The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Gary Lawless

Episode Date: January 10, 2025

Gary Lawless joins Jeff Marek on The Sheet to talk about the Vegas Golden Knights start to the season, Mark Stone's defensive prowess, Jack Eichel Hart candidacy, and much more...Shout out to our sponsors!👍🏼Fan Duel: 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.

Okay, let's get to our first guest. Coming up a little bit later on we're going to talk to Aaron Ambrose, but in the meantime, I'm going to try to make this moniker stick. I don't know if it's going to, Zach, but I'm going to try. Please welcome Vegas Golden Knights insider, the Ruthless, the Ruthless Gary Lawless. How are you Ruthless? Amazing how you can twist. You are part of the two greatest mischaracterizations of the Vegas Gold Knights. Okay. You were interviewing Brian Burke on one of your old shows and Burke said no one wants to go to Vegas anymore or something to you you know, I'm paraphrase. Paraphrase. Okay.

That was completely false. You know, they traded Nate Schmidt so they'd have space to sign Alex Petrangelo and players, it's well documented and easily proven. Players love to come to Vegas because they get a chance to win the Stanley Cup. And there's palm trees here. And the other thing, another one of the shot of Buffalo. Hang on, hang on. Was that a shot of Buffalo right there?

No, no. Ruthless Gary Lawless. This is a four. This is a bad day to make fire jokes. I was going to say something about a cheek to Aga or Tana Wanda, but I won't say it. Oh, Irv Weinstein. Here we go.

Channel four. I know where you're going. I know where you're going. I know. Yes. Uh, and then the other one was this bit about Ruthless. You referred to, uh, some of the decisions made by the Golden Knights. Hold on. Don't mischaracterize being has not has

being ruthless. And you didn't give this great explanation of saying I'm saying how it's a positive. Now you've decided you're when I see that. so tell me how you said it. I said, this is the Vegas golden nights and the ruthless pursuit of the Stanley cup. They don't like Vegas. I don't recall it being said that way. We've went back at my back at my old shop.

They use, they use that audio all over the place on route to when you guys danced all over the Panthers in my therapy sessions. They tell me it's how I perceive it, not how you said it. Like, honestly, I've said this like to the I know, like there's one person that really doesn't like it when I when I say that I know, but I do. I do. Me, I'm the person that doesn't like it. Oh, OK. Well, that's why that's what you're going to take the moniker of Ruthless.

Ruthless, Gary Lawless. Well, here becomes a question. I was mentioning this off the top before you joined. Right now, the thing is called the Knights are a freight train. Like it's not even this team is a wagon, this team is a freight train. Even in a game like a couple of nights ago against the San Jose Sharks, like that score is kind.

This is a team that when they want to turn it on, turns it on and even when they're going at half speed, they're still dusting teams. When you look at what's on the horizon and the competition, by the way, that division, that division is awesome too. Edmonton, Los Angeles, it's a great division and Vegas has really distinguished themselves amongst the greats.

When you look at trade deadline approaching, I'm trying to figure out like, okay, so where's there a hole? Like what does Vegas need to do? If anything, it's just kind of, you know, bubble wrap your hockey players, make sure nobody gets hurt. You can't do that.

That's the, uh, that's the issue. And in Kelly McCrimmon's fair minded pursuit of a Stanley Cup. He's you know, it's good. It's history but not prophecy. Go back to 2223 and he added Barbashev. He added Bluger and he added Jonathan Quick. Quick was a necessity because you uh, you know, they used five bullies that year.

And at one point in time, you know, they were Hill Thompson and Bersua were the, they were all going down at one point in time. You know, they were using Yuri Pitera, uh, anyways, uh, you know, they just couldn't have Yuri Pitera playing, uh, in those critical games down the stretch. So they went and got, uh, got Jonathan quick and he won some big games for them. He was important. And then he turned out to be really important in the run to the Stanley cup in the dressing

room and how he dealt with the guys that weren't in the lineup every night. He had like a little club. If you were one of the guys that weren't dressing, uh, he took you out for dinner. Uh, you know, I'm sure they had a few Guinnesses along the way. And then he made practice really fun. It was like an extra coach. And, uh, um, you know, he put that third Stanley cup ring on his, uh, on his, you know, what finger, uh, but he was really, he was really important in, in, in achieving it. So, uh, that's history, not prophecy, but that's kind of, that's sort of what I would look for him for, for Kelly to do. They have 10 defensemen. They've got the, they've got, or nine defensemen. They've got the eight guys that are on the roster right now. And the extras

are Ben Hutton and Caden Korsak. And they're in the top six and 20 of 38, 32 NHL teams. Uh, and then they've got Robert Hague in, in Henderson. So they can go nine deep, uh, NHL quality defenseman. So I don't think that's an area they're goaltending. Both Sam Sanoff and Hill are on tears right now. And, uh, and they have Sakura in sorry not Sakura it'll come to me a second Akira Shmead Shmead Shmead in in Henderson so I think they're pretty good there so I think probably depth at

at the forward spot you know I want to ask you about one play this week specifically. I'm curious because listen, you've seen this countless times, but this was a big moment this week for more so for Macklin Celebrini than for anyone else. It's in the final moments of that San Jose Vegas game. Zach has the visuals here. This is Macklin Celebrini with the puck in his zone zone and no one's ever accused Mark Stone of being Pavel Beret. He's not the most fleet of foot but he is one of the most dangerous players to try to challenge one-on-one. I love this. So the empty net gets missed and the puck is gonna come to Macklin Celebrini

who's going up ice and Mark Stone with a simple, simple strip leading to the empty net goal. That is first of all, a lesson for Macklin Celebrini in what is gonna become for any rookie, a season full of lessons. And the first lesson here is be careful of trying to go one on one with Mark Stone in open ice. What went through your mind when you saw that play by Stone?

Well, he did it. He did a similar play in the first period. Him and his brother-in-law, Cody Cece, were at the offensive blue line and the puck came up right at the pair of them. And Mark found a way to tip the puck, ask CC go around them and then go in on a breakaway and beat Georgiev for the first goal of the game. Uh, Mark Stone has the best stick in the NHL in terms of stealing the puck takeaways from the opposition. He's, uh, it's incredible.

And actually the big debate in the dressing room this morning, I don't know if you saw Eichels pass to Olufsen on the power play. Eichel went behind the net, backhand saw it's like waist level drops flat, goes through traffic, through the crease, drops flat. One timer from Olufsen into the net. And we asked Bruce Cassidy about that pass after the game. And he's like, well, it wasn't even the best pass in the game. Stone's pass, Stone took a pass, stopped a shot. Eichel, he saw Eichel out of the, you know, the peripheral breaking out of the zone.

Then no look one time backhander to spring Ikel on a breakaway. And so that was the debate this morning, which was the better pass stone to Ikel or Ikel to Olufsen and, uh, hurdle who is, you know, very even tempered. He get exercised about it. He's like, not even a debate, the stone pass. And I'm like, really? He goes, well, how many times have you seen Jack do that? And Jack does do stuff like that quite often.

He said no one does what stone did. It's just it's impossible to make that play unless you're Mark Stone. And that's why he's on Team Canada. Pretty important player right now. He's remarkable to me. I always love players that sort of defy what we think the NHL is. Right now we just think of the NHL as fly zone, fly zone, fly zone, speed, speed, speed, up, up and then here's Mark Stone saying I'm just smarter than you and I got a great stick and great body positioning and I'm just like at the end of it just

a really highly intelligent hockey player. And by the way, you're giving everybody in Buffalo PTSD when you bring up Eichel and Olufsen together on the power play. Like, can you just leave? But you've already referenced Palm Trees and now you're bringing up Olufsen and Eichel together. What do you, Gary Lawless,

have against Buffalo and the Sabres, sir? I love Buffalo. And actually, uh, Zach and I were talking earlier this morning, uh, when we were setting this up and we started talking about lacrosse, obviously. Yeah. One of my favorite posters of all time, my good friend, Paul Day was playing lacrosse for the Buffalo Bandits and Rob Ray was playing for the Sabres and they had him at a Tops doing a signing. Oh no way! They had this great Rob Ray poster, something to do with the Sabres, and they had Paul Day who was a police officer and the poster said cop by day, bandit by night. That's a great poster.

Yeah, that's a great poster, yeah. That's awesome. Let me get on the Jack Eichel page here. All of a sudden, we're talking about, listen, I think that it's a crime that Mark Stone hasn't collected up a Selkie trophy here. We all know the bias against wingers, but are we all of a sudden now starting to sneak, dare I say, Jack Eichel into a one of the best two-way players in the NHL type conversation? Bruce talks about it all the time and he's like, you know, the guys, the voters in the East need to pay more attention, stay up later and pay more attention to Jack. And, you know, I would tell you this

of the guys that are leading the league in scoring, I think really only Marner and Eichel are regular PK guys. And Eichel is the first over the boards for Vegas. And, you know, Vegas doesn't have to kill very many penalties or the least penalized team of the NHL, but he's fantastic at it and you know the golden knights this year they have held teams to two goals or less on how many occasions 21 times they're 20-0-1 in those almost half of their games they're like they're the

quintessential three, two team. They've got more three goal games than any other team in the NHL 30 and they're 27, three and two in those game and then two or less, uh, 20, oh and one. So like, if they stick to their formula and the, and the score is three, two, they went, um, but I call is he's decided he can really impact the game and telling him a criminal says this about him. He's all about winning. So like, I think I call many nights determines what do I have to do tonight for us to win?

And that's how he approaches it. If it's, I gotta go two in one. Okay. I'll make that happen. Uh, I've got to get, you know, I've got to make sure we score one or two. And then I got to make sure they don't they don't get any goals. I'll you know, he he he has shut down some big, big names on on occasions this year. And it's really interesting when the team's on the road, the opposition is matching to stay away from him all the time. He's just, he controls the puck. He's a possession merchant for sure.

But if Vegas loses the puck, just watch him backtrack. He uses that speed, that long stick, and he's so big and powerful. People don't get, he doesn't get credit for that. He knocks people off pucks all the time. To me, he is most definitely right there with 16, with Barkhoff in Florida has the best two-way centers in the National Hockey League. And William Carlson is right behind them. Yeah, as soon as Bergeron retired, like the field just opened up, throw Niko Hescher into that conversation as I always do for the New Jersey Devils.

In boxing, they always say styles make fights and the same thing is true in hockey. And it's interesting when I look at some of the best games that I've seen over the last five years, it's Team X and Vegas. Like Minnesota Vegas styles mix great. They make awesome games. Say I can say the same thing about Colorado and Vegas.

I can say the same thing about Dallas and Vegas. From your point of view, just like not who Vegas can dominate, but just like which of all the teams that Vegas plays makes for the most enjoyable game? Like for a couple of years there, it was money in the bank that Vegas, Minnesota was going to be great. Like you go out of your way. Edmonton Edmonton Edmonton.

There's so much goes into the soup in that one. It's you know, Edmonton is the city of champions and there still is, uh, and I say this in a complimentary way, there still is a little bit of oilers arrogance in their fan base. They, uh, they're not entitled. They're not Vancouver. They're not entitled, but they, you know, they have some swagger. They believe they're the oilers, their coaches, their, the people there always say, we have the best player in the world. I made the mistake of saying to Woodcroft a couple of years ago, you know, you have

the best offensive player in the world. He cut me off and said, you say the best offensive player in the world. I say the best player in the world. Well, it depends on what you value. Right. And, uh, uh, obviously McDavid is the best player in the world. Well, it depends on what you value. Right. And, uh, uh, obviously McDavid is the best player in the world when you look at things offensively, but there are some other guys that, and you know, I mean, we're totally discounting anyone who plays

defense or goal when we have that conversation and we just anoint him. Uh, and Leon Dreis, I don't might say, well, I'm the best player on the Edmonton Oilers right now. Like it's, uh, it's really interesting. Uh, they are a really good organization. They have excellent broadcasters. Uh, they have a great crowd. It's you go there in the playoffs. It's awesome. It's in Canada. And you, when you watch a anybody versus the oilers, it might be a three goal differential with five minutes left to go. You are biting your, you're biting your lower lip the whole time. It's never over against the oilers and look out if they, uh, look out if the referee decides to call a penalty.

It it's just, uh just not LA obviously like the Hiller has done a tremendous job there and all of a sudden like that you mentioned the Pacific division earlier. It's good. Vegas is 17-3-1 since November 21st. That's number one in the league. LA is right behind them with a 778 points percentage over that stretch. And Edmonton is a 775. Like no one loses on fire. Those three teams, they don't. And Winnipeg doesn't lose very often.

And neither does Colorado. It's like the West is the East. I think you can pick the first four or five times in teams of the East and say, they're in, you can pick the first seven in the, in the West and say they're in and everybody else is fighting for, for a wild card too. It's, uh, the best teams in the West are really good. Let me ask this, uh, closing question here, Gary, um, which team, and let's not forget here, like Colorado's got goaltending now, which team would you say scares Vegas the most, which is the one team

that keeps Vegas up at night? You know, I hate to be boring, but I'm going to go back to Edmonton. Like those two guys can win a series. Oh yeah. Like they are, you know, like, uh, and you don't want to play Edmonton in the first round because they call more penalties in the first round. And they do like get Edmonton in the second or the third round when the referees are calling less person, less penalties, it kind of levels the

playing field in that respect. But if, if, if for some reason, if, if the, the stars align, align for the Oilers and McDavid and Dry Cytl are fresh and healthy at the start of a playoff series, they are really, really tough out. A couple of people in chat mentioning ruthless comments about the Edmonton Oilers as well. Oh, yeah. Just keeping, keeping that nickname alive, that moniker. Couple of people in chat mentioning ruthless comments about the Edmonton Oilers as well Yes, just keeping keeping that nickname alive that moniker. All right, listen, I know it's busy for you It always is appreciate you parking some time as always Please say hello to our mutual friend the great lacrosse legend Paul day and we will catch up with you soon. Enjoy nights hockey

Yeah, as you know, I am the central scrutinizer Gary just made my day. Gary and I both love Frank Zapp and that's the narrator from Joe's Garage. Oh, bless you, Gary. You just put a smile on this guy's face. Thanks, pal. You be good. All right. Talk to you later. It's not every day this week, every day this month

I can't get out my head, lost all ambitions day to day Guess you can call it a ride I went to the dark man, he tried to give me a little medicine I'm like, nah man, that's fine I'm not against those methods but I knew It's me, myself and how this gon' be fixing my mind I do want to break it I turned on the music

I do want to break it I turned on the music It's turned up, up, out don't you sometimes lose it Helping on the days that went wrong