The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Now or Never ft. Brian Burke & Jonny Lazarus

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

Brian Burke and Jonny Lazarus join Jeff Marek on The Sheet. Discussing the Leafs, Golden Knights, and Oilers closing out their respective series, Mike Sullivan joining the New York Rangers, the Quinn Hughes saga, Joe Micheletti retiring, and much more...Shout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼JP Wisers: https://www.jpwisers.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👍🏼RVezy: https://www.rvezy.com/owner?utm_source=cross-channel&utm_medium=multi-media&utm_campaign=canadian+hosts👍🏼Budweiser: https://www.budweiser.ca/ca_enReach 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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made easy. Civilian Friday as we like to say around these parts. Welcome to it. This is the sheet for Friday. Made the second playoff picture, second round becoming a little bit more clear. Still a couple series to be decided. Come on Western Conference, let's go. Yeah, game six tonight. In fact, Jets facing off against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise.

That means we're probably going to a game seven. He said cynically, but not wrong. St. Louis is so hard to beat at home. Jim Montgomery has last change. Good luck everybody. Looks like Nicky Lewis is back though. More on all of this later on. And everybody's favorite series, the Dallas Stars, facing off against Colorado Avalanche. That one's going seven as well. Colorado wins last night at ball arena.

Although Miko Rantanen with four points. And yes, his goal was a triangle goal. I always appreciate everybody tweeting me and texting and DM, triangle goal. It's almost like you should have like a triangle goal alert for this property here. Hello to everyone in the chat. Hello to everyone watching live. Hello to everybody in the chat, hello to everyone watching live,

hello to everybody who's listening on your favorite podcast platform. Brian Burke will be aboard this Friday after all, he's coming on at about 15 minutes time, Zach, and also Johnny Lazarus will stop by. New York issues today, Mike Sullivan, new head coach of the New York Rangers officially, and Joe Micheletti, very quietly out of nowhere,

bam, drops this one yesterday, calling it a career, after 19 seasons of calling New York Rangers games. So we'll talk to Laz about that, and we should probably talk to Laz about the future of the New York Rangers, both present and long term. In the meantime, I wanna get your thought on something here. Before we get to the daily outlines presented

by our friends at FanDuel, something that I mentioned on Secaris and Price, which is running right now too, our competitor, something I mentioned on Secaris and Price today that I wanna share for those that didn't get a chance to watch or listen to that excellent podcast. And that is, I was having a conversation this morning with someone from one NHL team.

I always gotta be like super vague about this kind of stuff. From someone from an NHL team today, because I knew I was going on S&P, and I knew they were gonna ask about Quinn Hughes, and I thought they were gonna ask about, and they did, the conversation that me and Wish had on Tuesday about what could a deal for Quinn Hughes look like right now. And it was an interesting conversation I had. I said like, you know, walk me through this from like someone who like works in

management in the NHL. This person is a manager in the NHL. Like what would it look like from both sides? And let me know what you think about this Zach. This person said to me, well, what it looks like right now is everyone gets a million miles ahead of themselves here, as Jim Mutherford has openly mused about Quinn Hughes playing with his brothers in New Jersey. Someone say that put an expiration date on a captain. I digress. He said, look, what you have right now is a classic standoff between two teams. There isn't a pressure point right now.

Quinn Hughes' contract doesn't expire for a couple of seasons, and the New Jersey Devils, if they want to acquire Quinn Hughes now, will play the game of, we're not going to give you anything. Because we don't have to right now, we can wait this out and just get Quinn Hughes in two years. He said if you're the New Jersey Devils one of the issues that you'll have is salary cap space so you'd be looking to get money out to bring in Quinn Hughes and he said if you're New Jersey, you're probably looking at something like Quinn Hughes

for Dougie Hamilton and Simone Nemec. Two defensemen, right? One with future attached and one is Dougie Hamilton, who I still maintain one times a puck better than any other blue liner in the NHL. Discuss amongst yourselves. But from the Vancouver point of view, and this is where the standoff comes, and you can understand the motivation behind both. They want to maximize the return for someone like Quinn Hughes, obviously. You're not going to win a trade. I think it was Sam Pollock who said, you know, whoever gets the best player in the trade wins the trade. Bobby Clark used to always mention that as well. Sure, we may have paid this and this and this but we got the player. He said from Vancouver's point of view it probably

goes something like this. We have one of if not the best defensemen in the NHL. Elite elite superstar like legit capital S superstar. Our fans love watching this superstar play for their favorite team the Vancouver Canucks. If we're going to make any type of deal, man, I wish Wyshinski was on right now to hear this, it would be either Nico Heescher or Jesper Bratt plus plus plus, but that's where it would start. Now, again, you can make the argument that you're not going to win that trade because you're not getting anyone

of Luke Hughes's caliber back. I love Niko Hescher, I love Jesper Bratt. But what Quinn Hughes is to all the defensemen around the NHL, Niko Hescher isn't to the centers and Jesper Bratt isn't to the wingers. That's where the plus plus plus, you know, your prospects, your Selyevs, and your first round picks, etc. come from. But I thought that was interesting, that that's where the

standoff would be right now with what New Jersey would be offering and what the Vancouver Canucks would need. Anyhow, I just thought it was an interesting conversation to have on a Friday afternoon here on the sheet in advance of Brian Burke and Johnny Lazarus. Do you have a quick thought on that one? Yeah, I get both sides of that. The one thing that I kinda had to push back on, like Wish was throwing out some stuff. What was the name he said?

He said the trade won for one? No, come on, Wish. This isn't Larsson Hall. The devils have all the power. I was like, the devils have all the power. I'm thinking of Bobby Mack tweeting that out. But I was like the one thing for me that is interesting in this and where I start to understand that Vancouver

side and where they could start to push back on the Devils a little bit is sure they could wait it out. But there's also like, what is here in two years? What is the goalie look like? You know, maybe who is still on this team? How old are some guys? What is house like some of that stuff? Yeah, obviously guys will still be around and better and more mature and older. But you get two more years out of Quinn Hughes, you get it faster. Then Vancouver can kind of turn around and say, Oh, you want them that bad? Like, let's let's talk. And then's more than Wish's fantasy land, one for one. Right?

I was laughing like I sit behind the scenes, obviously, there. I was just laughing when he said that. And like, talk about Space Cake. Wish was having Space Cake when he sang it. Well, he kinda had... I love him, but he kinda has a dog in the fight as a New Jersey Devils fan Not that he's not realistic about it, but at the same time

Yeah, it's gonna be sizable if you again if you want to make that deal now And maybe Vancouver just says like look no we're keeping Quinn Hughes for the full two years We're gonna try to sign him and if he ends up walking away Then you become one of those teams and say like okay We accept the challenge of trying to replace that player with the salary caps face that he used to absorb. At any rate, that's kind of the way

this one person described it from one team. Anyway, I just thought I'd lob that out there because it's not as if everybody, like anyone listening to this program, anyone watching this show right now, like I'll just be blunt, anyone watching this show right now, like I'll just be blunt, you're not a casual hockey fan. Like if you're invested in anything that I'm doing here

and anything that Zach is doing, like you're a hardcore hockey fan. Like you've searched this out, you've found this, this isn't just like, ah, I'm on the car, I'm flipping through the stations, and oh yeah, I found Merrick's show, oh yeah, whatever, listen. Like you are a hardcore hockey fan,

so it's not as if you are not already having this conversation with all of your friends and buddies. Just thought I'd lob that out as a little bit of context, a little protein shake for you that are having these types of conversations. Anyhow, I digress, we have plenty to get to today. Daily Outline, powered by our friends and presenters here at The Sheet.

And that is of course FanDuel. Make every moment more with North America's number one sportsbook. The Sheet is powered by FanDuel, home of the same game Parlay. Make every moment more on FanDuel, North America's number one sportsbook app provider. And coming up on today's program, it's a biggie for guests. It's Friday and that means Brian Burke. We will talk about Toronto, the advance. I'm not sure if you heard that. The Toronto Maple Leafs are through to the second round. So everyone is calm briefly until they face off against the Florida Panthers. And as Ken Campbell from the hockey news wrote today, the Florida Panthers are what the Toronto Maple Leafs want to be when they grow up. Edmonton Oilers are through. Vegas Golden Knights are through. We'll talk about all of that.

We'll talk about Rangers issues with Johnny Lazarus. One half of the outstanding duo that make up Morning Cup of Hockey, we'll talk about Mike Sullivan to the New York Rangers. We'll talk about game six tonight between the Winnipeg Jets and the St. Louis Blues and game seven tomorrow between the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars. Very much looking forward to all of it. What did you make of that Ken Campbell line by the way? By the way, I love Kenny. He is like the, as we like to refer to him, he's the Pat Verbeek equivalent of hockey media. The little ball of hate. Just love Ken Campbell. We should probably get Kenny on the show somewhere down the road. The

Florida Panthers are what the Toronto Maple Leafs want to be when they grow up. Agree or disagree on that one That's Ken Campbell Like yes, but no because I don't think anybody on this leaves team aspires to play like that if you get what I'm suggesting They can't they think that the management group and the coach would love for them to play that way and in that sense then yes,

that's what they would love for them to be and they grow. They don't have those players. They don't. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That's why I'm saying that his statement on this is flawed because they can't. So like that, what they would like to be,

it's like okay, well, I don't know because I don't think like that that what they would like to be it's like okay well i don't know because i don't think that some of these guys here matthews martin neilander i don't think that they have that in them or they don't play that way that's that's not their game you know the the old line cows don't make ham you cannot expect that team to play like the florida panthers i never heard that line it's. It's a drop that in there. You know that one? No, come on, Zakk, you know that one? Cows don't make ham?

You know that great old saying, Thank you kindly sir, she smiled, but the money on the table, that's for the beer. You know that one, right Zakk? You know that one? No. No, don't. I have no idea. I have not heard that one. The sentiments landed though. I got it. I understand what you're saying. So, I'm at least with you.

Congratulations to the Maple Leafs, 2 to the second round. They'll face off against the Florida Panthers. The Edmonton Oilers, meanwhile. Like that's, first of all, as many people have pointed out, like I don't know what it would be like around Edmonton and around McDavid had they have lost. By the way, Tommy T. writes in, but cows do make hamburgers. Good job, Tommy T. I would not like to think about what would happen. Good job in the chat. I'd like to, I hate to think what would happen with the conversation would be around Conor McDavid and his future had the Edmonton Oilers lost to the Los Angeles Kings.

And if you watch those first couple of games, it was looking like that might be the reality. But you got to tip your cap. You got to absolutely tip your cap to the Edmonton Oilers who came out and showed you what a team of will can do. And holy smokes. Did the Edmonton, after, you know know a brief couple of stumbles in those opening games That is how you close the series That that's another thing with those guys

To where it's like yeah the team of will everybody doing that that starts at the top That's McDavid and dry side all saying wake the fuck up. Let's start playing hockey here. Let's play the right way. Like, let's go. We're going to do it. And we're going to go out there for however long they want to put us out on the ice here tonight. And we're going to find a way to get it done. We're going to find a way to play. So are you going to join us? Are you going to get in line with it? And then they drag everyone else into the fight. So kudos to them there Mark Andre Fleury's career is over the Minnesota Wild Loose for the Vegas Golden Knights And again like much like the Los Angeles Kings there were those

Brief little glimmers and again, Minnesota is gonna be a different team next year looking forward to that now that they finally have the salary cap And again, Minnesota's gonna be a different team next year. Looking forward to that. Now that they finally have the salary cap handcuffs off, playing with house money, you make the argument, but they had a chance there to really grab the momentum and go with it, but Vegas is just too veteran, too good to all of it. And congratulations to Vegas Golden Knights.

Here we'll see what happens with Winnipeg and St. Louis tonight, if that series ends, or if it gets extended to a Game 7. Right now though, this segment presented by our friends at Budweiser. Budweiser is encouraging BUDs to make time for the playoffs, not excuses. Every goal, every check, every win is better enjoyed with your BUDs. Phone a BUD, text a BUD, ping a BUD, and call out their excuses for bailing on the playoffs. After all, the playoffs are the most wonderful time of the year.

Make them count. When it's springtime, it's go time. And on Fridays, it's Brian Burke time. Burke joins us here on the sheet for Civilian Fridays, as we like to call them around these parts. Burke, first of all, how are you today? Good Jeff, how are you? I'm good. Okay, so I got a text from someone. I'm not going to say who the person's name. I'm just going to pull a random name out of the air. Let's just say this person's name was Patrick. I got a text from someone by the name of Patrick, random Patrick, who said, ask Berkey what he would have done if it were his son that pulled the stunt last week With Chidora Sanders. So for those that don't know the Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich his son Jack's

Got hold of Sanders Cellphone number and prank called him pretending to be the New Orleans general manager telling him that they were going to select him in the draft. Again, this text comes from just random name Patrick. What would Brian Burke have done to his son who may or may not sound like him? I don't know. I'll have to check the notes on that one. If his son whose name may or may not be Patrick himself,

had done that to you and got hold of a prospect's cell phone number and called him saying that you were gonna be selected by Brian Burke's team. Beat the snot out of him. I never raised the hand of Patrick in my life. I'd beat the snot out of him and then fired him. Right away, as it happened, Patrick's like, in my life, I'd beat the snot out of him and then fired him. Right away, as it happened, Patrick's like, you got Berkey, you got big Berkey on Friday,

ask him what his response would have been. We've talked before, by the way, about times that Patrick has picked up the phone, and because you're, like vocally, you two are similar, and people have confused the two of you, but I don't know that he's ever actively tried to impersonate you to other GMs. Do you know otherwise?

No, he's never done that. He would know better than that. But my favorite story about that is Slatz called me one day. Patrick answered the phone and said hello, and Slatz went in there ripping me, thinking it was me. He was going, Berkey, you son of a bitch, you did this, you did that, you screwed us.

Finally, Patrick kept saying, Mr. Saylor, Mr. Saylor, finally he said, what? He said, I think you want my dad. Oh, hi Patrick, sorry, come call me. You know, it's funny too. I remember having a conversation, something similar, another father-son scenario. This is with Clark McClain.

So Clark is the son of Doug McClain, former NHL general manager and coach. And this is when he was working with, he's an agent, he was working with Duberman and he would say he would talk to managers and he wouldn't let them know that he was Doug McClain's son. And then a lot of managers would kind of blow him off, beat it, you know, I don't have time for you to be really dismissive. And then he would say like, oh, by the way, my dad says hi.

And I said, your dad says hi, who's your dad? Oh, my dad's Doug McClain. And then all of a sudden everything would change. Like, oh, well you tell Doug that I have all the time in the world for his son. And I just thought that that was kind of funny, Berkey. That's the code though. The code in hockey is you're nice to family, you're nice to friends, you're nice to strangers.

Everyone's nice to everyone. And if you're a jerk, that changes very quickly. But my girlfriend was in some place and people thought her, they'll treat her nicely because that's the code. Same as everyone else's wife or girlfriend. So that's the code. You act with respect. The code. Um, what we're seeing in these playoffs, um,

Berkey, and I haven't had a chance to talk to you since, uh, since this incident. Uh, so last Friday, uh, now Montreal is out and, you know, congratulations to the Washington Capitals. They're onto the second round. They'll face off against Carolina. You know, you could really solidly make the argument that in that series, Tom Wilson was the most valuable.

Like the hit on Alexander Carrier just snuffed out all the momentum that Montreal had in that series. You could make the argument. Do you have a thought on what we saw from Tom Wilson? I know we go into Washington and we'll talk about OV and he's fantastic and Logan Thompson and everybody else on that team, Connor McMichael, but you have a thought on what we just saw from Tom Wilson? He's the catalyst. He was the difference maker in that series and he's a unicorn anyway.

There's very few guys can skate that well, bring that physical element and score goals, kill penalties. He kills penalties for God's sake. He's a very valuable player on their team, had the dimension of the physical size, intimidations factor. He is a unicorn. So I'm not surprised he was a factor. Here's my question for you though, Jeff.

When the fight started by the bench, Jack Eye was tied up with Tom Wilson. Ended up with Josh Anderson. When did that switch happen? I don't know. The fight started with Jack Eye. Oh, you know what? I think one of the linesmen grabbed Jack Eye to get him out of the situation. And then all of a sudden Tom Wilson, and listen, I really enjoyed that. I'm not a big handshake guy, but I really enjoyed the handshake between the two because, Berkey, as you all know, these two have had a rivalry going back to junior hockey.

Like these exchanges between Josh Anderson and Tom Wilson, like this isn't new, and all these two guys find themselves playing against each other in the playoffs. This goes back to the OHL. This is, and it went through the American league and it's into the NHL and this thing continues. Like I like both these guys, but this isn't anything new. Like I'm sure you've, you've, you've, you've seen this before through guys that have,

they started their rivalry in junior and they're going to play it out their entire NHL career because that's Josh Anderson and Tom Wilson. They'll still hate each other in 20 years when they meet at a reunion somewhere. That's a real hatred. Real guys to back it up to. They both fought. They're both good players that have unique skill sets. I might give Tom a little bigger billing. A little bigger shadow maybe, but they're similar players. Do you have a bench fight story in your bag of tricks?

The one that I, and again, like there's no video of this one. This exists only in lore. It is a bench clearing brawl. And I think actually Larry Plo was on the ice and got jumped to start the whole thing. It's in the WHA, Minnesota Fighting Saints and New England Whalers and Jack Carlson and Nick Fatiu end up fighting in the Minnesota,

it's either in the penalty box or in the bench. And I think that someone had their skate off during it. And again, there's only audio of this thing. There is no video. But do you have a fighting in the bench or in the penalty box story that you can recall? I've seen a couple of them, mainly where the guy's on the bench,

he's got his back to the fight. The guy's fighting has his back to his bench and the other guy doesn't want to let him off the boards. He's got him bent over a little bit, like bent back. He's got a disadvantage. I've seen that a couple of times. In general, no. Usually you get away from the bench and start throwing. I fought Paul Holmgren in the summer league. It started on the bench and ended up out at center ice. It started.

It started on the bench. You went out and he challenged our old bench. So I jumped out there to fight him. He grabbed me before I got on the ice, threw me up against the boards. We wrestled a little bit and we ended up right at the center ice. That had a great fight. I didn't do very well. Mother's Day is coming up. Make sure you're calling your mother,

but doing a little more for someone so important is never a bad idea. Get your mom an Aura digital picture frame. Photos and videos are a great way for mom to share and relive great memories. Maybe you got a couple of great pictures you posted on social, and you think she'd like to have that

in a frame in her house. Aura Frames is the way to make that happen. Now we have two Aura Frames, one for our place, and then the other is for my mom, who loves showing off her grandchildren. We use the Aura app on our phones to send her all the latest from the kids.

Trust me, it's a snap. Easy to set up and you can get running with the Aura app in literally two minutes. Aura Frames was named the best digital photo frame by Wirecutter and featured in 495 gift guides last year. Aura has a great deal for Mother's Day. For a limited time, listeners can save on the perfect gift by visiting AuraFrames.com to get $45 off plus free shipping on their best-selling Carver Mat Frame. That's AuraFrames.com. Use promo code SHEET. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout.

Terms and conditions apply. Terms and conditions apply. ACAS powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend. A VP at HBO said no one would ever watch Yellowstone. Stephen King was rejected by 30 publishers. Charles Schultz was told he'd never make a living scribbling, and Missy Elliott was dropped by her label. The stories of famous names, their lesser-known rejections, and the insights those rejections

provide. We regret to inform you the Rejection Podcast. Listen to Season 6 wherever you get your podcasts. Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com. I was going to say respectfully, Brian, what were you thinking? Well, you're telling us our bench. It wasn't like I had a choice. I looked around and it was the only guy standing up.

So, he said, you want to go? I said, sure, back up. He backed up a couple feet and off I went. It was a bad business decision. Nonetheless, at least you weren't one of those guys that, you know, the going gets tough. And what's the old saying? The going gets tough and he cuts

his skate laces. Like, you weren't that guy. know, the going gets tough. And what's the old saying? The going gets tough and he cuts the skate laces? Like you weren't, you weren't that guy. Good on you for that one. The Toronto Maple Leafs, we haven't really parked much time to talk about this yet. The Maple Leafs beat the Ottawa Senators in game six, double them up four to two and they win the series in six games. Was there anything in that six games

with the Ottawa Senators that leads you to believe that they have a chance against the defending Stanley Cup champion, Florida Panthers, who took care of the Tampa Bay Lightning in five? I saw nothing. I only respect the Ottawa Senators before we move on and talk about Toronto. Ottawa deserves a lot of credit. They did a great job. They had a great finish to the year. Yep. Had a great series against Toronto. Ottawa deserves a lot of credit. They did a great job. They had a great finish to the year.

Had a great series against Toronto. So good job by Travis and Stevie Stahaus and Dave Poulman. Great job by Brady Kachak. Well done, gentlemen. But I will say, I thought all along, I said last week or the week before, I thought Toronto could go right to the conference finals. I'm not so sure after watching that series against Tampa, Florida is real.

Florida's, uh, Florida's real and Florida is scary. Like, you know, I was, I was telling the story earlier on this week about, you know, Dave Semenko was saying to Marty McSorley, who wanted to fight every night and Semenko just said, no,Sorley who wanted to fight every night and Semenko just said, no Marty we're not doing this every night and he walks into the room one day and he sees Dave taping his wrists up and Dave says to Marty, Marty every now and then we must remind them and tonight we're going to remind them and I look at the Florida Panthers and what they did to the Tampa Bay Lightning and how they did it and how they just played

however they wanted, they were rough. They took suspensions, didn't care. They're just rolling through. I just can't help thinking of myself, Berkey. This is the Florida Panthers reminding everybody how they play and how good they are at it. Agree to say. Just about every goaltender has demonstrated some warts in these playoffs, but not Bob.

Bob's been doing that one bad period, maybe. But Bob's been great. So they have the great goaltending. The systems play as flawless, Paul Maurice. But like you said, they got bites. They don't care. They're up four or two. They're down four or two.

They're playing the same way. Running people over, intimidating people. It's gonna be hard. Now, I think Toronto has some, a good physical element of their own. They don't seem as mean or as ornery. I was gonna say, in a series like this, Florida and Toronto,

and we've seen these two teams match up before, the one thing that the Maple Leafs are very familiar with, but are not familiar with in a Florida Panthers uniform, is Brad Marchand. And listen, Marchand was injured, we didn't see a lot of him down the stretch, clearly after the trade, but all of a sudden now,

you take the Florida Panthers defending Stanley Cup champions and add Brad Marshann to the mix. Like it's a frightening proposal, Berkey. Well, he brings a nasty element, but he hasn't shown that yet. He's just showing he's a really good hockey player. Couple of great assists, really heads up plays.

He's a smart hockey player. He doesn't need that element yet because they've got it without him. But he'll show up when it comes time. So it's a real addition, no question. And Seth Jones has been amazing to me the first couple of games. Yeah.

You know what's interesting about that too? There is always the, and this is why sometimes, and you can speak to this better than I can. There's always that idea. It's really tough sometimes to evaluate players that are on bad teams. And when Seth Jones went from Columbus to Chicago, this is still while Chicago had designs on being a good team,

and then next thing you know, everyone's getting fired and the rebuild is on, and Seth Jones finds himself stuck in Chicago. It's really tough sometimes to evaluate a player when they're in that situation. Like if you're Bill Zito in this scenario, Berkey, how are you evaluating Seth Jones on a really bad Chicago team? You're making a gamble on what you think you have.

I think you can get this player. They knew him. They had him early on. They believed in him. They weren't concerned about what you was showing. I said two weeks ago I said I'm really sick of losing. I said on this show I think Why don't you just do more than to turn around and whine about it? I take my words back. He's doing it This guy just needed a chance to get on the right stage

And he's been excellent Your thoughts on the Oilers. They beat the Kings last night, six to four. They win the series in six games. Listen, early this was looking like all of a sudden it was role reversal. And the Los Angeles Kings were gonna roll the Edmonton Oilers.

And there were gonna be all the questions about McDavid in the future and the net mining and everything. Next thing you know, they get a couple of lucky bounces and the Edmonton Oilers did not take their foot off the throat once it was placed there. You ever thought of McDavid and company? Yeah, I picked LA to win that series. I went up 2-0 and I was feeling pretty good about that. But I should never bet against Connor and Leon. You should never bet against those two guys.

What they did was remarkable. They were down two nothing, getting outplayed badly. They turned the tide single-handedly. Now, I like the supporting cast guys did a real good job. I think the guys that were on Bander can't help. I always drop blank on the guy they got from Boston. Trent Frederick. Trent Frederick, he was helpful. They got some, you know, you're going to have to get a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a single difference in my mind. Let me ask you about Corey Perry, since obviously you had him in Anaheim. Did you have any sense that he was going to still be doing this in 2025 when you were winning the Stanley Cup with him in 2007?

No, because they're all gone, but Corey, they're all gone now, but no, I didn't think that. I thought he'd play a long time. I thought it'd always be a pain in the ass because that's what he does But I didn't think he'd play this effectively this long. He's not done yet in my mind I'm with you on this. I think and I and I love it like I love the players that this is why I love Yeah, that's why I love Peter Forsberg even though like he wasn't the same Peter Forsberg We all knew I like the guys that are no, you have to drag me off the ice.

Like as long as someone's going to pay me to play hockey, I'm going to play hockey. And that's Corey Perry. And you're right. He's still effective in the playoffs. He still is. He takes the league minimum to play another year. Have a chance to win. That's the way he is.

Yeah. I love the guy. I love him as a competitor. I love him as a teammate. He was a great player for me and I had him as a baby, right? I had him his first and second year. Yeah. So I didn't have him very long but he was really effective for us. Big headline this morning around the New York Rangers, Mike Sullivan, who I know you admire, named the head coach of the New York

Rangers. As we said,, Mike Sullivan was gonna be unemployed for as long as Mike Sullivan wanted to be unemployed. And it wasn't very long, he finds himself in the Big Apple. Your thoughts on the move today by the Rangers? I heard all this about three days ago, so I'm not surprised. I'm sure there's no tampering because the league doesn't allow that.

But I think if they have permission with Kyle and Chris Turley, they have permission. They don't need, they can tamper all they want with permission. So I think it was probably done right. This was a sensible, logical result for Pittsburgh and for the Rangers. Good for Sully. He's a good coach. He's the most prepared.

His teams, when I worked with Sully, his teams were the most prepared teams I'd ever seen. One thing he did really well, so good guy, happy for him, but I can't say too much more about that, not till he's alive first. Let me ask you about Rick Tauket, speaking of coaches, because it's been a little while here, and now the Vancouver Canucks are looking

for their next coach and Rick Tocket will either find a new spot behind an NHL bench or Rick Tocket will go back to TNT and entertain all of us. Were you surprised though? Again, like I don't know what's going on in Rick Tocket's private life, his personal life. I don't know why he made this decision. So I'm not going to cast any aspersions whatsoever. But were you surprised that Rick Taukett stepped away?

No, and I won't cast any either. I'm a big fan. I think he had very personal and very sound reasons for leaving. I never question a person who comes out that way. To me, I heard these rumors back in February. He wasn't going back. And Jimmy Rutherford seemed very disappointed in his press conference. I know I made a very big financial offer to get him to stay. So it wasn't money. Wasn't control was he wanting to get back farther away from the West coast and coach again.

You'll have his choice of opportunities. He's a good coach. It's unfortunate it didn't work out but the one good thing that you got to remember is Jeff, the acceleration out Sullivan's gone. You know it's like musical chairs. One chair is occupied. That's gonna accelerate. This whole process with seven vacancies. This whole process will be accelerated now. Seven and counting as teams get knocked out. You know it is interesting too right right now there's as you mentioned all the vacancies around the NHL. When you went through this

as a manager I'm sure you had your sort of hierarchy of okay these are the people we need to talk to and they're gonna not all of them we're gonna have a have a chance with because they're gonna sign with other teams. Like walk us through what happens with, well even Vancouver right now. Like Vancouver's looking for a coach. Brother for the other day says, look we don't wanna drag our heels on this one.

We need to solve this one fast. Walk us through this from a GM's point of view. Well what you do is you do your list first off. You find out you got some young guys, you're an American league guy, maybe you wanna look at. Got some young guys who really like out you got some young guys, American League guy, maybe you want to look at. That's some young guys who really like you have veterans to your lobby, let's back them hopper. You assemble your list, you start doing your due diligence and research, and you bring in a longer list interview, maybe maybe seven, eight guys. Hopefully some women at some point,

they're bringing a list of seven or eight to some longer interviews, probably on the phone, to start with, then get to your short list. We're trying to identify the systems that play, the way their personal orientation is in terms of how they use people, how much leadership group uses, and so on. So you do a lot of research. Now, if you do your proper research,

I research guys all the time, interview people 365 days a year. I bump into a coach at a coffee shop. I talked to him for half an hour. I go to a junior game an hour early and talk to the coach for half an hour. I was interviewing all the time. So a couple of times I only hired one guy. I only interviewed and hired one guy, Mark Cropper, Manculver, Brad Shaliving and Calgary, as his GM. So that's the process you use, you whittle it down. The players come with lots of handouts now,

lots of written materials. Sure. Let me ask you one final question. I'll let you get on with your afternoon. We've seen a couple of Jim Rutherford press conferences recently, and Jim's not shy about telling you how he feels. My one big takeaway from all of it was that whether you like what Jim says, whether it gets him and the Vancouver Canucks in some kind of trouble,

I always admired people that, you know, respect you enough not to give you a bullshit answer. Like Jim Rutherford, you ask him a question, he will give you an answer. I know there's some GM pressers that we've seen in the last couple of weeks where fans of those teams have come away frustrated or not satisfied or felt like, you know,

their manager's not being forward with them. No one would accuse you, Brian, of ever trying to BS the fans. Like you're the same way. You ask Brian Burke a question, he's going to give you an answer. When you would go into these end of the season pressers, how much in your own mind did you say to yourself,

this is how much I'm prepared to give? This is what I am going to say? Or do you just react to the situation? Well, Chris Brumwell was our PR guy in Hartford, or maybe not Vancouver. Alex Gilchrist was my PR guy in N.I. And before we had a press conference like that, they would bring me in and brief me.

Here's what you're going to get asked, here's what you're going to get pushed on, here's what people are saying that you won't like. So they would bring me in and brief me. Here's where you're going to get asked. Here's where you're going to get pushed on. Here's what people are saying that you won't like. So they prepped you for it. So you had some sense of what they're going to say. So very seldom do you get an out of the off the wall question. Like, what about this? So if your PR guy does his job, you're ready for that interview.

You have an answer. Even if it's an angry one, you have an answer ready. I don't mind coming up as angry How Jimmy is Jimmy Rutherford? Yeah, it's like I was You ask a question. I'm gonna give you the answer. Do you like it? I could give a rat's ass Mm-hmm. I love it Berkey get back to your afternoon. Thanks as always for parking time here on civilian Fridays As we like to call it. And I will share your answer with the the mystery

Patrick who sent in the text earlier on this week. You be good, Berkey. Take care. We'll talk to you in seven days. See you. Thank you. Here he is. Brian Burke. I love it. From, register random name there, Zach. Just Patrick. That's all. What would you do if your son did that? By the way, I do have something from the chat. TageFan7272, Merrick hasn't talked about the Americks, that would be the Rochester Americans, folks, the Americks winning and Levi getting back-to-back shutouts. So first of all, that was a tough series.

That was a really tough series against Syracuse. And the thing about Syracuse is they're older and tougher. And like they spent the entire series running around trying to hurt a younger Rochester Americans team. Oh, who was the defenseman that ended up getting just getting caved in in that fight? Oh it was a really tough one to watch too. The defenseman that played with Patrick Wa in Quebec. Oh he's on the Rochester Americans. I'm blanking on the name. Hang on a second here. Hang on. Hang

on. Now it's gonna bug me. This is a little peek into my life here, folks. So it's a kid that played deep for Patrick Wa in, uh, in Quebec. Oh, what's his name? What's his name? Uh, Komarov, Vesuvold Komarov. There we go. Phew. Uh, so we got in a fight and got caved in, but like that was the story of the entire series. And you know, listen, like Levi has been

outstanding. I'll give you I'm gonna give you one thing here so I'm trying to find out I was told that the playoff mask that Levi has is an all-timer like an all-timer and so I'm gonna spend part of my weekend trying to find out what this person meant when they said Levi's playoff mask for the Americks is an all-timer. I am going to, I'm glad, I'm glad this was brought up in the chat because I'm going to find out what it means that there is an all-timer mask in the American hockey league. What's happening with Laz?

Komarov, thanks to you, Stan Komarov, yeah. He got caught in traffic, so he can either call in via phone. Yeah, let's just have him call in. Video, okay, or he can- Put it this way, put it this way. Laz isn't pretty enough that we need to have him on video. Brian Burke's pretty, so we want him on video.

Laz, don't take this the wrong way, bud. You're not proud enough that we need video. Don't worry. You don't got to shine it up. You don't got to put the Mac 30 on like your buddy Jeffy here. Don't need to do that one. So while we wait for Laz, and thanks, TejFan by the way in the chat for that question. I am gonna try to find out what that means by the old timer.

In the meantime, let's do the crispy inbox. Time now for the crispy inbox presented by the Ninja Crispy 4-in-1 portable glass air fryer. Hit it, Zach. Meet the first of its kind. The Ninja Crispy portable cooking system. The power of a full-sized air fryer Meet the first of its kind, the Ninja Crispy Portable Cooking System, the power of a full-sized air fryer in the palm of your hand

so you can cook big or small batches. Just prep it, crisp it, serve it, and store it all in one. Laz is too busy for us. I'll give you a call. It's an all in one. I'm gonna say that next time you ask me to fill in on Kuppa. I'm walking the dog, I'll just do it on the phone.

It's an all in one system that includes four quart, six cup tempware glass containers and two storage lids. How do you think that would go over? What? I just see Vic screaming at me. The Ninja Crispy is thermal shock resistant and can go from frozen to crispy in minutes. With the Crispy Power Pod you get the power of a full sized air fryer in the palm of your hands. The 4 quart container fits 4 pounds of chicken or veggies. Cook a personal sized meal in 7 minutes in the 6 cup container.

Max Crisp, bake, air fry and re-crisp with the Ninja Crispy. You can prep, cook and store anything from crispy favorites to one dish meals. Visit their website in the link in the show description and stay tuned for your chance to win a free Ninja Crispy. Looking forward to that. So what is in the crispy inbox? And by the way, the way to get in here on the program, random comments, thoughts, questions, all of it, the sheet at thenationnetwork.com.

That is the sheet at then nation network.com that is the sheet at the nation network.com yes today this one is from Michael he says hey guys there have only been only ten players in history to have the waiting period waved for the Hall of Fame induction the last being Gretzky in 99 the hockey Hall of Fame said after Gretzky that it wouldn't wave any more players unless, in quotes, under certain humanitarian circumstances. My question is, if any, who is slash are the next players you see with the potential for this to happen again? Michael. Right now, none.

None of them fit the, under certain humanitarian circumstances. To that, one of the things that I think people found pretty distasteful was how long it took Pat Burns to get into the Hockey Hall of Fame. And he didn't get into the Hockey Hall of Fame until he had bluntly died. Sometimes there are petty rivalries and feuds that keep people out. And I found that one, and I think a lot of us did, found that pretty tasteless, how he wasn't able to get into the hockey hall of fame

until he passed away. One of, so short answer right now, none. And Pat had cancer. The short answer, no. One of, one hockey hall of fame story that I think is worthy of note. And I don't know how many people know this one. Certainly if you're interested in hockey history you'll know it. So the Hockey Hall of Fame, so

when you are inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, the induction ceremony used to be men only. Only men were allowed to go. And Ted Lindsay, when he was granted passage into the Hockey Hall of Fame, Ted Lindsay said, if I can't bring my wife I'm not going. And they said the rules of the rules, rules of the rules. So Ted Lindsay, for his Hall of Fame induction day, didn't go. Said, if I can't bring my wife, I'm not going. And so Ted Lindsay in the Hockey Hall of Fame never attended his induction ceremony. You know what happened the season after?

They changed the rules because of Ted Lindsay. There's a lot of reasons, by the way, you don't have to be a hockey historian, you don't have to get too deep into it, this is where I live. There's a lot of reasons why every player in the NHL should tip their hat to Ted Lindsey. Ted Lindsey was one of the first players to start mentioning and actively working towards a players union, that was Ted, that was Ted Lin, and he paid the price. His career, he paid the price for it. And he made that sacrifice for all the players who enjoy lovely contracts right now for a number of different reasons. Ted was that guy.

And also from the hall of fame, uh, it used to be just the boys club. It used to be just men invited until Ted Lindsay said, if I can't bring my wife, I ain't coming. And he lived up to that the next year after they changed the, they changed how it worked. So anyway, that had nothing to do with the question. I just wanted to throw in that Hockney Hall of Fame story after I, because bluntly the answer to the question for me

is like, none, I love Sidney Crosby. I wouldn't wave. Love Alexander R Crosby. I wouldn't wave. I love Alexander Ravitchkin. I wouldn't wave. Like for nobody right now, for the automatic waiting period. Anyway, speaking of waiting period, we've made someone wait. Someone who we said, let's just take him on the phone

because he's not pretty enough to be on video is Johnny Lazarus. He's coming to us courtesy of JP Wizers. JP Wizers, this segment or presentation of JP Wizers proudly Canadian celebrates the moment with a limited edition Stanley Cup bottle, the perfect match for you and your game night crew because the playoffs are best enjoyed with great whiskey and good company. Now you and your friends can lift the Stanley Cup bottle for Canada with JP Wizers, the official whiskey of the NHL for 165 years.

JP Weiser's has been woven into the fabric of Canadian celebrations, bringing people together to raise a glass to the passion and pride that fuel Canada's game. The one and only Johnny Lazarus joins us now to talk about all things Ranger, both on and off the ice. Johnny Lazarus, how are you today, my friend? I'm great and I didn't want to keep you waiting so I decided that the phone might have been the best place. So you didn't keep me waiting. Thankfully you have a wonderful producer and Zach who probably hasn't slept in the last 10 days. So credit to Zach for being on the money. And my producer on our morning show is already looking to go to Florida and take a few days.

Yeah, Zach's right. Johnny, after last night Zach is not only still awake but he's still waiting for the swelling to go down too. He's also waiting for me to answer his text chirping Shane Pinto which I haven't done. Let me just, you know what, let me just cut those. We've seen Shane Pinto on your program before as well. And you have a quick, before we get to everything Ranger here, just a quick thought on not this series, but just a thought on the Ottawa Senators.

You know, Burke, he was on a couple of seconds ago saying like, listen, you know, Bravo to Travis Green and Steve Steyos. I'll throw Michael Landlour into that mix as well. Who's really as an owner has helped turn things around with the Ottawa Senators, Brady Kachak and Shane Pinto, etc. Do you have a quick thought on what we just saw from the Ottawa Senators? Yeah, listen, I think when we talk about teams like Ottawa, Montreal, not as much Minnesota, but these kind of teams that are in the first round, Minnesota does not actually fall in that category at all because they have lost like eight years in around the first round.

But when you see these young teams get their feet wet in their first playoff series, it's easy to talk about moral victories. And I'm sure neither organization right now is interested in talking about moral victories. But for the Ottawa Senators, I think they put pride back into that logo when they may have lost that for the past few years. Ottawa somewhat became, I don't put pride back into that logo when they may have lost that for the past few years. Right.

Like Ottawa somewhat became, I don't want to say a laughing stock, but when people talked about the Ottawa Senators, like they were the butt end of a joke for most of the time. Right. So, um, you know, I'm not sure how they really have that. Like it was Ottawa, Buffalo, Detroit, right? They were in the little triangle teams that needed to, to make some noise and get to the next step.

So I think for Ottawa, especially the talks this year about Brady Kachuk and how he's unhappy there and blah blah. You can see how much Brady loves that fan base and I think that's important too. So for them to have that sense of pride back in their logo, back within the organization, and to get that feel of playing off-court again, I I think you just gotta tip your cap and be happy for that group, even though they came up short on what could've been really historic comeback too in the playoffs, which I was rooting for and I'm sure everyone outside of Toronto was rooting for.

So I'm really happy for those guys. And I haven't texted Shane or anything yet, but you know, you wanna let it sink in a little bit before you reach out to those guys. But I'm sure looking back on it, he'll be pumped that he got to experience it. ["The Big Picture"] Get your mom an Aura digital picture frame. Photos and videos are a great way for mom to share and relive great memories. Maybe you got a couple of great pictures

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Hopefully see you soon. A hundred percent, they didn't feel like it last night. They won't feel like it today, but over the next little while, weeks and months, they'll realize that this isn't the end, it isn't the beginning. But as Churchill once said, this is the end of the beginning for the Ottawa Senators. That's where it's at right now. And to your point about the Montreal Canadiens, I just loved having that arena back in the

playoffs. I can't stop talking about how great it was to have him hitting the bell and back in the playoffs. Like what, first of all, what a great year for that building, whether it was Four Nations or the couple of games that we got to see and the bench clearing brawl, not bench clearing brawl, but brawl on the bench between Josh Anderson and Tom Wilson.

Like just a quick thought on what a great season it was for that building, Johnny. thought on what a great season it was for that building, Johnny. Yeah. Um, you know, also I should say I'm at my destination, so I'm parked now, Zach, if you want to turn the camera on so big Willy Stiles can chirp me, you're you're more than welcome to, um, but with that said, I think, you know, for going from four, four nations to, to playoffs and, you know, I, I got a lot of crap for it, um, an early March when I tweeted, you know, when Montreal started their run,

I was like, this building deserves playoff hockey, right? Like sometimes you got to appreciate, um, you know, inspiring hockey and fans that crave something they haven't had in a long time. Cause you think back to Montreal and you know, everyone knows this. You think back to Montreal's like last playoff, um, run, they were in the cup final, but it was COVID and there was no one really in the building. So for them to experience Four Nations and what that Saturday night brought to hockey, like that was probably a top two, not too, sport event I've been at, you know, in my life, USA Canada, that first meeting.

And for them to get, you know, a playoff win at home, that game three, I'm sure, was an unbelievable feeling for Montreal Canadiens fans and to have that taste again. And you see people not only inside the Bell Center, but outside the Bell Center also, right? The scenes outside the building were insane too, just as sane as it looked inside. So any hockey fan loves seeing that. Okay. We've got the video going. Ladies and gentlemen, I'll introduce him once again. There he is. Don Juan too many, Lance Romance, our very favorite and the one and only Johnny Lazarus. Okay, let's get on Rangers issues.

Listen, like the worst kept secret, like the worst kept secret around the NHL, Mike Sullivan was gonna end up in the Big Apple. I know there was a little dalliance and a little uptick of interest with the Boston Bruins, but this was gonna be the Rangers from day one. Like when the split happened between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Mike Sullivan, they were, you could draw a direct line, you know, between the, you know, PPG paint Serena and Madison Square Garden.

I'm guessing you weren't surprised at all. No, I'm not surprised. I'm sure your next question is going to be how I feel about it too. And honestly, I'm not really moved. I don't know if that's I don't mean to say that like in a in a negative way But right now the concern for me with the Rangers is the roster that they have in place like Mike Sullivan He is he's a phenomenal coach and you could bring in the greatest coach in the history of the sport to come in and coach The New York Rangers right now but I have a bad taste in my mouth from what the season was. And I think a lot of fans probably feel the same. And the last two coaching hires, going back to Gerard Gallant and then Pierre Lavillette,

were also where Mike Sullivan is. And granted, those two coaches aren't who Mike Sullivan is. But at that time, Gallant was just the number one guy based on resume and Lavillette was probably the number one guy based on resume. So right now Mike Sullivan becomes available. He then becomes the number one target for coaches right and he's the best guy based on resume and the Rangers don't want to miss out on getting a guy like that which they shouldn't. You know like if you pass on Mike Sullivan it's probably pretty foolish but at the same moment you know the last two coaches while they had success in that first year it turns out they weren't the right fit to get them over the hump. So I'm not gonna sit here and say Mike Sullivan

is gonna for sure win the Rangers or Stanley Cup. Will he be a good coach? I hope so. Will he be the right coach? I won't know until the puck drops come October. So I'm not gonna sit here and say he's the best man. Here's what I wonder about, cause I'm with you,

like I always look at these situations and say like, is the problem coaching or composition? But the one thing that I wonder about with the New York Rangers, because we've seen before when this team sort of hits its stride, it's pretty beautiful to watch and like they can string together games and a lot of it helps when you have Igor Shostryk in between the pipes. I get that.

But what I wonder about with Mike Sullivan, and I still think there's going to be some roster tweaking. Like, look, there are some Rangers that underperformed. If he can get Mikas Abanajad back to what we think Mikas Abedinajad can be. Awesome. Ditto Chris Kreider, um, Adam Fox, and even with the four nations didn't have an Adam Fox style season and we've all taken plenty of wax at the Keandri Miller pinata all season long.

I think the question to me is now that you have Sullivan there, like this is one of the best coaches in the NHL, does it lessen how much tweaking Chris Drury has to make to the roster? Like you could have made the argument that if they kept stuck with Lavley that he had to do major reconstruction. Does this change anything for the GM? No, I still think you have to do major reconstruction. And let me pull a Jeff Merrick and say, I'm happy you brought No, I still think you have to do major reconstruction. And let me pull a Jeff Merrick and say, I'm happy you brought us. I'm happy you brought us. Because you know my trick.

You know my transition tricks. Yeah, well, it's actually one that I like a lot. But you mentioned Adam Fox, right? You mentioned Four Nations and Adam got a lot of criticism for how he performed in Four Nations. Well, who is the head coach that decided to demote him after one period in the Four Nations? Yeah, that was Mike Sullivan. You know, I don't know what that does to a player-coach relationship. I'm sure, you know, they spoke about it throughout that tournament and I'm sure that'll be one of the questions that comes up in Mike Sullivan's press conference,

which we still don't know what day that's going to be. But a question that I have is, you know, in your decision to demote Adam Fox, what did that do for your communication with him in those 10 days? Right. And then, and what is your plan for him? Obviously, he's the number one defenseman here for them. Like he is, he's the number one defenseman in this organization. But, but that's going to be kind of pause on that. Okay. Pause on one second. Yeah. But that's up to Adam Fox. Like if, if I'm anyone on that team, or I'm Adam Fox, I'm saying to myself, listen, I understand you're going to ruffle a lot of feathers, but this is a coach that'll do anything to win. And he's not worried about my feelings. Like,

isn't that more on Adam Fox than it does on Mike Sullivan? The Four Nations part or just in general? No, just like how you're going to react to it. Like this sort of like strained relationship. Like if you're Adam Fox, you're sour about the whole thing. Absolutely. But I'm sure like listen, Adam Fox has played hockey his entire life. He understands the dynamic. He has to understand that the coach's job at that point is not his feelings

and his relationship with him, whether he knew there's going to be the coach or not, but it's to do whatever it's going to take to try to win at the four nations tournament. But they didn't win. No, they didn't win. Of course they didn't. Right. So I mean, yeah. And I think with, with the whole Fox four nations thing, it's a separate

conversation we can have, but like, do I think Fox deserve the demotion? No. Do I understand why? Renske deserved the promotion. Yes, so I think those are two different conversations to have But knowing what Adam Fox brings to a team his number one strength is being a power black quarterback So when you take that away, you know His game is not gonna be as impactful and I think you know that was one of the bigger reasons why we saw him underperform a little bit at Four Nations

because his greatest strength, he wasn't really put in position to succeed in. Off the ice, surprisingly, and no previous knowledge, no tipping pitches, no nothing. Joe Micheletti calls it a career. And we followed Sam Rosen all season long and we all have our, our memories of the great calls. Um, it's like, I, I, that voice is synonymous with the New York Rangers for a number of

generations of hockey fans, yourself, I'm guessing included in that. Like when you see the New York Rangers, that's the voice you're going to hear. Um, and Joe Micheletti, you know, Sam and Joe, we knew Sam was going, we didn't know Joe was gonna go. He was, as a player, he was a really solid guy. He was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens,

went to the WHA, played for Calgary, played for Edmonton where they made him a winger with Bill Flett, played with Cowboy, back to the NHL with the merger, played on a couple of teams, St. Louis and Colorado, and then had, with the Blues and now the Rangers, a stellar broadcasting career. You know Joe Micheletti, I know Joe Micheletti.

I have never had anything other than amazing encounters with a very professional broadcaster, Joe Michaletti. Looked you in the eye, shook your hand, knew your name, like all of it. Like all the things that we want our kids to be as far as like professionals, that was Joe Michaletti. You ever thought on Joe Michaletti just suddenly calling it a career? Yeah, I mean I have a lot of thoughts and appreciation for him and just like one thing personal I guess I can say. Before I was like anything in hockey media, I was doing like a ranger show called Believe

in Rangers and the Believe podcast network and probably got like 80 listeners per episode. But I got Joe's email, I emailed Joe, I told him I was a big ranger fan, I'd love to have him on, answered within an hour probably of the time that I emailed him came on and couldn't have been nicer treated me with so much respect. And honestly, his brother Pat is a great guy as well. He does a lot of work. They tend to plow and talk. I've gotten to, I've never met Pat in person. I've gotten to like exchange with him over social media and his son Alex as well. So the Micoletti family is so well known in hockey and just unbelievable people and and has been right like I have some memories of Sam and JD but I was really like you know so good was so good. So little little kid.

Yeah I was so young for them. So in my formative years it's really been Sam and Joe and honestly I couldn't really imagine like Joe without Sam or Sam without Joe doing a broadcast so like maybe it is it is nice that they're kind of going out together. And I know Howie Rose had a really nice Twitter thread going with a kind sentiment of Joe Micheletti basically saying that he didn't want to take anything away from Sam Rosen and his retirement which is just like so selfless of him. Yeah like what an unbelievable guy and what an awesome career and you know hopefully those two have a wonderful and peaceful retirement

Amen to that. Okay, wherever you're going. Enjoy it and Whatever you do this weekend Yeah, enjoy it and I actually the question for you. I have my best friend's wedding and I'm emceeing the rehearsal dinner tonight I feel like you've might have done that in your past. I have What's that any tips or advice on how to MC a rehearsal dinner? Ooh. Oh yeah. Um, always, always open up with a joke, right?

So I don't know whether they'll let you work blue or not, but, uh, but always, always end up, always start off with a joke. Uh, always compliment the bride relentlessly all throughout the speech and always chirp the groom. Always, always chirp the groom. And always say like, you know, one of the great go-to lines for weddings has always been, well, you know, we had a hard time, you know,

deciding who was gonna sit closest to the head table. So what we decided to do was we determined who was gonna sit closest to the front and who was gonna be in the back based on the amount of money spent on the wedding gift. The bride and groom would like to thank Pete for the oven mitt. That's nice little-

I haven't even gotten him a gift yet. Well, enjoy and you'll do great. You'll become a professional and tremendous broadcaster. So enjoy it and hang on. Listen, don't peek early. Okay, at these things, you know what it's like, right? Sure, drinks. Yeah, don't peek early.

No one needs a puddle behind the microphone. The one that just goes on and on. Don't be that guy, all right? Just take it easy. And then after that, you can be the one man conga line. But don't peek early. Don't peek early, bud. Thank you for the tip. I appreciate it. And Zach, as we say,

and Judy, as a mausel-tahv to you on the Game 6 first round series win. Oh, he's thrilled. Oh, dang, thrilled. They're all excited to see what's the coming round to. Do they lose in five or six? I think- Get this guy off.

I think even Leafs fans are calling it Panthers in three, Laz. I think that's what the consensus seems to be. Although we'll see what happens when we get there. We'll see what happens when we get there. Enjoy the wedding, pal. Yep, thank you guys. Have a great weekend.

There he is, Johnny Lazarus. One half of the tandem along with Kobe Collin that is the morning cup of hockey Throwing some chirps and shade your way Zach. How about that? Hey? Yeah, I mean in fairness. I did I did throw some chirps Adam last night He texted me yesterday before the game We were talking about something else and then he goes go sends go and then after the game my chirps and though his buddy Pinto And something along the lines of he was good, I think he's got some time.

Oh yeah, it wasn't actually disrespect to Pinto. I was also taking a shot at Laz, but using his buddy as the middleman in that. And, you know, reminded him if you want to get somebody on your show, maybe Pinto has a little bit more time on his hands now to come on Morning Cup of Hockey. I don't know. Oh, it doesn't have to get off. Oh, I got all day. Yeah, I can do the whole show on the new Pat Morrone. I was just being a dick to be fair. So yeah, shots were warranted. I get it. I understand. Also, by the way, Jeff, you know how he flipped that on you and he said, I'm glad you got us there?

I don't know if this is going to make you proud or you're going to say what the hell. But last night on the post game show, Vic and I were talking about something and we're talking about Simone Benoit and I said, let's pause on that. And then it went, whoa. No, don't don't be aim higher, man. Like we pause on that for one second. Don't use all my stupid transitions. We all have this like library of dumb transitions.

I know, I know. You can use all my dirty jokes though that I tell you off the air. You can use all those. Feel free to commit career suicide using those on the air. Anywho, coming up on the NHL docket tonight, we only have the one game.

The sheet is powered by FanDuel, as we like to remind you. Homeless seven game parlay, make every moment more on FanDuel. FanDuel, proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them. This has been a Homer series. We'll see if it is a major sports moment tonight

for the Winnipeg Jets, and they can end this thing in six, or we're going back for a game seven. Speaking of back, how about Nick Ehlers? How about Nick Ehlers with the Winnipeg Jets here all of the sudden? I don't know that he's a hundred percent or close to a hundred percent or anywhere close to a hundred percent, but I saw him, you saw him, the Jets tweeted about him. Sounds like we're going to see the Keelers tonight in there for the Winnipeg Jets.

No Mark Shifely, he didn't make the trip to St. Louis. And we've seen a war of words between the two coaches, Scott Arneal and, uh, and Jim Montgomery fighting over which hit actually injured Mark Shifely, to which Scott Arneal, and I'll paraphrase here, something along the lines of, Oh, I didn't know Monty got his medical degree or had a medical degree. Yeah. I always love it.

Like honestly, I always love it when coaches get snide and petty with one another, because as much, I'll tell you one thing, man, as much as coaches talk about the coaching fraternity and we all support each other, they would all, they would all knock their grandmothers down an icy road for a nickel or a win. They are competitive and they are vicious. If you've ever talked to a coach about another coach in the NHL, it is not all kumbaya. Trust me, we just don't see it.

That's why I love when you get these little mini eruptions and it's like, ooh, I wonder where this is going to lead. But I'm loving the war words between the two coaches. Really good. But those guys are actually best friends, are they not? Am I wrong on that one? They were together with Manitoba once upon a time too. So one is a coach, one is a player, but nonetheless.

I really do, I always appreciate the war of words. And it's usually great when it's like Paul Maurice is involved. Yeah, yeah. I like that fucking force. He's the king. Paul's the king. Yeah, yeah. He's the king. Paul's the king. Good luck. You want to choose your battles wisely. If you're another coach and you're facing off against the Florida Panthers, you know, maybe think twice about getting into a war of words with that head coach.

Sean Cooper's the same way. These are two of the best. How how quickly did Florida postgame pressers become must watch television just because of Paul Maurice? It's like all playoff. I know. And then they carried it over like Matthew Kachuck when he was asked about the rivalry and he just throws the last second dagger at Tampa on the way out saying, I don't know,

it's not much of a rivalry anymore. So good. Oh my God. But that's the thing like- The big God. But that's the thing like- Just taking shots. But that's the thing like, and again, like history bears this out. Maple Leafs can say the same thing

about the Ottawa Senators. Like it's only a rivalry when you lose. Like for this thing to really be a rivalry between the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs, like if you're just a fan of hockey and not a fan of either team, Ottawa's gotta win one of these. Like they really do. Like when Ottawa was coming hockey and not a fan of either team, Ottawa's got to win one of these. Like they really do. Like when Ottawa was coming back and they won that pair of games, I'm like, man, if they do this, all of a sudden now, it's not just a one-way street.

Now you have a rivalry because you got to lose. You got to lose to make it a rivalry. But never happened. I'm looking forward to this game tonight because this one has been this one has been nasty from the opening face-off. It was the first game to kick off the playoffs this year and it hasn't settled down. Every game has been rough, every game has been violent, every game like you saw last game with the hits on Shifely with Shannon Foxa. Oh like and it's just it's gonna continue tonight. It's gonna be the same thing tonight. You know I was on with Jamie and Sarah on their pregame show earlier this afternoon. I was saying like look if Winnipeg is

gonna do this it's not gonna be a pretty game. Like I don't think you're gonna have like many highlight videos coming out of this one. This is gonna be one of those like games where you have a screen cap of like eight players in the crease and like four guys like playing snooker Trying to trying to get the puck over the red line and there's gonna be the oh the beautiful game captions Like that's what this doesn't this one feel that way to you like if Winnipeg's gonna end this thing and have it not go back To to Manitoba. It's gonna be an ugly game and bring it on like I love ugly hockey in the playoffs boy Yeah, I think that this is gonna be one of those ones where every time you touch the puck you are going to have someone breathing

Down your neck. There's gonna be no room There's going to be the one thing too that st. Louis had done really well was take over the transition game Which Winnipeg seemed to kind of just allow them to do in those games where st. Louis tied it back up like that's not gonna be to kind of just allow them to do in those games where St. Louis tied it back up. Like that's not gonna be happening here tonight. Winnipeg, if it is happening, then St. Louis is gonna win this thing pretty handily, I think, but I think Winnipeg's gonna make

a concerted effort to shut that down, which just lends itself to gross, muddy hockey. Like I'm gonna love every second of it, but it's gonna be disgusting tonight Oh, yeah Awesome, like honestly I was saying this to Jamie and Sarah this afternoon Like I'm sorry, Winnipeg Jets fans, but I want Winnipeg to lose tonight because I want to see another game I don't want this series to end Just like I'm happy that Colorado's sending this thing to a game seven at the American Airlines set. Like I'm happy about that too.

Geez, we haven't even talked about that at all today. That was a hell of a game last night. That was a lot of fun. And in losing effort, Ranton has one of his best games with the Dallas Stars. Three assists and a goal. That game was on crack. Like I was doing the post game show

and we could see that game and Vic kept looking at me being like, what are you looking at? And I would just be talking, like staring at the screen talking about the least game looking, being like, I can't take my eyes away from this game. You have Nathan McKinnon scoring that bouncing it off of like 43 different people and the popcorn vendor before it goes in that and then you've got like these the play by Randon the goal that like him stepping up in that moment injured like just all the way around it was like I cannot get enough of this one Jeff you talk about series that you want to you want to never end yeah that one I could watch them go back and forth. Best of 11.

For as long as the Stanley Cup playoffs need to go. Call the audible man. If they want to finish, and one of them gets knocked out in the second round, and they just want to like reboot, and those guys can play like the third and the fourth rounds, and which is just for our entertainment, I'd be fine with that. Me too. You and me both. Okay, on that we will wrap things up.

Zach, congratulations. Can have a couple of good night sleeps before the torture begins. There you go, Zack's gonna feel good for a couple of days. And then it's all gonna come crashing down. I'm gonna get my Battle of Ontario belts. Oh, geez. All right, enjoy it.

I think that series probably starts on Monday, I think. We'll see. Thanks to our guests today. Friday's a reserve for Berkey, so civilian Fridays. Thanks to Brian Burke for stopping by again. Thanks to Johnny Lazarus, MC in the wedding. Oh, very good. Again, if you're doing the same, don't peek early.

Relax, marathon, not a sprint. You don't have to do every shot that gets presented to you, okay? Trust me, I've made that mistake. Don't make that mistake. But thanks to Johnny Lazarus for stopping by. Thanks everybody in the chat as always. Thanks everybody watching live on YouTube or listening on your favorite podcast platform. Maybe you're watching on Twitter, X, Instagram, wherever. Thanks so much for tuning in, much appreciated. We might be on the road, so pay attention to our socials

to find out where for the second round, and it may be soon, we'll see. In the meantime, thanks as always for watching, thanks for listening. This ends my broadcast day and broadcast week. Back with you Monday, three o'clock Eastern for the Sheet. Monday morning, if Johnny's sobered up by then. Morning Cup of hockey, Johnny Lazarus and Colby Cohen. 9 o'clock Eastern, DFO live at noon.

And then the sheet at 3 o'clock. Thanks so much as always. Broadcast is over. Enjoy the rest of your day slash night. Enjoy Winnipeg and St. Louis Game 6. Talk to you Monday. I went to the dark man He tried to give me a little medicine I'm like, nah man, that's fine I'm not against those methods but I knew It's me, myself and how this gon' be fixing my mind I threw on the record I turned on the music

I threw on the record I turned on the music I do wanna break it I turned on the music They send out their battle, but you're sometimes losing Helping on the days that went wrong