The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Road Again ft. Pierre McGuire

Episode Date: May 9, 2025

Pierre McGuire joins Jeff Marek on The Sheet live from Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida. Discussing the Oilers taking a 2-0 series lead against the Vegas Golden Knights, they Washington Capitals evening things up at home before they head to Carolina, and teeing up the Maple Leafs vs Panthers game as well as Dallas vs Winnipeg...Shout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Ninja Kitchen Canada: https://www.ninjakitchen.ca/products/ninja-crispi-4-in-1-portable-glass-air-fryer-cooking-system-zidFN101CGY?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=olv&utm_campaign=25Q2-Crispi&utm_content=en👍🏼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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surrender a two goal lead in the third period, comeback to win an overtime. In the signature Edmonton overtime play, McDavid to Dreisaitl. Stop me if you've seen that movie before. And just as an aside, how big do you think Conor McDavid's eyes got last night when he saw right in front of him

in overtime Dreisaitl on his left, Alex Patrangelo in between them and right in front of Conor McDavid, Jack Eichel. Who went number two, when the draft was here, as a matter of fact, where we are in sunrise. And forward, and how good did it feel for McDavid to breeze by Jack Eichel last night, and feather a gorgeous pass through Alex Patrangelo to Leon Dreisel who's not gonna miss from there. One thing I do want to point out about last night's game and I mentioned this on the show yesterday

after game one between the Edmonton Oilers and the Vegas Golden Knights. He's not gonna get a lot of ice time. He didn't even get 10 minutes last night. But Vasily Podkolz, every time he's out there, does something. And last night was a big night for a guy playing minimal minutes. Like, let's have a quick look here at the game sheet. So last night, Vasily Podkholzin played nine minutes and 27 seconds.

So you think to yourself, okay, how much of an effect is he gonna have on the game? Sure, we saw the goal, but it's a goal, it's an assist. And every time he's out there, he's trying to break something. He's trying to break something in a Vegas Golden Knights jersey, and last night with a pair of hits, he's at it again. That fourth line has been excellent for the Edmonton Oilers. I know, like, look, you're not going to win and lose on your fourth line, but come playoff time. Depth is something, depth is meaningful, and the Edmonton Oilers,

for the first time in a long time have it. Again, Vasily Podkolson is not a headline maker, but to me, he's kind of been a standout two games in here. Hits per 60 is around 30 for Vasily Podkolson. This is not lost on his teammates and this is not lost on members of the Edmonton Oilers brass as well. Anyhow, so that series now to nothing. Canada's best hope or do we see Canada's best hope playing tonight?

Coming up on the program, we have a lot to get to and that includes Pierre McGuire. I'd like to remind you as always as we kick off the show today, live from sunrise at the, I gotta say this properly because Nick Albrega is here. Amarant Bank. Yeah, there you go. Albrega bought a new tongue today, stopped off at a gas station on the way over here, bought a tongue and decided to try it out

on Leafs Morning Take. It did not go so well when he had to say Amarant Bank, but nonetheless, here we are. Coming up on the program today, we'd like to always remind you Daily Outline, presented by FanDuel, make every moment more with North America's number one sports book. Those are our friends. Those are our partners. Those are the good people from FanDuel who contribute a lot to this program.

Pierre Maguire is going to be stopping by in a little bit. So a lot to get to with Pierre, not just the games last night, not just the games tonight as well, but also the coaching carousel. We'll get his thoughts on Joel Cuenville as the new head coach of the Anaheim Ducks. There is the Islanders situation, what they're going to do there with their other general manager search. Um, and I'll tell you, and this might just be a byproduct of me being in Washington for a few days, but in a lot of the conversations that I had the past three days, it seems like

not the new hotness because that's Spencer Carberry, but the next hotness around coaches in the NHL might be on the bench in Washington as well, and that's Mitch Love. I think there are five teams that are interested in having conversations or may have already had conversations with Mitch Love. We'll see you there. Bad night if you're watching us on YouTube, K-N-I-G-H-T, man it was right there for Vegas as well. The Caps clean it up, Washington pulls even with the Carolina Hurricanes headed back to Raleigh. Will the sun rise? I like the way Zach makes these headlines kind of vague

and I have to guess, and I'm guessing that means will the sun rise for the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight or will the sun rise for the Florida Panthers tonight game three? here at Amarant Bank Arena For Nick Albrega there and got a jet looks like Josh Morrissey is in tonight for the Winnipeg Jets Is they face off against I don't know whether I should say is like I don't know whether I should say they're facing off against the Dallas Stars or they're facing off against Mikko Rantinen.

Because Rantinen has been, as we outlined yesterday, the story for the Dallas Stars. When you talk about hitting a stride, this is it. You know, remember when you played hockey and you would hit someone and you didn't even feel it? It just felt like you went right through the guy. Or if you're playing baseball and you really get a hold of one,

and it doesn't even feel like the ball hits the bat that's where ranting and is right now that's how a rant is feeling at this time everything he wants to do he's able to do and everything is clicking yeah I used to teach hockey on like Sunday mornings against six seven-year-old kids and then at the end you'd do like a little scrimmage and you'd skate around and do like keep away and stuff with them. Yeah, that's how I imagine it's like for Miko Ranen right now. So the difference is he's not doing it at a three on three rank in New Market. He's doing it in the National Hockey League. So there's a little difference there. Against elite level players on arguably the best regular season team this season, the Winnipeg Jets. All right, let's get to Pierre Maguire. This segment or presentation of Budweiser. Budweiser is encouraging buds to make time for 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 with that, we bring aboard our friend, the great Pierre Maguire, who joins me here on the sheet. First of all, Pierre, good afternoon. Thanks so much for doing this as always.

How are you enjoying early returns here on the second round, my friend? I'm enjoying it very much. It's always great to visit with you, Jeff. Thanks for having me. You know, I know that the, the Carolina, I've been saying this lately, because I was just in Washington for three days

to check out games one and two. The Carolina Hurricanes are an acquired taste. I just want to get your thoughts on this Keynes Cap series here really quickly. So game one did not go well. I talked to Brian McCullin next day here on the show and you could tell he was still upset about it. I don't think Spencer Carberry was thrilled about the effort

from the Washington Capitals. But Carolina is just flat out a hard team to play against that man on man, which you have to be like, yeah, it's like Rod Brindemore wants all of his athletes to be like triathletes. Like you have to be in such good shape to play that style of hockey. And it is so frustrating. But when there's a breakdown, there's a lot of open ice available and every scoring chance is a great A scoring chance. You have a quick thought on what we've seen between the Caps and the Canes so far through too. I was really happy for Carolina fans in game one. I was really disappointed for Caps fans

in game one. There was no physicality. It was a free pass night for Jacob Slaven. He and and winners or losers. But I would say yes. I think if you ran a high cycle against them and ran it with discipline, you could expose them a lot. You could get a lot of that open ice you were just talking about. It seems to me as if the motif of the game plan for the Washington Capitals is, and you already alluded to it, like Tom Wilson was hitting everything that moved yesterday. Wilson had a great game last night. He was fantastic blocking shots, uh, setting up that John Carlson power play goal was a tremendous pass and really highly intelligent play, but it seems as if they're sort of adopting the traditional philosophy of the way you beat the

Carolina hurricanes is through. Patience and waiting for the mistake and then pouncing. Um, but when you're talking about a high cycle, like which, which team in the NHL do you think is best suited to break down what Carolina does man to man? Colorado used to be, but they're not playing anymore. They would be one of the twos. I'd say Boyle Boyd, put them against Carolina. Let's see that high cycle with Nathan McKinnon or let's see what they're doing with Charlie Quirrell or let's see what they're doing with Brock Nelson.ula. Let's see what they're doing

with Brock Nelson. That one, two, three punch on the middle, even that Jack Drury, one, two, three, four, that would be a pretty dominant cycle game that you could have. But Dallas took care of business. I don't know how they did it, but they found a way to do it and they moved on in Colorado. Here's one thing that I think is really important about Carolina. Leadership is huge there, whether it's Jordan Stahl, whether it's, you know, Jake from Slaven, whether it's Sebastian Aho, or whether it's Brent Prince. And I don't think people talk enough because they don't watch Carolina enough about the standards that have been implemented there by their coaching staff and the standards that have been followed through by their leadership course players. I really don't think we talk about it enough.

It's an impressive group. It really is. Slavin. Like the Four Nations, if anyone didn't know Jacob Slavin by the time the Four Nations was done, everybody knew Jacob Slavin. I'm not sure how you felt about it, but I thought he was flat out the best player of the tournament. Of all the players that we saw at Four Nations,

I thought Slavin was the best one, best tournament. Of all the players that we saw at four nations, I thought Slaven was the best one, best player. Totally agree with you Mark. Absolutely. Uh, okay. So one more final thing on, on Washington. I want to get into a coaching conversation with you here at some point in our talk, but the more, and this might just be a byproduct because I was in Washington for

three days, but the conversations that I've been having with people about coaches and who are the candidates for a lot of these jobs and who are managers interested in, a lot of the conversations are coming back to Mitch Love. Now Mitch Love for our viewers and listeners, I mean he comes from a hockey family. His dad Harley was a long time scout in the Western League, Everett, Tri-City and Saskatoon. He was a tough player as you remember, Pierre. He doesn't coach that way, but he played that way. Really successful with the Blades in the Western League. Stockton as well, Calgary Wranglers,

back-to-back AHL coach of the year, really working well with Spencer Carberry in Washington. How many conversations have you had recently where the name Mitch Love has come up? All the five or six names that I'm hearing the most. Well, I heard Quindle's name a lot and obviously Joel's now in Anaheim, but I heard Joel's name a lot. Rick Fockett's name I'm hearing prominently in a lot of places. Mish loves another name that I've heard substantially. Mike Van Ryan's name I've heard, the Toronto assistant coach that won the Stanley Cup in

obviously St. Louis with the Ruby. Those are the names that I've heard. It doesn't mean there aren't other guys out there because clearly there are other coaches, but those are the names I've heard the most. Let's bracket the coach conversation. Let's do some more game talk and then get into the off face. I am curious as well, your thoughts on the New York Islanders situation right now.

So last night, it's not a great model for long-term success being the comeback kids. And last night was one where the Edmonton Oilers handed the Vegas. Here's a gift, you're back in the game now. I don't know if that's a great long-term plan for success but it sure makes for an interesting game of hockey. I was mentioning off the top of the show here today before he came on that threw a couple of games here, Vasily Podkols and

I know he doesn't play a lot but he hits everything when he's out there. That fourth line with Yanmark and Arvidsson, I know he doesn't play a lot, but he hits everything when he's out there. That fourth line with, uh, with Yanmar and Arvid soon. I know there was a bad trip in that game that got missed. I mean, that line is really doing damage. And last night we saw pod calls and get on the score sheets. Uh, he's always hitting things and everyone in Vancouver is probably saying like, where was that? Uh, what stood out for you, uh, from last night's game, Edmonton and Vegas, Edmonton now the 2-0 series

lead heading back to Alberta? That teams are not just Vegas, but teams around the league are having a hard time closing the deal. We saw it in the Colorado Dallas series. We saw it in the Winnipeg St. Louis series. We're seeing in this Edmonton Vegas series. I don't know what's gone on, and I don't know if it's a byproduct of players paying attention and and here vaguely Batman and Robin went to work I mean come on, that was crazy

and it's not like Conor Mcgavis walking just a pedestrian player it's walking Jack Eichel Jack Eichel you can say whatever you want about him Jack Eichel is an amazing player, he's a fantastic player and Mcgavid made him look like a pedestrian average player

who had just called up from the American Hockey League. And then obviously, it's a great dish, or a bit of dry saddle, and he finishes it off. Edmonton deserves a lot of credit. I did not think Edmonton would beat LA. I really did not. And you look at McGavin, and this is what he does to me. Like, that's Jack Eichel.

That's not like a Sunday morning beer league game player that he saw. Like that's Jack Eichel. That's not like a Sunday morning beer league game player that he saw. And it's Patrangelo beside him too. Like that's an elite level defenseman there. Yeah. He's a great all-around play. He's trying to play the way he has, but he can't.

So, you know, Jeff, I don't know. I didn't have them beat in all that. I'm not gonna pretend. I thought LA would win four home games. They had the best home record in the national hockey group during the regular season. I didn't think they'd have success in Edmonton, but I thought LA would win the four home games and win the series. I was wrong. I got it wrong. Give a quick thought on Edmonton's depth here. It seemed as if the moment Edmonton bumped

up Corey Perry to that top line. All of a sudden they discovered with the return of Evander Kane, that Evander Kane, Ryan Nugent Hopkins, and Zach Hyman is a really good second line here. I already mentioned the Yanmar clan with Pod Coles and Arvidsson. All of a sudden here, it's like you've been on benches when this works.

Like when everybody is in their right place and no one's playing higher than they should right now, it's a real beautiful thing to watch. And that's kind of what we're seeing right now with Edmonton, isn't it? Everyone's in like the right spot. It's so well said by you. So I'm just going to go back in history to 97, 98, 2002. Detroit had a line called the Grind Line.

When they had Darren McFarley, they had Kurt Malpy and Chris Draper. So the Grind Line, while they had super elite players like Eisenman and Shanahan and Larry Onoff, you know, this goes on and on, they had Martin Le Point, they have all these guys, it's great. But without the Grind Line, everybody else's identity changes. But Scottie finds a way to get that Grind Line together and all of a sudden they become magical and the team wins three cups in what five years. It's pretty, it's an amazing story. But you're right on about that. And I think that Edmonton's finding that now. What's amazing to me is to see what they're doing without Matthias Ekholm on the backhand. I'm really blown away by

what Paul Coffey and Mark Stewart's been able to do with that defense element that I really am. And one of those things is, and I'm not going to say this is the 2017-18 John Klingberg where he had his career season, but all of a sudden here comes John Klingberg who's getting the puck out of the zone efficiently, getting the puck up to the forwards fast. And now all of a sudden, John Klingberg is walking the line in the offensive zone. Like it's been to be kind. It's been awkward with John Klingberg and the Oilers. Whenever anyone has hip surgery, hip resurfacing surgery, I always sort of

give them a year's grace and say, this is a really hard surgery to come back from. This is tough, but it's going to take a while. So Edmonton signs him. He plays like what? Two games, Pierre, and then it's the Four Nations break. And then he comes back and there's another lower body injury. Ends up only playing 11 regular season games with the Oilers. Was never really able to get it into any kind of a groove. And then the playoffs start. regular season games with the Oilers was never really able to get it into any kind of a groove.

And then the playoffs start. And all of a sudden we're starting to see a different kind of John Kling. Like I'm really happy for the guy, first of all, and I'm happy for the Oilers because you're right. Like you're doing all this without Matthias Ekholm. You're doing it without Matthias Ekholm, but all of a sudden too, you're getting what you're hoping you were going to get out of John Klingberg. I agree.

You know, it's interesting that you bring his name up. Minnesota Wild brought him in a couple of years ago. Yeah. I think you remember that. And they had high hopes. And it comes back to he wasn't 100%. He was damaged goods. It's like when Toronto had, he was damaged goods.

And I can remember the John Klingberg, and it's amazing. I remember the John Klingberg that was in Dallas, that was playing in Edmonton in the pod and eventually helped me and him and Oiskin and bringing them to the Stanley Cup final where they eventually lost to Tampa. And I know you know this, Shep, but this is for our viewers and listeners. If you go watch the tapes of those games that Dallas played I was there for two and a half months with Kenny Albert We're there I've never seen a defense get more points in the playoffs than that defense from Dallas And he was a major part. He was a major major part of it. I was like, whoa, this guy's bitter

I know Minnesota was really counting on him and he just, to your point, he wasn't healthy. He wasn't healthy. Now he's a little bit more healthy and you see what he's built. Hi, it's Jessi Cruickshank. I host the number one pop culture podcast, Phone a Friend, and I don't think I'd be able to do it without my Google Pixel 9 phone powered by Gemini, a built-in AI assistant. Thank you, Google, for gifting it. I'll ask Gemini to keep me updated on what I might have missed. Hey, Gemini, what happened in pop culture this weekend? A lot happened this weekend.

Let me fill you in. What would I do without you? Gemini helps me get my podcast and everything in my life done faster and easier. Learn more about Google Pixel 9 at store.google.com. The Pickard story. I keep waiting for the clock to strike midnight. I keep waiting. I could turn into a pumpkin.

I keep waiting for it, Pierre. And there he is again. Last night. He has a 6-0 record right now for the Edmonton Olders through these playoffs. And I'm really, I'm really parking the conversation now about they can't do this with Pickard because they are doing this with Pickard. We've seen goalies go on these runs in the playoffs before. And I don't necessarily think that Edmonton needs elite goaltending to do anything or

win a Stanley Cup because they may be the only team remaining in the playoffs that can score their way out of problems. And that's rare. And I'm looking to pick it. I'm saying, you know what? It sounds insulting if you say he's good enough, but he's good enough for the Oilers, for them to do damage against just about any team that they face. Because he battles, Jeff Jeff and he cares and he knows the route that he had to take to get

to where he is. And those guys believe in him. They trust him. They know how hard his route has been. I admire him so much. Every time I had a chance to meet Calvin over the years, he never was as woe as me. He cared about himself. He cared about teammates.

He was grateful for his opportunities and he didn't quit on himself and Jeff The highways littered with players over the course of time in the NHL Oh, yeah That said what I can't do this anymore and they quit on themselves when they quit on themselves It's over and this guy never quit on himself. I think his teammates see that his coaches see that Andrews seeing it It's been a great story I think his teammates see that, his coaches see that, and now his fans are seeing it. It's been a great story.

Oilers up two nothing heading back to Alberta. Okay, so I'm in Sunrise here to game three tonight. Florida Panthers facing off against the Toronto Maple Leafs. I'll tell you, there's a real interesting type of energy around Maple Leafs fans. On the one hand, they're thrilled with what their team has done against the defending Stanley Cup champions. Yet at the same time,

Pierre, they've been false started so many times. There's only so far that they're willing to go with their enthusiasm for fear of being Charlie Brown and the football. How do you see the Maple Leafs right now? They haven't played an eight game yet and they're up to nothing in the series. I am worried for Florida because Matthew Kachurk doesn't seem right. I agree. Sasha Bartol doesn't

seem right. And so I think there's a carryover for both of those players from four nations and they both have showed tremendous courage and desire to lead their team back into the fight. I just don't know how much they have left. And because of that, it's not affecting two players, it's probably affecting five players. And that's the problem that they're faced with. In terms of Toronto, I think you and I would both agree, this is probably the best chance they've had to win the cup since 2002, I believe anyways, in terms of the roster and the capability of what we're seeing on the ice. And it's because they have some grit that they haven't had for a long time. They got shot blocking capability we haven't seen in a very long time.

Their exits out of their own zone are much cleaner and their star player, Austin Matthews, when he's not scoring, can still influence the outcome of the game with his defensive awareness. That's not very common around the Marshall Harkly where Stiles play both outcome of the game with his defensive awareness. That's not very common around the North Star. You leave where Staus play both ends of the ice and get away with it and he can get away with it. One quick rewind to the Panthers here. When you talk about, I come with that, Kachuk does not look the same and Ditto for Barkov

as well. And I don't know whether it is the volume of games that he's played, but, and it's not just the Marner goal, but Bobrovsky doesn't look like the same guy either. He really doesn't. Um, I'm with you. I will present on that. You know, here's part of the discussion here now, considering how well

Nylander has played in these series and now Paul Maurice gets last change If you're Paul Maurice like put on your Pierre Maguire coach hat here your Paul Maurice You're coaching against the Toronto Maple Leafs. You have albeit not at a hundred percent. You still have Barkov Who do you put him out against Matthews line or Nylander? No, I'm going to play against Matthews Lyon because I can't afford for Matthew Nyes, Mitchell Marner, or Matthews to get running wild because if they do then I know I'm in trouble. I think I can still stabilize Tavares and Nylander and Patriotti. I still think I can stabilize

them more with a defensive matchup than a forward matchup. It's really important for Florida. And you've talked about it, Jeff. I've tried to talk about it. Brandon Montour is playing in Seattle and they're not playing anymore. Oliver Attenham and Larsen's pointing to Toronto. They've lost some bodies in Florida that I don't think we've talked about it enough. This is not a knock on Seth Jones who they went out and got at the trade deadline. This is not a knock on Nikola or any of the other guys that are playing that are new there, but they're not Brandon Montor and they're not Oliver Eknemarson. And I think there's some omissions on that back then that have really hit Florida a bit different this year. You know, we talked about Florida looks, it's kudos to the Toronto Police for doing

this with the Florida Panthers, but the Panthers don't look like the same bullies they were against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Heaven plays hard. You know this, like I know what the series didn't go seven, but is there a chance that Tampa and a losing effort took something out of the Florida Panthers? They did. I think you're spot on with that. Here's the other thing.

It's hard to go to back to back Stanley Cup final. And it's really hard to go to a game seven in the Stanley Cup final, the second year and compound that with having eight players at the four nations event. I just think they might be hockeyed out, Jeff. And again, I'm not making an excuse for them because I don't want to take away from what Toronto's done so far. And I still think Toronto has to give us an A game. I think they've given us a B plus and a B game. You know, and they've had some good goaltending along the way.

They as a team give you an A. They give you an A or A plus game tonight down in sunrise. I believe that Toronto will be up 3-0 in this series. One final conversation about this series. I haven't had a chance to ask you about the drama from earlier on this week. Sam Bennett, Anthony Stolar's The Buckets, and Anthony Stolar is not on the trip for the Toronto Maple Leafs. How did you see all of it this week? I thought he was trying to make a hard play on goal. I don't think he's skilled enough to say I'm going to drive hard in the net, I'm going to throw my right elbow into my old teammate's head

and try to knock him out of the series. I don't think that was part of it. I think the league made the right call by not suspending them. To me, the truth is that Sam Ben, it's a hard player. He's a bull in a china shop and that's how he plays. I don't think he meant to hurt his old teammate. I don't believe it believe the one thing I will say, I still need an explanation for embellishment on Rodriguez. I don't understand. Okay, I have a theory. I have a theory on this one. Let me let me know if this one if this one finds a home with you. This is you know, not unlike what we saw in St. Louis Winnipeg with Oscar Sunquist. So I think we talked about this last time in the opening round, and it wasn't just

one team and it wasn't just one player. It was every team, every night. There was so much diving in the first round. There was so many guys embellishing in the first round. I really do wonder if to start the second round, a memo went out from Stephen Walkum or whomever saying, look, if you're 50 50 on whether it's embellishment or not, call it because we want to stop this. And on I understand the point about the

embellishment Rodriguez, I get it. I wonder if that was a call to send a message to everybody else in the league saying, oof, if they're calling that embellishment, I need to think twice. Because I'm with you, I don't, on its own, it doesn't feel like the right call there. But then I look at the first round and say, man, there's diving embellishments every night.

Like guys, stop it. I wonder if that is the NHL saying, oh, we'll put an end to this. Because on the next 50-50, he's getting an embellishment call. Again, it's just me theory. I'm buying. No, you convinced me, I'm buying.

So here's what I need you to sell me on now. The way you're going to do that, when are they going to do that same memo on cross-checking? I have never seen- Oh, I know, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cross-check more in the face or in the neck area and no call. and Well, there's a hearing tonight from one player for the Vegas Golden Knights, Nicholas Wah, who had the cross check in the face yesterday in overtime, which led to a five-minute major and a crossbar at the end of all of the two. But yeah, I'm with you, especially around the boards too, right?

Especially around the boards. Anyhow, I don't disagree. I think we're seeing a lot of dangerous cross checks and cross checks that are riding up high. And there's a lot of cross checks, I'll be honest with you, a lot of cross checks that are sort of veiled with the shoulder, like you wanna cross check the player in the head, so you hit the shoulder first and ride up, so you have that plausible deniability

that I wasn't going for the head, it just, players are smart, players are so smart, they know exactly what to do. I wasn't going for the head. It just players are smart. Players are so smart. They know exactly what to do. I wasn't going for the head. I was going for the shoulder. It just happened to end up there. It's an interesting situation. We're going to see the Dallas stars tonight and we're going to see Miko Ranen again tonight. Started the show off talking to Zach Phillips, our producer about Miko Ranen and how, you know, it just must feel like this is Sunday morning beer league for him right now. Whatever I started the show off talking to Zach Phillips, our producer, about Miko Rantanen and how, you know, it just must feel like this is Sunday morning

beer league for him right now. Whatever he wants to, like it's gotta be the best feeling in the world as a player, where your brain tells you what it wants to do and your body says, okay, cool, we can do that. It's gotta be just one of the most wonderful feeling in the world, and that's where Rantanen is at right now. Before we get and drill down a little bit more

on Jets and Stars, do you have a thought on what we're seeing from Miko Ratnan right now? Yeah, first of all, he deserves a lot of credit. Second of all, Jim Neal deserves a lot of credit. Third, and this is really important, he's playing with role play hints and Mikhail Granlin. He's comfortable with those, they're fins. But here's the kicker,

Pete DeBoer is not getting enough credit. He knows Randen's a rhythm player. He knows Randen was getting tons of ice time in Colorado. He knows that when Rondman's at his best, he's in rhythm. So the advice is double shift them now, rather than just playing them with the two fins. He's now playing them with depth players in the organization for DOWs.

And so now all of a sudden this player's in rhythm and he's feeling, you know, I hear all these lines. He's feeling it. He's in charge. He's on top of it. He is. But the players deserve credit.

The player himself deserves credit. Let's not overlook what the coaches do. And the, I'm glad you brought that point up specifically because that is really, that has never really been Peter DeBoer. Like there's a couple of coaches and Jim Montgomery's like this as well where amongst the forwards nobody gets into the 20s but no one's in the single digits for the rice time either. Like everybody's between 10 and 20 minutes like that's always how Peter DeBoer has has run his bench and he's making an exception for Miko Ratnan and it's paying off with spades.

But it's really intriguing because sometimes coaches get so married to how they wanna run their bench that they just will not budge whatsoever to do the quote unquote right thing. To me this is fascinating, this is Peter DeBoer saying, I'm making an exception here for this guy because I know it's going to pay off, but he never does this. It's weird. No, I had the privilege of staying next to Scotty Bowman on the bench and he didn't

do that. Like you said, DeBoer doesn't make exceptions, but he did for one player, Mario Lemieux. And he would say, Mario can handle 24 to 27 minutes a game. It's not a problem. And so part of what he figured out, and I thought it was really smart by Scottie and I tell him this all the time when we talk, he was able to get Mario away from matchups because he could find them different line mates. And those coaches would say, Hey, when did he get on the ice? You know, it wasn't as sophisticated as it is now. Like, how did he get out there again? What's going on here? Scottie would go one, two, one, two, three, one, two, one.

And the other coach would be like, oh my God, what are we doing? We're lost. And so I've seen that happen before with players that need to be in rhythm and Scottie was so good at doing that with me. Really good. He, like, there are a few other coaches with players that need to be in rhythm and Scotty was so good at doing that with me.

There are a few other coaches who had their thumb on the pulse of the team, more so than Scotty Bowman and there have been so few coaches that understand what it takes to motivate their team better. What's the the old saying Pierre, a pat on the back is 18 inches away from the kick in the butt. I don't know anyone in the history of coaching that understood that distinction and knew when to pat and when to kick more so than Scotty Bowman. Well we agree. I asked him once about Gila Fleury. He goes there are different rules for Gila Fleur. He said, he figured that one out. The other good one is Dominic Kasich relate for a team bus once in Brett Hall was sitting in the back.

I heard this from a very good source, Spidey Bowman. Um, and, and Ash got on the bus late and Brett Hall was ribbing them from the back end. And Scotty goes really loud. Worth the wait, men. and Scotty goes really about worth the wait men. So yeah, no Scotty figured that out a long time ago. You're spot on Jeff. Winnipeg Jets tonight. We just had a quick thought on the Dallas Stars before we get to the coaching situation around the NHL. Winnipeg, it looks like Josh Morrissey is in tonight and we saw Mark Shifely return here. That was a really good game one.

And it was really close game one. And was the Rantanen show, we understand that. And listen, there were moments where, you know, we went into this series and said, not that it's gonna be the final determining factor here, but you know, the sidebar of Autinger versus Hellebuck, USA hockey Olympics is very much alive in this series What do you look for tonight game two between these two squads?

Morrissey has to make as much of an impact in this game too as Mark Schaefman made an impact for Winnipeg in game one And if you can't do that and Schaefman can't go to the next level like where he was in game one It's a problem for Winnipeg. They're gonna have a matchup problem. That's gonna be the issue. Because Dallas is starting to get healthy and they're starting to get guys back. So that's the one concern I have. But I I gotta give the fans of Winnipeg a ton of credit. And Jeff, I know you're familiar with that fan base, probably as well or better than anybody that does this. And they're making a difference. You know, you got six guys on the ice, anyone shook, and you definitely have a seventh man

in the stands. The fans in Winnipeg, it makes a difference. They gotta win this game though tonight. I think you would agree. They don't win this game tonight. This match will be a very, very short series. Absolutely. You know, to the Winnipeg Jets fans,

two of my favorite, like to me, they're not only loud, but they're really creative too. Like, I don't know what it is about Manitoba and Winnipeg specifically, but if you look at like, there's a really vibrant arts community there, there's a really vibrant acting community there. Like it's a very, very creative place. And so we shouldn't be surprised. Like two of my favorite chants were, uh, when Winnipeg started as Atlanta moved to Manitoba,

there was the Crosby's Better Chance every time Washington came to town. And then after 2010 in the Olympics, there was the Silver Medal Chance for Ryan Miller. Like this is a really creative fan base, Pierre. I don't think it's lost on a lot of people. There's a lot of great fans and really funny ones as well. The silver medal ones, holy smokes.

Guys, awesome. Okay, coaching carousel. So we talked about Mitch Love a couple of seconds ago. You mentioned Mike Van Ryn, Rick Tuckett's name very much out there. A number of teams still looking for bench bosses. You know, it's interesting when you mention Rick Tuckett, a lot of people are, there's a, there's a couple of obvious ones,

like the two teams in Pennsylvania. He has background with both, uh, Boston is intriguing as well. Um, but when you consider, you know, he was going to be, should have been, don't know where it broke down the first head coach of the Seattle Kraken before they pivoted and went to Dave Haxdall Could you see him back in Seattle and in that conversation? It's interesting because he was a teammate with Ronnie. They won the cup together. He and Ronnie back in 20 or sorry 1992 Jason Botrill

Was in Pittsburgh in 17 and 18 and when Rick was there as an assistant coach or 16 and 17, excuse me, when Rick was there as an assistant coach to Mike Sullivan. So there's a sense of familiarity clearly in Seattle. And let's not forget to St. Marie, Tucker played in St. Marie, the president of hockey operations through Seattle played in St. Marie too. So there's a bit of a relationship there. I could see that. I definitely could see that because the standards that he would present to the team come with Stanley Cup winning street cred. I think that matters a lot. And like I'm friends with Rick and I want to be totally transparent. I had an amazing relationship with him. I have so much respect for him. I think he's a good fit in

Philly. I think he's a good fit in fit. I think he's a good fit in Seattle. And the interesting thing is I know we're looking for a GM in LA. I don't know if Jimmy Hiller is going back there or not, but if you look at the Pacific division, Seattle needs a coach. Vancouver needs a coach. Anaheim just got a coach. Is LA going to need a coach? I mean, what division is kind of funky right now. It really is. And I think if you're Seattle and you get the right guy in there, and I think Fockert's the right guy in a bunch of places, you got a chance to get better. So you're on this better than anybody, but I'm just going to say it to our listeners. Anaheim was 10 points behind Vancouver. They're 16 points behind Calgary.

Joel Quenville, I think, will be a 20 point difference maker. That's 10 games in the Spannings. I think Joel Quenville can affect the outcome of 10 games over 82. That's 20 points. And not get to me. You know, I'm with, I think we all look at that. We look at that organization right now.

Look at that team and you see like McAvish is right there to take the next step. Carlson is right there to take the next step. And Cudder Goche, we didn't talk about a ton, but Cudder Goche had a really good season. But the one that I, and look at the back end. The back end is Young and Greta Lundgren as well. Ian Moore, for our listeners out there, there's a second pick out of Harvard. They got a whack of young guys on the back end. A whack of chip.

Jackson LeCombe to me is the one every time I watch and I'm back, I would pop every single game that go up. But the one guy that I keep coming back to there. And it's interesting. I was always told that in job interviews, Joel Quinn will only ask one question. Who is our goaltender? Lucas Dostal is about to become a household name. Right, like the future is now.

I watch all their games because I'm a big fan of a lot of their young players. I think they've actually done a good job there. And it's Martin Madden Jr. is running their amateur squad, but they've done a great job there. But I like listening to Brian Hayworth, who's their regional or local color analyst, because he goes goalies. He knows goalies really well. He's clearly a huge dust valve fan. And when I hear Brian endorsing him, especially when you consider some of the goalies Brian played behind, or some

of the guys he played with, very'm very, very encouraged by that. I'm glad you brought the style's name up because I do think he's going to be the guy that pops and everyone's going to say, where did he come from? Let me float a name and a team at you. So I've wondered the last couple of years and like, listen, people can do zoom calls, so it doesn't really matter, but Todd Nelson with Hershey, his teams go to the final, his teams win AHL championships. And when the coaching interviews are all done and the decisions are made,

he's still coaching. Um, I wonder about Todd Nelson with a team like the Vancouver Canucks. Would that make some sense to you? It does. So one of the things I can say proudly, he was part of our Penguins organization when our farm team was in Muskegon. He was an amazingly intelligent defenseman. I spent a lot of time with Todd over the years when he was playing in our organization. He came up, was a player on 92 Stanley Cup winning team. People don't even know that about him.

You could tell from those days that he was going to be a coach. How good he was going to be, no, but you could tell because his hockey sense was so exquisite. I think he's a guy that's been overlooked for a long time because precisely what you said, he's coaching well into the spring and almost into the summer. I know. and I gotta give Ian LaPierre and the guys in Lehigh Dallas, who's a smart team, a lot of credit. They had a chance to get this thing done, but first he's been a good team in the American league for so long. It's really one of the blue bloods of the American hockey league.

Thank you, Bears. Yeah, Bears could be out tonight. Lehigh wins tonight. All of a sudden, Todd Nelson is free to take calls and free to travel for eight years. And I hope, you know what, Jeff, and I'm not trying to tell Kyle Buess how to do his job, but I hope somebody's gonna look in and say, you know what, this guy's I'm not trying to tell Kyle Bubas to do his job, but I hope somebody's going to look

in and say, you know what, this guy's got a Pittsburgh legacy to him. I hope somebody in the organization, whether it's Jason Spezza or somebody else in the organization is going to say to Kyle Bubas, hey, before you were involved in hockey, this guy was actually playing on the Stanley Cup women's team when we were in Pittsburgh. Give him a shot. Give him a thought. You know, let's see what he does. He deserves an interview there, at least there and maybe other places like you say Vancouver,

but I sure hope he gets a start because he's a real high caliber person. Coach, a couple of more names that I want to throw out at you. And these aren't like Rick Tocque, Joel Cuenvo, like the heavyweights that were out, you know, looking for landing spots here, Mike Sullivan. Marco Sturm with Ontario and Jay McKee with the OHL-Branford Bulldogs. I've been told that there are teams that, I don't know whether it goes anywhere, but there are teams that are interested in having conversations and making them part of their interview process for head coaches. And eventually, I'm assuming, eventually these two land in the NHL at some point.

Have you heard many conversations around McKee or Sturm? I've heard Marco. I have not heard Jay's name and I like Jay a lot. So if he's watching, he knows. I put the respect I have for him. I've heard Marco's name a lot. Part of it's because of the tie-in to Boston. That's where I was gonna go, sent them a long text after the 2018 Olympic Games and Kian Chang, I was there calling the games and had it not been for young Seidenberg icing the puck and the greatness of Kirill Kaprizov, the Germans would have won the gold medal that year. Marco Sturm was approached. They were as well coached as 18 in the 2018 Olympics. And now we're what?

We're six years, seven years past that. Marco has only gotten better as a coach. He hasn't gotten worse. So I would think that he's going to surface somewhere as an NHL coach, whether it's somewhere in his backyard out west or maybe even with the Boston Booms where he's qualifying. Always a good conversation. Fascinating stuff. Pierre, enjoy the game tonight.

We will catch up soon, my friend. Enjoy the weekend as well. The hockey's been great. It'll continue. You're great and look forward to you coming on the program again soon. Thanks, man. You are the most amazing guy doing this, dude.

Thank you so much for having me on. I really appreciate it. And put a hat on, you're not in South Florida. I'm in sunrise. Look at it, it's gorgeous. It's gorgeous out there. It's beautiful. It's beautiful.

The extra guys like me, the fatherly of those guys need that. Trust me, I'm going for a run after this. Look at this gorgeous gorgeous out there. It's beautiful. It's beautiful Trust me I'm going for a run after this and I always tell my wife like look I am I am The flag of Poland. I am half white half red when I get anywhere near the Sun. There's no there's no in between I am the flag of Poland. That's what I am here. You'll be here. It's Jeff. I'll be soon. I'll be soon. I'll be soon. Hi, it's Jessi Cruickshank. I host the podcast Phone a Friend. I also have three kids and I'm in the middle of a cross-country standup tour. The only thing keeping my life together is my Google Pixel 9 phone.

Thank you Google for gifting it. It's powered by Gemini, which is a built-in AI assistant. I'll jump off a flight and ask Gemini to please summarize my unread emails. I looked through your unread emails and found the following. Invoices, tour details, e-ticket confirmation. And just like that, I'm up to date. And I have invoices to pay. Learn more about Google Pixel 9 at store.google.com.

The great Pierre Maguire joining us here on the sheet, one of our regular contributors around these parts. Oh, by the way, this morning, and I can't wait, I was on a plane floor because I couldn't watch or listen. But when I do go for my run later on today, I'm gonna take this with me. Morning Cup of Hockey this morning. Doug Wait, Colby Armstrong, and Murls from Game Notes. Now, one thing about Colby is congratulations to his son, Cruz, drafted by WHL Seattle

in the US WHL draft yesterday, 14th overall. So congratulations to Colby and Melissa and the entire Armstrong family. Cruz drafted in the Western Hockey League. I'm gonna be that guy. I remember when he was just like tiny little cruiser. Colby would send me videos of him playing hockey

in the backyard, in the outdoor rink, and then he started playing lacrosse, and now he's drafted into the Western Hockey League. Incredible. Melissa, Colby, congratulations. Really good to see cruisers succeed. Zacharu, I wanna get to the crispy inbox here. By the way, do you have any thoughts about anything that Pierre and I talked about? Maybe

anything involving coaching? And I do know that there are teams that are interested in and maybe they've already had the conversations with Jay McKee. Just interested to see as it goes like the dominoes that fall here as well because it does kind of feel like this is the year of the new coach. You know what I mean? Like the guys who have not been here, there was so much talk about David Karl and Pat first while learning, could they make the jump? Obviously David Karl goes back and stays at Denver, but first, while his name was still out there. And then now we're hearing about all these other guys that you're throwing out Sturm, McKee, we talked about Mitch Love.

Like these names are coming up across every show that we're a part of here on the network, what, no matter where it is. It's just interesting to see how different that conversation has been this year than years past. Because Jeff, I feel like maybe even last summer, the summers before that, you know, it's like, oh, Barube, Quinville obviously does get hired by the Ducks, so like, just take that one off, but these older coaches who have been around, where could they go, where could they reshuffle?

Now it's like, hey, here's these new guys who might steal some spots. That's gonna be kind of fun, and then I'm interested to see if like one goes, how quickly other ones come in succession. You know, there's something that's really interesting that I don't know if we've talked about this before. Stop me if I've blathered on about this before,

but over the past 15 years in the NHL, something interesting has happened. Once upon a time, general managers in the NHL were all in their 60s. Now they're in their 50s. And head coaches in the NHL used to be in their 50s, now they're in their sixties. Now they're in their fifties. And head coaches in the NHL used to be in their fifties. Now they're in their forties. We talk so much about the game getting younger and look at all these kids on the ice. We, but we're focusing on the players, but have

a look around the entire landscape here. It's getting younger everywhere. GMs in their early fifties, coaches in their early forties. It used to be GMs in their 60s and coaches in their 50s. Like that's just the way that it was. And it's getting younger at those levels as well. You know, officials too, right? Like I look at, I'll go back and look at old games and how many of these guys couldn't touch their toes? Now how many guys were skating with barrels out there,

you know, huffing and puffing up and down the ice? Now, these are some of the best skaters that we've ever seen in the NHL. Seldom out of position, they get to position fast, and in order to do that, you have to have younger legs. Now, I think with officials, what we've lost is a little bit of experience with a lot of the older guys, you know, retiring or maybe skating their way out of the game because they can't keep up anymore. And we have lost a lot with officials because there's a lot of experience that's left the door.

I will, I will always bring up that point. There's a lot of young officials over the last five years in the NHL, and that's probably why there's a lot of nights where you go like, what were the, what were the zebras doing tonight? It's like, we don't have, we don't have those guys that have been around for 20 years. And I don't think you're going to see guys that have lengthy careers in the NHL working the lines or wearing the bands because the game is so fast out there that you have to be able to keep up and they don't get a chance to go off the ice and rest either.

It's not like one shift and rest and then some other officials come out. Like, I don't know that we're going to see guys with lengthy, lengthy careers like that. And the byproduct of it is the officials are getting younger too. At every single level, Zach, you're seeing youth around the NHL. Okay, crispy inbox time. I was told to to watch Marco Stern, by the way, heads up on Marco Stern, you may end up somewhere here. Time now for the crispy inbox presented by Ninja crispy's four

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sized meal in seven minutes in the six 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. I don't know if the food is also involved in that, if the food comes along with the Ninja Crispy or you have to go and get your own, Zach. I can't speak to that. I'm gonna assume you have to get your own, but regardless, every time it makes myself

and everyone else in the chat really hungry. Yeah, it looks good. Looks good. What do we got in the screen box today? This is not the question here. I'm gonna get to that in one second. We have Stephen Ellis, who's down there in Florida with you. He's in the chat.

He says, at Jeff, so it is a question, but he says at Jeff Kazakhstan versus Norway tomorrow at 6 20 a.m. Eastern time. Who's your pick? And I'll tell you what, and here's why Ellis is a freak. Um, he will be able to tell you who all the players are and who all the players that go out on special teams are and their histories as well. You know, I always get like, whenever I do a lot of shows, I'll get like asked like really, really obscure

trivia questions. And the one guy that I keep coming back to, I say like, you know, you should ask is Steven Ellis. Because if you want to know who like the real savant is around these parts, it ain't Merrick, it's Ellis. That's the truth. Yes. That guy. So I'll throw that, throw on back to Stephen in the chat.

Give us the power play for both teams, Ellis, wise guy. All right, here's the actual question. I did want to get to that, but he says, hey, Jeff and Zach, loved the Eric Tulski interview from yesterday and his unique approach. With that said, given how Rantanen is playing right now and coming off a loss to the Capitals last night, do you think Tulski regrets the whole Rantanen saga? Thanks, Vince from Woodbridge. Go Leafs Go. Um, I don't think he regrets it. You know, it was, it was interesting. I was thinking

about this after the, um, after the interview, just as a quick aside, I was thinking about this after the interview with Tulski yesterday. And I know we just saw Jim Rutherford essentially say, I'm going to bring the Hughes boys here from New Jersey. And everyone screamed, tampering. But if he talks about Ranton publicly publicly now that he's a member of the Dallas Stars. Would that be tampering at this point? I guess it would depend on what he said about the player, but at the beginning of the season, like there was a memo sent out by the NHL to everybody in the league about tampering and how they were looking to actively, you know, really shut it down. And a lot of it is around free agent time. I don't think the NHL likes, you know, on

July 1st, all these sophisticated seven-year contracts for players that are announced at 1201 Eastern when free agency opens up at noon Eastern. That in one minute, all of a sudden, there's usually long-term sophisticated contracts that are announced, but nonetheless. I know the angel's trying to clamp down, and that's why I thought there might be something like a fine, just to set an example to the other managers, like, hey, don't do this.

But I was wondering, like, if he talked about ranting, would that constitute tampering? Anyhow, no, I don't think he regrets it and why, and here's why. I think that the Carolina Hurricanes, and this comes right from, not just Eric Tulsky, but their owner Tom Dundon as well, that is a team that A, understands the value of everything

and Tom Dundon does have a price attached to just about everything, but it's a team that's always taken, albeit not always publicized, big swings on players. And I think the message to the marketplace is, and the message that our fan base is, we think that there's value there, we're going to take a swing at that player. And it didn't work for whatever reason with Mikko Rantinen, but like I was mentioning the other day on the program too, if you just look at what Tulski did this season,

he turned two players, Martin Nacius and Jack Drury, into a haul, an absolute haul. Now he used Miko Rantanen to get there, but it was an absolute haul. He used Rantanen to get rid of Drury and Nacius. I mean the worst kept secret around the NHL that Nacius was going somewhere. That goes back to the offseason. But in return he got Stankhoven, Hall, two first-round picks, six million dollars in cap space. He just used Mikko Rantanen to get there. Now, do you think, I think maybe the better question is, do you think he wishes he still had Rantanen considering how he's playing?

Yeah, absolutely. But Tolsky read and reacted to the situation. And if I told anybody at the beginning of the year that that was gonna be the trade, it would be Nacius and Drury in exchange for his thank Oven haul to first and six million in cap space. You would have said, did the GM he made the deal with get fired?

Remember when Bricky told us like when he first started as a manager, they're all pirates and you judged how good a trade was if the guy you made a deal with got fired. It's like, oh, that trade was so good that that guy got fired. That's how they, that's how these pirates judge trades with one another. All of them. Like you had the, every time you shook hands with one of them, you had to count your fingers afterwards. That's the way that it was. And if I told you that that was a deal that Tulski did with someone, you'd say to yourself, did that guy get fired? Because that is an absolute haul that he,

pardon the pun, that is an absolute haul he got in that exchange. So I think he would rather have the player considering how well he's playing right now, but I think that A, he took a swing, good message to the marketplace, good message to the fan base, good message to the team. And he also turned what could be seen as a negative

into a real big positive for the Carolina Hurricanes. Do you disagree, Zach? No, I don't. The other thing too to point out there is like, he did have some growing pains when he got to Dallas and there was a bit of time in that where it took him to get to this point and get comfortable. Obviously they were missing guys as well.

There's no guarantee that he ends up actually fitting in in Carolina the way in which he is in Dallas right now. So he still could have been a really good player, but like it just might not have actually maxed his potential in Carolina given what they ask of the players and the style they ask them to play or the the linemates he would have been playing with not because of quality, but because of their fit with him. So like that's also I am giving Tulsi a little bit of a pass on that one, but that's also something to consider. You don't know that he would have been you can't just say, wow, he's doing that there. He would have done that here. We we got rid of them yeah maybe not let's say it's it's it's it's it's situational one thing before I wrap up here from from sunrise and game three

tonight Florida Panthers facing off against the Tram eight beliefs CHL the final series are got underway yesterday with the Oshawa generals in the London Knights Oshawa wins the first game take a one-nothing series lead they beat the London Knights. Uh, Oshawa wins the first game, take a one-nothing series lead. They beat the London Knights, double them up four to two. Uh, Nashville prospect, Andrew Gibson with a pair of assists, Colby Barlow to assist Winnipeg Jets first rounder and Cal Ricci. X of the avalanche now of the Islanders.

Like that's what makes this like salt. This is even more like salt on the open wound for the Colorado avvalanche because he was a big piece in the Brock Nelson deal. Calritchie Islanders prospect. Is it going to be Ken Holland and Matthew Darsch there? Calritchie with a goal there as well. The QMJHL final goes tonight. It is Memorial Cup host Rimouski facing off against Monctton. So Monkton is automatically through now that Rimouski made the final. We'll see who wins the Q Championship and the Western Hockey League final gets underway as well. Spokane faces off against Gavin McKenna and the Medicine Hat Tigers. So we're whittling it down here to see. We already know two of the teams that are going to be at the Memorial Cup final.

That is Wromowski and Monkton. We'll see who the other two will be. Either Oshawa London or Spokane and Madison Hattes. Anything from you before we sign off? Zach Phillips? Nope. Just games tonight and that's it. I'm not going to lie to you. This is a nerve-racking

type of game and for me as a Leafs fan because it's like you win this one, you go up three nothing. Yeah. Whew. Like the, I'm not gonna say it's over. It's never over, especially with this team. I'm young, but I'm at least experienced enough to know that. But if they go into this one and they get their doors blown off, the conversation tonight on the After Dark, tomorrow morning when you join Nick Alberga in person on Least Nation, our Least One Take.

Yes. Found out about that about 90 minutes ago. I was there and Vic said that. And then I was like, I don't know if he knows that yet. So that'll be interesting. No, it'll be fun. I'm looking forward to it. It'll be good. I get the bus on El Borja for now. Come on. Here we go again. That's true. Yeah. The conversation will just be here we go again, if they get blown out tonight. So it scares me because it does feel like there's a very real possibility that that game comes. And I would rather maybe it be game four if you're up three nothing than game three when you're only up to one. You're such a Leaf fan. You can't enjoy anything.

I'm scared, Jeff. I'm scared. And you're scared and you're anxious and you probably didn't sleep last night. You're probably cranky around all your friends and loved ones too, you're such a meeple. Love when my stereotypes come to life. But nonetheless, should be a marvelous game. We look forward to it tonight. Thanks to Pierre Maguire for stopping by as well. Producer Vic, I finally got to work with Producer Vic again.

And yeah, as Zach just mentioned, tomorrow, it'll be Leafs Morning Take. Is it under the Leafs Morning Take banner, this program tomorrow with Nick? It is, Leafs Morning Take. Yeah, it'll be a Leafs Morning Take. Is it under the Leafs Morning Take banner? This program's tomorrow with Nick? It is, it's a Leafs Morning Take. Yeah, it is. I will play the role of J. Rose Hill. So standing in for J. Rose Hill,

the reasonable hand-drawn facsimile of J. Rose Hill, yours truly, Jeff Merrick Esquire. And then there'll be a special edition of the sheet we should point out as well in advance of game four. That's gonna be one o'clock on Sunday afternoon one o'clock eastern that is so the programming is kind of funky here this weekend should mention as well games tonight we should go over and remind you as always the sheet is powered by FanDuel home of the seven game parlay make every moment more on FanDuel FanDuel proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them.

A pair of games we've been mentioning. The Florida Panthers here in Sunrise hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs. Paul Maurice interestingly said that there could be some game time decisions tonight, essentially based on who's banged up slash injured. Also, as we mentioned, looks like Josh Morris, he is returning tonight for the Winnipeg Jets.

They look for a split tonight against the Dallas Stars. And as we always say, not just the Dallas Stars, Miko, Con Smythe Trophy favorites? Rantanen. Got it? Got it. Thanks for tuning in, whether watching live on YouTube, in the chat or listening at your favorites podcast platform, maybe your most hated podcast platform maybe you don't like

listening to your paws but you just think that's what I'm doing and that's what I'm used to. Thanks for tuning in. We appreciate it. That ends our broadcast today. Me and Albregha on tomorrow at noon Eastern here. Join us for a recap of what you're gonna watch tonight and then yeah don't forget about Leaps After Dark with Zach. He could be feeling real good or we might have to lock the windows at his high-rise condo in downtown Toronto. We'll see how it goes. Either way, it'll be a great show. Talk to you later. I try to give a little medicine, I'm like, nah man, that's fine I'm not against those methods but no It's me and myself and how this gon' be fixin' my mind I do wanna break it

I turn down the music I do wanna break it I turn on the music It's enough, they're about to get you sometimes losing Helping on the days that went wrong Mmm, in the dead dark night