The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Dave Gagner of The Team

Episode Date: June 9, 2026

Dave Gagner joins the show to talk about his transition from playing to representing athletes with The Team, the changing landscape of player development, navigating the draft process, and more stories from his decades in the game.SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Canadian Blood Services: https://www.blood.ca/👍🏼 Ninja: https://www.sharkninja.ca/ninja-crispi-pro-6-in-1-countertop-glass-air-fryer-rose-quartz/AS101CRS.html?utm_source=Meta&utm_medium=Paid+Social&utm_campaign=H1NinjaCrispi&utm_content=NinjaEN&dwvar_AS101CRS_color=cdb9b8Reach 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-faceoffReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As we mentioned, we are at the Upper Canada College for the team camp right now. Draft eligible still on the ice right now. Dave Ganya, a long-time agent here with the team joins me. How are you, Gags? Good to see you again. Let's get your mic, hot so we can hear your lovely voice. Where is it? There we go.

We got it. We're good. We're good. You're sounding good, pal. Can I get a script like you? You want to try to read that one? I'm getting. You got your glass on.

Shark Ninja is elevating the air fire experience. Stay with me, Gags. First of all, just having a look at some of the kids here And like every year, I always say the same thing Where do the bad skaters go? Like the talent level that we've seen is like none other How often do you let yourself look at this And wonder what you were like at 17?

Well, I mean, all the players are better nowadays for sure. I mean, they're physically advanced. But you know as well as I do too, though. The work is just beginning for all these young guys. Sure. if you saw me at 17 and then saw me at 23, you wouldn't even recognize me at 23. So I think they know that, and we try to let them know that while they're doing very well up to this point, the work's just beginning.

And they've got a lot of more development going forward here. But, you know, stay positive with it and enjoy it. So, you know, the process was always fun, I thought. It's kind of be so hard. We always say the same thing. Oh, enjoy it, enjoy yourselves. it's a wonderful experience. You're going to look,

how can you not be nervous? You know, like I was just in Buffalo and I saw I'm buoying over there. I have a nice chat after some of the interviews. And I'm thinking to myself, how can these kids, how are these kids so comfortable in this environment?

And so many teams that I talk to keep saying kids now are more comfortable talking to rooms full of adults. And I keep coming back to the same thing, Dave. These phones. and they live their lives publicly. There's no expectation of privacy.

They carry a communication tool with them. They're used to it. I don't know how you were at 17, but talking to like NHL managers, but these guys seem really cool with it and seem like really at ease with it. You think there's something that with the cell phone idea? I think they're very comfortable, but they're trained to do that now. I think that they have more opportunity to interact with people. I tell this story that

Buffalo Savage had three picks in the first 11 the year I got drafted, and I got to meet... You didn't get drafted by the Sabres, though, Gag. I got to meet Scotty Bowman the night before the draft. Apparently, I didn't impress them at all because I went 12th. They had three chances at you, Dave. Yeah.

No, I think, you know, it's impressive now. I recall, you know, sitting in in a lot of those Combine interviews when I worked for Vancouver back years ago. And I was, you know, impressed with all the guys. It was rare to see a poor interview, to be honest. I mean, I think 95% of the interviews, they're very polished and, you know, they're very confident in what they want to accomplish and they know who they are. Can we go back there for a slightly? Pre-agency for you

when you're working with the Vancouver Canucks, that was a really cutting-edge front office. So Mike Gillis was a general manager, and you guys did a lot of things differently that I think a lot of people around the NHHR kind of looked at and some scoffed at and now everyone's doing it. Like when you look back whether it's like sleep studies and when to fly and how to like all those things, I remember what happened and Elliot did a big

piece on a hockey night and getting text and people like, who do the Vancouver Canucks think the now everybody does it? Like how how are we like how cutting edge you guys? It just made a lot of sense to us at the time to make sure that the players had everything at their disposal to be the best they could be. I mean, it was kind of like a no

brainer for us at the time. It's just just implementing it and making sure it doesn't interfere with what the coaches want to accomplish and stuff. But, I mean, we talked about this a bit. Like, we used to look up, you know, really odd stats. Like, you know, face-offs are so important, everybody thinks. Oh, this is great. Okay, you can do the face-off thing?

This is so smart. We actually discovered through the stats that if you pull your goalie and you have a sixth attacker, and it's almost better to lose the draw, it was better to lose the draw. Yep. The probability of scoring within the next. 15 seconds, it was better to lose the draw because then their D would have it and we'd jump them, create a turnover down low in the end. And inevitably, the scoring chance was greater.

If we won the draw, they were so defensively set up that they would block everything. It was hard to get to the net. So that's an interesting thing. But we tried to think outside the box back then. I would love to hear that conversation between Gillis and would Elaine Vino have been the coach at that point saying, on the man advantage late in the game, pull the goalie, and deliberately lose the draw. Go tell your center late in the game to lose the draw.

Well, you had to lose it to the right area too because we jumped that area. But yeah, no, it was interesting. We tried to think a little differently than other teams. But yeah, it was fun. It's all part of the process. So we're here for the development camp, so a number of NHL scouts and various agents

will be popping by. you know I really do wonder about in the the NHL right now like when you look at how much the salary cap is going up like I look at and if I'm Dave Gagne agent with the team I'm seeing like dollar signs like everybody else is like what do you think this summer is going to be like with all of this new essentially new money to spend well I mean there's probably three and a half times more to spend than than has ever been a available. So it's unprecedented, really. So I think nobody can say exactly, but I think there's going to be more movement of players. And obviously, trade you. Obviously, I think that there's, you know, we're hoping as agents that the prices are going to skyrocket. But I think it'll be

controlled a little bit. But, you know, obviously, we're trying to be patient at this moment to see how the market's going to shake out within the next six to eight weeks. It's going to be, it's an exciting time for players right now, I think. And hopefully we can do our job and maximize the benefits the players are receiving. Yeah, what's the, like the nature of the job, I can recall when I started. And when you played, the agent had one role. And agents now have so many different roles. Like how, even just since you've been in, how is, how is agency?

changed? Well, it's similar to what we were talking about with Vancouver. We try to do that as agents and provide players with all the tools that they can utilize to be the best player they can be. You know, it's not just advising and contract negotiations. It's helping them with every facet of their development. So it's an interesting time to be involved in hockey. And it's going to continue to get better as we learn about what works and what doesn't. But again, you go back to, you know, these guys that are, you know, here with us this week, you know, it's going to take three to five years for them to really start to have confidence in the next level for most of them. And but we're here to help them with all those decisions that they have to make.

So I know that, and because I've done this with your group before, like there is education with finance. There's education with media. There's education with nutrition and working out. out how much now, because this starts a lot sooner for kids, how much of kids come to these camps now as clients and not that they know everything, but they have a, they have an easier base with it than they ever have before. Is that accurate or do they still have their eyes open wide? I think, I think when it comes to things like obviously that they haven't really been used to, like when you talk about finance and things like that, they are wide eyed, but some of the

things that are said to them about taxes. Taxes? You know, and... You tell them not to buy a car with the first check? Yeah, we try to, but inevitably they do. It's the first thing they need, though. They need wheels to get around, so... But, I mean, you don't have to go crazy with it, but it is...

It's a great education, I think, for all these young guys, and hopefully they learn something through these three days. It's not... You can't really... They won't be able to absorb it all at once. It takes time to become knowledge for these guys. But it's an opportunity for us to bond with them and get to know them really well, too. So the coaches on the ice are, you know, working with them to, you know,

and you can see the kids with the work ethic and the skills. Sure. So it's obviously fun to watch. A couple of your clients to pay attention to the summer. Connor McMichael, Jamie Drysdale as well. If you feel like making news, go for it. anything new there? No, I mean, I've already alluded to the fact that there's more money in the market,

so obviously we're looking for more, but all the agents are. And teams have to do what they think is right for themselves as well. So, you know, it's give and take. But it's an exciting time, like I said, for players. I think it's an opportunity for guys to maybe catch up a little bit to the other sports out there. So, you know. I think of the Washington Capitals and Chris Patrick there now, Brian McClellan previous.

Describe the dynamic of negotiating contracts. I'm going to used to be a teammate. Yeah. Well, you know, it is interesting for sure. It doesn't make it easier. I know that. Sometimes I think it makes it more difficult because they know who you are

and where you're coming from and maybe what your strategy is going to be. but there'll be a time and a place where we come to a meeting of the minds, I think. Both players are good young players for those organizations that you mentioned. And, you know, both Jamie and Connor have good futures. So we're just trying to make sure they're compensated fairly, I guess. It's the best way to put it. But Brian's a good guy.

And I'm dealing more with Chris Patrick on this one. But they're good people. They're trying to do the best job they can for their organization. We'll see where it goes. A couple of things before I let you go. Thoughts on Evan Bouchard, who continues to distinguish himself as one of the premier defensemen in the NHL, full stop. Tough World Championships at the end. When you see that, do you see what happens?

Do you call right away? Do you let him reach out? What happens when someone gets hurt at the World Championships? Yeah, we called right away to the management staff first. just to see what information they could give us. And we found out pretty quickly that he was going to be okay. Initially, it's scary, obviously, for everybody that knows Evan was watching. But, you know, Evan did call me about an hour after the game.

He seemed fine, obviously very angry at what happened. But, you know, I think he was outstanding in that tournament. I mean, obviously, there's always question marks, and everybody talks about it quite a bit, how polarizing a player, Kevin can be, but I've always... I don't think so. Since he was 14 years old, I've always known what he could do,

or I thought I did anyway. I've always been a big fan of way he... He plays the game with such impressive puck movement, and I was a forward. I'd love to be on the ice with a guy like Evan, because I know he's going to give me the puck at the appropriate time. But, I mean, he was plus 14 and then seven games in that tournament.

He can defend, he can kill penalties, and obviously we know what he can do on the power play, but yeah, it was great to see him prove himself in that environment and hopefully Hockey Canada going forward is going to, you know, take stock of that and make very good decisions going forward. Lobbying for your client for future Olympic teams here, I see nothing wrong with that.

Listen, thanks a lot. What are we going to see the rest of the week here? A couple more days here at Upper Canada College. Where, by the way, I used to go to Tom Watt Hockey School. Oh, did you really? Yeah, Tom Watt, yeah, yeah. How did that work out for you? Well, I'm here now on this side of it, looking at 17-year-old kids going to the NHL.

No, it's going to be more of the same. You know, we try to build a camp in a way that they don't have to learn it all in three hours, obviously. But, yeah, more seminars and things of that nature and some fun, too. I've got Michael Mesa coming up in a couple of seconds. Michael Mesa, yeah. A couple of thoughts on that young man. You know, well, Ken Hornick saw him playing at 10 years old and thought it was a no-brainer. Don't worry, I got the text.

I got the tax. No, he's a wonderful kid too. Like, you know, really nice young man and he's going to do big things moving forward here. I think he's, you know, he really proved himself, I think, at the end of the year, but he's very motivated to get off to a good start next year. Yeah, absolutely.

Dave, thanks so much for this. Thanks for hosting us here. Really appreciate it. Dave Gagne, from the team.