The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Red Wings Struggle, Yakemchuk and Frondell Debut, and Playoff Races ft. Brian Burke & David Pagnotta

Episode Date: March 25, 2026

On today’s episode of The Sheet, Jeff Marek is joined by Brian Burke and David Pagnotta for a full breakdown of a busy night across the NHL as the playoff race tightens and major storylines continue to emerge. The show dives into Connor McDavid reaching the 400-goal milestone, shifting momentum in the Eastern Conference playoff picture with teams battling for Wild Card positioning, and a pair of notable NHL debuts that have people around the league talking. Marek, Burke (⏰ 1:00 ET), and Pagnotta (⏰ 1:30 ET) also unpack a heated incident involving Pierre-Luc Dubois and Robert Thomas that resulted in a match penalty and automatic suspension, along with all the latest news, trends, and reactions from around the league as the stretch run intensifies.#TheSheet #NHL #Hockey #JeffMarek #BrianBurke #DavidPagnotta #ConnorMcDavid #NHLPlayoffs #HockeyTalk #NHLNewsLeave 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.

So a couple of things from last night, and welcome once again to the sheet for this Wednesday, March 25th. Glad to have you aboard. Either watching us live on YouTube, watching us archived on YouTube or listening on your favorite podcast platform. We appreciate that you've shared your attention with us today. So a couple of things from last night really quickly here. The Boston Bruins stay neutral. They lose to the Toronto Maple Leafs, a hotspot. And that one, Nikita Zedoroff and John Tavares.

And then the subsequent fight with Dakota Joshua. But a couple of big stories from last night. Ottawa Senators, with a big win over the Detroit Red Wings yesterday, a command performance by Linus Almark. They're now in Wild Card 2. The Detroit Red Wings are now on the outside of the playoff picture. By virtue of a win over the Philadelphia Flyers of Columbus Blue Jackets now find themselves in second place in the Metropolitan Division. And under Rick Bonas, the record is staggering, 19, 3, and 4.

How many games do you have to coach in a season? to win the Jack Adams. But for me, the big story is coming up tonight. And you always wonder what managers think when they see things like this, or more specifically, or more specifically, as we say in the Atlantic, with a win tonight in any fashion, regardless of the out-of-town scoreboard,

and there's only two games on the board. The out-of-town scoreboard for this one is the Rangers and the Maple Leafs. If the Buffalo Sabres beat the Boston Bruins in any fashion tonight, they will become the number one team in the Eastern Conference, to which I wonder what's going on in the head of Kevin Adams. Let's get right to the blueprint. What's coming up on the program today? The blueprint is powered by Fandual.

Download the app today and play your game on Fanduel. In a couple of moments, we'll be joined by for civilian Wednesdays. The great Brian Burke, NHL general manager, stops by at the bottom of the hour. DFO insider Dave Panyoda stops by. We'll talk about rookie debuts. Yes, the name Carter Yakum Chuck and Anton Frundel will come up. Conrad McDavid, hitting 400. We'll talk about the Detroit Red Wings falling out of it.

And we'll talk about playoff races in both the east and the west as the Vegas goal, the nights lose comma again. And are we heading for five playoff teams from the Central Division? Five playoff teams? from the Central. Two wildcards, both from the Central. Mammoth, Predators. More on that coming up in a couple of moments. Let's bring aboard Brian Berk for

Civilian Wednesdays. As he joins us midweek each and every week, Berkey, how are you today? I know you're off to Australia. Thanks for slumming it with us here for a couple of moments before you get on the Big Bird. First of all, why are you going to Australia? My daughter, Marin, is a student at Miguel, and she's spending a semester at Melbourne,

so we're going to visit her. That's fantastic. Now, when was the last time, or maybe you've never been. When was the last time you were in Australia? Never been. I'm looking forward to it very much. What do you and I are you going together? That's going to be fantastic. Wayne Fleet will be poorer for your absence, Berkey. Wayne Fleet will be poorer for your absence. Let's get to a couple of things. We're going to get to us some emails for you and some tweets for you coming up in a couple of moments. Dave Pan Yota stops by at the

bottom of the hour. First of all, no supplemental for this, but it really was very much a discussion point, both on the St. Louis side last night and the Washington side, Pierre Luke Dubois and Robert Thomas. You know, Jay Woodcroft would always tell me when he was coaching with Todd McClellan in Detroit, they would run what they like to call one minute penalty plays, kind of pick plays that really don't rise to the occasion of two minutes for interference, but just enough so you slow down a player. And this one even straddles that line, but nonetheless, Pierre-Luc Dubois getting a match penalty for grabbing Robert Thomas, who executes a skating pick, casual pick, however you want to describe it,

and slamming Thomas to the ice. What do you think of this one, Berkey, from last night? Ooh, nothing to see here, play on. Would you have called it a match? No, it's not a match for me. I don't mind. The referees right now are hypervigilant because of everything that's going on. They're calling everything.

There's no supplementary discipline there in my mind. No match penalty. The players should stay in the game. You know, right away as the camera crew cut away to the Washington Capitol's bench, all you could see was Spencer Carberry making the X in front of him for interference, saying essentially Robert Thomas was interfering with Pierre-Luc Dubois on that play, which caused Pierre-Luc Dubois to grab him and throw him to the ground. Do you pick up what carbary is putting down there?

Or do you look at that and say, you know what, Dubois has got to just pull up there and not pull that guy down? It's a moving pick. There's no question it's a penalty in my mind. It should have been interference and then whatever they call in here in Rout Dubois. But I used to say to the referees, you can hit a guy for that. So if the guy's going to set a pick, you can punch him in the head as you go by. But don't grab him and body slam him. That's too obvious.

You can punch him in the head as you go by. You mentioned the officials seem a little bit sensitive right now. Like everything right now, I mean, everybody's sensitive right now. I don't think anybody wants to feel what George Peros is feeling after a couple of punishments from the Department of Player Safety. Do you think that's bled down to the officials? That essentially they don't want to go through what George is going through right now, that if it's borderline, make the call.

I think so. Every season has the point where at least one or three, or three times. The officiating gets too sensitive because of George or because the officials get criticized. This is, to me, is nothing. Nothing to see here. It should have been a two-minute penalty for interference. If you're looking at the law, should have got something for slamming the guy.

And we should move on. No match, no review. Let's move ahead. But yeah, I don't mind the referee's being a little sensitive right now. Elsewhere around the NHL last night, the Ottawa Senator, now find themselves in a playoff spot after a win over the Detroit Red Wings. Red Wings got Dylan Larkin back. That is a great mug, by the way.

The Detroit Red Wings get Dylan Larkin back last night. He did score a goal late in the game to make it three to two, but too little too late. The Ottawa Senators now won four games in all the Ottawa Senators without Jake Sanderson, without Thomas Shabbats. Now find themselves in Wild Card 2. Do you have a thought on what's happening with the Sends right now? You mean the Bell Bill Senators?

No kidding, Berk. No key. Unbelievable what that team has done to fill in. Travis, you're a genius. So to me, I think it's great the way Ottawa is playing. I'd like to see another Canadian team union, obviously. So it's a great story. But the fact they're playing without their two best defensemen

and two other guys that would normally play on their top six, that's a great story. Those two kids look good. You know, speaking of kids, we saw the debut of Carter Yakum, Chuck first round draft pick a couple of years ago for the Ottawa Senators. He gets an assist on the Brady Kachuk goal and then wires one in himself. I'm always curious. Do you, and we said Anton Fondell make his debut for the Hawks last night too.

But would you talk to first game players? Like it's the first game of a kid's career. Would you say anything to him or is that just strictly the bailiwick of the coach? Well, if I walked by him, I used to walk by and talk to the coaches. If I bumped into him, I would say something like, hey, kid. Just keep it simple. You're here for a reason. You belong here.

Just keep it simple. You'll do fine. Just wish them luck. But unless I walk by him, I wouldn't seek him out now. Linus Allmark, it's interesting. We're talking on the program. And I've always sort of made this point, too, about the Ottawa Senator's neckminder. And that is, when you break down the skills of a goaltender, he has elite skills.

Like, there are a lot of goalies who work really, really hard, who wish they could just roll out of bed. and have the same skill set that Linus Allmark has. He is that good. One of the issues with Allmark is he's never really had the bite down on the mouth guard game, and I got this boys, and we're going to win this game, we're going to win this series. But last night, I couldn't look at that game and say anything other than, that was Linus Allmark saying, we're going to win this game, boys. I know it's been a challenging season for him.

You have a thought on Linus Allmark. specifically last night. Yeah, I thought he bit down hard last night, but only late in the game. Ottawa is out playing everyone they'd play badly with puck possession and shots. So they're not getting a lot of chances, but they did late in that game. Late in that game on a couple of power plays, Detroit got great chances, and O'Mark was great. He didn't have to work hard for a long time. They had to come up with big saves about four or five times, including the end of the game.

So, yeah, I agree with that. He was good. You know, we're focusing so much on the Ottawa side of this game because the story is a positive one, and the Ottawa Senator is now occupying Wildcard 2 in the Eastern Conference. But at the other end of the rink, you know, even though they made a go of it and gave it the old college try at the end of the game, it's still a loss for the Detroit Red Wings. And the Detroit Rags now, once again, you know, March has always been cruel to the Red Wings. They find themselves out of the playoff picture.

they still haven't had a playoff game at that rink at Little Caeser still hasn't happened. Is there heat under the seat of Steve Eisenman if they don't make the playoffs? Well, I think it's premature to talk about not making the playoffs. They're still very much alive. But I think from my standpoint, the progress they've shown, including a massive amount of progress in the last year, I think Detroit's in a good shape. I think Steve gets a pass on this one, even if they missed. Because you can see the progression, how they've gotten better,

where they're going, where they were two years ago, three years ago. So I'd say yes, I think he's fine. But you know the Illich family. Like at the end of it, like you know how aggressive this family is about that hockey team and winning, to say nothing of the fan base as well. Like, I'm always curious at what point, because Pat Verbeek, just face this with the Samuelis. This was the year where the Samueli family in Anaheim had to see a return on investment.

There had to be something tangible. And give her big credit, Anaheim Ducks have delivered. I know it may not be the strongest of all possible divisions, but still, they've delivered. They've given their owner the ROI. I agree. Hang on one sec. How many points do they have, Anaheim? The Anaheim ducks have 84 points.

points. Ooh. Same as the Red Wings. Same as the Red Wings. I'm glad for the San Luis. I'm glad for Pat for Beek. It is a good story. They've done a good job.

But let's not start planning on a parade just yet. No, the only point that I'm making is this was the year that they had to get into the playoffs. Like there was going to be heat on Pat for Beek if there wasn't some type of movement towards a wild card spot or a race right up until game 82. and he's delivered. I agree. I agree. So is Pepper Beaks. So is Steve Eisenman.

Let's say a macro view of this. There's 32 teams. I remember we won the cup in Anaheim. I told Henry Samueli, congratulations, Henry. You're due again in 31 years. For 30 years, whatever it was.

That's the math we're in. And these guys want to expand. You want to make that one out of 34. That's how dumb some people are. This is crazy. to look at expansion to add teams. It's so hard to win. And for Steve Eisenman to fall out of the playoffs and be out for nine years,

that's not a new stat. That's going to be common now. When you get down, you have to stay down for a while now. And every team they had makes that harder. You know, you're really going to see it this off season as well. Let me drill down on this a little bit with you, too. We've been talking about this lately a lot. When it comes to free agency this season,

for teams that don't have a young superstar walking through that door. That's going to help the team immediately. All the free agents are, like all the top free agents are gone. With all due respect to Alex Tuck, all the free agents have signed. We thought this July was going to be a bonanza of Kyle Connor and Connor McDavid and Karel Caprizov and Jack Eichel, et cetera. And it's going to be none of them.

Like the only way, Berkey, it seems, to move a team forward now significantly is by trade. A hockey trade. What a concept. Let's make a hockey trade. What a concept. Let's not sign someone else's player. Let's make a hockey trade. But you're right.

The pickings are going to be slim. You're not going to be able to improve dramatically on July 1st. So that's what I do wonder. But are we going to see? We thought it was going to happen last summer. It hasn't. But now the cap is going to jump so everyone doesn't have the built in. We don't have cap space excuse.

Do you expect this offseason to be the summer of trade? rates. Yes, I do because I think finally some sanity will return to the managers on July 1st, especially with Caprum. These guys that have money to spend, they'll be itching to spend it. They won't be able to spend it on anyone because there's not a good class. The guys that do move will get big dough and big term for no good reason. A couple of other things around the NHL from last night, then we'll get into a couple of comments and questions for you. I'm not sure how much of the minimum. Minnesota Tampa game you watched last night, but that thing was a banger of a game.

It's almost as if both teams looked at each other and said, there's a chance this might be the Stanley Cup final. I think we can see Minnesota doing damage in the playoffs. I think it's obvious we can see Tampa doing damage in the east. And if so, give me seven games of this. Whether it was Corey Perry trying to fight Michael McCarran, that uppercut was Mike Tyson-esque. and Cory Perry probably still has a headache.

Scott Sabran going at Quinn Hughes and then subsequently Nick Falino right off the draw going at Scott Sabrin. 6-3 win for the Tampa Bay Lightning and this one on a weird game winning goal by Chernak but that one very much had a we'll see you in June flavor about it, Berkey. That was my favorite game to watch all year

because the stakes are so high and they're setting the stage for what might happen It was a hostile game, it was a belligerent game, it was a truculent game. I loved it. But there's some really good hockey play, too. It wasn't just fighting. A lot of big hits.

Those are two really well-coached teams, and they're really good teams, and they're hostile. I like the fact that Florida has really brought this back in the last couple years. But Billy Garan's Sagan to the next level, and so is Tampa. Those teams are both mean fighting teams, and it's a good thing for our game. It's been a lot of fun. Speaking of the Florida Panthers,

curious if you have a thought on this. Paul Maurice becomes only the second coach in NHL history to coach 2,000 games, of course, Scotty Bowman, coaching 2141. Do you have a thought on head coach Paul Maurice of the Florida Panthers? I texted Paul Maurice the last night this morning, congratulating him. And he said something, I don't think he'll mind me repeating this. He said, when he was a young guy,

coach, a rookie coach. I won't pay that any attention to him except the Sutter brothers and me. I was working for the league and I treated him respectfully. That's when I saw the command skills this guy had. I knew he was going to be a coach for a long time. And I'm not surprised he's doing great. 2000, that's unbelievable. Scottie Bowman and him, that's a pretty good list.

Now, Joel Quindal is right behind him both. Yep. But that's a pretty good list of three. That's the Holy Trinity right there. I remember I remember asking him this is a million years ago when he was when he was coaching the Marleys. I said what was your welcome to the NHL moment as a coach? Like what was we all know what it's like as a as a player. You know first shift, first fight, first goal, whatever.

I said, what was your welcome to the NHL moment as a coach? And Paul said it was his first practice and he called everyone, everyone to the boards. And then it blew the whistle for like two hard laps. and he said, Sammy Cappan took off like he had just been fired from a cannon. He said he had never seen anyone take like five quick steps that fast and get to top speed.

And that was his like, holy shit, I'm in the NHL moment. I've never seen anyone skate like that before. When you first got your first general manager job, was there a moment where, you, it was like, oh man, I'm in the NHL. This is different. We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto. Yeah, we had a meeting. We had a GM meeting

before my first GM job. I took over and started in Hartford. We had a GM meeting in St. Petersburg because Phyllisito just brought in the Tampa Bay team. Remember, I was late for the meeting. I was trying to make a trade for Sean Burke. I was late for my first meeting. I walked in on Philisadillo gave me a five minutes worth of shit. He said,

the rookies are usually on time, you asshole. And I was really embarrassed, really mad, but I was trying to make a total little Amarillo afterwards. I'm trying to make a trade. I'm trying to make a trade with you. I was going to say,

so that was the Bobby Holick trade. That was Bobby Holick, Sean Burr and Eric Weinrich, I think. I think that was, I think this was Sean Burke, Burke, the goalie. Yes. Not Sean Burr.

Okay. Yeah, I was. I'm trying to make this deal. And Phyllisito, he was really mad. It was his GM meeting, right? In St. Petersburg. He went up from the side of me and down the other. Show some respect you, goddamn rookie. Call me an American.

That was a big insult like that. He's fucking American. You know what like that type of thing. Sorry, Zach. I usually have to do that. That's what he said. Yeah. And as far as players,

I remember the first time I saw Jimmy McKenzie fight. I thought I had tough guys. guys in the minors. That was my aha moment in the America and the NHL from watching Jimmy McKenzie beat the snout of someone. It's like, whoa, boy, this keeps him funny. I'm glad you mentioned his name. I always, like, Bob Probert is still like the king of the jungle,

and he did it for so long, and he fought everybody. Jim McKenzie's the one guy, because we think of, like, all the legendary fighters, and Jim McKenzie, I always felt never got his due, mainly because he never put up like 350 penalty minutes, and it was mainly because guys didn't want to go near him. Guys did not want to fight Jim McKenzie. Like of all those guys, I always put McKenzie right up around the top. Well, I think the toughest team ever had was not in Anaheim. I think it was Hartford because of Jim McKenzie. He was really a heavyweight champion. We had a really tough team. Mark Jansom, we had a really tough group. But I think Jim

McKenzie was the unwritten, undisclosed, untitled, heavyweight champ. He beat the snout of lots of people. There are a lot of established tough guys that cut their laces real fast when Jim wanted to fight. Like established tough guys that wanted no part of him. Okay. Columbus Blue Jackets.

Now find themselves in second place in the Metropolitan Division. Like it's turned into a wild season. Listen, with a win tonight, the Buffalo Sabres in any of, win in any fashion. Buffalo Sabres claimed first place in the Eastern Conference. But there's the Columbus Blue Jackets. Jet Greaves again. A great first period against the Philadelphia Flyers yesterday.

Kept the team in the game. They're down one-nothing heading to the second. Matthew Olivier scores. Zach Werenski starts turning in some magic. And next thing you know, it's another Columbus win. The record for Rick Bonas, 19, 3, and 4 for the Columbus Blue Jackets. You have a thought

on this phenomenon. It's like a Cy Young record. Yeah. 19 and 3. I mean, he's a great coach. It's really, Rick Bonas is a great coach. He's a great guy. It's unfortunate that all is going to fall on Dean Evanston's head, which is not fair.

But the fact of the matter is, Rick Bonas is turning around. It's a great story, especially in Lather Goddrow family. This is a great story for everybody. Everyone's happy for them. Good guys. And that's the thing, too. It's been a horrible couple of seasons. Obviously last year was the worst.

for the Columbus Blue Jacket. So, like, it's kind of become a team that's easy. Even if you're not a Columbus fan, it's easy for them to become your second favorite team. Does that make sense? Everyone's, everyone's pulling for them at some point. It's like, it's like Ottawa. It's like Winnipeg.

Everyone loves Winnipeg because Mark Chittman's such a good guy. Kevin Shelled out. Everyone likes them. Everyone likes the coach. Everyone likes the team. The players are good guys. It's like that in Columbus, too. Everyone wants them to do well.

All right, we have questions. We have comments for Brian Burke. Zach, you want to fire up a couple of these and let Rick you know what you got cooking. Yeah, so let's start with this one from Zach Anderson comes in about USA hockey. He says, hello, gents, here is my question slash dissertation. Does the fact that most states that do not have ice hockey as a sanctioned high school sport hurt the growth of the sport in the U.S.? As an example, I live in the Philadelphia suburbs. Also play hockey as 2013 plays for a club team already, plays for his school team,

but will never be considered, quote, a varsity athlete because hockey isn't sanctioned as a Pennsylvania sport. Does he personally care? No, but do the kids care probably more than they let on? Does USA hockey advocate slash lobby these states that have a big hockey playing population to try to clear whatever hurdle there is to getting sanctioned. Thanks, as always, Zach Anderson. There you go, Berkey. Well, the growth of high school hockey has been explosive across the U.S.

It's crazy. What's happened in Nashville, what happened in California when I was with Anaheim, we started not we, but the ducks started high school hockey in Anaheim, father Juniper Serro, I think high school was first. So the growth that's been explosive, but it's been a great thing. I don't think you need to have high school hockey. If that's the way they play,

that's not sanctioned as a high school sport, but they play midget or whatever. The right age group term is now, U-18. I don't think it matters much as long as they're playing hockey. What are your memories of playing high school hockey? I played one year high school hockey.

I started playing hockey at 13. So I played Bannam House, Midgett at B, midgett, A, high school. If we hadn't split high schools, then we died in a West, in the Indiana East, I wouldn't have played high school hockey or football. So I played one year high school hockey. My most vivid memory was my dad wouldn't talk to me.

My first high school game, we played Roseville, I think it was. I scored a goal. I got cross-checked in the net and broke my nose. And I went to the guy who cross-checked me and chased him across the ice trying to fight him and swear to him. My dad heard me swear to him. I'd call them all kinds of bad words. My dad wouldn't talk to me for me.

about four days after that. My dad said, I can't believe you talk like that in front of your mom. My dad's a hockey game, for God's sake. Same thing. I only played two games in the American league. I got in a fight in the second one. My dad wouldn't talk to me after the game. He said, I can't believe your mom comes to two games this year. You get in the fight. Like that's not how it works. You don't get to pick when you fight. It's not up to me. I'm just playing the cards as they're as they're dealt to me. One thing I want to show you here, and we'll close on this one, because I know you've got to catch a plane and get to Melbourne.

So the opening face-off yesterday, and this is Shades of Connor Bedard and Sydney Crosby from a few years ago. So opening face-off, Islanders and Chicago Blackhawks last night. So Bull Horovat, one of the best face-off centers in the game right now, is scheduled to take the draw with Connor Bedard. And, Zach, I'm not sure if you have this one queued up here, if we have the clip. What Bader does is he says, all right, kid, to the rookie, Anton Frandall.

Now, is that him saying, all right, here's your NHL moment, or is he saying, I don't want to get gobbled up by Bo Horvatt, who wins that thing with authority, Burke? Look, it's like when Crosby did it against Bader, he snapped it back to the corner,

like it goes a dump in. Look how hard Horvatt snaps this thing back. He is not losing that face off to the kid playing his first NHL game. Can you relate to that, Berkey? Yeah, I think it makes sense. I wouldn't want to lose my first face off either of our Borobat. It looks like you said a kid, hey, good luck, kid, you made it.

But I'm not sure the best part of the year, one of the best parts of this time of year is all the kids coming in. There are two rookie gates last night in Ottawa, Frontel. All these kids come in and college tryouts and junior teams getting around and wiped out. Now they're back in their plan. I love that part of the year when these kids are playing. so I'm not sure even knew who Frundel was, probably because they pre-scouted him.

And before I'd probably say, good luck, but you're not taking this one. Also in that game, final closing thoughts on this one. Matthew Schaefer, okay? Like, he's doing what every, he's trying, like, willing, him and Sorokin, we're trying to will this team into the playoffs. Matthew Schaefer, who I don't think came off the ice in the third,

by the way, 30 minutes and 48 seconds of ice time yesterday for the rookie over. half the game Berkey for Matthew Schaefer. Shade's of Rod Langway. They didn't keep ice time back then, but Rod Langway never got off the ice at sea. Same with Pronger. Chris Pronger, I saw him play in junior.

He played 40-something minutes one night in Peter Rowe. Tommy Rowe was my assistant GM. He stopped watchman after the first. He played over 30 minutes in the second and third alone. So he played 40, 45 minutes that night. unbelievable. So, no, it's a great thing this time here with all the kids that get at first game. I love it. The only player, like when you talk about that pronger playing

junior and playing like 45 minutes, the name that pops to my mind with the Brandon Wheat Kings is the late, the great Brad McCrimmon, who in the playoffs for the Wheaties would play 60 minutes. Like, he would not come off the ice. And you know McCriman well, like any coach would always put him with the kids, whether it was Mark Howe, whether it was Nick Ledstrom in Detroit. Like Brad McCrimmon is like one of the best blue line mentors for kids in the history of the game. I signed Brad McCrimand.

He passed away. I left the late great Brad McCrimand. I signed him out of Brandon. I went to Brandon to sign him to just be Chris Pronger's partner after I got him, after I drafted him. I said, Beast, you're going to play with Pronger. said I'll play. I'll teach him everything I know. And he did. He was a great partner. Grabben Kremlin was one of the great defensive planner league.

One of the great guys, great coaches. Wonderful man. It's too bad. He was loved watching him play. His brother Kelly, of course, the general manager of the Vegas Golden Knights, for those that don't know. Berkey's Safe Travels. We'll talk to you when you return from Australia. Great shirt, by the way. Black Salt Bulldogs, Alberta. Jody Shriner, my friend and her husband,

on the team. It's awesome. So he worked with me at the flames. So yeah, Blackfaw Bulldogs and my Bramford Bulldogs won the league.

They did, yes. Bulldogs, and they got their first game tomorrow, I believe, as the OHL playoffs gets underway. All right,

thanks, Berkey. We'll talk soon. Thanks, Jeff. Safe travels to Brian Burke on his way to Australia. When he's back, it'll be Tales from Down Under with Brian Burke

here on the program. Anything there? Jump out at you, Zach, as you're ready to hit the mute button on Berkey? I love that. I had never heard that. By the way, I've never heard that Esposito story before.

I fell going up and I just, because I didn't know that that was the day that him and Lou were trying to make the Bobby Holik deal. So there's another piece of that puzzle. Oh, that's because it's a good day. It's a good day for your boy, Jeffie. Yeah, we'll have to just continue to archive

and document these things and piece together the stories and timelines, based on little tidbits that drops on the show throughout time here. Yeah, a little flavor box through it all together. Yeah, it's good. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's good. The one thing that was the funniest for me last night, of all things,

was the Frondell face-off. And I think it was Scott Wheeler put out there. Basically, he alluded to it as well. You and I've talked about the Crosby-Badard one. But it was the, you go and you take your turn here, kid. Like, you go to the best. big leagues. You go get this, not just a loss, but how the loss is going to be taken.

You get to feel this one in your first game because Horvatt, for sure, looked up, saw Frontel and thought the same thing that Crosby thought when he went into that first face off against Badaar, where it was like zero chance in hell I'm losing. Here comes a kid who doesn't have to shave yet and isn't old enough to piss straight. He's not going to beat me to face off. There's no chance this guy. And Bo Horvats snap that thing back with authority. All right, before we get to Dave Pan Yoda,

this segment is the presentation of Ninja Crispy Pro Countertop Glass Air Friar. Shark Ninja is elevating the air fryer experience. The Ninja Krispy Pro is a family-sized cooking system that comes with a six-quart, two-and-a-half-quart glassware, storage lids, crisper plates, and a modular base for any occasion. The clean, crisp glassware is designed for non-toxic. cooking and storage go from frozen to crispy with the thermal shock resistant clean crisp glassware.

The Ninja Krispy Pro is powerful. It's an 1800 watt air fryer that can cook 7.5 pound chicken feeding up to 10 people. It's customizable with 6 and 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. Do we have Dave Panjota standing by? DFO Insider. Yes, we do.

Yes, we do. Let's get right to our man, Dave. A couple of days in advance here. We're busy in Kitchener tomorrow. So Dave's joining us here for a special Wednesday edition of the drop-in from Dave Panyoda. How you doing, pal? Good to see you again. Good, buddy.

Good. Yeah, a little switcheroo. But, hey, that's show business, baby. No, that's show business, baby. That's show business. You know, I was thinking of you yesterday, is having a conversation, as it a local rank in Toronto, having a conversation about the Winnipeg Jets. Now, Winnipeg beat Vegas last night and good on them.

Playoffs, certainly a long shot. We know how the season's gone for the Winnipeg Jets, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And we're talking about, you know, what the offseason market is going to look like. And Berkey and I were just chatting about like the only way you're going to improve significantly now is through trades. And this may end up being the summer of trades, as you well know. I think the Winnipeg Jets, again, will try to do something. but given it's going to be a season without playoffs, do you think there's any way they do something significant here?

Like I don't, when I look at like the big contracts that were handed out, and not the most recent one in Cali Conner, but like the Schifery contract or the Connor Hallibuck contract, if the Jets are going to take a small step backwards to lurch forwards, man, you could get a haul for some of the guys they just recently signed a big ticket deals. You think there's any chance? I mean, one of those, it veers off the direction that ownership has brought in, or excuse me, instilled.

And within that market, you've got to be competitive. And I think that's the message from Mark Chippman down is we've got to be competitive. We've got to be, you know, a legitimate contender here. And we'll take this blip in the radar. We'll take this anomaly. It's a one-off. But next season, we better get our butts back in the postseason. And we need the Hallibucks, the Shifleys, the Cichley, the Cone, the cut.

honors and the Morris Seas and so on to be the ones that are driving this ship. What they looked for all season, obviously weren't able to replace, was Nick Eilers and the secondary scoring. And they had looked around the league, how can we bring in two guys on our second line or at least one for now that can play and mesh with Cole Profetti and go from there. Now, as they were exploring, some teams were saying, well, you could just give us Cole Perfetti and then we can have a nice conversation. And that didn't really get too far.

But it does look like the Jets. I do think they are going to try to take some big swings, but I think it'll be trying to piece some things together in order to shore up that second line in order to give them more of a balanced offensive attack going into next season. Like they were looking for, well, since last summer, when they knew Eelers wasn't officially going to sign,

and they knew Eelers wasn't coming back. But, you know, you'll hold out for hope. They're going to look to fill some holes. And I think they're going to be aggressive. I could certainly see them going after one second line guy via free agency and then try to make a trade for that other piece that meshes again with Perfetti and whoever they try to get. But they're going to be a little bit bold this summer

in trying to make some additions happen and take this draft pick, whoever it ends up being. Maybe that's one of the kids or one of the pieces that's going to step in. But I certainly anticipate Chevy and the crew there to be pretty active in turning this ship back in the right direction for next season. You know, you mentioned Cole Perfetti. That's a fascinating name. Last 20 games, he's been outstanding.

I don't know that I've seen a player this year that's hit more posts and crossbars than Cole Perfetti. I know the team would say like you go to arbitration, you bring up crossbars, like, what? You want us to pay for wide shots now? Like, what are you talking about? The shot went wide. Hit the post.

It didn't get on net. But like, what do you do if you're Kevin Shevolde off here? And you're looking at a kid that is starting to start to, starting to, really have everything come together, really starting to produce, likes it in Winnipeg, wants to stay. Do you just try to max out a deal on term here, or are you still in wait and C mode? Knowing that, by the way, he does have arbitration rights. He does, yes.

And yeah, that's an interesting direction that they're going to have to go in. And not necessarily a slippery slope, but I think they want to understand exactly what they've got in Cole Profetti. So I could certainly see something on the short term kind of coming into play when they do get to when they do kind of get to that. Like they value him. They certainly see him as a piece that they're going to grow with moving forward. But it's finding the right complementary pieces that work for him that can maximize his game and that allows him to maximize his game. So I mean, I'm not sure.

Like, look, if the right offer comes along, then you roll with it. But I think this is going to be a kind of play out scenario because I think they want to understand what their game plan is going into the offseason and exactly who they can pursue. I agree with, I agree with you. We've talked about this before, but you mentioned this when I first jumped on just now, how the offseason of change looks to be a vibrant trade market. And I think I fully believe that because of the free agent pool primarily. And that's kind of what a lot of the conversations around trade deadline we're working towards was let's lay some foundation. and then let's try to figure stuff out a little bit later on. I think the Winnipeg Jets were absolutely in those discussions

in trying to see where those moves could be made in the summer. Can we fill some holes in the offseason to really move us along? Is this the right kind of player that's going to mesh with the Colper Fetty on line, too? They like where they're at. Connor and Schifley aren't being separated, and it looks like Valardi has kind of stabilized himself on that right side. So how do we get the rest of the second line rolling? And that's definitely the priority for that group.

And I think there are some pieces on the back end in the free agent market that they can perhaps fill the shore up their blue line. But priority for sure is going to be adding offense and how that affects Cole Perfetti's performance and style. How can they complement that and make that work? And that'll also dictate what that contract eventually will look like too. I want to get your thoughts on Fondell and Yakumchuk making their debuts last night. But before we get there, are you surprised the Bruins didn't start the clock on head? Higgins? A little bit because the word that we, or at least that was being spread, was they don't want to go all in for a top six guy because they feel Hagen's will be that guy

that's going to come in. And at least that was optically what they were. Yeah, right. And now he's on an ATO in Providence, which I like. I mean, directionally I like. And he's saying all the right things. Like you got to earn your spot. Let's go down here. Let me do that. And so on and so on. But yeah, a little bit surprised that they didn't add this to the mix. And maybe it bites him in the butt with the way that Ottawa has been playing. The Islanders are right there. Detroit has the injury excuse of the last couple of weeks. You don't want to use it, but you've got that.

And I'm sure there's going to be some interesting off-season activity there, regardless of how this plays out. But then you've got Boston. Like, didn't do anything. Lucas Reichel. all due respect, I like the guy. But, I mean, they needed to make an impact type addition ahead of the deadline. In his defense, he has played well.

In Lucas Rehn's defense, like, he has played well. Yes. But not the top tier caliber that I think some fans were expecting on either end of the ice. Like on D and up front. Like, they were in the market. They talked to Philly, among other, I mean, there were a bunch of teams, talked to Philly about Ristolinan. But they also talked about Brink before he was traded to Minnesota.

and they were looking at a few other pieces. They couldn't pull it off. And then the word was, well, they're comfortable at least up front because Hagen's is on the way. Well, he is, but it looks like next season. You know, some guys are now, like, you can, you don't want to burn that first year. I mean, his case is a little bit different because, you know,

he makes it. He's the first year's, you burn that anyway. Yeah. But you see some other guys, you know, Frundell, like Eklan, who's coming up with the Islanders organization. He's likely going to Bridgeport. that nine game stretch, that nine game max includes playoffs. So you kind of want to balance exactly how you're going to utilize that.

But yeah, overall short slash very long answer now is that I am surprised that Boston didn't do something more. And we were talking about a deadline day. They were looking around, but they just, you know, they held firm. So we were having a laugh with Berkey about the face off with Beauoravat with Anton Fondell. Just like, here you go. take your loss kid. Bernard's like, all right, you go, you go in there and duel with the Matador

that is Bohoravat at the faceoff dot. Thought on him. And then Carter Yakumchuk, the assist on the Brady Kachuk goal, I mean, Ottawa is rolling. They beat the Trent Red Wings last night. One goal, one assist, Carter Yakumchuk debut on a very depleted

Ottawa Senator's blue line. You have a thought on both these debuts last night? Yeah. Yeah, from those loss, it wasn't just like a battle. Like that was a clean. No, clean. out.

Very, very clean out. Did not come close to touching the, but. I just, I will not get sick of watching this Viz, Dave. It's so good. You get in there, kid. Okay, thanks, Connor. I like, I like the idea.

And gone, yeah. I like the idea, like good on Badar. Look, your first game, go out there, get used to this. And then, yeah, he's like, okay. I think I can at least get a, get a bit of wood on this. Can I get a tight? Nope. Nope.

No, you are not coming close. to touch you this kid. Like he played solid minutes. He got some, he got power play time, first power play unit. And he picked up an apple in this one. So I think overall,

minus that, which is going to be entertaining. And I'm sure, I mean, if I'm a teammate, I'm playing that as long as I can, on the highlight reel in the room. But,

yeah, good, good debut for him, I think. And same thing in Ottawa. Like, I think what, Jake Sanderson's about a week away, I believe, or is it a chance,

Sanderson or Shabbat? Who's out? They're both out. They're both out. They're both out. Okay. So I think it's Sanderson that's expected to come back next week. So they're going to get a little bit of a lot of help because he's their top D. But yeah, you're right. They're depleted. And they got two guys that got injured yesterday as well that stepped in. So it just keeps mounting for them. But everything is really rolling for this club right now. They're playing with a different level of confidence. And to have him come in, he was what, I think he's the ninth, player to score in his

NHL debut, third defenseman to score in his NHL debut and good on him. His family was there, parents were there. He picked up a couple points, played some sound minutes. He's going to be a pretty solid piece on that back end. And it's going to further deepen Ottawa's Blue Line

because this was another team that was out there ahead of the deadline looking to make an impact addition up front and bring in a top six caliber guy. And yeah, they brought in Warren Fogle. Bill's the mid-six. He's been good. He's been good, man. Fogles been good.

He's got another year on his contract, a nice move by Steyos to add him to the mix. There's familiarity there with him and some of the people on that team. But with how deep that decor is becoming, I could certainly see them utilizing a piece, at least, to try to package something up to get another scoring forward up front. But for now, you know, obviously two different scenarios. He had to drive from Belleville to make his debut.

Frondell flew from Sweden in order to pull that one off. But look, two bright kids with bright futures and two teams that are certainly banking on both of these guys being impact players. Berkey and I are on, I think, different pages about Steve Eisenman and the Detroit Red Wings. I think that this was, much like in Anaheim, but the Samueli family, the owners of the Anaheim ducks. This was the year that Anaheim had to, had to like, you know, there'd better be some juice with the squeeze here for the Anaheim next to season.

Like the owners want their return on investment to start now. It's enough for the building blocks. Now it's, you know, what a Brian Burke's great analogy? Before you show the horse, you have to shovel the barn. I think in the Samueli's mind, like they're done shoveling the barn. Now it's time to start showing the horse.

It's about time the Red Wing showed the horse. No? And if not, what happens with the GM? I think, like, the pool is deep. So I give them a lot of credit there. They've certainly deepened and strengthened and expanded their prospect pool. Yeah. That's all well and good.

They're not all going to hit, but the odds are pretty good that some of these guys are going to be pretty solid NHL players. But I agree with you. Like, this was the season where it was time to make a little bit of noise here. take that take two steps not just the next step take two steps in this in this evolution process and i mentioned earlier i think the injuries to lark in the injury to cop in the last little bit has provided them with the excuse you don't want to use because but at the same time it's just the nature it is the nature of the beast look i don't want to use it last year last year we got we had no goaltenders this year oh it's injuries and i i did give them a couple of trades like i don't

know at a certain point. I can see, look, I agree. Like, I can see, I think, I think the leash has started to shorten a little bit. Mm-hmm. And I think this off-season will be impactful for Detroit because you see what this team is capable of fully healthy. We've seen that. Yeah. But there are holes.

There are deficiencies. So now you're going to, now it's time to utilize this prospect pool that you've built up. and go out there and get NHL impact additions that are going to help your team solidify a playoff spot, not just get into one next season. And I think that's kind of where the mindset is. This is a, I don't want to say last kick at it, but this is a you know what or get off the pot here for Steve Beiserman this offseason.

I do want to ask you whether sharks in the crack in times that are premium here. But you've been on the Alex Tuck file from day one here. Listen, man, the swords win tonight. they're in first place in the east. Good Lord. Does this impact any of the negotiations from Alex Tuck's point of view? Like does the essentially what I'm asking is,

does the winning help? And if so, how significantly? I think it helps. I think it helps in terms of him. I don't want to say buying in. It's not the right term because he does love it there. You know, there is a pathway to getting a deal done. but it's it's you're looking at the competitive nature of where the salaries are going and

he's effectively and has been looking for my understanding in and around that that 10.5 range give or take. Can't be. You know, a couple hundred thousand. Can't be contract. Right. Yeah.

Yep. And I think that's justified. And I think he hits open market. There's a good chance he might get more than that. He's the guy. He's the guy. He's the guy. July 1, he's the guy.

Exactly. So I think that's part of the argument on their side as well going, look, you're the cream of the crop. You're the top of the list. You're the main guy. So we can dictate how this is going to go and where you want to go and how much money you can potentially get. Because we all know, everybody says we're going to hold on to our guns. And then July 1 hits and you go, okay, fine. We'll give you a little extra because we want you.

We don't want you in that environment and things like that. Nobody can hold that firm. And I think they're banking on that to a certain degree. but I think the winning in Buffalo and how they're winning and I think there is a longevity to this I think that may massage that mindset a little bit but I don't know how much financially it will like we may be talking a couple hundred thousand here

not a million bucks per year. Interesting. The tuck cont very quietly here too is one of the most interesting sort of dances that we see internally with hockey teams. Okay, sharks, cracking, both bottoming out. By the way, are we doing five in the Central? We're doing five in the Central Division this year?

It might. Holy cow. Nobody in the Pacific wants this. Nope. Well, no one. LA should have had it yesterday, no. Look, we were talking about this yesterday. Like, I look at the Pacific, Dave, and say there are some insanely good players in this division,

like fantastic players in this division. But I don't know that I've seen a division. maybe you can point to another one that's worse. But I don't know that I've seen a division where every single team has had the horrible goaltending that every single team in the Pacific has had. And you can have, you know, Gretzky, Lemieux, and the Ghost of Rocket Richard on your team,

if you don't have goaltending man, it can kill all of that. That's how I look at the Pacific. Really good players, really awful goalies, awful goalies. Yeah, it's. It's not been, like you can probably make the argument that Darcy Kemper has been the best one. He might be the only, he might be the only, like, 900, say, 80 percentage goalie out of the bunch. But then you've got.

Yeah. And but then they've been depleted because of injuries. And Kempe is not fully healthy. And Fiala's done for the year. And who else is another, Cozmanco has been done for the year. Like, they tried with Panarin, obviously, to move forward. then boom, Fiala goes out and that that certainly hampered their, their plan. They should have got two points yesterday against Calgary in that barn.

Like they should have, that shouldn't have gone to a shootout. They had that in the last five and they kind of kind of gave it away. Should the Panarin shot have counted or was he going backwards? Was he going sideways or was he going backwards? No, I think I get the call. I get the call. It's pretty cool. It was.

It was. That took flip. Like, come on, man. That's cool. That was borderline. So I can accept that one. But you look at the Pacific and you're going, I don't know, you got the three teams that maybe won it.

And yeah, like if Vegas had better goaltending this year and get healthy for the playoffs, like that would be, they could surprise a lot of people, but I just don't have confidence right now on how they've been doing this year. Lost again last night? Lost again last night. Yep. Okay. Anything you think about like what, I mean, listen, I look at the San Jose.

sharks and it's amazing how much one player can completely hit fast forward on a team's development, but they have to be looking around other positions. Like the forward, the forward group is young, but they look good. And they look good for a long time. They got to be looking at the blue line. They are. And that's something that they tried to try to do all season. Mike Rear had been looking at that back end going, okay, this is where we can make some,

we can make some noise here if we're going to make a big splash. They got, you know, their top six guy that they brought. and keeper Sherwood. It's figuring out that blue line. They've got three guys basically under control. Two guys signed in Dickinson and Orlov and Mukumudula is an RFA, I believe.

Everybody else is UFA. So I've been looking, they haven't started contract talks, my understanding with any of those guys, and Mario Ferreiro would like to stay, but I don't think they've gotten to that point. And they haven't, I know when they had discussions, it wasn't

of the long-term variety. And I think he wants long term. They were going mid to short. And I don't know if that at the time, well, it didn't fit. I don't know if that changes now for them later on the season. But this is going to be a team that's going to be aggressive not only in the free agent market, but in the trade market as well. And we know about them trying to get, you know, working that deal with New Jersey last

summer for Dougie Hamilton. Yeah. I could see them looking at two pieces that I wouldn't be surprised teams, their two teams reach out to San Jose about. and we've heard their names pop up going into deadline and whatnot. Morgan Riley in Toronto, Darnel Nurse in Edmonton, among others. But I wouldn't be surprised if their teams make those inquiries to San Jose because the sharks are looking to bring in a veteran piece on that back end

along with longer term type of pieces. A guy like Braden Schneider, for example, is somebody that they poked around on for a good chunk of the season out of New York. weren't able to make that work. Does that change going into the draft weekend in Buffalo? Perhaps, maybe. I could certainly see them poking around again. But they want to bring in that type of piece,

and they also want a veteran piece that has term that can help out some of the younger guys. So I certainly see a Morgan Riley type conversation happening. Where that goes, Jeff, I don't know. But, you know, that'll be up to Greer and Tree. That's a really, it's a really, it's a really interesting name because, you know, this isn't the first time, you know, you, you, you know, that's always been a whisper name around the San Jose sharks, even going back to when they had Eric Carlson, and there were the rumors about a Carlson deal to Toronto and how much could San Jose eat on the cap.

And Riley was the whisper name. That was very much sort of front and center on the, how should we call it, the Lady and the Tramp barking chain. Amongst the barking chain. How about that one? Amongst the barking chain, there was the name Morgan Riley. But never got there. We'll see what happens in the offseason. You're the best, pal.

Thanks, as always, for stopping by, and thanks for making it a little bit early this week. You have your Friday off. Of course, all you. Put your feet out. All right. Thanks, Dave. Jay season starts.

There you go. Perfect. All right. Enjoy it. Here we go. All right. You'd be good, pal. See you what.

There is Dave Panyoda, the editor-in-chief of the fourth period and DFO Insider. And you should listen to the inside of a daily face-off. Run down Wednesdays live at 3 o'clock Eastern alongside Urfan Gaffar. It is must listen. to and must view appointment. Okay, let's get right to your shine spot here. Mr. Zacharoo, anything from Dave, by the way, is we look for you always to audit our interviews here

that we do on the program. There are our ombudsman and... Okay. I'd like to audit here. Any mistakes we made, I'd step on my tongue. Did I do anything? Did I swear, or was that only burkey today? I know only perky.

Also, I was laughing out loud when he said, Sorry, Zach. Like, I would be the one to care of all the content that I do. I think what he's thinking, like, I'm giving Zach more work to edit that thing out. And I'm thinking the back of my head, there's not a chance in hell he's going to edit that thing out. Matter of fact, that might be the clip de jour from Zach with Berkey's salty tongue today. I ain't editing that out. That will be in there.

Sorry, Berkey. Well, I just, I agree with you more so than Berkey on the Eisenman thing and then kind of brought out there by Dave as well and the Red Wings. Again, they might make it. They might make it. I just, if not that fan base, I worry about the mental health of that fan base if they bow out again in March. March kills the Red Wings.

The draft lottery kills the Red Wings too, but March really kills the Red Wings every year. Well, this year too, it feels like the, you know, the ability to go to the excuse jar should be far more limited not just is more limited should be more limited and i think the leash on that is going to be much shorter from red wings fans in general regardless of what it is from ownership and executives in the front office and that kind of stuff the fan base is going to get tired of some of this and then you know okay throw throw at me that larkin wasn't there great go why didn't you go get somebody more and that's not to throw shade at david perron or justin falk but why didn't you

actively pursue maybe it's Scott Lawton or a Bobby McMahon from Toronto who were available out there maybe he's Cory Perry and get some guys like that go ahead say it go ahead say it what what do you want me to say

Robert Thomas Robert Thomas why didn't you push the chips in to get Robert Thomas I was trying to build to that so we started lower and then built to the big fish but why didn't you push your chips in and go and do that Gustav Holtz you know you've you have the picks, you had the prospects,

you've drafted and you've developed. We all talk about how great the Red Wings pipeline is and what the Grand Rapids Griffin's did this year. Yeah. Awesome. Great. What are they doing for us in the NHL right now? Right.

Like, it's great. It's great to have the pipeline coming through, but at some point you could dip into it a little bit to bring guys over because you've graduated guys through who have done well. And to me, that's what becomes a little bit frustrating. If I'm a Red Wings fan, even just as an NHL fan, watching them being like you should be able to do more than what you're doing and what you're putting

forth last year you used the goalie excuse larkin he wasn't happy about not trading for anything okay the goalies weren't good enough i can understand that to an extent you had it this year okay do not tell me that dylan larkin was injured this year do not use that as your excuse i i will not give you that valid out on this one i think that there was more that could have been done and again they might make it, so this might mean nothing of what I'm saying. But if they don't, it's a little more frustrating. I am interested to see what you come up with here for our Fandual segment here at the end. Keeping in mind that two teams who win the Stanley Cup every year are playing against each other tonight.

You know what I mean by that? Yeah, they win it in the summer before. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. He believes in the New York Rangers. You know how there's like the Stanley Cup? Yeah. And then there's the real Stanley Cup, like the owner's Stanley Cup. You know who wins the Stanley?

That Stanley Cup? Toronto and New York. Every single season. They don't get their names on the piece of tin that the players do, but the real Stanley Cup. That the owners are what I was kind of a little. I was kind of getting to it in my own way on that. I was talking about the same two teams. of, you know, every year in the summer,

they've won the Stanley Cup before the seasons even started before the puck's dropped. And then... It's like if you let accountants decide who wins the Stanley Cup, Toronto wins every year. I have so many many Stanley Cups on the shelves behind me. Yeah.

Meanwhile, the only way we're going to get our name on the cup is if we go to Starbucks. That's the only way we're going to get a name on a cup. Anyhow. The sheet is powered by Fanduel. your game with Fanduel. It's the NHL season and Fandual is your home for all the action on the ice. From Blue Line to Bette slip, we've got you covered all season long with unique promos, live offerings, and more features to let you play your game. Miss Puck drop, no sweat with a live same game parley.

You can build your bets up until the final buzzer. Download Fanduals Sportsbook today and play your game. Please play responsibly, 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 at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. Zacharoo, free of charge. Okay, I'm not going to take you on some big story or anything like that here, but I've tried to... Well, I think you'll like the premise of this bet anyways, because we're going to try to

make the most boring game on the entire schedule exciting for people in some way if you bet. The Leafs and Rangers? So hear me out. Delief and derangees? The bets we are making in this don't even fit on a graphic because of the options you have to select. There's so many words on them. So let me explain this to you.

I think I like this. All right. The theme of this bet is called nobody wants this. Okay. Okay. Will there be a goal in the first 10 minutes of the first period? No. Plus 120.

Bet on that. Will there be a goal in the first 10 minutes of the second period? No, plus 154. These all parlay together. Keep that in mind. We're adding them all together, okay? Will there be a goal in the first 10 minutes of the third period? No, plus 130.

Will both teams score two or more goals? No. Oh, that one. What kind of clunker are we looking at tonight in your brain? Get excited, everybody. Where did that one go? And then finally we have this one will finish in a tie after 60 minutes and it will go to overtime. This comes in at plus 5,426 and $5.5 on this one profits you $271.33.

So tonight, you know, normally when you're watching most normal hockey games or sporting events, watch for goals and points and all that kind of stuff. This one is going to stink. And I think it's going to be really hard for us to root for goals because neither team wants to score them. So instead we get to cheer when guys hit posts, when goalies make saves, when guys miss the net. We get to cheer for all that kind of stuff. So I've tried to get a creative way to approach this one because all day I've been dreading this game myself because you know I have to sit down and watch this. So this was my own way of making this fun for me.

Probably no one else. Zach has clearly never worked for a rights holder before. as you can tell Zach is not trying to polish this thing up he's saying look let's just try to get through this we know this one is here we know this this one's going to be a dog

that can barely lift up its hind leg to whiz in the audience's face we know what we're looking at here so let's just try to get through this thing together that's essentially what you're doing here or you're saying yeah go watch the Bruins and the swords old Adams division matchup

yeah I mean the preference would obviously just be go watch something else but i have to watch this and i think that's the beauty of this company and working for who we do and doing what we do is that i can just say what i actually think and i think this game is going to be dog shit who do you so tune in grab your popcorn folks take the phone off the hook send the kids to the neighbors because tonight we're watching the leaps and the new york rangers um yeah who honey said the kids of the neighbors we're watching and the Rangers and the Toronto Eve leaves on March 25th.

Who do you have on tonight on After Dark, by the way? Are you just going to ride solo, you on the smelling salts? I don't have anyone yet. I was thinking of just having callers. Last night we took a bunch of callers and I had a guy call in from Thunder Bay and he just let it fly for 15 minutes straight.

Was it Henry Stahl? Was it Henry Stahl? Was it Carter Hutton? It was. Oh, okay. It was not Carter Hutton. But I think I might try to get someone on for tonight, just given the fact that this one is genuinely expected to be such a stinker.

It might be a difficult one, but we'll work through it as the day goes on here. There's going to be a whole lot of, you know what, Zach, I'd love to come on your show tonight to talk about the Maple Leafs, but I've got to sort out my sock drawer. I really got to sort out the socks. It's, you know, it's been bugging me now for a couple of weeks. So I could either do that or come on your show. I think I need to tend to the socks.

yeah and i honestly i completely understand so i there's no all right you want what's that yeah i i'm just expecting this to be one of those ones like i i was going to say i i was thinking about asking las and the last time we had las on was the rangers game before the trade deadline and las came on and we were kind of both like oh there's nothing really to talk about here thanks for coming on las we'll see you next time you can just like this is the well i guess someone has to win game. Like, don't forget the clunker the Rangers are coming off of too. Like, man, you want to talk about laying an egg what they did or rather didn't do against

the Ottawa Senators on Mika Zvenajad game 1000 night at MSG. Like, if I'm the Maple Leafs and it's back to back for my team, I know that, you know, we're walking into a situation where this whole team has been challenged, the whole team has been embarrassed. Like editorial after editorial written on, you know, this lifeless dog that is the New York Rangers on a big night for one of their teammates. If there's going to be a night where the Rangers

need to show something, it's after a lame duck performance like that. Don't you think? Yeah. They challenge the chiefs. Call them names. I would think so But at the same time

I've watched enough Rangers hockey Throughout this year To know that And I've watched enough Leafs hockey To know what they're capable of doing as well Where they You know that the occasion rises Where they need to step up

And they need to respond And they continue to fall flat on their face Don't have great expectations Constant theme All right well on that lovely note Cheer up everybody A couple of games. Enjoy the games tonight.

Enjoy the games tonight. Good seats are still available. Thanks to a couple of people and safe travels to Brian Burke. Thanks to Berkeley for stopping by. As he does each and every Wednesday, pretty much here on this broadcast, off to Australia. And thanks to Dave Panyota for jumping on a couple of days early because tomorrow we will be in Kitchener, the home of the Kitchener Rangers, on the top teams in the CHL. Mike McKenzie, who is the general manager of the Kitchener Rangers. son of the great Bob McKenzie will be stopping by the program tomorrow amongst other guests as well.

So Zacharoo and I will be in Kitchener tomorrow and then back here for your regularly scheduled program on Friday. But again, tomorrow in KW. So check out the program and then we got a bunch of interviews and just doing the junior hockey thing that we love doing as well. So thanks so much for joining me today. I look forward to talking to you tomorrow from Lovely Kitchener, Ontario. And we will bid you good afternoon or good evening, depending on when you're listening, slash watching. And as Zach promoted the games

tonight, enjoy the hockey matches tonight and we'll talk about them tomorrow here on the program. That is all. Last night every day this month. I'm my head.