The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Seulement à Montréal ft. Brian Burke

Episode Date: January 31, 2025

Jeff Marek is joined by Brian Burke for Burkie Friday's to react to the Flyers/Flames trade, Marc-Andre Fleury's final game in Montreal, Senators closing the gap, and much more...Watch Down to Irf with Travis Green: https://youtu.be/QI1Jru-GGY8?feature=sharedShout out to our sponsors!👍🏼Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Flames_Nation🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Okay, so I'm really excited today for a number of reasons. One, Brian's gonna be aboard Berkey and that's always fun. And it's always a mystery where he's going to be as well. Hey Zach, what's your latest text with Berkey all about? Do we know where he's gonna be? No clue. Did you ask him where he's gonna be? Yep. And he responded with? Did not hear back. So we'll stay tuned for that.

Welcome to the program. So, Brick, you'll be aboard here in, I don't know, 10 minutes or so. Take your questions, start with news of the day, get all the things in, the big Calgary Philadelphia trade and what that means. We should park some time to talk about the Winnipeg Jets. Like what a beating that was. Like when Winnipeg just decided to turn it on against the Boston Bruins yesterday, just turn the tap and here we go front and center Mark Shifely. One of my favorite players. Have I mentioned that before? Going back to his days with the Barry Colts of the OHL, yes, I'm gonna be that guy.

So we'll get into that a little bit with Berkey coming up in a couple of moments. Also, salary caps going up. Salary caps going up large. So next year, 95.5 is your upper. That's your upper. And then it jumps, and everybody paying attention

knows what this one means specifically. In 26, 27, it jumps to 104. 104 million bucks. And if you're like me, the first thing you did was you tried to figure out what 20% of 104 million million is. And I'll save you the aggravation. It's $20.8 million.

So that's what the Edmonton Oilers could be looking at for Conor McDavid times eight or any other team for that matter. Uh, and then going to 113.5, you know, it was interesting. One of the reasons why there was a lockout in 0-4-0-5 was because of the outrageous salaries and how much teams were spending in competitive balance. And you had teams like the Red Wings and the Rangers and the Maple Leaves blowing their brains out every single season acquiring players. And then you had, you know, the Nashville's and the Ottawa's and, you know, the teams that, although they were competitive, couldn't, the Nashville's and the Ottawa's and you know, the teams that although they were competitive,

couldn't flex the same financial muscle. And I think history will correct me here. Well, someone in the chat will probably correct me. That the Detroit Red Wings were the leaders that year in spend 2004. I think it was $95 million. And here we are 2025 for next season. And finally we've gotten back quick spot quiz by the way, for everybody.

What was the original salary cap? What was the range? What was lower? What was upper? Anyone around the room? Yes. You in the back, Zach, do you know what it was? No, not a clue.

2005. Low end, $21 million. High end, $39 million. Yes, there were amnesty buyouts. We've come so far. Now you could see one player almost make that next year with 20% of the 104, which could wiggle a little bit, but basically this is it. $20.8 million is the way you can pay someone in two years, i.e. Conor McDavid.

So what was once the floor, now you can have one player making that. Anyhow, I'm really excited today because I get to play a video that I've wanted to play for a long time. I'm glad I get a chance to do it here. Now, do we have anything from Marc-Andre Fleury yesterday in Montreal? Do you have any vids that you want to play, Zach? Is there anything we should sort of set the tempo, set the mood of this segment here about Marc-Andre Fleury?

Yeah, I've got a clip of him after the game. set the tempo, sent the mood of this segment here about Marc-André Fleury. Yeah, I've got a clip of him after the game. I think it's something a lot of people had seen, but it's him getting the ovation from the crowd, shaking hands with everybody. I just thought it was cool listening to the Bell Center. It's a fun moment if you want to follow that one. Fire it off. Let's do that one.

It was a wonderful, spontaneous moment. The handshake galley for Marc-André Fleury, his last game in Montreal. Let's have a look. TNH split the head, Nobby's Montreal, waiting his center ice led by Mike Matheson. There come the handshakes to flower. Now we've seen scenes like this before. flower. Now we've seen things like this before. I will always point at Calgary Vancouver, Trevor Linden's last game where again had all the flames going shake his hand. We've seen this with the retired officials.

Mark Hanson and Andre play with an embrace. That's a... I think the Canadian showed a lot of class tonight. The organization... Got out and he's finally seen Montreal. And the staff of the training center... Completely beloved in Montreal. Stick caps. Cannon, Bougin. His return to the dressing room. So that was the scene last night at the Bell Centre.

I have always made the joke, there are two places that do ceremonies well. The Bell Centre and Buckingham Palace. Those are the only two places on the face of the earth where they do ceremonies properly. Now, we talked about yesterday how he's probably the most beloved goaltender certainly of this generation, maybe of all time. I'll still maintain it's Johnny Bauer, but I'll defer to Flower as well. So 2017, Marc Andre, I think it was 2017, he was going through

his situation with the Pittsburgh Penguins and as much as every time you saw Mark Andre Fleury in front of a camera, every time you saw Mark Andre Fleury interviewed, he had that lovable charming smile and he was trying not to insult anyone or share his true emotions, which were intense anger and hatred towards Jim Rutherford and the Pittsburgh Penguins, who were trying to move him out of town. Oh, and by the way, not lost on a lot of people last night,

Zach, I assure you that the idea that Marc-Andre Flurry should still be playing with the Pittsburgh Penguins. His replacements, Matt Murray, Tristan Jarre, nowhere to be found. And there's Marc-Andre Fleury still playing, but I digress. Like it was ugly between Marc-Andre Fleury and Jim Rutherford.

And Rutherford has admitted such, like essentially I'm paraphrasing, but he said, yeah, I know Flower hated me. And that's legit, like really, really angry. So this little video here that I'm gonna play for And that's legit, like really, really angry. So this little video here that I'm gonna play for you that's been sitting on my phone for years, so Colby Armstrong sent me this back in 2017.

So he ran into a gentleman by the name of Yvonne Barrett at a hockey trade show in downtown Toronto. You know who Yvonne Barrett is, right? Denis Lemieux from the movie Slapshot, the goaltender, you know, icing up in the Pachamma before the guy hit the board, bang, and play stop and then start up. That guy. Okay? So he says, look, can you do me a huge favor? And Yvonne, gracious as ever, says, yeah, of course I can do you a favor. What do you need, Colby? He says, the flower's in a bad way right now. Going through a situation with the Pittsburgh Penguins

or trying to give them the punter, and he's fighting it tooth and nail. He wants to stay with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Can you send him a video to brighten his mood? So this is the video that Yvonne Barrett, Danila Mew, net minder for the Charlestown Chiefs from the movie Slapshot, sent. I hope you didn't censor it.

Did you censor it? No. Good. This is the video that Yvonne Barrette sent to Marc-Andre Fleury in 2017. I'm so happy. Have a look. Hey, Marc-Andre Fleory, dream me right fucking now Take care

Play that again It's been sitting on my phone and honestly every single time that I need a laugh You know you have things on your phone certain videos like okay I just need a laugh like maybe for you, it's Brian Burke saying civilians. Maybe that's going to be your go-to like for the rest of your life. Feeling down a little bit, just need to pick me up. I always go back to this video.

I've watched this thing thousands of times. Let's do this one more time before we move on. Let's talk about the Philadelphia part. Hey, Marc-Andre Fleury, treat me right fucking now. Take care. Look how happy Colby is okay one more I swear last time don't look at Barrett this time just look at just look at how happy Colby

is cool one more time one more time one more time. One more time. I'll move. We'll move on. We'll move. Hey, Marc-Andre Fleury, drain me right fucking now. Take care. So that's the video. Yvonne Barrett said to Marc-Andre Fle Fleury as a way to brain his spirits And your mother for trying to get him out of his burk We just do a quick little look and see what the chats doing for that one there Yeah, you guys are stuck in a giggle loop. Yes, McDowell's do studio. Johnny Lazarus, uh, club, you know, he struck gold there. He sure did. Oh man. Yvonne too, after

he says it, he starts giggling and then he starts laughing. But the funny thing about it is how many times would he have been asked to send that great scene and that great line to an NHLer? Yeah. Maybe never. right? Yeah, Marconde, you called your mother fur right now. Okay. That line in the movie is so good too and he does it. Yeah and then Newman says, hang up. So Alan Nichols, one thing for all you, um, for all you spermologists out there. You know what a spermologist is? Yeah, someone who collects things. Trivia.

So Alan Nichols, who played Johnny Upton in the movie, okay, the dude that wore the helmet with the great mustache, my favorite character from the movie. great mustache, my favorite character from the movie. His grandfather is a guy by the name of Riley Hearn. And Riley Hearn was the first pro goalie to win the Stanley Cup. Did you know that? Like that movie is like riddled with tiny little bits of trivia and like that like Newman's apartment was Gabby's

and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But Riley Hearn, Alan Nichols grandfather, first goaltender to win the Stanley Cup. Anyway, I throw that in apropos of nothing. Brian Burke coming up here in a couple of moments. Hope you enjoyed that. We're gonna have to show, you know what? Let's show that to Burke.

Let's just have fun on Friday and show that video to Burke and get Brian's reaction. In the meantime, I know that, like I was watching Burn Burn this afternoon and the guys were all talking and drinks came on. They talked about the trade, DFO Live, how to whack at that pinata today for obvious reasons. Morning Cup of Hockey doesn't do Fridays, but if they did they would be all over this trade. Just a

couple of things I want to point out here. So Calgary Flames and Philadelphia Flyers with the second shocking trade in as many weeks around the NHL. Last week was Colorado and Carolina slash Chicago, and last night it was the Philadelphia Flyers, with players mysteriously evaporating from the Philadelphia Flyers bench like an Agatha Christie novel. Like they're going on the train, the lights flicker and characters start leaving. Morgan Frost, sorry I read a lot of Agatha Christie,

Murder on the Orient Express was my favorite as a kid. Morgan Frost and Joel Fairby on their way to the Calgary Flames last night. And coming back the other way, Andre Kuzmenko, Jacob Pelche, a second, and then... I want to get, like, I want to be part of the conversation for this one. A seventh in 2008.

Where does that come from? First of all, like where does the seventh? Inside, we're not doing this deal unless I get a seventh round draft pick in 2028. Where does that come from? So a couple of things here. One of real note here. Oh, you know what?

Let's get to the rundown and then we're gonna get into this trade. Daily outline of today's show presented by FanDuel, North America's number one sports book app provider. Thanks to our friends who help keep this program on the air. Coming up on the show today, Flyers and Flames, we're gonna get more into this conversation here in a couple of moments.

Brian Burke, it is Fridays after all, get your questions in now. Ask Burke, always fun. The Flower slash Danila Mew, yeah, we'll show the video a few more times because like, dude, it's Friday. Like have a laugh, it's okay. Yeah, I let that one in there

because I figured we'd come back. Well, we're coming back to that video, trust me. I've been, dude, I've been sitting on that video since 2017 and I'm like, I can't play at the old shop. I'm not a chance they'd let me do that. And I get here, I'm like, mm, I need to find the right moment.

And last night just seemed so perfect. So I got the Colby Armstrong seal of approval. I'm like, Coles, can I, is it okay? Do you think he'd mind? He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, go for it. So we'll get to that. So a couple of things, from the Calgary Flames perspective,

one thing you need, and Craig Connery did a really good bit of of things, from the Calgary Flames perspective, one thing, and Craig Connery did a really good bit of business for today for the Calgary Flames, like mainly fueled by Dustin Wolf, the Calgary Flames find themselves flirting with the playoff position. That's great. The other thing the Calgary Flames have wanted to address all season long is the center position

and specifically the birth certificates. They have old centers. Nazem Kadri is 34, Michael Backlund is 35, Kevin Rooney is 32. Like you look down the middle of the Calgary Flames and it's an older bunch. And Morgan Frost comes in at, to help me Zach, 25 years old I believe Morgan is. 25 years old. He comes in, and in comes Joel Farabee on the second chance, and all of a sudden that's a tidy bit of business

for a team that's looking around the Western Conference and saying, you know what, we actually might have a shot here at one, making the playoffs, and two, giving the kids on our team the experience of what it's like to experience a playoff push and not have your season end after trade deadline. And from the Philadelphia Flyers point of view, now I know they only played a handful of games,

but Kuzmiko and Michikoff did play together at, in St. Petersburg in the KHL. I think part of this is, you know, have someone, I don't wanna say babysit, but have someone there for Matvey Michikov. You know, this has happened countless times in the NHL with Russian hockey players. One of the more famous ones was Atlanta Thrashers

bringing in Alexei Zhitnik to help with Ilya Kovalchuk. But what this does as well, and you can be of two minds here. I was saying this on Secarus and Price earlier today. You can be of the Occam's razor mind, which is simplest explanation is the correct one, or you can do the conspiracy grassy knoll, which is, you know, let your mind roam free and come up with your most extreme reason for this deal, because all of a sudden now,

the Philadelphia Flyers have a open center spot. Now, if you believe in letting your mind roam, you say to yourself, well, hmm, does that mean they could be courting one of the two in Vancouver? Should we now start to look at the Philadelphia Flyers and say, maybe they're in the mix for one of these two players. Or, and unfortunately this is where I fall more so than the Vancouver side of things, they're just

opening a spot for Jet Lachenko next year. That the Philadelphia Flyers have a lot of kids and the development crews got to get these guys ready, got to get these minnows ready for manhood, get these little pups ready to start playing in the National Hockey League and what they're doing is they've opened up a center spot for Jet Lachenko next year. It is his sort of right of first refusal. His spot is there if he can earn it, essentially. That's probably what it is, but hey, you want to let your mind wander a little bit this weekend? Philadelphia

Flyers have an open center spot. With that, we'll get to our Friday standby. He is the one and only Brian Berkey. He joins us each and every Friday here on the program. Berkey, how and where are you today? I see you're in the home office. Home office. Everyone has to look at a painting of me. You know what's better? There's only one thing better than one Berkey and that's two. The trademark tie around the neck too.

My girlfriend arranged an upstairs office but I couldn't get it to work this morning so I'm stuck here again. I'm stuck looking at my mate. No problem. They get to look at you as if they have blurred vision too, or double vision. Brian, before we get to,

I wanna ask you about the Philadelphia Flyers and the Calgary Flames and that trade. I wanna ask you about what you were doing exactly 15 years ago today, more on that in a moment. I wanna ask you about the Winnipeg Jets, who just had a third period against the Boston Bruins last night and rolled but I want to play something for you. I'm not sure if I ever played this for you when we worked

together at the old shop but after Marc-Andre Fleury last night in Montreal you know beautiful scene he's got a shutout for the Minnesota Wild. The Montreal Canadiens players are lining up to shake his hand, etc. It's a wonderful moment. I thought, you know what, this is a good place to show this video. So this goes back to 2017 Berkey when Jim Rutherford was trying to get Marc-Andre Fleury out of town. And one thing I would like to point out too, the two goalies who they tried to get to take his place are both not heard of right now and that is Shruth and Jarre and Matt Murray.

Marc-Andre Fleury is still playing I would make the point He should still be a Pittsburgh Penguin, but I digress so Colby Armstrong Berkey runs into Yvonne Barrett who as you all know played the character Danila Mew The netminder from Slapshot and said look Can you send a video to Mark Andre Fleury to cheer him up a little bit? You know he's going through a bad situation with his general manager Jim Rutherford can you send him a video? Berkey I want to play this for you we played it for the audience a second ago I want to get your reaction this is Yvonne Barrette with

Colby Armstrong and a video for Marc-Andre Fleury back in 2017. Enjoy. Hey, Marc-Andre Fleury, drink me right fucking now. Take care. There he gets old. It's the best line that I don't know if I ever showed that to you when we used to work at the old shop, but it's one of those videos that whenever I'm in a bad mood, I just kind of pull out and I play it because it makes me laugh. I want to ask you about Slapshot in a second, but first I want to ask you about Marc-Andre Fleury. Beautiful night last night, last game in Montreal at the Bell Center, etc. The crowd, classy as ever, the players, classy as ever, all of it. When I say the name

Marc-Andre Fleury, what pops to your mind? You love it. I think that's the only word. He's just the guy. I said this earlier today. It's amazing to me, Marc-Andre Furrier gets the reverence that typically attaches to a guy who's spent his whole career with one team. He played for four teams and yet he's revered in all four, which is very unusual. The guy moves around, usually sacrifices some of that loyalty, some of that reverence, some of that love. But it hasn reverence, some of that love. But as it happened with Marc Andre, everyone loves him.

He's had a great career as a player, but more importantly, he's been an upbeat, contributing guy, and everyone's played. And he's one of the most beloved players of this or any other generation. I was making the point on yesterday's show, when I think of beloved goaltenders, I always think of Johnny Bauer. Who doesn't matter if you're, you know, five or 95, you know Johnny Bauer and you love them. But he is this sort of that, this generation's Johnny Bauer. He's loved by young people, middle age, old, it doesn't matter.

Now, off the Marc-Andre Fleury page, one of my favorite stories from you is the seconds ticking down 2007, game five. Your Anaheim Ducks are about to defeat the Ottawa Senators for the Stanley Cup. And was it your team services guy who pulled you aside? Who was it? Joe Trotter, our video guy. That's it. So what was the line? What did he say to you right before the buzzer hit zero? I just hugged Henry Samuelson and Henry was yelling unintelligibly.

Henry was really excited. He's like, and we've clocked down to about three seconds and it's ticking. And Joe Trotty yells out and the ducks have won the championship of the federal league. Perfect. Joe Trotty yells out, and the Ducks have won the championship of the Federal League. Look at that, what the, it's perfect. Look at that. We're about to win the Stanley Cup, and Joe Trotty's doing slap shot.

Yeah. How many times you figure you've seen that movie, Berkey? I'd be at it over 100. I remember I was playing, call it pro hockey when it came out, and I just finished my Stubbin games in Springfield, and my roommate and I went to Arizona on our spring break. and and it's Rick Moffett, I said to him, I just lived this movie for the last three weeks. Seven games in Springfield. I knew a lot of the players,

I played against a lot of the players who were in the movie. So I felt like I had been a part of the movie for the whole movie. So I said to my roommate Rick Moffett, I said, I just lived this movie in Springfield. You know, it's interesting too, because the apartment in the movie, which is Bruce Boudreaux's

apartment, but I believe he shared, like that was in Johnstown, I believe he shared it with Paul Holmgren. Did you ever talk about- I read that somewhere, yeah. Yeah, because obviously, you know, trying to squeeze the beaver on the nickel till it squeals and save as much money as you can. So guys are living together. So I think it was Gabby and like, just about this for one second what would an apartment with Bruce

Boudreaux and Paul Holmgren be like? I just know Paul Holmgren would be in charge of everything. I played with I worked with Paul when I fought him in the Summer League. Paul Holmgren was my roommate so we're going out we'd go out. Okay. No, some Slapshot. You mentioned Johnny from Slapshot. What's his name? Alan Nichols is the guy. He's from Montreal. When I worked with the league, I skated with him.

No way. At the outdoor rink in Manhattan. He's a great guy. He's not a very good hockey player. That's okay. You know what? It's funny too. And Tim Robbins skated with us too. And then when I worked with TSN, James Duthie did a reconstruction of the whole...

I remember that. ...the family for that, eh? Yeah, the opening scene. And you come to, you see for yourself, you feel sad, maybe you feel free. You see, Alan Nichols has always been one of those people that I've always wanted to meet, because to me, every single line he delivers in that movie,

to me, is perfect. He's my favorite actor in the whole thing. And every people ask me, who do you want to interview? Who do you want to meet? Who do you want to talk to? I always say Alan Nichols. That is my ultimate guy. We were playing with him.

They'd known us for skating, too. We said, we gotta get Johnny a goal. So we set him up for like four or five good chances in the roll point plank. He couldn't score so I said, screw it, that's it. No more Johnny, you're on your own. Well, that's why I was telling the story that his grandfather, Riley Hearn,

who played for the Montreal Wanderers, was the first pro goalie to win the Stanley Cup. So like there's like a legitimate like Stanley Cup NH, I guess what an NHA then, hockey association with Alan Nichols. So he kind of comes by it legitimately. He wasn't just a... What a great guy. He's great in the rugby. That's tremendous. They all were. Before we get to some questions, I want to ask you about the trade yesterday. So Morgan Frost and Joel Ferribee

go from Philadelphia to Calgary. So a nice little bit of business there. They get a little bit younger in the middle. Andre Kuzmenko, Jacob Pelche, a second and a seventh go back to the Philadelphia Flyers. Can I ask you something really trivial here, Berkey, from a general manager's point of view? That seventh round pick in 2028. I always wonder about these. Where does that come from? I can't imagine

Briere and Conroy on the phone and Danny saying, like, ah, we're still not there yet, Craig. I really need a seventh in 2028. Berkey, where does that come from? I just wanted to add something to the the legend, make it look more even. Our scouts used to fight over that last pick in the draft. I hated it. I know the scouts every year. I'm trading our seventh round pick this year. It used to be a ninth. I'll trade our ninth round pick this year. We'll leave early and next year we get two in that round. They're like, no, no, no. We have a guy we like, usually a tough guy or a goalie, or a hero that they don't think anyone's seen.

So these scouts would argue over the last pick in the draft for each team, seventh round pick, and I'd be like, if I trade the pick now, we can leave. Nope, nope, we gotta stay. So, and then the league told me, the league told me they'd find me if I left early, so we just stopped worrying about it. Is there, like when you would get to those other pick, here's what I'm

curious about, there are some teams that allow their scouts to have, I guess, for lack of a better term, passion picks, where the general manager will say, you know what Western scout, this one, this one, this one's all yours. What's your passion pick? Did you do that too? Like pick the spells and different things? Especially if like our Frank's guy getting screwed all night. We hadn't gotten any French picks and he had a guy we really liked. We'd say, you're up. We kind of put him by the side all day. The Western

guy had a guy he liked. So we do a passion pick or a courtesy pick to a guy. But some of those picks, some of those guys play. and actually they identify one skill. I said, well if this guy can't skate, he's got a tremendous shotter, he's really tough, we can work on the other parts of this game. So you take a flyer on the guy but it's funny the arguments you'll have about the last pick you have in the draft every year and it's unbelievable what passion these guys have for that. Oh well listen that's their like, that's the last three years of their lives following that guy, right? Following, following all these players.

Yeah, you're right. Um, what do you make, what do you make of the deal? Um, specifically, I mean, the one thing that I look at with Philadelphia is they've opened up a center position, uh, for some, maybe that's just holding for Jet Lachenko to step in next year, their first round or from, from last draft. How do you, how do you look at this deal? I like the, I like Craig Conrad's end of the deal. I think Phyllis is being blasted.

I said this earlier today, the tendency seems to be you want to declare a winner and a loser on every trade. Yeah. And a lot of times you've got to judge a trade with a calendar, not a stopwatch. But these people all sell, Flyers won the trade or Calgary won the trade. Yeah. to tell them It's not a cheap gamble. I like the young kid, Lopierre going back to Philly. I like second round picks. I generally like them.

So I think it makes sense for both teams. You're dealing with, you remember, when you hang up the phone after a trade, both GMs turn to the other, the rest of their staff, and say, that's a good deal. So Calgary hands up the phone, Craig Conway turns to Brad Paschal and says, that's a good deal.

Flyers do the same thing on their end. So someone's gonna be wrong over time. But initially I see the merits of both. I'm not being a lawyer here saying, oh, they both won. I'm saying I like short term, I like Calgary's end of it. The long term, it depends on what the Flyers do with that pick and what Lapierre turns into. You know, one of the things that's,

and I always wonder about teams that make trades based on where they're at that moment. Like the expectation for the Calgary Flames this year was, you know, they're going to be in the conversation for first overall pick. Like they're going to have a high pick. No one expected them to be this competitive this deep into the season, but they find themselves competitive. Dustin Wolf has been exceptional.

I know they're having a hard time scoring goals, but still, this is a Calgary Flames team that for a lot of people has exceeded expectations. So I look at this deal and I say, even if the Calgary Flames were quote unquote bottoming out, I could still see them making this deal because Morgan Frost is only 25 years old. And their centers are a 34 year old Nazem Kadri and a 35 year old Michael Backlund. They needed to get younger at that position.

So I don't look at this as some would and say, this is the Calgary Flames thinking they have a shot here. I say to myself, this is the Calgary Flames saying, yeah, this is a trade for right now. We're getting a good player who can play, but also we need to get younger down the middle. Yeah, I think you analyze the prop players, I'm listening early, and for once I think you got it right. Sorry, Jeff, but it had to happen very quickly.

But remember too, there's no very few trades will put you over the top. It's not like getting Chris Bronner in the summer of 06, and say, okay, now we're a legit contender. This doesn't put them over the top, It's not like getting Chris Pruner in the summer of 06 and say, okay, now we're a legit contender. This doesn't put them over the top. It makes them better. But it's a steady progression. They're already playing with house money. Like you said, they're already playing way above whatever level anyone thought they would. That's Ryan Huska. Everyone says it's Wolf. And that's the Wolfs that have a marvelous year. But Ryan Huska is

the head coach of that team. I work with him. He deserves a lot of the credit and no one talks about him. He's been exceptional. Listen, he was exceptional in the Western Hockey League. He's been exceptional with the Calgary Flames as well. Let me ask you this one. This comes to us from, from Janet Crosscheck. Hey, Berkey, which player or players got away from you

that you're angling for and almost got? Who's the one that got away? Well, we got in real late and there's some dispute about this on Michael Connell's part. We got in late on Joe Thornton and I think if we'd gotten in earlier we could have got him and he's obviously gone on and had a great career. He's a great guy. We got in too late on him. I'll take the blame for that according to Michael Connell he'll

dispute that version of things he says we were never in it at all but I spoke to him about making this trade with Bob Murray sitting beside me so pretty comfortable in saying that would be one what we tried to take for Keith Kachuk too we tried to trade for Keith Kachuk and weren't able to get him and I think even though he was on the back nine then, he wasn't really with us. Was that the year that he ended up going to Atlanta? Do you recall? I don't recall. I think that's right but I don't know. It was the year before he won the Cup. It was 2006. Okay so one of the other things I want to cram as much in as we can here with you.

Oh, and by the way, Johnny Lazarus had a great time with you last week. He was like, I can't believe I get a chance to talk to Brian Burke. This is so cool. Um, and Jasper was beautiful. That was my first time out there. I know you've been before. You met you and your family. It's an absolutely gorgeous part of our country. It's an absolutely gorgeous part of our country. Okay. So do you, Brian Burke know where you were 15 years ago today? No.

You're on stage announcing that the Toronto May beliefs had just acquired Gyan Furnuff, Keith Olley, and Freddie Shustrom. Or Matt Stajan. Yeah, go for it. Ian White. Yep. Jamal Mares. Yep.

One more. Maddie Hagman. You got it. Nicholas Hagman. Yeah, Nick Hagman. Yeah, Nick Hagman. Yeah. Cause that was a fun day. It was a, we made that deal, Darrell Sutter and I shook on that deal on that Steve. Whoever gets hurt, it's hurt. So if you get two guys hurt, we're making a deal. Oh, hey.

Yeah, we did it. It's not on Steve. We shook hands on a deal over the phone. The Friday, I made the deal on Sunday. How, how rare is that? Cause like, even just looking at last night with, uh, the Calgary Flames and the Philadelphia Flyers, you know, all of a sudden, you know, Morgan Frost is playing in the first period and then somewhere in the second, you know, Morgan Frost vanishes in the first period. And then somewhere in the second, you know, Morgan Frost vanishes from the bench as the, the deal is getting put together. How rare is it though, for that, I can't even imagine it happening now, but how rare would it have been to do a deal on a Friday, all play all seven players

skating on a Saturday, and then you announce a deal on a Sunday. I could do that. I'll take it. Are you that nervous? play all seven players skating on a Saturday and then you announce a deal on a Sunday. We watched the game and Keith Olley was playing in the America League so he played late. I had said so in that game. I had Mike Fetty call me the second the game ended. Yeah we're okay. We got through it healthy. But I had that much faith in Darrell Studdard that if we had to do the deal and I had to trade a player with a broken leg he'd still do it. We both took the same risk. It's almost the same number of players involved. Now some of the players involved, they

wasn't worried about getting hurt. You know, someone played a way that they might have gotten through it okay, but Deion didn't. Keith Daly didn't and Jammer didn't, so I was nervous about those guys. Who was the hardest player to give up in that deal for you? Well, none of them were hard. When I got to Calgary, Matt Stajan came to see me. Matt Stajan's a great kid. Came to see me, he said, should I be nervous, you're telling me once.

I said, no, I traded you to get Deon. I would have put four of you in there if I had you. I liked you. It wasn't about you, traded you to get Deon. I would have put four of you in there if I had you. I liked you. Wasn't about you, it was about getting Deon. So to me, Matt Stajan was hard to give up, but not that hard, just because Deon was in the deal. But putting Matt Stajan on a plane, that wasn't fun. He's a great kid.

Yeah. The one thing I always loved about Stajan, when the Maple Leafs were going through a dark period, he was always the guy at the end of the game who would always get out there, especially on the road, out in front of the media. He was always a guy, and there were a lot of veterans on that team too. His wife is lovely too. Just a great guy to have on a team. I always thought that, and maybe it's just my naivety, but you know, one and watching him with the world junior,

I always thought that Keith Oli was going to be a hell of a player. I really thought Keith Oli was going to be really good. That deal was held up for a whole day because Darryl wouldn't do it with Keith Oli. And so I'm not doing it without him. And so Darryl called me back on the Thursday, I guess it was the Friday. It's okay. We'll put him in. I forget what we tweaked to make that happen. But, but Rancher was his nickname, Keith Olley. Great. His dad fell through the ice in a tractor and almost died. Keith Olley dove in and saved his dad, dragged his dad out of the water and saved his dad's life. So Keith Olley was a, Keith Olley had a good

career, but I thought he'd be a much better player than he was. He got bad in up a bit, but he was a great kid too. That was fun trade. Nice having him around. I always remember his fight with Mark Fraser because it was Fraser and Oli, Fraser and Oli. Here we go. Fraser and Oli.

Here is, here's an interesting one. In a year where we know the cap is going up drastically next season, how much does it change the thought process of a GM looking to make moves at the deadline? Like look, Berkey, like next year it's 95.5, then it jumps to 104, and then it goes to 113.5. I was reminding everybody, and you know this,

going back to the 04,405 lockout, coming out of it, the new salary cap, you know, the low end is 21, the high end is 39. Holy smokes, here we are at 95 and 70, and the year after it's 104 and 76. How much is this change you're thinking if you're a manager right now? Well, I think one basic change took place in the NFL a couple years ago by percentage of cap. They started thinking in terms, forget what of years ago by percentage of cap. They started thinking in terms, forget what the amount is, percentage of cap, the 20%

maximum you can have in the NHL. And so agents started coming in and saying, we 20% of the cap or 18% of the cap, that equates this amount of money. It changed conceptually. And I think the younger and now space guys in the NHL think that way now. So it does change your thinking. And these guys that signed eight-year deals, they almost all got stalled by the pandemic, but they're almost all gonna get left in the dust with these new deals. So I know there's a risk there's some security getting a seven-year deal. But I remember Kirby Puckett was

the fastest player in Major League Baseball, I believe, check my math, or was that can. Great hitter. That player in the history of Major League Baseball to get through a million dollars a year. He took one year deals every year, just bet on himself. I really like, I mean, normally we see players, I mean, I think the term that you managers use for that is evergreen deals. Like I'm just going to go on a one year and a one year and a one year and a one year. But normally we see that with players at the end of their career. Oh, this guy's on evergreens.

Yeah, he's not going anywhere, he's just on evergreens. But you don't see that. You don't see that when players first hit free agency. But you'll have the guys who do five year deals with the cap going up. And mind you, Jeff, all the lead is predicting is what that might look like. They're not saying where it's gonna look like. It might be less than 105. They're saying that it's gonna go to whatever and

and Yeah. And we'll see. But I think you're going to see people are building that in now during their projections. Yeah. Saying if you're going to sign this guy, you're going to sign that guy, it's got to be X. It's going to be X plus Y, X plus 5%, X plus 6%. So you're going to see the ceilings move up. The top guys will be left in the dust. Our producer Zach says, Puckett was the first to get $3 million a year. Yeah, I thought it was something like that.

He was the guy who took, he bet on himself every year. Great ball player. Former Minnesota twin, am I mentioned? Yes, I know, one of your favorites. I get Rod Carew, one of your favorites too. He's one of my dear Minnesota twins. He still home-bases seven times one year. No one will ever do that again.

No, he was remarkable. The shortstop in Cincinnati was pretty fast too. One of the things that I've always wondered about the salary cap, maybe you have an answer for this, but I haven't been able to get an answer for this one. And it's a very hypothetical question.

And moreover, Berkey, it's unlikely. But humor me for a second. Let's say that some player signs starting next year for 20% of the cap, the maximum allowed, okay? What happens if the cap goes down? Does the player then, does the player's compensation go down with it? Or is it locked in because they've already signed the deal

and you're not allowed to change contracts? Again, highly unlikely, completely hypothetical, but listen, who predicted the pandemic? If the salary cap goes down and you're locked into a player at 20%, what happens to that contract? Because technically he'd be making more than 20% of the cap. I don't know the answer to that, but I would guess that the league has said wherever you sign your Suck with that it goes down Becomes 23% you're probably stuck with that Lee doesn't allow amendment of contracts up or down Which is a good thing. Otherwise, they try and beat guys down all the time for sure

No, I don't think you could do anything about that. Don't forget. I want to talk about that article, Brandon. Don't worry, we're getting there. I know you're hot about it and I don't blame you. We're going there. But if you want to ask about the Winnipeg Jets, this team has been marvelous. Well coached, the netminder is all world, best goal in the NHL right now, best goal ten in the world right now.

And Connor Hallebach, Mark Shifely snaps into yesterday. I'm not sure if he caught any of the Winnipeg Boston game last night, but it just seemed, and I always admire this about teams, I admire this about the Edmonton Oilers in the 80s. When you scored against them, it almost seemed as if they got offended that you tried to score on them, and then they would just start filling the net. That's what happened with Winnipeg yesterday. They got a certain point in the game, they just said enough of this and dusted the Boston Bruins.

Do you have a thought on this Winnipeg Jets team right now? Yeah, I did a lot of TV surfing last night between the Boston game, I watched Ottawa's game, which was really exciting. I watched the women's game, which was great. So I was doing a lot of circle last night, but yeah. The Boston game to me, Winnipeg, I mean Kyle O'Connor is the best player in the league

that no one talks about. There are better players than Kyle O'Connor, but I'd like to know who they are. And he's an unassuming guy. I said this on sports night, he looks like he used to perform at a coffee house. He's one of the best players in the league. And I like the way they answered back,

Shrifley answered back hard last night. I like the way they jumped on Boston the really good. They got good personnel and everyone likes the Winnipeg Jets because of Mark Chitman. Everyone likes the Chevy. All their personnel, their owner and their GM, they're all good guys. They're all community-minded. Everyone likes those guys. So everyone's falling for them. You know what I wonder about the Winnipeg Jets mentioning Kevin Sheveldayoff? We've seen Sheveldayoff make some moves at Deadline, Ne a rider, to Foley, etc. We all know about the history of playoff utility with the Winnipeg Jets. If you're Kevin Cheveldayoff right now, again I'm not a manager I'm just talking shit from the back seat, if I'm Kevin Cheveldayoff you know what I'd do at Deadline, Berkey? Nothing. I don't change

this thing a bit. It seems like they have everything. You pray for health, you try to bubble wrap players, whatever, rest them down the stretch. If I'm Kevin Sheveldayoff, I don't do anything. What if you're Kevin Sheveldayoff right now, Berkey? I think your players want you to see you do something, even a tweak or a depth move, add a little toughness or whatever. Add something so that your players look at each other and say, there's Chevy trying to give us the best chance that we can have. So I always try to do something even small, even the early one in the cup added Mayday late. So I think you got to try and add something just to tell the players that you're not asleep at the switch.

But I agree, especially with the goal-turning, they're a tough team to be right now. They can score multiple lines, can score. They work real hard. They put a rookie in the game last night. The kids from the Rhode Island area, Ford, played at Providence. Parker Ford. He scored his first goal in his first game. How about that one?

It's great. Cool. Yeah. It's a fantastic story. Parker Ford is the kid's name. A couple more here before we let you go and I'm gonna get you to talk about that. The issue from last week. This week in Ottawa was awkward for Michael Landlower.

So there was the announcement, there's gonna be a couple of exhibition games in Quebec City at la Centre Vidyotron. And he mused about, well, you know what? We play regular season games in Sweden. Why can't we play regular season games in Quebec City? And then the mascot showed up, Spartacat, with a half Ottawa Senators,

half Quebec Nordiques jersey and Ottawa Senators fans did not see the fun or humor in any of it. And Lauer did the mea culpa, like this was a misstep, as you said, by him and Cyril Lieder. And listen, you've managed teams, you've made decisions like this before. As you're watching this, Berkey, what's going through your mind as you're watching

Ottawa have a tough time off the ice? Well, I love mascots, but I hate them too. And I think they can do a lot of damage unintentionally. That wasn't smart, I don't think. But I think the notion of playing regular season games in Ottawa, especially when they're not selling out, they're trying to gauge the depth of that market. I could see that making some sense. I would have the league announced it though, not the teams. We'd have the NHL announced, we're going to play a couple of regular season games there. I think people

in Ottawa could understand, okay, we're not selling out. It's a market we'd like to develop. Everyone would like to see more Canadian teams. They could probably live with that. But the way it went down people had a sour taste in their mouth about it I get that I get that you got passionate fans and I don't I love their team they don't want to hear about the team might move I don't think that's what anyone intended I don't think a team another team and out in Quebec City makes sense anyway but that's I thought it made some sense but it was general poorly.

Real quick, before we get to the article, what did you make of Jim Rutherford this week? President of the Vancouver Canucks essentially saying, we're not going to solve this problem here. We have to just try to win a trade knowing full well that we won't. I think again, you look at this, look at, they've tried everything else. They tried to deny it. They had the players in and had meetings. They've done everything. They took the players off run. They've tried everything else. They tried to deny it. They had the players in and had meetings They've done everything they took the players off run. They've tried ever so this to me is Jimmy Rutherford

Just saying enough enough speculation. This is what's happened. We have a ref We're gonna address it if we have to we'd like to not but I thought just let's call everything out in the open and that This will draw up interest if someone on the sidelines, I don't know about the innuendo, now they know, you're referred to the shop open for business. The one thing that I did sort of wonder about, Berkey, is I wondered if this move, because I always try to look for motivation, right?

Like you've taught me this, the times we've talked about running teams. You know, who is being served here? What's the end goal? No one does this frivolously and it's usually done in concert with the owner. No one thing that I wonder about too, do you think this is a way perhaps to get JT Miller because like they're shaming the players publicly here.

Do you think this is a way to maybe get JT Miller to add more teams that he allow himself to be traded to. Yes, I think that's one of the motivations is okay, first up right now, nothing's working. The team's working right now. They've won four in a row. They're in a playoff spot. Brawler's turmoil, they're in a playoff spot. So I think what they're saying is nothing's working. Let's be honest about the opinion and two things might happen. The players involved might say we'd be more open to moving. Jimmy Rathford just laid it all out for us. And the other teams that are

thinking on the sidelines, especially now, remember when the ice comes out in the lake, one piece moves first, then they all start moving. So that's first big deal that Colorado made with Carolina. That started in motion the next deal, the next deal that the Colorado made with with Carolina that started in motion The next deal and next to the next though is gonna be busy now for a little bit I think so I think it's also shaking loose the teams the event of sidelines now Jim Ruffford said we are open for business These players are both available one or both and so I think it's a smart thing that generates some interest The worst it can do is that what they're confirming what the world already knew.

All right, as we wrap up. Last week on the show it was me and me and Johnny Lazarus in Jasper and there was either a question or I asked, no it was a question about Morgan Riley and you told me this before too, how in that 2012 draft, you guys had Morgan Riley first overall. Like if you guys were selecting first, you guys were taking Morgan Riley. It wasn't that you look back now and say, Morgan Riley was the best player in that draft.

But at that time, you look at the rankings so the Toronto Maple Leafs Morgan Rielly is number one. I will open the floor to you. What happened afterwards? Well, to me, first off, I don't usually rant about stuff that's in the media because I don't generally care, except I thought this was a real perversion of the truth. We were talking about that draft.

There was a question about that draft. Right after the draft, I said, we took Morgan Riley at five or whatever it was, and I said to the media, we had him rated number one of that group. And that's all I said. And people said, you didn't have number one. I said, yeah, why would I announce we'd take him number one or had him ranked number one in that group of five players? Turns out he was the best player in that group of five.

That's all it was, was a discussion about that group of players in that context. So some clown writes back and says, Brian Burke said, and I quote, and I'm not saying the quote is inaccurate, but we're talking in context. He said the best player in that draft was Morgan Riley. Now we're talking about that draft.

Now the hockey is rather a substance miracle, got it exactly right and said, that's what they're tired of. This clown says, Brian Burke said he's what the tire of this clown says Brian Burke say is the best player in the draft what about Vasilevsky well I didn't say Vasilevsky wasn't as good as Morgan Riley I love Morgan Riley but so I don't I don't take the media to task very often but I thought this guy can't be that stupid so he's got to be that vicious instead there's someone who can't be as stupid enough to say that what I said is what he thought I said. It's more, let's throw Brian Burke under the bus if we can.

That's all it cuts my nerve about it, but I could care less otherwise. One of my favorite stories, and the player will remain unnamed, but there was one player in the NHL whose nickname was Two People. Because as the person who gave him the nickname said, I'm calling him Two People because one person can't be that stupid. So his nickname became Two People. And that stuck with him for his time in the NHL.

Berkey, what's your weekend look like, pal? Life's a mocky, going in the women's game tomorrow. The women are playing tomorrow at two. Can't wait to get there. Should be fun. You mentioned the game last night, the Toronto-Montreal game, Marie-Philippe Hollande with the shootout heroics. And front and center was your favorite player, Erin Ambrose. Yep, I love her. She's awesome.

And in large stakes, she came back from injury. She had a big night three points pretty great player she is. They always river about going offside that's like the big the big thing with Laura Stacey is just can you stay onside can you stay onside. Thanks Berkey you're the best enjoy the rest of your weekend pal. Okay thank you. There he is, Brian Burke joins us Fridays here on the sheet. There was a lot in there. There was a lot of stuff, including a shot at someone who took Brian's comments last

week on the show here. Very much out of context, Zach. Very much out of context. I tend to get focused when I talk to Berkey, so I apologize for ignoring the chat. I'm sure there were some good things in there on our YouTube chat. Anything stand out or anything stand out from the Berkey conversation for you? Yeah, I mean just all of you say I was very interested about the salary cap and how you approach it as a GM going into this. You know, my thinking behind it is you, I wonder if GMs look at it and say, Hey, this player, maybe they've got an extra million that I wouldn't be willing to take,

but you know what? It's going up next year. Maybe we've got some throwaway money. And I just thought it was interesting, Berkey breaking down kind of, you know, how you look at some of these things. And then your question, your question about the cap going down and what happens is like, I've never thought about that. It's highly unlikely. It's highly unlikely, but if you sign someone at 20% and all of a sudden the contract is 22% because the cap has gone down and you're not allowed to change contracts, what happens?

Yeah. Cause we're just asked in the chat there. What did Jessica say? About that? Jessica have an answer for it? Yeah. She's like super smart. No, it was a, it was a good question.

Actually it's something, I mean, nobody would have the answer to right now, but it's, it's an interesting one. Jessica asked about if in a future CBA and I'm paraphrasing, but along the lines of like, would they negotiate to have players salaries tied to the percentage of cap rather than in actual AAV? Which I think is a really interesting question right? Like Marner comes up he wants 18% or 17 and then it goes up the next year his salary goes up the league goes up they go up.

And what if it goes down? Right, then it would go down too. Again, highly unlikely. Great question by Jennifer. No, because I think the idea, just sorry, I apologize, Jessica L. I think the idea is that you wanna lock someone in early and then get value towards the end of the deal on them.

But that is, I'm sure that idea was by the players, by the players association before, how about just locking me in this percentage, not this number. It's an interesting idea. How about this one? You know, I was, I was watching a David Worsofsky on morning cup of hockey yesterday. And, uh, one of the things that I was thinking about, now he's an ex-player, now turned agent, but agent for coaches.

One of the things that I've always wondered about, because the salary cap is, listen, even though the salary cap is there because it helps with franchise value, because you're fixing your costs, it's always presented as, this is a mechanism to ensure competitive balance. So if you take that a step further,

not every team is able to afford paying a coach $6 million, or $5 million. There are $5 and $6 million coaches, but not every team can afford to pay those prices. One of the things that I wonder about any coach listing, cover your ears right now, you will hate this. Your last perky this one next week. Should there be a cap on coaches' salaries?

And, and it includes the salaries that you're carrying from coaches you fired. You know, like Johnny Lazarus asked a really good question on the show with Wazowski yesterday. It includes the salaries that you're carrying from coaches you fired. You know, like Johnny Lazarus asked a really good question on the show with Wazowski yesterday, where he said, you know, how does that get, like if you fire like Jim Montgomery and he signs with the St. Louis Blues, how do you work out the compensation? Like there is a, I can recall

when the Pittsburgh Penguins fired Dan Bilesma, the Florida, the Florida Panthers, and I want like, honestly, Zach, I want to say it was like a million dollars. The Florida Panthers essentially tried to steal Dan Bilesma by just offering them like a really, really small contract, figuring that Pittsburgh's picking up most of the freight and they're going to get a good coach on the cheap and the NHL, like the NHL has stepped in to say like,

no, you have to pay this amount of money for this coach and no, you're not gonna go on the cheap and have the other team pay it. But I thought it was a really interesting question how that gets negotiated and how that gets worked out. And one of the things that it reminded me of is, one of my favorite people to deal with in hockey was Tim Murray. I loved Tim Murray.

I loved when Tim Murray ran the Buffalo Sabres. Tim Murray was no nonsense. Do you remember the Philadelphia draft, the Aaron Echblad draft, where the Buffalo Sabres selected second and they took Sam Reinhart? And he went up and all he said was, there was no like, I'm going to thank everybody at the Anchor Bar who's at our watch party and Sabres ticket holders and congratulations

to the whomever for winning the Stanley Cup. Tim Murray walked up and said Buffalo Sabres takes Sam Reinhardt. And that's it. It was it was awesome. And then at the top prospects game, which that year would have been at the Meridian Center in Niagara, I said like Tim on behalf of everybody who was watching and at the draft I want to thank you for giving us a great moment because you were hilarious. He goes yeah you know what really actually, I want to set the record for fewest words said on stage.

I said, really, what's your plan? And Tim said, I want to go up there and say nothing. I'm like, how are you going to announce a pick and not say anything? He goes, this is my dream, but they won't let me do it. I said, what's that? He goes, the pick's already in, so everyone knows, right? He goes, I just want to walk up there, get on the stage, go to the podium, point to my player and walk off the stage.

Just want to go and point. And well, I love Timberlake, but the story that I heard about, yes, right? Yeah, let's go. But they're like, no, they want the announcement. You got the Jersey in the hat and the whole deal. It's a big marketing thing. So you can, so Tim Murray, this is a story that I was told when he got gong from the Buffalo Sabres. Um, and subsequently, I think he invested in Canopy

and made like a pile of dough, like right before the pandemic. So I think he like sits around and counts his money all day. I think, I'm not 100% sure. I would love to get Tim Marie on this show, Nudge Nudge Producer. I would love to get Tim Marie on this show, Nudge Nudge Producer. I would love to get Tim Marie on this show.

So the story that I was told, was that subtle? Or was that, I just sort of slid that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The story that I found Tim Marie on the show. So the story that I was told, was that subtle? Or was that, I just sort of slid that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The story that I flaunts Tim Marie on the show. I was thinking, I might want Tim Marie. The story that I was told was, when he got fired from the Buffalo Sabres, I think it was the Philadelphia Flyers who offered him,

and this would have been probably when Chuck Fletcher was running the Flyers, I think they offered him either like a consultant job or a GM or something along those lines And Marie didn't take it Because he wanted every single penny He was owed from the Buffalo Sabres He was he wanted every last dime from the Buffalo Sabres. He was not going to go somewhere and now they're like, okay, we'll work out the

compensation here. No, I'm getting every last penny out of the swords. Fair enough. How do we start talking about this? How do we start talking about this? How do we start talking about this one? What do we get there? Oh, salary cap and percentages. That's a Jessica Elle grade question. I can't see it happening.

It is a wonderful question. I'm sure there's some agents right now listening slash watching. They're like, oh, you know, Jessica, I like the way you think here. There could be a position for you here at our firm. And we get the finder's fee though. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, we get a piece here. Where's our cut? CAA, Newport, Wasserman. All right, games on the go around the NHL this evening. There are four of them. Brought to you by FanDuel. Proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them.

Those Buffalo Sabres, Zach are in action against the Nashville Predators this evening. Vancouver Canucks facing off against the Dallas Stars. Here's the thing, can the Vancouver Canucks win another game here? Like did you not think that after that Jim Rutherford Globe and Mail piece came out that it was gonna be wheels off the wagon?

Completely like, okay, like that's the final straw. Like that was it, the final moment. And now it's just going to crumble. I did. Funny. And I mean, we were joking about it all and then, and they go win three and it was like, okay, wow, ha ha. Like this is fun.

They went another one here. Everyone's in Vancouver starts looking around going, do we suck it up? Do we just, should we let it go? See, what if, what if I was saying this is the Karrison Price, like at a certain point now, like, isn't your trade, because as Rutherford said, like they're not going to get full value for whichever deal they make here. But doesn't this essentially just buy you time? Like I know you have a responsibility to other players on the team and this is a horrible work environment, I'm sure.

And I'm sure Rick Tocket, well, not that he's pulling his hair out, but he's like, he's been furious about like, what's going on here, what he has to deal with every day coming to work. But the, again, the winning allows them to kick this can down the road. Yep. There's no urgency to it right now if this is quote unquote working, but it's a tough one

against Dallas, although Miro Heiskanen, just like you're crossing your fingers, it's week to week. He ain't playing for nations. Uh, you just hope that one of the best NHL defensemen comes back. Just again, we talked about earlier this week, this unfortunate situation, a combination of Tripp slash Topik with a horrible outcome

from Mira Haskin and other Dallas stars. St. Louis Blues face off against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena in Columbus, takes on Utah at the Delta Center. Do you care what the name is at this point? I really wanted Yeti. I really wanted. No, not really. I mean, honestly, also quickly. What the hell is a Wasatch? It's gone. It's gone. Yeah, but what is it? I don't know. I forgot it. Yeah. Right?

Right? Like that was the first thing I read it and I was like, what? Why do you want, why is that the team? It's a mountain range. It's a mountain range. Yeah, mountain pass. What? It is mountain pass, low pass over high range.

Yeah. But I mean, playing, being named that, it's like, okay, I guess. The Mammoth is by the way, was an NLL team, Colorado Mammoth. I'm pretty sure. Yeah, the Gate brothers played for that team, right? The Gates did. Yeah, I believe so. Um, so I mean, if they're going to have problems, maybe then they

have problems come up there, but at this point, I just don't care. The colors are cool. The fan base is seems cool. The owner is cool. Like everything about it just seems cool. And like, I don't care what the name is. Also actually, you know what I do appreciate though, by the way, is like they thought out that they were going to do the poll to figure out what the names were.

And then that was such a came up and basically like, no one wanted it. They were like, okay, you don't want it. We'll replace it. I was like, that's kind of cool. Like the fan, they listening to don't want it, we'll replace it. I was like, that's kind of cool. Like they're listening to the fans and it probably shouldn't have been in there in the first place, but yeah. I thought that was cool.

Just a quick, we're like, that's on us. Let's fix that one. I got a question for you on Canucks stuff here, by the way. If you want to do that, it's over on FanDuel. It was something that made me take a look. What is it? Yeah. I'm glad we did do that. I was taking a look at the fact that the

Canucks have won a couple of games here and have basically made it clear someone's going. It may not be both but someone's going. And I'm like they're not out of a playoff spot. Nope. Well who's's the one guy there, Jeff, that will be the main reason that they make the playoffs if they do? If, it's a major if. If they make the playoffs, who's the main reason? Queues. Would that not, and he was out earlier in the year and we saw how much they struggle without him. Yeah. That screams almost more than Norris to me. If you get where I'm going, a hundred heart trophy, you not a hundred percent.

Yeah. Heart trophy 16 to one on Fandual. That is the absolute definition of what the heart trophy is. Cause we've seen both. Like, you know, sometimes like, listen, Leon Dreisle is having an incredible season, right? Yeah. Remarkable season.

He's and again, like every, every phenomenal season. Um, but have we seen what the Oilers are like without them? And it's almost as if, like, here's the thing. It's almost as if you should get knocked down a peg if you get injured for like 10 games and your team doesn't have a dip. Because then how can you make the argument that you're the most valuable? But we've seen with Yann Hues what this team looks like without him.

Like one of the things that I always do with goaltenders for the Vezna, and again, that's voted on by the managers and so managers look at one column, it's the column with the Wesna. And again, that's voted on by the managers. And so managers look at one column, it's the column with the W on it. That's the only thing that they care about. Whoever gets the most wins gets the Vesna. Discuss amongst yourselves. But the one thing that I always look at for the Vesna is,

okay, because we're looking at starting goaltenders, I always look at what's the backup save percentage? What's the starter save percentage and what's the backups? Because the save percentages are more similar than they are different. Can you really say that it's all just about that goalie? Or is there more to it? If Hwang and that Swamen and Ulmark won the best goalie duo and Ulmark won the Vezna the same year.

Was that separate years or was that the same year? Uh, don't know that one. I'll look it up. But you, you know what I'm talking about? I know what you're talking about, but like it was, it was, it was, it was a byproduct of, of all of it, of the Boston Bruins defense, the Boston Bruins forward, the Boston Bruins system. Like the thing about, I remember talking to Connor Hellebach twice last year, he said the same thing.

He's like, look, I am not playing any different. I am the exact same goal tender. The only thing that's different is how we're playing defense in front of me. And I'm just the beneficiary of it. Now I think he's being too humble and he's the best goal tender in the world. But I always kind of looked at that.

I always look at that one and go like, okay, I want to see what the backup save percentage is because if it's profoundly different then I got a lot more time for that guy for the Vestan Trophy. Amongst the elites. It was the same year by the way. It was eh? They won the best goalie duo and which is called the? Jennings is that what it is? Yeah, the William Jennings. So the NHL, here's another one that doesn't get a whole lot of concert.

Whenever we talk about renaming trophies, it's a lot of times like, okay, like some of the people that the trophies are named after when we look at it with a historical lens aren't necessarily the best people we're offering up to the marketplace. Con Smythe, I'm looking your direction specifically. But when Williams Jennings ran the Rangers, now the Rangers and the Boston Bruins in the 60s and 70s probably had, late 60s, early 70s, probably had the best rivalry, like the vicious,

vicious rivalry of any teams in the NHL. To the point where, now you tell me whether this is Disqualifying or not to have a trophy named after someone that does this You know William Jennings did When he ran the New York Rangers Put a bounty on someone's head on the Boston Bruins It's like a hundred bucks to any player on the New York Rangers. I think it was against Ted Green.

Put a bounty on his head. President of the team. Nice. Gets a trophy named Afro. Is that problematic for you, Zuck? Is that an issue for you? Can I put bounties on? Let's give that that guy a trophy let's name a trophy yeah that guy Yeah, it's not not the man's not the best. Hey, here's another one back to Utah. They named their quarter century team

Logan Cooley Like they're funny about it, right? We know they've only been here a few months, but here are Utah's early standouts. Logan Cooley. Yeah, they're funny too. Dylan Gunther, Clayton Keller, Michael Kesselring. Oh man, is he good. Mikhail Sergachev and Karel Vimalka. You and I, you know what would be funny? Just as a goof.

I can give you some homework this weekend. I want you to design an NHL quarter century team. I want you to design a team of three. I want you to design a team of three. I want you to design a team of three. I want you to design a team of three. I want you to design a team of three. I want you to design a team of three.

I want you to design a team of three. I want you to design a team of three. I want you to design a team of three. I want you to design a team of three. I want you to design a team of three. I want you to design a team of three. I want you to, it'd be funny just as a goof. I can give you some homework this weekend. I want you to design an NHL quarter century team for the next Atlanta team. And it's all 13 year olds. The next Houston team, they're all like 14. My elite prospects is going to be a mess after that nice two days. And you searching up like, yeah, minor.

Oh, I don't know what they are now, but I was going to say minor Adam teams, PUE teams. Yeah. Um, we're going a little Broadway today and I want to get in this thing with, uh, with Irfan Ghaffar, um, down to earth. The latest offering from Irfan Ghaffar is out and available. It is a conversation. Uh, Irfan Ghaffar with Ottawa senators, head coach Travis Green, who by the way, are you

a poker player?, are you a poker player? Zach, you a poker guy? Nah, a little bit, a little bit. I'm not much at all, or I shouldn't say much, I'm not at all, but apparently amongst anybody in hockey, Travis Queen's the guy. The best hockey person in poker, he'll go to those Vegas tournaments and just walk out with suitcases full of cash.

Anyway, here's a noted poker player slash NHL coach, Travis Green in conversation with our Fangafar. We've seen players take leaves of absence for personal reasons. We've seen mental health obviously become a huge proponent in the NHL and what different teams are doing with hockey talks and that sort of thing. How much do you and your coaching staff take into consideration when if a player is not having a good day whether it's on the

ice or off the ice and things like that and how much do you talk to your guys when it comes to stuff? Yeah we do we talk about mental health a lot daily no but do we take into consideration where a person is at? Yes. You know, there's times where you might be upset with a player and how he's playing, but maybe you can tell that he already knows it and you are only adding to the burden, to the stress, is something that you really have to pay attention because ultimately we're trying to get our players to play the best that they can. And you know, sometimes it's a heavier thumb, sometimes it's lighter and that's a big art of coaching I think.

The latest from Irfhang Afar, Down to Irf, in conversation with Travis Queen, available at our daily face faceoff YouTube channel. Any conclusions, observations, thoughts, promotions for your own work tomorrow after the big Lola's game? Oh no you're not doing it! You're going to have to hang on a second here. Hang on a second here. In the chat the other day after the Minnesota loss where you're all fired up I swear you don't get that angry like you got to watch after dark folks and like my boy here gets like Seriously, he goes he goes Bill Bixby goes incredible Hulk when the main police loose especially like they did against, Minnesota Like I was like man Nick you don't get this mad when you vote Zach and you're like livid about this game against the Minnesota wild So on the on the chat, people are wondering, considering it's, um, vacation Vic's wedding, the producer of morning cup of hockey, whether you

would do after dark, after the Leafs-Eulers game from the wedding. Have you decided not to, you half-miler? Have you decided not to, you half-miler? This is more of a question for Vic than me. It's his wedding. I'm not gonna go in there and plan to do that. If he wants to do it, he wants to do it. I mean, Alburga will be there. Alma will be there, myself, or Homslees.

Who's gonna wear the lampshade in that crew? Is it gonna be Alburga? See, like Alma will be there, myself, or Homslees. Who's going to wear the lampshade in that crew? Is it going to be Alburga? Is he like the one-man conga line? Is he that guy at weddings? I don't know. This is the first time I'll go with him. I mean, I've been out with him a bunch of times downtown. Alburga is a lot of fun to go out with, I'll say that.

There's a chance that I may even see Alburga tonight. We'll see that as well. Where are you going tonight? You're going out? I mean, strolling around. Possibly. I've got a hockey game at Maple Leaf Gardens at nine o'clock. Oh, I'm out of me.

No way. Yeah. Yeah. And then may stroll around. We'll see. We'll see when the night takes us there, Jeff. But you're just going to casually bump into Al Alberger or you got something planned already, Snake? No, usually it's like a text later and it'll say from one of us and it'll just say, what's up?

And then figure it out from there. All right then. Well, wherever you end up, Zach Phillips and share this with Nick Alberger. Make good decisions. Yes. Make good decisions. Yes. Make good choices this weekend, young Zach. Yes. Choices. And congratulations to Vic.

So like what happened? Did they like pull this young woman out of like a fire? Out of like, was she drowning? Like how does he find someone? How do you trick someone into marrying him? No, you know, it's actually funny. Uh, and I mean, everybody should be watching all the properties we have. I've said it a few times.

I mean, my favorite shows, I would get up also Fridays. Like I got a, this may be his vacation Vic to the max. I don't know if it's, I feel like Colby and Laz want to work on Fridays and it's Vic who wants it off, but we'll have that discussion. I mean, I try to bike at 9 AM and watch the show and these guys aren't going on Fridays. Anyways, I watched that and then I watched the East Morning Take. I was laughing this morning because they were talking about it. They had Gord Stelec on today and they're talking about Vic and his wedding coming up

and Nick was telling a story about how Vic met her and it was at the bar on King Street West here with Alburga. The two of them went out that night. Which bar? Which bar? I haven't been, I haven't gone to King West forever, but I'm curious. Two cats. I never went to two. That's right near Hey Lucy.

I used to go to Hey Lucy. Two cats like right beside Hey Lucy. I know, I know two cats. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So anyways, they go there and you met her and then Gord was accusing, was saying to Alburga that the reason that Vic stood out Gord was accusing, was saying to Alburga

that the reason that Vic stood out so much is because he went out with Alburga and so Vic stood out. Great strategy Vic. Excellent. Well done. Yeah. Take Alburga. You look awesome.

Every woman will be like, I couldn't end up with that. No, no, no, no, no. I need to get a ring on this one quickly. Let's, you know, there have been a couple of people in the chat that want to hear the Chris Falcone story. Can we park that to Monday? That's the guy that fell in the Philadelphia, in the Toronto Police Penalty Box in Philadelphia with Tide Omi. Let me get to the Chris Falcone story on Monday.

How's that for Cliffhanger? Tune in Monday at 3 o'clock Eastern on The Sheet to find out Jeffy's story about hitting Philadelphia with Chris Falcone. Awesome dude. Like seriously great, great guy. I'm I'm I don't know if I still have his number. If he, if, if I still have his number, you want me to get them on. Yes. Or you know what?

He might be good for you. What are leaves playing the flyers? Uh, good question. Uh. I'm not entirely sure. I don't know that I don't have his numbers though. I'll ask my old producer, Jeff Domette. He works at the Athletic. I'll ask him. He'll still have Chris's number. March 25th, Leafs Flyers. Do you want Chris Falcone for that show? Sure. That would be pretty good.

You could do the Domey story. Yes. That would be good. Well, tell the story on Monday. How about that? All right. By the way, Bertie, you know how he's got the camera tracking? I'm pretty sure that it was picking up the picture behind him. I think that was why the camera was zooming out. So on your iPad there's like an AI tracking that can go on so if you move your head or whatever it keeps it in the center. I'm like 99% sure it was picking up the painting because that's never happened with him, he moves and it follows him.

Right? Like I'm sure you'll notice that it was moving and I think you probably noticed. I was like, Oh no, like what's going on? Why is this happening? And then as it went, I went, it's getting the painting behind him for sure. A hundred percent it had to be. Cause I've never seen it do that with him before. We had people in the chat saying like, okay, like enough playing with the camera here.

It was not me. I was just picking up this. Well, that's credit to the artist who did a wonderful job. Yeah. Of capturing Brian in his Birkness. Yeah. That was some good stuff today from Birky too. Awesome.

Awesome stuff from Birky, as always. It was good. Okay, that's it for us. Thanks to Brian Burke for stopping by. Thanks to all of you for joining us all this week. Whether you're in the chat, whether you're listening on your very, your favorite podcatcher, whether you're watching live or an archive on YouTube whether in the chat or you're not we

thank you for your attention you could be a number of different places watching listening or maybe even actually doing something but you chose to be with us and for that I thank you very much on behalf of Zach Phillips he's not on tomorrow by the way he's gonna be party of one Zach Phillips at Vic's wedding. We'll get the full time and temp and the recap on Monday on who wore the lampshade during the whole thing. My money's on Alburga, but we'll see what happens. On behalf of the whole crew here, thanks so much for listening, thanks so much for watching, much appreciated. Monday morning Cup of Hockey, 9 o'clock Eastern, Johnny

Lassworth, Colby Cohen, DFO Live at noon Eastern, and then the shoot right here at our daily face-off YouTube channel. Enjoy the game tonight, Saturday, Sunday. We'll talk to you on the road. ["I'll Be There For You"] I can't get out my head, lost all ambitions day to day Guess you can call it a run I went to the dark man, he tried to give me a little medicine

I'm like, nah man, that's fine I'm right against those methods, but I knew It's me, myself and Alice gonna be fixing my mind You