The Sheet with Jeff Marek - New Era in New York ft. Jordan Schmaltz & Mathieu Darche

Episode Date: August 6, 2025

On this episode of The Sheet, Jeff Marek is joined by former NHLer Jordan Schmaltz for a candid conversation about the growth of his podcast Home By 3, life after hockey, and his ongoing journey to make a return to the pro ranks. Later in the show, newly appointed New York Islanders GM Mathieu Darche stops by to talk about stepping into the role, the decision to draft and sign first-overall pick Matthew Schaefer, ushering in a new era on Long Island, and what fans can expect moving forward. Jeff Marek and producer Zack also dive into the news that Matthew Tkachuk is the cover athlete for NHL 26. Don’t miss this loaded episode packed with insight, stories, and plenty of hockey talk.#TheSheet #JeffMarek #JordanSchmaltz #MathieuDarche #NYIslanders #MatthewSchaefer #NHL26 #Tkachuk #BradyTkachuk #KeithTkachuk #HomeBy3 #NHLPodcast #HockeyTalk #IslesShout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Simply Spiked: https://www.simplyspiked.ca/en-CAReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Flames_Nation🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of The Sheet is sponsored by the OCS summer pre-roll sale. Sometimes when you roll your own joint, things can turn out a little differently than what you expected. Maybe it's a little too loose. Maybe it's a little too flimsy. There's a million ways to roll a joint wrong, but there's one role that's always perfect. The pre-roll. Shop the summer pre-roll and infused pre-roll sale today at OCS.ca and participating retailers. Okay, welcome back to it.

It is the sheet for this Wednesday, August 6th. Glad to have you aboard today. It's a big one coming up to here with a couple of very special guests, but, and a special hello to everybody in the chat, everybody watching live, or in the archive, or on podcasts. Hello, you Spotify users, you Apple podcast users, you YouTubers. Because it's never a bad day to torture Zach Phillips, noted Toronto Maple Leafs fan. But I'm going to drag Rosie and Nick

and formerly vacation Vic now incarcerated Vic into this conversation as well. Bravo EA. Bravo EA Sports. Bravo. The clip of Mitch Marner scoring a goal on the Toronto Maple Leafs in the trailer. Before we get to what's coming up on today's program, I want all Maple Leafs fans, at least to themselves,

to make a promise. You there, Zach? Because I want you to be present for this one right now. Do we have a copy of, do we have a version of the clip of Mitch Marner in the trailer for 26? I can get it to you in one sec. In one second?

Because this really is, you know, the old saying, sometimes you paint a Picasso and sometimes you paint a barn, this is very much painting a Picasso. We've all seen hockey games where we say, yeah, they got the win, but they painted the barn.

This one was really, Picasso. Nothing subtle about this whatsoever. Like, this doesn't even qualify as an Easter egg, does it? This doesn't even qualify as like, aha, did you see what they snuck in? No, man, this is like blunt and overt and in your face, and they know exactly what they're doing when they make this clip part of the E.A. Sport NHL 26 trailer, which by the way, Bravo, not just for having, you know, Matthew and Brady on the cover, but Walt is a really nice touch. Having the legend

Keith Kachuk on the cover is a really nice touch as well. Do we have this clip set to roll here? Oh, it's just loading? But here's the thing. Many of you have already seen this or if you're listening to us right now, you know what we're talking about. And we're going to get

this for those that haven't seen yet. This is part of the trailer promoting the new NHL 26 game and it's a visual of Mitch Marner on a really nice backhander as well scoring past Joseph Wall. Now, Now, you know, you know, because hockey is just this way, life is just this way, sports is just this way, Marner is going to score like this against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Like, you know it is, it is the leafiest thing that has ever happened. You know that Marner, as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights, when he plays against Toronto Maple Leafs, will score a goal this way, right, Zach? Like, you know this as a Maple Leafs fan, because this is the way it goes. This is the way things happen. Now, here's the thing. Here's the thing that I want every Maple Leafs fan to say to themselves and make a promise to themselves.

And I'll start with you, and I'm going to get Rosie in on this, and Albergas in on this, and Vicks in on this too. You're going to drag everyone from Leafs Nation along with us here. In your own mind, finish this sentence. If Mitch Marner scores on the Maple Leafs like this season, I will blank. Here's the backhand. Scores on wall.

If Mitch Marner, Zach Phillips, scores on the Maple Leafs like that, you will blank. Finish that sentence. And by the way, the player's in the clip, too.

So there's 23, so that's Matthew Nyes. There's 11. That's Max Domi and 8. That's Chris Tanna. Joseph Wall is the goaltender. It's your job, like in the back of your mind

to make sure that doesn't happen. Because you, No, that will be repeated over and over and over and over again. There's no way they're going to try to give Marner that clean a look on a backhand in that position. Like, you know, you always do the sort of the, as they call it, the pre-scout and Craig Barubi, I'll go over all the specifics about a game before they play the Vegas goal of the Knights. Do you think that gets brought up? Like, guys, whatever happens tonight, we can't let Marner.

A, we can't let Marner score, and B, we can't let him score like that. But if he does, what are you as a Maple Leafs fan, Nick Phillips, prepared to do? If Mitch Munner scores the EA Sports NHL 26 goal on your Toronto Maple Leafs, you will what? Not be surprised. Avoid social media for a while and maybe skip my postgame show that night. Yeah, maybe. It might be just time to shut her down. All right, coming up on the program today.

Daily outlined, as is as always powered by Fandul. make every moment more with North America's number one sports book. That is Fanduel. And it's a big one. Standing by is Jay Swish, our good friend, from a number of different properties in podcasts as well, the latest being home by three. Jordan Schmaltz will stop by Matthew Darsh.

The general manager of the New York Islanders joins us at the top of the hour. We will talk about Matthew Schaefer and that contract that he just signed is ELC. We've already mentioned the NHL 26 cover. We'll continue to get there. And if we have some time, we'll talk about the Matthew Kachuk injury. and that update as well. In the meantime, this segment is a presentation of Simply Spiked. Summer is here hanging out in the great weather with great friends.

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Why not try them all with the Simply Spiked Variety Pack? These juice beverages are 5% alcohol, contain real fruit juice and are the perfect refreshing and convenient summer drink. Simply spiked pairs perfectly with any summer occasion. Summer hangs, backyard, pool parties, barbecue, you name it. Simply Spiked launched in Canada in 2023 and has been bringing the juiciness ever since. Pick up Simply Spiked at your local liquor store for your next summer hangout. must be legal drinking age and please ladies and gentlemen celebrate responsibly with that we bring aboard the man known as the people's insider former first round drapica of the st louis blues he's

jrude shmaltz j swish and he joins me now fella with the great summer duster as well how are you pal yeah i shaved well first off long time listener first time caller mr jeff merrick thank you thank you for having me on the program over here brother it is an honor on the Oh, my classic over here. But, yeah, man, I, I shaved this off yesterday. So I was growing out the beard a little bit. I was on the road a little bit, hanging out in the Midwest with a lot of family. And, you know, I just kind of, I saw it off the bone to the point where I just left a little bit of lip luggage.

And, you know, they say maybe Movember is the time for that, but I'm doing it here in the balmy 115 heat here in Scottsdale. So, yeah, I'm sporting the lip luggage, the duster, whatever you want to call it. I kind of like it, man. It's good. It's good. Yeah. There's, okay. So there's a few things that I want to get to you here. First of all, the Man of a Million podcast, after my own heart, because audio is my first love,

and you've married that with video, and you and Rob have done such a great job of it. But I love the TwitterX interactions and this afternoon with someone who is kind of near and dear to my heart. So, Daryl Wolsky is now an agent. I got to meet Daryl Wolsky a million years ago when he promoted something. I don't know if you remember this. This may be a generation gap between us, but do you remember a pay-per-view called the Battle of the Hockey Gladiators? It was the hockey fights paper view. It was like Dean Mayerand, I think, won it.

Mike Skroy was in it. I ended up meeting someone. It became a really good friend of mine. He's now an officer in Mississauga, a guy of the name of Eddie O'Toole. And they really, really tough dudes. Daryl was the promoter of it. Went on to be an agent. I think he represented Shannon Sabados when she was playing in the ECHL as well.

We have a clip of this interaction as well. And I want to dovetail this with a conversation. So Beef, that's his nickname, tweets. Kunlan, that would be Red Star, maybe doing a total rebrand and facelift details to come to which you respond. They need a 6-3 right shot, D-man. Give us the update on the comeback swish. Yeah, so I've been floating the idea of, you know, I've been done, Jeff, for probably just over two years now. I finished up in the Swiss Elite League over there, and I was battling a little bit of a concussion for seven or eight months where I was just, I wasn't getting the treatment maybe I needed and just different.

and things I needed to work out and kind of go through that protocol. So I ended up hanging up the skates after the 22, 23 season. And I've kept myself, to my credit, and pump my own tires here because that's what came on here to do. But I've kept myself in pretty good shape. So over the years, I've skated with the guys down here in Arizona, the off seasons. I work out a ton five or six times a week, not a big deal. But yeah, man, I think if the right opportunity came across my chin, as I would say, I

I would maybe dust up to skates. We'll see. I've had some interest, obviously, in the East Coast Hockey League. I've never played in that league before, but the old Iron League. Yeah. But yeah, we'll see where it goes, man. I don't know. I think it could be great for hockey.

I think it would be cool for me to kind of close a chapter on hockey or maybe even see where it goes. But I think it would definitely draw a lot of eyes. And it wouldn't be a play just to make a joke of it. It would be coming back and actually play. Have you ever heard the phrase, don't, like, you. Use hockey, don't let hockey use you. Like I've said this is so many people over the years. A, hockey will never love you back.

And B, use hockey, don't let hockey use you. And the wonderful thing about you, Switch, is you've kind of turned your life into a show. Like, my life is not interesting enough to be a show. Like, at this point in my life now, I am born to be mild. That is not you. Like, you're a consistently interesting guy. And this to me would just be another example of, you know what? I can play hockey.

I can play hockey at an elite level. I was a first-round draft book of the St. Louis Blues, high-level hockey player from a hockey family. My brother's an elite-level player in the NHL as well. This is another in the chapter, another in the book, another chapter in the book of use hockey, don't let hockey use you. Is that how you look at it? I think so. And I think around young enough, too, I'm still 31, so I'm like a fine wine, better with age. But I think it's one of those things, Jeff, where even I was in Toronto last week, and I'm sorry I didn't call you, but I was hanging out with a couple of

buddies there and one being a former roommate in Jordan Bennington. And I went into the gym. Yeah, I went into the gym with Matt Nicol that one day or two days, whatever it was. And I kind of, you know, it kind of got me thinking like, wow, like, you know, hockey's truly such a special game. And not that we're outsiders now with media and different things, but you're not in the room. You're not in the day-to-day fight.

So I think for me, it would, whatever it would be, whether it's the coast, the American League overseas, I think it would be cool just to go over. and do it, man, and play and show people I can still play. And I'll tell me, just show myself that I can still do it because I still think I can play at a high level for sure. First of all, how sweet is Matt Nichols new place? Yeah. So it's like a, it's like that junkyard feel, but it has everything you need. That's what I like.

I like going into gyms where it doesn't feel like a spa. It's, we're here to work. And that's exactly what it has in there. No AC. Boys are grinding it out in there. And I'll tell you what, like, I mean, you know. Maddie. I have a, I've known Maddie going back. I remember the, I'll tell you what, I remember the first time because he was a creator of bio steel, right? And later went on to sell his company, etc. But I remember, I remember it was Maple Leafs training camp coming out of the Lockout 2005. I was doing a show with Bill Waters called Leafs Lunch and we were at the old Rico now Coca-Cola, call a seam, the Maple Leafs were holding the training camp there. And Nick Atropov came up and did an interview with us and he had like this generic water bottle with this pink liquid in it. And he was, He was drinking it.

And I'm like, what is this? He goes, oh, Maddie was the strength and conditioning coach for the Maple Leafs at that point. He's like, oh, this is something. It's an electrolyte drink that Matt Nichol has come up with is good for our recovery. So I talked to Matt about it. And he's like, this is when I was doing like a marathon running. And I had my long runs on Sunday. And Mattie's like, try this.

You won't have any pain after your long run. So they use it for your recovery. And I did. And I remember I called Maddie. And I'm like, dude, I don't know if you're giving this to the Maple Leafs, but like, they're all going to piss hot. Like, there's no way that this is legit. Like everyone's going to, everyone's going to fail the drug. He's like, no, no, no, this is all, like, perfectly clean.

And, like, ever since I got to meet Matt and listen to him, like, he makes a ton of sense. He's a great guy. He's in it for all the right reasons. Like, I know I sing from the hymn book on Maddie, but what's your background with Matt Nicol? Or, like, that wasn't the first time you met him, right? No, it actually was the first time I met him in person. So those guys, yeah, I was supposed to do a biosteal camp.

They used to do that camp, hashtag camp every year. St. Mike. And it was, yes, exactly. And it was before the season. They would have all their pros in there. They would play a little bit of a three-on-three tournament. And all the guys would work out together, high-level players. Obviously, the McDavid's of the world, all those guys would attend this camp.

I'm not sure if they still do, but that's what it was back in the day. So I was supposed to go one year. And then I got called in after my first year pro to go to the rookie orientation in Washington, D.C. And Jeff, I was like Billy Madison at that. this place because I was three years of school and then one year in the American League. And I'm going and hanging out with 97 and 98 borns. And, you know, those kids are 18 and I'm 23 years old. So I'm like, what am I doing here? But for whatever reason, they set me to Washington, D.C. that year for the rookie showcase, I missed a missed the first year opportunity.

But on my second year of eligibility, I went that. So I was not able to attend the bio steel camp that I committed to. So it was kind of full circle to finally meet them and, you know, just hang out for a little bit. But yeah, by all accounts, it seems like a great dude. Best guy. Those guys swear by him at the gym, Matt. What really do?

Love him, great guy, and you're right. Like, everybody, everybody loves Maddie. Now, you mentioned, like, there's nothing like being in the room and being on a team. And I mentioned this on, on your podcast a couple of years ago when I was on. You know, you're yak, and I think I was doing the show for. I was in Niagara Falls for a baseball term with my kid. And it's one of, it's such a great story about you. And I'm going to, not to embarrass you, but.

Like, this is like a really good story about you that I want all my listeners and viewers to be aware of. So Rich Clune, who's now an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins. So when he was playing, you know, I was playing with the Marleys, you were with the Marleys. And like Rich has talked openly about this and done documentary all about his addiction and recovery, etc. And, you know, at that point, Dickie, that's his nickname. Dickey was very much in recovery. But it was still like your young guys and you're in Toronto and still going out. And I remember talking to Rich years ago and he said, you know, he wasn't the only guy, but one of the main guys that always went out of his way, even though I wasn't partying, obviously I was in recovery, who always went out of his way to make me feel welcome amongst all the guys in every situation, social or otherwise, was Jordan Schmaltz.

What do you remember from that? First of all, good on you. Yeah, well, you told me that story the first time. I almost like choked up. I was like, wow, that means a lot because I didn't think I was doing the Lord's work at the time. I thought, you were. You didn't know, but you were. Yeah, but see, the thing with Dickie is, is obviously he was sober at that point.

And it was for the better part for just him personally, obviously. But the thing is, is we shared such a love for music that no matter how buckled I might have been at the bar, he was right there with me in spirit, singing at the top of his lungs, singing Robin dancing on my own. And that was always our song we would have put on at the bar. So, yeah, I've always been that way, Jeff. And it's not coming from a point where it's fake or it's not genuine. Yeah, it's not genuine or whatever. It's just that's who I am. I try to include everyone.

I like sitting down for a team dinner. I like all the guys at the bar. I don't want to sneak off with just three or four guys and form a click. I would rather have the whole team there because that's when it's the best. That's when you get to meet guys. You see them in a different element. So, yeah, Dickie was one of those guys that was always. He's in for a locals-only shift with a couple of waters and just ready to rock out.

I saw him and his wife with a tool show sitting across from me a couple of years ago. Yeah. At Scotia Brinkler, I loves the tool, as do I. Anyway, okay, so here's what I want to ask you about. Yep. There are a lot of players that, and I swear Bryn Chiswick, the GM of North Dakota, has not put me up to this. But there are a lot of guys, whether it's T.J. O'Shee, whether it's Brock Besser, Jake Sanderson, that'll do help with recruiting at Nodak. And you've been known to do some legendary recruiting videos over the years to try to get guys to commit to North Dakota.

Why do you want to go to Minnesota? Michigan, what are you thinking? Take us to the genesis of some of these. Like when you're making a video trying to get a kid to commit to North Dakota as opposed to going somewhere else. What's the process? Like how do you do it? What's your formula? What's your cell for Nodak?

Well, I think as it used to be, and I think it'll get back to that point is I always thought North Dakota, and when they were building teams, especially going back to the Dean Blaze era and Dave Haxdahl era, and even further behind that. But let's just start at the early 2000s. It was always, Jeff, it was always the bottom six was Western Canadians that played borderline criminal. And then you would get the influx of Midwest kids. that were skilled either from northern Minnesota, Minneapolis area, or even bring them in from Wisconsin or some of these areas where you still get that Midwest kid. And in the odd easterner, but it would mostly be kind of Western Canadians mixed in with some skill guys.

And then on the back end, it would just be probably like four, six, four savages, somewhere in there, sub six four, the Ben Bloods, the Mike Commodores, the Matt Greens of the world, the Andy Schneiders, these just big, burly defensemen. Matt Schmaeby, who is now an associate coachman. These guys like that mixed in with, again, maybe a guy like me were a more of a puck-moving defenseman and then maybe a smaller defenseman to kind of be, you know, a savvy puck mover, Shea Genoa. So I always thought North Dakota, they always had a very good template of what the roster

should look like and how it's kind of constructed. Now you pair that in with 12,000 fans at the top of their feet, drinking fireball, hanging out at the Ralph Ingolstead Arena. We always used to make a point, an emphasis of this place should be the palace of pain. And now the head coach kind of instill that back into the culture a little bit. Not that it was lacking, but I think, you know, getting back to the roots of what North Dakota hockey is. So I would say I would put together a smash-mouth video of Matt Fratton, T.J.O. Oh, Matt Fratton.

I loved Matt Fratton. Oh, wow. I haven't heard that name in years. Brad Malone, like these guys that just played straight downhill at just bearing defensemen. So those type of hits, those type of that energy, that T.J. O'Shee type of player where he can cold shoulder a guy and then tow drag the best defenseman on the other side.

That's what North Dakota hockey was all about. It was just very exciting and it was a very physical brand of hockey. So if I'm putting together a video for any kid, I'm including all of that one. And it's probably synced up to Thunderstruck or something, ACDC and let's just go play heavy. October 17th and 18th

is the Minnesota weekend. So I'm going to go down. I'm going to bring my boys, I think, as well. I'm going to sound like a douchey hockey dad. 2010, 2012. So I'm trying to, I'm trying to get room at the Olive and Hotel in Grand Forks. Is that the place I should be looking?

So that's where I would say if you're looking for the nicest hotel in Grand Forks. It's nice. It's right downtown. Harry Steakhouse is right across the street and on the same side of the street just to the west about a half a block is a place called Bonzers. And that's where I'm going to meet you after the game. So yeah, I think that's probably the best location. I stay at the Stabridge. That's the Schmaltz Hotel up there. It's nothing fancy. It's a little bit of lipstick kind of pig, but I'm, you know, I can play any game you want on blue collar like that. So, but that's where I stay. It's just, uh, on 42nd Street across from the Alaris Center where the football field is. But yeah, I'm going to be up there, Jeff. Let's plan on doing something.

We're going to hang on. I'm hoping to do the show up there on at least the Friday as well. So we'll see where that heads. Okay, one thing I wanted to bring up there, because you played before this comeback, you last couple of years in hockey, Switzerland and in Finland as well. And I remember talking to Todd Warner,

who finished up playing in Germany. And he is telling me about one player specifically, whose name shall remain anonymous on this program, who the team wanted to retire his number. And he agreed to do so on the condition that they retired it at the team's favorite massage parlor. So you've walked into one very specific massage parlor, frequented by Hanover, I believe the name was the Scorpions.

Hanover Scorpions, there is his number and his jersey hanging from the ceiling. Have you ever wondered if it wasn't a rink If you could have your jersey retired somewhere Now massage parlor is taken by this But the only clue I'll give is he played in the old Western League Where would you, and anywhere in Europe as well Where would you like your jersey retired? Well, as Mo Wanchuk once said,

You get one call. Call the pizza man, yeah. Why don't you call the massage part? So I don't know, that's a great one. My favorite basketball player of all time, the sixth man of the year, three time, Lou Williams has his jersey hanging in the rafters at the infamous strip club in Atlanta, Magic City, which I've also been, I'll go on record saying that I've seen Lou Williams's jersey hanging up at the iconic Magic City.

So you got strip clubs, you got massage parlors. I don't know, Jeff. I mean, that's, you know, an obscure location, like a massage partner. That's great because, you know, you like the Swedish touch, so that's good. Is there, is there like an establishment like that's near and dear to your heart somewhere? And it might just be like a hole in the wall, a dump, but it's like really personal to you. I would say the red, I would say the red pepper in Ground Forks, North Dakota. That would be my spot.

It's a late night taco spot. My grandpa was friends with the late owner, Bruce Tellman. He passed away years ago, but he brought the red pepper to Grand Forks, and it is, it's a cathedral of tacos coming out of that place. So we'll have to go there as well. It's open late, three in the morning. You get the grinder, which is the famous sandwich. They have cheese to stadas. They have tacos.

It's all good, brother. So I would say that would be one spot for me. I would shed a tear if I saw my jersey hanging up from the red pepper. That's the spot. Okay. Yeah, you mentioned Slapshot and Moancho. So I got to get your thoughts on a couple of things. So, you know, the past couple years, like, like we're at the age now, you know, last year was Paul Demado, Dr. Hook, who passed away.

And, you know, this year is someone that I would see in town. You know, I live on the border of Stoville and Knoxbridge, which is a little bit north of Toronto. And Guido Tenesse was someone that worked at Betts Pools in Stowville for a number of years. And I would see Guido every now and then in town. Really nice man played Billy Charlebois in the movie Slapshut. If I can read this, right, from Moose Jaws, Saskatchewan. You know, he was like the skin dog of the team every time. team. Every team has one. Alan Nichols, who played Johnny Upton, who I think is the best character

in the movie. That's the one guy that I've, and I haven't met him, but he's the one guy outside of Paul Newman, that I always wanted to meet. Now, Alan is still very much with us. His grandfather is in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Riley Hearn was a goaltender with the Wanderers, won the very first Stanley Cup in 1906. He is part of hockey royalty. Legit. Alan Nichols is the guy that I've always wanted to meet from the movie Slapshot. Who was yours?

Well, is the answer, Jesus? Johnny Upton, that's an all-time character. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's, I mean, you know where I stand on this. I mean, I've always been a Mo Wanchuk guy, but apparently you met him in person and he didn't really like his character. So Brad Sullivan, and his main claim to fame outside of Slapshot, Fall of Us Hockey Geeks,

he was in the movie The Untouchables with Kevin Costner. He was the guy in the white suit that gets thrown off the route. Great, a great character actor for a number of years. But later on after Slapshot, he became a man of the Lord, was sort of embarrassed about the movie. And the story that he told me, this is going back to 2005 when I first talked to him, he said there was only one time that he didn't regret being in the movie Slapshot. He said he was coming out of church on a Friday night. He was walking through Central Park to his apartment.

And he had to have a squirt. And there was no one around. He went behind a tree. And he gets a tap on the shoulder from a couple of officers who start writing them up a ticket. And the other officer says, hey, are you Moe from, hey, put that book away. It's Moe from Slopshed. That was the one moment that I didn't regret being Mo Wanchok from the movie Slapshot. The late great Brad Sullivan, one of the great.

And by the way, that guy was shredded, like torn up like a bad report card. He looked like he got in a fight with his scissors and won. He was, hey, you know, another one I would like to meet, though, is Lily Braden. I mean, she's an all-time character because, you know, not that, I mean, pro hockey can be hard, right? And you're getting shuttled around city to city. And I just always thought you always had that just one miserable girlfriend. wife on the team. And it just displays it so well for all the guys that have played, especially in the minor leagues. That character is unbelievable. Flask in the stands sitting down with

Reg Dunlop outside of the park. And what's the story about that dog? That dog. That's a dog that's Dave Trauston from the 1978 flood. Well, yeah, well, fuck him too. It's just like, it's so good. How many, like, when did you, first of all, how old were you when you first saw that movie? I think I was like 10 and it was on it was on like uh was that sixth grade yes like second grade my mom like seven years old yeah my mom accidentally we went to blockbuster and she wanted to get me a hockey movie I wanted to something hockey related and we stumbled upon slap shot we put it in the VCR when we got home I I never forget this Jeff I was sitting up in their bed like crisscross applesauce watching this movie and all of a sudden a pair of

Suzanne's fun bags come across the screen. My mom walks and she goes, oh, my God, what is this? So, yeah, that's a vivid memory of my childhood. And I think it's been ingrained in me ever since. You know, it's funny because you're referencing Hanrahan's wife and Christopher Murney played Hanrahan. I think I told you this before. He went on, he may be outside of Paul Newman.

He may have made the most money out of all those guys. He later became a voice actor and became the voice of Chester the Cheetah from the Cheetos commercial and dined on that for, I don't know, maybe. he still does for for for all I know who knows but um the the movie is still absolutely legendary um listen anything you want us to know before we wrap up uh whether it's the hat whether it's the new pod whether it's the comeback maybe it's going to quinlan maybe it's going somewhere in the cheese toast the echel uh final thought from jordan schmaltz well i would say if you're an agent or you're a coach i'm self-repped by the way so

I'm going to be reping myself, but yeah, hit my lines, man. I'm ready to go. I'm listening to all offers. And in the meantime, go check out Homeby 3. Yes, the new pod. It is a new pod. It is a YouTube channel. It is a show about a show that I do with my good friend, Bob Gucci.

So go check that out on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Homeby 3 official. We have our newest, newest behind the chin coming out this Sunday. So go check that out, folks. Jeff, you're a gentleman and a scholar. Thank you for having me, brother. Swish, you're a gentleman, a scholar, and a judge of good liquor. It's always good being all with you, my friend. You'll be well.

Appreciate it, brother. This episode of The Sheet is sponsored by the OCS summer pre-roll sale. Sometimes when you roll your own joint, things can turn out a little differently than what you expected. Maybe it's a little too loose. Maybe it's a little too flimsy. There's a million ways to roll a joint wrong, but there's one role that's always perfect. The pre-roll. Shop the summer pre-roll and infused pre-roll sale today at OCS.ca and participating retailers. The great Jordan Schmaltz, J. Swish, has a number of properties, the latest being home by three.

And by the way, like Gucci's a fascinating guy to me, his partner who just sort of popped up his Heat Daddy a number of years ago and just like, I remember getting all these texting people saying, you got to follow this guy, you got to follow Heat Daddy, got to follow Heat Daddy, just like follow the Twitter feed and just laugh hysterically. And this compling has been nothing short of brilliant for the two of them. We are standing by from Matthew Darsh, the general manager of the New York Islanders. A number of things to go over with the Islanders. And first of all, when you want to talk about just like getting the new gig and then checking boxes and ringing bells right away, I don't know, call it the Midas touch or whatever, but like so far, like everything that has really happened, whether it's at the Bridgeport level, whether it's at the draft level, whether it's been at the team level, the marketing level, how they've handled Matthew Schaefer.

I mean, everything right now is really early on here in Matthew Darsh's tenure as general manager, the Islanders, really hit a stride early. Like they've done a lot of things really well, where if you're an Islanders fan, for the first time in a while at a lot of different levels, you're feeling really good about not just the present but also the future of your team. And a lot of that is about Matthew Schaefer. Matthew Schaefer, the sort of tape measure home run, the obvious first overall draft pick. You know, whether it was the ribbon on the jersey when he was selected, whether it's all having the kids who have lost to parents, join Matthew Schaefer in signing his entry-level deal with the Islanders, like the way that they've handled this really special player. And let's not forget, too, like part of this too is Matthew Schaefer is mature.

well, well, well, well, well, beyond his years. But everything's been picture perfect about this one. And where you thought there may have been a clunky transition between Lula Amarillo and the next general manager, you know, the analogy that I always use is like that Olympic diver into the water without a ripple. And that's what it's been for Matthew Darsh, who, by the way, we should point out, you know, has been, you know, a finalist for a number of. of GM positions. I think we've all known that eventually Matthew Darsh was going to end up a general

manager in the National Hockey League, a number of different teams, whether it was the Pittsburgh Penguins or Montreal. He's interviewed for a number of different positions. So it's probably only a matter of time before Darsh ended up getting his first job as GM in the NHL. And he's sort of sat at the defeat in Julian Briseboe of one of the masters of it. And today's news, the signing of Shanday to an American Hockey League contract with Bridgeport. Now, of course, the background there would be Matthew Darsh would have known, of course, Sean Day. And I think he was a real fan of Shanday who played a number of years with Syracuse, the H.L affiliate for the Tampa Bay Lightning. And one of the reasons why I really like this move.

Well, one, I've always had a real soft spot in my heart for Shanday. Anyone who's followed me in various stops that I've made has heard me, you know, gush even going back to his U-16 year where all the tournaments and, you know, the wippy tournament is a big one where, you know, Sean Day would just dominate. Like he would just grab the puck and that would be like I remember at the silver stick, I think it was a silver stick. They did a deal where and he would have been playing for, it's a compiware, I think it was. And they did a deal where overtime started three on three and then went down to two on two

and eventually went down one on one and watching Sean Day never leave the ice. and then get down to one-on-one and dominate was a thing of beauty. You looked at them and you said, I can't believe a guy this big can skate like this. And, you know, he was granted exceptional status to get into the OHL early and played with Mississauga. And for whatever reason, never sort of lived up to that building. But I always had a real soft spot in my heart for Sean Day crossing my fingers.

And if you know the family story as well, it's a really compelling one. And you become really attached to the player. hoping that it was going to work out for him. That's why when I saw the news this morning that the Islanders had signed him to an AHL deal with Bridgeport, it put a very big smile on my face. We had the Islander's general manager standing by. He is Matthew Darsh.

He is the GM of the New York Islanders, and he joins me now on the sheet. Matthew, thanks so much for stopping by. And listen, I know it's August the 6th, and here we are talking about hockey. I know you never sleep and never leave the office. So I appreciate you parking a little bit of time for me today. How are you today?

Hey, thank you. Thanks for having you, Jeff. Listen, when you're new on the job, you work through the summer, but I won't lie. I'm going on vacation this Saturday with my family, so it's going to be nice to get away. So that's what I wonder, because it seems as if like managers once upon a time, like, and you know this, like after free agency,

like maybe the week after free agency, everyone sort of pieced out for the summer. Those days are gone. You guys all stick around. You give yourself like a week, maybe a week and a half in August, and then come back because everyone's terrified of offers. sheets and you want to get back to the office and get back to business. But I want to ask you, and I know you were only eight years old, I believe, when this

happened. But in 1984, the Pittsburgh Penguins had the first overall draft pick and teams won like Mario Lemieux draft, right? And Montreal desperately wanted Lemieux. They traded for Hartford's pick. They ended up taking Svoboda. Hartford didn't end up going first overall. Pittsburgh did. The Quebec Nordiques offered all three Stassnys. And don't forget how great Peter Stassany was. And plus a first round pick to try to get. get Mario and Eddie Johnson, the GM of Pittsburgh. No, no. I mean, everybody came.

Minnesota offered every pick. Lunani, no, no, no, no. On the scale of, we're offering the Stastis and a first rounder. How big were the offers for the first overall pick this year, which turned into Matthew Schaefer? Well, there was no really offers. A few teams called, just like, hey, would you, what are your plans? And right away, I would just say, I'm picking, you know? So there was never offers.

And, listen, I got like here, I got. at the job and I can't take credit for that one because the lottery before I got named Tim Morrow was our good luck charm at that lottery so I wasn't moving the pick and obviously I didn't know the player as well as our scouts. It's not like if Tampa where I was, we were drafting very often in the first round to start with. But obviously I've seen Matthew before he got heard at the junior world championship and you know like obviously once i got this job i watched quite a bit on him and it was a clear cut for me that he was going to be he was going to be our guy and it just reinforced it once i um met him at a cop eye and the kid is is an impressive

young man the maturity is beyond his years and uh and i mean this is all great to hold the maturity the whole thing how he dealt with the adversities had by the end of the day he's a hell of hockey player So that's why we drafted him first overall. He really is. And listen, I'm not the only one. Like the entire hockey world, I think, really has a lot of respect and admiration for how you've handled him. And whether it's, you know, touch the ribbon on the jersey, the kids who have lost parents very young. I was, I remember the first time I talked to Matthew Schaefer.

I lost my mom when I was 16 similar to him as well. And we had like a 20-minute conversation about the way that you handled how we signed his entry-level deal and having all those kids around. I'm like all the, I know you can say like, hey, listen, we. haven't played a game yet, but, like, there's a lot of, like, write notes that the Islanders have really hit early on in your tenure. And when, specifically with Matthew Schaefer, how, how, like, what goes into the ribbon on the jersey? What goes into the kids while he's there for the entry level sign?

Like, take us a little bit behind the scenes on those decisions. Well, when you're up, obviously the story, everybody knew of a story about his bullet mom, his mom and all these things. I actually walked into Kimber Arbac, our senior vice president of communication here. I said, how can we do something special at the draft for the kid?

You know, so it was, listen, it was, when we met with him at the combine, we went to dinner with him just as the whole way, the whole, how he dealt with all that. He kept telling us, my way of dealing with us talking about my mom. You know, I'm proud of my mom. I love my mom.

She's the big reason of who I am. And then, you know, we debate it. And then, you know, we debated it. And the few other people internally, Then they came up, but let's put the ribbon on the jersey, which we obviously had to ask the league. And I even joke as, hey, I need to hear from Gary and Bill that it's okay, you know, and they love the idea. And then we added the initials. And as far as the signings, I mean, Pat Morris used to be my agent when I started playing, so I have a relationship with Pat.

And we talked about different ways of doing it. And I know Matthew wants to get involved in some community work and foundations that, you know, grieving centers, things like that. So we thought about that. And what's impressive about Matt is he walked in the room. Remember, he's 17 years old. He's not 18. He commanded the room.

He told them about his story. And then we had about 2025 families. And they each had a jersey. One by one, they were at the table with Matt. Then he would sign a picture and sign the jersey. But at one point, I had to tell Pat, Pat, can you kind of tell him to, he was taking 15 minutes with every kid, asking them their story. We were to, you know, like, and we had, you know, we were going to the Mets game after.

And I was like, hey, we, you know, we need to move this. And I think it was outstanding because you can see, like, it's genuine. Like, he was generally talking about those stories with every single kid. And even when he started talking to the kid, to the whole group at the start, and, you know, you could see some parents that were teary-eyed. And I guess the older you get, you get more emotional. And at the draft, we're all kind of crying in our room when we drafted him the way he acted. And even I was, I was like, God, he's got to stop.

He's got to make me tear up again, you know. So it's maturity and the way he took time with every one of those kids. Like it wasn't just here, I sigh, hey, nice to meet you. Like he asked them about their story and he said what he felt. You know, one of them was, I don't know, for a soccer player or a sport, hey, your mom's there on the sideline, you know, or a baseball player. She's conning balls and strengths and things like that. You know, so he's amazing.

By the end of the day, the main reason we'll draft him is because he's a good, hockey player. We hope he's going to play with us for years. Listen, I have a positional bias. I look at defensemen and say, like, you have a chance to grab someone who's going to be a first pairing defenseman for 10, 15 years. Like, yeah, you're

run to make that pick. When you close your eyes and think about opening night, Matthew Schaefer on this team, who's he playing with? Who's he paired with, or do you say, like, that's up to Patrick? It is up to Patrick. And at the end of the day,

Matthews tell us to go through training camp. He's got to show us that he's ready to bring in the HR. Do we think he has a chance? Absolutely. But he's got to show us also and he's dedicated. He's focused. He's skating with a lot of NHL players in Toronto.

So Cab will tell us where and how much he plays, depending how it goes. Because let's face it, he was great out of developing cab. The NHL is another. Training camp is a step and the NHL is another. I still remember as a player and I've mentioned it to Barry Trott.

So I went to Nashville at training camp one year and I was mostly minor from Milwaukee and then I scored three goals one inner squad game and they asked Trotsie about hey, this guy scored three goals and I remember because he's 100% right he goes, remember those inner squad games

it's like if you make it because he's in the US is talking baseball, it's like double A. Preseason game is like AAA. Then there's a major move. You know, so let's take it in stride. Pop the break. But I'm confident his skating abilities and his hockey sets and all that.

But like he's 17 years old. He's going to be 18, 10 days, actually five days before a rookie camp. So his play at training camp will dictate where he plays. I look at him and I say to myself, Matthew, like I never thought that I would see and maybe you have different comparison. And I remember initially when I saw him, I think, oh, I see Drysdale. And I go, no, no, it's just because he's in Iriott. He's an otter's jersey. And I watch him.

I'm like, he skates like J. Bowmeister. Like, is there someone who's skating style? kind of reminds you of at all because like his skating is is elite capital e it is the way guys i don't i don't know if it's fair to compare like whether it's got me or my ear like i kind of saying like it's it's just he's a glider his edges are great he can open up and create space for himself you can see in a development camera he gave the puck boom he would be up on the rush which yeah that's the style of play we want to play patrick and i on the same page we want to play in uptempo dejoined the rush when it's time to join the rush obviously

sometimes you don't join the rush, but his skating abilities is what enables him to have a chance to make our line-out. Because if he wasn't that good of a skater, it's tough as a young defenseman. And there's going to be work to be done because every young D when they come in, the biggest part is the defending part of it. And what's great, this summer, he's skating on the ice with Mark Giordano quite a bit in Toronto, which Mark is a smart defender. And we have, you know, he's going to, on our team,

there's Adam Pellek, who's an outstanding defender. so I have a lot of people to learn from. But let's face it, for any young guy, that's the biggest adjustment you have to do when you join the NHL. You've hit a lot of the right notes, certainly with Islanders fans as well. I think a lot of people are excited about your team. I know a lot of people are excited about the possibility here

of Matthew Barzell playing in the middle again and what that could mean. What kind of player do you see when you look at Matthew Barzell? And I'll kind of ask you a similar question about Schaefer. Who do you see him playing with? Honestly, and I'm a big believer that managers, manage, coach as coach. So if I wanted, I obviously are always going to have discussions with Patrick. By the end of the day, I'm not behind the bench.

You don't get the feel directly in the game. So the beauty of it to me with Matthew is he's, yes, he's a sentiment, but the more players you have that can play different positions gives you options. Right here you had good moments with Bor Horvatt, but sometimes it might board be centers. And sometimes during times of the games, of the year maybe they play together so having that flexibility is great by the end of the day with the coaching staff all have discussions with them like uh and listen i've learned from the way

things are done in tampa between julian and coupe and yeah yeah we'll talk well i'll give my opinion by the end of the day you're the coach like you know how do you hold your coach accountable if you tell him who plays with who and things like that so uh uh the reason i wanted to work with patrick is i trust him as a coach so uh we'll have discussions all the time of course but he's the coach, he's going to, uh, I'm not a micromanager, like, uh, even with my amateur staff, the pro staff, like you hire the right people, you let them do their job and that's all I get them. But one thing that were on the same page, me and Patrick is we want to play that uptempo style.

That's, uh, maybe I got, uh, I got spot in Tampa for that start with the players we have, but you know, like you talk about Matthew, Matthew's an elite player, skater and we're unleashed those guys of it. Here's another thing, too, about Tampa as well. like people, players went to Syracuse and did their time as you all know and then graduated to the big club in Tampa and you talk about uptempo style

and like, look, I just lived down the street from the Oshawa Generals and saw plenty of Cal Ricci and know what you have and you know what you have. Your organization does. Again, I'll put you in the spot to say like, what's going to happen with Calerichie? But I look at him and I say,

I don't know how long he's going to need in the American Hockey League, but I am a firm believer that that jump from junior hockey to the NHL is hard and that time in the AHL is really, really important and it shouldn't be looked at as a step back, it should still be looked at as a step forward. How do you see sort of Cal Ritchie's progress

to being a full-timer in the National Hockey League? Well, I was still then like it's a process. I want them to have NHL curry, not play games. It's not erased whoever plays his first game or his first 20 games. having said that, play at training camp. Yes, we have a lot of forwards. If Keown comes to training camp and yeah,

he plays everyone, I'll make room for him on the roster. And the example I have, and one of them was previous to my time in Tampa. I think Braden Point from what I was told in Tampa, like he was supposed, like, everybody else probably go in Syracuse. He was that good at camp. He made the team last year with Conor Geeky in Tampa. Like, did we think he was going to make the roster throughout a camp? And we always open-minded, he had a great can.

the outplay guys he started the year but you know what after a few months because it is a step he needed a little step back so we sent him to Syracuse and then he came back and he was even better so it's a process at the end of the day I'm a firm believer that the players will tell you where they should play and you're right

it's not because you go to the HL you don't have to play as long as me and play 600 games that might be too much but you know if you have to it's fine like the HL is an outstanding it's a second-best league in the war I don't care if you'll say it's a second big in the world and it's the best place to develop for the n hl it's a grind it's uh it's demanding

it's actually more physical in the hl so if guys go in the i want guys to believe in the hl i don't i believe in you eat what you kill so whether you're a prospect or not if you play well i'm the best example i've paid almost all my games after i was 30 years old yep i got to much god i still remember i was in hamilton i gie bouchain meets with all the players and and he said gie i know my roles to be a good veteran for the guys here. And Guy stopped me and he says, you know what? That's BS. Yes, it's part of your role, but you too, you want to get to the NHL again. And you know, I was like, what? And I was 30, 31 years old and I ended up playing over 225 of my, or like almost 200 of my games after I was, I was 30. I got my first one-way contract at 33. So for me, it doesn't

matter where you come from. It's, it's how you perform and it's going to dictate where you play. A quick thought on Bridgeport, as we're talking about the American Hockey League here, last year was a challenging season for the Bridgeport Allenders. As we all know, Rocky Thompson comes in to shepherd things behind the bench. What do you say to specifically younger players who are there for a challenging year last year with Bridgeport heading it into this year? How do you address them? How do you talk to them? How do you get them to sort of maybe park what happened last season and look forward to something new under Rocky Thompson? Well, first of all, what happened last year doesn't matter at this point.

I think we've improved the team. I believe in developing in a winning environment. I want guys to earn their ice time. It's not because you're a prospect that you're going to go down. And for sure, it doesn't matter if you're going to pay well or not. You're going to pay all those minutes. I don't quite believe in that strategy. Guys will get opportunities, but you have to seat the opportunities.

So I believe, like, it doesn't mean you're going to win the Calder Cup every year because, let's face it, it's a tougher space to coach in the HR because you're affected by your injuries. by the NHL injuries. There's various factors. You're double hit by injuries. And you might have guys that you expected it to be on your HL team that made the NHL team or vice versa. But I believe that we, I want the culture down there to be we're trying to win also. Like it doesn't mean that you don't develop by any means.

But even if you're a prospect, let's face it, it's the same thing in the world outside of sport. You usually get what you deserve. The word you put in is what you're going to get out. So if you perform well, the minors, you'll have the opportunities to play. And I want us to win games. I want us to be in the playoffs in the minors. Is it an automatic every year?

Like I told you earlier, there's a lot of factors that affect your performance in the HL. But that's a mentality I want everyone to have in the organization. A small thing, but maybe a big thing to someone. People that you bring along with you. this is your first general manager job in the NHL we've always said about Matthew Darsh that guy's going to be a GM in the NHL that guy's going to be a GM in the NHL

and I think a lot of us are always curious who you bring along Assistant Equipment Manager from the Tampa Bay Lightning Jason Berger do you have a little smile on your face when I say that name what can you tell us about Jason well you know I didn't know him until I got to Tampa

like we made some changes in equipment staff in Tampa but he stayed and he's just full of energy. So there was an opening when I got here and I spoke with various people. There was good people I spoke to you from the outside and even internally. But then I felt like

I'm happy. Jason is a guy. I mean, you've seen videos online of him like in the lineup. Like full of energy. I've had some players on the lightning. He texts me.

He's like, hey, you stole burger from us. And it's just like he, I know how he works. You know how I like things. He's extremely organized. And he brings, sometimes we downplay the role of these guys like he brings energy in the room

and you know what I have Patrick meet with him because I know in Tampa whenever we talked to with the equipment guys that Kook was involved because at the end of the equipment guy will deal with the coach more than he does with the GM so Patrick spent like an hour and a half two hours on the phone he called me right after he's like oh my God we need this guy he's my type of guy

the energy and like just on the phone so it's great and he's a great person and so he got his like me I got my opportunity as a GM. He was the number two in Tampa, and he gets the opportunity of being number one. So I'm excited to have him on board, and I think the guys who are really enjoying him.

He brings a lot of life to the locker room. I think that's awesome. Last one for you. Is there any update on Simeon Varlamov? Do we know anything when joining, injury, anything? He's, from what I've been told, like his rehab is progressing well. He's getting on the ice the next week, I believe.

And so, I mean, obviously my job is to, protect the organization so I brought another goalie in and David Riddick and we hope he's healthy but we'll see at that point like he just said he's he's he's a great career going and he had a tough year last year with injuries with surgeries and they told me the rehab is is going well but I still have to protect what I feel because it's a big it's a big role so obviously Ilya Sorokin will carry most of the load but you sometimes that's a difference being in a playoffs or not. So I hope he's great. And like I said, they've told me, like

I saw him when I just got the job and he says he's progressing well, he feels good. So we'll see what he gets on the ice. Let me close with this quickly because I was mentioning this before he came on. Quick, I put a smile to my face, because I like the player. Sean Day with Bridgett. I really liked the signing. I used to watch him and watch him a ton in his U-16 year dominating tournaments of I'm 1 in Whippy where he couldn't take the puck off of his stick. Of course, you would have had him in Tampa, playing in Syracuse.

A quick thought on this signing him. We'll let you get on with your vacation. Actually, Sean is one of the smoother skaters you can find. It's impressive. It's effortless. I wish on half of his skating what I play. Maybe I would have played more in the NHL. But yeah, like we obviously there's a certain number of NHL contracts you can sign. And at the end, I still wanted to improve, like part of it, I want to improve the Islanders I wanted to improve Bridgeport and we've had Sean in Syracuse for two years and in whatever I guess

stop saying we I guess I get Tampa had Sean in Syracan for two years and he's he's an outstanding HL defenseman and I told him when I talked to him on the phone see I might be an HL deal but like work you know in Tampa

Janie Gord started you know David DeRena when I was in Montreal and like he's a real good age. I still think he has the potential to be an NHL player. So that's the position I had for him right now as an HL contract. And what's great is I think he's comfortable with me because I was in Tampa with him. He won a M. Cup with Rocky Thompson. 2017, I was there. Oh, he was outstanding. Sorgachev on that blue lines. That's a good blue line. And, you know, when I said, I want to improve Bridgeport,

he's definitely going to help our team. And who knows? I saw some work out videos of him. He's really dedicated. He's excited. I talked to him when I signed him, talked to his agent a few times in summer. It's just I didn't have an HL contract for now. I'm actually really happy because that's, listen, even some people in Tampa, like they told me, hey, that's a great signing. You got him on an HL deal, you know, so I think he's got to be a lot of help for Bridgeport

for the organization and let's see where it goes because he still has a lot of potential. He's a good size. He's a strong guy and he's like it's as effortless. as a skater, as you can see, like, forward, backwards. Like, he's impressive. So I'm excited to have him part of the organization. I was happy to see that signing. On that, we'll let you go.

Vacation on the horizon, Bon Vacant. Thank you so much for this. Merci, beaucoup. We'll chat soon again. Congratulations on all the early successes you've had so far, Matthew. Much appreciate. I knew you were going to say that. I haven't dropped the buck yet.

We're building it, and I'm excited. It's a great place to be. And thanks for having you. I know Islanders fans are certainly excited. Matthew, thank you so much for this. Much appreciated. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. back and forth here on on chafer and look like if he earns a spot he he earns a spot and and and and that's wonderful um only play like a handful of games a dozen games last year 10 games um before the injury at the at the at the world juniors impressive skater uh incredible defenseman uh he's going to be a mainstay on that blue line for for a number of years um and if he if he makes this team and listen there are plenty and i've said it before like i wonder if this is a draft class where there aren't any players that jump right into the NHL. Now, Matthew Schaefer is going to probably prove me wrong here.

Maybe Michael Mesa is going to prove me wrong here. But again, there's nothing wrong with going back to junior for a season or in the case of someone like Callum Ritchie going to play some time in the American Hockey League before joining the National Hockey League. Zach, before we wrap things up here, a quick thought on what you heard from Matthew Darsh. Did anything stand out for you? well i mean the way that he spoke about how schaefer handled things when he signed the

elc and all the kids and all that stuff is and it's pretty amazing we've heard so many good things about him the family i have friends who are friends with uh his older brother and stuff and you just hear this all the way through it so it's like it's just a constant everything gets added on just about how amazing this kid is um the shonde stuff i thought is pretty interesting i grew up playing against him i read yeah i read an article earlier Did you play a game against them? Yeah, he's my age. A lot of games against him.

Like, he was the kid, him and Chikrin were the kids all the way through growing up. Whenever you go to the States and played in tournaments where it was like, okay, watch it for this kid. Was Chikwin Compuere as well? Did he play Compuere or did he play Little Seas? I know he would fly from Florida to Michigan every weekend for games. Yeah, so I think he was Compuare then, and then it was Day that was with Little Caesars. Okay, so I had it backwards in. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, but like I played against my whole life and I read an article from Stefan Rossner and he was quoting Lazz and Lazz said you couldn't go to a tournament without hearing the name Sean Day and I was like, I was reading it. I was like, oh, what the hell like Lazz went to these? I was like, yeah, I was playing in them. And every time I go to play, you remember it's like the parents of the coaches of the team being like, hey, like remember that big tall kid out there like watch out for him. And it was like, great, thanks for the advice.

There's nothing you can do about this guy. He is two feet taller than me. And he just skates around and does what he wants. wants i i would watch and it would be hilarious because he was a giant and could skate better than anybody and you're right like it's got to be a great feeling as an athlete when your head says i want to do this one specific thing and your body says yeah okay no problem there's no like your body saying like yeah you may think you want to do that but but guess what but like this we're not going to do it it's just not going to happen but sean day like he would grab the puck and do whatever he

wanted. And I'm sure you played in those overtimes. It went down to one-on-one, right? In some of these tournaments. And David... What's that? I think I did against maybe him in the Bell Capital Cup or something like that. So I think I've actually experienced that same exact story of what you're telling. I remember

watching the Silver Stick. I can't remember who they were playing against. It might have been Whitby. And Day was that, it was ridiculous. It was almost like comical. I could be watching like a cartoon? He was just that guy. And we all said to us. I was like, yeah, this guy is, this, this, this, this guy's got to get, going to get exceptional status. And he ended up, Travis Connecting ended up going first that year to, um, to Ottawa and, and Sean Day went forth, uh, to the Mississauga Steelheads and James Richman.

But anyway, like, yeah, oh, James Boy, that was, uh, that was a remarkable, he was such a remarkable, remarkable talent. He looked like one of those guys that, like, you know, what, we're watching someone that's not just going to the NHL, it's going to the Hall of Fame. Like, that's what you said when you saw him. Like, you looked at him. Yeah. I'm watching an NHL Hall of Famer here at 15. That's wild. Yeah.

No, I know. I know exactly what you meant. I just got to see it firsthand. It was nuts. Just watching how big and commanding he was in the ace was crazy. It was very, very impressive. Very impressive. He was.

Do you have a quick thought? Do we have time for a quick conversation here? The latest is Roger McQueen, who now leaves the Brandon Weekings to join Providence. Providence College. He's a friar now, and we all think about, we've talked plenty about Gavin McKenna and Penn State. I don't know if we've been, we were on the air last week for part of Martone. And Morton, Martone goes to Michigan State, you know, Malcolm Spence off to Michigan and Ryder Richie W.U., etc. It's having a conversation with someone this morning. Who said, like, look, like, this is the, this is, so don't forget, like, still, like, I know

a lot of people in the CHL are freaking out about this. This is still the first. year like let's see what happens here because there are going to be some kids that go and love it and it's great and be some kids that go and don't necessarily love it and end up coming back at a certain point like some this this has always been Colby Cohen's point like somewhere along the lines here everyone needs to sit down and figure out how this is all going to work and the CHL is going to work with Division I hockey for certain players

to protect both the CHL and protect and let's not forget here protect schools because if a kid leaves like let's say writer Richie decides like this really isn't for me and goes back to Madison Hat there's no replacement like BU's not like calling up a player

like that's just a player that they've they've lost so again like I keep trying to strap remember Dan McKenzie was on with us and he said like we don't know how this is going to end up this is still the first year year two's going to look different year three is going to look different et cetera et cetera et cetera we just don't know somewhere along the line and i know this is really difficult for junior hockey operators right now and the most recent being brandon who lose roger mcqueen to providence we don't know how this is all going to end up here but at some point everyone needs to get together and get on the same page i think for the health

of the entire development system you ever thought on any of this one on any of this because it's a pretty big story. And by the way, I do wonder, and there is some noise, Ilya Proto, who's the brother of Alexi Protis with the Windsor Spitfires, incredible player, there's some speculation that he may end up going to Hershey in the American Hockey League next year. So it's not just losing players to D-1

because he's European, you're allowed to go, he could end up playing in the American Hockey League. Anyhow, do you have a thought on any of this? Well, I just feel like this is going to be, one of those situations where both sides like it looks amazing now for the NCAA and i give them kudos for doing what they're doing and taking advantage of the opportunities that they have in the nil and facilities they're able to offer or travel they're able to offer maybe that differs from some of the chl opportunities but like these things are every part of it from both sides is going to

have to change and i think you agree with that right like at some point here there's probably going to become some type of demand for more games to get these guys a little bit more NHO ready from coming coming from college to go through to there. I think there probably could be more games. Does the Christmas break need to be that long? It's one of the questions that's been asked. Right. And then maybe on the other side, CHL games come down a little bit or travel has changed

because, like, I'll be honest, no disrespect to the WHL. Travels a bit more. If they're like, hey kid, Zach, welcome to the WHL, the closest drive you have. is eight hours away i'm like oh you know it's not a knock on the league at all still an amazing league amazing teams owners all of that but then they're like hey or you could go here and you're going to get on the private plane and you're going to fly to some of these games and like well that's a little bit more intriguing to me to not going to lie you know just physically and wear and tear but i i'm not surprised i guess is kind of my final takeaway that we're seeing

this wave of guys who are on their way. You know, there's probably an element of grass is greener. You know, you'll make money. It's the first season. It's the first season. Right, nobody knows. We started talking to Swish about Nodak and Cole Reschney and Keaton Verhoff, who I still think Gavin McKenna is going to go first overall, but you've got to watch that.

Have you seen Keaton Verhof play? This kid is incredible. You'll see him with the juniors. He'll make the junior team. incredible defenseman right like there's there's there's there there I think there is that element of like the the new shiny toy and to some extent because this is this is brand new and it looks really tempting but again like I'm curious to see like when and how many because I think we're all wondering like how many kids are going to go from the CHL to go play division

hockey and and what are the like what level player are they and there's some pretty elite guys that are going here including a first overall pick and a second overall pick and Kevin McKenna and Keaton Verhoff. But let's see what happens when kids start coming back. Because again, it won't be for everybody. This won't be right for everybody. We'll see how it goes. The other thing, by the way, Jeff.

It's a fascinating year either way. Yeah, the other thing that I think will specifically be intriguing to me in the next two years, maybe three, as these things filter through, is the double-sided of American players going and choosing to go to, go to the OHL, WHL, whichever it may be to CHL in general. Because one side, I see there being a situation where kids may, let's say get bumped down the totem pole of the team that they were expecting to go to or the quality of team that they were expecting to go to where it's like, hey, maybe now you're not going to be

the kid who goes to Michigan State and plays in the third and fourth lines there. Maybe you're the kid who's going to go somewhere else. and he says, you know what, I'll go to the O HL and play in that league. And maybe that's an alternative route where it flips. And then the other part is, which I think you would be much, much better suited to answer, what the hell could happen with these. But kids deciding to go to the O HL, WHL, CHL, in a buildup stepping stone year to go to the NCAA. I wonder how it would affect USHL, all that.

That's, and I just want to watch how that goes. That is, you know, we look at Adam Valentini and Cameron Crosscary, like in the OHL specifically in Kitchener and, and Sue St. Sue St. Mary, there are plenty of players that are coming in, some maybe just for one quick season and then off the college. Absolutely, that's happening. Again, this is a brand new development model, right? This is, this is all new, all fresh. So everything is going to seem massive. We're going to look back on and go like, yeah, this is just.

just the way that the development model for hockey players works. This is right for some, and that's right for some other players. I really do. But again, like, since it's all new and all weird and new to everybody, it all seems massive and at times overwhelming. Let's see how it all plays out. Just wait until Canada comes like seventh or eighth at the World Juniors this year, and all of a sudden we've got the CNTDP popping up,

and all of a sudden, that's a wrenched around things. Man, we heard wild stories about everything last year. too about like the u.s development program team joining the oh hl and all kinds like how would that work how well how would that work with a in a league where there's a draft how would that way just there was so much wild stuff that everybody heard last year uh just talking out talking out their butt about what this whole thing was it was going to end up looking like anyhow anyhow um i digress um all right so i think we're i think we're coming back on next next week, either Tuesday or Wednesday.

It's going to be one of those two days, now that we're down to once a week for the month of August, and then we'll pick things back up in September. So I think wishes with us either next Tuesday or Wednesday. I believe, I believe as well. And I think Riley Armstrong is coming on, director of player personnel, platter development for the Philadelphia Flyers.

I hope. I hope. We should probably check that with the Flyers. All right. On that number of people, I want to thank Jordan Schmaltz for, For stopping by. Oh, right. I totally forgot about it.

See, that's what happens when I'm off for a week. I sort of forget how the show works, but we still do have some business to take care of. For our good friends at Fanduel. The sheet is powered by Fanduel, home of the same game parlay, make every moment more on Fanduel.

Fanduel, proud to connect fans for the major sports moments that matter to them. Nice save from my producer, Zach Phillips. What do you have in store for us today to conclude? Okay. This one is because,

because this is when nothing is happening in hockey. Rookie of the year, Demonaut first of the field. Demonaut first of the field. No, no, no, no. Oh, okay. So then I'm digging into Canadian Olympic roster projections, U.S. Olympic roster projections, and I went over to Fanduel, and we got a very early look at the 26th Olympic winner odds.

And, I mean, it's not really any surprise here. Whoa. First, that plus 150, U.S. plus 200. Then you see there, Sweden, plus 550, Finland, 7,000. 50 check yeah plus 1400 and then if you go to fanduel there are more listed switzerland germany coming in around plus four uh just beyond plus 1400 for either one of those i wanted to ask were you surprised at all uh-huh with canada being ahead of the u.s coming out of

this uh i kind of thought because going into four nations u.s was favored. It switched back and forth, but it closed with them being favored. Four nations, I don't know. They went to overtime, one by one goal, Canada lost the first game. I kind of had a feeling that we were just going to go into the Olympics, that it was going to be U.S. taking number one spot as the favorite going in. Maybe if Kyle Connor would have been in the game instead of the ghost of Matthew

Kachuk sitting on the bench, unable to play because of his injury. Maybe you have someone who's, I don't know, known for his scoring. goals, but I know Matthew Kuchak kind of became the face of the entire tournament, but nonetheless I digress. No, because Canada won four nations. I know it was a smaller runway to get there, but nonetheless, I think this is just a reflection of four nations. But here's the one that, the question to me about the Olympics, that's perhaps most

interesting leading into it, when we talk about good at the game and growing the game, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, what's the best possible outcome? And as a Canadian, it may pain you to say it. but it's the United States winning gold. Yes, for the overall general growth of the game, 100%. Health of the game. And to read you, and it has to be in spectacular fashion, too, right?

Like, I mean, listen, 1980 popped, obviously, and it led to, like, the Madanos and the Ronix and all cellioses and all those types of players. 96 to a certain extent as well, which, by the way, I think we've made the point before here on this, program. As much as we talk about how good the play was in 87 and the Canada Cup, the World Cup, 96, was just as good. The only difference is the reason we don't talk about it a ton, and I'm at fault here too, is because Canada didn't win it. But the play in that

tournament was just as good as 1987, which we all look at and say, oh, it's the best hockey ever played. Yeah, it was great. So was 96. 96 was phenomenal. Great hockey. But I think for the, for the quote-unquote, good of the game, grow the game, you know, you fish the pond where there's the most fish and the place where the game can still grow in leaps and bounds is still the United States and this is where it's important so I still think it's it's important for for the NHL to participate you know even though and it was a great story it was all quote unquote amateurs playing in the Olympics in 1980 we know the Soviets weren't an amateur team by designation they were but the United States were all a bunch of college kids right it's all

Boston and Minnesota kid college kids right and that that's what made that victory spectacular over Finland because that was essentially that was the goal there was of course the victory over soviet union that was spectacular but that popped it right like that popped it and made hockey really super cool to a lot of american kids who said i want to play hockey now and i think the best thing for the sport it's for the united states to win it's true you know it's true every canadian i know i know every canadian i know every can i knows it's true that's like the two weeks of the that's like where what you and i will do this and lead up and talk about it and you'll hear me on this show saying numerous times it is best i'll

agree with you reluctantly it is best for the game and then the second the puck drops in the olympics respectfully i'm going to be saying you know double birds to the u.sa go canada like it's it's inevitable that that's going to happen but yes i do agree with you fully that that is best case scenario you saw it in the four nations like it's playing uh throughout the course of play the big podcast there big shows there that don't normally cover hockey that's all they could talk about that's all they could tweet about that espn is waking up and instead of talking about the cowboys in the morning and february they're talking about the four nations like that's good for the game one thing one thing we can never lose sight of with the four nations and you're right like that was like

the moment you know with all respect to the florida panthers repeating a stanley cup The biggest thing for hockey last year was the four nations and how it captivated the sports imagination in North America, specifically the United States. One thing we can't lose sight of. NFL was done. NBA was having an awful all-star weekend and that's Saturday those three fights and everybody was talking about it. Everybody was talking about it. Everybody, that's what everyone, the interest for everyone in hockey peaked. it was a perfect confluence of football is in the rear view mirror,

basketball is shooting itself from the foot, and the door is open and the runway's there for something exciting in sports. And that's what I'll always go back to. There's no one better in the NHL on the ice at reading the room and taking the temperature than the kichucks. No one better. Right off the hop.

We get a very similar timing now this year. I will say with the Olympics, though. So that is another benefit to hockey. Make sure you take advantage. Maybe get NHL refs and not IHF refs. They're going to call it. You know how it's going to be called. Just stop grousing about it.

But what it should do, although it never does, it never freaking does. Nobody ever watches international hockey and comes to the obvious conclusion, which is, man, we're lucky we have the refs that we do. To everyone else who's like, oh, yeah, all the better refs are his. in some closet somewhere and you know uh stephen walkum has the key and it's kept keeping

them in there and keeping the bad refs on they could you really realize excuse me how good the officiating is in the n-h-l when you watch the national hockey yeah fair that's not a takeaway i normally have either no one does no one does we just go like oh man this roughing sucks okay now take the next step what's the next no can't do it can't bring yourselves to say I'm really glad we have the level of officiating that we do in the NHL. But it is the obvious next step after, man, this officiating internationally is awful. Everyone stops the conversation there.

It's like, you're right there. Take the next step. It's so easy. It's right there. Anyhow. Okay, on that we'll wrap. Zach, good seeing again. Thanks so much for doing everything for the show today and getting everyone together for it

and reminding me that, you know, listen, top and tail of this program is our friends at fans. do all. So thanks for that. Thanks to Jordan Schmaltz for stopping by. Thanks to the general manager of the New York Islanders who, before he goes on vacation, stopped by the program today to talk a lot

about a couple of defensemen, Matthew Schaefer and Sean Day, two glorious skaters. And thanks to the great Kimber Auerbach for making that happen. So Kimber, thank you for on-ramping the general manager of the Islanders. Thanks to you for watching. Thanks to you for listening. We are back

next week. I'll be Tuesday or Wednesday in the meantime, please remember to tip your Zamboyne driver on the way else. I went to 16 hours last night every day this week, every day this month. I can't get out my head, lifestyle, ambitious day to day, because you can call it all right. I went to the dark man. He tried to give me a little medicine. I'm like, now I'm in that's fine. I'm not against those methods

but I'm new it's me and myself and how this is going to be fixed in my mind I do want to back in it I turned on the music I do want to back at turn on the music it's enough

help out and I don't get you sometimes losing we're wrong in the dead dark night