The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Unlikely Heroes ft. Brian MacLellan & Matthew Barnaby

Episode Date: May 7, 2025

Brian MacLellan joins Jeff Marek on The Sheet. Discussing the VGK/EDM and CAR/WSH games to kick off their second rounds, teeing up Game 2 of the Maple Leafs/Panthers, and getting ready for the first game of the Jets and Stars series live from Washington, D.C.Shout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Ninja Kitchen Canada: https://www.ninjakitchen.ca/products/ninja-crispi-4-in-1-portable-glass-air-fryer-cooking-system-zidFN101CGY?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=olv&utm_campaign=25Q2-Crispi&utm_content=en👍🏼RVezy: https://www.rvezy.com/owner?utm_source=cross-channel&utm_medium=multi-media&utm_campaign=canadian+hosts👍🏼Budweiser: https://www.budweiser.ca/ca_enReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Flames_Nation🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Stylish selections and design assistance to help you every step of the way. Transform your living space today with Cozy. Visit Cozy.ca, C-O-Z-E-Y.ca, the home of possibilities made easy. I swear I would not make it to a day here in Washington without Nick Corollie. Producer, tech, babysitter. Thanks so much for joining me today. We're back here in Washington after game one last night and a couple of takeaways real

quick from yesterday and coming up on the program, we're going to talk a lot about the two games last night and you know a couple of takeaways real quick from yesterday and coming up on the program we're gonna talk a lot about the two games last night we'll talk plenty about the two games on the horizon tonight the Canes squeezed the Capitals Oilers with another comeback that's five that's a record we'll talk about the depth of the Edmunds you know this coming up here in a couple of moments but I'll tell you what, Zach, before we really get the show rolling here, like there's a lot of action on the ice last night, a lot of action off the ice, which we're going to get into here. The Buffalo Sabres add Eric Stahl to the management group.

Utah has a name now, the Mammoth Gotusk, and a couple of other things we'll talk about as well as the coaching carousel continues to maneuver its way to a really interesting place right now. I got some interesting names are starting to pop up. We'll get to that in a couple of moments. But so is all this going on last night. So I'm in popcorn row watching the game last night. I find watching Carolina to be fascinating and I'll tell you why in a second. But you know what everybody was talking about? Up and down popcorn roll last night. What do you think everybody was fixated on

during the intermissions of the Washington Capitals, Carolina Hurricanes game? Spock quiz. Maybe everyone in the chat can weigh in too. No, that's just in your own little Toronto Maple Leaf World, Zach. Like there are- Oh, I thought that everybody came up with are, there is hockey outside of Toronto.

I say that as someone from Toronto. They were all fascinated by and talking about Chris Pronger on ESPN on the panel with Mark Mathia and PK Subant. First of all, he's, he's great. Like he's built for this type of work. Chris is fantastic. Uh, we just had him on the program last week. Anyone who's seen Chris Pronger interviewed, uh, by the way, he's

become a must follow on hockey Twitter. His strings of comments are fantastic and, and pretty enlightened. And actually yesterday he was talking about his role with the department of player safety and what goes into evaluating suspensions. But if you ever wanted to get some perspective just on how big Chris Pronger is, just on how large a man Chris Pronger is, first of all, PK Subban's a big dude, right?

Subban's large and Subban's thick. He looked tiny standing next to Chris Pronger. And anyone that watched Pronger play, of course you know that he's a giant, but then even just watching him in a suit, standing next to Marc Messier and standing next to PK Subban. I always marvel at the size of a lot of hockey players

and I always love going back. And I'm gonna give you an example here that's a really sort of, for those that know this era, it's a pretty stark comparison. So there was a guy in the NHL in the 1970s by the name of Dave the Hammer Schultz. I will get to like hockey that's going on here in a second. Just indulge the old man for a second. The guy, the name of Dave the Hammer Schultz, who set the penalty

minute record for the NHL with 472. That's a record that I'm pretty confident in saying will never be broken. But nonetheless, he was considered the king of the jungle. He was a leader of the Broad Street Bullies, ultimately met his demise at the fist of Larry Robinson of the Montreal Canadiens, but that's a story for another day. And you know who he was the exact same size of? Matt Stajan. Matt Stajan and Dave Schultz had the exact identical weight, had the identical height as well. Now they played very different games,

but as we're sort of comparing two generations and how players continue to grow, I always like pointing out that Dave the Hammer Schultz and Matt Stajan were almost identical in stature. Now coming up on the program today we have a lot to get to. Yeah great comment America. Wild. Coming up on the program today, Ilya Lydes presented by and powered by our friends at FanDuel. Make every moment more with North America's number one sports book. Those were our friends and presenters at FanDuel. Make every moment more with North America's number one sports book. Those were our friends and presenters at FanDuel.

And coming up on the program today, we've got a couple of really special guests, very much looking forward to talking to Brian McClellan. Do you know where Brian McClellan is from, Zach, by the way? Now. 12th Ontario. You know how I know that? I'm a fan of Brian McClellan. I watched him play. Watched him play. Was a really good hockey player. Undrafted, went from Bowling Green to the L.A. Kings. And I went to University at 12. I'm a fan of Brian McClellan. I watched him play watched him play was a really good hockey player

Undrafted went from Bowling Green to the LA Kings and I went to University at Guelph George McPhee also from Guelph as well Matthew Barnaby It's not from Guelph. He'll be joining the program today. We'll talk about Carolina, Washington We'll talk about the Oilers comeback and we'll talk about the games tonight So I was having a very pretentious exchange with someone today. You'll appreciate this one We're talking about what it must be like to have to play against the Carolina hurricanes. It's not as if the Carolina hurricanes just play man to man in their own zone. Like it's man to man all over the ice. And this is from someone that I have a ton of respect

for, like someone that really understands the game. And the point that we're trying to make is, if you're gonna be successful against Carolina the way that they play, you have to have incredible patience. And the good thing for the Washington Capitals here in this series, playing against Carolina, when you play man to man all over the ice, there's a lot of ice that's opened. And we saw this with Protus' goal last night, right? Like there's a lot of ice behind players. So there is actually a lot of, the irony of it, it's suffocating to play against the Carolina Hurricanes, but there's a lot of open

ice available if you can get out of the man to man. And again, we saw that on the, on the protoscope and he brought up the art of war. This person I was talking to, Lao Tse, and said, what the capitals need to do is defend where they want to defend. Don't defend where your opponent wants you to defend. You defend where you want to defend. Now there where you want to defend. Now there's big, huge conversation of how you beat the Carolina hurricanes at their game. And he, we brought up the art of war and said, look, you've got to get them. You got to get them out of the middle of the ice.

You have to get them chasing to the boards. That's where you want the battle to be. You don't want the battle to be where they are. And we saw this last night, the Carolina Hurricanes, volume shooting. Like you can make the point that even though the net, the rink may have seemed tilted, if you just looked at the shots on goal

and the attempted shots as well, like it's a real tilt here for the Carolina Hurricanes, a lot of it is just volume. And when you watch Carolina from Popcorn Row, you really get an interesting sense of how Rod Brindemore is playing chess here with his guys. And the other point, which is interesting too, is when you're playing man to man,

the way that the Carolina Hurricanes do, it's not so much that the structure is when they don't have the puck. They actually have more structure when they do have the puck. Because playing defensively the way Carolina does, it's all about communication. That's all it is.

You have your man, and if you can't communicate, you can't play on the Carolina Hurricanes. Zach, essentially the point that I'm trying to make here, and I don't know if this is true or not, like, do you have to be an elite thinker of a hockey player to play on the Carolina Hurricanes? Like, this is the thing that I'm always wondering about with like Eric Tulski or Don Waddell before him, like when you're, when you're either drafting or whether you're making trades,

to put people on this Carolina Hurricanes team, how much do you factor in you need to be able to think really quickly on the ice? Or do all NHLers just have that baseline of hockey IQ? I don't know the answer to that. Do you? Yeah, no, that's a good question actually. Just having, because I was going to say, well, I think a lot of them are just smart enough. But I do feel like there is a very specific style of player, type of player, that would have to fit into that or be able to adopt or adapt to that. Because you have to be so sharp and so responsive in those situations to play that way. Like you mentioned, where you could have breakdowns, you have to have other people who are going to be able to play that way. Like you mentioned, like where you could have breakdowns.

Yeah. You have to have other people who are going to be able to read and respond. The one thing I always thought about was like in field lacrosse, which I played a lot. It's very different than box lacrosse. The defensive system is very different and there are slides all over the field.

So this guy loses his guy, your turn to rotate in and then someone has to cover you. You have to be alert to play that kind of a defense. And it kind of reminds me of where you get to with this Carolina team. So I think it is a baseline. But in all honesty, I do think that there is an element of like hurricanes players might just be smarter than some other players, not just because of the system, like they might just need a certain level of intelligence, or maybe the wrong word, but like that responsiveness

that you get out of these guys that maybe some other players don't have, and you need a very specific player to do so. The good thing from Washington's point of view, and by the way, 93 shot attempts last night for the Carolina Hurricanes, again, volume, volume, volume. I remember talking to one Hurricanes player a number of years ago.

I said, like, what's your strategy? And he says, well, we take our first period and we warm up our core C. Warming up our core C is just shot, shot, shot, shot, shot to keep our manager happy. But the good thing about the, the positive if you're a Washington Capitals fan through this is that if you're a Washington Capitals fan, through this,

is that if you're gonna beat the Carolina Hurricanes at this game, A, you have to be patient, and B, you have to have a lot of players that can score suddenly. It can't just be a team that's dominated by, well, these two guys score and that's it, and if all of a sudden their offense is pop gun, we're not going to win.

The good thing, if you're a caps fan, you got to know is your team can score. And there's a lot of players on this team. It's not just Ovechkin that can find the back in the net. Essentially what I'm saying is that walking out, there's a lot of caps fans coming out of capital one that kind of had the hang dog face and oh man, like they just suffocated us.

We couldn't skate through skating and they're in our hip pocket it's such a oh it's a tough game to watch we're moving in quicksand why do why do our Washington Capitals look so slow the good thing about it is there is open ice available and the Caps have guys who can score that's why I'm still very much interested in this one and I don't look at it and say well the, the caps lost serve and that's it. The caps are out of this one. I don't think that for one second, not a chance. Yeah.

Yeah. It's interesting watching that Keynes team and I kind of noticed the same things as you where it's like, okay, those opportunities to break, they're going to come, but you have to find ways to get them. But until that happens, you can't get frustrated. Like it's literally like being in quicksand where you know if you act faster and then you sink quicker, if you start to get frustrated with that system, yeah, it's you're going to get snuffed out faster because this

Keynes team is just going to watch you, watch you start to do that, watch you start to overreact and just take advantage of it because they now have an ability better than they ever have and how they've ever been constructed to actually capitalize on those opportunities offensively themselves and make use of those moments and those offensive chances. So it's kind of like, I expect the caps to respond. I think Carberry is an unbelievable coach. I think they're going to respond, but I think the messaging in there just has to be like, coach, I think they're going to respond. But I think the messaging in there just has to be like, do not get frustrated by this, because you will sink so quickly if you do and you start to play out of our system and our game plan because there's going to be this is one Jeff that's going to be fun. We're going to watch literal chess being played on the ice or brodell is

going to say like, we're going to wrap you up and suffocate you. And Carberry on the other hand is going to go, okay, we're going to exploit here and here. And we'll see how you respond to that. And then it's like, okay, ball is back in your court, Rod. And then we're just going to watch this for however long it goes on. I love it. And listen, you're right about the bench. I mean, there's elite coaches back there, not just Spencer Carvery, but Mitch Love, who's getting a lot of attention around the NHL,

I can assure you, and Kirk Muller, who always has. So it's a smart bench. The other thing, one final note on this one, Brian McClellan's gonna be stopping by here in a couple of moments. One other point that I do wanna make about Carolina, they tire you out when they have the puck. Like by the time, when the puck turns over, like Washington was just, we've just chased these guys for 30 seconds and now we got the puck. But we're so, you know the feeling, right? Zach,

you finally get the puck back and you're exhausted. Like they tire you out when they have, it's, it's a fast, I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I find them fascinating. But again, It's a fast, I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I find them fascinating. But again, Open Ice is available. You can see it. It's all over the place. It's just the Carolina skates right beside you. Another big comeback by the Edmonton Oilers last night.

That was impressive. And perhaps most impressive is it wasn't just Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisleidel. It's Connor Brown and it's Zach Hyman finding the back of the net as well. By the way, they're doing all this without Matthias at home. And the one thing as well, like that passing play with McDavid, Dreisaitl and Corey Perry. First of all, that's a really cool line offensively. Corey Perry was never Pavel Bury. Corey Perry was never a burner. No one's ever going to confuse him for Fedorov.

So if you are Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisaitl, he's not coming back there with you. Like when the puck turns over, it's you guys that have to go because it ain't going to be Corey Perry. I assure you. Now Corey Perry is fantastic in front of the net. He's fantastic falling on goaltenders. As we found, he's really good at sticking the fuck out goalies as well Yeah, but if if you're back checking, don't expect Corey Perry to do anything other than perhaps wave at the bench Hyman great, but you know, you know who who really stands out in a game like that And I'm really happy for this guy because of everything that he's gone through Most notably is surgery John Klingberg of this guy because of everything that he's gone through. Most notably is surgery.

John Klingberg, really good again. By the end of that King's series, John Klingberg, we started to see that the old Dallas Klingberg, and Klingberg was excellent. He really was, he was fantastic for the oldest. More on that as we talk to Matt Barnaby a little bit later on. In the meantime, he is the president of hockey operations for the Washington Capitals. He is one of the architects of this excellent hockey team.

He's Brian McClellan and he joins me on the sheet. Brian, first of all, thanks so much for doing this. How are you today? I know that things didn't go swimmingly last night. I was talking about how difficult it is to play against Carolina, but last time I checked, the sun came up this morning. Yeah, I think, you know, Jeff, we're in a little bit of a mood here today, I would call it. You know, it's, that was a tough night for us last night. Um, you know, I think, you know, Carolina, I don't think there was any surprises on our part, the game they brought.

And, um, you know, probably a little, or a lot of disappointment on our side on, um, how we played and I would expect a response next game from us. The, the one thing, and listen, you know, this a lot better than I do. The one thing that I took away from that one, from the Washington point of view, you know, when you're playing a game and the other team is playing man on man, like there's a lot of open ice that's available.

Right. And the thing that I was saying, like if I'm a Caps fan, I'm like, look, like the way you beat the Carolina hurricanes, you gotta, you know, try to draw them into an area where, where you want to be. But also you need to be really patient. And I know at playoff time, Brian, you played and you won Stanley Cup with the Calgary Flames, like it's hard to be patient out there, especially at

home, like that was your quintessential Carolina hurricanes game, but there's open ice that's available in the Washington capitals have players that can find the back of the net quickly. You have a thought on that? Yeah. I think, you know, last night I thought, I thought, you know, it was a constant pressure from them and then, you know, I think Spencer

talked about it all week about, you know, we're going to go through periods where they're going to dominate play and we're going to have to get through it. And then we wait for our opportunities. Like you said, you be patient and we're going to go through periods where they're going to dominate play and we're going to have to get through it. And then we wait for our opportunities. Like you said, you be patient and you're going to get some scoring opportunities and they're usually great A's that you get. Um, when you survive what they do because they're constant pressure. And if you can beat the pressure, you're going to get a chance. And I think last night, um, we didn't do it enough. We didn't execute in our own end.

They kept us in our own end and his own time was significantly favorable for them. And by the time we get the puck out or, you know, we're tired, we don't have enough energy to do a four check, we're changing. We're constantly not reaching our game or establishing our game or our identity in that game last night. So it's been a frustrating game last night and a frustrating morning this morning. What I wanted to, and that was last night, we'll bracket that conversation for a couple of moments here.

What I was hoping to do with you, Brian, here is, is talk about the construction of this team. Chris Patrick is the general manager of this team. And one of the things that I've been saying this year, half tongue in cheek, but more than half serious too, is that you could give the general manager of the year award to someone who technically isn't the General Manager right now. He's the President of Hockey Operations. Now, I'm not saying that Chris Patrick wasn't involved in those decisions. I'm sure he was working side by side with you.

But when you went about not redoing, but complimenting the team that you already had and whether it was the Pierre-Luc Dubois deal, whether it's Andrew Mangiapane, I want to talk about Dylan Strong and I want wanna talk about Dylan Strom and I wanna talk about Jacob Chickren. Like, first of all, did you get everything done last summer that you wanted to? Yes, yes. I think going into the off season,

I think, you know, our mandate the last couple years has been to get younger. So we were looking for players that weren't real young, but you know, in their mid twenties that we could use and we could, you know, hopefully stay competitive or get better and, and, and, you know, incorporate some of our older guys in the lineup. So, so we went through our whole process of identifying guys that we thought fit that mold. And, you know, consequently, we got a couple, you know, I think in, and then

at the same time we reacted in free agency to like say, you know, we're trading Kemper for Dubois and we make that decision, we do that. We know we need a goalie. We're looking for a number one goalie. Then we make the trade with Vegas for LT. So that filled that hole. And the same with the, you know, the Jensen Chickren trade, um, you know, it was important for us to get Matt Roy and free agency to cover

the, you know, the Jensen role within our team. So, and then the same with Malistein, we traded Beck Malistein, fourth line left winger, you know, for second round pick, which we got Hudson. And then, uh, free agency, we identified Duhaime and we ended up signing Duhaime. So we filled holes that we were creating by trading guys. And then we feel we, or we felt we added, you know, you know, big pieces

that made our team deeper and better, um, for the year. What was after everything was done and okay, this is, this is, this, this is the squad. How good did you think this team was going to be? Like where, where were you at with this team? I don't know that you just looked at this and said, yeah, we're winning the conference, but I don't know, maybe you did. How good did you think this team was? I think we felt good about it internally.

I don't know that people outside of our organization thought that way. Um, I mean, in reality, we had a number one goalie, uh, you know, two top four D, uh, top six center, uh, you know, we, we worked our bottom six, so we did a lot of work and we added a lot of pieces that we felt was, you know, we're going to be a more competitive team. I don't know that I felt we were going to be top

of the league or second in the league in wins and points and all that, but I thought we'd be a lot more competitive than we were last year. You know, I was talking with Joe Beninati on the program yesterday, Brian, and one of the things that, uh, that we were talking about is normally when teams rebuild or they transition from one era of a team to another era,

there's a valley. And for a number of reasons, there hasn't been a valley here for the Washington capitals and look, I'm watching, you know, Ryan Leonard out there last night. And we're thinking about, okay, so what's, what's on the horizon for Ryan Leonard? You mentioned Hudson a couple of seconds ago and there's a, there's another blue chipper for the Washington capitals. Of course, it's a tip of the hat to the scouts and that's a, there's another blue chipper for the Washington Capitol. So of course, it's a tip of the hat, um, to the scouts and that's a role that you used to

fill. Um, but how did you, I don't know, like what's, what's the, what's the secret? Uh, what's the, the magic wand for redoing a team, turning over a team and not going through a valley? I don't, I think, I think you gotta, you know, you gotta make a whole bunch of good decisions.

I think when we started it, when we started, our team was aging out, it was a maturing team. We started getting into injury problems, we're becoming less competitive. Consciously we've said, we want, Obi's got to finish his career here. He wants a competitive team. So we're going to try and thread a needle of getting younger, getting faster, rebuilding the team, and at the same time, drafting some young players and remaining competitive. So at the time we said, you know, it's going to be

difficult, but we're going to try and thread the needle and do it the right way. And so far it's, it seemed to worked out the way we planned. Hudson and Leonard specifically, I think have a lot of Caps fans excited and, and, and rightfully so. Hudson kind of, it's always great when you get first round value in the second round. Was that one of those situations where when it came to your time to pick, you couldn't say his name fast enough at the table? No, I think we made the trade with Buffalo and then we had the second round pick and he was the guy we wanted to get, you know, and I think Buffalo had two picks right

there and we were trying to get Buffalo. I mean, we were worried Buffalo's going to pick Hudson and then we, so we, you know, we were, you know, can we have the other pick? Is there anything we can do to get in front of you have your first second round pick? So it was, you know, we were worried we weren't going to get them. But that was the, the, the theory behind getting that second, that's the guy we targeted and we ended up getting him. Fought on what you've seen down the stretch of the regular season and early here on the playoffs from Ryan Leonard. Yeah, I think he's fine in his way.

I mean, obviously he has a lot of the, he's a good skater, he's got good strength, he's got a good shot. I think the transition from college hockey to NHL hockey, especially playoff hockey, he's learning. You can see him getting better each game, learning what he can do and what he can't do out there physically and with the puck. But he does show flashes of speed, of a good you know, a good rush player, a good shot.

Um, I think it's just a matter of time before he starts producing at this level. So we saw Alexey Protas find the back of the net last night. He had one of the most remarkable, I don't call it a turnaround, but like season to season, as far as increased production goes, you know, he went from a handful of goals to a, you know, a 30 plus goal score in the NHL. Um, and because the Washington capitals seem to need even more prospects. I watch a lot of OHL hockey and I watch a lot of Windsor Spitfires. So I watch his brother, Atan Ilja, who's a huge and two really skilled.

You don't score 50 goals by mistake in the Ontario hockey league. Do you have a thought on yet another Caps prospect on the horizon? Yeah. I mean, we're excited about him. And I think we were excited about him when we were drafting him too. Um, you know, same kind of MO as his brother. I mean, we've got people in our organization that think he might be a little bit better than his brother in the end, but it's, um, you know, we tracked him for a long time because we had his brother.

We knew his brother. We knew the character of his brother and he's in the same mold. Um, good size, good, good person, good character works at his game. Uh, had a great year this year. So, I mean, we're excited to get our hands on them. You know, I was talking to a coach a few weeks ago and, uh, I was talking to a coach, uh a great year this year. So, I mean, we're excited to get our hands on him. You know, I was talking to a coach a few weeks ago and I said like, from your point of view,

from your perspective, how often does the game change? Like how often all of a sudden, okay, now there's a different way to play it based on the skill set of the new players that are coming into the NHL. And he said, be honest with you, the game right now, because for the longest time in the NHL, the game stayed the way that it was. And he said, now the game changes and I need

to adapt about every five years. Does that resonate with you from what you've seen and experienced on the ice? Yeah, I think so. The game of hockey changes every five years. Yeah. I don't know the timeframe of it, but you've got it constantly being adapted.

I mean, I think the coaches adapt, um, the speed of the game, the coaching of the game, specialty teams, especially like power plays, I think have evolved tremendously to movement, um, you know, diving down the way they, the way they select shots, um, five on five play is probably, you know, similar, but you know, the defensive schemes, uh, change a little bit, you know, what, what version of man on man, uh, teams are using. Um, but once I think, you know, these guys are

coming in, they're more ready to play in the NHL, the young guys, they're more skilled. Um, a lot of focus is on creating offense. Um, and I think it's, you know, somebody comes up with something and someone's trying to copy what you're doing or other teams are doing, or teams are asking, you know, what, what are those guys doing that we should be doing?

I mean, they're constant, these coaches now are constantly trying to involve and come up with stuff that makes your team better. You know, one of the things I'm always curious about, and this is, I, I, at least for me, I think one of the best compliments you can pay a player is that guy could play in any era. You know, he could play in a, in a, in a, in a,

in a solo rush league, like the NHL was in the fifties and sixties, uh, can play in a solo rush league like the NHL was in the 50s and 60s. He can play in a high-flying puck movement era like the 80s. He could play in the 1970s where half the league probably should have been in prison. There are a lot of distinct eras in the NHL. When you look at the Washington Capitals, your team that you put together here with Chris, how many guys do you look at and you say, you know what? This guy could play in any era. That guy could play in any era.

Who are those guys for you? You know, you know, I'm getting at it, right? Yeah, no, I do. I think Wilson could play in any era. He's just, I mean, he would have been really good in the, you know, 80s, 90s is just the size and the skating, you know, that skating is awesome. Yeah. That's what separates him, you know, being that big and to be able to skate like that.

I think Protoss could play. I mean, I think in earlier years, you know, size and skill, um, you had to be able to get through stuff, uh, strength wise, you know, the hooking, the holding, the interference, a lot of more of that. So, so you needed bigger players that, uh, have enough skills. So like Wilson Protoss, obviously Ovi, they would excel in that era too, or the previous eras. You know, it's interesting. I, I go back every summer and I go and I watch old hockey games from different errors.

It just sort of helps me contextualize where the game's at now. And, you know, I go to the era where you're playing with the flames and the, uh, and, and, and won a Stanley cup and anytime anyone's getting through the neutral zone, it's, you know, a stick is on the hip or they're getting held and we're just so used to guys going down and referees arm going up.

And back then, Brian, like you had a stick on your hip, you bent your knees and you tried skate through it. I guess maybe that's one of the things I was getting at with like, who are the guy and Wilson's a great example of those guys on your team that would not just like, I got to stick on my hip. This is automatic power play would bend their knees instead of trying to draw a penalty. Yeah.

I mean, I think everybody back then, Jeff. So it's like, um, we used to practice holding up guys. So, so you do a four check drill and if you let your guy go, you mean you're obviously you're failing at your job, but you'd have a stick in his, you know, around his hip area and you'd be slowing him up so he can go full speed and do the forecheck. And in the game, and if you let a

guy go and he did get a big hit on your defenseman, I mean, they're looking at you like, do your job. You got to hold him up. You can't let him hit me like that. Whereas now the forecheck, the forecheck game now is wide open. These guys can come in and I mean, you've got guys like, uh, you know, like Wilson and Anderson and the last series that full speed, full contact on D man, and they got to handle that pressure without anybody holding them up. So it's, it's, uh, it's a different deal for D man, especially. Uh, I got a couple of questions, but one more about that era that we're talking about. Okay. Because the one thing that's really pronounced when you compare eras, back pressure now, like guys are on

you like right away. And correct me if I'm wrong, as a winger in the NHL in the 80s, true or false, your job on the back check was to make sure the trailing defenseman didn't get in front of you. Yeah, exactly. And so you were always excited when you had one of those defensive defensemen that never joined the rush. You'd be like, this is, I could take my time getting back.

No, but I think Jeff too, like that system, that thought, um, Senterming created offense from that gap in the, in the, with the no back pressure. So like your Gretzky's, your Howard-Chucks, these guys would, you know, once they get over the blue line, there's a lot more curling up and hitting trailing players, hitting wingers. Which doesn't happen now because you know, your

rush players, so much pressure coming from behind that you have to go full speed on the rush. Okay last one for you there was a famous one of the WHA which featured Nick Fatiu and Jack Carlson but when was the last time Brian McClellan saw a fight in a player's bench. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if I've ever seen one actually. And you see him around the bench, but, um, I think the circumstances with Tom there were, you know, it was the end of the period, the coach

opened the door and those guys just happened to be there and they fell in. So it was pretty, pretty unique circumstance. Uh, finished on this one. Uh, Randy Workman in the chat says, Jeff, tell Brian Calgary still loves him. You have a thought on the Calgary flames where you won your Stanley cup as a player? Yeah, I think it was, you know, for me, it was a great experience

to be able to go and play there. I mean, they had such a good team or we had such a good team and the guys were a great group of guys. Um, um, just really good memories because you're winning all the time and you're top of the league and really solid organization. Cliff Fletcher was great. Um, so it was a lot of good memories from being there and, you know, a lot of it has to do with winning too.

You had a lot of success. Brian, good luck in game two. I know it might be a frustrating one for your caps today, but as I mentioned, the sun came up this morning. Game two is tomorrow. Thanks so much for doing this and best of luck the rest of the way. Thank you, Jeff.

Thanks for having me on. There he is. Brian McClellan is the president of hockey operations. I almost said general manager. That's Chris Patrick. He's the president of hockey operations. So he's the same GM, Brian McClellan is the president of hockey operations. I almost said general manager, that's Chris Patrick. He's the president of hockey operations. So he's the same GM Brian McClellan for the Washington Capitals, game two is tomorrow.

So a couple of things from that one. Oh, by the way, one thing we should point out too, I don't know the last time, if at all, we've seen players fighting in the bench, but there was in the last round, Montreal, Washington with Anderson and Tom Wilson, but Zach, let me pull you on this one. I'll ask Barney when he joins us in a couple of moments as well.

You ever seen someone take someone else's mouth guard out of their mouth? No, I have not. I was watching that actually thinking about that. And you know, like one of the things I was thinking is, does he put it back in his mouth now? Cause like it was in the glove, and someone else's like, No, so if you watch on the bench,

Aho had it and he threw it behind the trainer. There was no way that was going back in his mouth. I missed that part. I didn't see that. That's funny. But yeah, I was like, I saw it and I wait, what did he do? Because at first I thought he just went like and touched his mouth. That's when I realized after it was hilarious. That's Tom Wilson has produced a couple of firsts, I think for a lot of people, the brawl on the bench and now pulling Sebastian Naho's mouth guard out of his mouth.

Yeah. What's the call on that? What's like West McCauley and TJ Luxmore with the officials last night. Like, what's your call? Is there a call on that? Nick Carolli said hold? That's a hold? Pulling a mouth guard out?

How's that a hold? No, two minutes. You can't do that. That's what it is. Yeah. That's like hold pulling a mouth guard out. How's that a hold? No, two minutes. You can't do that. That's what it is. Yeah. That's like that blanket. We don't know. We don't know that there's a penalty for this.

We're just going to call it unsportsmanlike conduct. That's, that's all that that is to which my retort has always been. Hockey's unsportsmanlike conduct. Like, have you seen the game? Like I always found that. I always found that call bizarre. Zach, like, how can you call anything on sports, my conduct when everything is on sportsman like conduct, your problem is hockey, not that call.

They're, they're basically saying to you, there's a lot of stuff going on here that you shouldn't do, but that one you really shouldn't do. NY Boost metrics saying interference. I don't know how to call it interference. Again, that's just unsportsmanlike conduct, I suppose. Anyhow, did you have a couple of thoughts by the way? I'm not sure how much of the Edmonton game you watched last night.

Like that was another spectacular comeback by the Edmonton, who by the way, like they have completely turned the page now, right? Like I don't know how much I am waiting for the clock to strike 12 on Pickard. I keep waiting for him to turn into a pumpkin and every game that goes by so go. All righty. You know, the the axe swung and he docked. But wait, wait, we'll see what happens. And then another game goes by and he's good

Like Edmonton seems to have really turned a page here They got their scare on those first two games against the Los Angeles Kings and now even without Matthias at home This is like a different and really intense version of the Edmonton Oilers and don't look now But they got a solid second line to with Hyman Kane and Ryan Nugent Hopkins team looks good but they got a solid second line too with Hyman Kane and Ryan Nugent Hopkins. Team looks good. So the two things that are the most intriguing to me is the one is the goalie situation and it seems like any goalies we talk to or listen to specifically, I mean, Carter Hutton's one I rely on a lot is being he doesn't feel that and like I'm going to take his word for it because I'm not a

goalie guy but he doesn't feel that they're going to be able to go long term with Pickard and it's going to have to be Stuart Skinner who comes back in but it's like well how do you what if he just does I mean let's just do the dumbest question I could possibly ask you but you know Jeff he could like he could go on that run he could need to be a hero here exactly is he could just keep that up so maybe they they can rely on it. And the other one was, uh, you know, you've got this situation in Edmonton with McDavid and Dreissel and you're lucky to always have those kinds of guys who can play 25 to 30 minutes if it needs to be the case, but you don't want it to need to be the case. And I saw games against that LA team where I was like, you can't rely on this. Yeah, it's great. They're going to win you a couple of games.

Maybe they win you a series, but how, how is this going to sustain itself? And now all of a sudden it doesn't have to because you're getting the depth contributions and that was like the one question that I had about those guys and their ability to be able to compete long-term and see if they could actually win anything was can you get anything beyond the big boys, especially when they pair them up right now, you're getting that. So it's kind of checking some boxes for me in terms of the questions I had about the Oilers. One really quick thought on Connor Brown, who looks fantastic.

He's always been a really good player in there. I don't know what was up with that like 60 game streak, we couldn't score. He's always been a really good player in there. I don't know what was up with that. Like 60 game streak where he couldn't score. Um, did you see where he, did you see where he did his celebration last night after he scored the full? No. Did you see where he stopped and the celebration, such a baller move.

The Vegas bench. Oh yeah. Easy. I said the fans. Little things like that. And Tyler was pointing out how he's just like, he's riling up fans, whether it's in Edmonton scoring in front of them, getting them going or in away barns, and he's kind of giving it to the fans. He's been doing that. And I noticed him kind of give a look to the Vegas fans yesterday too.

The best part about it, it didn't even acknowledge the bench. Yeah. Just do this Elliott and didn't even acknowledge it. I don't think that this series, not by a long shot, is over. So Vegas lost a game at home. Washington lost a game at home. I still think both teams are in it.

And we'll see probably something different from the Vegas Golden Knights. Um, hopefully for their sake, they have Alex Patrangelo in the lineup and Pavel Dorofyev, cause those are two, um, key minuses there. Um, but I'll tell you, man, like this is, this is a really cool version of the Edmonton rollers, like part of me looked at what happened last year with the rollers in the Florida Panthers and like the absolute dismay that Connor McDavid had in his face and that sort of aura all around him.

It's just like, we were so close, we got it. And always I think in the back of my mind is McDavid thinking, because you've seen it with so many other players, that's the closest I'm ever going to get. Not saying they're going to win the Stanley cup this year, but now for the first, like honestly, for the first time this season, outside of that run that they had in what was the Zach December, where they're probably the best team in the NHL for the first time now in those last few games against the Kings and

last night and last night, um, uh, against the Vegas Golden Knights, I finally am at the place where I'm like, I think they have a shot. I think they have a shot. Thinking have it. They found that magic. Think they have a shot. Think they have a shot.

Anyhow, that series is real fun. Okay, let's get to our future guests here. This segment is brought to you by RV-EZ. Your motorhome or traveler trailer isn't just for getaways, it's a moneymaker on wheels. Most RVs sit parked in the driveway. With RV-EZ, you can rent out your motorhome or travel trailer and earn over $20,000 this year. Founded, owned and operated by Canadians, RVeasy takes care of everything, including full insurance coverage provided for every rental.

And best of all, you choose when to rent and set your own pricing. List your RV for free today at RVezy.com. That's RVezy.com. RVeasy, rent your RV, make money easy. Pleasure to welcome to the broadcast someone you saw on our trade deadline coverage. He is the one and only former NHL'er turned elite level broadcaster Matthew Barnaby. Barney, how are you today, pal? And where are you? Good, my man. What's that? Where are you? I'm actually, LeBron James spends about a million dollars a year on his body.

I'm at about $2,000 a year, so I'm actually sitting outside of the spa, getting ready. I've been traveling a lot lately, so shoulders are sore, back is sore, a lot of plane rides, so today is a spa day. You know, I, I remember talking to Colby Armstrong once, about the lingering effects of playing in the NHL. And he said that, you know, he wakes up in the morning and he can still feel the HOSA hit. Like he thinks about marrying HOSA when he wakes up because he still feels that hit when he gets out of bed.

Listen, nobody gets out of the NHL clean. And when you play hockey the way, Barney, you played hockey, you ain't getting out of the NHL clean. How often, I'm always curious about this, how often are you reminded, how often does your body remind you that you played in the NHL? Well, every morning

Especially if it's raining like it's overcast today. I'll feel it at about four o'clock in the morning It'll either be my shoulder back or knees every day Probably have headaches more than the normal person and when you have 206 fights, you'd be naive to think that you wouldn't have repercussions from that. So I don't have a Jose hit, but I have a Domi punch, multiple Tora punches, the Grim Reaper punching you. So yeah, every single day, damn it. It's not a great way to... After 50 is a lot tougher than after 35. But do you ever look back on it? I'm going to get to hockey right nowies, a lot tougher than after 35.

But do you ever look back on it? I'm going to get to hockey right now, but one more question from your history. Do you ever look back on it and say to yourself, was that really me? Cause everyone, everyone changes. Everyone evolves. Everyone goes, do you ever look back and go like, yeah, I did that. Like that was, that was me, the competitor. Yeah. Cause I'm completely different off the ice. So, you know, I always said when I walked into our locker room,

everything completely changed. I wasn't afraid to fight anymore. I wasn't afternoon naps. I'm still, I'm 50, I just turned 52 and I still don't nap in the afternoon because I think my mind associates it with fighting, fighting Domi at night or Bershia or whoever it may be. So I don't nap well in the afternoon. And yeah, it's completely, I look back at some of the fights and laughing at people. And that was

just me taking my mind to a different spot so I could compete against these guys. Because most of those guys were much bigger. So yeah, I do. And then the other question is I get asked a lot, do you regret it? And the answer is 100% unequivocally. No, I loved it. It's what I wanted to do. My body's a little sore, but I don't regret it one bit. I got to live out a childhood dream. Okay.

Speaking of physicality, do you have a thought on I'm just going to put the name out there. I'm not going to put the name out there. I'm not going to try to frame a question a specific way to bias the jury. I'm just going to say a name, Sam Bennett. Listen, he, he toes the line and a lot of times he goes over the line, but we're speaking directly to the Stolar's hit. That is not a suspension in any which way. And any time, listen, he took a hard snapshot off the mask from Reinhardt earlier, knocked his helmet right off.

And I was reading, oh, everyone's ever got a concussion from a puck to the head with a mask. a puck to the head with a mask. That's lunacy. That's absolute nonsense. So yeah, it wasn't a suspension. I just hope the Toronto Maple Leafs aren't going to go after Sam Bennett because listen, I play like Sam Bennett, not nearly. I'm not comparing myself to Sam Bennett. He's a much better player, much more valuable to his team. But I loved when everyone was talking about something I did and retribution, and I used to go into the room the next day and say, guys, if they come after me in the playoffs, regular season, have my back. But if someone's gonna slash me or come after me

or punch me, stay away. Let's get the power play and make them pay. It's all about the W. So I think Craig Barube is a pretty smart guy and this will be the topic of conversation for the whole team going into the next game. But no, not a suspension, it was nothing of a hit. So the way that I was trying to frown, none of that surprises me. You know what?

In the playoffs, guys, stay away. Let them chop me down, lumberjack style. It doesn't matter. We want to go on the power play. I looked at yesterday. It was a sort of interesting exchange. On the one hand, yeah have Paul Maurice saying things like, oh, I've watched my television.

I've seen every hit that Sam Bennett threw going back to when he was 12 years old and he's playing with the Marlboro's with Jaden Lindo and Connor McDavid and Roland McEwen and all these. And then there's Craig Barube on the other hand, who's saying, it's over, we move on. Like didn't want any part of it. And Barney, I looked at it this way.

Paul Maurice wants to drag the Toronto Maple Leafs into the mud and make it a really dirty series. Right. He, that's where the Florida Panthers want to play. And then on the other hand, you had Craig Barubi saying, no way, man. Not, not, not, not going to happen. This is not my first rodeo. I'm not going to take the bait. No cheese in the trap for this guy. not, not going to happen. This is not my first rodeo. I'm not going to take the bait. No cheese in the trap for this guy. You're not going to do it. Did you,

did you see it the same way? Yeah. And it's funny you said that, cause I said it yesterday. I was like, this is what Florida wants. Listen, you got math and pitch stock and you have Sam Bennett, you got Brad Marshawn. They live for this series. I would have lived for this series if I was playing in 2025. That's not Toronto's DNA. They don't have the guys to do that. Yeah, they got Domi that'll get in there, Tenev on the back end. They're bigger on the back end. Listen, you want Matthews, you want your Marners and Nylanders. You want to trade punches. Now not punches literally, you want to trade chances because they have the skill.

That's not anything what Craig Berube or the Toronto Maple Leafs want. This is Paul Maurice trying to set the stage to make it a war, a trenches. That plays into their team's hands, not the Toronto Maple Leafs. I agree with this a hundred percent. Here's what I wonder about. It's six nothing. Oh, now we're talking different. Go on.

It's six nothing. What changes Matthew Barnaby? What changes? Well, you go after anyone without taking a suspension. That's kind of how you, you, you set your tone. Now, if, if, tone. Now, if Florida's losing six-nothing, now I'm going after the Mariners. I'm going after the Matthews. I'm getting dirty at them. And same way for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Your bottom six plays a little bit

more. Max Domi. Now go after Bennett. Now go after their guys. Go after Kachak. See if Kachak wants to drop them with those at the event. That know, that that's a different beast when you're out of the game and you there is still message sending. I know it's not the archaic times of the nineties and early two thousands, but there is still there is still message sending. And I love that part of hockey. We saw it the first round at Winnipeg and St. Louis and at ends of games and even the start of series. It's a long series. Know that these guys might be coming, but in a close game, keep your discipline, six nothing, all bets are off. Okay. A couple of things here. I got a couple of minutes left with you here. Um, tonight we'll see a pair of games. Uh, may please facing off the Florida Panthers. Already had a whack at that pinata.

What do you expect between Dallas and Winnipeg? Like listen, Shifely is a game time decision. Stanley is a game time decision. Morrissey is a game time decision. I always look at GTDs and the playoffs. And to me that says they're playing, but we'll see. How do you handicap this one knowing that at some point this series, Miro Heiskenen returns?

Yeah, Miro Heiskenen, Robertson, listen, so many guys, so many variables when you look at it. And I look at it the exact same way. If you're a game time decision, probably you're playing because I've been there before. And you'll play through anything if you are capable of helping your team and absolutely able to move around out there. I think Dallas Stars are the best team left in the playoffs. I had Colorado winning it. And for what Dallas did without having Robertson and Aiskenen in that lineup. First of all, both these teams having game sevens at home, I think were paramount in them winning.

But I look at Dallas, they're just a deep, deep team. Haskin and will come back. He will play at some point. I think there's a little like Winnipeg is an unbelievable spot and they've set themselves up with home ice, winning the president's trophy. But to win the way they did and then come back just a few days later, I think it's going to take their toll on them a little bit. I think the extra days rest for Dallas and being on the road is actually going to play

into their favor in this one. So I like Dallas in this series. I like Dallas in game one. You know, we're having the conversation yesterday about is this series one indication or one evaluation for who USA's netminer is at the Olympics next year. Because we've all just been handing this thing to Hellebuck. And then we saw Hellebuck get hooked three times in a series. Jay Cottinger is very much in that conversation. Does this begin to answer the question who's playing net for USA or am I just being way too early on that conversation?

I'd say you're way too early, but it is a conversation that I guarantee team USA is looking at I think right now It's still hella bucks. Listen, he might win the hard trophy this year now having said that You can't imagine or envision a guy with three Veznas President's Cup President's trophy and envision a guy with three Veznas, President's Cup, President's trophy, and maybe the hard trophy and say, oh, we might go with Jake Ott. So I think it is a little early, but right now at this present time, I still think it's hella bucks. And then we reevaluate later on. Do you have a quick thought on the Edmonton Oilers?

Just want to fly around the series here. Do you have a thought on the Edmonton Oilers? They had their scare early against the Los Angeles Kings, uh, rightly or wrongly their season change when Quentin Bifield didn't chip the puck out and instead tried to skate it out and then everything changed for the Edmonton Oilers. You have a thought on Conor McDavid and company, anyone particularly standing out for you last night? Yeah.

Well, I think you have to look at Conor Brown, all and see four goals in seven games. He's just a workhorse, right? And I listened to you earlier before I came on how that guy went 60 games without a goal. It's just dumbfounding hard. He works and to the dirty, dirty spots in the ice that he goes. I was at that game five and Edmonton should be out of the playoffs right now. I was in Edmont five and Edmonton should be out of the playoffs right now I was in Edmonton and I saw that unfold and I'll tell you I don't know if there's a better rink Like you can put Winnipeg there, but Edmonton man that Sea of Orns and they are Electric that is a loud loud building LA cost themselves. They they have to be sitting home going

What the hell just happened? We should be playing Vegas. Edmonton playing with a little bit of fire, falling down behind five straight games and finding a way to win. That will catch up to them if they don't have better starts. But listen, when Connor McDavid starts to turn it up and I thought it was going to be a very tough series with them without at home against LA. They found a way to win and in in in in unbelievable fashion and Vegas looks a little slow with Evans. Evans a fast team. They looked a little slow now

Petranzolo comes back. It's a little different beast. He's gonna play 25 26 minutes But Ebbenton looks like almost a team of destiny right now in the way that they can get through the Vegas Golden Knights. I picked Vegas to win, but you tell me LA now. I mean, you tell me Ebbinton right now and I like, listen, Connor, Connor, he's a different beast. And when he turns it up and I always think there's that pressure of those superstars, the Marios, the Crosb's, the Gretzky's, about winning a cup, and you only have so many kicks at the can.

I'll tell you what, I know that they're much different players, but the guy on the back end of Edmonton that I'm recently really impressed by, and I'm happy for him going through the surgery that he went through, is John Klingberg. This is that old prime Dallas John Klingberg that we're seeing here, Barney?

Yeah, he is. He is a bigger responsibility. You look at that back end, you have Evan Bouchard who's not great defensively, but Klingberg's slick, man. He's been around for a while now, and I think he's in a position right now where he doesn't take anything for granted.

He plays with great players He can move the puck. He's a great skater great first pass and that's what you're looking for in the playoffs is a lot of times people beat themselves and We can go back to Quentin by feel like those little things are so paramount when you get into big games later in the series at Veterans is very good veteran players. They just don't make those kind of mistakes at the wrong times. Your body may be sore every time you wake up, but you earned all of it. Barney, you you you earned your spa day many years ago.

Thanks as always for stopping by, pal. We'll talk soon. All right. She has been keep up the good work. There is Matthew Barnaby, former NHL-er who was never shy in any game that he played. I thought that was an interesting comment, Zach, the idea of like, yeah, you know what, if it happens in the regular season and someone goes after me, yeah, by all means, stick up for me. But in the playoffs, stay away. Just stay away.

Let them do whatever they want to me as long as we're going on the power play. Yeah, that was interesting. Just stay away, let them do whatever they want to me, as long as we're going on the power play. Yeah, that was interesting. I mean, obviously he's gonna have a little bit of a different perspective, considering that he could have held his own pretty easily, but I do agree, like, that's gonna be the same if you're Bennett here tonight, if you're the Panthers.

I don't care, send them after me, let them slash me, hook me, hit me in the scrums, all of it. If we're gonna go to the power play, we'll take it, because that Florida power play, we'll take it because that Florida power play is pretty terrifying as well. And it's interesting. This Leafs team, the one thing I'll give them credit for, I mean, I've been following it very closely, Jeff, for years, a couple of years now, doing these shows, but they've handled this and talked about it in the media very differently than they have in years past and Scott Lawton was asked about it today

I believe and his answer was yeah, you know how we get him back by winning the game it's like that's been the mindset of everybody on the Leafs and It seems like everybody on the Panthers is kind of just being like, okay We're what we're ready for whatever it's gonna be however It's gonna come it doesn't seem like there's be much, but I've appreciated the back and forth between the two teams and about it all here right now. For sure. Let's get to these pair of games tonight and a couple of things I want to go over before

we bid everybody good afternoon here on the stream. The sheet as always is powered by FanDuel, home of the seven game parlay. Make every moment more on FanDuel. FanDuel proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them. Paragames today, the Florida Panthers, this is game two. Florida Panthers facing off against the Toronto Maple Leafs. No Anthony Stolar is it. Joseph Wall gets to start tonight with Matt Murray backing up.

Sergei Bobrovsky will start and Aaron Ekblad, watch your chins. Aaron Ekblad returns for the Florida Panthers. The Dallas Stars take on the Winnipeg Jets tonight. We mentioned the game time decisions. Mark Shifely, Josh Morrissey, Logan Stanley, all game times for Scott or Neal's crew. Meanwhile, can this Rantanen story continue? Is it gonna be hat tricks every night? Is it gonna be 11 points in three games

here for Miko Rantanen again? I don't know, but all I know is at the end of the first half of the season, Hat tricks every night. Is it gonna be 11 points and three games here for Miko Rantanen? Again, I don't know, but all I know is at the end of the first round, I'm curious to see your thoughts on this one. At the end of the first round, Wyszynski sent me a text saying, who's your consmythe right now

at the end of the first round? One, two, and three. Number one, I had Rantanen. Number two, I had McDavid. And number three, I had Eichel. All three players from the Western Conference, I get it, but those were my three for the Con Smythe. It would be a tremendous finish to a tumultuous season for Miko Rantanen if at the end of all of this He wins his second cup and picks up the cons my trophy in the process Yeah, it would be also shake the

Rantanen is the McKinnon merchants like all that conversation I would be pretty pretty quickly dismissed if he goes out and wins a cons my I That's good. I haven't thought about the consmythe who it would be really. Do it every round. And it's brought it up. I, I can't imagine there would be anybody else. Like I look through even just by process of elimination. Not really anybody on Washington or Carolina who's like that one standout stand above everyone else. Right? The Toronto, Florida, again, like, it's not like it was Bob in the first round, and it was pretty much an entire team effort by Florida.

Toronto, I don't know, like, Nylander's probably their guy, Nye's probably their guy, but when you look over at West, it's definitely Miko Rantanen who's done the most and being the most impactful. And then the other thing is like the storylines on it. That's just gets dragged along. This is a voted upon award. It's going to be carrying that weight with it all the way through.

Yeah. Sorry. I just basically like talked through my entire thought process out loud because I had, so yeah, but that's the way I would like eliminate all of it I think it's a good point I definitely would be Miko right now and I don't know if McDavid actually for me slots himself ahead of Jack Geico right now though that's the only one I would probably flip-flop but I think those are the top three so that's where I would agree the Utah Utah Mammoth.

The Cross fans will go, yeah. So, yeah. The Utah Mammoth, we have the name, we all know about the drama using the name Yeti because of the, as I like to call, mom's hockey wine glasses that we've seen with the Yeti Cubs. Come on, you played minor hockey. You know the deal. You saw the moms with their Yetis. Yeah, okay, there's coffee in there. But nonetheless, the Utah Mammoth. First of all, great video. My favorite part of the video was

the sequence where the puck hits the mesh in the net and there's ice all over and it cracks. Really nice. Really, really nice touch by whoever put that together. Nice little video put out by the Utah Mammoth. Tusks up, Tusks up for the Utah Mammoth. You ever thought on this one? I like it, I like the design, I'm not really surprised. I wanted Yeti, that's three out of all the

that I wanted Yeti. Everybody wanted Yeti. But I mean, I don't know. I saw the Mammoth. It was kind of expected. I like the logo. It looks cool. The only thing for me is that the whole color scheme and everything looks a little like EA Sports-ish, which I don't mind.

They don't have an issue with, but I thought it was a good job. I thought the announcement video was great and everything and I do like those colors that they have also I'm pretty sure and I said it this morning that they're keeping the white Utah jerseys so with with Utah across now but the black one is having the mammoth I think that's really really smart I want to give them credit for that because you launched the inaugural jersey people buy the jersey and it it's like, Hey, one year later, we're coming back. You got to get new jerseys. You keep that one.

Then next thing you know, it's like five years from now and Jeff, we're doing the a reverse retro and they're bringing back the old Utah jerseys. It's like, Hey, I haven't seen those in a while. Are we all already starting to get nostalgic about Utah HC here? Is that where we're at right now? We're one year in and we're getting nostalgic about something? This is death by nostalgia. I'm just thinking about how this goes.

Yeah. Nothing holds us back more than death by nostalgia. I swear the entire industry is based on it. If we're already nostalgic about Utah HC. I'm just glad that it's not HC. I didn't like it. I kind of liked it it's not HC. I didn't like it. I kinda liked the UC. I kinda liked it. I kinda loved it.

Too soccer, too soccer. Mammoth, I'm good. I'm fine. The other bit of NHL news today, courtesy of the Buffalo Sabres, they named a special advisor, or sorry, special assistant, I shouldn't say advisor, special assistant to Kevin Adams and as former NHL or Eric Stahl, who had a brief stint

with the Buffalo Sabres. So he comes in as an assistant to Kevin Adams. Like I think that Eric Stahl will probably make a really good manager, executive in the NHL. My, the thing that I'll nitpick about this one is the constant story that we've been talking about with the Buffalo Sabres continues that it's all, it's, it's everywhere you look in this organization on and off the ice, it's inexperience, right? Like I, maybe I shouldn't even mention it because who knows what's going to happen down the road here.

Perhaps there will be, you know, a, a, a senior advisor who comes in to, to work with Kevin Adams on, on decisions. But again, it's another first timer that comes in. Now it's one that played hockey for a very long time as part of the more, the more influential drafts in the NHL, but entry level positions, entry level employees everywhere around the organization, still waiting for someone more veteran to show up there. I don't have any issues with that. around the organization, still waiting for someone more veteran to show up there. I don't have any issue with these guys bringing in new people and like filling people apart of teams or giving new people opportunities, but you need to

surround them with people who have been there and done that. Like Kevin Adams also played. Like Kevin Adams has also been there and knows play and like, it's not like you're bringing in a guy you're like, wow, you know what, Jeff? Thank God we've gotten NHL in the room finally. Like, no, you have that. You have that experience. You need someone who's lived the day to day of being in GM. I mean, hey, look, good for him, stall for getting this opportunity. the first thing I thought of was the assistant to the regional manager, like in the office, which I was asking you about before, where he says he's not the assistant. Yeah, he's not the assistant GM.

He's the assistant to the GM. But yeah, I don't know, man. I still am just waiting on something, some way to come in there to be able to help out. I don't know. Like that can't be it. If it is, shame on the Sabers. I'm sorry. I don't think it is. As I mentioned on my blog, I think it's going to be almost philosophical sea change right now with the Buffalo Sabers as it does appear, at least for now, that there isn't going to be the bloodletting that we thought there was going to be at the end of this season

based on what expectations were for this year. But it does very much feel like with the Buffalo Sabres, now finally they've come around to the idea that they don't have enough veteran players in this lineup. And that's what Lindy Ruff wants and that's what Lindy Ruff needs and I don't know how many end up going but I think that they're now more so than ever before with Kevin Adams open to the idea of moving younger players for more established players on this team. I think that's where the Buffalo Sabres are at now,

using younger players as assets. Yeah, and- GJ Paturka, Bo Byrum, like these types of names is what I'm thinking of. Yeah, Jeff, the last thing on it, I don't wanna dig too much into it, cause I agree and that's probably the right thing to do, but oh my God, you gotta be just shaking in your boots every time

somebody calls you about some young player that you're going to make a trade. Just given the history. I know. Right there. That's all I want to say. Like I do agree that this is probably the way they have to go, but. Oh, okay. I would be like, hello?

You want old Byron? Oh no. What did you think of when you saw Dylan Cousins score against your Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs? Yeah, I'm thinking of the Buffalo Sabres and just like this kid's going to grow, he's going to mature, they're going to be loving him in Ottawa and the Sabres are going to be sitting there going, oh we had that guy, he played for us. It'll be another fascinating off season with the Buffalo Sabres.

Okay, anything else we needed to get to today? Coaching carousel. There's a lot of Zoom calls going on right now, folks, because there are some coaches that are obviously assistant coaches that are in the NHL right now who on off days are having zoom calls with various teams. So no coaching positions filled as of this show's recording, 209 Eastern, but we'll see what the rest of the day brings. I would imagine we'd be starting to hear some news because nobody wants to get, no one wants to get left out here. Like they don't want to miss getting the person that they want. And then once one goes, don't be surprised if there's a rush as teams panic and say,

we got to get our guy now, we got to get our guy now, or we risk losing them. So we'll see what happens with the coaching carousel around the National Hockey League here. We'll be here to cover all of it. In the meantime, we are back tomorrow, one o'clock Eastern, here on the program. One more day in Washington and then off to Florida. Thanks to Matt Barnaby for stopping by, former NHL-er turned broadcaster.

And of course, Brian McClellan, the president of hockey operations for the Washington Capitals. It doesn't sound like it was a very good day around here today. Doesn't sound like there were very happy people around Washington after what we saw last night. But again, I'll point out, Carolina is a suffocatingly difficult team to play against.

They don't give you any room to maneuver and they tire you out. So by the time you get the puck, you're exhausted. And all you can think about is good. We got the puck. That means we can change, but, um, there's a lot of open ice out there still. And that's why when the Carolina hurricanes do surrender a chance, generally it's a high danger primo scoring opportunity for whoever finds the puck on their stick. Anyway, all I'm saying is this thing ain't over, despite what you saw last night. And don't forget too, the Washington Capitals led for most of that

game, even though they were being strangled by an anaconda led by Rod Brindivore. Thanks to Brian McClellan for stopping by. Thanks to Matt Barnaby. Thanks to Nick Corolley. Thanks to Zach Phillips. Everybody here on site in Washington and back at master control, which is Zach's condo as we like to point out. Back tomorrow on the program.

Thanks for being in the chat. Thanks for watching on YouTube, listening on your favorite podcast platform back in 2020. I went to the dark man, he tried to give me a little medicine I'm like, nah man, that's fine I'm not against those methods but no It's me, myself and Alice gonna be fixing my mind I do wanna break it I turned on the music I do wanna break it I turned on the music I do wanna break it up

I turned on the music But you stand up, help out Get you sometimes losing Helping on the days that went wrong