The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Sunny Mehta and Zoran Rajcic Join the Show

Episode Date: April 30, 2026

Today on The Sheet, Jeff Marek is joined by Sunny Mehta — the new General Manager of the New Jersey Devils — for an in-depth conversation on stepping into his first GM role, building a modern front office, and blending analytics with the traditional eye test to shape a winning roster. Mehta reflects on his Florida Panthers Stanley Cup experience, what he learned from that championship run, and how those lessons will influence his first moves in New Jersey as he begins to put his stamp on the organization.After the interview, Marek breaks down the latest around the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including the Philadelphia Flyers closing out their series against the Pittsburgh Penguins with a dramatic 1-0 overtime win, plus key storylines and what’s next around the league.Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more daily NHL coverage.#TheSheet #NHL #StanleyCupPlayoffs #NewJerseyDevils #PhiladelphiaFlyers #PittsburghPenguins #JeffMarek #SunnyMehtaReach 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, welcome to Everett, everybody. Glad to be joined by you today. Zach, back at Master Control. Yours truly at the Angel the Winds Arena in Everett, Washington, home of the Everett Silver Tips. I'm about to put on something that I am nowhere, anywhere, cool enough to put off. But I told Zach, I would do it.

So, Zach, if you want to hop on, you can see this one. How's this as a new look for me with the Everett Silver Tips Cowboy Hat? What do you think on that one, Zach? I like this. You're the baseball hat guy. Maybe I'm going to find my niche. and junior hockey cowboy hats. What do you think?

I think you should wear this during the interview with Sunny as well, so that every trick that we put out, it's you in a cowboy hat. And Sonny, like the professional man that is Sunny made a, the new general manager, the New Jersey Devils, and Jeff Merrick and Everett, Cowboy Hat. Just like a goofball. Like, okay, this guy is on minute 1459. Like, let's just hear from Sunny and just be over with them.

So we have a lot of silver tips talk coming up, a lot of junior hockey talk coming up. We're going to go over what happened last night, around the NHL, lots to get to, and a couple of really special guests along the way. So let's get to the blueprint, powered by Fandual. Download the app today and play your game on Fandul. Coming up on the program, we are moments away from hearing from

the new general manager, the New Jersey Devils, Senni Meda. He stops by here for a couple of moments about joining the New Jersey Devils. One of the things I'm curious about is, has he had his, so you're now a general manager moment. And I'm going to sort of frame this with Sunny by way of discussing a Hartford, New Jersey trade, which was Brian Burke's. Now you're a general manager moment. We got Tips Talk coming up as well.

Zoran Rajik is going to stop by the COO of the Everett Silver Tips with some great stories. By the way, Everett is a team that traces its history back to 2002. They started in 2003. Every year they have made the playoffs. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a massive accomplishment. and already they're into the Western Hockey League final. They swept Penticton. They've only lost one game along the way.

That's a clon. They will face off against the winners of Prince Albert and Medicine Hats. In the meantime, back to the NHL. And we're joined now by the general manager of the New Jersey Devils, Sunny Mehta, who joins me here on the sheet. Sunny, first of all, a belated congratulations. And I wanted to open up by asking about, have you had your, okay, so now I'm a general manager moment yet. So Brian Burke told me the first time he realized he was a general manager.

He was trying to make a trade with Lou Lamarillo of New Jersey. I believe you've heard of him before. And it was the Sean Burke, Eric Weinrich trade for Bobby Holick. And he said it was my first trade and it was just me and the phone in my office. There's no assistant general managers. There's no big huge support staff. And he said he picked up the phone to call Lou and got nervous and hung up. He waited a little bit and he picked up the phone again.

He wasn't sure. This is my first trade, and they hung up and he walked around the building and then came back in. And finally, after however many attempts, he was finally able to call Lou Lamarillo and go through with the trade. Have you had your, I'm a general manager yet moment, Sonny? Doesn't necessarily have necessarily have to be a trade, obviously. I don't know if I have. I don't think it's hit me yet. I still don't, you know, in part, like the timing of everything was so quick.

I've just gotten thrown right into the fire that, I don't know if it has hit me. It may not hit me until July. But when there's actually some downtime. You know, there's a lot to get to here with the New Jersey Devils and with you as well. One of the things that I'm curious about, like you grew up a New Jersey Devils fan. Like your story by now has been well told, and it's great. And everybody knows your background and how you got to the position you're at now.

What I'm curious about is when you were working with the Florida Panthers, would you always have in the back of your mind, if I ran the devils, this is what I would do. Do managers think that way? Like, oh, if I had a hand on the wheel in New Jersey, this is what I would do. Or is it just 24-7? I'm focused on the Florida Panthers and that's it.

Okay, so here's how I'll answer that question, Jeff. So I think the very first time I started working for an NHL team was in 2010 when I was, did a year consulting with the Phoenix Coyotes and the person who was leading that group at the time, Matt Hullsizer, I remember specifically the very first time that Phoenix played New Jersey, and he knew I had grown up a Devils fan or whatever, and I remember the first time Phoenix played New Jersey, he kind of jokingly asked me, he was like, hey, who are you rooting for tonight? and I remember my response to him.

My response to him was the exact same response to my paraphrased what Susan Sarandon says in Bull Durham, where I said, sweetheart, would you rather me sleeping with him and calling your name or sleeping with you and calling his name? That's a great point. I never thought we'd hear that on this program, but there it is. Is there, I am curious to because one of the things about hockey is everybody fancies themselves a general manager. Well, this is what I would do if I ran this team, whatever. Is there, like when you get the big chair position, is there a temptation, a desire to do something right away?

Like, sometimes the smartest thing is to not do anything and just don't be in the way. But I'm always curious about what happens when you get the gig. Is there a sort of like a magnetic pull to like, okay, I've got all these ideas. I got to start doing things. Does that exist? It's a good question. I mean, obviously, I've only been in the chair for a week and a half or whatever, so it hasn't been very long.

I don't know that I'm thinking, oh, I need to do something to do something. But, I mean, I'm definitely sort of, it's hard to turn my brain off, right, in terms of you want to do something. everything you can be doing. You want to be, I mean, listen, I want to win. That's the most important thing, right? I want to make the team better. I want to win. So that aspect is there, but I don't think it's a, I wouldn't phrase it in terms of like doing something just to do something. Right. But I mean, I would imagine like you take this position and there's a number of things you would like to do. Like, is there a sort of an appropriate amount of time you sort of wait to, you know, get your roots,

little deeper and make sure you're on solid footing before you do do something. I'm just sort of curious about like the process of starting to get the ball rolling when you first take over a new position with a new team. No, I think it's pretty immediate, you know, I just think that there's, I mean, we're sort of bound by the timeline of the NHL season, right? So, I mean, regardless of what I want to say or what timeline I want to be working on, I mean, July 1st is July 1st and the draft is coming when. the draft is happening in the lotteries next week.

So I'm, you know, have kind of hit the ground running already. And I think the timeline will take care of itself. When the time is right, things will happen. How do you see this team right now? Like, we look at the New Jersey Devils and say it's a team that's loaded with talent. I know it was in the best of all possible seasons for New Jersey, number of reasons for that. I would imagine right up around the top of the list of Jack Hughes injury.

But like, what do you see when you see the New Jersey Devils right now? Let me, actually, let me frame it this way. Let me frame it this way. Does it exist in a state of potentiality or actuality? Both. Yeah. The rare situation that I think is both. I think this is, I mean, I think no matter what team, for me personally, right, the way I would view it is no matter what team I were going to, I would always have the long term in mind.

I mean, I would think any general manager going into a situation is thinking. I'm not just here for the now, but I'm here to install a process, still a process that will have long-term ramifications to set up long-term success. So that's there, but then I also just think that this team in particular has a lot of talent, a lot of weapons, and I think there is a chance to have short-term and long-term success. That's my goal. the team that you want to construct or the team that you want to sort of build on here to get to a place that reflects how you think a hockey team should be built what qualities and characteristics do those players have to have and I'll frame it this way I was talking to Sean Walker on the program yesterday we're talking about like what do you have to like what kind of player do you have to be to play for the Carolina hurricane

like A, you have to be athletic, B, you have to think, like, the way that Brindamore plays and the way that Tulski, you know, the way the Tulski believes team should be constructed, like there are certain players that can play there and certain players that can't. What are the characteristics that you would see for players that you say this player could be a new jersey devil? I don't know that for me is necessarily a stylistic thing. I'm pretty matter of fact about the issue that the point in hockey is to win and you win by outscoring the other team and you can do that by allowing fewer goals and you can do that by scoring more goals. And frankly, what I want is I want to outscore the other team.

I want players who help us outscore the other team. I want a roster full of players that in the aggregate outscore other teams. And I think there's a lot of different ways. ways to do that. I don't think there is one way to do that. I mean, we, we had a pretty, pretty idiosyncratic style in Florida, obviously, but I don't think that's the only way to win. I mean, we've seen that, right? I mean, Chicago Blackhawks under, under Joel Quenville and that group played a certain way. Tampa Bay played a completely different style than us, and they won two Stanley Cup. So for me, it's less about style and it's more about the end result, which is I

want to win. I can recall having a conversation with one general manager a few years ago and his team, this is someone that has a sort of a, for lack of a better term, an analytic slant to how this person sees the game, even though really that war is over. Everybody looks at it from that point of view. It's information. But for the purposes of this conversation, I'll use that description. And I was pointing out, yeah, you know what, you're going through a slump right now,

the last few months, blah, blah, blah. But these numbers look good. and that and you know all this and this looks good. And this manager stopped me and said, that's all fine and good and we read all that. But then at a certain point, like life has to start. Like you get off the page and life begins and the games get played. Does that resonate with you?

I don't know. I don't know if I know exactly what you're getting at. What do you mean by what I'm getting at here is what this manager was trying to say to me, well, that's fine and good. and you can feed me all the stuff about underlying numbers, but at the end of the day, like to your point, we're here to win hockey games. And I'm not feeling better about myself

because my process is good or, you know, I'm not getting my name on the Stanley Cup because our underlying numbers are better than anyone else's in the NHL. Yeah, that's a tough thing. That's a tough thing because in the end, you care about the result. Everyone cares about the result. I guess I would say that in part

because of the things that I've, my path to get to where I am and the things that I've done in my life the last 20 years or whatever, and including the last, well, probably 25 years or whatever, but including the last 15 years even in hockey, I think I'm a little bit probably different than most in terms of really, really trying to focus on the process and really, really trying to ignore short-term results if I feel that there's nothing predictive in them. And I think even if you,

if you probably talk to some of my colleagues in Florida, they would laugh about, you know, just my demeanor when watching games and things like that. I mean, for example, I can remember people constantly ask me how nervous I was during the first time we won the Stanley Cup in that series that went seven games against Edmonton. And I can honestly recall I really wasn't that nervous. And part of the reason was because, like,

I remember thinking, well, prior to the series, we had about a 57% chance to win. We won game one. It went up to, I don't know, probably 67. Game two, we won. It went up to 77. We went up to game three. It probably went up to somewhere around 89, something like that. And at each step of the way, like, it was just a continuum where I saw that probability

never hitting 100 and never going to zero. And in fact, the funny thing is, as nerve-wracking as game 7 was, we were not. never an underdog because they never had the lead in the series or even in game seven Edmonton never had the lead. So at any point, at every single point in that series, we're above 50% to win. So I guess my brain just wouldn't let me get quote unquote too nervous or too away from thinking in that way. And I guess like it's just hard for me not to think in that way because it's ingrained in me. that's a really comfortable way to watch sports i don't know that maybe like like bless you like

that's like you look at you look at the numbers and it becomes your moments of zan like everything's fine look at this this is fine everything is everything is good here um i want to ask you about a couple things uh one no trades no moves when you look at your roster this is one of the things that people have pointed out and said like i see it feels at least like new jersey is frozen um when you look at the no moves, no trades in your lineup, on your roster. What goes through your mind? It's not something that I've really spent a ton of time getting hung up on.

No moves and no trades are obviously, like, first of all, they're part of the cost of doing business. And, you know, whether or not we have more or less or whether we should or shouldn't have. I mean, a lot of that was in the past. It was before I got here. So there's no point in even really sort of spending too much time thinking about that. For me, when I just look at the roster and I look at our cap situation and whether it's, you know, whether it's the cap, the no moves, like just everything pertaining to our, our sort of asset base, I'm optimistic, you know.

I think there's, I think we're going to have to be creative. I think we're going to have to find creative solutions to things in terms of improving the roster. But I'm sort of up for that challenge. I'm game for that, and I'm excited for it, to be honest. How soon, and maybe you already have, do you open a conversation with Nico Heeshire? Yeah, it was basically day two that that conversation started. Again, not necessarily just in terms of like a contract or something like that.

It's more just that, I mean, I know Nico because I was here when we drafted him, and he was a great kid then and he's a great young man now. and so it was one of the first calls I made was to reach out to him. I met him for coffee, basically the second day that I was here, just to, you know, kind of get with my captain and talk to him. And it was great. He's a great guy. He's a great player. And yeah, I'm looking forward to continuing those conversations.

This is a sort of wide-reaching question. And I don't know, there's one specific answer. I think we all have a different idea on it. But it's talking to someone when you got hired who said, okay, now this is the tipping point. This is the tipping point for people like, and I don't want to lump you in with a group, but for lack of a better group to be put with,

the Kyle Dubases and the Eric Talskys. And that someone said like, okay, Sunny is the tipping point. As far as using analytics, I mean, that, I mean, every team, every team does to varying degrees of success. But nobody is bereft of it. When did the tipping point happen? Or do you feel like potentially,

because we see what Toronto is doing now and everything that was laid out by Keith Pelley, do you see yourself getting hired as a tipping point for this next sort of wave or version of what a general manager is in the NHL? The way that I've looked at at Sunny is, it feels like everything is changing from, did you play to can you think baseball went through this 30 years ago and now hockey's getting there

now does it feel that way to you yeah it's hard to say about the tipping point because i don't think anyone knows the answers to that right like we could look back it's it's kind of only something you know in retrospect right like we may look back and say this was a tipping point we may look back and say no it wasn't i mean in fairness there's been a ton of times in things that have happened things in the industry that have transgressed over the last 10, 15 years where I might have at the time thought, well, this is definitely going to be a tipping point. And then it turned out it wasn't, right? So I think knowing exactly what the tipping point is, is hard, Jeff. But I definitely still agree with your sort of general sentiment there, which is, I mean, I think this has just been

happening over time, right? I mean, even you look now compared to 10 years ago, honestly, even if you look 10 years ago compared to the 10 years before that, it was significantly different, right? I mean, so 10 years ago today was still 2016. Well, at that point in time, there were at least already some analytics staffs. There were already analytics, like teams doing more with numbers, teams doing more with metrics and doing more with information and technology, certainly than they were 10 years before that. Like there was probably a bigger jump between 2006 and 2016 than there was between 2016 and 1916. now. So I don't know.

I mean, it's kind of one of those things where it's probably not linear, right? Like there's been change happening. It's been growing and growing and growing and growing. And knowing the exact sort of slope and trajectory of that curve is kind of hard to predict. Okay, something I want to close with here. And I want to be the only person or the first person that's ever asked you about this on a hockey show. For me, the answer is McCoy Tyner's solo on my favorite things. What's your favorite moment of any John Coltrane?

composition. I had to ask a cold train question. Sorry, Sonny. Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. So, all right, I'll go, I'll go a little bit off the cuff here, or a little, you know, a little off the beaten path. Possibly my favorite Coltrane record is actually a Miles record. You know, obviously, like, that's, that, those great Miles Davis bands in the 50s, the first consideration was, I think, his quartet or his quintet, and then it was the sex tet, if I'm remembering correctly. The first one had, didn't have cannonball, and the second one did. But obviously everyone knows kind of blue and some of those famous records. But there's a,

there's a Miles Davis record called the 58 Sessions. And to me, that's, it's like one of the best jazz records of all time. Coltrane's playing's amazing. Miles is amazing. Bill Evans is amazing. Cannonball is incredible. Like, it's just a fantastic. record. I highly recommend you check it out if you haven't. I just love being part of a conversation. The reference is cannonball latterly. It just completely made my day, Sonny. That was awesome. A belated congratulations again. Thanks so much for taking time. I know he's super busy. So thanks for carving out some time for me here today. Really appreciate it.

Thanks, Jeff. I appreciate you, buddy. Have a good day. There he is. Sunny Mehta is the general manager of the New Jersey Devils. Has already opened up conversations, as he just mentioned with Nico Heeshire. I wanted to make sure we got the no trade, no move question in there as well. And like that's just something that Sunny Mehta is going to have to, is going to have to navigate. It's something that Tom Fitzgerald maintained had no bearing on any conversation about potential trades with Vancouver over Quinn Hughes.

I think like any manager, Sunny probably looks at those and just says like, listen, this is the hand that I've been dealt and this is what I'm going to play. There's a couple of contracts. You know, Nico he sure can extend, as we mentioned on July 1st of Cindy Gritsick as well. Another interesting one that dangles out there for the New Jersey Devils. And by the way, Zach, thanks to everyone

for indulging me there as I asked the pretentious John Coltrane question. Yeah, you had to slip that in, right? I just always see, he's a huge jazz guy. So like, I've got to go on John Coltrane question. Come on, you got to indulge me. Anything there from Sonny that jumped out at you?

uh yeah i mean his answer about what qualities his team had to win i thought was very interesting because i think that it's very i don't want to just blanket all nch lgms but it's very common in the nchl for the the buzzwords to get used and while sunny didn't necessarily divulge into exactly what his team had to be his answer i thought was pretty interesting where he more so said it's less about style and more so about the end result, which is winning hockey games. I thought the way he approached it by saying you either win by scoring more goals or by stopping the other team from scoring goals and preventing goals.

Like that way, I just thought it was interesting. The approach is there's no one way to do this. The way to do this is winning hockey games and whatever style it takes to get there. I'm willing to do that. The reason I sort of framed it that way was, and the one I sort of couched it with, you know, the Carolina Hurricanes and the Sean Walker interview. But the other one is, you know, what he was known for with the Florida Panthers is, and I'll just cite one example.

I've mentioned this before. When they decided like, okay, we need some toughness on our fourth line, right? We need guys that play, you know, Ryan Longberg had split. We need other players that can fill that role. And of course, this is Bill Zito's lead as a general manager. Part of what Sunny Meadow would have done is, okay, we got that, but it can't just be someone who's there to fight. We got to find someone that can play our style of hockey,

which is why I still maintain, like, getting Jonah Gajovich was so brilliant for the Florida Panthers. And again, I'll defer that. It's Bill Zito's ultimate decision, but that one to me looks like it's got, you know, Sunny Mehta's fingerprints all over it. Yeah, we're going to get tougher because we want to get tougher, specifically on our fourth line,

but this guy's got to be able to play. And it's a challenge sometimes when you have that narrow sort of parameter. This is what we want. This is what we need. Now find someone that can also fit into our system. But he's a smart guy, right? And that's not just, I'm going to go watch a couple of games and make my mind up. That's like pouring over graphs and spreadsheets and actual work as opposed to, yeah,

I like that guy. Put him on our team here. You know what I had a laugh at. And I say this, I say this like respectfully, but the response to what Sunny said about the playoff series against the Oilers, I think will be very interesting to see what happens with people online. I enjoyed it. I was laughing because I understand where he's coming from.

I came from a sports betting background going into this. And I know a lot of people will laugh, especially given the parlays that happened here on the show. But I understand the importance of like waiting and, you know, like projections and how, series and games swing every single night where he's talking about we projected it at 57% that we were going to win after game one when we won we had it at this so we would win the series game two we had it at this and then he's like yeah i wasn't nervous because the projections that's going to be one of those ones i'm interested to see what the response is online i know you and i and i and a lot of people watching this get what he's saying but i thought it was funny that he just flat out

was like i had the model set at this why would i have been nervous i such a such a nice such a nice security blanket to have beside you as you watch like your team competing for the stalick up like i got my security blanket here like look at the numbers here like it's we're good everything's everything's going to be fine here okay we're going to be fine here okay we're going to bring our next guest on here in a couple of moments uh this segment of presentation of the ninja crispy pro countertop glass air fryer shark ninja is elevating the air friar experience the ninja crispy pro is a family size cooking system that comes with a six quart two and a half quart glassware storage lids crisper plates and a modular base for any occasion

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thanks so much, Zoran, for the hospitality here. It's a beautiful rink you have. And the one thing I want to open up by asking you about here is when I watch Silbertip games, man, it's Cowbell Central. Yeah, I think it's something that the fans have created and it's a, it's a neat thing that they built up. Who started that? When did that begin? I think it was year one because I think they wanted to drain out the booze of the referees and people started bringing in cowbells. And it's just been a thing. It's something that has been a strong history of anywhere you go

and everywhere we go, our fans travel quite well. You know, this is, as mentioning this off the top of the program, the silver tips are a fascinating team. And we'll wait to see what happens with the Raiders and the Tigers here to see who you face in the Western Hockey League final here. But this is a team that goes back to 2003. that has never missed the playoffs. How is that possible in junior hockey?

It starts with our owner Bill Yule. When we started the franchise, I was the third hire of the franchise. It was to be the best. It was Bill's message to all of us. And you take a look at our first general manager, Doug Sotart. You know, he brought in Kevin Constantine.

I'm old enough to have watched Doug Sotartre play net. And for me, it was great. to be working alongside these guys to learn. And the structure was to be your best and to get the best of what you can and to make sure you can solidify things in a good way. But the opening part of the 2003 season didn't start that way because we... Didn't you go like 0 and 5? Yeah, 0.5.

The arena wasn't built here yet. So we were in the finishing touches of getting that all done. And so you start with that to end up making, you know, some tremendous history during that first season along the way. There's so many things that from a game operations point of view, the Silver Tips really nail. Like it does have a great reputation and you have a look at, like just go online and have a look at the Everett Silver Tips website and see all the special evenings that you do every year. Teddy Bear Toss is the standard which everybody loves. My kids go every year.

My wife and I take them. It's just one of the best nights of the year. But tell me about dance for your dinner. Well, again, the whole thing was you're taking to a marketplace, and the first person I ever met with was one of the larger car dealerships here in Ever. And he says, you know, we're going to support you because we want to see this facility take off in downtown Ever, and hopefully you guys will have some success. And, you know, we took that to heart.

And, you know, here's one of the largest business people in the community. And he says, but I don't know if it'll survive. And I walked out of that meeting to say, what are we doing here? If these people aren't going to buy into it, but it did take off. and, you know, although we didn't sell out, we sold out the first game because everybody through the city and the mayor and everybody wanted to be here and then it kind of went downhill.

But then after that, it took off. And the team got a couple of wins. How do you get people involved? Non-traditional hockey market. So let's have some fun. Let's throw everything at, so when they pay $20 to come to the game, they get a chance to experience and go to the water cooler.

Not talk about the wind or losses because we started 0-1-5 and could have been 0-172 at that time, but to go to, What makes them go to the watercour and say, we went down to the Silver Tive game, and they did this. And it was about the promotion. It was about throwing the fun into it. Part of that came with Doug Sautert from the IHL. And I, at the time before I came, I was in the East Coast Hockey League in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which 30 miles from Baton Rouge is the Louisiana ice skaters back in the early, late 90s, early 2000s.

They sold out 12,000 people a night, and it was about the promotion. So I had a great idea of what needed to happen to entertain fans in a total non-traditional hockey. Okay, so I can recall talking to, this is like from a million years ago, I apologize for the reference from a different, from a different era of Zoran, but talking to the original play-by-play voice of the Birmingham Bulls. Okay, so this is here. The Birmingham Bulls would have been like from 76 to I think 79 in the WHA. And I said, so you're going into it, you're going into a new market. The Toronto Toros leave Toronto and go to Birmingham. Yeah. So what did the fans like?

And I thought that he was going to say like long hair and backscratching slapshots and bench brawls and games that take four hours and sticks and gloves all over the ice. And he said, I was stunned because he said the one thing that fans loved and they would cheer for

were line changes when the play was on. And I said, why he goes, yeah, you hockey guys in Canada, take this all for granted. He said in the sports that we watch, basketball, football, baseball, et cetera, you don't change while the play is on. He said, we would do wholesale line changes,

and the place would come on glue, like, wow, what are they doing? Five guys would go off and five guys would come back on, and this perfect formation, and they're all in position. He said the place would go crazy for it. So going into a new market here in Everett, where the things that you sort of learned about hockey that maybe you took for granted, I always think of that example of we take for granted line changes

as being so unique. to the sport of hockey because no other sport changes while the play is on. Well, in- Except the cross. Well, and the funny part was is that here and ever as we started, Kevin used to be very technical behind. Kevin Constantine. Yeah. Would very methodical hockey mind back then.

So we'd start usually 10 to 12 seconds behind our own net, setting up the play. So a line change could happen and he could get the matchup that he would want against the other team. So the defense went to sit there eight to ten seconds and all of a sudden then the play is set. And then what happened, the decibel level in our arena, so the puck got to the hash marks in our zone, then to our blue line, louder and louder. And then we got to the red line and people were amazed that we made the breakout to the red line, never mind getting close to that and scoring.

And then as we got into the zone, the building would almost erupt once we'd get a shot on that. They would think it's the best thing in the world. And at the time, that kind of elevated, you know, the play. And then again, it was the non-traditional part of people not fully understanding it, but they didn't care. And they just embraced a team. And then all of a sudden, you know, the team started winning and then we went to the playoffs. I remember we got a game on Easter Sunday.

And I'm going, oh, we're not going to have anybody for an Easter Sunday game. And there was 8,000 people here to see us win in, I think it was double overtime at that time. So, like, it's just, it's been a good blessing of people just creating something out of it. This is a great rank. Where does it hold? We're 82.49. So, you know, on most nights, it's where we're average this year, 6,600. And our lowest attendance in our, in our time frame was right around 54, 5500.

So the whole time frame for 23 years, we're in that 6,000 mark average fans on a daily, nightly basis. You know, fans here have been treated to a lot of great players. I just sort of jot it down. list on my way over. I loved Zach Hamill. Man, did I ever love Zach Hamill. Olin Zellweger, Carter Harton, Dustin Wolf, the Netminder's, Ryan Marie, Mercoe Mueller, Noah Jolson, Carter Bear, Radcoe Gutus. Radco, I've got him on my list. And now, of course, Carter, Carter Bear and Landon DuPont. Right. But I want to ask you about Austin Matthews. He's, I got him starred here.

Oh, you got him on your list? I got him on my list. Because it's one of the stories that people never realized. So, okay, share, I have some. I have some. questions about it, but share the Austin Matthews Everett Silver Tip story. Well, that one there, we've obviously the landscape for the, most of the Canadian hockey league is you build through your draft. Yep. And so

at that year, when we were there, getting the Americans to commit was a difficult, difficult task. So, even though it's an American city. Even though it's an American city, but the thing for the American players, especially at that time, was to break the tradition of

college. Now, Austin, I don't think was ever thinking of going to college. I don't believe so. The thing that we honed in on and Doug Sotart honed in on was that his late birthday. Yeah. Okay. So he would finish the national team development program for his two years and still need a place to go play.

The USA development team played in the USHL. So he'd already played in the USHL for two years, plus all his commitments to USA hockey and those things. So we draft him with a first pick in the third round. He would have been her number one pick, you know, that year. But you can't risk not having a player coming. Jonathan Taves exam. He takes him up for first overall and he goes in ODAC. Correct.

So long story short with that, I personally, with the information with Doug Schultart and our owners and stuff, we were probably within a day of getting Austin Matthews to become an Everett Silver Tip. But his agent at the time got him to get to Europe. And so there's a fan here. There's a number 34 Everett Silver Tips, Austin Matthews, Jersey. There is one. Yeah, you see. He's mad because of the...

the fact that he went out and made a jersey, hoping that it would happen. And like I said, you know, it's worked out for Austin Matthews, but at the end of the day, we did draft him, and we put the full court press on him to become an Everett Silver Tav. Did you ever think about, maybe I'm sure you did, but did ever get close to moving him? Like, was there other team that say, hey, you know what,

give us a shot at trying to get him here. Because I kept hearing like, oh, Portland's trying to trade with Ever Ever to try to get the rights to Austin Matthews. Was there any kind of that conversation? There were a few. obviously we did that with Seth Jones because when Seth Jones came, similar player, like we had Seth Jones,

but at the time we were on a decline and Seth Jones was wanting to come to league. And so they gave us a list of a couple of places that wanted to go in Portland at the time was in a way better situation. And so we made a deal with Portland. What we really wanted, if there was an opportunity because Austin Matthews, we came close

with Ryan Murray, the number two pick. We've never had a number one. So Ryan Murray was our first close. Peter Mueller obviously would have been a number one. Peter Mueller was here too. So the list of players that we've kind of had through the years, we've had some those top five picks in the beginning of the years, but we knew that Austin Matthews was going to be number one,

and we're dealing with it right now again with another young man. I was going to say like just time next year, we're talking about Land of DuPont. Yeah. Going first overall. I know like Alexei Joseph and St. John looks really good as well, and there's still a lot of hockey to be played by them, but what can you tell us about Landon DuPont?

And when you made the Zellwiger deal, is that who you were thinking of in the back of your mind? Well, the only way that could have happened is that we had the opportunity, you know, with that move and the number of players and the picks that Dennis Williams made and Mike Frazier at the time made that happen. That was in the back of the minds.

There could be that possibility. And, you know, the stars aligned. We end up getting the number of a pick. And, you know, it's been a blessing, having Lennon as part of a program and being with us. Is there a, can you tell that he's a second generation player? And I'll frame it. This is the example that I've used this year.

With Caleb Malhotra, who's, of course, Manny Malhotra, plays with the brand for Bulldogs of the OHL. Jay McKee, the head coach of the Bulldogs, told me at the beginning of the year, Caleb came up to him and said, hey, coach, can you do me a favor? And Jay said, yeah, sure what? He goes, can you get me a list of all the first names

of all the linesmen in the Ontario League. I want to have like a first name relationship with the linesman. I don't know. Maybe he's thinking I get the puck dropped a little closer to me on the face. I don't know. But that's something that most kids wouldn't even think to have unless your dad played in the NHL. Yeah.

And again, it's a different, these players, these elite players, their minds think different. When you get a chance to talk to Lannon, he's a 16-year-old still has birthdays here in May, turn seven to three. So, like, he is mature beyond his years, carries himself very well. The funny part to this, when this all came down with the first overall pick, I called the Regina Pats to see what they did with Badar. How do you deal with this?

And John told me that, you know, the biggest problem they had is he couldn't be a young man. He couldn't go anywhere. Couldn't go to a coffee shop. couldn't go to a spot to eat because he was bombarded. The good thing here, and when we were talking to the DuPonts, the family, Mickey, and having him come here, it was, I think we've been able to shelter him. Now, our fans will know who land in DuPont is. Sure.

But if he walks up to one of the coffee shops or get a sandwich up the street, he's just a regular teenage kid so he's not bombarded. So I believe for him, different than Bedard, has been, we're isolated here. We've got a crazy fan base, but we don't have where he can't become a normal kid and grow and be mature for those kind of things. And I don't know if he's asked the coaches for all the linesmen's name because he's on the deep. Well, he's not taking face off, so it doesn't matter. But when you get a chance to watch and play and you see the things that he does, he's going to be a special player. He's up and comer.

Yeah, I mean, he looks fantastic. I always sort of, especially with defensemen too, because there's such a learning curve and you know this, better than any. anybody too. There's such a growth curve for defenseman that transition from when they get from junior to the national hockey league so many years of growth and development there but man it's it's tough not to get carried away with how good this guy can be like right now we're seeing at the NHL level and just look at last year with Matthew Shafirfer right I just stepped right in and within a couple of months he's the best defenseman on the New York Islanders and someone who's you know banging on the door for the Olympics with with hockey Canada yeah ever let yourself

sort of get carried away with how good this kid can be? Yeah, you see the similarities, you know, and you see the way they maintain at the junior level, especially Landon, the way he maintains the game, carries the puck, sees the ice. I mean, I can't believe he beats him

more of Fords up the ice after he set the play-up from back behind the goal line. Yeah, that's what Schaefer did in your age to watch it all the time. It's crazy. It's amazing that the skill level that these young men have, and you know, that both of them, you know, are going to probably have long, long national hockey league careers. So, I

get a lot of direct messages, texts or people, like when I'm at ranks, sort of like ask how to get into like hockey media, for example. What about for people, for young people that want to get into because you've been an assistant general manager, you're the, the COO of the Everett's celebratives, for kids that want to go along the path to work in hockey management. What do you say to them? It's funny ask. I've got a 20-year-old downstairs that's doing similar stuff to your previous guest. He's going to ESU. He's working with their hockey. program, analytics statistics, those kind of things. And I started, you know, to go way back, was at the University of Lethbridge in 1993.

Okay. The administration there looks at the athletics department says, we're losing money. We need to cut programs. So somebody in academia goes and says, what says, $250,000 to run a hockey program. Let's cut it at Christmas. Oh, Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to the hockey program. And a young coach, Mike Babcock at the University of Lathbert.

Yeah, right. All of a sudden, I'm in business school. I'm with the hockey program. A couple of us get together. What do we need to do? We call a couple of alumni businessmen in town, and we need to save the pronghorns. And long story short, Christmas goes by, January comes.

We're standing on the corners of Lethbridge, Alberta. Hawking T-shirts to save a hockey program. We generated almost $200,000 in this one-month program and walk into academia and say, okay, here's your $250 for next year, to help us save the program. But the difficult part was at Christmas, we were the number three or four ranked team in the CIAU at the time in hockey. But we go on to win a national championship with Mike Babcock. We beat Acadia who'd won back to back to back, I believe, national championships.

We beat them in Maple Leaf Gardens. Then we beat Guelph in the final. Yeah, that's right. I went to school, thanks for that. So those things, and that was just, I was volunteering. I started with Lethbert Hurricanes. I interned. You get in.

You just got to get your foot in the door to try to get to it. But for people who really want to get into the sports, whether it be on the business side, you've got to go an intern. You've got to be able to sell tickets. You've got to understand the operation and what it takes to run it. Everybody looks and says, you guys just put this together. You should go through the game day planning. Our game operations department has the number of people in NHL. And as you get bigger, it gets more.

And then you get on the hockey side. You want to say you get into scouting. Well, you go and give yourself an opportunity to learn, go watch some kids. games and you do these kind of things and then you sit downstairs cold video you you break up things you break up plays you do you get involved and and anyone who's got a junior market even a junior B team like in some of the smaller markets in Canada and that's where i wanted to do it most of the hockey was down south you know there were very few now the western hockey league had its things and their teams for for me as I was looking at it but everywhere I put

my resume and to go work in the Western hockey league it didn't come it came the opportunity when I left the East Coast Hockey League to come here to ever but it was you grind it out, you meet some people. And I speak at a conference with Mike Oak, who's in Peterborough, Jim. Yeah, I know, Mike and I, we speak every year at the NHL conference. The young up-and-coming people want to get into hockey of various different areas. And it's just find somebody that you can give yourself some knowledge. You want to gain some knowledge and, and gain some knowledge by volunteering and or helping out. And most of the time, it's going to be free. Yeah. At which point in time, then they start recognizing, oh, geez,

This guy's got something, you know, and now we'll do, and you get a bigger role. And like I said, I started at the University of Lethbridge volunteering, the Lethbridge Herkins, and then got into the East Coast Hockey League, and then you get smarter and wiser, and you learn. And for me, everybody's asking why I haven't left Everett? Because it's a pretty special place. I'm going to say, why would you leave? I mean, you had to playoffs every year, the rink is filled. Yeah, I don't know.

And work for a great owner, and that's the thing. And the best part about us is that not involved. Like, just lets us do our jobs and lets our jobs. and lets our people. So on your list and on my list, we've left the name out. And selfishly, I'm going to ask you about this player to close. The first player from the Everett Silver Tips to sign a pro contract, Riley Armstrong. Riley Armstrong.

When I say that name, what comes to your mind? I agree. You should start to get on the ice here, by the way. As funny is the idea, the first thing I think of is Riley is that he should have stayed one more year. He probably might have much longer hockey career. But Riley and I speak regularly because he's with the Philly Flyers now. And so like,

Jay Verity, too. So that's what I got from my coaches. Well, Mitch Love, Kevin Constantine. Brennan Sonny, who played for us, both Mitch and Brennan played for us as players, came back and coached for us. And now Brennan's with Coachella Valley, was in Saskatoon.

You know, Jay Verity, Mitch. And the biggest one, I got Craig Hartsburg. By the way, one of the most underrated defense, of all time. And funny, about the things that with Craig lost the job in Ottawa, Doug Sotard says we're going to bring in Craig Harsper. I'm going, I've got a budget here. How are we bringing in an NHL guy?

And lo and behold, it wasn't about the money. It was about that he's still being paid by Ottawa, and he had an NHL pension, that one more year of collecting that without being paid a whole lot of money. Oh, perfect. So we had it for a couple years. So back to that, we dig through the, As an organization, we've done some great stuff and had some great people.

And although we don't have any Connor McDavid's, we've had a lot of players come through and have good, successful junior careers and people come back. Last week, we had a bowling employee. It was a billet. One of the players came back and just came back for his retirement. That's amazing. So it's fun to work in junior hockey. It is, and it's fun to work on a winning team.

And right now, your team's only lost one game in the playoffs. one to the Colon of Rockets but a sweep over Portland and a sweep over Penticton and we'll see what happens in the final here. Thanks so much for stopping by. I really appreciate it. It's been a delight catching up. Thanks for the hospitality too. Flew in late last night and everything's been

laid out here for us. Fantastic. Thanks to Casey. Where's Casey? He's around. Again, hardworking people in Junior Hockey and love to have you and hopefully people get a little chance to see as we hopefully continue through the finals here and, you know, if everything all aligns and have an opportunity to go play in a memorial.

then I think there will be a broader audience for who the average silver tips are. Your team is a wagon. You're being humble. You know how good you are. Zoran, thanks so much for stopping by today. Much appreciate it. Be wrong. Enjoy the rest of your day. A couple of things here, Zach. And thanks to Zoran for stopping by the program today. That's, uh, it's interesting. This is, this is one of the most interesting operations in all of junior hockey right now. It's, uh, as I mentioned, we back to 2003. And when the silver tips first started, this is a team that has always made the playoffs.

And for anyone that understands junior hockey with the peaks and the valleys, that is tough. Now, having said that, they've never won the Western Hockey League Championship. They've never been in the Memorial Cup. One would suspect, Zach, and we got to see them up close and personal in Colonna two weeks ago. This is a really good team. I don't think it would surprise anybody if we see them in Colonna at the Memorial Cup. No, I wouldn't be surprised.

and Landon DuPont is a special player. Oh, he's so good. How smooth he is, just kind of effortlessly coasting around the ice. I would also just like to get to see more of him for sure. Yeah, he's awesome. By the way, we are going to get you a hat to add to your junior hockey hat collection. Don't worry. Wow.

Something coming back for you here. Thank you, guys. Little sub next to. I didn't say I was going to pay for it. Is it a cowboy hat? Oh, I don't know. You've done enough spending on this trip. I am not cool enough for this hat.

I really am not cool enough for this hat. Have you seen in the chat, by the way? We've got a poll up here. Who's got the better hat game? Everett Cowboy Merrick or Uncle Sam Wichinsky, and you are 70% of the votes for Everett Cowboy Mar. Thanks, crew. All right, very good.

That's awesome. You see the Justin Berzosky bobblehead here. With the taco heads in front of you, the They're cool. The knickknacks, I guess for lack of better word, that they've given you here. I know they're not all bubbleheads. These are awesome. Look at the bony, man.

On display in front of you. Look at the tips, bony. How cool is that? You know I'm a sucker for green. Anything green, right? Like, that's the vibe. So I'm digging on this all day. We're going to see some great stuff in the background here now.

Yeah. We're just selling out for junior hockey teams here at this point. Whatever, man. That's my first. talk you love junior hockey like screw it man this is fantastic all right um anything jumping out to you from uh from last night goodbye to the pittsburghs i'll tell you what i really um i really liked there was cam york that got the goal university of michigan um i'll always remember how right away when when john torterella is with the philadelphia flyers how that there was that

first training camp and everyone thought okay you know cam york pencil him in and one of the first things that Tortorella did, who cut him down to the American. I think Zamola ended up taking that spot for the Philadelphia Flyers. And it was really awkward. That's it. I think they left them there until like December.

It was kind of a bumpy road for York with the flyers when John Tortorella was there. Tough love John, right? We get it. So I was happy that it was him. And by the way, kids, don't chuck your sticks in the stands like that. You know what you see?

like someone come out for like a third star and like gently sort of lob the stick out to the stand so someone can catch it boom it's like what is he throwing like a boomerang out there thankfully nobody's a jab like holy smokes man anyway that's sort of sundeen-esque yeah yeah we were talking about that this morning on off the roster as well the sundeen connection there and i think it was alfredson who ended up mocking sundeen for it later. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I couldn't believe

no. I couldn't believe that that was the goal that was scored to break the seal in that game. And I looked it up after by the because it was just a little floater through.

She loves kind of cross and posting in. Zach. Zach, what have I told you? In the regular season, I want every goal to be pretty. In the playoffs, I want every goal to be pretty. to be ugly. Yeah. No, no, no. I completely

I want ugly goals. That's why that Ducks goal on Sunday, oh yeah, nice and ugly. That's a nice ugly playoff goal. I like that. I liked it. I just couldn't believe that was the one in a game that was zero, zero. It was more so what I was getting at. Like it was so hard to score goals

in that game. That's the one that ultimately does it. And by the way, I looked it up after, I believe that if I was correct on the stats that I was reading here, they don't pay me, Jeff, to get facts right here on this show. We're going to need more money if you want things to get. To be right.

I'm sorry. It's the way things work. There was one game this season that went beyond 60 minutes at 0.0. It was an Islanders' Cracken game in November, and it finished 1-0 in a shootout. I believe that was the only game in the regular season that I've gone past 60 at 0-0, which I imagine watching that one.

A little more exciting when your, like, playoff lives are on the line than November crack in Islanders. But people paid money to see that. Let's not lose sight of. People paid money to watch that. Yeah. I'm always amazed to it how, how just like how so much better playoff hockey is,

specifically in the first round. Like what we're going to see now is like, as the playoffs, continue, the guys just get more and more beaten up and the quality of play isn't as good as it is in the first round. Like I say this from a privileged position because I don't have a team in it. Like I'm not, I just want to watch good hockey games. To me, the Stanley Cup is the first round. That's the Stanley Cup.

Like, I'm happy for whomever wins it. I love your team. It's great. I'm happy for you and your fans, and that's wonderful. But for someone that just wants to watch great hockey games, first round of NHL playoffs are the best. First round Stanley Cup playoffs are, like, that's my Stanley Cup. I don't care who wins and who loses, but for someone that just wants to watch good hockey games,

that is, like this is the two weeks that I live for all throughout the season. I'm sad that it's coming to an hour. I understand. I understand what you're saying. I don't fully agree with you just in terms of how the playoff format shakes out. We don't have to do that conversation. But I get what you're saying.

Oh, God. It's the same sentiment as well as March Madness. What's the most exciting time of March Madness to watch? watch. It's not really the final four and the elite aid and the final game. It's it's the round of 64 and the play-in games and that period of time where it's chaos happening. And that's what this first round is. I'm really happy for a couple of people in that Montreal Tampa game. And now Tampa faces elimination in the first round for a fourth consecutive season, discussed amongst yourselves what that may mean for certain individuals.

Happy for Brendan Gallagher. Always been one of my favorites. I've always been one of my favorite players and Alexander Dexier. And how great was that last minute? I mean, not if you're a Tampa Bay lightning fan, but Montreal just holding on like pressure, tired, another shot, exhausted, burning legs, two more shots, back and forth, can't get the puck out. Here comes three more. That was, that was fantastic. Fantastic.

Last night. Yeah, that really was great. He played like three plus minutes consecutively to close out the game. So good. That's why they got him. That's why you got Philip Dono back. That's why. And two thirds of what you was a great line for the Montreal Canadians.

Dono and Gallaud. Yeah, the L.A. King sat there and said, we're paying this guy for no goals. And the Montreal Canadian said, no, no, no. Look over here. Look at what he does on this side of this. this is why this is why we're doing it uh brett howden with the shorthy you know watching this thing and we talk about like as we're all watching utah in this thing and as the game went on

specifically into overtime you know like on your phone your battery starts to go like did you not see that with utah yesterday like i don't know what it was but it just seemed like man this team is this team's out of juice teams out of juice in that game. Nice one by Howden. Yeah. And that's the thing that I've talked about so much on here as the energy and the speed of the Utah Mammoth

and can the Vegas Golden Knights deal with that. Well, as it went on, they basically just said, okay, yeah, keep going. We'll survive, we'll survive, we'll survive, and then we'll see by the time we get to, you know, that fourth frame of this one, if you can continue to bring that pressure and ultimately to cut it. Okay, more on the playoffs specifically,

because we went with Sunny and we went heavy with the Everett Silver Tips. We're here in Everett. So tomorrow we'll get more into the playoffs and get back to sort of regular programming here on the show, although I'm going to be here again. What do we got? Two guys from the tips out there, so the main player is still not out there. Tomorrow with Greg Wachinsky.

So we'll get into all of it, what this now means, for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who became one of the best stories in the NHL this season. The great story that is the Montreal Tampa series, which continues. And, hey, you like the hat? Hey, boys.

Yeah, you like that. I know. Thanks. Thanks. Getting the thumbs up from the boys here at the rink. Thank you very much, Zach. I'm happiest at a rink. So we'll do more of that on tomorrow's program.

In the meantime, the trifecta man. The sheet is powered by Fanduel. Play your game with Fanduel. It's the NHL season, and Fanduel is your home for all the action on the ice. from Blue Line to Bet Slip. We've got you covered all season with unique promos, live offerings, and more features to let you play your game. Miss Puck Drop, no sweat with a live same game parley. You can build your bets up until the

final buzzer. Download Fan Dual Sportsbook today and play your game. Please play responsibly, 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2-600 to speak to an advisor free of. of charge, Zach. Well, I know that you just got some praise from the boys that were walking by about the hat that you're wearing. And I like that.

You met Casey when we're in Colonna. You met Casey from media relations here in there. You met Casey and were in Colona, yeah. Correct. Okay. So I didn't know that's who it was that was walking by. But I know you're getting a lot of praise about it. People in the chat seem to be iffy.

There's people here who seem to think that... I'm not cool enough for it. I'm not cool enough for it. I'm not. I admit it. It's a bold look for you rocking a cowboy hat on the show. But, you know, Jeff, just so you know, if you come back with that cap, I might have to rob it from him.

So Caputonin's going to be involved in this one, Gisbury Capitin. Bold move, Matt Bold. You just do this on the fly, and Jason Rob Burt's son. Yes. And, man, if Dallas goes out, the questions around Jason Robertson, You think the talk in Ottawa around Brady Kachuk is hot. Let's get the Robertson trade train fired up one more time.

Again, I talked about it last year, and nothing has changed. There is still no contract. Anyhow, Matt Boldie, Casparee, and Jason Robertson, $5, wins you $107. Pretty gutsy there saying that Boldie and Robertson are going to score. Wow, you really stick in your neck out on this one, Zach. put out on a limb here making a hot take, bold prediction here for these picks.

Yeah. Guys, brave. Wow, you're really sticking your necker. All right, you're really risking your reputation here on this one. Matt Boldy's going to score a big goal. What? Thanks to everyone here in Everett for the hospitality. We're back here tomorrow at the arena for tomorrow's program, which features Greg Wichinsky from ESPN.

So thank you to Sunny Meta of the New Jersey Devils, their general manager, and the great Pete Albits for making that happen from the New Jersey Devils media relations staff. Zoran Rajich, the C-O-O and president of the Everett Silver Tips. Thanks so much for stopping by today. Again, on tomorrow's program, we'll get right back into 24-7 playoff talk with Greg Wischinsky from ESPN.com. And we'll see, is Dave around tomorrow? There's Peñaute around tomorrow. We're going to throw them on with Wish tomorrow for some general manager talk.

Okay, so we'll do that tomorrow, too. We sort of produce this thing on the fly. Hey, no one's around. So what should I do with these bobbleheads in this Zamboni here, Zach? You could rob them. Okay. The trifecta thing is done now. I do get what you're going after here.

Thanks for joining me here from Everett back tomorrow, 1 o'clock Eastern 10 Pacific, as we say here in the Northwest, right here on our daily face-off YouTube channel or whether you're listening at your favorite podcast platform. you so much. Thanks to everyone in the chat. And yeah, I know, I'm not cool enough for this. Trust me. I ain't coming back with me. Thanks for joining me. Back tomorrow on the show.