The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Retro Night, Wolf Calls Out Flames, & Leafs Struggles ft. Pierre McGuire

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

Jeff Marek is back with another loaded episode of The Sheet, joined by longtime NHL insider Pierre McGuire for an unfiltered look around the hockey world. The guys start in Calgary, where Dustin Wolf���s fiery post-game comments calling out his teammates have sparked debate about leadership and accountability inside the Flames’ locker room. From there, they turn their attention to one of the most anticipated events of the year — Nordiques vs. Whalers Retro Night, as Quebec and Hartford throw it back with stunning vintage uniforms and a wave of nostalgia for fans across generations. Jeff and Pierre also dive into the Toronto Maple Leafs’ slow start in their first season without Mitch Marner, examining whether this new-look Leafs team has truly found its identity. Plus, it’s another trip through Today in NHL History, highlighting memorable milestones, forgotten classics, and some wild “you-won’t-believe-it” moments from seasons past.Don’t miss this mix of analysis, storytelling, and hockey history — all on The Sheet with Jeff Marek.#TheSheet #JeffMarek #PierreMcGuire #NHL #Hockey #TorontoMapleLeafs #CalgaryFlames #DustinWolf #Nordiques #Whalers #RetroNight #NHLHistory #DailyFaceoffSHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Bauer: https://www.bauer.com/👍🏼Shark Ninja: https://www.sharkninja.ca/ninja-crispi-4-in-1-portable-glass-air-fryer-cooking-system/FN101CGY.html?utm_source=Better+Collective&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=H2+Air+Fryer&utm_content=EN👍🏼Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/ca👍🏼Prime Video: https://primevideo-row.pxf.io/c/5560083/3303015/20020Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Flames_Nation🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Okay, welcome to it once again. This is the Thursday edition of The Sheet. Glad to have you board today. Everyone watching on YouTube, you're in for a couple of visual treats today. If you're listening in the podcast version of the program, I highly encourage you to go have a look at the YouTube version because we got something for your eyeballs today. Folks, we do.

In the meantime, a lot of today is going to revolve around some interesting comments from someone that I really feel, as this team heads into sort of a, however you want to phrase it, rebuild. Ethical rebuild, by the way, is a new term going around the NHL. We're going to go through an ethical rebuild. I'm going to get into that with Pierre McGuire in a couple of seconds here. I really feel bad for Dustin Wolf, who was tremendous last night. Jakob Dobish was fantastic for the Montreal Canadians as well.

Really close game. A gorgeous pass by Demadoff to math. and the game's over and overtime, you've got to watch Demadoff on this play. His hips don't lie. Fantastic maneuvering by Demadoff in the overtime. But after the game, I want to get to this and then we'll do the blueprint and get to Pierre McGuire. After the game, Netminder, Dustin Wolf, making some, to be kind, interesting comments about his teammates. I guess goalies calling out their team is the new hotness in the NHL.

Here's the flames goaltender last night. group after another one who didn't get the result in? I mean, it's there. You try not to get too frustrated because it's early in the year, but we just can't generate offense right now. We're getting shots through now. We've got to keep getting to the paint, to the dirty areas, and cops meet a nice goal off the turnover there.

But we can't rely on their mistakes to create offense. We've got to create them ourselves. We just can't find a way to take it. hit the back of the twine see how the looks on all your face is before clapka's time goal just all the chances then almost but didn't fall I mean from your advantage one with us what is that like watching it it's tough I mean I can't generate offense so you know I do my job I try to keep the puck out of our net and no hope that our guys can generate a couple and it's I'm glad we

got we got one there we got a point but we got to keep working to to find more offense. I can't generate offense. Could you imagine for one second if one of the forwards from the Calgary Flames, who maybe went off for three or four goals, yet the Calgary Flames lost the game, said, well, I did my job. I scored. I can't stop the pucks.

What would the outcry be? We'll get Pierre McGuire's thoughts on this in a couple of moments. The Blueprints is powered by Fanduel, our friends and partners, download the app today and play your game. First of all, I can understand the frustration. I get it. They're one, six, and one. This week is wiping them out. The Winnipeg game, Montreal again. They play the Winnipeg Jets one more time. Next week, it's the Rangers and the Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators.

And then you may look at the Calgary Flames and say, I think that's it for the season. And then we start asking some uncomfortable questions. Coming up on today's program, Pierre McGuire is going to park a lot of time with us today. And he's going to be involved in a segment that we launched this season that is really built for me and Pierre just to riff off of each other and go back and forth. And we all, in this, in the spirit of going deep, not wide, this one is going to go deep, folks. Pierre McGuire stops by. We'll talk about the Dustin Wolf comments. We'll talk about retro night in the NHL as the Quebec Nordiques face off against the Hartford Whalers.

We'll talk plenty about someone who patrolled the bench for the Hartford Whalers, the aforementioned Pierre McGuire. And the Montreal Canaanians are not just fun, but they're on fire as well. With that, we'll bring aboard Pierre McGuire. A long time hockey analyst on television, radio podcast, and one half. of the duo that is the eye test with the great Jimmy Murphy, Pierre, joins me with two Stanley Cups over his left shoulder right now. Pierre, how are you? It is so good to see you, Jeff Merrick.

I love the intro. I can't wait to get going with you. And salutations to Dustin Mould for doing what a lot of people would love to do after every game, but I just don't have the moxie to do it. Let's start there. And by the way, as a tease for everybody watching on YouTube, This book is going to come up a little bit later on. This is one of the books.

Whenever I'm sure you get the same question. Like, hey, recommend a hockey book to me. And this is long out of print. And I know it costs a lot of money if you can find it. Amazon rarely has it. A book. Look for your unique hardcover out of print edition booksellers. But that's one that I always recommend.

It's just one of the most joyous romps through hockey that I've ever read. But speaking of netminders, you're right. Dustin Wolf. No one's saying that he's wrong. Like everything that he said is right. We're just not used to hearing right after the game. The goalie essentially saying, I did my job. They didn't do theirs. If you're with the flames, how do you receive that one from Dustin Wolf?

Am I making too much of this, Pierre? No, I don't think you're making too much because that's kind of where our society's gone. Everybody's afraid to say stuff unless they're doing it surreptitiously on X. You wanted to do it in front of a microphone is a whole lot different because he requires courage and moxie, and you're putting your name to it. I really respect Dustin, just like I respected Anthony Stolars for what he said after the Leafs came on Saturday night. Here's the biggest thing.

This isn't the first time this has ever happened, and it won't be the last. Not so much with Dessal Wolf, but around the league. You know, I coached a guy named Tommy Barrasso, and Tommy was never for his name on anything. And there were no hard feelings in our room. Everybody said, that's Tommy being Tommy, but Tommy wants to win. There was nothing wrong with it. I was told a story by Scotty Bowman not long ago about the late Ken Dryden in 1973

when the Keyes were playing the Chicago Blackhawks in the final. You know, they hadn't had success in 71 with Al McNeil. Scotty comes in. 73, they play in the final against Chicago. That's Scotty's first Stanley Cup win. And Toad Blake went up to Scotty probably after one of the games in Montreal. And he said, listen, I'm not trying to start trouble here, Scott, but Kenner. went off on some of your defensemen and I think you're going to want to address it with Ken

and basically what Ken did is he called out the big three on on TV and you know there's no talk radio then so the big three was obviously Gila point Larry Robinson through the curse of art and he basically said they're not paying enough attention in our own zone something along those turns I'm paraphrasing well Scotty went up to Ken and said Ken we might have an issue here tomorrow I think we need to do something to fix it and so Ken to his credit went up and talk to Larry, talk to Surgeon, and talk to Guy, and they ironed it out, and the rest of history. They go on to win the Cup, and Brian goes on to be one of the most winning his goalers of all time.

I, uh, you would know better than me, but I fail to remember an era where the big three, or even a game where the big three weren't the big three. Like, that's the best troika of defensemen together in the history of the NHL. When you think about it, as a kid when I was. I was going up in Montreal, you know, 18 was Savard. And the point was like the perfect blend between Robinson and Savard. Because Guy could lug the puck. He was reamed the underrated defensively, and he could absolutely wire it.

Never got enough credit for a shot. And so they had all these other really good players around them, but the big three were the big three. And I asked Scotty about this when I coached and worked with him. I said, I remember Sabard taking face off. He goes, oh, yeah. Sometimes we would play four defensemen killing penalties. and Surge would take face-ups. Yep.

You know, like too many people know that. And that's just how good and how deep they were as an organization. I'll tell you what, I can, this is a few years ago. I went back and rewatch, the DVD series came out from the 1976 Canada Cup,

and I went back and re-watched it. And Pierre, Scotty's got, Scotty's got Larry Robinson playing, because it might have been against the USA. He's got Lay Robinson playing wing for a few shifts. I'm like, is that big bird? Is that bird playing wing? Oh, he had mixed it up all the time.

It was great. One of the things he used to tell me all the time was never let your players get comfy, cozy. They ensure that they understand that you're going to be different parts of the game. They help to get a wearer of. And so whether it was a defense from playing forward or forward playing defense,

I'll give you one better. You're playing the range in New York in 1992. And we were near the end of the year and we had already clinced our play opposition. And Scott, he says, we're going to work on our puck possession game. We're going to work on our face-off game. We're going to work on our shooting game.

So he goes, what we're going to do is when I give the cue, we're going to change our goalie on the fly. Oh, we did. Yeah, you know what's funny? I just talked to Rick talking about this. We did it. I know. We showed the video.

Yeah. So he was, so the story goes behind that too. How do we get on this? This is great. We started by Dustin Wolf. Now, so I talked to Rick talking about this last week on the show because he was in the lineup. He had a broken jaw and he fought Chris King.

Psycho, it's the last game of the season. And apparently, so I did a little bit of digging on this one. And so Scotty saw it. It would have been Toe Blake coaching. And the two goalies that did it on the fly were Charlie Hodge and Jock Plant. And that's where he got the idea. And it was always sort of buried in the back of his head. Yeah, if I get a chance, I'm going to do it.

I live there stuff like that. did and what we would do Scotty would say it on the bench and then as soon as you said it I'd hold my hand over my head and that was a signal to the goalie who was in the net to scant over and the change and that's how we would do it. So good. It's so good. So here

it becomes my question. A couple of things here. One any effect in that room. The other players here, Dustin Wolfe essentially. Now, by the way, the Calgary flames through like 38 shots on Dobish last night. It wasn't for lack of it. It wasn't as if they through like 19 shots and then sort of, you know, slinked off into the night, nightlife

in Calgary. Like, they were throwing pucks, okay? It wasn't for lack of effort. But if you're someone in that room, you're like, man, we gave everything last night. We just ran into a hot goaltender. What do you, what are you doing to us? Does that happen or do the guys just look at that and go goalie being goalie? Like, well, like I said, we had Tommy.

Tommy sometimes you'd say things about challenging players and guys say, that's Tommy being and Tommy, but they knew that Tommy gave its chance to win every single night. I think that a guy like Michael Backland, I think a guy like Mazum Kodry, probably pulls up with a sides of head. We're all in this together. We're all trying to pull the rope the same direction. It's not out of a lack of effort career and continue to improve, but you've got to be a teammate, too. So I don't think they're going to overreact.

I don't think they're going too much of it. But I love the fact that he had the hoodspot actually do it and put his name to it rather going surreptitiously, hey, you know, by the way, behind the curtain, say, We're not getting any offers from our boards. I read the fact he put it out there and he put his name on, his face on it. And I think his teammates are respected because he respect him because of it. One, six, and one.

The Calgary Flames to kick off the season. Goal differential of dash 16. Things are not going well for the Calgary Flames. Before I get into the Flames overview here, maybe the trickiest position to play during a rebuild is goaltender. How many good goaltender? have you seen just absolutely decimated by playing on a rebuilding team for a number of years. I'm sure the Calgary Flams are thinking, by the time this new rink arrives, we better be good.

So we need to get on this right now with a little bit of a tear down and a buildup as well. The new buzz term, by the way, Pierre, floating around when you're not going to tear the whole thing down, San Jose, Chicago style, is ethical rebuild. We're going to go through an ethical rebuild. We're still going to compete, but we're going to structure our team so we understand that we're not going to be competitive and not flirt with a playoff spot. So before we get to the ethical rebuild of the Calgary Flames, do you have a thought on the goaltender through all of this? I'm sure Dustin Wolf can see what's coming up here in the not too distant future. It's hard to do.

We started it. It's ironic that you're going to talk about Hartford and Quebec. They don't honor Michelle. We try to, Berkey, try to start a rebuild in Hartford back in 1990, 2,93. And Brian left after nine months to go work for Commissioner Bettman when he became the commissioner of league. And so our rebuild kind of got stymied right out of a gate. But one of the big pieces that we got from the New Jersey Dettles for Bobby O'Leek was Sean

Birch and another piece of Eric Weinridge. And so we were utilizing both those players as key components to try to rebuild this thing. And all I remember is Sean got hurt a lot because he was facing too many shots. We weren't nearly good enough as a group. And Sean eventually, I think it hurt him was a player, not because he was a bad player. He was exposed to way too much. And I remember my second year there, I was coaching, and Sean got hurt, and he didn't finish the last part of the year.

And Mike Leonard Doosie was our goalie of record most of that year. We had Mario Gossum, Mike Leonard Doosie. And it's because of injuries to Sean Burke. So you asked me about Congolius last through this. It's a hard thing to do. I don't know one that's gone from the start to the finish of a 100%. I just don't know of that. So do you think this is the week then?

I know we're early here. You don't make the playoffs in October, November, but you can take yourself out. It feels like the Calgary Flames. You know, a big game coming up against the Winnipeg Jets as well, second time this week to face off against Winnipeg. It feels like the flames are already. on the brink of calling it a season.

I thought last night through the first 40 minutes of that game, they were awesome. And then after Caputus scored, I was like, okay, they're in this. And then all of a sudden, I don't know if you agree with me, Montreal turned the engine up a lot. Yeah. After the tying goal, they went to a whole other level. It all started with Nick Suzuki.

And from there, you just saw they were on their heels, Calgary, Montreal was on their toes. I think they're going to have to look at something. You look at their prospect pool. You look at where they are as an NHL team. You look at the age of their top two center ice, right now, I got it that rebuild's coming.

Whether it's ethical or not, I don't know all that we do. Start spread it around, Pierre, the ethical rebuild. By the way, it's perfect. It's perfect. This isn't my creation, you know, it's in Ken Wilson's latest as well, and it's a sort of

buzz term going around a lot of people are in and around Calgary, the ethical rebuild. By the way, just as an aside, full marks to Dustin Wolf, did you not think that Nick Suzuki he had to tap in until that stretch bite. What a save by Wolf last night. Holy smokes.

He made numerous saves and he had a little bit of divine intervention with the polls. What really impressed me the most with his consistency level is athleticism. He's like rubber bandman. I know he's not as big as Jonathan Crick. But when I watched Dustin Wolf play, I'm Jonathan Quick. And I remember doing an interview with Jonathan Quick during the Stanley Cup final with New Jersey. And I said, you know, there were so many goalies. had different styles. Patrick White had his style.

Bordura had his style. Aschick had his style. You know, all these different goals had styles. Jonathan, quick, do you have a style? And he goes, yeah, I got a style. I think, do you think a lot of kids will try to copy your style? He says they can try, but they're going to end up in the emergency room. He's the, like, you remember him in 2012. He was best goaltender in the world.

The end, like full stop. He was incredible. He was the only goaltender. And no one was Hashek. Hashek, to me, was the best of all time. But the way that he would move around the crease and roll into your point, like, you're going to be in traction if you try to do what I do here. Just like jumping around.

I hadn't seen anyone since Haschik, jump around the crease the way Jonathan Quick does or did 2012. And I see a little like, quite frankly, with Dustin Wolf. You watch some of the way he's stressed out. He's not an overly large person. Jonathan Quick's a big man. He's a sturdy big guy. I'm really impressed by decibels I have been obviously for a long time

I think most people in Calgary to tell you he's one of the reason why you buy a ticket to go watch them he's a really good player he's excellent um speaking to buy a ticket Demandolph last night whether it was like in the in the three on three and how just the patience

the hip movement to get himself into that spot the laser beam past the tap in from Matheson is gorgeous too but again like Demadoff, when you talk about, you know, how many players would you pay to watch single-handedly? Like, the list is pretty small, but Demidoff's getting on that list. He's just flat out fun to watch.

Being a kid that grew up in Montreal, I'm being there for the glory days of the 70s in particular. I would just tell you one thing. There was nothing like the crescendo of noise when Gie LaFleur got the puck and full flight. There's nothing like anywhere in the league. Even when Bobby Hull had it, I can tell you, it was. Chicago Stadium would explode.

It was nothing like on LaFleur at the pub. I'm sensing that with them about it. I'm not saying he's there yet. In Montreal, where they've been starred for a star, a true star, this guy's a true star. He's not just a star. He's going to be a superstar. Mentioning Gila Fleur, 54 years ago today, October 23rd, 1971, LaFleur scores his first career NHL goal.

It's the game winner as the Habs win three to one over the Los Angeles Kings. that is a preview of what's to come on the program today with you and me, Pierre. Can I just share this in you back in the day I used to deliver the Montreal Star? Montreal was a two-paper town on the English side. They had the morning paper, it was a Gazette, and the afternoon paper was a Montreal Star. And the great late Red Fisher wrote for the Star back in the day. And I remember all these articles, probably halfway through a Fleur's first season.

Remember, it was a 20-year-old draft, then not an 18-year-old draft. and there were all these people that were down on Gila Flair. Oh, he's not ready, he's overrated, he's this. Totally. And to the point where they were thinking, they honestly were thinking of trading Gila Fleur. And the papers were unmerciful. And I was like, I was a kid.

It was that paper boy, living a paper, be like, I don't think you're living in hockey, but I think these people got it wrong. You know, you're miscreate. And sure enough, they didn't trade them. San Polarpe was in the dummy and Leo Scottie. and they kept him in the rest of his history. That was like the first couple of years of his career, too.

Like, it wasn't just like, they all expected right away he was going to, you know, show up for his overall pick and his late 80s. He's going to be John Belable. You know, he's going to be number four to ten. That's what they were counted. Yep. That's the new Le Grosbill. A totally different style of player and turned into one of the greatest goalscores of all time. And recorded a disco album in the process as well, a hockey instructional disco album, which is fantastic, too.

Okay, so elsewhere around NHL right now. Just a quick thought on Montreal. You know, one of the, and again, like, the Montreal Canaanians didn't decide their schedule. All you can do is play the teams that are in front of you. Like, I'm not a big fan of like, oh, yeah, but they've placed inferior competition. They haven't played like all these, you know,

traveling all-star teams in the NHL yet. Let's see what the big test is coming for Montreal. And I keep saying to myself, like, all you can do is play the games that are on the calendar. And all the games that are on the calendar, the Montreal Canes, that I'll go back to the first game where they should have beat the Toronto Maple Leaf. they were that much faster, but sometimes hockey happens. This

has been an impressive team. I don't know how far they're going to get. I don't know what they're going to do, but you know how we used to always talk about how the Oilers are must watch television. Nicole, you have to watch Edmonton. Pyrr, you have to watch Montreal now. Like, they are just that much fun to watch. Totally agree. And remember, they're doing this with

not a complete lineup. Like, for whatever you think, Caden Dooley is an important part of this team. Big time. Caden's hurt. So that means Struble's got to come in. That means Arbor Jackie gets more time. One of the greatest strokes they had as a management team is getting Alex Carrier from last year, totally changed the dynamic of their defense. Lane Hudson's a real deal.

When Lane Hudson, the DemiDowc get going off the high cycle, I think you know it's as much fun as anything to watch in the league right now. Nick Suzuki definitely wants to be on Team Canada. I think he's going to have a battle with probably three or four other guys. Mark Sheafley better be on Team Canada. I know we're talking about Winnipeg, but he better be just based on the start in his head so far. Canadians are so much fun to watch and people are saying

oh do they have a goalie controversy? No they're going to have a 1A1B now is one A going to be Matambo or is you going to be 1B and don't forget Jacob Fowler knocking on the door too Diane LaVos

they got so much going on there and they, to what you said to your point they are desperately important TV to watch if you're on. Okay, must-watch television tonight, retro style here. The Hartford Whalers facing off against the Quebec Nordiques.

Now, this is going to be a home-and-home between Colorado and the Carolina Hurricanes, where the Colorado Avalanche honoring their heritage wearing the Quebec Nordiques, the Florida Lee, the great logo, all of it, beautiful, and the Carolina Hurricanes responding insane by wearing the Hartford Whalers' jerseys. Now, I'm going to totally nitpick here. if it is a honor of the past night. And I was told by someone in the NHL. Like there's a process for this.

And it doesn't happen overnight. And it would involve marketing. It would involve sale. Like it's not just a simple decision. But the Hartford Whalers have three numbers retired. Number two for Rick Lee. Number nine for Gordie Howe and 19 for Pye, John McKenzie. The Nordiques.

Number three, J.C. Tromblay. Still flipping pucks like nobody else. Number eight, Mark Tardif. Number 16, Michelle Gouillet, number 26, Peter Stastney. Keandre Miller wears number 19, that's Pies. Kail Makara wears number eight, that's Tardif's. Should they wear different numbers? Yeah, I see your question.

If you're honoring, if it's like a heritage night, we're respecting the past. It'd be kind of cool. I was talking to Kevin Paul Dupont yesterday, the legend. and I said to Kevin, you know, the Bruns deserve a lot of credit for what they did with Brad Marcheam, the ceremony. It was no to the better old. I've seen it. It was really good.

And Brad clearly was emotionally involved, which I thought was precious. I'll never forget. I was a young college coach at the time when Raymond Bork gave his number seven. Jersey, the Jersey, look. Do you remember how he did it? Oh. Yeah. Yeah.

So anyways, I remember that. And I said to Kevin, I go, this was the best ceremony of the. Bruins have done since Raymond Bork gave up a 7 to Phil Esposito so they could put it in the rafters. And he kind of agreed with me. And so, I don't know why they couldn't do like a double number or something just for those one games. Just

to your point. I never thought about it, but I thought about what Raymond did and, you know, Ray went from 7 to 7 to 77. Why couldn't the guys just double up or change it up just a little bit, you know? If it's only for one night, again, like I'm told by some in the league that there's a long process,

I don't think either team applied to it to have it. Dougie Hamilton wore 19 once upon a time with the Carolina Hurricanes. He ended up wearing 19 when they went to the Hartford Willers for their heritage night. So there is a precedent that they're not changing numbers. But I don't know. See, whenever I think of, I'll be just be honest with you the pierre. Whenever I think about this kind of stuff, I feel like I'm becoming that old guy. And I don't want to become like the old grumpy guy. Like, oh, no, you got to respect Mark Tardeefe and you can't wear number eight and all that. Like, I kind of catch myself and say, as much as this is a

wink to the past, we should still have more of our eyes on the few. future of hockey? Like, this is a nice wink, and especially for you as a former coach with the Hartford Whalers, and I want to get there in a second. Part of me is always like, don't be the old grumpy guy. Like, don't nitpick all of this stuff, Merrick. Like, I don't know how to feel about it. I think it's actually got some merit.

I really do, Jeff. I like the, there's nothing wrong with being creative and thinking and respect in the past, too. Why do you think they retire numbers or as they leave to you, they honor numbers? They do it because they respect the guys that came before. I said this the other Dan's on the radio show, Montreal. I remember when there was rumors about Vinnie La Cavier leaving Tampa and maybe go to Montreal. And his number was always number four. And he wore it out of respect to Jean Belvoir.

And I remember whether Jean Belvoir or his wife saying, if he comes here, he can wear number four. And that's how much respect they had for Vinny. I don't think Vinny were to war for if he came to Montreal. I couldn't imagine John Belvoir or his wife saying it'd be okay if you were number four. I wouldn't have a problem with that. Pretty cool. It's pretty cool. You know, the whole deal, I was told by someone there, they were going to do it.

And both sides wanted it to happen. The issue was the Tampa Bay Lightning had some Quebec-based investors lined up, and they wanted to keep Vinila Cavalier. They didn't end up investing, but that's what held up the whole deal. Otherwise, Vinnie La Cavalier was going to Montreal. You remember that All-Star game when he got off the plane and the swarm, because everybody wanted Vinny in Montreal, right? And they'll look on Vinny's eyes like, oh, my God,

is this what it's going to be like every night if I end up in Montreal? Yeah, you know, it's really cool that now we're kind of getting off it, but Michael Matheson needs a contract. Michael Matheson, the guy from Dollar Desormo, Quebec, which is on the West Island of Montreal. He's an anglophone, but he's byring rule. I would say this, he's the greatest recruiting tool of Montreal Canes have right now. He's an Anglophone that came home, that's thriving, that needs a contract.

I think he'll do what John Tavares did in Toronto. He'll take less money to stay and be part of a winning group. And I just, if I were the Keynes, now that they've got all these other deals done, I prioritize Michael Mathis and get him done. And he's the guy that recruits, whether it's unilingual Anglophones, violent you know anglophones I would utilize him as a recruiting tool going forward

That is that's an excellent point It does sound like negotiations are at least underway I don't know how close they are Who knows by the time we go off the year this afternoon They might have already announced a deal who knows But there's obviously mutual mutual interest there And good for you for pointing that out as far as recruit That's one of the things we never really consider

too, right? Players that act as anchor recruiting tools for teams. It's one of those sort of untold, untold things around the NHL, but then whenever a player shows up, it's like, oh, yeah, I had this conversation with so-and-so, whether it's, you know, like Mitch Marner talking to, you know, Shay Theodore

or the Four Nations about Vegas. Like, that's not a recruiting conversation by Shae Theodore. You know where my real big moment of that was watching Detroit for all those years when they were a team that was always close, and they were always close. Then they recruited Spouty Bowman away from Pittsburgh.

Then they started recruiting the Russian fight. Then they started recruiting the suite. And then at the end, it was Nick Littstrom and you're in France and San Antonio Offinson, you should leave Ottawa and come playing in Detroit. And so Detroit was really the template, I think, for a lot of this stuff in terms of the recruitment process. And it worked. Look at the record, but Robert in time for all those years. From 1990, let's just say, you know, the 2009, the record is just insane. It's unbelievable. Yeah, a lot of Hall of Famers there.

A lot of Hall of Famers there. If we have some time, I do want to park at least the corner of this show and talk about Brad Marchand. But we're 30 minutes in. I haven't asked you about the Hartford Whalers specifically. I think we may have some screen grabs of Pierre McGuire as a coach with the Hartford Whalers, Zach, if you have any of those handy, like, please fire these up. They're absolutely, look at that. Okay, so do you remember that presser?

What was that one? Or was that just after a game? Well, that's why I just got hired. I had just flown in from Europe. I was overseas trying to sign a player of ours, Andre Nicolition. And I got a call, um, howly, a day or two into the trip saying, we're going to make a coaching change. Paul Homer's going to become the general manager.

We want you to come over, uh, and be the head coach. So I actually flew back from Europe. I think that's the, morning after I got back from Europe, I was, I think, at that time, I think I was in Finland when I came back to that question. So when you think of the Hartford Whalers, there you are in action, when you think of the Hartford Whalers and your time there, were the things that flash back to you right away? And one of the things about the Hartford Willers, too, I mean, that was part of the 1980 merger, 1979 merger with the NHL, Quebec, you know, Winnipeg come over,

the Hartford Whalers. This is part of Winnipeg Jets, the Avco Cup winners, come over. Boston, Boston, not thrilled with the plan. And it was the Boston Bruins specifically that relented. But the trade-off was the New England Whalers had to change their name to the Hartford Whalers

for territorial reasons, infringing on the Boston Bruins, and then they finally acquiesced. When you think of the Hartford Whalers, what comes to your mind? the passion of the fans the great Chuck Caden who was an amazing

he was an amazing broadcaster Jeff and I'd be in the office breaking down tape and we'd always have the voice of the radio guy Rick Peckman Rick Peckham excuse me and Jerry Chevers did the TV

Chuck did the radio but we always had Chuck on for whatever reason I don't know why but we did it was fantastic so I think of that I think of the CVS line that we put together with Castle Sanderson and Rubeek.

It was really one of the most underrated lines in the National Hockey League for two years. If you look at their point totals, Sanderson was plus, I think, back to bat, 40-go years. Rubek was so consistent. Castle was amazing. One of the year, I think he was an 80 to 85-point player. And they were really good. So I think about the CVS line and I think about Christopher Longwall at all time.

That was all on Brian Burke. He made a massive three-way deal. I'll never forget it. We were seeing in a hotel suite in Quebec City. And Berkey put together a call with Doug Grouchburn, Jack for our Doug in Calgary, Jack, and San Jose. And eventually got a three-way deal done and got Christopher Pronger to Hartford. And I was using San Jose's second overall pick. We traded five overall to San Jose that got them Victor Kozlov, I think, if I remember.

93 draft. Yep. You bang on. Burkey was the engineer of that. And Christopher was so good. And one of the things that I will always take away from that is the late Brad McClough. permanent. That press conference picture you showed me, I came back from that trip, and Chris and Brad weren't together then, and I went to Brad, and I said, can I talk to you for a second?

He said, yeah, 100%. I said, look, you're older than me. You got more experience in me. I have been part of Stanley Cup winning teams, but I want to ask you a favor. He said, absolutely, but is it? He said, we got this 19-year-old guy that you're going to be really good. And I was wondering if you would be his roommate, because at that time, Brad was the only one. guy in our team that could get his own room and he goes 100% not a problem i said how well playing with him so it would be my privilege it would be my honor then he hits me in the arm you know how strong brad was oh yeah he was the beast and he says um i'm pretty good at breaking guys in pierre said really why's that he goes well in philly i did marcal in detroit i did nick lidsstrom in boston i did

Raymond Bork, so I think I can hand it stronger. I said, you got the job, man. And that's a Bradman Creming to me was such a total pro and such a gentleman. I'll always remember having that conversation with him. It was

down in Avon, Old Farms, Connecticut at the prep school where our practice rink was and I'm forever indebted to the late Bradman Crenman. I'll always remember that as a great hockey. We'd play 60 minutes a night in the playoffs for the Brandon Wheat Kings. He would not get off the ice. The story is the Western

League of legendary. Oh, that was an incredible team, right? The one that won the championship, that Brian Prop and Ray Allison and Lori Boschman, they all had like 200 points each. You know, like, being Brian Propp had like 190 points one year.

Just insane numbers. Well, Propi, believe it or not, Propy, Tim Kerr and Brad McCrimmon were all Harley-Aler group back then. And that was Paul Holmgren. going back through his flyer days and Paul is able to recruit those guys to come in.

Okay. So one thing finally, and then we'll move off this one. So I put out the tweet a couple of days ago. I just like snooping around trying to figure out. Are they going to actually do this, the Hartford versus Quebec game? We'll see it tonight.

January 3rd is the second Carolina back home. And so I put, okay, so there's your answer. They're going to do this, you know, Quebec versus Hartford on Thursday. and I got a return tweet this is public not a DM and all it was

was a thumbs down from Chris Bronger really why was Christopher I don't know and now hang on I shouldn't say this I'm assuming that he's not a fan of Carolina wearing the Hartford Whalers

uniforms I know that there are some fans in Quebec City specifically that feel that the Colorado Avalanche haven't, you know, for years respected or reflected their history with Quebec. A lot of the comments were, look, Michael and Lowers and the Ottawa senators have done more for Quebec City than the Colorado Avalanche have. I'm just curious about alumni. I texted with Chris yesterday. We couldn't put it together to get him on the program. But nonetheless, I'm just curious, like, have you ever heard like alumni not liking the idea of seeing the whale back in the n hl i have not but

i will say this and i'm not going to give you the person's name but i got a text from an alumni from the quebec lardis who was a legendary player within their program and he thought it was a really good idea and he was really excited about it so i think everybody's kind of got the one opinion but davy chris is mad because when he was with hartford slash carolina they're the ones that traded him to san lewis so you know maybe he's upset about that i don't know all i can tell you this very comfortably chris pronger in his era was as good as anybody that was in a only position oh yeah he was so good i will never forget talking to him uh after the o two olympics in salt lake city and just telling him how proud i was you know the way he played the way he carried

himself at that point in his career was phenomenal. A quick couple of thoughts on a couple of things from this week. You reference your conversation with KPD with the Globe and Brad Marchand and that night and the tears and even Pastor Nax swelling up and Tralea McAvoy's got the lump in his throw. The whole thing was beautiful, right? And then the Florida Panthers go on to win the game in one of the

most unlikely plays are going to see. Roll off a floor peak. Oh, my God. Oh, man, peak. so so that happens um just like we've we've all sort of done the let's remember back to when bradmarshan first started with the boston bruins there were a lot of people and i'll put my hand up too yours truly included now i saw a fourth line guy that was getting under everybody's skin and was a pest and was you know here here's the rat and he's going to this is going to be his career but he's never going to be more than a bottom six forward and i was one of the guys that said that watching him early in his career and he's turned himself into a two-time Stanley Cup champion and has put together a hockey Hall of Fame resume. Did you see that when he started?

I didn't. Not even close. What did you see? Yeah, I'm going to tell you something that's going to blow you away. In 2007, I was part of Team Canada that went over to Russia as part of the Super Series. And I broadcast all eight of those games

for in Russia or in Canada. It was an amazing opportunity to get to know Claude Jure and to get to know Milan Lichich and Drew Doughty and Luke Shen and, you know, the list goes on and yet, like the list goes on and out. You know, all those different players, you get to know them all. But the guy that I enjoyed, David Peron, David Paul was on him. Marshan was a guy that I was so intrigued by it because you watched them practice.

The virus was on that team too. And I'll tell you a quick one about him and I say. And the thing that stood out about Marcheat was, Ron Sutter would put him on the Yeah, he's in shorthand situations, and he could bang go guys out there. This woman would be better than people think. And then the World Junior, the World Junior, if you remember that next fall, or winter, was in Chesquibouti of Vitsa, or no, sorry, he was in part of Vita. Part of Vitsa, part of it's in the Czech Republic.

And Marshang was amazing, World Junior. Giroux was really good. Dowdy was really good. Stamcoast was there for that World Junior. Tavaros was there. Marchant stood out of that. I'm just telling it. He did.

So I kind of always thought he was undervalued skill-wise. But let me tell you one quick, John Tobar's story. You'll like this. Sure. So he's practicing at the Wing Stadium in Moscow. And Brent is mad at the team. He's trying to set the tone for the rest of the event. So he says, everybody line up a stick length away from the boards.

And I'm like, he's not going to do this. And there's probably about a hundred people watching the practice. And none of them are from North America. They're from Russia. Yeah. Well, a sudden he says, Tavares, skate down the board. And he says, you guys better make this hard on him.

Oh, no. So he's skating the godland in Wing Stadium in Moscow. He's just getting filed driven in the boards. And John, to his credit, never complained about it. It was unbelievable. But Barshang was part of that team. He was way undervalued skill-wise, way undervalued. Oh, yeah.

Oh, absolutely. And turn himself into one of the best wingers in the NHL and his career is far from over. Thoughts of what's happening with the Maple Leafs right now. So I look at Toronto and I honestly, Pierre, again, it's early. We've already had the goaltender, call out players. Which is the sort of the theme so far of the NHL early season, whether it's Toronto, whether it's Calgary.

Golly's calling you out their teammates. I look at a, I see a slow team. I see a team that has skill, but I see a team that's really slow, Pierre. they are still. I'm going to do a couple things here. I'm going to talk about Austin Matthews, who's such an important player for this team. I know people don't want to hear about this in Toronto. He misses Mitchell Martin. I think Mitchell Martin misses him, even though Mitchell hasn't missed the beat. I think he misses Mitchell Martin. Matthew Nyes clearly misses Mitchell Martin. Matthew Nyes did not look like the same player. They've had three opportunities, fun about Toronto and Austin, or, yeah, Austin Matthews, to play against American players. twice with Detroit and Dillamarkin and once against New Jersey and Jackis. Larkin chewed them up and spit them out. Hughes chewed them up and spit him up

and mirrors Austin pushing back. He didn't push back once. They need him to be better. They need them to be better. So they need to find somebody to play in that line. I don't know who it is, but they need to phone somebody. I never thought I'd say this based on the way he played last year, Jeff. This is really important.

Scott Lotton was having a tremendous training camp. Yep. they've missed Scott Lawton since that's better because it totally ruined that they're slotting at the center ace position and now they're kind of lost. They're looking for an identity and that's why they look slow. Guys aren't reacted.

Guys are thinking and they're hoping to watch. Excellent point. Okay, let's get to this. I am so looking forward to this feature and I'm glad you can stick around for a couple of minutes to do this. So this is a future that we've sort of rebranded now

to Hungry for History, which is a presentation of our friends at Uber Eats, the app that has saved me as a father. Uber Eats is enabling fans to maximize their fandom all season long with exclusive game day deals on the app. From game day eats to paper plates and napkins if you're hosting to all the ingredients you need to make your favorite game day dip before, during, and after the game. Uber Eats is assisting every fan's hockey experience all season long. So the way this is going to work, I'll turn their recreation over. to Zach. And what Zach will do is he'll read out

a couple of sort of on this days and let's you and me just riff on some of the players that Zach talks about here. Zach, what you got? Okay, October 23rd in NHL history, 1966,

Bob Yorre scored the first goal of his NHL career in a three-two loss to the Montreal Canadiens and Gump Warsley, 19 80, Brian Trotier became the first player to score 200 goals as a member of the New York Islanders. In 1998, Mark Messier scored a 600th NHL goal, becoming the 10th player in league history to reach that mark. He scored twice in a 5-0 win against the Florida Panthers.

Okay, let me kick it off. So I want to make sure I get this in. This is one of my favorite hockey books. Gump Worisley here. So Orr scores his first goal of his career against Gump 3-2 Montreal Canadiens win. And there's a picture of, you know, gum playing with the Minnesota Nirstars. Now, the reason I love this book so much is I cannot imagine this book being written today. So this is Gump talking about his history, fudes with Rangers, coaches, time in Montreal, all of it.

And there are segments of the book. And I'll just read a couple. I just imagine Pierre, this being done today. So there's a segment of the book called Friends and Fos, where he talks, you know, glowingly about Jean-Bellevaux and people like that. And then not so glowingly about other people. people he has one segment called clubhouse lawyers and this is what he writes imagine this today leo reese was one of the biggest quote lawyers i ever saw operate and he never went to law school either i was with the rangers when they got him from detroit in the 50s he was a big gruff

defenseman who immediately insisted on running everything he was the oldest player but still you usually wait a bit after joining a new club before you start throwing your weight around naming clubhouse lawyers. But one of my favorite parts of this book is where he talks about, oh, and there's actually a really nice thing that he says here about Jill Malash, one of our mutual favorites. You have to feel sorry for this fellow. He's gone through hell with the seals just as I suffered with the Rangers.

Once he broke down and wept after being bombed in New York, he doesn't cry anymore. Maybe he's run out of tears. he could be at All-Star with another team. That's what he writes about Jill Malash. But here's a list I want. I want to know if you've ever been to these places. There's a segment in the back here

where he lists off all his favorite places to drink in every market. Let me know if you've ever been to the Ramada Inn in Los Angeles. No. Sam Hofbrows in Oakland. Definitely not. Devin Shire's Seafood House in Vancouver. These are all the places Gump got drunk. I definitely have not been there.

In New York, El Vagabondo. Yes, I have been there. They have a botchy cord in the place. Okay, good. Danny's Haven in Long Island. I have not. Sinatra's in Buffalo. I have.

Durgen Park in Boston. 100% down by Fanio Hall. Ringside Ranch in Chicago. No. I used to go to Gene and Georgetti's in the Rose Bowl. what? Lindell AC, I'm guessing that's Athletic.

Oh, Dill A.C. in Detroit. 100% used to go there with Chuck Caten all the time and you would get the hamburgers for probably $1.25 and the beers are like 75 cents. It was unbelievable. You walk there and they would put all the games on, even though there's no penalty. I don't know how they did it.

This is a great one on Lindel A.C. The Butsy Karras brothers, if you ever go look it up. Well, Alex Karras got in trouble for all the gambling. The two bowlers that he was involved with were the Bucci Caris brothers. They own the Lindell AC. So that's how I, yes.

So anybody that was in the NHL, you would go into the Lindel AC, yes. This is good. I'm finding gold here. All right. St. Paul, Minnesota, Gannons. Have not been to Gannons. The Cock and Bull in Montreal. Yes.

Track Club in Toronto. No. Tenderloin room in St. Louis. definitely not I don't even know if that existed when I was in St. Louis. Okay. And my last two might be my favorite.

Philadelphia and Pittsburgh? Drink in your own room. No. Gumpper. Gumpur's great. So I'll just tell you one quick, Gumpur one. Sure.

One great, when I first started in the media was 97. I was doing the games in Montreal and the radio. And in the summer, I would ask, or be asked, to go do all these different caravan things, whether it was golf or, you know, speaking at schools or whatever. And I love doing it. Sometimes it was in French, sometimes it was in English. And one time we were at a golf event, Yvonne Cornwall was there, Pierre Pilot was there.

There were people from all these different teams. It was really, it was a fun event. And I just remember Gumpur, he was the life of the party. he would like sit there and everybody would surround him and he would tell jokes and he was so funny and i didn't want to involve and one time he i don't know he must have said something about dick irvin senior and all the guys are like yeah yeah that's right that's right and i didn't know i didn't want to go down that road because i know dick will be there obviously yeah i don't want to go down that road and it was everybody was laughing like gump had them all howling it was unbelievable

that is yeah i've always said you know maybe you've been asked this question before if you could pick any hockey player from the history of hockey pre-Twitter to have social media my go-to is always gumped that guy would have been the king of social media no filter no filter in his book no filter in interview

no filter in in anything he would he would have been fantastic i think tommy barasso would have been oh yeah yeah no filter on tom Well, what Tommy would have done is he just He just would have picked fights with media all day Just would have gone back at all No secret that he hated us Like made that quite obvious

I remember at the time He was running at a practice And I don't know The drill kind of went awry and he goes Oh, that's a great job Your way to go Yeah, that's a good Yeah, they laughed

One thing You knew how to win You knew how to win 100% Right catch goalie One of the best ever listen on that we'll let you get on with your afternoon thanks for indulging me with that one just I'm like looking at this

and I'm like Pierre needs to be part of this like this is this is like the McGuire Merrick segment going away thanks for the indulgence much appreciate I look forward to talking to again here sir you are the best thank you so much for having me look forward to check take care there he is the great Pierre McGuire us here on the program, I got to tell you, Zach, that's just flat out a lot of fun.

Like, if we're ever, if we ever just, put this way, on one of those rare days where there's nothing to talk about, just let me and Pierre riff on stuff for an hour and just to that back and forth, start with Dustin Wolf and then somehow, I don't even know where we ended up in that conversation somehow, but like, dude, that's a sweet spot of the bat for your boy, Jeffrey here. That was a lot of fun. That was a lot of fun, Evan Piron. If there was ever a segment that could have been more perfect, or like that was just more perfect for you guys.

It's that one. Like, yeah, that was awesome. We didn't even get into, like, well, I wanted to mention some about Brian Trache, which was, and I think on your fact, she was the first Islander at a 200. We could talk about the Trotche hole. You know, the Trotier hole, because Mike Bossi used to always shoot five hole.

Trotche would always shoot between the arm and the body of the goaltender. Bossi want to, both these guys wanted pucks to go through goalies. Kelly really told me this once about Mike Bossy And I'm guessing Trache was the same way They didn't want to shoot around goalies They wanted to shoot through them And psychologically damage the goalie You want the goalie to think

Man, how did that puck go through me? Like if it goes around you, it's just like Oh shit, great shot. Like how am I going to stop that? But when a puck goes through a goalie, as they said, the Hanson brother said in Slapshot Got him right in the mind. Got him right in the mind.

The puck goes through a goalie. Just messes with your head. I can watch that movie again. I love that. Oh, by the way, quickly, General Sornness pointed out in the chat, which I love. This is hilarious. He said, Gump was once asked when he was playing with the New York Rangers, which team gave him the most fits? Great answer.

The Rangers. That's Dustin Wolf right now. That's Dustin Wolf. Hey, what's the toughest team? Flames. Flames. Gump did it first. All roads lead to Gump. I can understand, like, the love that I have for this guy. Because the thing that I've said before is Gump Worsley was the original Biznasty.

Like, he was Paul Bessonet before Bessonet came along. That's why if there was social media back when Gumpur was plying his trade, it would have been awesome. Essentially, like, when you think about it, and I'm just thinking about this now, like, I've never, this has never sort of dawned on me because I'm not smart. But the, the entire back of this book is essentially tweets, right? Like, because it's like two sentences on the Mahavlich brothers, two senses on Yvonne Cornyi, two sentences on Jude Bruin, Buster Harvey. Like, look at this. These are tweets. That is just a tweet.

It's worse in 191.0. Those are tweets. This guy was doing tweets in 1970. What did this book come out? 76? 75? When did this book come out? Yeah.

Oh, man. This book is so expensive now. And you want to see how lucky I am? It's tough. This book is like, go find it for 300 bucks. You're lucky. I got it in a discard bin. No.

For like a, for like a dollar. I know. Wow. You have gold. Gold on your your discount bins. It's like the Tarassoff book. I got up at the

hockey showcase for like two bucks. Road to Olympus. One of the best hockey books ever written. Long out of print. Fantastic. Anyhow. We'll do a show on books one day. But in the meantime,

we have things to do. We have the QOD, which has a visual component to it that you put together, which is lovely curated by Zach Philips. Time now for the question of the day, presented by the Ninja Crispy 4-1 portable glass air fryer. Check this out. Meet the first of its kind. The Ninja Crispy Portable Cooking System, the power of a full-sized air fryer in the palm of your hand.

So you can cook big or small batches. Just prep it, crisp it, serve it, and store it all in one. I'm still blown away just discovering that Gump was doing tweets. Meet the first of its kind, the Ninja Crispy Portable Cooking System. How many years to figure that out? Now you have the power of a full-sized air fryer in the palm of your hand. Just prep it, snap it, crisp it, serve it all in one container. This glass air friar is PFSA-free, thus no harmful chemical while chemicals while cooking. It includes a small, six-cup, and larger four-quart tempware container, whether you're whipping up quick, single-serve meals in seven minutes,

sharing crispy snacks on the go, or serving a crowd, the Ninja Crispy, makes it easy. Clean up, simple. All accessories are dishwasher safe. designed to nest for easy storage. Check out the link in the episode description or go to shark ninja.comia.com. The Ninja Crispy QOD today involves jersey matchups. Much in the spirit, Zach, and we'll turn the recreation over to you, much in the spirit of Hartford versus Quebec, which we've sucked a lot of oxygen out of the room this week

talking about this game tonight. It better deliver. Yeah. Yeah, better deliver. But when somebody throws you in alley-oop, you have to grab it and slam it. And that's what was given here today for us on the show this week and me in particular for this show today. So I put out the tweet, the question of the day, your favorite all-time jersey matchups. And we got some awesome responses.

Some I think people would expect. One of them was my jersey matchup. That was my favorite. But we'll start here. This one comes in from TXHT hockey, the Caps, Screaming Eagle versus the Penguins Robo Pen. these jerseys for both teams. I love the screaming eagle in red

more so than in white. And look at Joey Juno there too fighting Peter Ned Ved. Oh, that's a beautiful thing. Or competing with Peter Ned Vedet. And look at Juno wearing graphs. Look at that, eh? Juno's wearing the graph skates.

I wore graphs for two years. I wore graphs too. I ever had. You know what? Great boots. The blades like the blade holders. Yes, the blade holders, no, but no. But the boots, it felt like I was wearing, like, slippers.

I think Claude Lemieux bought, didn't Clude Lemieux buy that company? Didn't Clothe Lemieux buy Graff? I think he did. I think he did. Anyhow, Scream and Eagle versus Robopent. You know my favorite penguin's logo is the original one? With, like, the pot-bellied penguin with the scarf and the hockey stick. And then all of a sudden, like, everybody went through this wave where,

All of their logos, like, discovered CrossFit. And they all got just, like, ripped up and big chests and big shoulders and all that. Like, I love that original Penguins logo. The one with the scarf. The one with the scarf was the best. But this is from a certain vintage and a certain era. And you know, to PXHT Hockey's point here, that's a great look. Because you can identify exactly what that era was.

But, again, screaming you for me, best in red. Best in Red. What else we got? Quick note by that on Lemieux. He is a chairman and a public face as of 2011, but he didn't not buy it. Oh, he did not buy it. Okay, sorry. Eric or own it, yeah.

I thought maybe he finally spent his communion money and bought Graff. But now he's keeping that firmly deep in his pockets. Okay, in true hockey, in true hockey player tradition, throwing nickels around like manhole covers. Okay, very good. This one comes to Thomas at Sludge Williams. Yes. says gophers versus wolverines easy i love this one this is a pretty good one that's really no you know what yeah no notes no notes that's that's that's fantastic yeah that's such a great look

oh dueling cross checks to the head oh it's a beautiful thing oh yeah exactly good picture all the pictures to choose thomas yeah a couple of guys like cross checking each other in the face uh boys the big boys. How many conkeys you had? How many conkeys you had? I wonder why. Okay. This one comes in from general service.

Oh, man. Says kind of cheating, but this is an amazing jersey picture from the first round in the 1988 draft. I apologize. I'll butcher that name. Jeff.

You want to jump out. Curtis Lecissian goes third to the Quebec Nordiques. Mike Madano first and Trevor Lyndon, to your right, the only player here wearing a hat. and the other thing about this one about hats you know the burkey story about hats

no he never let's the burkey story do you know this one he saw it with Morgan Riley in 2012 he didn't when he was managing teams he didn't let players wear hats when they went up because he didn't want their first photographs in the jersey to be obscured with a hat

and he said Morgan I think it said Morgan Riley's family called him to thank him afterwards that they didn't have a hat on yeah Yeah, Berkey, because Berkey's got a code for everything, right? Like, Berkey's got a code for, like, putting his socks on in the morning. Berkey's got, like, Berkey's rules and Berkey's code. All these are the non-negotiables. That is great, too, from the Prince Albert Raiders, Mike Badano.

Then they drafted Link Gates from Spokaneo, the Western Hockey League as well, who was the muscle for Mike Madano. And he showed up at the draft with two. black eyes. And I think it was Lou Nanny. He had greatest draft picture of all time. And Lou Nanny,

I believe, I should check with Lou on this. The story goes that he saw him in the elevator at the hotel afterwards, carrying a case of beer on each arm. And as he walked into the elevator, Gates said, Hey, GM, when's training camp?

A couple of boxes of beer on a show. Anyhow. You don't just have to look at that and be like, I love this. Like, this is nice. General soreness. That's a strong one. That is strong.

That's very good. Yeah, that's a good. We got any more? Yeah, a few more that I want to show you for sure. Okay. So the next one, this one is my favorite. Not necessarily just because of one of the teams involved, but it's just the color is amazing. Brock's right.

Toronto Blues versus Detroit. I meant I think reds here. is always a classic favorite of mine, but their winter classic jersey matchup was perfect. Oh, it's in their regulars, but yeah. Every time these teams get together, they should wear these uni's period. One billion percent.

It looks gorgeous. I don't even care what the score of the game is, what the outcome. I would just be seduced by watching that blue and that red together. That's gorgeous. Yeah. There was a few other people, by the way. Yeah, it does look cold.

There's a few other people who pitched in and said just color matchups in general, teams wearing their colors rather than whites. The other one that I want to show you, this one says from empty barrels make the most noise. I don't know about best, but one of the worst was the ducks in Chicago. That did not look good. Sunday, this was bad. Yeah, that's not a good look. Sometimes it's just you got to think about what it looks like when you watch on TV.

I don't know what it was like in person. I wasn't there, so I can't speak to that. Maybe it was the most beautiful looking thing people have ever seen. On TV, it's a little hard on the eyes, Jeff. A little. That night was the, even though he was back with the Florida Panthers, that was the return of Joel Quenville, too, on the bench, even though he did return with the Florida Panthers.

But, yeah, the combination of red and orange, not a fan. Not working. Not working. Not working for me at all there. So tough. That one's a tough look. It's not just the orange. By the way, great handle.

Empty barrels make the most noise. I like that. That's kind of like near and dear to my heart with one of my other favorite cliches. It's always, and you see this on social media, and it's always the best comeback for a lot of people. take this one folks this was a gift from your boy geoffie here on thursday afternoon people bugging you on social media happens a lot by the way um it's always noisiest in the shallow end of the pool yeah it's always noisy i like that one a lot it's always noisiest in the shallow you get out to the deep end nice and quiet nice and quiet in the deep end all noisy in the shallow end can you can you confirm this uh

this quote here. General Sorness just said Lou Nanny quote. We drafted Mike to save the franchise. We drafted Link to save Mike. We should have drafted a lawyer to save one. Is that real? I didn't fact check it at all.

Just to be clear to people. I just read it. So Lou Nanny. Lou Nanny is one of my favorite hockey people ever. Lou Nanny was the best commissioner. The NHL never had. He should have been commissioner, or at least marketing.

director of the NHL at some point during his career, a supreme manager, a great guy, a great promoter, an amazing marketer, a genius, like all of it. I have like, when you think of the, think of like the people in hockey that you respect the most, Lou Nannies above all of them. Like, that's how, that's how highly I think of Lou Nanny. I spent Mike Russo one, one, I can't remember which event it was. I think a GM's meeting. when we were in Florida together, he arranged for me to have dinner with Lou Nanny, one of the highlights of my life.

And made sure we were sitting together. One of the highlights of my life. And I thought it was great. I hope Lou enjoyed it. All I did was like ask him all the questions that I ever had, questions that the things that my dad would tell me about. My dad was a big Lou Nanny fan too. Maybe that's where I get it from.

But I spent like an entire dinner. It was me, Rousseau Friedman, and a couple of nanny's buddies as well. and Rousseau's buddies. And I sat beside Lou and just, we just like three hours, three and a half hours for like apps, mains, drinks, cigars, all of it. Just talking old Minnesota nurse star stories. So long-winded way of me saying, I haven't heard that quote or if I have, I've forgotten it, brain cells and all.

But that sounds 100% like Lou Nanny. We should have hired a lawyer. 100%. It's good. I don't know if it's accurate. No, it does, listen. I just saw it in the chat and it sounds hilarious. It's a real something.

Everything's a real something. So let's just say that's a real something. I'm going to assume that that is an accurate quote because it sounds like something Lou Nanny would say. I love Lou Nanny. I always get a thrill, too. I'm sure you have people like this in your life. the every now you don't hear from them every now and then when they when they when they call you

and you look at your phone it's like whoa this is so cool it's going to be a great conversation whenever I get a call from loonanny like instantly get it the last time I got it I was in georgina uh I was in georgina for one of my kids hockey games and I was there looking at like all the players that played for the blaze Sean Walker and Chris churny and Aaron ambrose and then like bam hey Lou nanny and then I like vanished for half the you're watching your kids game no fucking talk to loon nanny like come on man

Lou nanny calls you answer anyway I don't if you get this but I really like Lou nanny a lot yeah I get tell fair enough so that's good do you have more pictures you have more pretty pictures I know we're kind of going broadway on the show here but

no the only other one was submitted by Willie and it also had Minnesota surprise surprise shocking against the Yeah, shocking. North Dakota. It was UND, Minnesota.

That was last weekend. Okay, let's finish things off here. We're back to having a lot of hockey games. It's Thursday after all. This is a Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday league. The sheet is powered by Fanduel. Play your game with Fanduel. It's the NHL season.

And Fanduil is your home for action on the ice. From Blue Line to BetSlipp, we've got you covered all season, with unique promos, live offerings, and more features. to let you play your game. Miss Puck Drop, no sweat, with a live, same game parlay. You can build your bets up until the final buzzer.

Download Fan Dual Sportsbook today and play your game. Please pay 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 1866-531-2,600, to speak to an advisor free of charge. What is tickling your chin today, sea dog, Philly? There's 12 games across the schedule today, and the ones that stand out to me are sharks, rangers, mostly because the rangers cannot score at home.

The sharks cannot win games. Yep, both things have been established early on here. Yeah, very good, very good. Yep. it's like the stopable force versus the movable object which breaks I want to see that

and then the other one that was jumping out to me is Habs Oilers for tonight Habs have just been so good so good and so fun to watch back to back from Montreal they're flying high

they're playing great this is a major test for the habs this one's massive yeah that's why I want to see this one really big test really big test of the Montreal talking to you tonight. Oilers are favored in that minus 220,

HABS plus 180, and then the final one that was really piquing my interest is the obvious Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche, or should we say, Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques tonight. It's not just the Jersey matchup. Like, I fully expect this to be a good game,

which is just, that's even better than just getting to watch something visually appealing on your TVs, watching a fun, hockey game with those jerseys would be nice tonight. It's going to be so cool. I having a conversation with someone yesterday about Carolina and we

got around to talking about Logan Stankhoven playing center and I think it's three or four points in six games breaking in. There's a couple of questions going into this season for Carolina. How Kandre Miller and

Alexander Neketian were going to fit on the blue line and how Logan Stankhoven was going to work out at center. And if it does, then all of a sudden, the Carolina hurricanes have solved a second line center issue to the point where, as much as, you know, like Carolina or any team for that matter, this isn't exclusive to Carolina. But for the purposes of this conversation, as much as Tulski is always looking to improve his team, I don't know how aggressively they're out there looking right now for a second line center. Like, stanko,

has done well. I don't know how long it lasts, but so far, so good for Logan Stan Kovin. And so keep your eyes on the guy that we're all married to as a winger because actually playing well as a second line center.

And what's the old saying? The best problems are solved internally. They don't cost you anything. So something to watch here with the Carolina Hurricanes. Anything we're leaving on the table today? Listen, the New Jersey Devils continue to look.

good and Jesper Brad is fifth and scoring and everything is going really, really well for them. If we can park some time tomorrow, I want to talk about Matthew Schaefer and the New York Islanders a little bit more. Just like a couple of quick points and the sliding door moment for the New York Islanders. We're going to get to that on tomorrow's program and then we'll see. Like, of all the 12 games tonight, which goaltender is going to lip off about his forward? Because we've had two

so far. This is the week of goalies speaking out. So this is the week of it. We talked, hey, listen, we talked about my boy Gump. I mean, I talked about outspoken goaltenders.

And Anthony stole ours. I got Dustin Wolf. Let's see which goaltenders. Like, Schurkin going to take a shot at the Rangers for not being able to score. Is he going to go, Timu Dustin Wolf on the New York Rangers

if they don't score again? Anyhow, that seems to be, as I said earlier, You know, the new hotness around the NHL goalies calling out. They're teammates. You got anything to add before you wrap? No, it's really exciting for us and media to be able to cover the goaltenders.

Going at it, though, I love it because if a player does it, another player, like the point you made earlier where the player could turn around and say, well, I can't make the saves. If a player says that a player could go back at another player and say, I could do this, et cetera. It's in such an island, as much as it's the team game, those two positions where it's like, one takes a shot at the other, it can get spicy with that. You know, you know, like, the next time that, you know, Dustin Wolf, like, surrenders five and the Calgary Flames lose five to four, you know, Matt Coronado's like, yeah, you know what? I had two plus two, but our goalie was hard to hit. I have my... Boom! Well, it's like Stolars did it, and then against New Jersey.

Now, granted, the team hung him out to dry. Oh, big time. One's is a little bit. But there was a couple where it was like, maybe could have been saved. That's like, oh, Stolley. Yep. What a way to follow that one off? God.

Yeah, that's the thing, right? When you do that, there better not be any clunkers. Hiddyhoo, as we say, thanks for joining. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. If you haven't already, please subscribe to our daily face-off YouTube channel. If you get a chance as well, check out some of the archives of this show and other shows. If you're listening right now on your Spotify's or your Apple Podcasts, thank you for the attention. Leave a comment, interact as much as you can on those platforms.

Always love the people in the chat and leaving comments, even after the show is off the air live. It still gets read and we're still interested in hearing what you have to say. Thanks to the great Pierre McGuire for stopping by the program today. Thanks for your attention for an hour and 15 minutes. I know we're being a little bit selfish with your time, but nonetheless. Thanks for the buns in the use of the hall. Tip your Zamboni driver on the way out. More cliches to follow.

We'll talk to tomorrow from Rochester, where I'm headed for the weekend. And then after that, we're back for a regularly scheduled program. But tomorrow, again, 1 o'clock Eastern, for more of the sheet. And don't forget tomorrow, DFO, live at noon. with Carter Hutton and your host, Tyler E. Remichhardt. Have a great rest of your day. We'll talk to you tomorrow. I'm not against those methods but new it's me and myself and how this is going to be fixing my mind

I do on the backer I turned on the music I do want to beckers I turn on the music Wasting up, help out and that you're sometimes losing In the dead dark night