The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Toronto, We Have A Problem... ft. Pierre McGuire

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

Jeff Marek welcomes Pierre McGuire to The Sheet for a full tour around the NHL, diving into the latest storylines shaping the league right now. They break down where the Toronto Maple Leafs stand and what’s next amid their growing concerns, examine Jack Hughes’ impact as he returns to the New Jersey Devils lineup, and look at why the Minnesota Wild have suddenly caught fire. Jeff and Pierre also dig into the latest Edmonton Oilers injury news and what it means for their playoff push, plus more league-wide notes and insights from one of the sharpest minds in hockey. Tap in for analysis, context, and everything you need to stay ahead of the NHL conversation.SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Bauer: https://www.bauer.com/👍🏼Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/caReach 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/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Okay, first of all, thanks for the patience. Running a little bit behind schedules today, but that's okay. It's that time of the year. And especially when there's a lot happening. All kind of in scramble mode. And by we, I mean, me. Claim this one, I mean. Thanks for joining us today.

No snappy intro here to the program. Want to do the blueprint here. Get everyone caught up on what's happening because there's no shortage of things to get into on the next 60 minutes here on the sheet. So let's do it. The blueprint is powered by Fanduel. Download the app today and play your game on Fanduel.

Coming up on the program, he is standing by and waiting patiently. Here's our good friend, no stranger to this program or hockey broadcast anywhere. He is Pierre McGuire. Amongst the topics we'll talk about, including the Leafs struggling, not exclusive. Eastern Conference we'll talk about we should talk about the trades over the weekend while Friday specifically

we should probably talk about the Buffalo Sabres right now. We should probably talk about the return of Jack Hughes right now. We should probably talk about what we've seen in the last couple of days. I wouldn't mind if we get a chance to to talk about the world juniors

that's on the horizon. We'll be heading to Minnesota on the weekend. We'll get into that with Pierre McGuire and we'll do a little bit of hockey history. coming up a little bit later on. In the meantime, let's get right to our man, Pierre, who's been standing by and waiting patiently.

As I scramble to get this program on the air, Pierre has been doing the Lord's work of doing statue practice, elevator practice, waiting for me. So, Pierre, thanks so much for stopping by the program today. You are a true first star. Come on d'Ine-Francer-Ele-Premier-Ite d'Ite-L. It's very genteem-me, but I will say this. It's easier to do when you have a good teammate and you're a great teammate, so let's go. It's all Zach putting it together.

I'm just the hair and teeth in front of all of it. So here is, like there's a lot of stories going around right now, but the biggest one involves the biggest team and the question marks are large. I'm personally of the mind that right now it feels as if, and I can only imagine this to be true, the Toronto Maple Leafs right now feel frozen. They feel frozen on the ice. They feel frozen behind the bench. they feel frozen in the management suite

because this is not anywhere close to the way the season was supposed to unfold paralysis by analysis. We've all heard that expression before. But how do you read the Maple Leaf situation right now? Like I don't think they want to make a move behind the bench. Increasingly and increasingly more difficult for Brad True Living to make a trade to shake up this team.

How do you see, like give us the Pierre Maguire snapshot just over 24 hours before they face off. against the Pittsburgh Penguins in what might be the most important game of the season for the Maple Leafs. It's not a hard thing to break down. Number one, injuries really set them back. I know everybody has injuries. The Stolars injury was huge for this team.

The injury to Tanev, the injury to Carlo. Those were two massive injuries for this team. They didn't have enough on the right side of their defense, Jeff. The missing of Marner. I know the media loved to run Marner out of town. They did. It's unfortunate, but he's in Vegas now. That made a huge difference in terms of the.

the slotting on their team. John Tavares, now you're starting to see the fatigue factor kicked in for an older player. He's probably better slot it to be a number two behind a very effective Austin Matthews. This has not been a very effective Austin Matthews, and because of that, you got a problem in terms of slotting down the middle. You knew what Scott Lotton was going to be, and he's probably been that player, probably been their most effective two-way player since he's come back from injury. You knew what Nicky Dua was going to be when he came over from Vegas. It's going to be a hardworking industrious player. You knew what Dakota Joshua was going to be.

Those aren't the guys that are causing problems. It's a lack of depth and goal. It's a lack of depth on the right side of the defense. It's not having enough firepower to play with Austin Matthews. And it's Nealander and it's Nye's and it's Matthews who have not held up their end of the bargain. And I hate to say that because those star players, they matter a ton. And if they're not delivering, everybody else looks worse.

And that's what's happening with the Toronto Maple Leafs. How many times have we said it? You look at the star players, and to your point, these are the ones that have to drive the bus. And, you know, players go through streaks, positive and negative. We all have heard it before. And when they are dry, you always hear the saying. And it's true, this is what the money is for. The expectation is more.

The expectation on Scott Lotton, who, again, looks great. Oliver Ekman-Larsen, I would submit, has been one of their better players as well. But you're not going to do it with these guys. Like, it's the high-priced help, and that's what the money is. is four. Now, you've seen this plenty of times, more than me, more than anybody watching or listening. When a coach separates themselves with a comment from the team, it doesn't go over very well. And after that Washington game, and like this, the team played better against Nashville for a period in change, but then fell apart. Played better against Dallas, but the result is the same.

This isn't a time for moral victories. They're all Pyrrhic at this point. When Craig Barubi was asked about why the Maple Leafs didn't have as much intensity as the Washington Capitals had, he said something along the lines of, don't ask me, ask them. It's very much in the spirit of we win, but they lose. That doesn't sit well with players, Pierre. You've seen it a million times. No, so Michel Tarion's one name that comes to mine, whether it was in Pittsburgh or Montreal,

Well, there's an example of what you're talking about. I think Peter Lavillette with the New York Rangers, that's one of the things that stands out. I think that's why Peter moved around a fair bit. He's a very, very good coach, but I use him as an example. You know, even go back years ago, you know, there were other coaches that got let go back at a time where coaches had made me more power than what players did. That doesn't happen anymore.

And I'll think about Pete DeBore recently, what he said about Jake Ottinger in the playoffs. You know, Jimmy Nell saw, okay, this isn't going to be able to work because the players are going to turn on Pete. And Pete's an amazing coach, and he won't be out of the business much longer now because you're starting to see some different situations coaching-wise around the league. And I'm not trying to point fingers after Ruby, by the way. But I would tell you this, once you do that, and I've done it too as a coach, by the way. Once you do that, you better get results because if you don't, you'll be the next guy out. You'll be the next guy out.

The game against the Pittsburgh Penguins tomorrow afternoon, 4 o'clock Eastern, it very much feels like a game where some decisions will get made. And the one thing you know about Sidney Crosby. And congratulations is Sidney Crosby, now the all-time leading score for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Overtakes Muriel Lemieux, looks fantastic on him. He's going to trend towards 2,000 points. Nobody will. Nobody should be surprised if slash when Sidney Crosby gets there.

But man, does he ever love to dent this team? And if there's a team around the NHL where Sidney Crosby dents on a consistent basis, it is Toronto. And you can see it already. Like this is television 101. Every goal, the Pittsburgh Penguins score, you know, every director and every truck is going to be calling for the two shot. Dubus, true living. It's going to be the split screen. You can see it they're prepping it right now for how this thing is going to look.

Like this thing is already setting up to be, even though it's supposed to be get a away game, Christmas, go see your families, there's a lot on this. Like, I'll tell you, every player will feel the pressure, manager, coach, Carlton the Bear, all of them will be feeling the pressure at Scotia Bank tomorrow. Yes,

yes, and yes, I couldn't agree more. And that was great perception, taking people inside the decision making process of the truck, going into a big game. You know it. You know it. You've seen it a bill. You've been part of it. I've been in those production meetings are like, what's the big story today?

Let's see. You had the former general manager coming in with a team that might make the plass. And you've got another general manager part of a team that doesn't look like they're going to make the plass. And everybody's expectation was they were going to. I think the biggest thing about Pittsburgh right now, and I watch all their games. I work on their pregame shows in the radio. The biggest thing with them is since Raquel's come back, Sid, Raquel and Russ have been a very good line. Getting, I think, the trade with Edmonton done to get rid of the Tristan Jari.

rumors. And I feel bad for Tristan, obviously hurt right now, probably out a couple of weeks with Edmonton. Yep. But getting Skinner in there, I think is really good. She-lofts last night against Montreal was very good for them. That's a positive. They're playing with house money right now. They are. They're playing with house money. Toronto's not playing with any house money. There's way more pressure on Toronto than there is on Pittsburgh. And Sid thrives in those kinds of situations. Sydney's impervious to pressure. He's impervious to pain. He is Sidney Crosby's a totally unique humanoid when it comes to this kind of stuff this will be the ultimate test is going to be what does austin matthews do what does austin matthews do to elevate his team because sis's been doing

it without a guinea malcolm she's been doing it with ben kindle an 18 year old that was the 11th overall pick playing on their power play sid's been doing it with no uh ricard recal for a long period of time this year because of injury since been doing it yep even though that made the playoffs three straight years go look at sid's numbers it's always over 90 points it's close to 100 and sid's been doing it what's austin doing you know it's i think we've all talked about this or at least thought about this too you know i can't remember who it was someone told me brought up a great point said austin matthews became a worse player when they put on the sea john tavares became a better player when they took it off like the weight again of captain's see when when you put on

that sea. And this is why, like, in a market like Toronto, hear me out on this one, in a market like Toronto, it takes a very special individual to be able to wear that sea and to get out there in front of the media, be the middle ground between the coaching staff and the players and all the things that captains do. But a lot of it is you're getting out there after every game. You're the captain. You're the ambassador for the team, which is why I always was impressed by, and I know that fans treated them like a pinata sometimes, but I was always impressed by Dionne Funf. Dionne Funf, after every single game,

he got out there and stood there and took every question, answered everything, and then came back the next day and did not wear boo-boo-boo face about it. He understood the responsibility of wearing that sea on that sweater. I don't know that it must feel very comfortable. Like, Funnuf was fine with it.

Like, there were plenty of Maple Leafs players that have been fine with it before. I never got the feeling that Austin Matthews feels comfortable with that does that resonate and does that sort of compound all of this like Matthews isn't having

a great season the Maple Leafs are not having a great season and he's the one responsible to get out there and face the cameras and the microphones every game it can't make it better

yeah no and taunting your fans after you score a goal against a Chicago Blackhawks in your own building that's a bad visual and that can't happen as a captain they should have been saying you know what

and I saw the note afterwards where they said, yeah, we deserve to be booed. You did. You were no good. And Chicago hasn't been good for a while now. They're a young team just fine in their way. Their future is extremely bright, probably brighter than what Toronto's is right now. So I'm going to ask you a question. I'm just going to do it numerically. How did number 93 handle being a leader with the Toronto Maple Leafs? No problem. No problem. Matson, no problem. 13 and 93 had zero problems. Zero. those were the years when I was coaching in the league and I had so much respect for 93 Dougie Gilmore you ask any players that were in our dresser we if this guy's not shut

down we can't win okay same thing when you go in and they were Domi was there Corson was there all these real good players Cabberle was there talking about Toronto back in the day if you didn't stop 13 your chance to win and we're very good you know and they had some really rough guys like Tucker was a rough guy course was a rough guy, Domi was, they had rough guys. They had a really good elite coach and Pat Quinn, elite, not a good little bit good. He was really good. And so I thought when Mitchell Mariner was there, you played Toronto, you had to shut down

Marner and you had to shut down Matthews. You do that, you got a better chance to win. Well, now Mariner's not there. And I see Austin getting shut down a lot. And one of the things that separated Austin from other players when he was on it, when he didn't score, he could still affect the outcome of the game because he was hard defensively. He could shut down your top player. He could win battles on the four check. Tons of stuff. I don't see that anymore. I don't see that second and third effort anymore. And I'm not picking

on because he knows like I have a soft spot in my heart for him. I'm watching him since he's been 15 years old. I think that kid's a really special player. That being said, that hasn't happened this year. That has not happened this year. You know, a quick Gilmore story. I remember Doug told me once that, I remember asking him because you remember 93 and places swarmed and there was that one door at the back of Wood Street of Maple Leaf Gardens where all the players went in and out

and fans would be lined up and fill the street, you know, going right to the Westbury Hotel. Like, how did you get in the rink? And he goes, I worked at a deal with Pat. He goes, I had a condo at Church Street and I'd put on my Gilmore jersey and I'd walk right through. And everybody would go like, oh, look, that guy thinks he's Doug Gilmore.

It's like, you disguised yourself as yourself? He goes, yeah, it was great. like that's how he like loved being to the point where he's having fun with it right now I get it it was a winning team and it was different but like you know Doug and you know the personality that is so Doug you disguised yourself as yourself he goes yeah it's hilarious we're just getting the room he's like I have so much time for him I'll give you an example when he was with the Montreal Canadians he was moving out of town I was moving back into town and he had a condo downtown he said look here I'm leaving you're coming in I'll say

you my condo at cost. And I started looking about where the condo was and compared to where my children were going to be going to school. It was just too far at that time. So I said, thank you, but no, thank you. And it was great. He was so amicable. I'll give you another quick one on him. At the Hockey Hall of Fame, I love going to the Hall of Fame for induction night because Doug, he's always there. And so are a bunch of other really special people sitting there and talking to him. And you know what I'm talking about downstairs where all the memorabilia. It's the best. They had these amazing hockey talks. And it's just, it's always about the passion and the professionalism of being elite the passion and professionalism of being a leaf

and where the group is some nights it's really good some nights is not so good but he he adores that he respected that and then the final one i just want to say he goes to maryland mused fantasy camp i get to go there and run a bunch of the practices and just he's still intense he's still intense it's awesome i love being around him because he just loved you know grand fears there Kevin Steens. I can go down the line. I don't want to miss any guys. It's a murderous role of ex-players and coaches that go there.

And Doug, he's still got it. Like, he's still intense. I don't see that. Can you help me out? Am I missing something? Where's the intensity from all these other guys that are there now? Where is it? It's a team that's looking for a soft game.

They're an incredibly skilled team, right? Nealander is an incredibly skilled player. Austin Matthews is an incredibly skilled player. And it just looks like a team that's looking to win a soft game. But here's the other thing. From an organization point of view, I know that there's a feeling. I think everyone's sort of crossing their fingers and you hear things like, oh, all the answers are in that room. At what point does management say the answers aren't in that room?

Like here we are at Christmas and it's a fire. Okay. Like at what point when you're a manager do you say, you know what? It's the, the answers aren't in that room because I don't think that, I don't think that the Maple Leafs organization thought it was going to be like this. And they're kind of caught surprised that, you know, they don't think, I get the feeling that there's not one quick fix here for what they want. And I can't see this organization taking a significant step back to rebate. build because there's just too much money on the line. Like, let's not lose sight about who owns this thing as well. And, you know, in the last 12 years

of the NHL Canadian rights deal, there were, there's only twice where the Maple Leafs made it out of the first round. That hurts financially. That does. And then I don't think that the rights deal that's going to kick off wants to begin with a rebuilding Toronto

Maple Leafs team. And you're going to look at five years with zero playoff revenue. So like there's a lot of factors here. And then I'll throw you another one. So the texting with someone this morning who just randomly sent me this text out of the season ticket holder for the Maple Leafs who said like, look, I've spent $30,000 for the last 10 years, like $30,000 a year for the last 10 years plus playoffs.

And what do I have the show for it? Feathers. feathers so if you're management your ownership here like that's why I started off by saying like it feels frozen they all there's so many different

like hockey ops is not going to be at loggerheads with with what with what ownership wants you know I can recall it's funny it's having this conversation with Jeff Jackson in the in the summer we did this is this is like we were like this was all part of an interview

this isn't like telling it's telling stories out of school and I'd always heard this story But when the Ontario teacher's pension ran the Toronto Maple Leafs, every year they would say like, oh, you know, John Ferguson submitted a budget and we approved it and that's what it was. And John would always, you know, the Maple Leaf Police would always just add a deadline, added deadline. And Jeff Jackson, who's the assistant general manager, told me like, look, the question you guys should have said was or asked was, how many budgets did you have to submit? So what Ferguson would have to submit is two budgets, one that accounted for playoff revenue and the other which accounted for a rebuild. and the rebuild was always the one that was recommended by Ferguson,

but which one do you think the board recommended? It was the one that accounted for playoff revenue and the 8 to 10% return and that gave the president of the team cover to say he submitted the budget and we approved it. But it's a sleight of hand because there were two budgets that were always submitted. Like when hockey ops is at loggerheads from the business side of an organization, Pierre,

what happens and who wins? What a great question. So I'm going to use the New York Rangers with Glenn Sather and Jeff Gorton. Okay. And they come up with the plan to write a letter to their season ticket holders. And it said, look, there's going to be some pain, but we're going to rebuild. And you know what? It looked like it was on the right path for five minutes.

And then Tom Wilson and the Washington Capitals blew up the idea because they had a blow up in the Gulf Coast Coast Coast Coast Coast. Right. And then internal, I don't want to call it sabotage, that's too strong a turn. But John Davidson and Jeff Gorton were given their walking papers in a very nasty divorce that was done at 9 a.m. the day after a game, anybody that knows where most of those executives live in New York to get to Madison Square Garden for a.m. meeting, if you're told at the last second, not very fair. And they were both told that they were no longer required to be there and look at what's happened since they had it going in the right direction and then it was

pulled out from underneath them because one game against the Washington capitals and so if in this is what I say all the time if you want to do the big rebuild and the retool or whatever you want to call it you better be on the same page with the owner the general manner's got to be creative the pro scouts have to be elite and your owner's got to say you know what I'm buying it and I'm not going to allow anybody in the board to change my impression. And if you don't, this is to your question, Jeff, it'll never, it'll never work. You know why Montreal worked? Because Jeff Molson tried it his way.

He tried it his way. And one of the things that he said, and I will never forget this because I've been doing radio with the great Mitch Melnick in Montreal for over 23 years, I'll never forget this. Jeff Moulson went on the air and said, we do not need a president of hockey operations. It's not an important position within the confines of a hockey organization. And I respectfully disagreed.

I said, no, I don't agree with that. Now more than ever, you need a check and a balance internally between ownership and the general manager. And the president of hockey operations is that guy. So what does Montreal do? Gorton is director of hockey or president of hockey operations. Kent Hughes is a general manager. and they bring in a neophyte coach who has no experience as a coach,

but tons of Hall of Fame playing experience in Marty St. Louis. And look what happens. In one of the most difficult hockey markets in the world, in the world, they all sing from the same songbook, and if they don't, they do it behind closed doors, so nobody knows about it. They've got a brilliant young organization. Their farm team in LaValle is stockful of players.

And if you don't know who Michael Hage is, you're going to find out who Michael Hage is at the World Junior this year, kid that plays at the University of Michigan, they are stocked and loaded to have an amazing five to ten year run because of one thing. They decided to rebuild in a professional manner, and they brought in two very competent builders. But one of them came from the Rangers,

which was a picture of dysfunction. That was, I've always looked at that said, that was a gift. like that one fell into your lap because of one organization's I would say petty move like that one fell into Montreal's lap I remember watching Jeff Gordon on NHL Network and I'm saying he's going to be here for five minutes

Jeff Gordon's going to be here for five minutes peer and then he's gone and he's going to go be a success somewhere because he was a success everywhere else you went and you're not going to see him on television anymore which is a good thing for him because he's better in a boardroom of hockey decision makers than on TV he'd be the first person to say that

Pierre said that not me Mr. Gordon, Pierre said that so now I want to be transparent with you the day after he got fired I called him up because Kenny Albert and I did the game in New York and I said I'm going to really say this

for what it is and I told the story during the broadcast about how I didn't agree with what the Rangers did. I thought it was really petty. And I said, I'd love for you to join me for lunch tomorrow because we lived in the same neighborhood or virtually the same neighborhood. I was working for NBC and he was running the Rangers. And we met. We had probably a two and a half to three hour lunch. It was phenomenal. It was so good. I had so much time and respect for Jeff after that meeting and even before. But afterwards, I was like, wow, this guy's got a plugged in. He's going. It won't be long before he's back. He's a really

smart cat and he's good. You're bang on about Hage. By the way, I went to London on Saturday to go watch the Junior Game Canada in Sweden. Hage was one of the players that Siddellie. He's one of the players that have done well, really done well by going the college route. Brandon Nerato handling that program. He's been

outstanding. He is going to be a dynamic player for the Montreal Canadians for a long time. Speaking of Montreal, quick thought, Philip Deno returns. There was a lot of noise. the round of them all season long. It's a second round pick going the other way. Now the Los Angeles Kings are down to center that are about to be down to.

After Andre Kopitzara calls it a career at the end of the season. But from Montreal point of view, your thoughts on the return of the pizza man, Philip Danone. Well, I think the biggest thing with him, he's not going to be overwhelmed by the moment in Montreal. He's no way. Perfectly bilingual. So the media won't really be a problem for him. I think it'll be a welcome voice in that room, especially for Nick Suzuki, who's still learning in the front side of it.

As a captain of the team, you talked about captaincy in Toronto. Being the captain of Montreal is not exactly easy either, but Nikki seemed to handle it really well. So I think that will help him. He only has five assists so far this year, which I think most people know that follow the league. He can affect the outcome of a game

in a positive way without ever scoring, and I think that will really help Montreal. And it's fortuitous that it comes at this time because Jake Evans just got hurt, and Jake Evans was probably their best shot guy. So I think that helps him in terms of timing. And I just think that he's a guy that's been through some playoff wars, especially against Edmonton. So he understands that consum. I think it helps Montreal all the time. It helps him a ton. The other big story coming out of the weekend

is I'll say it this way. They may never lose another game again. The Buffalo Sabres. Six in a row for the swords. I mean, the thing, here's the thing that I find. Now, the winning streak started before Yarmu Kekyllian took over. Granted. When teams change coaches, there's an effect right away on the ice. It's very seldom

someone of the GM suite change and there's an effect on the ice right away. Now, there's been changes off the ice. Certainly, and Mark Bergevan comes in as an associate general manager, Josh Flynn, comes in as an assistant. There are others that I do wonder about. Like, I

I don't think I'm the only one who wonders at what point does Vili Siren join Yarmu Kekeleinen that has always been a relation that you know like you're nodding you know more than I do maybe Basil McRae to like I don't know is Columbus just under assault here

for Yarmu Kekyllis who knows but like right away there's like a weird new vibe in and around this team this organization they beat the devils yesterday and then they're throwing shade at them on social media and the Buffalo Sabre's been able to throw appreciate it at any other team, but there it was.

Like there does seem, and listen, there's still issues, the three-headed goaltending monster, the Alex Tuck contract. There's still business there, we all know. But give us a snapshot from your point of view on the Buffalo Sabres right now. They'll be really proactive on the amateur front. Ville Serren, I'd be shocked if he's not there sooner rather than later. Villain Yarmot are really, really good friends. I've known both of them a really long time.

Yarmos a good, really good hockey man. And I'll never forget when Yarmal was working in St. Louis and John Davidson had just been hired Yarmal called me up. I was doing a game with Gordon Miller, believe it or not, in Montreal. And Yarmu goes, I just saw Hockey Night in Canada, and J.D. says that they're going to let go of all the amateur scouts. I hope that's not true because I'm one of them. And I said, let me call and see. And he said, no, no, no, he must have misunderstood what I said. No, no, no, I want to keep Yarmel.

And that turned into an amazing relationship between John and Yarmal long term. and Yarmou obviously has been, I think, a really good hockey guy. I worked with Yarmou in Ottawa. I've known him since 1988 when he was a player at Clarkson just before he signed with the Boston Bruins. And I was coaching at St. Lawrence University, big, huge college rivalry back in the day. So I think he's a really good hockey man. And truth be told, when he was running IFK Helsinki, he brought me over there for seven to ten days, I think, and talked to me about being the coach of IFK.

So I have a tremendous amount of respect to Yarmou. I think you'll do a really good job. Ville in here, tight. I love the fact that you brought up Basel McCrae's name. I think Baz is a tremendous hockey guy. I like Bazel a lot. So, yeah, well, he met a couple big dust subs too over time. So you always want to surround yourself.

You know what? Okay. So you know how you talk about something and then it pops up on your feed because that's the world we lived in? So the other day, I mentioned Basil McRae on another show, and you know what popped up on my timeline, McCrae versus Cortick, which was one of the doozies of all time

in that Minnesota-Trona rivalry from the Old Norris Division. Anyhow, yeah, you're right. Baz was involved in more than a few, more than a few back in his time. But he and Yarmour are really good friends, and I think that's really important in that situation. I think the biggest thing for Buffalo is just get rid of the pollution that's around the group.

You know, get rid of all the problems. pollution. And I think they're starting to do that. And that will make the program more digestible for a player like Alex Tuck. It'll make the program more digestible for Rasmus Dahlene. It makes the program more digestible for Tage Thompson. I mean, I see a lot of positives there. And they're trending the right way with Rochester and the American League. I watch a lot of games there. So I think it's more positive than negative for Buffalo right now. I've said this to you before on and off the air and I'll say it again. It's one of the last. last true hockey markets where fans actually buy the tickets and it's not corporate dollar

fed it's real people buying real tickets with their own money and i've always respected that about buffalo i've always respected that about buffalo and why i love it it is to me um it's my favorite n-h-l market for one specific reason it is a mix of american and canadian fans it's st catharine's hamilton right it's it's that whole corridor that aren't going and it's it's It's a beautiful mix of Canadian hockey fans and American hockey fans all over this one team. I don't cheer for any team specifically, but the closest I get to. But I get again, but then you don't appear, though, here's the thing. This is no disrespect to Rick Jenner, Ed, Dan, Unleave, like, I grew up with the voice of Ted Darling.

That's my hockey voice, the late great Ted Darling. So, like, I was spoiled. Yes, see, I was spoiled, too. I grew up with Dick Irwin and Danny Gallivan. Like, I get it. Not bad. But, you know, that's pretty good, too. But Ted Darling, obviously, too.

Here's one thing that I think is cool about Buffalo, too. And I wonder if you are more, he knows a tradition of the Sabres, and he respects it a lot. Nothing was more unique than the 8 o'clock Friday night starts at the odd in Buffalo. That's a great point. Nothing was Friday night at 8 o'clock in the odd. I coached in a bunch of those games, whether I was in Pittsburgh or Hartford or Ottawa. Trust me. Friday night at 8 o'clock in Buffalo.

That was magic. And people talk about Saturday night in Toronto or Saturday night in Montreal, eight o'clock in Buffalo on a Friday night at the odd. You brought it, man. Because if you didn't, the Buffalo Sabres were going to bring it every night. They were going to pile drive you. They were.

When I was at university at Guelph, we had no money. So we couldn't afford tickets. This is like the early 90s. We couldn't afford to get tickets at Maple Leaf Gardens to go see the Toronto Maple Leafs. But we could get like $8 seats at the odd. and we finish our classes around 3 o'clock, 4 o'clock, and we'd all bundle into my buddy's van,

and we'd drive down to the odd, and we'd get like the cheapest seats in the place, but that's okay because we'd load up on Budweiser as well. We got there, and you remember the odd was straight up, and we'd be looking right down at the action. You're right on top of the, it was. I remember I was there when McGilney broke his leg and that Montreal, I make it so many memories

of being at that old, great building. And the more, considering, even though they've never won the Stanley Cup, even though they never have, there's still so much great history and lore around the Buffalo Sabres going back to 1970 and the French Connection and then Playfair and King Kong Korab and Jim Sean Feld and then right through like the Hachik era, the more that the Sabres can lean into their history,

and to credit to Terry Pagula, because when I know Terry hears it a lot, but the one thing that he did do was he brought the alumni back. He brought the alumni back to the Buffalo Sabres, which is... Most of those guys live in Clarence, New York, or not too far from there. They all have, you know, magnificent properties, and they play golf, and they're in the community, and they're proud to be part of it. That's a great point by you.

You talk about those knights in Buffalo. What I remember the most is being on the bench, and right across, it was in the third period, probably the second TV timeout, the Earl of Bud, remember him? He was the guy that sold us the beer. they'd played that that song tequila and he would do the dance yeah he'd get on the railing and he would dance and like everybody wanted to buy his tins because of it the first time i saw him do that i don't i think i was in pitchboard scott and i said to scotty he said this guy's nuts he might fall off of that yes i know it was great yeah so you know just and you know the other part too

you talking about my guilty break is like was there a better dynamic do at that time in the early 90s, then McGilney and Lafontein, how good they were together. And then think about the back end. So they had Geary Himmilev up front. They had McGilney and Lafontein. They had Dougie Boddron, Dale Howardchuck,

the late Dale Howardchuck in a power play. Like, think about that for one second. Yep. Like, that power play was crazy. They were assistant coach with a guy named John Tortorella, and their head coach was a guy named John Muckler. Yep. Come on.

Unbelievable. And they had a secret weapon. Brad May told me What the guy in the corner that would push the board So the fuck would bounce out? You know who that was? The Zamboni driver, wasn't it? No, it was a guy who worked for the team

A guy of the name of Porky Palmer Porky Palmer worked for the big duty He played for the Bisons When they were a minor league team Affiliated with the Buffalo Sabres And so Mayday told me they had the set Because he made he played on the line With McGillney and La Fontaine

They had a set play It would be a hard rim and Porky would bump the boards and it would just edge it because the Zamboni doors right in the corner and they would edge out a little bit. The puck would hit it. The goalie would go behind the net to play the puck to stop it for the D so he'd be out of the net.

The puck would squirt in front tap in. Mayday said that the day, Mayday said that the one season they figured he accounted for between six to 12 assists. The phantom assists to Porky Palmer. Well, Brad was back in the day, there's no better call than the Rick Jeneret May Day call.

Totally. The May day calls, phenomenal. It was cool. I talk about those eight o'clock starts on Friday. You'll appreciate this. There's a place downtown called Gabriel's Gate. Of course, yeah. It's a big chicken ring place in Buffalo.

It's not like the anchor bar. It's kind of more of a local place rather than a tourist place. And all the teams would congregate there after the games on Friday because back then there were no charters. You were flying out the next morning on Saturday. So we'd all go there and there were, you know, there were some tough guys. he's playing in Buffalo back then. Rob Ray, Bradman, like, there were some tough cats that played. And there would always be Hartford, especially Hartford Buffalo, there'd be

fights. And we'd all go to the Gabriel's gate and we'd sit in the back. And I'd be like saying to my assistants, it'd be like, there's going to be a brawl up front. And they're like, no, everybody kind of cooperated. It was good. Oh, it was unbelievable. But that was a different NHL, Jeff. Well, you know, it was a different. So one quick story here before we got back to, you know, hockey here in 2025. This is when you could you had bonuses for penalty minutes. And Mayday said he was like

five minutes away from 300 and he had like a $20,000 bonus was last. Actually, you know what? It was against Hartford. It was the last game of the season. It was against the Hartford Whalers. I can't remember which referee he told me about. He was like he went up to him and just like out of nowhere just like started

hammering on the official. Just like you so, blah, blah, blah. Just trying to get a misconduct. And the referee said, said, Brad, I know that if, yeah, I know like 10 more minutes and you get your bonus, I'm not going to give it to you. And he said, Mayde said he chased them all over the rank, just swearing out and he can. The referee just kept saying, sorry, Mayday, I'm not giving you, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not going to do it.

I'm not giving you your bonus. You're not giving you your bonus. That's so cool. That's so awesome. The only time I can remember something like that, I was doing the advance scouting for Pittsburgh going into the playoffs in 91. And Randy Gillen needed, it was the last game of the year. was in New York against the Rangers, and Randy Gillen needed, I think, a point or two points

to get to like a $10,000 point bonus. So Bob Johnson, the late Bob Johnson goes, anybody need anything for a bonus? And the guys were all pointing at Gilly. He didn't want to say anything. And so I think they kept putting Gilly out, and he was an amazing faceoff guy and a great checker, but he wasn't a point producer. Yeah. And they put Gilly on.

I think he did get his bonus. But I remember that was the first time I was like, as a former college coach thinking about this really matters like it's a good way to interact with your players and i learned that from listening to what bob was doing at the time and it was so civilized because back then you remember how draconian it could be in the nchal like it could be pretty nasty it could players that i mean listen uh in in in in in toronto if you were close to the bonus at at the end of the season you know the message was come from you know harold baller to roger nilsson yet he doesn't play tonight i'm not going to spend an extra 10 000 just because he hits his bonus we're not

going to the playoffs he sits tonight he doesn't play you know i can remember there was a austin was bad for that too boston with harry sindin whether it was ray bork with the uh with the low contract to make sure no one got above the ceiling or the or the sitting down for bonuses that was a that was a thing the best one was when they would send guys down at the all-star game send guys to the american hockey league so they wouldn't get stand the n hl payroll and they couldn't go on vacation that was the good one in Boston too

players like that players love that way players love that one I mentioned a couple of seconds ago Saturday night in London just a quick thought Royal Juniors is on the horizon always fun and you work a million of them

I've always been a fan watched all them and get a chance now to cover it from my tiny little perch again it's only a one game snapshot but Sweden looks really really good Canada had a hard time getting the car out of the garage

and on the driveway and onto the road. Gavin McKenna didn't have the best of all possible games and not even just putting the puck in his own net, but it was a constant turnover turnover. I'll tell you what, the Philadelphia Flyers have themselves a player in Jack Bergland for the first reading.

And no one, it's funny, too, I was talking to someone in Philly to the beginning of the season and he said to me how come nobody talks about Bergland? You guys are always going about all these different prospects, but no one, not a word about, Jack Bergland's a player, man. Sweden looks really good. Canada's a murderer's role, but they don't have, they don't seem to have it all together just yet. Do you have a snapshot or a thought? I don't know if you saw the game or whether you have a thought on the tournament on the horizon, but whatever is

inside your junior hockey brain, if you could spill it out now, that'd be great. Well, I've been following it really close. And, you know, I like the Canadian roster. I don't know if Michael Meese is going to be able to play or not. I hope he is. But yeah, Canada is going to be good. But the biggest thing to me is a depth and goal. And whether it's Ivan Kovic or Carter, George, I think Canada's goal tennis can be really good. The Swedes are obviously really good. How good is Ivar Stenberg?

He was, so there's a couple of moments in the first period to be like, a little bit shaky. But then after that, he just took over. And it wasn't just the goal. And that was a bullet of a shot. But this guy looks so confident, so composed. And again, like, it's natural just to compare to Gavin McKenna because it's both, it's both their draft.

And they could not have been polar opposite players. McKenna, look, you know, by the end of the game, kind of a little bit like shy to make plays because the puck had bit of grenade on his stick all game long, where as the game went on, Ivar Stenberg's, his prowess just grew. And by the end of the game, this guy's just fly. What speed?

And, like, you can tell that a lot of these kids play in the grown-ups league that play pro. Because they look like four players. They do. And, you know, I spent a lot of time over there. The big thing about the SHL is it keeps getting better and better all the time because of the way they practice. Their young guys are forced to overachieve every single day. And if they don't, they get sent down to a different part of, you know, the hockey world in Sweden.

So I find that to be fascinating. The other thing, too, is I think when the physicality really amps up, it used to be that the Swedes, they weren't afraid, but they weren't comfortable playing in it. I don't think he can say that about them anymore. But if I were to pick the top three teams, and I think a lot of the pundits would feel the same way, it would be Canada, U.S., because it's in Minnesota in particular, and then obviously the Swedes. So, you know, that's the thing.

Bobby Motzko has won a World Junior Gold as a coach for Team USA, and he had to do it on foreign soil against Canada in Montreal. He's got a really veteran type of lineup. in terms of coaches. I think it's going to be a really tough world junior, but I do think the top three teams are already pre-ordained. I do believe it to be Canada, U.S. and Sweden. I really believe

that. Brady Martin stood out. Boy, did he ever. Stood out. But here's the thing. Here's the final thought on this one. I came away from that game and I said to myself

if I didn't know that, like if you had Sweden in a different color and there were no name bars, and you had Canada in a different color and there were no name bars and you said Jeff which one was Canada which one was Sweden it would have been flipped

like sure Sweden is skilled but man they are not shy they are physical and they're happy to do it and a lot of places Canada was looking just to play a skilled perimeter game so that's why I was telling you before

they've changed a lot back when I first started doing it I was you know again I go back to being part of the management group that drafted Marcus Nasz And you watch Marcus Naslin and Peter Forsberg back in the day, they were as good as any tandem you would ever see at the world journey. And I mean that. You know, you're talking about Holik and Yager and Reichel.

You're talking about McGilny, Barry, and Federoff. You know, you can go down the line. Nazlin and Forzburg were as good. And the reason why they differentiated themselves compared to other Swedes in that generation is because they weren't intimidated by the physical stuff. They were not. Other guys were. And you can look at it. I do these studies of different places where people get drafted and from different countries.

From 91 when Forsberg and Nazim were drafted to 99 when the two Siddins were drafted, second and third overall, go look at the lost generation, almost a decade of lost Swedish players. And I think a big reason why is they were teaching passive resistance hockey. They were teaching the torpedo, which was a total union system. The torpedo! took away skill development that's right and torpedo and so I'm just telling you they said this is no good and they got back doing what Swedes did best they're a hearty wholesome I coached the two Samuelson's Alfian shell trust me when I tell you as much as I respect Swedes these guys were

Vikings man they were nasty piece of business and the Swedes are getting back to that I'll never forget Gabriel Landiscaag in the 2009 world Junior. And why I remember there was an exhibition game in Toronto at, I think it was Scotia Bank then. Maybe it was a different name. I forget. But anyways, they were playing there and Canada heard him with some hits in the pre-tournament game. And he was never the same. But from that, Gabriel Lanniscock, who was a captain of the kitchen of Rangers, learn this is what I got to do. I got to amp up. And I've never seen the Swedes bully ever after that. Never. Well, you know, it's indeed with Landiscag.

I remember there was one game against the Sioux-Saint-Marie Greyhounds where Jake Muson, who was like the toughest player in the O-HL, took a run at someone on the Rangers and Landiscag went after him and everybody on the bench was like, the kid's game, but man, he's got more guts than brains. And, you know, Muzzin, and Landis-Cog beat the brakes off him. And everybody went, whoa, where did that? come from yeah that's what i mean so and i think more than anything else and you know like the shl you made that good point before those kids they get pushed like they're playing against men

those guys that's their pro league like those kids are getting pushed a lot so i think it's going to be a really interesting world junior this year the fans are going to be electrifying it's going to the next two you got it here in minnesota and then obviously up to edmonton next year um i think it's going to be It's fantastic thing. But here's my question for you. Think about Canada. If they had McLan, Celebrini, and Matthew Schaefer.

Forget the Olympics. Let them do the double bit. Forget, and Connor Bedard, right? So let's do the double dip. All three of those guys get to play in the world junior this year,

and then they go to the Olympics. Has that ever happened before? Not to my knowledge in Canada. No. And then, you know, what, here's another one you throw on all this, this player is not going to the Olympics. again, this is always the

Well, if Canada really sent all of their players and I know this isn't exclusive to Canada, but Sam Dickinson's not going either. Berkeley Caton's not, Berkeley Caton's not going either. Good point. Good point. Yeah, good point. So there you go.

Could you imagine how good, like seriously? So the best World Junior team I ever saw was 2005. And the reason why it was the best World Junior team ever and probably the most competitive world junior is because we had the nuclear winter of no NHL hockey. So guys like Dionne Funuf and Patrice Bergerald and Corey Perry and Ryan Getslaff, Shea Weber, they were all playing World Junior. Ovechkin and Malcon were playing for Russia.

You know, you can go look at it. Like that's the best world junior on paper and probably competitive-wise ever. But what I remember the most is, can you imagine Crosby played with Bergeron and Perry and Bergeron was a winger. that was crosbie's draft year here he is he just broke mario he just broke mario's point record 20 years later it's unbelievable it's unbelievable

it's unbelievable making me feel old because that grand forks tournament feels like it was like yesterday and not not missing any of those games Jeff Glass would have been the goaltender am I right about that one glass was the goalie you are correct he was the goalie Jeff Glass was the goalie Brent Sutter was the coach. Pete DeBore was an assistant coach.

And one of the coolest things I remember on an off day sitting with Kevin Lowe, Wayne Gretzky, Brent Sutter, Gord Miller, myself, and my late dad, who was from North Dakota, watching practice. And Gretz and Kevin Lowe is saying, boy, that Crosby kid, he works hard. He's pretty good. thanks for the news flash fellas yeah thanks uh thanks thanks for thanks for that one scoops yep he's he's not a bad player uh a couple of things on nchl and then i want to get to this history thing is which is always so much fun to do with you um haven't had a chance to talk

to you about the quin hughes minnesota situation not just necessarily the trade but like how he fits in where does he help and if you're bill garen because i don't think he'll Garren's done. With the Minnesota Wild, what do you do next? Like, what is another, another move here? So I know they launched yesterday to Colorado. We all know that. But Johnny Heinz is coaching fantastically well.

Jack Capuano is assistant coach, his assistant coach, associate coach, actually coaching really well. Look at the development of some of their defensemen. Brock Faber and Quinn Hughes, that's just a one and a half month preseason for the Olympics for Team USA. You don't think Billy was thinking about that. besides trying to help the Minnesota Wild. I love the line.

They don't call it Minnesota anymore. They call it Quinnesota. He's brought instantaneous energy to that team, which is going to be huge for that group because now they know where they fit against Colorado. You're not wrong. I don't think they are done with making moves. One of the coolest things about that deal,

and I don't know how much it was reported in Canada, Billy Garon got on a plane, probably from Mr. Leopold, the owner, flew to Vancouver, picked up Quinn Hughes, and flew back when they were playing the Ottawa Senators that afternoon. And eventually on a Yol Ericksonet goal with less than 25 seconds to go on the third period, they beat Ottawa, which was a tough game,

especially when you consider all the injuries that they've had. I think Minnesota, Matt Boldy's maybe the most underrated star player in the league outside of the state of Minnesota. How many people talk about Matt Boldie, Jeff? No. I mean, Caprizov is, and rightfully, sorry, he's been fantastic. Caprizov sucks out. Caprizov sucks up a lot of the oxygen there.

Now Quinn Hughes will too, but you're right. Like the reels know about Matt Boldy. Like real hockey fans look at that and go like, don't sleep on Matt Boldy, of course. And think about it. So Filino's a nasty piece of business. Ryan Hartman's a nasty piece of business. Zuccarello eventually is going to get 100% healthy. They got some bite on the back end with Middleton.

Jared Spurgeon's an amazing teammate and awesome leader. Now, you know, I like their depth and goal. I know, you know, obviously, Gus is in really well. We had him in Ottawa, and I think he's really a great teammate and a good goalie. Walstead's outstanding. We all know that now. It's a legit thing. Minnesota's for real.

I do think they're going to make another deal, though. And they have more people don't know this. They only look at records, but they got a plethora of young prospects at all levels, whether it's junior, college, H.L., East Coast. They got guys coming. Billy's done a really good job there. But that move to fly out to Vancouver, that's. It just reeks of Blue Lamevorello.

It reeks of Blue Leverdell. Well, you know what? And I'm poor, that's all loo all the time. The one thing about the whole situation, because I think everybody was blown away by the package that Bill Garen put together. Like, Detroit couldn't touch it, right? Like Carolina couldn't touch. Well, they could have.

Yeah, I think Detroit could have, but they had to want to part with Simon Edvinson. I'm not sure that was part of it. they were going to have to part with another good forward. And I don't want to see a bunch of names because it's not fair to those kids. But I think they could have matched it. I just think that they probably looked internally and said, you know, we got this kid, Axel Sandine Pelica that we think's going to be really good down the road. We got this Edvenson guy that we think.

We got this side guy. So we don't want to mess with our internal chemistry right now. And I think they didn't want to have a lot of big wind blowing through their city at this town. The point that I was trying to get at here is the star of the deal. I know Bill Guerin gets all the praise, rightfully so. That is a gutsy move. But what afforded him the luxury of moving these players, to your point, like if Detroit doesn't want to move Edvinson,

you move him in, there's a big hole and et cetera, and that goes for a lot of the other prospects that they've had to move. to me the start of the deal is is is judd bracket well he's so he caught scouted both sides of this deal right yes he did from vancouver yeah he scouted both sides of this deal and you know i'm known judd a long time going back to when he used to hang around the foxborough pro am in boston when he was just starting out so that's a long time ago uh so judge watching this he knows exactly what i'm talking about he was working for vancouver then um you know he is and i love the fact that you to bring that up because scouts don't get nearly enough credit.

We always go to the ultimate top of the food chain. And this is why I'm telling you, this year in particular, you asked about Minnesota making another deal. You'll appreciate this because of your background, Jeff. This is the year of the owner needs to be smart and give the general manager leeway. The general manager's got to be really smart and visionary to give some power to the pro scouting staff.

Usually we talk about coaching staffs and players making a difference. This is the year of the owner, the GM, and the pro scouting staff. Because everything's so equal, you would agree, everybody's equal pretty much. If you don't have three real key people in ownership, management, and pro scouting, you're not winning this year. I'm telling you, you're not going to win this year. Billy's winning right now. Billy and Mr. Leopold have done a great job. Judd Brackett's part of that group you just talked about.

So that speaks to your point, what we were just talking about. Love it. Okay, with that, let's get to, I always love when you're on because this segment gets that much better. Zach, let's get to Hungry for Hockey History, a presentation of Uber Eats. Uber Eats is enabling fans to maximize their fandom all season long with exclusive game day deals on the app from game day eats to paper plates and napkins if you're hosting to all the ingredients to all the ingredients you need to make your favorite game day dip. Before, during and after the game, Uber Eats is assisting every hockey fans experience all season long. What do you have for us today, Zach? December 22nd, 1993,

Dean Everson scored a short-handed goal at three minutes and 20 seconds of overtime to give the Dallas Stars a three-two win in Anaheim. The first shorthanded overtime goal since the NHL had adopted the five-minute overtime period starting in 1983. Oh, 83. That was right around the time.

I think Mark Howe, maybe with Hartford, set the record for two short-handed goals in a period by a defenseman against the St. Louis Blues. Right around. But anyway, so shorthanded goal, Dean Eveson, overtime, first of all, I loved watching Dean Everson play because he did not back down to anybody. He was a nasty bit of business. He worked hard like all of. I love watching Dean Everson play. One of my favorite things about coaches is the death stare. Joel Quenville has a great death stare.

And I'll take Dean Everson's death stare against anybody Pierre in the NHL. This isn't saying anything specifically about that stat or that shorthanded goal or overtime or all that. I just wanted to point out that one of my favorite things about coaches is the ability to have that stare. that freezes a bench and freezes everybody. For my money, with all due respect to Quenville and Anaheim, Everson does it best. He's got a really good one. The best one I ever participated against

was the late Pat Burns. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Unbelievable. So I'll give you a quick one on that. And that's a great stat, by the way. By the way, when Dean Everson scored that short-handed goal in the win over Anaheim, coaches actually got losses on their record.

Now it just doesn't show us a loss. So just so we're clear, so everybody knows, they change the rules. Because I have a few of those losses on my record and it still bothers me. But anyway, I remember we were playing Dougie Gilmore and the Leafs in Hartford, and I believe we won the game either by a goal or in regulation or an overtime. And Pat was given our bench the deaths there. like you can't believe and i was like i said to my trainer at the time i said hey is he like giving it to me is he mad at me for some no no no no it's not so i called the lead there were no

cell phones back then so i called the training room of the leaves and i said hey it's pierre mcguire and i'm you know i said we played you guys last night is bernsey around and they go no he's not so eventually they gave the message to bernsey and pat called and goes what's up I said, hey, are you mad at me for something? And he goes, nah, nah, and I'm not going to say exactly what he said. I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at the guy standing next to you. He used to run around with that Dale Hunter when I was coaching in Quebec or when I was

coaching in Montreal and they were in Quebec and they used to goon my guys up and I wanted him to remember that I didn't forget. Oh, no way. Gilly was standing next to me and he was probably trying to figure out is either staring at me or staring at McGuire, but he's mad at one of us. Wow. Eventually he told Gilly, but it was, that's about as mad as I've ever seen Pat. And remember, he almost went after Barry Melrose in a playoff game between L.A. and

Toronto back in the day. Yeah. So, yeah, Bernsie had the good death stare. You know, it's funny too. So former cop. And I'm always reminded of that Felix Pot fan, Ron Hextall fight. Right. And so when everybody saw, okay, here we go.

Like, Podfan's coming out of his net. He's fighting Hextall. He's biting off more than he can chew. Now, as I'm told, actually, Bill Waters told me, said there were two people in the arena that knew that Felix Podfan was going to beat up Ron Hextall. So the Podfan boys, the reputation around Montreal, really tough kids. Really tough, really, really tough kids. And Burns would know that as a cop.

There are two people in the rink that knew that Potfan was going to beat up Hextall. One was Felix Potfan, and the other was Pat Burns, who looked at that when, Hextal doesn't know what he's in for right now. Everybody else thought that that cat was going to get tuned? No. No. You know, it's amazing. Felix Potvin came out of a program midget AAA. It was Marty Burdur, Felix Potvin, Jose Tiedor, and Roberto Luongo.

It was called Montreal Budasa. They were a midget AAA team. And I believe they all played there before they went to major junior. That named after Rory Burrassah? No, it's a little, it's out in the East End. It's near St. Leonard. Okay. So they played out there.

And they, I'm pretty sure all four of them played there. I know that Broder did, because I tried to recruit him out of there. And I know Jose played there. And I know the Longo played there. I'm pretty sure Felix played there too. But it's pretty amazing when you look at like some of the midget triple A programs for some of these. Amazing.

It's amazing, right? It's just amazing. So the last time I talked to, this is like a few years ago, last time I talked to Felix Botfan, he brought up a great point. He said, I can't tell you how, how much he's disappointed in goaltenders right now in one specific area. I said, what is it? He goes, catching the puck. He goes, he said, nobody catches the, no, he said, I'll tell my goalies play baseball.

You'll learn how to catch a puck. All goalies do now is they block the puck with their catcher. They don't catch it, he said, because nobody plays baseball anymore. He said, one of the most important cross-sports, I think, for goaltenders, is baseball because no one knows how to catch a puck because they don't know how to catch a ball anymore. That always stuck with me from Pot fan. Who was one of my... That's a really good one, actually.

I wasn't aware of that, but, again, Felix was really good. I don't know if he ever got enough acclaim either, by the way. No, I agree. he was really good and he was really good in a lot in a lot in a lot he went everywhere i lay atlanta like he went a lot of different stops he moved around i don't know if you ever got enough acclaim now i'll say this you talk about catching pucks this is for fans in san jose and around the league of genie nabakoff i think he's the best european train while he's russian but best foreign trained goalie i've ever seen catching the puck i'm not sure i've ever seen

you're yeah like if you watch uh henrik play obviously one of the best european train goal he's ever he didn't really catch the puck great but he did stop it obviously very very well you look at a lot of the other guys they were all really good they were really quick they were really athletic but i'm not hash it wasn't a great catcher of the puck he wasn't but his feet were good you know what i mean he just threw everybody he just threw every body he just threw every body part at every puck he was contorted beyond belief but if you much of Gini Nabokov back, especially in the day when he was prime,

he could really, he snag it out of the air, he'd rip it out of the air. He was really good at it, really good at it. That's awesome. We could do this all day. Listen, what the best? This is like the biggest treat I have is when I get to do this with you. Same. And, you know, you've let me hang in for the last

month, so I didn't know if I was welcome back. No, it was two weeks. It was two weeks ago. Because we're always like, we're just like, oh, we keep it, we keep abusing Pierre. We keep abusing Pierre. We keep abusing Pierre because we get on and It's like, I take you down all these goofy side streets. And next thing you know, we're talking about French Canadian goaltenders playing baseball. On that one, you enjoy the rest of your day.

And we will check back soon. This holiday season, all the best of you and your family. Best of 2026 to you and your family as well. And we will catch up soon, my friend. I can't wait. Have a great holiday season. Everybody, Jeff, thank you so much. I love being part of it.

Thank you. You're the best. Pierre McGuire, longtime commentator, long time color. analyst, a long time, a great radio. I'm glad that he met to mention Mitch. God, is he ever good in Montreal. And Pierre is like the ultimate co-host and ultimate guest for anybody's show. Because I don't know that there's a better person who can jive with any style of hockey program. You want to go current, you want to go historical, you want to go international, you want to go junior, you want to go college. Pierre shows up and it's him. the microphone and his brain and I mean not legitimately like we could sit there and do it let me ask you this Zach

if you said if I said to you like okay Zach I'm gonna do like a 24 hour marathon where I'm just gonna sit and talk hockey for 24 hours raise money like you're raising right now for sick kids on after dark with your show that's just like taken off in popularity as well and you've been doing amazing work

like who's the guy that who's the guy you would say like yeah merrick go do 24 hours with blank yeah it's pier i'm calling pier and asking if he can do the first 10 if he minds taking a two hour nap and then if he can close out the last 12th because i want pier to be a part of it for the whole time he's the best having him on just getting to hear him and tell the stories it's also kind of funny between the two of you because you'll be talking about the 2025 buffalo sabers and then next thing you know it's like well remember the friday night 8 p.m and then we're talking about the guy who kicks the boards in the corner

and then we're talking about going. And then all of a sudden it all circles back and we get back to the 2025 Buffalo Sabres and how it relates to them now and it's just like a fun loop to go through to get there but it's entertaining and I feel like every time I walk away learning more than I did before I knew. You know what's interesting?

You know how I wanted to open up the show with you today just to see your reaction? Like this is what I'm going to do now for the remainder of this every now that it's going to say things Just to see your reaction. And this is how I wanted to open the show. By the way, can you tell that Zach lives in downtown Toronto right now? Have they just fired the coach?

Is that where the sirens are for? Yeah, right. There would be an amber alert on my phone if they fired the coach right now. Sorry about that. Oh, man. I wanted to open up and just see where your reaction was this. I was going to open up the program today and say, Zach, just when you think that food can't make a phone,

phone call onion rings just when you think food can't make a phone call onion rings I'm going to go see my family right into my dad face right into my dad face

like what do you do well you know we have really cool guests who gets talked to a lot of people we cover serious topics and then Jeff tells me onion rings. Yeah. Just anything food can't make a phone call. Yeah.

Everyone listening and watching and I said, oh, Merak, that's awful, and they're all going to use it. Oh, I'm going to use it. Yeah, you know what you're going to be? You know what's going to happen with you? You're going to be like seven deep on Christmas and try to remember it and kind of half spit it out

and blow the punchline. Yeah, probably. That's exactly what you're going to do. All right. It's the Zach. segment ladies and gentlemen and by the way like after dark has been so good lately we're talking to amel about it this morning everyone like around the shop is just like you've seen jack's show lately it's like next level stuff um great job zacharoo really really good thank you mind you're you're given you're given some fertile ground to work with like you yeah exactly like that team's given you a lot of fertilizer to make a really nice backyard right now for your program so but you've you've raised a lot of money for sick kids too so great job for you The sheet is powered by Fanduel. Play your game with Fanduel.

It's the NHL season and Fanduel is your home for all the action on the ice. From Blue Line to Betslip, we've got you covered all season long with unique promos, live offerings, and more features to let you play your game. Miss Puck Drop, no sweat. With the live same game parlay, you can build up your bets until the final buzzer. Download Fandual Sportsbook today and play your game. Please play responsibly, 19 plus, and physically located in Ontario. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you,

please contact Connects Ontario. Phone number, 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. Zach, do you have anything cute and quaint for us tonight? Or are you just like cynical and pissed off after that weekend watching your team? Cute and quaint might not be the way I would describe this one, Jeff. I'm just going to read it and you're going to have to react, ready? This one's called, bro, don't cry, that's silly. Philip Broberg, Chris Kreider, Cole Sillinger, all to score tonight.

How long did it take you to come up with that? Or was this, or was this from John in the chat? No, no, no. This was me. I had this one ready earlier today, and then I asked the chat if they had anything. They were either ignoring me or couldn't come up with anything. So I stuck with this Broberg

Don't cry Crieder That's silly Cole Cillinger Five dollars wins $1,885 If this hits If you can hit

I'm out Oh you want to know something here Maybe this I don't know if this is good or bad omen But we had all my buddies down From Aurora I would do like a Christmas party every year Before the holiday break

we're at lunch on Saturday and we're all sitting around we're like let's do a parlay here of goal scores we're going to put together some goal scores for today and we'll all bet it and if we win, tonight's basically a free night. So we have McDavid, Paige Thompson

and Tim Stutzla. This is on Saturday and we said, you know what? Let's add one more. I said Robert Thomas. And this is all the boys from Aurora. So all the boys were friends with them and grew up playing them as well. So like let's throw them in and I'm like Okay, I don't know if he's as likely as the other guys, but let's do it.

So the first three guys are in the three o'clock games, all three score. We spent like two hours waiting for the Blues game to start. Rob scored about 12 minutes into the third period, I think it was, of their game. And we went nuts, nuts. We're jumping around the living room, hugging each other. That's a fan dual ad right there, bud. What do you do and waste your time with me? Go make commercials.

Go make spots for a fan duel. That's amazing. It was fun, though. Yeah. So that's either a good sign because it means I'm hot or a bad sign because it means I shot my one bullet and hit and that's it. And then we go into Christmas. But I just thought I'd give that context to people.

So take it as you will. If I'm either hot or it's over. Bro, don't cry. Don't. That's silly. Yep. Broberg cried her, silly. I got a hand it.

I really got to give it to you. Like, you've taken. the segment and really made it your own. I never would have come up with that one. I just spit things out like food, making phone calls, onion rings. That's all I got. Mine's worse, because yours is at least like, ha-ha, like there's a punchline, it's good. Mine's just like, really, that's what you thought of.

How stupid is this? It's a little dumb, but if you're going to like, but dude, if you're going to put down, if you're going to put down a nickel on this one and come back with 1800, no one's going to be laughing. Well, actually, everyone's going to be laughing. Everyone's laughing. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

All right, great stuff, Philly. We're back on tomorrow. Greg Wischinski will be aboard with us from ESPN and ESPN.com. Thanks for joining us. So one more program this week for the sheet, and then we're off. And then we're in Minnesota shows coming to you from there, including one special one, a live event that we're doing, which we'll have more details on soon.

Thanks for the great Pierre McGuire for stopping by as he always does to share his knowledge and wisdom and fun stories, which are always great. And thanks to you for watching. Thanks to you for interacting, listening, watching all of it, subscribing. We appreciate all of it.

More programs tomorrow, and then we're off again until next Monday. Appreciate your families. Go do some shopping or something. All right. And if you're in Minnesota, look us up too. Whenever we get this live event announcement done,

please come by and stop by. It should be a lot of fun. Enjoy the rest of your day. Enjoy your evening. Enjoy the hockey. If you're a Maple Leafs fan, of another day being nervous until Tuesday at 4 o'clock hits

in the most important game of the season. That's what it feels like for Phillies, Toronto Maple Leafs. Enjoy. We'll talk to tomorrow. What's that? Must win game.

Here we are. It should be getaway game where guys just want to get through it and not get hurt so they don't have to spend like a day of their vacation in a hospital or injured or something like that.

Instead, it's going to be like this incredibly intense game. You hope. If you're the Toronto Maple Leaf because if it's not, boy, this is going to be trouble. It's like, anyhow, enjoy that, and we're back tomorrow,

one o'clock Eastern for this year. Greg Wyshinsky, too. I'm sorry. I spent 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month. I can't get out my head, lost all ambitions day-to-day,

because you can call it all right. I went to the dark man, and tried to give me. little medicine, I'm like, no, and that's fine. I'm not against those methods, but new. It's me and myself and how this is going to be fixed in my mind. I do want to break it. I turned on the music.

I do want to break it. I turn on music. It's turned up, they'll bet you sometimes losing. I've been on the days that we're wrong