The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Colby Cohen on the McDavid Extension and McKenna's NCAA Debut

Episode Date: October 6, 2025

Colby Cohen joins Jeff Marek to give his unfiltered reaction to Connor McDavid’s stunning 2-year, $12.5M per season contract extension with the Edmonton Oilers. Cohen argues that while the deal is great for McDavid and the Oilers’ Stanley Cup chances, it could have a ripple effect across the NHL — hurting other players in negotiations by giving general managers leverage on future contracts.The two dive into the tension between taking less for the team versus pushing the market forward for all players, with comparisons to Jack Eichel, Leon Draisaitl, and Kirill Kaprizov. Cohen emphasizes how McDavid’s decision highlights the ongoing debate over the salary cap, luxury tax possibilities, and the shrinking “middle class” of NHL contracts.From McDavid’s exit strategy to the pressures on restricted and unrestricted free agents, Cohen delivers a contrarian but insightful perspective on what this contract means for both the Oilers and the league as a whole.Shout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 FanDuel: https://www.fanduel.com/Reach 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.

Hey there, it's Jeff Merrick here. You know, my wife and I both have countless memories from spending time discovering Canada. Well, I always come back to the summer of 2005. We were staying at a cottage on Lake Joseph here in Muscoca, watching the Live 8 music festival in Barry on television. My buddy Jeremy Taggart, former drummer from Our Lady Peace, dropped by after his band's set and stayed the rest of the weekend at the cottage after the band's set and told some incredible backstage stories about some amazing Canadian music icons. I will never forget that.

And fast forward to today, I'm a hockey parent, and I feel like I'm always on the road with my family, whether that means traveling across southern Ontario hockey ranks during the week or overnight at tournaments on select weekends. But what makes our hockey experience even more special is booking a place on Airbnb when we're on the road for overnight tournaments. All of this traveling got me to thinking, my home's just sitting empty when I could be hosting it on Airbnb instead. I'd simply put up my house on Airbnb, pre-select dates that I want to host, bam, it's practical, easy to manage, and it enables people like me to make some money while they're not at home. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca slash host.

Now, it might not be as long as some Oilers fans may want, but nonetheless, you know now that you're getting Connor McDavid for three more years, and you're getting Connor McDavid for a two-year contract extension as we bring on Colby Cohen from Morning Cup of Hockey. You're getting Connor McDavid, Colby, at 12.5. To me, that was the massive news. It wasn't all the announcements of everyone saying it's close, as close, it's happening. It's the 12.5. And, you know, there was one agent that I talked about. talked to a while ago who said, you know, why doesn't Connor just come in like undermarket value but then announced to the league basketball style that after this deal, I'm only entertaining 20%. So if you're New York or Boston or L.A. or whatever, it doesn't matter. I'm only interested in 20%. Anyhow, Colby, welcome back to the program and initial thoughts on what's been a very strange and interesting last, I guess, 45 minutes in Oilersland. Listen, it's great for the Edmonton oiler fan base and it's great for the Edmonton Oilers it is terrible for every other player in the

national hockey league for Connor McDavid to take the contract that he did and listen he's the best player on the planet he gets to decide what he wants to do everything is personal to every single player okay so I am not attacking Connor McDavid personally if anything the guy's a hero to his hometown team well not his hometown team but where he he is a player and the city that has rallied around him and been a part of his journey to be a superstar. But in my opinion, he heard every other player in the National Hockey League by taking this contract. He just gave every general manager in the NHL leverage to say, look what Connor McDavid did. There's a number of other players that are looking for contracts right now. Jack Eichol

comes to mind as one of them that you're now giving every other GM the talking point of well look what Connor McDavid's contract says these guys all love to use cap comparables when they can when it favors them and they will tell you cap comparables don't matter when it doesn't I'm a person who always sides with the players in these types of situations Jeff and I just think as the best player in the world to take such a steep discount like that now everybody else is going to be asked to do that the the one area that I'll disagree with you on this one is first of all I will agree with you when it comes to restrict free agents, then all of a sudden, like the, the situation with, you know, Kent Hughes and Cortex over Lane Hudson, okay, like finding, finding comparables there, like that is very much an issue. But when it comes to unrestricted free agents, like if the Vegas Golden Knights want to look at the Edmonton Oilers and say to Jack Eichael, we're not going to go above 12.5. Jack Eichael can say, okay, there will be a team that will do that.

Like that's where I'll push, like when it comes to UFAs, like once upon a time, and we just the NHL world just lost the NHLPA world just lost Bob Goodnow like Bob Goodnow would have been horrified at this deal like there's no way our top guy gets the top dollar raises everybody up period

but that was all pre-salary cap I look at this one and I've said it from day one the McDavid contract was going to be the trickiest because he's going to thread the most interesting needle here or that's what he was trying to do

one get enough money so he takes care of himself and feels respected by the Edminton Oilers. But two, leaves enough money, and this is the second time he's done this because he left money on the table, and had to go back and renegotiate his deal to leave money for Leon Dreisital. The first time he did his extension,

so he's now done this twice. Leave more money for Stan Bowman to go out there and compliment this team. Maybe find someone else for Connor to play with. Maybe find another goaltender. All of a sudden, and then in the back, what you're talking about, the pressure of being the top,

player in a sport and knowing that a lot of guys would be looking at you to take the big dollar here because it's going to raise everybody else up but to the point about other free agents if jack doesn't like it and Vegas wants a hold at 12 5 jack can say fine i'll go home to boston i'm pretty sure the boston bruns will go over 125 that's where i'll push back on that one and listen and for sure i think the bruns would would would move mountains to get jack ikel to come play um you know, in the West End and in the great city of Boston. But, you know, look, I look at this situation and, you know, one of the things that we've talked about here is as these salaries go up, do we lose the middle class, right?

Is it the $17 million cap off contract and the $7.75, you know, lead minimum? Like, do we, are we, that's where this, that's what, that's what this has been going from day one. the first thing that people said about the salary cap was it pits player against player absolutely and two this is going to lead to the diminishing of the middle class i agree with you completely on that one colby absolutely but i just look at again i'm looking more at how fan bases so quickly turn on players and say well you should take less and i look at all these other situations i saw the report that um you know david peyatta said on your show actually where no Adopson decided, I want to make it work here, so I'll leave money on the table.

I know they're asking Lane Hudson now to do the same thing and say, well, you might be worth X, but can you take a little bit less to fit everybody else? And I will continue to sit here and I will continue to say, why not have a luxury tax? Why not find a way to make these contracts a percentage of the cap as somebody tweeted to us? And we feature that on our show this morning, morning cup of hockey. like get creative here, move away from a triple hard salary cap and stop asking players to take less money. And I have a question for you, Jeff, because I assume you would have a much better idea

of this than I have. What are Connor McDavid's endorsement deals like? Do you have any idea in the range of how many millions of dollars he earns in endorsement deals? I don't know an exact number, but there are plenty, like here in Canada, there are plenty, whether it's, whether it's banks, previously with a significant gaming company, like there are a number of endorsements that Connor McDavid has here in Canada. Now, it pales in comparison when we look at other sports, when we look at football or we look at baseball or we, you know, we look at basketball. It pales in comparison, but yes, Connor McDavid is featured quite prominently, specifically

with, you know, with one significant bank. But yeah, there are. Is it fair to say that, is it fair to say he makes $10 million a year in endorsements? Is that fair? I don't know. I don't know about, I don't know about 10 million. That one, that seems, that seems rich to me. Again, I don't know.

All right. That's a judgment. I have no idea. Like, I don't know if it's a million or if it's 50 million. Like, I have no concept of what his endorsement deals are like. And the reason I'm asking you this is because that's a thing. Like for him, if he is the highest paid endorsed hockey player in Canada, that would, again, I'm guessing here, it affords him the opportunity to take a little bit less money and still be

well taken care of and his family and his next generation, his next generation. I don't know. Like, I've been yelling and screaming that players shouldn't take less. Owners should pony up more dollars. And I'm going to stay firm with that. And I just would have liked to seen him take more money. That's all. So a couple of things there. One, I don't disagree with you. One of the things that I really don't like. I was saying this on the show last week, Colby, two things happened coming out of the 2005 lockout. One, the players accepted a salary cap.

And two, somewhere along the way, all of a sudden, Dave decided as well, and I don't know how they got hoodwinked into doing this, that it's their job to manage the cap, too. It's not your job as a player to manage the cap. It's your job to play, get as much money as you can.

Now, having said that, I don't like telling people... And perform. And I don't like telling people what to do, though. If Connor McDavid wants to go in at 12.5, and he's good with it, I have a hard time. I'm sitting here saying he shouldn't have done that because Connor McDavid has his drive.

Listen, he's going to the Hall of Fame already. But in his mind, he's still fallen short because he hasn't won the Stanley Cup. And he's giving this team the best possible chance with him in the lineup to win the Stanley Cup. And even now that I think about it, he's also given himself something here. And that is an exit strategy that nobody can criticize. Yeah. And I just want to repeat. I came in under value.

I came in under market value to give us a chance to win. He could be three more swings at the ball here with Connor McDavid at the plate. I'm coming in way under market value. And then after that, all bets are off. But he's given himself an opportunity to have a graceful exit. I just want to repeat it just because the pitchforks will definitely be coming for me. I want to just repeat it. I didn't.

When I started this whole thing, I said, this is the best player in the world on this planet. He deserves to do whatever is good for him. And he deserves to call whatever shot is good for him. All I'm saying here is like, I'm agreeing with what you're saying. He gets to make a decision. We don't get to decide what anybody else does except for ourselves. We obviously, those of us who have children, we get to make decisions for them to a certain extent.

We have our families where we come together. We talk about things. but we don't get to decide what's good for anybody else. And I am respectful of that in the fullest manner. But I also get to come on here and have my opinion. And my opinion is, is this contract is bad for other players, right? Both of those things can be true. I respect the hell out of this guy for the warrior and the athlete and the ambassador

and his skill and his talent. But I still can come on here and say, I don't like the contract. I don't like what it does to the to the other players. I don't like the pressure it puts on other players now because fan bases turn on players so fast before they turn on owners whenever these contract negotiations get sticky and players want a little bit more

and they hold out or whatever. The fans come for the players' throats so quickly. Look at how they treated Jeremy Swamen last year when he held out for a little bit. Look how the organization treated him. The things that they said, all of the above are true. So I just feel like all this does is give more leverage to that crowd, to those managers than I would have liked to have seen, right?

So both of those things I feel could be true. But I do want to, I appreciate what you said and that I led me back to reiterating the fact that he got to make his decision and I respect that wholeheartedly, but I just don't just, but I just disagree with it. It's a contrarian view from Colby. What? here on the sheet. Oh, my goodness. It does it on morning cup of hockey as well. Glad to have you back. Listen, it's, um, tomorrow's going to be a spicy one on your, on your show, I'm sure. I'm curious what, I mean, your point is very well made. I'm curious what, what Laz has to say about, about this one as well. I'm sure he had fantasies of 97 dancing to the New York Rangers on July, on July 1st. So, Zach, Zach Phillips heart broke, probably a little broken today as well. Oh, Nick Elberger, keep going. He had the countdown going, like, all like the Least Nation crew, like all of it, 100%. The thing that I find curious about it.

I mean, essentially, Connor McDavid came in and said, give me two more of the same. Give me two more years at $12.5 million. I know that everyone's, you know, journey for their contract negotiations is different. Everyone has, you know, different side roads that they go down when they do their contract negotiations.

I'm just curious about how this one went down. And if it was exactly as, I'm not sure if you saw the Jeff Jackson clip before he came on, but essentially Jackson was saying, like, it's not going to be a conversation. And like there's, there's how many players in the history of the game that don't negotiate? Like, Connor McDavid doesn't have to negotiate. Connor McDavid will tell you what he wants. And if you don't want to pay that or agree to those terms, then, okay, there's no Connor McDavid.

You can count on one hand the amount of players that can do that. If at the end of it, it was 12.5 times two, why did it take so long? I have no theories about this other than Edmonton just waited and kind of wanted to be in a place right before this season, I suppose, wanted to make sure that everybody was cool with this, whether it was his family, whether it was his agency Wasserman, which is a whole other kettle of fisher too. when you talk about, you know, raising the, raising the tide for everybody here, there's also the agency side. And I made a lot about how agencies, like, you look at CIA, I'm sure they weren't, you know, thrilled that Nathan McKinnon was the best value contract for the longest time. And right now, Jack Hughes, maybe the biggest value contract and leaving money on the table, et cetera. Maybe it's just Connor wanted to make everybody in his orbit comfortable with all of

this. And then that's the reason why it took so long. It's the only thing I can come up with. listen i not only did i see the clip you played i remember when you did that episode during the summer with that series you know what i mean as you were kind of moving around and you you kind of were giving sneak peeks of all the different conversations that you were having um on the on the on the on the road series that you did and it's a bold strategy though because you saw what happened in minnesota where an owner came out and said it's it's really whatever he wants and how much did that paint Bill Garan into a corner when we finally saw the number that Carill Caprizov got, right? So it's, it really is an interesting way.

You really have to know a guy and know their core values. And obviously, Jeff Jackson has that rapport with Connor McDavid. But it's a bold strategy to go about that in any type of negotiation. And it doesn't always work. But here, you know, checkmate for Jeff Jackson, he knew what he was doing. And ultimately, you know, the Edmonton Oilers. and Conner McDavid now, they look like superheroes right now. That is such a great point, Colby.

You know, we were looking at it up until, it was just 20 minutes into this conversation. We were looking at it in terms of like, what is this going to mean for Jack Eichel? What is this going to mean for Calcutta? What is this going to mean for Adrian Kempe, etc.? Go right down the list. Maybe one of the more salient points is here,

what does this mean for the Minnesota Wild? In one very particular way. You had two teams that had pretty much the exact same strategy. You're right about Craig Leopold last year. No one can pay him more, and we're going to, paraphrasing Craig Leopold. But that was the vibe that he gave about Carole Caprizzaw. And I know I'm talking about both sides of my mouth here, because on the one hand, I'm saying, good on Caprizo for doing that because it's not his job to manage Bill Guerrins' cap. It's not his job.

Nowhere in his contract doesn't say, oh, and by the way, you have to help me manage the cap. I assure you it says that. It doesn't say that anywhere in his contract. But here we are with the Edmonton Oilers and Jeff Jackson, CEO of Hockey Operations, essentially saying the same. thing. Whenever Connor is ready, he's going to tell us what he wants. What does it say about is, is there, does this fall on, like, is there any blowback now to Minnesota and what happened there? Or is it just a study in two different players who wanted two different things? They're so different. The situations really are so different,

even though there's shades of similarity in the way that, the sort of negotiation, or as Jeff Jackson said, in that clip, there is really no negotiation. here. I also think as good as Carill Caprizoff is, there's only one Connor McDavid. You've said that. We all say that. He sits on the throne and then everybody else is somewhere below. And you can argue who's two, who's three, then who's four and five and these little clusters of superstars. But McDavid is truly the best player on the planet. His situation had to be handled differently. I personally believe that he, just like everybody says, he, said he woke up today and just decided i'm good with this i'm not going to go long term and i don't want to

talk about this now for more than the next day or two with everybody else this is the quintessential superstar hockey player um you know whatever's bigger than a superstar whatever the next word would be but this is hockey in a nutshell you have players that are thinking we not me it's what sets us apart from all the other major professional sports and all the cultures and all the other major professional sports is that you are a we culture, you are not a me culture. And Connor McDavid with the ultimate we move leaving, you know, tons and tons of money on the table that he'll get, right? I mean, look, could disaster strike? It could happen to anybody, right? We don't expect that to happen. But ultimately, I think many things can be true,

Jeff, by the way, the beard and the whole goatee set up. Like that? It's working for you big time. I'll throw that out there. My wife calls my wife calls a chick repellent. Well, that's probably a good thing for her, right? I mean, she's probably, you definitely maybe some gym teacher vibes I'm getting here. Yeah, totally.

Oh, yeah. Especially the salt and pepper too. Yeah, that's good. I am gym teacher vibe. Let's just say that. We're talking gym teacher at a private school, not a public school, okay? But anyways, this is a, it's, it's, it's, it's certainly given us a lot to talk about here for the next couple of days. And again, like, does everybody now freak out and does the Eichl thing now sort of like, does the timeline get slower or does it speed up? Like, what dominoes fall from this and what type of connection and fallout come from this. And that is what's going to be fascinating to see here over the next, maybe even 12 hours, Jeff. That, that's a great one. Here's, here's another one. Did Connor McDavid, because right away, like, I got the text, I'm sure you got the text

to then your timeline on social media is filled up with it as well. Did Connor McDavid just, did he just sort of start a clock on him with this one? And the default answer for a lot of people not in Edmonton are saying, yeah, there you go. There's a Connor McDavid countdown clock. again, we don't know it. I think a lot of people feel it because he's come in at such a deep discount. But does it feel to you like Connor McDavid has started a countdown clock? It actually doesn't.

Like I have seen that now all over social media. That's like they have three years to win a Stanley Cup. I don't believe that to be true. Because if they go out and they build really good teams over the next couple of years and they're competing for a Stanley Cup every year, I think Connor McDavid will turn around. and sign another extension. To me, this does not make it more likely

that he leaves Edmonton after three years whatsoever because I think ultimately he's going to continue to call his shots. He's going to continue to assess the situation. He's going to continue to be the best player in the world and he's going to be continuing to work alongside partners, right? How often is a player an actual partner with a GM or an owner? And Connor McDavid is a partner for these guys. You're not going back and forth.

You're not talking down. You're literally working with a partner and very few players in the National Hockey League have ever achieved that status. Probably will ever achieve that status. I think you see it more in other sports because these players go back to Tom Brady or go look at some of these quarterbacks in the NFL that make $65 million a year, whatever the number may be, Jeff. So I don't think there's any clock here. I think all he did was said, you know what? comfortable with three years, I'll reevaluate in a year and a half, two years, see where we're at, see how Stan Bowman's doing, and we'll continue to move from there. But I do not believe

anybody has any room or reason to worry that it was only three years if you're an Edmonton Euler fan. I really don't. I don't think the time of the contract will dictate that whatsoever. Eric here. You know, my wife and I both have countless memories from spending time discovering Canada. Well, I always come back to the summer of 2005. We were staying at a cottage on Lake Joseph here in Muscoca, watching the Live 8 music festival in Barry on television. My buddy Jeremy Taggart, former drummer from Our Lady Peace, dropped by after his band's set and stayed the rest of the weekend at the cottage after the band's set and told some incredible backstage stories about some amazing Canadian music icons.

I will never forget that. And fast forward to today, I'm a hockey parent, and I feel like I'm always on the road with my family, whether that means traveling across southern Ontario hockey ranks during the week or overnight at tournaments on select weekends. But what makes our hockey experience even more special is booking a place on Airbnb when we're on the road for overnight tournaments. All of this traveling got me to thinking, my home's just sitting empty when I could be hosting it on Airbnb instead. I'd simply put up my house on Airbnb, pre-select dates that I want to host, bam, it's practical, easy to manage, and it enables people like me to make some money while they're not at home.

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who's, I, that is how they got Jake, Jake Wallman still feels like a, like a heist to me, but nonetheless, I felt the same way about the San Jose Sharks. Like them a lot. Now, when you look at the... It's a very... It's a very... First of all, I'm happy for Wallman.

I know how things specifically right at the end that I think he may have bought in a house like a couple of weeks before he got moved to, which is just always awful. Just the way the things ended in Detroit, how things went, you know,

going from San Jose to the Edmonton Oilers organization and here to the Stanley Cup final. But right now, the Edmonton Oilers with these last two contract signings, they haven't improved as a team today. They've extended their winning window, but they haven't improved today. As we stand right now, we haven't dropped the puck on the regular season yet. Where do you see the Edmonton Oilers? Like, there's a lot of momentum for them, obviously going into the season

because of the McDavid extension. But man, Vegas is going to be a problem this year in the West. They are going to be a big problem. Colorado and Dallas are going to be problems. I I know the Winnipeg just lost Eilers, but still, they're probably going to be a problem. Connor McDavid's re-ups for two more years, but the Western Conference is looking like it might just be the better conference again. A hundred percent agree with you. And I'll tell you why I'm, you know, I look at this roster and there's so many people that are like, well, Savoy and Isaac Howard are the keys to the Edmonton Oilers this year. And I'm like, well, geez, like, I don't know how.

fair that is to look at two guys with, you know, little to no NHL experience and say that they're going to be the keys. You want to know what the key to the Edmonton Oilers is going to be? It's going to be the health of their superstars. They're going to win with their superstars or they're going to win. Let's remember. Okay. Eckholm injured last year. Missed a lot of time late in the season, missed a bunch of time in the playoffs. They had the goaltending situation going where, you know, you get a good regular season and then a not good regular season and then a good regular season and a not good regular season so that's going to be to me the biggest question mark i think do i see them winning their division probably not because i don't

think that that matters to them this is a team that wants to be playing well late in the year okay and you have connor mac david who has talked all summer in all of his media addresses about shooting the puck and scoring more goals that is a scary thing for the rest of the national hockey league that this is a motivated Connor McDavid to score more goals. Everyone is on notice. I think this team will be fine. I think Stan Bowman is not a guy who sits on his hands. So I think they will continually look at opportunities to improve this team.

I do think at some point you'll get some level of contribution from Savoy and Howard, whether that comes early, medium, late. We'll take a look and we'll monitor that situation. But my expectations are when you've got Connor McDavid and you've got Leon Drysidal, And you've got, you know, Bouchard and Ekholm and Walman. This team is going to ride or die with the health of their superstars, Jeff. And if it's healthy, expect to see them playing late into the summer. When you look around the rest of the league, and this was supposed to be the,

and there was some turnover like Mitch Martin to Vegas is the big one. A lot of players stayed in the same place. Hockey is a very conservative place. People don't like to move their stuff. You know, my stuff is here. I'm going to stay here. you know, when I used to work with Bob McCowan at the fan, he used to have the

he always had the great saying, and I always talked to him about contracts and what to do and grass is greener here and all that, and he'd always say the same thing. Don't fuck with happy. If you're happy, find a way to stay. If you're happy, find a way to stay. That was always Bob McCowan's advice to everybody, to everybody at the station.

But are there teams for you really quick? So I want to get thoughts really quick on Gavin McKenna before I let you go. Are there any teams that you look at and say they significantly improved. Like on paper, I mean, I don't know, like Montreal, you add Noah Dobson, who I'm a huge believer in, so you add a bona fide top four guy,

you're a team on the rise. But it's really one massive, you know, ad. I mean, Bullduke certainly helps them get better. I love that move. I love that move, Colby. I love Bulldoch. I think that's a sneaky great move. Almost a 20-goal rookie season, right?

And with somewhat of a limiting role, no, that's the thing, Jeff. Like, nobody went out and did anything crazy. The biggest addition to another team is Mitch Marner, right? And me personally, people are asking me this question. Is Mitch Marner going to win a Stanley Cup before the Toronto Maple Leafs? Yes, I believe so. I think Bruce Cassidy will get Mitch Marner into his orbit and they will figure out a way to get what you're getting out of Jack Eichel and the gamer that Jack Eichael has become under Bruce Cassidy with the

accountability that Bruce Cassidy holds players to, I think we're going to see a whole another level of Mitch Marner this season. And this is a guy who had 102 points last year, not some schlub that can't play hockey, right? So other than Vegas, like, who did anything earth-shattering? I don't think so, right? So that's why I think Edmonton is right in the mix to continue the path that they've been on. Okay, Gavin McKenna, we are all watching this weekend against ASU. That first pass that he made on, like in front of the net, draws everybody in, freezes a defender, freezes the goaltender, and then slides it over is a thing of beauty.

The one-timer was gorgeous. It was the second one for me, though. You were talking about that today, the second one. But you know what, I looked at that one, Colby, and I said, some players do, do well with more time and space. Some players do well when they just react and don't have to think. And like

I remember I would think about someone like Rafi Torres. Like when he played, if you gave Rafi Torres time and space, he wouldn't be as effective as he was when he was just relying on his instincts. And then he was really good, like in a crowd, a lot of bodies around. McKenna does both.

McKenna does both. And we saw it against ASU. Yeah. It's, it's that's the thing to go right into the highest danger area in your first game and what makes that play that he had on his assist on the on the second assist that he had it wasn't a second assist it was just his second assist of the game what makes that play so special is is that you're surrounded by sweaters from the other team okay in a league that is going to be a lot more physical than what you've just come to right so right then right then

there you have a player that you know has courage to go into the hardest area of the ice and perform the puck is bouncing okay he is a type of player that knows where all other skaters are on the ice at all times to have the hockey IQ to make that play on a bobbling puck in high danger when every i'd say 99.9% of the players in the NCAA or even the national hockey league shoot that puck okay but not him he knows where everybody is he's got eyes in the back of his head he's surveying the ice and processing the game at such a higher level than everybody else that he just puts that one on a tee i think it was for sorado um on that play and it looks so easy and i bet a lot of people just kind of thought the other one was the more highlight real play

that play right there was a holy shit moment for me for Gavin McKenna. Now I just want to say one other thing, Jeff. His debut, two assists, minus one, I believe,

played a bunch of minutes, they win the game. I just want to throw this out there. Macklin Celebrini, one goal, one assist plus player and his debut at Boston University.

I just want to throw that out. Oh, he's got a big up to be you guy. Yeah, yeah, I get it. Just deal with it. Penn State's a hockey school now. Here we go. Come on.

I just got to deal with it. I love it. I love what Guy Ginooski is doing. It's unbelievable for the game of hockey, what Guy Gaginowski and Penn State are doing. They play this Thursday on the Big Ten Network. So if you've got the Big Ten Network, you can watch Gavin McKenna play this Thursday as well against Clarkson,

which is going to be a big, strong, heavy team, not as skilled as ASU, but it's going to be a team full of 24, 25-year-olds who can skate. It'll be physical, but it'll be at in Hockey Valley. at State College. That place will be sold out to the brim. Get Big Ten Network if you can get Big Ten Network

in your streaming package and watch this guy play for Penn State. Special, just special. All right, boy, doing double duty. Welcome back to the network. I know you were on last week and now right back at it with Morning Cup of hockey.

Every morning, 9 o'clock Eastern Johnny Lazarus and our guest, Colby Cohen. Thanks, bud. Great hat, by the way. You're best. I said 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month. I can't get out my head, lost all ambitions day to day, because you can call it all right. I went to the dark man and tried to give me a little medicine.

I'm like, no, man, that's fine. I'm not against those methods, but I knew. It's me and myself. This is going to be fixing my mind I do on a bracket I turned on the music I do on the music I do on the music

It's turned up about a bit sometimes losing I have been on the days that we're wrong Hey there, it's Jeff Merrick here. You know, my wife and I both have countless memories from spending time discovering Canada. Well, I always come back to the summer of 2005. We were staying at a cottage on Lake Joseph here in Muscoca, watching the Live 8 music festival in Barry on television.

My buddy Jeremy Taggart, former drummer from Our Lady Peace, dropped by after his band's set and stayed the rest of the weekend at the cottage after the band's set and told some incredible backstage. stories about some amazing Canadian music icons. I will never forget that. And fast forward to today, I'm a hockey parent and I feel like I'm always on the road with my family. Whether that means traveling across southern Ontario hockey ranks during the week or overnight at tournaments on select weekends. But what makes our hockey experience even more special is booking a place on Airbnb when we're on the road for overnight tournaments. All of this traveling got

me to thinking, my home's just sitting empty when I could be hosting it on Airbnb instead. I'd simply put up my house on Airbnb, pre-select dates that I want to host, bam. It's practical, easy to manage, and it enables people like me to make some money while they're not at home. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca.com slash host.