The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Carter Hutton on Jacob Fowler, Underrated Goalies, Three-Man Rotations, and more

Episode Date: December 12, 2025

Carter Hutton joins the show to talk all things NHL — goaltending trends, team tiers, breakout players, and the stories shaping the stretch ahead. Tap in for smart, sharp analysis from three trusted voices around the league.SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Bauer: https://www.bauer.com/👍🏼Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/caReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaking of goaltenders, let's bring aboard Carter Hutton. Former NHL, and that mind are now one half of the power duo that is Daily Face Off Live, heard and seen noon Eastern right here at Daily Faceoff YouTube channel. So we're trying to figure out the goalie market. And Greg threw out Mark Andre Fleury's name as a surprise swerve for anybody. To the Oilers, baby. Flower to the oil to save the... Day, what do you say, Carter Hutton?

I have it on good authority that Carter Hutton is now doing two a days. And he's thinking about it. And it's in the back of his mind. And he's been talking to, I don't know, Stan Bowman or Bill Scott or Jeff Jackson, any of the Oilers, brass. How do you read the market right now for the, for the Edmonton Oilers in Nets? Like, is anything clear or are teams still two packed together? I think two packed together. I think it's concerning because, like, the names that get thrown around.

round for me when I think about the Edmonton Oilers. It's like a lateral play, right? Like it's is Biddington the answer? Now you've got to try to move money around. Is he really going to help sure up? I think I don't necessarily think Stuart Skinner is their problem. Sometimes you've got to look at, yes, the Jekyll and Hyde of his game is horrible at times.

But I think there's other glaring problems in Edmonton that you see. So I think that is a concern when I look at the Edmonton Oilers, when I look at a lot of these teams. And the fact of the matter, outside of the Dallas stars and the Colorado Avalanche, who else is really a favorite? No one's really identified like, hey, we are difference makers. We are going to be there.

So you are a Tampa Bay little run away from, you know, going to 7-1 and 2 or getting a little hot stretch to really just boost your chances in any division. So for me, it's just a matter of getting somebody serviceable to come into Edmonton. And again, I think Kelvin Pickard has got to the point where you almost can't play him anymore. So I don't know if it's the fact of replacing Skinner or just trying to find somebody who can come in and be a little bit of a stop gap. Just to give Skinner some relief in this compressed schedule where it feels like every night he plays, you don't know what you're getting. I think that is the most concerning thing

for Edmonton Oilers and for their fans. Do you not think, let me, I'll turn this over to Greg in a second. Do you not think, though, that considering that Connemick David, you know, didn't do that deal, the great Alberta gift to win one Stanley Cup, but he did it to win three,

that even though they might not be Colorado and they might not be Dallas, there is an obligation in exchange for, like the quid pro quo here is, I'm going to do you this solid, but we can't punt on a season. Like we need to act as if we are Colorado and act as if we are the Dallas stars.

That's the way it feels to me. Does it feel that way to you? Yeah, it does. And it feels like he gave them their leash, right? Like this was the deal. It's like, hey, this is a show me deal. What can we do? So that's why some of the names being thrown around.

I feel like it needs to be a bigger splash if it is a splash in net, right? And again, maybe like Famelca in Utah is a thing. I get like Ryan Smith is a guy. how long does he sit there and wait with the inherited staff that he got, right? Like these weren't guys that he hired, right? Bill Armstrong came over, Andre Tournier, these were, you know, and then you think back about Terry Pagula and what he went through

and he took over ownership and all the, you know, where the Buffalo Sabres are at now. So I still think there was a lot of names, but I, if there is a play, it has to be some prospects, some picks, something going out to Edmonton for them to get anyone for me that is really going to move the needle. That is really going to be like, hey, Connor McDavid, here you go. We went, you asked, you wanted this, we went and got it. Again, this is a team that's, it's hard for me to judge a regular season. It's hard for me to judge certain teams in the regular season because they get a little bit of a pass, right?

Like the Florida Panthers are struggling. Everyone feels like they're going to turn it around, but they get a pass. They get a little bit of a leash because they've done it before. Where some of these teams, they don't because the results haven't been in there when it matters most. Can I throw one more thing in? Of course. That's what I'm here for. Sergei Barbrowski's on an expiring contract.

There he go. Imagine that. That would rock the world. I remember when Bob signed that deal. Everybody's like, you can't pay a goalie $10 million. You can't do this. This is how the league works. This is it.

And then all of a sudden, now it's like every other team reflects on it. They're like, we got to pay a goalie $10 million. Our goalie sucks. We need to find someone we can pay a boatload of money. So it's funny how the abs and flows changes so much. But what I will say is when you look at the depth of the Florida Panthers, during those cup runs, that was a big difference maker. And again, Bennington's names thrown around so much right now, with Canada, with, you know, trades.

How insulated what he played very well. I don't want to take it away. I was on that same St. Louis Blues team the year before and I led the whole NHL in say percentage and goals against. Was that Carter Hutton or was that a fact that we had Jay Beaumaster, Alex Petro-Angelo, Joel Edminton, Robert Pertuzzo, you name them, we had it. And we were so structured where Binnington was good. And again, at the four nations, a very good.

good insulated team he was good you at times you're about as good as what can you get put in front of you outside of maybe three or four of the best in the world great points so that that that that does bring up an interesting point though Carter which is is Bob good or is Bob good because the team in front of him really hunkers down and plays exceptionally well in the playoffs I think Bob is still good. I don't think Bob is a 55 game goalie good anymore. I think there is a wear and tear and a factor that comes into it. But again, Bob is a good single game goalie. And it'd be exciting to see what would happen if we had Russia at the Olympics, right, because of the plethora of goalies that they have. And there's so many good guys. But I think for Bob managing where he is at

and where he's going to be at in playoff. Yes, he's a workhorse. He wants to play. But I think his game has dropped off a bit and again like he is capable of stealing games but i just don't know if he's on that same level of like consistency we see with some of the younger guys when i look at guys in the league that are really in that upper echelon i think egor shasturkin is that guy you can probably put him on anywhere from team one to team 32 and you're still going to be in the game every single night so i think bob's better days are behind them and trying to strategically set him up for success come playoff time and the war of attrition in playoffs is is kind of where I think the Florida Panthers are at.

Okay, elsewhere around the NHL. And no, we're not going to ask you about Quinn Hughes because this one has been like done to death at this point and I'm as guilty as the next person and that next person is Greg Wachinsky. So let me ask you about the other bit of low hanging fruit from this week. And listen, that was a big comeback when even though they almost threw it away against the oilers. by the Buffalo Sabres. I was saying earlier

that the one thing that I've learned in my time in hockey media is this and it's only one thing. You cannot lie to players. Players know who belongs

and who doesn't belong. Now, the Buffalo Sabres yesterday signing to a two-way deal, he's just on an American League deal leading up, Trevor Kuntar. And he's called up

over Noah Ostland, Constellanius, And there are a lot of people there are going, hang on a second ago. Lindy Ruff the other day was just saying, we're carrying three goal tenders, so I can't ice my best lineup. And, you know, Noah Osslin did nothing wrong here other than he's a victim of a numbers game, so I can't ice my best lineup. I don't know why he got, again, I'm not there.

Maybe there's an obvious reason that I'm missing. But how that player turns the HL deal into a 2A deal and gets called up over Noah Austin and Consta Hellenius to me is baffling, but players notice this, right? Like, what's the effect? Like, I'm curious, like, take us inside the room. Like, what's the effect, like, up and down the bench? Because, listen, if I'm asking these questions,

you could be sure that, like, Tage Thompson, Razmustaleen, Alex, talk, everybody on that coin is going, on that team is going, huh? What's that? And I think it's when you start to lose your room, too, as like a general manager right and and again times that I think about is like trade deadlines times where it's like you have you think your team is in it and then all of a sudden there's a trade that goes on and you're kind of like reflecting as a group like man they don't believe in us they don't

think you know where we're at so I think that is a big factor in this play where they're trying to pull up they're trying to see what works but I think the message that's getting sent to those core guys is is we're trying to expose players and maybe there's guys on the move so I do think it is disheartening for the Buffalo Sabers what you see with moves like that right in a culture where this team is very unpredictable right at times it's it's not about talent it's about effort it's about you know i guess maybe trying to generate the exact same product every single night and they've had troubles doing that over the last 14 years and i was one of them right i was in that culture where it was we had a ton of good players and the message wasn't there the

discrepancy between team and management and coaches and at times it kind of falls to the wayside so I think it is concerning, but to Jeff, to answer your question is players know, trust me, players no, player, no, they know what's going on. They know who's good enough to be there. And they also know that like, if you've been around long enough, you're aware to the situation. And that's something that gets involved in this is like there's a sense of self-preservation that comes into play too.

Like, don't get me wrong. We are proud athletes and we want to be good and we want to wear, you know, whatever team we're on, we're doing that. But at the end of the day, like the writing's on the wall. If there's a guy on a contract year, you have to be a little bit. selfish, right? Because one thing I will tell you, when your time is up, they just scrape your name off and get somebody else, right? So you've got to try to make your money and take care of yourself, Numero Uno. Let's all say it together, hockey will never love you back. Take as much

out of it as you can. This is why hockey players in the media should get along better. We're all the same boat. Find the younger, the younger model. Hey, Carter, let me ask you this. When you talk to your friends in the goalie fraternity, is there a guy in the league that is sort of the consensus most underrated goalie? Like someone whose numbers maybe aren't always great and then, you know, the fancy stats if you don't tell the story. But is there one guy that maybe doesn't get the shine that you guys think is the most

underrated goal in the league? Can I guess? Can I guess? Yeah, you can I guess? Jake Allen. there you go that's a good that's honestly a great pick jake is a guy that you know what i i think jake is a great story of a guy that st louis expectations on him coming in which we see all the time he just needed a change of scenery in my personal opinion because he was like anointed the

guy where i never had to deal with that i i got off the hook well i didn't say i got off the hook i probably left a lot of money on the table where if you are the guy you get more opportunity right i used always joke in nashville once i was a little secure in my position there when we would have the brass and and scouts would be in there and everybody I always go to the boys like none of these guys like me right because I was like this random free agent signing that they plucked in and next thing you know I became an NFL goalie they're like no one found me outside of Mitch corn and their goalie staff so sometimes being the guy like we're going to see it tonight Jacob Fowler gets his first start he's kind of already anointed the one and this is a big

time market and he's getting a first start against the pens what wa did what price did all these dried in all these guys before him and I think it's concerning in the same sense of, you know, you don't want to put two expectations on a guy where Jake Allen, realistically, he could have been in St. Louis forever. Like, he was that good, but he was labeled with expectations. And I think another guy who doesn't get enough love in the league, a guy I played against from college all the way up is Cam Talbot. I think Cam Talbot has been one of the arguably the best goalies, consistent-wise,

every situation he's been in. And it's not like he was always in these protected situations, right? He started with Lungwist and, you know, kind of cut his teeth there. and then he bounced around to different teams and no matter where he goes he you know he's an NHL all-star at one point in LA like it's very impressive what he's done in his career and guys like that I'm I always kind of revel in because I know the grind right like 39 years old and he's still going I was thinking back to when I was like I played till I was 35 god there was days I hated it right and it was like and I always love the game trust me you ask anyone about me like

I had a good rapport with most teams but there was a time where it was like hey I am I remember last year in Arizona I would like tell my wife like I am here for the paycheck like it got to that point where you could ask me before that I was doing everything in my power to be good and I loved it and I was immersed in it but you hit a wall at some point and guys like that I find most impressive that's a great answer Greg had mentioned Cam Talbot previously so I can I can I can I can see the inside smile on his face well yeah what we need yeah well Carter what we need because we need Sebastian Kossa to be like the Yesper Walshstead of Detroit, forced them to bring him up, Talbot's on the market,

Oilers trade for Talbot. That's the perfect scenario for Edmonton. I thought last year was the year that was going to happen. When they traded for Peter Morazic, like it felt like Cam Talbot was like, now that I'm on your side, right, working media. I was like, this is the play here. You know, Talbot goes to Edmonton.

He becomes that like staple. He's a good guy. Not that I think he's the guy that carries you to a stand. Stanley Cup, but he can get hot. He can be a difference maker. And again, when I think a team Canada, like, maybe you want a veteran press. Even like Team USA, someone made this,

Darren Pang, we had him on our show and he made this argument to me. We were chatting a little bit about it. Like number three for Team USA, what about like John Quick? Or someone that like between the ears, if it does, there's an injury or something happens and you get thrown in that moment, you're not going to be overwhelmed by it, right? Like there's so many good goalies, but one, this is a one game showdown. A one game showdown, it comes down.

to in those kind of scenarios. Sometimes the mature guy has a little bit more between the ears. It's hard not to think about him against the Russians in Sochi, man, and, like, think, yeah, they could use that in the pinch if they needed it for sure. As a Canadian hockey fan, I love the idea of USA taking net minders that are on the back nine of their career and maybe thinking about retirement. I think not only should you have them on the team, but they should start too. Maybe John Van Biesbrook grabbed the path.

I don't know. I'm just speaking as a Canadian here. I'm just looking at Ottinger and Hellebock and I'm like, oh, you know what? I think John Quick. I think Jonathan Quick might be the, if he can channel 2012 quickie, then all of a sudden, yeah, USA can go on this one.

He'll only need it for 60 minutes, though. Only needed for six. I'm just a locker room present, right? And a guy that could help guys around the room. So there's always that talk. I get like he, if you get to your number three in the Olympics, you're probably in trouble anyway.

Yeah. This is Merrick's version of my Celebrini, butard. What about Nick Cousins? Wouldn't have to be somebody I just saw it voted? Yeah, that was awesome. You got to win votes.

No, I know. Okay, so let me, last one for me. I'm going to go back to the swords on this one, although we've seen this at various times. We saw it with the Red Wings before. Publicly goalies always say, you know what? We don't mind having three goaltenders. We don't, we're fine with it.

It's okay. Everyone says the politically crack thing. Maybe if their general manager asks them, they'll say the same thing as well. Have you ever met a goaltender? Carter, who really likes the three goalie rotation. No, no, not, you know what I like the three goalies was during COVID? We had Jonas Johansson with us, but he was nowhere going to play.

He was just there for practice relief where you're like, hey, I just started last night. We have practice. This drill's not for me. This is for the players. So maybe you, maybe, JJ, you come over here and jump in, okay? Like, because you're cutting your teeth. And I was that guy before too. but from a playing standpoint it makes no sense you guys need minutes guys want to play guys want to

compete and again it starts to i i talk about this a lot goal tending is this really unique position inside the sport where you're very insulated you're almost on an island and what happens is well your family your friends your agent you're the best you're going to do the best if someone gets hurt you're going to play more or like it's not fair the d's not good and then like all of a sudden you start to let things creep in where it's like well now it's three goals he's like why i should be playing last game i played good why am i not playing and it just starts to like become this pity party for yourself and i think sometimes we're in a situation like buffalo where you have too young like Alex lion he doesn't care i would truthfully believe like a guy like that is just happy

to have a seat at the table he's established enough he's going to go there but then you have upl you have colton ellis these kids that are like trying to play more and trying to be in the scene and then all of a sudden you start to be like doubting yourself like am i like good enough. Why is this situation happening? And I think it just creates something that doesn't need to be there. I would rather, truthfully, probably for these younger guys, just go play minutes in the American League or go somewhere where you're going to be the guy and cut your teeth and takes your bumps and bruises where when you take your bumps as bruises in the NHL, it affects you mentally. And I think Jacob Dobish is a great example of that. Started so well this year,

right? What's he thinking right now? Cam Fallor just came up. Like he was unbelievable to start the year. We saw him in an interview after a Jersey game. He was almost in tears, losing an overtime game. Like there's times where I've come out of a game and been like so upset for five, 10 minutes and then I'm like on to the next thing, right? You learn through time and experience how you compartmentalize that side of the game. And I think adding three goalies with younger guys is just, it's going to be a curse. And I think it's going to create problems that don't need to be there.

I mean, look, no further than that. in Minnesota, right? They let Walstead basically percolate in the HL for three seasons. And then you look at a kid like Devin Levi and Buffalo where he's thrown to the lions, like the minute he gets into the league, and you can see immediately the difference in confidence

and the difference in being able to handle the adversity of it all. I wanted to bug you about one thing before you go, which is we've mentioned a few times, like the numbers for goalies. Do we have any idea who's good? Like, I know we have more information now from places like

athletes and other places that give us goals above expected and all of these metrics that I think are still pretty good. But everything I hear, and maybe you can attest to this or not, is that the internal numbers that teams have and that goalie coaches like Mitch has are, are so much more precise and informative than the stuff that's available publicly. Is that pretty accurate? Yeah, I think so. It's tough, right? It is a situation where you are kind of a product of your surroundings too at times and then there is just you the numbers do get skewed to right you look at some goalies you have a tough stretch and those numbers are hard to come back for and finding a ways to you know make timely saves and the way it's it's so tricky to judge a game by a box score right like

i can attest to that where there was times where you'd be 30 40 shots and it was like the easiest game you play right and i know we try to dive in more with the advanced analytics i also think it is there is a locker room presence and there is a calming demeanor of saves at timely manners in hockey games, right? Because there's an old saying that I heard a lot when I was coming up. It's not how many you make. It's when you make them. And I think that is a factor that doesn't really show on a stat sheet.

But overall, the guys that can consistently hit it done as team starts to change or they move throughout different systems are the guys that, I think it's like an upper 10, Greg, honestly, that are like better than everybody. And then there's like this middle where it's right place, right time, right system. And again, like you tucks on with Devin Levi versus yes, for Wallstatt, there's so much value in my personal opinion of like taking all your bumps and bruises in their little roller coaster in the minors where like you don't have like a young kid that like you turn your phone on and it's like you're getting like I was 32, 33 making

the most money I ever made totally secure and I would like get Instagram like death threats about a game and I was like I was able to like manage it but I'm like this isn't healthy right And then, like, imagine doing that. Like, imagine Camp Fowler tonight if it doesn't go well. Yes, those people's opinions don't matter, but you're going to see it. And I think building up a little bit of a tolerance and like a mental capacity for that in the minors is so important. Okay. I'm going to ask you a stupid question.

Get ready for a dumb one. I love it. Now, you're a baseball cap guy. Yeah, well, some days I gel my hair, you never know. I keep guessing. I get it. I understand. You got to have the feathers looking looking good.

good. Were you a baseball cap on the bench guy? I was. You know, I was a baseball cap on the bench guy, but not a backwards hat. The Tampa Bay backup, who's a right, he came up the other night. Krista's Goodlofskis was the first, was one that I think, was the first one I remember seeing that had the baseball cap. But sorry, sorry, go ahead. You're making a point about Tampa. The backwards hat for me. Yep. Is a big no-no. Like is a big, the kid for the Leafs the other night to back up. that was with Hildebee had his hat on backwards.

I just feel like optics-wise, I'm okay with the hat. There's two things that I would change. It's that. The dress code, whatever I did, we did that. We did fashion days when I was in Arizona. And in my career,

I struggled because, like, I don't have any cool clothes. I didn't have my Christian Dior shoes on. I was literally, I have, I wear like the boots because I was at the dog park with my dog and my kids. And the other one for me is breaking sticks.

Like, if you break your stick over the boards or the post, let's find them. Like, I, I think it's such bad optics as a father now and as a guy that played in the NHL. As a guy that buys sticks now. Hang on. As a guy that buys sticks now.

Jesus, I wish I would have stockpiled a little more. You know what's funny too? I always, I, one of my, one of my, one of the things that I always love is when you see like a star player or any player for that matter, like giving out sticks to kids, it's always like, oh, look how, look how generous Ovechkin is. Look how generous cry. They're not paying for the stick. That's like a 500 bucks out of his pocket.

Right, exactly. I disagree with you, Carter. I love when goalies lay the lumber to the post, man. I mean, it's the optical reinforcement of the psychopathic goalie trope. And there's nothing like it. A guy wearing a mask slamming the shit out of a piece of metal with his stick until it breaks is great. Lumberjack. Lumberjack.

There was a famous one where the video of Pecker-Rene doing it, and the points against San Jose. And who do you think came in after a stick was broken? This guy. I remember I had to go in twice during those game five and game seven in that series. We lost to San Jose. I remember the one time I went in, it was like four one or so. We were getting waxed.

And then they had a power play. It was a five on three, right? So they have a five on three. Lavie let goes, huts, you're going in. I'm like, what the, I got to go in right now. It's a five on three. I haven't even like, I haven't seen action in like a month and a half. And I'm going down to get my stick from Pete Rogers, famous trainer.

He's like, what are you doing out there? I was like, I don't know. Give me my stick, man. I got to go in the net. Even when I got to the net, René was like, are you sure? And I was like, Pex, I don't have a choice, man. Five on three. So that was my first playoff experience.

Hang out. Was Hal Gil there then? No, Hal Gil wasn't there then. I always found that Hal Gill was one of the most effective five-on-three penalty killers that I ever saw. because just like wingspan block shots like all of it didn't have to like he was like it's almost this is going to sound like an insult but it's it's not he was forced not to skate and he was really effective because of it like he didn't he was forced not to chase anybody because the five on

three so he couldn't really leave he was such a good five on three penalty killer so important right guys that can play their position make it predictable for a goalie but that's my uh yeah the five on three was always a little bit intimidating in the nchel especially when You're coming in cold after about a month and a half out of game. Did you talk to your posts? And if so, what relationship did you have with your posts? No,

I don't think I ever really talked to my posts. I tried not to be totally a weirdo. I definitely fell back on routine and structure, whether it was like skating to the corner and tapping the boards and like shooting water up or all the weird things. It almost just gave me a sense of comfort that I had like checked those boxes. And I was like, okay,

I'm going to play well now. but you know the one thing is like anything can happen you try to just rely back on like that sports psych of being like no matter what happens i'm going to be good yeah uh we kept you too long but you got great stories you got great stuff uh carter thanks pal you uh continue success with tyler at new and eastern every day and we will check back soon pal thanks guys my head lost all ambitions day to day because you can call it all right i went to the dark man he tried to give me a little medicine i'm like no man that's fine i'm not against those methods but new it's me and myself and how this going to be fixed in my mind's due on the bracket

You're going to back your love to turn on music. That's enough, they're about it. Sometimes losing. Have been on the days that we're wrong. Mm, in the dead dark night.