The Sheet with Jeff Marek - McKenna Scores First NHL Goal, Larkin Makes Season Debut, and More ft. Dan Rosen & Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: October 7, 2026

On today’s episode of The Sheet with Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski, the guys break down all the latest news and storylines from around the NHL, including Gavin McKenna scoring his first NHL goal, Dylan Larkin making his season debut for the Detroit Red Wings and finding the back of the net, and all the fights and chaos from around the league. Jeff and Greg also discuss Brad Marchand getting injured in just his second game of the season, the Canadiens and Jets unveiling their Heritage Classic jerseys, the heated matchup between the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken, the New York Rangers’ hot start, and plenty more from around the NHL. Then, NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen joins the show to discuss the latest around the league, the Rangers and the hockey scene in New York, plus more of the biggest stories developing across the NHL.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/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Okay, here we go once again, coming to you from the Sports Interaction Studio and official sports bidding partner of the NHL. When I think Hot for Hockey Media, I think Greg from ESPN and ESPN.com. How are you today, Wish? RIP Hot for Hockey. You know, I want some like Hot for Hockey Media fanfic. That's what I'm looking for now. That's the next evolution of this thing. Involving someone like me.

You. You know, some cheesecake Elliott Friedman romance novel type thing. and I'm looking for it. All the creative types out there in the audience, Hot for Hockey Media. Let's go. We only briefly touched on Hot for Hockey, I think, on the show when it came out. And it obviously is sort of come and went. It's gone.

For those who don't know, it's the romance novel approach to marketing from the National Hockey League in which they created mini audio books, I guess you can say, of players like Connor McDavid and Jack Eichol, inexplicably. Trevor Zegris trying to kind of follow their seasons in the style of a hockey romance novel. And as someone said to me when this thing hit, it was going to be the Guardian Project for Gen Z. And it certainly was. The Guardian Project, for those that don't know, was the time the NHL partnered with Stan Lee to create a series of Marvel superheroes. They debuted between periods at the All-Star Game.

If you're new to the game and you've never seen it, go fuck. find Guardians Project All-Star game and just revel in the attempt to do what they attempted to do before it crashed and burned. So this thing is, listen, here's the thing about hopper hockey. And this is the bottom line for me. I really, I really found a button here. This is, this is great. This is the whole show open. This is good. I love it. I have a lot of opinions about it. I have a lot of opinions about it. But my biggest opinion about it, though, is that, you know, even if it was a, I don't know, like a just a viable attempt by the NHL to reach new audiences, it kind of still feels like the thing that they end up doing sometimes from a marketing perspective,

which is to enter a space that already exists with a baked in fandom and a baked in community. Yeah. And then they go into it and they're like, here is a hockey thing. Come hockey fans to the hockey thing without really understanding. the dynamics of why things work, why they're popular, why people are involved in it. And it's not a surprise that it failed as quickly as it did because it didn't seem like it was really working with the intended audience and then it was certainly being ridiculed by the hockey audience writ large. And now I guess it's according to, I think front office

sports reported that it's been deleted from Spotify in total. So RIP hot for hockey. Hockey's great when it's just honest about itself. point outdoor games like just be honest about who you are and where you're at and if we're going to come up with something new sometimes it's best to look old go to the past like I'm serious like I want to get into the heritage classic jerseys and the Winnipeg look and the Montreal look and etc but like I've always felt that like NHL does the best one they're just like okay let's start with the fact that we're a hockey company and start there as opposed to we're something we're something else that also sort of winks at hockey at the same time.

Other things can do that. Other properties can, but when you're something like the NHL, start with the very basic premise that is we're a hockey company. Start there. Yeah. And then go from there and then, you know, add a little bit of flavor to it here and there. I mean, the outdoor game thing,

if we're talking about the annals of NHL marketing is arguably the most successful thing that they've done in the last 30 years. Yeah. Fantastic. Like the winter class. The Stadium Series and now the Heritage Classic. Heritage Classic disappeared for three years. Do you know why?

I don't know why. Don't know why. Honestly, I just thought it was going to be on a two-year swing. Every two years, it was going to be a Heritage Classic. And for whatever reason, this time around, it's three. So don't know. I mean, finite amount of Canadian teams, finite amount of Canadian venues, I guess, is the argument. I don't know.

The Heritage Classic feels like something that should be taken. to places where there aren't NHL teams, no? Oh, that would be great. Like Saskatoon, Halifax, places like that. The whole, uh, if you build it, they will come. I mean, I love, I love that idea. But there's got to be some local, local rink where, uh, McKinnon and Crosby played their youth hockey that you could build some temporary bleachers on. Like a real field of dreams type thing, right?

You probably, you probably can, but the easiest most marketable way for not just, you know, teams but also sponsors is just stick them in NHL in NHL of cities. I get it. Like I love that idea. I really do. I just don't know, uh, I just don't know that it would work as well financially.

If there was one in, you know, Saskatoon, for example, or Colma or Pintin, which I would love. I went to the one between the habs and the flames in Calgary at McMahon Stadium.

Mm-hmm. That's maybe the coldest I've ever been in my entire life. That's not cold. That's not cold, man that is that is that is that is not cold i remember balmy yeah Winkler manitoba was the coldest i've ever been in my life it was for hockey day in Canada i want to say 2010 maybe 2011 and i had it's funny too because they're the twin cities are Winkler and morden and Winkler was i don't know if it still is a dry town

and right on the border like right on the border like you go over from Winkler to Morton and there is a Boston pizza where it's like the first place you can get a sip of anything and it is like per capita probably most highly populated Boston pizza anywhere in Canada but nonetheless I digress because but that was the coldest I've ever been like you know batteries in the parking lot to keep cars charged like that right that kind of that that kind of freezing anyhow Gavin McKenna knows all about cold

but Gavin McKenna scoring his first goal getting an assist yesterday the Toronto of Maple Leafs win in overtime. They beat the National Predators. And the weight of the world and the discussion about morning skates is, well, probably not over, at least paused. As all is right in Leafland, Greg, as Gavin McKenna scores a goal. We're going to get to Dylan Larkin scoring a goal. We're going to get to Dan Rosen from NHL.com here in a second, too.

But Gavin McKenna scores. So everything is right in the world. No. Well, first of all, is the Toronto media taking credit for having forced this goal? through their abject criticism of his lack of production. I think the shot's been called, man. Like, I thought that Gavin McKenna was going to have favored nation status as the future of the team and maybe given a honeymoon period or a grace period.

But clearly the media in Toronto has already decided this guy's going to be Martyr 2.0 as far as, like, picking on the, oh, yeah, I think this was just the harbinger of things to come. Like, he's going to be the guy. He's going to be the pariah. He's going to be the person that they blame for the foibles of the league. going forward. It's not Matthews. He's back. He's doing his thing. It's not Nielander. He curses. We love him. It's going to be the new kid because the new partner. And we all saw what happened with Marner. And we all too saw, you know, the first couple of seasons of William Nielander. And he was fired up to be that guy.

He was going to be the pinata for Maple Leafs media. When did that turn around? Probably playoff performances. When he stopped talking to the media? His martyrs probably kept talking to him and his dad kept talking to the media. No, it became when it became when William Nylander started performing in the playoffs. Sure. That was it. And every time the Leaf can bow out in the first round, but Nylander was always great. That's what got everyone.

That's what got the flies off. It wasn't Willie's fault. Don't blame Willie. He tried. Willie tries. One guy also continuously said how much he loves the city and loves the fans and took the TTC and regardless of how stupid some of those things may be, when you compare one guy who says that to one guy who did not say those things,

that is also very endearing for one player to a fan base. Just wait. Zach, just wait until Gavin McKenna doesn't take the hometown discount. Just wait until he decides to take full value on the contract. And then they're forced to trade a beloved veteran to make room for him under the cap. And then we'll see how everybody's treating McKenna. If you want to torture, Zach, you got to say, wait till someone submits an offer sheet for Gavin McKenna. Wait at least signs an offer sheet.

Because at least Marner, who was offered one by Columbus, didn't sign it. But don't you, like, weren't your ears perking up when all of a sudden we are three, what, three games into the season? And like, we're criticizing when he's skating and when he's not. Like, that became a thing. What happened to the rookie grace period? What happened to these guys? You put the guy's picture on the side of the arena and then you don't say shit about him

for like two years because he's the future of the franchise. So what happened to that? Here's my thing about crazy media towns. If you're the NHL, you want every organization to be like Toronto in a couple of different ways. One, financially.

Two, media coverage. Like you want, this is why I always, I was just saying this on the week. weekend to someone too. You know, there's a lot of players that will tell you, oh, you know, the media coverage in candidates insane. It's ridiculous. You can't just be a private citizen. Just go to dinner with your family. You can't, you can't do that. You're a hockey player 24-7. You know, you go to some other markets where it's a lot quieter and maybe there's only one or two reporters and you barely get any and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and that's more desirable.

That's fine. But for every single player who wants, and NHL teams to be poorly covered and have poor fan engagement and not sell out building and how somehow that is attractive and a magnet for play. Stop telling me about growing the game because growing the game means 32 teams with fan bases and media coverage, the likes of which you get in Toronto, which is over the top, certainly. There's no such thing as a small story in Toronto. everything is a massive story. Is there too much information out there about the Maple Leafs? Absolutely. And that's what their fans want.

If you're the NHL, you want 32 of those. Then I think you get a lot of other owners on side saying, okay, now it's time for expansion. You want 32 of those because it means that the media landscape in that town is thriving. And it means that there are content pipes being constantly open for fans and potential ticket buyers to consume that content. But there's another part of that, the flip side of that coin, my friend, as Robert De Niro said in heat, which is that when you have that mammoth amount of coverage, then the team responds to it in kind.

And now it's a little bit harder to get one on one time with those players. And now the players are just standing in front of a big sheet in the hallway instead of being in the locker room where you'd like to sit down and get to know them and get better access. And I think that that is the other side of the coin when it comes to having a media culture like the Toronto Maple Leafs, which is that you don't get a chance to have a long conversation and a locker room stall with somebody on the Minnesota Wild or the St. Louis Blues or even the New Jersey Devils. Like you don't get that opportunity with the Leafs anymore because now they are just a corporate PR department at all times, except for maybe the in-house. media. You know what's interesting? I remember Eric DeHatchik told me with this. I remember asking Eric DeHachich why he moved to Calgary to cover the game nationally. And one of the things that he said was it's easier to talk to Maple Leafs players here. Easily. It's easier to talk to other Canadian teams here in Calgary because it's next to impossible in Toronto. I got 15 minutes

with Leon Drysidal once after a practice by myself. Where? Because I was living in San Jose. Yes. Because I was living in San Jose. Yeah, exactly. And I think that's actually, for those I don't know, like, you know, how things work. I mean, that is certainly a facet of coverage is the idea that if you were in a place where

maybe teams aren't sending a bunch of their beat writers or there's just less local media kind of invading the premises. Yeah. Like you can get these guys on the road. I mean, for me personally, I tend to do some of my best work here in the New York metropolitan Alton area going to Devils practices and catching the road team in New Jersey. Because when they're coming through Madison Square Garden, you know where they're going to Carbone.

They're not going to sit with me for 15 minutes after a practice to talk about the power play. So it's a different vibe. It's a little different vibe. Okay. Congratulations to Gavin McKenna. First goal in the NHL, many more to come. Dylan Larkin made his season debut last night. I love hockey.

He scored because, of course, he's going to score. score and got an assist and gotten a scrum and sometimes he was flat out booed, sometimes it was mixed from the family and friends who seemed to be there yesterday at Little Caesars. The attendance was sparse. Oh, my. Did you see that footage of them trying to bring the flag around the lower bowl at the beginning of the game and like they didn't have enough people in the lower bowl

to keep the flag aloft? It's really tough. It's a metaphor there. But, like, yeah, that's, that, that was completely predictable. That Dylan Larkin was going to get booed on Friday and scored a goal on Tuesday in his season debut. Completely predictable. As you know, my bold prediction on Dylan Larkin was that he would stay the entire season of Detroit. That is, it remains on the table.

Okay. And what if, I mean, like, there's a part of me watching that last night in Detroit and how it's playing out and how the, as you mentioned, the fan, the sentiment, not all of it. And it may never change. Let's be honest. I mean, there's still going to be new crowds of people coming to each game ready to boo the hell of this guy for trying to abandon the franchise as the captain. We'll get to that in a second. But like what if the long game here for Detroit is, all right, you're healthy.

You're inexplicably healthy because I had more than a few people around the league. I thought that that was a sham and then he wasn't going to play again until he was traded. but he comes back in the lineup. He's scoring goals. He's feeling good about life a little bit. I saw on the NHL tracker that he followed two of his teammates on Instagram that he wasn't following. That's the new insider. Sorry.

What if the long game works? What if they end up kicking this can down the road to the summer? And he ends up feeling better about life and feeling better about new management and feeling better about his teammates. And he ends up staying for a season. Like, is that out of the realm of possibility now after what you saw last night? I really can't see it happening if you heard the comments from him after the game, essentially, not wanting to commit to anything other than it was nice to score a goal with my teammates. Essentially, the situation is still the situation.

We all know what the score is here. I know it. My teammates know it. My poor head coach who must be just pulling his hair out. now about between this and the GM situation and the defenseman in Sweden, all the fans know it. Everybody around the NHL, everybody knows the score here.

We may not know why, but everybody knows the score. So even Larkin was like, I'm not going to pretend this is anything other than what it is. It was nice to be back playing hockey again. Good to be out there with my boys. And it was nice to score a goal. Yeah.

So unless that, I don't know how that is going to change. They beat Ottawa on the back of the second half of a back to back too. So I can't bring myself to like I'm not with you. I don't think that Larkin lasts the season in Detroit. I still think that he does get moved. And I think part of the motivation here even from him too is I got to play myself into a trade. Right.

Well, and look, I mean, the fan sentiment last night was was changing and different and ultimately maybe a little bit more positive at the end of the game that you'd expect. But that's because they got to win. You got to win. They also got to win scoring a bunch of goals, which they couldn't do before Dylan Larkin came back. So, I mean, there was a lot of positive momentum in the Dylan Malkin Department last night. The captaincy thing I wanted to mention. Yeah.

Nick, Nick Cousins, a Florida panther and spirit, if not in uniform anymore. If you're watching us on YouTube, you can see. So, oh, Nick Cousins doing the, where's the sea? Where's the sea? Where's the sea? Where's the sea? the ice. Yeah, not subtle.

So good. So good. Not only referencing a guy getting stripped of the captaincy by his team, but kind of in an ancillary way, referencing the fact that he is currently in a hockey purgatory of his own making, requesting a trade that wasn't granted, and then feeling the punishment for that from within his franchise. You know what? Being a captain of the Detroit Red Wings. So we saw this last night.

and Larkin scores, and I think we all had the same reaction. Hockey. It was going to happen because hockey. What do you think the odds somewhere down the line at some point, Larkin and Cousins end up on the same team? I mean, given Cousin's mobility pretty good, I'd have to say. Given Cousin's mobility pretty good. There's a chad.

So like, okay, just like park that in the back of your mind, everybody, for one day down the road when Nick Cousins and Dill and Larkin are on the same team. Well, I mean, that's, that is hockey in its essence. I mean, you talk about before about like the purity of the outdoor game. I mean, to me, the purity of hockey is also in the sense that you are, you've got guys that you want to hit the head with your stick who then change uniforms sit next to you in a stall and now you're grabbing beers after the game. Well, or whatever they're drinking these days. I guess maybe tequila. I don't drink beer anymore. So the, that I've had many conversations. Merrick through the years, specifically with people who would have massive, bloody fights with guys and then have those guys show up on their teams. And I was always fascinated to find out the dynamic of that. What is it like? Do you bring it up? Marshand was a good example.

I remember talking to Marshan, who we'll talk about in a second, I guess, during the playoffs and just the idea of all of these players that he had beef with and that he would. tussle with during the Bruins and Panthers rivalries and now he's a panther and what's that like what's it like being in the same room with Sam Bennett after all the shit that went down with them in the injury and hearing him talk about it and hearing Bennett talk about it it's like it's kind of

amazing how you can put this boiling bad blood aside to all of a sudden be brothers in arms it's a unique talent I I'll tell you I never got it out of my head every time I saw Ryan Reeves playing with

San Jose sharks. I couldn't, just knowing like how, how, how, the bad blood between not just his team, but Ryan Reeves specifically against everybody on the San Jose sharks. Well, but wasn't it about somebody specific on the sharks? But is it more of an Evander Kane problem than anything else. It is an Avander King, but it was everybody on the sharks too. Like he, he was, he went at everybody. Like, honestly, did you like every year, every, every, every, every, every season,

The beginning of the year, you have that like, wow, this guy looks different in this uniform and it takes a while to adjust. I never got, and I know they loved him there and him and celebrated tight, like all of it. I never got used to seeing Ryan Reeves in a set Jose uniform. Oh, that's fair. I could never get used to it. Just because of the history. He was a tormentor. Yeah, for sure.

Yeah, no, it's a very interesting dynamic in hockey. Like, you know, one minute, it's someone that you literally are trying to, you know, harm as hard as possible on the ice, then all of a sudden he's your best buddy. Yep. Okay, well, if I have something, you know how yesterday? Oh, here we go.

I teased that I had something I wanted to bring to the table for you and Greg to think about here. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah, because after you got off the show, I said, no, Greg's got to be there for this. So here's my idea. Okay. The Red Wings, they still do not have a general manager, right?

Seems like they... I have an interim general manager. Sure, but... Sean Horcock. You understand what I'm saying. A full, plated... general manager. I don't think they're printing anything off for Horcoff. Corner office, the whole deal. Right.

So it seems as though they like the idea of, you know, keeping around some guys who have been part of the organization in some way or another to be managers, i.e. Steve Eiserman or to be advisors or however it is. You know, Izerman failed upwards. He's now senior management, essentially, with the Red Wings here now. So you tell me if you think this is a good idea or not. There was a guy who was also in an executive position in the league. He is no longer in the NHL, but a lot of people thought, hey, this is a guy who's going to get another job.

He also fits the bill of a former Red Wings player. Could we see... Hang on here. Let me say it with you. Brendan Shanahan. Brendan Shanahan make his way back to Detroit. Because you guys said could Eiserman make... That was Jeff hypothetical yesterday.

Could Eisenman make his way back? It got me thinking, could Shanahan make his way back in a... a different capacity. As a team president, yes, as a team president, yes, his full-time general manager, no. I don't think he has any desire to do that. That's the trick. He's not going to be a GM.

No, he would come back and serve in the same capacity that he served in Toronto. Now, how I'll answer that, Zach. And I don't think it's, I don't think it's a bad idea. And I don't want to dispel it because I don't know if it's necessarily off the table, given his history with the team. Mm-hmm. I did see Shanning at the border governor's meeting recently in New York, which surprised me because the last time I saw Shanney,

It was in the Stanley Cup final. And he's like, I've got a great place by the water where I'm just going to be there. I'm going to look out at the water. It's my coffee, like in that scene at the end of the Leafs documentary. I'm like, what are you doing on the 150th floor of this building in New York? He's like, consulting. I'm like, all right, you're consulting. It's cool.

I think they do bring him in from time to time. It's going to be the next Colie Campbell. They do bring him in from time to talk to people and what have you. But, like, yeah, he could be the next Colie Campbell. Yep. I think there are two teams. that I could see Brendan Shanahan taking over. And I don't think Detroit's one of them.

I think one of them is obviously the New York Hockey Rangers. If things ever went sideways with Chris Drury, I could easily see Brendan Shanahan moving into a president of hockey ops position there, team president position there, and taking over the Rangers. I mean, he loves New York. The other one I'm curious about because this is one where there's a couple of long-serving people in these jobs and the team may not be in the right place anymore. And that's Boston.

Do you wonder about Boston too for him? Like if there was ever a, you know, Cam moves on into some insanely titled role that doesn't involve him running the team anymore and they go in a different direction, like if Shanahan could end up there. I'd never joined the two, but that's because I've just assumed that Cam Neely is going to have that position until he decides he doesn't want it anymore. I don't know what I...

When a team's fortunes change, you know, sometimes ownership decides there needs to be a change. I know, I know. Rangers makes a ton of sense. Yeah. I actually think like Detroit at that president of hockey operations level can make some sense. But I honestly, I still see Shanahan as whenever, you know, whenever Gary Batman puts together his succession program for not just him, but people around him too, I can see Shanahan sliding into the Colby Campbell position. Like, easily.

Like, it looks like a role that's perfect for Brendan Shanahan. And he doesn't have to move. But does he want it? I don't know. I mean, he created the Department of Player's Safety, but then he left for running a team. Yeah, and his designs were always to run a team. I think he's more, and again,

I know him a little bit, but I'm not going to pretend to know exactly what his career aims are. But I feel like he would be more invigorated running a team than he would be being the guy who has to field all the angry phone calls from general managers all day long about some referee who did a thing or a rule they're not happy with. Like, does he really want that to be his life? Wouldn't you rather be on the other end of the phone if you're Brendan Shanahan than being on the Cole and Campbell end of the phone? Yeah. Maybe it certainly is more attractive. Hey, I want to get to, I want to get to something here. But quickly, this fan moment is a presentation of Coca-Cola.

Being a hockey fan is a commitment. The superstitions, the chance the pacing the standing through overtime because sitting somehow feels wrong. Whether you're making the climb to the nosebleeds, rallying your section to start the wave or keeping one eye on your game and the other on the out-of-town scores, true fandom puts in the work. Every shift deserves an ice-cold Coca-Cola. man work is thirsty work. I was really glad that you amplified the Maclin Celebrini piece in GQ. Because if you didn't, because, and I think you put

something in there about see how the outside world talks about hockey. I can't remember how you phrased it, but it's like, it's always interesting to find a non-hockey lens placed on hockey as we got in GQ. You know my favorite part? Hang on, let me grab it here. You know my favorite part of the piece was?

It was a really interesting piece, and I'm sure you can head on a couple of things here. Let me just read a sentence, okay? Instead, he slid past the goalie and pushed the puck into the net with the convex side of his blade, body twisting with near balletic torque. It's one of the hundreds of highlight reel moments

that make his skill evidence. What you're trying to say is backhand. I have never referred to the convex side of his blade. That line right there made the piece for me. I had to like stop. Just outside the studio. Stop and laugh. I wish there was more of that.

Because honestly, like, it's a GQ profile. It obviously only has a finite amount to do with what's happening on the ice. There's a couple things here. And I hope people take their time to read it because it is interesting. It's really good. To see how someone writes about our sport, but also how someone who writes for GQ, who writes about our sport in a post-heeded rivalry off-campus world, which is also a big part of this story with Macklin.

So a couple things. Fear the Finn, which is an old shark's blog that I absolutely love, had a back and forth with them on Twitter before about the idea of the NHL should be careful with putting their players out and sexualizing them in some way. And there's a lot of like cheesecake photos of Macklin and this profile. It's GQ for God's sakes. You know, it's the one that puts like Brad Pitt shirtless on the cover. But I think what's being missed here is like, Macklin's putting himself out there in ways that we haven't seen a young star do before.

And we were getting used to it. I mean, he was a Hollywood reporter cover feature. Now he's got the GQ profile. Like, I know that we want to, like, we could say maybe his representation is doing this, but I think that's not giving Maclin celebrating the agency that he deserves that he's the one chasing this right now. Like he is clearly looking for a level of fame that transcends. hockey and that's to his credit. I'm happy he's doing that. Obviously he's a kid who grew up, you know,

hanging around with Steph Curry when he was a kid because his father is a strength guy with the Golden State Warriors and he probably wants something more than just hockey famous. I think you bring up the important distinction. That is this is him that's chasing it. Because when I first saw the GQ pictures, first of all, good on them. Awesome.

This is great. I think this is wonderful for hockey. The first thing that I thought of was, and you and I are the same vintage, you'll remember this. 19 was it 19 was it 94 when pavre debuted with the Vancouver Canucks and this was the picture on the cover of the Vancouver Sun

oh wow look at that and the LGBTQ community grabbed this and he because it's like when Vancouver had like 20 guys who looked like Harold Snaps and then in comes palvaray who's like look Hollywood good look looking and like that community was like this is our guy that was right for and then remember like all there were all those like beret posters that were all up around Vancouver too and he always seemed like I don't want to I want to be a hockey player I don't want to be portrayed like this this isn't my choice uh and that was the first thing that I thought of your distinction is an important one this one's being chased by celebrini like yeah it's really comfortable with this yeah well

Well, to a point. So I should say, I think part of the backlash that I've seen against this GQ piece is just the uniqueness of seeing a non-hockey person. I assume the author's a non-hockey person based on that convex blade bullshit you just told me. That was so cool. Asking questions about why, you know, they're kind of doing a celebrity profile of a hockey player, right? So it's jarring to see questions being asked of an athlete that you or I wouldn't ask necessarily. And that's kind of how it works, right? And so there's a certain amount of like, we don't expect to see this to the hockey profile that's happening with this GQ piece, and I get it. But there's a part of this story that's really making people uncomfortable. And I think that's fair. Like, asking him about the fandom that's come from heated rivalry and that's come from off campus, that's come from these romance novels that are dominating the Amazon charts and have done so for the last several years, I think that's fair. But the author then asks him about, quote, the fan fiction.

element of social media, TikTok, things like that. And that's a direct reference to people like shipping him and Will Smith as teammate because they're best friends and they participate in videos together and hang out together. And like, it's that question, that framing of that question is pretty gross. I'm completely okay with them asking him about the fandom aspects of how hockey fandom has changed and the new entry points to fandom that are happening.

But that asking him particularly about that is pretty gross. gross. And if you do ask about that, then I think there needs to be more of a conversation about the parasycial relationship fans have with players, maybe bring up the book talk thing that we talked about a while back with Alex Wenberg and what he went through. And like, there's a whole other part of that conversation that I think is missing here. And instead, it just becomes a gross conversation with Macklin Celebrini. I also, I know Dan Rosen's, wait, two quick things. I felt the article had an extremely misconduct. misogynistic view of Macklin Sellebrini's fandom.

Like he's got a big, strong, robust group of women fans that follow him. There's no question about that. The NHL referenced that in the numbers that they've seen for the videos. They put up with him in Will Smith, his social media following, what have you. But at no point does the article acknowledge that maybe there's like a bunch of women who love hockey who now love Maclin Sillabrini because he plays hockey. Like, it's crazy to me how they just boil down his fandom to being some. sort of like hypersexual thing and that's such an insult to the the women who love hockey

and do that now love watching back on Celebrini play it. And I will, the last thing I'll say is that like in all, baked into all of this Merrick is something that you and I have talked about for 20, not 20, like 15 years, which is gatekeeping. And and who gets to follow hockey and who doesn't and who has an entry point to hockey fandom and who shouldn't have that entry point and what's good and what's bad. And that's where it gets a little weird for me. Like there are certain things I don't like about this article. And there are certain things where I think it's okay to acknowledge that some people come to our sport in different ways and it doesn't make them less of a fan. In fact, it's it's a way that they can then fall in love with the game. So I struggle

where the gatekeeping should exist when it comes to all of this stuff inherent in the Maclin Cillebrini Gen Z Star profile thing that we've read. You want a pithy quick observation before we get to Dan? Please. Because I've already brought up the convex blade. which is such a great way to describe a backhand. There's a line, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. To attend a school called Shattuck St. Mary's. Because if you just say Shattuck St. Mary's any hockey fan,

every hockey fan it treats it like it's Hogwarts. But like to the non-hockey fan, you got to explain. It's a school for wizards, folks. To a school called Shattuck St. Mary's. with our ring of board Dan Rosen from NHL.com. Dan, first of all, thanks so much for doing this. How are you today? I'm good, guys.

That was very interesting to listen to you guys. And I'll be honest, I haven't read that, the GQ story yet. To a school called Shattuck St. Mary's. A school school, but again, like this is directed at, like, specific, like there are moments where you realize this is directed at non-hockey fans. I was saying before you came on, my favorite line in the, the whole piece is this, where really we would just say backhander. Instead, he slid past the goalie and pushed the puck into the net with the convex side of his blade.

Please know convict compliments to me on this show, please. Most of the time when I read someone like approaching our sport and not really understanding it, I'm just like, please stay away. Because usually it's, you know, them highlighting some of the nefarious things. about hockey or not really understanding the game. And in this case, it's obviously like a personality profile and it's different. But it is always fun for, you know, to read a basketball writer talk about hockey. Like I'll give you an example. Like I know, I know like Mike Wilbon is a hockey guy.

Like he's clearly understands the sport. He's been a Black Hawk fan. But it still would be interesting when I was reading the Washington Post to read Mike Wilbott on hockey because I know he's not baked into it in the same way that like Jason Lock and four it was or someone like that. I agree. I actually like reading writers who are not baked into the sport. Same.

Sometimes because they give you a different perspective. Like I will see things from a different way sometimes when you read somebody who's not baked into the sport. Sometimes we are, we're so baked into it that we're just, you know, for lack of a better term, set in the ways of the game and set in the ways of how it works and set in the ways of, you know, the players and what they do and things along those lines, that when you break away from that, sometimes you do get. A different perspective, a different look at people and, you know, within the game or a different look at just some of the social aspects of the game.

It's not necessarily a different look of the power play, right? So it's not that. Yeah. For me, the best example of what you're talking about and we used to have her on the old pot all the time is Ellen Etchingham and her old blog, a theory of ice, which to me was some of the best hockey writing I've ever heard. Now, Ellen, unfortunately, that blog went down because she's now a stand. Cup champion scout with the Carolina Hurricanes. And though I've never seen any of her reports, I understand they are quite lyrical,

unlike a lot of other reports from various scouts to their managers. But she's like Chicago born and she came to hockey later in her life and a strong literary background. Like the way that she looked at the game was eye-opening to me. And just the way she would describe it and things that she would note that are of particular interest that just breeze by, you know, guys like the three of us because we've just been baked in the wool since, you know, since we were, you know, six or seven years old first starting to watch hockey.

She to me is the best example. Ellen etching, and I'm so glad that now she's a, she can say she's a Stanley Cup champion. Rosen, what do you, what do you make him, Macklin? Like, I mean, I mean, he's brilliant, obviously. And he's, you know, getting Sidney Crosby comparisons based on last year. But like, this combination of on the off the ice we've not really seen before. And, you know, a guy who's coming to the league, he's, you know, set in record. A lot of us had the sharks in the playoffs because of his abilities,

but also seems to kind of understand and maybe it's a generational thing, the off-ice part of it. I think it's very much a generational thing. And I think it's an acceptance thing within the league, too. Like these things are now accepted. These players are now accepted. The players having personalities are now accepted. Take it, go further players with personalities and they bring it off the ice and they go public

with their personalities, now accepted. It's a generational thing. It's a technological thing. We're seeing it more, more and more technology allows us more visibility to the players to get to know them in different ways instead of just on the ice. 20 years or what it was, I mean, 20 some odd years ago, right, when Sidney Crosby came into the league, it wasn't this way. Everybody knew who Sidney Crosby was, even outside the hockey world, because there were a number of stories on Sidney Crosby coming into this league and the Wunderkin and coming in and how, you know, he's going to take it over. and he was the next one, the great one, Sid the kid, the next great one, Sid the kid, all that stuff. But that was all hockey, right?

I mean, that was all hockey related. And this is different because it's accepted more now in our sport, but in the general sports world. It's accepted, I think. It's accepted by fans more because fans have become more known. These players are more known to fans now. they're not just a name and an oh my god did you see him oh you know thing like that it's a you see what he did you know did you see that clip you know you know like how funny is that like what a great personality he has and these are things that you know technology has allowed us to

do this but i really do think you don't get it you don't come into this league and get this notoriety uh you know and cross you know pollinate yourself basically throughout you know all all walks of life if you're not good. You got to be good. You got to stand out on the ice. And he's obviously done that. There's no question. So he's earned the respect of his peers. And by earning the respect of his peers, it's more freedom to be able to do these things. And I think he is, I don't know necessarily, I can't sit here and say that Macklin-Celebrini himself personally is seeking fame and fortune, I think that it's the right thing to do and his people around him know that there's a small window of opportunity here for you to be as big as you possibly can be. And let's make it

happen. And he's fully on board with that. Let me try to take that one step further. So here's what I think is I'm glad you referenced Sydney Crosby. So coming out of the 204, 205 lockout, sorry to everyone who still, and that includes myself and Greg, you're one on the PTSD from that lockout. Not that again. So Crosby and Novatchkintas the star is coming out of that one. Okay.

Now, what came along with that was a different rules package and a different way to play the game and a crackdown on obstruction, fly zone NHL, new logo, like everything. It was a new NHL and it was really exciting. But a lot of players had to break habits

and it took a long time. And a lot of players didn't survive. And they skated their way out of the game because they couldn't break the old habits to adjust to the new way to play. And the Connor McDiardard cohort was the first one that didn't have to break habits. They just grew up with this being the way to play.

This is how we play hockey. I didn't have to stop playing one way and start playing another way. And from Connor McDavid, now we go to the Mackle and Celebrini cohort. And the thing that you notice about them is not so much on the ice, but off the ice. This is a generation of athlete that have no idea of what something called privacy is. They live their lives publicly because everything is.

is recorded, everything is broadcast, they do it themselves, have others to do it for you. The team does it. The teams do it. The idea of doing anything privately is gone to them. So I'll even take it one step further.

This is just like the water they swim in. This is natural. Greg and I always always make the joke. Like once upon a time when we were all kids, the word, the word, the fear was someone's watching you. Now the biggest fear is no one's watching you.

That you want to terrorize the kids. see no one's following you on social media. No one's watching what you're doing. It's completely flipped. And I think why Celebrini is so comfortable in this environment, I think a lot of other kids are too, because they grow up with all of their lives broadcast publicly.

That's what I think. 100%. 100%. And it's not just, you know, the professionals broadcasting it publicly. It's the guy in the stands at the junior game. Yes. Right?

Who's got it on his phone and he pops it out. out on social media, it goes viral, right? I mean, that's without, that's out of their control. There's a downside to that. And I talk to my 17-year-old son about this all the time. Like, be careful what you post. Be careful what you put out there, right? Because it's going to come back and bite.

It could come back and bite you if it's bad, right? I mean, that is the downside of this. And these guys have it different in that way where they are constantly, you know, they have to be watching. They have to have people paying attention for them because there's so much of and there's no way that they personally themselves can handle all of it. That is one downside to it. But the upside is so great.

And the upside allows for personalities to shine. I don't know if you guys read the story. Amelie Benjamin did one with Matthew Schaefer, Maclin-Sahlerini, and Cole Coffields, right? And it's just, you know, just another one of those, you know, off-ice, you know, stories that, you know, a GQ model type story, if you will. And it was so well done and gets so much out of the personality. these guys ride in the car with them from the diner and Henderson to the player media tour, photo shoots that they were doing, you know, and just getting, getting to know them in a different way

and being able to portray that and they're open to that and they're honest about it and they're really good about it and they're used to it. They're comfortable with it. It used to be that you would be uncomfortable. You'd get athletes and you still do a little bit, but not as much, who are uncomfortable in the spotlight of what they do. they just know that they're really good at what they do, but they're uncomfortable in promoting that.

You know, they let my play speak for myself, right? I'm glad you brought up the Emily thing. I'm glad you brought up the Emily thing because I think that was fantastic. And, you know, NHL.com,

I think has a bunch of them up there and there'll be more hopefully because I think that series is great. Two things real quick. First of all, here's where, first of all, if you're online and you've been online for a long time, Here's Uncle Greg's advice to you.

Delete everything that you did until about three years ago if you're going to apply for a job as a national basketball association play by play guy. Seriously. That's the best advice I could give you. Just please do that. Before you put your resume in to Tom Dundon, please do that. Secondly, I want, here's my dream for the NHL. I want us to get to a point in the United States where Macklin-Cellebrini can be on a commercial and he doesn't have to be wearing a shark's jersey for people to know that it's

a excellent celebrity. And it's been the bane of hockey's existence in this country for my entire life is you have to be wearing your jersey in order for people to know who you are in the commercial. That's beer, sports center, whatever. And that's where I want us to get as a sport. I'll tell you, I'll give you this, though. You know, who doesn't have to wear a jersey in a hockey commercial, in a commercial right now? Jack Hughes doesn't have to, right? Everybody knows who Jack Hughes now, right? Like, it makes a different. And you know, you talk about that, you know, being in the U.S.

and all that. He's a U.S. guy. He won the gold medal for Team USA in the Winter Olympics. There's, there is something to be said for that. But I agree with you. I understand. I understand exactly what it is that you're saying. But there isn't, I think that would be an example of a guy who

probably doesn't have to wear his devil's jersey or his team USA jersey to do it. Or doesn't have to be. faunted. Doesn't have to be fonded. Jack Hughes, USA Hero, Gold Map. That's the other one. Gabe Perrault, breakout star for the season. You were there. Well, listen, he's really good. Okay. He was good last year two in the second half of the season. It was a learning curve for him in the first half of the season. It took a while. He didn't really have chemistry. They couldn't find a right place for him. And ironically,

this line of Gabe Perot, Alexei LaFranier, and Mika Zabanijad takes off after they trade Artemi Panera. And I don't think, you know, Panarin wasn't holding them back. I'm not going to say that. But all of a sudden, Perrault and Lafranier were elevated and given a bigger role. And, you know, with that came more expectations, but with that came more opportunity. And Perrault is running with it just like Lafranier is running with it right now. And really, it started last year. I want to say, I don't have the exact number,

but I think Perrault had something like 18 points in the last 19 games of last season. Terrific vision. If you saw the pass he made last night to Oliver Bjork Strand, setting up Bjork Strand for his goal, I asked Perrault about it after the game. And he retrieves a shot. Sean Darcy takes a shot from the point. It's deflected in front by Will Kooling.

and it goes off the end boards. And Gabe Perrault goes through the circle and retrieves the puck. It's on the power play. He retrieves the puck, kind of turns in the right circle and whips a pass right across the zone, right onto the tape of Oliver Bjorkstra. And I asked him after the game, did you see him? Or is that just the pass? I'm going to put the puck to the net and kind of hope somebody's there, right? And he goes, no, when I was going to retrieve the puck, I saw him out of the corner of my eye.

And then the guy who was on him, and I forget who it was on him from the islanders, gave me a little shove. And I used that push-off to get a little bit more momentum to get the puck across, but I knew he was there. Like that happened in 1.2 seconds. You know, like that's amazing to me. But that, I mean, that's NHL players. But that's a terrifically skilled, smart player with great on-ice vision.

And I think that's what Perrault has. And I think that's why he's going to be a good one here, you know, in New York. So the Rangers, the Rangers put out the letter, right? Another letter. We get one every decade. It seems like. Letter 2.0. A lot of pain, a lot of retooling, what have you.

The last time they did it, the pain was about what, like a season and a half and then then Aaron and Fox show up and get off they go to the races. Like is this another situation where the struggle is going to be short for this team? Like are they only a few people? Like their bottom six, I hate, but like their D is okay. They've got the goalie. they've got a good top six. I mean, like, how close are they to maybe, you know,

ratcheting up back to contention? You know, it's interesting you say that because when they were going into the season, I was like, wow, their bottom six looks pretty rebuilt and looks pretty good. It's the question about their top six because I thought they were, you know, I still think they're missing a top six forward. You know, they got Ty Cartier there now with Miller and Dorofaev. They had Bjork Strand there. Perot Lafranier and Mika Zamanageda.

That's a top six line. There's no question about it. But I still think that they're. missing a top six forward, but I looked at their bottom six and I'm like, I love the signing of Ellie Tolvinen. I thought it was just a really good late offseason signing one year deal. The guy can score. He can kill some penalties. He, you know, he can do a lot of it. Play on your power play. I like Will Cooley in a third line role. I think no Lava's coming and I think he's going to be a pretty good third line center for a long time in this league. I don't think he

need to elevate him or think to elevate him. I think that's his role. You know, play, play 14 minutes a night, take defense's own faceoffs, take, you know, kill, be first over the boards on a penalty kill. That's a good role. You need guys like that. And, you know, the fourth line, Valeno can skate. He's hurt now. Can kill penalties.

So I was looking at it. I'm going, their bottom six is okay. It's the question about their top six. But the whole lineup has looked pretty good right now. It's still too early, though. Like, I'm not drawn conclusions on where we're at here because you got to remember, right? So they lose in Boston, and they've come back and they've won four games in a row. But they caught the Tampa Bay Lightning in their season opener after the Rangers had played a game.

So that's helpful. They go to Detroit. It's Detroit's season opener. And Detroit's just in a messy situation right now. That's helpful. They catch the Utah Mammoth on a back-to-back. And they catch the New York Islanders with a goaltender in net for the first time at 676 days. So, like, it's, there's more.

to come here. They needed to get off to a good start. Five games in eight days. The schedule broke right for them. The teams broke right for them. And you got to bank those points. And they did. So they deserve full marks for that.

And they look pretty good doing it. But let's see where it goes from here. Okay. So here's my question then. Because you're right. And that Detroit game specifically. 22 save performance from Dylan Garant. Now, I was stunned that he didn't get claimed on waivers.

I'm really, really stunned. shuts out their red wings. We get it outside of last night again. So, Ida, they've had a hard time getting that little round black thing over the red line. Can they sneak him down again when Corpusallo comes back? He's week to week right now. He got him through once.

NHL team's going to have NHL looks at him again. I know he has the size working against him. And that's why Vancouver probably just went with Marilyn and then like didn't wait to see what the Rangers were going to do. But I don't know. I don't know if like would they carry three? Would they try to? Would you wave?

Would you would that what like what do you do here? I think Dylan Garan's your backup. I was shocked when they got Corpusallo. I'm with you. I was stunned. No. So I wasn't stunned that they got a veteran backup because you're playing on insurance purposes there. Okay.

And I understand that. And you pay the. price for it. I get I get that and they're also looking in it and saying like what if what if grand doesn't do well or what if grand's going to be part of a trade or you know I mean because they're they were obviously in you know in the market for a number of different potential moves that you know maybe didn't you know haven't transpired right defenseman in Carolina for example just yeah defenseman in Carolina for for example right um is he in Carolina right now I don't even know I don't think he's actually in rally no I don't think so proper

pretty of. Maybe he's training in Sweden with Edvin said at this point. Who knows? Exactly. So I wasn't surprised that they got Corpusalla because it's insurance purposes, but now you've got an injury to Corpusallo. You got Dylan

Garand. He's played well in one game. He played well at the end of the last season. You know he's a good goaltender. He cleared waivers once before. If he continued to play him and he continues to play well, I don't know how he's going to clear waivers again, right? So that doesn't it doesn't make sense to me. So I think what you do is

you look around the league and you say, okay, who needs a veteran backup? Right? And you try to move Corpusallo if you can. And if you can't do that, the next step is to bury him. bury the contract in the minor, see what happens. But I wouldn't waive Garand again. I went into this season thinking Dylan Garan should be their backup. And when they waived him, it came as a surprise because I, we were talking about this

at training camp. I was talking to the number of the B-writers. And I was saying, like, I would waive corpora. Pesalo. I think that's your solution. And they instead wave grand and they've slipped them through somehow. I'm not quite sure how, but they did.

By the way, Alexander Romanoff out six to eight months for the IRS with an ACL. That's a tough one. What's caught your eye beyond? I mean, you've been obviously sitting in the press box at MSG as you often do.

What else has caught your eye in the NHL early on this season, Dan? Well, I mean, Utah has, you know, like, they look really good. And again, you know, when I saw them, they were coming in on a back-to-back, all right, after playing Columbus the night before. But that's a team that looks really good. Nick Schmaltz looks really, really good. I love Danielle Boots. I love Simashev.

I think these, you know, for years I've heard Bill Armstrong there, GM talking about, you got these kids come in the Sima Shev's, the boots, the, you know, these guys of the world. That's what he says. And it's like, when? where are they? Are they going to get there? Are they going to make a difference? And they're making a difference and they still have more. They still have a lot more, you know, in their pipeline to come.

So that's definitely caught my eye. The mammoth absolutely have caught my eye. No question about it. And the flyer's struggles have caught my eye too, you know, caught my attention. Martone in particular, right? Like it's been a, he almost, I think he almost scored a goal the other day. going to the net on the power play. Maybe, you know, he looked a little physical in the game against Tampa Bay,

but they lose four to one. They've struggled. If Lidar has struggled, you know, it can get late quick in this league. And you've got to see if they can kind of get themselves out of this early season struggles. But I was at their opener against Pittsburgh Penguins. Yeah. And it was 7-0.

And it looked like a team that just simply was not ready for the regular season to begin. And so did the Tampa Bay Lightning when they played the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. And even John Cooper that night said it looked like we were playing the game was an inconvenience, you know, getting in the way of our summer. Getting into the summer. That was such a great line by Cooper. It was a great line, but they've come back pretty strong. Flyers have not. No, they have.

Well, I mean, and again, put some disrespect on the Michael bunting of it all, Dan Rosen. He'll turn it all around. They bought in Michael bunting. He's got it. Yep. He'll turn it all around. Yeah, listen, he can't, can't hurt, right? Why not?

Try something different. Why not, right? Well, the thing about it is, too, like, not necessarily that it's Michael Bunting, but that, like, right away, Breyer has recognized we need to change something ASAP. There's, like, the idea, once upon a time, you guys were all sort of similar vintage. Like, you could ease into a season. There's no easing into a season. Like, you could, October could wipe you out.

Like, there's no. So right away, Breyer's like, we have to. do something. We're not letting this go for another week. We're going to do something right away. And October is longer, by the way. October is longer now because there's more games in October. More games. Because the

84 games. So it's even, it makes it even more of a challenge. And yeah, you got you got to go, you know, try some. But it's kind of an indication of the metropolitan division, isn't it, right? Like we expect Carolina and we expect Washington to be

where, you know, to be the best two teams and that division. Yeah. But then there were questions about the other six teams, right? Like there was no guarantees. Nothing could be locked in with the other six teams. And who know, maybe it's the Rangers this year who are going to take the mantle as that third place team because I still firmly believe only three get in from the

metropolitan divisions here. Don't disagree. That makes a lot of sense. I got, I got five from the Atlantic myself. You know, there's a pesky team over across the river that seems to be unable to not give up the first goal in. score for shut on the power play. Sounds like a lot like last year.

But we'll see what the devils end up doing. Yeah, let's again give it some time. And the goaltending situation is quite interesting there. You know, I want, you do wonder sometimes, right? Like I think there's deep respect that the devils have for Jake Allen, right? As a goalie in the NHL. I don't know if there's deep respect for Jake Allen as a number one goalie. in the NHL, there's a big difference with that, right?

So I wonder how that plays. I do wonder how that plays out with the New Jersey Devils and the goaltending because the players playing in front have to believe the goalie's going to be there and be there all the time for them, for them to go out and push and, you know, use their speed, which the devils have a lot of and, you know, play the game that they're supposed to play. and I wonder if that plays a role here. I don't know. I'm just,

I'm fishing here, but I wonder if it does play a role. I'm more focused on the, how much deep respect they have for Sheldon Keefe in that room. That's my current focus, at least for the first 20 games of this season. And then go from there. GMs always like to keep their bullets, though.

Right. Exactly right. You only, like you only have so much equity, you know, like you don't want to use that one too early. Yeah. Again,

like how many times? have we ever heard like the minute you get a job as a general manager your job your job that's your job that's why we always hear from managers like oh I need the year to have a look under the hood I need to learn everything about this organization please don't call me back for another year I got to see what's actually going on here um Dan we're keeping you heavy thanks so much for stopping by today as always I appreciate it guys had fun thanks so much there is the great Dan Rosen from NHL dot com you know it's funny here talking about um Perrault uh with the New York Rangers.

You go back to the Nashville draft, and Barry Trots, who was then the general manager that Nashville Predators really tried to put on a show for the local. I didn't end up getting it. But he tried to move up to four and was dangling Yaroslav Vaskaroff, who ended up going to San Jose anyway, to get the San Jose pick so they could draft Will Smith. And then later on in the first round, they really wanted, and I believe tried to trade up, too, maybe with the Rangers, to get Perrault.

Rangers took them and they ended up taking a really good young defenseman and Tanner Mollandike. But the two guys they wanted to come away with in the first round were Will Smith and Gabriel Perra. How much better would the Nashville Predators look at right now with Will Smith? Pretty special. Pretty special. Two things before we bidded you. I was correct that you were you were swallowing something that wasn't right about Alexander Barkoff yesterday. You're right.

Six to eight. Let me grab my notes on that. Is what the team officially says. Greg was 100% right. No surgery, six to eight. Six to eight. So that's good news for them. Not great news is Marchand.

That injury looked grisly last night. Not only does he get a high stick in the face, but also his left leg just crumbles. Yeah. Just not a good situation helped off the ice. I guess they said that Thursday will be the day when we get an update on his health. But we'll see what's cooking there. I was happy to see Luster Iron and come back. in the game last night because he was out for a bit too it's like two pieces of that great third

line we're both out at the same time so we'll see i mean the panthers are again you know as i said at the beginning of the season when i picked him to win the cup you can't roll the odometer back and there's a lot of miles in these tires and i'm not saying that's the ultimate reason why these things happen but i mean it is not not a reason why these things happen the one guy that again we saw it last season you'll lose bark off like you know what i i i'm It's the whole ball game. That one guy. We're like, yeah,

that's the ball game. Barkoff's the ball game. They can make the playoffs without him, although they didn't last year, but they can't win the cup without him. Brady Kachuk, Gooseggs across four games, minus two, my friend.

Cheerios. We all thought that it was going to be a bonanza and eight fights and eight points and Cheerios so far for Brady Kucke. By the way, you see Mark Stone and Brandon Montour last night at Seattle, Vegas. game and then Winterton with

Mark Gatcomb after the head on Trevor Connolly. Stone, so Stone said essentially that Montour was saying bad things about Vegas. Which I go back to Slavshaw. He shouldn't have said what he said. That's right.

Which precipitated this one. Not that we had that Stone would throw down, but there it was last night. We had that NHL ranking on ESPN yesterday. I'm actually writing about it in my, I have a column now every week on ESPN.com.

You can check it on Thursdays. I'm writing about it tomorrow. I think one of the glaring things about that ranking and maybe any player ranking is like Mark Stone is for my money a top 25 player in this league. Like I understand the, the injury part of it and everything else. But like, God, when he plays, he's a, there's, there's only 24 people better than him in this league.

Eric is what I'm trying to say. If that. He is, again, one of those guys and the last one that we saw that we raised the stink about was Marian Hosa, wingers that should have won the sulky. Absolutely. Going away. He finished second one year, I think, right? I want to say.

Came close. Could be. But, like, that's the Baileywick of Centers. Like, everyone just votes centers for that one. He's also. Stone and Hosa, in this generation, those two guys. But you're right. But he's in that pantheon of Hosa.

Bergeron, Barkoff, Kolpatar. Yes. Of just being dominant in both ends of the ice. Both ends of the ice, all three zones. He's like, let's be honest. He's not pretty to watch get around the ice, right? But he's big, he's smart, he uses his body well. He's the example of where everybody else is going a million miles an hour.

He's not, but because he's so smart and so skilled and protects the puck so. well, he doesn't have to be Fly Zone guy. He's not lining up against McDavid and fastest skater at the skills competition. That's not where you're going to find Mark Stone, but he's a great hockey player. He finished second in 2019, by the way. He finished

Ryan O'Reilly and he finished third in 2021. So close. But again, he's going to exit his career without a sulky trophy and we're all going to say, how did this guy get out of his career without a sulky trophy? Still haven't had a winger since Yuri Lettena, I think, right? Back in

the early aughts, the last winger to win the Selke trophy. As we always mention, the irony of all of it, that was a trophy that was created for Bob Ganey. I'm new to hockey. Was he a center or was he a winger? The trophy was made for a winger. You can't win it as a winger anymore. You can't.

It was the last year, right? 100%. Okay. Have a good rest of your day. My friend will talk. Yeah, usually it's a Tuesday, Thursday thing in most weeks. but I will be at New York Comic Con tomorrow. So if you're somehow on the floor at the Javitt Center and you see me say hi,

all the people, all your favorites, Merrick? Who? Mark Hamill. Mark Hamill is going to be there? Have you met Mark Campbell? Sure. I've not.

I had the pleasure. Oh, no way. So tomorrow's... I mostly hang out where the comic book artists are. I know a bunch of the comic book artists there and I like to hang out there. And I also like to purchase the wares. and of course do everything in my official capacity of being a guy with a press pass. I do all the press things too, Merrick.

I don't simply just go to buy things and see my comic book friends. When I was a kid collecting comic books, Frank Miller was the big artist. That was the one that everyone was. Oh, yeah. Is Frank still with us? Frank is still with us? Yeah. He is still training it out.

Is he still comic book artist? He still training it out, yeah. He took a hard fascist turn in the future editions of the Dark Night series. but he's still with us. Okay, these things that I need to know. Things I need to know. Yeah, reach out to be on Twitter if you want to talk comic books.

Comic books are a big passion of mine. Hit them up. Hit up, Greg. With that, we'll let you go. Beat it. Scram. We can't miss you if you won't leave. Greg Wischinski from ESPN and ESPN.com.

A couple more things here before we wrap up. I'm glad we got that Mark Stone conversation in. Listen, from mental health and suicide prevention to prostate cancer and testicular cancer, Movember is tackling the biggest issues facing men today. Since 2003, we've sparked millions of conversations, raised more than $1.8 billion Canadian, and funded over 1,300 projects.

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Okay, Zacharoo, anything jump out at you before we get into, by the way, did you hit last night? Did you hit your parlay? Oh, baby, did we ever hit it? You did? Okay, I want to get there in a second, but other than that, I'm guessing After Dark was pretty vibrant yesterday, but I know you're very involved in Leaves Nashville game,

where four first overall picks scored goals. I believe that's only happened four different times in NHL history. So you saw a special one last night. How was the chat afterwards? And how was the show? How was after dark? They were excited after last night.

And rightfully so. Measuring bridges, measuring bridges for floats. I thought I was going to be late to the stream. But thankfully, my dad was at the game last night. So I got him to leave Scotia Bank and bolt down my chair on the parade route. Oh, very good. I got to start the show right away. But no, you know, it was an exciting one.

And I think one thing that was evident last night was, and I want to shout it out because they take a lot of heat, was that people in Scotia Bank Arena were excited. You can feel the energy on TV. I heard a lot of people who were at the game. People called in after who were at the game. And they said it was the most energy they felt there in years. People saying even before, you know, the last like playoff runs and stuff and winning series. Like it was one of the most energetic atmospheres that they've experienced at Scotia Bank. it was kind of a it was a cool night you know regardless of if this team does anything worthwhile

uh it was a a fun hockey game to watch and it's a cool moment to have and i know a lot of guys scored their first nchal goal oh given mckenna did yeah the he's drafted first overall yeah that yeah the buffalo yeah that draft like uh first overall beber uh mr mckenna like all of that like the worst entrance of all time by the so thank god thank god that his first goal was it was a nice one What a nice one, too. That really was a gorgeous first goal. Okay. So in that spirit, this segment is 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. Tell us about hitting it yesterday before you get to your picks today. Yeah, so we had three picks yesterday. Gavin McKenna. McKenna, Matthews?

No, no, no Matthews. No Matthews? No Matthews? No, Matthews? Okay. Dylan Larkin to score. That was the other one. Yes, good job.

And then this is how this works. We spent seven days criticizing McKenna for not going to skate. And then he goes to his skate. So what does that mean? Go to skate. He's going to get a point. Go to skates. And then Stephen Ellis threw in his own, which ended up hitting is UC Soros over 24

and a half. And I believe the Maple Leafs finished with 32 or something shots. So we got by the skin of our teeth on that one. But we got there because they did score five for those wondering how that worked. We did get there. So we got three for three. Tonight, we're going narrative again because why not. But we're going to.

Three games, by the way. Let me go to the three games. The three games tonight, pens and caps. This is the Washington Capitals home opener. after, of course, Alexander Ovechkin announced this his last season. The Avalanche versus the Jets and the Oilers take on the undefeated 2-0, Anaheim Ducks, as we all predicted. Yeah, but I'm going to key in on one game here tonight. And last night I went with the young guy starting his career, all the energy and the excitement.

Tonight we're going to go on the opposite end of things, Jeff. You're going to go to the old? Last night we had the young. Yeah. Tonight we've got the old. Okay, what do you got? So we're going to go over into the Pittsburgh Washington game, and we're looking at in this one, two goal scores for tonight.

Two goal scores and both of which, I think you'll understand why I went with these. Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby both to score tonight. Oh, what a softy you. Why don't you go bold and go dueling hat tricks again? That would be, now that would be a. payout I would be interested in. But no, we'll keep it simple. I will be rooting for dueling hat tricks, but just from a betting standpoint, let's keep it,

keep it tight with the OV anytime goal and the Crosby anytime goal tonight. Very nice. Okay. Well, we look forward to that again. Like, this is the last, this is the, it's not the end, but the beginning of the end of these two battling against each other. And we never lose sight of the fact that coming out of the lockout in 2005, the league was built around this rivalry,

which is why Washington and Pittsburgh were always going to be relevant, whether they're playing against each other or playing against anybody else. The whole league was built around, you could argue saved by both these players, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin. Because don't forget, coming out of that lockout in 05, there were people that really, really wondering how many hockey fans were going to come back.

Right. Which is why they had to come back with something new, whether it was a look, whether it was the logo, as we mentioned, or whether it was marketing to individuals specifically, which the NHL had never really done before, and they hit big on someone that smashed Wayne Gretzky's record and then someone who's just like one of the best hockey players you're ever going to see in any generation in Sydney Crosby.

So enjoy it. You're only going to see it a couple of times. I don't know that they meet in the playoffs. We'll see how the Pittsburgh Penguins do. I think we're all handing the caps a playoff spot here. So we might be down to like counting on one hand how many times these two players face off against each other for the rest of their careers.

Enjoy it. So we'll look forward to that one tonight. One of three games on the board around the NHL. Every game is your game. When you bet with sports interaction, from puck drop 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, please play responsibly. And finally, one more thing, your hockey hoodie rotation called and it wants an upgrade. The new daily face-off team collection is officially here bringing classic varsity style, premium apparel, and a whole lot of hockey into your everyday wardrobe. It's made for the fans who know every line combo, every trade rumor, and every reason why their team is definitely going to win it this year. year. Same hockey community, bigger home. Shop the Daily Faceoff Team Collection now at nationgear.ca.

Anything out of you, Zach, before he wrap things up? No, I'm good here today. You guys touched on a lot. I'm ready to watch some more hockey here tonight. Yeah. Rest up because I've got nonsense going on for the next six days with 10 p.m. Eastern time starts for myself, which means 1 a.m. after dark shows. but okay so you're still doing this program yeah are you still doing roster uh i believe friday i will not be on off the roster but i will be co-hosting leif's morning take so i get an extra hour and then i do leif's morning take so the louis vitons under your eyes will be well earned and deep and dark correct i might just i might stream after dark until leif's morning take starts Wow.

That's a joke. Just go up. Marathon styles. No, no, no, no. You heard it here. That was the promise of performance from Zach Phillips. He's young. He can do it.

No, that can't happen. But yeah, I'll be doing the post game show. It'll be around like 1245. And then thankfully, Saturday, they play in Colorado and they do 7 p.m. game. So I dodge a bullet there because. Everyone in Denver's thrilled. Yeah. And then next Tuesday, they play in Utah.

So, like, at least I get it out of the way early. I'll tell you, man. The two best teams that I've, again, early in the season, the two best teams that I've seen so far, Vegas and Utah. Those are two teams that I look at right now and go like, okay, like they're already hitting a stride. Oh, well, wait until they need the big bad maple leaf. Sergeyev injury yesterday, getting a shot in the ear.

Yeah. Good grief. Okay, look forward to all of this and look forward to the three games on the go around the NHL this evening. And listen, once again, thanks so much for stopping by the program. If you're listening, audio listeners here, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, thank you so much for your attention. Please consider subscribing.

Ditto for everybody watching on our daily face off YouTube as well. Please hit that subscribe button right now. We would appreciate it very much. Do the likes. Leave the comments. All of it. It helps with everything that we do around these parts. And thanks to everybody who always takes part in the chat.

I love when I see on the screen, Zach popping up various comments from the chat. They're always entertaining. And every now and then, you learn something too. Thanks to Dan Rosen for stopping by from NHL.com. Yeah, like Justin Ben and McKenna dropping the gloves with Marner, not so sure about that one if that's going to be his first fight in the NHL.

I thought that was a good way to go out. You know what, though, given the way that the NHL season has been this offseason bleeding into this season, who would be surprised? Who would be surprised? Thanks to Dan Rosen. Thanks to Greg Wischinski, as always, thanks to you for stopping by to watch and or listen or do both. We're back tomorrow 1 o'clock Eastern for the sheet.

and don't forget a little bit later on today, Spotify, Apple Pods, video on our DFO YouTube channel, the Hockey DFO Insider with yours truly and Dave Panyoda. That one coming up here in a couple of hours because we're going to record in a couple of minutes, so enough of my yakking. We'll talk to you tomorrow here on the shoot. That's not every day this week, every day this month.

I can't get our business day to day because you can call it.