The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Oilers, Miller, Blackhawks, and more ft. Greg Wyshynski & Tyler Johnson

Episode Date: November 20, 2025

Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski deliver a packed episode of The Sheet, starting with the wild week around the New York Rangers and the viral J.T. Miller clip that had the hockey world talking. They dig into the Rangers’ captaincy dynamics, the fallout from Sean Avery’s breakdown, and whether this roster shakeup traces back to Chris Drury’s decisions. The guys also get into the Columbus Blue Jackets becoming a national talking point after Bill Simmons called them “the most irrelevant team in sports,” before comparing Blue Jackets history, the cannon, and whether casual fans underrate the franchise. From there, they break down the ongoing Edmonton Oilers crisis — Ryan Leonard beating Evan Bouchard wide, Stuart Skinner freezing on a backhand, and why the entire team feels stuck waiting for McDavid and Draisaitl to bail them out. They move into the goaltending future of the Western Conference, touching on Dustin Wolf, Spencer Knight, Askarov, Dostal and the next era of elite NHL netminders.At 1:30 ET, Tyler Johnson joins the show to talk about Bedard’s growth in Chicago, how Jeff Blashill has changed the Hawks’ structure, and what it’s like watching young players handle losing. Johnson also breaks down Nikita Kucherov’s real personality behind the scenes, the truth behind his elite hockey IQ, how the ADR neck surgery changed his life, and why Jack Eichel paved the way for other players to avoid fusion. He reflects on his biggest goals with Tampa Bay, the infamous sweep against Columbus, Tampa’s need to evolve defensively, and shares insight on Steven Stamkos’ transition to Nashville. A full episode loaded with stories, deep-cut analysis, and candid conversations from two of the best minds in hockey.SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Bauer: https://www.bauer.com/👍🏼Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/ca👍🏼Prime Video: https://primevideo-row.pxf.io/c/5560083/3303015/20020Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm in your old hood, wish. I'm in your old haunt right now, Washington. Because when you and I, I forgot to know each other, you were living in Virginia, I believe, and Kevin Kaff on the regular. Yeah, I would. So one of the Oregon stories of your boy, is I started, I was working at a newspaper and doing high school sports, you know, running up and down the sidelines with a point and click camera during football games, hoping I got one good shot to use in the newspaper that week. And one of the reasons why I became a hockey writer is because in the early Ovechkin days, the Washington Capitals were the least covered team in Washington, D.C.

They just did not have any people coming to the games. Fan-wise, the press box was pretty empty. They weren't getting a lot of real estate in the Washington Post. So what Ted Leontes did and his genius is he created something called the blog box. And he started inviting bloggers who at the time were a burgeoning alternative media, myself, Japers, rink, other places like that, and invited us to start covering the games as credentialed media. And a smart move by him, one, because it got his team more coverage direct to the people and not having to worry about the Washington Post gatekeeping hockey.

And then two, I mean, in a lot of cases, he's giving partisan audiences access to games and the players themselves. And I think that's only going to curry favor in many cases with some of the media cover the team. But it was great. It's where I cut my teeth in a press box. and I'll always be grateful to Ted for that. Great spot. And how can you leave out Ted's take? The owner of the Washington Capitals communicating directly

with Caps fans and with hockey fans. We would always wait, okay, when's Ted's take coming out? Because it was so revolutionary. And you and I would talk about Ted's take on the OGMVSW with regularity. I would love it if there were owners that did like, I don't know, I'll just pick an owner randomly. Francesco's take or whomever around the NHL.

Love to have something. Which owner would you like to read the most? Francesco is probably the one because... Francesco. Yeah, he's already pretty active on Twitter doing stuff. Like, Kate's would be interesting, I think, right? Or... Yeah, Kate would be great.

Ryan Smith, I think, would be good, too. Like, I get the feeling that somewhere down the road here as there's a sort of new break. It was really important for the NHL to bring in Ryan Smith specifically, one, because he's got Deep Pockets, loves the sport, can grow it in Utah, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But that's that new breed of sports owner that grew up with the Internet. You know, there's like a demarcation for people like, and listen, like I was one of the, I was one of the dinosaurs. Like, I remember a world without the Internet. But there's like a whole generation of owners now that have grown up with the Internet and the possibility. of what the internet can bring.

And I think that's why somewhere down the road here, we will see someone else do Ted's take. The answer is just two answers. One is Tom Galardi with the Dallas Stars, because every time I hear that guy on the radio, it's always pretty interesting. And I feel like I'd love to read a blog from Tom Galarty the day after they lose in the conference final

for like the fourth straight years. Like that's what I want to read. The other one, obviously, and this is, you know, this is the one I think we probably most want to read would be the James Dolan blog for the New York Rangers I think that'd be pretty amazing you know he could structure it like a Mark Maren podcast

where he begins with a monologue then he plays a little guitar then he interviews Henrik Conquist you know give you the James Dolan content that's good content for someone down the road which are the owners you would much like to hear or read eight heads take from let's get right to we got a special guest coming up at the bottom of the hour let's let you know what's going on on the program today thanks so much for joining us here on the sheet

and the blueprint as always is powered by fanduel download the app today and play your game on fan duel Greg washinsky is aboard it is Thursday after all on Tuesdays and Thursdays we bring aboard our man from ESPN and ESPN.com we will talk about oh I don't know straight lagging it in your own zone we'll talk about JT Miller the New York Rangers we'll talk about But listen, everyone's having a whack at this pinata. Why should we be any difference? We'll talk about the Oilers at the game last night. Got a couple of thoughts about both teams.

Tyler Johnson, the recently retired Tyler Johnson, who is kind of in a really unique club here. And we'll talk about the bolts in Kucharoff in Chicago and Bedard with Tyler Johnson and his former teammates. He's won everywhere. He won the Memorial Cup when he played with the Western Hockey League with Spokane. He won the Calder Cup with Norfolk, and he won the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning, not once but twice. And even the Canadian, I've blocked this out of my memory.

You also won the World Juniors with Team USA back in 2010. Although, in my mind, that never existed. And it never happened. Yes. You're treating it like it's some sort of rarity that the Americans win a World Junior's when an actual. It's become commonplace. It does happen, although I do have a few of this. I don't appreciate you talking about the Americans winning world juniors, like Latvia got

one over on you. You know, we stand toe to toe with you now as a hockey nation, as we'll see in Italy next year, sir. Yeah, you had your Guzlefskis moment, stealing games and stealing championship from those good, honest, hardworking Canadian young men. We shall see. So a couple of things. Like, where do you want to begin on this one?

Like we have a sort of full buffet of things to talk about. There's action from last night. There's the remains of the day from the visuals of J.T. Miller and the New York Rangers and everybody having a swing at this one. You want to just start there? Yeah, that's not with Miller. So do we have the footage there, Zach, or any of the footage? Because I don't know if you've got the actual footage or the Sean Avery commentary version of the footage when it comes to J.T. Miller.

But the Rangers, give me the Avery, because I think that covers both of it. So this is Rangers, Blue, Golden Knights the other night, and J.T. Miller on the ice. All right, watch this shit show. Quick up, Igor Shastirkin to J.T. Miller, follow the pointer stick. J.T. dump the puck in. No, Mika, turnover. Kiss of death. Turnovers at the offensive blue line.

Then we're going to watch J.T. bottom of the screen, eight white. captain of the New York Rangers come in all right he's the low guy responsible okay oh and then stick check

one over skate here we go no man's land and then look at this look at the straight leg and fuck right there five whole goal I'm not I'm not an Avery fan

but you have to hand it to him sometimes and I do love the little pointer bit that he does I also love the fact that his pronunciation of Igor Shachirkin was as if he had never seen a Russian name before. I appreciated that. It was a fantastic pronunciation. But again, like, you know, so Miller's getting it.

And listen, there's a lot of guys in this league that eventually get the PlayStation controller unplugged moment where somebody captures it during a game and then it becomes a viral thing on social media, calling out the player for a lack of effort. I think the issue here with J.T. Miller is twofold one, seven-ish. terrible season right now for the Rangers in so far as this offensive production, nowhere near the levels like it was in the previous seasons. But two, as Avery noted in a very sarcastic way, he's the captain of the New York Rangers. He was given the sea over a guy like Vincent Trocheck, for example, who would have been the guy I chose to be captain. I thought he earned

the sea in the way that he played for the Rangers. But Miller was given the captaincy, Merrick, because of the way he plays the game. The ferocity, the north-south of it all, the way he competes. He's the model. He's the north star that we want all the ships to sail towards when it comes to the New York Rangers. And when you see the guy floating around straight-legged like that on a play in his own defensive zone, it becomes antithetical to all of the reasons why J.T. Miller is the captain of the New York Rangers. I want to swing back to the New York of this all and the J.T. Miller of this all, but is this one of those trades, in your opinion?

I was talking about this about a month ago, or a couple of weeks ago, actually, on the Secarison Price Show. We hear so much about we're making trades that are going to help both teams. Like whenever a trade is made, everyone on television, you're like, you know, this is, this is smart, this is good for both teams. This is going to work out well. This is why it's good for Team X. This is why it's good for Team Y. It's a good trade that's going to help both teams. is this a trade that's been bad for both teams?

Not good for both teams, but like bad for both teams. And by the way, my thoughts, again, might be a little bit conspiracy theory-esque here, but my thought on J.T. Miller getting the captaincy, this was twofold. One, jury brought him in and wants them to have that captaincy. But two, it's also a rejection of what's gone on with those Rangers and that room.

and the grumbling and the complaining and the backbiting towards management from the last two seasons. And that is not going to get rewarded. To me, it's like the indication of like, all right, you know what? There's a new leader and he's come from the outside. So we didn't like what you guys discussed and openly how we handled the Barclay Godreau situation or the Jacob Truva situation.

That's kind of how I saw it. I think that's an interesting comment. Because being in that room and covering the Rangers a bit, I could see how Trocheck could be roped into that group of players predominantly led by Chris Kreider, who were very unhappy with Chris Drury, unhappy with the way that Gidreau and Trouba were forced out, and now, you know, Kreider's not there either. So I could see your point that if you want a clean break, and if the whole point of it is to try to reshape your core in the likeness of someone like J.T. Miller, then you might as well not give the captaincy to somebody that's already there. That's part of the quote unquote problem, right? I get that. I think that's an interesting point. As far as the trade goes, I mean, we can't erase the fact that J.T. Miller was a better point, better than point per game player for the Rangers last year. Like he was great for them last year. I don't know what the malfunction is this year, other than to say that he's dealing with some different linemates and in the case of Mika Zabanajad, a guy that has kind of lost the threat a little bit. You talk about guys that probably need to be shipped out because of the recent history of the team. It's probably Zabandajad. But, you know, somebody said this to me once and it stuck with me about J.T. Miller.

I don't even know. Maybe it was you. Who knows? He's the perfect guy that you want on a team. that's successful like he he when things are going well he's feeling good he's playing his heart out he's bleeding all you know he's he's the he's the he's the give it 110% drive 80 down the freeway type player that you want on a successful team and that's the way he plays when the team is successful when the team is not successful successful then he's not the guy that you necessarily

want i you know i listen if the vancouver connects we're losing in the conference finals i don't think that we have all that internal strife between those guys. It's probably a personal beef, but it probably never gets to the point of toxicity with him and Patterson, right? But the team wasn't good. And then he goes to this Ranger team, and they're, you know, they're not good last year, but, you know, we expected it to be good this year, but then they're not very good again. And now all of a sudden, you know, he's getting straight-legged in his own zone. So he's, I guess the sum total of that comment, Merrick, is it's a curious guy to make your captain. if he's like Mark Messier in the good times

and just like the shittiest captain of the league on the bad times But the thing is like that That's why I think like putting the C on him in the first place Was to signal that we will not stand for what you guys did We will not stand for how you I don't know cause the mutiny might be too strong But I think you know what I'm going for here And there was no way that anyone on that team

Whether it was you know Vincent Trochecker or anyone else Was gonna get rewarded with that letter Just what I'm with you like I thought Vincent Trocheck should have been the captain I really do But I don't think that I don't think that Chris Drury was going to look at that team and say I saw everything And I'm going to reward you for it not a chance no way and I was this might be a question for Tyler This might be a question for Tyler later but I am I am some you mentioned all the owners being born of the internet age that we're having now I mean these guys that are playing in the league are born into the internet age they all they see everything.

And whatever they don't see, they get sent by their friends and by their former teammates and their colleagues. They're aware of all the things that we are saying and all the videos that go viral and all the videos in which Sean Avery is using a professorial pointer on his television. And so when something like this gets called out for a player like J.T. Miller,

your captain, the fiery competitor, And he's straight-legged in his own zone, you know, basically spectating a goal by the Golden Knights. Like, how does that play? Does anyone say anything to him in the Rangers' room? Does he take it upon himself to say something? I've always been curious about that because it's not like they're not a – there's a zero-sum possibility that the entirety of the Rangers' locker room is unaware of this clip. And then what happens when it does get noticed? I'm curious about that.

also here's what I wonder did Bill Simmons just do the Columbus Blue Jackets a solid oh tell me why drawing a 10 whether it's a fan base whether it's a hockey team doesn't matter what it is you give a team or a fan base

an issue to be a offended by and be inspired by and the most recent example is Patrick Line talking about how everybody when he left Columbus from Montreal I think the comments were something along the lines of everybody there is just too comfortable with the losing. And then it's

like immediately after line name makes those comments and the blue jackets went on a heater. Bill Simmons comments about the blue jackets being the most irrelevant team in sports. Yes. That's an issue that is up.

That's going to like that that's going to go all through the room, all through the fan base, all of it. And now they have an issue. Like if I'm Dean Everson, I'm like, I'm not going to send him a Christmas card but bill thanks for doing us a solid year thanks for doing us solid bill simmons had a mailbag episode and one of the things that was asked of him is who is the most irrelevant team in sports and i believe that the mailbag questioner was in fact a columbus fan and was wondering if it was

in fact the blue jackets and i quote i've never heard a single conversation about the blue jackets Now, granted, I don't have a ton of hockey fans in my life, but I've never heard a single convoy about them. And so because he's not heard conversations about it, that's one thing. But what Simmons did, and this is why Simmons is Simmons, he then went through the litany of things that would make the Blue Jackets the most irrelevant team. Who is their best player in franchise history? It's Rick Nash.

Rick Nash is not a legendary player in this league. Rick Nash, is he a Hall of Famer? I move to say. I'd probably not, right? But, so Rick Nash is part of it. The playoff history is part of it. Simmons being Simmons, of course, said that the Blue Jackets swept the Florida Panthers and not Tampa Bay Lightning,

but that's probably the seminal moment in franchise history. He did bring up Johnny Goodrow and bring up some other things. The team that got mentioned the most as sort of the counterpoint to the Columbus Blue Jackets being the most irrelevant team in sports was the Sacramento Kings. And I found that comparison interesting for one reason, Merrick. The thing that Simmons didn't mention in his rant about Columbus was the thing that we all know best about the Blue Jackets, which is, Do we know best about the Blue Jackets? When I say Blue Jackets, what is the first thing you might think of?

What is the thing that is the signature part of the Blue Jacket, Black, Blue Jackets experience? The Canon. The Canon, exactly. So I find it interesting that the two arguably most irrelevant teams in sports, one of them has a giant cannon they shoot off when they succeed. The other one has a giant purple laser beam that they shoot into the sky when the team succeeds. They both have a gimmick that might be more memorable than anything that these two teams do in their given leagues. Did I ever share with you what Doug McClain told me about the cannon? please do

he and he would always I think the Columbus Blue Jackets fans booster clubs like all these things would always like say we've got to have a cannon Civil War I gotta have a cannon got to have a cannon we're going to the motif we got to have a cannon after we score and he hated the idea

couldn't stand it didn't want it in the rink and always resisted and when he realized he was about to be fired I think it might have been his last official act as manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets, he approved the budget for the canon.

I think it was like a starky thing to do to the other people in the organization that also didn't want it, he approved the budget for the canon. That was his final like piece out. Funny. Before he got fired. That's really funny because one of our neighbors

and our building is moving out and on their way out, they've approved all the... You have a cannon? No, no, they haven't been approved the canon, although I don't know, man, in New York, am I coming in handy? They approved all of the construction things that they've never approved when they were living here for other people's apartments.

They all signed off on it. It's like walking away from an explosion, basically. Good luck to the new tenants. Here is a giant deck blocking the sun from your apartment and so on. So anyways, the, I guess, let me ask you this. Do you think the Blue Jaggats are the most relevant team in the NHL? Okay, first of all, I don't want to get too semantic on this, but when you say irrelevant, what are you saying? Like, what does that word represent?

Are they a team that has a history of like playoff failure? Well, yeah, this has not been a playoff juggernaut team at all. They've had a hard time at the draft. They've had a hard time producing high-level team. teams considering how long they've been in the NHL now, but I don't know if that, yeah, I have a hard time with the word, with the word irrelevant. Well, let me define it as the, let me define it as the mailbag questioner to find it. Okay.

Okay. They're too bad to make the playoffs, but not so bad they're top in the news with their total dysfunction. So they're, they're a mediocre team that doesn't make the playoffs, but they're not a, a messy team. It's a team that's usually in a small market, bonus points if their location name is generic like golden state or new england it's a team that makes you say oh yeah they still exist when they're picking eighth in the draft so here's here's here's the thing i am the

absolute wrong person to ask this to because i'm too close to all of it like no team and like there's ever a moment around like oh yeah i forgot the columbus blue jackets exist so i'm the absolute like this is more for for a casual sports fan which i think is maybe also i'm is going for, but as far as I'm concerned, like, there are no irrelevant teams. But again, I'm, like, too close and deep to it. Because I think about the Columbus food, as much as I

think about, you know, the Montreal, Canadians, of Los Angeles, Kings, the Chicago Blackhawks. So to me, not irrelevant, because this is my life. So... They're all your children. They're all your children. Yeah, I mean, like, I could see a casual sports fan forgetting that Columbus exists

because of how... The lack of a deep playoff run, the fact that they've not really been, you know, noteworthy off the ice outside of the Johnny Godreau tragedy. I could see a casual sports fan seeing them in the same way that they see the Sacramento Kings or see the Jacksonville Jaguars, for example, who I think are a team that certainly fits the bill for me of sometimes I turn on my television at 9 o'clock on a Sunday, and I'm like, oh, wait, that's right, Jacksonville is playing in London. I think in NHL terms, if you had to pick one, it's probably them.

With the caveat, and I don't mean to make these people angry at me again, because we already worked through the they should rebuild the conversation we had last month. The Seattle Cracken are probably more irrelevant. No, the Seattle Cracken are more irrelevant than the Columbus Blue Jackets, but they're kind of new and so maybe we give them a pass but I kind of think that in

and maybe this is East Coast bias too but I think I probably think about the Blue Jackets more than I do the Cracken if I'm being honest No I keep going back to there all my children I can't like for me like there aren't irrelevant teams in the NHL in my life or in my profession

so again like I am the absolute wrong person to ask here. That is for a casual hockey fan or a casual sports fan. Not for me because I'm just like too deep into it. By the way, a relevance is not a negative. This is like, you know, I was talking to Zach before the show and he brought up a great point. This is kind of like when Don Sherry called the Carolina Hurricanes a bunch of jerks and they leaned into it. Yeah.

I don't know. Is this something? Is this something? I saw the Grantland bit from the Columbus Blue Jackets. It's social media administrator, which got a chuckle as well. But like, if I'm them, if I'm them, I create a Columbus Blue Jackets football jersey with Mr. Irrelevant on the back and I give it out to the player of the game. Like I lean into it that far.

Like, just do that stuff. You're completely right. But what I was going to say, America, is that like the beauty of being irrelevant is that eventually you find relevance. And the beauty of being a losing team is that eventually, and I say this as a New York Jets fan, eventually you find you find success and when that moment comes it's it feels so much more rewarding I think than if it's a team that's had constant success and then you jump up one year and you win I think the the highs and lows of sports are and the emotional swings of of being uh the

the the welcome mat of the league and then finally winning is is much more rewarding than anything else. Okay, a couple of things here before we get to Tyler Johnson who stopped by in a couple of moments here. Listen, I was there to watch it last night. The oilers are like no sugar-coating this. Like, they're in a bad

way right now. Well, they're having a hard time and they're obviously like asking a lot of really difficult questions about a lot of key positions and a lot of key players on this team. 7-4. Listen, it's a pair of empty netters by Tom Wilson, but still, 7-4 is the final score. But to me, the moment of the game where I went,

oh man this is bad moment is the second Ryan Leonard goal oh my God do you have a Bouchard player where but it's not just Bouchard like okay so so Leonard's cutting across as a right hand shot

he's got he's got some back pressure on him as well it's it looks to me and again I'm not an NHL goal tenter but it looks to me like a pretty easy read he's going backhand but Skinner's frozen Skinner's completely

frozen and it was at that moment where it's like, okay, it's not the only issue, but blue line and goal tending. The other issue is, you know, the lack of, you know, depth scoring. But again, I saw yesterday, it's almost like the entire Oilers team is just waiting for Connor and Leon to do something.

Like, remember this, this used to be the Oilers. This was kind of, you know what this was? This was like the Oilers with Dave Tippett. Right. You mentioned the other day. It felt like Dave Tippett team. Yeah. And it's like, this is like the Oilers,

like everybody on the bench, are quite content to say, don't worry, Connor and Leon are going to pull us out of this one. That they're going to do something in the third period, and we're going to win. Yay. I got that feeling last night watching this game. I don't know if you watched it,

or how close you've watched Oilers lately. Last three other next four, the three other last four. You got Tampa and Florida on the horizon to finish up this road trip. But that's kind of how I feel about the Oilers. Again, they're back to that. Don't worry, Connor and Leon are going to solve this.

That's why the Cory Perry loss, I think, is so much more significant than anything else that happened in the off season. And then that many of us anticipated because honestly, when you watched them last year, he was one of the few guys in that team that didn't feel like he was waiting for Connor and Leon. Like, Corey was the guy that was going to make a play when they needed it. And I think the loss of him really took away a huge. part of that element. And you wouldn't expect that again. He's like 105 years old, but he certainly bought that to the team. The thing I thought you were going to talk about was the fact that Ryan Leonard,

who could fit in your pocket like a talking mouse, muscled Evan Bouchard off on a break to the net. And it just like, whenever I see Bouchard in a situation like that, I just think about, it brings up all the debates we've been having about this guy for the last several seasons about like what is he you know can we consider this guy elite when there are defensive deficiencies people step up and be like it's not as bad as you think and then you watch a game and you see a turnover or you see a moment like that where you know he's getting out muscled by Ryan Leonard and you're just like I mean we're going to put that

on the Olympic team like I understand the offense I do I understand the shot he's a very gifted player but I mean you know for all of the stereotypes that players like like Quinn Hughes and Kail McCarr have fought through as offensive defensemen to be like, hey, I'm not a one-trick pony. That's a one-trick pony. That man is a one-trick pony. That man is all, oh, no, D. And I think that we bend over backwards to try to afford him some grace defensively

because of how much he gets called out. But, you know, it's not even an Eric Carlson situation from back in the day where his speed could help him overcome the mistakes that he made. I just think Bouchard's just a bad defender. And we saw it again last night on that Leonard goal. Yeah. What's more concerning because I go back and forth and mainly I'm defaulting to the goal tending here,

the goal tending of the defense, right? Like there are times where Darnell Nurse looks overwhelmed. As you mentioned, there are times where Evan Bouchard looks overwhelmed. But so much of what happens in a game is based on, oh, you can't let that goal go in. That affects like the whole bench. To me, they got to do the goaltending. It's been this way for a while, but now considering the gift that Connor McDavid just gave them,

they got to be the goaltending now. I think it's like, I mean, it's clearly the goaltending only because it's been a problem constantly through the years. And I think the problem with the defense right now is that you've got some guys that traditionally are better than they're playing, not playing well. I look at, I don't think Walman's been good. I think Kulak's been real bad for them this year. And you don't normally see that from those guys or anticipate it from those guys in the case of

Walman who's still pretty new to the team. So yeah, of course it's the goaltending. If they had some semblance of competency back there, it probably allows them to all exhale a little bit more on the bench, but it doesn't excuse how porous that defense has been in front of them. Let me ask you something bluntly here. And again, this is not a report. This is just Greg and I on a Thursday afternoon throwing it around.

And we're going to get the Tyler Johnson one second after I have a look at the face of Greg Wachinsky after I bring this up. You know what the New Jersey Devils have on their blue line? Yeah, what? A lot of right-handed shots. Would you do Dougie Hamilton for Darnell Nurse? There is a background with Nurse and Sheldon keep going back to. the Sucinari Greyhounds of the O HL as well. So you're saying that would relieve the log jam, right?

All I'm saying is a lot of right-handed shots on the New Jersey Devil's Blue Line. I would say no to that for the simple fact, as I check just one thing real quick here, for the simple fact that Darnell Nurse is signed through 2030, whilst Dougie, Hamilton is a free agent in 2008. I understand it complicated with our favorite juicy topic in Vancouver. No, I'm not even talking about the Queen Hughes of it all. I'm just saying

that contractually I don't think the two things fit and honestly like you know, I think Dougie Hamilton serves some utility still for this hockey team and the acquisition of somebody who everybody is basically trying to like run out of town

is not all that awe-inspiring. Okay, well let's bracket that If I'm trading Hamilton, I'm trading him for a winger, let's be honest. Park it for one second. Let's bring about Tyler Johnson. He is a champion everywhere he's gone. Even though I blanked it from my mind as a Canadian, he's won the World Juniors in 2010. He's won the Memorial Cup.

He's won the Calder Cup. He's won the Stanley Cup. And he's coming over to the dark side. He is Tyler Johnson, ex-NHL turned broadcaster here on the program. And just as we bring you on, Tyler, and welcome aboard, Greg and I are having the conversation that every hockey player hates hearing about trades How often when you when you played? You're like oh god well the media just shut up about trades already We're gonna get your audio hot here. We gotta fix your we're gonna fix your audio there Tyler hang on one second

We'll get so we'll get Tyler yeah I like the back I like the background because it's flat it was black and white photos and like then he pops and here it's just like a mish mosh color I mean and with you it looks like like you're in an aquarium right now. I mean like a nice little TV booth here at Monumental in a nice little TV booth here at Monumental Sport in the Capital One Arena. No, it's a nice little, nice little spot for me. The thing with TJ, I mean, TJ wasn't even like, it was like trade rumors and then it was the necessity of trading him or removing him from the lightning roster for cap purposes.

That's an even different. That's a different kind of stress than than simple performance. that's always tough because then you feel like all right well it doesn't matter what I do I make too much money that's the listen that's been the necessity that was a necessity for the Tampa Bay Lightning for the longest time like that was that high wire act they had which was how many guys can we remove Chicago went through this as well how many guys can we remove from this roster for salary cap reasons and still win Stanley Cups and still be an elite level competitive team.

For me, and I think a lot of other people, that, and a lot of it was like a bad dump by Thomas Placanitz, but like that series against a Montreal Canaan's, when he scores that goal with like a second left, that to me was like, okay, when I think Tyler Johnson, that's like the signature goal. Tyler, we got you back. What goal do you think I was just referencing there a second ago?

No. No. Let's get the audio going. we'll try again we'll try we'll try again well maybe it's just like my questions have been so stupid that the audio is like yeah we're not my client's not going to answer that question i'm leaving open the possibility that i may have to just dub him like an old japanese samurai film uh uh when he comes back and his lips are moving i'll just provide i'll provide the audio myself all right uh well as we as we stand by here um for teller johnson to uh to join the program um of

particular note, with him, a couple of the ex-teams that he played for, and most notably than recently, the Chicago Blackhawks, starting to make some noise here. I know we're still, you know, not a quarter of the way into the NHL season, but feeling like we're rounding that corner with the eyes on next Thursday, U.S. Thanksgiving, or as I guess you call it, Greg, Thanksgiving. Not that everything's going to happen next Thursday, but next Thursday is the first place where managers,

say, okay, I got a handle on my team. But this year feels different because there are so many teams that are still technically in it, even though some of the teams you can look at and look at underlying numbers and say it looks like they're in it, it feels like they're in it, but they're not in it. How do you feel about Thanksgiving this year? I think you're right. And I think where we're going to really see it come to Roosters in the Eastern Conference where, I mean, if you look at it.

look at the standings right now, the wildcard standings in the east, among the teams not in a playoff spot right now are the Ottawa senators, the Washington Capitals, the New York Rangers, and the Florida Panthers, and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now, a few of those teams are going to be playoff teams, right? So, like, you know, it's just going to be a matter of time before some of the teams that are currently holding down spots, especially in the Atlantic, I think, fade a little bit. To me, I'm curious about Chicago in the same way that I'm curious about the ducks, but I think the difference is that the ducks are deeper.

In the case that both of those teams have been propped up by goaltending in such a spectacular way because of their underlying numbers defensively, that you wonder if the dam's ever going to break. I mean, even last night where, you know, Dostal gets the first star in a game where, you know, the offense does its job against Boston, but it's still the goaltender that gets the first star for a reason. And I think what Spencer Knight's doing for Chicago right now is nothing short. of revelatory and you wonder how long that can continue.

I just think that like I think a lot of us look at, you know, the future of the Western Conference. And if you want to just go like goalie for goalie, I think we're going on the era. And, you know, this is how goalies and goalie observers think of it. We're going to get into pretty soon here, the Dossal versus Spencer Knight era of the Western Conference.

And as much we talk about celebrini and much we talk about Conor Bedard and with one Matthew Schaefer into that mix, I think one of the under the water topics as far as the next generation of kids that we're not talking about are those two goaltenders, right? Like we're looking at like that an era that is about to be dominated by those two goaltenders. I think you're missing one. I think I think Ascroft should be in that conversation too with the way these played in San Jose. It's quite possible they've found their guy on a team that, you know, is as ascendant as Chicago is or as ascended as Anaheim as. And the unfortunate thing, because the team around him isn't that great,

although big win last night, and he wasn't in net, Calgary Flames with Dustin Wolf. Yeah. But it's going to be well. By the way, that had to be really nice for Devin Cooley last night. To beat the team. To beat the team, though, I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, there's no room for you here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I beat it. You know, you're going to be an HL backup.

I. It has a great game. and then delivers an even better interview after the game where he channels his, we need to always be mindful of death. I can't remember the last time or time we've ever heard, we ever heard an NHL player, goaltender otherwise,

paraphrase Memento Mori, be mindful of death. But if one position was going to do it, it would be a goaltender. Do you think that the hole's too deep for them, by the way, that 341 points percentage roundabouts one week before American Thanksgiving, They're cooked, right, the flames? They should be.

Maybe that's one of the things we can talk to Tyler Johnson and his recovered audio about. You back? Sorry, I think so. This is why I play hockey. We got it. We got it. All right. First of all, well, I can't even remember you.

I'm on so many, TJ, I'm on so many damn Zoom calls with ESPN. Don't feel bad. There's always some guy that's muted. Don't worry about it. It's crazy. I tested Zoom right before this and I was working. key. So it was just when I came on the here. So I don't know what it is, but I'm not

an IT get. Yeah, well, listen, if technology has failed you, Tyler, don't feel special. We've all had that exact same moment. So don't feel special. We were just, before you came on, we were talking about a couple of things. And one of them was

the Chicago Blackhawks, you know, looks to be, you know, making that turn now. You were there with Bred. You've seen the kid. There's a lot of guys that are still on that. team like when you look at the Hawks now and you're not that far removed from them obviously and thanks for joining the show by the way

what do you see you know when you watch Hawks what do you see right now as an ex-Nh-Heller well I think the biggest thing is you know Blaschill went there as a coach I think he's implementing some systems that's working for the team and you know all the young guys are making that next step

the older guys are I've been teaching I know when I was there Faligno was there kind of leading the guys he's still there I know he expects a lot out of everybody and you know it's great as he's getting a ton of points doing extremely well but i think he's playing a more complete game and i think that's coaching i think that's uh evolving as a player and i think that's uh kind of growing up a little bit and um it's really cool to see he's a hard working player hard working guys so it's nice to see him get rewarded uh badard was interesting

to me when he was younger because it seemed like it seemed like he really took losing personally like it seemed like losing was not a thing that a he was used to or be that he wanted to have to deal with as a professional. What was he like back back then, you know, when you were on the team as far as his

important in the locker room? So I'm trying to age me even more than I am. You know, it was one of those things that we didn't want to lose in Chicago. Trust me. It was a really, really tough time. My three years there was very difficult with the way

things were. And, you know, We were always trying to be better, always trying to do different things. But, you know, you're kind of limited in the way that things were working and what we could do. And I think it was a lot of frustration. I think Bessie came into the league thinking, you know, he's going to turn this ship around. And then the NHL, that's not really the case. You need a lot of good players on the team. You need good coaching.

You need everyone to kind of follow suit. So I think it was difficult. I think he did a really good job, though. I mean, I've never seen a player come into this league and have so much pressure on them from game one. I mean, his first NHL faceoff was against Sidney Crosby. I mean, that's a pretty big ass from an 18-year-old. So he's done a tremendous job in that. You know, like I said, it's great to see Chicago back in the picture.

Very an NHL franchise that needs to be in the playoffs. It's so fun playing that building with everything that goes on. So it's excited. Okay, I'm glad you brought up that face-off. I remember asking Crosby about it, the NHL players tour. that year specifically and he kind of shrugged it off a little bit oh it's just going to be another draw there was you know this is a vet there was no way that sydney crosbie was going to lose that face off and the way that you want it like that was like a laser beam like it it it leaves the

referee's hand and he wins it so clean and so hard like he probably could have scored on his own goaltender. The way he won that face-off back. Like, are you sitting there as a veteran? Is everybody on the bench, on the ice, looking at that saying, good luck, kid. Because if there's a face-off that you know

Sidney Crosby is going to win, it's going to be against Bredard tonight. Is that how everyone was thinking? Like, good luck. Good luck. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I mean, we knew going into the game that Crosby's not going to lead. You know, 18-year-old kid beat him. He's just so

competitive and let's just not sit and i think that's what makes him great but no we we knew that was going to happen i think that's kind of a welcome to the league moment by the same time at least you got it on the very first second of his you know ice time you didn't have to wait any time for it so it was great i wanted to you've played with some really really good players in your career and i wanted to ask you about one that i've always been curious about which is your former triplets line mate nikita kuturoff uh we get to see certain sides of kooch i have a feeling that You boys got to see other sides of Coochch. What is the Nikita Coutchroff that fans, media, don't get to see that either makes

him such an endearing teammate or makes him the guy that's this successful in this league? Yeah, I mean, I know what he does in the media. I know a lot of media members don't really like them, but, you know, that's not Cooch. Cooch is a guy that he's goofy, he's fun, be around. He's, you know, he's just got that weird, quirky sense of humor. that, you know, he just around him and you laugh. So he's a guy, he's a tremendous teammate. He's always going to do everything he possibly can for you,

and he works extremely hard. So when you see how hard a guy like that's working one of the best players in the league, it makes you even work that much harder, and he expects that from you. And he just elevates the team, elevates every part of the team aspect, and he's just a great guy to have around. But like I said, he's quirky, he's playing. He doesn't get that on the media too much unless after you win a Stanley Cup. I was going to say, that's the only guy.

time we get to see it. And this is when he's pounded mud lights in the press conference room afterwards. Maybe he's on one of the boats. That's the only time we get to see it. But I had a feeling he's a bit more of a lighter spirit behind the scenes than we get to see normally, yeah, for sure. Yeah, he's definitely a little bit more reserved around people he doesn't know or, you know, if there's a lot of people around.

But once you get into that, you know, little group of your team or whatever, he's funny. He's a hilarious guy. He's a really, really good guy. You know, he's the, we've talked about this before. Like, he's the one guy that if you ask players, like, who do you want to watch? Like, who, when you watch them, like, they do things that even as an NHL or they, they blow your mind. Kuturoff's that guy. Once upon a time, that guy was Marion Hosa.

And I would, one of the skills that Hosa always had is it was, you know, there's the old saying, can't give a great player a bad pass. I would watch guys throw horrible passes to Hosa. He would never break stride. He would gobble it up and just continue on. It was amazing. Throw in his feet, doesn't matter. He'll deal with it.

Throw it behind. Doesn't matter. He'll deal with it. Hosa had like that skill. Never saw him flub a pass. Incredible. Is there something that players watch about Nikita Kuturov, like one individual skill where you guys all say, I can't believe that he did that?

Or how is he just so good at this? Like he's the master of deception, first of all. But like, is there a skill that he has where you go, I've seen a lot of players, but I've never seen a guy do that. I mean, I've probably said a thousand times in my career playing with him, but I think he has so many different skills, but the one thing that he's just so good at is he's so cerebral. He knows every single thing that's going on the ice.

Like, we used to say you could basically blindfold him and he can play an entire shift, be able to find you back door, be able to find you through scenes where he's not even lucky. And I don't know how he does it. Every once in a while, I get one of those lucky passes through. But for him, it's not lucky. just got that skill he's got that talent to be able to do it and then he has a confidence and

i i think that's just such an amazing quality that he's had since uh you know his first year there i mean i can't tell you how many times i scored a goal where the pub just hit my stick didn't even see it coming it went through about five different people probably curbed around something out i mean how he does it like he's just got that amazing amazing knack of being able to find people and their right uh right spots and he just gives you gifts all the time i wanted to ask you inside the locker room question because I don't know the answer to this we were just talking about it before I don't know if you saw the clip of j t Miller it's been going around this week of him going straight-legged in the defensive zone for the rangers against Vegas it you know people

have focused on it they're passing around Sean Avery did a breakdown of it on Instagram you know that's the whole thing I don't want to ask you about JT in particular but I was curious like when somebody gets called out for their play and it and it becomes a thing you know that exists outside the room but it gets inside the room what's the reaction of the boys like do you guys will go up to somebody and be like hey you know this is bullshit you know we know what kind of player you are do you not talk about it like what is the reaction when one of you uh gets uh gets called out for for for their play well i think it depends on the situation i think it depends on the player um is this something that's happened a lot is it something that the coaches the players have

addressed already i mean a lot of these times before it actually gets out into the public. It's something that, you know, the players have talked about. We have our own meetings. The coaches have been harved on. You know, there's so many times I remember in the past that, you know, you do one thing wrong and Koot might put it on a loop just through practice the entire day. You end up seeing about 500 times while you're getting dressed. So, I mean, it's just one of those things that you kind of, everyone knows what's happening. And, you know, if you have that good team, the good teammates, a lot of guys come up to you and just it's pretty funny

it's just don't let it happen again you know you always pick a joke out of it but if it's something that keeps happening and then that's when you really have to address it that was a game against Vegas there's one player on Vegas that I that I always wondered about with you and Joel Farabee

and most recently Brendan Dillon as well you had ADR surgery as opposed to like a spinal fusion which a lot of other players have had listen Jack Eichl was the champion of that right and that was like a rift between him and the Buffalo Sabres. Buffalo did, obviously didn't want to be the team that had the first ADR surgery in their room,

even though NFLers, Chris Wyden and M.MA have all had it done too. When Eichl was going through that and really dug in his heels about ADR versus Fusion, like how closely were you watching that? How closely were other players looking at that and saying like, this could affect me here? I need to pay attention to how this is this is going to play itself out. Like essentially, how much of a, how much of a factor was Jack Eichel in your decision to have ADR? Yeah. I mean, when it was first happening with him, I really wasn't paying much attention to it just because, I mean, I didn't have that problem.

I didn't need to have surgery at that point anyways. And, you know, thankfully for me, once he did it, I think it was about a week before I even started looking into it. relatively new but we had the same agent so we were able to connect i was able to talk to him he told me about all the research everything that he's gone through to figure out um just how confident he was in the surgery and what was going to happen and then also my agent did a lot of research as well so uh you know once i heard all of that it was a pretty much straightforward thing for me i i knew i was going to have this replacement i knew i wasn't going to do the fusion just based off you know previous injuries that other people have experienced and what they've said,

the problems with the fusion that they've had. So I just kind of had to find, you know, the right doctor to be able to do that. I was able to go see a couple different guys, find someone that was really good. And Dr. Bray there. And, you know, once I got there, it just felt so normal. I'm so thankful that Jack was able to kind of go through it, kind of pioneer that work hard to kind of allowing everyone to see that, you know, this is the best thing. for us because I can tell you right now that, you know, I'm way better than what I was even

before I had the surgery. I mean, I was dealing with those problems probably for about five years leading up to the point of surgery, but I didn't realize exactly how bad it actually had gotten to until after I was able to get that surgery. And now I can do everyday activities. I never have to feel it. I never worry about it. It's just an amazing, amazing thing. And, you know, I'm really thankful that Jack did. I'm glad that more players are, you know, kind of going outside the boss and seeing different things. Because, you know, these surgeries, they're new every single day and, you know, it's going to help players down the road. Imagine if Buffalo let him have the surgery. What could have been? Before all this, but I don't think it made it any better

between him. I don't think it helped. I don't think it helped. I don't think it helped. I wanted to ask you about another former teammate of yours, which is Stephen Stamco. I mean, there's been so much discussion about what his future might look like with the way that Nashville has gotten off the blocks early as a team. But Stammer in particular, I mean, this is a guy who's been one of the best goals scores of the last 30 years, doesn't seem to be put in the puck in the net with as much frequency as in the past. From your vantage point, what do you think about Stammer post-lightening and just where he is right now in his career? Yeah, I mean, Stammer is a guy that works extremely hard. He's such a good teammates, good leader. It's a guy

that I would want on my team and let's be honest you don't just lose your goal scoring ability he can still shoot the puck he can score some goals so I know he's going through a tough stretch right now I think a lot of guys in Nashville are I know that what was it last year they signed all those guys expecting big things and obviously it hasn't really turned out that way but I mean that's just the NHL sometimes chemistry clicks sometimes it doesn't I haven't talked to stammer as far as you know if he's wanting to stay there or move or whatever he wants to do but I know that wherever Stammer is at, it's a team that, you know,

desperately going to need him. He's a guy that every one of the teams in the NHL should have on my roster. Do you want to text him now so we can break the news whether he wants to stay in? Sure, you get some breaking news. He wants to go. Put a much of a girl, boys, go to Montreal.

Before you came on, we were sort of running through a couple of highlight moments from your career. Man, and I know it was like a, it's a bad dump-in by Thomas Placanitz, and it bounces off patcher ready, and there's five seconds left, Tampa Bay, Montreal, Game 3, 2015, Palat with an easy zone entry. Oh, I think it was over to Headman,

and then Headman fed it to you with one second left in what's one of the biggest goals of your career. Did you know that, like, at that moment when it went in, because it goes in and the buzzer goes, like almost at the exact same time, Did you know for sure that it was a goal? And in your mind, was that the biggest goal you ever scored? Well, you know, what's actually really funny about this goal is when I scored it, I didn't know that we were even down to the last 10 seconds or anything like that.

I thought there was minutes on the clock. I had no idea. So that was probably a move by me. So I thought it was a goal no matter what. But I was pretty thankful once we kind of figured out. I was like, oh, shoot, that I really was that close. So, yeah, no, it was definitely one of the biggest goals. I think if I really had to look back, I think probably one of the bigger ones in my mind was against Detroit in that OT game.

Because if we would have lost that game, we would have been down in the series. And then we got swept the year before. So people were already a little upset from everything. And then going into that, who knows if who would have lost that series, if we would have traded a bunch of guys trying to get different things. And, you know, if that would have happened, I think. my career, everyone's career would have been a lot different. So, pretty

thankful that we're able to get that win and get the playoff series there and just keep on roll. You know, I'm glad you. Go ahead, Marks, I'm sorry. Jump in real quick on that sweep, because that was like one of the most stunning things of this generation.

Everybody was shocked. And there was, you know, I can still recall, like there were the rumors of, you know, Kuturoff for Drysidal and Edmonton and Tampa are talking and they've had it. and nothing happened, right? Like they, it's a tough pill to swallow, but it was essentially come back with the same team.

What did you guys think was going to happen in the summer? Because I'm sure you heard all the same rumors that we all did too. What did you think was going to happen that offseason after that Columbus series? Yeah. So I think what was a really good thing about, you know, Steve and Julian is they pretty much just fullest that nothing was going to happen. and kind of squashed all the rumors to us right away, so we didn't have to worry about it.

But we knew we were going to have to be better. I mean, we had such an unbelievable season, but going into that playoffs, we knew that we weren't playing our best hockey. And dear to ask troop, he was pretty upset with us for a big majority of that. We just weren't playing team defense. We weren't playing playoff hockey.

And, you know, that year, Columbus, they started stacking up right for the playoffs. They're playing life or death hockey since, you know, the trade deadline. And so it was kind of a big difference for us was that we are coasting and they were already playing that playoff hockey. And unfortunately, it took us too long and figure it out. And, you know, it was a big lesson for us to learn. And the next couple of years, we really focus on the fact that, you know, we have to focus on our team defense.

We've got to focus on the way we play. We don't care about points. We're not trying to get 150 points. We're not trying to break records. What we're trying to do is play the best hockey possible coming in the playoffs. Yeah. Last one, and thanks for your time. I'm happy we figured out the audio thing because this has been great.

Your first year was 2012, 2013, and it's kind of crazy to think about what hockey looked like then and what hockey looks like now, because in the span of just over a decade, man, a lot's changed. From your vantage point, what do you think is the most different thing now about the game than when you came up with the lightning? Oh, it's 100% speed. I remember coming in to the league. You'd have, you know, two lines, maybe three lines that can skate, you know, top four D-Men that can skate.

But then after that, I mean, he got, you know, a little bit slower. And nowadays, if you're on the roster, you can fly. I mean, every single player. And that just makes it so difficult because we can't clutch and grab anymore. I remember one of my first practices up in Tampa. We had Eric Brewer, who was an awesome, awesome guy. But he just basically made me, like, go skiing all the way down the ice. because that was the rules back then a little bit, right?

So, I mean, it's definitely different. You need to have that speed. You need to have that team speed. And I think it's made a game a lot more interesting, a lot more fun to watch. And, you know, it was really fun to play, especially being a smaller guy. Okay, let me ask one last quick one.

As I believe the term is fresh meat or new meat, when you decided to call it a career, how many your buddy's beer league teams called you to be a ringer? Actually, not too many. I think the one big one is back home in Spokane. They have a thing called the classic. And it's like 64 teams

and I think they bring in about 300 kegs. So they're trying to give me to play in that tournament. But I don't know if I can do that. I played it once when I was like 14 years old just trying to play some hard. hockey and it's just it's not my kind of it's great to have you on the on the evil side of the

equator now listening to congrats on a wonderful career man were you fun to watch and I go back to your Memorial Cup in Kitchener and even that World Junior in 2010 and Norfolk and Tampa and Chicago all of it like just a delightful career really well done thanks for doing this hope to do it again soon

thanks guys yeah anytime new on me always available now it's not too much going on Thanks, bud. Just be like us, just watch hockey games every night. What do you do for a living? I watch hockey games,

and I talk about them. Sounds awful. It'll be good. Yeah, it's beat's working, bud. Beets working, bud. Thanks, pal. You be good. All right.

Love it, guys. Thank you. There he's Tyler Jetson, former NHLer. Yeah, the fresh meat phenomenon is always a fun. It's like, hey, you hear who we're tired? I think we can get him. We're like a D-Division beer league. If he's going to play anything, he's going to play top division.

It's kind of funny thing about like when he came into the league, he was probably, I mean, he was considered undersized. I mean, that's shifted, I think. And then we were like we were talking about before, the reason he was no longer with a lightning was because he was a cap casualty, much like, you know, Blake Coleman was and Bartley Goodrow was, like all those grunts that they had on the lineup, they had to clear him out so they can sign the tippy top guys. And that's changed because now everybody just resigns. Adam Lowry, Adam to the list, his stuff is there. Like, no one's leaving. There's no reason to cut anybody anymore because the cap is so damn high. So it's got a few years after Tyler Johnson was basically evicted from Tampa Bay because he made

too much money. Now, now nobody, nobody has to be traded. Nobody, nobody leaves. Everybody, everybody now is just protecting their assets. Like that, that's all of it. Like, there's room now, so you're just making sure that nobody leaves. Like that, that's, that, that's what it is. This is just like accumulating jewels. That's just put his, put as, you know, grab, grab as many jewels, grab as many coins as you can, stuff them in a bag and say, like, we're not letting these guys. But it's also the known versus the unknown. I mean, let's be honest. I mean, most of these teams, even if they're like 80% happy with the guy and they believe the grass could be greener elsewhere, 80% is still pretty happy. And, and, you know,

if they have the financial wherewithal to keep them and not have to go find a replacement for, you know, guys in their bottom six, for example, they're just going to keep the guys they have. Not untrue. Not untrue. All right, we got to get hustling here. Greg, what do you have available for us at the moment? Atm. I've written a lot of stuff on ESPN in the last couple of days, man. Yesterday was the NHL bubble watch in which we used statelets to give us the playoff probabilities

for all 32 teams. And that was really interesting in the sense of trying. There are teams that are very high in the standings that underneath the hood, the analytics don't speak to them being playoff teams that can get you Chicago. And then today

was a really fun exercise that we do around about this time of year every year, which is I go back to my 32 bold predictions for each team before the season and I give a confidence rating as to how confident I am that they will come to pass

now that we're a quarter into the season. Now, that does mean that some of the predictions have finality to them. For example, Merrick, I regret to inform you that I don't believe Jack Hughes will play 82 games this year.

That prediction ended up being bold as it was incorrect. That being said, You boy did predict, not only would Kyle Connor re-sign with the Winnipeg Jets, Kyle Connor would re-sign with the Winnipeg Jets for Mitch Marner money, and by God to the penny, that man re-signed for Mitch Marner money. So a Tomahawk slam dunk from the foul line on the Connor prediction, a giant steaming pile of dung for the Jack Hughes prediction,

who I didn't know he was going to go to a steakhouse in Chicago. but you can go and read the rest of the bold predictions and what I've gotten right and gotten wrong and where they're all trending on ESPN right now. No more steakhouses, no more barbecues for any gelers. Bubble wrap your boys when they get off the ice. If only there was a common denominator between a steakhouse and a barbecue, what do you find there?

Obviously, just meat. Meat is the thing that used to find in both, nothing else that would be common between a steakhouse. Come over to the green. Keep it nice and safe. Come on over to the green side here with your boy and eat boring for the rest of your life like me. You'll be good.

We'll talk on Tuesday, Soldier. Thanks, you're ready. Bye. Greg McChic from ESPN and ESPN.com. I got a hustle to wrap up the program today because I got a flight to catch. Stad of the day is a presentation of Uber Eats and Zach has a good one.

Uber Eats is enabling fans to maximize their fandom all season long with exclusive game day deals on the app. From game day eats to paper plates and napkins if you're hosting to all the ingredients you need to make your favorite game day dip. Before, during, and after the game, Uber Eats is assisting every hockey fans experience all season long. And making better parents out of me and maybe you as well. Zach, how are you today, buddy? What do you got for us? I'm good. I've got one here today for us. This one dates back a while. This one goes to 1934 on November 20th.

Busher Jackson. If nothing else in the stat or anything, the name is pretty unreal. That comes from an insult. That comes from an insult because he was too much of a prima donna to help the trainer pick up sticks. So the primer said, the trainer said,

you're such a busher. I have no idea what a busher is. I don't know. Actually, true story. It's like the hoser, hoser, where it's like, what the hell does that mean?

It's actually pretty good. I like it. But Busher Jackson and the Toronto Maple Leafs scored four goals in a single period. It was in the third period in a 5-2 win over the St. Louis Eagles. Second time, and I think three weeks here, the St. Louis Eagles being brought up. He was the first player in NHL history to achieve that accomplishment of four goals in a single period. So he was on the Kidland with Charlie Conacher and Joe Primo, one of the best lines in the early days of the NHL.

First thing, a thought on the St. Louis Eagles, as you mentioned this, they've come up a couple of times. So the St. Louis Eagles have their origins with the Ottawa senators. That's where that organization moved and after which it was mothball, although there was some talk, we talked a lot about Ohio today, about moving them to Cleveland. That didn't go anywhere. There was talk about taking them back to Ottawa. That didn't go anywhere either.

And just so, listen, it's a matter of NHL history. That rink, the old St. Louis Arena, where the Eagles played for one season, was the only, to my knowledge, and I hope I'm not incorrect on this because I'd hate for them to be two, that was the only racially segregated arena in NHL history. Eagles were only there for one year,

but the St. Louis Blues had the only racially segregated rink in the NHL. Here's the thing you got to know about Bush or Jackson. Busher Jackson partied hard. Busher Jackson off the ice lived really, really, really hard. And that's why he essentially

passed away in squalor. He lived hard, he drank hard, all of it. To the point where, I mean, listen, he was one of the best players in the NHL and for a significant amount of time too. But bluntly, he drank it all away. And he spent all of his money on booze.

And teammates, fans like everybody, tried to encourage him to stick money away. Like save it for a rainy day, save it for your future. Hockey is not going to last. How many times have you heard me say this one, Zach, hockey will never love you back, stick money away. It got like so bad that Kahn Smythe, the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, offered to match dollar for dollar anything that Busher saved. And he still said no.

And he still just continued to party his face off. That was unfortunately the sad story about Harvey Busher Jackson, who in his day, to your point earlier, Zach, was. just one of the best players in the NHL on probably the best line in the NHL with Conacher and Primo, the kid line for your Toronto Maple Leaf. So essentially what I'm saying is Busher Jackson, although he was a better skilled player than Derek Sanderson, he was the original Derek Sanderson, who essentially did the exact same thing in the 70s, off the ice, which Busher Jackson did off the ice in the 30s. essentially is a long-winded way of me saying the guy partied and partied more. That was Bush or Jeff.

We're going to finish up with you again, Zacharoo. The sheet is powered by Fanduel. Play your game with Fanduel. The PWHL finally returns this Friday, November 21st, and Fanduel is your home for all the action on the ice until the Walter Cup is lifted. Minnesota's in action, by the way. Speaking of which, against Toronto,

Seattle faces off against Vancouver. Hoover. From Blue Line to Betslip, Fanduel has you covered with PWHL feature markets, game and player props, same game parlays, live betting, and novelties. Download the Fandual Sportsbook today and play your game. Please play responsibly 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. What do we wrapping up with today, Zach. So as you just said there, PWHL is back and I just wanted to highlight this over on Fanduel right now. Obviously, games return tomorrow and then continue on throughout

the weekend. So Fanduals got odds listed for those games. You can see the games for Friday night here up on screen as of right now. Toronto at Minnesota, plus 108 for the SEPTERS minus 1.30 there for Minnesota. Seattle and Vancouver

showdown in Vancouver Vancouver favored minus 128 Seattle plus 106. But it's not just the games that are listed as well. I wanted to bring attention to some other stuff there, Jeff. You can bet on the MVP as of right now, the defender of the year, the goaltender of the year, the forward of the year. They have all different markets listed.

They have Olympic stuff. It's all up there for women's hockey. So if you want to get involved, that way, Fanduel is the place to do it. We might see an expansion team win the Walter Cup. Like, Vancouver's stack, dude. Well, you and I talked about it. The day they announced it, the two favorite teams to win this year was Vancouver and Seattle.

Like the day they were announced, who was on the teams. You thought the biggest expansion draft was kind of the expansion team. Look at the PWHL just did. They may have handed their ultimate trophy to an expansion team. We'll see. A lot of hockey, obviously. I'm glad to see it get underway. Tomorrow we'll do more coverage as the games continue.

And then we'll cover both the women's and the men's side as it relates to the Olympic. when that gets closer and closer. Great stop, Zach. All right, I got a hustle. Thanks so much for joining me here today. I know we had the day off yesterday. Was the busy one for your boy trying to sort out paperwork. I had a paperwork day yesterday.

So thanks for hanging in there and coming back today. We're back on the air tomorrow at 1 o'clock as well, 1 o'clock Eastern, here on a daily face-off YouTube channel. So from the monumental studios in downtown Washington, bidding you good afternoon. Thanks to Tyler Johnson for stopping by. Thanks to Greg Wischinski for stopping by as well. Thanks to you for listening.

Thanks to you for watching. Thanks to you for paying attention, even if it's only for a couple of moments. I understand that I cannot be consistently interesting for that long. But thanks for hanging in there. Please subscribe to our daily face-off YouTube channel. Subscribe to our offerings on audio, on video, and all of it. We will join you again tomorrow, 1 o'clock Eastern for The Sheet.

We'll talk to you then. I spread 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, because you can call it all right. I went to the dark man and tried to give me a little medicine. I'm like, no, man, that's fine. I'm not against those methods. it's me and myself and how this is going to be

fixing my mind I do want to back it I've been on the days I do want to make you turn on the music that's enough

and up and I don't get you sometimes losing I've been on the days that went wrong Thank you.