The Sheet with Jeff Marek - McLellan Follows Bowness, Matthews Can't Predict the Future & Ovechkin Comments ft. Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: April 16, 2026

Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski are back with another edition of The Sheet breaking down the biggest storylines across the NHL as the regular season winds down. The guys react to the fallout from Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Rick Bowness blasting his team after their season-ending loss and saying “these guys don’t care,” sparking debate around the league and responses from players pushing back on the comments.They also dive into the Detroit Red Wings’ brutal 8-1 loss to the Florida Panthers and Todd McLellan following Bowness’ lead by publicly calling out his team’s performance as Detroit’s season comes to a disappointing close. Then it’s locker cleanout day around the NHL, with Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews addressing the uncertain future in Toronto and Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin making it clear he still wants to return and continue playing. Jeff and Greg break down the fallout, the leadership dynamics behind coaches publicly challenging their players, and what these comments could mean heading into the offseason.Subscribe to the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel for more NHL analysis, insider coverage, and daily hockey conversation.#NHL #Hockey #DailyFaceoff #TheSheet #JeffMarek #GregWyshynski #BlueJackets #RedWings #LeafsForever #ALLCAPSLeave a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheSheetEmail us: [e-mail] TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Ninja: https://www.sharkninja.ca/ninja-crispi-pro-6-in-1-countertop-glass-air-fryer-rose-quartz/AS101CRS.html?utm_source=Meta&utm_medium=Paid+Social&utm_campaign=H1NinjaCrispi&utm_content=NinjaEN&dwvar_AS101CRS_color=cdb9b8Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoffReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Okay, so I guess, and I include myself in this too, don't think I'm excluding myself from this conversation because I'm just like you. So we got worked pretty good, eh? What are the whole show revolve around yesterday? Welcome, by the way, to the sheet. Which stops by here in a couple of moments. He's in a meeting. He'll stop by in a second. Welcome to the program here for this Thursday, April the 16th.

Glad to have you aboard. I'm a little more awake today than I was yesterday. Zach, too, even though he did. at a five-hour post-game show yesterday. How'd you like to be Zach, eh? Oh, there he is. How'd you like to be you, Zach, five-hour post-game show after that last night.

But here's the thing I want to bounce off you. I'll do the same with Wish in a couple of months. Did we just get worked? Like, I've watched professional wrestling my whole life. Okay? And I kind of see things in a lot of ways through a pro wrestling lens. Right?

Like, okay, this is part of the entertainment. This is leading somewhere. This is the drama. This is why all these things are important to build up storyline and hype. And there has to be a blow off at the end. It answers all the questions that have built up. But we got worked flat out. Because in about an hour, I think it's in an hour at the Donwoodale Press conference.

It sounds like they're announcing an extension for Rick Bonas. Did you get worked, though, if you knew? Like, you knew. You called that one right away. No, no. I didn't know, and I didn't know. I said, I don't mean new as in new. No, but no, here's the thing. No, here's what I'm going at.

Like, I don't, now I'm of the mind that there was already a contract in the drawer, right? And that the whole bit of it, I don't know if I'm back or not. Like, do you really believe that within the last 24 hours, Don Waddell rushed together a contract for Rick Bonas, ready to announce today? Or was there already one in the drawer and they were going to announce it a day after close? out and Rick Bonas went on that whole parade about changing culture and huffin and puffin. You have that sound butt, you have that drop? You have that audio drop for us?

Yes. What else you want to know? Oh, there's more. It was all a setup for the contract. First of all, Bravo to Rick Bonas. Bravo to the Columbus Blue Jackets. I can't help but think that that was,

I don't want to say it's an act because I don't want to insult Bonus that way. I think he was legitimately pissed off. But I think there was a sort of performative element that was going to reach its climax with the awarding of a new contract. And don't worry about next year, folks, because as Rick Bonas just told you,

he's fixing the culture. He's putting on the spurs in the cowboy hat and he's fixing the culture here in Columbus. That's kind of how I like if they announced a contract like two weeks from now, you'd be like, okay. Yeah. Two days later. Then that's, yeah, two days. You don't think it had anything to do with the fans going out and doing the paint the rink where they put comeback bones.

We love you, bones. Thanks for everything, bones. You don't think that. I think that's all. I think that, I think that's all true. I think that's all true. But it was a clever little, it was a clever little. way to distance himself from the car crash that was the end of the season.

Now, a lot of players, like Jeff O'Neill went, you know, banana sandwich on him yesterday, about separating himself from the players and you're a part of the team. And I get that. This is on overdrive yesterday. And I talked to one manager last night who thought that this was really distasteful, it should have been handled privately, that this is a conversation with Don Waddell. This isn't something that you do the minute you have a camera and a microphone in your face after your team is eliminated and you have a lay an egg like that, that that should have been handled privately because you're putting your general manager on the spot.

And I could see all that until we saw the Pierre LeBron tweet this morning, which I will read further to Aaron Portsline here. And that's when Portsline talked about the season ending press availability for Downwardell and Rick Bowen. bonus and saying, don't be surprised of a bonus contract extension is announced before the gathering. Rick Bonus is agreed through an extension, staying on head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackers. It should be made official at 2 p.m. Eastern News Conference. At that morning, I just did the, yeah, I got worked. And I'm guessing I'm probably not the only one because, man, I bit down hard on this sandwich. Took a big old bite of this sandwich.

Like, all right. All right, Bones has lost it. but there is a strategy to all of it, and maybe if the contract has already been agreed to, then it is a very clever way. I will applaud Columbus and Bonas and Waddell and everybody for pulling this one off. Do you agree with that?

Or am I just too, am I just too, am I looking at this too cynically? While you think about that, I'm going to come back with you on this. While you think about that, let's let the good people know what's on the program today. And we've got to start working our list here too. The blueprint is powered by Fanduel. Download the app today and play your game on Fanduel coming up on the program.

Greg Woshensky stops by here in a couple of moments whenever he's done his big fancy meeting. From ESPN and ESPN.com, we'll talk more about the Rick Bonas follow. But now we can add to the list, Todd McClelland, who was a little bit more diplomatic after the Red Wings got caved in by the Florida Panthers. But still, the message was quite the same. But he wasn't going to take the bait. When he was asked about his Detroit Red Wings, he chose rather to big up the Florida Panthers.

Sue, we'll put that one on the table. We'll put Ovecgan's future on the table as well. We'll talk about Austin Matthews. Why are we talking about Austin Matthews? Because he can't predict the future. No one can, but he's the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. I'm sure that this one, this one will settle the entire market down. There it is.

And Cald-Davidson gets a contract extension with the Chicago Blacom. Danny Wirtz happy with how the rebuild is going in Chicago. With that, we will bring him aboard. He's out of his fancy. Are you at liberty to tell us what the fancy meeting was about, Greg? Do you have? Did you announce a contract extension? Like, was there a Danny Wirtz for you?

Was there a Don Waddle for you announcing a contract extension and front of staff at ESPN? No, no, nothing in that offering. I will tell you that it was an ESPN meeting. I will also tell you it is not because of the snarky. passive aggressive tone of my lapsed fan guide to WrestleMania discussing Pat McAfee's participation in the main event. The single most challenging thing I've ever written

in not trying to become a segment on McAfee's show by not being exactly enamored with his participation in WrestleMania. No, just ESPN stuff, you know, the usual. But no, they were asking your experiences at Disney, how you loved it. Do you love Disney even more now that you've had the had the Disney experience with your daughter? Here's what I love about Disney as a Disney employee.

I love that I got in for free, which is a perk for the people who work at Disney. I don't know if people know that. You can get in to Disney parks for free with your ID. It's one of the reasons. It's one of the things that keeps you saying. You have to bring your pass card. Did you have to bring your pass car? Did you have to bring your pass car like it's being led into the building?

Did you have to bring that? I did. I did. They have to like scan a special thing. That's awesome. Let them know that you're there. But the other thing is that since you don't pay for tickets, you have money freed up. for like the passes that help you skip the lines.

Oh, yeah, those are mint. Those are mint, except for the time that me and my daughter went, which was spring break, where everybody, the Disney people that, like, go to the parks on the regular are, like, the most regimented psychotic people that I've ever met insofar as, like, scheduling. Like, if you're not up at 1201 a.m. The day that you have a chance to buy them passes,

guess what, you ain't getting them passes. Yeah, you get the passes. So I did my best. But that's the best thing is all the truth. So listen. I listen to your opening sliloquy. Got work. Got worked.

So you think that he had a contract in his back pocket when he did that? It would make sense to me. I just honestly, like I've just followed pro wrestling too long in my life, as have you. Did you not have the, oh, it was an angle. Did you not have that feeling? Like he was doing a, like, listen, I'm giving Rick bonus a ton of credit here. And Don Waddell to an extent here as well. Like this was very much a, we're going to separate the coach from the team.

And he's going to talk about changing the culture here. And fans are going to be excited. Because listen, the Blue Jackets almost made the playoffs. And there were a lot of great headlines coming out of Columbus this year. But at the end of it, they fell short, comma again. But what they've done now is, as I mentioned, they've got a coach is putting on the cowboy hat and the spurs. And he's going to change this here, darn culture in Columbus.

Did it not feel like an angle? Can I say something? No. I'm going to continue to believe this. Rick Bonus is going to be 71 next year, I think. I think he's 71 now. I mean, he's going to be 71 or 72. Do you think there are people on this roster that know they'll outlast him with this organization?

Like this Adam Fantilli, get scared of the of the new sheriff in town if he's pretty sure that he's going to be in this town longer than the sheriff? I don't know. I don't know about that.

Honestly, I don't know about that because I don't know what's going to happen with Columbus. Honestly, I really don't. And whether Rick Bonas and Don Waddell see Adam Fantillion, I've never heard anything untowards about him in that room.

If they see him as one of the culture issues, then we've seen young players move before. again like I take Rick Bonas at his word like I don't think that anything that Rick Bonas said was insincere like because I've and we I've seen and we've all heard that Rick Bonas does have this side to him like he's also been the same guy that instead of coming in the dressing room and kicking the garbage can this is what he did in Dallas when he took over instead of kicking the garbage can it was turn the chair around sit down and let's talk so like Rick Bonas has a number of different strategies for a lot of different situations he's been around so long that the one that the one that

you can say about Rick Bonus is he knows which side of Rick Bonus needs to come out at any given time. And for that press conference specifically, well, part of it that made it so, that it made it resonate so much with everybody is he captured the mood of Blue Jackets fans and articulated it to the point where you saw the social media comments. Columbus fans were ready to do the Kool-Aid man and just smash through walls for Rick Bonas. Sure. Right? Because all of a sudden, in two minutes, Rick Bonas got Blue Jackets fans back on side after a horrible collapse. Can I, can I, listen, man, I hate being the skeptic here, but like, this, the entire press conference, while very entertaining and certainly did well for us from a headline click perspective, by the way. Yeah. Maybe more so than any Columbus Blue Jacket story we've written, you know, this season.

there's a certain amount of, I think you should leave hot dog guy meme going on here. We're all looking for the guy who did this. I know that you want to blast the players for their efforts in a meaningless game, and it was a meaningless game for the Blue Jackets, correct, against the Capitals? Like, there was nothing on the line.

No, potato chip. We called the potato chip game yesterday. It's like Detroit and Florida. We'll get there in a couple of seconds. But how the, pardon me, the fuck, does Rick Bonas get a pass for the absolute collapse of this team in the latter part of the season? I know that he gets credit for coming in and taking a good roster and making it great. And ultimately, he's 21, 11 and 5 as Columbus Blue Jackets head coach. And that's not nothing.

They're probably, you know, maybe they're not even in the playoff conversation, were it not for what? Rick Bonas unlocked in this team. But Rick Bonas was the head coach for one of the single most calamitous stretches in the history of the franchise. Now, you could put that on the players, but Rick Bonas himself said, this is probably something I should have said a month ago. Well, you didn't, buddy. And this team plummeted from a playoff seed during the Olympic break to being outside of

the bubble at season's end. And I'm sorry. I don't blame Charlie Coyle as much as I do the head coach for that. So the idea that he gets a rubber stamp to continue to be head coach for this team. And by the way, in a different guise than what he was hired for. Because as you mentioned, Merrick, he's a man of many faces. He's a, he's like, he could wear different hats and play different roles. Well, yeah, we've seen it.

He came in with the role, sure. But he came in with the role of being the player's guy and connecting with these guys the way that Dean Everson couldn't. And you know what? He was hugely successful at that. You can't be both of those things. I'm sorry. Which is why.

Turn around and draw a mustache on your face and be like, well, now I'm Rick Bones. And now I'm the mad coach. Who's going to get mad? You can't be both. You fire the player guy to hire Rick Bones to change the culture. You can't become someone else to change the culture. Which is why I think a lot of that was performative because I have a hard time believing that in the last 24 hours they hustled this contract together. This was the plan all along,

and what Bonus did is he got the fans back on side of Rick Bonus and by extension, the Columbus Blue Jackets. And listen, part of it was, part of it was on behalf of management. You don't think that Don Waddell is sitting there going like, bingo,

we got the fans back. Because after a season like that, hang on, after a season like that and it collapsed like that, in management, in ownership, what are you concerned about? Ticket renewal.

Sure. And now everyone's excited about here comes the big boss. It's going to kick these guys in the ass. It's not going to be Zach Werenski's face on the side of nationwide arena. It's Rick Bonus with like rabies foam around his mouth at a press conference. It's going to sell ticks for next year. Sheriff bonus to you. He's going to get a badge and he's going to have a holster.

It's sheriff bonus. Walk into that locker room, spurs, jingling, jingling. jangling going boys, tips is cap, boys. I know we only won two games out of the last 12 of last season, but that's because of you, Charlie Coyle. What are we doing? We win, you lose. Bracket that for one second.

Something interesting last night. Did you see Tom McClellan after the game yesterday? So the wings are in sunrise and got just rinsed by the Florida Panthers. And again, to your point, it's a potato chip game. I get it. I understand. It doesn't matter. What flavor salt you put on it?

It's still an empty calorie chip game. What is going on with your feathers? What did you do? I need a haircut in the worst way. What happened to your feathers, man? Oh, my God. I don't know. I said to Ruby the other day, my wife, I'm like,

I'm like, do I need a haircut? And I think she was wrong. I think she wasn't right on that one. I think I definitely need a haircut. Don't tell them. I just want to play it. I just want to play it. We're going to get there.

First want to play it for anyone that, for the benefit of anyone that didn't. here's Todd McClellan after getting waxed yesterday by the Florida Panthers in a nothing game. Todd, was this kind of a fitting end to a disappointing season, do you think? Well, I don't even know if I'll answer your question, but I'll tell you that we both, both teams came in with nothing on the line, and you can see their championship pedigree. So I'm going to compliment the Panthers.

It runs throughout the organization. They came and they played, and it meant something to them. this hurt a little bit just the way he came out and just... Yeah. Ted, how do you measure the fact that this team made progress in several... I don't even want to talk about that now. Not even going there. We're good?

Yeah. I think we all should be. Okay. What is happening in this league? It's awesome. I have never heard more grown men upset about game 82 in a meaningless season. I don't think it's about that. What is going to?

I don't think that's a, hang on. With Todd McClellan, I don't think that's about game 82. That is a season's worth. No, it's a season's worth of frustration. All built up. And then the final, the B.A. do, the love letter at the end of all of it, is getting just completely destroyed by a team that physically has been completely destroyed all season long in the Florida Panthers. And that's why that little comment at the end about being embarrassed was like, oh yeah.

Oh, yeah. We're embarrassed. It should be. Color me. HLPA boy, but like I just don't understand why there's no culpability from these coaches. The blue jackets collapsed down the stretch. The Detroit Red Wings couldn't find their way into the playoffs in a season in which the bottom of the Eastern Conference was wide open and wide open for the taking. The one thing, and that's true.

Like no Florida in the playoffs this year, no Toronto in the playoffs this year. Like the door is wild. No Rangers. Or Islanders. Like all of it. Like it's, I know I get it. The part that interested me that I, I kind of went,

hmm, that's interesting here, is when, so by complimenting, maybe I'm looking into this way too deeply, and it's just an angry coach at the end of the game. I am fully prepared to admit that. So the thing that interested me was when Todd said, I'm not going to talk about the Red Wings,

I'm going to talk about the Florida Panthers, and he talked about winning pedigree, and then said, it goes right through the whole organization. And when you're complimenting the other team, deliberately. It's hard not to read into that, the opposite about the team

that you're refusing to talk about. When he said runs right through the whole organization, that's what I went, uh-oh, oh, oh, because you think it runs up. Because it runs up right down from the ice to the bench, to the manager, to ownership. Like that's what he's saying. Like that pedigree runs right through the organization.

And although he didn't say, that does, it run through ours, I don't know that he really had to. That's what it felt like. Again, this is just me. That's what it felt like to me. Did it feel like that to you when he said it runs right through the organization?

Because he didn't need to say that. He could have just like focused on the tea. He didn't need to say add that part. And again, I'm fully prepared to say, I get it. You're emotional, you're angry. Sometimes you're saying things that you don't really mean. I get all that. But that was part of it.

That was part of his brain. Do you think one of our friends in the Detroit media, we'll have the audacity to ask Dylan Larkin. Will you chastised your general manager for not doing anything two years ago? And this time he did David Perron and Justin Falk, which did nothing for you guys. What do you think now? Without throwing David Perron and Justin Falk under the bus. Were they enough?

I like David Perron a lot. So do I. You gave up a little too much of Justin Falk, but... I don't know, man. It's grumpy coach season, apparently. You know why it's grumpy coach season? more so than ever. I wonder if the fact that teams don't care when they fire coaches now.

See Islanders, see Vegas. Like right now more than ever. I'll always go back to something Pat Quinn said after the lockout in 05 when there was a salary cap. Which by the way, as we go back to our memories here, remember what the range was? 21 to 39. Holy smokes. That's how small this league was. 39 million dollar salary.

Anyhow, Pat Quinn said this is going to be really bad. bad for coaches. If you can't buy your way out of a problem, guess who's going to walk the plank? It's going to be us. And the coaching fraternity, and in some respect, like they do, you know, kind of have a fraternity. Would they knock each other down an icy road for a nickel? Probably. Crawl over each other for a job, certainly. But at the same time, they've just watched colleagues get fired with four games left. What was Vegas? Nine? seven, what was it, whatever that was, that right now these guys

coach with a target on their backs all the time and it starts with game one. And for me, for Todd McClellan, I know I joke about Rick Bonas, but with Todd McClellan, I don't think that that's anything just about that game. That's a frustration of the whole season. And, and I wonder...

Do you think he comes back next year? I wonder to, hang on to that one. That's a curious one. I wonder as well if that is not just a shot at the players, but also further to what we saw from Dylan Larkin last year, and that's where I go through the organization, like they have a winning pedigree throughout the organization.

If you squint really hard, is it a shot at Steve Iserman? It could be. It could also be a shot at his leadership, which hasn't, I mean, I mean, Kane's won, right, obviously, but like what are the other wins there? I mean, in the NHL. That's a good question.

If you assume McClellan is safe and maybe he is, maybe he isn't, I think there's six coaches maybe that you're looking at right now as far as maybe get in the gate. Okay. Real quickly. DJ Smith. Depending on what happens in that opening round matchup.

let's see here maybe Andrew Burnett maybe Sheldon Keefe maybe well obviously Brubay obviously foot maybe Arneal

is probably the list right now and do you think I'm missing anybody from that those are all good ones off the top of my head I don't think Huska's going anywhere I don't think

I don't think San Jose's making a change I know it may sound goofy because I don't think his contract is even as my His contract hasn't even started yet the new one. What about Chris Knoblock? What if they're out in the first round? Yeah, that's a good point.

That's a possibility because of just the pressure to win inside that window. That owner has high, I believe the expectation is conference final. And if that falls short. I mean, that's calamity, considering what their vision that they're in. That's an interesting call because the X factor out there is Bruce Cassidy. Right. And if you think that there's going to be a lot of teams that might consider making a change they don't want to make with a guy like that out there with that that that sort of

pedigree um so that's that's yeah i could see him being on the list but wait would you put mcclellan on or not you didn't never ask no answer being that no no because i don't think the issue is coaching i think it's composition this team is now officially moving too slowly you know there's we've all sort of looked at steve eyes and said well look at him he's he's patient look at how patient he is. Look at how Detroit has always, I was making this point the other day, I think it was, was Monday. That old philosophy of the Detroit Red Wings under Ken Holland about how we overripen players in Grand Rapids, we take our time with them. And I'm always quick to point out, the reason that they quote unquote overripened the Valtari Philpola's

and the Uri Huddlers is there was no spot on the, you know how good the Red Wings were? There's no way to pulling someone out for Yuri Hudler and Valtari Filple. You stay in GR, yeah, thanks. When a spot opens up, we'll give your agent a call. Until then, barring injury, you're staying in Grand Rapids, but there was always a belief that we overripen our prospects. And that just, that saying just stayed in Detroit. We take our time. We're patient with our guys.

I don't know, man. They better start winning because their door was wide open this year with teams falling out, and they did two-thirds of the square root of sweet FAA about it. And now we got an angry coach, an angry, angry coach. Yeah, I assume he's safe. That's interesting. Do you think it's because they hired Eisenman instead of Fedoroff that the team isn't fast enough? You two?

Listen, I really think that Detroit will want, because last year they pinned the whole thing on goaltending. We would have been in the playoffs, but we couldn't get a save. That was addressed, right? Here comes John Gibson. Good move. Good move. John Gibson gave him. give them good goal thing.

So that excuse is gone now. What's the excuse now? Like, what are they going to turn to now? I don't know. They need a minimum one more top six four to one more top four D. You can only play the internal growth card for so long. That's why I want to hear from Eiserman. I'm tired of playing guessing games with this organization because I have no idea what the hell they're going to do.

I just want to hear from the big boss now and get a better sense of how. he's feeling what the plan is and all that chive. Okay. Pivot. Austin Matthews can't predict the future. No, he can't. How much do we read into that? Here's a captain of your team saying, I can't predict the future.

I mean, he's, first of all, he's not wrong. There's new management coming in. But not that it's necessarily his job to reassure the marketplace, but he's the captain of the team, and it's his job to reassure the marketplace. How did you read that? Remember how we talked about Nico Hesha recently in his comments about, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, his future of the Devils? And some people were like, well, that's just what you say when you don't even know who your GM is. But in the case of Hescher, even if he doesn't know who the GM is, he at least knows the direction of the team with that general manager. The general manager of the doubles, the next one, is not going to all of a sudden hit the emergency break and spin around into a rebuild.

No. That's not going to happen. Nope. And it shouldn't happen. And it shouldn't happen. And it shouldn't happen. Right. We don't know. In the case of Austin Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs, though, whoever comes in could go in several directions with that franchise. Hang on a second. So I think, hang on a second. Can you pause on that for one second? I'll let you. I'll let him finish your honor. I'll let him finish your honor. I swear. Let me interject here quickly. Complicating all of that is what are the marching orders for the new general manager? because I don't think that general manager comes in here. I don't think a general manager can come in in the interview process selling hard rebuild

with Rogers owning 100% of MLSC at the end of the year and then being so linked to a 12 year to a 12 year multi-billion dollar contract with the NHL. I know I keep coming back to this one, but I really don't believe that Rogers wants the biggest cash cow to be in a rebuild for the first three. to five years. I don't, I don't think it's, I don't think it's an all or nothing proposition, though. Like, I think you could have a general manager come in and be like, we're going to take, we need to take a step back this year to take a leap forward.

Or you can have a general manager come in there and be like, we're going to find Marner, 2.0 and trade things to get him here so we can be better immediately. Like, when Matthews says what he says, I think he says it because he honestly doesn't know what path the new GM is going to take because, quite frankly, frankly, they've become derailed. If. So when they get to train back on the track, like, which direction is to go? I give Matthews that that he probably has no idea and neither is anyone in the organization until they find out who the head of the organization is going to be.

By the way, I still think that it is his decision. And hear me out on this one. If they can't show him a way they can turn this around quickly, then I think he has a major decision to make. And that changes everything. Like if the new manager comes in and says, Austin, we love you. You're a captain. You're one of the best players in the NHL, gold medalists, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. It's going to take two to three years to get this thing back on track.

Does that not change Austin Matthews' decision? And he's like, do you want to stay for that? But again, like to your point, though, Merrick, you know, what if the call is coming from inside the house? What if he is the thing that is the cadd list for the changes they want to make? What if all of a sudden the new GM comes in is like, looks at, remember in the old cartoons when a starving person would look at somebody and all of a sudden they'd morph into a cooked turkey pork chop yeah just like yeah or pork shop what if the new ga walks in and all of a sudden austin matthews morphs into quentin byfield uh brand clark uh and and and several other assets from the

la kings like i mean that's the possibility too and i think that's all of that uncertainty is why T. Chiginla, Caleb Dane, Y.A. Simmel. Precisely. Yeah. You're going to L.A. and I'm going to Utah. I know. I mean, listen, they're both close to the desert, man. So. But, but I think that's part of the math too. But then again, if it's a team like Utah and you're dealing with, you're dealing with prospects, that's when you say, yeah, this thing isn't going to, this thing isn't going to course correct for a couple of years. And that's the message to everybody. And then you have the conversation with William Nealander. Well, wait, Utah's got guys that are on the roster

and that are close. So, like, I don't think it's a And by the way, listen, I really like Caleb. I really like I think you're going to turn around in an NHL franchise next year. You could do it within the next two years.

Okay. With the right, you know, the rest of the core in place. God, Utah's got so many assets. They really do. Can you imagine? Well, look at how many, you think you imagine walking and picked all those

up when they were the coyotes. Yeah. Could you imagine walking into that apple orchard with Austin Matthews as your basket? Oh my God. Here's a franchise defenseman here. Here's the top line center here. T. Jigindler here. Oh, man.

What a place to be. By the way, this entire conversation has been interesting, but is ultimately probably irrelevant. Because from what I understand, the Toronto Maple Leafs will essentially do what chat GPT tells them to do. according to a story. Only a deadline. Only a deadline. Yes.

Only a deadline. Can I tell you my favorite story? By the way, the great line was from Jeff O'Neill about the Rogers executive coming in to do trades with R2D2. For those that don't know, the athletic dropped the story yesterday. Chris Johnson, James Myrtle. One other person I'm forgetting. I think maybe Jonas wrote it to. Jonas.

Segal. Yeah, thank you, Zach. Jonas Siegel. So about the inner workings of the maple leaves and the fact that, doesn't sound good. Pelly walked in with the chat GPT printouts. But my favorite thing in that story, though, Merrick, here we are year after year talking about how the maple leaves are coddled and they're too comfortable and they're way too safe.

And this, that, and the other thing, we've got to shake it up. They're too fat and happy. And one of the things they report in that story is the utter. outrage from inside the organization when their discount at real sports went from 40% to 20%. We need to grab the torches and march on ownership because the nachos are only 20% off instead of 40% off at the sports bar. So good. Yep. Yep.

And they charge the families of the kids that hold the Maple Leaf flag 900 bucks to do that at the blue. I'll be honest with you. That is the one that shocked me. Because I always thought that they got that kid from one of the minor hockey association, one of the local minor hockey associations. And that was, I don't know,

like, so the kid that raises the most money for some charity or something like that gets to go on the ice. That was the one where I was like, really? Like that kid's parents just paid like a thousand bucks to stand there with the flag. Again, color me cynical here, but I've got no problem with that at all.

what's the old what's the old canard about contracts merrick you're worth as much as someone is willing to pay you if someone is willing to pony up a grand so their little moppet can wave a flag before a maple leaves game then let them I never I never thought that that would be again maybe I don't think as cynically as you do and I try to I try to think more cynically like you the older I get But I just kind of had this, like, sort of naivete about kids being on the ice. That is just like a wink and a nod and something that you do for the local minor slash youth hockey association. But I guess.

I think it devil's games, they pay you to wave the flag. Every, yeah. I guess like lift up every cushion to grab every quarter and every nickel and stuff in your jeans. Get it to the bank as soon as you can. I have no problem with it. If people are willing to spend what they spend on tickets to Maple Leafs games, and then, like, one of the add-ons is that your kid can wave a flag for a certain amount of money, because I'm assuming that you get a ticket out of that, too, don't you?

Are you sure? Or do you buy the tickets separately? I'd like to know that definitively, because I don't know for sure. It would seem to be it's like, you spend for like $900 plus bucks, you get to wave the flag and get a ticket to the game. That seems to be, like, what it would be, right? Otherwise, you have to pay $900. Hang on $100.

Then what if you're like, I'm not, I'm not paying for a ticket. Given everything that you know about this organization and how they monetize it every single rung of the ladder, why do you assume that they would throw in a ticket? Do they just keep the money then? On the outside, you're pounding on the door to get into the arena and you can't get in because you don't have a ticket and they just keep your money? No, the thing is like you have to buy a ticket for that as well. It's just like a premium price ticket, just like when you go to the Buffalo Sabres games, there's different. from prices for when the Toronto Maple Leafs are in town because they can rinse Leafs fans.

Oh, right. It's to go back to the Disney example before. You're buying your ticket to get into the Magic Kingdom. But if you want the meal plan, well, you can get that, but you need to have a ticket to get the meal plan. That's what that's, that's,

that's, that's, a meal plan in this case being $900 to wave a flag at a game. It's. Yeah. What a sport. Growing, growing a new,

By the way, are we back on the NHL expansion should include another team in Toronto and the Western Conference thing? Because that was really exciting about 10 to 15 years ago before Matthew showed up. And then Matthew showed up and then everybody was all on the Leaf's tip again. And now it's like everyone hates them and hates the organization and hates ownership and is very cynical about them. Are we ready to add a team and Markham again? Can we get a Western conference? Can we remember what we're going to call them, Merrick? We're going to call them the Toronto Rakes because they're the end.

enemy of the Leafs. What is the enemy of the rake or the blowers? Blowers or rakes? One of the two. Are we ready to add another team as an alternative to the Leafs? Are we back there? I don't think it's ever really gone away. I still in the back of my mind,

think that the final act for Gary Bettman, the commissioner of the National Hockey League, is another team in Toronto. I really do. It should be. A second team to Toronto is a more viable market than Quebec. It's a more viable market than a lot of places. But understand that it is a strict cash grab.

You are not making new fans. That's the one thing that I've always maintained. Like part of expansion has to be new fans. Like I get Atlanta. Okay, I get a third kick at it. I understand. But it's still you have the opportunity to make new fans. Houston, you have the opportunity to make new fans.

Go right up and down the list. Kansas City, Milwaukee. All the ones that we've heard before. These are all opportunities also to make new fans. Understand if you're putting another team in Toronto, you are not making new fans. you're just bringing in more money. And that's fine.

But what you are doing is you are. But don't talk to me about growing the game. It's like players to complain about attention. Don't talk to me about growing the game anymore. Don't. Oh, there's too much attention in Toronto. Yeah, because it's worth $4 billion. So don't talk to me about growing the game.

Don't if you don't want to be part of that. But what you are doing is over at the Leafs Arena. It's the Leafs Arena. And over at the other teams arena, it's the Toronto whatever's Toros. with that. If the Toros against Connor McDavid and the Oilers

and they're both in town in the same night. And can you believe how blessed the center of the hockey universe is to have all this hockey action happening in town the same day?

There it is. There it is. The Toros, maybe. Right there behind. And then Merrick, the ultimate dream. Yes. The Leafs get their act together

under a new GM and via chat GPT. They build an Eastern Conference champion. They make it all the way to the stand. Cup final and waiting for them in the final. Their stinky younger brother, their evil opposite, the Taurus, who know with four wins in the

Stanley Cup finals, will have bragging rights over the Toronto Maple Leafs in perpetuity where they will have won their first cup while preventing the Leafs from winning their next cup. Wow. You've got this all mapped out. I love it. I still think it's at that. I don't know why.

It has erupted before. Like sometimes the headline maker, Morris, let me get out of the way. Let me get the shot right. So I get daily face off here in Toronto. It's just always been out there. I don't think it's ever really gone away. I always think it's either been in the background or the foreground,

but it's always been on the stove. Like the burner is either hot or it's, you know, just warm. But I think it's always been there. And there have been various groups. And I've even heard people that you and I know, some rather well, that have been part of groups that have tried to bring organizing new NHL teams to Toronto.

Someone that all of us know well. Producer Zach, yeah? Is that he you're referring to? Yeah, he's secretly wealthier than anyone involved in his entire entire properties. He's just doing it as a lark. He just did a five-hour post-game show after that turkey of a game last night between the leaves and the sands just for giggles. You know what they need, Merrick. You need to have an owner, an owner who can buy the franchise, an arena that's NHL-ready,

and a fan base that's willing to support the team in season ticket sales. And once you have that, you can have a franchise. And in Toronto, you can share the arena with the Maple Leafs right now, make it the reverse Los Angeles until the arena is built in wherever you're going to put it, somewhere along Highway 7 of the 407, north of the city. The risk you run to your point, though, is that you'll always, someone will always be the Clippers, and someone will always be the Mets, and someone will always be the White.

You know, like that's the fact is that there's always going to be the other team. And the Toros or the blowers or whomever are always going to be the other team. And the risk you run is that when the pendulum swings the other way and the maple leaves do get good and do challenge for a cup, you run the risk of abandonment of your other franchise in town because people are rushing back to see the thing that they have dreamed of since they're a little boy in Leafs' pajamas. you do realize this has been an exercise in futility for how long and there is no expectation of this thing ever like we've gone entire generations between cups with this team right they've never won the they've never won the cup in color true true wow all of it right teams never had a teams never played a game in June

true all of it all true they've never won more than two rounds ever when they won in 67 it was six teams and two didn't make the playoffs Zach is 100% rate this is why I think I get

I do so well on this show is because everything you've said in the tone in which you've said at both of you are the kinds of things in New York Jets fan can quote chapter and verse about their team like I there's a kinship not me baby I'm all swords I'm all swords I'm all

Swords. Last relevant in the 60s. Only had five good seasons since then. Like, it's on and on. Okay. I understand. I understand. Two more years.

Here's your contract. Who said that this morning? Alex Ovechkin with a hearty laugh, it should be said. Yes. But also, listen, remember how we talked about in the last episode of MBSW that we both kind of felt the wind shifting a little bit on Ovechkin

over the course of the last couple months? Like, emphatic example of that where he says, I don't, I don't think that was my last game. I hope it's not my last game. He kind of caveated it. But the one thing he said that I found most interesting, Merrick, was that it's pretty obvious that his family doesn't want him to stop playing of the National Hockey League. Like he explicitly said that his children want to see them stay in, want to stay in D.C.

And they want to see the players and the boys and see him play for the capitals. And that's a really interesting thing. They're not like, Daddy, don't. Come play with us. They're like, Daddy, please keep being Alex Ovechkin. I get that. And that's why I think one of maybe the most important conversation because like the salary is just going to get worked out. Like the number is going to be what the number is.

I think maybe the most important conversation in all of this is the one that you have with Spencer Carberry. Like, okay, he wants to come back based on how he's going to be used. Is he going to be used the exact same way? Is he going to be used the way that he wants to be used? be used. Or does Carberry want to change things up? And again, like we talked about last podcast, that's hard with a, like, with a Hall of Famer.

Like, how many times has it actually happened? You can even remember Paul Correa at the end of his career. And one timers off the half all is St. Louis. Puck goes through me, boys. Puck goes through me. He makes $9.5 million against the cap. Obviously, the cap is going up. The other, one of the other things, he said,

couple really interesting things today during his postseason availability. One of them being that if he plays in the NHL, it probably will not be for a team, not named the Washington Capitals. That's crushing my hope that we get OV-O-V Malkin on the second line of the Penn wins next year. How do you know Malkin won't join the Capitals? Yeah, he doesn't have a contract. But to your point, Ovi said that he kind of changed, he kind of shifted his thoughts a little bit about like what's important to him like he mentioned the health and how hard it is to recover in the off season when you're 40 versus when you're 20 he mentioned the family which is obviously

huge deal but he said pretty prominently that the capital's ability to make the playoffs and challenge for a Stanley Cup is going to be a very big factor in his decision and so what does that contract look like where is this place in the lineup look like if if ultimate if your ultimate goal is to contend and you're Alex Ovetchkin there's going to probably have to have to be some level of concession, right, to help foster that. Correct? I'm pretty cynical. I've seen this a million times.

Everybody, there's so many players, and listen, most recently even just Connor McDavid, I'll do anything to win the cup, which means I'll do anything as long as it's on my terms. Right. That's the truth. We've seen it a million times in sports. Why should we think this is any different? And I get it.

Like I understand it, especially somewhat at his age with the miles that are on that body. There are things that he wants to do and things that he doesn't want to do. And moreover, things that he can't do anymore. Man, we've been watching all those clips of early Ovechkin. Man, what a wrecking ball this guy was. Every time he was on the ice. Oh, my God. He skated?

The red light was gone or someone was like getting dragged off the ice with a spatch. He skated with the velocity. He skated with the velocity of like Yager. Like he had that kind of like, here's a comet coming into the offensive zone. But he would devastate people physically. Like he was one of the best hitters in the league back in the day when he would deliver those hits. Yeah. Man, what a special player.

It's so great. Really, really was. So what do you think now? The mystery today. I don't know. It's the same thing. I still don't know. Again, there was enough cheese in the trap.

You know, like, what's the only free lunch is to cheese in the trap or something like that? It's an old Eastern European saying. I think there was enough cheese in the trap there. You're Eastern European. You know that. The only free cheese is in the trap. That's it. The only free cheese is in the trap.

I think there was enough there for people to say he's coming back or he's not coming back. And now I really do think we throw in, we have to have the conversation. of how much is deployment part of this conversation? Because I don't just think, I want to be back and I'll do whatever it takes. I think it's like, okay, here's what I can do. Is there a place for me here? And that's what I think with the most important conversation here's with Carberry. The Patrick, the Chris Patrick conversation, I think is easier because it's like, okay, what do you want?

We have a lot of caps space. It's going to be a one-year deal. What do you want? That's going to be easier than the caps, the Washington salary caps. The space. It's cap space, caps. So yeah, what about you? Did you change at all based on what Ovi said?

Are you still the same? Yeah, I'm down to like 65% he'll retire. Down from 80. You take this into account and the utter rejection of any sort of finality at the end of the season, be it the way he spoke after the Columbus game, be it the waving away Crosby and the handshake line after the Penguins game like there's just been a lot of evidence

that maybe in the back of his mind is this voice saying it's not your time to quit and that that voice is getting louder. Now the Penguins thing like we said is also the possibility that could have played in the playoffs the following week. But I mean there's a lot of that kind of going on. There's the rejecting the heralding of your legacy

and congratulatory thing because you don't want to take the spotlight from your teammates And then there's the rejecting it because you know it's not the time for it to happen. And I kind of feel everything we've seen, everything we've heard from today that that might be the case. Okay, I got a final question for you before I release you. I'm going to get the show wrapped up here. I'm going to give you some names.

Okay. Andrew Burnett, Scott Arneill, Elaine Lambert, Adam Foote. Who's the angry coach tonight? I'm spoiled now. We got bones. We had Todd in Detroit. Who does Angry Coach tonight? Is this Scott Arneal?

Andrew Brunette? I think it's got to be. I think it's got to be maybe Brunette. He's pretty mellow guy. He's not that kind of guy. No, he's not. He's a pretty mellow guy. So is Scott Arneal.

Yeah, I bet it could be Arneal. Arneal makes more sense because honestly, who even knows what the hell they're going to do with Brunette? and Arneal I think might be in even more trouble By the way, two things before you release me You mentioned Hallibuck the other day on the show With regards to what his future could end up looking like in Winnipeg Depending on what the state of the team looks like

Yeah There are two teams that may be in the wanting for gold hunting Three teams And they are They are maybe the devils If the new GM does not feel that Jacob Markstrom is the solution that the previous GM did. Anyone else on the Vegas?

Team USA? Oh, Vegas, yes. Vegas. Yes, yes, yes. And again, if this person's price tag doesn't acquiesce to being within the salary structure of the team, and if this person doesn't have something already lined up somewhere else where he can keep his salary demand high, potentially Florida, if they don't come do a decision on Brobrovsky.

And so your comments on how. Lelibuck really got my wheels turning about like, what if this guy did become available? I mean, we talked about Matthews and the hastening of a retool by the bounty he could bring back. Imagine what Hello Buck could give you. Do Florida and Vegas have any first-round draft picks left? Winnipeg would win the cup in 2040. That's the earliest they can start utilizing the picks from Florida or Vegas. You realize you just traded a 12-year-old?

It would have to be from players. Panthers move up into the top five this year. Sorry, guys. Panthers move up into the top five this year. Does that do it? Oh, now we're talking. But again, like, what do you trade? The hell of a conspiracy.

Yeah, I mean, let's think about that. I mean, you might have to try to, like, you might have to. You probably have to move, finally move Lundell, right? You probably have to do that in a trade for Hellebuck. Oh, yeah. But you mentioned Winnipeg Needs players coming back. You mentioned Bittington to Florida? Yeah.

I mean, come on. Billy Zito swings harder than that. And he also is a team USA connection with Hellebuck as well. Of course, I get all that. But if you can't get Hallibuck, you know, look at Bennington. Big game Bennington. Let's put that in the world. I don't know.

And the last thing is you wanted to talk about. Pretty feisty squad. Yes. You wanted to talk about Kyle Davidson. We don't think we ever did that. Oh, just the extension. I'm just, it's just like that, again, ownership where, whereas you may have looked at San Jose and said, like, how did all of the sudden the San Jose sharks leapfrog the Chicago Blackhawks, considering they began their rebuild before San Jose? Again, reinforcing this whole thing's a bunny hop when you're redoing teams, that they're still fine with it.

To which I still maintain, like, you, especially on the back end. Regardless of what happens at the draft with the Chicago Black Ocks, they still do need veteran players or players in their late 20s, specifically on the back end. I don't think this is just like, hey, keep going with the green bananas here. We're good. Eventually they're going to ripen. I think they need to still with the workers.

They're not going to be able to make any kind of leap next year. If they're still hoping that, you know, Lev Shinoff and Renzel and others are all of a sudden the players, they're going to be. You're absolutely right. There needs to be like a bridge of guys that get you from these great young rookies to what they're ultimately going to be. But, you know, one of the things that I bet you're Kyle, right, you can walk into that office to be like, just understand what's on the way. Like, you know, Frondell's going to be great. Yes.

I think that there is a better than good chance that they was that the kid in the KHL that they're going to play. pole. Now I lost his, I had it his name in front of him before. Well, anyway, they got a really good forward the KHL that they're hoping could come over as well. So it's, you know, are they close, no? No. But it's, oh, it's a, there's still not close. Kensarov.

That's his name. Roman Kansarov is the kid's name. The other good, really good prospect who could come over from the KHL for next year. I know what I wanted to talk to you about. quickly here is what's Bredd's number now? For contract? Yeah. Because I remember at the beginning of the season, you don't have the conversation like,

is he already a $10 million guy? Well, yeah. Yeah, clearly. Considering what we've seen all year long. Yeah. Like we've already, we've already, we've already, yeah, but I don't think you can use McDavid as a comparable because that was a, that was a Christmas gift.

McDavid's at 12.5. Leon is at, what is he at? He's at 14. right does Badard get dry saddle money as like

the only player of consequence on that roster he can't yet he can't yet but then again

but then again it ain't going to be a bridge or it's going to be a bridge it's got to be a bridge like they're going max term now right I don't know maybe he does the McDavid

thing and like takes a shorter term deal who knows I mean you could do any number of things, but like, it ain't going to come cheap, that's for sure. No. Even if the team hasn't that success, like, it ain't going to come cheap. He's the team. He's still face the franchise.

All right. What is it? Thursday. So I can talk to you again until Tuesday. That's correct. By then, the playoffs will have started. Yes. And we will obviously retroactively do a preview show on Tuesday so we can both look smart

after we see what happens the first few games. I knew the Kings would blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, I mean, most importantly, though, tonight, we will find out whether we get Rocky 5, whether we get round 5 of the Oilers and Kings in this stupid playoff format and go from there.

Once again, the only reason I want to see this matchup is to see if my bold prediction somehow comes to fruition. If I nail the Kings finally beat the Oilers in the playoffs, that's it. I'm going to quit my entire career and just become a fortune teller because I obviously have the gift of second sight.

to be able to predict something like that. Okay, I'll follow the thread with me then here. How many fruits are there in five alive? I would assume it's five. Five. How many Olympic rings are there? Five. How many Jackson's were on the victory tour?

I believe there were five, the Jackson of five, yes. And now the kings and the oilers. The rule of five. The rule of five. That's right. Based on fruit drink. Sometimes I wonder if there's a room in your house that just has newspaper clippings and string connecting them. Like you've got that in you to be some sort of like right behind me that's just boxes.

And I keep saying I'm going to go through it and sort it all out and I never have these boxes of stuff. Boxes. I just mean like a conspiracy theory. Like you've got some Foxwell. No, I'm not that guy. No, I'm not that guy. I'm not that guy. I did love the show.

My buddy Chris Owens was on that show. We talked to Chris Owens. Yeah, I remember you with Chris Owens. That was my gift to you himself. Yeah, that was one of my presents to you on the old MBSW. I got a president for you. It blew my mind. Cancer man's son.

Oh my God. Yeah. Chris Owens. I mean, he, Cancer Man was a pejorative. Yeah. Smoking man's son. Yeah, that blew my mind. That was so, that was like one of the best times.

That was my, that was my gift to you. All right. Fix those. You can release me now. Fix those feathers. Yeah, I need to get a haircut. We release you to the barber. So we can release it to you.

Do you have like the same barber you go to all the time? Let me tell you about barber real quick. Because Zach's got a barber story too. Well, let me tell all the people, the boys out there what to do to find a barber. When I first got to New York and Ruby and I moved in together, I went to a place that's no longer there called the New York shaving company. It was in Soho. And they used to give out after you were done with your haircut. that they used to give you a glass of whiskey.

And you would salute and you drink the whiskey and you pay your stuff and you leave. So when that place closed, I think during COVID and we moved to Brooklyn, every barber I've now found since then, I have found by searching on Yelp, men's barber whiskey. Because that will find,

that'll find the word whiskey, that'll find the word whiskey inside the coffee. comments and the reviews of the barber. Amazing. And so if they offer it and my current place, which is run by Russians, does, then I know it's going to be of the quality that I'm looking for. Like if you are catering to me, you'll be drunk as a haircut. That's possible.

But like, yeah, this place I go to, they have whiskey inside of a cabinet and then they give you a little plastic shot glass and you give you a little, you know, razor glass. And off you go. onto a city bike wobble into traffic because now you got some whiskey in you. The key is to get your haircut as early as you can in the day so your barber is not absolutely hammered by like 5.30. And we all like scissors around. Like does your barber like drink with you all the time? Hold on.

Hold on. A whiskey shot every 45 minutes throughout the day. The guy who used to cut my hair at the New York shaving company would take a drink with you. But this guy, this guy was. built like Ted Lindsay. Like, this guy was not phased. This guy was not phased by a thimble full of whiskey. The people that currently cut my hair...

He's a peaky blinder, essentially. Getting haircut by, like, one of the peeky blinders is essentially what you're going out here. The people to cut my hair now, they do not drink with me, which is fine, because I... Listen, everyone that goes to the barber and gets a shave there, too, is a little bit of, like... There's a like maybe a little Sweeney Todd in them. And you just don't have any of the brown stuff or else the full Sweeney Toul come out. And I won't be alive anymore.

Very good. All right. Deal with your feathers. We'll see the result on Tuesday. You got it. Probably nothing. Take care. There is.

Greg Wischinski from ESPN. ESPN.com. Thanks to Greg for stopping by the program as always. And this segment, a presentation of the Ninja Crispy Pro, countertop, glass, air, fire, shark, Shark Ninja is elevating the air fryer experience. The Ninja Krispy Pro is a family-sized cooking system that comes with a 6 quart, 2.5 quart glassware storage lids, crisper plates, and a modular base for any occasion.

The clean crisp glassware is designed for non-toxic cooking and storing, go from frozen to crispy with the thermal shock-resistant clean crisp glassware. The Ninja Krispy Pro is powerful. It's an 1,800-watt air fryer that can cook up to 7.5 pounds of chicken that feeds 10 people. It's customizable with 6-1 functions, max crisp, air-fry, bake, roast, re-chrisp, and dehydrate. And for more information on the Ninja Crispy Pro,

visit the link in our description, or go to shark ninja.ca.ca. How right, Zach? I'm good. I got a question for you. And it's about Alex Ovechkin. Do you think that what he said, in a sense, plants a seed that

if he doesn't come back, it's not because he didn't want to. Do you know what I mean? Like it's the organization. There is a sort of element. He doesn't come back. I remember whenever you hear a general manager, and this has happened before, it's usually curtains for that general manager

because ownership doesn't like when you do this. There was one general manager I can recall. I was in a contract situation with a star player. And at a press conference, when he was asked about, he said, well, I've gone as far as with this player as, as I can, it's up to management now to greenlight the whole thing. And just through the whole thing,

I cannot begin to tell you how much ownership hates that. It is a career limiting move for a general manager. I've taken it as far as I can, folks. I'm trying to bring this guy in. Now it's up to ownership. Interesting. Maybe, perhaps. I mean, eventually,

the whole story is going to be told about what just happened here and when and what the timeline is. That's all going to come out eventually here. I know that he was only joking about the two-year thing, but I wonder if it's a two-year thing. And maybe Washington's like, we're happy to go evergreen on this thing

and we'll see what happens next year if you come back for one more year where he wants a security of two because at his age, injuries are always an issue. Or could be an issue, even though he's Ovechkin. And eventually, you know, time is undefeated here.

So I don't know. Yeah. I'm not trying to say that he's trying to burn down the capitals on his way out. Oh, they burn down the capital. To a very Canadian joke of you, Zach, to our American neighbors. Well, well done. There was a song that we learned, side note, in elementary school. It's called The War of 1812.

Search it up after if you haven't heard it. But it's pretty catchy. We learned it. It burned, burn, burn, burned. And we're the ones that did it. It burned, burn, burn. This is what they teach you in elementary school in Aurora? I've never forgotten it.

In the war of 1812. Burn, burn, burn. Yeah. And he is. Yeah, I don't think I'm going to make it. I don't think I'm going to make it to Detroit. No, no, no. They denied my passport.

No, I'm not. I'm not allowed in the country. Yeah, just strike that from the records. Yeah, well done. Well done, Zach. Me. Great job. Department of Homeland.

It's Zach Phillips from Aurora, Ontario. Anyways, I'm not trying to say, I'm not trying to imply that he's burning down the capitals, Washington. Either way, that doesn't sound great. You get what I'm saying. But I wonder if there's some type of groundwork that's being laid of, I want to, I want to come back. Here's the thing. I want to play.

Yeah. So, but here's the thing. All of this, all this is fascinating because nobody has a decoder ring that can crack the code. Everyone's trying to play like conspiracy theorists and hear these clothes. I've been saying this for the last little while. So far, everybody has enough to make a sandwich. So far everybody has enough to make a sandwich. If he's coming back, he's not coming back, or he doesn't know.

That's part of the glory of this story. And that's just it. Yeah. And as Warren, Zivan once reminded us, enjoy every sandwich. Enjoy every sandwich. My final thing here on your, you and Greg's conversation about a second team in Toronto. And your thought that that would be Gary's last move. We don't need to dig into the whole thing.

But if that is it, if anybody has seen Batman and the Joker walking away from the burning hospital, that is Gary Batman on his way out after announcing that there's a second team in Toronto. because that will be MLSC. The only difference is it would be on the heels of him delivering briefcases stuffed with cash to all 32 other owners in the NHL. Oh, sorry, 31, because MLSC, I'm sure would not be exactly thrilled at having competition on the same corner as they. And he just sends an email blast and it says, here is Bill Daley's phone number. Please contact him for inquiries.

Send, block everyone. Here is my final act. Here is my resignation. Any issues call Bill. You'd be only too happy to take your call. Thanks for having me. The sheet is powered by Fanduel. Play your game with Fanduel.

It's the NHL season and Fandul is your home for all the action on the ice. From Blue Landa Betslip, We've got you covered all season with unique promos, live offerings, and more features to let you play your game. Miss Puckdrop, no sweat with a live same game parlay. You can build your bets up until the final buzzer. Download FanDualsports book today and play your game. Please play responsibly. 19 plus and physically located in Ontario.

If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. get another shot at doing this thing and then it's playoff time. I have no idea. What do you got? What do you got? What do you got? Yeah, playoffs gets tougher as it goes along because then we have days there's no games.

We have days where there's one or two. And then I'm really scratching for something. That's why that's what the money's for. Yep. That's why they pay. That's what the money's for. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, we've seen here right now, Jeff, a lot of these coaches, and we're theorizing who could be the next one to do it, but coaches who are going out with a bang to the season, yes. Angry coaches left, right and center. We lost. We keep seeing coaches dragging everyone over the coals, even though people don't like it. So I'm guessing Cole for Fettys here.

Maybe a bad taste. I think it's great to have villains in the league. Gabe Villardy. Okay, Blake Cole. Oh, you went, you played. Coleman. I think you're going to go with Cole Perfetti on that one. Okay, Luke.

I thought about it, but I needed Valardi. And Ivan, though people don't like it. It's so great to have Vill and Villardy. Blake Coleman, Luke Evangelista, gave Valardi. $5 wins you $179 cool ones and 96 cents. Well done. Who scored early yesterday got me all excited. I'm like, oh, Zach might nail.

Drake Batherson. That was it. I'm like, I got to call Zach. And then I didn't call Zach. I didn't even bother text. No. I just went out with my e-foot. No. But I've seen it enough.

I thought about it. Thank you. No problem. I appreciate that. I've seen it enough here now where we've had these come close. Like, Vic called me the one day and he goes, dude, you've got it shot. I was like, yeah. The last guy on this list is a seventh defenseman who hasn't scored in three years.

He's due. He's due. So last night I saw Batherson. I thought the same thing to myself, we've got a. shot and it didn't come to fruition. So, hey, it's exciting, though. We opened the door to a world of possibilities. We could walk away with a lottery ticket in our hands and a little bit extra cash, but

hasn't quite worked out for us this year. Congratulations on the five-hour extravaganza yesterday. Five hours, man. Yeah. It was a lot of fun, I will say. It got long by hour four, and I looked at the clock. And when I slept for an hour and a half, and I am in an endless circle here talking about this team. What am I doing?

We don't even do it. Hang on, hang on. We don't even do trade deadline that long. It's the last one of the year. People want to get stuff off their chest. What was the best comment? Did you have a best comment? Anything really stand out from people that wanted to get something off their chest?

Honestly, one of the best ones was actually Rosie, who it was the premise that he brought up. He said he used to consider the Maple Leafs and coming to Toronto, like going to see the Vatican. And what he feels like has happened now is that they've put up knick-knacks and gift stores all throughout the Vatican and cheapen the experience. And I thought that was pretty fair

because he came from it, he came out of the perspective of a guy who played for the team and what it meant to him to play in Toronto, not just a fan who goes and sees and feels the experience of being in the arena, but somebody who played. And I thought that was really interesting. So that one stuck with me.

I don't know if there was, I had, we had, Michelle was always good for a liner too. Michelle was always good for a 2. He just was losing it about the development of guys and not playing people and not seeing what we had. So there was that. Hutz theorized that Craig Barouba got the cut on his head, not because he dropped the weight, but because he was so frustrated that he was banging his head against the wall and his head finally popped.

Why are you hitting your head against the wall? Because it feels good when I stop. that's the leaves fans experience. If you get the first overall pick, do you call Chicago and try to trade for Connor Baderd? They caught nuts. What? I'm going to bed.

You hear stuff like that, like, all right. Fluff the pillow, honey, I'm coming to bed. Not for that. Well, congratulations on a successful season. And finishing it out for the bang as well. Great job, Zach Roo. And now it's back to slumming it with me full time.

Yes. your luck. But you get your evenings free. You get your evenings free. Yeah, I'm much more excited because as pointed out by numerous people in the chat last night, crappy season, crappy way to end the season. You know, you get the fifth spot you're holding on to right now, but you could fall out. So crappy way to end the season, but as pointed out by a lot of Leafs Nation, we don't have to deal with the overall embarrassment of losing in the first round again. So that's off our chests. Yes.

The best way not to lose in the first round is to not make the playoffs at all. That is an end. Put that on your season ticket package next year. That's part of the hype train. Hey, listen, we here at MLSE are really concerned about your mental health. And we feel the way to avoid the humiliation and the embarrassment of your team losing in the first round is to not make the playoffs at all. We think this is in your best interest. But please make your check out too.

Thank you. Comes here for the Maple Leaf. it'll cost you an arm in a leg to get in the building and extra $500 just to see the ice. If you want to wave the flag, that'll be $1,000. And don't worry, we guarantee we won't lose in the first round. We guarantee we won't lose in the first round. Oh, it's been a long season.

It's been a long life. It's been a long show. And now we're done. We're back tomorrow. Brian Burke will be aboard tomorrow as will Dei Pan Yota. So looking forward to that one tomorrow. In the meantime, thanks for watching. Thanks for listing.

Thanks for subscribing to the stream. Thanks for being part of the chat. Thanks for liking the stream as well. Thanks for listening on your favorite podcast platform. That's it for my act today. You'll be back to deal with me tomorrow. 1 o'clock Eastern for more of the shoot. We'll talk to you then.