The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Rick Bowness Snaps and Ovechkin's Future ft. Tarik El-Bashir

Episode Date: April 15, 2026

Jeff Marek is back with another edition of The Sheet, diving into one of the biggest looming questions around the NHL right now — the future of Alex Ovechkin. Marek is joined by Tarik El‑Bashir to break down what comes next for the Washington captain and whether Tuesday night’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets may have been Ovechkin’s final appearance in the NHL. The conversation explores what the next chapter could look like for the Washington Capitals — both with Ovechkin still in the picture and in a future where the franchise turns the page from one of the greatest goal scorers in hockey history. Later in the show, Marek reacts to the stunning post-game moment from Rick Bowness following the Blue Jackets’ final game of the season, unpacking the emotion behind his fiery comments to the media, why he chose that moment to speak out, and what it says about the state of the organization moving forward.#NHL #AlexOvechkin #Capitals #WashingtonCapitals #BlueJackets #RickBowness #Hockey #NHLNews #TheSheet #DailyFaceoffLeave 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.

Yeah, we're doing a show today. Yeah, all three of us on the Okinaw Valley trip, took the red eye last night. I can't guarantee, here's the thing. Hey, Zach, I don't know about you, but I cannot guarantee that I will stay awake for the entire show. I may just face plant at some point. This is my third cup of coffee.

That's on a regular day. I've been sucking this back ever since I got back and took the kids to school and did the life for his podcast. and put together whatever this is going to be today. What did you do? I got home and took an hour and a half nap, woke up, and we're back on with it. So I got a little bit extra resting between there than you did.

To be young with no kids, no responsibilities. It shows my responsibility. So I had to worry about that. Right, very good. The show is your child. That's great. It's great to hear. Exactly.

Really happy. about that. That's wonderful. That's great. What do we got today? We got a lot to get to today. And let me preface the whole show. I'm going to say thank you on behalf of the whole industry today.

Because everybody in the industry said the exact same thing last night, all at the same time. Thank you for giving us our shows today, Rick Bonas. Thank you for that because the moment he did the, when Aaron Portsline asked him the first question, you knew it was going to be good. Like he was going to wind up and he, there it is. Do that one again? You got that one again? That was the moment. Yes, that is the moment we all said.

Rick's given us our show. And every, listen, you've heard me say it before. A low hanging fruit is still nutritious. And yeah, my little pithy thoughts in on this one too. Everyone's going to get a whack at this pinata. Everyone's going to be at the trough of Rick bonus on this one today. But it is not all that we are going to talk about on. today's program. So let's get right to it here as we try to machete our way through a program

where neither of us have had really any sleep. That's my Rick Borness impression. The blueprint is powered by Fandu. Download the app today and play your game. How was it? Zach, was that a good impression? Tarak Al-Bashir standing by. What else you want to know? What else you want to know? What are here's this on the show today? Terak al-Bashir is going to stop by. He's awake. He knows what's going on. We're going to talk to him about things like Ovvetchin's future. What's next in Washington. We're going to talk about Rick Bonas. We are going to play that clip. And a few more times I'm going to go, you know what happens in that moment when you do that? What you're doing is you're sort of having like an internal calibration where you think to yourself,

okay, I'm resetting here. Am I really going to do this? And there was a moment when he went where he had that internal dialogue. Am I really going to go for it? Am I going to not go for it? Screw it. I'm going to go for it. And we'll talk about the CHL top 50 as well. That's going to be the program today. But we'll get to the very end with a, falling a slate, packing it in early? I don't know. Well, I'm just going to have to see what happens. Let's bring on Terek.

I love talking to Tarek Elba Shire. And you know what? You know what's interesting? Tariq, thanks so much for stopping by the program. You may be the only person who's really awake today, by the way, because Zach and I were red-eyeing back from Kloni yesterday. But so let me ask you something here. When you, we're getting to get to caps here in a second. but when you saw Rick Bonas last night,

what were the first things that went through your mind? Because that was like an all-timer. That was a guy that was just like just emptying the tank. Season's over. Contracts done. I'm 71 years old. My legacy in hockey is cemented. Everybody knows me.

Most people love me. And Bones is pretty tough not to like. I'm sure a lot of those players don't like them right now but like what went through your mind when you saw him like just unleashing on his players? So Jeff, thanks for having me on. I actually covered Rick a little bit at the start of my career. I'm older than I look.

He was a replacement coach, I want to say midway through the 97, 98 season for the Islanders when I was a cub reporter for the New York Times. So I did cover him a little bit. And he was really transparent and honest. Yes. That's Rick. Yeah, did not hide his emotions.

I do remember that from 25 years ago. So I was on the post game show for the Capitals last night. So I didn't see this in real time. But my phone started kind of blowing up. Just, you know, the beat writer text thread and other threads that I'm on. The barking chain. We call it the barking chain. Tera gets the barking chain. That's what it is.

The barking chain. Exactly. So I quickly tuned in and clicked and I was like, wow. You know, at the beginning of my career and Jeff, you've been around a long time, you heard outbursts like this from star players and from coaches more frequently back, you know, a couple of decades ago. Guys are now so polished and so conscious of how their words are going to be perceived in the media by fans. They're so coached up by PR guys and ladies that you don't get that unvarnished emotion anymore, at least not that often. That's so true.

So I feel like when I went back and I listened to his entire press conference, it reminded me of like a throwback, right, to what you would have heard after a bad season-ending loss, you know, 20 years ago. And he spoke from the heart. And honestly, I've been doing this for a long time, and I sometimes feel bad for players and for coaches. I don't feel that bad, but sometimes I do feel a little bad, that in the heat of the moment after collapsing down the stretch or being eliminated in double overtime of a game seven, they're still sweaty and angry and tears are kind of welling up in their eyes.

And now they have to sit in front of cameras and reporters and answer questions. You know, I know there's a cool-off period. Some people take longer to cool off than others. And look, I have to imagine that Rick is probably regretting some of what he said yesterday. You know, like you said, he's 71 years old. His legacy is secure in this game. This is not the first outburst we have seen from bones, right?

Like he's done this before. And the part that really stood out to me was when he said, I should have done this a month ago or something along those lines, you know, to maybe shake the guys, you know, when they started this kind of malaise and kind of downward spiral. Because for a long time, I thought Columbus was going to be a threat in the playoffs. And now they're not even in. And I'm sure he was really frustrated.

And I know a lot of players, you know, it's funny, players don't usually watch the post-game press conference. but their wives and their moms and their dads do. And then they get like a text message going, whoa, Bones was really hot tonight. Here's what he said. And then they go and they watch it. I'm sure there were some guys who were probably a little upset by that. I saw right before we came on, Zach Werenski's breakdown day interview, scrolled across my phone.

So, you know, best player in the team, star player. You know, he certainly, you could tell he was upset and was very, treading very carefully with his words, which is probably the right move. But, you know, it's funny. As media and as fans, sometimes, you know, we complain when we get what I say are in the bubble comments from players and coaches.

Like, you know what they're going to say. It's almost like it's just scripted and they're just going to, they're just going to say some words and then head off to the showers. There's a strategy. I've always looked at it. I go in there with a strategy to sound like you're saying something, but ultimately say nothing because that lets you get on with your day. That makes the rest of your day peaceful.

Right. Right. And then sometimes we also get upset when they go in on their players or, you know, or on their opponent. And you can't have it both ways, right? Like you either want the unvarnished kind of, you know, stream of consciousness, how they're feeling in the moment, or you want the PR dribble that we normally get.

So, I mean, You're right. Everything that Rick Bonas said yesterday, that's going to lead every hockey show all day, maybe for the rest of the week. I mean, it's red meat for guys like me and you, right? Oh, it's a, it's with a, with a big fat protein shake beside it. Like, that's what that thing is, man. It's great. And there's a, and like, the thing about it, too, is like, it depends on how you look at it, too.

Like, there could be multiple layers here to this whole thing. Like, I'll be honest with the tech. When I first saw it, the first thing you do is like, wow. like you're stunned at how blunt Rick Bonus is being. And by the way, I swear we're going to get the caps here. I swear, I swear, I swear. But your blunt, his bluntness is jarring. To your point, because so much of what you get is, you know,

right out of central casting. Okay, this is what a hockey player is supposed to say. Go, you know, be a hockey player and say these things that hockey players are supposed to say. So that's jarring. But then you go back and you go right back to that initial. where in that moment, that's kind of like his brain spooling, and he's deciding internally, am I going to do this or not? Am I going to do that?

Because he's buying himself some time, just a couple seconds, and then he just says, screw it, I'm going all in. And he does that. And I kind of, and maybe this is just like being cynical about the whole thing. Not that I think this was his intention, but I think you can make the argument that by doing that, he was maybe getting himself another contract because he was articulating frustration.

Like regardless of the words that he used in the targets, and I want to get in a couple of those in a second. But what he was articulating was a reason to hire him because he was articulating the frustration that the fans feel. Like you look at Columbus Blue Jackets fans. They will be the Kool-Aid man going through a wall for Rick Bonus. Look at this. He's not standing for it either.

There's nothing canned about. this he's not making excuses he's being like and Rick's gonna change like yeah let's go Rick like honestly one of my thoughts tarick was like if you are the general manager don Waddell who's been around a long time as you know what are you thinking are you not thinking like oh he's painting a Picasso here this is this is him getting everybody on his side because he because he keeps mentioning I don't know if I'm back I don't know if I'm back wink, wink, but this is going to be my audition tape for why I should come back. Because if I'm coming back, this culture of losing is, like.

That was the key word that I really seized in on was culture. Yeah. Because that resonates with fans and I'm sure with management. 100%. 100%. Yeah, I've got a couple of thoughts there, Jeff. Number one, and you kind of alluded to it a minute ago. Usually when there's an outburst like this in the media,

it's been building for a long time. I can't imagine every player in that room was like, oh my God, he's been so cool and nice and calm all this time. Where did that come from? A lot of them were like, yeah, we've been heading down this bath for a while. He finally blew off some steam there. And, you know, the other thing is, you know, whenever you have, whether it's a job or a relationship,

and there's some turmoil, I feel like Bones kind of just put his cards on the table. It was one of those things where this is either going to get me extended or it's going to get me fired, but I'm at the point where I have to make a stand. I have to, again, put my cards on the table and let the chips fall where they may. And I think that's exactly what he was doing with that statement. Two things. One, the culture thing is the one that grabs you.

Like, that's the one that, like, that's the one that, like, grabs you and pushes you up against the wall. 100%. there was something else that was really subtle in here. When I think it was Aaron Portsline who asked to follow up about what changed. Because the team was going great. All of a sudden it's like, here comes CBJ. You know, Bones takes over from Everson. It's a different voice.

You know, Marchenko's scoring, Fantalia scoring, depth guy, Dan Hinen scoring goals. Like all of a sudden, you know, younger players are starting to produce more. And then the Olympic break. I actually started a little bit before the Olympic break. And the team nose dive. And he was asked about this. Now, I was always, and I've always been told that one of the worst things,

maybe the worst thing you can say to a hockey player is call them soft. That is like, whoa. Yep. But when he was asked about what changed, he didn't use the word soft, but he said it got too hard. To me, that was him diplomatically saying, we were soft. Did you take the same thing? Because when you say it was like, oh, it was too hard and these guys, these guys wouldn't

battle like, oh, like that's that line. Like, you're right. Soft is the line. But I'm thinking he kind of said that. He just didn't use that word. He just said it in a different way. I totally agree. And when you say, to me, there's two things that make.

a pro athlete sit up in their chair and maybe challenge you back. And that is when you question their toughness or whether they're able to be mentally tough and get through some adversity or a hard stretch, as Bone said there. And when you question work ethic, when you say they aren't working hard enough, those are the two things where, you know, a pro athlete, I don't care if you're an NFL room, NBA room, NHL room, they take a step forward. They go, what did you say? that really that really is the thing that as a reporter can get you in a lot of trouble

you're very careful if you're going to play that card you better have some you better have some stats and some information and some off-the-record comments to back that up because those are the those to me are the two things that really can set a pro athlete or a pro coach off it was it was a fascinating I don't know what to call it other than

part of it was like it was wonderful hockey theater. Like we're used to John Porter or at least a John Tortorella, right? Like going going nuts sometimes on reporters. But that was a unique one. Now, let's not lose sight here of the fact that this happened after a loss to the Washington Capitals. Like here's the thing, Tark.

I don't know the last time, and I refer to these games as potato chip games. He's like the empty calorie games. I don't know the last time I saw a potato chip game have more stories come out of it. than Columbus, Washington last night. Not just bones, but like, and we knew it going in that it was going to be a story, obviously, but it's like, did we just see Alexander Ovechkin for the last, like this is, this is the quote unquote, last game, throwaway game, who care, like it's, it's all over,

and there are so many stories that came out of this bag of potato chips that, you know, the main reason I wanted to have you on was to talk about Alexander Ovechkin, the future of the capitals. The Rick bonus stuff, that's just bonus fries. And so that's a wonderful conversation too. But the way that I've been looking at it, let me know if you feel the same way. Along the way here most recently, Alexander Ovechkin has left enough sort of like breadcrumbs to satisfy the group that think he's coming back, that think he's not coming back,

or thinks that he doesn't know what his decision is going to be. Like there, there's enough clues in there that you can go, aha, look, he's coming back. or aha look he ain't coming back or aha look maybe he really just doesn't know yet like it's everyone's got their little flavor puck of what they think they're going to they're going to get here and they got it but there's enough to spread around for everybody so I I can't make sense of it I don't know other than maybe I just I just suspect that he doesn't know what do you think you're there every day I'm here you're there you know better than me what are you thinking I'm going to go with the elephant behind door number three, which is he doesn't actually know. And I've got a lot of

thoughts about this. And I feel like it's very wise of him to kind of tap the brakes on, you know, going down a road that maybe he's not totally comfortable going down. Because it's impossible to put the toothpaste back in the tube if you tell everyone you're retiring with a few weeks ago. Look, I was a young reporter in New York when Wayne Gretzky called it a career. And so I've been through this a little bit. I was there in Ottawa when he said goodbye to Canada. And I was there at the Garden when he played his final game in the NHL. And so what I witnessed the last two games with Obie was, to me, kind of reminiscent of what I saw back in, what was that, 1999.

I really don't think Ovi has totally made up his mind. Now, I'm not naive enough to believe that he's just started thinking about this this morning and he's going to come up with a decision in the next few weeks. I'm sure this has been weighing on him for a very long time. It's a very big decision. But people that I talk to in and around the organization and I trust, and someone I heard from as recently as a couple hours ago who would know if, Alex had made up his mind said, I don't know. We don't know. He hasn't let us know. And we're not

going to push him. We're going to give him the time and the requisite amount of space. And we're going to support him. However he needs us, if he does, and we'll be ready when he is comfortable and confident to say, hey, guys, I thought about it. I've talked to my trusted advisors. I've talked to my family. I've reflected. And here's what I've decided to do. And he just hasn't arrived at that moment. Now, I'm also told from people in the organization that the caps are, I mean, they are one of the better teams when it comes to being prepared for an offseason. I mean, they manage the cap really well.

They make good, good, true decisions in free agency, one of the best scouting departments. They are very solid as a front office. They've got two plans. They've got a with-O-B plan and a without-O-B plan. And as soon as he gives them the word, they will be able to adjust and adapt their strategy to whatever number eight decides. And an interesting point that I also heard was, you know, if he does say, hey, I want to come back

and they're able to kind of work through what that looks like and what his role will be, I was told that, you know, and I know there are a lot of fans out there, like, oh my God, if he comes back, he's going to demand this much money and that's going to hurt us from a cap standpoint. That's going to hold us back

because we can't go get the players. No, I was actually told that the cap is accelerated. so much and there's so much space in the system for the capitals, they could sign him to, to a, you know, a deal kind of where he's at now or maybe even a little more and still have enough money to go get the pieces that they feel like they want to pursue in pre-agency. So, you know, they don't look at this as, man, if he comes back from a cap standpoint, he's really going to be, you know, an albatross. Not at all. They are of two minds. I mean, they feel like they can absorb that cost in silver,

improve the team. But the big question is, roll. Can they agree on what that is going to look like if OV decides to come back? I got to imagine that they're going to want to know. They're not going to push

them, but they're going to want to know before the draft is what, June 26, 27th in Buffalo. They're going to want to know well in advance of that. So they can start, you know, having some more confidence when they're talking to other teams about trades. and other things.

So where are we at here? April tax day, so April 15th. Yeah, 15th. Yeah, so, you know, you got, let's call it four to six weeks before he really needs to start telling them, you know, how he's feeling and what direction he's leaning in. And then probably, you know, pretty soon at the end of that six weeks, he needs to kind of level up and tell him what he's going to do. So circling back, Puckpedia has it at $34 million in caps. base, to your point. Like, no one's, no one's dent in the car here.

Okay, like no one's, no one's dent in the car. The other thing that I wonder about, like, to your other point, too, like at a certain point, the question isn't if it's when, and that is when are you going to tell us? Because you can only be frozen for so long. Like, you know, one of the reasons is you all know, just so our viewers and listeners understand. When a player offers, when a player gets offer sheeted, the general manager has a week to either match or, or, you know,

or let the player go. And managers use the seven days because they want to freeze out the other team from doing business. Now you don't know. Now you don't know what your budget is. It's strategic. But when it comes to a situation like this, like there's only so long that Chris Patrick can be frozen.

Because to your point, you don't want to start executing plan B and then plan A comes back because OV now is all of a sudden decided, oh, you know what? but I am going to come back. So I don't know when that, like, I'm sure that Ovechkin and his mind has a drop dead date and maybe it sinks up with Chris Patrick, you would hope. I think that that would certainly be, you know, one courtesy to give to the Capitol's organization

if you're Alexander Ovechkin. The other thing that I wonder about too is, what for Ovechkin, what is the most important conversation? Like, who is it with? is it with Chris Patrick? I'm talking about like with the capitals organization. Is it Chris Patrick? Is it Ted Leonces? Or is it, and this is the one thing that I've wondered about lately,

is it with Spencer Carberry? And maybe the main issue isn't so much, you know, decimal point. It's deployment that we should be talking about the D words, decimal point or deployment. How does Spencer Carberry see him fitting in? Because let's face it, like over the last little while, I think we've all gone back and had looks and seen highlights of young Ovechkin. Now, age gets all of us. But like, man, he was just a force of nature when he played.

He's not that player anymore. But still, like, I just wonder how much of the conversation revolves around how Spencer Carberry is looking at deploying him next year and how much is that influencing his decision. Does that make sense? Yeah, absolutely. I would say, you know, he's got a lot of respect for Ted. They're very close. I got to imagine there'll be a conversation there if it hasn't already happened. Or, you know, it'll probably continue to happen over the next little bit.

I would say, just knowing what I know about Alex, he's probably curious about two things. He wants to know what is Chris's plan. If I do come back, how are you going to improve this team? Who are you going after? Are you going to be able to get us the pieces that can make this power play better? you know, what are, what is the plan for our team? Because if I'm going to come back and go through an offseason of getting my 40.5-year-old body ready, like, you better tell me that we're going to make the playoffs next year.

And then the conversation also with Spencer is, okay, well, clearly I've lost a step, maybe in a step and a half. But I still led your team in goals, in points, in shots on goal, in expected goals, in slot shots, in cycle chances, and forecheck chances. I'm still a productive player. I figured out how to still be productive even at my advanced age, which is a 40-year-old here, advanced age. You know, I still have something to give.

How are we going to meet in the middle? Because clearly my ice time was going down towards the end of the year. And that's probably going to be the harder conversation. I think the one with Chris won't be as hard. I think the one with Spencer is going to be a little bit harder because, I mean, you know, just watching 82 games this year, you know, again, I think there is a compromise to be had.

Maybe it's Alex, you're going to play 13, 14 minutes. You're going to be third line right wing. Two minutes on the power plate, that's not happening anymore. You know, we're going to have to manage that a little bit differently so we can be better on entries. And we can take advantage of some of our faster young players that we're starting to transition to. If you're Alex, and this was not part of your question, but if you're Alex, you have to be. be inspired by the way this team finished the season. They missed the playoffs because the power play stung for the first half of the year. They missed the season because Pierre-Luc Dubois missed

a couple of several months. And there was a stretch in January where PLD was out, Tom Wilson was out, and Ilya Proto's out. That's an entire line. That's your entire first line, essentially, was out. And they went like, don't quote me on this, but like six, eight and two or something. It just wasn't good enough. And it was their busiest and kind of the turning point part of the season. I remember at the end of December, even Coach Carberry told the media, we're going to know all we need to know about our playoff chances in January leading up to that Olympic break. And they didn't pass the test. And they were playing catch-up from there on. And they just weren't able to make up enough ground. And so if you're Alex, you have to be inspired by the way that this team finished

from mid-March until now, not only did they play very well with a few hiccups, I mean, you know, the St. Louis, New Jersey Rangers, there were some losses that weren't great that hurt them. But you have to be looking at Ilya Proto's and Cole Hudson and Ryan Leonard who hit 20 goals going, all right, well, that next generation of guys is here. Like, we could actually be very good next year. Maybe I won't be the headliner anymore. Yeah. But I can still find my fit, find my role in this team and help guide these young guys back to the playoffs. Because, and he's still having fun, man.

He still got a smile on his face. And you listen to those comments last night and we had him miced up on Monumental. He was calling, he was yelling at the referees, too many men. That was a slash. How did you miss? I mean, he didn't sound like a guy. You know, he was yelling at Dylan Strone for not yelling at TVR because he missed, you know, And, you know, they miscommunicated on a breakout pass.

Like, that was not a guy who was ready to walk off, you know, skate off into the sunset. That sounded like a guy who was still leading his team in the battle all the way until the finish line. So, I don't know. That's a lot of words. Yeah. No, no, no, that's good. But it leads me to, it's someone that I'm kind of embarrassed I haven't thought about before. And that is, and let me give this like a pretentious historical backdrop.

1, 1971. Jacques Plont sets the then safe percentage record in the NHL. I believe it started calculating safe percentages, like, I want to say like mid-50s, maybe early 60. But anyway, so he sets a 9-44, okay? Which like ungodly, wow, incredible. It's insane safe percentage record. Until you peel the onion back a little bit and you go like, oh, hold on.

So he only played 40 games. And then you peel it back even more. And then you realize not only did he just play 40 games, but as a way to entice him to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs, they allowed him to choose the games that he played. I'd never heard that story. It's Jacques Plant. Listen, it doesn't diminish how great he was one of the greats.

Full stop, last call, good night, all of it. Jacques Plont was one of the finest. Great stick handling, goaltender, all of it. Just tremendous goal. But are we to assume that he would only be interested in playing, I almost said 82, but 84 games next year? Or do we see, would he even entertain the idea in the era of load management, Tariq al-Bashir, that he plays a reduced schedule?

Or is it 84 or bust? Knowing Alex, knowing Alex, it's 84 and bust, I mean, 84 or bust. I mean, he played all 82 this year at 40 and a half years old. Jacques Plont was 41. Every single game. Jacques Plont was 41 in 19. You know, as we're speaking about all-time greats, let me bring up another point. A guy that Alex Obechkin has looked up to his entire career and has mentioned to me on a number of occasions that he admires and really respects his longevity is Yarmur Yager.

What did Yager do? He played until his mid-40s. Yeah. He, and was productive into his mid-40s. He just signed a one-year deal every summer. he kind of woke up and was like yeah leg's still here i feel all right you know all right hey on gm i'll take that deal you put on the that you uh that you put in your top drawer um on breakdown day i'll i'll take it i mean i can't hang on i can't i can't see him do like i can't see him doing like hockey

nomad and just like go like yaggar like no Dallas here boston there philly here calgary maybe a little bit of Florida. I'll get a, I can't see it. Jeff, to be clear, he's not playing for another team. It's going to be for Washington. I just wonder if, I just wonder if he feels like he's just going to go year to year, just kind of see how things go. I mean, evergreen. I can't, evergreen deal. I can't see him. Yeah, evergreen deal. Yeah, I can't see him play two or three more years. But just the way things ended the last two days, I would say a, week ago, I would have said, yeah, this is it. Oh, my God, this is it. I mean, we all knew this was coming, and this is it. And what I have witnessed over the last 48, 72 hours has kicked open

that door a little bit. That door is ajar now. Now I'm going, I don't know. I mean, he literally said last night in his post-game scrum, hopefully it wasn't my last game. I mean, I wasn't referring to Moscow. That's what I thought. I don't know. That's what I thought. That's what I thought. That's what I thought. He also might have been referring to 84 games with the Washington Capitals next year. I don't know. It's fascinating. Like he's always been one of the most interesting players in the NHL, like from day. Even before, like, again, like, I keep going back to like that World Junior Tournament in Halifax where Russia won goal.

Like there's a mystique around him that has, that has never dimmed, right? And here we are. And we're still guessing about. what's next for Alex Ovechel. Well put. Anything you want to add before we let you go about either the Ovechkin or the cap season, anything top of mind for you, a couple of things. Maybe things that, you know, outside of Washington hockey media we've all slept on or missed, anything that you want to put on the table or remind people of.

You know, I would say the one thing that I think folks that don't watch the Capitals on a night-to-night basis the way I do, and I know you watch every game, night. I don't know how you do it. Don't sleep. It's no sleep. It's no secret. The fact that when we started thinking about Obie coming to the end, and

again, we don't know what he's going to do. Everyone kind of assumed there was going to be this long, cold winter in D.C. Like, it was just going to be a wasteland of 70-point seasons for a few years until they could somehow win the lottery again, or, get a second or third pick and go

get that transformative player again. And kudos to Chris Patrick and his front office for the free agent signings they've executed over the past couple of summers and to the scouting staff for identifying young players because this pipeline was not very good three or four years ago. It's one of the best in the league now. And this team's in good hands. I mean, we'll see what Obie does. but Ilya Prudis is going to be a player.

Cole Hudson, I mean, is he as good as Lane? It's really early. He's only played 14 games. Different play. I know the accent is on skating, but still a different, a different player. Like, he's a great skater in a different way.

In a different way from his brother. I think he's going to be a multiple-time All-Star and a game changer in a different way than Lane. Ryan Leonard, I thought he was going to score 15 goals this year. He got to 20. You know, I think that Justin sort of. I don't want to forget him. I mean, he was pencil in the fourth line right wing when they acquired him in the summer.

He also got to double digits and goals and was on the power play. So this team's young players have, they exceeded expectations here this season. But I think that that next group of young players is really going to, float this capitals team for for a long time and um i i i do feel like ovi is sensing that and seeing that and that's making maybe this decision a little bit harder you know it's interesting you mentioned yarmur yager with with alexander ovechkin because you could make the argument that the reason the capitals have ovechkin is because of yager just how miserable it was and i remember those caps and you remember them too where yager wouldn't even do a line

rushes with his teammates in warm up. What is going? I just sour. Just miserable in Washington. Jeff, but my career, my career with the Washington Post began with the end of the 0304 season. That was the tank year, because they knew there was going to be no hockey the next year, the tank year to get OV. Yep.

The guys that played on those teams in those last seven or eight games, never played another game of pro hockey anywhere. It was, George McPhee put on a clinic of how to, how to tank and get to where you needed to be, and then they won the lottery, and the rest is history. So Tim Murray tried to do with the Buffalo Sabres.

Tim looked at George. Oh, yeah, that's the good stuff right there. That's how you get your player. Terrick, you're the best, pal. Great job this year covering this team, and the coverage continues, and there's draft on the horizon and free agency, etc. Continued success. We'll check back soon.

Thanks, Jack. Tarak al-Bashir covers the Washington cap and he's capitals and he's been doing it for a long time too. It's, we don't know. We don't know of Etchen's decision, obviously. None of it. It's as clear as mud at this point. Again, clues, clues, clues. Oh, I hope it's not my last game.

Yeah, but does that mean in North America or does that mean in the KHL? We still don't know. You have a thought on any of this? Zach, I want to talk about CHL here in a couple of. of seconds, but you have a thought on either Caps or Vetchkin. It's always a big story when one of the greatest

players to ever play is poised to leave. And we still don't know whether it's going to actually happen or not. And he doesn't want fanfare. I've been really wishy-washy on my stance on whether he's coming back or not. But the most recent one that I've landed on is

you guys didn't really necessarily say this is your conclusion of it, but it was something you alluded to in that he's not done playing hockey it's not his final game playing hockey it's not his final season playing hockey oh you know i hope it's not my last one and i was kind of like okay i could feel this going out the door you didn't say i'm done so you left that one open and you kind of let it all simmer to the summer and then we can get there and you make your decision and then it's just there goes ovi into the dust into the kachel that's kind of the conclusion that's kind of the

and I'm at now, but you're right. He has done a lot here to make it feel at different times like one or the other was happening for certain. The Penguins picture one and the post game swapping of jerseys and signed sticks. I was like, that's it. He's done. Peace out. And then the next night, you know, there's no problems. Oshy interviews him by the bench and he's like, well, I'm not done.

Like, oh my God. Okay, I don't know Ovea. Let's just figure this out in the summer when you officially tell me. I don't want to guess anymore. I look like an idiot. That was a nice touch, by the way, with the sub and the chips by T.J. OSHA. I thought that was a really nice. A teammate touch there for Alexander Ovechkin.

Okay, a few things here still. So the CHL has been putting you out leading up to the Memorial Cup. Players from 40 to 31 on their top 31 list. Now, full disclosure. I was part of the selection process. There's a number of people and fans as well, part of all of it. But they put out players 40 through 31. So that came out about 40 minutes ago.

What do we have now, Zacharoo? So, rewinding the initial list, Larry Murphy, Scott, Stevens, Taylor Hall, Brian Prop, Stamcoast, Recky, Carbon O'Neely, Drysidal, Patrice Bergeron. And then coming out about 40 minutes ago, Vincent La Cavillier, Drew Doughty, at 38, Ron Francis, 37, Roberto LaWango, 36, Shea Weber, 35, Bobby Smith. Man, was you ever good? 34, Brendan Shanahan, 33, our buddy Ray Ferraro, 32, Joe Thornton, and 31 Brad Richards. So, the next group will be starting at 30, from 30 to 21 will be the next. next group leading up to number one.

I don't know if I'm supposed to reveal who I submitted as my number one, but here it goes. Ready for the shocker of all shockers? Yeah, let's go. Mario Lemo. Yeah. I'm going to guess it was Mario. You could have made, you know, listen, Wayne didn't have the career in the Ontario league that Mario had in the Quebec League, which is a contributing factor.

But the thing about it is, too, it's like the way it gets weight is both. your junior hockey career and your NHL career as well. So it's all sort of, they tried to balance it out. So it's not just like, because there's some like hardcore OHL guys that just were insane, but then never went anywhere in pro hockey, specifically the NHL. So these are going to be all NHL names you recognize. So when I was in my fourth year of university, I graduated in 2020. So during COVID.

So when everything got shut down, my roommates and I, decided we're going to stay i mean at that point we didn't know what anything was what was happening so we said we'll stay here until the end of it just in case school comes back and we can celebrate our final year's year together whatever we stayed but when we couldn't go anywhere one thing that we ended up doing was we would play nhl be a pro and you start with a full season in oh yeah junior and then you go to the memorial cup every year that you would play you had to try to break maria lumea single season We couldn't even do it in a video game, Jeff.

That's how hard it was to do. So when people say video game numbers, no, no, no, no. Video game numbers, like two, three X that because it was that difficult to do. See,

there was one really tricky person for me. And that person is someone who, like I've always maintained, he was the best junior hockey player I ever saw with my own eyes live. So that disqualifies me from Mario, because I never saw Mario live. And that's Brian Fogarty, the defenseman, who was a first round pick, tragically passed away, demons, demons, demons for Brian Fogarty.

But if you would have seen this guy play Niagara, Niagara Falls with the Thunder, like he was insanely good. Like when he decided to take over games from the back end, he just took over games. He was like the best and most highly skilled player consistently that I ever saw in the in junior hockey, but didn't have much, if any, of an NHL career. It didn't help when, you know, Quebec roomed him with John Corkwick, who had his own demons as well. But Fogarty was the tough one for me because where do you put that player

who was just so dominant at the junior level? But then, I don't want to say feathers at the NHL, but really feathers in the in the in the hl for brian fogerty he was a he was the trickiest one for me where do i put brian fogerty in all of this with all of these players anyhow i don't think foggity's making the cut based on where we're at now the players are over fogerty ain't making again i have not seen the final list like when these come out i'm seeing them with everybody else i'm not thinking brian fogarty's making the list but nonetheless just loved him as a player um okay once again uh as we're back oh quick thought

thought, by the way, and thank you to Bruce Hamilton, owner of the Colonna Rockets, Graham Fraser, the owner of the Penticton V's. Safe to say, successful trip, a lot of fun, great hospitality from both organizations, and you got to spend four days in the most beautiful part of Canada. With all due respect to all the other parts, I love you too, Okinawomen is special, and now you know why. It was beautiful. That is the easy, most simple way that I could put it and describe it, but you walk out of the hockey arena, which I mean, for anybody who's in the chat watching, listening back to this, for you and me,

like getting to spend the amount of time in hockey arenas that we did is super special and very, very fortunate for us to be able to do. And then you walk outside of that and you're looking at mountains and you're five minutes from the lake and there's people playing volleyball on the beach. I'm like, what kind of fantasy land are we? in right now and I texted one of my buddies who lived there and he's like yeah it's what it's like every day well I got home to Toronto as you did and it's gray and raining where's the mountains where's the mountains take me back to bcan that was an unbelievable trip uh super thankful to the vs

and the clona rockets for having us out and you got to see land in dupont play how good is he look that is one of the smoothest players I've seen live, you know, outside of obviously your normal run in the middle, NHL players that you could look at, but even then just watching him was very, very noticeable, how smooth and poised and confident he is, even away from the puck, which I thought was very noticeable. It was special to watch.

Everett's a good team, man. Colonna's hostings, they're already going to go. They're already going, but, man, Everett. Everett's going to be at such. Chucutimi is outstanding. Bulldogs. the O HL Rangers look great too, but man, Everett,

Everett looks really good. What's that? Rangers and Bulldogs. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah, it's your hats up there. That's right. Yeah, you got that. You know, it was good, too.

We should see if we can play part of the clip, too, before the game one of the Montreal Tampa series. Talking to Josh George's. So we did like we did with the Bulldogs and Kitchen Rangers, packaging everything up and putting it all out. It's a sort of shine spot for a lot of these franchises. and got to talk to Josh Georges, who's one of the assistant coaches of the,

of the cloner rockets. And hearing him talk about the Montreal experience and the Saturday night game and the hockey night in Canada and was, I hope we can play that before the HAB series against Tampa. Because talking to someone that was involved in it and someone that worked harder than most to get there into the NHL

and then to play in that building for that team, put on that sweater and play in front of those fans. It's the best, man. Ask all the players that have done it. They'll tell you. It's the best. There's nothing like it. And hearing Josh George's talking about it was fantastic.

Hopefully, we can bring that to you. In the meantime, as always, we want to thank all of our friends and all of our sponsors, specifically someone who, speaking of treating us so well, treated us so well last summer as well in Muscoca. thank you again for a continued support from our friends at Airbnb. You know, Zach, it's that time of year again where kids hockey really starts to wind down. Bittersweet, right? Maybe a couple of games left.

Maybe a tournament, but that's about it. You know, I've got two boys that play hockey. You played minor hockey at a high level, and I'll tell you, you know what the truth about all of it is, right? What's that? Do you remember the games or do you remember the travel tournaments? Tournaments, hands down. They were the best. Right?

For players and also for parents. And what our family started to do a few years ago is book places on Airbnb. I remember when we started, it was a baseball trip in Barry Ontario. And one of the parents asked if we wanted to book on Airbnb together. Sure, let's give it a shot. Best decision. You know why? Why?

Laundry. Baseball uniforms get dirty. Having that washer dryer right there was a godsend. Plus, the kids had an absolute ball. Pardon the pun. Been booking on Airbnb ever since. And hockey tournaments? You need all the space you can get to air out of a hockey bag.

You know that. So yeah, you book places on Airbnb too, right? Yeah, I book places on Airbnb all the time. A bunch of my old minor hockey buddies and I are all kind of getting to that age here and now. Everybody's getting married. So we just booked a whole home together for this summer for a wedding. It makes it really easy. It gets everybody together in one spot.

You remember that place we booked on Airbnb and Muskoka last summer for work, right? How great was that? Place was gorgeous, right on the water, clean, spacious, and the big bonus, hot tub. Yeah, that place was perfect. You start the day in the water. You end the day in the water. Nothing beats it. It was easy too.

We just showed up, picked up the key, and that was it. Really simple. the next time our family is away, we're looking at hosting on Airbnb. It's super flexible, practical, and helps cover the cost of a vacation or building another rink in the backyard next winter. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca slash host. Once again, thanks to our, thank you to our friends at Airbnb for the continued support of this property and others across the nation network. I can't believe we made it so deep into the program already,

and we're not just completely bleary-eyed and in need of further caffeination. But here we are. And we got any, by the way, do you have any thoughts on what happens next with your team, the Maple Leafs? I mean, I'm sure you do. But now, I know if you saw James Myrtle's piece in The Athletic about like the dysfunction and the decisions and the holy smokes.

even if half of all of that is on point, good luck. Good luck with this thing. You might, I mean, you must have a thought or two on this. I wasn't around for the Harold Ballard days. I was. I buried old enough. But, oh, that's right. I forgot about that.

Yes, you did. Everybody complained about it. Everyone complained about the old man, but only one person did something about it. Yeah, right. I can only know what happened and can only understand what happened through the lens of other people and the stories that I read. But to me, this is the closest we're getting to what happened then. And I know that that may come.

No, no, no, no. Not that bad. Not that bad. That guy was like honestly, he was when it came to the hockey operation. Like he was like, he was like squeeze the beaver on the nickel. cheap. Like squeeze the beaver But that's what it feels like we're getting to. No, not like Ballard.

Not like Ballard era. No. Okay. I would say closest to that of anything that we've had since then is at least what I would put it as. They're not making trades for spite. Like Okay, fair. Here's like

one of the first no trade stories in the NHL. So, like no trades are not new. Darryl Sittler, Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, had a no trade clause. And I believe the deal that they had worked out was for him to go to, I should ask Lou about this, was to go to Minnesota.

That was the deal. They were sending Sittler to Minnesota. They had had it with him. And he refused to waive as no trade. So as a way to get him to waive, they traded his best friend, Lanny McDonald to the Colorado Rockies, Joel Quenville and Wolf Paymon coming back.

Like, it was so, bad there. Like, oh, you won't go? Okay, fine. We're going to trade all your friends then. To what end? Like, you're making your team worse to spite Daryl Sittler. You're taking his buddy. Like, it hasn't gotten to that level yet. So, like, I know the comparison. Everyone wants to, oh, it's worse than the ball. It's, trust me, it is not worse than the Ballard era. It is not. There's no John Cortick for for Russ Cortnell trade in the offing here. That was bad. Yeah, that's completely fair.

I'm not going to say it's worse. It's just the most reminiscent of that time. For me, at least just based on everything that I've heard and how it feels like Leaves Nation feels right now and the pulse of that when I do post-game shows and that kind of stuff, you know, you hear Chris Johnson, who said this morning that all around the organization, and it's something that, you know, I'm well aware of is it's cost cutting at every corner that they could find

and finding ways to bring in the most amount of money, which to some extent I understand. Yes, you're obviously trying to make sure, hey, we're not too bloated here and we're making the most amount of money because it is a business. We need to understand that. But when you are completely sacrificing the on-ice product

in order to do so, turning your heads and just saying, ah, that's whatever. It's a mess. And, you know, the one thing, and I, like Jeff, you can push back on this, But when I read the part about Keith Pelly, the president of MLSE, going in with his own AI-generated trade scenarios into the trade deadline.

And needing more pieces and deals? My eyes that I could barely open from not being awake this morning when full Looney Tunes cartoon character bug-eyed out of my head. What? What are you talking about? What happened? And there became, there,

there has become this progression over time of the last couple of weeks where the optimism inside of me as a Leafs fan that things will turn out, you know, we'll turn themselves back around, I guess is the best way to put it. That, that has slowly dimmed. And I think I'm getting to the point when articles like what happened this morning

come out where I just say, that might be it. Not just on this group, but just of my hope in general. Yeah, that just might be it. Yeah. I don't think it is. I think you're still hanging in there.

I still think you're hanging in there. There's always a way to get worse. As Darren McCarty once told me, when I asked him about when did you decide, when did you hit rock bottom? He said, you never do all you. you do is decide to stop digging. But there's always lower you can go.

All you can do is decide to stop digging. I guess. You know, you know what it's going to be? Remember that Nikki, I think it's Ayanovski from the 2010 Olympics. I believe in the power that comes.

That's just, at some point that starts playing and I just feel like, you know what? Okay. Maybe it's in there somewhere, Jeff. Maybe it's in there somewhere. You can sell wins or you can sell hope. Okay.

Let's keep the spotlight on you. Maybe not singing, although who knows, maybe you've come up with a tune for your future here today. The sheet is powered by Fanduel. Play your game with Fanduel. It's the NHL season. Fanduel, your home for all the action on the ice. From Blue Line to Batslip, 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 the live same game. game parley, you can build your bets up until the final buzzer. Download Fandual 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. Zach. So, sticking with the Maple Leafs here, Jeff.

Oh, boy. right now they are in a position where they could either only get fifth or sixth in the draft lottery odds. That's how it's all boiled down to because fourth is locked, seventh is locked, they can't jump anybody and they can't drop beyond seven. So I listened to Gord Stelich, he joined the boys on Leaves Morning Take and he pitched the idea that it would be best for them to give up this year's pick. And then I've heard other people say why getting this year's pick would be the best thing that they could do because you either give it up to, Boston now or you give it up to Philly and Boston in the next couple of years. You know, it's just bad thing after bad thing after bad thing that could happen in this organization.

And so tonight with the final game of the season being on the line, playing the Ottawa senators, there's some decisions to be made. And I've tried to determine what the best course of action is. And at the end of the day, I've decided the right thing to do is just completely sell out. Oh boy. Bath tonight. Wow, whole bunch of, yeah, that's good.

Shane Wright for sure. Macklin. Oh, Sell. Celebrini. Good job. And Drake Bath Thurson. Big names. $5.

Wins you $169 and $15. If Zach, as tired as he may be, is correct. Did you come up with that this morning? Or did you come up with that on the plane last night? Not last night. Do you come up with that on the red eye this morning? No, I did not. I came up with it about an hour before the show

because I was just looking for some way to dunk on the Leafs here tonight, and that was the best way that I could do it, incorporating players for tonight. Well, well done. Take a bow, sir, take a bow. With that, we'll wrap things up. Tomorrow, Greg, and I just give one quick... Yeah, of course.

One quick promo. Tonight is the last Leafs Nation After Dark show that's taking place on the Leaf Station 401 YouTube channel. and there is a chance, which of course, great timing on this, considering the travel we just did, but there's a chance

this thing goes like four hours. We're doing a mega show that in the year. Carter Hutton, Jay Rose Hill, Nick Alberga, producer Vic, Mike and Buffalo are all going to come by. And after they come through, which will probably be about the first hour and a half, depending on how long each one of those guys wants to stay,

then we'll open up calls to everybody else who wants to call in and give their thoughts. Entire post-mortem. 82 games in the first. book, nothing else to look forward to. In terms of games to be played, we'll break everything down. You want to call in and yell at me, the team, previous guests, I don't care. The floor is yours.

We've had it happen before. And honestly, as long as people are respectful, it's pretty entertaining. So make sure to come by the Leafs Nation 401 YouTube channel later today. But just wanted to shout that out. So you're saying don't call you too early tomorrow morning. Or don't expect a text back if I, send you a text. I will be up and I will be ready to go.

I am, uh, I am a professional, Jeff. I appreciate and respect that. Do you have your smelling, you have a fresh batch of smelling salts ready to go for this one. All right.

I do. I made the, a trade. Ah, there you go. That's our boy right there. Uh, great stuff.

So tune in tonight immediately after whatever happens in the battle skirmish. A loss. Whatever. It's what it's come to. It's so. It's Johnny Sid Slap Shot. All right, good luck with that one tonight. Keep your sanity, my friend.

Thanks to Terak Al-Bashir for stopping by the program to talk about, not just the Washington Capitals, but Rick Bonas as well. And thank you to Rick Bonas for giving everybody their programs today. And that may just bleed into the rest of the week leading up to the Stanley Cup playoffs, which began on Saturday. Thanks to you for watching. Thanks to you for, yeah, there it is again. To me, that's like that one of the great clips.

Hang on, do that again. I'll be quiet. I'll be clean. That is a summer. of a 71-year-old hockey lifer that's done it so many times and done it so many years and been so frustrated at teams. Am I going to do this? Yes, and he did.

And for that, we here thank him. And we thank you for watching and thank you for a listening on your favorite podcast platform. If you've already subscribed to our daily face off YouTube channel, thank you. If you haven't, please consider doing so. I'm going to bed now. Shishinsky's on tomorrow. We'll talk to that.