The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Sharks Lock Up Celebrini & Latest on Red Wings GM Search ft. Max Bultman & Sheng Peng

Episode Date: July 31, 2026

Jeff Marek is joined by Max Bultman to break down the latest surrounding Dylan Larkin and the Detroit Red Wings, examining what unfolded behind the scenes with the organization's management group, how it has shaped the franchise's direction, and what Steve Yzerman and the Red Wings must accomplish this offseason to get back into Stanley Cup Playoff contention. What does the future hold for Dylan Larkin? What went wrong behind the scenes in Detroit? And what should fans expect heading into next season?Later, Sheng Peng joins the show to discuss Macklin Celebrini's historic new five-year, $94 million contract extension with the San Jose Sharks ($18.8 million AAV). The two dive into what the deal means for the Sharks' future, how it affects upcoming negotiations for San Jose's young core, and why Celebrini's contract could redefine the NHL marketplace for elite young stars. They also examine the ripple effects across the league, future contracts for Connor Bedard and other franchise players, NHL salary cap growth, and what this means for the next generation of superstar talent.#TheSheet #NHL #DetroitRedWings #LGRW #DylanLarkin #MacklinCelebrini #SJSharks #TheFutureIsTeal #HockeyReach 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 back. You're back, clearly. Thanks for being back. And we'd like to welcome back, the one and only Zach Phillips from vacation. And in the meantime, thank Jacob Lazar and who else did we have doing the program. Aaron Bordado filled in on Tuesday as well. Thanks to Jacob and Aaron for filling in for the now returning Zach Phillips, the triumphant return. How close for you to not coming back? I always find that on vacation. There comes that moment where you're like, am I really going to go back? So did you have that moment? Yeah. The last night we went to the beach and we sat on the beach as the sunset. It was beautiful sunset, perfect weather. Yeah. There's like a hundred surfers in the water all surfing these huge waves and stuff. And I looked to my girlfriend and I was like, this is pretty cool.

Like I could I could do this a lot. Like every night. And then I was like in my head. I'm like, hmm. Yeah. And I'm going back somewhere where. there's going to be 10 feet of snow at some point every single day. And it did cross my mind, but then I was thinking about hockey.

I was thinking about you, Jeff. I could either do this with you, honey, or I can go back and talk about an Adam Fantilli offer sheet with Merrick. I don't know. This one's tough. This is really tough. Yes, exactly. Exactly.

Actually, you know what? I started my trip flying to Florida to one of my buddies' weddings. and on my flight, going to a different wedding, apparently in Florida, was Jet Grieves. Oh, no way. Talk to him. Yeah, he just happened to be on the flight going to talk to him. Talk to him?

No, I didn't get to cross with him. Because I literally saw him walking out the door, and I said, oh, that's Jet Grieves as we were leaving. He just got rich. He just got rich. That guy, everybody there. That guy got rich. Exactly. And one of my buddies's girlfriends who's with us goes, oh, yeah, I know his girlfriend.

and they're going to a wedding in Florida. And I was like, oh, well, isn't that an interesting start to this trip? Hockey is everywhere, folks. Hockey is everywhere. Further evidence sharing a plane with the recently rich Jetgreaves, who are trying to get on the program, by the way. I think it might happen next week. We'll see how that goes.

He's a busy guy. The problem is he skates when the program is on. But we're trying to get him on nonetheless. All right, coming up on the program today, and welcome back, Zach. Coming up on the program today, and we have a lot to get to, and a couple of really special guests, because we've got a lot of heavyweight topics here on the program today. And we thank you for joining us.

On today's broadcast, we will talk to Max Boltman of the Athletic. He is standing by coming up here in a couple of moments. We'll talk about the search to replace Eiserman. Shang Pang will talk to us. He writes for San Jose Hockey Now. He'll talk to us about the Macklin-Cellibrini contract that if it weren't for Leo Carlson would have shook the NHL world. I find it an interesting phenomenon.

Macclan-Celabini signs the most expensive, It becomes the highest paid player in the history of the game, and we all kind of go, oh, yeah, and just sort of agreed it with a shrug. Thanks for ruining the party, Leo Carlson. By the way, how many players has Daniel Breyer single-handedly made wealthy? I want to answer that in a couple of seconds. So we'll talk about the Red Wing search with Max. We'll talk about the Dylan Larkin situation with Max.

We will talk about because this happened while we were off the air. We'll talk about the sub-licensing deal from Rogers to Amazon Prime, and we will talk about simulcast broadcasts. As a Columbus Blue Jackets, join a list of teams that will be doing that. Really quickly, and again, so much of this is now in a Leo Carlson offer sheet world. Macklin Celebrini gets his number. Thank you, Daniel Breyer. Cutter Goce is going to get his number.

Thank you, Daniel Breyer. Adam Fantilli is going to get his number. Thank you, Daniel Breyer. Connor Bedard already has his number. Remember beginning the season we said, is Bardard actually going to make $10 million? Well, he blew through that stop sign, folks. Thank you, Daniel Breyer. And there's another one, as someone reminded me yesterday, thank you, Daniel Breyer, in advance, even though this contract isn't close,

even being negotiated yet, Porter Martone. In the meantime, one piece that I encourage all of you to read immediately when this show goes off the air is at the athletic. What I'm hearing about Red Wings General Manager's Search timeline priorities for Iserman's replacement, the man who penned it or typed it in Digital Stone, is Max Boltman at The Athletic and he joins me now. Max, first of all, thanks so much for taking time today. Never a dull moment in Detroit. And this summer has been, even though it seems quiet right now, like I'm still surprised how sort of wrapped up this whole search is. I think Scott White might be the only name that sort of escaped, but he's kind of, you know, this era's version of Matthew

who will interview with every team and eventually he's going to land somewhere. Where are we at? Give us the time and temp on where this search is. I know it's not ideal to start something this late into the summer. You're probably, if you're going to make this decision, you wanted to make it in April. But nonetheless, here we are. Stick the thermometer in the Red Wings. Where are we at?

Early. And I think the timeline that you laid out about where they are on the calendar, I think, plays a role in that. Like if they had done this in April or May, there's four or five. other teams out there in the market. Right now, they're the only team in the market. And so my suspicion is that that's kind of a factor here is that they can take their time. I mean, that they have some business that needs to get done. The Simon Edvenson deal being the most like, you know, urgent for 2026. They have to have a top pair of defenseman under contract.

But there's all their stuff out there. I'm sure we're going to talk about Dela. And I'm sure we're going to talk about Alex DeBrenkette. So to me, like those are real factors and should kind of motivate a, you know, search to get done with some time. But I still think they're pretty early in this. I do understand the idea of like, look, we're competing against nobody now for all of these names so we can take our time and, you know, stretch things out here before we get to yoga class. But at the same time, as you mentioned, the new manager is going to inherit these decisions

if they get made now, whether it's Edvenson, as you mentioned, De Brinkett, trying to massage your relationship, even if there is, I don't know if there is any going back with Dylan Larkin at this point. but does that not place a sort of premium of, you know, let's get this thing rolling here? Like all of the, like what if the decision for the direction of the team is different than the decision they make now with Edvenson or with the brinket or trying to, you know, write love letters to Delon Larkin? What then? I agree. And that's why I think it is ideal to have this done with some time, you know, and to have the next person calling the shots make those deals.

I don't think you want to have one person sign the Simon Edvenson contract and another person come in and go, well, hey, wait a minute. I kind of would have liked that to be for a few more years and I would have been willing to spend a little more money for that. So I think that is a very, very good point. And I agree with you on that. What I'd also say is like there is seven weeks until training camp here. Like let's say this takes three or four more. That's just I'm not saying that's what it's going to be. But let's say it's that like that does give you some time to resolve some of these things.

Now you want to have a good feel for what you're walking into. But I don't think the Edvinson contract, for example, is all that complex. I think if you're a candidate for this job, you should probably be figuring out what you want to do with the Edvenson deal in the interim between when you're contacted and when you're hired so you can kind of hit the ground running, for example. Why do you think this one's taken this much time? Like I think we understand the fantility dynamic and waiting for Carlson, Baderd, etc. But like, why do you think? Why do you think the Edmondson deal hasn't been done yet? Here we are, you know, July 31st and Max, we're talking about an Edvenson deal not done. Why do you think? Because they don't have a GM right now, right? I mean, that's the best answer I can. give you. I mean, these deals have all come in as in the time in between when they announced the leadership change from Steamweiser. I want to call it a firing. I don't know if that's like the specific language here, but that's how it feels to me. So firing upwards. Yeah. What like it isn't even up. Like it's it's lateral. Right. He's not in hockey ops. Right. He's an advisor to the owner. But yeah. So like these,

those deals have come in in that period of time with the exception to the Leo deal. And I do think that you talked about the money aspect of like Breyer got all these guys paid. You're spot on. I also look at the term on all of those. These are all five-year deals now. We never used to see five-year deals coming out of ELC because you're really only buying one UFA year when you do that for these teams. Like usually you would see a bridge, one, two, three years, or you would see a long-term deal, six, seven, eight years, four and five were the ones you almost never saw. These are all coming in at five. All these players are going to hit free agency at 26, 27 years old. And that's an interesting kind of shift in this too. And I do wonder, you know, like I mentioned that I think you want the

next GM to be the one picking the term. That's part of what I mean by that. Like is the next GM on board with a five year? Can he try to talk if it's into a seven or if it's before September 1st and 8? You know, I don't think a bridge is ideal here. But I do think the term factor is very relevant there. The term thing I would not point to Daniel Breyer on specifically. This one feels like, and I hope he's not listening because I don't want him to have to widen the door frames in his house to fit in his head. But this is the Judd Moldaver effect.

Like this is how Judd Moldaver from the team formerly Wasserman, behaves. Like this is, why ring the bell once when you can ring it twice? I mean, the Austin Matthews strategy is one that's being adopted by a number of elite level players. This is the Judd-Moldafer strategy to me. And I think players are realizing, yeah, why am I going to lock myself up for, you know, I could sign max term at eight, but if I'm someone who's going to be top of my class, top in my career here, why am I limiting myself? Why do I? Like, I think one of the things that really bothered players like Nathan McKinnon and nobody of those that elite tier wanted to be in it for how many years did we look at Nathan McKinnon's contract and say that's

the best deal for a team in the NHL you know this max players don't want to wear that crown as as being the best value deal in the NHL and that's why I think they've all sort of realized and Moldavers has taken this and taken this ball and run with it, they want to do short deals and keep bringing the bell as the salary cap goes up. Agre with that one? Oh, absolutely. I mean, that's clearly what it's about. You talk about Sellebrini.

I think what's interesting is when you did a non-long-term deal before, it usually meant you were taking a financial haircut to do it. And now with both Carlson and Sellebrini, you are becoming the highest paid AAV player in the league and you're not having to give up those extra years. I think that's what really strikes me. And you're right. Matthews, a few years back, is a very good. a very good example. I had kind of forgotten that one of what the exact length on his was in that,

you know, in that flurry of leaf core deals. But, yeah, there's no doubt that it's about getting a second kick at the big payday. You know, that's why, you know, I look at the, you know, a shrinking of the, you know, the max term contract. You can have her like, that's not a win for general managers. Like that ain't a win. That's a headache for general managers more than anything else. Okay, so to a couple of names here. And you mentioned Alex De Brinkett. the future there, question mark. Dylan Larkin, is there a path back for Dylan Larkin at this point now that, bluntly, Eisenman's out of the way?

A path, like, I would say more than there was before, but I think a lot of it still depends so much on who is the new person and what kind of vision do they want to sell, right? Like, if the new person comes in and looks at the situation the way that, frankly, I do, and I say, man, it's going to be tough for the Red Wings to become a serious contender in the next year or two with where they stand. the Atlantic Division with what they have. You know, this offseason wasn't all that eventful. Patrick Kane goes out.

I mean, it's been very eventful. But in terms of the roster transaction so far, Patrick King goes out, Victor Arvinson comes in. You're kind of in the same place you were. And oh, by the way, Florida's gotten way better and healthier. Washington's gotten way better. I think New Jersey's going to be a really, a team to be reckoned with next year. Like, are the Red Wings the 11th, 12th?

Like, where do you see them in the east right now? And if you're a new GM coming in, I think any pitch that Dylan Larkin would have to center on getting aggressive. and hey, we're going to do it a little bit differently than the Red Banks have done it before. We're going to get aggressive here. They have the prospects to try to do that, but where you are in the calendar, I don't know how many actual options to do that there are. So I think if you were going to try to sell Dylan Larkin on staying,

it has to probably be predicated on getting competitive. And I wonder if a new GM just looks at that and says, like, is that really realistic? And that's before you get into all the stuff with the fans, right? I mean, you've seen it, I'm sure. Like, fans are not taking this well. I don't think it's going to be a warm welcome back. So a couple of things there on Larkin. First of all, you look at all the teams,

you look at all the teams that have lapped them in the rebuild. And at West there's, you know, Anaheim's a playoff team, San Jose, right there. I still think Chicago's in the wilderness. Let's bracket them for a second. But go to the Eastern Conference. Go to the Atlantic Division and look at Buffalo and look at Montreal. And Ottawa's made the playoffs a couple of years in a row here. Like is it almost to the point, like further to your point about Larkin, like, I don't know if there's necessarily a point for him, a reason for him to stay.

If Detroit looks at this and says, you know what, we got lapped, we have to actually take a step back for a couple seasons here. Does it, I mean, you cover this team every day. Like, does it feel that way around the wings right now? That's how I look at it. I mean, I'm sure that there's a lot of competitive people in that locker room and in that organization who don't want to accept that. I'm sure if Todd McClellan, I already hear that, he would, you know, flip his drink right now because, you know, he's not someone who wants to, you know, accept anything like that. And I'm not saying they got to accept it. I'm just saying I look at this, especially if you're in a management chair and you come into this.

You have to have like a realistic appraisal of not just like what you are, but what's the best way that this can go? What's kind of the, you know, okay, a couple things go right. A couple things go wrong way this can go. And what's the worst case? And I think it all tends more toward being outside the playoffs again. In the best case scenario, yes, there's a path for this team to get into the playoffs. but it's probably as a wild card and it's a pretty narrow path. And so I look at that and you kind of just have to face reality of the situation.

Like you said, recognize what happened. You got lapped. And what's the best way forward? It probably is to take it on the chin for a year and reset. And maybe it's two years reset and try to do what Buffalo had to do once upon a time. The Dylan Larkin situation and try this to me looks like, and I know everyone's just focusing on the teams, you know, and there's three and now it's been extended to four with the Dallas stars. I think the bigger issue here is in Detroit, Dylan Larkin's a first line center, but to all these other teams, he's a second line center. And that's probably on a Stanley Cup team, Dylan Larkin is a second line center.

So any team you're trading with is trading with the idea that they are paying a second line center price. But Detroit wants a first line center price because with the Red Wings, he's a first line center. and I see that is a major stumbling block here. I know we're all focused on the teams. To me, it's the slot. Elite level teams will have him as a second line center, not the go-to number one, and that's the price they want to pay.

But Detroit still sees him as, hey, he's our first-line center. He's our captain. He's our stud. That, to me, looks like that. To me, there's a collision there, and that's perhaps what's making this deal difficult to make. I would quibble with that and say it's more about the teams.

It's not that I disagree that like where Larkenslot is on most of the, you know, top teams in the league, although one of them notably Minnesota, I think he's absolutely the number one center for the Minnesota Wild. And I think that's been the most relevant team in this the whole time. I think it's just, you know, the teams that we're talking about here, Jeff, like what do they have asset-wise that can really move the needle and make you want to give up? Whether it's a first-line center or a second-line center, like regardless on a championship team,

like the needle-moving assets have pretty much already been spent. like I'll go back to Minnesota. They already made their big push in for chips. Exactly. Like they had to use so much capital in that. It's there's just not that much left. I mean, we could talk about Florida.

They've already used all their big prospects. Brady Kachuk, right? So it's, you know, Dallas has spent their big prospects and their team you mentioned. So I look at it and say it's just like, can the list be broadened to a team that actually has the capital to do

something like that? I think Dylan Larkin still has a pretty good, even as a, even if you call them a second line center on a cup team, I think that's a really valuable piece. and we've seen pieces like that be difference making pieces. I think it's just about are there enough teams available to make something like that happen. Which, again, like it seems like every team needs a second line center.

I mean, I would look at, I know Montreal. Montreal is the obvious one, and I still believe that they're still trying to sign Michael Hage at Michigan, but we'll see. I would look at a team like Montreal. I would look at a team like the Boston Bruins. I would look at the Philadelphia Flyers. Like, is there a sort of obvious team here that if Dylan Larkin opened up his list, it would be a hand to glove fit? You mentioned a few of them. I'm trying to think around the league real quick.

Like, you know, you talked about, I mean, Utah filled it earlier with Trochecks. I don't know that they're really there anymore. At the beginning, I thought they were a hand-to-glove fit. You know, I look at San Jose and think, like, man, could there be a fit there, especially now that what they're going to be paying Celebrini and plug a guy in now, it's probably not the right age. given the age of their core, but if they wanted to get into that mix now, they're probably ready. But I think the ones you mentioned are all right there, right?

You know, Boston, certainly that team could really benefit. And I think he'd be their number one center. They could really benefit from a guy like him next to Posnernock. But yeah, I think, again, just as with the GM search, this is all happening pretty late now. A lot of the teams have done their business. And so it leaves things in a really tricky spot. And that's the case if a new GM comes in too here and does want to trade him.

You know, even, you know, we talk about Ket, a new GM convince him to stay. Can a new GM get this deal done in that short of a span? I think that's a pretty tall order considering where things stand. So that's going, I think it's a secondary topic right now because the first one is finding the new head of hockey ops, but it's going to remain a huge story even once that's completed. Let me throw another team out there. And this is total long shot.

And like many, I'm not sure that he would even want to go to this market necessarily. But if the Detroit is going to take a step back, this team does have young players that they could move for Dylan Larkin, and also a general manager who went to Michigan, where Dylan Larkin went, and that's Seattle. Seattle, yeah. I don't know that Seattle, I mean, we saw with Robertson earlier this summer. Like, I think Seattle's kind of a hard sell right now.

It is. I don't think that's just the millionaire tax thing. I think, you know, Seattle's probably one of the few markets that has the similar kind of stink on it right now to Detroit in terms of the on ice. But I agree with you that the prospect fits, the young player fits. there make a lot of sense. But I do think for a player who's been outside the playoffs this long, Seattle would probably be a tough sell. That would be a tough one.

I just look at, you know, they need like, like Seattle has everybody playing one level higher than they should. And that's why you see what you see on the ice all the time. Alex De Brinket of all of it here. The future, if there is one for Alex to Brinket, let's finish up. Oh, I want to ask you about the Delos of the world in San Ventura. Yeah. Second last question, Alex to Brinket.

he's the one I feel like I have the least feel on where this goes from because I think you know he's another guy who's from here as far as I can tell Alex Brinket's pretty happy here he's a little bit younger than Dylan Larkin but he's not five years younger than Dylan Larkin so yeah he's one that I think that the conversation with the new GM becomes like extremely important if it were me I would want to keep him because I think you turn this around fast enough to contend on more cider and Lucas Raymond's kind of prime timeline I think Debrinket can still slot into that he's 28 right now. I think he's going to be 29 this fall. But at 33, 34, I think Alex Debringke can still be a pretty effective score.

And that's like toward the end of what I think this kind of turnaround would be. I think it's, you know, 30, 31, 32. You know, you can still be trying to get into that mix and he's still a highly, highly effective player. But he's another guy like Dylan Larkin that probably hasn't played as much playoff hockey as I'm sure he would like to. He's a competitive guy. He's a tenacious guy. So I think that conversation with the next GM is as interesting with Alex Debrinket as it is Dylan Larkin, even though Larkin is going to get a lot more of the attention.

So the only name that, as I mentioned, like the only name that I've been able to sort of suss out here, which is no shock, Scott White, Dallas assistant general manager, and that makes a lot of sense. And eventually, as I mentioned, he's going to find his spot. He's going to find his team. In your piece, you mentioned San Venture, Buffalo, Tyler Delo, Carolina. Have you been able to, do you have a feel for, I know they've talked about wanting to go with a more of an analytic slant? There's only a handful of those guys that are available that can run teams. I would throw Tim Barnes at Washington into that mix as well. But do you have a feel of sort of which direction they're going and why those names specifically?

Yep. Tim was on my initial list too that I put out. So I think that is a good call up by you. What I would say is I don't think it necessarily has to be analytics. I think they want forward thinking. They want modern. I think analytics is definitely one way to get there. But I don't think it's the only background that they're going to consider here. So another name I put in that piece was Brett Peterson, the AGM in Florida.

And when I've talked to people around the sport about him, there's a lot of passion for Brett Peterson and people really believe in him and what he's going to be as a leader. So he's a name that I find very interesting. I think maybe the most interesting name that I've heard so far as him. Darren York, another guy in Carolina. I mentioned Delo because I feel like he kind of has that analytics background and that fits. But Darren York has been a big part of that front office too. And I think just by being in the Carolina front office over the last decade, you know how to run a modern front office.

That's kind of the modern front office. And I think you can say the same for Florida. Like I think about the culture change that happened in Florida. And I think that's something that the Red Wings could really use. It's, yes, it's modernizing the front office, but it's also player relationship management. And in 2026, we're seeing just how important that is. The Red Wings are seeing just how important that is, as this Dylan Larkin saga has played out. Brett Peterson, I think, is a guy who has the background of an agent that kind of makes you believe in what he could do from that standpoint.

So those are some of the names that I find really interesting. I'd also say, you know, look across. the street to the way they've run the Tigers, and that is that more kind of analytics forward thing. They have a couple of people in that front office with Deepakie backgrounds. Andrew Thomas is their VP of Analytics. He previously worked for the Wild, founded War on Ice with Sam Ventura and Alex Mandricki, and Jeff Greenberg was an associate gym of the Blackhawks. So there's two guys whose I think input could become really important for this, if not even potentially candidates.

It's not, I don't think it's all the question that they could be candidates, too. But I think at a minimum input and kind of point them in the right direction for who knows how to run a modern front office. I lied. One last question. Do we know how the roles will be divvied up? Are they looking at a poho and a general manager, someone to do both? Do we have any, have we sifted through the muddy lake on that one yet? Well, I think they're open to whatever it needs to look like. Like I think they go into this looking for the person who's going to be at top of the department. And if in the process they say, hey, this needs to be a too rung thing, I think they'll do that. And if they say, nope, we've got one guy and one guy is going to do the job, they'll do that. So I think it's the best way, I guess, to put it as like they're going to let the process decide the structure kind of thing.

So we wait. Max, you the best. Thanks, as always for stopping by. Great peace. And I encourage everybody to read it and great job on the athletic podcast. I always enjoy your offering. I don't miss an episode. Thanks, pal.

Thanks, Jeff. Appreciate you. Max Boltman. Of the athletic and the latest that he's just written about is the general manager search to replace Steve Eisman. What I'm hearing about Wings General Manager Search timeline priorities for Eiserman's replacement. Now, one last thing here, and I want to play a clip, but as a way to, I guess, also cross-promote my favorite show, and that is Morning Cup of Hockey. Morning Cup of Hockey with a special return today, amongst other things. they had Vincent Trocheck on of the Utah mammoth.

And one of the things that he talked about is why he became a New York Ranger and why it was unsettling for both his family and his wife's family when he settled on the New York Rangers. And in the process said no to Pittsburgh and to Detroit. This was part of the, both him and his wife wrote open letters, you know, thanking the, the New York Rangers for the time there. And in the process, gave up the ghost and said, like, yeah, I could have been the Red Wings and could have been the Penguins as well. Here's Vincent Trocheck from Morning Cup of Hockey today. So Hillary out at us, but I didn't tell you to that for a specific reason.

I mean, being from Pittsburgh, obviously my family was, if, I mean, let's go back. If I known going into that summer, I thought if Pittsburgh was ever, an opportunity, then it was kind of like a no-brainer 100% chance that I was going to Pittsburgh. But the more I just talked to my agent and my family and honestly drew about the opportunity to come to New York. And then I looked at the team and the opportunity to play with Panarin and everything was just kind of matching up. And for me, I think the biggest thing for me in 2022 was I just want to go to a team that I think has a chance to win whenever while I'm there. So if I'm signing a seven-year deal, I want a team that I think is going to be on the rise

and continue to get better and then have a chance to make a run. So that was ultimately the reason we ended up going to New York, and it was something that really hurt my family, obviously being from Pittsburgh, hurt Hillary's family, being from the Michigan area. So we let some people down, but. At the end of the day, it was a decision that I just couldn't pass up. Even though we all, listen, that's a wonderful little story. And I really like it too. But if you're a Tret Red Wings fan hearing that, you're saying to yourself,

we had a chance to get Vincent Trocheck, which is a tough one. I just want to make sure that we got that one in there coming off for the Max Boltman piece. And also as a way to mention that you should go and listen slash watch, one in cup of hockey, special summer edition, just came out. out today, feature guest, Vincent Trocheck, of the Utah mammoth. Okay, so a couple of more things still that we want to get to, like a little bit later on. I want to park some time and go over a couple of different things here with Zach and with you as well.

And it might be a little bit inside baseball, but that's fine. I do want to, I do have a couple of thoughts on the Rogers situation with Amazon Prime and sort of what that means for hockey fans. and also the Columbus situation, not re-upping with Bob McGilliot, who wasn't extended, as we all know, Blue Jackets fans are up in arms about it and upset and understandably so. McElegat was a fantastic and still is fantastic play-by-play voice and goes back years with the Columbus Blue Jackets

and becomes that comfortable, familiar presence when you're listening to Blue Jackets games. There's a couple of points that I just want to make. And they're going to run a simulcast. Not unlike a lot of other organizations you're doing right now, whether it's Carolina, whether it's St. Louis, whether it's the Buffalo Sabres. There's just different ways to present games,

and there's one way to present it on radio, which doesn't work on television, and the way to present games on television, because you have the backdrop of visuals as well, doesn't work on radio. And that's why when you listen to games on radio that are being simulcast, it sounds really off.

Even if the audio is good and the audio is warm, it still does sound off. Because the presentation on radio, because I have our words, I have a sound, the presentation is going to, sound way off. And there's a couple of little things that you need to do on radio that you never do on television because you have visuals backing it up. So I want to go over those things at a couple

moments here on the program. In the meantime, I want to get on the Macklin-Colabini page, but first, the segment of presentation of Canadian Blood Services, who invite you to experience what giving feels like. In a world that can feel isolating and divided, blood and plasma donation offers something rare and fulfilling. Real connection, real purpose, real impact. Every summer, people across Canada get swept up in the excitement of the season, and donation routines can slip, but they don't need to. This is a moment to rally together as a nation and for new donors to experience firsthand

what you get when you give. At a moment when many Canadians are looking for positive ways to show up for each other, Canadian blood services are issuing an invitation to new donors. Fill every donation share in the country. this summer. Go to blood.ca. Download the app and book your appointment now. Okay, let's get on the San Jose Sharks page.

One AAA to donate, by the way, is another way you can get in to give blood as well if you're a Canadian. San Jose Sharks coverage for San Jose Hockey now, the great Shang-Peng joins me on the program to talk about the Whopper signed by Macklin Celebrini. And, Shang, first of all, thanks so much for joining me here today. Did Leo Carlson steal some of this thunder?

You know, I can't help but think like, this is the biggest, like the highest AAV and NHL has ever gotten. And a lot of us greeted this like, yeah, it's a whopper of a deal. It's a big deal. But we kind of expected it based on what Leo Carlson signed for. How do you look at this deal? Hey, Jeff. How's it going?

Good man. Yeah, you know, I guess in some ways, I don't know, stealing the thunders the way I put it. I think, though, that it prepared everybody for the Thunder maybe. Yeah. I think the krill caprice off $17 million, right? That also, like, kind of laid the groundwork because I think that really shocked people when that happened. But now that deal looks, you know, along with the Carlson deal, it looks like kind of like, not small potatoes,

but obviously it's a prelude to Mapplin 18.8 and players getting, you know, 20 and whatnot in the near future. You know, it's a, it's a fascinating deal. The structure of the deal, I want to go over with you and a, and a. a couple of seconds as well. But there are some players, I've said this about Connor McDavid, for example. There are some players you don't negotiate with. There are some players that the manager just says,

just tell us what you want, save us some dignity, save us some cap space, and we have to give you your number. Like Mike Greer mentioned, he didn't ask for 20%, but if he did, what are we going to say?

No? Like, he's right there to be, being the best player in the NHL already, and he's got only two seasons under his belt. And we were talking about him as like, you know, for the majority of the season, like this guy's going to win the hard trophy. Get in the playoffs, he's going to win the hard trophy.

He's only played in the NHL for two seasons. He looked like he's already been playing for 10. Was this any kind of negotiation, or was this just Macklin Sellebrini and his representation deciding what was right? Well, for what it's worth, I spoke with his agent Paterson yesterday, and Pat said,

Mike did not hand over a blank check, though it does feel like it, I guess, in some ways. Come on, Pat. Come on, Pat. He was trying to save Mike some dignity there, I guess. But Mike himself admitted that, look, if his agency insisted on 20.8 million, which was the max that he could have made, an AAB, that the trucks probably would have just given it to him eventually. But, you know, Macklin wanted the way that Patryson put it, Maclin wanted,

five years. There was, McLan could have asked for two, three years, right? And the Sharks would have been okay.

If that's, if that's your commitment, that we have to show you in those two, three years, how serious we are about winning. So Maclin wanted to give more runway. And McClain took a little bit less,

you know, one of the things that talking Pat Brouson yesterday that he, he mentioned that I didn't really think about is that, you know, Pat also did Sidney Crosby's negotiations, and Malkins, Kane,

back then they didn't know what the cap was going to be a couple years in advance. They didn't know the cap until, I guess, you know, the day before or something like that before July 1st. So they didn't know for sure. And so this one, though, they already knew the cap for two years in advance, so they could kind of plan for it. And so the way that Pat put it, actually, with that kind of certainty, Maclin could have asked for 19.5 or something like that. But that's not something that Maclin wanted to go into. So Maclin wanted to give a little more term and keep the AV a little bit lower. to give, you know, Mike some space to help Mike build a team.

Having said that, he still made sure he was the top dog. Like, I understand what Pat is saying, and I do understand that this, like, I still think this is a, this is a discount for the San Jose Sharks, but at the end of the day, he's still the highest paid player in the NHL. I don't think we should lose sight of that. To the, to the Crosby point, too, if you go by, and I know some managers like this and some don't, but it's the reality, like the salary cap rises here. So you look at the percentage, it's more similar than different than what Sydney Crosby signed for coming out of his ELC.

So it's not as if we can look at, you know, what Crosby came out of his ELC getting paid and say, oh, look how much more a McElule is getting. I mean, it's like the percentage is the same, almost identical. I think it's like 1% more than what Crosby signed for. But, Scheng, like they're pretty much identical contracts if you just focus on the percentage. Right. And then the other part of it too, right? You're right about the percentage, but also, too, that the maximum that Crosby and Ovesh can have got in their, out of their ELCs, they signed the same, same year was, I think, 10.06 million. Crosby got 8.7, OVetian got 9.5.

OVetting obviously signed a 13-year deal, so that changed out calculation. McDavid, when he signed his eight-year deal out of his ELC, the maximum he could have got was 15. And McDavid signed for 12.5. So, celebrating here, 18.8, maximum 20. it's really in the same kind of ballpark. What's the cat within the San Jose Sharks now? I always can, we always wonder about,

okay, so what's the cascading effect now for everybody else in the NHL? And I think we're all waiting to see what the, the Fantilli number is going to be. I think next year we're waiting to see on July 1st what the Matthew Schaefer number is, is going to be because as you mentioned, it's a new universe where players are getting 18 and 18.8 million. Like, it's, there's been a bump.

And we all expected there to be a bump. But I don't know, we expected it to be this high, but nonetheless, there it is. But what's a cascading effect within the team? You know, whether it's, you know, Will Smith, down the road, Michael Mesa, like, what's a cascading effect here? Who gets affected most? I don't know if, at least the way my career put it, and I think I believe it with a guy like Macklin, that at least on the sharks right now, he doesn't have a Leon Drysidele.

He doesn't have a Malkin. Not yet, at least. He doesn't have a Patrick Kane. It's just kind of a running mate that, okay, this is what. your running mate's going to make now that could be will smith that could be michael misa they can show themselves to be that guy but right now though macklin is kind of the clear top dog of of this team and so i'm not sure i'm not sure how much it affects it i think though that um the way it does mean this is maybe the leo carlson effect that you have a guy like will smith right will smith is

interesting case where he's also extension eligible he's not he hasn't he's had a uh excellent a couple of years, a lot of promise, but he doesn't have a cut and dry case to get, you know, the blank check that Macblin did not get. But so in his case, though, okay, so what do you do then? Do you kind of sign him in advance?

Sign him long term this summer? Or do you risk it? Do you let him go through next year? And what if he explodes next season? You know, this past season, he had 59 points and 69 games. If he does something like what Mitch Marner did in, Mitch Marner's third year of his contract, where Mitch went from like, I don't know, 60-something

points to 94 points. And then Mitch was able to ask for 13% of the cap or something like that out of his ELC. So if they can keep Wolf Smith to like 10% of the cap right now, which is I think like 10 million a year or something like that, that might actually be a good deal. And that might be advisable. And it kind of sounds like that's what Mike Rear seems to want to do because Mike indicated in the call about McClain that he wants to sign Will Smith long term, long term. days seems to be like five years.

And also he would like to sign him this summer. It's interesting, too. You know, I can think of all those, all those players. And listen, Will Smith, I think he's a better player than some of the players that Mario Lemieux made rich. But Mario Lemieux made a lot of guys rich, you know, for a number of years. And then when they went to other teams, it was like, oh, yeah, you can tell that they're not playing with Mario LeMew anymore.

But that's the effect that Macklin-Sellarbrini is having on the San Jose Sharks. Now, one of the other questions I think we're all curious about is like San Jose is right there. And McElabini has changed the expectation. And I think changed expectation internally and I think with fans as well. The expectation now is San Jose makes the playoffs next season, period. Maclin Salabini in the conversation once again for the Hart Trophy, period. How are San Jose Sharks fans reacting to this? Like I can't help but thinking like, I don't know if it's like, I don't know if it's a

complete renaissance and hearkening back to the Joe Thornton Patrick Patrick Marlowe days, but what does it feel like right now around this organization and this fan base? Well, I think it's getting with excitement. I hope you get out to the tank this year, Jeff, because it is, yeah, it's close to, it's not quite at the old days yet because, look, the team still hasn't made the playoffs yet, but though, it feels close to the old days, even if they're, you know, just beating the Florida the Panthers in a regular season game. Like it's it's loud. It may be 15,000 instead of 17,000, but it's allowed 15,000 instead of,

you know, 6,000 of a reported 10,000, but oh, actual 6,000 that was like a couple years ago. And so, yeah, the energy is really, really back. And the fans are ready. They've been, they've been waiting for a winning team. I mean, I'm a little surprised that came back so fast. But I think that does speak to kind of the, not just. Maclin, but a lot of it is Maclin driving it, just how good a player he is. There's a lot of reasons to be optimistic right now and in the future as well, like

specifically San Jose's first round this year of the draft. I mean, Stenberg, so first of all, as much as Toronto won the draft, San Jose won the draft as well. And Yvars Stenberg falls into their lap. And then Keaton Verhof and Ryan Lynn, who I think might be like the big steal out of the first round. We'll see how all these players develop too. but Simon Wang is someone that I've watched back when he played at King City, just around the corner from where I live, and then the Oshawa generals.

What's the expectation here? He's a second round draft pick. Massive, massive young man. What's the expectation? How close do you think that Simon Wang is? I think he's still a little bit of a ways away. He is a bit of a project. But then if you look at him, though, he's 6-5-6-6.

he skates wonderfully and skating got even better this past year, just watched him in development camp. And I just noticed how just kind of smoother he was this past development camp. And so, you know, he's going to go to BU. He's going to take some time there. And so I still think it's going to be a couple years away. But if you can kind of put it together, I mean, again, he's got the size. He's got the, he's very cultural.

He's a great skater. and so, you know, gets used to hockey a little bit, then, yeah, maybe that that's another defenseman that the charts can add to, also too, Sam Dickinson is right in there, too, for young defensemen. So it's a very interesting defensive core that they're building.

It really is. And, you know, one of the things, as much as people want to compare San Jose to Anaheim, and they had a tricky off-season, and I don't think it's getting any easier now with the Cutter Go-Chay situation. But, like, their blue line got decimated. Like their blue line really got decimated.

And as much as they took steps forward this season and made the playoffs and went around and beat the Edmonton Oilers, I think we do wonder about, you know, what's going to happen with Anaheim here with that back end where Mike Greer aggressively, Darnell Nurse, Jacob Trubo, Michael Kesselring. I don't know how many of these players are going to still be with the San Jose Sharks when this team is, like we can look on the horizon, a legitimate and consistent Stanley Cup contender, but they've addressed the blue line right now. And it's a better blue line than they had last season. I agree, disagree.

Yeah, absolutely. It's something that they had to do, especially with Macklin Celebrity, not just kind of following a regular development curve, but becoming a top five, top 10, an angel player. You need to get Macklin help. And that was clear.

You know, Pat Brousan talked about he met with Mike Greer and Hassel Plotner. the meat owner, hustle plotter in June to kind of hear what the Sharks plan was going to be and to, you know, make sure that this was going to be a good place for Macklin over the next, you know, five or so years here. And for a guy like Macklin, Maclin wants to win. And obviously, understanding is that you're not going to go from being out of the playoffs for seven straight years to being a Stanley Cup contender overnight. That's not to ask, but that's not the desire. But you've got to show progress. You've got to be better and better.

And if we're being honest, the Sharks' defense, the last three, four years, arguably worse in the league, one of the worst in the league. And I think they overachieve last season. Did a great job last season, almost got the playoffs, but it was an overachieving group. And so with Nurse and Truba, you've got to kind of take that risk. You don't love that these guys are 30-something veterans, four more years, a lot of money. You don't really love that. You know, ideally, you like two years. You like something like John Carlson's sign.

John Carlson didn't want to come to San Jose, right? He wanted to go back east. So there won't a lot of options out there. And so these, these nursing trooper were among the kind of the shorter term options that were kind of definitive upgrades. You know, like if this shark's defense between Nurse Trouba and Orloff, now you have three, I think, legitimate top four blue liners, three guys that can play top four for most teams in this league. That's a lot more than the sharks have had in a long time. And so with this group, if this overall group can be. average league defense or even just slightly below average

with McElwine's celebrating and also just the expected growth from so many young fours, young Talton forwards on the sharks, Misa, Chernoshoff, Smith, etc., etc. That maybe that four group can be a top 10 forer group, that that's going to be enough in concert to take the sharks to the playoffs. Okay, last question for you. We talk a lot about Macklin Celebrini, obviously. Will Smith, Michael Mesa, go down the list, Sam Dickinson.

Who are we sleeping on? who do we all miss you're there every day practices and games who are we sleeping on i think turn of shop uh one i just mentioned he's he's definitely uh kind of kind of a sleeper he was a great fit in uh kind of a short audition but a short audition with a macklin's celebrating and will smith just kind of a great fit you know he plays fast uh not as fast as macklin but he plays fast at a pace i can keep up with macklin but he adds kind of a size he sticks to end speed and power element that that um you know Macklin plays with power, but Maclin's a little bit smaller.

And Will Smith is more of a finesse kind of kind of player. So Chernoshoff adds that kind of extra element. And then let's not forget Colin Graff, who I haven't mentioned today either. Colin Graff was among the leaders for the Sharks and penalty killing last year. He's just 23, and he popped in 21 goals. Tough Fleckleckle of Eklund. Yeah, that's a... But that's September, right?

Stembro kind of fills in, right? That's it. It's not every day. Yeah, you can train a guy like Eklund. Yeah. build your defense. I mean, they're trying to get Boland Byron there, right? And so it was a sensible kind of move.

Makes sense. Excellent. Shank, thanks so much for stopping by today, sharing your expertise and your conversations with Papriuson about Macklin Celebrini. Much appreciated, my friend. Yeah. Thank you. Anytime.

There is, Shane Peng, who covers the San Jose Shark. By the way, Scheng mentioned Hassel Platner. He's the owner of the San Jose Sharks. I have a pet theory. Hey, Zach, you want to hear my pet theory? I have a theory. Yes, let's hear. Hasseau Platner, German owner, San Jose Sharks.

As much as, and we're going to hear something here from Bill Daly in a couple of seconds here, who was on the eye test with Jimmy Murphy and Pierre McGuire, as much as there is a premium on, you know, getting NHL games in Germany, specifically in exposing the NHL product to Germany, I think part of it is for, as we'll hear, potential expansion in Europe, hang on I think also it's to

curry favor with Deepmar and Daniel Hopp who own Mannheim of the DEL one of the things that Bill Daley

well I mean it's Gary Batman really more so than Bill Daley Bill handles a file but Gary is sort of out there finding owners I wonder how much of this European in, as you'll hear, expansion talk or more of a presence of the NHL after opening an office last

year in Zurich is not just about extending their brand into Europe and getting games there and trying to find out new revenues from Europe. I do think part of it is too. Something the NHL has always done really well. You can criticize the commissioner all you want. The one thing you can never criticize him for, and I know there have been some questionable ones along the way, but nonetheless, he's always been able to find owners. And now there's an abundance of owners, and I think the Hop family might be somewhere down

the road owners in the NHL of an NHL team, whether it's, as you'll hear in a couple of seconds about expansion and Europe and et cetera, or to buy an existing NHL team. I think that's part of all of it, too, the big financial play. So I'll hold this clip and if it comes to fruition, we'll blast it everywhere, we'll put it out for everyone to see. If it doesn't, delete it and pretend this never happened. Yes. So, yeah, they own Adler Mannheim.

Anyhow, okay, so let's play this clip. This is fascinating. So Bill Daly on the eyedest with our good buddies, Jimmy Murphy and Pierre McGuire talking about European expansion. We know about Houston, but Europe? Here's Bill Daly. we've never had the opportunity to kind of move that, shift that to a weekday on a regular basis where we won't have competition from European football, particularly on Monday nights, and that's when most of the package takes place. So there's no doubt we're doing a lot more internationally and to grow in market or league in the sport internationally.

whether expansion is in the cards on some basis at some point in the near future. I think it's inevitable on some level. I can't give you a time period because I still think there are obstacles to making that work over the course of an 84 game season for sure. Having said that, we have our global series games. You know, we have our World Cup hockey games. we've created the Four Nations face off. We have a lot of internationally focused initiatives,

and I'm even working on another one here, which I hope to talk to a bunch of people on in the next couple days because I think it could be a real opportunity for us to create even more content to distribute internationally in particular. The word inevitable there is doing a lot of lifting. I'll tell you what. So that's our good buddy's Jimmy Murphy and Pierre McGuire on the I-Test. It's part of the Sick Podcast Network.

The interesting part there, of course, that it's inevitable that the NHL expands in some way at some point into Europe. I'll tell you what, going back to even before Gary Bettman took over as commissioner. So this would have been in the John Ziegler era. I have in one of these, I'm surrounded by boxes here. If you can spin the camera around, you see all these boxes of old magazines and papers and all this. I've got pro forma that someone sent me like a million years ago from the NHL investigating European markets for expansion.

Like this talk is not new. And this does go back to like the late 80s and the early 90s. and the early 90s. And it's some cities that you wouldn't necessarily expect, like London and Lisbon, okay? Like there's all the heavyweights that you would expect, but there's some other ones that you totally wouldn't expect that they looked at in previous administration.

This has always been out there for the NHL, and the big question is, okay, how do we do it? How does this work? Is it just another league that doesn't compete against the NHL in North America but carries the NHL brand with it? How would that sit with other federate? Again, like I don't know how that would work. And by the way, the one thing that Daley was talking about off the top when he mentioned,

1 p.m. starts. If you look at the schedule, there's a number of 1 p.m. starts on Mondays. And that is to capture that European market when they can watch it. And there's no soccer, sorry, football in action. on those Mondays and you keep it away from Monday night football in North America, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So that's the discussion point there. So again, like we had this conversation here, Zach,

when they opened up that office in Zurich, like it was a tiny little thing and it was a tiny little headline. And I remember us having the conversation like, this is a bigger headline than we're making. We should be making a lot more noise about this, that the NHL has opened an office. I know Cynics looked at it and said, it's just like a, just to do some market. getting to sell a jerseys and a couple of tickets for the global series. I don't think so. I don't think you open a separate office in Zurich, Switzerland,

if you're the NHL and all you're there to do is to sell a couple of William Nealander jerseys. I don't think you're doing that. And this has been a file for Bill Daly. Gee, going back to 2005 out of the lockout. And for a lot of different reasons, it's taken a long time to get an international calendar and an international schedule together. But now finally the NHL is getting there. And him saying, Bill Daley's saying that it's inevitable, that's massive.

That's massive. No idea when. But there are plans. They're talking about it. Yeah. So a few things. First of all, I laughed when he said London because about maybe five seconds before the word London came out of your mouth.

Shalind Silk in the chat said London's going to win the cup before the Leafs do. So that just is a little extra. I think you met the London Knights. well yeah maybe that too um second i agree with you on the office in zurich and that that meant a whole lot more than that was big marketing third the thing that concerns me with the n hl and the idea of expansion into europe um is and it's not it's not a direct correlation or connection but schedule and season management seems to be a serious problem. We just went from 82 to 84 games.

And a league that we all kind of looked at and said, we could probably use less games. And the NHL said, you know what? I see what you're saying about adjusting the schedule. You're right. We'll give you a more. It's like, what the hell just happened here? I don't know how it balances with teams going over there.

But what I do think is good for the game is, the expansion of the league's name into Europe. I don't know exactly as you put it, how that happens, when that happens. But growing the league there, I think is a good idea. Putting teams from the league there, I personally don't. Like the NFL is wrestling with this right now, and they play 18 games. They play once a week. And they're struggling to figure out how putting a team.

there would work. How the hell does it fit into an 84 now? Game schedule? I don't know, but look, there's something much bigger than marketing. You said it. You're right. I agree with you 100%. That's coming here. It's just how I have reservations about how it gets done, but it's coming. And it'll be interesting to see how they want to go about it. I'd love to be in the room to hear the conversation of, we just traded just on. Oh, really? Where am I going? uh buffalo los angeles helsinki son well that's the other thing like how burkey says all the time

how many players had all seven Canadian teams on their no flies on oh yeah like how many players said i'm not going to the country that you know in some cases is an hour away is a is a 30 minute flight from where i currently am you know you could jump on a plane that's 45 minutes away and go from porter in toronto to the new york rangers but guys are like i will not that border and it's guys from Canada. Imagine trying to tell a player that you've traded them overseas.

Hmm. Yes, that sounds appealing to me to have to go and be, you know, not just four hours away from my family, but now I'm six-hour time difference away from my family, eight-hour time difference depending on what the country is. It's a tough sell. You know, once upon a time, once upon, I'll tell you what, like once upon time, like before there was salary disclosure,

the hockey news would always post what was believed to be all the players' salaries. And it was one of like the biggest selling issues of the year, right? Until salary disclosure became a thing. And players realized that, oh, yeah, it's in our best interests to have salary disclosure. So we can all have a point of negotiation here. You know what it would be fascinating to see? Published? No trade lists.

What's that? So you go to puckpedia. Okay. Hart Levine, here's your job. Hart Levine. You got to find out all the teams that are on the no trade list for all these players. Now, they do change. I understand that.

But like you can have like a column on each player's profile of all the teams he's refused to be traded to on the no move. See, that would be interesting. If we want to talk about drama and entertainment in this league and we want to turn everything up a notch, that's one right there. The day that gets published. You're from Manitoba. Why are you, why is Winnipeg on your list? Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Throw that one in the mix, and all of a sudden now you've got all the teams, all the players from those game bases. You know who would love that? You know who would love that? General managers. General managers. General managers would love that.

Because it's not so subtle pressure on a player. Like, dude, you're from Oakville. Why do you have the Leafs on here? I can't trade you the Toronto Police. Yeah. Entertainment value would be through the roof. If we want to keep turning this up, like we've had an amazing summer here. It's been great.

I told you, though. Keep it going. Before I left, I said the one thing for me was like, hey, offer sheets, we want to really move this thing up and up a notch. Change the compensation. Make it not so pricey or add tears. Okay, let's start putting some more information out to the public and see what people think about this stuff.

And let's really turn up the heat on this situation. No, you want a demand to go, Dylan Larkin, to three teams? Let's see where you won't go, son. Let's publish that list. Yeah. Yeah, that would be fun. That is interesting. Okay.

Okay, so those are the clubs we wanted to make sure that we got in on today's program. Other things that we mentioned off the top. Where do you want to start? I want to do broadcast. Let's start with the one that you brought up already. The Columbus situation with Bob McElegate, yeah, and not renewing. And I saw the tweet that you put out. I agree with you fully.

and as someone who, you know, is going to have to deal with a situation here in Toronto where we saw Joe Bowen move on and they're trying to determine who the radio broadcaster will be in for the Maple Leafs going forward and the simulcast idea has been thrown out. I agree with you, but I just wanted to kind of get your further thoughts on that situation. Okay, so the radio broadcast is completely different than a TV broadcast. There are things when you're calling a game on television. You can just let the visuals tell the story and there can be moments of, you know, an extended, extended moments where you don't say anything and you just let the visuals talk, especially, here's one. Here's one for young broadcasters. If you're the analyst, okay, so you're not the play-by-play person.

If you're the analyst, after a goal is scored for the home team, you know what you're supposed to do? Well, I'll update the score. I don't know. I haven't listened to you. This is for TV. Oh, for TV. For TV. For TV.

Home team scores a, home team scores a good. goal. You know what you do? Yes. Shut up. Nothing. Oh, yeah. You let the crowd take that moment because the visuals are backing it all up. You let the crowd take that moment. If you do that on radio, that is death.

The sound you're hearing are people turning off their radios or changing the dial because you're not giving them what they need. You can do that in television. And it works. And it's the right thing to do. So for Columbus, for example, it's Steve Mears and Jody. Cody Shelley. So Amir's calling the play-by-play. Columbus scores a goal. Kralmarchenko makes a three, two. What a shot. And he scored, Amirzy. He scores.

The thing that Shelley's got to do at that moment is be quiet and find the right place when the crowd starts to dip a little bit to jump in and talk about that goal. You can't do that on radio. You can't. You need to fill it with sound and you need to fill it with description. on television, how many times have you heard the play-by-play voice and the color analyst just engage in a conversation about something, not saying what's happening in the play because you don't have to because you can still see it. Again, on radio, that's death, telling me what's happening. The other thing about radio is, and generally people are listening to this in their cars,

and they're always taught, I was always taught this. People are getting in and out of their cars at different times and they're joining your broad. They're not joining the broadcast at opening puck drop. That's the arrogance of a broadcaster, right? The arrogance of, oh, everyone's been listening to me from the beginning of this game and they would never turn away, like that kind of arrogance. A, it's not true. B, you can't think like that.

And C, the most important thing on radio that you'll do is give out the score. Every two minutes, you have to update the score. Intelligent, creative broadcasters will give you that in creative ways. The Columbus Blue Jackets move the puck out of their own zone, trailing three to two. Like, there's ways you can slide it in as opposed to just after a whistle, which is like the lazy person's way. Oh, a whistle, give me, give out the score. You've got to creatively figure out ways to constantly be giving out the score

because that's the most important thing is people are dropping into the broadcast on consistent basis. That's why the radio broadcast is important. And the other one, the other reason why it's really important, I think, from a marketing point of view, is you never want to put any of your products out that carries the message, we really don't care about this. And nothing says we really don't care about a radio broadcast,

quite like a simulcast. I understand why fans, I understand why teams may do it. I understand. Financially, it might not make sense. And I get that. But there's another thing, that I think

good organizations have and that is pride of ownership. And even though financially it might be a losing financial endeavor, if you tell fans that listen to radio that you still have a pride of ownership

over what you are presenting, you will make better fans because it's an acknowledgement that even though it doesn't make sense financially for the team to do it, they respect you the fan enough that they're going to give you a real radio broadcast. And we're not talking about millions of dollars here.

I know travel is an expense. I understand that. Salaries are an expense. I understand that too. But we're not talking about adding even a million dollars onto your budget. You're not. Pride of ownership has been completely trumped by. It doesn't make sense financially.

that's why I respect the organizations that have a dedicated radio broadcast, even if there aren't thousands and thousands of fans listening. There are still fans that are listening. And I would even go the other way. Like I've heard people say, the best way to do it is have a radio broadcast, you know, turn the TV, play by play down and listen to the video. That doesn't work.

That doesn't work because it's too much sound. The broadcast doesn't breathe. When you have visuals backing it up, The words will get in the way. The words don't get in the way when it's radio because it's sound. The words get in the way. The radio broadcast on television doesn't work because to do radio properly, you need to fill it with sound and information.

You don't need that on television. That's why I do think that these things are really, really short-sighted. You can run your team however you say. I'm really good at spending other people's money. I concede that. I'm really good at saying to the Columbus Blue Jackets, oh, I know you're losing money on this deal, but here's why you have to.

I'm just trying to make the case for radio and for fans that are listening to the radio broadcast. And again, the message to them, if you do a simulcast, is we don't care about this on radio. We're just going to simulcast it. My two cents. Yep. My two cents.

Yeah. I agree with you there. Let's stick on broadcast here and go to the next thing. That was just announced Rogers, specifically, I guess more so to Canada here for people here in Canada or more top of mind. Rogers sublicensing agreement with Amazon Prime Wednesday night hockey for this. Yes, 12 year deal for starting, I think it believed, right, starting this coming season. Wednesday in hockey for Amazon. Oh, yeah.

Okay. Your thoughts on that and this sub-licensing. Okay. I feel for hockey fans. I really do, and I know a lot was made about sports net raising prices and doing the sub-licensing deal, and this means a new subscription for hockey fans. I get it.

I understand where fans are coming from. My overarching question on all of this, I was mentioned this on Sikarison Price yesterday, my overarching question about all of this for Canadian hockey fans is when is it too much? Like when is it too much? And a couple of things are running in concert here. I think it's a real issue.

Although people just treat it like it's the butt of a joke. I think there's a real issue in the fact that there hasn't been a Canadian team that has won the Stanley Cup going back to 1993. Gary Bettman handed out the cup at the Montreal Forum in 1993. It was his first year on the job. he may go his entire 10 years, commissioner of the NHL, as the longest serving commissioner of all the major sports here right now. And outside of year one,

handed the Stanley Cup to a Canadian team. There have been teams that have made the Stanley Cup final, but a Canadian team hasn't won the Stanley Cup going back to 1993. I think that's an issue for the sport. And so you couple this sort of futility of Canadian teams, and we can discuss all of the reasons, and I think that there are many. But we'll bracket that for a second. You have this frustration that all hockey fans across Canada feel who follow their favorite

NHL team, whether it's Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Toronto, the two Alberta teams and the Vancouver Canucks. Couple that with, now they're feeling gouged. Hockey and Canada's gone. Younger fans greet that with a shrug. for a lot of people. Like, that brand meant a lot. And that broadcast on Saturday night, which went into every household in Canada pretty much,

for free is gone. I really do wonder, like, at what point fans just say, I'm out. Like, there's no cups. Prices keep going up. Just when I think I've subscribed to everything, I got to subscribe to something else again now. And that's why I say, I feel for hockey fans here when I saw the sublicensing deal, which we all thought was going to happen anyhow.

But nonetheless, you saw the reaction from hockey fans. I got another subscription for this? What is this going to turn into for hockey fans? And my question is, at what point to hockey fans in Canada say, I'm out? I can't keep doing this. And I thought Ken Dryden, the late Ken Dryden brought up a great point in the lockout of 2004, 2005, where he said, for Canadian hockey fans, they're going to realize now with NHL gone, hockey wasn't gone, just NHL was gone, whether hockey is a passion or a habit.

Because when it was gone, people found other things to do, right? And at what point when people feel like so many different places have their hands in hockey fans' pockets? and are taking every quarter under every cushion at the same time, at a certain point, don't you just say, like, I can't keep doing this. I've got to find something else to do. That's my concern as a longtime hockey fan and someone that works in hockey.

That was my main thing out of all of it. Like, Rogers can do what Rogers does. Amazon can do whatever they do. I just wonder about hockey fans, and at what point they say, no less. Yeah. I mean, I think, in all this too, you combine that

with price increase. Again, this is, as you said, like inside baseball, but there was a price increase for subscription service to Rogers this year. That then was followed by less games

on the platform. You know, like that's a tough combination to have for people. And I think it's also a matter of yeah, the cost. and everything too but just ease of finding things okay one night i have to watch here it's one of the problems that the NBA has uh at times where one night i have to watch on you know tsn the next i have

to watch on sports net the next i have to watch on amazon the next i have to watch on you know name your platform and in states is probably more that people have to deal with but here you know you add on and add on it gets confusing as you mentioned just becomes barriers to get in your way to do things. It becomes less accessible. It's a, it's a frustrating, I understand it from the league's perspective. It's a lot more money that comes into their pockets.

Or for these teams or for these organizations like Rogers, it's money coming back to them for it. NHL's got their money in the deal. NHL's got their money in the deal. Yeah. Like they're, it's money, but it's frustrating as a consumer to have to be able

be chasing these all around, all the time and, you know, getting texts from people, like people that we work with. Where the hell's the game tonight? I'm on the channel and it's not here. Well, it's not on that one tonight. Yeah. I'll be curious to see if anyone now does the hockey's too expensive to play and how do we make hockey cheaper? How do we make broadcasting cheap?

I don't make watching the game cheaper. How about that? I about that one. let's see other component and like we you you had brought up and talked about it like okay with the world's cup stuff here in north america like what comes next of all of this for soccer players and it was a hockey show but it was announced in canada that they're investing i believe it's upwards of like a billion dollars into uh the soccer youth people have choices people can choose people can choose and when you consider like there's no stanley cups here

and when you consider like a lot of these Canadian NHL teams specifically the one that you cover on a consistent basis writes the number one revenue sharing check

every year like you can make the the Maple Leafs have won the Stanley helped win the Stanley Cup every single year helped other teams win the Stanley Cup

paid for it they write the biggest revenue sharing check every single year congratulations Toronto you just help build a Stanley Cup team just wasn't yours.

Yeah. So now you're watching your team lose, you know, miss the playoffs, I mean, they get lucky in Toronto specifically you get lucky, you get Gavin McKenna.

You watch your team lose. You watch them go to the lottery. Yeah. You watch all of these teams that are getting funded by your team, have success. And then now the NHL, as a generalization,

it's, you know, other parts, but they're turning around and saying, you know what, Canadian fans? We want you to give us more money. We want more out of you to be able to watch your team lose.

That is the NHL. The NHL has their money. They got that. They did that deal with Rogers. That one, I'll put the NHL aside. Yes. This is a generalization. Overgeneralization.

Help to articulate the frustration that hockey fans are feeling and take it to an even bigger picture here. That fans have options. As much as we think that Canada's tucked away. way and the fans will always come back and it's you know Canada's a hockey ATM like don't worry the money will always be the fans will always come back it's at a certain point like at what point do they not is my question for all of it and we'll see and we'll see like you saw some of the comments under a lot of these stories I'm not going to watch until the playoffs oh

I'm probably illegal streams and all these different kinds of things too like oh god oh god give me a happy story give me a happy story give me something good Okay. Okay. Well, 15 minutes ago, just as we were starting conversations about broadcast, the San Jose Sharks extended Colin Graff. Oh, okay. Yes, a three-year deal for Colin Graf at 15 million. No, 12 million. 5 mil AAP. Oh, okay.

Well, 12 billion total, yeah. I'm just used to the bigger numbers. Sorry, I'm just used like 15s and 16s and 18. Little overwhelming. Oh, that's it? Cheap. Man, he got ripped off. 12.75 total for Colin Graff over three years,

4.25 per year. That extension was announced 15 minutes ago by the San Jose. So there's some good news for you. All right. Congratulations to Colin Graf and they get some business done as well. Really underrated play. Yes. Let's do some other contract stuff.

Drake Batherson, contract situation. So I was on with AJ yesterday on the team in Ottawa and we were talking about this one. It does sound very much like, Well, first of all, everything in Ottawa right now is sort of under the umbrella and in the spotlight of Brady Kachuk getting his way out of Ottawa. Yep. Sucks. I get it.

Zands fans. Feel for you. Terrible. I know you always like to push back on it when people behind microphones like me would say like, like, I'm not so sure that he's there for the long haul. I'm not doing a victory lap. Trust me. But Ottawa can ill afford to lose someone like Drake Batherson. They can't.

But the problem is, the problem is, really, as much as Steve Steyos would like to probably have him in at 9, he's probably the Tuck Kempay contract and two years younger than Alex Tuck. You know, he's probably a 10.5 player and based on next year's salary cap, maybe an 11.5, right? Because he's got one more a year before his contract comes due. So that is going to be And as much as you know we followed And Penaota did a great job following it all season long with us If they don't do it now

I wonder how much of a story This is going to be this season that we sort of fall on And this is Paul Capizano Cortex is the agent there Knowing that Look you're not going to replace a Brady Kuchuk I mean as we mentioned with Shane Eklund is a different kind of replacement for Brady Kachuk, obviously

higher scale, not as much on the toughness side. You can't let a player like Drake Batherson go. You just can't. There's no one stepping in to replace that player and there's no one in free agency

that bluntly, it's going to Ottawa to replace them. You've got to keep that guy. And it's not going to be cheap. And Cortex, I'm sure, knows this. And Drake Batherson knows this as well. And Steve Steyos knows this as well. They can ill afford

to lose another player like this. Yeah. So it's right now, before it gets to in season, where all of a sudden we start talking about new salary cap and maybe 10.5 this year is 11.5 next year, I don't know where Ottawa is at or the numbers that they're comfortable with. I'm sure Steyos would like to get them at 9. It very much feels like he's at 10.5.

But we'll see how it goes. All right. Another Canadian city. Well, let's stick to the Canadian theme here. Actually, I know this is not what you want to talk about, but did you see the comments from the Vancouver mayor that he said that he didn't want the Stanley Cup playoffs in Vancouver? The context to it, actually, it doesn't even make it any better. I was going to try to, like, soften the blow. No, you can't.

No, you can't give that a softening. I know politicians are so defaulted to saying dumb things in public. I say dumb things in public. We all do. but I was going to try man no there's no helping that one wow what a headache

we got a plan or rude I get that Vancouver's a dense like a population dense city I get that I spend a lot of time in Vancouver and love it you know my my sister lives on the island I love it there just stupid just stupid

I was going to try Vancouver I was going to try to give you the line or Vancouver mayor I can't There's no helping what that Was said that was dumb It was dumb Yeah come on Yes

Yeah Anyways They don't have to worry about that For a little while now here Jeff Because Vancouver is in a Rebuild If that's the term you want to use No it is

And they're actually using it There's no more, there's no more, you know, pretzling. What was the, what was the, what was the, what was the, what was the, what was the, what was the, what was the, what was the one this year? Oh, oh, God. I say it was an accelerated retool or a, something along those lines. Rebuilt, I had a hybrid, you know that, you know the line that, you know that on the line that I'm talking about, right? It was, and I think it might have been on, on an Amazon Prime show, too. Do you have it?

I got to find this. It was just like, yeah, hybrid rebuilds. No, it was like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. blah, blah, in a hybrid form or something like that. It's just like, oh, my God. Yeah. I'll find you the exact line.

This is Patrick Galleen. We're talking about here, the former general manager of the Vancouver Canucks. So here's my thing about rebuilds. And I know that Ryan Johnson, the general manager, shot down. They're like,

oh, we're not like slashing salary and getting it to a number and chopping 20 million. If you are, I don't mind that. Like, I'm fine with it. I don't think that anybody in this Vancouver Canucks rebuild

expects the Vancouver Canucks to spend to the top of the salary cap. Like that would be ridiculous to do so while you're rebuilding. And your only question is, are the kids getting better? The only thing, well, not the only thing, but one of the things that you really have to be sensitive about is not going cheap on the development. Like when you're rebuilding, a lot of your assets, a lot of your time, a lot of your money,

have to go into. And like, look, like now the city and the Vancouver Connectives, assigned an MOU to work together to find a practice facility and to fund a practice facility. That's great. Long overdue and it's great. Well, listen, it ain't there yet though, Zach. Like, we'll see if it gets there. But like when I see corner cutting on development, that's where I think you get in trouble.

Because if you want to like accelerate your rebuild or get your rebuild done quicker, don't go cheap on, don't go cheap on development here. Like they wanted to hire UCA Hocus, okay, for the Abbotsford job. Great move. Awesome. Right. CHL coach of the year. Memorial Cup champion, very progressive, would fit, you know, would fit what the Vancouver Canucks are trying to achieve.

Like, thematically, it makes sense. And he is one of the best coaches outside of the National Hockey League. I was told the offer was somewhere in the 260 range. Canadian for a hocus. That's not going to get it done. That's not going to get it done. I think the average salary in the American hockey league is like 300,000 U.S. And it's at that moment where I say like if that number is right,

like somewhere in the neighborhood of like 260 Canadian and it costs you, you see a hocus, that's where I say, oh man, you can't look. let the pennies get in the way. You just can't. And who scoops them up? Colorado. Yeah. Like, you don't want them.

We'll take them. Okay. New Eagles coach. UCHocas. Could have been an advert. Could have been the Vancouver coaching pipeline. Yeah.

That's where I say. Oh, man. Don't worry. The one area you don't go cheap in is in development. But, again, I'm good at spending other people's money.

I'm really good. I'm spending Columbus's money. I'm spending Vancouver's money. I'm really good at spending other people's money. Go ask my kids so good. I'm out of actually spending money. But I just wanted to make sure that. I just wanted to get that in.

Like the one area. Again, like don't rip Vancouver this year about whether they slash salary. Fine. Do it. Like honestly, like no one expects them to spend to the cap. On the things around the players, though. that's where I would have the issue if I'm a Vancouver Canucks fan.

But at least they're committed to it. Landen DuPont, right this way. How do you think Vancouver fans feel seeing that their price to watch their rebuilding team is going up and then they can't pay UCO gets at the same time? Whoa. I feel bad for Vancouver fans in general. What happened to the team

and then what happened to the sports radio there? and stuff. Right. Not good. Right. Not good. Tying it all together. It's just a...

What a summer. Messy situation here. Messy situation. Yeah, what a summer it's been. What's that line you say about Mrs. Kennedy other than... Other than the drive, Mrs. Kennedy, how'd you enjoy Dallas? A lot of people, a lot of older fans don't like when I use that line. good line, though.

I think it's a good line. I think it's a good line. Yeah. Yeah. Where were you in 1963 in Daly Plaza? Jerk? I wasn't born. Yeah.

What do you want me to say? Too soon? Yeah. Yeah. For some it is. I understand. For some it is. Anywho.

It's a good line. Yeah, thanks, man. Welcome back, Zacharoo. We are back on the air Tuesday. and so we're going to our regular Tuesday, Thursday, Thursday schedule, correct? Am I right about that one? Yes, that's correct.

Okay, all right, very good. Keep me in lines. And I'm back now. All right, back like a vertebrae, Zach Phillips and the show. Oh, by the way, I got something to show you. Oh, oh. So, you know how I've been adding? No, no, no.

Okay. No. You know, I've been adding to the hat collection. Oh, yeah. What do you get? I was in L.A., and then San Diego. Oh, did you get a goals? And in San Diego went to, no, I didn't.

didn't get a hockey hat, I went to a Petco Park to watch the Padres. It's the first time I've been to a stadium outside of Toronto, an MLB stadium that is outside of Toronto, and while I was there, oh, look at that. Pacto, picked up a San Diego Padres lid. Yes, a very nice San Diego Padres lid. All right. So I wanted to show you that. You know, you always be fun of the hockey hat collection.

I added a baseball hat. What did it feel like going into your own wallet and actually spending money on a hat? I've always kind of looked at you and one of those people that have like what we like to refer to as an onion wallet. Every time you open it, you start crying. How did it feel like to open a wallet and actually buy a hat as we look at the contra castle of hats behind you? There's the team agency and there's the bulldogs. You got a rangers probably around there somewhere An Everett one that I got for you

Oh yeah, sea dogs Let's not forget about St. John C dogs Who looked fantastic on paper this year And the offseason, holy smoke A bit more on them later What do you feel like to actually pay for something, Zach Phillips? It was surprising

As the guy handed me the hat across the counter I said, This is for me, right? And he said, yes, you have to tap your card first though So I'm saying, no, that's not usually how this goes. Did your girlfriend have to, like, move your arm to get you that? Okay, Zach, you know that little leather thing you've got in your pocket? Let's pull that out.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was the process. Nichols around like manhole covers. We get it. All right, well, welcome back, you and your Padres hat, Zacharoo, and we're back on the air on Tuesday. Thanks to Chang Peng for hopping on the program today. Thanks to the great Max Boltman for doing the same and talking about the Steve Eisenman replacement situation in Detroit.

Thanks to you for hanging in there on, again, a longer podcast. Hey, it's a summer. You got time, right? So we're back and we are back to Tuesdays and Thursdays here on the show. And as you mentioned, we're keeping it hot for the summer, folks. There's a lot of things to get to still. We still got an Adam Fantelli contract situation. I'm sure there'll be more trades.

It seems like everyone's just sort of catching their breath right now. And then there'll be a second wave here. And maybe even a second wave of offer sheets we shall see. Thanks to everybody in the chat. Thanks to everybody watching us on our daily face off YouTube. Thanks to everybody who is listening at your favorite podcast platform. Please do all the things we ask you to do in exchange for providing this service, these conversations for free.

And that is just like, hit your likes, hit your subscribes, hit your thumbs up and all of it. Okay. Deal, deal. We'll talk to you again on Tuesday. Have a fantastic weekend. Everything that happens over the weekend and Monday we'll discuss on Tuesday's edition of the sheet. Tuesday with Greg Wyshinsky. So that'll be fine. I'll talk to you.