The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Dennis King

Episode Date: October 9, 2026

Dennis King on his time with the Hurricanes, winning a Stanley Cup, the Oilers bringing in Hallander, DeBrincat being a potential target for Edmonton, and moreSHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!! 👍🏼Coca Cola: https://www.coca-cola.com/ca/en/offerings/coca-cola/hockey 👍🏼Sports Interaction: https://www.sportsinteraction.com/thesheet 👍🏼Taco Time: https://tacotimecanada.com/ 👍🏼Movember: https://movember.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are about to bring on a hockey Twitter legend. We are about to bring on a Stanley Cup champion scout, formerly of the Carolina Hurricanes. He's kind of like, there's a number of people, players, and I was just jotting down and trying to figure out which ones would come to mind. Yaroslav Puzar played 186 games in the NHL, four seasons, and he won three Stanley Cups. Yuri Hurdina played five seasons and won three Stanley Cups, one with Calgary and two with Pittsburgh. So as far as like making your entry into the pool, winning the ultimate prize, and then getting out, that is the story so far for hockey, Twitter, legend, and Stanley Cup champion scout Dennis King, who makes his first appearance here on the sheet. Dennis, first of all, thanks so much for being aboard. And second, congratulations on winning the Stanley Cup.

What does it mean to be a Stanley Cup champion the first time you were in? Do you have Yaroslav, Puzar, or Yuri Hordina-type vibes about yourself right now? This hockey stuff is easy. Well, I mean, I guess if you have – if you went up in the right organization right off the bed, it's kind of easy. But, you know, I – I mean, there's not much I can – you know, I was in a spot with a team where they kind of – they were close. And it's not like always the extra element or anything. You were the final piece of the puzzle, Dennis, clearly. Yeah, for sure.

Hang on, get your camera. There we go. There we go. We got you. The enemy of technology, Dennis King. There we go. All right, we're locked in. First of, Carolina Hurricane specifically, and I'll think of somebody,

it's funny, I was mentioning Ellen Hutchingham the other day here on the show, Carolina under Eric Tulski does things a little bit differently. I don't think that Ellen herself ever thought that she would end up scouting for an NHL team, but now she's a Stanley Cup champion scout as well. How did you get the gig originally?

Like, how did this all come to be? I guess I was, you know, friends with Tulski for a very long time. He blogged when I was kind of blogging too. Yeah. So him and I had stayed in touch and occasionally whenever he would, as he got promoted

and if Carolina would make a move, he might reach out to me and say, hey, what do you think of this player? What are we getting in this player? Especially in situations when they made a move with the Oilers, because obviously I've been an Oilers fan forever, and so I know that team pretty well.

So then, Eric and I just would talk about random things with just with players, the league, and about a year. before I was hard, he kind of reached out and said, you know, I'm thinking about hiring another scat. Would you be interested if so? And I said, yeah, absolutely. He was getting touch with me, and we'll see how it goes. And I'm a pretty, you know, easy come, easy go guy. If I never,

if I didn't hear from Eric afterwards, I would have been like, oh, okay. And what I did. And then I did the, you know, a couple of months interview process and hard last July jumped into it. were great. I mean, they did a great job of nurturing me, just giving me a lot of resources and kind of letting me go. And, you know, I would have some ideas. And they're like, okay, this has some merit. This doesn't have some merit. And we just kind of went from there. And, I mean, as I said, I'm just in the right place at the right time. And this camera stuff is awful, Jeff, hold on. That's all right. No problem. We can, we can send someone over there to hold the camera

for you if you need for the next appearance. In the meantime, it's the solo act. Yeah, no, but anyway, so I, yeah, so, I mean, I just kind of went from there and very supportive, as I said, very nurturing, you know, those guys don't miss when it comes to player acquisition. Then when you get inside and see what they have to use, fantastic. Well, that's the thing, too. I mean, Tulski was on after the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup, and one of the things he said,

and he said, like, look, I'm not always going to bat a thousand, but we turned over 12 players and I went 12 for 12. I'm not always going to go 12 for 12. This organization's not going to go 12 for 12, but we just went 12 for 12. I want to bounce around a bunch of hockey topics with you and get your thoughts on the Oilers, McDavid with a hell of a night last night specifically. But what did you learn from your time there? I mean, I'm sure that everybody goes into it thinking, you know, I know what's going on. And then you realize, hold on a second here. I didn't know about this. I didn't know about that. And this has changed my perspective on all of it. Did you have those moments where you're like, yeah, because it's inevitable, right? Because you're dealing with a whole

bunch of different people and sharing ideas. What are some of the things that you, that you gleaned from working with people who had been with your organization for a while? Well, I'd say the number one thing I learned was, you know, just how fantastic of a leader, Eric was. And basically about how you could come to a consensus on opinion. You know, we would have meetings and Eric is just kind of like sitting back, we're discussing various players. We all have different opinions, different viewings, and Eric is taking notes. Eric is nodding. And then afterwards, he's got a great summation.

And, you know, on he goes. So it's kind of a really cool, really cool view into calm and stoic leadership. And the kind of things, there's only so much I could say. obviously. Yeah, of course. I don't want Eric to send the Black Ops team from my house.

I'm having trouble with a camera, so can you imagine what I do with assassins? So, but I know, you kind of I guess Jeff, it seems strange to say, because I'm older, but I was at the infancy of analytics.

So this is how I learned to evaluate players. Then when I get in there, and I get all the access. to their video. Now I can kind of burnish that with a look at, okay, this guy's number is good. Why is it good? And you drill that on habits and tendencies, strengths and weaknesses. And now you know, okay, this is what this organization looks for. This is something that they really don't like. And that really, I mean, they do such a great job at that. It really steals your focus

in terms of who you select. You come to an idea early, okay, this guy is good and he can play, he can't play for Carolina. You know, it must be fascinating too, and I'm sure that it affects all of your hockey watching subsequently. But one of the things that I've always looked at with the Carolina Hurricanes is,

A, you have to be able to think quickly. You have to work hard. I mean, that's a non-negotiable with Rod Rindamore. you have to work hard, you have to think quickly, and you have to be an excellent athlete to play with this team. As far as looking at players around the NHL, does that meet the standard you think of who could play for the character? Because I think you're right,

not everybody can play for that team. That is a very, very challenging way to play, a very challenging way to play in the playoffs, and not everyone can do it. but think fast, wildly athletic, and work hard. Does that seem to fit the bio of a Carolina Hurricanes player? Well, I mean, kind of seeing it right now with the Oilers, where there was a lot of discourse this summer about the Oilers

would like to emulate some of the best of Carolin's practices, which I hardly endorse. First thing is the full buy-in from Brindamore, which, I mean, you don't really get that thorough. out the league, not to that extent. The other thing is, yes, it is conditioning. I mean, Edmonton is kind of, we'll see. Maybe it's a bar product of not having a stable forward core,

but there's some situations now where a couple of players are trying to play this pressure system that Babcock is installing, and it's kind of like it's not even and it's not smooth. So I don't know if it's a thing where they're kind of not trust in everything yet or I don't know if the dexterity isn't isn't there from the feet perspective but we'll kind of see but I mean yeah you're right I mean as I you know when I look think back to that roster

I mean yeah you know sometimes you don't have to be super smart I mean your brain can put you in a spot almost as quick as your feet can you know where to go you know so that that means you don't have to be as athletic but there's probably not more them one or two guys like that on that roster. That roster was built for conditioning, built for speed, built for stops and starts.

And as I said, I'll see what the Oilers now is they're trying to ate that system somewhat. It's not that easy. Let me get there because we just saw, listen, we just saw trade. Philip Hollander goes from the Pittsburgh Penguins

to the Edmonton Oilers. My first thought when I first saw, and Spencer Stastening goes the other way, the defenseman. My first thought when I saw it was they're bringing in someone for the PK. when you see the Oilers make a move like that, what goes, because mine is just like,

oh, yeah, he's in for the PK, you know, not the best skater, but it works hard, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. When you see a move like that, what goes through your mind? Like, I'm sure you're thinking at a different level, like, okay, this is what Edmonton's trying to do here. It's part of a pattern that it's not just random.

Well, I see that they've kind of changed, like the composition of their bottom six will be guys who basically keep the score even. And if you finish Mondes, two or you finish plus two. I mean, that's fine because up top, you know, hopefully when everybody is back in, draw a saddle on one line, McDavid on the other, and this is where you make your hay in terms of five-on-five differential. So Hounder is a guy who's going to be looked at as low event. You know, he'll do his work on the boards. He'll be there. When you move

the puck up to side, he'll be able to get it out, transition it out. Or, you know, he'll be able to chip it out. He'll be able to take that. He's a bigger body so we can take that pressure with a defenseman pinching, for instance, the way that Florida has their defensemen just coming down to boards with abandon. And some of those guys are the beach. And a club. Yes, exactly. And, you know, it kind of really put a dent in the Oilers' breakout in both years.

So Hounder is a guy who theoretically can stick up to that pressure. And he's also got it if he gets on the boards, he'll dig in and he'll win some battles. and yes, he has the aptitude to kill Penley. So the orders are basically going to look for that third and fourth line to just be guys that just keep the score even. You know, nothing happens when they're out there and you let the big guys make the difference. So it's funny, too.

There are some teams we've seen this historically that'll go into a playoff series or just an individual game and they'll say, you know what, we're just going to play 50-50 puck all game and take our chances with the power play. if you're Edmonton, are you then suggesting that the idea is bottom six plays 50-50 puck and you just wait until Connor and Leon catch their breath? Yeah, and I'm not saying that that's a bad philosophy at all.

I mean, there's certain, there's different ways to win the cup. I mean, you know, you could go back. The first thing to think about it is, well, the, you know, one of the things, because I went back, you know, I was just bored one day and said, okay, like, you know, how does it have a the sausage get made, you wouldn't believe the, like, the low number for Malkin and Crosby plus minus when they won the cup. They made the major separation on the third line because you had those top two lines that were facing the top competition and then third line gets out against third line and they make the difference. So for the oilers, what they kind of look to

do, I think, will be Dickinson will probably take half of the hard minutes and draw some. or McDavid will take the other half. So it's, but I mean, as I said, there's different ways to do with, you know, Florida did it with Lundell and Barkoff, primarily Barkoff, getting all the tough matchups, and then Bennett and Kachuk will come out and play against the third lines and make their hay. But with Edmuthon, hopefully, when everybody is healthy, it's Drosital and Podgolson as one pair,

McDavid and Hyman as the other, and then you'll have your Savoy sprinkling there. Maybe Alex Debrinket. Who knows? Debrinket. And then your third line will be Dickinson, Captain and Frederick just trying to say, like, oh, at the end

of the year, minus two, plus two, whatever. And that's how you win. That's how they'll try to win. I can't period of the lead here. So you think that that's a target for Edmonton, old Jeff Jackson client? Well, Jeff Jackson client,

Stan Bowman obviously likes Americans You have the idea that Detroit is basically I mean just kind of whispers now Maybe Detroit will kind of look to build around Say the Sider and Raymond cluster So why would they keep the brinket to be kind of part of that And of course Edmonton's primary trade ship Would be a guy who played his college hockey in Michigan

Hang on a second here. So you think that that is like, first of all, how would that work for Edmonton? Let's just get ahead of ourselves here. Alex, Alex De Brinkett joins the Edmonton holders. How does, how does that work? Well, Ozzy Howard and 800 first round picks. No, I'm not saying like, I'm not saying like how that would come together. I'm more thinking like, who would you put them with? How would that work with the Oilers mix? Because I think that's a fascinating player to stick on the Edmonton Oilers. Oh, he would play with McDavid and Hyman. Hyman goes in, does the work.

He's the F-1. The Brinket comes in, digs around a little bit, support, try to fish the parkhead, or McDavid does it, and the Brinket goes and hangs around the face-off circles. And downward, I think it would work. And the Brinket is not terrible defensively. he's kind of good enough two ways that he's just not it isn't just like he's not empty calories you know what I mean so I think that would be like kind of a perfect match

obviously there's had to be some money you know some retention and then some money that could go out but we'll take care of that later but I'm just saying if you could give me somebody that I think could just like step in there and it would kind of be seamless that would be the guy and you know just to get back to it basically one Once I see the Oilers split McDavid and Drys Idol, and once they can do that and play against

the better teams and win, well, that's when you kind of know that they're ready to win. Because, you know, honestly, and this is off another tangent, there's probably, there's less than 20 games a year that really matter in terms of showing you the caliber, the caliber and quality of your team. Pause on that, because I mentioned that that you were coming up and this is one of the things I want to talk to you about. I also want to talk to you about boring hockey players and how valuable they are.

But over the course of 84 games, you mentioned under 20. What could the number be? As far as how many games on the calendar do you really learn anything about your team? What's the number for you? Well, you know, in terms of, I'll just look at Edmondon,

so your games against Vegas and your games against Anaheim, you go to the Central. I mean, how do you fear against Dallas, Colorado, Utah, and then you have your home and homes in the east with Florida and Carolina primarily because, I mean, I don't know, the Atlantic has got like some good teams. I don't know how many great teams there are. But yeah, those would be the six, seven, the eight teams that you're like, okay, let's see

how we do against those teams. And it seems, you know, it seems so obvious and simple. and the first time that I came to think about this actually was an expose fan and now I'm a nationals fan and the nationals from 2012 made the playoffs and would always flame out in the first round and I came to realize that they would win 90 games every year and they would pound the bad teams but they could never beat the Dodgers they could never beat the Cardinals the giants and then when you got in the playoffs those were the teams that you had to beat so you know you and I talked about this a little bit last year and you

asked me when I thought of the Oilers, and I said, listen, check out their record against these teams. And, yeah, I mean, that kind of proved to be, actually, well, I mean, injuries didn't help. But, yeah, so this is where it gets back to balance, Jeff. The Oilers right now are basically, there's so many injuries that it's kind of like a house far, and they're just gone out through the door, and all they took was, like, the first line. And they said, we'll go to Walmart tomorrow and get some more clothes. but this is kind of what we're going to do for now. Let me, okay, let me, let me throw a statement at you.

You will never win a Stanley Cup until you have enough boring hockey players. True or false? Yeah, it's hard to debate that right off the bat. I mean, you know, I'm thinking about dynastic boilers, and yes, you had those cars who just, and it's not so much boring. I imagine, you know, physical play. it's not always boring. No, but do all the things in between the highlights, essentially.

I have kids that play and they're nonstop on their phone. Look at this highlight. Look at this goal. Look at this play and all that. I'm like, yeah, but that's not the game. The game is all the stuff that happens around that that you look at and go like, well, nothing happened on that shift. Okay, well, and, you know, this is where the neutral zone and zone entry denials are so.

important. Everybody will go look at that draw siddle bomb that breakaway pass from last night. But I tell you, from having watched the oldest for so long, the first thing I noticed is, oh my God, Droshead was 10 feet below his own blue line. This is fantastic. Right. So to me, it was like, man, I've seen, I've seen Drosite will make, he's the best passer in the NHL and has been forever. I've seen that for a super long time. What really impressed me was he was back there providing another layer and another barrier to entry. So, yeah, I mean, that's, you know, I've got a buddy who works in the NHL, and he said to me one day that the Oilers will win when the forwards start caring about what happens when they

don't have the buck. Keeping their stick on the ice in the defensive zone, not blow the zone early. I get it. You know what? Like it looks like, you tell me, it looks to me like Connor McDavid is really trying, even the last thing, just flying everywhere. He's trying to do what Mike Babcock wants him to do. Like pull up under the blue line instead of just like grabbing the puck and getting around the net and circles and looking for lanes. And it looks like he's really trying to do this, the Babcock way right now.

What do you think of this marriage here? Babcock and the others. Yep, 100% agree. There's a ton of work happening off the park now that didn't never happen before. Very, very impressed, very surprised that that line is bought in immediately and those two guys. Paulson's always been a worker. I'm not really surprised by that. So now the next, the evolution of that, Jeff, is McDavid and Drosel to helm their own lines

and bring that work ethics so that their respective linemates know that this is the standard. And once I see that, and I'll know when I see it, and obviously we're living in the age of advanced stats, so you can't lie to us anymore about whether the process is good or not. If you win four or two and you're expected goals at five-on-five is like 47%, well, you're probably in Montreal Canadiens. but, you know, so you can't lie to people. You'll see what, you'll see what's what. What do you think of the HABs, just out of curiosity? I think the HABs are everybody's darling more for cap management than anything else,

and to which, I mean, yeah, it's kind of a really good setup that they've got there with a GM mixed with an agent, so who understands better to value than an agent, and they've got some fantastic contracts laid out. I mean, they're at their infancy. They won two series last year where they definitely should not have won one of them, and maybe not both. And you see, to go back to the original point about how only a few games matter, I mean, look at their last six games against Carolina, five games last spring and last night. Like, this is who you have to beat, and this is how you show against that team. you know, you're not anywhere close.

So I think everybody, because of the history in Montreal, because of the style that they play, everybody is kind of in love with that team might become. But it's not there yet. And you knew that from the advanced metrics last year. But of course, what Montreal can do better than anybody else is they'll just find that, money. And now they've found two in Dobertshire and Fowler. So that covers a lot of mistakes. You know, I spent a lot of time betting sports before I ever worked in the NHL.

And you kind of got to know at the end of a bet whether you were lucky or unlucky. Montreal was one of the few teams that I could bet Montreal. They could get out shot soundly and I would be fine with it because price was price. Yeah. You're right. Like flip the pencil around and use the eraser. It's, so let me ask, the two teams, again, like we've all watched a handful of games. The two teams that I'm most impressed with so far this season, Vegas and Utah,

those are the teams that out of the gate I look at and go like, these guys already look like teams. Are my eyes deceiving me? And if so, who do you like so far from what you've seen? No, yeah, no, that's an easy call. I mean, Vegas, once Vegas got healthy last year, like Vegas is just solid and steady. They just do the same, just do the right things over and over again. The issue with them is, like, you know, how many games will Mark Stone and Carlson be healthy?

Everybody talked about how great Mitch Marner was in the playoffs last year. Go look at his numbers with him without William Carlson, which isn't to say that William Carlson is the ultimate kingmaker, but he certainly appeared to be last spring. There was a big difference in Mariners numbers once Carlson went out. And once Carlson went out, Carolina had a huge advantage with their matching. So if I'm a Vegas fan, you know, okay, what day do I wake up and Carlson is out for two months and Mark Stone is out for three. And, you know, to bring it back to the Oilers thing,

I think that Edmonton might be in that, hopefully not, but Edmont might be hidden in that territory with Zach Hyman, and then they're lucky that it hasn't happened. happened to echo him yet. Yeah. But, no, Vegas is solid. Yeah, I really like the lines for,

I really like the forward group for Utah. Not overly sold on that defense just yet, but I really like the forward group. Man, I'm telling you, who's looked great, even in the specter of two major injuries, and I kind of hate to say it, but that's Florida.

Yeah. And that one hand you talk about it. Even with Brady Kitchuk and all the Cheerio, goes beside his name. And listen, but even to, like, you want to talk about, I'll go back to Carolina, and you want to talk about a team that's all in and does exactly as their coach tells them, their advanced numbers right after bat. And they went into, you know, going on a tough building.

So right out, and Carolina opening night and control both games at five on five. And their net bonding was terrible last year. and, you know, Zito is a mover and a shaker. So, yeah, I'm very impressed with them off the hop. And, of course, yes, obviously, Vegas and Utah as well. We'll see about Colorado with the depth on defense. You know, that seems to be getting a bit older, too. I don't know.

And as I said, with Utah is like they had like another really, really good defenseman. I mean, I would kind of consider them a bit more, but it's been bailing there for a long time, so it's kind of about time. Okay, any player, let me end on this one, any players from any of these teams early on that you think everybody is sleeping on, like Colorado has always been able to pick off players

that other teams don't value enough. Carolina are probably the kings of that, but other players out there that you look at and go, man, everyone's sleeping on this guy, and it's got to stop. someone's going to smarten up and find this guy? I would just turn it around and say, like, there was a player that might get lost in the mix that I think is kind of really good.

It would be Igor Chiersnoff with San Jose. Yeah, he's excellent. Because I was kind of watching, and what's going to happen in there is like, do you let the tail wag the dog in terms of salary cap allocation? If you have Kiefer Shorewood and Colin Graff and you've signed them long term to considerable money, where do you think they're going to be slotted? And then, of course, there's a plethora of wingers there.

So how does Cherznov get into that top six? And if he's only a third-line winger, I wonder would he have more value to San Jose as a trade ship for the defense? because if you want to talk about decourse that I'm not sold on, well, do you know away to San Jose? Are you sold on the goaltending? Well, extend it one more position, too.

You sold on the goaltending in San Jose. Like, again, it's just one game. Like, they faced off against Dallas. Dallas was due to finally pop and score some goals, and they just got steamrolled by the stars, Five Cobb. Look completely different, completely different, without Macklin Celebrini. But how do you feel about the goaltending there?

Well, I mean, I don't love it. We'll have to see, you know, you're going to have to separate the numbers from the, you know, the shot suppression. You look at that top four, it's nursing, Kesselring, and Trubas, you know, Trub was propped up by Jackson-Loghom last year. So what's he going to look like without him? You've got Oral out there. You're breaking in that kid, the kid from the HLs from BC. see. So, yeah, as part of, you can. I mean, obviously, there's one of the things that I know how to do. You can kind of separate it and say this is the goaltending without the shot suppression and the goal suppression included. But, yeah, no, I'm just, it's not their time. I mean, we could have a line conversation maybe when I get this camera fixed about whether San Jose should have jumped already.

Yeah. And I kind of don't think they should have, but maybe you shouldn't say that because maybe I'll want to work for my old friend, Mike Greer, something. Do you think of a Luca Kagnoni, by the way? Yes. I watched him in the HL last year.

I like him. It's just, I don't know if that's kind of the right spot for him right now. How many guys do you think are legit NHLers who, right, we'll end on this one, legit NHLers that are sort of trapped in the American League right now? More than you know. I mean, if you kind of, I think every coach has got,

like one guy that he holds onto that could easily be replaced in the HL. So, I mean, you know, you do the math with that. You know, there's probably a six and a seven defenseman and an 11th and 12th forward that you could go pull out of the HL if you kind of wanted to. And, I mean, you know, people, who am I to say about nepotism? I've got to stand the cup ring because I knew Tulski and Dillard.

It's good if it works in your favor. You know, it's funny talking about that. And the players in the American League, I was texting with someone over the weekend. And we were talking about Amadeus Lombardi, right? Not to pile on Detroit even more here, but we're talking about Lombardi. And he said to me something along the lines of,

if the new WizKid general manager on the scene decides to call you to talk about an American League prospect that you have well down your depth chart, it's probably a good idea to hang up instead of looking at your phone and saying, oh, Nigerian prints, it says on my caller ID, this might work out very well for me. Probably a good idea to put the phone down instead. and now Amadeus Lombardi is in the NHL with the New Jersey Devils. Buddy, thanks so much for stopping by and work on the technology and everything. Yeah, no, we just have the, like we've just got the internet in Newfoundland three years ago. And it's been really... Well, what you're going to find is you're going to find some great old Tully Blanchard wrestling matches on YouTube. I highly recommend you spend the rest of your day doing that.

Well, no, I appreciate that. I was looking for something to do before. for the rest of the day. Thanks for that, Jeff. Old NWA matches. Thank you, Dennis. We'll talk about it. We'll touch base soon.

Thank you, Jeff.