The Sheet with Jeff Marek - The Highs and the BuffaLOWS ft. Troy Smith

Episode Date: December 4, 2024

Jeff Marek discusses the precarious situation the Buffalo Sabres are dealing with, Patrick Laine's return to action, Gaudreau night in Calgary, Tyler Seguin's injury situation in Dallas, and is joined by Troy Smith for some in-depth film breakdown as well as a trip down memory lane to talk about the Danbury Trashers...Connect with us on ⬇️Daily FaceoffX: https://x.com/DailyFaceoffInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailyfaceoff/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoff/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dailyfaceoff?lang=enWebsite: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/The SheetX: https://x.com/thesheethockeyInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesheethockey/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thesheethockeyDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you're looking for flexible workouts, Peloton's got you covered. Summer runs or playoff season meditations, whatever your vibe, Peloton has thousands of classes built to push you. We know how life goes. New father, new routines, new locations. What matters is that you have something there to adapt with you, whether you need a challenge or rest. And Peloton has everything you need, whenever you need it.

Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at one you need, whenever you need it. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. Okay, so I'm allegedly a grown man. So I should not believe in curses. That's right, curses. I want to talk to you about the Buffalo Sabres.

Tuesday night, the Sabres threw away a four-goal lead against the Colorado Avalanche. It was spectacular. They were at home. They were met with boos again. Now, this is a first, squandering a four-goal lead like this. This is a first for this franchise whose history stretches back to 1970 expansion. You know, players after the game felt that they felt panicky. This is what they said. Now, we all know what's at stake this season, and it's gotten all the way down to the locker room. And now the players are talking about it. You know, recently I ran into an NHL friend of mine, a scout friend,

at last week's CHL USA Prospects game, and I welcomed him with a, hey, what's up? And he responded, you know, Groundhog Day. Meaning, for a scout, another day, another game. This is Groundhog Year for the Buffalo Sabres. 13 seasons of no playoffs, and we all know what happens if that flips to 14. This guy's too slow.

This guy can't defend. These guys can't defend. This guy can't produce. This guy's mailing it in. This blue line can't defend. As the losses pile up, the finger pointing gets sharper and sharper. And the long-term big money contracts don't make it any better.

When young players struggle after signing big ticket deals, it all kind of compounds. You know, a few years ago, the Edmonton Oilers handed out monster contracts to players coming off through entry-level deals. And we all kind of had a chuckle as we walked by a sign in the Oilers' dressing room that read, quote, earned, not given. How was the Sabres' situation any different? You know, after last night, the pressure on general manager Kevin Adams ratcheted up to do something, maybe even do something big. The Sabres have done huge deals in the past. See Eichel, see O'Reilly, see Reinhardt. And watching them all win cups elsewhere, along with Montour, Pozo, Kulikov and Rodriguez, may just leave the organization feeling a little bit gun-shy about deals, but leaving this as is, that's probably no longer an option. Hope is not a

plan. You've heard that one before, right? This is, and these are, the Buffalo Sabres. Now, as someone mentioned to me online last night, something we don't talk about very often with the Sabres, all this losing over and over again, you have a generation of fans who have found something else to do, something else to watch, something else to be involved in. You know, we've had a couple of time to look in the mirror games this week, the Rangers Devils, and now this. Oh, hi. Welcome to The Sheet for Wednesday, December the 4th. Don't believe in curses, Jeffrey. Don't believe in curses. No such thing as curses.

Even though... And welcome to the program. Glad to have you aboard today. Even though I can still vividly recall my parents when I was young and impressionable talking to me about Larry Hillman and the Hillman Hex. The story goes Hillman was not protected for the expansion draft. Got picked up by the Philadelphia Flyers. This would have been 67 and said, the Maple Leafs will never win a Stanley Cup again. Good call, Larry.

I believe he lifted the hex when Brendan Shanahan took over the team. But nonetheless, don't believe in curses. But I think we all do wonder. And that's the second look in the mirror game this week. As I mentioned, Devils and Rangers. And now what happened to the Swords last night? You do wonder if the time is nigh right now for Kevin Adams to do something and maybe something large, because this cannot continue. here on Zach Phillips. Zach, before we get to the topics and before we get into who's on the show, Troy Smith, Hockey IQ, it's going to be a lot of fun. Before we get into Jacob Middleton with an all-timer last night, I have breaking news from the Ontario Hockey League. Let me read this out to you. OHL, just breaking a couple of hours ago. OHL disciplinary action. Saginaw's Michael Misa has been suspended for one game as a result of actions,

game misconduct, shooting objects out of playing surface on December 1st at Sarnia. Now, what this tweet from the Ontario Hockey League doesn't mention is the game on December 1st against Sarnia was the teddy bear toss game and what michael misa did was flip a teddy bear back into the stands after the teddies hit the ice after sarnia scored a goal now zach have you ever been to a teddy bear toss game uh no i have not it's one thing on my hockey bucket list that I desperately would like to be a part of. I'm not. You have to go.

You have to go. So I go every year. My family and I go. We go every year in Oshawa. Rocco Tulio, Roger Hunt, they do a great job. They put on a great teddy bear toss game. So we go every season. It's a lot of fun.

As a matter of fact, here's a quick story for you. The first teddy bear toss game we ever took the kids to was Oshawa against Belleville. And Michael Del Cole, Islanders fifth overall draft pick, first round, Michael Del Cole scores, and here come the teddy bears. And my kids are really young, and my two boys, and they're throwing bears, and it's awesome, and it's great, and it takes a while to get all the bears collected up. We've seen all the visuals before. It's a great, it's a wonderful event. Hershey does a great job with it. I think the whole thing started in the Western Hockey League. OHL has picked it up. Other leagues have, the OJ has, like a lot of other leagues have picked it up. So anyways, the bears hit the ice, they clean

them all up. The whole thing takes about 20 minutes. then i'll never forget this on the ice next shift after the bears hit the ice like a great family moment kids yay woo this is awesome belleville throws out jake marchman mason marchman's brother and uh the oshawa generals respond the guy I have the name of Hunter Smith. It was a Calgary Flames draft pick. Might've been the toughest player in the OHL at that time. And so I turned to my wife and I'm like, look who's lining up. And she's like, what?

I'm like, Marchmont and Smith. And she's like, okay. And I'm like, they're going. Yeah. She's like, no, like they said teddy bears and kids are laughing. It's sure enough. They dropped the puck. And these guys, like they're throwing punches from the cellar.

Like bam, bam. Like right after this beautiful tender family moment with teddy bears. Yeah. These guys are like throwing knuckles into each other's faces. And I'll never forget it. My oldest son, TJ, turned to my wife and said, mom, why are they fighting? And she sort of turned his head around to me and said, ask your dad. And it was the first, like explain this fighting con. I think it was the first hockey fight I ever saw. Explain this

fighting concept to your son. Anyhow, I think we'll probably need a little bit more context on this. Like technically that is a penalty and that is a suspension. You're not allowed to throw things into the stands at all. Do you remember, I said last year, was it last year or two years ago, player with the Toledo walleye threw a chicken, shot a chicken nugget back into the stands that had been thrown on the ice. Do you remember that story? Yeah, I'm not making it up. ECHL story.

One of the fans threw like a chicken nugget or a chicken wing or something like that on the ice. And this Russian kid, I think it was Toledo Walleye, just fired it so the play could continue, fired it back into the stands. I think he was suspended as well. At least he was penalized for the game. You're on the Google machine trying to find that one? Yeah. I think it was Toledo Walleye,

the last year or the year before. Either just a game ejection or maybe a game suspension, you're not allowed to do that. But then again, like, you know, I was talking to someone about this story. One of the things about teddy bear toss games as well, like some of the kids are too young to understand like why the teddy bears are hitting the ice.

And some kids are just like, I just had a teddy bear. And now mom and dad or my brother just chucked this thing on the ice and I've seen kids cry before. So was Michael Mesa just trying to be the nice guy and send it back to the kid who was crying because their teddy bear? I don know all i know is by the way jeff okay so what's this what's the story what was that was it a nugget or a chicken wing uh december 2023 toledo walleye forward carill uh oh boy uh there's three y's in there okay uh was was penalized i apologize to him i would like to

get that right but to your taylor i'll guess okay was penalized for shooting a chicken nugget into the nugget okay during a game uh this a student threw a chicken nugget onto the ice and he cleared it off instead of waiting for someone else to do so is the nice way that this was put in this article. Okay. First of all, fans don't throw things on the ice. Don't like, don't, don't, don't throw things on the ice. Although I'll tell you, I'm getting so sidetracked here. One of my favorite stories, um, about Roger Nielsen, the late great coach, captain video, they called him. He didn't introduce video into the NHL. It had been used before him, but he popularized it. But when he coached in junior hockey in Peterborough, what he would do, I mean, a number of things he would do, had Ron Stackhouse in net for penalty shots. But what Roger Nielsen would do is he'd always use his timeout early because he knew he could

always get more timeouts. And what he would do is he always had a couple of students behind the Peterborough Pete's bench. And if he needed needed another timeout he'd sort of give them the wink or the nod or whatever the secret signal was and all of a sudden a couple of eggs would hit the ice and then there'd be a pause and you'd have to clean them up like roger always had a way to get what he wanted and when he was coaching a game anyhow uh michael misa that goon we should ask troy smith about that because he coached in junior hockey uh with saginaw with kitchener uh we'll ask him about teddy bear toss games and throwing things into the stand michael me said that goon suspended one game was an eventful week for michael misa left off the world junior roster um got in a fight with porter martone line mate at the uh

chl usa matchup and uh now. Teddy bear toss game. Tough week for Misa. BU's interested though, by the way. There's other colleges, but threw that in the blog this week. All right. So yesterday, if you'll recall on this program, as I ran down a list of people from Stratford, Ontario, players and otherwise, because the band that does the intro for this podcast slash show, Small Town Strip Club, are from Stratford. And I got a text from John, the lead singer, saying, don't forget

about Jacob Middleton. And so we did a little thing on Jacob Middleton, Mr. Irrelevant, was last player picked at the Aaron Eckblad draft in Philadelphia, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And then Jacob Middleton yesterday scored a goal in a really exciting game between the Minnesota Wild and the Vancouver Canucks. Karel Kaprizov with the overtime heroics. That was an awesome overtime, by the way, between the Canucks and the Wild. Jacob Middleton with an all-time interview, not just for the obvious reasons, but I think just the tone and how he's talking about this team, which sounds like a lot of fun, by the way.

When's the last time it was fun to play in Minnesota? Here's Jacob Middleton with Kevin Gorg after the game yesterday. Have a peek and a listen. So many heroes tonight for the home team. One of them is this guy right here, Big Jake Middleton. Physical, fast hockey game. What was it like watching that overtime? Yeah, so much fun.

Gus was unbelievable. Kirill stayed out there for two minutes. Brock had a two-minute shift, too. Everyone played unbelievable. Kirill, top titty, two by four to end the game. That was unbelievable. Kirill stayed out there for two minutes. Brock had a two-minute shift, too. Everyone played unbelievable. Kirill, top titty, two by four to end the game. That was nice. Why is this team able to win a hockey game so many different ways?

Stick together, dude. That's what you saw tonight. They want to go after our big dogs. We'll go after theirs, and we'll play longer than they do. And this crowd, it did not feel like a weeknight. This felt like a weekend party. How much do you guys feed off the the big crowd here in st paul every night that's unbelievable every night is saturday when you're having fun in a place like this right it sure is it's also big fun when you

win jake congratulations on a goal and a big w for the minnesota wild thanks gorgie take care okay so that was funny um that was awesome but But so I sent this clip out yesterday to someone that I know with another NHL organization. And this is the text that I got back. This person loved it, but not for the obvious way he described the goal. In their two settings, dormant and erect. This is what he writes back. Quote, it's the values he speaks on about being together. It's not the tone or the comedic sound. It's just the pure contact of we're together. This is fine. This is what it's about. This is fun. I think it's safe to say any team that is managed by Bill Guerin is going to have an element of fun along with it.

And right now it's fun to be a member of the Minnesota wild when you're winning games. And I keep maintaining that, you know, the Minnesota wild, they're sort of all built around what happens next season when they get the pre's and the suitor buyouts off their books. But right now it's flat out fun to be a player with the Minnesota. Well, Zach, do you have a thought on what we heard yesterday from Jacob Middleton? Well, first of all, maybe the best comment so far in the chat here, which I am reading them all show, by the way, for people in there. Singzy says, this morning I told my wife.

Awesome. I saw him tweeting yesterday about everything. I saw him in the chat. He said, this morning, I told my wife the eggs were top titty. She didn't speak to me for two hours. Yeah, don't try that one at home, folks. That tends to not go over very well. Oh, but, but hon, you don't understand. Like Jacob Middleton, Kevin Gorgla, a big overtime win.

I just like the honesty. And like you said it there, but it's like you're having fun. That's what, you know what? It's a business.'s it's a professional sport you're supposed to have fun these interviews are awesome like i i mean they can be following toronto and like yes they can be but like grabenkin having these interviews and guys these are the russian guys having these unbelievable quotes and it's like guys show a little bit of personality and have fun we should embrace this that interview was awesome but yeah like singzy yeah be careful how you use that top titty if you're looking for flexible workouts peloton's got you covered summer runs or playoff season meditations whatever your vibe peloton has thousands of classes built to push you we know

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Things he's awesome. And by the way, he's a star of the Morning Cup of Hockey show in the morning's chat, which I still maintain is the second show. That show is two shows. There's the actual show and then there's the chat, which is a show itself. Okay, Zach, what do we have on the program today? What's the rundown for the program today? Here's where we're starting.

We are going to start by talking about, man, the Buffalo Sabres. I say it every year. I said it last night on Twitter. Every year I start the same thing. I just say, I just want the Buffalo Sabres

to be good. I've wanted it for so long. I grew up with the voice of Ted Darling as my play-by-play guy. I got to work for his son, Joel Darling. Beautiful family. Noah, his son's a great hockey guy. I got to work for his son, Joel Darling. Beautiful family.

Noah's son's a great hockey guy. I just want Buffalo to be good. Last night was not good for the Buffalo Sabres, and I wonder if a big move is on the horizon. Speaking of good, good on the Calgary Flames. Good on the Columbus Blue Jackets. Good on everybody at Scotiabank Saddledome. Good on Ryan Leslie for the interviews. Good on the Goudus blue jackets good on everybody at scotia bank saddle dome good on ryan leslie for the interviews good on the goudreau family everybody has their own process for healing

and for grieving as well last night was beautiful uh we'll talk about the goudreau night calgary flames over the columbus blue jackets three nothing the score doesn't matter the game didn't matter just the fact that everyone was together playing hockey and the first star was i mean goudreau first star that was a beautiful thing good Good on you, Pat Steinberg, for that one. Patrick Laine returned, and it's not just about the goal, but he looked good all game long. I want to get into why I really like Patrick Laine and what he's been through as well to get to this point of his career. Because, listen, as we all know, there are a couple of false starts along the way troy smith is going to join us from hockey iq so a couple of things with smitty so he's a former

coach with the uh ohl's kitchen rangers and saginaw spirits uh coached uh at the u17s as well coach conor mcdavid getting to some conor mcdavid stories if you follow him on social his social feed hockey iq is fascinating and one of the more recent ones is how teams are getting to, quote unquote, break the Winnipeg Jets or figure out the Winnipeg Jets. And also, Smitty, when he played, played for the Danbury Trashers, I believe in his last year of professional hockey. We've all seen the documentary. We all know about Danbury. So we're going to get some stories from Smitty about the Danbury trashers. We're going to get to Smitty here coming up in a couple of seconds.

More on goalie interference. Was that not an easy call to make last night in that Carolina-Seattle game? That Joey Decord, here comes Eric Robinson. And that's an easy one, right? Like that one's coming back all day long. Am I missing something here? We'll get into goalie interference one more time because again, last night online, I still, I still saw the, I don't even know what goalie interference is. Hey, you're in the media. There's a phone pick up and call someone and maybe ask what goalie

interference is. Tyler Sagan, bad news. Um, Tyler Sagan is announced by the Dallas stars today. Hip surgery again. Uh, this is going to keep him out a number of months. We'll get. Tyler Sagan, bad news. Tyler Sagan is announced by the Dallas Stars today. Hip surgery again. This is going to keep him out a number of months. We'll get into the Tyler Sagan situation. That line with the Shana Marchman has been so good as well. It's been fantastic. And boring hockey. So we've had a couple, as the Lions

share of hockey in the NHL so far has been really good. PWHL as well. They had a great weekend. Every night you're going to see some really good hockey, but we do have to note when there's bad hockey games and dull hockey games. We saw one last night between the Oilers and the Vegas Golden Knights. What would you do if a hockey game happened and nothing happened? But there was also one last week between the Buffalo Sabres and the Los Angeles Kings. I'm trying to figure out in my mind which game was worse.

Maybe they're tied. How about that? In the meantime, we'll bring on our feature guests of the show here today. He is Troy Smith. He is a former head coach of the Kitchener Rangers and the Saginaw Spirit of the OHL. His social media feed, check him out on IG. That's where I do most of my living for Smitty. Hockey IQ is the feed.

Some fascinating breakdowns. I think a lot of this is aimed at players and coaches as well. And he's here to share some insight and some great stories as well. Please welcome on the sheet with Troy Smith. How are you today, Smitty? I'm great, Jeff. How about you? Thanks for having me on. The pleasure is all mine. Now, before we get to the videos, before we get to your time with Danbury and the Trashers, did you see the recent news about Michael Misa today? I actually just heard it as I was listening to your intro. And based on the rule book, you actually got off easy. And I'll use Saginaw as the example.

The year, I think they were in the conference finals, Ivan Prosvitov, after a big save or a game, I can't remember, smashed the puck into the crowd and 10 games in the middle of playoffs. But obviously it's the teddy bear toss, which I'm sure there was no harm, but the rules are the rules and tough one for Misa. Tough one for Misa, tough one for Saginaw. I mean, listen, the Kitchener Rangers, I mean, when you were there certainly as well,

Kitchener Rangers always have a proud tradition of teddy bear toss games. I think they were the first team in the OHL to do the teddy bear toss. In the Western Hockey League, these nights are legend and they're spreading. Hershey Bears do a great one for all the obvious reasons. What's a teddy bear toss game like for a coach? Horrible. Absolutely awful. And I'll tell you this, this is the truth. The win is just getting a goal. And the sooner you can get the goal as a coach, you're happy. Nobody ever wants to get shut out. It's obviously a great thrill when you see all the bears go out and everything goes for

a great cause, but it is not the most fun as a coach. You're really nervous. It's almost like a playoff game because you know it's going to make the media if you don't score goals. So the earlier, the better. But I think the latest we went in was, I want to say it was the third period.

So there was a game, Smitty, Portland Winterhawks, Vancouver Giants that went into overtime. And this is when Portland had taken a downturn and Vancouver was really good. It was 0-0, games in Portland, and it goes to OT at Bagels, Portland scores. But if Vancouver would have scored, like that would have been, you can find it online. The place pops a cork out of a champagne bottle. Like, I don't know what you would do with the Bears if the other team would have scored and it would have been one nothing and you had to go home with the Bears or you just

throw them on the ice at the end. I don't know. Hand, I don't know. Anyway. Okay. So there's the teddy bear toss fun. Let me ask you before we get to these videos, and you brought a video for us.

Tell us the story. You played for Danbury one year, and we've all seen the documentary about how crazy it was. But every time I've talked to you about it, you've always made the point they could have done five or six of these documentaries. There are so many stories. Every player who ever played for Danbury has a story. Can you tell us the story with as much color as you can for the podcast

audience? The story of Frankie Bailoas, legendary tough guy and his one game with Danbury. Yeah, absolutely. So he played six games total. I was there for one of them and that year he hadn't played for us and to kind of backtrack and give everybody an idea as to how i knew who he was and things like that there was a player sean mccosh who lived with me uh steelhawks way way back and in 1998 i went to joe lewis arena with jesse bowlerler, who was a Flyers prospect at the time. We went to the Phantoms dressing room. It was during the 98 Olympic break. So they had, I don't know if it was Adirondack or Grand Rapids, doesn't matter.

But I knew who Frank was because of that. So fast forward to 2006, I'm playing for the infamous Danbury Trashers. And you are right. There's a version of stories that probably could never be told and need to be told at a bar or some type of setting like that and then there's still plenty of other stories that that can be told publicly but it was a pretty nondescript night it was a Tuesday night we were playing Adirondack and the reality is is that because of some things that Barry Melrose said and I want to say that Steve Levy did as well they were the owners of the Adirondack. And the reality is, is that because of some things that Barry Melrose said, and I want to say that Steve Levy did as well. They were the owners of the Adirondack team. Jimmy Galante and

AJ really didn't like Adirondack and they were our closest rival. They had a great team as well, but I walk into the dressing room just like any other game. And as I'm walking to my stall, all of a sudden I look and i'm in my head and holy shit it's frank the animal i'm kind of looking around just completely confused and don't think much of it we all start talking in the dressing room what's frank doing here all the whispers in the corner nobody wants frank to hear it because we're all afraid of frank even though i ended up actually being a really nice guy um so we get dressed and and this was really the kicker that caught everybody off guard i don't think anybody knew about it so the way they had to redo that whole rink so you'd take it was about a four or five minute walk you'd

have to go down a couple flights of stairs through the auxiliary rink we get on the ice and anybody you know like yourself jeff that's a wrestling fan knows the sound of the undertaker so we get on the ice and it's all your dong dong thinking that's weird that's not our warm-up music that's nothing like we would normally come out to next thing we know we look down at the far end which is the adirondacks end and and they've got a video music that's nothing like we would normally come out to next thing we know we look down at the far end which is the adirondacks end and and they've got a video screen that's up on the wall that they utilize yeah and all it is is there's three or four it's about three or four minutes long but it's all clips of frank from the year before soccer punching guys trying to get away from the referees well we've got the video. Actually, pause for one second, Smith.

We're going to run the video here. If you could talk over top of it. So this is the video that they played for Frankie Bialowis, Danbury Trashers, as he had one job that day, Smith. And what was that job that he had that day? Well, he didn't get done, but we can talk about that later. But it was literally just to come in and fight an honest, tough guy named Blue Benefield. He was really tough.

But you can see this is playing on the board before the game where it's just Frank pounding on guys. And it looped for the whole thing. And then you see The Undertaker. Eventually it gets to, like, there's a sucker punch. All the things that Frank had done the year before, they just intertwine this. And as a player, you can imagine what I'm thinking. It's bad enough that we're literally just saying

we brought this guy in to be essentially a madman. And that's a nod to just how popular he was in philadelphia um where he even had a boxing match it looks like yeah so they played this throughout and throughout uh for the whole warm-up like think about that even just the the throat slash gesture was a different time different time not that long ago though but uh But as a player skating around, I'm thinking to myself, thank God we got about 19 other guys that are tougher than me. And I won't have to do anything tonight if this gets out of hand. Yeah. But imagine being Blue Benefield.

Well, if Zach, I've been calling Audible here. Is there a chance we can fast forward this and get it right to the conclusion? Like, I don't know if this qualifies smitty as putting a bounty on someone's head but he was brought in i think they paid him like three thousand bucks and there it is right at the end of the video this one's for you blue like if you blew benefield then you're seeing this in in warm-up and then during the game blue wanted no part of them no part we started they they to their credit they started blue we start frank the animal and we think okay they're gonna go and it'll be over with and we'll move on but yeah we play that and that is a bounty let's be honest

i'm pretty sure that's what man's head jimmy didn't care right i think jimmy yep i'm pretty confident that jimmy gave richard brosell the president of the united hockey league a check for whatever the amount was and basically just said when i run out of money call me and i'll send another check so he didn't care yeah but the puck drops frank starts trying to push him blue wants nothing to do with it frank's minus two but he goes home with three grand but legendary story because i've never seen anything i don't think you will ever see anything like that again no no but uh it's it's a story that i was shocked they didn't talk about in the documentary because really we did put a bounty on a man's head there there was no doubt it sounded like

stroller martin from my little slap shot movie uh okay really quickly i want i'm going to get to a couple of players in a couple of your videos at hockey iq which by the way i know you intended for players and coaches but this is like really valuable stuff for fans to try to understand the game and understand what's going on out there but before we get to the videos i want to ask about coaching against and also coaching connor mcdavid when you're coaching in the ohl you had to game plan against them and then you coach them at the u17s as well like what are some of the things that you can recall from a young connorDavid? First of all, unbelievable person. He's a phenomenal first class guy.

I think the biggest thing when you coach him, I remember at U17, it's a very condensed schedule. So coaches tend to overcoach a lot and show a lot of video in those tournaments. And I can remember watching him during the video sessions and he wouldn't not be looking but you could see his foot tapping which is usually a tail that somebody's for and remember asking him after one of the video sessions do you really not like videos it's okay like are you watching he goes yeah yeah i'm watching and sure enough though you get on the ice and he'd always be in the exact right spot. And, you know, to be that close to him on the good side of it, he just dominated that tournament. He was next level and coaching against them, not quite as enjoyable.

I'll be honest, we played Erie eight times a year, the two years that I was head coach in Kitchener. And he made us look bad pretty much every night. There was a lot of perceived broken ankles. The one thing about McDavid that I don't think people realize is his ability to gain speed as he's basically skating forward but crossing over. So it kind of goes one way, goes the other. It is better than anybody that I've ever seen.

And I remember the one game we did a pre-scout, and they had a face-off where essentially they won it to Connor. He skated around the net, and then I believe it was Debrinket to the back door. No wonder we didn't have a great record against the Otters during that time. And so before the game, van ryan uh draws it up we're ready for it we're prepared puck drops sure enough they run the same thing where connor grabs it goes around the net and basically we just said to the guys just stand in front put your sticks down get in the way don't go chase him if you go chase him he's going to find somebody else.

He still found him ranking on the back door. And he's just, he's a special player. You know, I don't think it takes anybody with any sort of hockey background to see just how special he is. But I would argue that one of his biggest things is not just spatial awareness, but when you watch him his ability to separate and this is what i was talking about with entries his ability to separate his upper half from his lower half is unbelievable and what i mean by that for those that are listening they can't see it is his legs can be going one way and his body's going a completely different way and the ability

to do that at top speed really separates a lot of players but in terms of the best in the nhl conor mcdavid's that person by a long shot all day every day okay i want to get to a couple of your videos here um the winnipeg jets have now lost four games in a row how like what are because we all know it's like teams will game plan and find out tendencies and then game planning against and now it's up to scott or neil to try to figure out okay teams are expecting this now what do i do in response there's one thing very specifically that you've isolated about winnipeg's game that teams like the dallas stars for example even national predators have been able to isolate and exploit. Walk us through this one.

Yeah. So first of all, I think I touched a nerve putting that on Twitter. I had quite a number of excuses from Jets fans. So I apologize. I was just trying to point something out and really trying to educate coaches and players. But essentially what it is, is their defensemen were pinching on every single breakout. So whether or not, generally speaking, for the most part, when the team has full control, and Nick, if you can just pause it by chance, when a team has full control, usually the D back off, you're going to skate forwards and gap up.

But you can see on the video that the defenseman comes right down. So you can let it roll now. And what was happening was basically in this game which was i think november 23rd nashville is just going to let that puck go by and you see in the video where those players were ready to go the other players so the centerman and the net front forward and the weak side forward were already ready to get up ice and essentially bypass that pressure when you bypass the pressure like that yeah a lot of times it's going to end up in an odd man rush because the forwards are too low trying to create offense and that's really what happened um you see

it once here this is in the first period that we're watching of the Nashville game where it's obvious that this is what they've talked about. They just reverse pinch or counter pinch, which what that means is the winger skates out and basically lifts the defenseman's stick or creates a battle where that puck can get past them. Let the puck, you know, it's funny too, because when the Pittsburgh Penguins won their last two Stanley Cups, I was talking to one of the Penguins defensemen, and he's like, this is how we won. We just had on every exit, our defensemen would drop down, even just to hold up, just to hold up the winger even a little bit. Our wingers would regroup, the turnover would happen, and we'd be right back into the zone. It's funny, too, because you look at that last goal,

the game-winning goal, I think it might have been Hornquist, the game against Nashville for the Stanley Cup. It's the exact play. And all the penguins defenders like just get in there and just slow them down just interfere stick in tiny things like that and this defenseman i was talking to said nobody figured it out we did it for two years we won two stanley cups we just kept the puck that's really the game it's just a whole bunch of little battles all over the ice, right? Yeah. One of the things that I think a lot of people are curious about when it comes to goal scores is how they get open. And I want to get to Austin Matthews here, but I want to tell a really quick story.

Brett Hull used to always have the great quote, the great line, sometimes the best way to be in the play is to be out of the play. Now, one of the great things that Brett Hall was always able to do was be able to get out of everyone's attention and then back into a scoring position, and then Adam Oates would find him and the puck would be in the back of the net. But that line always stuck with me. Sometimes the best way to be in the play is to be out of the play

and almost hiding on the ice. How does Austin Matthews do it? And just to your point, there's a lot of players that get lost. And one of the clips at the end of this is him skating behind the net. But Joe Pavelski was a master at that when he played as well. He was excellent at that. But really, it's amazing. I think the status, 75% of Matthew's goals are five on five or not powerful.

Some of them could be empty netters. But it's an insane stat that he can score that much when there's so little room on the ice. So my little nephew loves Austin Matthews Drew. So I started watching what he does. And it's really amazing. When you watch the clip, the big thing is, and we used to have a line, we'll watch this clip first. It's a clip on an entry where it's amazing to me that nobody on Chicago realizes that the most lethal goal scorer on the ice is

behind them, but he gets away from traffic. So to your point, Jeff, he's getting himself lost in that regard where he just slows down his patient waits for it watching here now um you know we we can keep it going the Boston clip shows a really good example of it as well here where it's on an entry and they just leave him but he knows where to go and we'll see here on the replay here, after the pucks moved, rather than just drifting off to a corner, those that aren't able to watch this right now, you'll see, he just goes right to the front of the net and he's in prime scoring position, but he's just so sneaky getting behind people watching here.

This is really the thing that he does the most. He's always facing the puck. We used to have a line in junior about if you got eyes in the back of your head, join the circus. Cause you'll make a lot more money. Matthews realizes that and look how he just, he's always pivoting and seeing where the puck is. And that's, that's a really hard habit for players to develop. But as you watch these clips,

it's obviously key to what matthews does like right here most players would turn their back and start heading towards the net he continually faces the puck and by doing that he's able to find that open ice and there he is that's from last year but he's wide open in the home plate which is the area in front of that what i would call the area in front of the net but it's all because he's looking at the puck, right? Facing the puck, sees how the play is going to develop. And even there, he just slows down and waits for Domi to get him the puck,

waits for that lane. And obviously he's got a lethal release, but for young players or coaches, you can see here, he doesn't stick handle it. For young players or coaches, that's what I would watch with Matthews is just what he's doing away from the puck. So right there he's covered.

We talked about this. He gets lost behind the net. But again, he's already looking to where he can go, so he knows what he wants to do with it before he gets the puck. Gets it, moves it past, jumps past to the net, and he's wide open. So really for me, that's the key with matthews is his ability to just view the play by always facing the puck he never turns his back on so you uh you spot shadowed something that i think is really salient for for a lot of players young

players specifically no dust there's no dusting of the puck before he shoots a lot of players will grab the puck and they'll load and load and load and load and all you're doing is allowing the goaltender time to get set to get square defense to read all of it he gets it it's gone you have a thought on that one for for matthews and for other players and that's the thing at the major junior level that would drive coaches nuts because as the talent pool gets smaller and smaller so does your time and space and the game is really quite simple defensively you want to eliminate it offensively you want to create it but offensively there's never going to be a lot of it so players need to learn and and i think the problem is you know let's call it instagram hockey jeff

where they see you know and it's all great stuff i don't want to say that it's not but they see the the highlight clips of people yeah they're handling around pucks and they think that that's actually effective in a game and it's not and really that's to go to my instagram that's what i'm trying to teach kids is most kids have can skate most kids are extremely skilled but the difference maker now is your compete level effort work ethic but then iq ability to read it so that's really so last night i was driving my kid home from practice and i was uh i was talking to colby cohen who's one half of the morning show here at daily faceoff, Morning Cup of Hockey. And we were talking about kids and skaters. And you're right.

And I always marvel at this whenever I go to a game these days, whether it's junior or whatever level. I always ask myself, where did the bad skaters go? Because no one's a bad skater anymore. Everyone has that sort of baseline of skating. Because if you can't skate, you can't play. Once upon a time, I was like, yeah, he can't skate, but look at that shot. Oh, he can't skate, but he's tough. It doesn't matter, you can't play. Like you just, once upon a time, I was like, yeah, he can't skate, but look at that shot. Oh, he can't skate, but he's tough.

Like all those, it doesn't matter unless you can skate anymore. It's all about what else you bring to the game. I want to get the final thought on Tom Wilson here in a couple of seconds, but really quickly from a teaching point of view, what's the one area that young hockey players, because the skills are all there,

what do they struggle with the most? of view what's the one area that young hockey players because the skills are all there what do they struggle with the most oh that's a i could go on for days about that but um i would say the biggest thing is is players and i'm stealing this from steve steos who gave me this line who and i think he stole this from craig mcavish i think is what he told me. Greatness borrows, genius steals. Pardon me? Greatness borrows, but genius steals. Oh, yeah. There we go.

Genius, go for it. Yeah. And as coaches, we always talked about R&D, which was research and duplicate, not research and design. And Craig's line was, your stick has to have a heartbeat and if you watch most minor hockey players it's little details where using that stick effectively and we talked about in terms of the shots if you got a good stick maybe you're going to get that stick in the lane to block more shots you know maybe you get that stick in the lane to just avoid a pass coming through presenting your stick in an area where you want it so the passer knows where to put it. I think that's the easiest thing and the simplest thing.

It's not as much an IQ thing as it is a habit, but it's such a weapon. So when you're on the ice, your stick has to have a heartbeat. I got about two minutes left with you. Make the case for Tom Wilson. Doesn't sound like he's going to be on Team Canada, but should he be on Team Canada? I'm going to put my Tom Wilson fan favorite hat on. I don't know who you take off,

but I really believe that Tom Wilson should be on Team Canada or would be a great asset. The reason why I say that is coaching against them. I was afraid for our defensemen going back for that puck, knowing that they were going to get hit. And when you watch Tom Wilson, he's won a Stanley Cup. He's having a great season. He's a leader.

But I think the biggest thing is, is that if you're on the other team and you're skating around for a warm-up, you're not thinking about Crosby. You're not thinking about McDavid. You're thinking about what is Tom Wilson going to do tonight and I think there's extreme value in that in terms of he's a distraction and I don't want to say it's fear but it is based on the way he plays and on top of that he can play in my opinion he can play in every situation he's a great team guy um the last time that that i believe he wore a canada

sweater it was actually a brilliant play you can find it on youtube as well where he got tripped up fell into the net previous in the tournament he'd hurt his wrist now he says his wrist was actually hurt i think he just played it up for the ref knowing that he probably wasn't our best shootout player goes to the bench we're able to put mat Matthew Campagna out, who scores an Instagram hockey goal. Here it is. Here it is right here. Here it is. Look at this one.

That's a beaut. Yep. Beauty. Totally Instagram hockey. I love it. But Tom's ability to understand that it was 4-3 in the game with, I think, about five or six minutes left. And his ability to think is underrated and I'll give you one last story just his intensity he brings everybody else's level up I'm really

fortunate that you know I run some skates for Matt Nickel and Tom Willie trains with with Matt in the summer and as a coach I have to do nothing and I told the juniors after uh when the so i ran the pros the juniors came on after i told the juniors because it was true during one of the practice tom was kind of willie was kind of giving it to me he's all right smitty let's go we got to move we got to move and he's pushing that pace and i was the juniors were a little bit lax i said to them guys you're gonna go to the pro level a guy like tom wilson he's yelling at me in the last practice to get things going in a good way that's the type of intensity you need and i think that intensity and that impact he makes physically on the game is the reason why he should be a part of that team

smitty you're the best uh where can people find you online pal they? They can find me at HockeyIQCan, so as in Canada, on Instagram. And then on Twitter, it's DTroySmith. Awesome. Check out these videos and learn the game that you love. We're going to have you back. I know you've got a million more videos and a million more Danbury Trashers stories as well. So park some time for us in the future, my friend. I will.

stories as well. So park some time for us in the future, my friend. If you're looking for flexible workouts, Peloton's got you covered. Summer runs or playoff season meditations, whatever your vibe, Peloton has thousands of classes built to push you. We know how life goes. New father, new routines, new locations. What matters is that you have something there to adapt with you, whether you need a challenge or rest. And Peloton has everything you need, whenever you need it. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca.

Appreciate it, Jeff. Thanks for having me. There he is, the great Troy Smith. Stopping by the program today was on the sheet. Okay, so a couple of topics that we haven't gotten to yet. We're going to bring aboard Zach Phillips, here our producer. Zach, where do you want to start today with our rundown that we let off with? Why don't we start with the Sagan news?

I'm curious what this means for Dallas, how they handle this. This is a long injury. Four to six months for Sagan here. I'm curious what this means for Dallas, how they handle this. This is a long injury, four to six months for Sagan here. It's a big surgery. It's a guy who's dealt with some significant injuries previously. And I mean, on top of that,

I feel bad for him as a person because he was having a great start to the season. But how does Dallas handle this in the meantime? Great question. Dallas, well, first of all, k joe mcdonnell and the entire scouting staff like they seem to have this uh uncanny ability to find players all over various rounds of the draft and uh and stick them in the lineups he's staying coven seabork most recently um first of all for tyler sagan the person player, he's had issues and surgeries on his hips before.

And we all know what happens when you get a little bit older as well. Tyler Sagan is not 22 years old anymore. And you're right, Zach, he was having an incredible season. That line with Duchesne and Mason Marchment, as much as we'll talk about the Rupe Hinn's line with the Dallas Stars, the other line, the Greybeards line, if you will, has been the better line, flat out, full stop. So that stinks for the Dallas Stars. Stinks for Sagan as well, because this isn't the first time this has happened to him. Like, I don't know about you, Zach, and you listening slash watching right now at home, but whenever a player has hip surgery, I always give them a year to fully recover. It's not something that

you just come, Oh, it's four to six and I'm back in five and I'm good to go. I always give them like a full year to recover from it, which is what makes, you know, Brad Marchand such a freak. Um, cause he was able to, to overcome it really quickly. Um, I hope the best for Tyler Sagan. I hope the best for the Dallas Stars in trying to replace Tyler Sagan. The thing about Sagan is he attacks rehab aggressively. Not that he comes back early, but he's kind of a warrior that way in that he doesn't just sort of sit back and say like, ah, it's going to heal when it's going to heal he's always aggressive about getting back in his and his rehab so don't be surprised if um if tyler sagan comes back sooner than expected but make no mistake about it like this one flat out sucks for the dallas stars who once again have stanley cup not just playoff aspirations but stanley cup aspirations

sucks for say again just sucks can we talk about line a and his return last night um i'm a leaves but Stanley Cup aspirations. Sucks for Sagan. Just sucks. Can we talk about Line A and his return last night? Of course. I'm a Leafs fan. I'm going to do Leafs shows. I was on Morning Take this morning, did Leafs Nation after dark. And the one thing I have to deal with from every corner of the internet

is Scotiabank is a library. Well, one thing I'm permanently jealous of is how not, or how opposite Scotiabank the Bell Centre is for Les Habitants. And last night was no exception with Patrick Laine making his return and scoring a beautiful goal for the Habs there. Scorch's goal. It's a signature goal for Patrick Laine. But it wasn't just the goal, too. Like, you're always curious about how a player is going to move

when they come back and watching that game against the Islanders yesterday. You're waiting to see the rust and the misstep and mishandling a puck or being behind on a play. Like we saw none of that from line at all. I've always had a soft spot on my heart for Patrick line. I always feel that every player is different and every player needs to be treated differently. I think there's a standard that you set for your team, but you have to understand the personality of all of your players. The Winnipeg Jets, specifically under Blake Wheeler, like they ran that room really hot. Like I understand the idea, like Sidney Crosby sets a work rate for the

Pittsburgh Penguins that everybody has to follow, but it's, you know, very quietly he does that. And players are almost embarrassed not to try to live up to a standard that Crosby sets for the Pittsburgh Penguins. This is why you could always make the argument that Crosby should always be in the conversation for the Hart Trophy, because that's how important he is to that team. Just his example, and McKinnon's the same way in Colorado. It's a standard that everybody has to follow. But the Wheeler-Shifley leadership group of the Winnipeg Jets, when Patrick Laine was there, it didn't work out great for Laine. His personality was, let's say, much more laid back than a lot of Winnipeg Jets players in that room were ready for.

And I'm not saying like they ran him out of town or ran him out of the room, but it really wasn't a fit for how that Wheeler group wanted to run the Winnipeg Jets and ultimately found himself with the Columbus Blue Jackets. I think one of the things that we all marvel about, about Patrick Laine is the shot and much like Austin Matthews. These two guys are probably the best in the NHL at scoring from distance, which is one of the hardest things you can do. We all think about, and Smitty just mentioned the home plate area where you shoot from and where you score most of your goals. Lyon-A scores from outside the home plate area. Matthew scores from outside the home plate area. These are two of the elites. I know that Lyon-A was

overwhelmed at the adulation from the thousands at the Bell Center. Let's play a clip here quickly, Zach, on Lion-A's reaction to how he was received at the Bell Center yesterday. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That was the most outrageous thing I've ever heard in my entire life. It's like, I don't deserve this. Not at all. But no, it'll be something for sure I'll remember forever. That was the coolest thing I've ever seen. Just getting that welcome even early on when I came here from the fans and from the studio overall.

And now, obviously, coming back to playing, it was pretty humbling, like I said, on the ice. You know, Zach, if you're like me, I know you're a Maple Leafs guy, dyed in the wool, I get it. But I don't cheer for teams, I cheer for players. And Patrick Laine is one of those guys that I cheer for. And the thing about Montreal Canadiens fans, and maybe that's why it kind of worked with Kovalev in Montreal,

where there was like a frustration that a lot of fan bases had at someone like Kovalev. I know he could take games off, but a lot of fan bases had at someone like Kovalev. I know he could take games off, but when he was on, he was really on and he was spectacular. Montreal Canadiens fans understand that type of greatness that you're not going to get it every day, but when you get it, it's going to be special. And maybe that's one of the reasons why, you know, Habs fans tend to cut a lot of high end superstars, a lot of slack, and they'll probably do so again with Laine. But it was just such a wonderful moment.

They're just so happy to see Patrick Laine back and scoring and the Habs winning. I think we all looked at this season for Montreal and said, I don't know if they're going to be a playoff team, but they're ready to take another step, and Laine is going to be a big part of it. And that's why the injury really burned and the losses started to pile up. I wish the best for Laine in this situation. I was really happy to see it, happy to see the goal. And I just think that the NHL is a lot better with Patrick line and players like him in the game. Good to see him name the team Finland as well. Yeah. I'm not going to pretend to be someone that I'm not.

So I'm just going to be honest with you. I hope that line a gets us back i hope he gets his confidence back because seeing a shattered player sucks like it really really does and seeing that from him last night i thought was awesome the post-game interview actually like made me a little bit emotional to see that reaction see the fans like that was really cool great but i hope line a scores 50 and the habs miss the playoffs jeff i'm not I'm not gonna lie to you here that's that's the reality I understand young Leafs fan I understand I understand what else we got one more thing I want to get to uh is boring hockey uh I caught a game last week I thought was maybe one of the most boring games ever and then you told me I I unfortunately missed this one last night but you told me

that the vegas golden knights and the edmonton oilers could rival this one uh and potentially actually bested as maybe the most boring game you've seen this year so the game that you're probably referencing is buffalo la correct yeah that was a dog man like i know it picked up a little bit in the third but uh like i don't know how you could have watched, even if you're like the most hardcore LA Kings or Buffalo Sabres fan, how you could have watched that game last week through two periods and said, yeah, I'm curious about the third, what it's going to look like. Yeah, I know. And you kind of like, I don't know about you, but yesterday's game kind of had the makings of a

really bad Stuart Skinner game. Like if you saw the Barberchev goal, you said to yourself, oh, this is going to be an ugly one for the Oilers. This has like six to one Vegas romp written all over it. But after that, like, dude, nothing happened. No penalty, like not even a hook or a trip or slash. And it puck over glass, you puck over glass.

Like, Oh, okay. They're opening the penalty box door. This is exciting. Nothing. Yeah. Nothing at all.

Like, I don't know. Like you can't hand out refunds for the tickets, but there've been a couple of games where fans probably like, we talked about Frank, Frankie by, I'll tell you this way. We talked about Frankie by Lois a couple of seconds ago with Troy like we talked about frankie by i'll tell you this way we talked about frankie by lois a couple of seconds ago with troy smith so they used to do

um and used to do this in the quebec semi-pro league as well maybe they still do um in philadelphia they do like guaranteed fight night and i think that if by lois didn't fight you got your money back if you didn't see a fight from frankie by yeah guaranteed fight night they do that in the queue all the time too right when like morasty and Jablonski were all running around, they do like guaranteed fight night. And if you didn't see a fight, you got your, your money back for the ticket or you got another ticket. Uh, I know you can't do that at the NHL level, but woof, I feel bad for those fans last night. And I feel bad for those fans in Los Angeles to have to watch that Sabres Kings game last week so we've we've seen listen oh again overwhelmingly

the hockey's been amazing this year in the NHL overwhelmingly good but when you see clunkers you got to point out clunkers and those those two games had a real order sorry fans they can't all be great games no I

agree final thing I want to ask you here before we get off and uh close this one out okay johnny goudreau uh the tribute in calgary the amazing job the flames did um honoring his dad bringing him in the room the first star of the game it's hard to imagine a tribute a ceremony whatever you'd like to call it that could have been better than the one that the flames put on last night for johnny guijar watching sean manahan with tears in his eyes at center ice yeah watching ryan leslie um talk to mom talk to meredith and gee and you mentioned gee in the in the room after he's a coach he gets it watching him on the ice. Good on you, Pat Steinberg. First star overall, first star. Good for you, Pat. Uh, everybody grieves in different ways. Like there's, there's no way. And I talked to a couple of people yesterday. It was like, man,

that was a really hard thing to watch. There's no right or wrong way to do it. Everybody grieves differently. Um, I applaud the Calgary flames for whatieves differently. I applaud the Calgary Flames for what they did. I applaud the Columbus Blue Jackets for everything that they've done for the Goodrow family and how that team is grieving publicly and how the Calgary Flames and their fans are grieving publicly for the loss of Johnny Goodrow and his brother, Matthew. I'm a dad. I've got kids. I can only imagine what that feeling is. Go down to the Philadelphia Flyers and John Tortorella for saying, gee, anytime you want, this door is open. You come on the ice, that's fine. Whatever you need to do for your healing. You know, one of the things

that I, and so to everybody who was part of that last night and Ryan Leslie, great job, former colleague of mine at the old shop, like Ryan is a first class guy and, you know, he was pretty close with, um, with Johnny Goudreau as well. So none of that could have been easy for Ryan Leslie. Um, everybody was first class. Everybody, everyone's heart is in the right place. A couple of things I want to mention here. When I think, and I mentioned this on morning cup of hockey this morning with the guys, when I think of, um, tough hockey players, Johnny Goudreau is right up around the top and here's why. There's two different types of toughness in hockey. There's like physical toughness where you impose your will on someone else physically. That is a certain type

of, and that's intimidation too. That is a certain type of toughness that exists in all sports that exists in hockey of the contact sport. The other type of toughness in hockey is having the ability to endure physical punishment and not quit. Whenever I see someone get slashed on the hands, slashed on the wrists, I instinctively think of Johnny Goudreau. Because I can't tell you, and you've probably had the same experience. I can't tell you how many times I've watched Johnny Gaudreau play hockey and watch him surfing through the neutral zone and him getting slashed on the hands and slashed on that.

Like he used to have, I can't remember the manufacturer, but he used to have these gloves that he was really comfortable with. But as he gripped his stick, the knuckles were exposed and the other team would know that. But as he gripped his stick, the knuckles were exposed. And the other team would know that.

And so he'd get to the neutral zone and chop, chop, chop, chop, chop. He never quit. He never softened. He never changed his game. He never surrendered the puck. He never surrendered position. He took it. He endured. One of the great stories of physical endurance is the rumble in

the jungle muhammad ali and george foreman where ali just like got up against the ropes and just let george punch himself out trying to knock out muhammad ali and we all know you know the punch in zaire and knocking foreman down was so beautiful and poetic and all that but to me, the lead up to that was even more beautiful, which was essentially Ali saying, I'm going to take it until you get tired. You can't beat me physically and you can't beat me mentally. Johnny Gaudreau to me was a really tough hockey player because he endured all of that. Again, there's no proper way to grieve. There's no one way to grieve. Everybody does it differently. Whatever that family needs, the hockey community is going to

give them. And one final thought on this. We hear a lot of talk and listen, I get it. This is earned, right? I'm not trying to deflect responsibility or deflect condemnation. Whenever we hear the phrase hockey culture, it's used as a pejorative. Oh, look at this. This is hockey culture again. I get it. A lot of bad things in hockey for a number of years. But I don't want people to lose sight of one thing with the Johnny Goudreau game in Calgary last night. That's also hockey culture. This is an entire league. This is an entire hockey community.

Not just the NHL, but how many people from college hockey, from all around, from various leagues, from various walks of life did the Goudreau family touch? And now the Goudreau family is being supported by all these people. As much as we hear hockey culture talked about in a pejorative sense, let's not forget too, that that is a great example last night in Calgary of hockey culture in a very positive way

bless that family you know and we're going to spend a lot of time still thinking about the gaudreau family and johnny gaudreau and supporting his family it was awesome it was great watching merit of the show the the gaudreau tat the johnny gaudreau tattoo and the autograph and it started in calgary like all of it not a dry eye in the place, right? Sean Monaghan, good for you. That couldn't have been easy. All those players on Columbus, on Calgary, all those fans that were there. Everybody knew what they were in store for when they went,

but everybody went for the same reason. And that was to honor Johnny and Matthew Goudreau and to support the Goudreau family. The 3-0 final, no one cares. I don't care. I think anyone cares what the final score of that one was going to be. Calgary wins 3-0. Okay.

That's not why everybody was there. Everybody was there to support the Goudreau family. I thought it was a beautiful night and congratulations to everybody involved. And bless that family. And bless that family. Absolutely bless that family. All right. A couple of things here as we wrap up the show today. A couple of games on the go around the NHL.

Your Maple Leafs, Zach, are facing off against the Nashville Predators. And there's the return of Ryan Reeves. Alex Nylander, not dressed. It's going to be the Revo show again. Do you have a quick thought on that one? I you're gonna be all over that game tonight yeah um more so thinking about the other side toronto has typically been the place where players former players come back and score against them ryan o'reilly luke shen returning here tonight those are guys that i'm looking for this leafs team Jeff, you know what?

We'll save this for later, for down the road. They feel different this year. Oh, Carter Hutton was on Morning Cup of Hockey yesterday saying, I know all these Leafs guys say this every single year, but it feels different this year. I still think they need it. Here's what I think about the Maple Leafs. And this is why we talked about Nazem Khadri the other day. I think in their minds, here's what I think about the Maple Leafs. And this is why we talked about

Nazem Khadri the other day. I think in their minds, they're thinking we're one of the top teams in the Atlantic Division. But if we're going to get out of the Atlantic Division, we got to beat the Florida Panthers. And the Florida Panthers can hurt you. Can hurt you in a lot of different ways.

Like I think that the Maple Leafs feel that they still need to, and rightfully so, be tougher. Still, I mean, listen, you're going to win Maple Leafs feel that they still need to, and rightfully so, be tougher. Still, I mean, listen, you're going to win with skill, but still, like you need to, it's a grind getting past the Florida Panthers. Leafs can't do it.

Boston Bruins can't do it. Now the momentum has shifted from Tampa. The torch has been passed from Tampa to Florida now, from the Bolts to the Panthers. I think if you're the Maple Leafs, you're thinking to yourself yourself we still need some more toughness to get through the florida panthers but at least i think there's an acknowledgement now that they need that you see that with trilliving and some of his moves and certainly see with craig berube um that's why i don't think it's beyond the pale to see them do some type of deal to bring in i'm not talking about like ryan reeves toughness i'm talking about tough hockey players

that can compete against the physicality that the Florida Panthers bring. It feels different every year, though. I know, I know. My thought more is the baseline of the ability to have that stinker. The stinker is not as bad, if you know what I mean. You're playing against a Nashville team

that has not been that great over the last stretch here. They're coming in. This is a Wednesday night, seven 30. You know, I talked about the quiet Scotiabank arena. It could get sleepy in there and it feels like the Leafs team doesn't have the ability to let it get like quite as sleepy.

So I feel like we're at least in for a decent game from the Maple Leafs side of things, at least Vegas and Anaheim get out of tonight. John Gibson starts for the Anaheim Ducks. They're Fowler in. Pavel Minchikov is out. All this information, by the way, on the DFO Fantasy feed. Boston and Chicago, Mrazic gets to start there.

Speaking of Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles, too, should be a good one late. Speaking of Chicago, Pat Maroon on Morning Cup of Hockey tomorrow. If you know anything about Maroon's appearances with the boys, it is tremendous. Oilers Nation every day. Tyler Ennis will be joining the program. And on Barnburner tomorrow, it is Darren Drager, insider for TSN. Anything else, Zach? Did we cover everything?

Did we get everything in today? Because I'm bad at getting everything in. I think we got everything in. We covered, actually, everything that we had looked to oh goalie interference wow ah you know what hold hold that one but hold that one because it'll probably be another call today but the only point that i wanted to make about it was like that's an easy call like i'm sorry like come on like well i got a lot of tweets last night about oh joey decor it's not in the blue it't matter if he, it doesn't matter in this situation if the goaltender is in the blue paint as well.

Once a goalie has established his ice on top of the crease, Decord has it. He gets bumped by Eric Robinson. No, he's not pushed by Brandon Montour. Jack Drew fires it in. But that thing is coming back all day long. That one is one of the easiest goalie interference calls. I think we've seen that one.

They, you look, you look at, they look at the review and you say, that takes about two seconds to go like, Oh yeah, that thing's coming back again. The cord has ice.

The cord has position. He gets bumped and gets set, sent off his ice and he can't move and get in place to, to make the save. That thing's an easy, like, am I wrong about this one? Like that's one of the most easy, that's one of the easiest goalie interference appeals you could have, you could have made all season long.

I know we made a lot about Rasmussen Sunday and that Vancouver Detroit game, but that's an easy one, Zach, no? I do agree with this one, the call coming back. I do agree with this one for sure. back um i do agree with this one for sure bomb some doesn't matter where he is he's kind of coming out he's coming in full speed at him or full speed he's coming in hot let's put it that way and eric robinson's a big dude so yeah so like having it there it makes sense uh gets bummed takes it away uh i don't really disagree with this one uh at all being called back.

Again, I know a lot of fans don't want to hear it, but the officials this year have been like 95% consistent with all these goalie interference calls. It is the most correctly consistently called play in the NHL rulebook this year outside of offside. I think the officials this year have nailed it. I know it's tough when your bull gets gored, but again, if you watch the video up at NHL.com or have the nerve to talk to someone who can explain it to you, and you understand some of the basics of how goalie interference is called. Like 99% of the time, you'll be able to nail these things. And wow your friends at work.

And wow your friends at the bar. And wow your dog sitting next to you as you watch, I don't know, Anaheim and Vegas tonight. Or Nashville and Toronto. Or LA and Dallas. Take your pick. Anyhow. Jeff, I got one thing for you. What's that?

What do you got? Oh, yeah. This is something important to establish this first week so okay first of all our friends at small town strip club they were in the chat here oh boy our marine jeff he's great yes thanks for the shout out yesterday sorry wasn't here he was taking a final but he's pumped to watch the show every day thanks this is the important question i saw this one start online i think it might have been singzy but it's becoming a movement and you need to rubber stamp this. J-Rock asks, how does Jeff feel about us affectionately calling

ourselves sheet heads? My friend Kim mentioned this to me as well. I'm like, I'm going to call people sheet heads. If you want to start that in the chat, if you want to start that in the chat, was that J-Rock? Yeah, it was J-Rock. Okay, J-Rock, if you want, man, go for it. If you want to do it, I don't know. Maybe it'll grow on me, but I can't control what people do in the chat.

I just hope to have a chat that's as vibrant and healthy as the Morning Cup of Hockey Boys have, because that one's its own show. Thank you jayrock sheet heads if you want go for it with with affection right zach like with affection yes these are the the sheet heads here on the things you never think about right like when you Like when you come up with a name. Like I'm still surprised. Like I remember when we first started hearing, Zach, rumors that the Seattle Kraken were going to be called the Kraken. My first thought was you can't do this because they're going to call the rink the crack house.

That hasn't stuck. But there was that thing. It was a thing. It was going to be called the Kraken. Climate pledge arena, of course, but colloquially it's going to be called the crack house, but it hasn't. Things you don't think about when you're new. If you want crack heads, J-Rock, go for it, dude.

I can't tell you what to do. She does. Lead the chat. Sing Z's a legend. J-Rock's a legend. NYR Marine. All of them. Everybody in the chat.

Okay. That's it for me. We started by talking about teddy bear tosses. And listen, if there's a teddy bear toss game in your area, do yourself a favor. Do your kids a favor. It is such a great event. It is a wonderful tradition in hockey around Christmas time.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, the teddy bear toss, home team scores, you bring the bears, you throw them on the ice. Usually all the bears go to the various charities, most children's hospitals it is a win-win it is a great experience i go to the one in oshawa every year the oshawa generals as i mentioned do a great job of it a lot of junior teams do it in canada stateside as well american hockey league teams do it as well if there's one nearby do yourself a favor and if you're a player, maybe think twice about firing a bear back in the stands. Just ask Michael Misa, who's sitting out a game for doing that.

On behalf of Zach Phillips and everybody here at the sheet. Thanks so much for joining me here. Once again, back tomorrow, three o'clock Eastern noon Pacific for more of the sheet with the sheet heads. We're going with that. Talk to you tomorrow. I lost all ambitions day to day Guess you can call it a rut I went to the doc, man He tried to give me a little medicine I'm like, nah, man, that's fine I'm not against those methods, but I knew It's me, myself, and others

Gonna be fixing my mind I do wanna break it I turned on the music. I do want to break it. I turned on the music. It's enough, enough, enough. Don't you sometimes lose it? Have been on the days that went wrong.

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