The Sheet with Jeff Marek - NHLPA Player Poll Reaction ft. Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski return for another edition of MvsW. Reacting to the NHLPA Player Polls, shootout drama in Montreal against the Chicago Blackhawks, Ivan Demidov's debut, Darnell Nurse on Byfield, and much moreShout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Ninja Kitchen Canada: https://www.ninjakitchen.ca/products/ninja-crispi-4-in-1-portable-glass-air-fryer-cooking-system-zidFN101CGY?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=olv&utm_campaign=25Q2-Crispi&utm_content=en👍🏼 JP Wisers: http://www.jpwisers.comReach 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.

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I am going to present to you one of the most Canadian things you will ever hear. Bloq Quebecois leader, Yves-Francois Blanchet, is in favor of moving the French language televised debate scheduled for Wednesday evening due to a game that could be crucial for the Montreal Canadiens and their playoff hopes.

This is the game tomorrow against the Carolina Hurricanes. That is provided that the Columbus Blue Jackets don't lose tonight to the Philadelphia Flyers. Jagmeet Singh, who's the leader of the New Democratic Party as well, has co-signed on this one as well, trying to get this one moved. This has happened before 2011 with Jules Doucet for the Bloc, so it is not without precedent. And with that, we end the Canadian political talk, other than to remind you that there is two debates. There is Wednesday en France, you that there is there are two debates there is Wednesday on francais

And then there is an English debate on Thursday. That's it Moving along political leaders saying you know what if that Montreal Canadians game is meaningful i.e. if Montreal didn't flub it last night Against the Chicago Blackhawks after Ivan Demidoff looked so good early with the pass and the tuck in a very controversial way that this thing ended. We'll get into that in a couple of moments. None of this would have mattered, but nonetheless, not the first time that Canadian politicians have weighed in on hockey issues around election time.

This time trying to get debates moved. Welcome to the program. Glad to have you aboard today. It is Tuesday. That means Greg Wyshinski from ESPN for MVSW Redux. You love it, I love it, we all do. Let's kick off the program by letting you know what's on the show today, that would be appropriate, wouldn't it?

Daily Outline, presented by our friends and presenters and partners at FanDuel. Make every moment more with North America's number one sports book, FanDuel North America's number one sports book app provider. And coming up on the show today. It's Tuesday folks, that means Greg Wyshinski. We'll talk about a number of things including

the NHLPA player polls. We'll talk about the nurse byfield situation that we'll be hearing tonight. If I'm throwing a dart, it cannot be more than one game. If one game, maybe just a fine, but we'll see. We'll talk about the debut of Demidoff and I'm going to try, I'll be honest with you, before Wish comes on, I'm going to try to run out the clock so we don't have time for the Greg Wyshinski quiz, which used to be the bane of my existence. Although I tried to put a bright

smile on it this year, but I might just try to run out the clock on Wish and say, oh, we don't have enough time for the quiz. Having said that, I know he's gonna force it upon me. Let's bring him on now. From ESPN, one half of the MVSW Twin Towers, the one and only Greg Wyshinski from ESPN. Hello, Wish, how are you? Oh, you're looking lovely.

Nice camera. You're looking crisp, man. Looking good. Is it better? Good.'re there's a little peek behind the scenes before it was like super grainy Greg We're like, I don't know if we can get to air with this one Greg. Yeah, I don't know It's something's going on with the old internet, but that's to be expected When you steal it from your neighbors Listen I could start with the quiz. I don't care. Nope, but I'll find something later. Oh, for the end, no, we'll build to the main event here. We'll build, we'll build, you don't open with Freebird.

The thing I was checking before I hopped on was I didn't actually go inside the numbers on Debit Off last night to see, like, how we actually did five on five. Pretty impressive. Plus three shot attempts came out I think a goal ahead at five on five. Not bad. Not bad. Exciting time. No Zee Boyum tonight, by the way. This Minnesota game. We're gonna get into sort of what the games are gonna mean tonight. All eyes on the Western Conference. Vegas faces off against Calgary, Anaheim, and Minnesota. Utah, St. Louis as well. So the playoff picture should come

into a sharper focus wish. I gotta ask you this, cause you in the history of MVSW, I would say that one of us has more of an affinity for the on ice officials than the other. Yeah. You have come to defend their virtue at times when I have not yes

Yeah, I will say that in the history of the show. I think history has proved me right on Tim Peel I'll just say but I wanted to ask you this About what we saw in the shootout last night. Yeah in the Chicago Montreal game. Yeah Well as a defender of officials What is going through your mind when you see two of them staring at the net and neither one of them registered that it's a goal? They both missed it. How?

I don't know, but you think like honestly, what is it disintegrates? I don't know. I don't I listen. I don't know. But clearly they missed it. 100% they missed it. They missed it. 100% they missed it. They missed it and then the call was slow once it came down from Toronto

to get to the officials before line A shot. That was it. It was one of the most bizarre, and 100% both those referees are on the goal line and both missed it. They could not have been in better position and they just missed it. It happened. I don't know. I'm not them. I'm not their eyes. I'm not them. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Oh, I know. Oh, I know.

Trust me. I think- If it goes into the gold thinner's equipment, they'll find it in the equipment. I understand not seeing the puck go in the net. We see that all the time. It's in and out, boom, boom, boom, you know, and then we find out a few seconds later that it went off the twine or whatever. But like in that moment, in the shootout, it's either the puck went in the net or it didn't. And if it didn't, you got to know where it is. I'm as, again, I'm not them.

Did it go through a portal? Was it in another dimension? Did Dr. Strange take out his ring and make a little circle and the puck went through it? And it's in Antarctica or something like where did they think the puck went? If not, again, I'm not them, but I'm sure that they both thought that the puck left the surface. Like normally when you see a puck hit the net, it'll hit the mesh and then it'll drop down. This one got stuck, right? This one got stuck. So maybe because they both didn't see it go in, I guess, I don't know.

Frank Nizar is channeling his inner Rocket Richard meets Alex Ovechkin meets Adain Ochara meets Martin Furke. And it just went in so fast. I'm guessing they thought that this thing left the ice surface. Left the ice surface. Yes. Yeah. It went so high that Katy Perry held up the puck on the Blue Origin rocket.

No, but hang on a second. Like when you look at the goal, like normally a goal will hit the back of the net and then it'll fall. So if the officials are saying, but you can actually see the bottle holder in back of the net. We can as the puck hits it. We can. I know we can. They missed it. Again, see previous point, they missed it. And then the communication from Toronto down to the penalty box at the Bell Center was slow. Or not the communication from Toronto perhaps, but maybe the communication from the penalty box to the on ice officials was too slow.

So a few things happened here. The officials missed it. And then the system is supposed to ensure that, okay, hang on a second here. Before the next guy goes, we want to make sure that that was, that that really wasn't a goal. That process was too slow. At what point did it break down? That I can't tell you because I don't know. Not a question for your boy. I don't know. We're having some fun with it. I am happy that the safety net that's in place, which is the people back in Toronto

watching the game, were able to communicate that it was a goal or else that whole thing could have gone off the rails in a pretty important game for Montreal. But here's what I'm going to say. And all joking aside, the shootout, I constantly complain about the shootout being a place where there isn't a defense in playing his position, there's no pass attempted, it is done in a vacuum. You either score or you don't. And in all honesty, as I'm watching the scene play out last night, it is amateurish and

embarrassing that two National Hockey League officials are on the ice watching something done in a vacuum. No other distractions. No other players on the ice. You're not keeping an eye on the back of the play to see if somebody's hitting somebody else in their head with a stick. You're not doing anything. It's just you and the goal. You and the puck. You and the goal line. You and the goalie. You and the shooter. To miss that is embarrassing. It's absolutely embarrassing. And thank God the league, the league that caught it. So here, but it's a mistake that should not happen in that moment ever, ever.

But that's, but what's the definition of a mistake? Of course, like that's why it's a mistake. Okay, so Elliot wrote about this last night. So, because he was there at the situation Room. So here's what he wrote. Here's what he wrote. Here's what I saw during the Chicago-Montreal shootout. The Situation Room spotter watching that game was first to realize Frank Nazar scored. He let everyone else in the room know and he's on headset to both the penalty box and goal judge in the building. The goal judge is the one as we all, with access to the add to the horn. The on ice officials didn't see the puck lodged in the net,

went to get a new one. I'm not sure what happened in the building, but Patrick Linay started his approach before everyone could be notified. Yeah, I'm not concerned at all about the sequencing of events, like I said. Like, I'm not a big... You just want to harp on the two officials that missed the call. What did they know and when did they know it? Well, there's some Montreal fans that are bent out of shape and being like, well, if Lionel made his attempt, then how do you revisit the previous goal? Like, I don't think that's really an issue.

Like, get the call right, right, at the end of the day. Yes, my issue is with the two guys staring at the net who apparently thought the puck dissipated into vapor when Azar hit it. I cannot conceive how that was happening. Let me ask you this. Were the officials in the proper position to make the call? Yes. So then they both just missed it. This is what I'm saying.

But here's the thing. If they didn't get themselves in the right position to make the call, then I'd say, you know what? That's lazy. That is like, but again, with anything, building human error, they both missed it. Okay, officials miss calls all the time. Players miss passes all the time.

Goalies miss pucks all the time. Everybody makes mistakes. That's an inch out of the zone. This is missing a goal. Okay. With two guys staring at the net. This is missing a goal. Okay. With two guys staring at the net and they're not... So what is so so what then are we are we so what should be the what should be the punishment then? 15 steps in a drop? How do you want to do this? Electric chair? Like, how are we?

We don't know. I mean, that's... I don't want to belabor the point because people in the chat get pissed off when we spend too much time on a subject but like we never know what the discipline is. The only thing we know about— Yes, we do! Yes, we do! With the officials? Yeah! Yeah! Playoff assignments! The only thing we know is playoff assignments. That's it. Yeah, that's what they make extra money. That's what they make extra money.

If this is a problem that's happened before, we never know anything because we don't have access to the officials. But, yeah, know through playoff assignments, who they like and who they don't and who does a good job and who doesn't, which is why Tim Peel has never officiated a Stanley Cup final. Just to reiterate that. It's not the only one. There has been one guy that's never done one either. Okay, here's the other thing that I want to get at you today. Because I want to do this NHLPA poll because there's some really interesting stuff for them. And I'm, first of all, I'm really glad, I'm really glad,

I'll get to it then. There's one thing about the players poll with the PWHL that I'm really happy about. Like finally for the first time, I'm like, oh, finally, this one makes sense. Okay, so Logan Couture is calling it a career. This is one of, for me, one of the great losses in, I'm with you 100%.

I love this guy. I love this guy. You have heard me go on about him with the Ottawa 67s, smaller guy, concussions, didn't know where he was gonna get drafted in the first, all of it, like overcome, overcome, overcome. We forget how great, not good, wish, great this guy was in the first, all of it, like overcome, overcome, overcome. We forget how great, not good, Wish, great this guy was in the playoffs.

Like at every single level, Logan Couture, unfortunately for a lot of newer fans that have come to the game recently, will not have seen the greatness that was Logan Couture. This guy was incredible. And speaking of officials, one thing that I want to throw in here on this show with you present Do you know Greg Wyshinski Who the delivering nurse was when Logan Couture was born?

Bernadette Dvorsky mother of Paul and Greg Dvorsky, referee and linesman in the NHL. So right away, this guy is destined to be a hockey player. Bernadette Dvorsky, the delivering nurse. That is really impressive that the hospital let a family that's that vision impaired, It's really impressive that the hospital let a family that's that vision impaired deliver children. Clearly. Really impressive. Couture, for a while for me, Couture was always the Salieri to Crosby's Mozart.

Two brilliantly smart players. Obviously doesn't have the talents it had, but was an incredibly talented player. The other thing about Couture that I always loved, and I covered the Sharks for a couple years when I lived in San Jose. You know how we always put over Nathan McKinnon as the guy who you can, you can taste the bile in his mouth when he loses and how unbelievable like, like losing is not an option for Nathan McKinnon. It's kind of become part and parcel of, of who he is as a player. That was Keter as well. Like I remember talking to Logan Keter after after wins. And this guy was like dissatisfied with his own plays teammates play the ice everything out. Like this guy had such a hunger for victory. And

that's what kills me is that, you know, Thornton Marlowe, you know, I guess burns at this point to like all these guys are going to carry the team from those Sharks teams. Pavelski, Pavelski, absolutely, are going to carry the team from those Sharks teams that were so insanely talented and just could never break through. They played for one cup obviously lost the Penguins. And Keter, for me, if he didn't get hurt, and it did come close from what I understand before the real injury trouble for him where there was a chance, I think at one point, for him to go to Colorado. It kills me that this guy didn't become

the second line center on a championship team in his later years. He was the prototype for the kind of guy that, like, everything people were saying about Brock Nelson this year, like, that's Keter but plus 10. And I would have loved to have seen him get his shot on another team, especially as the Sharks went down the tubes in a rebuild. But his body wouldn't cooperate. I'm a huge Logan Keter fan.

I'm bummed that he's never gonna play again. Don't blame me. By the way, Greg, here's one. Our good buddy from the old days, Karen Douglas. Hey! In the chat, yes we know about the nurse old MVSW story, which doesn't have a good memory. You gotta remember. You can complain about officials eyes and we can't complain about you forgetting stories, Greg. Physician, heal thyself.

Physician, heal thyself. There are certain stories that I remember very distinctly, but you know what I have? A lot of people in the chat, probably people listening to the pod don't understand this about me. What's up? I have manners. And so when the old man gets rolling, I will sit back and let him roll. It didn't happen this time.

I didn't remember the divorce key thing for the life of me. But other stories that you guys have heard, I just let him go. He's my favorite orator, Jeff Merrick. You know, the nice thing about being in the industry for so long is every now and then you get to say the same stories over again because the audience is completely refreshed. It grants you a whole new career. Oh, I didn't know that. Oh, really? Logan Kachur and Bernadette Dvorsky? Oh, wow. That's fascinating. That is the problem with my career. Just to pull back the curtain a little bit. I'm someone who does something and then I put it to bed. Do you understand that we did Mount Puckmore at Puck Daddy probably about 12 years ago? Wow. I remember that. And it was great. That was for those who don't know, we did like the four essential players for

every franchise and we had a different blogger do it for each team. And the blogger that did it for the New York Rangers at the time, for whatever reason, put Yarmir Yager as one of the four essential players in the history of the New York Rangers. Who was out? Who was out? I don't remember who was out, but he did. It began a years long meme of what no yager. The NHLPA players poll. Yeah, one of the two things that sit out to me. Well, there's a bunch of stuff, but two in particular I wanted to bring up with you. Who is the smartest overall player was a question they asked. And it's one of the funniest answers I've ever seen. Not that Crosby's the wrong answer

because Sid won. Kucherov was second. If you tell me Sid and Kucherov are the two smartest players in the NHL, that tells me that most of the people that responded to this question responded in the sense of hockey sense, hockey smarts, ice vision, knowing when to make a pass. So what's hilarious about this question is that the fifth place finisher is Adam Fox. You and I both know why Adam Fox is fifth in this question. It's because he went to Harvard. And that was the other interpretation of this question is who is smart that I know? Who went to the Ivy League so so so if so easily like Matt Coronado is number six then Anybody who went to Harvard

Yeah, if you look back at this poll back in the day, I guarantee you George Perrot's probably made the list Princeton Yeah, I'm not poppy smarts the key to Kutcher off. No, Kevin Westgarth Kevin Westgarth would be on that list too it's so funny how they interpret this question. The other thing on the more serious tip, and this is what shocked me and I'm sure probably surprised a lot of people too, who is the best overall goalie? It is not Connor Hellebuck because he is third on the list behind Andre Vasileski and Igor Shachurkin. This is a guy who won the Vesna, will probably win it again this year, is credited with being the backbone of a president's trophy

winning team, starting goalie for four nations for Team USA, considered to be the best goalie in the world. But when the players are asked, it is Andre Vasileski, it is Igor Tshirkin. We could take this a number of different directions, Merrick, but in your estimation, what do you think it is that the players see or why the players answer? Is it playoff success? I think it's playoff success. Obviously, that hasn't followed Shcherkin, but I think Shcherkin is just too great to ignore. And the story of Conor Halibuck is, unfortunately, regular seasons have been awesome and here come the Vezna trophies, but the playoff performances haven't been there. I, I, I think a lot of this way, I mean, players play so much, obviously

on team success, that's the nature of hockey. And I think they look at Vasilevsky, not that he's not deserving, especially now that he's healthy, he's frightening again, but I think they look at like this guy's elite and he's won a bunch of cups. That's the guy. Yeah. Because honestly, I don't, I honestly't I honestly as much as we'll throw this around and everyone in the chat and people listening and people watching Like we'll eat sleep and breathe and live all of this stuff and break things down. I don't know how many Conversations players have had like this

Throughout throughout the year. And that's not an insult because they just live it. Like they know it. Like they don't need to have the conversation. They shoot on Vasilevsky. Guys hard to score on. And the guys won a bunch of cups and he's amazing. I think one of the stories here is three Russian goalies.

Yeah. Whose Bob was fourth. Yes, Bob was fourth. Yes, Bob was fourth. Hellebuck is third and you see Saros, which is more reputational than anything else. Which tells me they did a lot of this voting early in the season is what this tells me. But the Igor part of it I thought was fascinating too, because look, you know, Vasilevsky's got the cups, Hellebuck's got the Vezinas. I think Igor might inhabit that spot, might be in that lane of maybe being

the most pure athletic goalie in the league right now. And because of that, the hardest to score on. Like he doesn't have the success of Vasilevsky. He doesn't have the prestige necessarily of Hellebuck, although there's no denying he's gotten his hardware. But I think from a pure athletic standpoint, maybe he's in that lane of like the toughest guy to score on based on what he can do on his own. ACAS powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend. In the fall of 2001, while Americans were still grappling with the horror of September 11th, envelopes started showing up at media outlets and government buildings filled with

a white lethal powder, anthrax. But what's strange is if you ask people now what happened with that story, almost no one knows. It's like the whole thing just disappeared. Who mailed those letters? Do you know? From Wolf Entertainment, USG Audio, and CBC Podcasts, this is Aftermath, the hunt for the anthrax killer. Available now. The Hunt for the Anthrax Killer, available now. Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com. Here's what I'm curious about. If the Players Association wants to take this poll one step further, is I'd be curious to see, because I think the story of Igor Shosturkin is one,

he anticipates better than any other goalie in the NHL. And two, he's the best skater. You always talk now about goalies that can, you need to be able to skate. And not like, it's the bane of my existence when I see minor slash youth hockey teams practicing and the goalies do the skating with the players. Drives me nuts. Because the goalie skating is completely

different than defensemen and wingers and centers, et cetera, but nonetheless, I digress. Yeah. As far as like his footwork, I mean, Woodley always talks about this, about how his skating is like the elite of the elite in the NHL. I'd be curious if you break it down and have, you know, goaltenders voted on this one,

who's the best overall goalie, and anything with defensemen is voted on by defensemen, centers, wingers, et cetera. But even break it down like, who's got the best glove? Who's the best skater? Like I'd be really curious who goalies think. Because the one thing that I always talk about, you know, there's only one thing that I've ever learned

being in hockey is you can't lie to players. They know who belongs and they know who doesn't. I'd be really curious who the goalies think. Who the goalies think are the real top dogs. Well, you also get into something that's also pretty obvious about hockey, which is that our education and our understanding of the goal-taking position, even in 2025,

even with better stats and better insight and people like Kevin Woodley telling us about the position in ways that we've not heard about it in previous years We still don't know anything about it. Like I mean the average fans understanding of What makes for a good goaltender? What makes for a good goaltending performance? Who's got the goods and who doesn't? Is still minimal compared to the other positions in hockey and we're getting there. It's got a lot better You know my time covering the sport, I've learned a lot more

about a goaltender's bag of tricks, and the way they make saves, situational goaltending, all that stuff, and including the analytics revolution as well that tells us a bit more about the position that we knew before with goal saves above expected and things like that, but you're right. I don't default to ex players

to be the experts on our sport at all times, but I do default to goal tenders to tell us what goal tending is. I think that's where you have to go to really understand the position. And like you said, I'd be fascinated to learn more about the specifics about what makes a good goalie,

a good goalie in this league from those guys. Can I get to my PWHL point? This is the one thing that I loved about this year's players poll. Normally, the default is, who's your favorite player from the PWHL? Yeah, and Poulan wins every year. Or Hillary Knight or like all the headlines, right?

What I like about this, like honestly, I don't know who did, who came up with this part of the poll. This one's great because it recognizes how the PWHL has tried different things in their game and it's the opinion of the players in the NHL Players Association on those changes. Not who's your favorite player. It's, this is what this league has done. What do you think about it? That's way smarter than just, yeah, you're a defender.

You must like, we're not a fast. So almost 30%, almost 30% would like to see the jailbreak goal. That is the penalty ends if you score a shorthanded goal. There is one manager in the NHL, whenever there's a shorthanded goal scored, like it really doesn't matter like which team, I still get a text saying penalty should be over. There is at least one GM who would push this one over the line in the NHL to go for the jailbreak goal.

I love that. The 3-2-1 one point system just over 24% First place finisher chooses playoff opponent, which I've always loved create instant rivalries I we are on opposite sides of that coin. That's just me. That's just let's just make instant rivalries here Let's just let's just admit that these guys are Titanically ordinary and boring and will never take a risk in beating an opponent. Expose. The only time they'll ever do it.

Expose it. Expose it. Major injuries is the only time they're ever going to do it. Someone would probably pick the Devils this year without Jack Hughes, but otherwise they're just going to go by the seating every single time. It's a nonsensical decision to give them that power because they won't use it. That's fine. Expose them. Expose them. Shame them. The shootout rule player eligible at any time to take any number of shots

and as often as that shooting team chooses. Absolutely. But the problem with this is the generation of fans that love the Merrick Malik goal. That's what I was going to go to. I know. but it's antithetical to what the shootout is, which is, you know, a bullshit carnival game that allows star players to create highlights. And so just lean into it. Just have the same guy shoot over and over again. The the the counterargument to Merrick Malik is T.J. Yoshi. The drama of having somebody go over and over again.

T.J. Sochi, T.. TJ Sochi. Jonathan Taves. Goalkeepers area. No restricted goalkeepers area which we don't as trapezoid will be enforced. That was as we've all talked about created for two Mardis Brodur and Turco because those teams had an advantage because those goaltenders could play the puck here's what I here's what I here's hang on here's what I would say about it you know what I think really quickly please if they're gonna enforce a zone where goalies can't play the puck make it behind the net not the corner yeah it's why you want to go go go go in the corners exposing it that's fine but as long as the puck is hot around the net. Not the corner. Yeah. You wanna play it, go, go in the corners, expose the net, that's fine.

But as long as the puck is hot around the net, don't let goalies touch the puck behind the net. When the trapezoid started, like the first season they had it after the canceled season, I thought that was the rule. Like I didn't understand it at the time. I thought the trapezoid would tell you that you shouldn't be able to go inside there and play the puck,

right? Like that made sense to me because going behind the net and playing the puck, if you weren't allowed to do it, it would create a lot more chaos in the offensive zone. And then it took me like a couple of games to realize, oh, that's not what they intend at all. They're telling them, you're trying to take away the stick of Chirko and Brodor. I listen as a Brodor fan, I never liked the trap of the sweat. I never liked the idea that you're restricting

the talent of a player on the ice. Totally. And restricting the areas in which they can play the puck. I have had in-depth conversations, I'll pick up this name after I drop it, with Brian McShanehan, who explained to me why this rule has helped foster the post-cancelled season offensive explosion and, you know, neutered the defensive systems that were strangling creativity out

of the game. That, plus taking away the red line, it all adds up to where we are today. And so we're in such a happy offensive time, it's hard for me to say, okay, well we should, you know, take out the trapezoid and let these guys play the puck again. But at the, at the time, and it'll always be a part of me that doesn't like it for simply restricting the talents of a player who happens to just be better at something than other guys are. So you're saying it's a part of an entire system. You can't just look at the trapezoid in a vacuum. This is part of the no interference, no water skiing, no red line. This is all looked at as one package. It's part of the anti-trap package that they passed. It's like

when Congress passes a stimulus package. This was the offensive stimulus package. And these were all the amendments. The two line passing, the obstruction thing, the trapezoid thing, and all added up to boost the offensive economy, the goals economy, if you will, in the NHL. The jailbreak goal for me is tricky, if I can go back to that for a second. Okay. Because while I love the idea of hyper aggressive power kills trying to score to end a power play prematurely, that's exciting to me. I love an aggressive penalty kill. We have power plays because a player on the offending team did something illegal. And so there's a part of me that wonders if it's antithetical to calling penalties if we are to give the offending party's team a Monopoly get out of jail free card by scoring a shorthanded goal.

Hold on a second. What? Who are you all of the sudden to show your referees union card? That is the argument I always get from officials every single time. No, no, no. The sanctity of that penalty. Serve your time. This is your punishment for this foul Greg was Shinsuke you started this show was that that was the thinnest veil I've ever seen that veil came off quick When it came to the short hand to the goal here Wow card-carrying

You can be in favor of the rule of law and still not like the rulers, okay? You know what I'm saying? I'm saying, listen, I've always argued that in this day and age, as we continue to try to press forward and have as much offense in this game as possible given the talent inherent in the league right now, that the two-minute major-minor should come back, the one that we banned because Montreal scored a billion goals in the power play all the time back in the original six days. Like I'd bring that back.

I would further penalize a team for having taken a penalty. The idea that a guy could elbow another dude in the head, get a minor for it, or hit a guy from behind and get a minor for it, and then his team scores 10 seconds into a penalty kill, and then he's scott free. There's something antithetical to penalty calling in this league if we are allowing that to happen. That's why the PWHL called it jailbreak.

Yeah, I'm aware of that. You've broken someone out of their punishment. Now, I'm clearly biased on this one. When I see this rule, you know what I think of? What? Don Beer Arena. Oh, me too. Don Beer is an arena, that's right,

is an arena in Pickering, Ontario. And I can recall a conversation, I don't think she'd mind if I mentioned this, a conversation I had on the phone with Jane Hefford explaining this to her. Because I got a call from someone saying, we want you to explain this one to Heff. Because this is before they put their rules package together.

And I was sat there with them, my kids were practicing. I sat there in the arena, Don Beer Arena, legendary! Explaining the thought process behind what turned into the jailbreak rule. Now I think it was Haley Salvian who came up with the term jailbreak Now I think it was Haley Salvian who came up with the term jailbreak. I believe it was Haley. Sounds like it.

She's smart. Shout out to Haley Salvian. Yeah. Former in arena host, Sashua Generals. So I think it was Salvian who started, who came up with the name, but I remember talking to Jane about this one. And that's why I was thinking about sitting

in the parking lot at Don Beer Arena in the middle of August or whenever it was explaining the jailbreak rules. I'm biased because I really like this one. Like if we ever get my face off rule in, then it'll be like next level happy boy over here. But I'm glad that there is another league in Europe that is doing the jailbreak and I'm glad that PWHL does it. I'm not trying to come off as some draconian fascist when it comes to penalty calls here. No, you have a fetish for punishment. You have fetish for

punishment. And when you're in the penalty box, the official will put on like stilettos and walk on your back while wearing a leather mask. That's that's how you serve your minor. walk on your back while wearing a leather mask. That's how you serve your minor. And also serve your master. The jailbreak goal though, I'm of two minds of it, which is that, again, I think a penalty call is important. I think people should be, penalty calls and two minute minors, all of it adds up to trying to make the game safer and and that's great But I do love the idea of there being a power kill So I'm not saying that I'm completely against the players who think this would be a fun addition to the NHL I'm simply saying that I will be a detractor. I will be a hater I will say that not having a player serve his full his full a penalty time

having a player serve his full penalty time is sort of deleterious to trying to administer justice in this league as I stand forthright with my brothers and sisters in the officiating community. Okay, so we got a, this is... And by the way, real quick as you look at that note that just came through, I understand that there are people that don't like the 3-2-1-0 point system. And I understand that if you take the current standings and retrofit it to that system, I think only the Rangers benefit. But you can't do it like that. You can't do it in a vacuum. If teams know going into a season that a regulation win is three points, obviously the

standings are going to look a little bit different than with teams playing for the quote-unquote tie. So I never take a pay too much mind to the, well, if the current standings are like that, then it would look like this. Psychologically, we haven't even attempted to do this yet. So kind of like how teams reconfigure themselves if there was a jailbreak rule when they're short-handed Like play your better players on the kill. Yeah, but teams do that anyway, I

Think though, you know, it's funny. That's actually a trend I mean like the devils have been using Jack Hughes in the killer for the last couple see you know what I You know when I first noticed it great the first time I noticed it was Oilers years ago when first PK was always Matt Hendricks and Laurie Korpakowski that the Oilers would always fire out there and then towards the end of the season and garbage time in the season they started to fire out McDavid and Ryan Nugent Hopkins and all of a sudden they like killed every penalty and got like three shots on goal

short-handed., hang on the idea of putting our best players out there. Okay, so Portuguese Walrus, which I don't believe is this person's real name, but nonetheless, Mr. and Mrs. Portuguese Walrus or Miss, let's take it another level. Oh man, people. If a short-handed goal occurs, the situation flips.

The scorer gets a five on four for the remainder of the original power play time. Rewarding the criminal for escaping. Oh, people. I think I think half the chat holds a vigil outside of the Luigi man. So like I it is I never rule of law needs nothing. No, you get rewarded. Not only are you it is, it is the rule of law. It's nothing to anybody anymore. No, you get rewarded! Not only are you free, but here's a bag of cash!

This is... Wow. Unbelievable. That is next to Portuguese Walrus. Wow. Comment d'you en français la première toile, as we say in French, the first star. Well done. One place, one place that I think that the players really nailed it here, although I would flip, I would flip a couple.

And I think I would actually have number five is number one. Who would be a good broadcaster once they retire? I thought that was a good question too. Really good question. Kevin Hayes, number one. Ryan Strom, that's an obvious one. Brad Marshand, yeah, to work TNT with Biz. Pat Maroon, who's on Morning Cuppa once a week. And then, I don't know how much of a secret it is, but my number one is here as number five, Eric Comrie. Yeah. Who might be the, honestly, like that guy

will take all the jobs. Take all the jobs, take all the jobs. Eric Johnson and Marcus Foligno, Nick Foligno could qualify to any of the Foligno Nick Foligno could qualify to Any of the fully knows Mike fully? No, I'll require there are one two three four five six seven players mentioned in this question. There's only one guy that has that

biz shine that like BX in this to him and that's March and like I think yeah March and isn't that grand tradition of guys likeist to him, and that's Marshand. Like I think, Marshand is in that grand tradition of guys like Jeremy Roenick and P.K. Subban, who when they're playing, you're like, oh that could be Art Barkley. Now, as we saw in Roenick's case, sometimes what you hope for isn't what you get.

But Marshand, to me, with his candor and with his humor, I think could be an all-timer as a commentator, if that's where he wanted me to take it. I really do. Yes, I just think that, and I think that Comrie's personality and delivery is completely infectious. He is, it's impossible to not like Eric Comrie. I don't know if you've ever heard him interviewed

or if you ever heard him- Oh yeah, no, I've interviewed him. Or less, he's great. Like I love him with Sheryl Orlesky in Winnipeg, it's my favorite combination of interviews. Oh yeah, Eric Comrie all day long, and Ryan Strom, like all the Stroms, like Ryan, Dylan, even Matthew in the American Lake,

great talkers. Can I note something here? Sure. Can I note something here? Yeah. No European players amongst these seven. And in fact, if you look at the current configuration of broadcasters, do we have one in Lundquist on TNT?

Yeah, Lundquist. I feel like- Well, first of all, you need to stay. First of all, they need to want to stay. Like, don't forget. Stay in the States or Canada. Yeah, they need to want to stay. Like don't forget. Yeah, they've spent their entire careers in North America. Now it's like, okay, I'm going home here. Hank is just like so synonymous with New York City.

You're Henry Klonkis, why would you leave? I know. Tame was Tame was Solani would be great. Yeah, as far as the active guys. There's a dearth of that as far as like people covering the league and also people talking about the league on television. But you're right, they have to stay and they want to and they have to hone their craft. And don't forget, you have to make this bargain to have to stay for a really big pay cut. That's right. Like Hank's going to stay in New York.

Like he's New York, right? But if you're staying like, there's no more $5 million a year. Right. And also like how much of these guys make, if like a Finn goes back to Finland, the, you know, the Kevin BX of, of Liga, you know, covering that, you know, how much are they making vis-a-vis what they're making on like an RSN here? It's a good point. That is interesting. Anything else? Jump out of your free here?

Yeah, one last thing. So they asked the question, which player has the best fashion sense? The NHLPA poll, by the way, this is like close to 700 respondents for most of these questions. Who has the best fashion sense? 15.75% of the vote for both David Pasternak and Austin Matthews, they tie, which means only one thing, Merrick. NHL awards, NHL draft, wherever you wanna hold it, Zoolander model off. I mean, David Paster. And Austin Matthews.

Yeah. One of them is Hansel. One of them is Zoolander. And then we determine who actually wins this category in the poll. Wouldn't you like to see like the opposite of this? Like who's just the sloppiest? I who's, who's the worst. This is all great.

Like, yeah, pastor and Alex got that like awesome, cool. I just woke up and fell into this like $8,000 suit, my hair is a mess and yeah, I'm never gonna drag a razor across my face looks great and Matthews is like done up with the height of fashion. This is all good. We all know about William Nylander, Patrick Liney, love the hats, all of it. But like who's a mess? Like who's the soup on the tie guy? Soup on the tie guy, ill fitting suit guy, guy who thinks he has fashion sense, but in fact does not.

Ooh, that's a good one too. Is dressing like a 1970s basement couch. You know, the NHLPA poll used to have a little bit more sizzle to it. I don't know if you remember this, Merrick, but they used to ask questions, not only like who's the best, but who's not so good. And that extended to like who has the worst ice and things of that nature

They used to have be a little bit more snarky in their in their question selection But they kind of down on that I think to to make it more appealing for people to answer Bell Center had best ice Edmonton number two Yeah Uh, Bell Center had best ice Edmonton number two. Yeah. Who was that? That's fine. Great Bell Center with, uh, who this is from, this is from the 2018 poll. Who is the game's worst trash talker?

Worse trash. It has the worst chirps. Well, apparently what was funny about that question is that Marshaan won best and worst trash talker. I think you didn't understand the question. So yeah, they used to be a little bit more adventurous with some of the answers, but that's, that's, we're, we're in a time of, of, of camaraderie. We're going to get the CBA done. We don't need people talking about who's the worst skater or whatever.

That would be fun though. Who's got the softest shot. Who's got the muffin? Who's firing muffins? Softest shot. Yeah, slowest skater. Firing them muffins. Which goalie is hard to hit? Hang on, which goalie is hard to hit? Speaking of skating, this week's quiz. I was gonna run out the clock. I'm gonna try to run the clock. Oh, look at that 345 Eastern. Oh, Greg, play the music.

Let's play our friend Greg off the stage. I know most of us spend most of our time as hockey fans exploring the NHL edge statistics the stats that are compiled and calculated through the puck and player tracking technology we have now at the National Hockey League I think most of us know these answers chapter and verse by now, but I'm gonna ask you anyway Oh boy, these are questions about this season's performances on the NHL edge stats again You guys out in the listening audience You know all these stats already you spend most of your time figuring out who's skated the longest And these are the stats we all know and love the NHL does a great job promoting them. Mm-hmm

Merrick which forward has skated the furthest distance in miles this season. Is it Nathan McKinnon? Connor Bedard Kyle Connor or Mark Shifely? Who has skated the furthest this season? It's probably the person who's had the most ice time, so I'm going to say Nathan McKinnon. That is correct. Nathan McKinnon, according to NHL Edge, puck and player tracking technology, has skated 292 miles this year. Think about that.

200 and 292 miles. For the Canadians, is it in kilometers? Or is it miles as well? I could have made it kilometers, but I'm the one doing the quiz. Oh, very good. And that would just confuse me. Oh, very good, okay. So you're one for one. Merrick, which defense? Oh the one doing the quiz. That would just confuse me. Oh, very good. Okay.

So you're one, you're one for one. Merrick, which defenseman- Oh, this is the quiz. Oh, this is actually the quiz. Okay, so I'm wonderful. Which defenseman, which defenseman had the hardest single shot this season? So the hardest shot recorded this season. I think I know this one.

Is it Colton, Colton Perego, Radko Gudis, Tyler Myers, or Gustav Forsling? I think it's Tyler Myers. Am I right? Well, you see, you would think being so tall, he could generate a lot of power in a stick, but the answer is Gustav Forsling. I thought Myers cranked one up. Wasn't there one like for a brief spell, like Myers had the hardest shot this year? Am I wrong on that?

Alright, Forzling. At NHL Edge Technology, Gustav Forzling of the Florida Panthers had a shot that registered at 105.05 miles per hour. But Ekblad got busted, okay. Okay. Oh my god, Marius. We're looking in the wrong gym bag here, I think. That is not an indictment of Gustav.

Oh, sorry. Sorry folks. It's all just jokes. Just jokes. All comedy. Just jokes. Hockey jokes. Merrick, which player had the highest top speed of any skater this season?

So the fastest speed recorded like they were a cheetah I think I know this one too Seth Jarvis miles would be as Yanmark or Stephen Stamkos I think it's been TSE and mark it is actually miles would who has fast but didn't speed was 24 mile of 24 miles per hour. So they do these updates periodically at NHL.com. Was there not a time in the season that Matias Janmark had held the record? Zach, can you check that? It was probably roundabouts when Tyler Myers had the hardest shot.

You know, I think it might have been the last time I actually checked these stats moving forward and other people was there more more hockey after December? Zero goals. Was there hockey in January? Eventually somebody gets the most goals after having zero to start with. I don't know if you know how stats work. This is intriguing. So, Matias Jamrak isn't then just frozen because he was fast in November? Someone went faster.

All right. So what is it now? You're one for three. Okay, here we go. Which player scored the most high danger goals this season in all situations, AKA from the goal crease and right in front of it? Most high danger goals.

Vlad Teresenko, because that's where he scores all of his goals, home plate Teresenko. Is it Leon Dreisaitl, Braden Point, Andres Lee, or Jake Gensel? It's gotta be Braden Point. There you go, baby, you're back on it. Braden Point, Andrews Lee or Jake Gensel? It's gotta be Braden Point. There you go, baby. You're back on it. Braden Point, 28 goals.

He's home plate guy too. High danger this season. Because he's part of the move that I always bite on and I always have and I always will. That fake Kucherov one time where he just feeds at the point in the slot. I bite every time thinking he's gonna fire it and he doesn't and I go, damn it, he got me again.

And that's part of the brilliance. Oh, hang on a second here. We have an update from Zach. December 1st, 2024, Yanmarc had it. 24.36 miles per hour against Colorado. Yeah, and there you go. And miles we saw that. You're saying there were more games after December 1st.

Yeah, that's right. That's what you're saying? There were more games after the last time you checked the NHL edge site. Miles Wood saw that and said, I simply must go a little bit faster, 24.82. Finally, you were right on that one. By the way, Dry Cytle second for high danger goals.

Finally, you're right on that one, by the way, Dry Cytle's second for high danger goals. Finally, which team... The goal, along the goal line from the right, on the right goal line from the corner is not a high danger chance. That's just when he scores better than anybody else. Sorry, go ahead. It should be though. It should be because it's dangerous when he doesn't. Finally, which team averaged the highest distance skated per 60 minutes this season? So what I'm asking you is,

every 60 minutes this team skates the farthest. Is it the Calgary Flames, the Buffalo Sabres, the Winnipeg Jets or the Florida Panthers? Every 60 minutes, this team has skated farther than any other team in the National Hockey League. On average. Can I just be cynical? It's gotta be the team that chases the game nonstop.

I'm gonna say Buffalo Sabres. I should say all of the- It's gotta be the team that doesn't move the puck efficiently and has to race around to try to get this thing back. That's why, cynically, I'm gonna say Buffalo Sabres. Well, first of all, every option in all of these answers are all in like the top 10.

So there's no flubbing. Really? All these answers are very accomplished. They all had great seasons within their dopey categories. In this instance, I do wonder if depression plays a role where the Sabres are down so often that perhaps they don't skate as far as they should when they're down like 4'1 in the third period.

Oh, so which team did elevator practice more than any other team essentially might be a better question there for the Buffalo Sabres. According to NHL Edge Technology, the Florida Panthers skate 9.34 miles per 60 minutes. They are the one, the highest distance per 60 this season. I kind of would have wondered about Carolina because as much as it is an analytics darling team, you know, warm up the course in the first period, they really do play a dump game and they play a put the puck in safe areas and chase it kind of game. So I kind of want to, if you said I take the field 32 pick a team, I would of game. So I kind of want to, if you said, I take the field 32 pick a team,

I would have picked Carolina. I would have picked the Hurricanes, but no, see. Again, I realize most of the people in the chat and listening know these stats, like the back of their hands, like Ovechkin's goal record. Like these are the things that we all know and love as hockey fans, how far and miles Nathan McKinnon

has skated this year. But I figured Jeff wouldn't, and that's why this quiz was a great idea. Yeah. Anything to embarrass me is always good. Do you have a thought on Darnall Nurse and Quentin Byfield last night, hearing later on today? Do you have a thought on,

this one feels like either a fine or one. My first thought was a fine I mean, I think you'll get one because there's one game left In the season for the Oilers and giving him one then kind of puts him in the system In case there's another stick foul at some point later on hmm in watching the play I I think a lot probably will have to do with Byfield's health. I mean, he left the game, right?

I didn't see an update on him yet today. You know, I understand Edmonton has some travel considerations. That's why the hearing is going to be at night. But I guess Byfield's health probably plays into it. And then the other thing too is it reminded me of a suspension back in 2023. I say this as a NHL player safety scholar. Andrew Mangiapani on, I think it was Jared McCann,

stick to the back of the neck. No, no, no, this was actually further in the zone. It's not completely a one for one scenario, but he only got one game for it. And I think one of the reasons why I only got one game for it is that they didn't think there was a ton of Of force behind the cross check and if you watch the play last night I don't think there was a ton of force behind the cross check from nurse with like intent to injure. So There might be precedent for a game Um, I know that that darren drager discussing when the trial was trial hearing whatever the trial to happen

Like the idea that there was gonna be a fine I'm probably guessing that's informed speculation on his part. I Still think it should be a game. It's kind of a dangerous play involving the stick But it ain't gonna be anything that would affect the playoff situation for nursing the oilers Let me ask you the same question. I will ask the people in the chat and all the people watching on YouTube and all the people listening on their various podcast platforms. When you woke up this morning, did you say to yourself, today could be a $250,000

day? could be a $250,000 day. Well, I did because I bought my one year old to the pediatrician and I'm like, what will they find that will cost me $250,000? No, but I mean, if when I go back to bed tonight, will I be $250,000 richer? No, I did not. Anyone wake up and go like, this is a quarter of a million dollar day for me I know I didn't you didn't you know who did who Shane right?

Who sits at 19 goals? All right 20 goal threshold for his schedule a bonus $250,000 Seattle faces off against Los Angeles tonight. I Always wondered how that I always wondered how that would feel, like playing knowing in the back of your mind that it's a $250,000 day for me. Now here is one of the,

normally on a game like this, you'd be like, okay, whatever, it's LA Seattle. I'll watch out of curiosity, I suppose, or out of obligation. Or if you're a fan of either team you'll watch. But what I'm going to be watching for is Shane Wright on two-on-ones. Are you not going to be watching Shane Wright? Is there any chance that Shane Wright passes on a two-on-one or do we read into players looking him off on two-on-ones where you know normally guys would try to you know feed guys to get their bonuses. Shane Wright on the two-on-one tonight.

250. Will he refuse to score into an empty net because he doesn't want to earn the bonus that way? 250 000 dollars? I was gonna say one of the great unwritten stories is that these guys all know about the bonuses and what needs to happen for guys to get paid. And that's one of my favorite things about this time of year is like even teams that we haven't even like been in the conversation for a month like the Kraken Lake, they all know and the number of forced passes that would be coming through. What is he doing? Like, you're 100% right, Greg.

Sometimes folks, Greg's got a great pointer. Sometimes late in the season and you see plays, you're like, what the hell was that? There was nothing. Talk about forcing a play. It's to try to get someone their bonus. It is a long-standing tradition in the NHL. The great unwritten story, though, is like, I've always wondered, and I've never asked any of the boys this, is there a finders fee

if I get Shane Wright 250k you get a watch do I get like a do I get 5k do I get a 5k finder fee or juice being the guy that set him up because you know 245 is still pretty palpable that's still you can buy yourself a nice little car with that you can buy yourself a nice little you know pita teres somewhere in the city with that. But I should get a finder's fee if I feed you on a two on one, shouldn't I? Let me let me let me. So Brad May told me a story once. It was the last game of the season. And this is when you could offer bonuses for penalty minutes. OK, and Mayday said he had a bonus was like $15,000 or something

for 300 for 300 penalty minutes for hitting a max penalty minute. Oh my god. Yeah, you get Dude the nhl used to be cowboy Uh, and he had like it was like 300 pims and he was like 10 short or something like that And I guess the officials knew it And so mayday said like by the they're playing against I think it was against hartford And he said like he just started unloading on the referee, like double barrel, give him everything. Cause he's not like, it's the last game of the season, you're not gonna try to go out and hurt someone.

It's like there's summers coming up. So he just figured I'm gonna unload on the referee. He's gonna give me like 10 minute misconduct, whatever, chuck me from the game and I'm gonna get my bonus. And I got to ask him where the referee was, but I guess the referee knew it and just kept smiling at him saying, saying, maybe I'm not going to do it. Brad, sorry. I know you got a bonus. Keep going at me, Brad. I'm not going to, can you, I'm not going to do it. I'm not giving it to you, Brad. And he made it, I got so angry. I got, he said he got so angry. A guy being like 15 away from hitting his penalty minute bonus and then in game 82, he's stalking the ice like Jason Voorhees

trying to get 15 minutes of penalty time. You used to be able to have these, like built into your contract. It's crazy. What a league. What a league. What a league. What a show, what a lot of fun.

You be good. Anything you want to promote ESPN.com wise? This week, two lapsed fans guides, one for hockey, which nobody listening to this podcast will need, but one for the showcase of the immortals, Merrick, the two night WrestleMania 41 happening in Las Vegas where I catch up everybody on the storylines, educate myself as to what's been going on in wrestling because I catch it now and again.

And it's one of my favorite things to write because you really get to get granular and realize how preposterous some of the plotting is to get us to where we need to go. I don't get a chance really to follow it at all anymore. I watch too much, I still go down wormholes. So maybe you can, is Baron Von Raschke, is he still wrestling? He's not wrestling.

Jerry Crusher Blackwell, is he still in the mix? Is he still with us anymore? I don't even know that. I will say there's a rivalry between Charlotte Flair and a wrestler named Tiffany Stratton. That might be my favorite thing right now because they had a title match set for WrestleMania and no one really cared

because they all assumed Charlotte was gonna win. And then they cut an absolute train wreck promo that went off script and had Tiffany insulting Charlotte about her failed marriages and Charlotte saying that Tiffany's boyfriend, a wrestler named Ludwig Kaiser was in her DMs and they've had to like acknowledge it on the air that this thing went off script and was over the line and it's made the match like the most compelling thing of the weekend because you just want to see if these two are actually gonna Beat the shit out of each other because of how things got so personal and that's wrestling folks. It's theater

Completely Paul Heyman Honestly that thing has Heyman written all over it doesn't doesn't it like just in watching it Go, I I am I'm as cynical as you are. I'm as k-fabe as you are but in watching it it it felt Like maybe somebody got a little too agitated decided it to make things really personal Yeah, it's good. It's good times. Okay. Well, we'll look forward to that very nice. Thanks for catching us up, Mr Wyshinski we'll talk to you in set you. You're back next Tuesday, right? Back to the regular Absolutely. It's a pen on the playoff picture. No, no, man. We're doing this every week. No matter where I am I'm probably gonna be local for the first round with Jersey

Maybe take a trip down to to Washington for a few of those games, but it's exciting man I'm like I said, I'm like all the good teams in the league that have gone like, you know Two wins in their last ten like I'm just tired of it. Let's play some playoff hockey already. Let's get some playoffs. I'm with you. Like, I know there's a lot of races and a lot of implications today. I'm going to talk about that in a couple of seconds here.

But yeah, like I'm ready for playoffs now. Like, let's go. I haven't been ready for a while. Okay. You've been good. We'll talk in seven days. Greg Wishings, BSPN. MBSW Tuesdays here on the sheet. Uh, still more show to go here.

What is, uh, Karen Douglas again, wrestling fans go find dark match movie. Friends movie studio made that movie. Chris Jericho is in it. How was the chat today? Every time I looked in, I was laughing as usual. How was chat-a-roo today? Who was, by the way, that person, that's, hang on,

let me go back, Portuguese Walrus. Is Portuguese Walrus still in the chat right now, whoever that person is, if that is indeed your real name? Yes. That's a really interesting wrinkle. Talk about like in Bizarro League, like the one that Merrick puts together that no one goes and watches.

That's a really interesting wrinkle to that one. You get rewarded. Yeah. Not only like the- You're a fan of the Savannah bananas, aren't you? Like that's your thing. Well, my kids are. My kids are.

They're, I mean, they're fun. I just like the idea of them, by the you? That's your thing. Well, my kids are. My kids are. I mean, they're fun. I just like the idea of them, by the way. There's all these scrubs who were told they'll never play and all of a sudden they're the most, they're Harlem Globetrotters of baseball now. And my kids love the Savannah Bananas. I gotta take them to a game.

I gotta take them to a game this summer. I have to, or I'm a bad dad. Double down, find a good time. Ghost Pirates and Bananas. That would be awesome. If I could swing that. If I could go see a Ghost Pirates game and take the kids to the Savannah Bananas. Maybe I'll just move to Georgia. You're gonna get a team eventually, right? NHL team. If they do, part of the, that'll be teams 39 and 40 when we get there, so. I do like the Savannah accent.

I do like the Savannah accent. Maybe I'll, okay. Okay, so what we have still for you here today, ladies and gentlemen, we have some playoff implications tonight. The schedule, as always, there's some empty calorie games when we get it. There's a $250,000 game for Shane Wright tonight

as he sits on goal number 19. Sheet powered by FanDuel. Home of the same game, Parlay. Make every moment more with FanDuel. FanDuel, proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them. So here's the deal. Last home game for the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center tonight.

Slim slim chances for the Columbus Blue Jackets are facing off against the Orange Columbus needs to win this game. The chances are very slim. Last night Montreal could have used two points as I tried to assure everybody, Zach and myself that the Montreal Canadiens were going to close out yesterday against the Chicago Blackhawks, the Chicago Lottery Blackhawks and they couldn't close the deal. Utah faces off against St. Louis at the Enterprise Center. This is the last game for the st. Louis blues last game tonight for the Minnesota Wilds We'll get there in a couple of seconds your boy Robert Thomas with 23 points in his 11 game scoring streak

Minnesota facing off against the Anaheim Ducks at the XL Energy Center knows Eve William John Heinz is sentry saying this game is too important to our playoff hopes here to put Kid in who hasn't practiced with the team. It's a huge game. It's just too much of a risk Chaos people want him in we all saw him play at Denver. This kid's gonna be an NHL er for a long time Just get him in there John Heinz ain't taking

that chance. Minnesota needs to win. It's their last game. Much like St. Louis against Utah. It's their last game. Calgary's got a couple. It's Calgary facing off against Vegas. Calgary's tragic number is three. As Pat Steinberg points out, Nohannifin Patrangelo, Eichel or Hill. Ilya Samsonov starts, Akira Schmidt backs up. I saw that before we came on air. Whoa, okay. Yeah. So what are they calling up like the entire Henderson Silver Knights team here?

I'll just sit down. I don't know. So anyway, Calgary, there's a path for you here you could do it we shall see I mentioned LA in Seattle the $250,000 game for Shane Wright I'm not I want to belabor that point but the other one in the spirit of what we saw yesterday between the Los Angeles Kings and the Edmonton Oilers will it be message-sending night tonight at at Emily Arena young Zach between the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning? I don't I think in a way. Yeah, but the other thing here is that this one could determine some home ice

That's the but but don't think the main like one of the main things here is like a these two teams already have an established We don't like each other. Yeah. And this is gonna be like, let's get in some licks here, especially if one team runs away with it. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I'm interested to see if one team does run away with it, because I feel like this one actually kind of means something. Well, it does.

If it gets to that point though, I'm going to imagine there's going to be some insanity at the end of it. Honestly, even if it is tight, I could see some insanity at the end, just in the closing like minute or so where there's snow on goalies and guys falling down by accidently on purpose. Here's a question for you, and we'll see this tested tonight. We saw this yesterday with Los Angeles and the Edmonton Oilers. Just again, I'm not a scientist so I don't know these things profoundly, but it seems

to me that there are just some games that you know how like around the goalies they paint the ice a different color like sometimes during games like it affects gravity right like players like they fall down like so much faster yeah like I don't I don't again like I'll need someone a lot smarter than me to explain it but like what happens to the gravity when you paint the ice blue because these big strong guys that fight back on checks all and when the ice is white when you put blue on the ice like those big strong guys like they fall down really fast I've never been able to I've never been able

to explain it maybe someone in the chat can explain the physics of this, but I didn't know that when you just painted the ice blue that it did something to gravity. It's bizarre. I've never been able to quite figure it out. Yeah. Maybe we should do some type of study on it. Maybe we got to get the players involved because it feels like there might be something connected like I don't know Maybe we could find something to like Corey Perry Brandon Hegel Sam Bennett I don't know maybe there's something in each of those guys. They've all kind of got I don't yeah, it's it's It might just be a mystery might never be solved in our generation We can only hope for our children's act that one day they may find the cause of this mystery. When you put blue paint on ice, players fall down easier.

By the way, if I was LA this morning, the first thing I would have done was say that Quinton Bifields, day to day, don't know if he can go. Don't know if he can go. Yeah. For further testing. Yeah, we're holding him out to get and then if you do anything, he's on the ice wearing a visor that's like the so tinted. You can't even see through it. Oh, he's like, oh, something happened. It's really affecting him. The guy that shows up in court with like a neck brace and a halo and a wheelchair. Yeah, exactly. To wheel him out for practice. Yeah. Is Quinton available today? No, he's in a dark room in the back.

He can't actually speak. He's still not conscious. You know, light a candle. You know, like Weekend at Bernie's and out there. I feel like... light a candle. Like weekend at Bernie's out there. Just tell us a light a candle. I was telling the story the other day about this is 2017 in the Quebec League. Pierre-Luc Dubois is playing with the Blaineville Bois Brienne and they're playing in the Q final against St. John's. St. John's is just like a freight train. Thomas Chabot, Julian Coches on on the team. Like, it's a really good team. They end up going to the Memorial Cup. But they're getting beat bad.

It's 3-0. And for game four, Joël Bouchard cancelled practice and took the team to church instead of practicing. Can you imagine if for them, what's that message if your coach is like, yeah, we're not going to skate, we're gonna go to church. We're gonna go and pray. That's our practice for the day. We're gonna go pray today, anyhow. Anything before we wrap up? Here's Zachary on a fun show today.

Carter Hutton on Leafs Nation after dark tonight following the game against the Sabres. His old team, his old teams, I guess he was briefly a Maple Leaf. I don't think he ever actually left the state of Arizona to come and join the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he was on the team. Is that one like Olaf Kolzig was a Maple Leaf

for a hot minute? Spencer Newton, by the way, says, like biz on TNT with the neck brace after Marchand verbally accosted him, yes. That was, oh look, Portuguese Walrus is still there. Portuguese Walrus, by the way, might be the star of the chat. Karen Douglas too, that's my old buddy.

We should do, yeah, Greg Wyshynski waning on that one. Yeah, that's good, that's good, that's good. Pat Maroon would be happy to explain. Yeah, there's another one. Maybe you can ask our friend. Maybe you can ask our netminding friend. Now what happens to the ice when you paint it blue? Because gravity just...black hole. We've seen it. Maybe that's it. We've seen black holes. Now we've seen blue holes. All of a sudden just sucks everything in around it. Anyway, I think that's all we have for you today. That's all we have. Do we leave it?

Oh, one of the things, here's something that I'm trying to figure out the answer to, and I can't, but it's picking up on a conversation from Morning Cup of Hockey. Colby Cohen talking about the catapult, and so player tracking right now in the NHL, like none of the, you know, they're not allowed to do it during games, but in practices guys will wear the band and all the information will get sort of sucked up and players will have their performances measured and evaluated. One of the questions that I have about it is, hearing the conversation on MCH this morning, was what happens to that data when a player gets traded? Does that data stay with the team or does that data travel with the player? I called a couple of people who didn't have the answer to that today but I'm on it. My thought is, nickel and dime, players can

ask for that information to be destroyed and teams will do that. I wonder if that's one of those situations where players once they get traded just say like yeah please destroy that all that player tracking information that you have about me and once you request it has to be destroyed I put out but again like I don't know the blue jackets what that is at the end of his time there you think purely to blah ask the blue jackets to get rid of his at the end of his time there I burned all the tape they want anything to do all of that video one website yeah Scrum from the website. Yeah.

I wonder if the PA owns it. Is where I would go. I wonder if they own it and they provide access to the teams about the players. I don't know. Legitimately, I don't know. Is that property of those players? Is that property of those teams?

I don't know. Again, that's for smarter people. Again, I'm throwing out questions, say that I'm asking smarter people to answer for me. The gravity question and now this one. I just sort of use this hour to ask questions and that I'll hopefully get the answers to to make myself sound smart.

I'm on a fact finding mission here for an hour. You know what I want? Obviously they can't do this because they can't wear them during a game But the one thing I'll be really interested in because we always talk about clutch Heart rate in the playoffs like specifically playoffs, so I want to know Four nations over time. What was Nathan McKinnon's heart rate like what was his heart rate like versus? It's a bad comparison because it is in the Four Nations and everyone's obviously on another level but Anthony Cirelli when he went out there and now you have to

dig through this because your heart rates could just be different throughout the game anyways different people different body constructs whatever but like you know a batter goes up, bottom of the ninth, two out, down by one in a playoff series. Who's chill? Seasons on the line. Yeah, what's the heart rate like? Those are the ones that I always just think is interesting.

It doesn't tell you the whole story. It doesn't tell you everything. But it's like a little glimmer, like glimpse into it. You know who I bet had like the most, the lowest, most chilled out, I'm not feeling any of this pressure heart rate Maybe in the history of the game Kerry Price

Yeah, Kerry Price. Yeah, well one things I always loved about price I think I've mentioned have I mentioned this here before one of things I always loved about him during his postgame interviews If you didn't know what happened in the game and just heard him talk you couldn't tell whether the Montreal Canadians won or lost the game right everything was exactly the same. I loved it. I thought it was so cool the way that he was just like wins, losses, move along. I'm a goalie, here to stop pucks. I'm chill. McKinnon also might have been a bad example, by the way, because he could potentially just

want to kill somebody. Yeah. So his heart rate might be going like this out of his chest. But that's like at breakfast. They won six nothing. Yeah, exactly. Don't you get the feeling that that guy's like game seven about like ordering lunch? Like I look at those Tim's commercials with Crosby and I'm just like, there's no way

McKinnon's that chill Crosby. I'm just like there's no way McKinnon that chill I know I know Yeah, but the thing is that I think it would be funny for him where they would be like great take and he turns around He says the director no, it wasn't Sid come on fix your lines Cid, come on! Fix your lines! Um, fix your lines! You have two days to memorize it! One line, Cid! Good lord, man! One thing I want to play here before we go out. You had the clip from last morning from Kappa? Yes.

Okay. Yes, I do. Let's play this real quick. I'm not doing I do actually have a point about this. So this is our dear friend the great Johnny Lazarus this morning. No context on morning cup of hockey. Then I stand corrected. I thought the NHLPA had a problem with that mate, then they they put the Kaibash on that. Kaibash? Yeah. they then they they put the kibosh kibosh on that kibosh. Yeah, never heard that before. kibosh not I've never heard anyone say kibosh.

Okay, so you guys sort of mild raking over the coals for that one. But you know, I thought of when when I saw and heard Johnny say that I thought of my mom. Now my mom, who passed away when I was 16, was an educator. She was a teacher. I still remember my mom telling me one thing, and it stuck with me my whole life. She said, never make fun of people who mispronounce things. Because if they mispronounce something, it means you probably read it in a book. You didn't just hear it from somewhere else and you're aping it back. It meant

that you learned it in a book or you saw it in a book and we should never make fun of people for reading. So even though it was one of these like little moments where it's like, ah, roast Johnny, screwed up a saying, you screwed up a word. No, man, don't make fun of people for messing up words because generally that means they learned it in a book. See, mom, I still remember what you taught your boy so many years ago. And that will wrap it up.

Thanks so much for joining me on the program today. Thanks to Greg Wyshinski for stopping by as he does every Tuesday here on the program. A lot of fun, chat lively. Great to see Karen Douglas back in it. I hope to see you in it as well here. Daily Face Off YouTube channel, three o'clock Eastern for the sheet, Monday to Friday.

Morning Cup of hockey at nine a.m. Eastern with Lows and Colby. Daily Face Off live at noon and then our little act here. Enjoy the games and watch Shane Wright on two on ones. $250,000 on the line. Is he passing it? Would you? The games. I slept 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month I can't get out my head, lost all ambitions day to day, cause you can call it a rut

I went to the dark man, he tried to give me a little medicine, I'm like nah man that's fine And I'm like, nah man, that's fine I'm not against those methods, but you It's me, myself and how this gon' be fixing my mind I do wanna break it I turned on the music I do wanna break it I turned on the music It's enough to battle don't get you sometimes losing

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