The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Rising Tensions ft. Brian Burke & Cyril Leeder

Episode Date: April 25, 2025

Brian Burke and Cyril Leeder join Jeff Marek on The Sheet. Discussing the Leafs taking a 3-0 series lead over the Senators, the Minnesota Wild taking a lead over the Vegas Golden Knights, the Edmonton Oilers looking to climb out of a 2-0 hole, and much more...Shout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼JP Wisers: https://www.jpwisers.com/👍🏼Ninja Kitchen Canada: https://www.ninjakitchen.ca/products/ninja-crispi-4-in-1-portable-glass-air-fryer-cooking-system-zidFN101CGY?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=olv&utm_campaign=25Q2-Crispi&utm_content=en👍🏼RVezy: https://www.rvezy.com/owner?utm_source=cross-channel&utm_medium=multi-media&utm_campaign=canadian+hosts👍🏼Budweiser: https://www.budweiser.ca/ca_enReach 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.

Hi, Jeff Merrick here. Let me tell you about Cozy. Everyday home furnishings made easy. Cozy is modern, built for real life, practical, and designed to make your day-to-day feel a little lighter. You need to refresh your living room? Cozy makes it simple. Shopping for furniture shouldn't feel like a chore. Cozy makes it easy to breathe and easy to enjoy the process. It's your home, your way. With Cozy, you can unlock endless possibilities. Its modular design grows with you. Add, rearrange, or swap pieces on your sofa, no problem.

Stylish selections and design assistance to help you every step of the way. Transform your living space today with Cozy. Visit Cozy.ca, C-O-Z-E-Y.ca, the home of possibilities made easy. Welcome to the program once again. Welcome back to the Canadian Tire Center, home of overtime heroics courtesy of, check notes, Simon Benoit, Nick Alburga calling him Simon Babiour Benoit. It's a toast to the town. We got a lot to get to today and Cyril Lider, the president of the Ottawa senators, will

join us live in studio here in about 15 minutes time. This is Friday, civilian Fridays, we like to call it in the chat and that means Brian Brooke is aboard towards the bottom of the hour. In the meantime, Zach Phillips, I got a beef. I want to start off by complaining about something because I feel on behalf of hockey fans everywhere that we were deprived of something great last night.

It's one of my favorite things in overtime hockey, and Leafs fans deprived us of all of it. Zach, you know what I really wish happened last night? No, you told me that you had a problem with this earlier today and I've been trying to think all day what it could be. I still don't know. I'm trying to find a diplomatic way of telling Maple Leafs fans to stay away because they wrecked a very cool thing. One of my favorite things in playoffs last night. So there was about probably 80 20 sends fans to Leafs fans at the CDC last night. Okay, I thought it was gonna be more like good on Ottawa Senators fans,

they kept the majority of Leafs fans out of the building. But what we got deprived of is one of my favorite things in all of sports. So Benoit scores the goal and all the Leafs fans here obviously popped like the cork out of a champagne bottle, right? And it's pretty loud, right? It's pretty loud in the building considering there's about only 20% Leafs fans.

But I'll tell you, one of my favorite things, Zach, is playoffs. The road team scores in overtime. The place goes definitely silent. And all you hear is the celebration on the ice. Only the players celebrated because everybody in the stands have that stunned silence as they start to make a beeline for the exits. I love that moment.

Normally when you see goals, it's a big eruption and all that, but on the road in the playoffs, it is silence. Nobody says a word. It is like eerily quiet. And all you hear are the F&A boys from everybody on the ice. And we were deprived of that last night because they're about 20% Leafs fans here at the CTC. You have a thought on that one, Zach. I'll lob that one your way. I love seeing that in the playoffs from any team.

It doesn't matter. The OT goal by the visiting team. Yeah, I get what you're saying. The moment is cool. I think it's kind of cool. It's something that you get to experience a lot when the Stanley Cup is won on the road and every time the player lifts the cup and they're like, woo, that's the only thing you hear.

It echoes. Like it echoes through the bar, right? But you know what? As a Leafs fan, I love it that the Leafs fans were in there and loud during that OT winter because they tried to keep us out. They did a pretty good job of keeping us out, but no matter what you do, we're still loud and we're still going to be in your building. So kudos to the Leafs fans that were there and stuck around. So I mean, I'm going to give them a round of applause, but I get what you're saying.

I just love the visual. Anyway, the Toronto Maple Leafs grab a commanding 3-0 lead over the Ottawa Senators game for tomorrow. Back here at the Canadian Tire Center. So that was what I watched last night. I got back to the hotel to catch the end of the St. Louis Winnipeg game, saw, don't worry, we're going to get into the impending suspension here with Hagel on Barkov. Didn't get a chance to watch any of that game and then caught pretty much about half of the Minnesota Vegas game.

And we'll get to that coming up in a couple of moments as well. But that Maple Leafs game yesterday. So a couple of things stand out. The Marner pass. The Marner pass to Auston Matthews. Again, I was sitting beside Alberg and I'm like, dude, that's a $14 million pass. How many guys can make that pass? Like, seriously, if you're Brad for living, you're watching that and you're not saying

yourself, maybe we do give them all of the money. It is, it is one of the most elite plays and it happened. The thing is it happens so suddenly and it seemed like forever that Ulmark was looking to the right side of them while the puck was on Austin Matthews stick. And that's only made possible by like, there's probably only about 10 or 15 players that can make, maybe not even that much that can make that pass That quickly and have that kind of awareness and make it perfectly in the NHL Martyrs happens to be one of those guys that Phillips Martyrs happens to be one of those guys

Yeah, that was a pretty disgusting pass We were watching a Greta last night and I the one one of the guys beside me when that was night and I the one one of the guys beside me when that was that pass went out to Matthews and he scores everyone celebrates and then as it kind of calms down a little bit and we're watching the replay he goes that's the best pass he's made since the four nations OT winner I was like alright calm down but I get it like that that you know part of it was maybe a slow read by Almark watching the play develop and then going across, but it's Marner like not even moving to make that pass go. It's the deception on that and then not

only to do it so discreetly and quickly, but to have it tape to tape like that to your best goal scorer who's back door looking at an empty net. It's just perfect from start to finish, the read, the play, the deception, all of it. It was an amazing pass. I mean, have you seen, by the way, I should have grabbed this, but I saw like a screen grab of the corner camera in the corner of Omar looking over his shoulder and Matthews has already shot has already shot the fuck But that's it like but that's where like a screen cap is gonna really not tell the story cuz that thing happened that happened So fast that happened so incredibly quickly I know it just sort of look we all know what's what's happened to Lena Solmark in pressure situations

always become a stereotype. But like, I don't know that I'm going to fault them on that one. Like that happens so suddenly, so quickly. Find me any other goalie that's going to have that kind of awareness that quickly. Yeah, I don't blame them on that one. It is just a funny grab. Like it kind of also just lays lays out exactly what you're saying, how quickly that play did develop. It doesn't tell that full story because there's probably

people looking at it being like, look at this guy. He had no idea where the puck was. It was pretty hard to. Watching that in real time, it was even hard to kind of comprehend how quickly that thing went bang, bang onto Matthew's stick and in the back of the net. So yeah, I don't blame Walmart for that. A fairly creative chant we heard in the building yesterday, Matthew's balding, which isn't what I would expect. And it's funny, it kind of got you and me on a little bit of a goose chase this morning, trying to find, and this would have been like, I don't know, like 1984, the Tom Laidlaw hit on Ally Afraidy of the Toronto Maple Leafs in a game

against the New York Rangers at MSG. Like it's one of the most bone crunching body checks you've ever seen. Laidlaw sort of not just hits him, but sort of rides him along the boards up almost onto the bench and into the stanchion. And what's interesting about that, when I heard the Matthews balding chance last night and I don't know about

you but I was kind of expecting Matthews after he scored that goal to put his finger up to his lips but he didn't he just thought he just was gonna ignore the whole thing but if you look at that Laidlaw Iafraty hit which has as we found out vanished from the internet it doesn't exist anywhere we used to see that hit on the regular all over the place but it has now somehow vanished. Al Iafrati was always, as I was told by his teammates then, sensitive about premature balding. And if you look at the hit, it is a bone crunching body check. We've got to find this. And his helmet pops off and it's full yard sale.

And as people have pointed out to me, watch what I have afraid he does. The first thing he does is he reaches to put his helmet back on because he was sensitive about balding early. That's where my mind first went. But what did you think of the Matthews balding chance last night at the CTC? I thought it was pretty funny. They did the Brady sucks chance in Toronto and Drew talked about it and he's like,

what I was thinking about too here is Drew said, they don't say Brady sucks if he actually sucks. Like that's, they're not going to do that. 100%. And I was thinking about that when they're doing the balding one. I'm like, it does, the same rule does not apply. They're saying about that when they're doing the balding one. I'm like, it does the same role does not apply. They're saying he's balding because he's balding.

There's no way around that one. He is, I don't know. It's funny. It's, uh, it's some low hanging fruit there, but, uh, I, I had a laugh the first time that I heard and realized what they were doing. He's got to wear it like a David Lee Roth wig for the next warmup. Like Saturday, he should just have like the long hair wig underneath the helmet for warmup on Saturday or something. McKinnon Crosby Tim Hortons commercial. Yes, that's even better. Yes, that's even better. All right. Maple Leafs grab a three nothing series lead in this one.

Let's get to what's coming up on the program today. Daily Outline presented and powered by our friends and partners at FanDuel. Make every moment more with North America's number one sportsbook that is FanDuel. And coming up on the program today, a couple of big guests, one of them is going to join us here coming up in a couple of minutes, and that is the president of the Ottawa Senators, Cyril Lieder, who's been with the organization a couple of different times. Was there at the beginning, and you know, it is interesting, you watch the evolution of a franchise, and from then to now, and you know, one of the conversations we had with Ian Mendez yesterday was sort of where you're nestled, where you're nestled right in

between Montreal and Toronto, and how you position a team when you're nestled in between these two markets. So we'll talk to serial leader about that. Brian Brook joins at the bottom of the hour. It is civilian Fridays as we like to say. We'll talk about the Maple Leafs. We'll talk about the Hagel hit and impending suspension. He has a meeting with the DOPS today and don't look now. But going into this series,

we said, we know the games will be good, but I don't know anyone who said, Zach, Vegas's big problem is they will not have any kind of response or any answer for Kaprizov and Boldy. That has been the combo of the playoffs like they are doing and we'll all think about that pass in game to the beautiful saucer pass from Kaprizov to boldy but do you not get the impression that right now in that series Krill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy are doing whatever they want to do like it's got to be one of the best feelings in the world and it's got to be conversely one of the frustrating most best feelings in the world. And it's got to be conversely, one of the frustrating,

most frustrating feelings in the world as a player when you lose this ability, but while you have it, and that ability is this, your head says you want to do something and your body says, okay, we can do that. You know, it comes a point in your career where that stops happening because, you know, look at veteran players on their way out, you know,

like I'm sure like Max Patch already, for example, for the main place, his head is saying, I want to do this, this, this, and this. And your body's like, we can't do that anymore. That's gotta be frustrating. But right now the battery of Boldy and Kaprizov has hit their stride and Vegas can do nothing about it. So far the Minnesota Wild, and now watch about half of that game

last night getting back from the from the rink. The Minnesota Wild got a 2-1 series lead in that one. First of all the games are good but man Minnesota's doing a job here on Vegas and who saw that coming? Well I think it was yesterday you already handed out the Colin Smythe right? Yeah it's done yeah the voting's over. Yeah it's over. Yeah and no in all seriousness I do agree it's done. Yeah, the voting is over. Yeah, it's over. After two weeks. Yeah, no, in all seriousness, I do agree. It's crazy. Like, you see, that's one thing watching with Kaprizov and the way that he's playing in that series and affecting that series. He has the wingman now in Bouldie. Like, he's got the guy to match alongside of him what he wants to do where you watch how creative

and physically dominant Kaprizov is in the skill set to go with it. But it's just like he does that. And before I feel like we've seen these moments where he's he's peaked up especially maybe in the playoffs there and it's like Minnesota doesn't have the gunslingers to be alongside of him to compliment that. And I feel like that's kind of maybe where they've fallen short. Matt Boldy right there like this guy is the perfect Robin to Batman if you even want to call it that like I mean it's like 1a 1b at that point it's not even like a wingman really with Matt Boldy but he's got somebody to go alongside of him and help him bring that those two have been electric like you know I'll be honest with you, I'm

watching a lot more of the Leaf stuff and then doing the postgame show. So I'm trying to watch the recaps and catch up on the highlights and you know, the game breakdowns the next day for these wild games. But everything you see here, Jeff, it's like there's Caprice Huff and Boldy. Oh, the wild had a chance. There's Caprice Huff and Boldy. Oh, the Wilde had a chance. There's Caprice Huff and Boldy. It's unavoidable at this point. Foligno is really good in that one as well. We're gonna get to that in a couple of seconds here. I don't even know what to make of this. Nick Cousins and Anthony Stolarz in the warmup.

I understand that there is a heightened sensitivity, and I guess there probably always has been in hockey at a lot of different levels about shenanigans between teams in the warmup, but that is the biggest nothing burger I've ever seen in my life. I think you're wrong. I think Nick Cousins deserves to be in jail.

Montreal, Philadelphia, Ed Hospitar, and Claude Lemieux, like this is not that. This is not anything close. I know they don't want any interaction between the two teams. I get it. But when I first started snooping around about this, the first thing that someone said to me was, oh, someone fired pucks at Stolarz. And I thought, well, first of fired pucks at Stolarz. And I thought, well, first of all, how did I miss that?

Cause I was here for warmup. Like didn't seem like anything happened. And then when Elliot put out the video, I was like, this is the biggest bit of nothing I've seen in forever. I, again, you understand what the league has to have a look at this, but this is like less than zero. This is like a two minute conversation. Yeah, there's nothing here, but guys really,

make sure you don't do anything, okay? So launching an investigation is the most insane way to frame that one, in my opinion, to start. Launching an investigation. Here's the video. Investigation launched and closed. Done. That's it.

I want to ask you this though, cause I've been thinking about this one, trying to figure out, I'm watching sense fans have like, you know, an implosion online today in reaction to this and I actually kind of understand why. I wonder and I don't know if maybe this is just my mind going to this place at this point and I'm getting all pumped up, but I wonder if this has to do with what the series score is currently at and them just saying, let's not do anything dumb or open door for anything dumb

for Saturday night. Chum the waters. Yeah, perhaps. Yeah, just let's nip this in the bud right now. Shut it down. Not let this go any further before we get to that game on Saturday. No matter what happens then. I've always been taught in my career, Zach. Don't make important people wait. Let's get right to our premier guest here on the program this afternoon.

Brought to you by at a presentation of JP Wisers. JP Wisers proudly Canadian celebrates the moment with a limited edition Stanley Cup bottle, the perfect match for you and your game night crew because the playoffs are best enjoyed with great whiskey and good company. Now your friends can lift the Stanley Cup bottle for Canada with JP Wisers, the official whiskey of the NHL for 165 years. JP Wisers has been woven into the fabric of Canadian celebrations,

bringing people together to raise a glass to the passion and pride that fuel Canada's game. He is the president of the Ottawa Senators. He is Mr. Cyril Leader. And he joins me on the program. Thanks so much for popping by today. Thank you for having me. Yes, thanks a lot.

The pleasure is all mine having you aboard. We were just talking about, and I don't even know if you can comment on it, even though it seems like really nothing. And when you consider things that have happened in warm up before, we're just talking about the Nick Cousins situation with Anthony Stolarz, which as people have pointed out online, maybe the friendliest thing we've ever seen Nick Cousins do, the opposite of anything nefarious. I don't know if you can comment on it but we just looked at this and kind of went I don't think there's anything close to a there there. Yeah I did I mean couldn't

really tell whether you get much of a clip that I could see but it didn't look like a whole lot there to be honest. Yeah you know I was talking to Ian Mendez on the program yesterday and you know one of the interesting things that we sort of got to were how this team is sort of nestled between Montreal and Toronto, right? In that middle ground here. And I'm always curious how the Ottawa senators have, you know, reached out over the border to French Canadian hockey fans. How big of an initiative has that been for the Ottawa Senators? Because as much as this is the battle of Ontario, there's a big piece of Quebec here too.

Yeah, I mean, we read on the border, which separates our province from Quebec here in Ottawa, it's just a river. So that's a much, you mentioned, a much more important initial force here is to make inroads with our fan base in Western Quebec, and particularly in the Utaway and in Gatineau. And it's been a big lift.

There is a heavy lift, and we're seeing some success there. Really led by Michael Anlauer, who was born in France, raised in Montreal, fluently bilingual. And Michael, one of the first mandates was, this is not Ottawa, this is Ottawa-Gatineau, and we need to treat it that way. And that's been our, I think, fluently bilingual and you know Michael One of the first mandates was you know, this is not Ottawa This is Ottawa Gatineau and we need to treat it that way and that's been our it's been our Mission here the last 18 months since Michaels become the owner, you know, this is a this is a really interesting organization right now

You know We're wondering which was going to be the first team to emerge from that pack of three That includes Detroit and Buffalo and and Ottawa got there first and and distinguished themselves and I always look at teams like this and I don't know you know maybe so I've been reading so much Winston Churchill lately that there's one quote that you know when you guys finally clinched and had Michael on the on the program Michael Andlour I couldn't help thinking about the the one quote this is not the end it's not the beginning

of the end, but it is the end of the beginning. Does it feel that way for this edition of the Sends? It sure does. I think the goal here never was to get into the playoffs or to beat the Red Wings and Sabres to the playoffs. The goal here is to win the Stanley Cup. Michael would talk about that. Certainly Steve Staio and Dave Poulan

talk about that all the time, is that that's the goal. And if this is the beginning of that journey, then that's great. And we've got a lot of confidence in our hockey guys that they know what they're doing, they got a plan, and they're on the right track here, and we're building something special here in Ottawa. How much of this in the organization's mind revolves around and you could tell, I mean,

he just shrugged it off and said, yeah, just bruises and regular things were in the playoffs here. How much does this revolve around Brady Kachuk right now? Brady's, you know, he's more than just a straw that stirs the drink. He's the engine, he's the leader. The team goes as Brady goes. Certainly, he's not 100%. I think it's obvious to everybody, but 90% of Brady's better.

Just about 100% of everybody else in the league. It's good to have him out there. He's been leading from the front. Got a big goal last night. Scored earlier in the series. He's been doing Brady things throughout the three games. I mean, you've been with the Ottawa Senators pre, now you're with the Ottawa

Senators now, you were there right from the hop and back in the mix now, and you've seen a lot of different leaders on this team. And I always think of Daniel Alfredson. I got a real soft spot in my heart for Daniel Alfredson. As do I. Where do you see sort of Brady Kachuk in that sort of pantheon of leaders? Like what qualities, like what overall,

I'm always curious, like is there any overlap between like Brady Kachuk and Daniel Alfredson or anyone, Mike Fisher or whomever else? Yeah, I mean, there's obviously there's overlaps, but they're two different individuals, certainly. Some of the similarities I would say is they lead by example. So Daniel was more of just follow me, do as I do, not as I say type of guy. He's very active in the community, Daniel, as is Brady. We had our fan appreciation night here last week and Brady left the game at the end of the second, I think.

So when the game was over, he came out in flip flops and shorts. He was the first guy on the ice to meet the fans, started signing autographs and stayed on the ice until everybody else was gone. Then when he left the players tunnel, fans went over there and throwing jerseys and hats at him for another hour. So that's the type, you know, so he's got a lot of time for the community, for fans. I think that there's a couple of big similarities. Obviously, they play a different game.

Daniel's more of a thinking game. Brady's going to go right through you. He's more physical, obviously, but both very important to the organization and the teams generally did as well as those two guys did as well. So when Brady's on his game, we're rolling. When Daniel was on his game, we were rolling. And I see that similarity for sure.

Since you've, uh, seen so much and been part of so much, when you hear the phrase battle of Ontario, whether it's playoffs or just regular season, I was on with the coming in Hawkeyes yesterday, Brent Wallace and Jason York. And I was like, you know, one of the memories of stands that was that flu game and it was like an Agatha Christie novel. Yeah. Time the lights flickered, a new player left the bench. Yeah.

So that was one of the ones that come back to mind. When you hear battle of Ontario, what are some of the things that come to your mind right away? Oh, not much of it's good to be honest. I mean, we haven't beat Toronto and that's, you know, it's part of why there's such a good rivalry and why it's so intense for Senator fans is that that's kind of that, that dragon you have to slay at some point to, to actually get to where you want to get to. Um, but I obviously remember the flu game.

I remember looking across at the bench and there was nobody in the penalty box and there was three guys on the bench. It was wild. We were down to eight skaters. I think at that point. I obviously remember Darcy Tucker, God bless him, jumping into the senator's bench for a fight. More guts than brains. Yeah, well, I don't, you said that. More guts than a sausage, I guess. But you know, I remember

the McCabe chair fight, of course. Remember the Sundean stick in the crowd, Alfredson fake stick in the crowd, Alfredson's goal in overtime after crushing Tucker. The one that pains me the most I remember is Ricard Pearson hitting Tlaidomi into the boards, taking a five-minute penalty in game six. We're up 3-2. We're up 2-0 in that game. Of course, they scored two goals in the five-minute power play and then they won that game and

eventually won that series in seven games. You know, I was talking a couple of seconds ago about the, you mentioned the fans. I've always maintained that perhaps the most creative fans and the more creative, most creative chants we've ever heard come from the Winnipeg Jets fans, so wildly creative. And then I heard the Matthews Balding chant last night. I'm not going to ask you to comment on that specifically, but just a thought on Ottawa Senators fans. Like what is distinctive about fans in the nation's capital?

Yeah, again, I think what I've seen over time is they're getting younger. So our fan base is getting a lot younger now and they're very tech savvy. So we call it Sense Twitter. There is a group and there's a following of that group that really followed it to focus on, on, on X, I guess now, um, and they're, they're passionate, um, you said they are creative.

I was like, oh yeah, some good, some good chance. And then we've had some real interesting, uh, interactions with guys like Kevin Lee over the last few weeks on, on, on X to kind of help move some tickets. And so, you know, we think we have a unique fan base here. I would say they're young, obviously vested in their team. You know, I think you're going to see a louder building on Saturday than you saw on Thursday. That's possible. I think that's that's the way they will react.

They won't shrug their shoulders. I'll say, let's go get behind these guys. Let's push this team forward. Mother's Day is coming up. Make sure you're calling your mother, but doing a little more for someone so important is never a bad idea. Get your mom an Aura digital picture frame.

Photos and videos are a great way for mom to share and relive great memories. Maybe you got a couple of great pictures you posted on social, and you think she'd like to have that in a frame in her house. Aura Frames is the way to make that happen. Now we have two Aura Frames,

one for our place, and then the other is for my mom, who loves showing off her grandchildren. We use the Aura app on our phones to send her all the latest from the kids. Trust me, it's a snap. Easy to set up and you can get running with the Aura app in literally two minutes. Aura Frames was named the best digital photo frame by Wirecutter and featured in 495 gift guides last year. Aura has a great deal for Mother's Day. For a limited time, listeners can save on the perfect gift

by visiting auraframes.com to get $45 off, plus free shipping on their best-selling Carver Mat Frame. That's A-U-R-A frames.com. Use promo code SHEET. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. You know, another part of the conversation I had with Ian yesterday, by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. You know, another part of the conversation I had with Ian yesterday, the sensitivity about making sure there are enough

young people in the building. I know there have been other NHL teams previous, I remember the Blackhawks actually, I believe had conversations with Toronto. Yeah. Or no, it was the other way around. Toronto's having conversations with Chicago about how do we make sure that we're always rejuvenating this group that one day are going to be season ticket holders. And the way you do it, like I went to a lot of games to meet Leaf Gardens when I was a kid.

Like I was, you know, died in the wool hockey fan since I was a kid going to Toro's games and Marley's and Maple Leaf's. I grew up in the rink. How sensitive is your organization to knowing that we need to make sure there are enough young people in here because one day that's our next wave of season ticket holder? Yeah we're very sensitive to that. It comes out of a few different, I think we call them strategies or initiatives that we take at our end. Obviously you want to have that younger group coming and you know I think a lot of the research would tell you that people start forming their allegiances and their their team around

the age of 10. So it's a 10 eh? It's fairly young so you know so you're trying to get kids in the building when they're six or eight they're ten that's when you can make a big impact on them and you know create a fan for life if you will. The other thing is you know we really believe that it's it's incumbent on us both from a sport perspective as purveyors of hockey, but also from running our operations that we want to create future fans and that means getting more kids involved with playing hockey, whether it's boys or girls.

So, we've got a lot of initiatives in the community to grow the game, to get kids involved in playing, learn to skate programs. We're launching a program to go to 257 schools in Ottawa and Gatineau where we're going to be delivering floorball equipment so kids can play inside. We have a lot of games. We make the effort to play a lot of afternoon games, kid-friendly timing for the games. We probably skew more of those games at afternoons on Saturdays and Sundays than anybody else. And again, that's to give the parents and the kids an opportunity to come to those games and enjoy them.

This is a very wide open, wide press question here. I'll let you take it in whatever direction you want. From then to now, from the beginnings of this organization to what we see now. What have you seen over the years? Like what comes to mind? I mean you were there. Yeah I was there in the beginning. We got the team. I was in Florida when John Ziegler awarded the team to Ottawa and was there to help get the team launched in Ottawa 1992. So I've seen a lot. You know what what I think I'd like to say is, you know, I think the fan base and the importance of this team to the community has just continued to grow. And I know hockey is important in Toronto.

I know it's important in Winnipeg. I know it's important in other cities. But it would be hard pressed for me to say it could be any more important than it is right here in Ottawa, that hockey is really important to this community The franchise has you know as I said, I've seen a lot of a lot of good things with the franchise and and It's the players we talked about a bit that you know really impressed me We've been fortunate that from the early days had guys like Daniel Alfredson and Chris Phillips Chris Neil Mike Fisher Wade Redden those those guys kind of laid the groundwork that anybody came in, they said, these guys are out in the community doing activities,

I better darn well get out there and do it myself. So we've always had that support from the players and the coaches and the general managers of the organization. Was there a moment where, let me take you guys back, you and Bruce knew like, okay, we got this cinched. No. Was it a surprise? Because it was a shock.

No, I mean cinched. I mean, you know, the night before we actually got the franchise, Bruce was convinced we weren't going to get it, was wondering whether we should ask for a deferral to the next round. And Randy, Sax and I were saying, no, Bruce, let us go to breakfast in the morning. We'll talk to some folks. And I had breakfast with the Knox family from Buffalo. Randy was meeting with Barry Shankrow from Winnipeg. It was early and they said, you know what?

Stay calm. You guys just, you've done a good job. You got enough friends on the inside. Just stay calm and And lo and behold we didn't know this but the day before they'd already voted So after we did the presentation they'd voted and said it's Ottawa and Tampa In fact, there was a in the boardroom had all the names of the ten cities that were bidding in Ottawa and Tampa were circled One of our guys went in afterwards

to pick up the equipment. It's Dave Saunders, he's an hockey player, went in there to pick up the equipment and he saw it. And the security guard said, if you say anything, you gotta swear you're not gonna tell anybody. No way. And he was too afraid, he was first week on the job and he was afraid to tell anybody.

He knew we were in and Bruce thought we might not be. And so Randy and I had the breakfast and we felt pretty good after that, but it was never cinched. It was, we felt we had to stand out, had to be better than everybody else because Ottawa wasn't really high. We didn't think on the list of cities that they really wanted to go to from a broadcast perspective that we thought American teams would get preference. When the book is written on this era of hockey,

and I'll go to like the expansion Vegas and expansion Seattle, I think one of the most interesting things and obvious things that has driven franchise value and expansion fee value is the different expansion rules now. Yep. Um, you guys, we had the worst, you guys did it the old way. We know ours were so bad. They changed them the next year for, for, uh, Anaheim coming in was it Florida, Florida, Florida coming in next. Yeah. And, uh, and we know they realized, wow, we made a mistake. This was too draconian for Ottawa and Tampa coming in next. Yep. And, uh, and, you know, they realized, wow, we made a mistake.

This was too draconian for Ottawa and Tampa coming in. We got, we got to, we got to change the rules. I always think whenever, you know, through the Seattle expansion, Vegas expansion, and I say to myself like, man, I feel so bad for what Ottawa had to go through. Well, you know, it was a, it was a curse and a

blessing. I mean, we were so bad. We, we couldn't get out of last place. I think we were dead last four years in a row, which means you draft really high. Yeah. So that led to Wade Redden, Chris Phillips, Radik Bonk, Alexander Deg. So, you know, it led to some really high draft picks. Um, and sort of formed the foundation for our team in the early

two thousands that was, that was so good. Um, we're going to let you go on this one, because I know you're busy. What should we, so you sort of touched on this a second ago. What should we expect Saturday? Like everyone is saying the right things in the room. We all know the stories about down three Cobb and Claude Giroux telling the story about the Flyers and the Boston Bruins.

What do we expect here on Saturday? I expect you're gonna see more of the same with more intensity, right? Right from our fans, right through to our players. I think there's still a lot of fight left in this dog here. I don't think anybody's giving up. And I know our fans will try to be part of that, you know, that message and that intensity and trying to deliver that to our players, give them a little bit of extra boost.

So we expect it to be really intense and you know get a break or two things are turning our way we think. All right very good. Cyril thanks so much much appreciated. Congratulations on what's been a successful season so far. Best of luck Saturday. Thank you appreciate that. Cyril Eader is the president of the Ottawa Senators. Game four Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators of course goes on Saturday. Going to get to Brian Burke here for our Brian Burke Fridays. I want to remind you of one of our presenters and sponsors, RV Easy.

Your motorhome or travel trailer isn't just for getaways, it's also a moneymaker on wheels. Most RVs will sit parked in the driveway with RV Easy. You can rent out your motorhome or trailer and earn over $20,000 this year. Founded, owned, and operated by Canadians, RV-EZ takes care of everything, including full insurance coverage provided for every rental. And best of all, you choose when to rent

and set your own pricing. List your RV for free today at RVZY.com. That's RVZY.com. RV easy, rent your RV, make money easy. And with that, we'll bring him on. He is our Friday staple, civilian Fridays, as some people in the chat call it. The one and only Brian Burke.

Once again on the sheet, we're getting Burke y'all hooked up here and we'll get Brian aboard in a couple of moments. A couple of interesting things happening this evening. We'll go over this in a little more specifics coming up in a couple of moments, but going down three bagel is never a good thing. And sometimes for game three, you start to see, I don't know

if I want to call it desperation, but pretty big changes happening for hockey teams. The Edmonton Oilers will change goaltenders tonight. Calvin Pickard looks like he's starting tonight for the Oilers as they face off against the Los Angeles Kings. Kings lead this one to Cobb. The New Jersey Devils will welcome back a couple of players tonight, specifically two defensemen and maybe three. Brendan Dillon available once again for service alongside Luke Hughes. And you wonder if, and it sounds like he's going to be a game time decision, Jonas Seigenthaler will draw back into the lineup. You know, Seigenthaler is interesting. Beginning of the season, you could make the argument that the best defensive pair in the NHL, with all due respect

to Mikey Anderson and Vladislav Gavrkoff with the Los Angeles Kings, all due respect, the best shutdown pair in the NHL for half, maybe three quarters of the season until injuries became a mitigating factor here, was Jonas Seigenthaler and Jonathan Kovacevich. So it looks like Jonas Seigenthaler will at least be a game time decision and when your team's down to nothing usually game time decisions turn into he's playing. Tonight as the venue shifts to the Prudential Center and the New Jersey Devils facing off against Carolina Hurricanes, Carolina up to nothing in this one. Washington Capital is facing off against the Montreal Canadiens. This one is back at the Bell Center

where I've made the point before. That is, has to be number one on everybody's bucket list. Whenever I get asked, what are the things I have to do as a hockey fan? What are some of the experiences I have to have? You have to go to a game, even better if it's a playoff game, best if it's a Saturday night, but you

have to get to games in Montreal. There is nothing like it. 7-0-1, when the lights drop and fix you hits. Zach's laughing because he's heard me say this all before. That is the experience, Zach, and you know it it that every hockey fan has to have tonight Montreal facing off Against Washington the caps lead this one to nothing Did you see as well that Gabe Lannis gog has now been moved up to the second line alongside with Brock Nelson and Ntushkin I feel like that'll that would make you feel a little good inside

Hands up who's surprised? Yeah, no. It was a matter of time, right? Like, Hey, he looked good there in the first game as well. I know. And, but the thing is, it's going to be like this after every single game where, okay, he plays and then everybody goes, okay, let's see how he feels the next morning. I know it.

Don't you feel like this is going to be the way that it's going to be for Gabriel Landeskog for a little bit of time here, it's going to be, okay. He played, he looked good. Now let's see what the body says when he works out. I don't want to hear about how he felt after the game because you're still buzzing and charging on adrenaline. I want to hear how landis cog feels in the morning because let's face it. He's not 25 years old again, and he's coming off an incredibly significant injury one that you know NHL players don't come

back from so no not surprised. Yeah norm attacks, ice bags, all of it all that stuff all of it all of it and more anything you can do. Just live in the norm attack like seriously like can you walk with those things, can you walk with that? Just like norm attack 24 seven for Gabriel Landersbach. That's what he needs. Do them like tear away pants, like he's got them on all day, walks into the arena, rips them off and then he puts his hockey gear on

and goes out to play. Wanna get out, spend a couple of minutes here talking about the Brandon Hagel hit on Alexander Barkov. Um, still no update on the severity of the injury. Hope, Randy Workman rest of his career, Jeff. Yeah, you're not wrong. Talking about the end of the sky.

Um, first of all, he's getting rung up. Now what rung up means in the regular season is Now, what rung up means in the regular season is different than what rung up means in the playoffs. And I'll look at something like Trevor Zygres with Michael Rasmussen, the Anaheim Detroit game from earlier this year. Zygres got three for that one. And that was the same.

Like the call on this one is interference. Barkov doesn't have the puck. It's a dangerous hit. Um, if Barkov had, if Barkov had the puck, we wouldn't be having this conversation at all. Now, Zygres got three games for that hit on Rasmussen. If we look at the playoff multiplier, or I guess multiplier is not the way to phrase it,

the playoff subtractor, where it seems to be for every, if it's a two game suspension, the regular season, it's one game in the playoffs, then we're probably looking at a game here. It may depend on the severity of the injury as well. Man, the more that you look at that hit, you're just like, oh, that is such a bad one. And of all people, Alexander Barkov too. It's gotta be one for sure, maybe even two. But then, you know, I'll look at the subtractor

and say to myself, well, minor penalties are still two minutes in the playoffs. Like, are we gonna turn minor penalties into one-minute power plays now? I do think, by the way, there should be one-minute penalties, but that's for a different conversation. But I think we're probably not. Drop a lot on a high stick, and it's just two.

The playoffs. Yeah, it's a minor. It's two. Minors are one minute. One minute minors. It's going to be one probably too. I would imagine. I look at it, I look at it kind of like Ziegoss from Rasmussen. Yeah.

I think he's getting one here. I mean, it was kind of interesting. You had the conversation last week about, can you have the hearing? It was Colby and Laz who sparked that without getting a suspension. And I thought, I was like, I'm wondering right away, okay, could that be the case? Now this is going to be a suspension. That especially Paul Maurice, that veteran answers that he's given here, ah, it's not

ruled out, but he's not cleared to play we'll see what happens it's like what we talked about with by fields and Darnell nurse where it's like if you're the LA Kings oh I don't know by fields not playing tonight you had to do that but yeah he's getting that it's he never had the puck it's not like he was able to get the puck it was the Tampa defender who plays that thing. He's not looking. Unsuspecting. It's a dirty hit. He deserves to get one here as well, I think. Unsuspecting player. Doesn't touch the puck. The infraction is interference. It's not like a charge. This isn't rule 48 or anything like that. Barkv has the puck. It's a totally different conversation and we're probably not even having the conversation because it's legal. But this one, this one

is, is, is not, this one is A, not good. B, the other sidebar conversation to have in this one is, is Florida Tampa the nastiest rivalry in the NHL right now? Yes. When it gets going, it gets nasty. And there are guys on both sides that are not shy about this one. Like the one thing about Tampa is, and you see this like right away,

no matter who's on the ice or who gets hit, okay? When you do something against a Tampa Bay Lightning player, right? Like late hit, big hit, legal hit or otherwise, everybody charges at you. Like it doesn't matter. It could be everybody from Victor Hedman to Anthony Cirelli. It doesn't matter. They are all on you right away. And as has been pointed out,

yeah, sure at times it'll cost them a penalty or two. Those are easy penalties to kill off. Those are the ones where the boys are like, yeah, don't worry, do that every time, we'll kill that penalty. We'll take that. It's a little ticky tack penalties that you take. Those are the ones that are hard to kill.

It's like 200 feet from your net. Oh, God. Really? We're taking a penalty there? But Tampa takes those penalties where it's like that pack mentality of someone does something to one of our guys. It doesn't matter who's on the ice. We're all on them. Everybody. There is that expectation in Tampa. And they've been that way under John Cooper. That is one of the calling cards for the Tampa Bay Lightning's Act. Yeah. It's one of those ones that you kind of garner respect from your teammates too for stepping up and taking that penalty like you're talking about

where it's not only, okay, don't worry about it, but it's the guy who took the hit or whatever, who's like, wow, this guy's got my back. It allows you to feel more confident, more comfortable, more safe, and then also rally together behind those kinds of moments. Okay, let's get to our Friday staple.

Joining us on the sheet is the one and only Brian Burke joins us every Friday here on the broadcast. Burke, how are you today, buddy? How are you? I am well. Before we get to the games and everything that we've seen so far, we're in Ottawa right now. Game four is on the horizon. I wanted to get a couple of moments, take a couple of moments with you today to talk about Lou Lamarrillo,

who will not be back as the general manager of the New York Islanders. Now, I'm not going to take the next step and say that, you know, this is it. We're never going to hear from Lou Lamarrillo again. I don't believe that. I think that Lou Lamarrillo still pops up somewhere doing something. He still wants to work. Your thoughts on the Islanders not renewing the contract of Lou Lamarillo? Well, I owe Lou a lot. I met Lou in 1972. I went to play for him in 73. I've known him since then. I've remained close with him since then. I respect and admire and like, love Lou a lot. I probably have a better relationship with him than most people,

but I don't know him that well. He's a distant guy, a wonderful man, been an influence on the game. I was talking about this earlier today, though people don't realize his involvement with baseball, he's involved with the Yankees for years and years. He managed a baseball team in the Quebec senior league. He's a baseball star at Providence College and then went on from there and managed the team and I think he worked in the Cape League too, which is a prestigious league. So, I think he worked in the Cape League too, which is a prestigious league. So, he's got a great background and he's leaving giant footsteps behind. Correct me if I'm wrong on this one, Brookie.

Do you know, is he part of the Cape Cod Baseball Hall of Fame? I don't know about that. I think it was like 10 or 15 years ago. I'll check on that one. But when you mentioned Lula Amarillo in baseball, that's kind of where my brain went. I still feel it's just my opinion that he is going to pop up somewhere in some capacity that this is not the last we'll see of Lou Lammerill. Agree or disagree? Agree. He has too much to offer. Even though he's getting up there in age, he's still sharp as a tack. He won't want to retire. He'll be a

consultant somewhere or a legal hire, someone will give him something. Yeah, agreed. Okay, so we're here in Ottawa and focusing a lot on the Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators Series right now, Maple Leafs up three Cobb over Ottawa. Your thoughts on what we've seen so far where the emerging hero is either in a setup role with Max Domi in game two or a game winning goal in game three, Simon Benoit. Well, unlike the contributions, unlike the heroes, I think that's the hallmark of a great team is that they don't count on the same people to do the same thing every night. They got a game winner with Max Thomey. Next night it's Benoit.

And then it'll be someone else in game four. That's the way this team is. It's not just Mitch Marner. All the emergence of the core four for the first time in a couple of years has been refreshing. Looks like they figured out the playoff system. But the getting contributions from people people don't expect them from it's like finding a wallet on the street

But no ID You can't return it's like finding a wall Yeah, you get some of your counting on Mitch to score counting on JT to score awesome. That's his score When you're getting goals from guys that aren't on that list, that's a miracle When you're getting goals from guys that aren't on that list, that's a miracle. You know, the interesting thing about, one of the interesting things to me about Benoit and we tend to think of like, look, I'll be bummed with you. Like the big picture of Simon Benoit this year was that Superman punch. It's one of the, to me, one of the best hockey photographs we've seen in a long time.

But he's a really effective defenseman. Kevin Biaxa has gone as far to call him the best number six defenseman in the NHL. And watching him live here last night, he's a better skater, Ricky, than people give him credit for. Like you look at that Russian game too and you watch him move the puck.

Like he's not just a big slow-footed guy that's there to cross-check players in front of the net. Like I know that we're not going to expect him to score 10 goals every year. He only got one this season. But Simo Benoit is a better, quote unquote, hockey player than I think a lot of people have given him credit for. I watch them. I see them a lot, obviously, on Leafs games. I watched the game last last fall where he had the winner race to a puck, a long race, like from his own blue line back to the goal line.

And he pulled away on the forward by about 10 feet in that time. On a straight line, he's a really efficient skater, really fast, not agile so much, not mobile. On a straight line, he's a really gifted skater with good top end speed. I like him. I think he's smart, he's tough, good complimentary guy. ["The Biggest Showman"] you're calling your mother, but doing a little more for someone so important is never a bad idea. Get your mom an Aura digital picture frame. Photos and videos are a great way for mom to share and relive great memories. Maybe you got a couple of great pictures you posted on social,

and you think she'd like to have that in a frame in her house. Aura frames is the way to make that happen. Now we have two Aura Frames, one for our place and then the other is for my mom who loves showing off her grandchildren. We use the Aura app on our phones to send her all the latest from the kids. Trust me, it's a snap. Easy to set up and you can get running

with the Aura app in literally two minutes. Aura Frames was named the best digital photo frame by Wirecutter and featured in 495 gift guides last year. Aura has a great deal for Mother's Day. For a limited time, listeners can save on the perfect gift by visiting AuraFrames.com to get $45 off plus free shipping on their best-selling Carver Mat Frame. That's A-U-R-A frames.com. Use promo code SHEET. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout.

Terms and conditions apply. Hello fans of podcasts. Max Rushton here from the Guardian Football Weekly, which I think you should give a listen. It is good. It comes out three times a week and the podcast delivers you analysis, news, both the good and the bad from the beautiful game

and maybe even the occasional laugh. He's angry about everything. He doesn't have a great poker face. I would like to play cards with Bruno Fernando. You can listen to the Guardian football weekly, wherever you get your podcasts. Hopefully see you soon. Not agile or mobile, but hostile. Very much so.

Okay, before there's a special email question I want to read for you here in a couple of seconds, but before we get there, I was mentioning off the top of the show that to me the most impressive duo that we've seen so far is probably Karel Kaprizov and Matt Boldy in Minnesota. They seem to be doing whatever they want whenever they want against a really tough team and the Vegas Golden Knights. From the games that you've watched, any series, pick it. Who's been standing out for you a few games in early here? Well, those two guys for sure.

I think it's Ronald, the unsung hero of this group is, I think Mitch Marner has been terrific. I think he's really been sharp, really smart with the puck, making noticeable plays, good PK. I think he's been really good. I like the way that Toronto's playing a pack mentality. If you look at the TV, you can see all the people and they're defending when I was attacking. You can see all five skaters for Toronto in the shot. They're all getting back. They're all forming the home plate defense. It's pretty impressive. Kiro Caprizo has been unreal. Like you said, Matt Boldy is so much fun to watch both those guys. Matthew Kachuck has been dynamite his first two starts. Anthony Stolar stands up. They're getting the goalie.

They're playing with Ottawa. It should not be down 3-0 in this series. It's interesting. Even last night watching the game, and you could have made the point before, like this is the one game the Ottawa Senators needed to win, obviously. But Stolarz has been there, and it's, I can't remember the last time where we said the Toronto Mate beliefs netminder was better than the other team's netminder, but here we are, and I've always been reminded by people like Kelly Rudy, you should never have to apologize, Berkey, for having a good goaltender.

You know this from your run with Anaheim en route to the Stanley Cup and JS Shugair. Man, a goalie can help you out with a lot of mistakes and breakdowns. Yeah, and what people don't realize is it changes the whole way your team plays. If you trust your goalie, you can cheat a little bit. You can leave a step earlier.

You can take offensive chances you can't take otherwise. You can gamble and expose the guy in a big time shot and not worry about it. So it changes the whole way you approach. It gives you an offensive dynamic approach to the game because you can rely on your goaltender. And so you cheat. It's a great thing. Players will tell you, they count on the goalie, they can play a completely different style of game.

Yeah, and you're saying that now with the maple leaves. Okay, we do have an email question here for you, Berkey, from our Crispy Inbox. Time now for the Crispy Inbox, presented by the Ninja Crispy 4-in-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. Okay, we'll get Zach Phillips to read the question. More on the Crispy, it is an all-in-one system that includes four quart, six cup,

temp-ware glass containers and two storage lids. The Ninja Crispy is thermal shock resistant and can go from frozen to crispy in minutes. With the Crispy PowerPod, you get the power of a full-sized air fryer in the palm of your hands. The four-quart container fits four pounds of chicken or veggies. Cook a personal-sized meal in seven minutes in the six-cup container. Max Crisp, bake, air fry, and re-crisp with the Ninja Crispy.

You can prep, cook, or store anything from crispy favorites to one-dish meals. Visit their website in the link in the show description and stay tuned for your chance to win a free Ninja Crispy. Zach Phillips, our email for Brian Burke today. Yeah, here's today's email. Hey, Burke and friends. Obviously, the PWHL is experiencing great success with their rule variations. Brackets the shorthanded goal rule

and the pick your opponent rule among others, but are there any rules that you personally would like to see being used slash tried? Thanks for taking the time, Austin from Airdrie, Alberta. You know, let's just extend that not to the PWHL, but just to all of hockey. Are there any, I know you've lobbied for rules before. Anything else out there?

No, no. I think the rules really, I think they're really good. I think they work for our league. There's a uniqueness about them. They work in the new league. Our women get them, they think the jailbreak rule in particular is great. I think they're fabulous.

I don't wanna see them try try the NHL, not one. The one thing that I thought you might go to on this one, Berkey, I'm talking about the bear hug. Off of the PWHL. No, I'm saying like I want to extend the question outside of just the PWHL. Okay, go ahead then. I'm glad we can talk about anything else. HLOKs. Like just... Okay, go ahead. Go ahead then. I'm glad we're talking about anything else. Okay. The bear hug is one that you've talked about before. Now, I know that it's actually technically not allowed and technically it's holding. But the more that you remember when you first started talking about this, I'm seeing this more and more. That officials don't call that hold anymore. You have a further thought on the bear hugs presence in the NHL now. Yes, it exists. It's permitted now.

When I played, it's a long time ago. I know I see by your tongue. When I played defense, the defense was taking it hard to the boards. You put both his hands on your shoulder blades and guide you in. It's still finished the check, but it wouldn't be the billiard board, but billiard ball. In fact, a boom, boom, one collision and the boards, you would go in with you and see that letting that go now,

which is the bear hug rule, which is fine with me. I don't want any credit for it. I think that should change the rule, but if they're not going to allow this application, that's fine with me, to save some injuries. I hope that answers the question, the bear hug rule. Brian, we've talked to, I talked to Cyril Lieder before you came on and we talked about the origins of the Ottawa senators going back to the early 90s when Ottawa came in with Tampa. What are the origins of the Ottawa Senators going back to the early 90s when Ottawa came in with Tampa? Here we are in Ottawa at the CTC, a new arena one day on the horizon.

What are your memories of when the Ottawa Senators got awarded a franchise? That would have been 1992. It was the same year I came in. Ottawa came in and Tampa came in I believe. My first year, my first and only year in Hartford. First game we played at the Ottawa Civic Center, they didn't have a box for us. So I went to the PR, I went to the PR guy, said where are you supposed to sit? He said figure it out. They had many things going on. So we found an old organist booth, threw the organ out in the corridor, threw all the trash and stuff that was in there, made our own booth. I remember thinking, this is NHL, but a great little building, I love that building.

That would have been the old Correll Center, once upon a time. And they announced the goal, Terry Yake was on our team, and we still got him to assist, and they announced the assist by Terry Yake. Like, no, it's Terry Yake. But that's what we used to always call him in our hockey pools, Berkey.

I'm taking teriyaki. Taking teriyaki in the fourth round. Good little player. He was a nice little player. I like teriyaki. Lisa Grinton in the chat. Ask Brian what he would do with Mitch Marner. Sign or no sign?

I guess that depends on the decimal point, but you talked about Marner and that pass yesterday. There's only a handful of other guys that can make that play at that speed with that awareness. Do you have a thought on Mitch Marner's future here? I've answered that question before Jeff. I answered it again happily. Sign, if he goes above Austin Matthews, so what?

The cap's going up as has a percentage of the cap, and always a winger, and most of the highest paid guys are Senators indeed. But this guy's elite, special penalty killer, special player, special kid, wants to stay, sign him. Berkey, we're starting to see a real sort of shifting here once again, I mean, it's the off season, so there's the coaching carousel,

coaches getting dismissed. We just saw with the New York Rangers, we saw with the Anaheim Ducks. You know, there's some college coaching names. I wanna hear your thoughts on college coaches here, whether it's David Karl or Pat Verschweiler Western Michigan. Like, listen, like I remember when the New Jersey Devils

hired Lou Lamarulo, I still have the old hockey news magazine when they hired him and it was from the Providence Friars. And at that time, you know, there weren't a lot of people from like, whether it's players or coaches or managers, like people just weren't getting hired as much as they are now from college hockey. You've seen this change over the decades. And I wonder too, if this is gonna be the summer of the college hockey. You've seen this change over the decades. And I wonder too, if this is going to be the summer of the college hockey hire, can you describe what it was like when Lou first got

hired to now where players, coaches, everybody on a consistent basis are coming from college hockey? Well, people laugh, but when I played in the American league, there were two Americans. Me and Tommy Gorance were the only two Americans. It's a big deal. You're all, you're American. It's a big deal back then. Now it's not. There's American players on every team. American coaches, assistant GMs, GMs, that's all gone now. But the college coach there's still a perception that a top college guy might not make a great pro coach. So the last guy, Haxthel, great coach, great guy, had some success, washed out now, waiting to get back in.

We'll see. We'll see. I think David Carlyle is going to get a job. I think Pat Firsweiler is going to get a job. But I don't think you can go with a veteran team with a rookie American coach. You have to have a guy, have to bring a team along with that. A couple of more things here. One, first of all, Lisa, who asked the question, said,

love Brian, saw him at the airport, he is very kind. Just as a curious sort of aside here, I mean, I've been with airports at you before, like you get hockey fans coming up to you all the time. Do you have a thought on sort of talking to people off the shift or are you never off the shift when you're involved in hockey? Well, first off, we're in the entertainment business. Those people ask for autographs and take selfies. They're fans. They buy tickets. They watch on TV. You can't be that. You can't not be nice. So now I have limits.

I have time limits. I have someone to stay and talk for an hour. We're not doing that. Sorry. Someone say hello. Take a photo. I ask a question or two. I'm always ready for that. I think those are the people that buy tickets. So you have to perpetuate the fan base. Just so I used to tell my players the same thing. You say yes to the autograph request. You say, which are almost gone now. No one wants autographs anymore. But the selfie, yeah, you say

yes, because that person buys tickets to watch on TV. That's how we build our base. So yeah, I'm glad she said I was kind. Don't tell people I'm nice, but happy to do it. With behind the graph exterior, Brian, we all know what's behind the graph exterior. Brittany Kuchak is clearly playing. I mean, everybody's hurt by this time of year. I don't know. There's a difference between hurt and injured. But do you have a thought on, because you mentioned Matthew earlier, and he's been dynamic for Florida in the first couple of games here.

You have a thought on what you're seeing from Brady Kachuck with the Ottawa Senators, Berkey? Yeah, he actually mulled. He said to the camera, I'm not realizing it was on camera, he said, I think my groin, I think that's what he said. So he's clearly battling. That's what those kids do though. The Kachaks, they're both hurt.

They're both banged up. You wouldn't know watching them play. They're warriors. That apple did not fall far at all from the tree. The fellow was touching the tree when it fell. Who's the one player, or maybe there are a couple of players that come to mind, where you said to yourself, I can't believe this guy's playing right now, from your playoff experience? For me, Teemu. Teemu Solani was all banged up. You didn't get hit that often, but he did.

He got hit hard. He got a bad knee when we signed him. He scored 40 goals and won the cup the next year. and and the last two rounds of the effective for you guys. He was adding that whole line with Mowen and Niederreiter was one of the best third lines I think we've ever seen in the playoffs, Berkey. Niederreiter. Not Niederreiter. What did I say? Niederreiter? Yeah. Sorry. Rob Niedermeyer. Scott's brother. Travis Mowen. Travis was the element to Robbie. Robbie was a great player. Robbie was a great playoff player. But Travis Mowen was an unsung member of that team. He was very critical to our cup and Sammy was a warrior.

He sure was. We'll end on this one. What do you expect here on Saturday in Ottawa, game four? I know Maple Leafs fans all have, you know, visions of a sweep. Marner last night saying, obviously the fourth one is the hardest win to get in hostile ground in Ottawa. What do you expect on Saturday, Berkey?

Well, I think Ottawa deserves a much better fate. I'm really proud of the way they played. They've been really good. They had a great finish to get in. God bless them. If this is the last game, was it great here? I don't think it is. I think they'll figure out a way to win one, but I think they're going home after that.

All right. On that, we'll let you get to your weekend. Brian, as always, love Civilian Fridays and we will catch up in seven days, my friend. Thanks, Steph. See you. There he is, the great Brian Brooke joining us here Fridays on the Sheet. Zacharoo, a lot this over the past couple of days here. I wanna get to the games ahead.

So I'll remind you as always, the Sheet is powered by FanDuel, home of the same game Parlay. Make every moment more on FanDuel. FanDuel proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them. And we've got three games tonight. All these series are two-nothing. Washington in Montreal, Zach Caps lead this one two-nothing.

Hurricanes at the Prudential Center, Hurricanes lead this one two-nothing. Los Angeles Kings in Edmonton against the Oilers, they lead the series to nothing. The Oilers are changing goaltenders. Out of all these three games, like Washington, Montreal, okay, Montreal's first kick out of here. If they go down three bagel, you can still say, oh, they're facing off against the Washington Capitals

top team in the province. Carolina Hurricanes facing off against a banged up, even though they're getting reinforcements, New Jersey Devils who are still of course without the services of Jack Hughes, their number one center, but they should have some returning defensemen tonight in Luke Hughes, Brendan Dillon, and we'll see about Jonas Seigenthaler. But to me it does seem as if this is situation critical for the Edmonton Oilers. I know the old saying, you're never in trouble until you lose at home. But lose at home tonight you're down three Cobb to a team that can play stingy, stingy hockey. Pickard is in for

Skinner. I don't want to say it's desperation but there's part of me that looks as it says if you see Pickard at the beginning of the series, if you see Pickard it means something bad has happened to the Oilers. And it looks very much like something bad has happened to the Edmonton Oilers. Yeah, that's the one for me tonight that stands out amongst everything else. Like, if the caps go up three nothing, and it's not to diminish anything that the Devils or the Canadians have done this year. But if the Canes and the Caps go up 3-0, it's like, okay, that falls in line with what I thought could have happened here. If the Kings go

up 3-0, it's like that's not supposed to happen. I thought the Kings would win this series. I think there was a lot of people starting to go on the other side of that one. I know you and Wish had the heated little back and forth probably about two weeks ago about the way that that thing could play out. But you know, it's not supposed to be three nothing, right? Like that's where it starts to go. And the other thing too, you go to Pickard here tonight. What if you lose this game 4-1? Oh, you know, who goes in that next game? Then there's questions about that. And then that's a story and a distraction.

And then the conversations around Bouchard and Nurse could get louder and louder and louder. And then it's just a, it's a really uncomfortable situation going into game four with your backs against the wall. It's must win. It's must win for Edmundson. And I think, I think that if you're an Oblock, you're not even thinking about game four and if we lose game three and what's that going

to mean for a game four decision. I don't think you go anything further than opening puck drop tonight. Yeah. Like you're the Edmonton. That is all you think about. And of course, eyes will be on Conor McDavid because if there is one player in the NHL and maybe Edmonton has two, they certainly do actually, that can single-handedly change a game and or a series. This has all the markings of Connor McDavid, Leon Dreisel, get Edmonton back into the series. It's on them. We can say whatever we want about goaltending. We can say everything we want about the blue line.

They have two nuclear missiles that can single-handedly, individually get a team back into a series. And here we are. No pressure. Yeah. You know, by the way, it's actually interesting. By the way, Schwab mentions in the chat, will Edmonton find a way to one up the harmonica anthem? We didn't spend any time on that. And that was awesome.

I love that. Give me that all day. Like I'm not a big, I not a big anthem guy to begin with. I'm not a, I mean, I understand why the anthems are there and I know the fans love it and I know I'm in the minority on this one, I get that. But even like a cynical prick like me, I love that. I thought that was really cool.

I really dug it. I liked the buildup to it to game two as well because the Kings game was flying and everyone was like, it's the harmonicas. We have Biz tweeting like harmonica watch. I texted DJ in the morning of game two, I'm like, are the harmonicas being played tonight? He's like, oh God, like this is a story.

And then I see DJ tweeting about them later in the day as it goes to it and like, if you're Edmonton, if you're in the room and you're the coaching staff and everything, it's all business. If you are game ops for the Oilers going into tonight's game, there has to be a part of you that's like, let's knock this out of the park. You know, like it's, it's an entertainment business. Like Berkey said, let's have some fun with this and let's one up the harmonicas. But I mean, in the least serious fashion possible here, Jeff, I want to ask you, what do you, what do you do? What in your mind one ups the harmonicas? Like what does that? The bongos

like Nashville was one that got one upped by the harmonica. We had ukuleles yet? Is that where we're at now on dueling anthems? What's gonna out-duel our harmonica? Banjo, banjo, Nick Carolli with the banjo. Banjo, ukulele? Banjo, yeah, yeah. Tiny violin.

That's where we're at. That's where we're at. Harmonica anthems and Matthews Balding. That's been the first week of the playoffs. That's where we're at in the year 2025 for the Stanley Cup. Xylophones, bagpipes. Well, what a spot we're in here. Pots would be cool.

Here we go. Well, we'll see what happens tonight. Again, like yesterday, I want to welcome a board, a new sponsor here for the playoffs here on the sheet. And that is our friends at Budweiser. Budweiser is encouraging buds to make time for playoffs, not excuses. Every goal, every check, every win is better enjoyed with your buds. Fona, bud, text the bud, ping a bud and call it three excuses for bailing on the playoffs.

After all, the playoffs are the most wonderful time of the year, make them count. When it's springtime, it's go time, Zach. When it's springtime, it's go time. And speaking of go time, it's time for us to go. Not before we thank a number of people. None of this could be possible, Zach. First of all, without you, and man,

you must be burning the candle at both ends here between all the free and the post and doing streeters and late nights with the maple leaves. Zach Phillips, thanks as always for your hard work and efforts here on the program. The great Nick Carolli playing the keyboards behind me right now making sure the shot is perfect right now and Amel Delich, our fearless leader around these parts and speaking speaking of leader, thanks to Cyril Leder for stopping by, the president and CEO of the Ottawa Senators to say nothing about Brian Burkhardt Friday staple here on the broadcast.

I do have to make special mention here as well. A big thank you to the Ottawa Senators for making this space available to us over the past couple of days, the entire PR staff as well, including Ian Mendez, the VP of Communications and also Aaron Campbell. Thanks to them both for making things go so seamless here in the nation's capital. And you know, I got a couple of DMs and texts about this was really great to hear Mendez

on the show yesterday. I know he's doing great work as the VP of comms here for the Ottawa senators, but I can I think I think Zach I can speak safely for all hockey fans. We miss hearing from Ian Mendez. He was always such a go-to Ottawa reporter when anything in Ottawa happened. It's like, all right, call Mendez. He has it. He's on it. So thanks to Ian Mendez for helping out over the next couple of days. And thanks to Nick Calburga, my popcorn row cellmate last night. It was fun hanging out with Nick watching the game here last night. Anyway, three games on the go around the NHL tonight. Enjoy it. The Sheet returns Monday at our normal start time of three o'clock. Morning Cup

of hockey on Monday at 9 a.m. Eastern, Daily Face Off live at noon, me and Zach with Sheet Monday at 3. Enjoy the game tonight, enjoy the weekend. Are you gonna see a sweep tomorrow? We'll see. Cocktail me. Every day this week, every day this month I can't get out my head lost all ambitions day to day Cause you can call it a rut I went to the dark man He tried to give me a little medicine I'm like nah man that's fine I'm not against those methods but I knew

It's me, myself and how this gon' be fixed in my mind I do wanna break it I turned on the music I do wanna break it I turned on the music It's enough, they're bad, don't you see? Sometimes you get Helping on the days that went wrong