The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Play Better ft. Colby Cohen & Dan Near

Starting point is 00:00:00 A cast powers the world's best podcast. Here's a show that we recommend. A VP at HBO said no one would ever watch Yellowstone. Stephen King was rejected by 30 publishers. Charles Schultz was told he'd never make a living scribbling and Missy Elliott was dropped by her label. The stories of famous names, their lesser known rejections, and the insights those rejections provide. We regret to inform you the rejection podcast. Listen to season 6 wherever you get your podcasts. Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com

Starting point is 00:00:48 You know, sometimes when you hear a song every day, sometimes a couple times a day, you get sick of it. Don't know that I'm going to get sick of that small town strip club open. Through on a record. Thanks to the Stratford boys for that one as always and welcome to another week of the sheet and we got a big one coming up here for you including the commissioner of the Western Hockey League, Dan Neer will stop by, Colby Coleman from Morning Cup of Hockey will stop by. It's all NHL topics from the weekend.

Starting point is 00:01:30 It is the big news from the Western Hockey League on the weekend. Just when you think there was big enough news in the WHL about Victory Plus and streaming games for free and not geo-blocked at all, the news today at the Penticton V's are now a member of the Western Hockey League and looks like Chilliwack is on the horizon as well, which will eventually balloon the league to 24 teams. There are 20 in the OHL. There are 18 in the Quebec League. I know the OHL had plans to expand by two to USHL teams who ended up going back to the United States Hockey League.

Starting point is 00:02:09 And Quebec is still having a good look at the United States and expanding there. But we'll get to all these issues with Dan here coming up at the bottom of the hour. Colby Cohen, as I mentioned as well. And someone who's returned from Nashville. Always interesting to see what happens and how someone looks when they return

Starting point is 00:02:24 from their first trip to Music City. He is the one and only Zach Phillips, producer extraordinaire. You're actually looking better than I thought you would look. Like honestly, I thought you would look like Johnny Lazarus sounded this morning on Morning Cup of Hockey. Now he was in Vegas for Bachelor weekend, so we give him a pass, a big one. I thought you'd look worse I'll be honest with you or do you have like even more makeup on than I do right now No, I think the amount of water that I've drank like since returning last night through this morning would probably Have helped me along with the recovery process to at least not look like full-blown death

Starting point is 00:03:02 But yeah, I mean at least I look better than my body feels right now. Oh okay, have you worked out yet? Have you had a steam anything yet? No, I still come out. That's coming later today, yeah. All right, you gotta pay for it son. You gotta pay for it son.

Starting point is 00:03:19 All right, coming up on the program today, we got a lot to get to, so let's get right to our daily outlines powered by our friends at FanDuel, friends and partners we should mention, to make every moment more with North America's number one sports book, and that is of course our friends and partners at FanDuel. Lots to get to today, as I mentioned off the top of the program, and this is the lead story of the show today, the Western Hockey League is growing by one and soon to be two. Dan Neer is the Commissioner of the Western Hockey League. He will stop by coming up at the bottom of the hour. Also on the program today we'll speak to Colby Cohen of Morning Cup of Hockey, former national champion, BU.

Starting point is 00:03:58 You know how I know that? Because he will not let us forget it. Oh I don't have my I don't have my BU hat here. Oh it's up. Oh wait a minute. Yeah it's over there. Okay I'll get my nickel-and-dime BU hat and I'll put it on Will Colby's board here in about 10 or 15 minutes time. Also coming up on the program today, opinion kind of split on the Tomas Hurtle hit yesterday by Emil Lilleberg of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tough weekend for the Bolts and tough night for Tomas Hurdle. Great week lately for the Vegas Golden Knights. They've been on fire, especially Tomas Hurdle. Every time he touches a puck he's scoring three goals.

Starting point is 00:04:33 It looked like a shoulder. We're awaiting an update. We'll see what's happening there. Carolina Hurricanes, meanwhile, blip on the radar against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday 7-2. Then they beat the Anaheim Ducks by a score of 5-2 on Sunday. And if you read my blog this morning, you'll know they're working on at least the parameters of what it's going to look like. They're working towards a new deal with Taylor Hall, who's been exceptional for the Carolina Hurricanes. So was Jankowski. Maybe more on him coming up a little bit later on. LA Kings, how about that for a weekend? Drubbed two teams by identical scores seven to two

Starting point is 00:05:10 LA Kings handing it to Carolina Handing it to Boston 14 goals They score that is right the the nip and tuck Button down Los Angeles Kings. Oh, it's all two to one games, it's all three to two games, oh can they win a big, seven to two identical scores, Saturday and Sunday. We'll talk about the Kings with Colby coming up here

Starting point is 00:05:33 in a couple of moments as well and let me start the program with this. I think about this often. Who in hockey, when they wake up on Monday morning, has the biggest smile? Who's the happiest person in hockey when they wake up on Monday morning has the biggest smile? Who's the happiest? person in Hockey every Monday morning to kick off the week. You know, I think it is that you know I think the happiest person in hockey this morning was

Starting point is 00:05:57 Robert Thomas Jim Montgomery in the st. Louis blue st. Louis blues Jim Montgomery specifically Yeah, not only the St. Louis Blues find themselves in a playoff position, but also they beat the Boston Bruins to get there. And the Boston Bruins have thrown in the towel on the season. Jim Montgomery smiles deeply. Now coaches will always say the same thing, oh no they're not petty, They're not, you know, they don't wish any ill will to their previous teams. It's not true. No shots. It's really, really not true. You really want your previous team to do really poorly. Things right now could not be working out better for Jim Montgomery and the St. Louis Blues. And how about the weekend you did mention Robert Thomas. What did you refer to it in our text this morning?

Starting point is 00:06:52 Sheet bump? The sheet bump, yeah. Robert Thomas. I chalk it up to the great- Probably could get a better name than that, but- I chalk it up to the great teeth. By the way, how about Dallabor Davorski making his debut, NHL debut for the St. Louis Blues yesterday? You know what I love about Dallibor Dvorsky? What's that?

Starting point is 00:07:09 His nickname in Sudbury, one of the coolest hockey shooting nicknames I may have ever heard. You know what his nickname was in Sudbury? No, what? Mr. Shortside. He scored a ton of goals, Shortside and Sudbury, playing with the Wolves. Anyway, Dalla Barton, the worst can make it is.

Starting point is 00:07:30 Debut yesterday for the St. Louis Blues. Want to get Colby Cohen's thoughts on a lot of things here, but before we get to Colby, just let me know when he's aboard. Do we have that Tomas Hurtle hit queued up? You know, I was watching this game last night, and look man, Vegas is playing great, Hurtle's been fantastic. It's some of the best hockey that we've seen Tomas Hurdle play since he was young and healthy with the San Jose Sharks.

Starting point is 00:07:52 I mean, he's just been on fire. It's multiple hat tricks. Every time he touches the puck, something good happens. And then in this play last night in the game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Now I'm curious what you think. I'll be really curious, although he already touched on it on Morning Cup of Hockey, so I kind of have an idea of where he's at on it.

Starting point is 00:08:10 But I'll be curious to see what Colby thinks about this hit. I've got my own specific take on it. Let's show this hit yesterday. So this is Emil Lilleberg of the Tampa Bay Lightning. So here comes Hurdle, gets a shot on Vasilevski, going from the rebound, and Lilleberg hurls him into the boards. Hurdle gets up right away. You can see that he's favoring his right shoulder. It doesn't look good.

Starting point is 00:08:35 It looks awful and not that you ever want to see anyone hurt, but man that guy was playing great hockey. And if you know Hurdle's career, he's been he's beendle's career he's been bumped before and he's been he's been paused before because of injuries when he's playing wonderful hockey and that's where he found himself and it just really hit a stride with the Vegas Golden Knights. Now my thought on this one is you know there's regular season hockey and then there's playoff hockey and at a certain point every team and all their players start to get themselves ready for what the playoffs

Starting point is 00:09:11 are going to be like and they start playing like that. That to me was a playoff play. I know you can look at it and say it's a dirty play. Some might say deserve the five, two's not enough. He got two for boarding on that one. I look at that as close to the playoffs, we're getting ready for the playoffs, that's the kind of hit you see in the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:09:39 You know how players mentally prepare themselves when they go into the postseason sometime around January and try to get everything in order, get your routine in order, get your family life in order, all of it, and you start to change the way you play because the playoffs are on the horizon. My first thought was, am I watching the playoffs? Because I don't know that you make that hit in November, but you do make that hit this close to the playoffs. Let's get Colby Cohen involved here because he would know he played. From Morning Cup of Hockey, from NHL, our good friend Colby Cohen joins me on the sheet

Starting point is 00:10:12 now. What do you make of my take of the Lillebergh hit there? That one looked to me like in Lillebergh's mind, it's the first round of the playoffs. That's a hit you see in the playoffs. It's not a hit you're expecting in the regular season. First of all, Colby, thanks so much for joining me. And second of all, your thoughts on that flashpoint moment last night. Yeah, hold on. I'm just making sure I have the right... I turned around and there he was gone.

Starting point is 00:10:47 It's quite the freeze we had on you there too. Do you have me now? Kind of nifty, yeah, we got you good. All right, sorry. We got you good. That was my fault. I was making sure I had the microphone correct, but I don't agree with you here. I really don't.

Starting point is 00:11:00 And I'll tell you why, because it's such a vulnerable position. And sure, do you go out because it's such a vulnerable position. And and sure. Yep. Do you go out of your way a little bit more to finish hits in the playoffs and that I have no problem with, but. That's just such a bad vulnerable hit. I mean, those are the types of plays, Jeff, that have could have catastrophic results.

Starting point is 00:11:28 When a player is that far away from the boards and he's that off balance, you know, maybe I'm a little sensitive to it having had a great relationship with Travis Roy from my time in college and, you know, him always being around our teams. But those vulnerable plays when a guy's that far from the boards and that to me, it looked like it looked like he was pissed off because he didn't like the play before it. And it almost looked like it was a little retribution for, you know, being frustrated with the previous play. I have a big problem with this hit, and I am usually on the other side saying,

Starting point is 00:12:11 well, things happen quick in the NHL, it looks horrible in slow motion. Like, I usually take that side of these things, but it's really defenseless and really dangerous. Like, I really didn't like it. That's why I say it's playoff It's a playoff hit like that because in we've seen this countless times Prepare to be hit at all times when you're in the playoffs and if you can get a licking on a guy Not only should you but you have to I mean your coaches are telling you that like you had a chance to get a lickin

Starting point is 00:12:41 Why didn't you do it? And if you can get a guy out of a series with a hit that only costs you two minutes, you kind of do it. Like that's why, like listen, I think it's a, I'm with you, like I think it's reckless, I think it's dangerous. If that hit was in October or November, I'd be saying like, what are you doing? Like it's a long season here. I just can't help but thinking like, I wonder if, and I wonder about this with a lot of guys in the NHL at what point because you can't just flip the switch Well, I was hearing about okay his playoffs. You got to flip the switch and now you got to play differently I don't believe that guys do that

Starting point is 00:13:17 I think that you need like a like a like a like a ramp for it and you start to change your game Leading into the playoffs and when I first saw it first of all my go cheese a whole hurdles already he's playing so well and then my second thought is in Tampa's mind they're in the playoffs and in Lillebergh's mind he's in the playoffs right now now he's sitting on the fence on this one so I'm kind of agreeing with you but disagreeing with you at the same time yeah and that's. And what you said is accurate. There's maybe, let's just say, you know, the NHL is a pizza pie. There's only the smallest little sliver of the players

Starting point is 00:13:56 that can just flip a switch. 99% of the league can't flip a switch and 30 teams can't flip a switch. There are certain teams and there are certain people that can draw from past experience I think Jeff, that play the game and they can flip switches but it's so rare. It's the smallest percent of these NHL players and we are talking about the best in the world. You know even though fans like and and a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a

Starting point is 00:14:50 a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a Again, a toe pick or an inch more, maybe he loses his balance more and he's head first into the boards and we're talking about a stretcher instead of a grab in the shoulder. So I'm, again, you and I can usually find common ground, but I don't find it with you on this one. And I think that to me it was senseless is really the right word.

Starting point is 00:15:24 And that's the one Bruce Cassidy used. Okay, so let's see if we can find some common ground on this one then. The Boston Bruins. Now we've got this Nikita Zadorov clip. I'm not sure whether you've seen it. There's a Zadorov clip when he's asked about Jeremy Swainman attempting to fight Darcy Kemper.

Starting point is 00:15:42 And well, you guys, you know, talked about the fight this morning, the almost fight between Swainman and Kemper and well you guys you know talked about the fight this morning the almost fight between Swamen and Kemper in that LA Boston game and it's a 3-2 game and they almost throw down at center ice Kemper leaves his mask on for some reason but in the Swamen's ready to go. After the game Nikita Zadorov is asked about the motivation. Are you happy to see, I'm not going to put words in a reporter's mouth, but it's essentially, are you happy to see your goaltender stand up for a player here? This is Nikita Zadorov's response to that. You guys appreciate that Jeremy stuck up for Hussein Dina.

Starting point is 00:16:25 Is that what it is? Okay. Okay. I don't know. No comment. Were you happy to see him stick up for a teammate? Yeah, Hushni Dinov, Mara Hushni Dinov, who Kemper kind of went out in front of the net and Zadorov said, oh is that what that was? No comment.

Starting point is 00:16:49 Like your gut instinct is, and you guys spent a lot of time this morning with Kovacevich and with the New Jersey situation with Sheldon Keefe, the knee-jerk reaction is, okay, this must mean that at least Nikita Zadorov is done with the Jeremy Swainman act of trying to fight everybody. Not unlike the St. Louis Blues have been at various times with Jordan Bennington. But what did you, because that's a 3-2 game yesterday and that happens and then after that he surrenders four goals and the Los Angeles Kings just, you know, spank the Boston Bruins. How did you see that situation and do you have a thought on the Nikita Zadorov comment afterwards? Well, I'm reading it just like you are.

Starting point is 00:17:29 And I hadn't seen that. I was a little bit immersed this weekend in conference tournaments, getting ready for the NCAA tournament selection show. So I did miss a little bit more NHL this weekend than I like generally do. But I take that as I'm sick of this guy or he's not doing it to stick up for a teammate. He's doing it because he wants attention or he wants it to be about him.

Starting point is 00:17:52 That's how I read the situation. I don't think that that's the right tact as a defenseman and a goaltender, because I think that there has to be good communication and sort of a trusting relationship between defensive, especially, you know, well paid defensive players and well paid goaltenders, not saying everybody has to get along. I'm not sure I would have gone the public route with that if yours is a door off, especially

Starting point is 00:18:21 when Swainman's kind of been there as long as he has, He's pretty beloved from, you know, his teammates from what I understand. I think the other thing is, is for Swainman, I think he's sick of losing. He's sick of getting shelled, probably sick of the way Nikita Zadorov plays. So I'm sure it was a lot of frustration in uncharted territory. He hasn't been on a bad team frustration in uncharted territory. He hasn't been on a bad team since he joined professional hockey. His teams in college weren't great at Maine, but these are competitive guys. They don't like to lose.

Starting point is 00:18:56 But I did see the clip and I saw the refs not let them fight and get up in between. I don't know. I'm not sure I would have done that if I was Nikita Zadorov. to And, you know, as much as usually I'm pretty supportive of the Boston Bruins and I'm not someone who usually is on this fire Don Sweeney thing. And this whole like I actually think if you zoom out, Don Sweeney's done a lot of really good things. And I know most people disagree, but that's okay. But yeah, I'm not a fan of a player like that. It's one thing if it's Brad Marson, if he's still in that locker room. It's one thing if it's Charlie McAvoy. But I just, honestly, like, I don't know. Like, you're new to that team, you're new to that locker room,

Starting point is 00:19:56 you're overpaid, you're underperforming. Geez, I don't know, Jeff. I'm not sure I like it. Acast powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend. A VP at HBO said no one would ever watch Yellowstone. Stephen King was rejected by 30 publishers. Charles Schultz was told he'd never make a living scribbling. And Missy Elliott was dropped by her label. The stories of famous names, their lesser-known rejections, and the insights those rejections provide. We regret to inform you the Rejection Podcast.

Starting point is 00:20:42 Listen to Season 6 wherever you get your podcasts. ACAST helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. acast.com. On the LA King side of things right now, what a weekend for LA. So they put up a seven against Carolina, they put up a seven against the Boston Bruins. This team that all they can do is play two to one games. That's going to be it, you know, they're going to play the Oilers in the opening round. Oilers are going to score three goals and the games are over.

Starting point is 00:21:20 Oilers, by the way, without Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisle for all three games this week That announced earlier today. So that's bad times for the Oilers I think if we're gonna look for common ground the one place where I think you and I can find something here together is I know that I know that the majority people don't want to see LA and Edmonton play again But I just don't know that the outcome is different this time around. I just don't know and Edmonton play again, but I just don't know that the outcome is different this time around. I just don't know that Edmonton steamrolls them again. Like this to me looks like a much different Los Angeles Kings team.

Starting point is 00:21:55 And again, this looks to me like an Edmonton Oilers team that is playing stops and starts all season long. They'll be like a month long stretch, like we saw in December, where they're the best team in the NHL. And then there'll be stretches where we say to ourselves, how are these guys gonna do anything in the playoffs? If the series started, of course,

Starting point is 00:22:17 like McDavid and Leon out, so it's sort of biased a question, but if the series started now, I don't know that the Oilers rolled them at all. I think it's LA's year. I do. We started talking about that about a week or two ago on Morning Cup of Hockey, because we had Tyler come on.

Starting point is 00:22:36 And obviously, we always try to talk about Edmonton when he comes on. Look, I'll just say this really quick. We talked about flipping a switch. I don't see it as super alarming to not have those two guys right now, Jeff. And if anything, I'd rather see dry, subtle and McDavid. Let's just say it's an injury, but it's not crazy severe. And both guys are 7580% could probably play if it's a playoff game. Why not just let

Starting point is 00:23:04 those guys get to 100% because they are two of the players that can flip a switch. McDavid could flip a switch probably like nobody else can even though he hasn't been as good and we know the season dry sidles having but I think the cause Menko deal gives them a little bit more offense a little bit more scoring. I think people kind of look the other way when that trade happened and he was obviously kind of just a contract throw in on That first trade to Philadelphia. They just needed to you know Send his contract back the other way and and I don't think the Flyers were ever actually serious about him

Starting point is 00:23:40 Playing in Philadelphia. So you look you get another guy who's dangerous around the net. It's also good to see Brandt Clark getting some minutes. I mean, you know, we talked about this team. This is a guy who brings a lot of offense when he's playing and he's getting minutes. They spend less time defending because he just moves the puck around the ice with such ease. Like I'm a huge Brent Clark fan in the way that he plays. I personally believe Rob Blake has completely or maybe it's it's it's Hiller not Blake. But I think that whole situation with Clark's been pretty mismanaged, right? And it seems like lately he's been, you know, having a little bit more, let's

Starting point is 00:24:21 call it rope to go out and be himself and consistent minutes. He's been healthy to a ton and he still has more points than any other defenseman on the back end. I think he's a difference maker and I don't think we talk about him enough. He's elite. I mean, following this guy going back to his, I'm going to be that guy, Colby, sorry. Going back to, I watched him in minor hockey playing with the Don Mills Flyers on that stud team with Brennan Offman and Shane Wright.

Starting point is 00:24:47 Like they were one of the best minor hockey teams I had ever seen and many of us have ever seen. And then into the OHL and then in through the Hockey Canada program where there were a lot of times as highly skilled as Brant Clark was and is, he had a hard time getting out of his own way. There's a lot of, you know,

Starting point is 00:25:04 I always try to tell my kids like, get the easy stuff right. You know, it's like an old prof Galloway saying like, get the easy stuff right, you know, show up on time, be respectful, like be courteous, like all these types of things. That's the easy thing. I'm like, I'm always like, guys,

Starting point is 00:25:19 get the easy, if you get the easy stuff right, then the hard stuff's easier to get right because you're not getting stopped or speed bumped by the easy stuff. And for whatever reason, there were just so many times along the way where Brant Clark had a hard time getting the easy stuff. There was never any denying his skill.

Starting point is 00:25:39 Guy's such a skilled player. And you always say like, okay, you cross your fingers and say, okay, I hope this all comes together for them because I'm sure you've played with players. You've seen guys that are incredibly skilled and would have been so successful, but they just couldn't get out of their own way. And that was kind of the story about Brent Clark.

Starting point is 00:25:58 There are two others on that blue line that I really love and they're not as flashy as Brent Clark and aren't gonna put up points and dominate the offensive zone. But Gavrikov and Anderson, I mean, you play defense, like you know, like these guys are high end, high end shut down guys in LA zone.

Starting point is 00:26:16 Like I'm actually maybe in the minority because I really do wanna see LA and Edmonton face off against each other because I do think it'll be different this time around. Um, I opened the show by saying, by saying, do you have a thought on that one, by the way? Two thoughts actually, as you know, I always have a thought or seven. Um, first off,

Starting point is 00:26:38 I'm jealous of the fact that you could just go over to Chesswood or Westwood arena to a minor league, GTHL game and see like four kids in one game. Going tonight. I'm going to see Don Mills. I'm going to see Don Mills tonight. Bain Pettinger's team.

Starting point is 00:26:53 I go to Ice Line and, you know, to support a youth club of somebody I know, a parent, a kid, whatever. And I'm not watching kids who are going to play in the NHL one day. It just, it's like, that's pretty cool. Like, I'm like, yeah. Hang on. First of all, that is an elite, by you mentioning, just so everyone knows here, like Westwood and Chesswood are two of the main GTHL arenas. So like that is an elite pull by you. Not to sound like the arrogant Canadian, but like, bravo, Colby. Like that was, that was really impressive.

Starting point is 00:27:25 Well, I spent my summers going to Dr. Schmuskin's camp at Cheshire Arena. Oh yeah. For years my dad would rent an apartment in Toronto and we'd be at Dr. Schmuskin eight hours a day doing the carousels and the spring boards. And he'd be yelling at us in his Russian accent telling us we were born by mistake. Oh my God. the the Anderson always makes the next right play. Like you brought him up. When I'm coaching my junior kids in my D, sometimes I'll be like, who do you like watching? And like no player would ever tell me, oh, I want to play like Mikey Anderson.

Starting point is 00:28:13 Like no guy would ever say that. But I'll be like, hey, go watch his shifts on instat Mikey Anderson. He makes the right five to eight foot pass, 98% of the game. And then there's always one or two where he looks it off and he makes the right five to eight foot pass 98% of the game. And then there's always one or two where he looks it off and he makes a bigger play, but 98% of the time he just makes the next right play. Yup. I know plenty of guys who would have had long careers, maybe even me, if I could have just been smart enough to make the next right play and not the next big play every shift. So, you know, great, great, great memories for starters.

Starting point is 00:28:48 So I appreciate you calling that out. And then, yeah, listen, Mikey Anderson was playing this way going back to his days at Minnesota Duluth and give Scott Sandlin a ton of credit. He coached that kid hard and he made that kid really dig into being that type of player. And he's had a phenomenal NHL career. Playing with Drew Doughty is gonna help too and played with with Doughty for a while with Los Angeles as we all know. Okay before we

Starting point is 00:29:12 close here Dan Neer is on the horizon. Western Hockey League commissioner, big day for the Western Hockey League, we'll get to that in a couple of seconds but put on your Nostradamus hat, Give me the Colby Cohen crystal ball. How does the tournament go? Well, geez, I think Western Michigan. I'm riding the path. You've loved them for a while. You've loved them for a while.

Starting point is 00:29:36 Every year, I'm like riding them halfway through the year and then they fall off at the end of every season. But this season, they never had the Valley and they just continue to go up. I think Alex Bump is a national hockey league player. He's a fifth round pick by the Flyers. To me after Ryan Leonard and Zeve Bouyam, he's the next most NHL ready player in the national, in the NCAA. So I just love the way that team plays. They have a defenseman this kid Hacker Ryan and he never comes off the ice. You know, they're they're

Starting point is 00:30:12 big, they're fast. So I like I like Western Michigan this year. I think we're going to get a Denver BC National Championship rematch in the regional that I'm in in game two, which I think is, you know, firework worthy. And look, you know, I, I, people are upset at me in the state of Minnesota right now because I, I, I'm concerned. I think they're on upset alert against UMass in game one.

Starting point is 00:30:38 So look, you know, I know we have a lot of Canadian fans that listen to this. NCAA hockey is more relevant even in Canada now than ever because a lot of your major junior kids are going to come and play in the NCAA, right? And so come on over, you know, like the Memorial Cup is amazing. Like you get that later. Come check out the NCAA tournament. It's going to probably be all over TSN over the next couple of weeks.

Starting point is 00:31:07 You know, next year you'll start to see some of the kids you really know well coming to the NCAA tournament, playing for some of the schools, but I'm so excited, Jeff. Thanks for asking. This is like the the most fun time a year for me, the NCAA tournament, leading right into the NHL playoffs. Looking forward to it as always. You be good, thanks as always for popping by. Continued success on Morning Cup of Hockey and I thought about you guys right away on Saturday,

Starting point is 00:31:34 watching that St. Louis Chicago game and I know you mentioned this morning you might be steamed a little bit at Pat Maroon for doing it on TV and not on Morning Cup of Hockey. Come on. A quick, quick thought, I meant, I wrote about him in the blog this morning. Like he's one of my favorite players to talk about. He's on your show every week.

Starting point is 00:31:51 Quick thought on former London Night Greats for one season. Pat Maroon. He's salt of the earth. Like that is the first phrase that comes up. He is just, you know, he's he, he's as great a, he's, he's the one of the greatest human beings there is in the locker room. I, you know, willing to do the selfless things out on the ice. I love the guy.

Starting point is 00:32:15 He's going to be on at 9 a.m. tomorrow with us. So we'll, we will get him, but I will, I am annoyed with him for not doing this on the show and doing it. I heard panger convinced him to do it on TV. I'm like, come on, man, what are we doing here? So we'll hear from him. So check us out tomorrow. Nine a.m.

Starting point is 00:32:33 Pat will be with us right off the top. I can't wait. And I'll tell you, like I mentioned briefly, he played with the London Knights for one year. There was a real sort of battery and still is between St. Louis and the OHL, Cam Jansen went up to Guelph, and there's a lot of St. Louis Blues-born players on that London Knights team.

Starting point is 00:32:50 And I'll tell you, I don't know if you ever saw him play in the OHL. Again, he was only there for one year, led the London Knights in, hang on, I'm getting something weird in my ear, getting an echo, led the London Knights in scoring and With like 90 points and was honestly Colby few would have seen him then compared to now because he completely changed his game

Starting point is 00:33:13 It was a 100% different He always had the hands and a lot of that probably came from roller hockey because he played a ton But like honestly Colby he was the guy that said my game and junior will not translate to the NHL I need to do something different I need to evolve around the game and that's what Pat Maroon and that's me That's that's the lesson of Pat Maroon and he turned into that guy who ended up playing with like play season with Conor McDavid He played with Ryan Getzlaff. He played up and down the lineup, but I'm telling you man If you watched him in London Colby, you'd be like, who's this guy? He's incredible. I

Starting point is 00:33:45 Skated with him right after that because he's draft, you know, he comes to Philly and we all used to skate together in the summer, you know, in at Skate Zone. So I did get to see him even before his first full pro season. And you're right. You, you, he completely transformed. So I got to know him a little bit then. Not well, not like I know him now, obviously, but again, he is a guy that I'm glad he said,

Starting point is 00:34:16 like he told everybody now, because I want him to be celebrated for the next two or three weeks or whatever we have of the regular season, four weeks, whatever the exact number is. I want him to go somewhere and be celebrated everywhere he goes. So, anyways, I know you have somebody way more important than me coming up, which I'm looking forward to listening into. So, cut me off here anytime. You need to kick me out. All right?

Starting point is 00:34:39 We're gonna punt. You get to the rest of your day. Thanks as always for Bombay. Looking forward to Pat Maroon tomorrow, 9am Eastern on morning cup of hockey. Thanks Colb. See you guys. There is Colby Cohen from morning cup of hockey along with Johnny Lazarus. Um, should be a daily stop for you either live on YouTube. And if you're there, get in the chat or listen to it in archive on YouTube or

Starting point is 00:35:02 watch it on archive and on YouTube and listen to the podcast as well. At your favorite pod catcher. You know, one thing about, and I threw this in the blog this morning too, one thing about Pat Maroon that I always do wonder about, there was that year where of course they won the Stanley Cup and we focused so much on, you know, Gloria and Craig Berube and Ryan O'Reilly was great

Starting point is 00:35:22 and that blue line where everybody was eight feet tall and Jordan Bennington. Jake Allen was great as a backup gold tender, like mimicking the movement patterns of two Carrasco and practice. So St. Louis Blues shooters could get a sense of what it was going to be like to play against the Boston Bruins. But earlier on in that season, like it was like there was such a dark cloud around the St. Louis Blues and those of you that were there for it remember like everybody was everybody was either getting fired or everybody was getting traded or everybody was getting waived. You know Jay Bomeaster was getting waived. I remember because the game was in Toronto and after the game he was, like Jay Bommister was always like a really laid back kind of guy from the Western Hockey League.

Starting point is 00:36:12 And I remember he was like really like sour to be blunt and Pat Maroon was getting waved and he was going to the American Hockey League and I always wondered about my what I always wondered about Pat Maroon. If a guy like him gets waived does he ever make his way back to the NHL because there are plenty of players like him who had been waived and sent to the American Hockey League and then never came back. Next thing you know Pat Maroon wins three Stanley Cups in a row. Congrats on a great career. More on the St. Louis Blues on a different edition here of the program. In the meantime, I want to turn our attention to the Western Hockey League and what a weekend it was for the WHL.

Starting point is 00:36:53 Just when you thought the Victory Plus announcement was going to be the big story coming out of the Western League, we now find out that the Penticton Vs are now a member of the WHL with Chilliwack on the horizon as that process has begun. Joining me now is the Commissioner of the Western Hockey League, he is Dan Neer and he joins me on the sheet. Dan, thanks so much for taking time today. Listen, I was talking on the top of the show about the great weekend the Los Angeles Kings had, two big wins, they put up 14 goals and I'm guessing in your early tenure as the commissioner of the Western Hockey League this must feel like a pretty good weekend expansion and a great deal with Victory Plus so take a bow.

Starting point is 00:37:31 Hey Jeff thanks for having me it's great to be on. I've got a wicked echo here. Can't hear you. Oh there we go got you now you now. Now we got you. Now we got you. Yeah, I've got a wicket. Okay, we're gonna get Zach to sort you out there and get you back on. That is, that was all be it briefly. That was, that was Dan Neer, the Commissioner of the Western Hockey League. I'll try to get Dan hooked up here. So the Western Hockey League is announcing today officially that they're expanding. Penticton becomes a 23rd team in the WHL Like this one had been whispered for a while and there were a number of well, it's premature. Well, there's nothing going on Well, I don't know if it's gonna happen and Graham Frazier who's the owner who was a little bit emotional today at the at the press conference in Penticton and

Starting point is 00:38:26 Understandably, so pulling the trigger on this deal with the Western Hockey League and they will now join it next season a lot of questions About how this expansion process is going to work or an expansion draft is going to look like What this means for the WHL to say nothing of? the announcement which goes back to to say nothing of the announcement, which goes back to Friday, which we thought was gonna be the big announcement of the weekend in junior hockey, and that was a deal with Victory Plus.

Starting point is 00:38:51 Let's bring Dan back aboard as Zach's got him all queued up. Dan, thanks for hanging out here with us again. Hopefully we got all the audio squared away. The floor is yours, congratulations. We'll start again. What a great weekend for the Western Hockey League. How about that? Yeah, well I appreciate it. I should apologize that I didn't make it on Friday afternoon. I had a little trouble getting back from. I think I know why now. Well, but we got a two for one today and

Starting point is 00:39:19 you know it's obviously been a few exciting days. We can start where you want. But Victory Plus happened first. You want to do that? Sure. Yeah, it's obviously been a few exciting days. We can start where you want, but Victory Plus happened first, you wanna do that? Sure, yeah, so just so everybody understands, like this is, and Anaheim Ducks fans are very familiar with Victory Plus, Dallas Stars fans certainly are as well. It's a very quickly growing streaming service. All Western Hockey League games,

Starting point is 00:39:42 starting with the Western Hockey League playoffs and into next year, and the regular season will all be available for free. And the big one for a lot of people is not geo-blocked, like not geo-restricted anywhere. And even, it's funny, Dan, when I first saw the announcement, the first thing I thought of, to be honest with you,

Starting point is 00:40:01 was Napster. And what Napster taught us was, just get people in the door Just get get people like the hardest thing right now in media in a lot of ways to try to figure trying to figure out Where on the ladder or which rung do you monetize at and what's good for marketing to bring them in and at what point? You start to charge etc And what we're learning now is just get people in and I looked at this and I said what a great way for the Western League to get people in to have a look at what the offering is.

Starting point is 00:40:28 Yeah, one thing I inherited that I think is beneficial to this is we don't have a plethora of regional broadcast deals that exist today. And so to the extent that it was a clean slate and you can go and negotiate something this broad really gave us an opportunity to bring something material to fans.

Starting point is 00:40:47 And so the idea of 700 plus regular season games being broadcast worldwide at no charge is something, I think when I look back in our fans comment on social, they almost can't believe it because we've been operating behind a paywall and a subscription model for a long time, and it's served us well. It's a comfortable revenue stream that helps offset the cost of producing shows

Starting point is 00:41:11 and so on and so forth. But I think the idea of saying, to your point, I never thought of a Napster reference on this, Jeff, but I think the idea of allowing fans to access the product more readily. Free, yeah, it connects. And right now we play 68 games, 34 of them are away naturally. And they're really, aside from tuning in

Starting point is 00:41:33 on a traditional radio or buying a subscription package, there's nothing in the middle that allows people to consume. And you know how young people are watching games right now. They're watching multiple screens, they're watching highlights, they're watching YouTube. So we did an experiment, it was called Wednesday Nights in the Dub. You know about it.

Starting point is 00:41:50 We opened up access to the games on Wednesday nights. And we saw that fans were hungry for this. They were engaging, they were coming back. And so this is a, you know, there's a couple of things that happen here. One, you get to follow your own team more closely. And I think that's gonna make you go to more games bring your friends be more interested in the players buy merchandise All those things but then you're also gonna say holy moly this run Gavin McKenna has been on

Starting point is 00:42:16 I need to watch McKenna play and there's lots of people who don't buy the package right now That would like to see it and we're're not super well-served by traditional media as it relates to night-to-night highlights. You have to go out and seek it. So the idea is rather than making the fans come to us, we're trying to go to them a little bit. And I think it's good for the fans. I think it's an interesting experience for the clubs.

Starting point is 00:42:38 And I think in the long run, it has the potential to change how people consume sports media. Well, I'll tell you what, and this is like non-scientific. This is just sort of anecdotal within my family. Um, I'm going to sound like, I'm going to sound like hockey dad here. Uh, so Dan, I've got a 2010 or 2012. So my, my oldest, my, my 2010 is getting right into junior hockey and minor hockey right now. We're going to go watch OHL cup, um, games, uh games as soon as I'm done this this the

Starting point is 00:43:05 show today and so what he does and he sends me stuff all the time like it is a non-stop stream of clips of Landon DuPont and it's non-stop like clips of Gavin McKenna so it's like it's gonna sound like my youngest son now is sending all these clips to his old dad who grew up watching you know Bruce Dowie and the Toronto Marlies in the late seventies and Maple Leaf Gardens. But now like, you're right, like the way that this is all consumed

Starting point is 00:43:32 is completely different. And he does, like he'll have multiple screens and a lot of it is grabbing stuff on his phone. Now the one area where, and I'm gonna, I hope I don't offend anybody here in the West, I hope I don't offend anybody here in the West, is the timing for this I look at as perfect. And here's why I'm sensitive to what I'm about to say. I don't want to insult anybody because I always go like,

Starting point is 00:43:54 Gordie Howes from Flynn Flawn and Kerry Price and Joe Sackett and Merrick, you can shut up. Right now there are more potential superstars in the Western Hockey league and from Western Canada, whether it's Badaard and I mentioned DuPont and I mentioned McKenna and so many more coming right now. When I saw the announcement, Dan, I thought to myself, it's kind of perfect because there's like all these future first overall draft picks that are all coming out of the Western

Starting point is 00:44:21 League. If I'm Dan Neer, I want everybody to see all of them whenever they want. Yeah, I think we have to be in a position to deliver that to fans. And, you know, it goes right down, even when you're at a game, the idea that people might want to be on their phone

Starting point is 00:44:37 and take in what just happened in the intermission, figure out what's going on around the league. But the idea of showcasing the star power, like McQueen and Brandon scored a goal between his legs the other day. And most people won't see that unless they're dialed in on our social, but creating a content factory, a content hub,

Starting point is 00:44:55 I was talking to my kids about this, and I have two 2011s and a 2010, if you wanna talk hockey terms. And the Regina Pats are doing some really interesting shorts on YouTube. But guess what? Nobody will ever see it because you have to go

Starting point is 00:45:09 and actively seek it out. The idea of having a hub where people can cycle through content and it might be something about the game day experience. It might be a story about the equipment manager and how he changes steel on players skates between periods. It doesn't matter what it is. People are hungry to learn the stories behind the stories.

Starting point is 00:45:26 Listen, I'm a gear geek and sort of my kid. So like just bring that stuff on all day long. Okay, Penticton V's like, you know, like this has been whispered out there for a while. Every now and then the story erupts. Like I'll get a text from someone. It's happening next week. Oh, okay.

Starting point is 00:45:43 Well, maybe it wasn't like, oh no, this is definitely happening. Or no, it's definitely off. No, happening next week. Oh, okay, well, maybe it wasn't. Oh no, this is definitely happening. Oh no, it's definitely off. No, like this has been sort of this, you know, from our point of view, from this side of the microphone, this is kind of been a story

Starting point is 00:45:52 that's been whispered for a while. In your mind, why is this the right time? And how did this all come together? Well, first of all, these things take time, right? And this took a lot less time than a typical move like this would. And the junior hockey landscape shifted massively when the NCAA rule changed. And we had operated in a traditional environment where there's a tension. At 15 years old, you're choosing Major Junior,

Starting point is 00:46:25 or you're choosing NCAA, and you're gonna play in some other junior league until you get there. Now, that friction is gone. And every best player in the West should be, if they wanna go to the National Hockey League, if they wanna play U-sports, if they wanna play minor pro, pro in Europe, NCAA, wherever they wanna go, all roads ought to lead through the Western Hockey League. And this was an opportunity for us to anticipate what we think is going to happen around the

Starting point is 00:46:54 player pool, around player movement. You know, we've just developed a really strong alliance with with Hockey Canada called the Western Canadian Development Model that aligns with the junior A leagues in the four Western provinces. And we're in a really good position to have a really complete and thorough development environment. So as more high end kids come into our league, it'll be more competitive as players want.

Starting point is 00:47:18 They can play U18 AAA, they can play junior A wherever their kind of development path leads them. And the idea of adding Penticton to us, it's a historic brand and hockey franchise. It's in the South Okanagan, which is a great territory for us with proximity to the other BC division teams. And, you know, it just all made sense for us.

Starting point is 00:47:39 And so we're excited to be here today. We just did a local press conference, had fantastic turnout, and we're off to the races for next season. Did you talk at all and forgive me because I wasn't able to see the press conference, putting the show together here. Did you talk about what things like the expansion draft will look like? Have all these things been sort of ironed out yet? Where are they picking? How many can they protect? I mean if a kid's property of the medicine hat tigers or Kelowna rockets yet he's playing for the

Starting point is 00:48:09 Penticton V's, who gets that player? Have you sorted all of this out as well? Yeah and I'll probably botch some of the technical stuff so I'm not going to go crazy deep into it but I will say so if a player is from the East then that player would either stay in the BCHL with another club or they would go to Ontario or to Quebec if they were to play Major Junior and so and then players from the West if they are unclaimed or undrafted by a WHL club, Penticton would have the right to list those players and presumably sign them to play next year. There would be some players on the team

Starting point is 00:48:51 who have previously been drafted. On the current Vs team, they would have previously been drafted by a WHL club. They'd be property of the WHL club and Penticton would have the opportunity to make a transaction or negotiate those rights. And so we'll have an expansion draft in early May, I think May 7th, and then the V's will participate in our regular prospects draft, our US draft, and the CHL import draft.

Starting point is 00:49:16 And I won't get into exactly where they'll pick. We'll do a story down the road. That was my next question. For everyone who wants to know how we did it. But what I'll tell you, after watching the NHL and what they've been through, that combined with the NCAA changes, there's a lot of anxiety because people think there's going to be a little more roster volatility in Major Junior than there has been in the past. The Vs come from a background of being super dialed and connected with NCAA coaches and programs,

Starting point is 00:49:46 as they've been in the Elite Junior A program for a long time. And so, you know, we're doing our best to try and create a level of parity, but it's not our ambition that the V's take five years to be good. We want them to have a competitive franchise and to be able to come in and compete, and you know, and have rivalries up and down the road, you know, in short order. So a couple of things come to mind here. So when I look at Penticton joining the league and the expansion draft, I'm assuming that essentially every team is going to lose a player.

Starting point is 00:50:22 Do you think that that could be or will be offset by an influx of American born players into the league that may end up going to play NCAA hockey and they're choosing the Western Hockey League pathway to get there? Yeah, we spent so much time trying to triangulate that and figure out how many ins, how many outs Americans coming our way. But I do think there's a likelihood that there's a grouping of players, whether they're Canadian players who chose the NCAA path or American players, we're going to have to get used to the idea of players with NCAA commits showing up in our league.

Starting point is 00:51:08 And so, you know, imagine a territory like Minnesota, where historically it's a Finnish high school, you've got to commit, you go play in the USHL as your bridge to whatever you happen to be ready to play college hockey. I think that that's an example of one where I think more Minnesota kids are going to be interested in playing in the Western Hockey League. I have no idea how many, but to the general question you've got about the offset, you know, adding a 25-player roster, do we see 25 new players come into the league of comparable or high-end talent? You better believe I think that or we wouldn't be doing this. The other thing that I wonder about as well, this is something that I don't know I've seen anybody, any of the

Starting point is 00:51:52 commissioners certainly comment on, and again all of this is, I understand Dan, that all of this is hypothetical, but that's all that any of us have right now because we don't know how this is gonna work. Nobody does, and no one knows what the NHL is gonna come in and say, okay you're gonna do this and you're gonna do that. We just don't know. But what I am curious about is, let's say a player decides to leave the Western League, the OHL, the Quebec Maritime Junior League, and goes and plays for a month at a random US college, decides that you know what, I'm getting health bombed, I'm playing, you know, minutes that really aren't helping me at all.

Starting point is 00:52:30 From your point of view as the commissioner of the Western Hockey League, if that player wanted to leave and go back, would it be open arms? From our standpoint, it would be. You know, we have to adapt our process and our regulations to deal with a situation like that. But to the point you made, and I know that there's some various folks on social media that think that it's some degree of posturing or being argumentative, there's just a lot

Starting point is 00:52:59 of unknowns. And I know that a lot of players are now aspiring to make NCAA part of their journey. Whether they'll have a guaranteed place in the top six or on special teams, whether they're eligible to earn NIL money while they're on an F1 student visa, whether the transfer portal will affect them. Like all of these things are unknown. So whether it's partway through a season or someone that decided to leave major junior early and try and pursue an NCAA run and wants to come back, what I can tell you is we're in a position to accommodate it and we will accommodate it. We probably need to address some of those regulations. But as it relates to ensuring that there's a healthy balance around what we contribute to the athletes such as the scholarship

Starting point is 00:53:50 earnings and so on and so forth, those are all things that will be important because you know we make a significant investment in player development as it relates to the costs we incur for a player to be part of our league and to prepare them for the next level of hockey. The idea that some players will elect to leave and will will allow them to leave. We're not going to try and force them to play somewhere they don't play, but we'll have to have conversations about implications as it relates to scholarship accrual and those types of things because those are hard costs in addition to our player development costs. That makes sense too. And the one thing that I wonder about

Starting point is 00:54:27 as a sort of dovetail to that would be if there are players that are now building into their development model X amount of time in Canadian junior hockey and then over to NCAA, would you look at perhaps, and this would probably have to be done at the CHL level now that I think about it, bumping up the number of overagers that you allow or maybe expanding the import draft, maybe one more overager, maybe one more import allowed.

Starting point is 00:54:57 Does that come under your nose across your desk about how do we offset this to keep the quality of the league high? There's a ton of speculation right now. And that's all it is right now is speculation and that we don't have all of the answers on who's coming, who's going, how the changes are gonna impact us. I think we're better off in the end, but I'll address the question. We're talking about all of those things.

Starting point is 00:55:25 Some are more serious than others as far as whether it's something we're bringing and thinking about negotiating or voting. But to your point, some of those are CHL matters as it relates to trying to maintain some level of parity when we compete together for the Memorial Cup. Speaking of Memorial Cup, one of the things that someone mentioned to me was, you know, and I was there when the Oil Kings won in London, it was a great game against Guelph, but we haven't seen the Memorial Cup won by the Western League in some time, and one of the things that's been pointed at is the league's too big, and now it's expanding,

Starting point is 00:56:02 and the Quebec League's got 18, but they but they wanna grow and listen, I think if everything worked out for the OHL, they'd be at 22 right now. But how much in the back of everyone's mind in the Western league is like, okay, we need to create an environment where we can get back to winning this thing consistently? Sure, being competitive for the Memorial Cup's important. I think that if we believed we were moving in isolation here

Starting point is 00:56:24 and the other leagues would never consider growth, the Memorial Cup's important. I think that if we believed we were moving in isolation here and the other leagues would never consider growth, then that might've been a consideration. But we're not all moving at the same time. But I think the other commissioners have all said, like, you know, we're looking at this new landscape and there's a real opportunity for us to create space for more elite players.

Starting point is 00:56:44 And so I don't think of it as something that's a tremendous risk for us to create space for more elite players. And so I don't think of it as something that's a tremendous risk for us. We think that our league, one of the reasons we haven't won is because we're so darn competitive with one another. We put ourselves in difficult travel positions. We put some difficult travel positions on one another during early rounds of the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:57:04 We have a lot more miles to cover than some of these other guys. There's some other factors that I think have nothing to do with the player pool. We had four players drafted in the NHL draft in the top 10 last year, and we intend to keep a trajectory similar to that over the next little while. I know you're busy. Let me let me finish up with this one. It's a hot button issue in all the leagues and that is the future of fighting. And the Terrell Goldsmith fight most recently, I'll just be blunt, was horrifying.

Starting point is 00:57:32 My stance on fighting has evolved over the years. I'm fine with it at the pro level. That's professional hockey. As I grow older, maybe it's just a byproduct of age or being a parent, and I'm aware of that that too I really don't have much time for it at the at the youth level at the at the junior hockey level and I do like many like many people wonder about the future of it in junior hockey do you have a thought on that? Well what I would say is obviously the Goldsmith incident was one that was scary, it was horrifying.

Starting point is 00:58:08 I reached out to Terrell and he and I had a conversation about it. He's doing well. He's back home with his family in Vancouver and recovering. What I'll tell you is our fight stats show that over the past 10 years or so, and I don't have the exact data, it's gone down by about 50%. I can tell you we have regulations for different things like multiple fight situations. So more than one fight breaking out at the same time.

Starting point is 00:58:32 We have regulations for goalie fights. We have regulations for stage fights, which by the way, this was, and so this would have earned both players a game misconduct, if not more. We're attuned to the situation. We're preparing players to play in the National Hockey League. We're that very last step.

Starting point is 00:58:48 And we do look to create a game that mirrors that as closely as possible. But whether it's checks to the head, checks from behind, slew foots, fights, concussion stats, we spend a lot of time talking about player safety. And we'll do that again in this off season to ensure that we're doing everything possible to keep the players safe.

Starting point is 00:59:07 I didn't ask you about Chilliwack. Let me close on that. It's a big day for Pentict and Chilliwack on the horizon as well. Just to put a bow on it. This was a, first of all, thank you so much for stopping by and answering very honestly everything that I've thrown at you,

Starting point is 00:59:23 which is probably just more than just expansion and victory plus, and I appreciate that. Quick thought on Chilliwack on the horizon as well. Yeah, we're excited and we're gonna make this kind of second wave of the local announcement tomorrow, but the Board of Governors has identified the opportunity to go through a franchise application process in Chilliwack. So as you know, we were there for a number of years

Starting point is 00:59:44 and the WHL moved out. And so I there for a number of years and the WHL moved out. And so I've spent a lot of time with the city, with the counselors to talk about. We think now's the time. We think that perhaps we made a mistake in leaving there and it's time to make amends for that. And so we're going to invite potential ownership groups to submit an application and to be considered to own a team in Chilliwack for the 26, 27 season. And so we're launching that process today and tomorrow. And hopefully over the next few months, we'll identify an opportunity to add yet another team

Starting point is 01:00:17 and to grow the BC division by one and to bring hockey back in its rightful form to Chilliwack. I was encouraged to ask you about an idea from someone with us here. Any chance we see considering how historic this league is I'll close on this I appreciate your time. Any chance we ever see reverse retro Knights in the Western Hockey League with some great old WHL jerseys? You know it funny, we had talked about this when I was at Adidas, and I'm passionate about this stuff. And what I found in my first 15 months or so is anytime I come up with stuff related to uniforms,

Starting point is 01:00:56 merchandising, licensing, I get a few eye rolls because I was like, oh, Mr. Know-it-all. So I try and stay a little distance from that, but we are having some good conversations about that. You should have a look at what a couple of the clubs are doing. I have them. Just like in the NHL. Yeah, like this Lue Sharks and there's some other like mystical teams or manufactured team names and logos that have been going on. And so it's already kind of happening. All we need to do, Jeff, is get everybody to do it, tell the story at the same time and amplify it.

Starting point is 01:01:32 Now we've got a platform to do it, Victory Plus, show the story behind the story. And honestly, it would be great. I just got too many fish to fry. I'm trying to add teams, trying to deal with these NCAA regulations. We'll get reverse retro down the road. I know, here I am. Like, it's biggest moment in the history of the CHL where everything is all up in the untradition and here's this goofy host Dan asking you, well, can we see some old

Starting point is 01:01:54 medicine at Tiger's jerseys? But thanks so much for stopping by. Much appreciated. Congratulations on not just Victory Plus, but certainly Penticton and On the Horizon, Chilliwack. It's a wonderful time for the Western League. Congratulations. Thanks so much for joining me today. Thanks, Jeff. There he is, Dan Neer, the commissioner of the Western Hockey League, and that was probably more than he bargained for. I don't know, I just start talking. I always appreciate and I'm sensitive to the amount of work that these commissioners have to do. I'll tell you, Zach, I always appreciate when any of the commissioners make time. But on a day like this, where the Western Hockey League grows by one and soon to be two, it's a pretty big deal.

Starting point is 01:02:44 And we've talked a lot about the development model and what this is going to mean for US-born players, what this is going to mean for all three CHL leagues, what it's going to mean for the USHL, what it's going to mean for college hockey, etc. etc. And at the end of all of it right now, you know what the real answer is? Don't know. Don't know. I don't know where any of this is going. One thing that I do wonder about, someone had mentioned to me, you know, I wonder how many kids right now already have a commitment to college, they're playing in the CHL, but haven't told their team.

Starting point is 01:03:24 Like would it be 50? 70? 100? Across the CHL? I don't know. I don't know what that number is. But someone mentioned that to me today and it's really got me thinking. How many are already out there and they're not going to, they just don't feel comfortable

Starting point is 01:03:42 saying it in front of their teammate. Right before the playoffs specifically. Don't know. Yeah. Oh no, don't worry comfortable saying in front of their teammate right before the playoffs yeah don't know yeah oh no don't worry about it I won't be here next year yeah yeah well I saw it was they were talking about on game notes right I think it was excuse me yeah murls was bringing up you know he was trying to pitch Gavin McKenna to go to RPI because you're looking at the points and the production that he's had it's one of the conversations that we have a lot of you know and I think Grinnell had thrown out like Michigan, where would he come from there?

Starting point is 01:04:07 Colby by the way in the chat says, I think 50 is about the right number. So I don't know if that means anything to you there, but yeah, it's interesting, because it's also one of the things that we- Does he think 50 in the Western League or 50 all across the CHL? That's a good question.

Starting point is 01:04:23 I don't know. Again, I don't know. Again, I don't know. Yeah, yeah. But we talk about, right, like, okay, now you're too good for the major junior. But you can't go to the AHL, so now you stay in major junior and you put up 140 points.

Starting point is 01:04:38 Aha, okay. Did you get better? Okay, let me ask you this. Is there a potential loophole here? Here's a loophole that I'm wondering about. If you're a 19 year old playing, pick a team. Pick any team in the CHL. Val D'Or, Sudbury, Brandon. And you make the decision to go play Michigan. And after, and you're a draft pick of an NHL team, and after a month or two months, you sign with the NHL team.

Starting point is 01:05:08 So you're not eligible to play Division I anymore. Can they send you to the American League, or do you have to go back to your junior team? Is that a loophole to get a 19-year-old into the American League? I don't know. That's what I was saying, like, how much are we just sort of waiting here

Starting point is 01:05:24 for the NHL to weigh in on? What the whole relationship is going to be? Otherwise, there's a potential loophole right there. Right. Well, this also changes like the... that waiting period, right? Because there's a different one with... There's a difference with the OHL players or CHL plays sorry. You have two years to sign up to a contract if they're drafted out of the CHL and there's four for college. Oh four four. Now are they gonna saw that do they want do they want to make those the same but they just saw it off at three am I being overly simplistic? About? I don't know.

Starting point is 01:06:05 But there's like, there's all these leagues. They all have a million things going on at the same time. And now all of a sudden, the analogy I like to use, and I'll use in this one as well, now all of a sudden you've dropped a Rubik's Cube into the game, but a Rubik's Cube that fights back as you're trying to do the Rubik's Cube. Or it's like playing a card game and every couple of hands, someone inserts a whole new deck of cards. That's what it feels like.

Starting point is 01:06:35 Because trust me, I've spent a lot of time just thinking about this, let alone having a hand on the wheel in it. And that's what it feels like to me. This is like, we have our own stuff with our own leagues that we're sorting out, and now we have to solve this Rubik's Cube, and oh yeah, the Rubik's Cube is fighting back. That's what it feels like. That's what it must feel like.

Starting point is 01:06:52 Yeah. Colby says, by the way, I think it's about 50 to 75 across the CHL, and this is in the chat. From talking to coaches about who's committed, it probably adds up to 50. So, little insight into that. But yeah, I don't know, like each one of these things coaches about who's committed, it probably adds up to 50. So little insight into that. But yeah, I don't know, like each one of these things is also so interesting to right, because there's also the aspect of like, I have I had buddies who played

Starting point is 01:07:15 in the OHL, and then they get the packages to go to school in Canada. But then they had offers to maybe go to NCAA before they decided to go to the OHL. And then, okay, now that changes, you go to Canadian university after, what does it mean for Canadian university? Just kind of the trickle down effect on all these little things is something that when the discussion first happened about how this is going to go, I was like, I'm going to leave this to people smarter than me

Starting point is 01:07:45 because it's kind of like wondering like what's out there in space. And then you start thinking about black holes and if there's other universes on the other side of those things. And it's like, maybe this one is just like someone else who's smarter than me, figure it out and then tell me what you found out.

Starting point is 01:07:59 So there is, and by the way, I wanna get, did Billy Willis-Thomas call me grandpa or something like that in the chat today? Yeah, he did, he did. Gramps? That's awesome, okay. Yeah, Gramps. So let me throw one more thing out here.

Starting point is 01:08:10 I don't know that I've ever mentioned this story. I'm not gonna say the name, but you might be able to guess who it is. I wonder if this could be used as a way to keep players in the CHL longer than they might have, instead of just choosing a default to go right away to NCAA,

Starting point is 01:08:34 there was one player who, we all know, trust me, you know this player, who was offered, that's right, who told his CHL team, he said, I will entertain the idea of staying in the CHL, or rather going to the CHL instead of going the college route, if you can transfer what my education package would be to my sibling. Transferable education packages to lure hockey players to stay in the CHL. There was one player who you all know who tried to do that and was greeted with, oh well we can't do that. But isn't the idea of well we can't do that kind of out the window for all the stuff now? Because everybody's rewriting the rules.

Starting point is 01:09:41 I don't know, just lob it out there. Just put it out there. That's all I could do. That's all Gramps can do there, Big Willie Styles. That's all Grandpa Jeff can do from watching junior hockey since the late 70s. That's all I can do. Well Jeff, the other thing that I was fixing, who has brothers, Big Willie says, Daniel Sprung. No, I can watch Daniel Sprung in Charlottetown. Boy, was he ever good. Oh man, could he shoot. Oh! The other thing that I start to wonder is like,

Starting point is 01:10:10 how now do these teams, you might actually have an answer for this, but how do these teams start to prepare for like, is this a rivalry between CHL and NCAA, or do they work in Simpatico here to make sure that those are ready and to go over to the next one? That is a great question.

Starting point is 01:10:30 You know what? Because here, hang on, let me throw one more. Again, here's a Rubik's cube that fights back because there's another factor in all of this. There's another major factor in all of this that we're not talking about at all, and that is the agents. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:10:50 And their relationships with various US colleges. Like if you'll notice, like if you follow the agency game, you'll see like there are certain agents that kind of direct their players to very specific colleges and have done so for a long time That's another factor in all of this one, too They need to weigh in like the cascading effect to all this is gonna be fascinating and I think Dan near, you know

Starting point is 01:11:16 Said it said it best like we have to be as a league prepared for this inevitability That there are gonna be some some surprises along the way prepared for this inevitability that there are going to be some surprises along the way. You know what happens when Brampton is out of the playoffs and everyone goes, okay, Porter Marton, what are you going to do? Saginaw is out of the playoffs and everyone goes, okay, Michael Misa, over to you. It can happen. What are you going to do? Well, like, Penticton, their great breeding ground to send players to the NCAA. Always have been.

Starting point is 01:11:46 Do they shut off their phones now? No. Right, but that's what I mean, right? No, nobody will. You know what I mean? No, nobody will. The NCAA is still going to call, ask about those players. Do they work and do they allow that to be the case?

Starting point is 01:11:56 Hey, we can get these Unreal players to come here right now. We can draft guys, bring guys through. Can we send them on to NCAA after? Maybe you're not ready for the NCAA in the first year, two, you've played your high school years in the dub, you play them in wherever it may be, and then you go on when you're a university ready. This is going to be fascinating to watch. The one thing that I'm the most interested about, just big picture, like we're going to find out some of those things that you're talking about with specific rules, right? Like you bring up the drafting and the eligibility.

Starting point is 01:12:31 I'm really interested, big picture, how the two leagues, do they work together or is this like rivalry? CHL hates the NCAA and doesn't want players to go there and the NCAA tries to grab players in the other way. No, you know what there's definitely a thaw there. Like I think that there's an understanding and listen you heard it from Dan here I think if you talk to Dan McKenzie, president of the CHL, he'll tell you the same thing. This is just like the new reality. You know like you can scream all you want about it. It doesn't

Starting point is 01:13:06 matter, right? All you can do is, is, you know, get a, get a, get a new bathing suit and learn to swim in this, in this, this new pond. Cause what it is, you don't have, again, you don't have to like it, but the model's completely changed. The model's completely different and we'll see. And We'll see where it goes. That's what I was saying to Dan. Like it's the most important time in the history of the CHL and here I am asking him dumb questions about retro jerseys which I think is a cool idea, by the way, but he's got big things to do right now. But that's okay. All right. So what happened? Why do you call Gramps?

Starting point is 01:13:46 Was there one thing specific that I mentioned that I got called Gramps Simpson for? No. No? No. You just said, good question, Gramps. That was mine too. I'm like, there's some suggestion here in the chat. That's okay. Whether there's a fine or suspension or something coming. We need a kangaroo court. Who's going to do kangaroo court for us it's got to be it's got to be someone in the chat j rock maybe someone is someone is hanging on to the end

Starting point is 01:14:12 maybe a vacation Vic's in the chat Colby's in the chat who's still around yeah yeah Colton Davies we did meet up with John Benkert by the way how'd it go yeah it was great we got to see him Vic and I got to meet him on Friday night I believe it was so met up with him at the Leafs morning take afternoon show and then we ended up going out to the bar with him after so a lot of fun. Excellent did you have who did you have the alligator arms or did you actually reach into your wallet and paid for your... Do you have one of those onion wallets that I've heard about that you have?

Starting point is 01:14:50 Do you have an onion wallet? No, I don't. I don't. You know what an onion wallet is, right? No. Every time you open it, you start crying? No. I thought you were talking about some mobile app or something that I just

Starting point is 01:15:05 wasn't aware of and I'm like I'm not gonna. Oh no I didn't download the onion wallet. No it's like just open it up and you start crying. No no no. Really quick really quick before I before I move on I do want to ask you about about Nashville give me like don't give me the jug of orange juice give me the concentrate. That's a dated reference too. Give me the the concentrate. How was the weekend in Nashville? Who wore the lampshade? Who was the most fun? Who just

Starting point is 01:15:32 lives to regret it now? I don't know if anybody lives to regret it. I think everyone had an unreal time. That was my first time in Nashville. It's great. That was heaven to me. People always talk about how unreal Vegas is. No, Nashville is the place I wanted to be. I loved it. Are you surprised then that more and more players are choosing after their careers to settle in Nashville? Because I'm not.

Starting point is 01:15:57 Players will love it. No, Jeff. I'm ready to go to Nashville and start Pred's Nation. Like, Producer Vic and I are gonna be living there and going to the strip every day. Producer Vic was my MVP, by the way, that's who I would be the MVP of the trip to. I've got to hang out with him a few times in Toronto, but being out there with him was a lot of fun. I mean, the only thing that I could have just possibly knocked on was the fact that Vic changed to a Preds fan. The second thing started to turn

Starting point is 01:16:24 sour on the Maple Leafs. This guy's high-fiving Preds fans. He's got the towel, rally towel going. Like, what are we doing? We're just sitting there, all of us watching the game. And then all of a sudden it's like Nashville scores. The people behind us are going nuts. And Vic's got the rally towel.

Starting point is 01:16:40 Like, sit down. Sit down now. Yeah, no, a lot of fun. That was one of the coolest places I've ever been to. The weather was great. I mean, I can't wait for the nation vacation with the Leafs group next year. There was a lot of people who said that they were jealous that they didn't go. All that kind of stuff. And people who were there said they loved it and they're going to tell people to come.

Starting point is 01:17:01 So I hope more people come. I mean, it was awesome to meet up with John from the chat there as well so if other people want to come out and visit and say hi next time that's awesome too I love meeting up with people I love it all right four games on the board around the NHL this evening let's wrap this thing up here today thanks to everybody who's still sticking around especially in the chat thanks crew fan duel proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them. Roster updates you can find on our daily face-off fantasy Twitter feed. We got four games. We got the Vancouver Canucks and the New Jersey

Starting point is 01:17:33 Devils. Vancouver coming off a 5-2 loss at the hands of JT Miller with the empty net goal on Saturday. I'm not sure if you were coherent enough to watch that game or check out the highlights but he was hitting dudes. Took a good little swipe at Quinn Hughes behind the net as well after a whistle. 5-2 is the final score, Elias Pettersson, Nils Hoeglander, questionable. Pettersson leaving on a draw. Speculation about Thatcher Demko being in there tonight for Vancouver. Jacob Markstrom will start for the New Jersey Devils. Wanted to park some time to talk about Jonathan Kovacevich

Starting point is 01:18:13 and the head coach of the New Jersey Devils, Shelton Keefe, there you go, thank you. First day with the new brain. Let's park that for tomorrow. Let's park that one for tomorrow. A couple of things I want to mention about that one. Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Islanders. Can the Islanders really do this? Can the Islanders really do this and get a tattoo on John Lazarus? Sean Monahan, Eric Good Branson, they're back like a vertebrae. Here we go. Help your boy

Starting point is 01:18:42 Johnny. I just want Columbus to be in as we all know. I think we all want Columbus to be in some way, shape or form. So Columbus and the Islanders face off at UBS this evening at his Minnesota and Dallas at the American Airlines Arena. Gustafson versus Ottinger. Just me or has Dallas just kind of been meh since the trade? The Miko Ranton in curse.

Starting point is 01:19:05 Can he only play on Colorado? Can he only play on this team? Every single time I look and see the score, who they're playing, the record in the last 10, it's like, ooh, this guy is just gonna take a beating online. Hey, by the way, quick note, the best part about the Islanders playoff push is not Laz's potential tattoo. It's not the Islanders actually potentially making the playoffs.

Starting point is 01:19:35 It's Colby's Twitter account. Every single time they get a point, just abusing him. Oh, I know, it's good. The protruding nail gets hammered down. Johnny you stick your head up above the crowd like that someone's gonna throw a stone. Oh get a tattoo if oh yeah is that right? Yeah. That's from someone who's heavily inked up.

Starting point is 01:19:56 Detroit and Utah tonight at the Delta Center Carl VanMulk gets a start there for Utahs. And that is your games, those are rather your games tonight. I am off to Scotia Pond. As Colby Cohn was mentioning earlier, I get a chance to watch all these high end guys. OHL Cup, and you know, did you ever play in the OHL Cup? No, I didn't.

Starting point is 01:20:17 You had buddies that have played in the OHL Cup, right? Yep. Robert Thomas won the OHL Cup. With YSE? Yeah. Oh really? My buddy Carter Robertson and the Robertson family, I know very well. They won it with YSE as well, beat the Marlies. Um, did we talk about YSE enough on the program last week? Or were you working on getting Morgan Frost?

Starting point is 01:20:43 I got a note about like, here's a sheet drinking game. Maybe we could talk about that one day. Oh, we gotta do that one tomorrow. Yeah. Oh, there you go. You'd have to drink if you were following along with the sheet. Did they finish all the topics they had?

Starting point is 01:20:58 Did they talk about YSE? Did they go over time? Yeah. Yeah, we went over, yeah, we were, oh jeez. We did too. All right, I gotta get to the pond. All right, thanks to everyone who joined me on the program here today and welcome back, Zach.

Starting point is 01:21:12 And welcome back everybody from Nashville, J. Rose Hill and producer Vic and they call Berga. Carter Hutton. I see that everybody. Carter Hutton should mention as well. He's back home and safe. Home and safe, you see, all right? Did anyone damage themselves at all on the weekend or does everybody have all of their faculties accounted for?

Starting point is 01:21:33 Everyone's good. Everyone's good. The end of the first after dark show on the Thursday night we basically went from Alberg being like, ah, like who cares game Game, game, game, game, game by game, doesn't matter. End of the show was, why can't this team win? I just want this team to win once in my life. So that was like the closest we got to just anybody going over the edge. Geez, all right. We're back at it tomorrow.

Starting point is 01:21:58 Greg Wieschinski, Salves by from ESPN, it is after all Tuesday. Thanks to Dan Neer, the commissioner of the Western Hockey League. Congratulations to that league for a couple of things. One growing by one and then next year two. Welcome the Penticton V's to the Western Hockey League and next year Chilliwack and congratulations on the victory plus deal that is a that is a home run for everybody involved. Most

Starting point is 01:22:21 specifically fans and thanks to Colby Cohen from Morning Cup of Hockey for stopping by. Don't forget, Pat Maroon kicks off their show tomorrow. You should be watching and listening every day. Tomorrow, extra special reasons after Pat Maroon announces that this will be his final season saying that to Darren Pang in the Chicago-St. Louis Blues game on Saturday.

Starting point is 01:22:40 So, Maroon on the show tomorrow, Morning Cup of Hockey, 9 o'clock Eastern. We're back 3 o'clock Eastern. We're back three o'clock Eastern for the sheet. Thanks for joining us. Talk to you tomorrow. My head lost all ambitions day to day Guess I can call it a rut I went to the dark man He tried to give me a little medicine

Starting point is 01:23:09 I'm like nah man that's fine I'm not against those methods but I knew It's me, myself and Alex gonna be fixing my mind Do you wanna bet? I turned on the music I do wanna back it I turned on the music It's turned up, down, out

Starting point is 01:23:36 And sometimes losing Helping on the days that went wrong Mmm, in the dead dark night Acast powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend. A VP at HBO said no one would ever watch Yellowstone. Stephen King was rejected by 30 publishers. Charles Schultz was told he'd never make a living scribbling. And Missy Elliott was dropped by her label. The stories of famous names, their lesser-known rejections, and the insights those rejections

Starting point is 01:24:19 provide. We regret to inform you the Rejection Podcast. Listen to season six wherever you get your podcasts. Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com

The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Play Better ft. Colby Cohen & Dan Near

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.