such a calling card for Schaefer, joining the rush getting deep because he knows he can get back, but this is the NHL man. Like, you know, you're not playing against Oakville anymore. You're not playing against Sudbury in the OHL. You're playing against the Rangers and the Flyers and the penguins. Patrick Waugh commented on this at all?

He hasn't, but I think with him putting Scott Mayfield with Schaefer, that was a sign that, you know, let Schaefer do his thing. You knew he's going to jump in on the rush and do all those things. He's a stable defensive defenseman behind him. That will eliminate the fast rakes. Now, we saw it in the Flyers game. You know, a couple of goals went in, including the game winner, where Mayfield got caught and Schaefer was up on the rush.

And that's something they have to work on and communicate, and that don't come over time. But that's the plan. With Scott Mayfield being a mentor on and off the ice, having a defensive defenseman on there to stay back, and let Schaefer do his thing. So we'll see how long that lasts again. First game,

Schaefer looked really good. Mayfield struggled and they lost, not blaming it all on Mayfield, but there were mistakes made and goals were in the back of their net. But yeah, he hasn't commented too much. He won Schaefer,

he's comfortable playing his game. He doesn't really want him to change. He said, of course, he'll have to adjust, things that he got away with in junior. He's not going to get away with at the NHL level. But, yeah,

the plan was have Mayfield there to pretty much allow Schaefer to play his game, and then he'll learn. He'll learn, but that's the plan right now. What are, I'm going to move off Schaefer here in a second. There's more to get to, but it's such a fascinating player and young man as well. What are Islanders fans doing with this phenomenon?

How many Schaefer jerseys are we expecting just to see around the rings? Like, give me a sort of snapshot of what Schaefer mania is with the Islanders fans. I'll give you a perfect thing. They're auctioning off his second period jerse from last night. I think it's up to 14K already. Yeah, I think it's high. It's up there. I got to look back at it.

I'm from one of my friends was texting me saying, like, dude, it's so much money right now. So that tells you all you got to know a bad game. It's ridiculous. But yeah, the biggest thing for Schaefer is that any stand he meets, doesn't matter to the age when mostly kids, he goes there on one knee with them. He talks with them for 10.

He has to actually be stopped because he's taking too long. He cares. And I think young player, young fans, especially in a fan base where last handful of years, they've been competitive, but not good enough. And this is a new age,

a new era. those are the kind of fans you want to get in the door and Schaefer is the perfect person to kind of market that. So he's been incredible. The fan base loves him. I think he's going to struggle. The fan base knows that. I don't think they're going to get on him like they got on maybe another defense and they just traded away early on in his career.

Yeah, he's beloved and the way the owners have just treated him from start with the cancer ribbon on his jersey, the initials on the jersey, and the way the fan base every time they see him just show him the love. I think it's a matchment in heaven and we're going to see it's going to be tomorrow night against the capitals for a home opener, the momentum that he's going to get from just the fan base

roaring when they announce his name. Yeah, for sure. Like, he's an instantly lovable guy. I guess a lot of this is, you know, informing this next question, a lot of it, but I guess it's going to depend on wins and losses and how he's playing. Like, how far do you think the organization is looking at Matthew Schaefer? Are they doing it in sort of increments of five games, of 10 games, see where he's at, what the decision is going to be for his development?

and I'm trying to figure out a clever way here with you, Steph, to ask if they'll make them available for the world juniors. Yeah, it's a great question. I'd be shocking as made available for the world juniors because I think if the honors want to do anything this year, Schaefer's going to play a huge part of it. You've already seen their transition game last night. I've never seen the honors play a faster brand in hockey.

And it's a collective effort for sure. But I think Schaefer kind of sets that, the way he plays, just the way he skates and moves the puck. And I think it is a, they all take a day by dad. It's how you talk about it. But we spoke to his dad last night. And his dad was so proud of the way that Matthew Darts and Patrick Boy have gone about how they're going to develop him. Like they didn't get too much into specifics on he's going to play every day.

You know, what are the minutes going to be? But I don't just want to win hockey games and Schaefer proves able to handle it. He's going to get more minutes. And the more minutes he's going to get, the vigorous role is going to be. So right now we're starting on your bottom pairing defense. But I wouldn't be shocked come half with the season if he's potentially on the top pairing or middle pairing or top power play because they want to win games. He's showing to be an absolute game changer for them. Yeah, he's a special player and a special kid, certainly.

Anyone that's come across his acquaintance, all things from the same hymn book. What do you think of Matthew Barzell is the center, comma, again? Yeah, I think this is kind of a, obviously, Brock Nelson not being back, right? That's, you know, Patrick Wapka talked about how they played in the Eastern Conference final runs in Barzal being a center. Well, I was back in center because they didn't get a two-seat. Now, I think, and we've talked about Callum Ritchie, you think we both agree that going to Bridgeport playing 30 games. 20 games is the way to go. And I think once Richie Poo's ready, he's hurt right now, we'll get an update probably tomorrow, see where he's at. He's skating on his own.

But once he's ready, I think Barzal goes back to the wing. However, I do think Barzal, you saw the assist he had on Pamari's goal yesterday, which is, he looked great, transitioning up the middle of the ice and the things they do. I think you learned, you know, talking with him and a couple of players, how much he's learned from Bo Horvette about the 200-foot game, the little things he picked out. His biggest mark has been his struggles in the face off that when he won 7 of 10 yesterday. one game, but 70% is pretty good to start your season. So, yeah, I think he's good there. I think he's comfortable there, even though he hasn't played there in a couple of years.

But I do think it's a stopgap. Once Richie's ready and proves to be a 2C, I think Barzal goes back to Horvats wing because I think, you know, he had one of his best years on the wing. So I think that's where he's ultimately going to end up. But for right now, I mean, he hasn't played an NHL game yet, but I mean, I'm still shocked. I wonder if you are that, and I know you got to pay if you're going to get someone like Brock Nelson. I'm still stunned that the Islanders were able to get Cal Richie. Yeah. Craig Cal Richie and that deal. How good this kid is. I mean, we've talked about it.

And I feel like Lou was talking about other people. We're talking about how he was untouchable or quote unquote untouchable from a lot of other teams out there. And they almost found a way. And you got to, you know, you got to give to get. I didn't get to watch Richie obviously too much in juniors. But seeing him at rookie camp, training. So good. Yeah, cute.

I mean, yes, he's a big body. He's physically mature. his hockey sense is off the charts. Defensively, like where he's, especially in the D's, I think that's the biggest thing, especially for coaches and building trust, is, well, what can you do away from the pub?

What can you do in the defensive zone? Every time, you know, you see him look over his shoulder in the D zone, you see him back check. You see him do all the right things where if he gets an NHL chance, I don't think it'll take too long to be a number two C because he's going to earn those minutes defensively and then we know his offense in the game

is going to be a good one. So he looks like a guy that is a sure top prospect, but he's a future. number two C, I think, for this team for a very long time. Okay, let me close with this one, stuff. I mean, you're right there, you thumb on the pulse, all of it, like you blanket coverage with the Islanders. So here becomes my question.

What would you consider, or maybe a better phrase this way, what would the Islanders organization consider a successful season? And maybe what would you consider a successful season for this team? Yeah, I think it's making the playoffs. I know that's kind of, you know, people don't want to say just make the playoffs and get in and see what happens, but that's what Darch said during introductory press conference. you never know. He looked back at last year's team and said, it should have been a playoff team. And yeah, it would have been a playoff team if their power player penalty kill was

10% better and they had a ton of injuries. But Darch believes that he improved this roster. And I think making the playoffs is a huge goal. I think forget for the veterans here that want to make the playoffs after missing last year, the young guys that you have, whether it's Schaefer, whether it's Richie, whether it's another year of Holmstrom, Syplokhov, Shappanov. Making the playoffs is so important for their development and getting a taste of what that's like and getting a taste of, you know, maybe falling short in the playoffs. So I think they would call that a successful season. But also, if they don't make the playoffs, it's seen the development from guys.

And I'm just talking about guys at the NHL level. We've talked about Bridgeport so many times and how that has to be a spot where college players and feel comfortable developing. So I think a successful year if they don't make the playoffs is Richie takes a step. Schaefer takes a step. The guys in Bridgetler that struggled last year takes strides. And the guys that are coming to Bridgeport are getting put in an environment where, hey, Bridgeport made the playoffs.

So Bridgeport was a hard team to play against Rocky. two guys, three guys took strides. Like that would be a win for me is that your guys that developed, your guys that you wanted to develop, develop, because it's all about the future with this team. I really do believe that.

Because that didn't happen at all. Like you can make the argument, guys took steps back in Bridgeport. Like it was like by the end, like who wanted to, like bluntly, who wanted to play there? No one. 100%.

No one. 100%. Yeah, that was, it sucks and that's not the attitude you want your prospects having, but you know, you're not just losing games when you go to the rink every day.

You're getting killed. And that's, that's a terrible mindset, especially for an organization where now you have a process I'm proud of. You can't mess these guys up. Like, these are your future. And if you don't hit on these guys and we'll see about, you know, Eklin and Acheson who are playing well. And Prokorov, like, you need these guys to succeed. Eiserman, Danny Nelson, you need those guys to come here and develop correctly because there's been too many players. And maybe those players like Abelas or Wallstrom or Dow Cole weren't ever going to be good enough to be NHLers. But you didn't really give them the best shot to, to prove that they are those guys. So you have to make sure you get it this year. That's a great point. You know, we always talk about, oh, how important drafting is.

Developing is just as important, just as important a piece as, as, as the, the identification of a player. We've kept you for too long. Steph, always a pleasure to catch up. Man, it's great to have you on the beat covering Matthew Schaefer because you know it'll be covered properly. Thanks so much for stopping by, as always. And we'll, we'll check back regularly.

Thanks, pal. Appreciate it, man. Thank you. There is a great, Seth, Rosner. You read them at NHTel.com. hockey news you should subscribe to the El Montere's newsletter it's fantastic man this guy doesn't sleep I swear like he's he really is Zach one of the best and one of the uh like when you when you look at staff you're like okay yeah this guy's going to be in this industry for a long time

and it's going to be a major star major major chat seemed like him here today too he's great that's always good yeah stuff's great all right so the QOD the question of the day Biggest Surprises brought to you by the Ninja Crispy. Have a look. Dun, dan, dan, dan. Didn't play. There we go. Meet the first of its kind.

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I could use the Ninja Crispy portable cooking system. Nonetheless, what is our QOD today? Well, great city, great university there. Some would say the best university there. No, wrong. No, that's down the 401 in Guelph. Sorry, no, wrong. Sorry, purple.

uh sorry purple you went from one you can take your seeps in your soggy and mate land you can take all of that crap no no thanks not interested day late dollar short last call time to go all right uh question of the day i don't know if yep look this is how you know it's a friday and there's no nchl games yeah there's it's very rare that you get this from our chat i don't know that they understood the assignment here but the question the day nonetheless what are the biggest surprises through the first few days of the hl regular season so we gave ours i put the question in the chat um here are the answers i'm just going to read them for you let's go geoffrey wilder do you think the leaps are too big

making them look slow that is one they have first first of all first of all montreal looked a lot faster than toronto montreal i know like uh leaps win that one Never critique a win, but Montreal should have won that game. And they did look significantly faster than the Toronto Maple Leafs. I think that's a great point. I really do. Montreal look quick. And you saw what they did to Detroit last night.

Yeah. Our friends at Flames Nation came in and just so willingly participate in and said, Oilers suck. Thanks to the Flames Nation. They got three. How can you be proud of, like, like those three goals. So I got you back into the game and got you in a position to beat the

end. I mean, full value of any goals, a goal, I guess. But like, look at those things. One's off a skate.

One's off a goalie mishandle on a, on a dump in. The other is a baseball swing. Three of the goofiest goals, back to back to back to back to back to get back into that one. But listen, I know, if you're a flames fan right now,

you're heading into a rebuild with this team. First of all, Morgan Frost looks great. Morgan Frost looks great with Calgary. Um, but I, I get it. Like all the attentions on Edmondson can be, they be the team to bring the cup back to Canada, all eyes on McDavid and the contract.

I, I get that it's tough. I, I understand it, but others are good. But good on the flames for beating them in the, in the opener. Good on them. Yeah. Uh, we have conflicting responses here. Okay. Bill back.

The other one, I lost it here. But, uh, the one, uh, was the surprise, the biggest surprise. is how successful the third jersey releases have been. And then Bill Beck says, why does every surprise third jersey suck? So you can't win, right? It's just to do with that one. It's, you know,

it's kind of like music. Like I can't say that a song is bad or an artist is bad. Someone likes them. I can't say a jersey is bad or a jersey is, is good. Like, all it is is just a reflection of your taste. That's it. But there's no, like, I can get all philosophical, there's no transcendental signifier or transcendental signified. So it's all a matter of your own tastes and what impresses you or what makes you tap your toes.

I don't know. I like the Kings reveal. I like that jersey. I'd still want it to be purple and gold. I like how they did it. I still love the purple and gold more. I still do. but, you know, some people dig it.

I mean, everybody seems to be like the rush to black for every NHL jersey. I like what the Rangers did. I like that. I like, I think that Ranger look is really good. Some people, plenty in the chat, I'm sure. It's like, oh, dude, it looks awful. It's like, we're playing with the Crayola crayons here.

Like, no, but I think it looks great. The only thing that is unassailable is the Minnesota Wild, Minnesota North Stars. look is the best in the NFL. Fight me on that. That should be, that should be the full-time kit for the Minnesota Wild. I really, really, really, really liked the Red Wings ones last night seeing them. He did, yeah, yeah. This is one of those ones where it's like the, uh, in theory versus in practice where like you saw the pictures and they were okay or like they were nice, but he was like, okay, how was that going to translate? I felt that way about the rain.

Rangers ones when I saw the Rangers and the Red Wings where there's in game action when it was on TV as like wow they did it right like that looks good just everything about the execution the design the colors they popped I thought those looked good I loved the Red Wings ones last night though but yeah I again I agree with you with the Kings ones the surprise how they unveiled it was really cool okay jerseys specifically Jeff jerseys looked really good not sweaters are you no longer Canadian I hated

okay sweaters sure I hated the helmets like just like just terrible I hated the helmets I know I was so hot Earth also didn't like them but yeah I don't know many people are taking their fashion cues from either me

you or earth if it's any of the three of us it would be Irf I would give the hat probably Earth yeah it's good I take your fashion lead. The other one here, which I guess maybe is, maybe this was a YouTube error.

This is why we got these coming in this way. But NY Boost says, are the Keynes finally ready to shake the boring tag? So I guess we could kind of switch that around and say, I guess, from the first couple of games of the season around the NHL and from what we've seen of the canes so far, are they ready to shake the boring tag, Jeff? Kandria Miller is going to win the North's trophy, right?

How good How good did K. Andre Miller look last night? Give that man the Norris now. Voting. It shouldn't even begin. Just give him the trophy. He looked great. But the thing is like, we've talked about this before.

What is the one thing more than anything else that the, I shouldn't say anything else. What is one of the main things that the Carolina hurricanes do with players? They shine up defensemen. They shine like that, the way that they play and that's, system of dayplay, that shines defenders. And it makes defensemen rich. Brady Shea, Brett Pesci. We always talk a lot about what Florida has done with Sylvan Lefebvre and how there's a lot of your brand of mentors and your Oliver Ekman Larson's that have sort of gone through and then found their riches elsewhere or found a lot of success in Florida that has led to really healthy contracts

for them most recently Nicomico Nicola but Carolina's right there too Carolina's got a history of doing this they shine up their D real nice and Kay Andre Miller early audit call Corey Lavalette ask Corey how good is Keanjee Miller look

yeah take a number they all look good Walter Barker in the chat here it says who knew Adam Fox was the one holding back Keontre Miller it's just the way they play man like honestly like if you're if you're a defenseman that wants to like shine up the career for a bigger contract

going on a league minimum with the Carolina Hurricanes get all polished up real nice it's Carolina Hurricanes defenseman car wash come out looking shiny and squeaky and ring the bell that's the way you're a D man who needs to do the bet on yourself year head on over to Carolina

bet on yourself there Yeah, it's true. I'm sure you'll come out on the other side, feeling pretty good. Yeah, I'm happy for Kay Andre Miller, too. I just remember I was standing beside his mom when the Rangers drafted her son. And the story is a great one. There's always so many great stories about sacrifices that families make for their children. And that is a fantastic one.

Anyhow, okay, good stuff from the chat there. Also, want to finish up here. I don't know what you got coming up for this one, because we got no games tonight. but here we go. The sheet is powered by Fanduel. Home in the same game, Parlay. Make every moment more. I like that blue, by the way.

Make every moment more on Fanduel. Fanduel, proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them. Okay, no NHL game game day. Non-game day. What do you got? I like themes. I like bringing everything together.

Oh. Spent the whole week, you know, getting excited about the season starting. And then now we're three days in. So it's too early and we're talking about surprises and teams that have really shown up that we maybe didn't expect to in certain ways. So with no games tonight, I'm taking a look at make-miss playoffs from a team that has had a hot start. The Boston Bruins do they bounce back, make the playoffs plus 320, miss the playoffs, heavily favored minus 400 for this season, Jeff. I really want to see Jeremy Swainman bounce back in a big way.

I really want to see Charlie McAvoy stay healthy. He's one of my favorite players to watch. David Pasternak is going to be David Pasternak. You may win the Rock of Richard trophy this year. I just don't know that there's enough there, there, down the middle for the Boston Bruins to make it to the playoffs. So even though they've had the great start and you've loved them and remarked upon them already, I just don't know that there's enough from the shopping cart to come home to feed a family. I just don't.

I just don't see it. I like that saying. I'm happy to be wrong. I'm happy to be wrong. And I'm happy to be wrong about the Boston Bruins. I want to see Hampus Flynn home have another great season. We talked about like underrated. We left last night.

I believe great within. Yeah. You know what? The Bruins in some ways, you know, haven't quite been the same since the Svetnikov hit on Hampus Landholm a couple of years ago. I use that as a demarcation point for the Boston Bruins. Pre-hit, post-hit.

Anyhow. Anyhow. Do you like him to be in or no? No, I just thought it was interesting that it was at plus 320. Like, it's not really me thinking, oh, the, Bruins will be in. It's just, this Atlantic, I'm, I'm way more on your side with where the Sends are at. I, I don't know long term what this ends up being. Like, goal tending is going to be an important thing. I don't think that they changed too much in the off season. I think

Montreal got better. I don't think Toronto took too much of a step off. You look at Florida, like, Barkov out all year, could chuck out for a long time. Tampa could kind of be one of those variance teams where it goes really one way or really the other, which just it's just like all of that to say, why wouldn't the Bruins be able to squeak in? You know, like, do they could hang around?

I don't know, man. It's a donut team, no center. Right? The other thing that I did that I think we should mention, because you mentioned the Ottawa senators a second ago, and someone who had a great preseason and translated it into a great game one,

to shame Pinto. Pinto looked great in the preseason and looked fantastic last night for the Ottawa Senators and they went over the Tampa Bay Lightning. He's, I know he's a big, he's a big favorite of the morning show, morning cup of hockey and there's relationship there between him and the guys. He's, and he's been on before a great interview. He's really good and he's having a great start to the season. He kicked it off in training camp. He looked fantastic and he's just carried that all the way through. All right. Anything else you want to share with anybody any uh by the way had a great time last night we do these events at del manor and got a chance to sit down and talk to jim mckenny uh for an hour who told the hilarious

story about if you haven't seen the movie face off you really really should it's from the early 70s it's kind of a cult classic and how he is in it there's a lot of like footage they use from the n hl and jim was supposed to be in it as an actor art hendell ended up getting the role who's an actual actor and football player. But he told the great story that he's never seen the movie face off. He went to the premiere, but he dropped acid before the movie. It kind of freaked out a little bit. We started the night with the dropping acid story before going to the Gallo premiere,

how he'd taken acid before the, so he's never seen the movie. To this day, he's never seen the movie. It is a cult classic. I don't know if you've ever seen it, Zach. If you haven't, I got a few copies of it. I can, happy to give it to you. The wonderful thing about it is they use actual game footage from the NHL and how we told us about the cameras, the camera crew going around from, you know,

Vancouver and Oakland and L.A. This would have been 71, so the SEALs would have been there. And then back through like Detroit and Toronto. And because the hockey players partied so hard, they're like out-party. the camera. Anyway, just a great time with Howie. One of the, one of the, and he's 78 years old and he's still in tremendous shape. And, you know, through his work with Alcoholics Anonymous, he's done a lot of great work for a lot of great people for a very, very long time. Just a delight to hang out with Howie.

Just one of the, one of the best guys you'll, you'll ever meet was a, and he talks openly about, you know, how alcohol affected his career and how, you know, wreck what was going to be a really promising career in the NHL. I thought the story about, you know, it took him a number of years until he realized his best friend, Boris Salming, took his job, the number one power play on point with the Toronto. You know, just a great night. Thanks to everybody at Del Manor and thanks to Jim for coming out and hanging out for an hour with us.

So that was a lot of fun. I know it was sort of that Jimmy's from a different vintage and much before your time, but as a broadcaster too, he was tremendous. I just, I just love Howie. Great guy and a lot of fun to tell Manor last night. I don't know if he took much out of it. Yeah, that was a cool event. He's cool.

Yeah. Yeah, the stories were, it was fun. I mean, just even the way he told stories and kind of dove through everything in his career to where it led him and the experiences he had. And some of the people that he was around and with like Don Cherry through certain points. Roommates and roommates for like two years in Rochester.

Yeah, it was fun. And definitely I have to go in while. watch that movie. I had never even heard of it. Actually, you might have brought it up once or twice here, but I'd never seen it or realize exactly what it was. So now I got to go watch it.

You got to go watch Face Off. I'll be blunt. Part of it is kind of cringe. But it's like that good, like, oh, that's cringe, but it's so awesome. And it's like you'll see. And there's like tons of NHLers in it. And as I mentioned, like a lot of the game action is actually from the NHL. So a good movie.

It's fun. And it's about a hockey player and his romance with a, with a musician. And she thinks that hockey's too violent. And you can see all the how that storyline plays itself out. Cheesy premise, 100%. The premise is like total cheeseball. But it's just a fun movie. If you get a chance, if you get a chance, go see Face Off.

Get yourself a copy of Face Off and check a cult class. All right. Thanks to everyone who stopped by today. You just heard from Steph Rossner a couple of moments ago, Jeff Patterson, And the mayor, the real mayor of Vegas, the one and only Gary Lalas. On behalf of Zach, Merrick signing off here, tip your Zamboni driver. Thanks for the buns and the use of the hall, as we like to say around these parts. And have a great weekend.

No games tonight. Games on the weekend, certainly be back to talk about the Monday at 1 o'clock Eastern. And don't forget the full lineup is back in full effect on Monday as well. Morning Cup of Hockey, Johnny Lazarus, Colby Cohen, 9 o'clock Eastern. And how about that, the addition of Elliot Friedman and James Van Riemstike. this year to the roster of MCH. So major bumps there. And then DFO Live with Talia Remchuk and Carter Hutton.

So bump up in quality there as well. It's a hot lineup. Glad to have you aboard. Don't forget Daily Face Off Insiders Edition. Wednesdays at 3 o'clock Eastern as well. And more announcements about new shows and new talent joining the network coming shortly. In the meantime, enjoy your weekend. We'll talk again.

on Monday. I said 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month. I can't get up my head, lost all ambitions day to day, because you can call it all right. I went to the dark man. He tried to give me a little medicine. I'm like, no, man, that's fine. I'm not against those methods. It's me and myself and how this is going to be fixed in my mind

I do want to break it I've turned on the music I do want to break it I turn it on the music It's turned up Yeah, I'll get you sometimes losing I've been on the days that we're wrong Hey, it's Greg from the Side Note podcast, and I'm here to tell you about the new Google Pixel 10,

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