The Sheet with Jeff Marek - NHL is Back in Action ft. Erik Erlendsson & Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: December 29, 2025

Today on The Sheet, Jeff Marek is joined by Greg Wyshynski as the NHL roars back from the holiday break. They dig into the league’s return to action, the NHL trade freeze lifting, and the instant chaos that hit the ice — from Lightning vs. Panthers fireworks to Mason Marchment and Mathew Barzal getting into it. Plus, the guys roll out some bold predictions for 2026 across the league. Then at 1:30 ET, Erik Erlendsson stops by to break down everything happening with the Tampa Bay Lightning this season and what’s next for Jon Cooper’s group.SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Bauer: https://www.bauer.com/👍🏼Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/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/@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-faceoff#TheSheet #NHL #JeffMarek #GregWyshynski #TampaBayLightning #ErikErlendsson #NHLNews #NHLTradeFreeze #NHLHighlights #Hockey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So guess where we aren't right now, Greg Wichenski, guess where we aren't right now? You and Zach are not, in fact, at the World Junior Championships in Frigid, Minnesota. It appears you're back in the comfy confines of your home office. True. Books behind you. Thermostat set to whatever. What do you set your thermostat at, actually?

I don't know the answer to this question. Around 20. Celsius. What does that mean for like? I have no idea. I'm Canadian. I have no idea. I have no idea.

Is it hot or cold? You're the metric hold out. Not us. We're with the rest of the world. I'm like, you're this metric. I'm black sheep. Come on. Listen, the, do you keep your room hot or cold?

I like it a little chilly. I like a little chilly, too, because I think it helps the synapses fire a little bit better. But the problem is, I am the only one of my house that enjoys the chill of the winter. Others like to turn on the baseboard heaters and turn my unwindowed office area into, you ever been inside of a ninja crispy air fryer, Mary? I've read a few spots for them, but never. been inside one, no. As what my home office feels like in the winter. Well, nonetheless, here we are.

The, uh, yeah, so we were about, I don't know, like less than an hour away from boarding. And we got the notification that everything in Minneapolis was shut down and her flight was being rebooked to tonight at eight o'clock. Now here's where, here's where I'm at on, on air travel when these things get canceled. I always remind myself of a little saying and it goes like this. I'll share this with you, and everyone watching and listening right now. It brings you great peace once you realize this. I would rather be down here wishing I was up there than up there wishing I was down here.

That's what I always remind myself of. I'd rather be down here wishing I was up there. The scariest plane thing that I ever experienced, I experienced when I was about 12 years old. It was me and my family and a bunch of friends. we were flying to Disney World actually you and I were just talking with Disney World before. And on the way back from Orlando

to Norke, New Jersey apparently the plane dropped a significant number of thousands of feet in an instant. Oh no. And I just remember me and all my friends being like that was

the coolest shit we've ever experienced. It was like being on a roller coaster. And all of the parents with us yeah all special shades of green like praying the rosary like it was like the perfect the giant juxtaposition between the beautiful naivete of youth yeah and parents that are just like what do i say my loved ones before we we plunged to the earth well that that's like um that's like a military landing i remember talking to to people that um that canadian soldiers that went to Afghanistan and then just like hockey players that went to to do stuff at the various

bases would talk about how horrific it was to land because you can't do like a long, gentle slope downwards because no, you're a target. You're a target. So you got to drop fast and then level out. That's the one that really, that's a, that's a white knuckle moment. That's that being up there. What have you made of, what have you made of World Junior so far? scary moment for Cole Hudson

well yeah that was not good the thing I found weird about that is Bob Motzko the U.S. coach was very quick to say that the puck didn't strike him in the head like do we know for certain where the puck struck like it looked like it got him in the neck his helmet moved

right when the puck hit him wherever it hit him I guess maybe in the neck versus the head I think we're getting into semantics here he's not playing in the next game for team USA but luckily I mean God I mean to be out of the hospital to rejoin your teammates after taking a shot like that was pretty remarkable.

Yep. And look like Cole Eisenman, you know, holding his finger to make sure that he could squeeze, holding his hand to make sure that he was still okay. Like, all of it is horrifying. I'm just glad that he's going to be okay. But like, look, man, I think you and I have talked about this before. I don't know when it started.

I first really, really noticed it with John Klingberg, but others have done this too. Klingberg would do it and still does on the regular. You used to always do it with Dallas. shots high from the point. You know, once upon a time, shots were always low, and they would deflect up,

and what are you going to do? That's how the deflections. But now you're seeing more than ever defensemen shooting high, like trying to score high. Like a lot of teams now want their defensemen to shoot at the hip. They don't want the defensemen to shoot low.

Hip tip, because if you tip the puck, it can either go up or it can go down. You got two options, and the goalie's got to guess. So a lot of teams want their forward their defenseman shooting and it coming in at the hip. But I cringe every time I see a point shot come in. And do you remember, I don't know if it was Larry Quinn of the Sabres who wanted the nets not just bigger, not just wider, but also higher?

It's taller. Remember the Larry Quinn Nets? I don't know. I mean, that's one of the things people have talked about insofar as like increasing offense. It wasn't. We just referenced the other day with Jesse Granger, the idea that. They wanted the parenthetical pipes on the side of the net. So if you shot a pocket, didn't go off the iron, it snuck in through the parentheses that run the pipes.

But making the net higher was also one of the things they've always talked about because the goalies have gotten bigger. The goleys have gotten bigger and the goleys all go down though, right? Yeah. They're sealing up everything on the bottom. And the idea is, okay, well, we'll just expand the top part of the net then, too. My initial response was, let's not encourage defensemen to shoot higher. Let's not encourage people to shoot the puck higher, like around the head. I mean, do you think part of that, though, is just like, like, I have a big feature story on Jacob Chikrin coming out tomorrow.

Okay. And, you know, Chikrin, Zach Werenski, a few others. Like, you've got guys in this league now that are as skilled firing the puck from the blue line as most forwards are. And I wonder if that's part of the evolution, too, is just like, we've just got more defensemen that could conceivably score from the blue line with a high shot that we've ever had before. the sticks help everybody can shoot everybody everybody everybody everybody everybody can you know I ran into an XN each other at the airport yesterday on way to our gate and we were talking about this and he said the one guy who terrified him obviously and he would waste them high sometimes too was Shea Weber I cannot imagine yeah

could you imagine that site I remember remember that game in there was a Montreal Chicago game and Cory Crawford took one from Weber like right in between the lookers and did like the nestee plunge and no concussion spotters no one was coming out of the game like i do not believe i know the goalie technology is is is pretty high but i don't know how i can withstand that i'm like crawford needs to get off the ice man you referencing sticks maybe think did you see the mac david interview this weekend uh who is it with the sports net i guess it was no i didn't i missed it so mac david is is talking about what his his favorite christmas presence were as a kid.

It's the interview. Some people might know it because he mentioned that he had a Leafs McDavid jersey when he was a kid, which got some headlines written about it. But he's just like, oh, you know, I had a Crosby jersey, you know, McDavid, McDavid, Leaves, Jersey, a bunch of sticks.

I'm just like, ain't this kid ever asked for an Xbox? Like, did he ever get anything besides? What, did you see? Did you see, and oodles of hockey things as a kid? Did you see the, I'm going to paraphrase it here.

Like, maybe you can find it. Matthew Schaefer's dad being asked about his son at the Olympics and he said something along the lines of like, there's nothing wrong with just like being home for a couple of weeks and just being a regular 18-year-old. Does he have to go? I'm like, oh, sanity.

Right? A sane parent. What is that right? I'm like, how did you make a first overall draft pick? The way they're made now Like Japanese swords, you heat them up and you pound them with a hammer. That's how you make number one. And here's like this family with their head right on their shoulders and dad saying like,

does he have to go to all of these? Like, can he not just be an 18 year old? The typical expectation for a hockey dad in 2025 is someone being like, do you want your son to play in the Olympics and him being like, not unless he starts. All right. Let's get to what's on the program today. We'll be in Minneapolis broadcasting live.

from there tomorrow, but here we're back at the the broadcast studio here, the Empire, my basement. The blueprint is powered by, but it really does look nice. It did a bang-up job at the place. The blueprint is powered by Fanduel. Download the app today and play your game on Fanduel. You've already heard them. You've already seen them.

He probably made you giggle already. He's Greg Wichenski from ESPN and ESPN.com. No, no, no. Yeah, a couple good giggles so far. The NHL returns, and it was beautiful, sloppy hockey we saw. And it was great. It always happens after Christmas, those first games. And we saw a lot of that. Well, juniors are underway. We'll talk more about that.

We will each give three bold predictions for what is going to happen throughout the remainder of the season. We'll talk about the Tampa Bay Lightning. Like, every time Tampa and Florida gets together, they're just going to do this. And we should just kind of book it now. Like, this is what's going to happen. Eric Erlinson's going to be stopping by the program here coming up at the bottom of the hour.

And we'll talk about the Battle of Florida, which is the. best rivalry in the NHL right now. You want to jump in on your prediction. Is there anything you want to go over? Buffalo's winning streak continues. They're at eight. Colorado's is at seven. Seattle is a nifty little four game

winning streak here for the Seattle Cracken out of nowhere. Yeah, ebbs and flowing. As I noted, as I noted yesterday, after last night, what was it, all but six teams in the NHL have a points

percentage of 500 or better. That's right. That doesn't look weird at all. No, no. Everyone's in it. I mean, the Buffalo thing is, is remarkable for a couple reasons. One, it's being fueled by a healthy Josh Norris. So, I mean, you're kind of counting your blessings, right, until that is no longer available to you. But if it is.

Hopefully he's passed all of it. I mean, I hope so, too. But again, it's kind of funny that, like, they go. go on this absolute heater and he's played a major part in that heater. And he was acquired by the general manager who's firing people are crediting for having started this heater. And yet, and yet, it's not as if Kevin Adams did terrible things for this team, obviously with the way that things are going right now with Norris.

But, no, I mean, I was talking to somebody the other day, a coach in the NHL and he was marveling at the fact that people are crediting the hiring of it's a bee yarmal with with the sabres going on this bender he's like so is this is this a general manager bump like are coaches safe now and you just start firing the general managers instead to get the same benefit from from firing a coach but i wonder i wonder how much of him just being around for the eight months because i think everybody in the organization players coaches like everybody just looked at Kekyllane and I went, okay, if they're doing quarterly reviews and they're not in the playoffs and Kevin gets punted for it, there's the next general general managers.

I wonder if that's contributed. Like part of it is the, okay, we all knew this was coming. Now we're going to put on our serious face. I don't know. Even though the winning street did start under Adams, technically. Technically it did. But essentially what you're saying is that just like the confidence of this team grew exponentially when the person that perhaps they were not confident in in any longer was was put

put you know kick to the curb in favor of alma cacolina I bring this up because um there's been some discussion about about Tom Fitzgerald in New Jersey not within the team not within anything else amongst fans and and now New Jersey media as nj.com wrote about his status today a little bit and you know I it's a copycat league I don't know if that transfers over to fire your general manager and get an instant winning streak but it isn't intriguing that like it doesn't it doesn't but it isn't intriguing that there's there's more than a few people that are pointing to buffalo now and saying hey look you know jam bombs pop you know no that's you have an entire history of hockey arguing against what is being put forward as a as a general manager bump, you know, the general, and this, a lot of this too is why, you know, managers don't get fired during the year, they get fired in the off season. Coaches get fired

during the year. GMs generally don't. It does happen every now and then. We just saw it obviously for this conversation, but generally it happens at the end of the year. They don't have any effect right away when it happens during the year. It's when they start to make moves. Obviously, they start to have an effect.

But right now, you can make the point that there's an old saying patience is an action and right now there's no need for the buffalo savers to do anything although they do need to do something with the Alex Talk situation and get some clarity on that maybe they already have it maybe they don't but as of for those who expected you know Keck Kalanin to come in and just start to like remodel the whole place right away nope no and and the other and that the thing about is he normally general management

managers come in, the first thing they do is they buy themselves a year, right? They say, like, oh, I need to get to know everyone here. I need to see how this operation works. I need to get to know all the players. And essentially, you're saying, I need a year. I just signed a five-year deal in the first year is the give me a year. Because I'm just getting to know everybody here. Yermo's already done that.

Yeah, he's hit the ground running. When's the last time, when's the last time the Sabres had a better weekend and the bills? It's a great point. Yeah, you can strut around about your hockey team now in Buffalo because they're playing great. Okay. You and I have talked about this forever, by the way, like the idea that the minute the the Sabres find their footing and contend for a championship, it just becomes.

Because again, like people forget that the the Buffalo market used to move the national rating in the United States. Like, that's how palpable the support is for hockey and how palpable the support is for the Savers when they're good. It's atrophied probably over the last 13 years. But if they're on the come up now and all of a sudden, they're going to start contending for a playoff spot. Love it.

It's only beneficial to the NHL in long run. On both sides of the border, as we've pointed out before, in that St. Catherine's Hamilton Corridor, there are tons of Buffalo Sabers fans. Okay. How did you see Columbus and the Islanders and Marchment and Barzell and Schaefer? I don't think we're getting suspensions here. We're getting fines.

Hold on. Well, I will tell you, let's get the first. Let's get breaking news out of the way. Oh, okay. Trumpets, trumpets. What do we got? Fine. Matthew Barzell has been fined $5,000.

Jeff Merrick. Yeah. The maximum allowable under the CBA for slashing Columbus's Mason Marchment. Now, I have two things to say about this. The first is that I was a little bit surprised on the Barzell front because the Department of Player Safety has certain things that it really doesn't like. And one of the things it really doesn't like is premeditated attacks with one stick. They generally frown upon premeditated attacks with one stick.

And then you see Schaefer flying as you watch the replay after the Marchman hit. And then Barzell, he is skating over and with purpose slashes Mason Marchment on the ankle. So I was a little bit surprised to be honestly that Barzell didn't get what would have amounted to an extra game because he did get obviously the game misconduct against Columbus last night just because he used the stick. for a moment of retribution. I don't listen. I don't think anybody has any problem with Barzell trying to get a little bit off of Mason Marshman

for the hit he delivered to Matthew Schaefer, no doubt about that. It's the manner in which he decided to go about it that I thought maybe required a little bit more supplemental this one, but we will end it with $5,000 off of the till for Matthew Barzell, the maximum, the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement.

As Mario Lemieux once told Colby Armstrong after the Pittsburgh Penguins lost the game to the Ottawa Senators, which meant there was going to be at least one more home date in Pittsburgh for his Pittsburgh Penguins and the subsequent money that comes along with it. Mario said, after Colby said, hey, Mario, another home gate, another home gate, here we go. Mario famously said to Colby Armstrong, I don't know famously. It's a great line though. He said, ah, another pair of shoes for Matthew Barzell.

So let me, you, you clearly do not believe that this would require anything. beyond a fine. No, this one to me is above a two-minute slashing penalty but below a one-game suspension and here's why. The whistle. Please tell me. The whistle.

This happened during the course of play. If there was a whistle, that's where the Department of Player's safety goes. And we saw this with the Morgan Riley suspension. Okay? If it was after play, that's where they really get their backs up. Like after a whistle.

This was still during the course of play. If it's after the whistle, I think we're looking at, we're looking at a game, one game. I think you're right on that, but I also think it's stupid. Like, what a stupid way to go about doing your supplemental discipline? Yeah. Like what? It's in the course of place. So what did he, the mistake, Marchman, skate for the puck. You know what he was doing.

Like, it doesn't, it doesn't matter to me when the whistle was. It was a premeditated attack with your stick. Premeditated attack with your stick. Yeah. Slash. Yeah. Why don't we have suspensions anymore? We've had three this year.

Come on. Well, one was an automatic. Well, Rantan was automatic. So we've had two. Well, what was the other one? It's Rantan, McMahon, and what was the other one? There was one more. Hang on.

If you give me like a couple of minutes, I could find it here. Well, the Rantin one was automatic. Rattan was an automatic. It was two misconducts with a lot. a certain amount of time. Then Bobby McMahon took a high-sticking one gamer against Oliver Bjork Strand. Everything else has been fines. We've had, according to the Wikipedia I'm looking at it.

And again, this is specious. It could be completely wrong. We've had two suspensions this regular season. And let's see here. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Jonathan Drew Am. Jonathan Drouan. 14?

What was the Drouan one? John Drouin. That was a cross-checking, Connor DeWere. Okay. Okay. So two suspensions and an automatic one. Yeah. And according to this,

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 14, 15 fines. At this point in 24, 25, we had 5 suspensions, and we had even more than that in 2324 like i i'm not someone who's who's like ultra critical of the department of player safety at all times and i'm not going to go piece by piece on this and say this should have been a suspension this and this shouldn't have been and yada yada yada but like it it is got i mean like it's pretty pretty light in so far as suspensions so far this season don't you think so merrick or uh yes now is that the department of player safety just not suspending people where suspensions would normally be warranted,

or is this a byproduct of a really long, soon-to-be longer compressed season? In the sense that players are on better behavior because they're too tired to hurt each other? They're tired. I don't know. Honestly, because I'm open to all. This is why I want to say,

I'm not trying to say that like George Peros is doing a terrible job because I know that's like the default setting for most people when the Department of Player's Safety comes up. It could be they're tired. It could be that the years of player's safety suspensions have led to players playing a cleaner form of the game. I don't know.

It is kind of weird to me that we've had like two dozen fines and only like two actual suspensions, although I think Rantan probably would have gotten one anyway were it not for the automatic business. It's just been pretty light so far. And I find that as it surprised. I know we're going to talk about it, especially with all of the shenan.

games that we've seen in the battle of Florida but that's it like I is this so weird coming out of that game like there's two fines Lundell and Sabrin like out of all of that there's just a couple of fines and and that's and that's one but I'm good with it but I'm good with it listen I'm not I'm not bad with it but I find it to be curious that like that's one where we hear the NHL goes to the teams beforehand and is like beyond your best behavior and that we they're not on their best behavior and it's still only results in fines yeah no one I mean listen I we all know how Hegel is targeted every single game

probably will be for as long as he wears skates against the Florida Panthers. There's another thing that I want to throw into the mix here, and this relates to Tom Wilson. I wonder if Matthew Barzal

was in greater consideration for the Olympic team, would you have done that? Because if you look at what Tom Wilson has done this year, because again, that can be a deciding factor. Tom Wilson has managed to find exactly where the edge is and live there and hasn't stepped over.

I'm sure there is plenty of times where he's wanted to. I'm sure there are plenty of times that, oh, man, it's going to cost me, but I'm going to fill my boots on this one. But he hasn't. And I know like superstars generally aren't the ones that are getting suspended. But I think that the presence of the Olympic selection does have something to do with, better behavior by some of the players. Beyond your best behavior. You're on your best behavior.

Show that you have an emotional control. He's ticking time bomb. You have some emotional discipline. You have some emotional control. Yes. And I wonder, like, if it was looking like Matthew Barzell was like a bubble player for Team Canada, would he still have done that? I don't know.

That's a good question. And it may be a number of these different factors all kind of combining in a perfect storm to result in there only being three suspensions so far it's funny i i have a bunch of like audio recordings that are in my iTunes and they always come up when i go on shuffle i meant to send this to you yesterday but i found a radio interview with colin campbell from and this is got it's got to be from it's it's back when raffi torres was still playing so it's got some it's got some age on it but i got to send it to you major suspensions man it it was back when he was it was before the department of player safety it was back when he was running discipline

and it was just the it was like a very confrontational interview with james sebolski and it was about like um like uh you know cole cole and campbell taking it personally that the that they didn't hand out more suspensions to people um times never change although i do you know it's funny i do think they do change to be honest because like i remember there was a lot more kind of back and forth between the NHL and the media on on suspensions and things like that then I think there's been in recent years now I think that could be a product of them doing a good job and there's not a lot of debate to be had maybe it's the rule 48 of it all where we don't have these moments where you know guys are getting put on stretchers and we're wondering whether they should like sit out

the rest of the season but like listening to that Colin Campbell interview I'm like oh that brings me back to the time where every single incident on the ice became like an international debate about the virtues of discipline in the NHL. It was like every shoutout there was going to be a week's worth of editorials and breathless people like me talking about the size of the

goaltending equipment. Yeah. Right? Every time there was a shout at or like a one-nothing game. It was like, oh, the equipment's too big. The equipment's too big. But you know what might be part of it too? There is an old saying and it's true. If you give a player an excuse not to hit, he won't hit. They won't. And now the way the game is played where once upon a time, like you would sit close to

close to the rink close to the ice and you would always hear from the bench finish your check finish your check finish your check you know what you hear now good stick good stick good stick good stick good stick good stick good stick like the game itself is less physical by its very nature

like guys don't run around anymore you can't run around anymore you know why because everyone's a good skater if you're running around guess what yeah where all the bad skaters go I always asked So what a bad, where the bad skaters go. Everybody's a good skater.

You can get cut out of position really quickly and teams can make you pay fast. The game has just profoundly changed that way. What did you make of Marchman's hit? What on Schaefer? Yeah. A minor penalty. Foot on foot. Foot on foot violence.

I tend not to get worked up about it too much. What do you think? I don't know. I'm an old hockey fan. I see the name Marchman. somebody trying to low bridge the guy, I'm like, okay, checks out. Yeah. No, I didn't, I didn't like it.

It did seem a bit, a bit targeted for the player that he was hitting. And that's why I have no problem with Barzell going back after him, even if I'm not a really fan of him using his stick. But, you know, between that and the hunting of Brandon Hagel and some of the other, I mean, we still have, we still have the old, you know, Winnipeg Capri soft stuff on the led. going back a few years. I mean, like, there's still all these little incidents around the league of this stuff happening. And I wonder if there's ever a boiling point for some of it.

The next Islander Blue Jacket game will be real interesting, that's for sure. It sure will. Okay, let's get to Eric Erlinson. Eric has covered the Tampa Bay lightning seemingly forever. And again, I cannot think of a day where Eric Erlinson is not covering this team. He joins us on the sheet. Now, Eric, first of all, thanks so much for stopping by. I have to ask you, were you as perhaps surprised as somewhere that,

out of everything that we saw between the Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning, the only thing to come out of it was a couple guys a little bit lighter in the pocketbook, and that was it. Play-on boys. Yeah, I don't know. It's crazy. I mean, look, every single game between these two teams right now is a powder keg just ready to go off. right and we didn't quite get the powder keg explosion but you saw brewing right and the lightning were kind of standing up for themselves and they didn't want to take for lack of a better

term the crap that the panthers keep giving them right i mean uh greg i just heard you mention about the the hunting of brandon hagel i mean it's three straight games against the panthers they went hand hunting on him you know as i was saying like there was only one fight in that game the other night right but they were like the lighting set a franchise record for the most penalties called on them in a game, right? Like, and there was like a, like it was, it was worse than playoff post, post-wistle scrums. And the fact that, you know, all you got was, you know, what you got and, you know, and the fine that Lundell got, he didn't get penalized on the play, right?

Then when he took a high stick to Jake Gensel and yeah, but, you know, that's right now, nowadays, it's, it's very typical Florida Tampa Bay hockey. So, by the way, I want to mention, you said that how, how long I've been. been covering the lighting. You know the last time I was on, I think I was on with you two at the same time. It was 2012. This is my memory. I remember. I remember it was 2012. I was in a Calgary hotel room and we were discussing the merits of getting John Scott to the All-Star game. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know. I don't know. I'm not familiar with that or that whole situation of how we wrecked the All-Star game that year in Nashville. Sorry,

everybody is the vibe in tampa kind of like how do they keep getting away with this when it comes to the panthers yeah i think so right because uh i mean look hagel hit barkoff and he served he should have served his penance weren't right he got a five minute major for it and he's suspended for a playoff game i mean that's huge when you get suspended for a playoff game and you know when he came out at the end of the the season and spoke with us in the media after like were eliminated and basically said he was willing to get his ass kicked for what he did you know that's the code and and i think in a lot of ways what you're seeing out of the panthers is they're just not abiding to the code right because um they didn't they didn't want they didn't

go after fighting hegel for it right instead they went hen hunting and erin ekblad found them and he got a two game suspension and in theory maybe that should have been the end of it but when we got to the preseason game here the next to last preseason game and a j greer just sucker punches him three times. Well, that's when everything exploded, right? And, you know, and then he go back to the game here in Tampa where Jake Gensel got into a fight. Jake Gensel, he's like the nicest guy in hockey.

And you got him to get into a fight against a guy who's six inches taller than him because he took an elbow to the back of the head. I don't know who was more surprised that he was fight. I think, like, Mikola was like the most surprised person in the rank. Everybody was like shocked, but Miko's like, really? Really, Jake? Like, do you want to do this?

Like, okay. And what did Jake do in Saturday's game? He took a sucker punch at AJ Greer because he kind of got manhandled and took another little bit of a headshot behind the net. So yeah, I think, Greg, I think the lighting are just sick and tired of taking it. Yeah. And if the league's not going to step in and help him out, you know. And as we learn from the Barzell fine for that slash.

And, you know, I'm with you, Greg. I understand why he did it. But if you've just, it's open season on stars now, just take a two-hand and whack to a guy's ankle. You're only going to get fine $5,000 for it. Part of the interest here, too, is we just don't see this anymore, right? Like, this used to be the NHL. This is when, you know, Minnesota would play St. Louis

and Chicago would play Leaps. St. Louis. I'm thinking, no, well, yeah, St. Louis, too. I'm just trying to think of going through the Rolodex of all the old Norris division teams, right? It was like, you'd get this with Detroit, you'd get this with Toronto, you'd get this with St. Louis, you'd get this with Chicago, et cetera, et cetera, on a regular basis. And everyone knew who the combatants were, and everyone knew what the history was and what the issues were, like all of it. And there's playoff background that adds more spice to it. Those days are all gone.

And you got it in the smith, and you got it in all the divisions, the Adams, like all of it. But now it's just, like, this is just a reminder that this is what hockey used to be. And every single game you knew when, to your point, Greg, Chicago was playing St. Louis, something was going to happen. And each team had, you go four or five sluggers that made sure things happened. I just look at this and say, this is like, this is the fumes of a bygone era. This doesn't, this doesn't happen in the NHL anymore. This is, this is the way it used to be.

It's the way it used to be. Yeah, it was gorgeous, too. Everybody was a rival and it was awesome. Yeah, there was like legitimate, you know, animosity and hatred between like a lot of teams. And now it just exists with the two teams in Florida. Not the two teams in Ontario, the three teams in New York or the three teams in California. Florida has the hottest rivalry. Well, and just wait, these teams have still one more meeting together.

It's going to come right after the stadium series game here. And guess who should be back in the lineup for the Panthers? Matthew Kachuk. I mean, he's a disturber, right? He's a disturber. So, yeah, look, this isn't over. You know, we'll see. The first meeting between these teams back in November,

it was very emotionally charged, but it turned into a very playoff style tight checking hockey games. Didn't really have a lot of it. But then the stuff happened in the game here as the score got away from each other. And again, J. Gensel got into a fight, which I don't think anybody ever anticipated. And then you saw what happened on Saturday. It's not over. I mean, it's still kind of brewing, right?

And even though they put the two veteran officials on that game in Kelly Sutherland and West McCauley, I don't think, I think it actually hurt. Because out of every post whistle scrom, it was lightning getting the extra penalty. Like every time. Like it was crazy. So again, this is not over. What could end it?

Is there something that could happen that would once and for all end it? Or I would just waiting for something awful to happen. I don't know. Well, like the one thing that's kind of took place, especially in that first meeting in November, like there were several times that Scott Sabarin tried to get either Mikala or Greer to fight and they said no they turned them down right so I think that would end it if the guys who were sort of the perpetrators of basically the two biggest situations in

all of this would answer for it and abide by the code right maybe maybe this would be over but those guys are just refusing to drop the gloves against anybody on on the lightning and you know if Brandon Hagel said he was willing to get his ass kick for what for what they did you know it's it's certainly not going to be around the other because that's the code right you do a dirty play your answer for it it's over that's why greg i was going to say i was talking to coach the other day about the lightning and i was like who's impressed you so far this season and they said that the lightning have impressed them and that it's the first team that they felt John Cooper's had there in a while where the bottom six has sort of been figured out

and that like there is real potential for this team to do some special things in the postseason. What say you to that? Well, I mean, the postseason is such a different animal and if they have to run into the Panthers again, who knows what's going to happen. But Andrei Vazelowski is playing back like Andrei Vasilowski. He's allowed two or fewer goals, I think, in 14 of his 23 starts this year. So his numbers are back to what we're used to see. and you've got the top end guys, the Gensels and the Kuthorovs,

and, you know, Hegel was on a good run there. And Braden Point, I just hasn't even played like Braden Point this year, and they're still finding to win games. But, you know, specifically the line that has Yanni Gord, Pontus Holmberg and Zemgus Gergensens has been terrific for them since they've been put together. They're heavy, they play the game hard, they cycle, they make it hard for teams to get the puck away from them.

They're the matchup line that John Cooper likes to go to. I think that's been a big boost that gets, Anthony Sorrelli away from some of those matchup situations that he's had to have the responsibility with the last couple years. And, you know, he can kind of be more of a hybrid type of, you know, scoring center on top of, you know, being a defensively responsible guy. You know, they're trying to find out who their fourth line is going to be. I mean, all over York Sprint has been down there. Nick Paul has been down there. They've obviously Scott Sabarin and Curtis Douglas down there. So they're still working that out.

The thing about the lightning this year is, I don't know. everybody's had injuries but they've had injuries i mean victor headman's missed most of the year ryan mcdonah's missed most of the year he's back on injured reserve eric churnack has been out since november right now they're without a mill lilliburg like they've been missing basically three of their top four defensemen for almost the entire year and you know j j moseer just signed the contract extension he's been unbelievable this year in the way that he has played and kind of taken on the role there and radish has stepped up his game you've got We've got Charles Edouard Dashto, who comes over from Europe at the age of 26, 27, and it's taking top four minutes.

I mean, they've got this defensive core without their main guys playing, like, really good hockey. And that's the biggest thing. So, you know, for a guy in John Cooper, who's only been a finalist for the Jack Adams twice in his tenure in the NHL, this is, to me right now, we're just about to the halfway point. This is his best coaching job. He's got this team fighting for a division. after they started with one win in their first seven games and everybody was ready to, you know,

throw everybody out the back door and start things over. And, you know, now he's got them, you know, up at the top of the league division standings, at least for now. It's so funny, beginning of the year, you mentioned all the losses piling up. And it was like, okay, so finally, you know, John Cooper is not going to be coaching the Hamibay Lightning.

And from there, now we're talking about the... We've gone from, he's getting fired to winning the Jack Adams in like a cozy five minutes here. But it's like, it's legit. Like, first of all, I think it's kind of embarrassing that him or Bedner having won the Jack Adams by now. But nonetheless, I digress. One of the names I wanted to key in there, you mentioned Darren Radish a couple of seconds ago.

He's the one that's really popped. I mean, double-edged sword here, like with all the injuries, you need some other guys to step up. He's been magnificent for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Problem is, is UFC at the end of the season. Uh-oh. Dan, then, then, done, da. Yeah. You found a great one.

now he needs to get paid. Yeah, and that's just after signing Moser to the contract extension, right? Although it's interesting. I mean, the Julian Breezeblah, he just signed McDonough to a contract extension, and he just signs Moser to a contract extension. But McDonough got Moser's contract, and Moser got McDonough's contract. So it's basically a wash cap hit-wise, right? That's a genius of Julian Breezeblaw being able to do that.

So maybe there is some money for Darren Radish. But he's been a revelation this year. And again, a guy at the start. of the year was the odd man out right when everybody was healthy on the back end he was the guy that was the healthy scratch you know he made a couple of mistakes in some of those early games some some questionable puck decisions that led to late game winning goals against and he was the guy that was sitting out and now you look at him and he's playing with a heavy heart his dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer um so he's had that on his mind uh through all of this um but you know now now

Now, the guy went from being a healthy scratch to being your top pairing defensemen and playing 25, 26, sometimes 27 minutes a night. He's got to kill penalties, which is something he's never really had to do during his time. Here, he did it occasionally, but now him and Moser, the top PK care with McDonough and Chernak both out. He really has been a revelation, but you're right. He's UFA at the end of the year. He's on a pretty team-friendly contract right now. He continues to put up the offensive numbers that he's been putting up, and the role that he's been playing. and that number keeps ticking up on a daily basis.

Last one for me, I was curious about lightning fandom. I've spent admittedly a lot more time probably in Fort Lauderdale than I have in Tampa in the last couple of years. And obviously lots of written about the Panthers fan base being on the rise and new facilities and all this other stuff. Where are the lightning right now as far as their fan base goes?

Are they fired up? Are they still in the honeymoon of the cops? Like do they need to kind of like reintrain? with the fan base you've you've obviously got your finger on the pulses as someone who has an independent site on the team like where is lightning fandom right now it it changes with the seasons it changes with the temperature like it's i mean again seven games into the season fire john cooper fire julian breesblah trade victor headman get rid of nikita kutcheroff it's done let's start over and you know they win i think they won 13 out of 15 games or 15 out of

18 games to pull themselves back out of the cellar up into the top part of the standings. And then everybody was like, oh, this is a cup contending team. They finally got things figured out. They go on a little bit of a losing streak. This team is terrible. What are they doing? Like it's just, but that's the passion of fans. So I think that tells you that the passion is still there with lightning fans.

And again, when you still have a core of a Vasaleski and a headman and a Kutrov, and yeah, are they all have the number three in front of their age now? and not a two, sure. But Nikita Khrushchev is still a 110 point guy. He's picked up his pace. He's kind of back among, you know, that conversation in terms of his point production. As I said, Brayden Point hasn't even started really playing like Brayden Point is used to being that we used to see in out of him. You know, Hedman's missed some time.

But they continue to find ways to win games. So I think as long as the winning continues, like I think they're well past the Stanley Cup honeymoon. because they've been knocked out in the first round three straight years. So now they're the team that can't get it done, right? Because they can't get past the first round. Even though I think a lot of people, including myself, looked at that first round series last year between Tampa Bay and Florida and felt whoever won that series could probably go to win the Cup.

It wasn't Tampa Bay. It was Florida. But I think now fans see that as well you've lost in the first round three straight years when they're used to winning. Like they've been to so many conference. finals and four Stanley Cup finals since 2015, I think there's a bit of spoiled. I think the fan base is spoiled a little bit because of the success over the last decade that they don't understand if you get knocked out the first round.

It doesn't mean you're a terrible team. You just got not. I mean, how many years had the Red Wings get knocked around before they finally won their cups in 97 and 98 with Steve Meiserman, right? Like it happens. It's hockey. It's also a function of the playoff format too. I mean, my God.

It's a heat grinder if you don't finish like first in your division. So, who knows? Will this, will this be the year it changes with the Central Division? No. No. No. Oh, you mean it's my, my theory, my theory is this one. Why we should change it.

I mean, what's that? Yes. Go ahead, Merrick. My, my theory on this is, um, the NHL is setting up an easy win for the next commissioner. Whenever Batman decides to step down, it'll probably be Bill Daly, other as a full time or an interim. but it's an easy one for him to knock down. It'll be a very, very, very popular move for whoever the new commissioner is. That's my conspiracy theory on all of it, because Batman continues to defend it, defend it, defend it.

So who's got the hotline in the commissioner's office to make sure that happens soon rather than later? Here's your hat. What's your hearing is Gary Bettman. I want to see this playoff for a change. I think there's a few. Lightninginsider.com is the website. Last one for me, I'll ask about Nikita Kuturoff. You've seen them all.

Where do you put Kuturoff amongst the San Luis, the Brad Richards, the Finole Cavaliers, the Stevens-Tamcoces, the Victor Hedman's. Holy smokes his organization's had some players. Where do you put Kutcherov? Paul Isabar, yeah, Brian Bradley. I think by the end of his career, he's going to be at the top. Best of the mall. He's a phenomenal player. Like, he is a phenomenal player and he doesn't get the headlines for obvious reasons.

He's not Connor McDavity. Like, he doesn't jump off the shelf at you, right? Like, he doesn't jump off the screen and wow you. You have to go back and look at something he did and go, did he do that. And then you look, oh, my gosh, he did do that. Like, we all know about the no shot goal that he scored a couple of times. I mean, even Ryan McDonough tried to mimic that the other night and did it accidentally. Right?

And we still call it to Kutraff. there's such a subtle brilliance to the way that he sees and plays the game and that's hard for me because I watched Stephen Stamco's for all those years and what he meant to the franchise

and but that cliffhanger a cliffhanger how much damage do you think Kuturoff did do himself with the all-star game shenanigans and the skills competition uh

geez great question um I don't think that much I mean, at the time, it was like, okay, he's, he's mailing it in. But I kind of looked at it as like, I've spent my life watching guys mail it in the all-star. All-Star game, Mike. It is the All-Ster games. Kuch-R-R-R-R-S mowing in the skills competition.

All right, like, go watch a bunch of All-Star games in history. Like Eric said, like, he's not, he's not put on the same pedestal as McDavid or Drysidal or McKinnon. Part of that's the Russian thing, undoubtedly. Yeah. And part of that, I think, is also the. attitudinal thing. Not only the All-Star game, but also just like the crushing beer, shirtless

cursing post game that probably didn't sit well with people. And I don't know, there's an underlying thing about Kuturov that has not allowed people to embrace him in the same way that they've embraced, like even

in Ovechkin, for example. And I've often wondered what that is. There's something kind of like combative about Kutrov when it comes to fame or media or embracing it all in the same way that someone like McDavid has, for example. He looks very much like a elite hockey player,

B, Grumpy elite hockey player, right? Yeah, but drysidels grumpy. What's that? Like drysidels grumpy, but he's really witty at the same time too. Right. And can be really charming. And but so we could write, we could write off the dry saddle grumpiness as the German of it all,

but we can't write off the Kucherov grumpiness to the Russia of it all, is what you're trying to say. Listen, I, and this is a, I've talked to you about this before. This is just the byproduct of age. Older I get, the more I like grumpy people. I like the people to wake up in the morning and complain about everything starting with the coffee. And maybe there's a hole in my socks. And I want to tell people about it. Like, I like that guy.

I like, I'm not saying it as a knock. Like, I like, I enjoy being around grumpy people. I was that guy this weekend. The setting on my coffee being grinder somehow got adjusted. Oh, I've been unable. Oh, my first of a fainting couch. Oh, no. Oh, not a grinder.

Oh, wish. I mean, it's not. What is the world above first world problems? I can't figure out how to get the grind back to where I needed to be for the coffee to taste as good as it used to taste. And I don't know, I've been reading on the internet. I've been going to red threads, I've been doing all the research. I can't figure it out.

And it's really bugging me. So I was that grumpy guy this weekend. Good. It doesn't taste like the normal coffee. Good. Good. I like that. Thanks, Eric, for stopping by the program and Lightning Insider.

is the website where you can find everything that Eric has to offer. And as we mentioned, the beginning of the interview, he's been around Tampa forever. And he knows like everything about this organization. And he's always good to share his time. Media, baby. 100%. There was a big, there was a big publication that when it first started was like,

we're going to have a beat writer on every NHL team in the league. I don't know if you've noticed, but that big publication doesn't have that anymore. So if you're in a market that notice, no longer has a athlete covering your team. Perhaps send your money to independent media

in your town to have great coverage of your local hockey team if it's not being covered in the same way as it used to be. Amen. He does excellent, excellent work. Okay. Are we doing predictions now? Yeah. Let's do it.

You want to do it? Okay, you want to do it. Let's go back and forth. I'll start. We'll start bold. Right. Let's just like unleash the beast. Bold prediction number one for 2026 is that Austin Matthews will be traded. How about that?

Is there a no movement clause? There is a no movement clause. Will the leaves ring their hands over the idea that they're going to trade a franchise player and perhaps the best goal score in the team's history? Yes, they will. It's not an easy decision to make. But after this season, he will have two more years after his contract. So this is after the season.

and not in-season trade? No, no, no, this is a summertime trade. Your classic summertime move, Jeff. You know, he can't be they can just sort of trade at the deadline. Summertime trade. He's got two years left on his contract. He can obviously pick and choose where he wants to go. We've talked about it before in the context of, say, like, Connor McDavid,

if you've got the Los Angeles Kings of the want and need for the next phase of their franchise, and they have a treasure trove of players that you could import to Toronto to kickstart the next phase of your own franchise. franchise and you can already see the seeds of discontent the the same muck and tar that stuck to Mitch Marner until he couldn't stand the stink of it and had to get out of Toronto you could start to see that started to stick to Austin Matthews now and I don't want to see that I don't want to see that happen to him too so I'll make my bold prediction of Austin Matthews is no longer Toronto Maple Leaf by by next season I really got handed to Maple Leafs on this

one because historically they've always picked a defenseman whether it was like larry murphy or brian mccabe or you know corey cross jake gardner like it's always been ackey berg like it's always been a defenseman that they would because make no mistake about it different fan bases go after different styles of players historically leaps fans have always gone after a defenseman but now taking on to the top forwards now again this run them this may just be a wish that my heart is making because I'm really pissed off. We didn't get a McDavid Derby. But I'll just go ahead and say, like, the way the way the leaves are going,

the way that Matthews is going, maybe it's time for a year old change of scenery, Jeff Merrick. Could be and it would make a lot of sense for Los Angeles. Well, the interesting part about if it's like, let's just take this one step further, if it is indeed Los Angeles, who have just lost Philip Dono to Montreal and are about to lose Andrei Kopit to retirement. and in any trade going back, I would imagine that Quentin Bifield would have to be part of it.

You just remove three centers from your team. And you get one Austin Matthews. And you get one Austin Matthews back. Where once upon a time, like down the middle, like that's where the Kingswood Roast teams. Yeah. Yeah, life.

Yeah, hockey. Bull pretty. Okay. This is for observers of the draft, I'm going to go with Caleb Malhotra. of the Brantford Bulldog. Yet the son of Manny Malhotra ends up going top three. Top three.

Top three at the NHL draft this year. He is this year's version of Brady Martin, starting the season on the probably outside of the first round and then rocketing up inside the top five. I think he goes top three at the draft this year. I nearly made a draft bold prediction. Yeah. Yeah.

I'll just, I'll just mention that. Yeah, that Gavin McKenna is this year, Shane, right. So he falls all the way to four? Wow.

I mean, if you're putting that Holter in the top three, who is in the place? Yeah, no, no, no, I know. I know, I know. I'm trying really hard to, not to put too much, and we've seen,

listen, Eric Johnson is the obvious one, Casey Middlestat, too, not to put too much on what you're seeing at the world juniors it's like it's a common mistake that we all make because of like it's a massive tournament obviously and everybody gets eyeballs on you and scouts will tell you like i've watched these kids for three or four years you watch them for two weeks that's just a tiny

little slice of their career so i'm trying really hard like i've our stem work i think looks fantastic i think he right's tremendous um but i'm trying to put too much just on on the two weeks slice. Yeah, I can see Caleb Malich. It's not just, like the, the player is, and he's an excellent player and ripping up the Ontario Hockey League, but you're getting, like, we had him on the show a couple weeks ago, too. Like, you're getting like a young polished professional already who was, you know, raised by Manny Malhotra, who was one of the most like responsible players the game has ever seen. You're going to hear more about Caleb Malhotra, by the way, in my next prediction.

It's the Teague-Gunlet effect, by the way. like, you know, when your dad is that dope and cool, I'm actually going to fly up the draft board. Do you have Verhoff number one right now, by the way, over McKenna? No. I'm still, again, like, I'm still fighting the Gavin McKenna is still number one. Because, like, look, if he was, if he did the safe thing and just stayed at medicine hat, like what?

He put up like 200 points this year. Like, he's, he's taken a deliberate decision to challenge himself in his draft year, right? The safe thing would have been just go to. medicine hat rip the league apart break a bunch of records have everyone defaing over you but he's chosen a harder path for that i commend him now we're there i just was there a financial incentive to do so as well yeah of course oh here's a little bit of google money's on your way to incentivize you but hey i i i the more i read about the draft the more i feel like you're like you're like gandolph standing in front of the the hoard the marauding orc army like i feel like everyone is

starting to kind of turn the tide on on on on McKenna being you know no longer being the first overall pick and I'm I'm intrigued that you believe he should be frankly still I'm I'm still that's a popular choice right now but at no it's not um but it's it's it's not like it's not a draft where you got like a whole bunch of guys are going to change your franchises that's not that's not happening I do like Keaton Verhof though he's not as he's like the natural comparison is going to be to Matthew Schaefer because of last year and Schaefer going first overall he is not Matthew Schaefer he's a very good defenseman no one skates like Matthew Schaefer Verhoff certainly doesn't not as mobile as as Matthew Schaefer

but again really really good player there's going to be some really really good players at the high end of the draft this year I just don't see any stepping in and doing what like celebrini and Badd and Schaefer have done to organizations so if this is the year for your team to bottom out oh it's a tough one all right bold prediction number two for me yeah either in the next National Hockey League or elsewhere, someone will have a heated rivalry night in hockey in 2026. They will have replica jerseys of the teams in heated rivalry.

They will have actors from the show in the arena to meet and greet fans or to sound a siren or do whatever the hell they do at these games. Heated rivalry has entered the hockey zeitgeist in a way that no one could have predicted. And that is a beautiful thing that's happened where it is now become. come an entry point into hockey for so many different people that i find it to be hard to believe that no one will try to take advantage of it um listen it is as anyone who's seen it knows it is an explicit show and it'll be interesting to see exactly how teams decide to approach the heated rivalry of it all but uh but someone will take advantage of it and and it'll be a a very very big deal

we haven't talked enough about it on the show about to be honest i'm a huge fan of heated rivalry and And we had a Christmas party over the weekend. And it's what's fun about it is that there's so many people that aren't hockey fans that are watching. They're talking about it. They're talking about it. But they come to me and they're asking me about like, is this how the media would respond to XYZ? Is this a real? Would a Sydney Crosby proxy really have a roommate on the road?

And like all these questions about those shows hockey stuff, which admittedly is one of the reasons I love it is because it's kind of goofy. and you can kind of like, you know, have a little laugh at some of the hockey aspects of it. But the show is awesome. And I think someone will take advantage of its popularity by having a heated rivalry night. Sorry, did you say someone in the NHL or the American League? I can't go as far as to say it's going to be the NHL.

Yeah, for a lot of reasons. But when you think about the AHL and you think about the ECHL, when you think about a lot of these other teams that tend to get a little bit more adventurous, in their theme nights I think someone will have a heated rivalry night why not the PWHL

the PWHL I'm surprised hasn't had a heated rivalry night already yeah but yeah no I mean like look like I guess yeah sure why not like they try stuff like that's like like they're they're in like they're they are doing

what the American League used to do it's like it's not just a league it's also like we're going to try new stuff. We're going to do like a little bit of R&D on the fly here too to see to see what works. We're not going to do it the same way that the other leagues are doing it. So like why not? If we wanted to include the PWHL, I'm all for it

because it means my bold prediction will come true. Done. Done. All right. Part two of my bold predictions. The Vancouver Canucks will not win the lottery, but they will draft Caleb Malhotra. And that will be the win for the Vancouver Canucks as he fits so nicely in a Vancouver Canucks sweater slash jersey.

Perfect. With Father Mani and Abbotsford. Yeah. Like that one? Love it. Cute one. All right, here we go. Go three.

Well, Merrick's diddling around with draft picks in his bold predictions. I will once again swing with the fences. Uh-oh. Who's getting traded now? McDavid. Alexander Ovechkin retires in the office. offseason. Now, let's call this a little informed speculation. I tend to believe that if Ovechkin decides to retire, he's not going to pull

a Gretzky. He's not going to, you know, announce it or have it come out with a few games left in this season and then it's utter mania. I kind of believe that Ovechkin feels like he already had that last season during the... the Gretzky record chase. I think he's going to make a decision in the off season. Obviously, the Capitals will, you know, celebrate him and do it up big if he decides to retire. But I kind of feel like, listen, I don't know anything for sure.

He may come back on another one-year contract. He's still obviously a very viable player. But, like, I kind of feel like it might be the end. And I think if it's the end, I think he does it without the same level of fanfare that we saw last season in every arena across the NHL for him. So that's the bold prediction. Last year for Ovi, and he goes off

quietly into that good night. Again, I will mention because I always do, can someone please just, and it would be perfect if it was Ovechkin, leave the skates at Center Ice. The old wrestling boots in the middle of the ring?

100%. Just leave the skates at Center Ice and walk off. Okay, this one is, listen, if you look at the standings, you go like, oh, wow, really, really going on a limb here, Merrick. But there is a sidebar to all of it, too. My final prediction here on Monday, December the 29th, the Toronto Maple Leafs don't make the playoffs and everybody remains calm and sane about it. He said very much tongue planted firmly in cheek. Not a chance everybody will be hysterical and reactionary about it. I'll note they're over 500.

everybody's over $500. Stop. Stop. Look, it's completely realistic that they aren't going to make the playoffs. And like you said, if it won that happens, you know, who even knows what the reaction is. I mean, I think this prediction probably ties into my first prediction, right? Like if they miss the playoffs and have to start, you know, reconceiving what the team is, that ultimately would lead to, you know, big swing, big decision type stuff with guys like Austin Matthews. And of course I'm here for it.

Oh, yeah. Do I really want to see another first or second round defeat by the Leafs versus them completely whiff on a playoff spot? Of course not. Life becomes so much more interesting if they don't make the playoffs, obviously. Oh, yeah. And there will have to be some performance-based anger. There's all, there has to be like, we will not stand for. this here this is not who the maple leaves are like yeah they kind of have been for

long time um but there there there will very much be that we are this is we are not this team except for the fact that we are exactly who you thought we were yeah yeah yeah yeah yep yep yep yep yep yep not exactly a bold prediction but it's one that's like oh god if you're a man But, you know, do you not get the feeling that Maple Leaf fans are starting to settle themselves to that? Like, this is the end of the road with this group? Yeah, totally. Right? Rebuilds are all, rebuilds always start late. I'm actually, I'm actually impressed at how many of them have come to Jesus on the whole, like, the minute Marner left was when the door, the window closed.

And that's kind of the vibe, right? Like, they had a chance to win with this core. The core now is broken up and, and, oh, shit, we can't replace him. shit what's going to happen next. Yep, and there would be no free agents on July 1st either. It's going to be a swing for the fences traits for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Zach, do you have one, by the way? Didn't even ask Zach.

Wow. The Toronto Maple Leafs make the playoffs and go on a historic run. No, no, no. I don't actually think that. Head coach Pete the door lifts the cup for the first time. Members of the Toronto media openly weep on the ice as their childhood fandom rushes back into their bodies. No, I would say if we have a bold prediction, Austin Matthews finishes the Olympics, returns back to Toronto, and they announce they have shut him down for the remainder of the season. he is undergoing surgery, and he returns at some point in 2026, 2027, back to full health

while the team tanks. I don't know if the NHL likes the word tanks, so dignified tank throughout the remaining remainder of the season. They adjust their expectations. Goes under the night. Yes, thank you, Wish. That is what they do. So wait, so why would Austin Matthews need surgery after he score?

was 10 goals in the Olympic tournament to lead the United States to the silver medal. Well, I think that is very optimistic, much like Leafs fans who are still holding on to the idea that they can make playoffs this season, wish you could put yourself in the same bucket as them because I don't think that will be happening. I do not think that's hard.

Fair enough. Yeah. All right. Great stuff. If you want to hang around for the history segment here. As always. Let's do it. Okay. Hungry for Hockey History is a presentation of Uber Eats. Uber Eats is enabling fans to maximize their fandom all season long with exclusive game day deals on the app.

From Game Day Eats to paper plates and napkins if you're hosting to all the ingredients you need to make your favorite game day dip. Before, during and after the game, Uber Eats is assisting every fan's hockey experience all season long. Zach, back to you. What are we looking at today? Yeah, today we're going December 29th, 1957. Lefty Wilson gets the win. Detroit assistant trainer Lefty Wilson is forced into action for the Boston Bruins when Don Simmons dislocates his shoulder

and there was no backup available. Wilson comes in, stops 23 of 24 shots and a two-two tie versus the Red Wings, his third and final appearance in relief. It was the only game, by the way, in all three games that he stepped in, that he got a decision. So in the previous two that he played in,

he was not the goaltender for the decision, this game did go on his record as the goaltender who received the decision in the game. Ah, so three games. So he suited up as a Red Wing of Maple Leaf and a Boston Bruin in his career. He was a... I'm curious what you think about this.

He was a trainer of the 1976 Canada Cup as well. Like a legendary trainer. It was also a mask maker. He made Terry Sautchuk's mask. He made Caesar Maniago's mask so outside of being a trainer he had a little side hustle too making that making masks for goaltenders do you think trainers should be in the hall of fame i think anybody involved in hockey should be in the hall of fame yeah so do i know i like at a lot of different levels goalie coaches

i'm not talking like the concession stands or like i'm talking about like you know like trainers i don't know man people the earl of bud and buffalo like come on man oh you should have you should to see the way Alice Vodka used to turn corners on the Zamboni. My goodness. No, I think that's a really good point. I mean, like, you know, trainers, other people, though, I mean, the builder category for the Hockey Hall of Fame to me is an all-encompassing category that could be applied to anything.

And, you know, having somebody who maybe set new standards for training in the NHL or whatever you want to call it, I think would be great. Like, I would love to see those people get recognition as well. Kevin, Kevin Woodley, speaking of a goaltending, Kevin Woodley from Ingold magazine has all, and NHL.com has always stumped for goalie coaches for the allairs, for example, Mitch corn, like the revolutionary guys that completely change the position, right? Like it, there is not, I still maintain, you can, you can tell me where I'm wrong here.

Maybe quarterback is the only other position that has completely changed. Like you go back 40 years, goal tending now looks completely different. night and day. I don't know if there's a position. Again, you watch more different sports than I do. I don't know if there is a position in all the sports that has changed as profoundly, as a position of goaltending. I think your quarterback, your quarterback comparison is pretty good.

And again, like, yeah, how many accolades of Francois Allaire get into the Hall of Fame before Francois Aller does? You know what I mean? Yeah. It's a little unfair. Yep, yep, yep. Okay, last one. And this is, again, like the end of the show was just, like a big shine spot for Zach

is what it is. 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 Line to Betslip, we've got you covered all season with unique promos, live offerings, and more features to let you play your game. Miss Puck drop, no sweat. With a live, same game parley, you can build up your bets until the final buzzer.

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Hey, go ahead, Zach. What are you going to get together, Greg? Wish, what did you go for us? He just got to be like, you know, the end of the show is really where Zach got a chance to shine. Now, Greg, what do you want to say? But enough about Zach. Talk about you. Okay.

This one is where we're supposed to be right now and are supposed to be heading tonight, which we'll see what happens. Fingers crossed on that one. But this is in the theme of Minnesota. So we are going with Fraser Minton, Mikey Esamont, and New York and Carolina to go to overtime.

I don't know where to find the A. So it's Min, S-O-T-M-M-T O-T overtime in New York, Carolina. No, you guys don't like this one? You needed two Canadian games, so it was Minton S-O-T-A? That's what you needed. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, but I picked New York and Carolina because I think this one actually has a chance,

given that every single Eastern Conference team. Yeah, also every East. Eastern Conference team goes to overtime and extra time every game. Wait, is that Esamon's plus 900 to what, score a goal? Score a goal, yes. That was the listing on Fandual, yes. So, Mitten goal, I kind of thought it would be higher than that if I'm being on it. Oh, geez.

No shade, like, score a lot of goals. That's okay. Five bucks gets a $1,200? That would be correct. $5,000, $1,290, and 75 cents. This is easily your most creative one. Thank you. I don't know whether you're proud of it or not, but this is your most creative one.

I don't know either. This really is your most creative one. Bravo. Bravo, Zach. Take a bow. Thank you. Thank you, gentlemen. I appreciate it.

Pack up the equipment because we're off to Minnesota. Yeah. We hope. We hope we've landed in the Apple. Later on tonight. I wish great job. As always, bold predictions. I like them.

What do you have to do for the rest of the week? You got your Jacob Chikram Peace. My kiddos are not in daycare or school for this week, so I will be wrangling. Jacob Trickin Peace up tomorrow. NHL Playoff Bubble Watch up on Wednesday or Wednesday. And happy New Year to everybody. That's going to be my only MBSW appearance this week.

and I will see you all once the calendar flips ladies and gentlemen I hope everybody has a happy and healthy new year enjoy the winter classic enjoy the college football enjoy stun the night football

between the Steelers and the Ravens holy shit a winner go home game between the Steelers it's like if we had a winner go home game between the Panthers and Lightning I'm so excited for that football game and to see Aaron Rogers

sent on his ass and out of the playoffs would be a wonderful thing a wonderful new year's present for your boy we will stay tuned for that and the will juniors continues as well so pay attention to uh to that one as much as you can that's where we're headed tomorrow uh all right uh great stuff wish we'll talk to you uh next tuesday greg wistonsk nespn.com thank you to the great eric erlinson uh lightning insider dot com is the website there to check out um everything you need to know for the tampa bay lightning uh zach and i are hopefully going to get on a plane that's actually going to get in the air

and then we're going to land. We're going to have a whole bunch of fun when we get to Minneapolis. We just got to get there. So fingers crossed, we can join Stephen Ellis a little bit later on this evening. Thanks to Eric Erlinson for stopping by. Thanks to you for your attention,

either your ears or your eyeballs or both. Thank you, thank you. We'll talk to you tomorrow at 1 o'clock Eastern, noon central. It's where we will be for the sheet. Talk to me. not every day this week every day this month I can't get out my head

lifestyle ambitions day to day because you can call it all right I went to the dark man and tried to give me a little medicine I'm like no I'm in that's fine I'm not against those men that's pretty new it's me and myself and how this is going to be fixing my mind

I do on a bracket I turn on the music I do want to becky sometimes losing I've been on the days that went wrong in the dead dark night