The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Treliving Speaks to the Media & the NHL Youth Movement ft. Greg Wyshynski & David Alter

Episode Date: November 18, 2025

Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski open the show with a wild dive into one of the strangest goalie stories ever told — the late Polish netminder Valeri Kozlov, who famously scored on the rush and allegedly played a harmonica during stoppages. From there, they jump into a broader conversation about creativity in hockey, goalie props, NHL Edge data, referee speed, and how evolving analytics shape the way fans view the modern game. The guys then shift toward the big league storylines of the week, including concerns around the Edmonton Oilers’ depth, roster construction, defensive issues, coaching questions, and Connor McDavid’s timeline. They also touch on the Montreal Canadiens’ regression, injury issues, and whether early-season shooting luck has fully snapped back to normal.Then, David Alter joins the show to break down Brad Treliving’s brutally honest Maple Leafs press conference — including his comments about the team’s “vanilla” identity, inconsistent compete level, belief in Craig Berube, and the acknowledgement that Toronto’s record overstates their play. They dig into why the Leafs’ interior defensive coverage has collapsed, how aging core pieces factor in, what losing Mitch Marner cost them, whether a lack of contract-year urgency is hurting the group, and what comes next as the Leafs navigate injuries, pressure, and early-season frustration. The guys close by debating whether tonight against St. Louis is truly a must-win, before ending with a hilarious junior-hockey mascot story and a look around the league.SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Bauer: https://www.bauer.com/👍🏼Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/ca👍🏼Prime Video: https://primevideo-row.pxf.io/c/5560083/3303015/20020Reach 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.

Valery Koso Greg with Shinski Valery Koso Yes Is that name Why? At all with you? Not at all.

Is that perhaps the Finnish Howard Kosell? I don't know who this person is. Why are we talking about him to lead off the show? Well, I was just going to do it with me and Zach, but there's one point of his biography that I want to share with you. So yesterday we were talking about goaltenders joining the rush. And there is video. I remember I saw this a million years ago.

We probably talked about it during the old MVSW days. I think I saw this on HF boards in like 2012 or maybe 2013. It was an old video of a, what, HF boards, baby, of a post. Polish goaltender in international hockey, not just joining the rush, but scoring a goal, like just underneath the blue line, wired one, I believe it was on a two-on-one.

And I remember looking at it and going, oh, that's nice. I can always refer back to this particular page on HF boards and find it. Anyhow, it's vanished. And I'm like, I don't know who it was. So I looked it up last night. The guy's name was Valeri Kossel,

Polish netminer, who actually just passed away, like a week ago or a week and a half ago. But you know what else he used to do? You'll love this. This is why I bring it up around you. Just because, like some things I do when we're on together, I just want to see your reaction.

There's no conversation around it. I just want to see your reaction. What he would do, allegedly, because I haven't seen any videos. Allegedly. Allegedly. But I could see it. This guy was kind of a character. I've never heard of a goaltender doing this before, but here I go.

He would hide a harmonica in his pads, and during breaks, he would play it. all right so he would hide a harmonica in his pads like jordan bittington with a 900th goal puck and he would play the harmonica at breaks during stoppages and play correct that's the best thing i've ever heard so if the arena is playing i don't know uh blues travelers hook uh he's getting his john popper on well this is this is this is before you know game ops obviously you know took over and no one can have a conversation at a rink anymore because the minute the referee blows the whistleers, oots, oots, oots, oots, oots, oots, oots, oots, oots, no, nonstop, as you yelled to the person next to you.

He was, and this is the guy, maybe there weren't organs where he was playing, and he just decided to would play a harmonica every now and that breaks. Come on, man. I'm just trying to still work through a Polish goalie who thought his job was to score goals instead of stop them, and I can make that joke. I'm a Wysinski. I'm a Merrick. I can do the same thing.

Polish for comedic effect. I was born in, born, born Irish and then adopted into a Polish family. Kegan, Sean Lachlan's my birth name. Jeffrey James Merrick is my adopted name. So I can, I can get right in there with the polls and the Irish jokes as well. We need more goalie props on the ice. We need more goleys who, again, you know, what do they do between the whistles? They skate around.

They do neurotic things. They douse their hair with water if you're Braden Holp. back in the day so you can whip it around like you're in a finesse commercial. But I like the idea of, you know, maybe take out some knitting needles, maybe, you know, go through your Pokemon car. So there you go. So Jacques Plont was the NHL's most famous knitter on the road. Jacques Plont would knit scarves and hats and mitts to send the back home while the boys

were all out getting debauched. That's what he would do on the train. That's what he would do at the hotel. Well, you're describing, you're describing Jacques Plont. Now, why didn't he get the Dougie Hamilton treatment? Dougie Hamilton wanted to go to a museum once, and he was run out of Calgary for being too fancy to have beers with the boys. And here's Jacques Plont knitting a scarf for his uncle.

Hang on. And he was, it was lauded for it. Because Montreal is the most artistic slash European city in North America. and if Dougie Hamilton were playing for the Montreal Canadiens, he would be celebrated, not the rided, the way that he was for wanting to go to an art gallery or to a museum. If that guy played for the Habs, they'd be like,

this is amazing. Oh, there is Dougie. I know. 100%. Oh, that's fine. By the way, by the way, you know what the great thing about Dougie Hamilton is? His parents. His parents.

You know why? Well, they made them. They were both athletes themselves. His name is Dougie, not Doug. And his brother's name is Freddie, not Fred. Like, they made the nickname the name. It's like you are destined to be this play. You are destined to play in the NHL or somewhere.

And if we call you Doug, they're just going to call you Dougie anyway. So on your birth certificate, it's going to say Dougie. There you go. I love that. No pressure. You know, thinking about goalies that joined the rush, I think you and I discussed in the past, the idea in the All-Star Skills competition. I don't know why they never did this

because honestly it would have put the spotlight on the goalies in a way that they've never had it before Golly fights. Why didn't they ever No, not goalie fights, although again the bat signal just went up for Jordan Bennington again second time we talked about him on the show. No, I don't know why they never did the thing where they let the goalies take shots on the players

and they put the pads on the players. Now granted, I know one reason why, which is that the league probably and the teams don't want you know, Sidney Crosby to shred his groin trying to stop a, you know, one-timer from Mark Andre Fleury, but I thought that would have been such an interesting novelty at the skills competition is to put the spotlight on the goalies and their actual skills as stick handlers and puck handlers versus the players who can then strap on the pads. That'd be a hilarious time. You don't want to see you on NHL Edge, which is sort of its own civility because NHL Edge, part of it is like it skills competitione, you know, who's got, you know, the fastest bursts, et cetera.

Who skated the most miles. Yes, that kind of stuff. Is it too geeky to say, I want to know who the fastest ref is? The fast fastest linesman? Like which line? Okay, not to embarrass anybody, but really to embarrass some of the guys.

I want to know who the linesman can skate faster then. Don't you? Oh, you want to know who they skate. See, I thought you were going to say not to embarrass guys, but I thought you were going to say who the slowest linesman is. You know, maybe some of the troubles that we have in this league because we have guys lagging behind like a frigging caboose. We don't have.

Well, that used to happen, specifically in the one referee system. And you go back, like the one thing, you go back and you look at like old-timey referees, there are a lot of guys with barrels. And there was a very funny incident about one, and we talked about with Larry Brooks the other day, I believe, involving one in a, and Jim Sean Feld and a donut. Have another donut, you fat cake. Yeah, I know. That was quite the moment.

Then we saw some officials in yellow jerseys, which added a whole new dimension to that. But anyhow, aren't you curious about, like, how fast officials actually are, or am I just, like, way too in the weeds on this goofy shit? Honestly, I don't think you're in the weeds, but I also think it wouldn't surprise me if they were exemplary skaters, not only because of the profession they've chosen, but because where they come from? I don't want to impugn the officiating community. I feel like I already did that by having tequila shots with Tim Peel that one time and costing him a game. I digress. Yeah, that happened.

Don't you think most on-ice officials are guys that had were really good skaters? Yes, 100%. Look what they recruit from. But we're unable to have the total package as players. Like, it wouldn't shock me if a linesman could outskate a winger because he probably could, but he just couldn't put the puck in the net or whatever. Yeah. That's what they recruit from like, you know, X Division I athletes, European pros, like these type of guys.

Guys that had like a background playing junior hockey and then they went and played in the East Coast. They're not called that anymore. The ECHL. That's that is where they recruit from. So yeah, absolutely. I'm just curious. I want like an entire, I can, I can hear, you know, everybody at scouting the refs, which is the best site with their ears perked up going like, wait a minute. referee official skills competitions now do you um do you use nchel edge besides simply just for

you know trivia's sake sometimes during these discussions no not really not not not not i don't i give it i give it i'll be on n hl edge twice a week twice twice twice twice twice a week but for what though speed that's yeah that's it because i want to i want to i want to i want to to actually be surprised you know i want to be like oh i never knew that like luke glendening hit that speed like oh i never would have expected like that that's that that's the kind of stuff that i'm intrigued by i'm happy we have it because i am intrigued when i'm watching a broadcast and they have these little factoids about how many miles a guy is skated or the top speed of a guy like that stuff's pretty interesting on television i just honestly i thought i would use it more as a utility than i have and i don't know if

just kind of out of sight out of mind because it's like separate from the stats I traditionally use on an hl.com but I am surprised I don't use it more I don't know I don't know why maybe maybe there's no like true true functionality to it for the stuff that I do as a writer to need to know some of this stuff I couldn't tell you why would you go on it more if say I don't know we had you know west macaulay's highest speed burst put up against no but to go back to our conversation from a minute ago i do remember now why i probably don't visit it as much which is i am the guy who

occasionally likes to go to evolving hockey and then click through to see who has you know the worst war i like to go to money puck and see who has the highest minus lowest Lowest goal save that I've expected. If I could use NHL Edge to find out who the slowest shittiest skater is in this league, I would probably use it every day. But the NHL and the NHLPA decided to structure that site so we can't use it for the things that are fun. Well, for fear of embarrassing anybody. I know.

God. But you know what, though? We have stats that embarrass professional athletes. Listen, don't. don't shoot the messenger. But I would say the players would want that too. I'm sure the players' association wouldn't, but I'm sure the players would.

Anyhow, I thought that maybe we'd talk more about goaltenders and harmonicas. Somehow we took that conversation to letting you rip on NHL Edge, but here we are. Let's get to what's on the program today, shall we, Greg Wyshenski. The blueprint is powered by Fanduel, as always. Download the app today and play your game on Fanduel

and the lead you've already heard from. He is Greg Wyshinsky from ESPN.com and ESPN. It is MBSW Thursday. Always look forward to that. More of that coming up in a couple of moments. We'll talk about youth around the NHL. The latest from around the league, David Alter from the hockey news,

who covers the Toronto Maple Leafs. No shortage of things to talk about today, including an Austin Matthews citing, Brad Trilliving, Leif General Manager, spoke today. And here we are November 18th, Greg Woshensky. And I was just having this conversation with Zach

before we got hot. Is this a must-win game for the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight against the St. Louis Blues coming off of a win by the Buffalo Sabres last night who they are currently dueling with for the basement in the Eastern Conference, Noah Osslin for the Rocket Richard Trophy as an aside. Oh, man, right?

Now the kids are starting to play a little bit for the Sabres. He's back the Sane's getting a chance. Let's go. We're in a good part of this season for the Sabres. Let's go. Remember this week, everybody, in about two weeks. Let's go, sorry.

Nothing's a must win for the Leafs until they get Tannav and Matthews back. Let's be honest. I mean, like Matthews, obviously, because he's Matthews, I can't, I don't think you can, you can overstate how much taking a guy like Chris Tannov out of the lineup impacts this team. Like, I listen to, I listen. I know we're going to talk to Alter about the Leafs. I don't want to make this Leafs launch or whatever the hell. But I like that show.

I do think it's interesting that both Barubei and Triliving have talked about the compete level of this team and how it's been inconsistent game to game. And when I think about the intangibles that a Chris Tanov gives to the lineup, that would be the intangible. I think Chris Tandiv is such a gamer and a guy that you love out there to be your pace setter and he blocks a shot with his face. All this stuff that Chris Tannib does, I think can bleed throughout. this lineup and improve the overall compete level. So I don't think there's really a sense of panic until they get those guys back and they're continuing to lose games. But I don't know.

We'll talk about it with Alter later, but I just find it hilarious that Bradshaw-Living gets up there and he's talking about how vanilla this team is. And again, man, dude, it's your ice cream shop. Okay, you pick the flavors. There's a reason you only have vanilla and not all the other flavors, man.

You built this. You built this city. It's your team. I know. mayonnaise cake with vanilla frosting. I get it. I understand. We'll get there, David Alter, the bottom of the hour. Oilers aren't oilering, or are they oilering, considering it's November.

And this is what the oilers do early. Yes, they do early. So is that just how are you going to shrug this one off? Just like, whatever, they dropped one of the swords last night. Big deal. They're going to be fine. They're going to turn things around. but like until there's a correction with the goaltending and or darnel nurse and or Jake Wallman,

I don't know that things are turning around for the Edmonton Oilers. I would like everybody to open up another window if you're in the chat, if you're listening to this on a podcast, like look at this when you get a chance. Don't do it while you're driving, ladies and gentlemen, please don't. But go to Daily Face Off, okay, and then look at the Edmonton Oilers, lineup and take a look at the bottom six and in particular take a look at all the wingers that don't play on the top line and then ask yourself this question is this actually a playoff team like if this is by far the most diminished lineup that they've had in the last

three seasons i'm kind of astonished that a team that knew what their window looked like tried to pull off this gambit with low cost bottom six players with kids on the roster. And then you go back and think about what McDavid decided with the contract and you start to understand why it was a two-year deal. I think clearly the record is indicative of the trend that we've seen in the past Merrick with this team getting off the blocks pretty poorly to start the season. but listen it's hard to say they miss Evander Cain when he's been as bad as he's been in Vancouver and it's hard to look at Cory Perry even though he's been great in L.A. and say that's the thread

you pull in the sweater on Raffles in Edmonton, but like those kinds of players are desperately needed in this lineup. And Perry specifically, yeah. I'm kind of astonished that they've let this team get to the state considering where the stakes are for winning in the next three years. And this is, again, we made this point when McDavid signed his contract, and this is why I look at it and I say, like, there's something wrong when the best player in the game looks at his team and says the only way for this to get solved and for me to correct the errors of the regime before us here, going back to Ken Holland is I need to take a deep, deep discount. You know, I was talking to someone last week about the Oilers who brought up a great point. Does this not look, like you think of all the Oilers teams of recent note, does this not look the closest to a,

to the era of Dave Tippett. Does this not look like the Dave Tippett Oilers right now? And ever since this person said it to me, every other's game that I watch, I'm like, holy smokes, you know what he's right? It does.

It looks like maybe they can address it as they get closer to, maybe they can address it as they get closer to the trade. Like, I don't know. Like maybe there's ways to build out this team and build out this roster again. But this doesn't strike me as a team that's going to, you know,

turn it around and make the playoffs and all of a sudden go on another run. I mean, I do think they'll turn it around and make the playoffs, but when you look around that Western Conference, is this, is this team has currently constituted even coming close to beating the Colorado Avalanche in the playoffs? I mean, no. Dallas, probably not. Well, they know, they all. The Kings, of course. They beat Dallas. They beat, no, hang on. They beat the kings and they beat Dallas. Like, these are the things that we know. But right now, like, he's like, who's closer to winning the Stanley Cup right now today? I'll tell you it's a Dallas, of course. Speaking of Dallas. I know that there's a whole thing in Toronto.

about firing Burubi, which I don't think they'll do even though it may be a little concern for him that Trillivin gave him a vote of confidence today. I know there's like these fans that think throwing Pete DeBore at this problem in Toronto is going to fix everything. I don't agree. I think this would be probably the worst roster he's taken over as a head coach in his last week

three stops. But I was talking to some people in Edmonton this morning about do you throw Pete DeBore at the Oilers problem? And that's intriguing because they're obviously a team on the precipice. And I I think top to bottom are probably better than Toronto is, maybe.

I don't know. But the thing that I find really intriguing about it is, is there a point in which Knoblock takes the fall for the construction of this team and the deficiencies and goal? And if that ever happened, Woodcroft did? Hang on, hang on, Woodcroft did. Woodcroft did. Woodcroft totally did.

And who did they bring in? they bought in Conner's guy. Yeah. Although he had nothing to do with it, ladies and gentlemen, do not put that on, Connor McDavid. He was gifted his junior coach. He had no idea it was going to happen.

No, hang on one second. I will tell you that Jeff Jackson, going back to when he was an agent, representing even after Connor had moved on, and he had clients on the erioters, and Krznavlock was coaching the area. He was always like, this guy's coaching in the NHL. I know.

And then they hired his junior coach, and Connor's like, I don't even know her. Now, listen, I do one, though at the at the end of the day if they fire if they fired noblock yeah like first of all how does Connor react to that because I don't think it's knoblock so I think knoblock

gets another job in this league in a millisecond based on what he's done with this roster and despite that gold ending but now you don't have knoblock and you don't have gulletson and you bring in Pete the bore I don't know if that's really good for vibes man I gotta be honest with you

if it ever happened the thing about okay so let's have a look at like what the Oilers are doing now, a lot of their defensemen like to shoot from the point, okay, with Chris Knoblox team. You know who else has always had teams that shoot from the point? Peter DeBore. But if you look at Peter DeBore's history, and this is one of the points that I think DeBore has always made is playoff goals specifically are scored off rebounds, and that's

how he has his defenseman shoot. It starts the regular season, and it carries on. right through to the postseason. His guys shoot for rebounds. Are the Oilers a team that can score a lot of goals off rebounds? The easy answer and the obvious answer is yes. This is a team that's built to score out right now with Hyman, even more so than ever.

That's why I wouldn't look at the idea of bringing in Pete DeBore and say like, no, that one wouldn't work. This is a team that takes a lot of shots from the point. Bouchard obviously even Ekholm fires a ton, darnall nurse fires a ton. from the points Jake Wallman as well that's why I look at it and say

okay you know what that's one box they check for DeBoar but they're not shots to score they're shots to make rebounds and that's always been Pete's teams

shoot from shoot from the point to make rebounds not to score goals one of the knocks against there's too many shots from the point

okay but beyond that strategy Like Is that Does Pete DeBore All of a sudden Fix the other systemic problems With this lineup?

Is he just that good of a coach where all of us Like this team doesn't have the depth that those Dallas teams had Does it? No No nor nor does it with with with with with with Vegas The thing about Debris And by the way

If he thought if he thought Jake Gottinger was the problem in Dallas he did what is he going to what is he going to shoot Stort Skitter into the sun during his first week in Edenton

that would be interesting no but here's the other thing about and this might go sort of contrary to how you think the oilers should be run from a player usage point of view

if you go back and you look at all of Peter DeBore's teams the one thing he does this is more regular season than playoff the one thing he always does is forwards

don't get more usually don't get more than 20 minutes and your fourth line guys don't get more, don't get less than 10. Now, to your point, I don't know how many of these guys you want even playing that much with the Oilers, but that's how he runs benches. Jim Montgomery runs benches that same way, and so does Pete DeBoer. It's that sweet spot between 10 minutes for your lowest guys and 20 minutes for your highest guys

to try to get everybody involved and not just lean on a couple of guys. obviously desperate times call for desperate measures in a game and you're going to put Connor and Leon together because you need to manufacture two goals fast and you look up and they both play 25 minutes. I get it, but that's how he runs benches. Does that fit for Edmonton?

Discuss amongst yourselves. Yeah. I don't know that it's necessarily the worst idea. Can we just discuss the bigger picture here with both Toronto and Edmonton? The urgency to win this league is so intense and made more intense

by certain timelines being established like McDavid's contract and also having played for the cup in consecutive seasons isn't it okay just to like loosen your belt and take a breath and take a beat one season? Like I look at Toronto there was no way they were ever going to

replace 100 points on their wing or all the things monitored in the regular season and I look at Edmondson and I'm like this is just like the law of diminishing returns in your lineup. Okay. Hold on one second. It just isn't as good as the teams that they've had before. With Toronto, I think you can take that pause.

Here's why you can't for Edmonton. Connor McDavid just gave you a massive gift. Right. And you're going to go to Connor and say, you know what? Thanks for the two years. We're going to chill on this year. Whereas if he didn't, like, let's just assume that those, that two year extension doesn't exist. Okay.

What is Edmonton doing right now with Connor McDavid in the lineup? Let's say the two years don't exist. They're going for it, right? Everything like no prospects, no picks, none of that is sacred. All of it is on the table. Connor McDavid gives you this gift of a contract extension. And the first thing you do is you go to them and say, yeah, you know what? Thanks for that.

Now we're going to take our foot off the pedal to make things easier for us. All I'm saying is you keep your powder dry until the summer. Like what are these teams to say that to Connor? What are a bunch of stuff with Connor? A team like... But the thing is, what are the conversations with Connor before he signs that extension? I'm sure they weren't. Hey, sign this extension so we take the foot off the gas because it's not really there this year.

We're going to take a couple more runs at it. But this year, eh, the other teams are too good. But Merrick, what are they going to do? Renegotiate the contract? It's done. You know what the window is. No, no, you're missing it. Like, before signing that contract.

What was the betrayal? No, what was the discussion? I'm sure the discussion wasn't. Hey, sign a two-year contract extension or whatever. so we can take our foot off the gas this year. I have a hard time believing the economy of David's like, you know what? Yeah, let's do that.

Conn McDavid is not just thinking about one cup. You're saying about two cups and maybe three. I think the problem with your logic here is you assume that it was the oilers having any say in what the term of this contract was going to be. They didn't. No, they didn't. But I'm sure that even him signing part of the conversation is we're going for it. And I want three,

I want three legitimate swings at this pinata. I don't want to like foot off the gas because Vegas might be too good this year or because look at what Colorado was doing and man, Dallas is going to win one of these seasons. I'm pretty sure the conversation was I'll sign this, but we're going for it. Like I don't know what Connor McDavid that doesn't say that. Sure. And he gives you a two year extension and take your foot off the gas. I don't know, man.

I don't know. I understand your logic. Hang on. Let me say this. I do understand your logic. I do think it applies more to. Toronto than it does to Edmonton. Edmonton's right there.

They're right there. They have been for two years. They have Connor and Leon. If you can't win a Stanley Cup with Connor and Leon, shame on you. I'm a little worried about this roster being sunk in Claus Vowsy. I'm a little worried about this roster being deficient. I agree with that. And then they go and use some dumb things of the trade deadline out of the ticking time bomb that is the contract.

And regret it. Like I'd rather just keep their powder dry until the summer and really. make a better team around these guys. I want to get Zach involved here for one very specific reason because there's a piece of audio that we have to hear from last night. Now, I was bouncing around last night. I miss this. But Zach says, we have to hear this.

This is Rob Ray during the Sabres five to one beating of the Edmonton Oilers last night. I guess you've heard it. I haven't heard this yet. This is Virgin territory for me. Zach, go ahead. Sorry, Rob. Go ahead. Yeah, empty net for Edmonton.

Yeah, it has been most of the night, so it's a difference. Damn. Ellis has been fantastic. Oh, that's just mean. It's mean. When the savers can dunk on your goaltending? Well, that's just it too. Like, I understand that.

I mean, here come the palm trees. And I get it, but like, that's like a decade's worth of frustration just coming out. Like, finally get to take a. swipe at another team here and not apologize for my own um rob ray taking a swipe taking a swing as rob ray does does man was he ever tough man did he ever get his equipment off fast though like all the guys who would fight and be like man those shoulder pads come off quick that jersey came off quick it was like when frank drebin took his suit off in the naked gun and he just pulled his collar

and the entire thing fell off him. It was Rob Raider in a fight. Do you ever thought on Montreal right now? Is this just like, okay, this is like the regression we thought, plus injuries, and this is just what's going to happen in the Montreal Canaanians. They're not always going to shoot 16%. They're not always going to shoot five, which they are now,

but pendulums have a way of over-correcting themselves. Have a quick thought on HABs? My quick thought is that the injuries are going to really catch up with this team, which, listen, the top line is impeccable. It's one of the best lines in hockey. And one of their goalies has been fantastic whilst the other one has not. But I mean, when you start to pile up, Doc and Newhook and, you know, Gouli, who I really thought was going to have an amazing breakout year.

And unfortunately, most people know his name now because he's on this parade of injuries. It all starts to add up and really undercut this team in a pretty significant way. I'd love if they can play through it. I just think that you're going to be over-reliant on the. Suzuki Caulfield line, and the rest of the team is just going to kind of atrophy, I think, with those guys out of the lineup. All right, quick pause. This segment is a presentation of Bauer and the Bauer Pro Sharp Advanced Edge.

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Alta from the hockey news, who covers the Toronto Maple Leafs, and it's never a dull moment, and this was the general, how are you, David? First of all, thanks a lot for coming aboard today. The annual mid-November update from the Maple Leaf's general manager, did anything stand out from Brad Trillivings

addressed today other than we had the shot in the arm, the confidence in the coach, which we always sort of look at sideways, but yeah, I know. And we had an Austin Matthews citing today as well. What stood out to you from the morning in Leafland? Yeah, hey guys. I think the number one surprising thing for me was I didn't expect Brad Tray

Living to be so brutally honest about how things have kind of veered from his vision of what the identity of this team was supposed to be using the term vanilla to describe it. That's kind of surprised me. And I know if I'm in that situation, I'm hoping I've heard that from him before that goes out to the media for sure. Because there's been a kind of couple of these moments now where there's been public comments about the team's identity dating back to Stollers like three, four weeks ago when he kind of called out the team's performance in front of them to now. So, you know, a lot of things are being said and there just really hasn't been a lot of evidence. And the fact that Brad Tray Living also talked about

the fact that they probably have more wins than they deserve. He was pretty scathing about where his team was at despite the record. I thought he might take more of an optimistic tone, but that that certainly was in the case that that that one really got me david like when i was listening to true living and he's like our record isn't indicative of how we're playing i'm like oh he thinks they're out he thinks they should be higher he's like no actually we suck more than our record would indicate which is not something that i ever expected a GM to say i did think it was a little bit on the nose when he showed up in that hot dog costume while talking about how vanilla the team is and being like and we're all looking for the guy who did this uh brad for living

constructor of the Maple Leafs roster. His vote of confidence on Craig Burubei included the phrase, he didn't become a bad coach overnight, to which I would say, David. He also wasn't a great coach before this fortnight. I'm not the biggest Craig Burubei fan. I happen to think that the Blues winning the Cup that year was the perfect marriage of coach and team from a psychological standpoint. I think he was hired to do the same thing he did with the blues,

which is to kind of like make everybody forget all the demons and all the weight and all the troubles that you have during a season. And I think he found, unfortunately, that the Toronto Maple Leafs are as psychologically damaged a franchise in professional sports as you can find. Where are you on Barubei? Do you think he's the right guy for this team? Do you think that he was ever the right guy for this team? I think it's kind of hard because from a systemic standpoint,

I 100% agree that I didn't think he was necessarily the right type of coach, but then everything I learned about how he operates kind of changed my mind on that, where it was almost kind of like an NFL type situation where if you have a head coach that can kind of be the voice and can kind of motivate guys, but then you can delegate properly and have the best OC and DC that through all the nuts and bolts of it, and you can kind of stay out of it that way, then it could work. And so I thought, okay, given what he's been able to do last year, delegated all of the defensive stuff to Lane Lambert,

and really did kind of get the Leafs to play a different way. Like that actually did happen, despite some of the underlying analytics, like keeping everything out of the interior and just playing a tougher, defensive type of hockey that translates better to the playoffs. I think he's done a good job in that regard. But all of that's disappeared now. And I don't know why that's disappeared. I mean, there's theories about it with, you know,

Mitch Marner's been talked about and all the things he's brought in the regular season. But I think a lot of this is just doesn't seem to kind of be obvious as to where the accountability is supposed to be. If the coach isn't kind of flipping it around and doing it, then it's the core players, really. It's not getting enough from some of those guys. And for me, I think it's Brebe may not be the right coach in the long term, but I think it's way too early, given what he was able to show last year. And the fact that, you know, it is still just 19 games into the season that maybe he's got something up his sleeve.

But just talking to everybody else, the fact that he delegates a lot leads me to believe that he's not going to come up with the strategic differences. It's going to be the people underneath them. and that might be the problem in the end. From a construction point of view, not lost on anybody was, this is a team that lost to the Florida Panthers and lost to the Florida Panthers

in a very specific way and got embarrassed on home ice in game seven. Marner goes and there's talk about bringing in heavier players, tougher players, playoff style players, as opposed to leaning into the team that it already is slash was. Do you think the Maple Leafs are guilty of

trying to out panther the Panthers. Got beaten by the Panthers, so we need to be more like them to beat them, as opposed to leaning into the skill you already have. Is that fair? I think it's fair, but I would also add that after Mitch Marner walked, which was a problem that Bradtree Living kind of inherited,

because he didn't really have that card to kind of move him, and you couldn't get the return from an elite player, there really wasn't anything out there on the open market to kind of do and you've already mortgaged a lot of the future in some of these trade deadline deals that you made before. So you can't really lean into the more skill

at that point with what's available. You really kind of have to just, okay, we haven't really had depth before. Let's add these guys who can maybe help us for where we've been the weakest, which is the playoffs. Like, I think everyone can kind of agree on that. And I think they thought to themselves,

they can get through whatever turbulence they're going to get through in the regular season because they have these elite players who've been able to kind of help them win games when times are tough and they don't slide for very long. But this was the scenario that I don't think they envision, which is, well, what if they don't make it? So it's tough to say because I do think that these players on the face of it would have helped over Mitch Marner that didn't really help in that situation

in the last playoffs, but you have to get there. And the chasm for what Mitch Marter brought to the team and what they're missing is deep. So that, and the fact that they're leaving the interior completely open on the defensive side

is really kind of making the Leafs kind of scratch their heads being like, did everyone just age out at the exact right time and they're just slower or Or is there something fundamentally wrong here? And so I don't disagree with them trying to get deeper because they just really haven't had the depth. And I guess Nick Eilers might have been the best guy in free agency

you could have decided, but then you have to pay him a lot and then is that worth it or is that the right guy you can kind of pay to replace? It was a tough mix, but some of the problems they created and some of them they didn't. But when you go into the summer, I don't think they were really left with much of a choice given what they lost and what was available. So then, like you said, what they didn't get back from Marner because he had the move

and everything. You know, it's interesting that True Living said, and again, you know, you lost a hundred point winger who did everything in all facets of the game, who was a great regular season performer. One of the things that he said today was the enthusiasm deficit with this team. Like they're not excited about any of this. And, you know, say what you will about Mitchie, but he bought some excitement to the proceedings with the way that he played and just who he was. And then there's also excitement when you have a player like that in your roster. And there's also excitement when you are the Colorado Avalanche and you find a way to get Martin Natchez to give you 75% of what you lost when you traded Nico Ranton, as opposed to maybe like 0.1% that Michelle gave them in trying to replace Marner.

How much is losing Marner contributing to that lack of enthusiasm this season and is that code for guys like that have been on this team think that the window is now kind of closed because Marner's not here and there was no suitable replacement for him? That's an interesting one. I don't think going into the season

they felt that they would struggle as much without him to the point where they are now. They've had elite players. They've had to play games without him. They've demonstrated in the past, like in the 23, 24 season, pretty late in the year when the games were tougher and harder to play and he was gone with an ankle injury, that they were still able to produce wins.

They were still able to get good results. But now, certainly his enthusiasm would probably help when times are kind of slower because, like, I look back at, you know, 22, 23, 24 when the Leafs would notoriously get off to slow October's, but it wouldn't go beyond three or four games, and Mitch Marner was projecting positivity, and that can help, and it certainly helped in those situations, but sometimes not just addressing the problems head on and being too positive and kind of letting them drag on can be worse, and I think that's what you're seeing

now. I just don't know if the players are necessarily looking in front of them and being like we miss that type of guy. I really think what's happening now is there's been an attention to be better defensively and do all those things. And for whatever reason that worked last year in doing it, they have not been able to kind of get it together and they've been disconnected all over the ice. They're not releasing the puck quick. When they get it, there's a bit of a hesitation.

And I think right now there's just everyone's kind of making sure they're not that guy to make the next. big mistake, not necessarily looking for help from within. Because I think they look around and they see this is what they're dealt with. There's not really much that's going to change between now and the end of the year. Let me throw a theory at you here. This was a conversation from, I don't know, three weeks ago, maybe a month ago that I had with someone who brought. up the point that if you want to have a hungry team, if you want to have an aggressive

team, if you want to have a team that does something, as uncomfortable as it may be, as the manager, you need players on expiring contracts. The idea being, if you're not hungry, you won't eat. And maybe the most obvious example is the Florida Panthers last year with, you know, all the guys that ended up resigning. But do you look at this Maple Leafs team? Because this is the point this person was making said, no, the problem is, like, no one's on expiring contract. Like, everyone's really, really comfortable there. Like, there's no uncomfortable and all this guy's on the expiring deal. Like, do you think, would you look at the Maple Leafs and say that, you know what, this person that Merrick was talking to is has something, there's

something there or is that just a coincidence out, oh, look at the Florida Panthers with all those guys on expiring deals and look how hungry they were. Could that be a contributing factor here? I think it could help a little because any former player I've talked to while they'll never admit it when they're playing after the fact when they retire they say 100% they were turning it on in their contract year right like they were 100% so nikolai happy boolein might be the best contract year player of all time i think he like always in his final year had the best safe percentage before our contract but uh sir gay samsonoff was always my comparison for that samsonoff would turn into like yager in his contract year and the rest of the time he was like nothing

Yeah. And, you know, as a time-restricted eater, like, your best focus is when you're a couple hours away from eating. But anyway, so going back into that, going back into that, no, it does help. But I also think it's just everyone is a year older. The league is getting faster. And, like, I'm of the belief. Like, I know you guys talked about Chris Tanov and how much they miss them, and it is a factor. But the Leafs weren't playing great even with him in the lineup, too. And still leaving. a lot of that in the middle open. And I just wonder, you know, their core is all in their 30s. It's another year and with term that at some point we all looked at those contracts and being like, well, that player may not play until whatever or whatever. And then they're going to have to figure out something. But there was also the possibility that what if everyone ages out at the same time? And then you have a disaster defensively.

And I'm not saying that's happened, but it kind of looks pretty close to that. You're seeing Jake McKay play the worst hockey I've seen him play in the last couple years, and he's admitted that. It's not great looking in that regard. But certainly if those guys were playing for contracts or you had a core player that was kind of motivated to play for that, that certainly would help things because I think that would kind of fuel a different kind of energy going into the game. Is it the excuse? I don't know.

But it's certainly, I certainly think it can be a factor because you talk to any former player and they say they've turned on the Jets in that final year knowing that they've got to find their next meal ticket for sure. It's just so funny. Everybody falls over themselves praising the least for getting Brandon Carlo and Chris Tannav and then like Badard and Celebrini pop off this year. And it's like, it's a young man's league. They've got a bunch of Redwoods back there. What are they doing?

Yeah, or the Maple Leafs kids. David, this has been great. Thanks for sharing your expertise. We appreciate it. I know it's a game day. It's always, oh, by the way, so here's a question. Is this must win for the Maple Leafs tonight? Greg, Greg, snickering at me.

Our producer, Zach Phillips, is like, oh, yeah, it's a must win game. 100%. What do you say, Dave? Now that the Sabres have just beaten the Oilers five to one and they're dueling for the basement, is this a must win for the Maple Leafs against the Blues? I think it's tough.

This certainly had a feeling of, tension in the availability today that I probably would have said no but just given the timing of everything yeah it probably is a bit of a must win because I think it it's getting a little tighter in that room like you're you can feel you can feel that there's tension and if they don't get some sort of positive result soon uh then it can get worse so yeah let's say must win for sure can I just give you my briefly my master plan oh boy um Go for it. You shut down Matthews for the season, but let him play in the Olympics, because obviously.

That's a good message to Lee fans. You finished with the worst record in hockey. All right. You finished with the worst record in hockey. The pick that you gave Boston's top five protected. And you draft Gavin McKenna as your new marner. I don't understand how there's any flaw in this plan, personally. Listen, the one thing I will say, the one thing I will say, if this wasn't the Toronto market,

it, and this is the Leafs going through it, I don't know if it'd be as big, or another team going through it, I don't know if it's that big a deal because they've been so consistent for nine consecutive regular seasons that every good elite team has missed the playoffs at some point on route to winning a Stanley Cup. It seems to have happened. Vegas is a good example where they missed the year before,

that this consistency maybe hasn't given them the right kind of adversity to kind of adjust for those playoff moments. But I don't know, that plan, that's going to be a hard stuff. for leaf fans i would give a billion dollars to hear brad shrew living try to sell the market on you know every team has to miss the playoffs before it wins the cup yeah go to the bottom before you go to the top like we all know the code word is adversity right like he wouldn't say playoffs but he would say adversity and that's a that's a blanket words so there you go interesting times uh david appreciate it uh enjoy the game tonight continued uh great work at the hockey news we appreciate

this thank you guys it was fun thank you the great david David Alter, who covers the Toronto Maple Leafs, was at the Badger Living Press Conference this morning, covering the game tonight for the Maple Leafs, facing off against the St. Louis Blues. I got a couple of sort of janitorial things here to get to. Any sort of parting words from you, anything you're looking forward to,

anything you'd like to promote, anything you'd like to direct our attention towards. Greg, Harmonica playing goaltenders is what we started today. So the floor is all yours. As you guys know, I tend to gravitate towards the quirkier side of

hockey at times. No, fuckdaddy, you don't. And I have a story on ESPN.com right now that I'm not sure if you saw Merrick. There is a team called the Spruce Grove Saints. You may know them from the British Columbia Hockey League, a Canadian junior team. Their mascot

is an angel named Chucky. Okay. And Chuckie, the mascot is portrayed this season by a 14-year-old boy named Eric, which I felt was kind of fascinated to begin with, that there's a 14-year-old whose job is to be a mascot at junior hockey games. Now, what's another name for the penalty box, Eric? Sin bin. The sin bin.

Okay. Did I get it right? So now at, yeah, that's correct. Okay. Now at Saints games. when the visiting team has been penalized and there's somebody in the sin bin during a TV timeout

Chuckie the angel mascot will skate over to the penalty box and oh we got the footage and stand the silent judging the player and so Eric did this the other night he's done it three times so

far this season it's his first year as chucky the angel he's done it three times the season where he just stands there staring at the opposing player judging him asking him to repent for his sins in the sin bin and and twice now the player that he's done this to has been unable to not break out into laughter how could you not the angel stands in judgment of them it's honestly one of the most ingenious things I've seen in the mascot world in the very long time in a post gritty world hang on I interviewed the kid last night the stories

the stories on ESPN you can read it there I can't wait to read this they let the mascot on the ice TV time out I get it but like this is one of the most brilliant things I've seen just stand there quietly judging

it's like it's not a penalty box it's like you're in confessional with this mask. So for those watching on YouTube, the player that's cracking up right now in the penalty box, this guy from the Vernon Vipers. Who played for the Vernon Vipers.

Yeah. He ended up later scoring his first goal of the season to tie the game and send it into overtime. And so I asked Eric, the 14-year-old mascot performer who came up with this bit, how did it feel to see the guy that you were mocking in the penalty box

eventually score a big goal in the game? And he said, clearly he had repented for his sins and therefore was blessed to score a big goal later in the game. It's a great story. I'm so happy to write it. The Lord guided that puck. Jesus touched these gloves.

Wow. Oh, and then one last thing because I know you've got some housekeeping. Wow, that's good. The show, our last show was Thursday. The significant injury news that impacted my New Jersey. Devils was Friday. Yes. And let me say that I am extremely happy that it doesn't seem like there was major tendon

damage to Jack Hughes and that it is six to eight weeks, a very long time. But obviously the Devils are unfortunately used to playing without Jack in the lineup. The second thing is, should shut him down until after the Olympics. No, that's the Austin. Matthews. Shut shut them down and shut Matthews down until after the Olympics, too. The second thing is, how to put this? I'm really upset that it ended up not being a steak knife and it ended up being glass because

the humor and the jokes and the memes surrounding the steak knife were so much better than about the glass. Like the idea he cut himself cutting Luke's meat for him or people running the video from aliens where Bishop the android is doing the knife trick with his hand. Like all the knife jokes were better than the broken glass jokes. And the last thing I'll say, and I do mean this, because I'm, I'm, I'm the one who kind of publicized this yesterday. The Glenn Gary, Glenn, Gary, Glenn Ross jokes. A set of steak dives. Exactly. I do want to say this because I'm the one who publicized that yesterday on social media. Please don't yelp bomb or Google review bomb. Oh, no, no. Don't do that with the restaurant.

No, don't don't. Don't. Don't. I went on Yelp yesterday knowing that this was probably going to be the case. And it was there's like six reviews, one star reviews for the steak. in Chicago saying don't eat here if you're an NHL player they'll cut your finger off please please don't don't do that to places the economy sucks these places need to do as well as they can a bunch of one-star reviews from disgruntled hockey fans don't does nobody any good don't don't review bomb the steakhouse in Chicago people don't be that person great PSA

and great job as always you be good we will uh what am I going to talk to you in Tuesday let's see you Tuesday no uh Thursday Thursday is Tuesday What days today? We'll talk Thursday. I mean, they're both, they both start with tea. You can understand his confusion, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks to everybody for watching. Thanks to everybody in the chat.

And thanks to David. And I'll see you guys Thursday. Thursday. That is two days from now. Thanks, Wish, from ESPN and ESPN.com. This segment, by the way, a presentation of Prime Monday Night Hockey. Prime Monday Night Hockey streams all national regular season Monday night NHL games on Prime Video in Canada and is available free to Prime members in Canada.

Stream Prime Monday Night Hockey exclusively on Prime Video and experience thrilling goals and dramatic plays from the NHL. Monday nights or hockey nights, don't miss a moment of the action. Monday, November 24th, the Ottawa Senators head to Crypto.com Arena to take on Adrian Kempay and his millions, along with the Los Angeles Kings. Check out the link in our description for the Prime Monday Night Hockey schedule on Prime Video or go to Prime Video.com slash NHL. Also on Prime Video, face-off inside the NHL season two. Subscribe with a 30-day free trial, the Prime Video, to watch Monday Night Hockey and the new season of face-off. Download the app or go to Prime Video.com. And also, the sheet, as always, is powered by Fanduel.

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What are we looking at tonight to wrap up the program, Zach? Another themed parlay. We talk about the same game parlay here. This one, we're going to keep it leaf themes, sticking with the theme of the show and what's on the line tonight in Toronto against the St. Louis Blues, so let's just go right to it. I'll explain why each of these is being put in here, Jeff, but starting with

Leaf it to me William Nealander goal William Nealander to have four more shots on goal Leaves to win and the over five and a half goals in the game I'll just quickly break this down for people This one's plus 810, $5 wins you $40 and 52 cents tonight Nealander held two consecutive games without a shot on goal for the first time since 2019

He's due. He's traditionally being a guy who, he responds, though, in these situations. I'm hoping it's with a goal tonight, if not, well, then this thing's screwed. But at bare minimum, he's going to shoot the puck a lot. I do think he will score. I think the Leafs have to win tonight. Yeah. That traditionally doesn't mean they will, but I'm going to, like, pray here that they do and snap this.

And then over five and a half goals, look, reality is. is, the Leafs can score. Yes. They can score. Totally. Very well. I don't know about the defending part, but they can score. That team can score.

Keeping the back out of their net? I don't know about. So there's a chance tonight that they win like six, five. Neelander has seven shots on goal. He scores. And we all walk out of here with $40 more than we had when we came into the show today. Which would make everybody, starting with you on your post game show, very happy.

Everybody tune into Leaves Nation after dark. We can call off the fall off for Verhof or the, I don't have a new one for McKenna yet. Doing all the Q's names for all the, you have one for Ethan Belkets yet, the Windsor Spitfires. No, but Stephen Ellis did tell me to keep an eye on Stenberg, I think it was. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Ibar. Yeah, he's a real nice player. I was trying to think of something along the lines of like, you know, I think it was Berkey had the line about the, the truck off the cliff, the 18-wheeler.

Yeah. You know, we could kind of turn this into something more along the lines like Stenberg, Iceberg, Iceberg for Stenberg. Yeah, you get where I'm going with that one. Yeah. Yeah. You know, but I was just looking at before the show today, speaking of iceberg, no joke. You were reading the Titanic.

We're talking about Leafs today. I'd get any like Titanic metaphors ready. So just glancing through that one, nothing jumped down. out at me, but nonetheless, I was a peek into my stupid brain. Okay, Zach, we look forward to the postgame show tonight after the Toronto Maple Leafs and the St. Louis Blues for you and hope it is

lucrative as well. That's always a big part of your show with Shippie Super Chats. So get involved there. Thanks to Greg Wischinski, as always, for stopping by on this is a Thursday edition of the sheet. Thanks to David Alter, who was outstanding, and we should probably have on more often. Talked about

the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Bradford Living Press conference this morning. We'll see what happens tonight against to St. Louis Blues. I know this was a Toronto heavy show today. I want to let you know as well, and I'll tweet this out for others too. No show tomorrow. I'm on the road for a couple of days back on Thursday and then shows on Thursday, Friday

to conclude this week, going to the Oilers' Capitals game tomorrow at Capital One. Okay, thanks to everyone for listening. Thanks to everybody for watching as well and interacting and subscribing to our daily face-off YouTube channel. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Much appreciated. Don't forget, Morning Cup of Hockey every morning, Monday to Thursday, 9 o'clock Eastern, and then DFO Live, Daily Face Off Live. I've had a good conversation today about different rule changes with Tyler Eremchuk and Carter Hutton.

Check that one out in the archive if you are so inclined. In the meantime, enjoy the games tonight. We'll talk to Thursday and 1 o'clock for the sheet. 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

you're trying to give me a little medicine I'm like nah man that's fine I'm not against those methods but new it's me and myself and how this gonna be fixing my mind I do want to break it I turned on the music I do want to bed yet

I'm doing on the day In the dead dark night Thank you.