The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Sunrise Dynasty ft. Matthew Barnaby

Episode Date: June 18, 2025

On this episode of The Sheet, host Jeff Marek is joined by former NHLer Matthew Barnaby to break down the 2025 Stanley Cup Final, where the Florida Panthers went back-to-back and cemented their dynasty status. The guys dig into what went wrong for the Edmonton Oilers—highlighting the surprising lack of production from Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the ongoing Stuart Skinner dilemma, and how injuries played a major role on both sides. They also look ahead to free agency, discuss which stars could be on the move, and reflect on the grind players endure chasing the Cup.#StanleyCupFinal #FloridaPanthers #EdmontonOilers #ConnorMcDavid #LeonDraisaitl #StuartSkinner #NHLPlayoffs #NHLInjuries #NHLFreeAgency #BackToBackChamps #DailyFaceoff #TheSheet #JeffMarek #MatthewBarnaby #HockeyTalk #NHLAnalysis #StanleyCup2025 #HockeyShow #NHLHighlightsShout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Ninja Kitchen Canada: https://www.ninjakitchen.ca/products/ninja-crispi-4-in-1-portable-glass-air-fryer-cooking-system-zidFN101CGY?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=olv&utm_campaign=25Q2-Crispi&utm_content=en👍🏼Budweiser: https://www.budweiser.ca/ca_enReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Flames_Nation🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So one of the questions now, welcome to the program again. This is the sheet for Wednesday, June 18th, timestamp 301 Eastern. It feels very official when you do things like that. So one of the questions now becomes, where do you put this Stanley Cup final? Now that it's all done, where do you rank this amongst your favorite Stanley Cup finals of all time? I've always felt that everything that happened in 1987 was the best, so that's my benchmark, I suppose,

Edmonton and the Philadelphia Flyers. I know there's been better, I get it. But where do you rank it? And maybe you just take the salary cap era and say, okay, so what we just saw, where do you put this amongst the best Stanley Cup finals that we've seen, or maybe even better? Here's a better question for you.

Zach, I want you to weigh in on this one. Where do you rank the Florida Panthers in respect to and in regards to the best teams we've seen in the salary cap era? Now the ones that will come to mind right away of course are the Tampa Bay Lightning, the teams that have won multiple cups. So as much as we thought you would win many of them Colorado, we're going to exclude you from this conversation. So Pittsburgh Penguins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Chicago Blackhawks with three, Los Angeles Kings, and now this Florida Panthers squad.

Like when I, and you always sort of, when you do an exercise like this, you try to think of not so much who's won the most, because that would be the Chicago Blackhawks with three. But who is the most because that would be the Chicago Blackhawks with three. But who is the most dominant? Like when I look at that and maybe it's the 2012 team that I'm thinking of right away the Los Angeles Kings that when they hit the playoffs that was it they were going into every single team like a hog into truffles a hot knife through butter like that was the end that was the year that Jonathan Quick was the best goaltender on

the planet. Everything worked for him in 2012. That was the height of his powers and everything LA did was touched by the divine. But where do you put Florida? Because I don't think this was a great Stanley Cup final. This was a team that smothered another team, right? Like when you look at like the great stat that's come out, the Florida Panthers led for 255 minutes and 49 seconds. The Edmonton Oilers 34 minutes. This was a smothering of one team to the

next. So wasn't a great Stanley Cup final with competitive period after period after period, but what do you make of the performance itself? Like it is one of the best that we've seen, but how do you rank it? I've always sort of looked at the LA Kings as maybe the best of the salary cap era. For me anyhow. I think this is the number one in terms of dominance, the way that they could beat you, the styles that they were willing to play in, how physically intimidating they were, how much they imposed their will on you. Like I feel like this Panthers team,

for me is number one. I do have the LA Kings right there behind them. And it's mostly just because of how I felt watching those teams. Where it just felt like they were just beat the wheels off of you but they could score their goaltender was impossible to beat at those times like it just just felt like they could kind of just do anything they

wanted however they wanted so that was up there with for me right at the top okay you froze there a second ago by the way as we were waiting for I don't know if you want to reconnect or anything but you seem fine right now you're doing your best impression of me from a couple of days ago so first of all we should say and James Webler froze like Marner on a breakaway in the playoffs well that's not so very that's oh by the way a little bit later on me I should share my Marner to the Florida Panthers theory a little bit later on to sort of juice up the program and make everything about

your Toronto Maple Leafs but But in the meantime, congratulations, flat out, full stop, congratulations to the Florida Panthers, winning their second Stanley Cup in a row, one of the hardest things you can do in a salary cap era, the hardest thing you can do as a team in a salary cap era. A lot of people that congratulate on this one, the players, the coach, the management staff,

it's always interesting to watch a Rubik's Cube click together and that's what happened again here for the Florida Panthers. This was domination. Like this was. Make no mistake about it. The Oilers were constantly frustrated. We've made plenty and will probably continue to do so about Leon Dreisaitl and more specifically Connor McDavid's inability to get to their game. And if you watch specifically McDavid, every time he was at the puck, near the puck, around the puck, he was swarmed. He was just like three or four Panthers all around him.

He felt like he was skating in mud, felt like he wasn't able to do things here. We're gonna go over a lot of last night with Matt Barnaby in a couple of seconds. And one of the things that I think we should probably have a good look at here, and I've got a couple of ideas of where I think these teams are going to go, what's next for the Oilers? And there's one massive question, of course, the McDavid situation. And where do you go next if you're the Florida Panthers? I would always go back to and believe in the Glenn Sather formula and the Glenn Sather

philosophy. When Glenn Sather was the manager of the Edmonds and others he used to always talk about every year whether you win the Stanley Cup or not and generally his team won the Stanley Cup you have to keep it fresh every year. It can't just be the same guys the same vibe all of it coming back every year. His idea was you have to freshen it up by at least 15% every year. Sure you still keep all the main pieces, but a lot of those sort of complimentary pieces in every now and then one of the key guys will escape. It's got to be fresh for someone coming back.

And one of the things that I recognized last night as we all did when, you know, Barkov handed the cup to Nate Schmidt and it became obvious and then the story came out about you know the background story as to why everyone who hasn't won the Stanley Cup before got the Stanley Cup before the veterans that have been there before and won the Stanley Cup and I wonder how much that is just a nod. A, that's Barkov doing a solid for guys that haven't been there before and haven't had the experience of winning the Stanley Cup. But two, as much as it might seem just like, oh, they're giving it to the other guys and not the main performers on this roster, the guys that have been there before, really interesting

things happen when you refresh a roster, the likes of which that we just saw the Florida Panthers do. And they came back with mainly the same guys, Bobrovsky and Kachuk and Barkov and Reinhardt, et cetera. But there was also that healthy addition of, and we'll make plenty of, Brad Marchand, who will go down as one of the best trade deadline acquisitions that we've ever seen

in the history of the Stanley Cup playoffs. I would put Ivan Barbachev in that conversation too, by the way, for the Vegas Golden Knights when I see how many players are injured and what these specific injuries are. Okay, coming up on today's program, time now for Daily Outline, powered by FanDuel. Make every moment more with North America's number one sportsbook, that is FanDuel. And coming up on the program today, he is already standing by. We're going to get to him in a moment. He is former NHLer now elite level NHL broadcaster Matthew Barnaby. We'll talk about the Florida Panthers going back

to back. We'll talk about what's next for both teams. Some big decisions on on both sides of the rink from from last night. We'll talk about the legacy question both for teams and for individuals and yeah as we turn the corner now and turn the page from the Stanley Cup final we have a look to July 1st and free agency all of these things up for grabs with our next guest he is no stranger to these airwaves or airwaves elsewhere around North America and you watched him and loved him unless you play it against him in the NHL he's Matthew Barnaby. Barney how you doing today pal good to see you again. I'm good, buddy. I think Moor hated me, then liked me,

and that's exactly how I wanted it. So I'm okay with that. But I was gonna say, you wear that with pride. I'm watching the Florida Panthers specifically, and I'm always wondering, okay, who could play here, who could play there? And one of the things that I sort of stumbled across in this series, I'm watching Corey Perry.

And at times, Corey Perry really lost it against the Florida Panthers. Now, I can also see Corey Perry playing for the Florida Panthers. Like I can see him thriving. And for the first time, was making this point last week, for the first time in Corey Perry's career,

he probably realized what it was like to play against Corey Perry. You really, really didn't like it. When you look at how the Florida Panthers played this year, how they played last year, how they played in their president's trophy, how they played in their Stanley Cup final against Vegas, like what jumps out to you as an ex player right away? They're, they're the closest to an old school team is you're going to get in

this, this era. Really talented, good goal-tending, great coaching, obviously built strong with management. I've known Billy Zito since I've been 20 years old when he was an agent for Doug McDonald, my first roommate. Very intelligent guy. But when you look at the Flora Panthers and the way that they're constructed, they got some skill, but this is an old-school Nasty team along the walls in the corners chipping pucks out chipping pucks in they don't have the same

You know DNA as as the Edmonton Oilers that we that we just saw They they can beat you with skills on skill on some nights and they certainly have the ability to do that But most nights you're gonna leave with some bruises Even if even if they lose the game, you know, you always say finish that check finish finish that check It's gonna pay off in games five six and seven I don't think there's a team in the last 20 years that really has that 20 years that really has that mindset like the Florida Panthers being up 5-1 in a game or being down in a game with four minutes left in the game still finishing every single check to set up what games 5, 6, and 7 would look like.

You know the insane thing about the Panthers too and I don't disagree with you like they are the closest thing we have to an old-school team. Everybody can play though like I don't want to I don't want to like. They are the closest thing we have to an old school team. Everybody can play though. I'm not going to pick on Jordan Gajdjiewicz. Even Jordan Gajdjiewicz. But he's tough. Jordan Gajdjiewicz is a really tough player. And you know what? He can skate. He can play. So it's not as if there's this fourth line of the island of misfit toys. And they go out there and they have one role. seems as if like there has to be like a a baseline of skill that everybody has and then after that it's identity time and there and there's like once you once you hit that sort of benchmark of can this guy play then all of a sudden you start to construct everything else around it does that resonate with you yeah i i think when you look at teams you have to define how you want your team to look.

Obviously it starts in that you need a good goal tenor. You need a guy to be able to steal you games once in a while. And Bobrovsky early in that game last night was a difference maker. He was making saves as opposed to Skinner on the third goal. Just I don't even know what he was doing. He looks like Dan Blackburn when he tried the two blocker thing back in the day when I was with the New York Rangers. But yes, construct your team with a mindset what it's going to look like in a playoff series against some of these teams. Because listen, Toronto did a great job against them. But the Florida Panthers were the better team in that series for the most part. Better goal today, but they were the better team and they deserved to win as they deserved

to beat the Edmonton Oilers. So once you go through your top six and you still want to have a Matthew Kachak up there, absolutely. But when you get to your third line, you got a guy like Brad Marshawn on it and you're going against other teams, third lines that probably aren't as talented as your third line, but they don't have the character. I'm not gonna say characters. I think that's a bad word. Character. Sometimes everyone's working everything. Everyone's trying their hardest when they're out there.

It's just what do they have in their DNA? When you get tired, what do you have in your DNA? When you get run over a couple of times, what do you have in your DNA? When you're playing with a cut hand like Alexander Barkov? I'm going to that third line and the fourth line. They were big difference makers in this series when we certainly knew how Kachak was hurt throughout these playoffs, how Barkov was hurt in this finals and was different guys stepping up. Whereas when you look at the Ebb and Toilers, you're looking at two or three guys when you're down two to nothing or three to nothing in the game

that can change the identity of the game. I want to come back to Bob and I want to get to goaltending and I want to get to his contract in a couple of seconds, but I'm glad he got us to bark off. So first of all, I got no problem with Sam Bennett

winning the Con Smythe. That's great. And if they were to have given it to Brad Marshant, I would have been fine with that too. But the guy that I keep, there's two guys that I keep, there's two guys that I keep coming back to here.

Now, to me, the story of the series is how the Florida Panthers smothered the Oilers. Like this was like tilted rink, right? All the way like Panthers are skiing downhill and the Oilers are skiing uphill. And I've always made the point that, with the Detroit Red Wings under Mike Babcock, with that's a Konzetterberg,

the feeling very much was, it's impossible to lose a line matchup because your best offensive players are also your best defensive players. You can't lose a matchup. And I'm thinking Paul Maurice has that same luxury. You know, the work that Barkov was able to do against Conor McDavid, and then at the same time,

22 points, same as Sam Bennett, and you know, six goals, 16 assists, shut down the Oilers, two points more than Brad Marshann. Should we not have talked a little bit more about Barkov this series and what he was able to do and couple that with with Gustav Forsling? Like they're different, they're different players here. But in 2011, like when Patrice Bergeron and Zidane O'Chara are on the ice together, nobody else touched the puck.

Nobody else touched the puck. And when Forzling and Barkov are on the ice together, you are skating in mud. It is so hard. And we saw with McDavid, couldn't do anything with these two guys on the ice. Well, there's so much under like unpack here and if I miss something please just acknowledge it from everything you say because I want to touch on every one of those points because they're all so valid. Let's just start with Forslake.

Guy was picked up off waivers and I hate when players play for a coach or someone. Listen Sam Bennett was a guy that was traded from Calgary and now made his way and he's he's a Conn Smythe winner. I don't care who wins the Conn Smythe. I had Bennett winning it because I had great value on going into the series. I had Florida winning. Listen, Barkov could have won it. Probably deserved a little bit more notoriety for what he does. He doesn't give a crap. He just wants to will. He doesn't care one bit. He wants to be a great teammate, a leader by example. And when your best player, I think Paul Murray said it, when your best player and your captain wins a Selkie trophy, just

like Bergeron, like you talked to everyone else has to fall in line. When you're just a guy that puts up points, but you know, makes a lot of defensive mistakes as a lot do in the National Hockey League. Well, it's easy to get away from your game plan because that's not the identity of your team. We know the identity of the Florida Panthers and it starts with the captain. That's first and foremost. Bennett had a great series, a great playoff in general, you know, 15 goals after just a 51 point season lesson. He was my MVP, but you could give it to four guys. I would have been fine going back to fours lane.

Here's a guy that's on waivers probably believes that that time I can't play hockey anymore. These guys don't believe on me. They're giving me out for free. And I used to always tell my son this. He scored three points on a Friday night in whatever league it is and wouldn't score for a couple of games and get healthy scratch. And on Friday night, he thought he was the best player in the world. And on Monday, because the coach sat him out, thought he was the worst player in the world. Well, same thing goes in the National Hockey League that when you get dropped off. Now we got Bronte frozen too, man, we're having freezing.

And you're the same player on the Friday as you are on the Monday. So this guy just made an I mean, his stick the plays that he made, Eklad, the addition of Seth Jones, I mean, just so many things they did well in Florida It was like it was like Vegas when they won, but listen Forsling was just unbelievable in this whole series the pickups they made were unbelievable at the deadline It's like they could do no wrong and listen they you know a little fortuitous with with Kachak being hurt But he was hurt. It wasn't it wasn't this this wasn't a fugazi. This wasn't a fake injury. This guy's gonna have surgery, man.

This guy's going under the knife. Like you said, this isn't something that he wanted. It's just something that happened. So, okay, let me throw another one at you here. And by the way, on Forzling, you know, it is interesting because the belief is the way they got him in, Joel Quinville had him in Chicago, little bit of insider information, knew the potential.

But again, like this is the story of the Panthers. Like there's not, I don't believe that there's one way to win a Stanley Cup, I don't think there's one way to be successful and the Panthers have drawn a number of different ways. There's guys that were drafted, there's guys that were first overall picks from different administrations with Dale Tallent. There's guys that they grabbed on waivers, there's guys that they drafted. There's guys that were first overall picks from different administrations with Dell talent.

There's guys that they grabbed on waivers. There's guys that they got by way of trade. Like there's not one way to do this. There's guys with massive contracts. There's guys on value contracts here, but it all comes together because at the end of it, Barney, you know, it's really, really obvious. And you see this with great teams.

I started the show off today by talking about the 2012 Los Angeles Kings. And when you watch that team, every single person had their job. They accepted it and they did it. And you look at the Florida Panthers, Barney, it's exactly the same. It's exactly the same. There's not one way to win, but there is one way to be successful. And that's for everyone to accept their roles and any good team that I played on

Listen, they accept their roles. I remember getting traded to Colorado a team that had a lot of success before me We didn't get it done because of a lot of injuries I'm not making that as an excuse, but we had leaders and Joe Sackett can Forsberg, Solani and Korea, Rob Blake, Adam Foot, you know, Pierre Lacroix was a master at designing and having everyone believe that, you know, I played on a fourth line with Steve Kona-Walchuk and Chris Gratton. We had almost 60 goals during the regular season because we were playing on third lines on other teams and had some success. But we bought in, we bought in what was being sold to us from the Colorado Avalanche on what we could do. And we believed in them because they had,

they've had success. They knew the recipe. And going back to LA and some of these teams, the one thing I will take is heavy hockey. You give me some big guys that can grind that aren't going to be, you know, timid along the walls and get pucks in and pucks out. We saw the, you know what, undoing of the Evan Trenorlers yesterday. A turnover at the end of the first. A bad play defensively by Connor McDavid. You know, Evan Bouchard, you know, echoing the past to Evan Bouchard, and a lasso-gate, days ago effort on the wall.

Just, those are unacceptable things in a game six. Those are the things you clean up after game 12 of the regular season. Florida doesn't make those mistakes, and if they do, it's not because of effort. Ever feel like car shopping is designed to make you second-guess yourself? Is this a good price? Am I making the right choice? With CarGurus, you don't have to wonder. They have hundreds of thousands of cars from top rated dealers to choose from, so you can find the best deal. It's no wonder CarGurus is the number one rated car shopping app in Canada on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. CarGurus has hundreds of thousands of cars from top rated dealers to choose from so you can find the best deal. CarGurus gives you the control to shop how you want to shop with the tools, information

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I remember talking about what you're talking about, playing a heavy game, strong against the board and all that. One person from their team said, yeah, and you know what, they play that style of game and that's why they need someone like Marion Gabrick in there too. And the one thing about the Florida Panthers,

like there are, Gustav Forsling is an ice skater, Gustav Forsling a good skater. I'm not knocking Gustav Forsling in what I'm about to say here. Kachuck's hard to watch get around the ice. Yep. Sam, you know, Sam Reinhardt's tough to watch get around the ice.

Uh, you'd swear that there's lead in, uh, in Barkov's boots. Like, I know he's a fourth liner, but anything rear. But like, you go through the lineup, like there's no great skaters and all we've been sold, going back to the lockout of 0405 is this is a fly zone now. You can't skate. You can't play. Forget about it. Feet, feet, feet, feet, feet feet feet feet feet feet Eric on the Florida Panthers

Hey, Jeff Jeff, it's a great segue Because I'm gonna go back to what you started with that they might not skate great Yeah, but they skate as a five-man unit 100% and the stars in the in in in the fly zone Didn't have place to fly because they were getting nudged, they were getting pushed, they were getting hit, they were layers. There was defensive enclosing the gap and the worst thing you can do with stars after playing with so many greats over the years, the Marriott Lemieux playing against Wayne Greske playing with Jaeger, the more time and space you give those guys,

and those guys get it during the regular season. The Austin Matthews, the Mitch Marner's, the Connor McDavid's, the Leon Dries Hittles, they get that space in the regular season. You do not get that against the great teams in the playoffs. There's so limited space in the game once the further you go on in the playoffs. And said it, I'll say it again.

There's no other sport that changes from. I can even go to game 75 of the regular season to game one of the postseason. And then amp that up in round four in the Stanley Cup final. There's no room. It was layer after layer after layer. He didn't get the fly zone. He didn't get to wind it up. And that's the reason why those guys

that aren't swift afoot have success because it's a totally different game. Completely different game. So then a couple more things on Flora. They don't wanna swing to Edmondson. Remember when we all thought that Bobrovsky's contract was awful. Yep.

Remember when we all said like, oh, they're going to have to do, uh, you know, they're, they're, they're. I did as well. They're going to have to clean this up. Like there's no way you're going to win with this goalie with that contract. And I'll tell you what, we might still be saying that if he doesn't make that breakaway save on Brad Marshaian.

I always think of, I think we all do think, think about that. How different is everything? Paul Maurice, the coach is, is Bobrovsky bought out or is he traded off somewhere else? Like if he doesn't make that one save. Cause if that goal goes in, Boston goes on and the Florida Panthers go out. Um, do you have a quick thought on Bobrovsky who went from, we may have to trade him. We may have to buy him out to this guy's going to the hall of fame. That's going to hall of fame. Yeah.

He is now. Yeah. He, he, he is from the, from the, from the, from the, from the, from the, from the, who went from we may have to trade him. We may have to buy him out to this guy's going to the Hall of Fame. That's what I'm hoping. Yeah, he is now. Yeah, he is for sure. I was one of those. I was one of those naysayers just saying.

And part of it was contract. Part of it was coming up clutch at the right times. I saw way too many Bobrowski playoff letdowns, but it's not all Bobrovsky, but this team, everyone has raised their level. And I think Maurice is a big part. I think there's the way the team is built, but yeah, Bobrovsky is a different goalie. And one thing is when you don't have success, you always have self doubt. And that's just in life, but his

Competence he just looks like a way more confident goalie on all situations And even at the student first period there was a couple that were little squeakers that he that they barely got And then he just turned into a different guy Whereas you know you look at Jeff Skinner on the other side, you're like, you're just waiting for something bad to happen, opposed to you're waiting for Bobrowski to make those big saves now. Okay, I'm gonna give you a list, because you've transitioned us there

by mentioning Skinner. All right, I'm gonna give you the list of all the goaltenders Connor McDavid's had. You ready for this one? Go back to his rookie season. Get ready to bobblehead some of these, Barney. Here we go.

Okay. I'm going to take a sip of water for this one. Yeah. You got to put your, put your feet up here. Uh, Cam Talbot, Anders Nilsson, Laurent Boussoir, Jonas Gustafsson. Remember the monster? Al Montoya, Mikko Koskinen, all six foot

seven of them or six foot eight. He was huge. Anthony Stolarz, Mike Smith, Stu Skinner, Jack Campbell, Calvin Pickard. There's an old saying, as you've heard a million times, if you have a goalie, it's 70% of your team. If you don't, it's 100. And I know the prices were high

the last couple of years for goaltenders. I believe that the ask from Anaheim for John Gibson was two firsts. Now, I also heard that that softened a little bit, but still like the going rate to bring in a goaltender was high. The prices have always been high on goalies specifically around trade deadline time. I don't necessarily, it always works when you try to bring in goalies to trade deadline, but that's for a different conversation. There have been times, and we think about Jacob Markstrom.

Before Markstrom went to Calgary, there was the belief both sides had, both sides were pretty much set on it, that Jacob Markstrom was going to the Edmonton Oilers. And then Calgary offered an extra season, and Markstrom called Edmonton up and said, we're going to Calgary. And Edmonton had to scramble, but Markstrom was going to be their guy.

I'm guessing now more so than ever, the idea of overpaying for a goalie is not an overpay anymore because when you underpay, like they are two games away from winning the Stanley cup, there are one win away from winning the Stanley cup last year. I don't think that, I don't think that the term overpay exists anymore in Edmondson when it comes to goaltending. Price is only going to go up now that team saw. Oh, right. Now the team saw Emmet, right? And one of the first questions to Stan Bowman is going to be,

why did you think that Calvin Pickard and Stuart Skinner could win you a Stanley Cup with what we had saw? And I have to think that Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisaitl in his meetings at the end of the year is gonna be like, we need a number one goalie I'm gonna take you in a time capsule a little bit. Yep, Jeff back to where I started my career Okay, I'll put a Buffalo Sabres. We an average team for the seven years that I was there, but We had Dominic has like you sure did it?

Okay, that's we had a dumb. I asked a little unfair comparison because I believe he's the greatest of all time I agree like Unbelievable gave us a chance to win every single night for a very average team in 99. They come like two games away Still have an average team an average team the Buffalo Sabres then from winning a Stanley Cup. I go to Pittsburgh, okay? We got Jagger and Kovalev and Strachat, plethora of talent, good team, a lot of role guys. Yeah. Jean-Sebastien Aubin, Ron Tugnet, nothing to take away from those guys. And I don't want to keep reiterating that same phrase. We don't go very far. Go to the New York Rangers, I can list the,

the Messia's, the Kovalev again, Yager, Pavel Bure, Eric Lindroff, Peter Nedved, Brian Leach. Mike Dunham was our goaltender. Don't make the playoffs three years in a row. I can go on and on, go to Colorado. I named those players. David Abesher was our goaltender. All great guys, all average goaltenders, all early exits, no Stanley Cubs. Overpay for your goaltender, boys and girls. It's the most important position.

It's like being a quarterback in football. Pay them all the damn money because I'm a New York Jets fan, Jeff. And we haven't had a quarterback since Joe Nama. Yeah, I could, you know, there's a, there's a, there's a great story about the old, uh, Redwings coach from the mid seventies, Ned Harkness, who used to always say, you know, we need to change the name of this sport from hockey to goalie because If that that's what the whole game Elaine Vino would always say it too, you know

Elaine Vino would always say hockey's easy if your goalie is better than my goalie you win But if my goalie is better than your goalie, I win that's hockey. That's it. That's it. That's That 95% of the teams play the exact same system or some semblance of. Everyone has the drop pass and the entries, a little caveat here and there. Everyone plays a very similar system. Talent comes into it, but that guy that's standing between those two little red things is by far the most important. And I can guarantee when you have a really good one and a belief in one, you play different mentally,

subconsciously. Okay, that gets us to an interesting place here. The idea of how you change based on your goaltender. Now I was talking to someone today who was making the point that, you know, you look at the wins loss record for both goaltenders. And Pickard's one loss record is significantly better

than Stuart Skinner. And the psychological belief is the Oilers play more conservative around Pickard because they feel that he is the inferior goaltender and they need to mind their knitting in their own zone, more so than with Stuart Skinner. But I feel like at everything from all like the boxcar numbers at the underlying numbers, Stuart Skinner is a better goalie.

Like he is a legit NHL goaltender. We can quibble about whether he's a number one or not, but he's an NHL goaltender. Pickard is a bounce back and forth between the NHL and the American Hockey League, um, goaltender here. and forth between the NHL and the American Hockey League goaltender here. When you look at psychologically, how much that helps a team. Like I always look at goaltenders and say like you do,

like it's two things. It's stopping the puck and it's growing confidence. When you know your guy, when you got Dominator back there, when you got Haschick back there, you can take a lot of chances that end up paying off. And Haschick's not gonna get an assist, but Haschick deserved an assist on that play. Because if it wasn't Haschick,

you weren't doing what you just did. You know what I mean? I don't know how many times with Don, he'd make a huge save, and you'd feel that energy on the bench, and you'd go out within a couple shifts or you would just start to play better or guys would be on the on the bench just being like guys we got to pick this up this can't be all on Dominic can't be all

on the goaltender we all got to be better and then you have that internal you know competition between us not getting mad at each other but challenging each other because your goalie is your best player. And then there's teams you go to and you just don't get the save that you should. And I'll go to the second goal at the end of the first period yesterday. Stuart Skinner has to have that puck. It was a terrible play by Connor McDavid. It was a terrible turnover at the blue line.

Your goaltender still has to have that buck, and it has to be one-nothing going into the first period. Then you can go in and say, hey, you feel kind of good about yourself on the road, down one-nothing, you've played pretty well. But when you get snored on at the end of the period on a terrible defensive play by your team, and your goalie doesn't make your save,

now you're like, okay, we need at least three more now. And we got to shut the door. We're not happening after what happened in game four. And if you believe the old baseball saying, if you can touch it, you can catch it, that's right there with Skinner. Absolutely. You can catch it. If he can touch it, you can catch it.

So here, here becomes a question because. Look, uh, if you're Conor McDavid, you're saying to yourself, we're two games away from winning the Stanley Cup here. I got one year left on my contract. This is going to be a massive story. As of July 1st, this is going to be an enormous story in Edmonton. And every day that goes by that there isn't a contract extension for Conor McDavid, there's going to be a lot more nervous people in Edmondson, fans, management,

teammates, all of it. It affects everything with that organization. If you're Connor McDavid right now, what are you thinking? Now the team has $12 million worth of cap space. Evan Bouchard is getting double digits. Evan Bouchard is getting double digits. Evan Bouchard is getting, either buy the team or buy an Arb trader, because he's got Arb rights.

He's getting 10 million. 10 million of that is going to Evan Bouchard. So you got, unless you're gonna make trades to dump salaries, right now you're looking at $2 million to improve this team. You're probably getting it. And then before you go on, can people stop saying like Darnell Nurse

is never gonna play another game in Edmonton? He's making nine and a half. So unless you're gonna eat half that salary, he's gonna be in Edmonton Oil. He's got three more years on his deal till 2930. The, by the, let's make one thing, because I know we're all just like judging everyone based on what we just saw the last few games.

Darnell Nurse had a comeback season this year for the Edmonton Oilers. And when the Edmonton Oilers added Jake Wallman at trade deadline, instantly that blue line, in my estimation, you can disagree with me, feel free by all means, that became a top five blue line in the NHL. Like, Ekholm was injured in the playoffs. That was really obvious.

That was, that was like a re, not even a reasonable hand-drawn facsimile of Matthias Ekholm. He struggled out there. Now did Evan Bouchard have a lot of defensive lapses? Absolutely. Did Darnell Nurse make some gaps? Absolutely he did. Did at times did Jake Wallman get carried away with the emotions of a Stanley Cup final? Without doubt he did. But let's not pretend that Darnell Nurse didn't have a big comeback season for the Edmonds and Olders. He did.

They got beaten by a better team. And I don't know that this is reason to blow the whole thing. You're two games away from winning the cup. Think about who you dust it. Dallas, Vegas, Kings. And because you lost to one of the best teams in this era, you're gonna say dynamite

time. I don't buy it. It's like breaking up with your girlfriend. The emotion sets in and you could have 10 great years and three bad months and you say, Oh my God, our relationship sucks. Listen, they got to the Stanley Cup finals without their best defenseman in the lineup. And he was hurt when he came back. Yeah. Without their best defenseman in the lineup and he was hurt when he came back Yeah, I'm a T s echo a lot of guys had to carry the mail and make up for those

25 minutes 26 minutes that at home carries a night against the top players on the other team You're a couple games away from winning a Stanley Cup. You don't blow it up Do they need to make some changes? Of course, of course, and there's always gonna be changes in a salary cap system There's only so much money to go around and you have to pay guys and some guys We know Florida like Sam Bennett and and and eclad and you would Marshawn Do I think all three are gonna return? Probably not But I think probably two or three might come back on friendly deals not crazy friendly deals But yeah, the big thing is going to be on July 1 going forward

Every day that's going to be a question The players to Connor to coaches and the Stan Bullman Every single day. And man, that's cool. You think, I mean, last year was bad losing in the Stanley cup finals. Losing this year is even worse because it hurts more, but it'll be disaster. If Connor McDavid walks away from the Evan Snyder's disaster. See, I, I understand.

I was told, do not draw a straight line between Leon resigning and Connor resigning with the Edwin Snilers. However, I still do believe that he re- I don't know if it's an eight year deal. It might be a four and then you ring the bell again. Like a lot of guys wanna do that. The Austin Matthews strategy.

That would make some sense. But I have- And I don't I listen I don't know Connor. I've met him a bunch of times but I don't you know Connor McDavid I don't pretend to know his inner circle. I think you'll be at the point now that he looks he's going to make a boatload of money he already has he's going to make a boatload of money. He already has he's gonna make a boatload more at some point. He has to say How deep do I want this team to be because the Florida's Florida's of the world the Tampa Bay's the Vegas's Dallas it's crazy. It's a crowd you requested you ask her the Crosby question You know, are you gonna take are you gonna take the eight points? Yeah You know, are you gonna take the 8.7?

Are you gonna take the 9.7? Are you gonna take that deal to make your team that much better? And that's, listen, I don't fault anyone. I don't fault. You know what's interesting about that, Barney says to pause for one second so we make sure we have this in here.

He's already done that. Like he took less to make room for Leon before. Yeah. Right. Like I think it was, I think it was, I can't remember, was it, was it a 14 that went down to 12 or something like that for, for Connor before, like he's done that. All five, maybe five I think. Yeah.

He's, he's, he's done that, but he's done that before. Now, now that Leon's at 14, I mean, logic will say like Connor's 15, right? And Bouchard's 10. And when, when, when when when yes he Listen if Mitch Marner and people are talking about 14 million dollars. I think you're absolutely absurd to give Mitch Marner 14 million dollars Absurd if Leon's getting 14 But if he's worth 14 then

Well, Connor's were 16. Let's not even get to 15. Let's get to 16 Let's get the top player like don't come like those guys are in a different league with mckinnon kale mccarr like all those guys are are different but At some point and this is again. I I don't I don't begrudge anyone that gets as much money. I'm pro player Go get your money guys. Yeah. Go get your money, guys. Go get your money. But do you want to be considered the best player to never win a Stanley Cup? That's something that I can't answer for him. Only he can answer that.

And that's why I look at, I look at McDavid and if I'm McDavid, I'm saying like, yeah, I'm making all this money and I'm going to, I'm going to retire with over a hundred sheets in my pocket and it's all great. Where's my best chance to win a Stanley Cup? Like you look at teams that like might clear it right now for them, like, you know, the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers, like maybe Los Angeles Kings. Like any of these teams, are any of these teams closer to winning the Stanley Cup than the Edmonton Oilers? Well, no, no, but Connor could also say this. I'm not going to sign a contract extension.

I'm going to go to free agency. If I'm going to take a pay cut, I can go to one of these non-state taxed teams that are close to us. And now you throw me on that team. Now I'm the difference maker. Now I'm the hired gun coming in to make this team a Stanley Cup champion. Whether it's Dallas or Las Vegas. Now I know a lot of things would have to happen for all that to happen. Hey look, Eichel's a free agent at the same time

as Connor McDavid here. And I think we're all wondering about if Eichel doesn't go, is that open for Boston then? But trust me, there's a lot of talk radio between now and then. Yeah, but it's, again, you brought up Food for Thought, July 1st. Yeah.

The hourglass starts ticking. Well, here's, okay, so, okay, while we're just sort of freestyling here, here's, okay, so, okay, while we're just sort of freestyling here, here's one, and I mentioned off the top of the show, you're just sort of wondering about what the landscape can look like and where players can end up.

And you mentioned Mitch Barner a second ago. Now I am of the, like something really interesting happened to the Four Nations. Mitch Barner played with Sam Bennett and he looked really different. Like when he's put with a different sentiment and a sentiment that plays like Sam Bennett, it brings out something different and accentuates more of a positive in Mitch Marner than Austin Matthews did. Like Matthews and Marner are more similar than they are different. But Bennett and Marner, like those are two distinct players.

And I know it was a very, very small sample size, but I think anybody that watched those two at the foreign nations said, Oh man, there's something there. And when you, when you throw in the state tax situation and eight equals 10 or a nine equals 12 or 11, 11 and a half or whatever it works out to being. or a nine equals 12 or 11, 11 and a half, or whatever it works out to being. I don't know that it would be outlandish to speculate or wonder about if the Florida Panthers don't bring back all three.

Aaron Echblad, you're a Utah mammoth, and Brad Marshan, you're a Dallas star. Yeah. Marner in Florida. The only thing I think about- They are loaded on the right side. Now I gotta say, Ryan Harkin-Chuckley... They are loaded on the right side. Now I gotta say, Ryan Hurricane, they are loaded on the right side. Throw it around. I feel like that's a two-part answer question. First, playing with a different

player, dynamic-wise, you need some guy to get in the trenches get that puck for you create space for a smaller skilled guy create layers For a guy like miss murder who's absurdly talented one of the best passers in the game Listen, he's done a lot of good in Toronto. And if he walks away from Toronto, that's his right to go get as much as money I think miss murderers Personality Toronto, that's his right to go get as much as money. I think Mitch Marner's personality, family dynamic, I think it would mean a lot to him to one day say I was the highest paid player

in the National Hockey League at one time. I truly believe that's important to him. Don't know it for uncertainty or certainty. That's what I believe. I believe that's his personality. Do I think Florida is the place for him? I just don't think he leaves money on the table, but only because he wants to be that. And I know the dynamic with the state taxes. I think he really wants to say- to see the number. I want to I want to be 14.1 million. I want to be one penny higher. I want to see this. You know, we see this in eight. No, Barney, what you're saying is because you're so into it. What was this is agent fights. This is where agents like what $1 more than the other agent that they hate their guy makes $1 more than the agent whose agency they just left makes more than their top guy. I truly believe that I truly believe it

I believe that I believe that some people and I played with some people that don't want to leave one penny I get it doesn't make a difference in their world They just I get it just they're just they're clout and then you got guys like bark I don't even want to start naming there's just so many guys like Bark I don't even want to start naming it there's just so many guys but Sidney Crosby's the probably the epitome of the example we want to pick. Patrice Bergeron there's another great one. Patrice Bergeron there are a lot out there that they're like how much money do I need on I have generational wealth I'm not gonna spend it I want to be a Stanley Cup champion or at least

have a chance to win it doesn't guarantee you're gonna be a Stanley Cup champion There's a lot of good teams in the National Hockey League and to do what these teams did to get back to back means through that close and that means they're the elite of the elite and what Vegas did and Tampa Bay when they had their run it doesn't equate to a Stanley Cup championship, but it gives you a damn good chance then going to the Chicago Blackhawks or Utah or anyone that's going to make you the highest. Listen, any team that's going to make Mitch Marner the highest paid player in the National Agulie will not be a Stanley Cup champion next year.

Let me, uh, let me, uh, a couple more with you here. One, we tend to forget, cause we just saw them get dusted by Florida. We tend to forget like how incredible Edmonton looked against Dallas. Many of us had Dallas go into Stanley Cup final. At times this team looked like it could do no wrong. And Vegas is never an easy out.

And they were down two Cobb against the Los Angeles Kings and many, including myself, thought that Edmonton was going to lose to this new look LA Kings squad. So we forget just how good Edmonton looked getting there of the two teams. And again, I guess we won't really know until July 1st, who's coming back and who's not. Which do you think has the better chance of going back to the Stanley Cup final Edmonton or Florida?

Got to go back with Florida. Only, only because of the belief in that room. And I believe those guys have bought into a mentality of giving up a little. To, to you just listen to their comments. They're, they're a true team. I'm not saying Edmonton isn't. I'm just focusing on, on Florida. I just find the way that they're built.

And just look at Seth Jones coming in and Eckblad playing great. That's a big D, man. That's a big, big D. So I'm gonna go back with the Florida Panthers. I had them winning the East at the start. I had Colorado or Dallas coming out of the West. And Edmonton

Listen, I was at that game when Quentin Byfield turned the puck over at the blue line with 26 seconds left in the game or they are probably gone from that series against LA But I gotta go back with the Florida Panthers. They're just built strong and I believe that they're gonna get most of these guys back and I and even further to your point earlier on the show and I believe that they're gonna get most of these guys back. And even further to your point earlier on in the show, there's always gonna be, you always want an injection of new blood, whether it's young or old. There's no one that's done it better

than the Florida Panthers. And it helps when you have a guy like Brad Marshon that gets to decide where he wants to go, and he's like, I wanna go to Florida. Dallas wanted him so bad. Hell yeah. I'm going to Florida.

Let me close on this one, because you mentioned earlier, a lot of the defense on the Florida Panthers, you just mentioned again, he's a big strong and with Gustav Forsling, just so we have some of the elite defenders. God, does Seth Jones look good too? There's one guy, and you know this,

from playing in the NHL, a lot of the assistant coaches don't get the headlines and don't get A lot of the assistant coaches don't get the headlines and don't get a lot of praise. But I look at that Florida Panthers blue line, Seth Jones, Aaron Echblad, Gustav Forhsman go all the way down. Like I haven't seen Dmitry Kulikov play this good. I haven't seen Nate Schmidt play this good. Previously, all of a sudden, Oliver Ekman-Larsen is a major contributor. Brandon Montour is putting up career numbers and translates that into a really

nice contract with Seattle. Do you have a thought on Sylvain Lefebvre? What a job. What a job with that blue line. Love the guy. He was my roommate in New York for parts. Unbelievable guy. Always knew he was gonna be a coach. Just a very experienced individual. You always thought he was gonna be a coach even back then? Yeah, he just, you know, he has that father figure mentality when you talk to him. He was a little older than I was, but I was 20, 27 through 29 when I was in New York, so it wasn't like I was a kid just a great great dude, but very Intellectual very articulate and just the way very cerebral in the way that he thinks the game so yeah

I always thought that he would be a coach and Followed his time when he went to Laval and coached in the minors and just he's done such a great job But he you just know the dynamic and the personality how he is not only with veterans when you play but also young guys when they come up from the minors and how they're how they're treated. So he's done an unbelievable job and you see a lot of like he was a defensive defenseman. Oh yeah. Didn't put up a lot of points. I loved him. I loved him as a D. I loved him. And, and, and... Sneaky Tough. And Sneaky Tough.

Great stick. You look at a lot of what Forsling does. That's a lot of facility. Great stick. Long stick. Long body. You know he'd love the big D because he was a big man, but Sneaky Tough for such a great guy. Yep, absolutely. All right, Bernie, you're the best. I kept you way too long. I've totally taken away your afternoon. Thank you for parking it with me, but we'll we'll chat soon, pal. Cheers, buddy. There is a great the great Matthew Barnaby joining us here on the sheet

will be part of our ongoing coverage of the remainder of the season leading into free agency on July 1st. One of the things that we touched on there is the Oilers' goaltending situation and what's next. Now, it's going to be really hard for the Oilers here. And I'm pretty sure that you're Stan Bowman, you're saying, okay, maybe, you know, job one is do something with this McDavid deal and get that done to calm everybody down right away. Job number two is we got to do something with with Evan Bouchard here and try to get this at a reasonably priced team number as we can, knowing Phil full well if it gets into arbitration, he's getting 10 sheets.

And the other is goaltending and Jake Allen is like the only free agent goaltender that's going to be available and I don't know that that answers and I like Jake Allen a lot and I think Jake Allen is gonna be in the goalie fraternity either coaching with an NHL team or just running his own camps as he does now in the Maritimes for a long time. Goalie's goalie, really smart progressive thinker. So there's a couple of things. One, I still like we all do wonder about John Gibson with the Anaheim Ducks. This is Lucas Dostals-Cris in Anaheim. The other name that I think we wonder about and I mentioned the other day here on the show and that's Ukka Pekka-Lukkanen who was a a a barteral draft pick with the

Buffalo Sabres not Kevin Adams guy. That's Devin Levi. I wonder about them going out and acquiring a veteran netminder in Buffalo, platooning him with Devin Levi and maybe making a deal, even though he's a newly signed player last year, making a deal, making a trade with Uka Pekalukin. If I'm Edmonton, I'm all over that. The other, let me see what you think about this one, Zacharu. The other thing that I wonder about, and this would be continuing in the vein of offer sheets

between Edmonton and St. Louis, the offer sheet Joel Hofer. Payback for taking two of ours we probably could have used here in the Stanley Cup final against the Florida Panthers. Or has Joel Hofer done enough? For Stan Bowman to say, yeah, I think this is the guy. See, I look at Luka and say, if I'm Stan Bowman, I'm like, okay, I see an NHL track record

here. I'm just looking for the best story. Turn around and offer sheet the St. Louis Blues, Joel Hofer. Oh yeah, here's your succession program for Jordan Bennington. Yeah, we're taking that. I don't think so because I think that, I think that they have to and I think that perception-wise they also, like, I think for organizational stability and perception-wise they also just need to get somebody with some type of track record. I don't think that they can go out there and be like, no us hofers the guy I know like yeah that's a tough one to sell up to the owner who's

been screaming for goalie for years yeah no no no hofers the guy oh yeah you said Stuart skater would figure it out in the playoffs yeah I know I know well how about the argument though that Stuart skner took him one game away from winning the Stanley Cup last year? No, I know. But did Stuart... Okay. Here is where I'll play stupid games with you on this. Did Stuart Skinner make it harder for them than it maybe needed to be in some circumstances to get to that point? Yeah.

No, like by, listen, I'm not saying that that that's who's too Skinner is, is the ultimate solution here for the, uh, for the Edmund Tellers Stuart Skinner is who he is. And at a certain point, like at a certain point, it's no longer about the player themselves. It's the person that puts that player in that position. Like, um, you know, uh think of like and on a lot of teams like on

on the on the Gretzky Kings like there are a lot of guys that didn't like Peter Peter Prasler and It was like what are we gonna do about this and it's like you can't fault the guy. He's just the guy He's he's just that player. This one is this this one's like you can't fault the guy he's just the guy he's just that player this one is this this one's on management they're choosing to put him in this situation that he's not ready for and I was like we were talking about yesterday and the day before here on the program like not that rules are hard and fast because rules are made to be broken here but you got to go back to 1988 when you saw a goaltender win the Stanley Cup with a sub 900 save percentage.

Grant Fuhr, Edmonton Oilers, doesn't happen. The baseline, the baseline for all of it is 900. You have a quick thought on what we just saw? Between these two teams or what we saw last night? What stands out for you? Was it the ball hockey chest bump for the third goal? Right the Barkov stick? That was the one that made me yell. What the fuck are we doing? Because I texted you right away. I texted Hutton and just saying like what the hell happened there? Because I

part of it is I'm not somebody I don't I can't tell you the technicalities of goaltending but there are times where you watch stuff and you just go what was that and that was a what was that moment and it looked like the responsiveness everything was just Friday night 11 p.m. beer league hockey where he's like I don't know you got to know who's around and like we've seen you know who maybe one of that one of the best goaltenders are doing this is is Igor Susturkin making saves and placing the rebound where he wants it like there's a real you know a real a real skill to that.

Right. Being able to control a rebound and stick it. Like it seemed like he was trying to, trying to place the puck somewhere where it was safe. Like not necessarily to his player, but just like an open area, get it away, make a race, whatever your defense is going to be close to the puck. make a race, whatever your defense is going to be close to the puck. But, and that's a big, of all the people, like all the players in the Florida Panthers are good, but there are some that are better than others. Like you're handing it to Alexander Barkov, who has some of the best hands in the world. You know there are some guys that you look at and you say like,

oof, this guy's got hands like feet. Yeah, you're safe to give him the puck. That ain't Barkov. He's got some of the best, he doesn't have the best feet in the world, but he's got some of the best hands. The minute I saw that it was Barkov, I'm like, alright, this is a goal. This is a goal, like right away it's on Barkov's dick. And in the back of, the thing is, in the back of Skinner's mind He can't reset Right away because he's got that. Oh shit. I just handed this to bark off In the back in the back of his head

Uh one other point that I wanted to make and I heard colby talking about it this morning on morning cup of hockey And I think it was a great point Mcdavid is to end dry saddle. They're taking a lot of heat right now because of point production and lack of takeover ability. Because even if you look at their production, they've got a bunch of points in the finals here. Like, if you want to look at where they're at, points per game wise, whatever, they've got a ton.

They didn't do the prototypical, Leon Dry Settle, Connor Mc McDavid we will own this series this game etc and and good I was just gonna say and now block went to them fast yesterday do you see how fast he got 97 and 29 together it was like yeah like one shift in all of a sudden like well there's Connor and Leon together I guess that didn't take long yeah but to that, I think that it's fair to say they didn't do enough or they could have been better. But on the other side, and what Colby was saying was they didn't disappear. Let's go back to leaves. Matthew's Marner, they disappeared rounds to round two this year, years

past, they've disappeared in those moments. McDavid and dry saddle were shut down. And to what you were saying earlier, that goes to Barkov and Forzling and the job that they did, the job that the bet, like how well the bench was run to make sure that they were getting the matchups they needed and on top of that, by the way, I don't know how much it was noted. The depth stepped up in the moments that they were needed to when they were put out against McDavid or caught against McDavid and Dreisaitl when it was on an icing. No, but you saw like, this was like, again, this is, somebody has gone back and forth with

Troy Smith the other day, and one of the things, when I was doing junior hockey, and Smitty would always come on with me, and we were doing a, oh jeez, it was Greyhounds and Eerie Otters, interestingly enough, it was Darnell Nurse, who was one of the D, and whenever, Sheldon Keefe would have been the coach, and whenever McDavid had the puck,

Nal Block would have been the coach there. Sheldon Keefe was Chris N the coach and whenever McDavid had the puck, Knobloch would have been the coach there. Sheldon Keefe was Chris Knobloch. McDave would have the puck. Sheldon Keefe would have like four players. It was hilarious. It was like a firing squad, all around him. All around Connor McDavid. He was like circled. And I'm watching the Florida Panthers and I'm like, it's the same thing. So it didn't really matter like if you're not Barkov and you find yourself caught out there with Connor McDavid we all circle. We all swarm and surround him with bodies. Now we've seen McDavid wiggle out of that but the thing about the thing about how Florida plays is like the attention to detail where the sticks are.

Like you have to really really love hockey to really get into that kind of stuff. But like where the sticks are, where the body positions, how are you funneling the player, like what are you opening up and where are you sending the player, like what avenues are you opening. So like he thinks this is an escape when really this is a trap and nobody did it better than the Florida Panthers. Nobody did it better. Yeah that's what I that's what I want then then you have McDavid going against his own instincts to try to escape it's like a total mind fuck so hard it really is well that's bravo last said intimidated I like yesterday I think he was making the right point I think we're intimidated was just the wrong word I think he was making the right point. I think intimidated was just the wrong word. I think there was just like a moment of realization for McDavid.

If that makes sense, where he's just like. What now? Like, where do I go? Like, who, how do I play this? And also, by the way, did you notice this was one of those things where I just went, this is why they're different and it's a small stupid thing Three and a half minutes left in the game

The Florida Panthers are winning by four goals about to win the Stanley Cup and they are finishing checks Hammering Oilers defensemen down below the goal line and stuff and it's like yeah It's so minute and obviously you play to the final buzzer but like you're winning the game having said having said that man they all get off the bench way before the final buzzer it was like 10 billion tweets saying where's the too many men call it's like he's watching it count down like 10 seconds that they're taking buckets off and they're going over the boards. I'm like I

Know it doesn't matter. I know the score is not gonna change but uh Do either these officials have the stones to make a call right now? I kind of wish they did I Wish they did it just would have been hilarious. Just like I wished in 1999 after Brett Hall of Foot and Crease, the Buffalo Sabres didn't leave the ice. Yeah. They should have just stayed. No way. Uh-uh. Not a chance. Keep looking at it. Keep looking at it over and over and over again. We're not going to leave the ice.

and over and over again we're not going to leave the ice but it would have been funny if someone called too many men on the ice yes it would have been it would have been 18 guys in the box though imagine to the third all like looking the refs blowing the whistle down trying to call it they're all yeah just what she seems want to go in business for yourself and be that guy who did that. But man, they got out there early. Okay, we got crispy, right? We got crispy to do today, we got crispy.

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in the six cup container. Max Crisp, bake, air fry and re-crisp with the Ninja Crispy. You can prep, cook and store anything from crispy favorites to one dish meals. What do we have in the inbox today? Zach. This comes in from our friend General Soreness. He says, Jack Rue, instead of the same old booing

of the NHL commissioner, let's change it up. I would love to see the captain of the outgoing champs award the Stanley Cup to the captain of the newly crowned champions. Fun way to close the book on one reign and usher in a new one in the event of a repeat champion. A surprise legendary figure of the winning organization's choosing could award Lord Stanley to the team captain. Your thoughts? award lord stanley to the team captain your thoughts well this is a back-to-back so who do you grab from panther's lord to do it you probably do it with someone from the 96 team maybe you do it with our buddy at jovanoski maybe you do it with the rat king himself scott melonbee the og Rat, the Rat Killer, those would be the two that come to...

Rat Warner. What's that? There's another... Rat Warner. Rat Warner. Rat Warner. Um, I think you could also... Because they've...

This is gonna get like intensely political here but here I go, because they've never kissed and made up and it was a great era for Florida Panthers hockey, I would love to see Doug McClain. Doug McClain as a legend, the coach that took them to their first Stanley Cup final, albeit they bowed out in four against Colorado. But there's no love lost between the two sides. That to me would be a great thaw if they went that route. And I do like the idea, by the way.

I've mentioned that on the old pod that I did with Elliott. I don't know if I've mentioned it here before, Zach. I do love it, but then I'm a sucker for like hockey history and lineage and transition from one to the other. I just think that that person would be such a great joining figure. That I mean that's it that's an easy one for me. Although I think then that would just be there would just be like two people getting booed at the same time. Yeah, except apparently if it's in South Florida, there's not much booing going on. They kind of

squashed that. I never understood like, first of all, I have to applaud Gary Batman at this point, because there have been like honestly, he's been presented the option of not going out to do this. the option of not going out to do this, but I admire the fact that the Commissioner of the NHL still has a respect for how the Stanley Cup has always been presented by presidents because until Gary Bettman there are always presidents not commissioners and he respects that tradition and he understands that this is part of the job. That the then president, now commissioner of the NHL, hands out the Stanley Cup to the captain of the team.

I admire how he respects that, even though it is a kind of negative moment. And especially at home, like the commissioner is there with the Stanley Cup, giving your team the Stanley Cup, why would you scar it by booing in the first place? Guys giving you like the ultimate prize, presenting you with the ultimate prize in your sports. How could you even think to boo at a second like

that? I know people might still be sour about you know the the lockout of 0405 but still like the league's stronger than ever worth billions of dollars. Like you know the stories I tell you about 93 when Commissioner Betman took over, it's nothing nothing like it. It's run today. Like, Betman took years and years shoveling out the barn until they could present this product now that we all enjoy. Anyhow, a long-winded way of saying, General Soreness, I love

the idea. Zach, do you like the idea? Yep, I like the idea. I think it's cool. I think it'll be fun, but you know what it sucks for? You know what it sucks for? The old captain. Bingo! Everyone's else like in Cabo, like enjoy their vacations with their family. I gotta fly around with Phil Pritchard. Now like Phil, Phil's a great guy. Phil's got great stories. I'd like to be with my family now. He's got the cup and I gotta stand there and go,

here you go, there's your cup. That's my job. But I gotta follow it around. Think about this exact scenario and let's just flip this year with last year. So it's Mark Stone who's got to go Well, he could hand it out last night But he could also hand it out on Friday in Edmonton. So last night Edmonton wins. You're back and forth. He's got

18 connecting flights. No, honey. They lost. No. Yes. I'm I don't know when I'm yes. I know look It wasn't my idea that that dumb podcast, the one about three o'clock with Merrick, yeah you know that one, yeah well there's buddy Zach here, read this email and now I gotta follow the freaking couple. Yeah exactly, yeah he picked this email and I'm screwed for about a week, two weeks, so yeah, sorry. No, I'm just going on the ice with the commissioner. I'm not even touching, oh honey,

I'm not even touching the cup. I'm just standing there, I'm a prop. I'm gonna go out there, I'm gonna do statue practice. Yeah, it sucks. Elevator practice, yes hon, call it whatever you want. I'm just gonna stand there beside the cup while the commissioner presents. I know, it's not my idea.

No, I'm not getting paid, no. No, no, there's no extra money for us. No, no money outside of the system. That's a CBA issue, hon. Sorry, I can't. Look, talk to my agent. Yeah, no, that wouldn't work. That wouldn't work. I do like the idea, though. I do like the idea. Okay, one more thing before we let everyone release everybody here into the free.

The shoot is powered by FanDuel, home of the same game Parlay. Make every moment more on FanDuel. FanDuel, proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them. This is where Zach gets really creative every day here on the show. And FanDuel gets creative. And FanDuel gets creative here alongside us. And thank you to our friends at FanDuel. What are you serving up today, Zacharoo? I'm glad you talked about it with Barnaby. I wasn't sure if you were going to get there,

but I was for sure going to do it. And Fandual has a fun market, so this is where people can start to get the rat wheel going a little bit. Mitch Marner's official AAV on his next contract market. I looked at Vanduul at this one. Less than $10.999 million dollars, $11 million plus $6,000 between $11 to $12 million plus $1400. $12 to $13 plus $300. The favorite for this one $13 to $14 million minus $140 and then $14 million to $15 million plus $ 140 and then 14 million to 15 million plus 150 there is a 15 million plus which was also much higher odds but specifically Jeff I wanted to pinpoint this because of the conversation you had with Barnaby could he take less? Yes in a no state in a no tax state he could. Could he take less?

I don't know, he sure did. Like playing with Sam Bennett at the Four Nations. I'll say 12 to 12.9 is where he ends up. But I could see him taking less if it's a team like the Florida Panthers. So you think even without a Florida team, it would be still 12 to 12.9? Because I think it's in the 14 ballpark. So whether that be 13.5 to 14.5, I think it's not.

Yeah, but the thing is like, ballpark. So whether that be 13.5 to 14.5 I think it's now. Yeah. So I, but the thing is like, I think the part of Marner's motivation at this point isn't just grab the biggest bag of loot. And listen, I know I may be in the minority on this one. And I think that that, that Matt Barnaby is, is, is, is thinking along the lines of how a lot of other people think about it, and that is whoever offers the biggest check is gonna get Mitch Marner. So that could be Utah, that could be Anaheim. I don't know that Marner wants to jump in a situation where it's a team that's looking to just make the playoffs and clear that hurdle, as opposed to they want to clear the hurdle of winning a Stanley Cup. Now, if you're at that spot, generally you don't have enough money to bring in a 12 or 13 million dollar hockey player

because you don't have that hole in your salary cap. Again, I could see Vegas, but I think a lot of that depends on the health of Alex Patrangelo and the future of Alex Patrangelo. So I will say Vegas. I think Carolina is, they've shown interest in him a couple of different times. So that would make sense. I just don't, maybe it's because I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of

him being a 14 million dollar player. But I'm warmer to the idea that it ends up being a little bit more in a no tax state in the United States. But having said that, he could surprise everybody and say, I'll take nine in Florida if they lose a couple of those guys. Just to torture you and just to juice the ratings for all of our Leafs program here at The Nation Network. Yeah, that's it. So, look, just selfishly, I'll tell you this. You know, like, I'm going away a couple days after free agency and I'm gone for a little bit. I saw the report that Marner could sign mid July and I went, are you kidding me? I'm going to be on vacation with my girlfriend and I'm going to find out he

signed and I'm going to be doing like Leafs Nation hits in on vacation. And she's like, really? Like this is what we're doing. Buckled. Tan slash burned. And your girlfriend just gonna be like, you told me this would be no work. But Arnur just signed. Sorry Mitch signed in Florida for 8.5.

What's his bonus for the cons, Mike? What's his bonus for the ConceiMite? Ha ha ha ha ha teams your favorite team in free agency. We return tomorrow 3 o'clock Eastern. Don't forget tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. Eastern Johnny Lazarus and Colby Cohen the Impact players morning cup of hockey tomorrow DFO live at noon and then we're back here at 3. Thanks to Matt Barnaby for stopping by. Thanks to you for being part of the chat, watching on YouTube, or listening in your ears, because where else would you listen?

On your favorite, or maybe your least favorite, podcast platform. We'll be back tomorrow. Congrats, cats. 15 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month I can't get out my head, lost all ambitions day to day Guess I can call it a ride I went to the dark man, he tried to give me a little medicine I'm like, nah man, that's fine

I'm not against those methods but you It's me, myself and how this gon' be fixing my mind I do wanna break it I turned on the music I do wanna break it I turn on the music I'm easy It's enough to help out But you're sometimes losing Helping on the days that went wrong