The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Trade Tiers and Locker Room Noise ft. Greg Wyshynski & Carter Hutton

Episode Date: December 11, 2025

Jeff Marek is joined by Greg Wyshynski for a full breakdown of the biggest NHL storylines today — including Adam Foote’s pointed comments on how the Quinn Hughes trade rumors have infiltrated the Vancouver Canucks locker room, what it means for team chemistry, and whether the noise around the NHL’s top defenseman is becoming a real distraction. The guys also dive into Connor Bedard’s growing case for Team Canada at the 2026 Olympics and how the Chicago Blackhawks’ star fits into an elite Canadian forward group. Later, former NHL goalie Carter Hutton joins the show to talk all things NHL — goaltending trends, team tiers, breakout players, and the stories shaping the stretch ahead. Tap in for smart, sharp analysis from three trusted voices around the league.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.

Oh, hello again, and hello, Greg. What did you describe my look at moments ago? Stakehouse, Mater D? For those, yeah, for those listening on the podcast, wherever you get your podcast, Jeff is dressed a purple jacket and a black t-shirt. I said he looked like a Steakhouse Maider D. Now, he might not look like you're like a high-end, Peter. Lugar. I think those cats still have to wear ties. But I do think that for your mid-range

steakhouse, you could expect to see someone dressed a lot like Jeff Merrick. He's walking up to you. He's glad having. Maybe you're slipping up a 20 to get ahead on the, on the, on the, on the wait list. He's taking you over to the table. He's like, your bread service will be here momentarily, Mr. Whatever gangster name. And, and then he goes back to his post. I'll tell you what happened. I was just wearing a, it's been a kind of a scrambly day between like phone calls and reading and watching stuff. I spent about an hour and a half shoveling this morning. We've been snowed in pretty deeply over the last 24 hours.

And I just had, I grabbed a quick shower and then just grabbed the black t-shirt and jeans. And I remember we were at a live event once. You and me, I'm trying to think of who else was there. I think Bob McKenzie, Kristen Shelton, I think was there as well. It's one of those live events we used to do for Puck Talks. And I was just wearing a black t-shirt, black pants. a black toque and you accuse me of looking to have like ink on my arms you accuse me of of being vanilla ice so I can never get that I can never get that snark out of my head and I'm like

do I need to hear us vanilla ice line this is my way we did live shows I just wore jerseys I remember we did a huge live show in Toronto where I wore my my team North America jersey and folks this is what they call the business a transition The team North America, of course, competed in the World Cup of hockey in 2016. I'm thinking about the World Cup a lot, Merrick, because Gary Bettman and Bill Daly spoke about it recently at the Board of Governors meeting.

It talked about how it's going to be two sites, one in North America, Toronto, and one in... I don't know about that. No, it'll probably be Boston. And then one in... Or Montreal. And then one overseas.

And, yeah, I guess Toronto probably doesn't get another shot at that, right? They fumbled the ball. They didn't fill enough seats. They were overly saturated between World Junior hosting and the Toronto Maple Leafs and then the World Cup on top of it. Like, even Toronto hockey fans at a certain point say, like, I'm tapped out in my pocket here. Like, there was a whole confluence of hockey events at Toronto was hosting and then the World Cup on top of it. Although, you know what's really cool, as a quick aside, getting to watch that team

North America's Sweden game. I watched it with Tyler Delo, who's now the assistant GM of the Carolina Hurricanes. We paid like, we paid like 10 bucks. I mean, I was just in as media, but he paid it was like,

this is awesome. I got my whole hour. I paid 10 bucks. I'm watching the best game that I've watched in 10 years. And I paid like $10 for these tickets in the middle of the afternoon. There are empty seats for some of the games

that did involve Canada or the US and the tickets ended up being pretty cheap. But like, yeah, it'll probably be like, you know, Montreal and Boston obviously, you know,

yeah, showed up for four nations. That's good. So they probably earned a chance to, to do this thing, too. But I was thinking about the World Cup in context of the Olympics. You know,

there's so much hassle going on with the Olympics right now. I don't know if you guys have heard, but they're not making ice yet. And there's a chance that if the ice isn't good, then we might not necessarily have an Olympic tournament. I don't know if you guys have heard any of this.

It's been in the news a little bit. And then on top of that, obviously the facility's not done. All this, this Michigas and consternation about the Olympics. The NHL obviously would prefer if the World Cup was the premier international hockey event

they control it they make all the money from it they don't get from the IOC for letting the players in the Olympics this is a very famous topic again I don't side on the NHL and a lot of things but I do sympathize with their plate with the IOC now

here's the here's the problem with making the World Cup the premier international hockey event it's not the Olympics there there's the problem the players like to go. That's it. That's it.

Yeah, they want to be part of the opening ceremonies. They want to hang out in the Olympic Village. They want the prestige of being an Olympic gold medalist on the level of a Michael Phelps, on the level of Simone Biles. Hang on, that's it right there. They just want to say they did. They played in the Olympics. You know, the old saying, use hockey, don't let hockey use you. And all these guys have a number of different boxes.

They can check. Some get a couple of boxes. Some get a double-digit boxes. And some of the rare guys get like, I won a Stanley Cup. And I've won an Olympic battle. and of one of Olympic gold or et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. It's like one of the major boxes that hockey players can check now. It's all it is.

Completely. And you're then within the fabric of a previous hockey greatness. I mean, you know, sit won gold. And you're one gold for the first time since the miracle or whatever. It's like the Norris Trophy is the microcosm of this. Like we can make a new award for defensive defensemen, but you want to win the award that Lindstrom won. You want to win the award that Bob you won. You want to mean?

Like, it's, it's never going to be the same. So I bring this up not only because of all the consternation about the Olympics, but I bring this up because if you are the NHL and the NHLPA, how do you go about making the World Cup of hockey more important or as important as the Olympics? And I was talking on Vancouver radio yesterday. It was Calgary Radio, one of the two. It's Calgary. And this topic came up.

And here's an idea that I think is kind of fascinating. And I've talked about this before, but I got new context for it in my conversation yesterday. When soccer is in the summer Olympics, they cap the age of the players that play in those games. Now, that is mostly so the leagues around the world can continue to do their thing whilst the Olympics are happening in the summer. And maybe there's some of that idea in what I'm about to say. What if all of the hockey federations got together and said the Olympics are a U-24, U-23 tournament? Like, what if they did that? Well, a couple things would happen.

First of all, the Olympics would make new stars, which is something we've hoped the Olympics would do for the NHL players for many, many years, but hasn't necessarily done so outside of T.J. O'Shee and Ryan Miller. If you're a young player that doesn't have a lot of cachet and you end up scoring the Sydney Crosby golden goal for your country in the Olympics, guess what? You're ending up on a potion stamp. You are now a megastar. What it would also do, though, Merrick, is it would make the World Cup of hockey, the place where the NHL and the NHLPA keep all the money, it would make the World Cup of hockey the only place where you could see the youngins and the established superstars. both play together to represent their countries, making that tournament extremely different and extremely more special as a hockey fan

than the Olympic tournament. So hang on a second. What did I miss here? You want to make it U24? If you make the Olympic tournament, say like a U23, you make the Olympic tournament, the U24, and then the World Cup of hockey becomes everybody.

is everybody yeah so you cap you do what other sports do in the olympics which is you cap the age yeah you know so it's not like you know a bunch of 35 year olds playing you put the focus on the young players in the olympics if you're a young hockey player so you're going to get your shot in the olympic cycle at least once maybe twice maybe on your age maybe you could make it may 25 and maybe give them two shots i don't care point being is that if you want the world cup of hockey to somehow supersede the Olympics. If you want the World Cup of hockey to be more prestigious than the Olympics,

the only way you're going to do that is to be different than the Olympics. And the only way that you could do that is if you can somehow make it wear the only place you could see Sidney Crosby and Malcolm Sellebrini wearing the Canadian jersey representative of their country. Maybe that's the World Cup.

That ain't the Olympics. If you could pull it off, awesome. I think that would be great. Now, then my subsequent question would be, does the NHL schedule then continue while the Olympics are on? Because you're just losing the U-24s, or does that pause as well? And the other one, hang on to that one.

And the other question that I would have is, and this is where I just turn into like the guy that's seen too many CBA negotiations and understands the dynamic within the players association. What's the one area of players that when it comes to negotiations over the CBA or other things consistently gets thrown under the bus? I don't know what? The young players. Oh, yeah. Always.

Always. Oh, yeah. We'll tell you what. We'll give you a rookie salary cap two if you give us something else. Players are always, young players are always getting tossed under the bus. I don't, and the veteran guys, the star players, pretty much control the union. I don't know that I can see any of the star players in the NHL, the veteran guys, your McDavid's, your Crosby's, your Jack Eichols, et cetera, saying like, oh, yeah, that's cool.

We'll age out. We'll be like a, we'll be like Minuto. We'll age out at 16. And then we can't play in the boy band anymore. I just can't see the Players Association signing off on that one. Maybe, maybe I'm mistaken, but I just can't see the big boys signing off. You have to. you'd have to financially incentivize it in the World Cup like you'd have to somehow give them a bigger chunk of change in order to incentivize them signing off on not going to the Olympics when they're like in their 30s

um listen listen hang on from a from a from a fan's point of view it's interesting because and I like it I mean I would even make it younger part of the attraction now with with the world juniors which is essentially the U20 and it's a development tournament not unlike the U18 U17 all these different tournaments just to sort of to measure up where they are in their peer group. That's what these tournaments are. But it's become more than that, as we all know. One of the great things about it is, and this is what you don't get anymore, which is considering our age, Greg, we were lucky because we're probably one of the last generations

to have this experience of seeing players from overseas for the first time. Oh, yeah. I've always told the story about 1976. That was the first big tournament for me. I would have been seven years old. and you're seeing like the Stasnees and seeing like Vladimir Zirilla

like oh my God like you only hear about them or read about them in the hockey news back then like and you just didn't know but now and again I'm not saying it's a bad thing the NHL is a Benetton ad now

like it's it's all the nations all together all the play I know it's a dated reference I'm so old but it's everybody all together so essentially what these tournament international tournaments then become is

a bunch of guys you're familiar with a bunch of NHLers all just wearing different jerseys. That's it. They just reorganize the same guys. Yeah, I realize that there would be challenges to my idea. But to answer your question, though, I mean, what's the thing that the owners hate the most about the Olympics? Don't make any money that the players could get hurt. Shutting down this?

Well, the players getting hurt part, but shutting down the season. Having to take a pause in the season and not have games in their buildings because of this thing where they're loaning their talent. So in theory, you keep playing. Yeah. Without those young players. Okay, so go tell the Chicago Blackhawks they're playing for a couple of weeks with O'Connor Bedard

and go tell the San Jose Sharks they're playing in a few weeks without McLaughlin-Colabrini. See how that goes over. You could, maybe you loosen up the schedule. Honestly, the one part of this and it does factor to the NHLPA argument that I worry about

isn't necessarily the Sidney Crosby's and the Patrick Keynes of the world. My concern is the veteran players from other countries Because if you ever talk to a Swede If you ever talk to a Finn And you bring up the Olympics You will find some of them Value winning an Olympic gold medal

Or an Olympic medal More than they value winning the Stanley Cup Correct And that's kind of the trick here Is you'd have to figure out a way to convince them To go along with this too And that's going to be probably even harder than any of the North American guys

Yeah, absolutely. Okay, let's get, hang on, bracket that for a second. It's it, listen, I think it's an interesting idea. I think anything like this where you can think creative to make both tournaments different and distinct is very much worth a conversation. Let's get on with what's going on the show today. Maybe flip that to Carter Hutton is coming up on the program a little bit later on, which brings us to the blueprint for today's show, the blueprints and this program powered by Fanduel. Download the app today and play your game on Fanduel. me up on today's show.

Let's see if he's done it. Oh, I love you, Zach. Greg Wischinski's on the show. He's coming up. Wow, that's going to be awesome. Locker room noise. I wonder what that could mean. Vancouver.

The other guy. Did you see the other guy comment? We're going to get into that here in a couple of moments. Carter Hutton's going to stop by from DFO Live and Mainstay here at Daily Faceoff. Former NHL Netminder. And Greg has an interesting piece. on trade, tiers, and targets. I do want to add one more thing to your piece when we get to it a little bit later on.

In the meantime, I know that Quinn Hughes is dominating headlines, and I'm sure people are saying like, oh, Jesus, every show have to have a whack at this pinata. And my answer is, as long as a pinata is still spilling out candies, then, yeah, everybody should grab a stick and take a swing. Did you see what? Do you see Adam Foote's comments yesterday, which should come as, as, as, no surprise. And if we had this one queued up, Zach, this is Vancouver Canucks

head coach Adam Foote yesterday on the Quinn Hughes saga. I think when I've been around things like that, you're not talking about it. You're not, you know, you're trying not to think about it, but it's there. And

you can feel it certain days more than others. I can feel it certain days more than others, and these guys are human, they can feel it. it can affect for sure a locker room. I have to give the guys credit. They're in a tough spot hearing the noise, and they keep coming to work every day

and keep doing their job. And they're pros, that's what they're supposed to do. But, you know, I answer your question, they can hear it. And it probably affects some players more than others. But like I said, they give them a lot of credit for the way they're handling it, coming to work, coming to try to win hockey games and do their job.

And maybe the best follow-up to that is do you and your team resent your president of hockey operations for bringing it up in the first place? Which started all of this. It didn't have to be like this. But bless him, Jim Rutherford was the one that opened this can of worms. And we can't get the can.

Twice. He opened it up by saying that he wanted to play with his brothers. And then he opened it up by sending a memo. to 31 other team saying that we're open for business, which was misinterpreted as being, well, that means that Quinn Hughes could be on the block when in fact he just meant the UFA is pretty much. But yeah, I mean, like, that's a, you know,

as we all try to figure out exactly what temperature this boil is at right now, like that's a pretty good indication that it's pretty high. Like, like you have the head coach candidly talking about how the future of his star defenseman is impacting the locker room. you don't have to go too far to the New York Rangers last year where all of the the chatter about guys like Jacob Trouba and Chris Kreider and the J.T. Miller situation. Like all of that impacted the room.

There's no question about that. And so when all of this stuff starts permeating through the locker room walls, you have to start wondering how long you can sustain the pressure. It's like the trash compactor from the first Star Wars movie. It's closing in. Great reference. And Adam Foots screaming a 3 to 3PO to try to shut down all the trash compactors on level, whatever.

He's, it's, it's, it's get. The walls are closing in in in Vancouver, Merritt. Yeah, this one, this one doesn't go away. And every, every day, a couple of new teams pop up in the, the rumor mill for kicking tires. I think, you know, one of my kids youth hockey team is, you 16 team actually called Vancouver to see if he was available to. I'm just assuming everybody, everybody's calling to see. They do have young senators. I mean, that's the one thing they're looking for.

Well, I imagine the U-16 team does have young centers. They got three centers that can all produce. So Rutherford's listening, Rutherford and Alvina listening. They're all U-16, but nonetheless. Okay, I was just curious. See, that also, I know that the headline is, oh, yeah, it's gotten into the locker room. Spoiler, it's been there for a while. I've always said this.

Since I started, I started 1995 in this industry. And about hockey, I've learned exactly one. One thing. One. That's it. Just one thing. And that is, Zach should me say this before, you can't lie to players. Players know. Players know the stories. Player knows who belongs on the ice, who doesn't, who don't belong on the ice, who should be there, who shouldn't. All the hot goss, all of it. This is not new. Like all of a sudden, you know, two days ago, the Vancouver Canucks sort of woke up after Elliot's report on hockey night that, oh, wow, there's a conversation between the devils and the Vancouver Canucks over our over. I get. Had a conversation. This, this, this is, this is not. new. This is not new. Of course. That's why I chuckled at the athletic player poll the other day about they asked how many players

have social media accounts and I think like 82% of them said they don't. And then a bunch of them also said, and we don't have a burner. They're completely right in most cases. These guys don't need a Twitter account and they don't need a Twitter burner. What they need is a bunch of friends

who screenshot all the things said about them and then text them to the players, which is exactly. how this thing always works and they always know who is saying what and they're always informed about what the what what is being said about them in the ether yeah without question so there's always been i think you and i talked about this like a million years ago and like the great twitter hunt was on to try to find sidney crosbie's burner do you remember that story from a million years ago and that like white whales with a goose goose chase and everybody was on trying to figure out, like, which one, which one is, is, is, is, is, is hopefully when his career is

over, Sydney can finally just answer that guy like, oh, yeah, like this account was my, was my, you know, I'm always going on about how general managers, when they're done with their career and the names of fall path, moved on or whatever, uh, should sort of tell the stories. I think when players careers were over, they should come clean about, okay, yeah, this was my account. As if it goes back to see, every reporter goes back to see if that account followed them or who they followed and what they said. Which famous account could Sidney Cross you be?

That's the question. I don't know. What if he's Drager? Wow. See, that would be like the ultimate swir of these actually posting as another insider. Or one of the, or one of the insiders out there on social show. Oh, yeah. What if he's like one of the sons of Eklund that rose up to build the rumor void?

Yeah. I mean, the only. I mean, we've learned some burner accounts. Remember, like, Tony DeAngelo got caught with a, with a burner where he was, like, using it to defend Tony DeAngelo. It's been a couple of those instances. I mean, obviously, like, the most famous anonymous player account for a while was Luongo's, where there was all this question as to, like, yeah, was. Remember the whole thing about, like, was Duffy running it? Because it was like, a little too funny.

It was kind of insulting to Luongo because, like, too clever. Right. And then Luongo's like, no, I'm funny. What are you talking about? I always, I always treated that like it was like, that was our everyone's way on social media to try to smoke Luongo out. Just assume that it was James Duthy. And everyone's like, it's like a sideways side swipe out. I'm like, oh, this is too clever to be Luongo. Oh, this is too smart.

This is too witty. This is too funny. Just as a way to come out and say, first of all, that's not my burner and stop insulting me like that. Yeah. But it never happened. I do, I do appreciate, I mean, I think Morgan Geeky is one player who recently, like, clapped back at somebody. St. Louis Blues. St. Louis Blues.

I do appreciate that we're in an era of player empowerment where they feel comfortable being candid with their Twitter feed or with their Instagram feed to, to hit back a criticism. At other, hang on, at other teams, too. Yeah, yeah. That's the part that I really like. It's not just going at another player, going at a team. account because we haven't we haven't really seen that level before have we no have we seen a player clap back at a team account or was that i mean it probably happened at some point but i just love the idea of like we we should have a generation of kevin durance who feel

compelled to you know go to social media and defend themselves or take shots at others when when needs be makes my life easier that's true all right uh i want to get your trade tears here let me grab me pull this up here um yeah please tell me what what you'd like to add to the 4,500 word story that i had to file today what is the what is the extra 50 words that i did not put into the story mary please tell me can i add can i add one thing yeah please edmonton's first round pick in 2027 that's fair i mean there's a lot of first round i think and i think and yeah i'm going on with with with tyler and leiam after this one after the show.

One of the things I want to, as I'll try to hijack their show blatantly, there's your hook for tuning in after the show. I'm just going to try to hijack their show because one of the things that I'm curious about here is if you're the Edmonton Oilers, it's obvious that, you know, one of the things you're going to try to use to lure either a goaltender or be forward to help this team this year, would you, I'll put this one out of you. I'll ask Tyler and Liam this one later on. Would you rather use that first round pick to get Tristan Jari with retention

or Alex Tuck as a strict rental? Hmm. Hmm. Wow, that's a really good question. Is there any redundancy in Tuck? well here's what I wonder about Edmonton I know what you're saying because there's no point in having like

two Alex tucks on the team I get it but as I look at the oil is the one thing that really stands out to me because I know everyone's focused on goaltending this and goaltending that and I get it trust me I get it but one of the things that I wonder about

is will they be able to construct a third line like a good third line like hey we've just won the Stanley Cup third line third line without taking Ryan Nugent Hopkins away from McDavid and Hyman. Which you can't, you can't necessarily do. I think you end up hurting your stuff more than that.

So what do you do then? That's where I wonder like, because how many, wish, how many times have we talked about, oh, you know what, it was their third line that one of them was Stanley Cup? Oh, it was that third line that won the Stanley Cup. Top six is tend to wash. And then your third line comes in, like, who's got the strongest third line? So that's why I'd throw that first round pick as far as being one of the more intriguing pieces in any trade tiers that we're putting together.

For sure. I mean, they're obviously going to have to sacrifice something to get things to improve their team. The thing I'm curious about with regards to Tristan Jari is twofold. One, who's having the conversation with Sidney Crosby where the Pittsburgh Penguins are within sniffing distance of a playoff spot, but they're going to trade their best goalie this season for reasons? like who's having that conversation with sid where like the thing that you've been begging for playoff relevance maybe within your grasp but we're going to trade your goalie for a first like who's having that conversation i would imagine the second thing is okay

go ahead no no no no no no no be thorough be thorough i'll i'll trade pick here in a second the second thing is is that i i know why tristan jari's name is being bandied about which is that he could be available and he could be available with retention Why are we talking about the fact that the thing that the Edmonton Oilers need is for goaltending to improve in the playoffs? And Tristan Jari has played eight games and seven of those games in the playoffs have been fucking atrocious. Like I'm sorry. Like, Tristan Jari historically has been a terrible postseason goalie in a very small sample size. But nonetheless, I was going to say, it's it's, it's tiny.

Again, this is like this is this isn't. running on track record at all at all and i think that's probably why stan bowman's looking at this and saying all of a sudden the reports are not going to make a lateral move saying saying uh this guy could be mark andre flurry where people wanted to run flurry out of town for being mediocre in the playoffs just like they wanted to run jari out of town for being a terrible and i think that was that was it was against the islanders that series where he was absolutely terrible um but let me let me let me transition for a second here okay is there a a reality in the multiverse

for Mark Andre Fleury comes out of the retirement to play for the Oilers? I don't... I can't see it. Oh, okay. I wonder if once upon a time

there was interest from the Oilers in Mark Andre Fleury. Again, I've never been told that, but I think it's something that we've all wondered at various times. But,

um, Now, I'm not even saying that this guy might be an improvement over Calvin Pickard. I'm just saying that if you go into the playoffs with Stuart Skinner and Mark Andre Fleury playing for league minimum, pulling the old Philip Rivers coming back from retirement at a time of need. Yeah. Is that better than all other available options, Merrick? Well, the thing about all available options are we don't know who all the available options are at this point. Like, do you not get to – because here's what I think about Edmondson.

And this is where it might be frustrating, certainly for the Oilers and certainly for their fans as well. We don't have enough teams dropping out of it yet. No. Like, do you not get the feeling that Edmonton's just waiting for insert Team X to completely fall out of it? Like, I think, like, okay, I'll be, I'll be blunt. Is it going to be one of the Sabres goalies? Is it going to be Alex Lyon?

Is it going to be Ukopekulukinan? the answer is probably yes and by the way I will note that as a guy who just put together a trade board there isn't anybody that's really out of the race right now

and that makes things very difficult trust me this is tough exercise and like if you know if the crack and fall out watch out for Jamie Alexiak kind of shit happening here's the thing though

like if your team falls out of the playoff race to then make your goalies available are your goalies really any that good? I mean, like, it's usually not because of stellar goaltending that a team falls out of the playoff race months before the deadline, is it? Yeah, no. And the other thing, too, about waiting until deadline. Again, it's a scant few players that we have to base this exercise on,

but it's not as if goaltenders that move at deadline have that significant effect on their team. It might be the one position where really it's tough for that guy to come in as the white knight and save the day. Completely true. I'll give you the best case scenario for Red of Minton. Sebastian Kasa plays out of his mind. Yes. And becomes the new Jesper Walshsted for the Detroit Red Wings.

Yeah. And forces their hand to move Cam Talbot because you're not moving John Gibson and the Oilers pounce and reacquire Cam Talbot. I like that. You like that. Could you use them last night When I looked like I had a goalie fight last night For our friends at home

Jeff was just nodding An appreciation of my genius That's how we did it I'm just thinking about How do we get Cam Talbot and Mike Smith in a game again So we can like see a throwdown at center ice Well you know what

Speaking of goaltenders Let's bring aboard Carter Hutton Former NHL and that minder now One half of the power duo that is a Daily Faceoff Live, heard and seen noon Eastern, right here at a Daily Face Off YouTube channel. So we're trying to figure out the goalie market. And Greg threw out Mark Andre Fleury's name

as a surprise swerve for anybody. To the Oilers, baby. Flower to the oil to save the day. What do you say, Carter Hutton? I have it on good authority that Carter Hutton is now doing two a days. And he's thinking about it. and it's in the back of his mind and he's been talking to, I don't know,

Stan Bowman or Bill Scott or Jeff Jacks, any of the Oilers, brass. How do you read the market right now for the Edmonton Oilers in Nets? Like, is anything clear or are teams still two packed together? I think two packed together. I think it's concerning because like the names that get thrown around for me

when I think about the Edmonton Oilers, it's like a lateral play, right? Like it's, is Biddington the answer? Now you've got to try to move money around. Is he really going to help sure up? I think, I don't necessarily think Stuart Skinner is their problem. Sometimes you've got to look at, yes, the Jekyll and Hyde of his game is horrible at times. But I think there's other glaring problems in Edmonton that you see.

So I think that is a concern when I look at the Edmonton Oilers, when I look at a lot of these teams. And the fact of the matter, outside of the Dallas stars and the Colorado Avalanche, who else is really a favorite? No one's really identified like, hey, we are difference makers. We are going to be there. So you are a Tampa Bay little run away from, you know, 7-1-2 or getting a little hot stretch to really just boost your chances in any

division. So for me, it's just a matter of getting somebody serviceable to come into Edmonton. And again, I think Calvin Pickard has got to the point where you almost can't play him anymore. So I don't know if it's the fact of replacing Skinner or just trying to find somebody who can come in and be a little bit of a stop gap, just to give Skinner some relief in this compressed schedule where it feels like every night he plays, you don't know what you're getting. I think that is the most concerning thing for Edmonton Oilers and for their fans. Do you not think, let me, I'll turn this over to Greg in a second. Do you not think, though they're considering that Cona McDavid, you know, didn't do that deal, the great

Alberta gift to win one Stanley Cup, but he did it to win three, that even though they might not be Colorado and they might not be Dallas, there is an obligation in exchange for, like, the quid pro quo here is, I'm going to do you this solid, but we can't punt on a season. Like we need to, we need to act as if we are Colorado and act as if we are the Dallas stars. That's the way it feels to me. Does it feel that way to you? Yeah. It does.

And it feels like he gave them their leash, right? Like this was the deal. It's like, hey, this is a show me deal. What can we do? So that's why some of the names being thrown around. I feel like it needs to be a bigger splash if it is a splash in net, right? And again, maybe like Famelka in Utah is a thing. I get like Ryan Smith is a guy.

How long does he sit there and wait with the inherited staff that he got, right? Like these these weren't guys that he hired, right? Bill Armstrong came over. André, these were, you know, and then you think back about Terry Pagula and what he went through and he took over ownership and all the, you know, where the Buffalo Sabres are at now. So I still think there is a lot of names, but I, if there is a play, it has to be some prospects, some picks, something going out to Edmonton for them to get anyone for me that is really going to move the needle. That is really going to be like, hey, Connor McDavid, here you go. We went, you asked, you wanted this, we went and got it. Again, this is a team that's, it's hard for me to judge a regular season.

it's hard for me to judge certain teams in the regular season because they get a little bit of a pass, right? Like the Florida Panthers are struggling. Everyone feels like they're going to turn it around. But they get a pass. They get a little bit of a leash because they've done it before. Where some of these teams, they don't because the results haven't been in there when it matters most.

Can I throw one more thing in? Of course. That's what I'm here for. Sergey Barbrowski's on an expiring contract. There you go. Imagine that. That would rock the world. Hey, that would rock.

Well, like, I remember when Bob signed that deal. Everybody's like, you can't pay a goalie $10 million. You can't do this. This is how the league works. This is it. And then all of a sudden now it's like every other team reflects on it. They're like, we got to pay a goalie $10 million. Our goalie sucks.

We need to find someone we can pay a boatload of money. So it's funny how it like the abs and flows changes so much. But what I will say is when you look at the depth of the Florida Panthers during those cup runs, that was a big difference maker. And again, Bittington's names thrown around so much right now with Canada, with, you know, trades. How insulated what he played. very well. I don't want to take it away. I was on that same St. Louis Blues team the year before and I led the whole NHL in save percentage and goals against. Was that Carter Hutton or was that a

fact that we had Jay Beaumister, Alex Petro Angelo, Joel Edmondson, Robert Bertuzzo, you name them, we had it. And we were so structured where Bennington was good. And again, at the four nations, a very good insulated team, he was good. At times, you're about as good as what can get put in front of you outside of maybe three or four of the best in the world. Great points. So that does bring up an interesting point, though, Carter, which is, is Bob good? Or is Bob good because the team in front of him really hunkers down and plays exceptionally well in the playoffs? I think Bob is still good. I don't think Bob is a 55 game goalie good anymore.

I think there is a wear and tear and a factor that comes into it. But again, Bob is a good single game goalie. And it'd be exciting to see what would happen if we had Russia at the Olympics, right? Because of the plethora of goalies that they have. And there's so many good guys. But I think for Bob managing where he is at and where he's going to be at in playoff form. Yes, he's a workhorse. He wants to play.

But I think his game has dropped off a bit. And again, like he is capable of stealing games. But I just don't know if he's on that same level of like consistency we see with some of the younger guys. When I look at guys in the league that are really in that upper echelon, I think Igor Chesterkin is that guy. You can probably put him on anywhere from team one to team 32. And you're still going to be in the game every single night. So I think Bob's better days are behind him. And trying to strategically set him up for success come playoff time.

And the war of attrition in playoffs is kind of where I think the Florida Panthers are at. Okay. Elsewhere around the NHL. And no, we're not going to ask you about Quinn Hughes. Because this one has been like done to death at this point. And I'm as guilty as the next person. and that next person is Greg Wyshinsky. So let me ask you about the other bit of low-hanging fruit from this week.

And listen, that was a big comeback win, even though they almost threw it away against the oilers, by the Buffalo Sabres. I was saying earlier that the one thing that I've learned in my time in hockey media is this. And it's only one thing. You cannot lie to players. Players know who belongs and who doesn't belong. Now, the Buffalo Sabres yesterday signing to a two-year,

in a two-way deal. He's just on an American League deal leading up. Trevor Kuntar. And he's called up over Noah Ostland, Constellaneous, and there are a lot of people there going, hang on a second ago. Lindy Ruff the other day was just saying, we're carrying three goal tenders,

so I can't ice my best lineup. And, you know, Noah Oslox did nothing wrong here other than he's the victim of a numbers game, so I can't ice my best lineup. I don't know why he got like again I'm not there maybe there's an obvious reason that I'm missing but how that player turns a HL deal into a two A deal and gets called up over Noah Austin and Consta Hellenius to me is baffling but players notice this right like what's the effect like I'm curious like take us inside the room like what's the effect like up and down

the bench because listen if I'm asking these questions you could be sure that like Tage Thompson, Rosam Stalin, Alex, Tuck, everybody on that coin is going, on that team is going, huh? What's that? And I think it's when you start to lose your room, too, as like a general manager, right? And again, times that I think about is like trade deadlines times where it's like you have, you think your team is in it. And then all of a sudden there's a trade that goes on and you're kind of like reflecting as a group like, man, they don't believe in us. They don't think, you know, where we're at. So I think that is a big factor in this play where they're trying to pull up.

They're trying to see what works. But I think the message that's getting sent to those core guys is we're trying to expose players. And maybe there's guys on the move. So I do think it is disheartening for the Buffalo Sabres what you see with moves like that. Right. In a culture where this team is very unpredictable, right? At times it's not about talent. It's about effort.

It's about, you know, I guess maybe trying to generate the exact same product every single night. and they've had troubles doing that over the last 14 years. And I was one of them, right? I was in that culture where it was, we had a ton of good players and the message wasn't there, the discrepancy between team and management and coaches. And at times, it kind of falls to the wayside. So I think it is concerning. But to Jeff, to answer your question is players know, trust me, players no.

Player, no, they know what's going on. They know who's good enough to be there. Yep. And they also know that like if you've been around long enough, you're aware to the situation. And that's something that gets involved in this is like there's a sense. sense of self-preservation that comes into play too like don't get me wrong we are proud athletes and we want to be good and we want to wear you know whatever team we're on we're doing that but at the end of the day like the writing's on the wall if there's a guy on a contract you you have to be a

little bit selfish right because one thing i will tell you when your time is up they just scrape your name off and get somebody else right so you got to try to make your money and take care of yourself numero uno always let's all say it together hockey will never love you back Make as much out of it as you can. This is why hockey players in the media should get along better. We're all the same boat. Find the younger, the younger model. Hey, Carter, let me ask you this.

When you talk to your friends in the goalie fraternity, is there a guy in the league that is sort of the consensus most underrated goalie? Like someone whose numbers maybe aren't always great. and then, you know, the fancy stats if you don't tell the story. But is there one guy that maybe doesn't get the shine that you guys think is the most underrated goal in the league? Can I guess?

Yeah, you can I guess? Jake Allen. There you go. That's honestly a great pick. Jake is a guy that, you know what? I think Jake is a great story of a guy that St. Louis expectations on him coming in, which we see all the time. He just needed a change his scenery in my personal opinion.

Because he was like anointed the guy, where I never had to deal with that. I got off the hook, well, I didn't say I got off the hook. I probably left a lot of money on the table where if you are the guy, you get more opportunity, right? I used always joke in Nashville once I was a little secure in my position there. When we would have the brass in and scouts would be in there and everybody, I always go to the boys like none of these guys like me, right?

Because I was like this random free agent signing that they plucked in. And next thing you know, I became an NFL goalie. They're like, no one found me outside of Mitch Korn and their goalie staff. So sometimes being the guy, like we're going to see it tonight, Jacob Fowler gets his first start. he's kind of already anointed the one and this is a big time market and he's getting a first start against the pens what wa did what price did all these dried in all these guys before him and i think it's concerning in the sense of you know you don't want to put two next expectations on a guy where jake allen realistically he could have been in st louis forever like he was that good

but he was labeled with expectations and i think another guy who doesn't get enough love in the league a guy i played against from college all the way up is camp talbot i think Cam Talbot has been one of the arguably the best goalies, consistent-wise, every situation he's been in. And it's not like he was always in these protected situations, right? He started with Lungquist and, you know, kind of cut his teeth there. And then he bounced around to different teams. And no matter where he goes, he, you know, he's an NHL All-Star at one point in L.A.

Like, it's very impressive what he's done in his career. And guys like that, I'm, I always kind of revel in because I know the grind, right? Like 39 years old and he's still going. I was thinking back to when I was like, I played until I was 35. God, there was days I hated it, right? And it was like, and I always loved the game. Trust me, you ask anyone about me. Like I had a good rapport with most teams.

But there was a time where it was like, hey, I am, I remember last year in Arizona. I would like tell my wife, like, I am here for the paycheck. Like it got to that point where you could ask me before that. I was doing everything in my power to be good. And I loved it. And I was immersed in it. But you hit a wall at some point. And guys like that, I find most impressive.

That's a great answer. Greg had mentioned Cam Talbot previously, so I can, I can, I can, I can see the inside smile on his face. Well, yeah, what we need, yeah, well, Carter, what we need is we need, we need Sebastian Kossa to be like the Yesper Walshstead of Detroit, forced them to bring him up, Talbot's on the market, Oilers trade for Talbot. That's the perfect scenario for Edmonton. I thought last year was the year that was going to happen. When they traded for Peter Marazic, like, it felt like Cam Talbot was like, now that I'm on your side, right? working media I was like this is the play here you know how it goes to edmonton he becomes that like staple he's a good not that I think he's the guy that carries you to a stanley cup but he can

get hot he can be a different difference maker and again when I think of team Canada like maybe you want a veteran pre. Even like team USA someone made this Darren Pang we had him on our show and he made this argument to me we were chatting a little bit about it like number three for team USA what about like John quick or someone that like between the ears if it does there's an injury or something happens and you get thrown in that moment, you're not going to be overwhelmed by it, right? Like, there's so many good goalies, but one, this is a one game showdown. A one game showdown, it comes down to in those kind of scenarios. Sometimes the mature guy has a little bit more between the ears. It's hard not to think about him against the Russians in Sochi, man, and

like, think, yeah, they could use that in the pinch if they need to have for sure. As a Canadian hockey fan, I love the idea of USA taking net minors that are, that are on the back nine of their career and maybe thinking about retirement. I think not only should you have them on the team, but they should start too, maybe John Van Biesbrook grabbed the past. I don't know. I'm just speaking as a Canadian here. I'm just looking at

Ottinger and Hellabach and I'm like, oh, you know what? I think John Quick, I think Jonathan Quick might be the, if he can channel 2012 quickie then all of a sudden, yeah, USA can go on this run. We don't need it for 60 minutes though. Only needed for six. I'm just a locker in a present, right? And a guy that could help guys around

the room. So there's always that talk. I get Like he, if you get to your number three in the Olympics, you're probably in trouble anyway. Yeah. This is Merrick's version of my celebrini, Bedard. What about Nick Cousins? Wouldn't that be somebody in Canada would want to take? A bunchful face I just saw voted.

Yeah, that was awesome. You got to win votes. No, I know. Okay, so let me, last one for me. I'm going to go back to the swords on this one, although we've seen this at various times. We saw the Red Wings before. Publicly goalies always say, you know what?

We don't mind having three gold. We don't, well, we're fine with it. It's okay. Everyone says the politically crack thing. Maybe if their general manager asked them, they'll say the same thing as well. Have you ever met a goaltender, Carter, who really likes the three goalie rotation?

No, no, not. You know what I like the three goalies was during COVID? We had Jonas Johansson with us, but he was nowhere going to play. He was just there for practice relief, where you're like, hey, I just started last night. We have practice. This drill's not for me.

this is for the players so maybe you maybe jj you come over here and jump in okay like because you're cutting your teeth and i was that guy before too but from a playing standpoint it makes no sense you guys need minutes guys want to play guys want to compete and again it starts to i i talk about this a lot goaltending is this really unique position inside the sport where you're very insulated you're almost on an island and what happens is well your family your friends your agent you're the best you're going to do the best. If someone gets hurt, you're going to play more. Or like, it's not fair.

The D's not good. And then, like, all of a sudden, you start to let things creep in where it's like, well, now it's three goals. He's like, well, I should be playing. Last game I played good. Why am I not playing? And it just starts to like become this pity party for yourself. And I think sometimes in a situation like Buffalo where you have too young, like Alex

Lyon, he doesn't care. I would truthfully believe like a guy like that is just happy to have a seat at the table. He's established enough. He's going to go there. But then you have UPL and you have Colton Ellis's kids that are like trying to play more and trying to be in the scene and then all of a sudden you start to be like doubting yourself like am I good enough why is the situation happening and I think it just creates something that doesn't need to be there I would rather truthfully probably for these younger guys just go play

minutes in the American league or go somewhere where you're going to be the guy and cut your teeth and takes your bumps and bruises where when you take your bumps as bruises in the NHL it affects you mentally and I think Jakob Dolbush is a great example of that started so well this year right what's he thinking right now cam phallor just came up like he was unbelievable start the year we saw him in an interview after a jersey game he was almost in tears losing an overtime game like there's times where i've come out of a game and been like so upset for five 10 minutes and then i'm like on to the next thing right you learn through time and experience how you compartmentalize that side of the game and i think adding three goalies with younger guys is just

it's going to be a curse and i think it's going to create problems that don't need to be there I mean, look no further than Minnesota, right? They let Walstead basically percolate in the HL for three seasons. And then you look at a kid like Devon Levi and Buffalo where he's thrown to the lions like the minute he gets into the league and you can see immediately the difference in confidence and in the difference in being able to handle the adversity of it all. I wanted to buggy about one thing before you go, which is we've mentioned a few times like the numbers for goalies.

do we have any idea who's good? I know we have more information now from places like staff leads and other places that give us goals above expected and all of these metrics that I think are still pretty good. But everything I hear, and maybe you can attest to this or not, is that the internal numbers the teams have and that goalie coaches like Mitch has are so much more precise and informative than the stuff that's available publicly. like is that pretty accurate yeah i think so i it's tough right it is a situation where you are kind of a product of your surroundings too at times and then there is just you the numbers do get skewed to right you look at some goalies you have a tough stretch and those numbers are hard to come back for and finding a ways to you know make timely saves and the way it's it's so tricky to judge a game by a box score right like i can attest to that where there was times where you'd be 30 40 shots

and it was like the easiest game you play right i know we try to dive in more with the advanced analytics. I also think it is there is a locker room presence and there is a calming demeanor of saves at timely manners and hockey games, right? Because there's an old saying that I heard a lot when I was coming up. It's not how many you make. It's when you make them. And I think that is a factor that doesn't really show on a stat sheet.

But overall, the guys that can consistently hit it done as team starts to change or they move throughout different systems are the guys that I think it's like an upper 10, Greg, honestly that are like better than everybody and then there's like this middle where it's right place right time right system and again like you tucks on with devon levi versus yesper waltz there's so much value in my personal opinion of like taking all your bumps and bruises and their little roller coaster in the miners where like you don't have like a young kid that like you turn your phone on and it's like you're getting like i i was 32 33 making the most money i ever made It's totally secure.

And I would, like, get Instagram, like, death threats about a game. And I was like, I was able to, like, manage it. But I'm like, this isn't healthy, right? And then, like, imagine doing that. Like, imagine Camp Fowler tonight if it doesn't go well. Yes, those people's opinions don't matter, but you're going to see it. And I think building up a little bit of a tolerance and, like, a mental capacity for that in the minors is so important. Okay.

I'm going to ask you a stupid question. Get ready for a dumb one. I love it. I know you're a baseball cap guy yeah well I some days I gel my hair you never know we're guessing I get it I I understand you got they got have the feathers looking looking good were you a baseball cap on the bench guy I was you know I was a baseball cap on the bench guy but not a backwards hat that the Tampa Bay backup who's right he came up the night Christers Goodlofskis was the first was one that I think was it was the first one I remember seeing that had the baseball cap but sorry sorry go ahead you're making a point about Tampa the backwards hat for me yep is a big no no like is a big the kid for the Leafs the other night to back up that was with Hildeby had his hat on backwards I just feel like optics wise I'm okay with the hat yeah um there's two things that I would change it's that I the dress code whatever I I did we did that we did fashion days when I was

in Arizona and in my career I struggled because like I don't have any cool clothes I didn't have my Christian Dior shoes on I was literally I have I wear like the boots because I was at the dog park with my dog and my kids and uh but and the other one for me is breaking sticks like if you break your stick over the boards or the post i let's find them like i i think it's such bad optics as a father now and as a guy that played in the nchel as a guy that buys sticks now hang on as a guy that buys sticks now yeah jesus i wish i would have stockpiled a little more you know what's funny too i i always i one of my one of my one of my one of the things that i always love is when you see like a star player or any player for that matter like giving out sticks to kids it's

always like oh look how look how generous ovechkin is it look how generous cry they're not paying for the step it's like a 500 bucks out of his pocket right exactly I was I disagree with you I love when goalies lay the lumber to the post man I mean it's the optical reinforcement of the psychopathic goalie trope and and there's nothing like it a guy wearing a mask slamming the shit out of a piece of metal with his stick until it breaks is is great lumberjack lumberjack there was a famous one where the video of pecker rene doing it and the points against san jane and who do you think came in after a stick was broken this guy i remember i had to go in twice during those game five and game seven in that series we lost to san o'd say i remember the one time i went and

it was like four one or we were getting waxed and then they had a power play it was a five on three right so they have a five on three lavalette goes huts you're going in i'm like what the i got to go in right now it's a five on three i haven't even like i haven't seen action in like a month and a half i'm going down to get my stick from pete rogers famous trainer he's like what are you doing out there i was like i don't know give me my stick man i got to go in the net even when i got to the net ren was like are you sure and i was like pex i don't have a choice man five on three so that was my uh i think that was my first playoff experience was hang on was was was how was was how was was how gill there then no how gill wasn't there then

i always found that halgill was one of the most effective five on three penalty killers that i ever saw because just like wingspan block shots like all of it didn't have to like he was like it's almost this is going to sound like an insult but it's it's not he was forced not to skate and he was really effective because of it like he didn't he was forced not to chase anybody because of five on three so he couldn't really leave he was such a good five on three penalty killer so important right guys that can play their position make it predictable for a goalie but that's my uh yeah the five on three was always a little bit intimidating in the n hl especially when you're coming in cold after about a month and a half out of game did you talk to your posts

and if so what relationship did you have with your post uh no i i i don't think i ever really talked to my post i i was tried not to be totally a weirdo i definitely fell back on routine and structure whether it was like skating to the corner and tapping the board and like shooting water up or all the weird things. It almost just gave me a sense of comfort that I had like checked those boxes and I was like, okay, I'm going to play well now. But, you know, the one thing is like anything can happen.

He tried to just rely back on like that sports psych of being like, no matter what happens, I'm going to be good. Yeah. We kept it too long, but you got great stories. You got great stuff. Carter, thanks, pal. You continue success with Tyler at noon Eastern every day and we will check back soon, pal.

Thanks, guys. Baseball hat on the backup goalie, Greg Wyshinsky to mine. Again, this is going to be like a hunt for me now for a few days. As I do this, it feels like Christopher's Grudevskis was the first one that I saw. And then it kind of became a thing. As we are constantly striving to find ways for players to bring out their personalities. I tend to believe that backup goleys are leaving a lot of money on the table.

We could easily have a backup goalie wearing a order of the buffalo hat. We could have a backup goalie wearing one of those beer helmets where he's putting two, two cans on either side and drink the Carter in the game. There is so much opportunity for goalies who we already know all due respect to Carter Hutton

are complete psychopaths to wear goofy different hats on the bench that like who wouldn't want to see Jordan Bittington with a court jester hat on when he's backing up Joel Hofer one night with the St. Louis Blues.

Sell your own ads. Sell your own sponsorships, non-traditional revenue. Oh, I took a little haircut in my salary. We're going to make it up here with this hat. Yeah. And I don't like the grant for your Pepsi pads. Okay. How do you feel about the tradition of players handing sticks to fans after the game?

Because I've always been sort of like it's great, except for those moments in which it looks like everybody in the crowd is about to go Mad Max Sunderdome in order to like trample a kid to try to get the stick. If it's going to kids, yes, 100% yes. And we've seen players too, like at the glass be like, nobody. give that stick to that girl or that seven year old boy or whatever I love it absolutely you don't need to get it you don't need it's just like you know the the autograph hounds

that don't want the other that we talked about this with badar the other day with badard yeah you know like a guy like seriously because that transaction has given me something for nothing but if you're giving it to a kid yeah I absolutely love it what kid doesn't want to go home with like I just got this

stick from player 100% love it what's not to love about it like the old school Monday night raw fan and me where you used to go to raw and like the entire crowd would just be homemade signs but i do love the tradition now of kids come into the glass during warm-ups not only with signs but like with intricate negotiations on the signs rock oh yeah scissors for a fuck you know like i i think that's really cool and i'm happy that it's something that's really taken hold and it'd become uh one of the the n hl's great traditions his kids

kids not only coming down to the glass to see warm-ups and get a puck hopefully but also like creating a billboard in order to sell a player that they are most worthy of said puck. It's awesome and there is because it's hockey in the presence of the glass. There's like a goldfish bowl sort of effect too that all of a sudden like the goldfish just threw me a pocket. You know, because like unlike other sports and this is part of the the I think like there's like a deep psychological dive you can do about the actual surface. of hockey itself and how it lends into certain things like violence in the game for another program, but let's not forget, too. Hockey is the only sport where there is a physical separation between the athlete and the fan. Football, you can run out of bounds.

Baseball, you can chase a ball out of bounds. Basketball, you can run out of bounds. You can't skate out of bounds in hockey. You hit boards and a glass. And that's why I love, like, when kids go up there, there's, like, that breaking of the barrier there's like i'll flip you a pocket we'll do a selfie we'll do whatever here's it here's a stick i mean that's i love it if you want to get into the psychological deep dive at all and i know i know we can't right now because we're up against it but like to me that's the biggest problem

with hockey on television is that you you literally are watching what looks like a bunch of people on a fishbowl and that's if there is a way every other sport brings you right on the surface yeah we're on this and in baseball's cases more on the surface now where they're bringing cameras on the field as players are walking up you know to it looks great and inside the dugout when they're celebrating it yes i mean that to me is like that's that's that's that's the thing hockey you know as we talk about listen there's a ton of reasons why it it struggles in the u.s the way that it does demographic and financial and everything else but the simple fact that you're not bought on to the ice more the simple fact that you don't feel like you're part of the action is to me the reason why there's

always that that feeling of separation and again like there are other sports like nascar for example where you do feel the same sort of sort of way but when you compare hockey to the other big big four sports i mean it really there's got to be a way to break through that barrier and get on the ice i always thought drones are the answer america i always thought drones having drones fly around like like a futuristic game show from a movie and and and and film the action as it goes on I'm like, that's where we need to be as hockey grows in our great nations. Yeah. Wearable technology, wearable cameras, right?

The officials put pushed back on it. And I can't understand why. Like, if you're going to make us essentially, you know, be camera operators and shooters and we need to be compensated more for it, and I agree with them. But I think the bigger issue for officials wearing the cameras on their helmets was it, and I think unfairly, leads to criticism of officials because the camera is pointed in an area where the official might not be looking, and it makes it seem as if the official should be looking at that area, even though that area at that time isn't where the official

should be looking. Hear me out. But hang on, but hang on. That is the idea, though, because those ref cams looked awesome. They did look fantastic. They were great. Yeah, we are able to replace the ads on the boards, okay, with CGI ads, including ones where shit moves during play, and I hate it. Why can't we just have a guy in a CGI body suit on the ice, holding a camera, he's filming the action, and then we just erase him through the miracle of digital technology.

So if you're at the game, you see a guy dressed like one of the green men in Vancouver. Hoover holding a camera film in the action. If you're watching it home, you just don't see it. You have no idea. Just like, oh, this is fantastic. Oh, hang on a second. Taxon. No, I know Jeff doesn't watch the NFL as much, but I wish I know you do.

The one that always got me, and I just wanted to bring it up here because you guys didn't say it, is the, for lack of better term, I don't know what it's called, like, the cable cam, Greg. You know what I'm talking about where the cameras on the field above? Because I don't think drones is as practical. I've never understood why the cable. cams don't work in the NHL. They try to follow the play up and down the ice, no.

They tried. It was back in like, 2013, they did, they did try this. And they had the rail cam on the side on the glass. Yes. The real issue, though, again, is that, but the real issue, again, is that you just, you're not, you're not on the same level as the players. You're still watching it from the overhead. It does capture the classic NHL, you know, 94 feel of a game as you follow the action,

but you still don't feel like you're part of it. and that's the thing they're going to have to eventually figure out and I don't know how they do it and then there are other buildings that clearly were built without camera positions involved like I love the broadcast crew we've talked so much and we just had you know Drew a Menda on not too long ago to gush about Drew and that broadcast

and Drew's elite and that San Jose Sharks broadcast is elite but the camera positions are awful like San Jose and Anaheim like oh you still watch games you still fire up the games at night and there are some arenas where you're literally if somebody stands up during play you're screwed

you can't see what's going on anymore because that's where the camera is compared to the crowd it's terrible okay we got a couple of things here to go and I got I got to hop on those nation every day here hungry for hockey history it's a presentation of Uber Eats

I want you to hang around for this one because I'm going to quiz you on something hungry for hockey history the 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 you need to make your favorite game day dip before during and after the game uber eats is assisting every fan's hockey experience all season long zack this is an important date in hockey history zach phillips uh on december

11th, 1992, the NHL's Board of Governors elected Gary Bettman as the league's first commissioner, a role he officially assumed on February 1st, 1993. So, in one of his

first, I think you and I have talked about this before, in one of his first meetings with NHL managers, there was almost a fist fight between two Hall of Famers

at that point were general managers do you know who they were this isn't the barn fight no this is not the barn fight no but go ahead and tell me Bob Ganey and Serge Savard

who always who never really got along like you always talk about like you think the Stanley Cup winners like everybody loves each other and oh we're winning a Stanley Cup and yay everything's good Bob Ganey and

heard Sevard, and I've confirmed this with players that are on those themes. To be kind, never saw eye to eye. And it played itself while Brian Burke has told this story. We did one of our Hey Berkey's on this one, where I guess it would have been

probably Savard that ended up signing someone for the Montreal Canadians for more money than everyone else in the league expected. So it's sort of raised how much gain he was going to have to pay someone on the North Stars. I'm not sure exactly how it went. But then all the old history comes into, it and the arguments and the

effus across the room and as Berkey tells it it's you know next thing you know like these two guys are taken off their jackets and rolling up their sleeves and they're pushing away tables and chairs and Brian tells me Gary

Batman turned to him and said Brian what's going on here and Brian said well Gary we're going to see a fight and I'm sure Gary and Bebber to come over from the NBA is like what have I gotten myself into by one of my first managers meetings

here's two like legends are about to throw down in their suits in front of everybody yeah Willis Reed's not about to fight Bob Coosie at the NBA meetings no no but here's here's the NHL folks this is yeah this is how we behave here yeah yeah someone signed a player for too much and the other guy got angry and they're going to fight and everybody's helping

them do it by moving away tables and chairs I'll tell you what man you want to do like a you know a behind the scenes show that like everybody's going to do things like that things like I'm serious like NHL managers meetings board of governors like all these types of things if you really want to do so uh salary arbitration hearings like if you want to do things that people really want to watch like really do the behind the scenes and here's like let's peel away the layers and see how this whole operation works I'll take that over let's go Christmas shopping with Jack Eichel so Mika Zabanajad and his child dressed like blue I like that hang I like I'm a sucker for I love the Zabandajad stuff I really did I really dug that I dug that I

i dug that's funny all right um last call he got anything for us now i'm good man go read the trade tiers on espn.com lots of queenie hugh's stuff there and uh and some names that i think are kind of interesting as far as like who might actually move um you know once again depending on who's actually going to be in or out of this playoff race i i like you had jordan kairu as high as you did and the the tier that you put jordan kairu yeah it seems like he's been dangling on the precipice of a trade but again they might have been too late with it because now he has trade protection. No trade yeah. He didn't

have it at the draft where there was a lot of a lot of talk of him moving so we'll see maybe they've it's always really hard to figure out what Doug Armstrong feels about Cairo and Bennington insofar as what their futures are in St. Louis. And his team too like sometimes we've seen

we've seen Doug Armstrong like there was a Doug Armstrong that you know the St. Louis Blues at trade deadline were like a couple of points away but he's still like, F it, we're not good enough and just like

fire sale guys. Yeah. And then we've also traded to Winnipeg was always the example of that, right? Dave Backus. Dave Backus would have been another one.

Yeah. It's just like we're not good enough to win even though they're only a few points out of a playoff spot. But we've also seen the Doug Armstrong. That was like, that's it. I'm waving Jay Bowmeister.

I remember it after the Toronto game and like Bowmeister was like sour after it and couldn't talk. Wouldn't know one would talk to him and didn't end up getting waived. And Maroons going down to the American League and screw everybody. This is a design.

master of a season and didn't do anything other than call up Jordan Biddington and they end up winning the Stanley Cup. So trying to figure out what Doug Armstrong is going to do next as a fool's errand. We'll just have to wait and watch and see what happens. You be well, Greg Wischinski. We will talk to you again on Tuesday.

Thanks everybody for watching and listening. There he is. The great Greg Wischinsky from ESPN and ESPN.com. With that, we've got to hustle. Because I've got to ask Tyler and Liam a couple of pointed questions. they're going to want to do something totally different I think on the show and I'm going to do my best to hijack it we'll see if Tyler will allow me

but I am legitimately curious about that first round pick for the Edmonton Oilers and who would they rather would rather have Tristan Jari with retention or use it for Alex Tucker as a strict rental we'll find out in a couple seconds tune in in the meantime Zach any parting shots before we go here

we still have to do our fan dual thing but anything from the show that you want to specifically go over I just think that the the World Cup thing that Jeff Greg's already proposed is That Greg's with you every day by the way That Greg proposed is It's flawed

Mostly the biggest reason is because there's no history behind the World Cup You know FIFA is so successful because it's been around since 1930 It holds weight It just doesn't in the NHL I like the concept of it But guys want something that

quote unquote matters right and the Olympics matter World Cup for the second time like with that title ever doesn't matter four nations only they cared because they lost access to international hockey

so that's my that's just my thought I was holding on to the show they tried you know it started 1976 with the Canada Cup and then that transitioned into the World Cup and then there was the freeze but they did have a good thing going there for a while if it just would have continued

And then again, like I still think a big thing with the World Cup and we all knew it at the time was when they staged that one, Canada won. And then the next is to 2004. Canada won and then the next day there was a year-long lockout. That didn't do much for the momentum of the World Cup. But nonetheless, again. Also, just an additional little side point on this.

I think that hockey, if it wants to grow internationally, it's better to have that opportunity on the Olympic stage than it is to host its own world event. I think that hosting its own side thing is less likely to bring viewers who are outside of the current hockey bubble we already have. And it's more likely to draw eyes who are already watching the Olympics because the amount of people who will just turn it on and be like, oh, could my country win a gold medal or a bronze medal or whatever?

it's just a higher opportunity for that to happen there or to have rivalries build up between other countries that aren't just Canada, USA. That's just my thoughts on that. Good points, good points. Okay, the sheet is powered by Fanduel. Play your game with Fanduel. From Blue Line to Bet Slip, we've got you covered all season long

with unique promos, live offerings, and more features to let you play your game. Miss Puckdrop, no sweat with a live same game parlay. You can build up your bets until the final buzzer. Download Fan Duel Sportsbook. today and play your game. Please play responsibly, 19 plus, and physically located in Ontario.

If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. Yesterday was almost good for you. Almost. Let's do this quick, because I know you've got to go. This one, I've,

named it this because this is probably how people have felt if they've been betting everything that I've been giving out here of the parleyes. This one, Jeff, is called You Make Me Ill. It is Kirill Caprizov, Will Smith, and Karil Martenko to score tonight. Plus 135 for Karol Kaprizov, Will Smith plus 260 against Maple Leafs and then Karol Marchenko plus 200 there for the Columbus Blue Jackets. This one is $5 to pay $121.21,000. and 90 cents I am forever impressed forever impressed with

the way you will turn yourself into a pretzel to try to make our closing fan dual segment interesting and at times funny I do like that you make me ill that's good ill caprisoff ill Smith Il Marchenko

well done Zach and thanks for our friends at Fanduel thanks for our friends at Uber Eats Thanks to Greg Wyshinsky from ESPN and ESPN.com for stopping by today. We're back tomorrow. Dave Panyoda will be aboard for an end of the week inside a recap of what has happened all week long and what we look for on the weekend of NHL action, both on and off the ice. Enjoy the rest of your day.

You are released from this program officially. Do with your afternoon slash evening whatever you see fit. Enjoy the hockey action. We're back tomorrow. 1 o'clock Eastern for more of the shoot. We'll talk to you. I sweat 16 hours last night every day this week, every day this month. I can't get out my head, lifestyle, ambitious day-to-day, because you can call it all right.

I went to the dark man and tried to give me a little medicine. I'm like, no, man, that's fine. I'm not against those methods, but I knew. It's me and myself And how this is going to be fixing my mind I do want to back I turned on the days I do want to back

I turn on the music Mixing up I'll get you sometimes losing I've been on the days that we're wrong