The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Shesterkin OUT for the Season and No-Trade Clauses ft. Vince Mercogliano & Hart Levine

Episode Date: October 12, 2026

Jeff Marek is joined by New York Rangers beat reporter Vince Mercogliano of The Athletic and SNY to break down the season-ending injury to Igor Shesterkin and what it means for the Rangers moving forward. They discuss New York's options in goal, potential trade targets, whether the Rangers should be willing to sacrifice future assets to find a replacement, and how this year's team compares to last season. Plus, they examine the early-season performances of Pavel Dorofeyev and Gabe Perreault and what they've brought to the lineup. Later, Hart Levine joins the show to dive into the evolving landscape of no-trade clauses in the NHL, how players are using them to gain leverage, and the challenges they create for general managers, agents, and organizations navigating today's rapidly changing league.SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!! 👍🏼Coca Cola: https://www.coca-cola.com/ca/en/offerings/coca-cola/hockey 👍🏼Sports Interaction: https://www.sportsinteraction.com/thesheet 👍🏼Taco Time: https://tacotimecanada.com/ 👍🏼Movember: https://movember.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Happy Thanksgiving to our friends here in the North country, in Canada, Columbus Day, stateside. I hope you're having a good one. Today we're competing against an NHL game, the Sabres and the Florida Panthers. This mainly being done, as we all know now, to accommodate. Getting hockey games into Europe. Maybe if we get a chance, we'll pick up on that a little bit later on. On today's program, but yes, we're competing with an NHL game. Give me afternoon hockey action every day of the week.

The program coming to you from the Sports Interaction Studio, an official sports betting partner of the NHL. And speaking of betting, what are those two donkeys on the morning show on Morning Cup of betting about Zach? What's this one now? I saw them this morning going back and forth over Lafrenier, 83 and a half points. Laz is saying he's going to go point per game this season. And it sounds like the bet that gave a country.

You know his NHL's hard, right? He knows NHL's a hard league? Well, he came down from 100 points. So credit to Johnny Lazarus, because he finally came down from 100 and said, okay, point per game is where we're at, and rather than 100. But sounds like they've come to a conclusion that Laz would have to look after Colby's son, I believe, is the bet that they have on the line. And I think Colby would have to give Las cash if Las wins.

That's what it seemed like the final result was. It seems like that, yes. Yes. Now, you got to make them do something. You got to make, no, you got to massage this one. You got to make, you got to make them do something, right? Because this way, Colby's getting free babysitting, and it's something that Johnny's got to do. Johnny's got to make Colby do something.

And I'll give you an example of here's one. Let's see if you're dumb enough to ever make this bet. This is one of those swing for the fences. So when I was working at CBC doing the morning show on CBC, CBC News Network with Heather Hiscock's. We were going on something back and forth about, I can remember which Super Bowl it was. But she always wanted to make a bet about,

this is like an on-air bit, always wanted to make a bet about the Super Bowl. And I would have to come up with what the person who lost had to do. Okay. So essentially, we would come up with, okay, so what's the purse here? What's on the line? So here's what I came up with?

I can't, I still, to my, I still can't believe that I did this. And I lost, too. Thankfully, it was Heather and she was a very, very kind because for someone like you, I really, really got impounded. So you know what the bet was? Let's hear it. Whoever lost had to give the other person their unlocked phone for an hour. Hmm.

And they could send texts and they could make social media posts. And they could go and cut, but they're. not being themselves and you get one hour to do it. Just go right through the address book and just send like awful notes to people. Just submarine your career. One hour. That could have been problematic. But it was Heather.

It was like the most kind and generous person you'll ever meet. So maybe that's why I came up with that one. I don't know that I'd do it with you. I certainly wouldn't do it with Johnny Lazarus. but if Colby wants to put something up or if Flas wants me to put something up say Colby,

give me your unlocked phone for an hour. How much damage you can do to someone's life in an hour with their phone? See, I wouldn't want to do that though. I wouldn't want to do that to somebody.

I wouldn't want to cause that lasting issues for somebody from going through their phone. Like, I will tell you two punishments I had to do. So, that's amazing. One, I lost fantasy football

and I had to write and, perform a five-minute stand-up set. So that is one that I had to do. That was... But that worked out good for you. So now you got like a side hustle. Stand-up comic.

Sure. But it was a nightmare leading up to it. And then the other one that I had to do, which was just from a bet with a coworker at when I was doing one of my old jobs. And it was over an NFL game. And I ended up having to eat 50 old-fashioned plain timbits, which for those who don't know is like great if you have two of them. Anything beyond that, they're just dry.

Yeah, that's a lot, man. Absolutely ruin you. But the way to knock it down was every white hot chocolate that I drank would take five timbits off of the total. So that was a pretty tough punishment. And I had to do it. Those were the two worst that I've had. I'd still rather have you phone for an hour.

I'd just wreck you. You'd be single. You'd be broke. You'd have no job. Yeah, fair enough. That would be why I would not agree to that ahead of time. I can't believe I did that to this day. But bless you, Heather, now retired.

But bless you, Heather, for being so kind with me. Bottom of the hour, we're going to talk to Hart Levine. The latest Puckpedia newsletter has an engaging and really entertaining piece about no trades, where they're at and where they're headed, and maybe more importantly, how we got here in the meantime. And I think I might ask about that bet with Vince here as we kick it off. We're going to talk about the New York Rangers. Our Rangers beat reporter for the athletic, on-air analyst for SNY TV,

is our good friend Vince McCogliano, who joins me now. Now, Vince, we're just talking, Zach and I were just talking about bets. So the stupidest thing I ever did, and thankfully, it didn't sting me because I made it with a very kind person. Stupidest bet I ever made, and I'm not much of a better, was loser of the bet over the Super Bowl has to surrender their unlocked phone to someone else for a full hour. Would you ever make that bet with anybody and risk surrendering your phone, but also maybe being able to just totally submarine someone's life? And it really underscores how much you can just completely destroy someone in one hour

with these things now. Yeah, it probably depends who I'm making that bet with. I don't know if I would do that with just anybody. Well, that's it. I did it with Heather Hiscock, who is my host on the CBC Morning. ring show about a million years ago. So she was very kind. She was very, very kind with me. But if I did it with like Zach, like that would be at the end of his career, he'd be single, he'd be penniless, he'd be unemployable, like all of it. I would just ravage him. But,

hey, listen, thanks so much for stopping by today. Happy to be here. Love the hat, by the way. That's sharp. That's looking good. Let's talk about the Rangers. Then there's a whole whole bunch to get into here as well. but let's rewind to Friday and the Shasturkin injury. Like right away, I'm watching this game and as soon as he backed that right foot into the post and went down immediately

and you saw the blocker pounding on the ice, you knew this wasn't good, tried to get him up, could put no weight on it, but what cinched it for me, Vince, is when they got him on the bench and they started to try to walk him down the hall and he couldn't move. I was like, this is more than just a couple of weeks.

This one's going to be bad. Take us back to that Friday for you watching that thing. Yeah. Yeah, you know, I'll be honest. It feels like we've had a handful of these moments with Igor over the years where the reaction to an injury makes you really fearful that it's going to be something long term. He's missed time plenty of seasons before, but it's never been like an out for the season kind of situation. So in the back of my mind, I was wondering like, yeah, it looked bad, but, you know, as they evaluate and run all the tests, obviously they did an MRI on Saturday morning, you know, how's it going to check out?

You obviously fear the knee. That's ultimately what it ended up being. I was able to confirm that yesterday. It is the right knee. He is having surgery. It's going to be a lengthy rehab. That's why the team is ruling him out for the remainder of the season. So really, really unfortunate break for the Rangers because they had. been playing really well and the vibes around this team in the first couple weeks of the season were like the polar opposite of what we've observed and what I've observed up close for the last couple years. It feels like it could be a really deflating thing for them. Igor is so, I mean, I can't overstate it how critically important he is to this team. In my opinion, he might be the best goalie in the league and he certainly is a guy that, you know, I wrote about this actually the

day he got hurt that morning. The Rangers, I think, I think we're playing much better in a lot of ways. I think we're seeing a lot better buy-in into Mike Sullivan's system, which we can talk about. But you look at some of the underlying stuff, they were basically playing teams pretty even. But the thing for the Rangers, when you have Igor Nett, if you're even with shot attempts and scoring chances and things of that nature, but you always have the best goalie on the ice, you're going to have a pretty good chance to win every night. Now they're not going to have that luxury, and it's going to be really, really interesting to see where they take it from here.

you know, they're saying this doesn't change anything. We're not going to try to play any differently. We like what we're building. And they're determined to kind of march forward here. It's obviously so early in the season. Nobody's going to wave the white flag at this point. But there really could not have been a more deflating injury for them, just given how important he is to the team and how good he looked.

I mean, to me, this was as sharp as he has looked in any season, at least to start since he won the Vesna. What was it like four or five years ago now? So it looked like he was trending toward having a really, really good season, and now that all kind of comes crashing down. You know, he's one of my favorite goaltenders to watch. And when he first burst onto the scene in the NHL, I had never seen a goaltender, Vince, anticipate shots better than him.

It's almost as if he could, like, see that split second into the future. Like nobody, and then had a number of goalie experts talk to me about how, you know, he's just such an elite skater that it looks like he's predicting everything. But really, he's just a better skater than any other goaltender. in the NHL, and so it might look like an optical illusion, but there's a lot of work going into every save that he's making here. I'll tell you what, like, when he's on his game, there is nobody better. There is nobody better.

It's to the point where I don't know if you do this. You go through each roster at the beginning of every season and say, okay, so who's the guy that this team can't afford to lose? Like, Barkoff was the obvious one for the Florida Panthers when playing off when we saw last season. And for the Rangers, the obvious, the obvious one. is Igor Shisterkin. So now it's up to Dylan Garand.

And let me go around the block with something here for you. So I was shocked that he didn't get claimed. I was stunned that Dylan Garand didn't get claimed. Okay, I get it. Teams have a default to bigger goaltenders because teams bluntly like accidental saves. And when you're a big goalie, sometimes you make accidental saves

and teams like that for the obvious reason. Okay, fine. So he clears. And I was thinking back to last year When all I was going on about is how Bruins better not put Mikey DiPietro on waivers He's going to get claimed He's going to be in Edmonton and Oller tomorrow

Blah blah blah blah blah blah He doesn't get claimed And now he's the backup in Boston Playing behind Jeremy Swaman But he didn't get claimed last year either Both these guys got placed on waivers Because of Jonas Corpusallo Both these goaltenders were placed on waivers

By the exact same guy I thought at the end of the year Rangers were ready to hand Dylan Garand the backup net mining spot. It's his ball to run with now. Were you shocked that we even got to this point that the Rangers even made the move for Corpus Sala when they had Garand right there ready for that next step?

Or was what you're talking about, the threat of the injury to Shishish Turc a sort of motivating factor for picking up Corpusalo who, ironically enough himself, is injured? I wasn't shocked that they brought in a veteran I fully expected that they would. If you look at Chris Jury's history with the goaltending, especially the backup goalie position,

he's always wanted a veteran there. He had Yarrow Halak initially. Then he had Jonathan Quick for a few years. So I expected that there would be some level of competition. I was a little surprised that they did it via trade, and especially that they did it for a guy with a $3 million cap hit. I thought they would go for like a cheaper, maybe $1 million-ish kind of guy.

They could compete with girls. but, you know, wasn't coming in with all signs pointing to him kind of being gifted the role. Like, it really never felt like a fair fight for Garand, especially with the abbreviated training camp. The entire training camp, Corpusalo was practicing with the NHL guys and Garand was practicing with the guys that you expected to go to the AHL. So I think it was frustrating for him. Now, he's said all the right things publicly.

This is just my read on the situation. He has really paid his dues. he's had four basically full seasons with their AHL team in Hartford. He's played behind some really bad teams there. But actually, you know, a couple of years ago when they made the playoffs, he was lights out. Like he's been among the least of their problems with Hartford. And I felt like, you know, my read on getting to know him over the years and talking to people that have either worked with him or in the organization.

Like he's just viewed as a super focused kid really, really hardworking. But for whatever reason, the Rangers have been reluctant to fully trust him with that number two role. And I agree with you. I thought putting him on waivers was a big risk. Now, I think they looked at it as a calculated gamble. Doing it at a time when so many other players were hitting waivers, I think they felt like there was a better chance of him sneaking through then than had they carried free goalies to begin the year and then tried to do it at a later date. Obviously, you saw, I believe it was Clay Stevenson from the capitals. He got claimed by Winnipeg. So they obviously had an inkling that they would be able to get them through.

I'm sure there were some level of nerves about that. And to me, it was such a risky thing because the Rangers are really thin at the goalie position behind Chesterkin. They bring in Corpusalo, who is now hurt. But then after Garand, who's essentially their number three, they really don't have much at all. They signed Spencer Martin, who's bounced around like he was overseas to begin the year last year, has not really put up any numbers that inspire any kind of hope for a long time now. And they haven't drafted a guy in the third round this year. But before then, I think they had gone four or five years without taking a goalie in the draft.

So their system really doesn't have a lot of options at the goaltender position. And to me, it just felt like if you lose Garand and an injury happens, which now two injuries have happened, you're in a really, really tough spot. So they obviously, again, it was a calculated risk. I think they were fairly confident that he would make it through. but they are very lucky that that turned out to be the case because now they have a guy who, listen, he's got a lot to prove it's such a small sample size, but I wrote this again last night. Every test that's been put in front of him, he's passed so far.

I think he's got like seven or eight NHL appearances, so a long way to go still. But there's been nothing, at least to my amateur eye, that I see that doesn't tell me, you know, this guy I think at least has what it takes to maybe be a decent NHL backup. And now he's going to get the runway. like Corpusallo's out for four more weeks is what the Rangers are saying. And all indications that I'm getting are that it's Garand's job at least until then. So he's going to get a solid month of being the guy here and a chance to state his case. You know, he's been waiting for this opportunity and they, for whatever reasons,

didn't want to give it to him. But now they have no choice. And now, you know, it's kind of a cool story because it's his opportunity to run with. Just have like Lundquist Cam Talbot vibes all over it. Yeah, for for sure. Again, listen, I'm not a technical goalie expert, but what I see from the guy is that he performs when given the opportunity, and from what I know about him, I've written a lot about him over the years.

I've gotten to know him a little bit. I've talked to his longtime goalie coach several times over the years. Everybody raves about his preparation, his pregame routine. He seems like a kid who does everything the right way, and at the very least, you know, is going to work his you know-what off to be ready every single night. And he's performed to this point. So I'm kind of curious to see where it goes.

I saw you mentioned Jonathan Quick in your piece over the weekend, too. Has he renewed his gym membership this weekend since Friday? Listen, I poked around on this a little bit. I'll say it this way. I don't know exactly where his head is at. Like if the Rangers came to him and said, hey, we want you to come back. I don't know what he would say.

But my understanding is that to this point, the Rangers have not made any inquiries to that effect. So I don't think they're looking. to go down that road is my sense at this stage. Again, I think they're looking at it like, okay, Garand, it's put up or shut up time. We're going to give you a solid month here as the guy and see how you do. And then when Corpusallo comes back, they'll reassess at that point. If Garand is playing well, I think they stick with the hot hand, but they do feel like they have a fallback option on its way in Corpuselho, who again, they're saying is expected

back in about four weeks. Pavaldorafiev. Hasn't gone. Like, first, let me preface it this way. As far as taken one-timers with force and accuracy and just, like, looking at, like, the artist, like, I love a good one-timer. Good Lord. I think we all do. His one-timers are gorgeous. Like, just things of beauty. But so far, it hasn't exactly been a great start for Dorofiev and saw that he got bounced around as well on the weekend.

What's the plan here for Sullivan? Yeah, it's an interesting one. It's so early, you don't want to overreact. It's a player who's coming to a new market with new expectations, new contract, all of that. And, you know, he still is relatively young. He's still going to be 26 by the end of the month. But I think you've got to have some level of patience here to give him some time to adjust and all that. I will say that in doing my homework over him over the summer after the Rangers acquired him,

everybody says what you just said. the shot is high, high end. Like you're not going to find a better pure goal score. If he's put in a position to shoot, and this is something we have seen, like the Rangers, I feel like over the years, have had a lot of players who are pass first,

like Artemey Panarin being a perfect example. MSG is known for the fans in that crowd yelling, shoot, because they get annoyed when these guys are making the extra pass all the time. Dorofiev is not going to do that. Like, he's going to pull the trigger, and I think that's something that the Rangers really needed in this lineup. what I've had people question, and again, I want to see more before I jumped at this conclusion

myself, but is this a guy who can be the man? You know, he's not a dominant guy on the puck. He's not going to really, you know, create a lot or be a play driver in the sense of like he's going to carry the puck through the neutral zone and make something happen on his own. Like he needs guys to facilitate for him. And the Rangers are now putting him in a position where they're kind of asking him to be the man. You know, in Vegas, what was he the third? maybe fourth option for them. In New York, he's arguably number one. So, you know, is he the caliber of all-around player?

Is he effective enough, you know, in a variety of ways offensively to maybe generate for himself at times? Or is it going to be a situation where you got to have playmakers around him to get the best out of him? You know, the power play production has been really good over the years. I think 20 of his 37 goals around the power play last year. So you kind of figured that that would be a place. where he can gain a little confidence and he can make a difference.

So far it hasn't really clicked there. Last night's game was really interesting because to start the third period, Sullivan pulled him off of the top power play unit in favor of Gabe Perrault, who to Perrault's credit, he's had a really encouraging start. So he earned it. But the same time, it's like, you know, Dorothea is like your shiny new object who you want to give every chance to succeed and you don't want to maybe mess with that confidence. So it's a delicate situation right out of the gate here.

He's already moved him onto a different line last night. He was playing with Zabanajad, which he didn't do out of the gate. I was a little surprised about that. Now he is playing with the Rangers number one center along with Perra, who is a facilitator and you would think might be able to help him. I thought that line looked like they weren't quite clicking, but again, it's only one game. It's just interesting because they're clearly still in a trial and error mode with him.

trying to figure out what works and how to unlock him. But so far, you know, I just feel like we haven't seen a player who looks super dynamic other than when he's shooting. It's just everything else where you're wondering, like, how are you going to get this guy going? I think it's only one assist in his last five games, no goals. So we're already in a little bit of an early funk. And, you know, I want to see how he recovers from this.

Why is this working? Let me get to pro. Because he's flat out just fun to watch. Why is it working for him? Like, what is Sullivan doing? You mentioned systems before. Like, how has this guy been able to jump in and right away six points in seven games, I believe? Yeah.

Well, the first thing everybody talks about with Perrault is the hockey IQ. Like the way that he sees the ice, the playmaking ability is arguably already the best that the Rangers have. And that's something that he's had a knack for his entire career. I know people, you know, going back to the national development program questioned, was he just the third wheel on that line? with Will Smith and Ryan Leonard. You know, I've seen enough and heard from enough people where I don't think that was the case. Like, this is a guy who can very much create on his own.

And what's really jumped out to me early in the season, because I think the big knock on him is he's, he's a pretty slight kid. The skating has always been a question mark. He spent the summer at the Prentice Group in Stanford, Connecticut. A lot of NHL guys go there. A lot of New York Rangers players go there. And in my experience over the years, guys, that go and train with Ben Prentice come back more explosive.

And you look at the data on NHL Edge for Perra so far. He's already blown past his max skating speed from last year. To the eye test, to me, I thought he looked quicker right out of the gate. And so last week I went and started looking at some of the numbers now that we have at least a little bit of a sample size to look on. And I even said it to Perrault the other day in the locker room. I was like, hey, I looked at those numbers. Your skating speed is up.

And he kind of smirked. Like, you knew he knew. He knew it, but he was like, oh, really? Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But so to me, like, you know, if he can add the quickness and maintain it that we've seen early on in the season to create that little bit of separation where he then will have more of an opportunity to make the plays that we know he can make.

Like, this is a legitimate top six winger, in my opinion, and a young player that I know the Rangers are very excited about. Going back to the Nashville draft, he absolutely broke the Preds' hearts. they were trying so hard to get Gabe, well, first they tried to get Will Smith and make the trade with San Jose. It was on the story last week, but then they also tried to get Gabe Perot,

who Barry Trott's absolutely adored and couldn't get up in front of the Rangers and couldn't get the Rangers to flip. They ended up taking Tanner Malindyke, and the Rangers got Gabe Perrault. But I remember after that first round, Trots tried to get, he wanted to come out of the first round with Will Smith and Gabe Perot

and couldn't get it done. But that was the one that I always swing back to, like how different is the Western Conference that Barry Trots can get what he wants out of that first round? Anyhow, let me ask about Alexei Lafranier. So our morning show, Morning Cup of Hockey, Johnny Lazarus and Colby Cohen,

came up with a bet today over Alexei Lafran year. Johnny thinks he's going to get 83 points or more. Colby's coming on the conservative side of this one. Vince break the tie. Alexi Lafranier. Well, one of my... High or lower? Preseason I wrote, I thought he could get over 70.

So I... 83 point for game. I think he can sniff it. You know, I was... Again, what I wrote preseason, I'll stick to it. I wrote I thought something in the 70s was realistic for him, especially because remember with this guy, he has not really gotten consistent power play time in his career until now.

And I think getting that power play time with the top unit, which I know he's quietly longed for. You know, I've asked him about this a few times over the years and he always kind of says the right things. But you know for a young player like that, getting the points that you can get by getting those minutes, like that just does something for them. And this is something that he did talk about is feeling like this is maybe the most confident he's ever been in his career. And I think it's because he's getting uninterrupted time in the top six, uninterrupted time on the top power play unit. Mike Sullivan has really harped on him developing more of a game around the net. And not just to be like a grinding guy who's battling for position in front of the net all the time. But when he gets in close like that, his skill makes him more of a threat than maybe a guy who's just hunting for rebounds and tips.

He's able to get some of those goals. And I think, again, that leads to more confidence because he's getting rewarded with more points. But we're also seeing him make some plays in tight that I think other traditional net front, guys might not always have the skill to make. So he's added that he still is able to make plays off the rush. We saw him make a really nice between the legs passed last night to spring J.T. Miller off the rush on the very first shift of the game, which is, I mean, that's a high level skill play where you have not only the vision to recognize that the play is there,

but then the skill to pull it off. So he's another guy. There are things to be excited about with him. Like, do I think he's ever going to be a star? maybe not. But again, I think he's a very legitimate top six winger who has gotten close to 60 points in a season a few times now. And when you factor in being on the power play all the time, like adding another 10, 15 points to that total seems very realistic to me. So him and Perrault are two players that I think the Rangers have to feel really good about right now because you're

seeing signs of growth and they need young skill. They need young playmakers. That's been a big void for this team for a number of years. And those two guys, I think, inspire some hope that at least in a couple spots, they've found it. Let me throw, and this isn't a household name. This isn't one, like, unless you're a hardcore fan, you're going to know. I'm just curious your thoughts on him and how the team feels about him. Tycarche.

Let's end on him. That was another one of my preseason guys. I was saying on the first day of training camp to a couple of my fellow writers, I think this guy's going to get like 12 to 15 goals this year, like pretty easily. Like he's got a sneaky little offensive game. Another guy you talk about a shooting mentality, not afraid to let it rip. And his wrist shot is pretty darn good. Like I think underrated.

And then he's just one of those players who, you know, Sullivan always says he's a dog on a bone. Like he just plays like his hair is on fire. Every single shift. He forechecks. And to me, one of the big things that I've noticed that's different about this Rangers team early in the year is the buy-in and the cohesion. when it comes to forechecking. Like Sullivan wants them to be aggressive, and it all starts with the forecheck.

And when the forecheck doesn't have teeth to it, then it just feels like the whole thing kind of crumbles. I mean, you look around the league. All the best teams in the league, they forecheck well. And the Rangers, I think, are doing a better job of that early in the season. And Cartier is a guy that sets the tone in that regard. You know, he defends really hard. He forecheck's really hard.

He's willing to do all the dirty work. And he also has some underrated touch, and he's got a shot. And so, you know, as a fourth liner, I think that guy is outstanding. Actually, I talked to a scout over the summer. I was, we were talking about Dorothea, but some other stuff. And unprompted, the scout said to me, I don't know how Seattle let that guy go. Oh, dude.

He's the kind of player that every team wants in their lineup. And he's been a great fine for the Rangers. You have to give them credit. Like, claiming him on waivers when they first did it. I was like, oh, they've got all these young bottom six guys. Like, do they need another one? But no, he, he's got a different level. to him than I think a lot of the other

bottom six guys on this roster. And now you're seeing him play in the top six now. Like, is that going to be a permanent home for him? I don't know, but he can hold his own. He's versatile. He's been really. Yeah. Like that's it. He's been a really good fine. Again, like, I go against something like, listen, Seattle's had a good start

and I'm really happy for them. But like, the mistakes that they've made on waivers, I mean, Mark and Geeky's the ultimate one and that was over like, what, like $500,000. But like the mistakes that organization has made when you have so many players playing a level higher than they probably should.

And the players, they've let go for free because of it. Like, I just, I, I shake my head. And Tycar Chazen, I think another great example. But good on the Rangers for, listen, was it last February, last January? They picked it off like smart, smart claim by the New York Rangers. Vince, thanks for hopping on today. I really appreciate it. Continue to success.

And we'll monitor Alexei Lafranier here. and see how he ends up at the cut mark of 83.5 between Las and Colby. So we'll stay on top of that one. Thanks, pal. You'll be good. Las is the biggest Lafrenier cheerleader I know. Trust me. Oh, yeah.

No, I know. Like the lines, as far as like the cheerleading squad for Alex, like, it starts behind Las. He's the guy. He's the guy at the front of the train. Thanks, pal. You'd be good. All right. Thanks, Jeff.

There he is. Vince McCogliano from the athletic covering the New York Rangers without Igor Shisterkin for the entire season. It is the Dylan Garand show. You've heard me a number of times here on this program or on social media going on about how I'm not so sure this guy gets through waivers and he did. I understand the default to big old tenors. I get all that and a lot of it's about timing.

And Winnipeg also claimed Clay Stevenson. He was on waivers at the same time and that's where the default was in Vancouver, took Levi-Marer-Linen before Garand even got onto waiver. they made their decision. But still, he is one of the most important pieces now with the New York Rangers. And yeah, to me, it has Talbot Lundquist vibes going way, way back. And Talbot's still playing. This fan moment, a presentation of Coca-Cola, being a hockey fan, is a commitment.

The superstitions, the chance, the pacing, the standing through overtime because sitting somehow feels wrong. Whether you're making the climb to the nosebleeds, rallying your section to start the waiver keeping one eye on your game and the other on the out of town scores. True fandom puts in the work. And every shift deserves a nice cold Coca-Cola. Fan work is thirsty work. With that, I want to bring aboard Hart Levine, the conceptual genius and the founder of Puckpedia. And really nice piece.

By the way, Hart, how are you, man? I haven't talked to you for a while. You've been good? Everything good, Your End? I'm doing well. Yeah. Thanks so much for having me back. I like the blue backdrop.

I wish, I wish. Like for the Winnipeg Jets for the Heritage Classic, that they went with that blue instead of the darker blue. Because that, anyway, that color just pops. I do want to ask you about the latest from the Puckpedia newsletter. This is on your substack. Numbers behind NHL, no trade, arms race is the title of the piece. Not exactly a secret.

I think fans have a certain frustration and certainly managers have a certain frustration with the propensity of players, seemingly most of them, all carrying with some type of trade protection in as efficient a manner so we can get to other areas of no trades. As efficiently as you can, how did we get here? And where are we at by way of numbers and percentages of players that carry no trades? Well, that's the part that interested me when you said seemingly everyone. And I wanted to see, like, how many players have clauses?

So only players that are in a potential UFA season can have a clause. That's the first thing to point out. So we looked at one-way players that were eligible for them. It was pretty steady around 40 to 44% from 2018 through the flat cap era through 21, 22. And then it just started exploding. Every year it's been increasing. And this year we're at 63% of players that are eligible for a clause have one, which that's a pretty big number.

The other way of looking at it is like new UFA deals that are signed. That number was around 20% of UFA deals included a clause. This summer, we were up to almost half, 48%. So again, pretty much everyone that can't have a clause is getting them now. And the question is why. So I spoke to a bunch of agents and executives. And the theory was the most prevalent theory was there's more teams with CalfSpace. That means more teams are bidding on UFAs.

And if you're bidding for a UFA, that's the cost of due a business. You're going to have to give a clause. And so it's just like a self-fulfilling thing. And, you know, there's teams that precedent. A lot of actually several people brought up Nashville. They said Nashville never gave clauses. They gave clauses to Yosie and Forresburg. Poyle retired.

Now Nashville has clauses all across. And that's one of the reasons why there's more clauses. So, you know, it's like, it's very hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube. Once everyone has the clause, it's hard to be the GM that says, no, I will not give one. You know, it's interesting that you mentioned Nashville in the piece as well because I was thinking of one player specifically. And why Nashville is important is, like other teams, it's a tax-free state. And the idea of if you're going to sign in Nashville, you better, or Vegas or Dallas or any of the two Florida teams, you better get a no trade or a no move if you can to block

from being traded into a highly tax state because you're going from a low, if not zero tax state into a situation where, listen, if you get moved to the Montreal, Canadians, that's half. That's over 50%. And you've already given the discount in exchange. So that's, and the interesting thing with Poil was so much of it was done on his word, too. Like that was, David Poil wasn't from the old school. He was from the school they burned down to build the old school.

And if he gave you his word, you know, that you weren't going to get traded. But then there was one situation that I go back. to. And this is the one that I always point to. And that's Ryan Ellis. So Ryan Ellis didn't have trade protection. And I'm not sure if he was promised that from David Poil or not. I've been told multiple different stories about it. He ends up getting traded to Pennsylvania to play with the Philadelphia Flyers. So he goes from Tennessee to Pennsylvania and the accompanying tax issues that go along with it. I know a no trade would have obviously kept him in Nashville.

That's why it's important when you're in a no tax state to try to secure that no trade. I just filibuster for a bunch. Your thoughts on that? No. No. And that was one of the common answers from the people I spoke to was if you're going to take a lower price on your contract to sign on a no tax state, it's kind of worthless if you can then get traded to your point to another state or province with high taxes.

And I, the question I asked to return is, well, but they've always had no state taxes. What's different? And they said the common answer back was, yeah, but teams didn't really lean into that before. But coming through the flat cap era, teams are really leaning into, you got to take less money because we're in a no state tax state.

And that's where you get the, okay, I will, but I need a trade protection for it. So yeah, that was definitely a very common answer. It's a huge impact on your pocketbook going from, you know, at Tennessee to California, Ontario, or in your example, Pennsylvania. You know, the history of the no trade is fascinating to. The first player, I believe, to get a no trade.

And it was just like, it was just like handwritten by Tommy Gorman, who would have been the owner of the Ottawa senators in 1923, was Frank Clancy, King Clancy, was the first to have on his actual contract that written in. He was living at home. He had a part-time job working for the government. He wanted the stability of knowing that he was going to play. it was a different time, folks, that he was going to play in Ottawa.

Now, inevitably, the Ottawa senators did sell him to the Toronto Maple Leafs after three or four years. But nonetheless, like that was the league's first no trade. And it was just handwritten on the contract. Can't move them, can't assign them, can't cut them, can't do anything with them other than dress them to play for the Ottawa senators. It's come a long way since then. And now openly we have the NHL commissioner. musing about, you know, do we bring this up with the players association at some point? Do we leave it until it becomes a CBA negotiating issue?

I don't know if this is at the crisis levels for the NHL. I think if you ask certain managers, they'll tell you, it's at crisis level. And the difference now is the NHL and some teams feel that these are being used as weapons for players to escape from their team and get to a very, very, very. specific location. How do you see no trade clauses? Well, I think it all depends on your perspective. So you talked about how teams are viewing it,

that players are using it to push their way to a destination. I had an agent tell me as part of this. He said the reason why there's more clauses, teams don't care because they know they'll just bully the player and pressure them and get them to waive it anyways. So they feel like it's not worth anything. So it's all a matter of perspective. I think, you know,

if you compare clauses in NHL to the other, sports, there's way more. That's because in other sports, you have to have certain experience requirements. It's different in the CBA what allows the player to be eligible for it. But it's very hard to unwind that, right? Because it is one of those issues, I think that if players were to

or the NHL was to ask for some more restrictions, well, that just opens up the box. Okay, well, let's look at when does players reach UFA eligibility. You know, what are, let's open up some other areas. And I think that's probably a slippery slope. I think where we're heading though is you have to look at Carol They're often the trendsetter.

The Shane Dohn had deferred salary many, many years ago, but kind of in our modern era, Carolina was the first to do deferred salary. And then we saw other teams copy it. And I had a contract that we put on the site when I looked at the details, really got my attention. That was Taylor Hall's extension with Carolina. And he has what's called a conditional trade clause where he has a no move clause, but if he doesn't play a certain number of games and score a certain number of goals, it reduces to a partial no trade.

I think that's maybe the future. Like, let's be a little more creative. The GMs don't want to give a trade clause. The player wants it. Let's say, okay, well, you have to earn it. Let's have some conditions in here where you earn the trade clause. To me, that's like the evolution. That's in the CBA now.

That can happen between now and a potential CBA fight. You know, it's interesting. Clause is like that. We used to see situations all the time in the NHL. A lot of this was in the late 70s and early 80s where players would have their performance bonuses. And, you know, coaches would go around the room. the last three or four games.

Okay, so who has a bonus for, you know, if they get one goal or two goals and those players would find themselves with more power playtime. And what happened was, and I'll look to Toronto on this one and their late owner, Harold Ballard, who would, you know, getting late in the season, maybe playoffs aren't a thing. He doesn't want to come out of pocket anymore for bonuses. So the players that were close to earning bonuses got scratched, didn't play their games. The coaches were instructed to sit the. those players for fear of that player hitting their bonus.

Again, it's a much different time. But, you know, just thinking about that Taylor Hall of contract too. And knowing the reputation of the owner. I'm not saying he's going to go down to Rod Brindamore and say, like, you know, Halsey's getting a little bit closer, a couple of extra bucks here. And I would like to keep that in my jeans. All I'm saying is it kind of opens the door for things like that again. And I always found that really distasteful.

as a kid watching hockey when all this was like out in the open and obvious and they would discuss it on hockey night in Canada and the intermissions. That's fair but I do think you know teams that do that there is a price. Yes they're saving a few bucks on the bonus or in this case a clause but there's a price to pay like you look

at Anaheim right there is a reason why Anaheim got hit with that big offer sheet and that's that was you know agents especially feeling like this is a team that grinds us on every opportunity try to save a dollar here and so like they deserve serve an offer sheet, right?

You look at in baseball, what you're talking about, teams do that all. Teams in baseball, they manipulate what's called service time, right, to stop players from getting arbitration eligibility. And, you know, if you could track that, those are the players that leave in for agency or like hold out later. You know, so yes, you can, just like in any business, you can treat your employees, you know, in that type of a way. And it will come back around because it doesn't breed loyalty and it doesn't make players

or employees want to work with the team. It makes it very adversarial. You know, the idea that the NHL would, it's funny because when Gary Bettman mentioned what he did about no trades and how they're being used and do we talk to the PA about this type of thing, you know, one agent that I talked to right away said, if they even want to talk about it, let's put the buyout on the table then. You want to do something about no trades?

Let's get rid of the buyout. Okay, how about that then? Buyouts, free agency is, I think it does open it all up. and that's a slippery slope. And I just don't think either side has the appetite for that kind of a fight. I just don't know that, like, because so much of this is, like, bluntly, so much of this is Dylan Larkin. Although you can also say a lot of this is the Kachucks,

both Calgary and Ottawa. But I don't know that I'm quite prepared to say that this is a scourge upon the NHL, or this is an irreversible trend that's going to, somehow damage the league. Like, Hartoff, I'm just not close to being there yet, are you? No, because it's not much different. Like, let's say, like, Quinn Hughes or Matthew Kachuk, like, when they got traded, they had one year left on their deals, right?

Or one in a bit in Quinn Hughes's case. Like, a team isn't going to trade for him unless they feel like there's a chance to sign them. So players already had that sort of leverage. And so, I mean, yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's, the cost of doing business. Now where I do think there's some challenges, you know, let's not call out any specific teams,

but there's teams that are on a lot of no trade clauses, right? And I think that makes it difficult. That is like a real competitive disadvantage for a team like that. If, you know, we're saying 60% of players have a clause and if they almost all are listing your team, like that, that does make it hard. I just don't know how you get around that. I think like all things, winning helps, right?

Like if some of those cities were winners, like look how many players had Buffalo on those clauses. and now Hellebuck was willing to go there because they made the playoffs and they looked like they're up and coming. So, you know, I do have some empathy for the teams that are like on the receiving end of being on the no-tray list, but there's a way to overcome that is winning. And yeah, I agree with you.

I think the players negotiated for these clauses, the GMs gave them, and you have to just work with it. And I think it's all fair. The teams that kind of leak that the player won't waive it and put some pressure, I think that's fair. Like if the player gives into that, I guess it wasn't that important to them. If they can hold the line like Colton Pereko,

okay, then he has that clause and he's like, by holding firm, he's earned the right to maintain the flexibility with that. So I think it's all fair. I don't know how you're going to react to this one, but I've thought a lot about this. Okay, I'm sitting down. Okay, so you're sitting down. Agents do not like hearing this.

If you're an agent listening or watching right now, just like stop the show. They really hate it. to your point about certain markets being on pretty much all the all the all the all the no trades um do you think things would be different if all no trade no move lists were made public would it be salary salaries and the details of sal it's all documented of puckpedia bless you for it it's a marvellous resource that we all use multiple times a day but there's one thing that's that's not on there.

That would be a real eyebrow razor. The list of teams. I would love it. It would certainly be good for business. But I think, in fairness to the players and the teams, like putting that out there, they have to pick 10 teams,

let's say, if it's a 10 team. Like, that doesn't mean they hate your team. And we see how many players waive their claws, right? So is it worth like the extra back? flash of the screenings. I mean, again, I would be for it because I think it'd be interesting. And again, every argument not to. Every agent hates it. But the argument for it, it's like, well, hold on a second here. Like, everything else is out there. Everything else is, is public. And it's all, I mean,

listen, one of the one of the things that the late Bob Goodenar realized right away was disclosure helps everybody. Now, in this situation, I don't know the disclosure would help the player at all. As a matter of fact, it would probably hurt the player. And I'll tell you where if he has his hometown on the list because he doesn't want the headache of going back to playing and getting out or his in-laws ticket or his in-laws hometown or something like that but if you're a team that's you know like okay I get it advantage you know everything is is up on puckpedia everyone can see all that and it helps it raises all tides and raises all ships um why don't we put out your list it again I think it's interesting I just um but I

You have these situations, I think you'd have a lot more players getting booed when they are on the road, right? 100%. Why do you hate my city? I'm going to boo you. Yeah. Like, dude, every game, there would be the list of like every player on every team, every player on the visiting team that has us on their own trade. And I guess when there's UFAs, we could cross some players off the suitors for a UFA because, hey, we know this player didn't want to go there in a trade, so he's not going to sign there. I listen.

For me, more information means more coverage, which means more. interest and everybody's all grown up here and we all have thick skin. So let's just get on with it. I don't know, man. I just got this one on my head and I can't get it out, heart. I just can't. Again, any agent still listening, don't call. I don't feel like the argument.

Because up until the Datanoff situation, like I don't think anyone even knew who these were like in a drawer somewhere. Okay. That's when I started thinking about this. That's exactly when I started thinking about this. Yeah, that's the exact situation. where I'm like, should these be public? So there's no confusion.

Right? Like, wait up, there's a section on Puckpedia. For every player profile, these are the teams that are on this player's no trade list. And every July 1st, when those lists get refreshed, that would be... There's not much else happening on July 1st. That'd be good for people to come check out the updated list.

I love it. Thanks for indulging me on something that'll probably never happen, but I can't get out of my brain. Dare to dream. Yeah, I know, right? You'd be well. Thanks so much for popping by. Really appreciate it. Thank you so much.

There he is. Hart Levine from Puckpedia, as we call him, the conceptual genius behind Puckpedia. Do you think my idea is conceptually genius, Zach, of publishing lists of the players, no trade? Hey, listen, if you just want to maybe dissuade players from having lists to begin with, you could have a list. Sure. We're making it public. It's public. Here's your list. Stand by it. I thought we were trying to have more agents on the show this year, not deter them from coming on.

Now we'll do that on insider with their pegs. I like it personally. Of course you do. Because I think it brings more drama and entertainment. Everybody at the end loves it. Fans love it. Everybody loves it. Agents, players, I've mentioned this for a couple of agents.

And man, the venom I get back about it. But is there any, the other question is, is there any, stopping teams from from publishing it, from publishing that data. We have teams that go out there and as soon as a player is signed, they come out with the specifics

of the trade in their press release. Yeah? It's always been sort of a handshake agreement between teams and players. Okay, thanks. We got the list. We're going to keep this private. I'm just trying to think about like,

it gets used as a weapon and it can get used as a weapon to force a player out to push a player out, right? Like, okay, well, they did one wave to go here. What do you want us to do? Now the fan base can turn and then the player will say, okay, fine, I'll be out because, you know that I've turned down to,

to go to such and such city, right? Like, you mean bring more emotion into the game? Yeah. Well, I mean, can I say to that point, I was kind of disappointed with Montreal and their fans over the weekend. And I don't know how. I loved it.

I thought it was hilarious. I wanted them to boo the hell out of them. For those that don't know, this was the, we want Larkin chance. That were you talking about on Saturday? Yes. Yeah. I was disappointed. I wanted them to absolutely boo the living hell out of Dylan Larkin.

Yes, for declining the trade or having it be public that he wouldn't go to Montreal. I feel like that is more of a sell job of what your fan base is. you won't come here we're the Montreal Canadians we're not going to bend the knee and chant we want Larkin we're so proud of our organization you wouldn't come here

boo you F you wouldn't come here like I wanted Montreal to stick to their guns and boo the guy for saying he wouldn't go to Montreal I wanted it to be just a nightmare for Dylan Larkin his mind Cole Cofield's happy Lane Hudson's happy

like there's a lot of happy Americans on the Montreal Canadians. Yeah, but to my point, like, I, we're, we're happy. We have happy players here. We have happy Americans here in Montreal. You wouldn't come here. Boo you. I wanted them to, like, I wanted Montreal to be hostile, not chanting we want Larkin.

Like, give it to him for saying he wouldn't go there. Like, that's what Montreal should be about. It's a hard place to play. It's a nuts and rowdy environment. Give it to the guy. How about if they just want him? And they're just saying, hey, we want you. I know things haven't gone swimmingly right now with the teams you want to go to.

There's room at the inn here. We'd love to have you. Go up the gut with you and next Suzuki. Yeah. Yeah. Look, I get that side of it. I just almost feel like it's like this is what we're all about here in Montreal. If you're not with us, you're against us.

And you said you wouldn't come here. So you're going to hear the boo-birds. That's what I want it. Let me ask you a question. okay is your team good so it's a loaded question uh matthews their ceiling looks awesome eastern kowlin first start of the week awesome like yeah so my answer to that jeff is the ceiling is very high i'm not yet sold on the team as a whole and i know least fans will probably be mad at me and say like look at this asshole who's just still

negative on the team. Not negative on the team. I'm very happy and very optimistic about them. But there's a lot to clean up. The defense is not very good. Defensively, they're not very good. That has been a problem through six games. You got exposed with some of that at five on five against Vegas.

You got exposed with it against Colorado. And you got lucky to get out of that second period up for three. Now you have Chris Tanev, who's going to be on IR. And kind of getting into the weeds on some of the stuff a little bit here. people saying that they were talking about, but he's a rock back there. Like the guy plays 22 to 24 minutes a night and he plays against your toughest matchups. You're demanding a lot out of your Troy Stetcher's and here, Nick Blankenbergs who scored on his first shift. I know, right?

It was pretty awesome. Hockey's easy. It's ridiculous. But you're asking a lot of guys to push up in the lineup. I know Chica said in the summer they were looking to upgrade doesn't seem like he's satisfied with where they're at, but now pressure's on to go out and find replacements is maybe the wrong word. You know, upgrades and insulation in the lineup is maybe a better way to look at it of what they're probably trying to do here.

But defensively, like, this is not, this is nowhere near a Stanley Cup competing team. It's not even in the conversation. I never said Stanley Cup. I know, I know. Are they good? Are they a good team? So that's kind of where I'm at is, I think you're a team that should make the playoffs. And if that constitutes you as good, then the answer is yes.

but I think we can also look at a lot of teams that have made the playoffs and say, they're not a good team. So I've got questions. But offensively, they're a hell of a lot of fun to watch right now, Jeff. Like last year was miserable turning on the TV. Now I'm excited every night. Philly made the playoffs last year.

Now, they're 05 and 2. They didn't expect to be in Calgary territory early in the season here. But here we are. But again, like we and I were texting last night. I'm old enough to remember a Philadelphia Flyers team the lost 10, 05 and 5 in November, December, and still made the playoffs. So Anthony DeMarco tweeted that it's his understanding

that Rick Talk, its job is not in jeopardy. And, okay, fair enough. The one thing I look at, though, Jeff, is that there's one bullet that often gets pulled, a trigger that gets pulled in these situations. it kind of sucks because sometimes it may be not the guy's fault at all, but the coaching bump is very, very, very real. Now, in Buffalo last year, it was the GM bump for some unknown reason,

but the coaching bump, the coaching bump is a real thing that happens where you look around and say, things aren't going our way, the easiest thing we can do because making trades and changing the lineup is not, overhauling things is not that feasible, so we'll change the coach. and now all of a sudden a new voice, a new approach, whatever, it can change things. We'll see how long it goes, but that's the one I'm kind of waiting for where I know that Anthony put that out there.

I feel like that's the easiest solution in Philadelphia right now. It does kind of seem like the message has gone dry. That team was off. I don't know if that's talk it's fault or not, but. Like last night, they played the worst possible team they could have played right now while they were in losing streak. Carolina Hurricanes. Carolina exposes every single flaw you have and puts it at Center Ice and says,

look here, now look here, now look here. These are all the flaws that this team, and by the end, I don't know if you watch much of that game, but by the end, like, these guys, like the Flyers had zero. Carolina skated them into the ground. They had nothing. There was no connection, no snapping it around.

It was a bunch of solo rushes that just went nowhere. There was nothing. Flyers were just completely demoralized. That was the worst team they could have played yesterday. Carolina just shows you like they're a flashlight team. Now look here, now look there, now look over here, now look over. These are all the places where you fall down. They beat the will out of them.

They 100% they did. They made those players not want to play anymore. I hate saying that, but it's like they did not want to play, like they did not want to play like the remainder of that game. It was just like, oh, it was just completely going through the motions and we're done and they've beaten us not just physically, but they've beaten us mentally here. And Martinuk's, you know, pounding guys in the back of the head on the ice and on good grief. But I do know what you mean about coaching changes.

The one thing, because you've gone from John Tortorella to Rick Tockeet, the one thing that I do wonder about is what type of coach, if you're going to go that direction, what type of coach should the Philadelphia Flyers be looking for? To me, it's a modern forward-thinking coach that appreciates shot volume and would manage minutes of players differently

than Tocet would and the name that just jumps off the page. You can't get right now because he's in Anaheim as an assistant coach and that's Jay Woodcroft. If this was happening, if this was happening, if this was March right now, you'd be saying the minute the ducks are out,

Pierre is going to ask them to talk to Jay Woodcroft. We've got a lot of time before then. And I don't know, to Anthony's point, that they go that direction and punt on the coach. But just looking at like the style of coaching that might be better for this organization, again, I'm not saying to punt on talk it. I know there are a lot of people that are.

I get it. But if they are going to make a move like that, I'd be looking at Jay Woodcroft or someone like him. Someone with experience, forward thinking, like progressive coach, that's the guy that I'd be looking at. I think he was on the, actually, Tortorella. Actually, I think of Tortoella had him at practice.

Remember training camp last year? Was it last year? Yeah. No, it was the year before? Two years ago. Yeah, two years ago. Had him at training camp. before he went to go and scout games in Europe.

That's right. So he's, I mean, no what you organized it. Anyway, that's the one that I was thinking about that last night. If they're going to make a move, the guy you probably want, you can't get right now because he's coaching the ducks. Yeah, there is an element here, and I'll speak to it from the Leafs lens, too, that I'm just looking at what's happening with this team and apply it across to Philly and potentially what's happening.

How does last night's loss in the Carolina Hurricanes affect the Toronto Maple Leafs here? What I was going to say is there's, there's there's an element of enjoying the style of hockey that you play as well and it and it might not be the cleanest style of hockey that like wins you Stanley Cups but I don't think that that's where Philadelphia is at here in their progression as a team you've built up a baseline of understanding the buy-in that's needed on a defensive side and keeping simple things in your game and all that kind of stuff but like I look at the Leafs and I look at guys like Matthews and Neal or even in Easton Cowan

and the joy it seems even Morgan Riley has talked about how enjoyable it is to play here so far this season where it's like more offensive, more up tempo, more fast pace. I thought Jim Hiller was going to come

and it's going to be like 20 shots a game and all defense and you only allow one player into the offensive zone and you got like bungee cords attached to everybody's hockey pants from the bench and Jim snaps them back if they get too deep in the off. I thought that that's what I was told it was going to be like in Toronto.

Has not quite played out that way here. It's been way better. It's been way better. Way more entertaining. 100%. And they look like they enjoy showing up to the rink. They look like the love of the game and stuff is back in and they're just enjoying playing hockey.

And when you look at Philly and you look at some of those promising young offensive pieces like Trevor Zegris or a Matt Faye Mitchcoff or a Porter Martone. I don't know if you saw him. they need to play that way. Oh man, Martuna's just hating the game right now. Like those last few minutes, like, oh man, he's just hating this. He's hating this. Everyone's hating this.

I get it. It's an oversimplification, obviously. I understand that saying like, hey, make these guys love playing hockey. It's like, well, they're professionals. They should. But when you show up every day and it's a slog of a play style and your 05 and 2, you can pretty quickly be like, I would rather

The thing that really sucks is that it's at the start of the season Like if you went 05 and 2 at a stretch in January You go like oh man Flatters are going through a tough one The problem is it's right at the very beginning And you got like when you go to the standings There's that big cheerio That you see right beside your name

Oh That's the killer It's tough It's just It's not just results are poor right now. It looks ugly in Philly. There was like shades of, you know, that early game against New Jersey where we looked like Joseph Wall was going to, I think it was our second game of the year.

Joseph Wall was going to have like a 50 game, you know, save there, or 50 save game against the Devils. And then it was like, oh, we didn't win. And now it's just snowballing downhill. Yeah. So cheer up. We'll talk to one about the Philadelphia Flyer. on tomorrow show.

Other than the drive, Mrs. Kennedy, how would you enjoy Dallas? That's a really good one, too. Yeah. Other than the play, Mrs. Lincoln. This segment, there's no transition. There's no transition. There's no, like, smooth transition from... No.

We're joking about... Be a professional America. No matter how much Zach tries to derail the show and take this thing into the ditch. This segment is brought to you by. Sports Interaction, Sportsbook and Casino. We love them. Every game is your game when you bet with sports interaction. Bet the action on every period, every shift, every shot with Canada's homegrown sports book, sports interaction.

Ontario or Alberta only must be 19 plus in Ontario. 18 plus in Alberta. Please play responsibly. Right now, as we're airing this live, it is a second has just started. Two to one swords. Donne and Dahlene for the Buffalo Sabres, Anton Lundell. this first for the Florida Panthers. We have the Sends and the Devils at 7 Eastern. We have Golden Knights and the Minnesota Wild that eight Eastern. Where are you going tonight?

Okay. So first of all, before I go to the bet, there was a tweet that came out. And I hate that this happened in the Sends fan base as a Leaves fan. It makes me jealous, but this deserves credit. And you'll love this. So Julio has Hasham on Twitter tweeted this out. His kid came up with a possible chance at the home opener. It's simple and it's to the tune of bingo was his name-o. You know, like B-I-N-G-O, yeah. Okay, so this is the chant his son came up with and I'm very jealous and I debated putting a bed in for it here tonight, but they're not at home so I'm not going to do it.

But P-I-N-T-O and Pinto was his name-o. That's awesome. That's great. I like it. Share that with the morning cup of guys. Share that with the morning cup of guys. They're buddies with Pinto. Yeah, should.

I'll send this to last. But P-I-N-T-O, P-I-N-T-O, Pinto, Pinto was his name most. A soccer-style chant. I think we need more of this in the NHL. I'm with you. We need more ideas like this. We need more singing. We need more organic things like that from the crowd as opposed to,

I know you got to keep the lights on it. Game-Ops. Where the minute there's a whistle, Oots, Outs, Outs, Outs, Outs, Outs. Just get clubbed over the head. You can't even talk to the person next year. Wow, how come there's no more sense of community in sports anymore? Oh, I don't know.

Like, Game Ops doesn't let anyone talk to one another anymore. Give me what you're talking about every single day. Yes, a million percent, yes. Things organically happen from the stands. Good job. Because he tweeted it last night, and I was thinking about doing a Pinto anytime goal today, but we'll wait. We'll wait until he gets a whole game and throw that in. More fan chance.

less quote unquote activations. True. The activations. Okay, let's cut out the activations. Let's get, let's just have like the I NTO chance that some kid came up with. That's what I wanted a hockey game. Yes. Let's anyways.

Here are, here's the bet that I've put together today. I piece together a same game parlay. Thanks to our friends at sports interaction. So for tonight's same game parlay, I am. looking at the Minnesota Wild Vegas Golden Knights game. And now when I throw these up on the screen, people might say, well, that seems counterintuitive,

but hear me out. So we're going to start with a Caprizov anytime goal, plus 140, a Jack Eichol anytime goal at plus 250. And then that is actually, I miswrote that. That is a under, it's supposed to be under six and a half,

is what is it'll be under six and a half total. goals. Now, I know I threw two goal scores in there and then I'm putting an under on the total, but I feel like we're going to see these two teams battle it out and keep this thing a little bit tighter here tonight. We might see a little bit of a goaltending battle between Hart and Walsstead. I just, I feel like we're going to get punches thrown and we're going to get the big boys who score tonight. Okay, so here's what I've told you before. Vegas has a lot of great games, a lot of different teams. But in the past 10 years, consistently, just regular season, styles make fights, styles make games. The two teams that when they get together in the regular season specifically,

who always make bangers. Just great games to watch. You know there's a distinction of great regular season game and great playoff game. We understand that. Great regular season games, Minnesota and Vegas. I can't explain it. I'm sure there's someone with a taller forehead than mine who can. I can't. All I know is when Vegas and Minnesota play in the regular season, those games are really good. So I can't wait for tonight. That's the one I really realize. With all due respect to Ottawa, New Jersey, love you, love you both.

I can't wait for Vegas, Minnesota tonight. So that's a good one. So I just feel like heavyweight slog here, we keep it under six and a half. That could still be three, two. You know, that could be four two here tonight. Like it can get a couple of goals here. It doesn't have to be two one. But I feel like this one, the big boys show up.

And so I think Ikele and Caprizov also both get on the board. Somewhere along the way here, maybe the next couple of weeks, maybe we'd even do it tomorrow. What's the perfect hockey score? The perfect hockey score. Yeah. I think it's probably somewhere around like four to two empty net. No, it's got to be close.

It's got to be one puck. It's got to be one puck and no empty netter. Four three. Okay, but my thing is if you do four to empty net. Seven goals and three periods and both teams have 30 shots. Okay. Yeah, that's fair. Both teams have 40 plus shots and the goaltenders also make a ton of saves. How about that? Whoa, okay. You want to get greedy too and there's eight fights as well and a streaker. If you do four two, you're getting goals, you're keeping it tight and then somebody can score at the end so you at least got to C6. So you get the empty netter.

Okay. That's why it's a two-goal game. But it's close until the end. Empty netters just, all the crowd goes crazy. Total goals. Total goals. Total goals. Still walk. Wayne say we saw six. Seven is pretty good, though. Seven is good. Seven. Seven and three periods? I'm good.

I'm good. Every game is your game when you bet with sports interaction from buck drop to overtime, bet with live odds on every play with easy deposits and payouts. Go to sports interaction.com slash the sheet to open an account. Alberta or Ontario only must be 19 plus in Ontario, 18 plus in Alberta. Please play responsibly. And before I get to you for. couple of final thoughts here to make sure.

Oh, by the way, it sounds like Connor Bredard's coming back soon. Cancer Off and King playing on his line today. Sounds like he's coming back. Maybe tomorrow, we'll see. Your new favorite team gear has entered the lineup. The Daily Face Off Team Collection is officially here with premium apparel, varsity-inspired designs, and everyday pieces built for people like you who love hockey. Whether you're a die-heart, a casual fan, hockey nerd, armchair GM, it doesn't matter.

If hockey is your thing, there's a place for you here. This is Daily Faceoff, the home for hockey fans. Shop now at nationgear.com. Anything you think we're missing out on. A lot of stuff from the weekend. I had a conversation with someone over the weekend after the Jaden Struble trade. Just in the idea like, what are Nashville trying to do? What do they do?

Are you rebuilding this thing? Are you trying to be competitive? Like a second round pick can be pretty valuable around. trade deadline. I just wanted to throw it out there. We'll get him into more of it with Wachinsky tomorrow, but I still don't know what Nashville is doing. I did want to mention how good Jacob Fowler was on Saturday.

Holy smokes, was he ever excellent? And Mike McMahon, college hockey insider, reporting Dave Haxthall will be the next coach at ASU. He's been all over that story, which is why you should follow him and subscribe to his newsletter. And oh, I want to mention Bobby Gold. Can I mention Bobby Gold? I'm sorry, I asked you a question and then I just started talking.

It's your show. Bobby Gold passed away over the weekend. So Bobby Gold in the 1980s as a right winger was someone who was one of the game's best two-way players. He passed away over the weekend, the age of 69, just outside of Petrolia, Ontario. he had gone back home after his career was wrapped up, bought a farm, taught high school as well, was still involved with the local hockey community there as well. He scored the first goal, the first playoff goal in the history of the Washington Capitals. And why that was significant is that was the beginning of the Washington Capitals going from the organization that was the,

you know, welcome to D.C. Here's two points. Be on your way to being a competitive team, which still exists to this day. And it was a series against the Islanders. Billy Smith was a goaltender. Bobby Gold scored the first goal in Washington Capitals' playoff history. Many will, when they hear that name,

think about the fight with Mario Lemieux, who had inches and pounds on Bobby Gold, but Bobby caught him with an uppercut and buckled Mario to the bro. point where he wasn't quite as frisky afterwards. Still a great player. Maybe the best who ever played the game, but really did not want to engage physically after Bobby Gold in that fight along the boards. He also played with the Boston Bruins in 1990,

helped take them to the Stanley Cup final and eliminated Washington in the conference final as well. Was third in Selke voting a couple of different times. Once in 83, lost to Bobby Clark there and then to Dave Poulin, three, perhaps four years later. And this is when we used to give more consideration to wingers, actually winning the Selkie trophy. I just wanted to mention him because he was one of those players

that before we started talking about players as playing a 200-foot game, he was the guy that played a 200-foot game. And when Brian Murray wanted someone out there to smother the other other team, it was Bobby Gould, jumping over the boards. A lot of these players like Bobby Gould don't necessarily get headlines, but they should. So I just wanted to mention Bobby Gould passing away at the age of 69 number 23, with your Washington Capitals condolences to the family and friends of the late Bobby Gould. Before your time, Zach, I know, but I just wanted to make mention of Bobby Gould.

I used to love watching him play, man. I loved Bobby Gould. And he was tough. He was nasty and good checker. like the whole deal. Scored 30 goals two or three times as well. Anyway, he was a really good player. Yes, I was before my time.

Unfortunately, I did see that this weekend, but nothing to add, no memories for me. I apologize for that, but yeah, a little before me. No problem. Anything else that we've left on the table today from the weekend that was, that bears mentioning? No, I'll leave it at that. I think we did a pretty good job of covering everything.

I've got the Florida Buffalo game on above me here. Akira Shmead went in for Markstrom, I believe early in the second. I kind of missed that, but I noticed that Schmead is in now. And UPL just came in for Colton Ellis. Yeah, and UPL just took Colton Ellis. So we have two new goal tenderness. Ellis injured because I kind of thought they're going to give Ellis a run here. Now, they started the season firing balloons by UPL.

I thought like, okay, so. Here's a Colton Ellis run. Is he dinged? So I'll be honest. I missed it, but it came right after the goal. But when I saw the cutaway, he went right down the tunnel. So I don't see him on the bench there. I believe that might have come with an injury.

Like, it's, they're up. They're tied to two, too. But yeah, he did go down the tunnel. So two new goaltenders in. Maybe you just went to have like a little mini meltdown, little. Maybe he ate too much turkey last night or something. Maybe I don't know. Let me.

The EPL is back. I mean. Lighten the load. Anthras have only taken 10 shots. As I check here at NHL.com. I missed them, to be honest, so I couldn't really provide that much context to it. But yeah, he just went down the tunnel. So interesting, something to keep an eye on.

So it's a four-goly game is what you're saying. It's a four-goly game at the key bank. Yeah. This is what you're saying. Get the e-bugs already. Get the e-bugs ready. Oh, bug alert. ebug alert a dual ebug

dual ebug would be interesting oh could you oh I'd never consider that I don't wish injury on anybody here but like

but it's just a reality of the game and like right now every game we watch there's like a significant player leaving the ice like the laundry like the mash unit is already massive in the NHL

so would it be beyond the pale to see like somewhere down the road, ebug versus ebug? Is the ebug in the room? If you, so, so if you end up. Do sports interaction have a line on that? Does sports, can, I don't think they too.

We could probably ask them, but I don't think they do. Because that would be, the payoff for that would be massive, Zach. This is where you should be, this is where you should be leaning on our friends. E bug versus Eibug. Yeah, that would be pretty ridiculous. this. I will say if you end up with an e-bug-vers e-bug, that is probably

the moment Gary says enough of this. We need three bull-tenders. Everybody, you're distressing three. I kind of like the old days where it was like every team had like the designated player that was going to go in. Like for the longest time growing up watching the Maple Leafs, it was Ian Turnbull.

And it was like this like, oh yeah, he's the guy that's going to have to go. And usually it's a defenseman. Although the last time we were close to doing it, it was Derek who I think was like the player that was going to go in. Jerry Tapazini would have been the last position player to go in net. And that was a Chicago Boston game in 61. That was the last time. But I kind of always liked that.

Like, okay, so players going to go in. Going to put on the pads. I like that a lot more than an e-bug, especially the criteria they have for the e-book. Yeah. criteria they have for the e-bug. Yeah, it's all fun in games until that guy takes one. And it'll be a lot more welcome in the dressing room.

And within the organization with the American hockey league guys who haven't played in an H.L. game. No comment. It's all funny games until that guy takes one in a bad spot. I know. And then all of a sudden you lose a four-fine center. Or another defenseman. Like, I get it.

I understand. There's no perfect way. Yeah. Just like, you know what? You know what you should have an option for? Shooter-tooter. What? Shooter-tutor.

Just put the shooter-tutor in there. No, that is a serious. Oh, now that's a line, eh? Okay, but e-bug. E-bug is fine, but a cardboard, but some cardboard with some holes? At least there's a guy to move around and, like, try and make some things happen. The cardboard to just be. Shooter-tutor, let's go.

Come on. Imagine the sound of that, though. Somebody steps across and lets one fly. They miss. It hits the border door. What if you smash? What if you smash the shooter, tutor, and it goes in? Does that count?

Yes. It's got to. I think so, too. But it's gone. I don't know. Until we have a sophisticated conversation about the shooter tutor replaced. Okay, this is getting stupid. All right.

This is ridiculous. Yeah, let's wrap things up here. Thanks to everybody who watched. Thanks everybody who listened and everyone who's in the chat as well on this holiday Monday. A couple more games this evening Sends and Devils The Golden Nights facing off against the Minnesota Wild and then tomorrow

it's just everybody. It's just everybody playing. We're just going to hockey, hockey all day. So, thanks for tuning in. Thanks for being part of it today. We're back tomorrow. 1 o'clock Eastern for the sheet right here. Talk to that.