The Sheet with Jeff Marek - McKenna Benched, Flyers Drop 9 Straight, Tkachuk Heats Up, and More ft. Brian Burke & David Pagnotta

Episode Date: October 16, 2026

Brady Tkachuk is finding his groove with the Florida Panthers, and the Philadelphia Flyers can't seem to buy a win. Jeff Marek is joined by Brian Burke and David Pagnotta on today's episode of The Sheet to break down the biggest stories around the NHL, who's making an early statement, and which teams already have serious questions to answer. With the Flyers opening the season with nine straight games without a win, is it time for major changes in Philadelphia? The guys also dive into Dylan Larkin's future in Detroit, the latest surrounding Simon Edvinsson, Connor Hellebuyck's situation in Winnipeg, and the players and teams turning heads across the league. Plus, what does Brady Tkachuk's explosive start alongside his brother Matthew mean for Florida, and what other storylines could shake up the NHL landscape?SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!! 👍🏼Coca Cola: https://www.coca-cola.com/ca/en/offerings/coca-cola/hockey 👍🏼Sports Interaction: https://www.sportsinteraction.com/thesheet 👍🏼Taco Time: https://tacotimecanada.com/ 👍🏼Movember: https://movember.com/ 👍🏼DoorDash: https://www.doordash.com/en-CA Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, once again, welcome to The Sheet for this Friday, October the 16th, coming to you from the Sports Interaction Studio, an official sports betting partner of the NHL, the Philadelphia Flyers, now winless in nine, Gavin McKenna benched, Brady Kitchuck with another hat trick, and plenty more headlines to follow heading into what should be another exciting weekend. Once again, welcome to the broadcast. Glad to have you along today. Brian Burke will join us here in a couple of of moments, and we should probably go over a number of things here with Brian. Some of the hot buttons that sort of linger into the weekend, which is the Connor Halibuck situation, which continues to drag on. As we mentioned, yesterday was the first official pay period, the first day that NHL paychecks were issued to players. So now officially, if you're on hellabucks.com, you can see how much Conor Halibuck has now

cost himself by refusing to report to the Winnipeg Jets. Not that I think they want him there. As a matter of fact, quite the opposite. Whether it's players, coaches, managers, owners, certainly fans as well, who are very well behind Stuart Skinner at this point. We'll get Burkies further thoughts on that one. Get Perkies thoughts on the Philadelphia situation.

What to do. 06 and 3 to kick off the season. This isn't the plan. This wasn't the plan. But here we are. And then the Gavin McKenna benching. Yesterday in Toronto. Toronto squandering another lead and losing to the Buffalo Sabres in

overtime, a massive game for Jack Quinn. Also, towards the bottom of the hour, we will be joined by Dave Panyoda of the DFO Insider property, which you can hear and see Wednesdays here on our DFO YouTube channel and Spotify and Apple Pods and wherever you consume content pretty much. All right. So that's the program for today to get you all started for the weekend. We'll kick it off with our Friday staple here. He is the Hall of Famer.

He is a Stanley Cup champion. He is Brian Burke, and he joins us every Friday on the sheet. Brian, how are you? Good, Jeff. How are you? Good. A lot of questions. Let's start with Big Blue. And let's start with Gavin McKenna. Normally a situation like this where a rookie player gets sat down for half a game, it's kind of greeted with mild curiosity and understanding that it's hard to play in the NHL as an 18-year-old.

It happens. It's part of the progress of a young player. But Toronto is different. And this is a first overall draft pick. Jim Hiller only playing Gavin McKenna and somewhere in the neighborhood of six to seven minutes sat down in the second period, never reemerged. Now, it was interesting, and I've got a couple of theories on this, I'm curious about yours. Hiller kind of said, well, we had penalty trouble,

he wasn't going to go out and kill. Third period kind of lost a little bit of track. I looked at it and said, one, this is Hiller sending a message to a young kid and then be at the same time trying to protect him. And as I came to that conclusion, I thought, Brian Burke was the master of protecting players. So is this what you think Jim Hiller was doing yesterday? I think he made a mistake.

I think you're talking the first overall pick. You're talking Toronto. You're talking to headline, benching a guy for more than half the game, two-thirds of the game. So it's a big problem right out of the gate. I blame his assistant coaches for not saying something to him. someone should have gone down on the bench, especially when Tavaris got hurt and said, you've got to give this guy some ice time, even if you're sending a message. No problem with sending a message to a young player.

It's happened to all of us, every one of us. I've seen it. I've sanctioned it. I've condoned it. I've said, that's fine. I've told the player involved. It's that for a reason. But it embarrassed the kid when especially not get them out there at all, I think was a mistake.

I think his comments were. designed exactly to protect the player. Good for Jim. I like Jim a lot. He's a good coach. He's not a good job so far. This was a mistake. I blame the assistant coaches.

The follow-up, the comments afterwards, and here's the quote from Jim Hiller. That was my decision. We went for a stretch. We had those penalties. We wanted to get him out there. He sat for so long and he sits through the intermission. Probably should have gotten him out there at the start of the third.

I'll talk to him about that. added, the big thing is the penalties, I guess it just didn't happen, and that's on me. You know what that, and again, this might just be me, Brian, putting on my hockey decodering. It felt like that's Jim Hiller saying, don't ask the kid about it. Let's not start a fire here in Toronto. If there's going to be a fire, we wanted to be a contained one, and I'm trying to contain it. Does it feel that way to you? Yeah, I thought he did a real good job walking everything back after saying,

hey, it's because of the family. He said, it's not me. I guess I really shouldn't have put them out there. That's admitting the mistake, putting gasoline on it, like you say, or not pouring gasoline like you say, and protecting the player all at once. Very smart, but a fundamental mistake to start with. You can't erase with just a few comments.

I believe you used to, the phrase that you used to use, Brian, was shoe the flies away. Do you recall any specific moment where you went to players and said, hey, do you want me to shoe the flies away here? I did it with Phil Kessel in Toronto. I did it with Alexander McGilney in Vancouver. I went to Almo and said,

look, you're getting a lot of criticism here. I'm going to shoot the flies away and do you want to rant? Alex McGillney's a great kid. He said, I'm playing poorly. He said that you can't change that. Don't say a word anymore. So I loved Alex. Great kid.

Yeah. Yeah, my favorite, I've mentioned the story, I think maybe to you before, my favorite Alexander McGill in the comment of all time. Leifes were playing a, I can't remember what round it was, some playoff series. And he was asked before a game one, Alex, do you feel any pressure in a situation like this? And Alex looked at him with a sideways cocked head and said pressure.

The only pressure I feel is in the morning after a cup of coffee. This hockey stuff is, this hockey stuff is easy. There's no pressure here. So do you think. then, you know, heading into the weekend where now this is a story, I mean, the bigger story is how the Maple Leaf squander to lead against the Buffalo Sabres, great game by Quinn with the Gordia Howe Hatrick and a really nice goal. But do you think that this story ends now? I mean, you know the Toronto market. Does this

one still have fumes? Are the embers still hot? What do you think here? Because coupled with a loss and a benching of a first overall pick, normally that's a recipe for call the fire department. in Toronto. Yeah, that should go away because he did a good job of walking it back and protecting the player. Should go away in my view. All right. I want to ask you about the Philadelphia Flyers as well. If we have time, I want to circle back with the Maple Leaf's performance last night against the Buffalo Sabres.

But I want to make sure I get in a thought or two from you on the Philadelphia Flyers. So even though Detroit did their best at the end of that third period to try to hand the puck to the Philadelphia Flyers to try to tie this thing up. A couple of really bad plays by Detroit trying to get out of their own zone. The Detroit Red Wings come out with a regulation win two to one. And so now Philadelphia's record to open this season is 06 and 3 after nine games. They have three points. Making this even worse is, I mean, that Cheerio beside your name is a tough one to see. But in a situation like this, it's at the beginning of the season.

Like it's never good to go through a stretch like this. but you can hide it a little bit if it's December or January. This is to kick off the season. Heat has got to be high in Philadelphia. Let's say you're the manager of the Flyers here. You're Danny Breyer. What do you do, Berkey? I would have signed Leo Carlson in the off-season.

Well, that was up to Pat Verbeek, your old captain in Hartford, who matched. That's what they try to do, and it's more evident now why they try to do it. They're having trouble scoring goals. They don't have a lot of offense. Now, you mentioned the 0-1-7 start or whatever it is. Just keep in mind, that's after making the playoffs, after years and years of missing the playoffs.

That's after high expectations, which makes it worse. So I think all you can do, you have a quality coach for you, Rick Tockett. He's one of the best coach in the league. So you can't look at a coaching team. You've got to look at making a dealer or two and just getting down the basis. You've got to dumb the game down. Everyone backbacks all the way than that. Chip pucks out.

Get Pucks in deep, dumb it down. The thing about it is, though, right now, and you've talked about this before, when you're going through a stretch like this, right, 06 and 3 to start the season, managers aren't calling you to help you. Like, no one's calling Danny Breyer with the message, oh, let me help you out of this situation. It's not the pirate days when you were trying to steal fingers every time you shook someone's hand. But still, no one's trying to help out. No one's trying to help out Danny Breyer here.

Like I'm sure he's taking calls that when he hangs up, he shakes his head and says, man, we're really in one because everyone's trying to steal my players. Yeah, they throw you angles when you need help. They throw you an anvils. But I remember getting an offer one time in Toronto, we're in a losing streak. I said to the GM involved,

that's not an offer, that's an insult. So you're not getting any help at this point. People are trying to dump money on you, and dump their problems on you, trying to get it and make poorer trades. It's important to keep your head now. I think with Keith Jones there and Dan O'Briere, they're not going to panic here.

Their owners that understand this game. They're not going to panic. You've got to down to town. You've got to do something to show some progress. Do you need to... One of the things that I always wonder about in this situation, and the other thing we should keep in mind here, too, is that you mentioned Rick Tocket off the top.

Rick Tockett's on year two of a five-year deal that pays them over $5 million. You know what it's like going to ownership and saying, hey, we want to eat this. So the idea of making a coaching move is probably not under consideration right now for the Philadelphia Flyers. But if you're the flyers right now, like the fans are hot, they're upset to your point.

Not only did they make the playoffs, but they beat their state rivals. The Pittsburgh Penguins are opening round. They won around here, okay? So it's not as if they like, you know, backed into the playoffs and then got swept. No, like they won around here. I think a lot of us looked at this and said, a lot of it is Dan Vladar,

who's covered up a lot of mistakes and is having an incredible season, but nonetheless. The temptation to do something for the fans, how high is it? And do you feel that as a general manager, and do you think Danny Breyer and Keith Jones are feeling that like we need to do something

because we're just getting killed out there? Well, you got to rule out the white noise. Now is not the time to panic. You can't respond to the white noise. The white noise grows deafening at this time, especially in Philly with the expected results. The white noise is definitely. Trade this guy.

Trade that guy. Send this guy down. Waiver claims. So you look at the waiver wire so you can get some help there. Because players come on the waiver wire almost every day this time of year. And you maybe get some help there, some short-term help. But in the meantime, you got to dumb it down, get the team to work hard, play physical, go. all the basic keys to turn it around.

That's all you can do right now. They're not looking at a coaching change. No, I don't think so either. I just really do wonder, you know, at what point the bleeding stops with the Philadelphia Flyers. And I'll just ask you bluntly. You can't get into the playoffs in October, but October can wipe you out.

I know the Philadelphia Flyers in 2018 lost 10 games in a row and still made the playoffs. can't bank on that though. Are they already out of it? Bluntly, from what you've seen and the record, are the Philadelphia Flyers are already out of it. Should they be saying, you know what, recalibrate, let's start going and scouting games at Michigan

so we can see Landon DuPont more? You've got to, in my mind, you throw in the towel this early, you really quit on your team and the organization and the fans. Fans won't tolerate that. You can't tank. You've got to try to win.

It's dumb it down, do all the things. Take the steps that you go, there's a handbook for turning a slump around. It's dumb it down, play better defense, keep the puck out of your net, start banging, take no dumb penalties, start hitting harder. There's a playbook to follow. It's not new. Brian Burke's view on life. This is whatever he can do when they go through the slump. But if firing the coach is not an option, which is not in my view, be grossly unfair, let alone expensive.

but I'm sorry, I said an alarm to make sure it was on time for the show. I would have been late. I said alarms. No, I think they're not out of it at all yet. But they will be soon if they don't fix it. I was going to say like October's got a couple of weeks left here. If things don't turn around, then you can say, yeah, you know what? Detroit gets wiped out in March, but right now the Philadelphia Flyers are getting wiped out by October.

Interesting story in Winnipeg. and it has been for a number of months. And it does feel more and more. Like, Bricky, yesterday was the first day that NHL paychecks arrived. Okay? So yesterday it was the first time that players got a nice deposit, except for Connor Hallibuck. And there is that website, hallebuck.

That documents to the second how much money he is losing. I believe he's getting $39,000 a day. So it's all being tracked online. It does seem as if more and more like Helibuck is inching toward, trying to figure out a way how he can get back to this team. And the double-edged sword is here, I don't think they want them back. I don't think the players want them back. I don't think the coaches want them back.

I know that ownership doesn't want them back. I know the fans don't want them back. Right now, things are going good, even though they lost yesterday against the hawks. They did pick up a point. But things are going good for the Winnipeg Jets. And I think a lot of players are upset at how Hala Buck handled himself and the things that he said about the team during the... his exit interview last year.

If he wants to come back, he does have a contract. The team can suspend him, and then it will be between the NHL and the Players Association to determine what a reasonable suspension is. There's conditioning stints in the American Hockey League, but if Winnipeg wants to get full value in this trade, he has to play. And as distasteful as that might be to some, is that the only one? way this thing gets revolved? And if so, should they just pull the bandage off now?

Well, first off, let me go back to what I said. I had heard Conner Hall of a had some legitimate security concerns for his family in Winnipeg. And that the police were involved. And I don't know if that's true or not, but if it is, that explains a lot of his behavior

and justifies it in my view. My family felt unsafe. I'd quit hockey and a heartbeat. I'd demand the trade, I'd move. If that's all true, and it's not being trumped up for other reasons, then he's got a legit reason that I want out. But if it's not true, he's trying to inch his way back. There is a way because the league can force him to take a suspension, but the player can force his head. He says he comes back and plays his way out of the team

and makes proper immense with his teammates. There's a road back that way. But if I, if what I heard was true, I don't think he's interested in coming back. And by the way, you got to lose 38,000 a lot of days before you lose seven and a half million bucks. I do understand that. I do understand that. I don't know how many million he already has, you know, in the bank. I don't think money's a concern. I don't think that's a concern.

I've heard that. He's feeling pressure. 38 grand a day. That's nothing to a guy who makes seven and a half million. U.S. U.S. That's like 10 million Canadian. Yes.

We understand that. But again, like, is that the only way that this thing ends? because right now, like, the way that I've looked at at Berkey is, here's how I'll frame it. The Red Wings can get away with a B-plus deal for Larkin. I don't know that Winnipeg can get away with a B-plus deal for Halibuck, considering the sensitivities around that market and that team. Like, doesn't, like, Chevy needs an A or an A-plus deal here.

A B-plus deal is an A-deal when you're under duress. We have distressed assets. I keep telling people this. I traded to Pavel Burry. Hall of Fame player, exciting players, sold tickets, great kid. I had to trade him. I did not make a full value deal. I mean, I'd give myself a B on that deal based on the fact that I had to trade him at some point.

But I'd give myself a C on the deal on pure merit. He's not going to make an A deal, and he knows that. You're going to make a B deal, and everyone will call out an A deal because everyone knows he's under duress. Now, the pressure points are going to be teams that lose the goalie or teams. that can't win. So if you're Philadelphia and Goltening is your problem, which is not right now. But if it were, that's a team that's got to make the phone call.

So the list of teams that make the phone call is going to go longer by the day as teams feel more pressure to win, get a player end of its caliber. So I think they wait a little longer and see if someone gets desperate on the buyer end, and then Chevy

can make the deal. Let me ask you about another hot button issue. We talked plenty about this week, and it's the second time we've seen Nathan McKinnon do it. First was with Frank Clark of the Los Angeles Kings and second was with someone that he's jousted with, someone that

he's gone back and forth physically with for a number of years. When the two teams get together, it's always a good game and now there's a little bit of extra spice. Love that they played back to back home and home this week was fantastic. Dallas and Colorado, what did you make of Nathan McKinnon and

Rupert Hins throwing down? And by the way, I don't know if there's a player in the NHL right now, who's had his nose mangled, whether it's with fists or pucks or sticks, more than Nathan McKinnon, but his nose is taking a beating. And this week, with Rupa Hansa took another beating. It's a prominent feature on his face. So I would advise, Connor, I would advise this gentleman to not fight again. I love the fact that he had the first fight. His spirit, he's coming out of the gate. Show the boys the way I get it. Second fight, if you're reacting, maybe. But the third time, I'm going to take him aside. If I'm

it's GM and I'm going to say, Nate, we don't need you to fight. We have other guys to do that. Keep in mind, Bobby O'R had 53 fights as pro career. Fifty-three fights. So players used to have to fight their own fights. Not anymore. That's when Dave Schultz and the Broad Street Bullies taught everyone, we can pay people to fight our fights for us. So I love the fact that he answered the bell once, maybe even twice, even though we got to work with. I didn't know Rupéin's good fight by the way, which is that. No. Excellent. I agree. I was shocked. But I'd say to him now, okay,

it made your point, Nate. You're a great player. Just play hockey. You don't need you to fight. Really. He's going to hurt his hand. For the second season in a row, maybe third season in a row, and listen, Ostepchuk and, who was it last night? Ostepchuk had a really good

fight last night. Who was it with? But the point is, we're seeing more and more. Like, every game. in the last 10 years we've seen fighting kind of take a dip, but does it not feel like the last few years, and specifically to start this season, but there's more of it now.

There's a lot more of it now. I've been begging for that. You know that, Jeff. I know you feel the same way. To me, it's an important component of the game that fans like, but that's not why I like it. I don't like because fans like it, because I think it's important to the integrity of the game,

the players answer the bell when they should. Golly gets run. There's going to be a fight. Everyone in the building knows it. That's where it's always been. That's where it should be. Star player gets run. They were criticizing the opponent the other night when McDavid got run.

No one did anything. So I love the fact that's coming back. I think Florida can take the credit for bringing fighting back to prominence. I give Bill Zito full marks for this. I love this trend. I don't want to go back to three-hour games. I'm not a dinosaur. I don't want to go back to when I played.

We had three-hour games and seven or eight fights a game. I don't want to go back to that. But an uptick in the fighting is a nice thing for us in my mind. Nick Haig, that's who it was. Good one. Nick Haig and Zach Ossupchuk last night in the San Jose Nashville game. Well, to the point about Florida, and I want to finish off here by asking you about the Kachuk brothers Brady specifically

with the back-to-back hat tricks. You look at the flag. Again, like I've always gone out of my way to – I'm glad you brought up Bill Zito because he takes over as a general manager. His first move is to bring in Patrick Hornquist. And like ever since then, it's like, I'm just going to get miserable hockey players. I'm going to get hockey players that are awful to play against and we're going to distract you with violence and physicality. Like to your point, like, you're right.

As far as like new age, you know, 74, 75 flyers go, that's it in Florida. Yeah, hello. What are the ratings from Florida? They're pretty good. They've got a pretty good hockey team too. Yeah. It's no mistake. I think. That's not why I favor

the uptick in fighting. I don't favor because of the TV ratings, though. I think it does help TV ratings. I think it's important to the integrity of the game. It's in my book. I think it's important that players answer the bells so other players are held accountable, and that's the vital part of our game,

and it's been disappearing. I love the skill of our game. The NHL has brought skill up so fast, so well, so great. The game is great to watch, but it's not, it's too sanitized for me. I like the way it's going back a little bit. Quick thought to wrap up here. Brady Kachuk, back-to-back.

Hat tricks going into this week. He had bagels for goals, had a hard time getting on the board at all with points, and here we are, back-to-back hat-tricks for Brady Kachuk. Well, he's not going to do that very often, but he's a great player. He scored big in Ottawa.

He was a great Ottawa senator. I know people won't remember him that way. is they're sour about his exit. But Brady Kachuk is a force of nature. He's a different player than Matthew. He's got some attributes that Matthew doesn't have me. He's a much better skater. But they're both miserable sons of bitches, and I love them both.

Well, there's the headline for the show, Zach. They're both miserable sons of bitches, and I love them both. The greats, Ryan Burke here weekly on the sheet. Thanks, Burke. You have yourself a wonderful weekend, pal. Thanks, Jeff. I'm off to the rugby match night, Canada, England. No, nice.

Where? Where, where, where? Give us a deal. Nice. Awesome. I know you're a big supporter and a big fan. Enjoy it tonight, Berkey. Stay dry. Thanks, I will. Right out there. Thanks, pal. There is Brian Burke who drops by each and every Friday for Civilian Fridays. We'd like to call it around these parts.

How about that one, Zach? There's your headline for the show from Berkey about the Kajax. Sometimes people just make my life really, really easy. easy. Berkey drops that line just a quick note and we will grab that one for later. Thank you, Brian. sums up with the audio on your mic. Can you warm it?

Can you warm your mic? Yeah. I will work on that. You got that? You got that? You got that? As we do studio fixes on the fly here. Here's what I don't want to let you know before we get to Dave Panjota. A couple of different things here and we're going to talk about brady a little bit more in a second. Who's delivering is a

presentation of DoorDash? Hockey Night is one of those rituals that brings everyone together. That's true. DoorDash is an official partner of the NHL, making it easier to get your game night favorites delivered so you can stay focused on the action and not miss a moment. Whether it's wings, pizza, burgers, or your own go-to-order, as we talked about yesterday with O'Shinsky, Thai food for us.

DoorDash makes it easier to bring the whole game net experience together at home. Good food, good company, and hockey. Zach, who's delivering this week? week, pretty easy one. Back-to-back hat tricks, Brady Kachuk. Yeah, I think my mic still might not be the best there, so I'll give this back to you for a second,

but back-to-back hat-tricks is pretty impressive. Hattrick against Columbus, hatching against the Vancouver Canucks, and calling the Florida Panthers fans, the best fans in the NHL, which every smart hockey player will always say about their fan base. Listen, he had not exactly a secret, a slow start.

I think Wish and I joked earlier on this week about how he had more podcasts and he had goals. And he quickly went out and said, okay, how six in two games? So who's delivering from our friends at DoorDash, Brady Kuchuk with the Florida Panthers? Also, we all know hockey nights mean figuring out dinner, grabbing food before the rink or ordering in for the game. Taco Time wants to be part of that. The Hero Offer. Right now is the new Hockey Night Pack. Check this out. For just $20, you get two classic burrito combos, including two classic burritos, beef or bean, two regular mexy fries and two regular drinks. It's built specifically for game nights and is available through the opening

month of the hockey season. Every Saturday, this hockey season, Taco Time, is dropping a fresh puck drop deal and add to that the Hockey Night Pack for 20 bucks and you've got your game night meal sorted. The latest puck drop deal, regular deluxe maxi fries and regular drink for only seven dollars one more thing before we get to our friend dave pan yoda here you got a second there you can warm your mic up i think we're good now okay you got it yeah you want to want to add anything on brady kitchuk or anything from burke that's what a tech day uh just smart just smart comment smart comment from brady kichick i was having a laugh at that uh when he followed it up a post game on the bench saying the best

Fans in hockey. Look at this. Isn't this amazing? And then Sends fans are just losing their minds online. And I'm like, well, brilliant PR move there from Brady Kichuk, back-to-back hat tricks, and do yourself to the fan base just a little bit more. Give them a little extra cat food. So I thought that was a good play by him.

Hey, Mitch. How do you feel about the fans here in Vegas? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. That's a Saturday night. they need to do a brinkside interview with Gavin McKenna and have him answer a question. How do you feel about the fans? Well, I love the support I've been getting recently from these people.

Especially when I got sat down. Didn't even need a towel after that game against the Buffalo Sabres. But ask this guy. Don't ask me what that was all about. All right. This fan moment, a presentation of Coca-Cola. Being a hockey fan is a commitment. The superstitions, the chance to pacing the standing through overtime

because somehow sitting feels just wrong, folks. Whether you're making the climb to the nosebleeds, rallying your section to start the wave or keeping one eye on your game and another on the out of town scores, true fandom puts in the work. And every shift deserves a nice cold Coca-Cola. Fan work is thirsty work. We got a lot of things to get to with Dave Pan Yoder

from the DFO Insider broadcast. Is he setting up right now? Dave just text me right now and said he needs a minute. So he literally just texted me and gave me that warning. Here's what I want to mention. So, and this is for your team. So Atu Ratu comes into Toronto in exchange for Brandon Burr and Jacob Quillan. Quillan, of course, one of the standouts last year as the Marley's win, the Calder Cup in the American Hockey League.

And was on Sycarus and Price and then asking me what these guys are all about. And for Quillan, like the first thing you notice is, one, he's really fast and he's physical. Like he does a lot of those things that fans look at and go, I like this guy. he got to the puck up the ice really quickly. Boy, this guy can move and he's not shy. Like he's not 6'4, 240 pounds, but kind of plays like that. It's the other details that go into his game, the decision making, and all that. That's going to determine whether he's a ping pong guy,

American League NHL, American League NHL, American League NHL, or he's going to be a consistent NHL player because he's already played, what is exactly, 24, 25 games in the game. the National Hockey League, something around that with the Maple Leaf. So he'll probably get a shot with Vancouver, certainly. The only question is, can he be, can he make the right decisions consistently enough, given his skill set to stay? Now, Brandon Burr is a fascinating one.

So this offseason, there were three teams specifically. There was Philadelphia who were interested in him. He went to Union College. four years old. Heavy, heavy, heavy shot. This guy can fire a puck. So Philly was on him. The Vancouver Canucks were on him as well, but they were only offering an American Hockey League deal. The Maple Leafs offered the NHL deal for Burr, and that's the way he signed. And now being traded, because he's a North Van kid too, getting traded to the Vancouver Canucks, he gets what he was, what he wants, plays for the hometown team's organization, and it's under an NHL deal, where Vancouver

originally was only offering an AHL deal really quickly on this one, not to belabor AHL points here on the program. But Abbottesford is playing this weekend. They didn't see any point in bringing him in and sitting him on the bench because he's not been with the team to skate or do anything. So he's down to Kalamazoo in the ECHL. He was in Cincinnati with the Maple Leafs, ECHL affiliate with the Maple Leafs and the Toronto Marley. So look for him to get back to Abbotsford after this weekend, I would imagine. That is courtesy of yours truly, AHL Insider. I will just say to because I was kind of, I saw the trade happen yesterday.

And from a least perspective, I'm starting wondering what happened here. Why was this the case? So I was starting to look around. I was starting to look around and ask questions, but what happened here? from my perspective and what I gathered from the leaf side of things it just kind of felt like there was a backlog in terms of what they had and he wasn't uh quillen and spur weren't going to break through anytime soon and that was the part here in Toronto that they were looking at um and then the other piece obviously which goes without saying you understand this but as well but like

they freed up a contract spot yes they were capped out 48 and they're at 48 now they were at 49 drop some contracts. Yeah, drop some contracts. Picked up one obviously in return, but you open up some space. It seems like they probably feel like they need to make some moves. We'll talk to Dave about that when he gets ready. Still just waiting on him to join here,

but it feels like they probably want to make some moves. So maybe it gives them a little more flexibility when that comes up. Here's another one. Always curious where players are when they find out about their trade. Burr was at team dinner. Team dinner in Cincinnati. Brandon, can we have a quick word? Oh, I'm just finishing up my meal.

No, just put the fork and knife down. You don't need to worry about the meal kit. Yeah, don't worry about this. It's not going to matter tonight. Get your luggage. Get your luggage. Chris Bork, by the way, for Toronto was a guy that was mainly on Burr. to bring him into the organization.

Anyhow, AHL Insider. I can be like a monitor. Hockey. The H-H-L-I-C-L insider? That can be a new thing for me. You're the bus rider's insider. That's what you are.

Just text with frustrated hockey players on the bus. Yeah. Oh, really? What's happening? What happened? What happened? What happened? Oh, hang on.

Tell me more. Tell me more. Really? You said that? Oh, no way. You need money for dinner? What else he got? You better call your agent right now.

Okay, so that's that. You know what? Good on the New Jersey Devils last night. I know that's always a big one. Greg was, you know, Greg and I were talking about it yesterday. Seven was the final score. Dylan Garand pulled in yesterday's game. I don't know that's got, that's going to hasten along any deals for the New York Rangers.

I felt bad for Grand. Getting pulled because in the first couple of games, they looked like a really good story. Luke Hughes was a pair of goals there. New York Rangers only 19 shots. Only 19 shots on goal there. Oh, no, sorry. Face 19 shots, rather.

Nico Dawes with 30 saves for the New Jersey Devils in that one. Vancouver loses 3-2 to the Florida Panthers. Interesting there. mentioned the Brady-Ca-check Hatrick again, so back-to-back hat tricks. I know we talked to Rachel Krechek about this guy a couple of days ago. D.P.D. scored again. He's got three goals. We're in the middle of October. He scored three goals all season last year,

where, you know, the young superstar is Eve Boyham. Everyone's expecting big things out of him in the massive contract. Don't look now, but D.P.D. Like, I joke on Securison Price. Like, oh, he's going to score 15 goals. I don't think he's going to score 15 goals. But nice little story. Nice little story, D.P.D. Yeah.

And people in Vancouver probably looking at that Zipoyum deal every day and just what the whole's going on here. But I think he'll be fine, to be clear. I like Zipoyam a lot. But yeah, it's looking at those stats every day, it's got to be a stinger. It was like the Leaps fans at the beginning of last season, you watch Marner start slow. And then all of a sudden, as the season went on, you just pretended it wasn't happening. What do you mean, Vegas?

162 and he had three points last night. Those games are too late. I didn't watch. I didn't catch that. Yeah. Must have been secondaries. Let's get Dave aboard. Dave Penoid, DFO Insider.

Wednesdays here on her daily face off YouTube. Dave Nures truly barking it out for 45 minutes, however long the program takes an hour in some cases. We talked about off the top of the show. I'm curious your thoughts on the story, the benching heard around the NHL. And Gavin McKenna, like, look, I, I look at this one and say the Maple Leaf specifically Jim Hiller are trying to make sure that this is a very contained fire. And I think all of his comments afterwards were designed specifically to contain this fire.

It sounds and looks like this was a message being sent to a young hockey player. The problem is it's Toronto. It's a loss. And it's a first overall draft pick. So I don't know how small a fire that can be, but your thoughts on the McKenna of it all last night, bleeding into today. Well, I mean, yeah, Jim Hiller tried his best to contain this fire.

He was doing a good job off the beginning when he said, you know, okay, there were penalties in the second period, and Gavin doesn't play the PK. So probably shouldn't have said that he should have started him in the third. to get him going again. But he did similar in L.A. I think Heleneas, there was one game where Heleneas played like one shift for 34 seconds or something like that. And that was all he played, all game.

Obviously, totally different story. You're dealing with the first overall pick here. But he's got, you know, he's done some stuff along these lines with some of the rookies and younger players on his team. Maybe the messaging, well, the messaging. should have been a lot different. It should have been a little bit more direct. It seemed like it was kind of all over the place, and maybe he was fishing for answers

that he was trying to give to appease the audience. And you're right, with the loss, it just amplifies this even more. It takes away from Marchenko having a great game for Toronto scoring a hat trick. And, you know, it again, amplifies this benching, but also, you know, this team was up four to going into the third. They should have closed things out

against Lufalo Sabres. Kudos to the Sabres for coming back and winning this thing. Yeah. But Toronto kind of let this one slip away, and it was some defensive deficiencies that caused a lot of that. And I thought at some point we'd see Gavin in there in that third. But you're right, clear messaging that's being delivered here in terms of playing a more well-rounded type game, even though he is offensive driven, you know, you've got to play

within the system. It was convenient that they had the day off today. I don't know if that was premeditated or not. They, you know, let everybody know after the game. But, you know, you get a day off to kind of get away from this. I'm sure people are going to ask him, you know, tomorrow ahead of the morning skate or during the morning skate, Jim Hiller, what the usage and utilization is going to be for Gavin going into the game against the Islanders on Saturday. So we'll see kind of what that response is going to be.

But Toronto, everything gets amplified. it's not a shock, but we were definitely sitting in the press box yesterday, looking at each other, everybody going, did he do something? Is he hurt? Because that's the other thing. If this was message sending, it might have been more geared towards, as I kind of suggested earlier, systematic message sending or not following into the system versus him doing something by mistake, because we couldn't figure out what the heck he might have done to warrant that unless it's, you know, got deeper meaning. it feels like and again

I don't want to start anything that might not be there but I just feel like we're missing a piece Yeah Like we're we're trying to figure out why But like I come away from it And who knows like maybe next time Hiller speaks Or McKenna speaks or whomever Or maybe the story just goes away

It just feels like there's one piece of this That's just like been removed That might help explain all of it Do we get the answer or not? Am I pulling at a string that's not there? I don't know. But Dave, before I move on, does it feel like we're missing a piece here?

100%. Yeah, absolutely. Like I was saying, like we, I was looking at my right and my left, everybody that was sitting around us, even on some of the Buffalo media, just going, did he do something?

Did something happen in this game that we come, that I missed or he missed or somebody? Because I was looking right at the bench and I was trying to zoom in as much as I could to see. Is he, is he hurt? Is he something? Because if he was hurt, you just go to the room.

But he was on the bench the entire. entire time. So there is, it definitely, you're right, at least I agree with you anyway. I think there's something missing there that hasn't become known publicly and may not. Like they may say, look, we talked about it like tomorrow when he addresses the media, because again, it'll come up, at least on the coach's side before the game. Hey, we addressed it, we talked about it, water under the bridge. We're focused on tonight. And Gavin goes out there and scores a goal and gets two assists, then it's over with. But wait and see. We've got to see what happens. The Islanders could use a W too. They sure can. One small thing here, although I know that like going back to last

year's trade deadline, you and I comparing notes and we were wondering about, you know, what, Dallas was going to try to do. And one of the names that we had, we had wondered about was was David Perron. And we know that the Dallas stars had had chased Perron for a couple of years at least. Detroit ended up paying a fourth for him, at which point Dallas pivoted to Michael Bunting. Small little trade here, or small little signing here, but no surprise that finally, Jim Nill got his guy in David Perron.

He'd been trying to get him for a couple of years. Yeah, he always seems to find a way. he does he does and yeah um he's got his prices though hey dave like that's the thing like he was like nope not paying this price nope this is like i'm set like i'm not i'm not gonna pay a fourth give you like jim's yeah he's i don't think he's a tough negotiator but he has his he has his prices and he does he holds firm he that's it he holds firm yes yeah he just like this is what i'm going to pay. And if it's not going to happen, okay, I'm going to go in a different direction. But as you said, ultimately gets his guy in Perron and you look at, and Peron was funny the night

yesterday, just going, hey, I think he tweeted out something along the lines. If anything going on tonight when word started to get out that he was joining the stars. Look, they need, you know, they wanted some depth to add to this roster, to add to their forward core. And they add it with with a strong veteran presence and a guy who's, you know, got some, you know, a win behind him. So, you know, this is a team that expects to compete for a Stanley Cup that has a lot of question marks. We haven't even. And, I mean, the more we talk about it, the more it's amplified.

But Jason Robertson's situation, we haven't touched on that at all, you know, so far this season because this team is so set on and focused on going after a Stanley Cup. And a lot of that depends on their depth from, from my perspective. A lot of it, you know, is going to fall onto their depth and it's going to fall onto goaltending. Well, Jake Ottinger was just the second start of last week. He's been, yeah, he's been steady. So if that can continue, can the depth be strong enough for this team and to add a veteran

presence and a guy that gets along with everybody and David Perala, I like that, that move. Subtle move, you know, for them, doesn't cost them a lot. It's 850 minus one paycheck pro-rated. So they're, they like the ad. said, a guy that Jim Nill has been looking for for a while. And you know, he's looked for styles of players too. Like he has been in on

at various times, both Kachuk brothers. There was you know, cadry interest. Like he's he's been, listen, Matthew Olivier, right? Not that Columbus was ever going to let him go. Blake Coleman, there's another, like he's, he's

been looking for this style. I don't think he, I don't think it's, he's stopped either. I think he's still looking for players like this. But like Dave, safe to say, like Dallas has been looking for players like this

for a while. Yeah. And guys that have won as well, guys that have that experience, guys that are willing to do what it takes

to, you know, do a little more to, to, you know, collect some Ws and to build something with this team throughout the course

of this season. I like the makeup of this team. I have them going to the Stanley Cup final at the start of the season before, you know, obviously before this ad.

At the start of the season, I had them in Florida in the final. I like the makeup of them. Again, if everything starts to click, if the goaltending does well, if the depth can get going, I'm expecting a monster year from Jason Robertson because he wants that big-ass contract. So you add, you have those elements, you add in the intangible pieces, the strong pieces like a para as well with what he brings to the table experience-wise. I like this ad. You know, it's interesting. We're all going crazy about Evan Bouchard, and rightfully so.

And he picked up another point, albeit in a lost last night to Utah. But Mero Haskinen's been amazing this season so far. I know it's really, really early, but every time I watch Dallas, I can't take my eyes off. He's already already know how great a player he is, but we're already seeing an even better version so far early of Miro Haskinen. He's been fantastic. He has, and he was a little banged up last year as well.

So, you know, you've got presumably a healthy, after his offseason, a healthy run for Miro Heiskenen. And again, Zeyer, within that room, talking to guys in that team, you know, at the start of the season, they're zeroed in. They're kind of, we missed a couple chances. And I think they feel, especially the guys that have been there for the last several years. You know, Heiskenen certainly. You know, Rupa Hintz, obviously Jamie Ben and Tyler Say and, you know,

Ottinger and some of the other guys, they feel that they've missed an opportunity here that in the last couple of seasons especially that they had what it took and have what it takes to go after a championship and to claim one. Well, they kind of seem to be kind of rolling on all cylinders in that respect.

So far this season, Heiskenen another example. Ottinger already great start. As you mentioned, another great start. So if they can maintain this and you have the Robertsons doing what they're supposed to do, the veteran guys like Sag's and Ben and Perra now into the mix. They can get going.

You have the Wyatt Johnson's. And obviously, Miko Randin. This is a deep team along with the Harleys and everybody on that back end too. So, you know, when you've got your top premier guys playing at premier levels, it's usually a good recipe for success. And I think they, again, recognize this goes back to, they weren't as vocal. And frustration wasn't there. like, you know, Nate McKinnon was the year before they won the Stanley Cup after their playoff exit.

But it's very similar type of mindset within that room after last season and over the summer, let's hunker down, let's go get a championship. And so far, I mean, again, very early. But so far, it looks like they're playing to that beat. Other end of the spectrum. Philadelphia. Way other end. So way other end.

I don't know. I don't know if you watched the game. I get you're at the, the, uh, the, a, at the end of that, at the end of that game,

like, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's,

it's, it's, it's, like, forcing bad passes to the middle, on zone exits with, like, a minute left. And I'm just like,

they're trying to hand this, like, to, like, given Philadelphia chance to grab a point to take it into overtime. So, like, Detroit gave Florida, Philadelphia had the chances here, and they just didn't take it.

But, you know, Berkey was on before you saying, like, no one's throwing, Breyer, they're all throwing anvils and they all have pitchforks and fire behind. Like, they're out. They're, they're looking to, this is like a diamond heist.

Like, how can we steal things from, from Danny Breyer? Uh, I don't know if they're already out of it, like capital O out of it. It feels like it's getting really close. The bagel beside the name is tough to look at it in the standings. Travis Kinecti's name is out there, but I always catch myself and I'm like, man, Travis Keneckney's name has been out there. And now that Matt Dumbah's not in the NHL, now he has the mantle for the player that has the most rumors around him in his career.

What happens in Philly here? I know. I mean, it's so tough, right? Like, I've got to imagine, tongue-in-cheek here, but I've got to imagine the folks in Anaheim are just looking at this with a little extra smile on their face based on obviously what happened in July. Oh, yeah. Flyers were laughing in July in October.

He's laughing now. They have their own problems too, but nonetheless, yes. Well, but a little bit of shouting. Hockey karma. Yeah. Yeah, hockey karma here for, yeah. That's a good way to put it. That's a good way to put it.

But, you know, Ducks aside and that situation aside, like Danny's, like he was already looking for some help. He was already looking specifically for help on the blue line before the season started. and he's not afraid to make moves, obviously. But he's not going to do it just because. Like the team's in a lot of trouble right now. And yeah, he wants to improve, but, you know, we touched on this on Insider the other day.

Like, they're still a little bit, they're still banged up, you know, with, you know, some guys on the roster out of the mix and whatnot. And, you know, you don't want to use it as an excuse, especially when you're scoring one frigging goal a game. but injuries play a bit of a factor here. There was an opportunity for them. I saw the highlights. There was an opportunity for them to jump into,

you know, back into that game and maybe even jump ahead. They couldn't do it. And whether it's them just overthinking now and trying to do too much and all the media is there and, and you know, you got talk talking about how they're,

like I use a different phrase, but you know, how the defense are horning on plays and whatnot. Maybe they're too excited. Yeah, that got headlines. Yeah. Yeah. Too excited.

It could have worked. as well. But yeah, they're trying to do too much. And I get it. I understand any athlete, you're in a funk, you want to help your team get out of it. Typically, you start doing too much and it doesn't work. It goes the opposite way that you intended to.

Eventually, some bounces will start going their way and maybe that'll change their fortune. But with respect to the off-ice stuff, you know, Danny Breyer, Keith Jones, and company, they're all looking. They're trying to see what's available to them to help, you know, improve this club. We all know they'd like to improve at the dot. They want to bring in somebody that can fill

that slot at the center position. They'd like to improve on defense. You know, they've been checking in on Simon Edmondson. That hasn't really gone anywhere, at least for them. And of course, Horcoff saying this week he's intent on signing him rather than trading him. So they're looking. It's not like they're just sitting back going, well, we're losing.

Well, maybe we'll gun for that first overall pick. Like that's not the mindset there, but they are looking around. It just hasn't fallen into their laps yet. You know, it, if Philly's weird, I always think back to, you know, whenever a team goes through something like this, I always go back to like the last management. So Chuck Fletcher. And he was being dragged in, like, you remember, like that was a tough position because the alumni guys had like a real hammer to swing there. And I don't think that Chuck ever fully was able to have two hands on the wheel just because of some of the, I agree with that. influential voices that were around Chuck Fletcher at that time. But that's not the reality anymore. And I'm thinking of myself, okay, so how has it gotten to this? And it's going to sound bizarre, but like sometimes winning's a curse.

And they made it to the playoffs. They beat the Pittsburgh Penguins. Keystone State rivals. Expectations a little bit higher. an offer sheet that may have lulled flyers fans into believing they were closer. And that was like a last piece of the puzzle. I know that there have been some that have described that offer sheet, sort of like the AHO offer sheet previous with Montreal as performative.

But how do you think could it be that they're sort of victims of last year's success? that if they hadn't made the playoffs last year, it wouldn't have been as hostile as it is now. No. No, probably not. And I think Danny at some point over the summer, even a few other people on the team acknowledged that they anticipated some regression this season. Yes.

You know, they're still going through their rebuild. So, you know, there are ups and downs and highs and lows going throughout a rebuild. You know, we are expecting that. I don't think they expect it. you know, whatever they're at, 05 and 3 or 06 and 3 now. I don't think they expected that, and I'm pretty sure they didn't expect 11 goals and nine games. Yeah.

But goals four. But they knew that this was going to be, they were going to continue to battle a little bit. Again, not to this extent, but they tried to temper the waters a little bit. Now, everything happens, injuries, losses, no goals. rumors flying left, right and center over all kinds of people on that team. It's a bit of a perfect, you know what storm, you know, to start the season.

And again, winning will start to cure a few of those things. And you don't want to use the injuries as an excuse. But it's just, it's part of their reality at the moment. And yes, Danny will continue to look and see what's out there and see if there are moves that are going to be impactful for this team now and down the road. but they're not trading Matt Faye Mischkov for a prospect and a couple draft picks. That's just not going to happen. So, you know, would they be open to certain things? I think so.

But it's not going to be that. So again, as you mentioned, everyone's throwing the wrong kind of stuff at them. And no one's going to toss a lifeline their way. So it's up to Brieering company to either try to wait this out while still. still do diligence on their side or just try to hammer home a good deal that can help them now. Let me close on this one, Dave. Next Sunday, October 25th in Winnipeg, Princess Auto Stadium, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Heritage Classic. All eyes on the Winnipeg Jets and the Montreal Canadians.

is this the week we start to see the next chapter in the Connor Halibuck saga as much as the players don't want him there coaches managers and the owner and the fans don't want him there do you think we're getting closer to Connor Hallibuck going back to Winnipeg and just like Taryn the Band-Aid off and the suspension, the, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the time in, uh, this looming over, weekend. This, is, is, is, yeah, 100%.

Um, like, it, it's just, what, I want this. I feel for them. I do. And I get it. Again, I think we touched on this. We got to touch on it every week until this happened. So for the last few weeks, ongoing story.

Yeah. And we got to reiterate that I think Hallibuck and his camp thought that something was going to get, they believed, based on what they were being relayed, that something was going to happen in the summer, that it was going to be around the draft or free agency that he was gone. And that it was going to be over with. And then. as the conversation continued

and before he put the letter out, the reasoning I think behind, or partial reasoning behind that admission, that letter of admission was, okay, we can get something done before or around camp. And this will be over with. And we're here. And we've talked about it last week.

We talked about it this week. We're going to continue to talk about it until it happens. That he's internally thinking about going there. And then there's all these other elements that come into it. And as you see, said nobody within the organization wants him back based on what happened um and he's going to have to live with whatever comes his way if he's still a jet in a week because i've got to imagine after that week that after that weekend so the last week i guess the full last whatever like that's probably

the timeline for when he's going to do that unless a trade happens over this next five six day stretch like they still want to do that and obviously and the Jets are motivated to do it but just like Jim Nill in Dallas well Kevin Shevoldeoff has a firm price as well and you know subtle adjustments can be made but the basis of what that deal is going to be that price tag hasn't changed you know what I wonder about Dave I wonder about other players who are thinking about asking for a trade looking at the Hellebuck situation and looking at the Larkin situation and saying to their agent,

I really want to ask for a trade but in another way I really don't. Yeah, I don't want to be, I don't want to be Connor Hallibuck. I don't want to be Dylan Larkin. Much like in the summer we all said all these managers don't want to be Pat for Beek right now.

I would imagine there's a lot of players saying I don't want to be here but I don't want to be Connor Hallibuck right now. I want to deal with that because there's so much more to it that comes with out the public scrutiny. This is all the crap that happens behind the scenes too. And it's rough. And this is not an environment that either of those guys wanted to be in. And I don't think either of them thought they'd be in at this point in this season.

The Hellibuck, well, I mean, obviously there's some differentiators between the two. But with Hellebuck situation, having to come back, we haven't seen this since what? but it was yashin oh yeah 99 yeah yeah yeah like that's a ways back like this this crap hasn't happened to this extent since then so you know and and he i think he stuck around before they ended up moving them so like i don't see that happening here per se but um you may not you you may not have much of a choice here over the next let's say 10 days before this becomes a reality if he's not traded within that time from. And again, the Jets sure as hell don't want this looming over them as they're going

at the Heritage weekend. They want to hype this the whole weekend up, the organization up. So it's a, I don't like Chevy's in a tough spot right now because as much as you want to get this over with, you can't just get it over with. Like you need one hell of a haul here for your best player. So, Bray was 98. Yashin was 99. And all I can think about, Dave, is,

if only Twitter was around then. If only Twitter X was around for the Bury and Yashin holdouts. Well, that'd have been like, they got off easy, those two. Yeah. Social media to deal with. Cakewalk. What do I do? I just don't pick up the paper.

I don't listen to the radio. Okay. Fine. I can do that. I won't be dog with them. 24-hour news cycles following me around. I can handle that. Yeah, that's fine. I'm playing

brick breaker or whatever on my Nokia. Nobody's trust in my, you know what. Fine. Oh, you're the best. That's good. Have a great weekend, pal. We'll talk to you next week. You too, buddy. See you. Dave. Dave Penoid. DFO Insider. Heard and seen Wednesday afternoons, pretty much

as soon as we're done recording it. Right here at our daily face-off YouTube channel. Also, your Spotify's, your Apple Pods. You can check it out there. Anything from you, Zacatola, before we move along? The Hellebuck thing is going to be very interesting to watch because, like you said, we've talked about it at nauseam, but they don't want to come back.

Morning of the Heritage Classic he announces he's coming back. So that's what I'm wondering is what happens when that announcement hits the timeline. You know, it'll be a Dave tweet that pops up on my phone that says, Connor Hellebuck has returns to Winnipeg and everyone's going to go, oh my God, the world is on fire. That's the reaction that I'm interested to see because the other part of it, Jeff, is Heritage Classic tonight. Gary wants the eyes on the Heritage Classic and what's the first questions in all the scrums? So Mark Sheifley, Connor Hellebuck returns tonight. I know.

They don't. It was funny. I was talking to someone a week and a half ago about like put together like the nightmare scenario. The nightmare scenario for the Winnipeg Jets is Connor Hallibuck coming back and playing, and trade deadline comes and goes, and he doesn't get moved. But right before the playoffs, he says, yeah, you know what? I'm not interested in playing for free. playoff start i'm leaving again

oh my god you're a psychopath not my no i'm just shit this is i know it's a psychopath idea trust me i get it comes back please i should have gone full screen to you

because i don't want to be in the clip when aggregators grab that this is going to be you and my face or if he says to or if he says to win a peg yeah i'm coming back, but just so you know, like if we're close to the playoffs, like I'm just, uh, yeah, I'm not interested in playing for free, so I'm going to peace out again.

Just like ratchet up the pressure even more, even more. Oh my God. That is disgusting to think about. You have to plan out. If you're a team, you have to plan out every situation. Honestly, dude, like, trust me, in, in, in, in, in, in situations like this, you do like around the table. Okay, so what are we missing here?

like everything on the table, all possible scenarios. We have to be ready for all of them. Could that be one where Alibuck just says, yeah, yeah, I'm coming back. But if I'm not moved by it this time, I'm leaving again. Enjoy for it. That I think. Enjoy the 14th pick overall. Oh.

See, see that I could see. But I think you can better manage that. You have to set the deadline ahead. I guess he could change his mind, but like if he's not traded by the deadline, sure, I'm not playing again, whatever. It sucks because you're going to have probably dealt with some good Connor Halibuck games in front of them before that. I just like he's going to have to play here.

That's where he's getting to. He's going to have to play. An absolute hellscape scenario that I was texting with someone about not too long ago. And I'm like, oh, that is insidious as like a pressure. tactic. Sick, twisted. Twisted thought. Really twisted. Go hockey. I'm sure the people of Winnipeg would love that. I'm sure they would be really happy. Listen, I'm really happy for the people of Winnipeg. I'm happy for those fans. I'm happy for those players. Like that seems, I don't know if you if you watch much of that Chicago Winnipeg game last

night, but like that's a team man. Like they are playing together as a team. Everything looks, I know they they picked up a point, but they ended up losing the game. But still like, that team's playing good. And you can tell like these guys are together, man. Like I am so, through Skinner's playing great. I'm, I'm, I'm really happy for the Winnipeg Jets right now. I think it's a,

I think it's a great story for all those who thought, oh, they lost Connor Hallibach, he's asked for a trade, that's it, sky's falling, chicken little. Nope. Not with these guys, man. That is a,

that is a really, really good team. Okay. Time to get you busy. This segment brought to you by Sports Interaction, sports book, and casino. Every game is your game when you bet with sports interaction. Bet the action on every period, every shift,

every shot with Canada's homegrown sports book, sports interaction. Ontario or Alberta only must be 19 plus in Ontario, 18 plus in Alberta. Please play responsibly. Zach, please play responsibly. Let's hear some responsible bets. Thank you.

Yes, we'll do. We're going to keep this one simple. We've got a game tonight that just kind of hands the narratives to you and says, take the layup. Whether this wins or not, I don't know. We'll find out after tonight. but in terms of narrative street, this one is an easy one. So we're going to be looking at the Battle of Coal Harbor, Nova Scotia here tonight, Jeff.

And I think you know where I'm going on this. I will be taking a parlay of Sidney Crosby and Nathan McKinnon both to score tonight's in their match of McKinnon minus 105. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. What? Crosby and McKinnon anytime fight? you're going to say that every single time this pops up on the screen would love it and it will not happen but plus 425 if you parlay those two together in the same game parlay for tonight so $10 on that would pay you $42 and $50 but anytime fight between those guys the only thing is it's 2026 man wild stuff's happening wild stuff's happening every single day dude don't be surprised so the other part

of it is I know Nate and we all know Nate is very fond of Sydney Crosby right he admires. Huge. Yeah, absolutely. Ultra competitors, both of them. We've all heard the story of Crosby yanking McKinnon's leg out from underneath them when they were running and doing sprints up to hills. Like these guys will do anything to win and to beat each other. So I would never put it at a zero percent chance that they would square off.

It cannot be a zero percent. It could be low, but it's not zero. It's 2026, the year that weird stuff happens in the NHL. That one, though, but it's not zero. It's not zero. But maybe it's gloves on. Maybe it's gloves on. Maybe that's what it is.

And they're jabbing at each other and it's angry and then they look at each other. And it's like, oh, I love you, man. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Pillow fight. Do we have a line on McKinning Crosby anytime pillow fight? We have that? Don't see that up there. Sports interaction, no.

All right. No. Every game is your game when you bet with sports interaction from PuckTrop to overtime, bet with live odds on every play with easy deposits and payouts. Go to sports interaction.com slash the sheet to open an account Ontario or Alberta only must be 19 plus in Ontario 18 plus in Alberta. Before we wrap and release you for your weekend, a note from our friends at Airbnb. Jeff and Zach here from The Sheet again. We had an interesting summer to say the least.

There was so much going on in hockey. we kept the feed hot all through July and August leading up to the start of the new season. But we were both able to get away at least a little bit in between all the news and rumors and signings and drama that was the hockey season of 2026. Zach, I know you traveled. What did you get up to? Yeah, I feel like I spent my entire summer on the road bouncing from wedding to wedding. But staying in homes on Airbnb made the trips a whole lot easier.

There's just something about staying somewhere that feels like, your home rather than you're living out of a hotel room for a weekend. It makes the trip a whole lot more comfortable. Actually, a particularly fond memory for me this summer was pretty recent. It was a wedding in Prince Edward County where we got to stay at a home on Airbnb. We were right near the main street, near the water, walking distance to breweries and everything that the county has to offer like Slake Brewing. For me, it was down south again with the family.

And once again, since I'm an awful golfer, I drove a cart for the boys. Pretty much every single day we were away. But still, sun, ocean, good food, cool nights made it all worthwhile. Back recharged. As for more trips this season, it looks like I'll be gone a bunch, mainly to junior hockey cities across the country. And it's trips like these why I love booking homes on Airbnb. You actually feel like you're part of a place, not just. passing through it. And it's always a reminder that when we're gone, our house just sits there.

Choosing to list our home on Airbnb could be a great way to make use of that space on our schedule and maybe have a little extra money coming in at the same time. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca.com slash host. All right, Zach, just to torture you a little bit more as we wrap up another week here on the sheet. You mentioned the two games on the go around the NHL this evening. The Pittsburgh Penguins facing off against the Colorado Avalanche. Also, the Boston Bruins continue their West Coast swing. They face off against the Anaheim Ducks.

Beckett Seneca with four goals for the Anaheim Ducks. He's been a beast who leads to Boston Bruins and goals. I was waiting for that to come up. getting at such an ass. Come on. Today of all days, after McKenna benching day, come on, Jeff. Sorry, sorry. Come on.

It's a dark place. I fielded calls for like two and a half hours last night of people just calling and losing their minds. Hey, you know what? I was, I shared your line with a good friend of mine yesterday and she's married to a Scotsman. So he very much, and because she was saying, is this really a line? So I shared your line. with someone who's married to a Scots

but he said, yeah, that's an actual line here. Has Scottish Mike called in since he dropped the bomb on you last week? Has Scottish Mike called in recently? Inquiring minds. No, no, no. He hasn't called back. Yeah, he hasn't called back.

He's probably waiting for a weekend game given the time difference that he has to deal with. Right, right, right. Or another West Coast slash later start game. Gotcha. I feel like that's when I'll hear. from him again. He said he listens to every podcast though.

If you, well, if you were on at one, that would have been six o'clock, six a.m. his time, right? Yes.

So he called in on, on the show that he called in, I'm just trying to remember, he would have called in around two. This makes myself sound saying. He probably would have called in around 2 a.m. Eastern time because I did that show until 3 a.m.

So he called in around 7, yeah. Yes. I believe that was the game against Vegas. It was after that one. Look, if people want to rent, they want to lose their minds, I'm open to it. You're here. The doctor is in.

Free hockey therapy, courtesy of Zach Phillips. Part-time hockey therapist. I'm a insider and you're a full-time hockey therapist. Well, Maple Leafsing. The bus rider's insider. I'm going to stick to that. That's really good. I came up with that one off top.

up of my head. I'm holding on to it. I like that one. I do. I dig it. All right. Can I give you something fun here to just wrap this? Of course. Yeah, what do you got? Okay. So I don't know if you caught this yesterday, but the Milwaukee Brewer swept the Los Angeles Dodgers. They're headed to the World Series. That doesn't play well for the inevitable lockout here when we talk about

unfair it is for superstar multi-billion dollar teams to see Milwaukee knock off the Dodgers. No kidding. No kidding. But if people aren't following Matt Larkin on Twitter, you would have missed this interesting tidbit because there's a hockey tie-in. Let's see. Sort of,

sort of. But you'll like this. So Matt Larkin tweeted this out last night. The last time the Milwaukee Brewers were in the World Series, their bat boy was a kid named Bill Zito, who now has two Stanley Cup rings. Florida Panthers GM. I just wanted to make sure we got that in.

I thought that was a cool tidbit to wrap things up on this week. It's cool, eh? It's like some most random stuff ever, but like a cool little thing to find out. Former agent, now general manager, the bad boy. That's like Ray Whitney was a stick boy for the Edmonton Oilers. Just like random. I didn't know that. It's true.

I did not know that. Yeah, there you go. Just dropping. I'm your, no, I'm your no, bus rider insider. That's it. Yeah, the bus rider inside. Bus rider inside. That's me.

Yeah. Stupid shiz on the show today. That's good. That's good. Okay, listen, thanks so much for watching all week long. Thanks to Brian Burke, who drops by every Friday, Dave Panyoda as well. You can listen to or watch DFO Insider.

Wednesday, not Bus Rider Insider, DFO Insider. Wednesday is here on DFO YouTube channel. Speaking of which, thank you so much for being part of the YouTube channel experience here with us at DFO. If you can, do the subscription. Thank you. Do the likes. Thank you. Do all the thumbs up, the favorites, the whole deal.

Be part of it. the chat. We appreciate it. If you're listening on the audio version of the podcast, on Spotify, Apple Pods, etc. We thank you for your attention to this hockey matter. Dismissed for the week. Enjoy the weekend. Enjoy all the games.

We're back 1 o'clock Eastern Monday for the shit.