The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Red Wings Miss Playoffs & Islanders Eliminated ft. Arthur Staple, Curtis Hamilton, and Kevin Allen

Episode Date: April 13, 2026

Today on The Sheet, Jeff Marek broadcasts live from Kelowna with a loaded edition breaking down two Original Six–style storylines and what’s next for a pair of teams facing major offseason questions. First, Arthur Staple joins the show to discuss the New York Islanders missing the playoffs, what went wrong this season on Long Island, and where the organization goes from here. The conversation dives into the possibility of Peter DeBoer becoming a coaching option, how the Islanders approach the offseason, and what changes might be coming for a team that expected to be in the postseason mix. Later on, Kevin Allen stops by to talk about the Detroit Red Wings falling short of the playoffs once again. The guys discuss Todd McLellan’s comments about the reaction from Red Wings fans, the pressure surrounding the franchise after another missed postseason, and what the next steps could be for Detroit as they look to finally turn the corner. All that and more on today’s episode of The Sheet.#TheSheet #JeffMarek #NHL #NewYorkIslanders #Isles #DetroitRedWings #LGRW #ArthurStaple #KevinAllen #HockeyLeave a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheSheetEmail us: [e-mail] TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Ninja: https://www.sharkninja.ca/ninja-crispi-pro-6-in-1-countertop-glass-air-fryer-rose-quartz/AS101CRS.html?utm_source=Meta&utm_medium=Paid+Social&utm_campaign=H1NinjaCrispi&utm_content=NinjaEN&dwvar_AS101CRS_color=cdb9b8Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoffReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Prospera Place. Thanks to everybody for showing this great hospitality in Penticton over the past couple of days. We have made the hour-long drive to Colonna. We're here for a couple of days. More interviews, more features. And another game, the Colonna Rock is facing off against the Everett Silver Tips. Game three is tomorrow. We'll be here for that one. In the meantime, a full discussion today about a couple of different teams around the NHL who did not qualify for the playoffs. Get to that in a couple of seconds. What a weekend it was. around the National Hockey League. And what a week it will be. This sets up to be one of the most consequential final weeks

in the history of the NHL with playoff positions up for grabs, playoff spots still up for grabs as well. Let's get to what's on the program today as once again, we join you from Colonna. Home of the Colonna Rockets, one of the legendary Western Hockey League teams, which is, and it still is in a couple of ways,

a sort of defense factory, whether it's Shea Weber or Josh Georgia's, Tyler Myers, Tyson Barry. This is one of those organizations that has always cranked out high-level defenders, but there's still plenty of forwards, whether it's, well, T.G. Ginla is the most recent of the Utah mammoth. Coming up on the program today, the Blueprints is powered by Fanduel. Download the app today and play your game on Fanduel. Coming up on the program, standing by from the Tri-City podcast, Arthur Staples.

We will talk about the Islanders falling out of the islanders falling out of the islanders falling out of the playoffs, we should probably as well talk about the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers because for the first time in NHL history, and they document this on Tri-State, for the first time in NHL history, we'll have a playoffs that will not feature the Rangers, the Devils, or the New York Islanders discuss amongst yourselves, and we'll talk to Arthur Staples about that. Curtis Hamilton is the assistant general manager of the Colonna Rockets. He stops by the program here in about 20 minutes time. Kevin Allen will talk about the Red Wings missing out and what, if any, the consequences will be there. Just a

quick note. Last season, they seemed to blame the whole thing on goaltending. I wonder which direction they point the finger of blame this time around. But you can be pretty sure that the finger of blame and consequence for that matter will not be pointed at Steve Eisenman. As we've talked about countless times here on this show, I don't expect anything to happen by way of general manager change. But again, we will see.

Those fans are not thrilled. We're standing by for Arthur. We're standing by for Arthur Stable. So a couple of things from the weekend. And technically the Washington Capitals are still not out. And perhaps that's why Alexander Ovechkin waved off the Pittsburgh Penguins and they wanted to do the handshakes after the Washington Capitals beat the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second time in as many days on Sunday.

He was only too happy, by the way, to sign merchandise and sweaters and sticks afterwards and do an exchange with Crosby and Malkin. But I'll tell you what, Ovechkin continues to be one of the most interesting players in the NHL. And if you're someone that over the course of this season has been trying to figure out or trying to figure out like what the hidden clues are for what Alexander Ovechkin is going to decide here, you were given a, you. were given enough ammunition to say he's coming back or enough ammunition to say he's not coming back. One of the most interesting and at times mysterious players in the NHL continues to create a mystery around the impending decision or maybe he just doesn't know himself. That could always be a factor here as well. He is one of the hosts of the tri-state hockey pod.

He is Arthur Staple here to talk about the New York Islanders and we should probably throw in the devils and the Rangers for the obvious reason as well. Arthur, first of all, thanks so much for joining me here today. We talk always about a team falls out of the playoffs, blame and consequence and all these types of things. Arthur, this is Matthew Darsh's first season as general manager of the New York Islanders. I know there's disappointment, but there is still expectation and optimism around the islanders. How did you see this falling out of the playoff picture?

I mean, it's disappointing. I certainly hear a lot from the fans and, and they're supposed to be emotional, and it seemed like the room was pretty crushed last night, too. You know, these last couple weeks got losing six of seven and Patrick Waugh out, Peter DeBore in for kind of a last-ditch move, at least for this season. It felt desperate, but this was a team that, you know,

the vibes were good. Matthew Schaefer brought so much excitement and energy from the beginning of the season. Ilya Syrochan was playing at a Vezina level for most of the year. and Matthew Darsh kind of, you know, he took some big swings, didn't work out. So he made some sort of more targeted moves to try to reward the team for a good season. And then after the Olympic break, 11 and 12, they've lost 12 with their last 20. So this wasn't just a two-week collapse.

This is the part where they fell out of the playoffs. But it's been a couple months of bad hockey. And, you know, I think it's more of a record. now around what are they going to do going forward. GMs changed, coaches changed. Now what's left, what's left is the roster. And it's been a core group that's been together a long, long time, had some success a while ago.

We're now on five years, three playoff misses and two first round exits. So I think a roster shakeup is coming. And maybe this is the kind of reckoning that they needed to give Matthew Dars the impetus with ownership's blessing to, to make some serious moves with this with this group. Arthur, do you think it needs to happen quickly? And the reason why I wonder about that is right now, the New York Islanders had the luxury of having Matthew Schaefer under a very

cost-friendly ELC entry-level contract. And as we've all seen before, when you have a player of that magnitude, essentially playing for peanuts, the heat is on to complement that player as quickly as possible because this guy's going to go to the pay window and ring the bell. Do you think this one from Darsh's point of view needs to happen quickly or can they still be a little bit patient with this thing? You know, it's funny. We asked Matthew Darsh that when we had him on Tri-State right after the deadline and he

was pretty adamant saying like, no, no, no, we don't need to win now. He's going to be good for a long time. He's going to be an I-Olander for a very long time. So we need to build the right team around him. and, you know, based on the moves that Darsh made, getting Carson Sousi, getting Andre Palat, then kind of a bigger deal to get Braden Shannon here. It looked like those are moves for more of a win now team. And, you know, you wonder, you know, he took some swings.

He tried to get Jordan Kairu. That trade didn't work out. I think there were some talks with Vancouver around Connor Garland, maybe Brock Besser. Obviously, you can revisit a Besser or Kairu deal in the summer if you want to try to get younger and get some more score. which is two things that they definitely need. But I understand the concern of some Islander fans scratching the heads about, why are we loading up on over 30 guys when we have this young guy?

And we have a team that we don't really know is it doesn't really have a recent track record of being good. And those are all fair things. But I feel like from ownership on down, you know, with the Islanders, like I said, the recent track record is particularly since they moved into UBS Arena. not a lot of playoff receipts, not a lot of success. So I think that those are motivating factors when you see what Matthew Schaefer brought, when you see the kind of start to the season they had, a little bit reminiscent of when Lou Lamrella and Barry Trotz came in in 2018

to rejuvenate that group and they had an impressive three-year run. I think they thought that they could kind of catch that lightning in a bottle again this year. It obviously didn't not only did it not work out, but they fell out in kind of a dramatic way. So now you're looking at what can we do next. And I definitely feel like to build a good team around Matthew Schaefer, not just for his ELC years, but for whatever blank check contract they offer him

for his second go-round in a couple of years, they need to kind of get off the familiar guy core train that they've been on for a while, that it's kind of stark relief now, five years of having it not worked out. You know, the Islanders are interesting, too, when you look at the position that they're in, where they want to get to, and the prospect pool, at the end of the day still, on the ice, you have an elite-level goaltender, a young elite-level defender to go along with Boeravad

and Matt Barzell. So you have elite centers up front. You have an elite defenseman on the blue line, and you have arguably at times the best goaltender in the NHL. Like I look at the Islanders, Arthur, like, what am I missing here? Like the heavy lift looks to be kind of done. And now you're sort of piecing around all of it. But as far as the premium power positions, those are all covered off.

So what does Darsh need to do? You know, you've got a lot of guys locked in, too. You know, not a lot of no moves, but a decent amount of trade protection. I think it's going to take some aggressiveness this summer to really remake, especially a decor that's maybe gotten a little stale. Adam Pelick, Ryan Pollock, you know, a shutdown pair for a lot of years under Barry Trots, but both guys getting older. You know, Scott Mayfield's been here a long time too.

So if you move off two of those three guys, and I've said it a lot, it's not really about opening up space to make a blockbuster deal and bring in a, you know, another, you know, maybe a right shot guy to compliment Schaefer in that top four where you can have, you know, top, top level guys, you just need to make some changes. I think they've gotten a little too comfortable with the guys that they have. You know, Lou Lamarillo certainly was very loyal to those guys that brought that success six, seven years ago. But, you know, I think when you have guys who have been here a long time and you just sort of say, you know, bring in new coaches, you know, Peter DeBore is just the latest. You want to build around some of those guys as opposed to Matthew Dar saying, you know, with a,

fresh set of eyes on this saying maybe the time is right to to either buy you know find a buyout for maybe someone find a trade partner for an adam pellic you know and i don't think anybody really outside of schaefer and syrokin and probably cal richie up front and bow horvett nobody should be off the table here and i've said it a couple of times you know maybe this is the summer where they start to explore matt barsall trade because again you you've got a power play that's ranked 30th in the league that really cost them against Ottawa in a pivotal game. So maybe this is the time to revamp that offense because it always seems to be the thing we come back to with this team. They can defend well enough and they didn't defend well late, but they overall can defend well. And like

you said, Sorokin playing at a high level. But it's really the offense and key times that lets them down and that's been the theme over the last few years. So maybe now is the time, get what you can for a guy like Matt Barzell because you don't really have a lot of other tradable options up front and start spreading the wealth a little bit more around that top nine and get a big you know a better balance of skill up front rather than trying to rely on one very skilled guy uh refresh my memory where did he play jr, where did he play his junior hockey Matt barzell um Seattle I think uh what is a team like Seattle looking for as I'm throwing darts here yeah you know that's an option I think uh you know maybe there's a trade around

Barzell and Brock Besser with other pieces coming from Vancouver. You know, Besser kind of, yeah, Besser fills a lot of, you know, fills a need as a guy who's a proven score, can improve a power play, good shot, obviously a wing versus a center. But Matthew Barzell, even though he's played center, these last couple of games under Peter DeBore, has mostly been a wing the last couple years. And especially with the Braiden Chen edition, you're looking at a guy who kind of pinballs back and forth and isn't relied on for a lot of those faceoff duties and those kinds of things.

So I'm interested to see where it goes this summer. You know, you thought at the deadline when they brought in Brayden Shen, you said, okay, well, maybe this is, they know they're not going to be able to afford J.G. Pajos, but within minutes, you've got a J.G. Pajou extension. Yeah. So you've got some veteran guys locked into some spots. You know, Anders Lee is going to be a free agent. This summer, do you think about bringing him back in a reduced role at a reduced salary?

I think the idea is that they've got Cal Rich. He who's had a pretty decent run these last few months. in his first year. Simon Holmstrom also a bit streaky, but he's close to 20 goals, another one of their young forwards. And, you know, Victor Eklund just came over from the Swedish League. He's got eight, nine points, I think in five games in the HL. Maybe there's a spot for him next year as a 20-year-old. So there's the idea that you can, you can grow a little bit if you open up some spots for these young guys and maybe add a couple of young guys from outside too. That would be a, that would go a long way towards kind of changing the look and

energizing this group. couple things there. Go and look at my history. Brock Besser, alongside Bo Horvath. So there is an association there, obviously through the Vancouver Canucks. The one thing that I do wonder about

too is as you, the Islanders look to reload this thing and come back with a different look at that next season. Can they do this and still hang on to someone like Kashan Aitchison? You just mentioned Eklund a couple of seconds ago.

I know sometimes, depending on who you talk to, the jury sort of out on what Cole Azerman is going to become. But can Matthew Darsh do what he wants to do and still hang on to Kashan Acheson? I think so. You know, I think a lot of this coming off season,

you want to make a splash, but I think it's, to me, where I said, it's more about subtraction. It's more about opening up opportunities, maybe changing the look. You know, like I said, you've got Polack, Pelich, and Mayfield occupying three of their,

six spots. If there's a buyout on the offing for a guy like Mayfield, I don't know if you can trade that contract. But if you can trade Adam Pelix contract, I think there'll be takers there. Right. And then suddenly you've got room, you know, on the left side, you've got Schaefer and Alex Romano who's been a bit of a forgotten guy because he missed most

of this season. Suddenly you've got a really solid top top two pairs on the left side, two guys that are under 26. And then, you know, maybe there's room for a Kishon. If it's not next year, in a couple years to kind of to ease in on that left side.

And on the right side, you know, Tony DeAngelo is a free agent. I don't know if you're going to bring him back, but you at least are trying to get a little bit younger, a little bit lighter foot. You know, Peter DeBore obviously preaches defense, but I don't, I don't think kind of the stationary aging D zone defense, the Islanders were ranked bottom five and expected goals in their D zone defense all season long on Clearside hockey. they were pretty good against the rush, but they really fell apart in their own end. And I think that's maybe a little bit of Patrick Guas scheme, but it's also just a little bit of the personnel you have.

You know, they relied a lot on Eliasuroken to save them in a lot of different situations. So you've got to get quicker and stronger on the puck and up the ice on that back end. And I think the same is true for their forwards. There's a lot more guys that are a bit more immovable, I think, among that that forward group that are signed with term. but that's why Matt Barzell's name comes up. You're not trading Matt Barzell just to get them off the team. It's what you can get back for him and what it opens up. So I think to me, this is a summer about breaking up that long-term core,

changing out two or three pieces of it and trying to forge a new path. Can you give me a hot 30 seconds, Arthur, on what this is going to be like without the Rangers, Devils, or Islanders, the three teams from Tri-States that you guys cover on a consistent basis, Johnny and Rupper. what is going to be like without these three in the postseason for the first time ever? We're just going to be cursing each other out for the next couple months. I don't know. It's a sour bunch.

We've definitely caught some heat for starting this the first year. And this is the first time ever since the Devils came into the league in 82 that none of the three are in. So it's a tough time. I think there's a path quickly back to relevance for all three of them. The Metro is not a division, I think, that scares anybody in terms of. of who's building things for the long term. So I'm interested to see what all three teams do this summer. Obviously, Devils have a big decision to make in the next few weeks in terms of who's

going to run their team. The Rangers are set there. The Islanders are set there. So now it's just down to personnel. And I, like I said, I think there's a path quickly back for all three of those teams. Islanders and Rangers for sure because of the goalie and some of the other elite talent. And the Devils, to me, are still a really good team. They just lost their way in a big way this year.

So I think they can find their way back. Real quick, a Sunny Meda, a legit, like, front-line candidate for that position alongside a president of hockey ops? Can you see that happening? I sure can. You know, I think there's a lot of options on the table for Jersey. It sounds like they're really just getting started. There were a lot of names thrown out in the immediate aftermath of Tom Fitzgerald being let go.

But I think they're taking their time with this. They're going to interview a lot of people. They're kind of charting a different path in Toronto or Nashville. Yeah. Whether it's two people or one person, I think they're going to try to find someone. with a team that's really a lot further along than most other teams that are looking for a GM. Excellent stuff.

Arthur, thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your expertise on all of it and engaging in some fantasy GM talk, which is, or a fantasy trade talk, rather, which is always fun. You take care, be well, continued success with Tri-State, we'll check back soon. Yeah, thanks. There is a great Arthur staple from the Tri-State podcast

covering the Rangers, the Devils and the New York Islanders, yes, all three teams who will not qualify for this year's postseason in the NHL. So to come in about 20 minutes time, Kevin Allen will stop by. We'll talk about the Detroit Red Wings falling out, comma, again. It's now 10 years without playoffs in Detroit. But in the meantime, as the Colonna Rockets here at Prospera Place, hit the ice behind me. You can hear the sticks on the ice, the crossbars, the plexiglass, all of it.

I want to bring on the Assistant General Manager. Curtis Hopin. Curtis Hamilton is the Assistant General Manager of the Colonna Rockets. and nice to see you. Nice to see you, Jeff. So I was, I'm a huge Jerome Ginnla fan, big Tidge, Ginglinla fan. I was having a conversation with someone on the way here who said,

you will not find someone who works harder in practice than Tij again. First of all, I got to snuggle up to the mic because your boys are making noise. Is you the hardest working player that you've seen in practice? Certainly most driven. Like I watch practice whenever I'm. here and on the ice everything is always 110%. You never have to kick him in the butt about things faster, doing things harder. And then even off the ice in the gym and honestly, like when he, I think when he goes home,

I think all he does is just more hockey. I think all he does shoot puck. So you're just full time all the time. Self-motivator, great hockey family. This Kelowna Rockets organization, we talk about Cadillac franchises, you know, in the OHL, the London Knights and the Western League, you know, top of. mine with everybody, of the Colonna Rockets. A legacy of success, Memorial Cup, League Championships.

And you've been here, your family has been here for all of it, going back to the Tacoma days. What were your earliest memories of being around the Colonna Rockets? Well, I was born in Tacoma when the family kind of and everyone else started it down there. So I remember my first couple of times on the ice when I was, you know, two or three years old down in the Tacoma Dome, fond memories for sure. And then moving up to Colonna and playing at the old rink down the street here at Memorial was a cool experience too. And even getting a chance to go back there and check out practices when we're there.

It brings back some nice memories. And then into this rink now and all the years and all the success, I think the organization's had. It feels great to be a part of. You're always curious about the heavyweight teams in all three of the, the junior leagues. Like, what's the secret sauce? I mean, every year, Colonna is in the mix, sometimes rising up as a champions, but always in the mix, always in the conversation. How? I think it starts with Bruce. Obviously, he's at the top here, and he wants to win all the time.

That's, you know, what motivates him the most. And I think he passes that, you know, down the chain to the coaches and staff and the players, too. I think, I think that's what he wants the most. And for us to win, we have to develop players and we have to develop the culture and all the things that come along with it. But I think just the demand is always there every night, every day to get better and to win. From your point of view, as the Assistant General Manager with this team, putting together this team for this season is different than other seasons. Hosting the Memorial Cup is a pressure that comes along with that. A number of moves that you and Bruce have made to put together this team. at what point did you start to say to yourself,

you and you and Bruce say to yourself, okay, we need to start getting aggressive here and start to put together a team that's going to compete with everybody else who makes it here. Yeah, I think last year when we won the bid started definitely circling some players and some different, not only players on, I guess on other teams,

but players on our team too, that we wanted to be a part of this. and the two players kind of that everyone was interested last year would have been Caden Price and Andrew Crystal who is one of the best players in the CHL and a very good hockey player and I think, you know, teams kept calling and kept calling on those guys and eventually we made a couple trades for them

that brought in the pieces, whether they be the draft picks or players like, you know, Caden Papanicus, who's here and Harrison Bediger, who's here who are important players for us this year and hopefully moving forward. that was kind of the beginning of it and then moved into the draft last season right around this time made a couple of deals at the draft to bring in

Carson Wedge and some other impact guys and then just over the course of the year just add whenever we could or whenever we felt like it was needed and players were available it's an interesting landscape right now as we all know between the CHL and the NCAA I reported yesterday about Nesbit

and a defenseman for the Kitchen Rangers as well Cam Reed they're going to Michigan next year height. And there's the 19 year old issue now where 19 year olds can go and play in the National Hockey League. How tough is it right now

to do what you do? To do what you do to put together a roster. To me it almost seems as if it's like you're playing a game of cards and halfway through someone puts it a whole new deck. And all of a sudden you're playing with two decks of cards.

Or you're doing a Rubik's Cube and the Rubik's Cube starts fighting back. And every move you make is a couple of moves to get unwound. How tough is it? it right now to be a manager in junior hockey? Difficult. And I don't think it's done yet as far as, you know,

I always kind of refer to it as like a shipboat in this open water or something with trying to keep your standing in it. And it's difficult, it's difficult day to day. It's difficult week to week. And I think with how we drafts included and we start bringing these players up and we plan on having them for, you know, anywhere from three to five years or even six years, I guess, when they first get brought in. But now it's almost year to year in some ways as far as like when your team's going to be competitive.

You used to build around certain age groups to try and, you know, look to maybe two years down the road. And now it's, now it's, you know, this year or maybe next year. And then that's kind of, it's a little bit more day to day than it is year to year. And given this reality, the one thing that I wonder about is the event that the corner rockets are hosting and that's the Memorial Cup. Like, how do you, one of the, one of the necessary conditions for winning the bid is do you have the team? I mean, that's going to become even more challenging if they stay with this format. You see the Memorial Cup format changing at all. I've talked to, I talked to Dan Nier on Saturday about this, talk to Brian Crawford at the OHL,

Dan McKenzie, president of CHL about it. It seems as if there is more so than ever before, at least an appetite. to listen to the idea of maybe changing this thing, given the new realities. Yeah, I would think that I think everything's on the table now as far as looking into ways to improve things or make them more balanced. I think as the CHL and I'll just speak as the WHOHL, I think we're already looking into certain items like that, certainly. And they get brought up in meetings and in our Zoom calls and things like that all the

time. So I think everything's on the table. I think everything should be discussed as far as what's best. for CHL moving forward. Recruiting more important than ever, obviously. What does the cloner rockets do to make sure that when a kid gets drafted by the rockets, it's a no-brainer that they come here? I think, firstly, you know, you introduced them to what it is to be a rocket.

But I think if we're drafting kids specifically from out Western Canada, most of them are aware of the Western Hockey League and the Cloner Rochette. and the clone rockets. But I think in the new NCAA kind of open, open world landscape, it's the American kids more so than ever that, you know, especially the kids in Minnesota, I think there's, that's like its own hockey world within the U.S. And, you know, the kids there want to, want to stay in high school and play.

And then they want to, you know, play a year or two, a junior. And then they want to play at school. That's their goal. So they even call hockey pants something weird. Yeah. So what are they call them? Freezers. Freezers.

Yeah. We have Ryan Oathouts here. from Minnesota and he mentioned that the first day he got there and I had no idea what he was talking about. Yeah, hockey shorts or something I thought they would call him. But I think, yeah, just just, you know, bringing them in and showing them the list of players that we have developed and the success we've had as an organization doing that and what comes with it and that's what we sell.

I would think it would be easier now considering the college option is still open, easier to recruit Americans to the Western League, the Quebec League, the Ontario League. Is that accurate? Like more Americans or at least listening to the conversation? I think so. I think more of them are more open to it. But a lot of them won't make a commitment of more than a year, let's say, or, and you know, we're looking for players that we can work with for more than a year and try

and develop them. But I think in the new, the new landscape, the player seems to have a lot more pull than they used to and freedom. And I think we see it even in minor hockey now with the academies and certainly in Western Canada. Minor hockey academy, you know, the cost of hockey, it's getting insane. And I don't know how sustainable it is. And I hope that gets fixed first. I just don't know how it can.

I keep coming back to it. And goofy idea, and that means not goofy, but like, one of the main costs is for parents for everybody is, is ice time. Ice is so expensive. I've wondered about, and I know Hockey Canada's had the discussions about not just playing on ice, right, but playing on tiled plastic surfaces. Certainly play your games and you have some practices, but for a lot of the other development, does it all have to, I don't know, like, we're all reaching for ideas. Yeah. And I just don't know if I see one. Like, I don't know how this sport gets cheaper. Yeah, I think like ice time certainly is just going up and up. And I think even more like equipment and travel costs.

I know we see that here. The cost of meals now, cost of hotels now, the cost of, you know, busing or even now, I guess, flying. Like, it's a lot of extra extra money spent. And then on top of that, you know, you want the best equipment in the gym. Players get the best equipment on the ice and you want the best coaches. So that's what we offer players, really, though, right? Like, that's what we sell them on is we have all these things. And, you know, when you're here, you're going to use them.

Okay, your career. I watch you play when you were a blade. You're second on draft pick of the Edminton Oilers. You hold the record for most games played. Oklahoma City Barrens. So you're holding that distinction with honor, and you played the one game in the NHL. Now, I'm fascinated with the player that played,

because I would, if you ask anybody in this country, in Canada, in America, Europe, if you had a chance to just play one game, would you take it? And overwhelmingly, of course, the answer is yes. Your one game was unique. Was it your first shift

that you got the major from hitting from behind? Yes, first game and the old Rankin' Rexall hitting from behind. I think the refs did me a favor and didn't kick me out, but I think they still gave me five.

But I hit Brian, I think it was Brian Lurg from behind and it was his first game too. So it might have been his first shift. And I think he scored that game. So we both had memorable games, him probably a little bit more than me, but dream come true.

Everyone wants to play in the NHL. Yeah. You know, it's not, I didn't know I had the record for the O.K.C. Barons, well, that's a nice, I have to put that one up on that. Yeah, yeah, exactly. No, that's, I got a chance to play everywhere and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it everywhere. Hockey's different everywhere. You learn something different everywhere. Use hockey. Don't let hockey use you is one thing that I always tell my kids and share with everybody else. And it seemed as if, like, when you look at your bio and your experience playing all over the world, like you followed that. Yeah. Like, you played everywhere and got a lot of different experience. and met a lot of people and probably grew as a human being more

than just staying on one single track here in North America. Oh, certainly. I think just getting a chance to go over and play in Europe. I had some friends that went over earlier, maybe a little bit earlier than some guys. I know when you're drafted and you're signed to these NHL contracts, you like your dream is to play in the NHL and you want to hang around here. And there's a lot of guys that hang around in the American League for a long time

that then you know what pays off. Eventually they get a chance or they get a game or something like that. but the opportunity to play in Europe is cool. Like there's some really unique spots over there and the fandom's different. It's more like soccer culture almost than it's cool. Scarves and singing. Scarves and singing. Exactly.

Drums and scarves and, you know, fireworks and whatever else is going on flares. So it's cool. I wouldn't. Is there anything from, I've always wondered about this. Is there anything from the European hockey culture that you would like to see imported here to North America? And maybe something for junior hockey. Is there anything that they do there that you'd like to see brought over here? Whether it's like even just like a certain fan section, like to your point,

it has more of a soccer vibe. But I know some NHL teams have tried that. Vancouver comes to mind. But is there anything like from Europe that you'd like to see in North America? I like the fan. The fan section is a cool. It's unique. I think it's like their own kind of world too.

And you have your fan section. on the road too usually. I don't know for us, I don't know how it would work at junior hockey, but I know at the NHL level, I know the like Balmer and the Clippers have tried to set up their new stadium with that. I think it would be something cool to try in the

NHL. I don't know if it'll take, but it is unique and unique to the sport over there and I thought that was the coolest part of it. It's awesome. What do you want people to know about the cloner rockets? I mean, you've been, and your family, of course, I mentioned going back to Tacoma days,

For those that don't know much about this legendary junior hockey franchise, what do you want them to know? Well, I just, you know, type it into Google, but we're like a, we're a successful team. We've developed players. I think these rule changes with the NCAA give players options, but I think a lot of people, it seems online at least, an online world is certainly not the real world. But they forget about, you know, what we've done in the past and what we're still doing. We've got lots of players. We've developed lots of players to the next level, whether that be, you know, CIS, NCCAA now, or the pros.

You know, we'll help you become the player that, you know, you want to be. How many ex players that I would imagine the number would be sizable, but how many ex players does your family still keep in touch with? I see Josh George's back as an assistant guy. Yeah. Come back here. Obviously, Cologne is gorgeous, so that helps. Yeah.

I think come back. There was a certain, there was an era where guys like in the early two, 2000s there were George's and Weber and there was a bunch of them like really Tyler Myers like Jamie Ben like there's a bunch of them Tyson Barry's out here a little bit still but there's a lot of them that that had success and they hung around here and now they have families here and they're coaching their kids here and and now you know Josh is we're thankfully he helps out he does a really good job he's still he's still the same way he's intense and he's awesome and Shay's around she comes around once in a while they

usually practice yeah yeah so they're their their minor hockey team is coached by Josh George's, Shea Weber and Mike Smith. They're all out there coaching and you see these guys. Are you serious? And I just come out and watch them and they're young, but I'm watching them and like, you guys don't know how good you have it.

Like that's an unbelievable cast of coaches. Well, they grow up thinking like all teams are like, like every minor hockey team is coached by ex-NHLers, right? That's what they're growing up thinking. 100%. Which NHL was on your bench growing up? Yeah, some dad in jeans and a mullet probably.

But that was, that was usually what it was. Bad coffee and a hangover. Exactly. Horseshoe drill again. Horseshoe drill again. Work on the pin, work on the hip check or something. That was what we were taught. Now these guys get access to everything.

You get video, you get everything. And having enough coaches out there to work with these guys individually is also important. Because I think they're, although they're brought up in hockey is a year-round sport now, there's still so many things that they're missing out on as far as like small tactical things, where their feet should be, where the stick should be, where their hand should be. And I think we do a good job of working with our guys on little details like that. Before I let you go, let me ask you about this. And again, with the cloner rockets specifically, what advantages when it comes to recruiting?

I was asking the guys of Pentictin about this on the weekend. What advantages do you enjoy here specifically that other teams don't enjoy when it comes to recruiting players? Like when you're pitching a player, what are the things, what are the notes that you hit? Well, I think the history of our franchise and just the success we've had, not only as a team or a club, but also players, individual players that are in the NHL with the hockey Hall of Fame. Like there's lots of players that have come through here that have been great players. On top of that, you, you know, Google what Colonna looks like in the summer. It's a nice place. Like when you come here for training camp at the end of August, it's 35 degrees out still.

And, you know, you can go walk by the beach and Colona's a beautiful city. and it's growing like crazy too. So I think that gives us a bit of a leg up over some teams, certainly. But I think if we didn't have the success and the history of doing it, then I don't think it's nearly as successful as it would be. Would you ever lean on the alumni for recruiting? I know colleges do that all the time. Yeah.

Would you do that too? I think how we recruit and how colleges recruit are much different. I think they're, they probably have to recruit harder. And now with the rules being the way they are, but they've always had to recruit. I think we're fortunate here where we go through the draft and the kids are a little bit younger too, so we get access to them earlier.

And they come to camp when they're 14 or 15 years old and they see what it's like to play here and play in the rink and the expectations here. So we have that, but I don't think we tap into that enough. I think as a league, we can do a better job of promoting our alumni. We have so many,

so many great hockey players that have come through the league. So I think as an organization, definitely for us, but even as a league, we could do a better job of it. Something I always ask all the kids. I'll ask you, too, Curtis. Favorite player growing up was who? And was it a junior player around Tacoma?

No, it wasn't. I did have, I'm trying to think of my favorite player. I always liked, I like Paul Korea a lot. I love the Ducks. Oh, was he good? Oh, was Korea good? Yeah, Korea was a decent player. But I grew up in the 90s.

I'm a 91 birth year, so I love the Mighty Ducks movies. I love Paul Korea. I love those old jerseys. I like Joe Sackick, Steve Eisen, and all the old Canadian guys. You know, I love those guys. It's awesome. Thanks so much. Good luck the rest of the way against Everett's.

Thanks, Jeff. That's a tough, tough team. Yes, yes. This is going to be good. We'll be here for game three tomorrow. Thanks for doing this, Curtis. Much appreciate it. Joe.

Curtis Hamilton is the assistant general manager of the cloner. Rockets game three tomorrow here at Prospera Place. It is the Rockets hosting the Everett Silver Tips, your chance to see Landon-Dupon, for example. If you're in the area, we're standing by for Kevin. We're waiting for Kevin. So Kevin Allen's going to stop by here. Curtis, thanks. Much appreciated. Thanks.

I will. Thank you. There he is the great Curtis Hamilton, whose family has owned this team for a number of years, one of the most powerful families in the Western Hockey League. Dad was drafted by the St. Louis Blues, about a million years ago. So they come by their hockey reputation, honestly. The Hamilton family are legends here in Western Canada. We turn our attention now. Once again, we were hoping it would be different this season,

No Florida Panthers in the playoffs, no Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs. The door swings open for Detroit. Right? This is their chance to get in and not see the playoff, darkness, extend 10 seasons, right? Not so fast. Detroit officially eliminated over the weekend. National columnist for Hockey Buzz. The Red Wings Beat Rider for Detroit.

Hockey now is Kevin Allen who joins me on the program. Kevin, first of all, thanks as always for stopping by. It's always great to catch up with you. I just wish you were under different circumstances because I've always maintained the NHL is better when the Detroit Red Wings were in the playoffs, but now the streak extends to 10 seasons, Kevin. What do you say to that?

Yeah, I mean, it was an epic collapse. I mean, if you're going to collapse, you might have well doing in epic fashion, and they've done that. I mean, they were an 89% probability team at the end of January. At one point, they were tied for, you know, the conference lead in terms of having the best record in the Eastern Conference.

They looked like they had, you know, solved most of their culture problems, we'll call it that, and figuring out how to win games. But all along there were some indications that all was not right with the Red Wings World. And number one was the fact that they had so much trouble scoring five on five. They were feasting on their power play, which was very good for a while. and their defensive play wasn't strong enough to support a weak five-on-five lineup. And that's what they had. And ultimately, I think it caught up for them.

And I think in the end, it was one of those self-fulfilling prophecies when they started to lose games late with the late game collapses. And then they started to worry that was going to happen. And when you start worrying about that, obviously it does happen. And, you know, in the end, they had only themselves to blame. I mean, they had every opportunity. They controlled their own destiny for a long period of time. They were 12 points up not that far long ago. And in the end, they couldn't hold it.

It's, as you mentioned, an epic collapse. It seems to happen every season. And I think we're all looking at this and wondering why. And also wondering about is there, will there be anyone who, faces consequences for this. And normally, and again, I'm always told, look at the name bar, look at the name bar. It's not going to happen. In any other situation, if it's not Steve Eisenman, who's the general manager, there's probably more heat in that office. And not to say that he doesn't feel like, because I'm sure he does, I just keep getting told, the line that I'm told is Chris isn't Mike.

Chris Illich is not his father, Mike Illich, and there will be no shuffling in the office of Steve Eisenman. Does that resonate with you, Kevin? Oh, it does to be sure. Although, you know, I would point this out that even if Mike was here, it would have been difficult to fire Steve Eisenman. I mean, they viewed him almost like a son. And, you know, Marion is still around. And, you know, Chris certainly feels strongly about, you know, the family tradition and so forth. He's much more corporate than Mike was in terms of making decisions.

You know, he is worried about the bottom line more so probably than Mike was. But, you know, I mean, I'm still good with the Illich family. And I think for that reason, and I'm not sure that the Illich family blames us all on Iserman. Yeah, it's taking them a long time. But, you know, he's building through the draft, which I'm not sure is even possible anymore. but he's attempting to do that. He's never been lucky in the draft lottery. If you look at the Ottawa Senators, even the Buffalo Sabres, you know, they've had those

picks in the top three. The Rememings have not had those. You know, they've had some good picks. And I think actually, Eisenman has done pretty well with his first round picks. And he's made two big trades that's helped him, the John Gibson trade, helped him this season. And of course, he made the Alex de Brinket trade. And Alex de Brinket might have been the most consistent. a player, even more so than Marken this season. So, you know, he's done kind of what he was supposed to do.

It just takes a long time when you're waiting on draft picks. And he probably hasn't been able, you know, to add those free agents. You know, I think everybody looks at Vegas, maybe less so this year, but in previous years the way they do things and certainly the Florida Panthers. And, you know, they move things along quickly because, you know, they use trades and, you know, they use free agent signing as well. Eisenman has attempted to do that, but he hasn't been able to really land anybody that's a real difference right here. And in fact, it's probably cost him because he's made himself a little bit more competitive.

So he's really not been able to get picking those top five, six areas where you really need to get better quicker. And because of that, you know, he's been on a treadmill and that treadmill has been a little slow moving. And hasn't even gotten a playoffs. You know, it's interesting you mentioned Vegas and Florida because there's one thing that both of those teams have done almost to perfection that's helped lead both to Stanley Cup victories. And that is find players that teams are sleeping on. And I think of, you know, the expansion draft specifically for the Vegas Golden Knights, which set them up for success for a number of years.

And with the Florida Panthers, you know, whether it's like, hey, Gustav Forzling's on waivers, let's grab him. we have some institutional knowledge. Joel had him in Chicago, et cetera, et cetera. And all of a sudden, where those markets seemed inefficient, you bring him into your market. And all of a sudden, he turns into the guy that everybody says, how did this team not realize what they had? Like, that's the one thing about Detroit.

Like, Detroit hasn't taken anybody from someone else who had been sleeping on that player. You know what I mean, Kevin? Like, they haven't grabbed their, they're Gustav Forsling, that, you know, Vancouver. and Carolina and Chicago didn't see the value in. They haven't been able to do that.

And the other thing about Detroit, now that this lens is getting more and more focus on what this team is, I do wonder if there's too many of the same style of players on this one team. Like Alex DeBrinke and Lucas Raymond are probably more similar than they are different

and throw Patrick Kane into that mix as well. When you don't have a variety of players that all do different things, maybe we shouldn't be too surprised that now it's been 10 years of futility. Yeah, I mean, you know, I could go on with some of the indicators that we saw, you know, that made us think,

you know, that this team may not be quite the way it looked, you know, in January or when Gibson started to play really well for them. And that is, you know, they were still lacking in number two center. Like Andrew Cop, you know, had a spurt. We played very well. And I think the Brinket and Kane were happy with how he was playing, but he's really not an offensive player like that. You know, he's a third liner, and they really needed kind of an elite center to play.

Because, you know, in the very end, it was only Kane and the Brinket, who were playing well five-on-five. You know, even Raymond and Larkin had difficulty. They were getting a lot of points on the power play as well. And, you know, there has been criticism, particularly from the fan base, about the fact that Eisenman has not gone out and gotten the big player that could play, you know, a physical style and score goals. You know, you look at some of the players they've taken. And, you know, probably the closest player they've taken to that is the guy that hasn't made the lineup yet. Although, you know, I think the media has wondered why he didn't be, wasn't given a greater shot at this.

And that's the Bransig-negeard, the Norweeaten, who, you know, is a physical player, you know, not giants. But, you know, he's built and he can hit and usually does that. So, you know, a lot of people thought they should have moved him up because that would made them a little harder to play against. I think that's a fair criticism of this team as well. A lot of little things have added up. I think I think as we got it right with the naming of the coach, I think McClellan has done a really good job.

I agree. It looked like sort of changed the culture there. But in the end, he had just didn't. stick it didn't hold and now they're in a bad spot like they're going to have 20 million dollars but what good is that going to do because it's a weak

free agent market this summer you know they still need a center you know I don't think Charlie Coil's the answer and you know he's probably the you know the best guy out there unless suddenly Evgeny Malkin says you know I'll just

play for any team that'll pay me well you know I don't think that's going to happen. But anyway, you know, they've got the same problems they had last summer. They have to get a score. They're not available. They need to make trades, but they really have a bunch of guys that are untradable. So there's a lot of difficulty. They could end up when this summer is over with $20 million, simply because they had no place to spend it. And there are too many teams that have money. And, you know, talk about free agents. One of the reasons for it has been successful and Vegas.

is they've been able to get people who want to play for those teams. Nobody wants to play for Detroit. And that's been an issue. You know, guys just simply, you know, this is not the 1990s. When everybody wanted to play here, you could earn more money. They were loaded up with teams, with players, elite players. So I think that's an issue as well, even if they were like, they never really had a chance at any of the top players last summer.

They were all spoken for before. And a couple of them didn't even. take their phone. So let me share something personal here with you because I still remember I think I might get a chuckle out of you knowing how long you've been covering this team and around the Red Wings orbit. I can recall half my family lives in

Livonia or has lived in Navonia. They've sort of scattered all around but there's a good sizable chunk of the Merrick family all the Macoolas and the Bassettes that are still in Livonia. So I spent a lot of time in Detroit as a kid going to Red Wings games in Joe. And I remember specifically, this would have been a 10-year-old Jeff Merrick

Kevin. My cousin, Steve, who's still an official, still a referee, minor hockey, beer league hockey in the Detroit area. He would always take me to games. And there's one game he took me to specifically said, he said, Jeff, remember this conversation like it was yesterday. We're going to go see the future of the Detroit Red Wings Blue Line. It's a defenseman that's going to help put the Detroit Red Wings on the map

and bring them back to greatness, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I was all excited to go to the Joe Lewis Arena and see Willie Huber. First round draft pick of the Detroit. Things didn't work out quite the way that my cousin Steve positioned it. But whenever I hear about general managers bringing in players to shock the system and change things up in Detroit, my brain always, it goes to two places. It goes to Willie Huber and it goes to Warren Young. And the quick story there is so Warren Young, as you know, put up huge points with the Pittsburgh Penguins playing with Mario Lemieux. The Red Wing signed him to a, at the time, was considered a massive contract.

Bill Waters was an agent and he was at dinner with Mike Illich that night. And Illich turned to Bill and said, you know what? You got me on the Young deal. You got me on the Warren Young deal. And Billy said, no, no, no. It's a good deal for both. It's a good deal for both. And Mike says, hold on a second, Bill.

Stop, stop, stop. I probably paid too much for Warren Young. But you know what's going to happen? If it turns out that I paid too much for Warren Young, you know what I'm going to do, Bill? I'm going to raise the price of pizza. I'm going to get my money back eventually. That in a snapshot, was it a red wings from that era? Anyhow, I thought a chuckle was necessary at this point.

You ever thought of either of those two stories from your history with the wings? Yeah, I mean, Willie Uber certainly in my childhood, too, was a player that everybody talked about. You know, back then he was a rarity because he was a very big guy who had an offensive touch. and, you know, he just wasn't a physical player. And the expectation, and that's still true today. If you're a big guy, they expect you to hit. You know, they just had Elmer Soderboom here in Detroit, six foot eight guy. And, you know, he just didn't hit.

And ultimately, they've shipped him off to Pittsburgh who, you know, has gotten more out of him than Detroit did, frankly, over the last few weeks. So, yeah, humor was probably my earliest memory of a fan base sort of turning on a guy and wishing he were gone. He just wasn't the player that they wanted him to be. They wanted him to use all that size. And, you know, he just didn't do it. A heck of a nice man. I got to know him two years. He passed away now, but he was a heck of a nice man.

The old saying, right, a small player has to prove he can play. A big player has to prove that he can't. And that song remains the same in hockey. Kevin, it's always a pleasure catching up. We'll see if the street can end next year. And they pinned everything on goaltending, it seems. At the end of last season, we'll see where they pin at this time around. Kevin, always good.

Catch it up, my friend. We'll chat soon. All right. Sounds good, yeah. See you. There is. Kevin Allen, who joins the program here. It's covered the Detroit Red Wings for a long time.

He's the beat writer for the Detroit Red Wings with Detroit Hockey Now. Should have thrown in there as well. It's never a good idea when you get boot off the ice. It's never a good thing when you get boot off the ice. But there it was for the D.E. Detroit Red Wings, 10 seasons, no playoffs. It probably will be one of the most interesting teams to follow in the off season. And we all know the salary cap is going up and the Detroit Red Wings will have money to spend.

But just because you have money to spend doesn't mean necessarily you're making good deals. It's going to be interesting to see Detroit specifically walk that line knowing, as Kevin mentioned, that there's a strong appetite in the Detroit market for Steve Eisenman to do something. with this money. And even if maybe the same thing is to not sign an outrageous contract that's going to age poorly, I think that this volcano in Detroit is looking for a sacrifice. And I think they want something to happen. We shall see what happens with the Red Wings in the offseason.

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It's an 1,800-watt air fryer that can cook 7.5 pounds of chicken feeding up to 10 people. It's customizable with 6-1 functions, max-crisp, air-fry, bake, roast, re-chrisp, and dehydrate. For more information on the Ninja Krispy Pro, visit the link in our description or go to shark ninja.ca. Zach, you've been quiet over there behind the camera. It's been nice. Thanks.

Thanks, Jeff. This is an awesome setting. I'm so glad that they came out and practiced while we were doing the show. Yeah, it's great. You have the ambient sound of the skates hitting the fresh ice and the crossbars and the plexy glasses and coaches barking and whistles and all of it. So it's great. Yeah, behind us, the clona Rockets practicing here at Prosperia Place.

Game three tomorrow. Now, this is your first time, as we talked about in Penticton, your first time out this part of the country. I know we've only, like, when did we get here about like 18 hours ago making the drive from Penticton yesterday? Initial thoughts on Kelowna. It's beautiful. You know, one thing I noticed, I went for a walk last night after we got here. I dropped my stuff in the hotel room, just wanted to go take a little stroll. Yeah.

It smells fresh. It smells like fresh air. Maybe it's just because it's a stark contrast. Okinawag. You're not in Toronto anymore. You're in the Okanagan Valley. Yeah. No, I know that, but it was just very noticeable how different it was.

We were walking around the city area. I'm like, wow, it's just smells and feels clean and nice. Everywhere I look, it's mountains and trees. And I look, you're in the city. It's walkable. Everything you need is here. Yeah. It's a very cool place.

You work for the Okanagan Tourist Bureau now all of a sudden. You got a side hustle going on here, Zach. Yeah, I got a little money slip to me from, uh, from tourism BC. You got an envelope. Make sure anytime you go anywhere here, you pump some stuff up. We'll give you hats.

It's so good. Yeah, that's right. You work for hats. You worked for hats. You worked for hats. We found that. Yeah, you snagged yourself a dozen last night. Very good.

Well done. Well done. You. Anything from the conversations either with Arthur, maybe with Curtis Hamilton as well, or Kevin Allen that stand out for you from earlier in the program. I'm still in shock. I guess that the Red Wings won't fire Steve Eiserman.

They won't. They won't. They will not do it. They will not do it. They will not do it. That's the one. I don't want to harp on that too much, but that just still is unbelievable to me. I get what Kevin's saying.

They have a bunch of prospects. They're still waiting on to come through here. But at some point, you've got to kind of just say, okay. Okay. You know what, though? Here's the thing. You can be excited about your prospects and that's cool. But if the big team isn't winning, the fan base doesn't care about the green bananas.

Yeah. They really don't. Look at the Washington capitals. They're excited about I'llie. Proto's. Yeah. Right? And we just had a chance to see Terric Parasak of the Prince George Kruger playing against

Pantikta. How good did he look? So you can, and you see all, you know, Nicole Hudson comes in, Ryan Leonard, Justin sort of. So like they're blending in some of the prospects in with the big team. And Caps fans are legitimately excited about some of the high-end prospects they have, and they have many. But when your, when your whole sales pitch is hope and there's help coming and the big

team can't get in the playoffs in 10 years. And you wonder about, you know, the mental health stability about someone around someone like Dylan Larkin. We also saw what happened last year and his close out presser. You say to yourself, it's, it's tough to get excited about prospects when there's been this much losing consistent. Yeah. And maybe just to simply put in my own brain looking at it, at some point, if these guys

aren't making the jump in not because they're not capable, but they're just not ready and they're not there yet. Why are you not utilizing some of these pieces to go out and acquire other pieces to help you? Because you do have a team that's close. Yeah. To go as a playoff, making the playoffs at least. Here's the thing too. When Ken Holland ran the Detroit Red Wings and mind you, this is like, you know, you got

5 and 13 and 40, like you got some like you got the Hall of Famers, right? You know, Lidstrom, you got Datsuk, you got Zetterberg, you got Franzin, you got Homestrum, like go right down the list. And there was always the feeling that, oh, what the Detroit, What Red Wings like to do is they leave their prospects in Grand Rabbins. They're overripened by the time they come to Detroit. Man, we are fed that BS for a long time. You know why they stayed in GR?

Because there was no spot in Detroit. Because they were elite and they were winning cups. And so there were barriers and they could not get in. Right? Like Voltaire Filippa didn't make the Detroit Red Wings just because he needed to overripen in GR. Or Yuri Hoodler. They had to stay there because there was no spots. Right.

You are not cracking that lineup. So we all just sort of went along with that and parroted it back as like, this is their model. No, their model is their winners. And we can't, we can't break rookies in here. It's the rare one that sneaks through. It's when they started to lose a little bit that opened up the door for Valteri Filipla and Yuri Hudler and the rest of that set. But man, we just bit on that line so fast. It was like the first time.

I remember. No, their model is load up on Hall of Famers. I know. Look. Get 12 Hall of Favors in your lineup. Okay, good, good model. Let me write that down. How many 12?

Okay, 12 Hall of Famers in the lineup. Yeah. I feel bad for the Redwin because when it's, when it's rocking, it's a great place to watch hockey. And the fans there are great. It's been some dark years, obviously. I know no one's going to feel too badly about the Detroit Red Wings going through what they're going through, considering the generation that preceded them. Like, I think there are a lot of people like older, older hockey fans that are like, you know what?

Sit down. Sit down. Take your medicine. You guys were in the playoffs like 25 years in a row. One Stanley Cup sent guys to the hockey Hall of Fame. You know, you're still buying tin cans to bury the money in the backyard that you made for so long with Detroit. Like, spare me the woe is me that you're not in the playoffs for 10 years. 25 years of going to the pay window and sending guys to the Hall of Fame. Yeah. Am I too cynical on a Monday? Is that too cynical a way to look at the Detroit Red Wings? No, this is a hot start to the week. I'm enjoying it. It's not hard. I mean, is our starting. hot. I'm excited to be in Colonna. First day with the new tongue.

First day with the new tongue town. I bought one in, I bought one in Pancton yesterday. I was breaking it in. I figured I have the Okanagan tongue shop. That's the fresh air that's gone right to Zach's brain. Yeah. I'm laughing at the idea of there being a tongue shop to go shopping in. All right. Let's get to your shine spot here. Mr. Fresh Air in my nostrils. The sheet. That's the name of the program is powered by Fanduel. Play your game with Fanduel. It's the NHL season.

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19 plus and physically located in Ontario. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario. 866 531, 2,600. Speak to an advisor free of charge. Clear-headed, Zach. What do you have for us today?

So I was thinking about it because we're back here kind of behind the net area where you're sitting. By the way, I got hit by a puck on Friday at my kids' tournament. I didn't need stitches, but like I got it. So part of me is like I'm a little bit nervous now because I just ate one in the head on Friday night and was leaking all over the floor. So I'm a little bit like, I keep. point look back to make sure a puck's not going to hit me in the head. Well, you might have just blown the lead into the parlay there.

Oh, okay. I was going to say, I know somebody who got hit in the head recently and I was worried for you. Oh, you're going to use me as the example. Yes, I was.

How'd you like the scab on there? Hey, that's a good one. Yeah, you got dinged up. We all play hurt. We all play hurt. Yeah.

I was thinking, because you can't keep eyes on pucks here. I really need to force myself to keep an eye on the puck because if I loosed it, it might hit you in the gourd. Oh no. Oh no. Go for it. So that would be Tyson, Forster, I too Listerainen, and Yanni Gord. Plus 2.35 on Forster, Luster, Listerainen, and then Gord will total you $5 to win $350.75.77. Need to force yourself to keep an eye on the puck because if you loosed it, it might hit you in the gourd. story folks. But we all play hurt

boy, my plan tough. Yes, you are. My job is so hard. You're a warrior. So hard. Oh, you know what? Your word's not mine, Zach. Your words not mine. It's not as if I've just sat in a chair for 30 years and made hockey sounds like that's upside. This is going to be icing and that's coming back and we'll be

right back. Nice. I told you before every two weeks a paycheck shows up and someone yells stop thief. Listen, thanks for joining us here in Colona. Tomorrow's Game 3. Colonna Rockets Everett Silver Tips. Very much looking forward to that. We've got a bunch of interviews to do here later on this afternoon. So we're busy here in Colonna. If you are in the area, please come down and check out the game tomorrow. Stop by, say hi. We'll be floating around. Zach and I did our big shot impression. And Penticton and wandered around the rink and met some great people. Look forward to seeing you if you're in the area to come watch game three between the legendary Colonna Rockets host of this year's Memorial Cup and the Everett Silver Tips, one of the best teams. in the entire C-H-L.

Thanks to Kevin Allen for stopping by the program today. Very much appreciated talking about the Detroit Red Wings. Thank you to Arthur Staple of the Tri-State Hockey Podcast. Tough time to launch that pod and all three teams pull their Houdini Vanishing Act from the postseason, but nonetheless still a great pot. It's actually, I would actually make the argument that it might even more of a compelling podcast now because failure always makes for better content. So it might be added Z.

right now with all three teams falling out of it. Nonetheless, Arthur, thank you. And Curtis Hamilton, the assistant general manager of the cloner rockets. Thank you for stopping by the program today. We are back tomorrow. It is a wish day, right? Greg is aboard tomorrow. I'm getting the nod and the thumbs up from producer man, Zach. So for everyone here, Prospera Place. Thanks so much for joining us here on the sheet. We'll join you again tomorrow. Let me get the times right. One o'clock Eastern, 10 Pacific. I've only been alive for 56 years and I still don't know time zones in my own country. As Johnny said and Slapshot, it's effing embarrassing. Talk to you tomorrow.