The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Werenski Update, Jarmo Busy in Buffalo, and Trade Talks Continue ft. Aaron Portzline & Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: June 25, 2026

With the 2026 NHL Draft just around the corner, the NHL trade market is in overdrive, and Jeff Marek is joined by Greg Wyshynski for another edition of MVSW to break down everything that's happened across the league during one of the busiest weeks of the offseason. From blockbuster trades and sign-and-trades to teams positioning themselves for Friday night's first round, Jeff and Greg examine the biggest deals, the winners and losers so far, which clubs are still looking to make a splash, and what to expect over the next 48 hours as the draft officially gets underway. They also discuss the latest league-wide rumors, front office strategies, and how the NHL landscape continues to shift with every move.Later in the show, Aaron Portzline joins Jeff to dive into the latest surrounding Columbus Blue Jackets star Zach Werenski, including where things stand ahead of an expected post-draft meeting between the two sides. They also discuss former Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekäläinen and the aggressive direction he's taking with the Buffalo Sabres, plus revisit Mike Babcock's brief and controversial tenure in Columbus, what went wrong, and how it continues to shape conversations around his NHL return.#TheSheet #JeffMarek #NHL #NHLTradeRumors #NHLTrades #NHLDraft #NHLDraft2026 #GregWyshynski #AaronPortzline #ZachWerenski #BuffaloSabres #BlueJackets #MikeBabcock #HockeySHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Canadian Blood Services: https://www.blood.ca/👍🏼 Ninja: https://www.sharkninja.ca/ninja-crispi-pro-6-in-1-countertop-glass-air-fryer-rose-quartz/AS101CRS.html?utm_source=Meta&utm_medium=Paid+Social&utm_campaign=H1NinjaCrispi&utm_content=NinjaEN&dwvar_AS101CRS_color=cdb9b8Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!#NHL #TheSheet #JeffMarek #DavidPagnotta #TorontoMapleLeafs #LeafsForever #JosephWoll #SamuelErsson #EmilAndrae #PhiladelphiaFlyers #VegasGoldenKnights #JohnTortorella #CHL #DanMacKenzie #MemorialCup #HockeyReach 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.

Okay, live from our downtown studios here in downtown Toronto. This is the sheet for this Thursday, January the 25th, or June rather. I don't even know what day it is. That's what it feels like or what month it is. That's what it feels like with the new version of trade deadline. Thanks for joining me here today. Greg Schensky's going to stop by in a couple of moments. Greg is late.

And although details are sketchy, what we do know at this point is he is scheduled to be on the program today. he has laid rumors. And again, I am just reporting these as rumors. Nothing is fact at this point. There may be a washing machine delivery involved. Details sketchy on that one, but we're trying to get confirmation for you. Maybe Greg can confirm that when he joins the program a little bit later on. In the meantime, lots to get to today. And I think all eyes today should probably be on the Dallas Stars and Jason Robertson. It is widely believed that the Dallas Stars want this Jason Robertson situation to come to a conclusion by the time the draft rolls around. And oh, look at that. It's tomorrow. So the next little while, very important in the future of Jason Robertson, either with the Dallas Stars or not with the Dallas Stars.

Let's get to what's on the program today because we do have a big one for you. I assure you, the blueprint is powered by FanDuel. We'll download the app today and play your game on Fandoah. Coming up on the program, I promise he will be here. He does send me a text. Just be a couple of minutes late. Greg Wyshinsky from ESPN and ESPN.com. He's been writing and tweeting a lot about Jason Robertson. That might be one of the lead stories here. Today we'll talk to Aaron Portsline about everything happening with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Don Waddell Speaks, and the future of Zach Werenski, either in that market or in another market. Next steps in Buffalo as well. We'll talk to Aaron Portsline about his experience with Yarmal Kekalainen and what we can expect in Buffalo. By the way, just banger of a contract for Zach Benson. Like right now, Yarmal Kikelanen, pretty close to batting a thousand right now with a lot of his deal,

the Chicago deal, and then the contract with Zach Benson. We'll get into that coming up at a couple more moments. We should probably squeeze in some talk about Mike Babcock with Greg Wischinski at some point. And the trade market continues. And, Zach, before we get to Greg Wyshinsky, and let me know when he hops on here, to confirm whether there's a washing machine delivery issue or not. Again, this is all speculative at this point. We actually got Mr.

Oh, do we? Mr. Washing machine. Do we? Okay. Greg Wischinsky joining us now from ESPN and ESPN.com. Are the rumors true that there was a washing machine-related incident at your racial estate today? There is, there was a washing machine that was,

offloaded and then loaded back on the truck because the people who came to deliver it discovered that there were things called doorways and stairs that they felt that they could not manage and demanded that we take doors off the hinges. And then when I said, hey, this is a brownstone in Brooklyn, there's an entire double door

that you can lower the washing machine down into the basement where it belongs through that door. They said that they were not equipped to do such a thing. despite being the people who deliver such things. So to answer your question, Eric, there is no washing machine. The people of my block got to hear some colorful commentary from your boy about the situation. And I was a couple minutes late for the show. Did you go a full banana sandwich about not having a washing machine now?

So my information, just so we know, I'm batting a thousand on this report here. There was a washing machine related incident with Greg Wichenski. We'll get on to the trades here in a couple of seconds. but was this one of your finer performances today? I was speaking in my natural dialect. Yes. I'll leave it at that. Okay, very good.

It very much, but I opened up with this, and we'll get to some of the Hendricks-Lap here to Pittsburgh and Gardett Hathaway over to the Florida Panthers. By the way, with Hathaway going to the Florida Panthers, do you, like me, expect to get an email from the NHL saying that the NHL is looking at a three-referee system for all Florida Panthers games next to? You hear, never mind, like the two official, the two referee system.

Like, we're going to go three referee system now. But just for Florida Panthers games, we'll pick that up in a second. It's widely believed that Jim Nell, general manager of the Dallas Stars, wants this Robertson situation to conclude by the draft. It's been going on for a long time. You've reported on it. Emily has reported on it. We've been talking here about Jason Robertson's future going back to last summer.

And it feels very much like one day in advance of the NHL draft. thing is coming to a head. What do you hear? What do you know about Jason Robertson? So what I know is what at least one team understands to be the asking price for a trade, which is the Rantaninan deal, which was two conditional firsts, two thirds, and a young player in the case of the Rantanin and trade with Carolina and Dallas that was Logan Stankovin, which obviously was a pretty shrewd move by our friends of the Hurricanes as he was their leading goal scorer in the playoffs. Then obviously they used part of that draft capital to go and trade for Keandre Miller. So at least one team when they when they discussed, you know, the possibility of acquiring

Jason Robertson, who of course is a restricted free agent, was told that it is in the neighborhood of what Dallas received back from Carolina in the Rantan Indian deal or what they sent to Carolina rather in the Rattanan deal. Now, as far as the negotiations go, like you have well aware of it being kind of a stalemate. Yep. I know that at least for one source that Dallas offered him Ranton's deal, eight years, 12 million AAV. That is not what Robertson and his age and Andy Scott have been looking for. I think they're looking for reportedly upwards of 14 million, although I don't know that for sure.

And so when you have a gap to bridge of that nature, one assumes this is going to end with this being a trade or an offer sheet. I mean, the offer sheet would be four first rounders for the amount of money that they would have to pay Robertson to not have Dallas match because, you know, in a bizarre twist, the minimum amount of money that you'd have to give him to avoid the four first rounders would be a salary that Dallas would match instantly. Like, it's lower than they want to pay him right now. That's what they want. Yeah, it's less than 12. So we'll see where it all it goes. But, I mean, like you, Jeffrey, it's hard to imagine that unless Robertson has a real come-to-Jesus moment about playing in Texas and wanting to remain with the Dallas Stars, that this thing probably results in a trade. You know, considering this is a winger or two, and it isn't a quote-unquote premium position, this isn't a defenseman, this isn't a center.

One of the things that I wonder about with Jason Robertson, again, if the Dallas Stars cannot do a deal here, if there's going to be, a trade. I wonder, like, this one looks to me and sounds to me, like, this thing kind of has like three-way deal written all over it. Considering what the nature of the contract that Jason Robertson is looking for, and no one is going to trade for Jason Robertson unless they can extend them. And if they know that the number is 14, you've got to be comfortable with that number as a team here. To me, this one looks like three-way. And there are a number of teams where Jason Robertson would fit. I've wondered about Chicago. I think we all wonder about. about Detroit's.

When we talk about draft picks being available, there's a team now that has four on the first, and that's the St. Louis Blues. So, like, this one could prove to be one of the more interesting trades that we see all this week if we get there. Again, it could all end with a contract signing and everybody is smiles and let's let bygones be bygones.

But if it goes the way of trade, this one may be one of the more fascinating ones. Yeah. You also wonder about a team like Seattle, to be honest with you. I don't know how much draft capital they really want to give away considering where their heads might be at as far as like rebuild or retool or whatever.

Like you don't want to be starting to give away your first rounders to somebody. I don't know about that. Hang on. Hang on on that one. I'll push back on that one. I think that the Seattle. I think with Jason Botterall and even by making the Mackie Samiskevich move, that's an indication that they're looking for players that have potential.

They're not looking at guys that have actualized. I think Bodro's looked at his lineup and said everybody is playing one level higher than they should. And that's because historically it's a team, like the way that I phrase it is, it's a team that is just content hitting singles. And when you're just content hitting singles, everybody's going to be out of their spots. Everyone's going to be out of their slotting. And everyone's one slot higher than they should.

I think right now, more than ever, the Seattle Cracken are saying, we need to take some big swings to that. Tried to get Artemmy Panarin. We know about that one. That's why when you mentioned Robertson and Seattle, first of all, I don't know if he'd be willing to extend it with, uh, with, the Seattle Cracken, but I wouldn't, I wouldn't say that, you know, the Seattle Cracker are hanging on the draft capital here. I think they want to get back into the winning business. No, I'm, I'm saying they

should. I think those picks could, I think those picks could look pretty good at some point, uh, if you're Dallas. Um, but no, but to your, but I agree with you. Like, they've obviously tried to take some big swings. I mean, I don't know how real the interest in Alex Tuck was or if there was ever, how far down the line they might have gotten with him, but there was talk about him. And, you know, they're a mushy middle team. And they're also a team that right now, if they're going to not do the thing that I've talked about them needing to do on this podcast many times, which is to just rebuild. Or build for the first time, I guess it would be. Then you're going to have to start to really up the ante insofar as the star power goes.

Panarin was going to be one option. Robertson certainly is another option. And, you know, they have a ticking clock until the NBA comes back in that market. So they've got to get good. They've got to be sustained, successful. and it'd be nice to have somebody who's a picture could be on the poster on the outside of the arena as well. To the Dallas Stars, but not with Jason Robertson. Many, including myself, are marrying Dylan Larkin to the Dallas Stars.

Are you one of those people? I mean, it seems to fit and check so many boxes, too. I mean, so far as like the familiarity between the two front offices, I think, is there's a level of trust there. what they could send the other way, you know, to satisfy Detroit. Larkin probably, you know, fancies Dallas as a team that tends to contend every season. And obviously they have a glaring need in the middle. So it seems like it checks a lot of boxes. It seems like it should fit.

But I'm not, you know, man, like the more we get deep into the summer on Larkin, like, I don't think there's any rush to do it by the draft. I don't think there's any rush to do it until they, they've satisfied what they're looking for and they get the package they need. I mean, the idea that they've asked Larkin and his reps to expand their horizons insofar as the number of teams he wants to go to, I think is an indication that, you know, Eisenman's going to probably take the long road here on Larkin. Okay, I'll start around the NHL.

You mentioned Alex Tucker a couple of seconds ago. Were you surprised that it is in Washington where Alex Lunds up essentially with the campaign contract? And it's funny, many are saying, you know, a couple this with the Jordan Kairu deal with the St. Louis Blues. And there are a lot that are saying, well, that's it. Ovechkin's not coming back. I think the opposite. That that's the indication to Ovechkin, this is going to be a competitive team next season, further chumming the waters that he will come back. I don't look at this as a Ovechkin replacement as much as it is.

Outside of Carolina, it's going to be jump ball in the Metropolitan Division. And if Ovechkin thinking about coming back, this is going to make the team better. What do you think? First of all, how dare you disrespect the pending New Jersey Devils. I know, I know, I know. Sorry, Sonny, apologies. So I was surprised only because I thought the Cairo deal was sort of like the end of that business of adding goal scoring on the wing. You know, but the tuck move makes sense.

They're very strong on the wing right now. maybe a bit stronger than they are in the middle. But here's the thing about the capitals that I think people are missing. The chumming of the waters for Ovechkin to come back is the ancillary benefit to the moves that they've made. They're not the reason why they made the moves. They made the moves. No, I agree with that. Yes.

The capitals sneakily have a core right now that will be competitive beyond next season if Ovechkin comes back or not. When you look at how old Dubois is, how old Chickren is, you know, Tom Wilson still is viable. Then you go down and you've got the pro dyes. You've got Leonard. You've got Cole Hudson on the way. You've got all the little eggs that are being hatched in Hershey every year. Now you've added to Kyru and talk to the mix.

Oh, and by the way, your goaltending is Logan Thompson and Charlie Lingren. Like, this is a really good roster, man. I'm like they are lacking for that top line headliner that Ovechkin had given them in the past. But as far as like the depth and totality of talent, it's a pretty good team. So they do all these moves in service of a core that they believe in that they think can be competitive, whether OV's there or not. But then the ancillary benefit is that, you know, the two things that Ovechkin has always said about coming back is one, my body's going to have to be able to hold up, you know, for another season.

And then two or one A is the capitals have to be a competitive team. And they certainly are going to be next season. I want to ask you this when I first read it and heard it. Your thoughts on Craig Leopold, owner of the Minnesota Wilde saying, we are going to resign Quinn Hughes. I think it was Mark Lazarus on Twitter who said, Craig Leopold forever negotiating against himself. And I mean, when the owner puts it out there,

that they're going to get them on three or five years. I mean, that's just, you know, that just is like a bell ringing in Pat Bresson's ears as far as like where the team is on this and where he is on this. It is interesting that he said the quiet part out loud, which is that three years is what they expect. And that's all we've talked about, me and you about this contract,

the idea that Quinn's going to run up to 2015. 30 when Jack is a free agent, we actually asked Pat Brassan about it on this very show. Yep. His answer was, oh, you know, boys talk. I don't know. Boys talk about a lot of things. Yeah, the boys are talking. The boys are talking, Merrick.

And I think that a three-year deal for Quinn was always going to be the outcome. If, I mean, again, like, there's still 10% of me that believes that maybe he looks at Brady and Matt and says, why wait, you know? and then there's some business to be done with the Devils. But I think ultimately he was pretty happy in Minnesota. They're a competitive team. You expect him to stay there for at least the next three years. Do you have a thought on Mason McTavish right now?

Yeah, I think it's funny that, you know, his name has been out there forever. And obviously, there's been some linkage with. Yeah, last summer. And linked with Dallas. Linked with Dallas. Yeah, and there's been some linkage now with Ottawa and their needs, too. But it's funny. I just was starting to see this morning the first inklings of, you know, maybe his value is not what it was last summer.

And I think that's absolutely the case with Mason McTabish. I think Mason McTavish is one of those players that right now is better in concept than an execution as an NHL player. Doesn't mean that he can't realize his potential doesn't mean that he's not someone worth pursuing. But, you know, when people look at him and say he could be the solution to X problem and, you know, in the case of Ottawa, like the need for, a center like that. I don't know. Like I, I, I'm kind of, I'm, I'm still holding some stock on them, but I'm a little, I'm kind of like looking at the market right now and seeing what I might be able to get

for it. Not that it's a direct replacement, but the Detroit Red Wings are poised, as we all know they are, to lose Dylan Larkin. Does Mason McTavish to Detroit make some sense for you? I mean, sure. There is like the, the Pat for Beek, Steve Eiserman battery, like that's all well told. and we know the history between the two, that would make some sense as well, based on need.

If you do that, what is that signal about where the Eiser plan is? Taking a step back. Taking a step back. Yeah, right? I mean, that would be kind of the signal. But have you not? And they should.

I don't know how you've been looking at this, but like right now it's an arms race in the Atlantic. Right? And we are in the Detroit Red Wings, and we'll see what happens here with Dill and Arkinna and what they get back. But like the Florida Panthers are back. in the playoffs. And the Florida Panthers might win the Stanley Cup based on the moves and healthy Alexander Barkoff discuss amongst yourselves here. But if you're the Detroit Red Wings

who have still yet to crack that playoff barrier, how are you not looking at, you know what? We need to take a couple of steps back here. I don't know how well that goes in the offices above Steve Eiserman. But to your point, that would be the same thing for Detroit to do at this point. It's it's the perfect thing for them to do is to take a step back, allow some of their good young players they do they do have on the roster to mature, you know, get younger, get better. And then, you know, in 2030, see if the Hughes boys want to play in front of their parents. Like, that's the path. That'd be the path for me if I was see Viserman and what I would tell in the Illich family.

But, you know, the Dylan Larkin thing thing is interesting. So one, when Brady Chuck was traded, his back looked like a porcupine. there were so many arrows and daggers stabbed in it on the way out of Ottawa. And so far as people talking about how he changed and was he any good to begin with and looking at the playoff stats and all this other stuff. And I have a feeling that when Dylan Larkin gets traded, there's going to be a cottage industry of takes about his tenure there as captain, his relationship with with Izerman. I don't think this is going to be a pleasant divorce once it's finalized. with regard to Dylan Larkin's time in Detroit. I think there's some people

have heard tangentially around the organization that feel that maybe he's not taking enough of the blame himself for the portions of the team during his tenure as captain. Right. Connor Hallibuck, we talked about it a few months ago here. This continues to gather steam and looks like it is marching towards an inevitability. The only question is, where does he end up?

And this is, and this, considering the nature of the marketplace, like, we've always maintained that Kevin Shevleday off may have the most difficult job for any general manager in the NHL. And all of a sudden, this is his most sensitive of situations. How do you do this if you're shovel day off? And I know we're all trying to figure out how the Florida Panthers can make this happen. And somehow they might just end up doing it. But this is, this is, like, this one is going to be such a fine needle to thread for Kevin Sheff. shovel day off to try to keep this team competitive and keep Mark Schifely interested and Kyle Connor interested and Gabe Valerty and all of them.

Like once you let go of someone like Connor Hallibuck, what next? Because you're not going to replace Connor Hallibuck. No. I mean, there's no replacing a guy with multiple Vezna's and all that jive. But like, I think in Florida's case, their best chance at this is to hope that they end up with Matthew could chuck 2.0 of just be like, I only want to go to one of two teams if you're hell of buck. And then, you know, it ends up being Florida as the one that has maybe the most competitive offer

or a slightly better offer or some such. They're not trading Lundell. I would be shocked if they traded Lundell. Like Lundell is part of the recipe. The luxury of having those three lines and the third one being the Lusterine and Marchand Lundell line is one of the reasons why the Panthers won cups, you know, or in our favorite. were to win another one, you know, out of the Atlantic this year. The last I heard on the Hellobuck stuff was that Sheppled Dayoff was listening,

but he hadn't gone back to teams to say, here is the, here is the way we get this done, right? It hasn't gotten necessarily to that point yet. And that was a couple of days ago. Obviously, we've all seen this week, things are moving quickly. But that was where it kind of was earlier this week. And I'd be interested to see if maybe it moved. As far as like fantasy casting, there's two places that I'm interested in. And I don't know if either of these places are engaged or if it'll end up there.

One is Buffalo because they're in on everybody. And because as much as Alex Lyon and UPL played well last year, like you throw UPL in a deal for Connor Hellebuck. And your battery is Hella Buck and Lion next year. Well, now you've really, you know, corrected a, I don't want to say a problem, but like it's not something you're ever going to have to worry about. out again, your goaltending. And the other one's Carolina. And I put that out there on ESPN last week and sort of a trades we'd like to see piece. And everyone in Carolina was just drop and trow and taking a shit on me for saying that Nikitian could be in a deal for Halibuck. And then lo and behold, you know, Darren Drager's reporting left and right that, you know,

Neketian's on the block. People want Neketian. That's the kind of guy that Eric Tolski trades to upgrade other parts of his team. And I'm sorry, as much as I love the Brandon Bussie story, I know he was on the show earlier this week. I mean, Freddy's probably not coming back. Bussie's Bussie. And if you have a chance to trade Nkishian of first and something else for Hullabuck, you're probably going to do it because they were in the market for goalie upgrades over the last two years. So here's what I believe about the Buffalo Sabres and the net mining situation because that was the one team.

And I remember I mentioned this like right away about how the Buffalo Sabres like, are they ready to take a big swing? And could that big swing be Connor Hallibuck and everybody in, Winnipeg pushed back on me hard and now here we are. I think that they're fine with their goaltending, despite the fact that both goaltenders didn't exactly both have part-time jobs as walls in the Stanley Cup playoffs. I think that they looked at UPL specifically and said, we can't judge this guy's playoff performance because it was his first time in the playoffs.

Like that's one of the things that we forget about the Buffalo Sabres. We're treating the Sabres now all of a sudden, like they've been in the playoffs like five of the last six years. That was their first time in the playoffs for a lot of those guys, specifically for UPL. That's why I think they're okay to come back with that tandem. Now, the wild card in Buffalo is Terry Pagula, who adores anything that eats, breeze, sleeps USA hockey. And we all know that. So that, that to me is the wild card in all of this. Yeah.

I mean, and again, like I understand what you're saying about the goaltending, but I mean, this isn't like them being like we could get Darcy Kemper. Like this isn't being like we could get Connor Hellebuck potentially if you wanted to come to Buffalo, in which case I think the math changes. But I mean, there's, listen, everybody could use Connor Hellbuck. I mean, there are teams that probably are happy with their goaltending would be like if you can get Conor Hallibuck, you move, have it on earth to get him. I don't know. I'm intrigued to see how it all plays out because I think some of the teams. that could have made a real pitch for him have already gotten some business done. Florida being one of them.

Yeah. The devils being another. Like, I mean, if you're trying to get Connor Hellebuck and you've now moved some own Emmich already, like, wouldn't that be one of the guys that would be in the trade for Connor Hellebuck? So I'm intrigued to see where that ends up. Does it not feel to you? Like the St. Louis Blues are about to do something big.

Of course. I know they made the Kairu deal. or bring it in Connor McMichael, and I get all that, like four first-round picks. There's a general manager now that's not shy about offer sheets, and there's a general manager in waiting who's been watching said general manager submit offer sheets to the Edminton Oilers and grab a couple of players. To say nothing about making big moves to set this team up for the future. And whether it is Colton Perrako, whether it is Jordan Bennington,

or whether it is any other combination of players on this roster. St. Louis, as much as we're praising, you know, Buffalo right now and great move with the Chicago Blackhawks and a great signing of Zach Benson. Holy smokes at that one out of the park. Holy jeez. You're really downplayed it. Great move. An insanely great move.

I know. We'll get to those in a couple of seconds here. St. Louis at the end of all of it might be the most interesting team to follow right now. True or false. Let me ask you a question first. Sure. What's your spidey sense tell you when Mike Greer says that he's received an extremely intriguing

offer for the second overall pick what do you think that offer was or what do you think Alexanderstein calling my career well no but that's what I'm getting at like yeah I think they want Stenberg I think Stenberg is sort of like the flag bearer for the next phase of that franchise I agree yes and so so is the intriguing is the intriguing offer it starts with parakeo like it has to that's what San Jose needs right they need better but better help on the blue line. So it starts there. You throw in a couple of these picks. I don't know. I don't know for sure about what the hell Mike was talking about. But like that would kind of seem to be the thing. Right. Who is hornyest enough for Stenberg? I think St. Louis would be top of the

pops on that one, wouldn't they? I think St. Louis is involved in a lot of things. And again, like at the end of it, I think they may end up being the most interesting team here. But let's circle back to Buffalo because we haven't had a chance you and I to talk about that insane deal with the Chicago Blackhawks. You know, I had a friend of mine from another team send me a text. We were comparing like, the analogy that he used was, do caucus versus Bush Sr. As far as the election goes. Or as far as the level of savvy.

That's the level of win. This thing. Oh, okay. I thought you were saying you were comparing Yarmou Kek-a-Lyin to the former director of the CIA and a vice president versus a guy who looked funny in an army hat on a tank was what I thought you're getting in. So this was a toll. We're not supposed to judge these trades before we see what the picks end up being. But like it was total domination.

It was a fatality in mortal combat. It was Yarmu being on the line and being like, I will gladly take the fourth overall pick for Ball and Byron. He was the fourth overall pick. Okay. And then just being silent and being like, oh, end the 45th. Oh, and also your leading defense score. Okay. Oh, and I can give you Jordan Greenway in the deal too.

Oh, okay. Okay. Let's fax the league. So, wow. What does this tell us about? Because listen, when there's a, this is like an old school trade. I was mentioning this on the show the other day. When Brian Brooke talks about when he was first,

a general manager in the NHL. The way they judged trades was, did the other guy that I made the trade with get fired because of the trade? If that GM got fired, it was a good trade. Like, that's how, like, these guys were all pirates. Shake hands with the guy, you got to count your fingers, all of it. That's how they judge their trades. These guys all tried to get everybody else fired.

It doesn't work that way anymore. But if there was one that you would look at and you'd go, ooh, that's a pirate trade, it's this one. But here's my thinking on. it. This is an indication that Chicago needs to win. That there is a pressure there with the Chicago Blackhawks that right now it's time for results. So the point where Kyle Davidson is prepared to quote unquote lose a trade to get Bo Byram so they can get in a position to win more games and do what the San Jose Sharks did last year. That's how I look at this one from Chicago's point

of you. What the San Jose Sharks did last year was move up the standings on the strength of one player's performance whilst being ably assisted by another burgeoning young star and Will Smith. And so two things about this trade. First of all, the reason we don't see top five picks move is because in order to move them, the return has to be so substantial that teams don't want to make the trade for what for a maybe right if Chicago's moving the fourth the fourth overall pick it needs to be for a foundational

franchise level defenseman it needs to be for Shea Theodore it needs to be for Alex Petrangelo it needs to be for Victor headman it needs to be for that level of player it can't be for a guy that you hope could be that and by the way that will probably never be that on the defensive end and so it is malfeasance

to trade the fourth overall pick for Bowen Byron On top of that, Merrick, my biggest problem with this trade is that, yes, they're under pressure. But Darry it's probably miserable right now. He's looking at all of these teams in the Western Conference that have been in a rebuild parallel to that of Chicago. And he sees Utah in the playoffs and he sees Anaheim in the playoffs and he sees San Jose almost in the playoffs until like the last week of the season. And he sees all these teams have multiple young stars on their rosters that will be there for the next 10 years, whether it's, you know, Gunther and Cooley, whether it's, you know, Gautier and Carlson, whether it's Smith and Sellebrini. And he's looking around and being like, where the hell is my, well, how you get that guy is making the fourth overall pick because that's where Mitch Marner was and Kail McCar was and Bowen Byron was.

But you get that kind of player fourth overall. And so my problem with this trade Merrick inherently is that you have to be responsible to the way that your team is being built and not be a slave to your star player. And the honest assessment of the Chicago Blackhawks right now is that they are still deep. in a rebuild. And the way you get out of a rebuild is to select a player fourth overall that will help you become a team on the level of Utah and Anaheim and San Jose. But instead, they traded it for Bo Byron. That's insane.

Okay. Waiting on things here about Jason Robertson. That story continues. We'll see what happens here by the end of this program and into the day. But it does very much sound like this. Things are moving. Things are percolating. Sounds like things are happening with Jason Robertson.

Okay, before we get to Aaron Ports line here, Dave Panyoda and Irfan Gaffar are going live tonight with the DFO Insider Pre-Draft Special, 7 p.m. Eastern 5 p.m. Mountain on the daily face-off YouTube channel. Look, man, this is great because there's so many trades going on, obviously, covering all the latest moves around the league and breaking down what they are hearing leading up to the NHL draft, set your notifications.

DFO Insider Pre-Draft Special, seven Eastern Five Mountain Four Pacific on the daily faceoff YouTube channel. I'm guessing they're probably going to be talking about Jason Robertson today. Okay. Let's bring Aaron Portsline on. Our good friend from the athletic to talk about all things Werenstki and Waddell and Columbus. Aaron, how are you today? It's been a silly little week so far.

And that's going to continue right through into this evening, it sounds like. Yeah. And the blue jackets are kind of in it. How in it? How in it are the blue jackets right now? I mean, it's a weird spot, right? Don Weddell's looking to add a forward. He's looking to add a third-paring defenseman. And while he's in the business of adding, I think what anybody, he's probably thinking about it more than anybody. What's he going to lose? What's up with Werenski? And he just had a press conference. didn't say anything definitive about what this exactly is, but certainly with his words confirmed that there is a, it's up in the air, his future in Columbus.

And he's hoping to get some clarity after the draft. Doesn't sound like there's been a trade request, get me out of here, but you wonder if it's been expressed that he's not going to sign when his deal expires and how do they respond to that. You would think he'd want to know that before the draft, but he made it pretty clear. They're not looking for draft picks. They're looking for players. Yep.

That's where Columbus is at. And my follow-up... Go ahead. I'm just going to say real quick, my follow-up was, there are players moving right now that you may regret having moved if it does reach to the point that you, you got to do something here. And his response to that was that the... The return they would be getting for Werenzky would be at a certain level of player that's not being mentioned right now.

The players that GMs don't want to move and are not making available, but would in the event that a Norris trophy guy is on the market. So there you have it. I mean, there's been one guy, basically, who has expressed trepidation or unhappiness about his team, and that hasn't moved, and that's Matthews. like everyone else when we get to this point of I don't know if I'm going to be back doesn't come back

they all get traded so I mean I know Donnie's meeting with him after the draft but is this just like delaying the inevitable I mean if he's if the thought is in Werenski's head that he might not come back that probably means he's not coming back yeah if that is true for sure I think before I

we have a lot of experience with these stories in Columbus right you know what I'm saying and I sort of make it a rule. I know where I think I have the same feeling everybody else does. We've seen this movie before. And yet I still want to hear it from the player. I want to hear what the player's thinking.

There's a part of me that wonders if Werensky is trying to put heat on the organization to make this offseason more than just another we tried, couldn't get there. Still have some good young players that can grow, really push to take some bigger steps here. or if it's truly a case of him saying, yeah, and doing what Seth Jones did, when my contract is up, that Jones situation was one year out. This would be two for Werensky.

I'm probably not going to sign here, act accordingly. That compared to how some other players have left here, that's a favor to this club, or it's seen as such. Not great news, certainly, but better than a, I'm gone. I think I'm going to sign with you.

Maybe I'm not. Maybe I'm not. And then you get nothing. inform me as I leave town as a free agent. He's not wanting to do that. No indication from him yet really what he's thinking. And until he says where he's at, I think I'll probably refrain from saying it's going to be this for sure.

But Greg, I mean, you read tea leaves, right? I get it. Are we talking about Jason Robertson level player? Yes. I mean, from what else words, that would be the expectation. To me, that makes sense. I did ask him, I mean, I don't know,

I've always wondered why people are so enthralled with offer sheets. And they are fun. The idea of them is fun. Of course, there were more of them. The jackets could do one over that 11.9, which is, of course, where Robinson would be. Robertson would be. And he, without naming Robertson said,

no chance. There's no chance they're doing that. So if it's a player like that, it would be a trade. But I think it would have to be. It's probably players that were not mentioning. I think, you know, Werensky's got a full no move. I think there's a question, too. He may not want to extend when his deal's up.

He may also not want to move right now. Just had a baby. He's got two years left. I don't think that would sit well with the team. Like, not only do you want to call where you go, you want to call when you go there, when they may be thinking there's no better time to get to do this. A, let's not have this conversation. all year.

B, strike while the iron's hot with the Norris Trophy winner. So I think there's a lot of moving parts to all of this, but it would have to be a big return for sure. The old Mitch Marner move. The child has arrived. I'm going to use my no move clause. And we're going to just stick around for a little bit. By the way, I can see why he wants to stay.

I saw his palatial estate on that Norris trophy video. No kidding. Great spot. A gorgeous house. My God. Like, I wouldn't want to leave either. Aaron, like, is losing Worensky on the level of knocking this franchise on its ass so hard that it needs to like take a couple steps back? Like, is he that level of importance to this team?

Yeah, for sure. 100%. Yeah, I don't think there's any question. Now, you see what the return is, right? I mean, they're going to look seismically different, I think you could say. they're going to get something significant for him, again, if it comes to that. So right now we're thinking of just the hole that it would create,

not what it would bring back because we don't have an idea of what that is, again, if it comes to that. But it changes them for sure. The other thing I think it does is it just furthers the narrative, the story. It sends a message to the young players in this room, the fantilli's, right?

the Jackson Smith, who's coming next year, the stars of the Kent Johnson's, these young guys that they think are the difference makers of the future, that the best players don't want to be here. And that is, that's a hard thing to shake. And it's been with them a long time. Off the Columbus page quickly, and we'll swing back to it.

Watching Yarmou Kekhalinen maneuver with the Buffalo Sabres right now. Now, one of the things, and you were there to document all of it, and he's already done it once this year, and he's already got, like, the number four overall draft pick. You know, including that San Jose deal, the Kesselring deal, in his tenure as a general manager, Yarmokhe Kalanen has moved up in the draft 16 times.

This is what he does. You've watched it every single season. He was a general manager. He was moving up in the draft. Does anything that Yarmokkeh Kalanan has done surprise you? And considering the Buffalo Sabres, are hosting the draft this year. We know how GMs like to put on a show.

When they're hosting their draft and Nashville, Barry Trots tried to do it and grab number four in drafts Will Smith. That didn't happen, but later it led to a Yaroslav-Scaroff deal. What do you expect for the next couple of days here out of Yarmo Kekalainen? Well, I think Yarmow has learned quite a bit from his 2019 experience in Columbus,

where he went for it, really went for it, like few GMs have done at the trade deadline. If you remember all of those maneuverings, Kept Panarin, kept Bobrovsky, went after Dutrain. It was bad shit, fantastic is what it was. Because they weren't in the playoffs at the time. They weren't in the playoffs at the time.

People forget. What is he doing? But it was a boldness that, I mean, ultimately it may be a regrettable trade deadline, but it sure was fun. I also think he's learned from his, his understudy here in Columbus, Bill Zeta, who's gone to Florida and just goes for it, right? Like, bold moves.

Matthew Kachuk is available. We are going to get Matthew Kachuk. That's what it's going to be. We're not going to take no for an answer and gets it done. I think Yarmo, first of all, he stepped into two really good situations. If you remember in Columbus, he arrived. Wabrowski had just gotten here. Polino had just got here.

Atkinson was just sort of starting. There's an idea that this place was a lost cause when he arrived. In fact, Scott Housson left him in a pretty good spot. So did Kevin Adams in Buffalo. It just needed a fresh set of eyes and a different culture there. So credit to him on both ends. I think the second job is always different for guys than the first. I see a much more bolder, adventurous, creative, aggressive, aggressive,

Garmo Kekelodon this time. I want to circle back to Columbus. What did you, like, I don't know if Donnie talked about it on Waddell or not, but what, what do you know from an Adam Fantilli extension, what that could end up looking like? Yeah. So I think the blue jackets want to go long term. They like to lock it down. I would understand if Fantelli wants to go short term, I told that if it's short term,

it would probably be two years. They don't want to walk him up to Arb and a one year ruling that would walk him to free agency. So two years would be the short term. And then if it's long term, I think obviously if they can get it done before September, eight would be the preference. But this is a player that they really, really believe in. Number one center sure looked like at the second half of last year. He's got so much better defensively. The coach's day, red line back. And you just sense that the offensive burst is coming from him. And he needs a winger on the other side. He and Marchenko work well together. that's what they're looking for this summer

is somebody to play on the left side. It would certainly help if Ken Johnson would get back to Ken Johnson, what he was the year before, maybe even better than that. And there's Veronkov, Dimitri Voronkov, who has shown incredible potential at times,

but tends to run out of gas after the holidays. I'm not sure what he's doing. I get it, but it's not acceptable for him. Sports writer is okay. down the stretch every year and they can't quite figure it out. So he's in Connecticut right now we learn today.

Not back home in Russia. He's in Connecticut working in a different way to maybe. He's an absolute monster with baby soft hands for a 6'5, 240-pound guy. And if he can be a full-time impact player, that makes a huge difference. But they need some help of fun for sure. Speaking of free agents, Restricted, albeit with arbitration rights, Jetgreaves. I'm pretty sure that Don Waddell doesn't want this to get to arbitration where the number is five?

Five and a half for Jetgreaves. One year, I mean, it sounds weird. I mean, he's played one NHL season. What do you do with? And Waddell loves him and why not? And he's been great. and loves it there, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. What happens with the goalie?

It's never looked out of place in the NHL. You're right, Jeff, one full NHL season. Just look at what he's done in the previous three. Every time he's come up, you go, okay. Such an interesting story, too. Aaron, hold on. He might be Canada's savior and net down the road, too. Hold on a second here.

It's not like our country is producing goalies here. I don't need to be his age. He was arguably a top 10 goal. in the league last year. It truly was on a team that was not an easy team to play for. You look at his underlying numbers, his save percentage, all of that stuff. Top 10 arguably goalie in the league last year. And yes, went to Canada for the world and you start to look at that roster,

Canadian goalies, and you go, Jet, do you see what I'm seeing? He's such a humble kid. He's like, oh, hey, well, you know, whoa, whoa. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The spreader on for him was over. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's right there in front of them. I think it's a bigger number than five if it gets the arbitration if I'm being honestly.

Wow. You think is the arb numbers bigger than five? I do. I do. Look at the numbers. I mean, but here's the thing. Like I look at comparables and then I say to myself, well, hold on a second.

Don't get carried away here. But the one that I keep coming back to is Dustin Wolf. Yeah. And where's he at? Seven. But Jack Reeves is not. I'm not saying the check creaves is seven, but the closest thing that you can find to it is probably Dustin Wolf.

Right. The other comparison that they don't like about that is the 5-11, 6-foot. Yep. Which is the one thing that's still with people. You still hear people here say, the number one? Not sure. And boy, you sure look like the number one.

It did. Hey, uh, Porte. What was the move in the last week, week and a half, uh, that surprised you the most or that you were most interested in that we've seen in the league? One guy I thought that they would be in on was Cairo. Because it fits a lot.

They need the goal scoring. They need the speed. I thought that's a guy that they, and they may have been in on them, obviously didn't get them. They were not interested in tuck at that price. I knew that going in. but Cairo I thought was a guy I still think Debrusk makes a lot of sense swing that one

so a guy like that what else said today kind of tipped his hand a little bit that if they resign their guys and if they sign a forward in the $5 million range Debrusk and at a defense $2.5 million

two and a half, they're going to be right around 100 million, just under the 104. So I think they're looking to add two free aging pieces. All right. This is, Greg, anything else for a friend?

I guess since you mentioned it, like, since you mentioned it, like, do you expect, as the cap keeps going up, that the blue jackets are going to be one of these teams that spends of the cap, or do you think that, you know, once we get past this season, and let's say that there's going to, or is there already an internal cap in Columbus? Yeah.

I think there's always an internal cap in a lot of these places. The one thing that I always try to keep in mind is it is the market, it's the marketplace, sure, but really it's the ownership, right? And I don't know much about the steel market, but the last conversation I had about it is that tariffs, maybe not good for U.S. economy, really good. it's been a good few months. The one thing that I think people get wrong here is that the ownership group, blame them as you will, and may perhaps fair,

they have always been willing to spend. They have not spent wisely. The GMs have not spent their money wisely. But, I mean, excuse me, I'm sorry. You can't complain. They don't spend money. And then also blast Charlie Kurt, or Charlie Kirk, good God. Charlie Coil 6 in Blast Proveroff last year as too expensive.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Because either one or the other, either overpaying or you're not willing to pay. And I think there's just so much frustration here built up over 25 years that it's whoever someone thinks of next, it's their fault for the continuing struggles of the franchise. You had tariffs on your mind, you had politics in your mind. You're right. That's what it was.

Exactly. Exactly. Here for comment on the Strait of Hormuz, we go. go to Aaron Ports line of the athletic. Thanks, my friend. You continued success and great, great job on the beat as always. Man,

that number for Jack Greaves, that's a, that's a jaw dropper for me. Well, I didn't expect to hear that one, but there it is. We'll see. We'll see where it goes.

Thanks. Much appreciated it as always, Aaron. Okay, thanks, guys. Appreciate it. He is the best. Sorry,

I was a little bit distracted. There's a lot of wild stuff going on right now out there. That's all, like, honest, it's all just people throwing stuff against the wall. about who's going where and stuff.

But put it this way, if you think that things are wild out there right now, you're 100% right. Yeah. You're 100% correct. It is insane. We've never, I said this the other day, like, imagine a week in which we found out

that the NHL might expand to Austin, Texas. Yep. And no one's talking about it. Like, it just got blown off the, uh, The news stack within the next like three hours. Two things happened. The Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup and we went, hey, that's awesome.

Oh, look at this over there. And then Austin as an expansion market and completely lost. And we just had the new ownership of the Pittsburgh Penguins address the hockey community. Barely a ripple. Yeah, they were like 30th on the list of important things that happened the last week. But yeah. Yeah. It's, it's been a crazy week.

This is, this is going to be one of those days. And I'm glad that Dave and Earf are doing their show tonight because it sounds like they're going to have a lot to chew on. And again, I'll mention it again. Dave Panyoda, Irfangiphar, tonight live, DFO, Insider Report, pre-draft special, 7 Eastern, 5 Mountain, 4 Pacific on our daily face off YouTube channel, all the latest moves around the league. the guys will break down tonight and it sounds very much like they will have plenty of things to

discuss. You know what was interesting? And again, I keep swinging back to this idea. I know we've already had it. I think that, you know, Florida has made a big swing. Okay. We still expect, you know, San Jose to make more big swings, Buffalo Sabres, et cetera. I really do think that Seattle's making big swings. Like I said earlier, this is it. I hope they do. I need to. I think that Botterl is of the mind that these need to be home run swings for Seattle now. No more just hitting safely on base. I think Seattle is poised to do massive things. Again, like we mentioned about, if you're a cracking fan, the next couple of days are going to be fascinating for you, I believe, and the offseason will. Like as we mentioned about Bedard before, like Seattle's in the same

spot. They look around the Western Conference and like Colorado's not getting any worse. Dallas ain't getting any worse. Minnesota ain't getting any worse. Utah and Anaheim and San Jose are all ascendant. Edmonton still has McDavid and Drysidal. Like, you've got to really kind of push your chips in. If you've decided you're not going to rebuild, then you've got to do something in order to become competitive enough to make the playoffs and in the Western Conference,

despite it being a, you know, a pillow fight, Merrick. You've got to be a bit aggressive to break through, I think. Yeah. Haven't talked to you since the, well, before the Mike Babcock press conference, which was interesting. interesting. Man, do you mean the press conference where Mike Babcock talked about Mike Babcock and what Mike Babcock's going to do on a team coach by Mike Babcock?

I know. There's that, but that's not like, I would have thought that there would have been more of a strategy of understanding what a positive message could have and should have been to the Oilers and the hockey community. Like it just seemed like you've seen people go out there. unprepared for interviews before where you're like, did no one prep you? Did no one say like this is going to be asked and this is what you're going to be expected to say? It's like he just went out there cold and freestyle.

No, he didn't. And it was Mike Babcock. That's not true. Like if you look inside of his words, okay, there are instances in which he talks about how people can change over time and how you coach one way and you coach another way and all this other stuff. The problem is, is that A, he's so far up his own ass that you're never going to get the clarity of a statement like that within all of the other things that Mike Babcock is saying about his coaching prowess. And then B, he's not repentant at all. Like he doesn't, he doesn't think

he did anything wrong in any of these situations. So there was one point in the press conference where they asked him about sort of his approach to players and he gave this sort of like allegory about if you have a child at your dining room table you know you have to tell them the truth no matter how hard the truth might hurt

and you shouldn't feel bad about the reaction from anybody if at the end of the day you're just telling what you believe to be the truth the feelings get hurt and all this other stuff and all I could think

of it's like this guy hasn't learned a damn thing he still thinks he's he's he's sports psychology McGill guy who's the the the speaker of truths and the trampler of of the of the of the meek and there's nothing that's ever changed about him now what's interesting that for merrick about this week was the comments that Connor macdavid made to mark specter um it didn't exactly push the idea that babcock shouldn't be coaching in the league but did investigate it a little bit with Connor and so far as like your feelings on it. And Connor basically said that I wanted Mike Babcock to be the coach because I want him to push me to be better and push Leon to be better and push all the star players be better.

How long? All right. We've heard this before and I'm not doubting Connor McDavid. If he believes that and wants that, okay, I get it. All I'm saying is historically, we've seen that before. And when there are coaches that push stars, even if they say at the beginning of the season, and they want to be pushed to be about it, et cetera, et cetera. That usually wears off after about a month and a half of being pushed.

Historically. But that's how that goes. Is the problem with the Edmonton Oilers, Connor McDavid and Leon Drysidal and Zach Hyman and Ryan, Eugene Hopkins? No, it's not. It's the rest of the people that Mike Babcock is going to destroy on a daily basis and make feel miserable like he did in every other stop. Like, I mean, that's the thing I can't quite figure out here. I understand what Connor's doing. Connor puts it all in himself to be the best he can be.

And the fact that they haven't achieved what they want to achieve, I'm sure he feels personally responsible for it. But that's not the reason why Edmonton hasn't won the cup yet. It's not Connor McDavid. It's not Leon Drysidal. Don't disagree. Anything before we let you go to deal with your washing machine. Oh, there's be some uncomfortable phone calls coming up with a,

are friends at an unnamed company in the New York area. Deep breath. No, no, I'll figure it out. Just trying to get to the same. No, I think what's intriguing for me, Merrick,

is like what we've got just over 24 hours before the first round of the draft. And so, you know, there's a lot of picks that could be in play. If things don't get done before the draft, wrath, will they still get done? I guess is my biggest question right now because. Yes, that always happens. Always happens. Do you know what I mean? Like, like, like, you know, if we assume that some of these picks are going to move, they have to move within the next 24 hours,

basically. And if they don't, then then how do we revisit business? And I guess the other thing, too, is I'm wondering, I mean, Alex, Alex, Alex and Darren Ranish were the two biggest names on the UFA market, you know, potentially. I mean, I guess John Carlson's still there too. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. Should we go to work on July 1st? No, but it doesn't matter because here's a thing. Managers have looked at the free agent market and said, who cares? We're making trades.

We don't care. Like this is the best extended trade deadline we've ever seen. And it's continuing and it's going to go into the draft and it's probably going to happen after the draft. Because to your point, the conversations may have just started now for some of these deals and these will get made into July. Which is why I'm going to keep. We're keeping our feed sod here at DFO. We are, and it's great. And the last thing I'll say is that we've had all of this action, Brady Gachuk and what the capitals are done and all this stuff.

But we've not even seen the music strike up on the goalie carousel. That's the amazing part. There are teams that need to address it in a pretty major way, including the Florida Panthers, who many believe should be the favorite to win the cup next year. There are goleys that should or maybe be available, whether it's Connor Helle. or Jordan Bennington or maybe Jacob Markstrom with the devils. God willing, Sonny can get him off the contract, the cap.

Like, that part of it hasn't even started yet. And that could be, that could be the most impactful part of the summer is where some of these goalies end up. 100%. Absolutely. Sorry,

I'm distracted here. There's a lot happening right now. Look at Merrick. Go. Yes. Golly stuff. Happening. Goleys.

He's like, he's like a guy on TSN with a Blackberry back. 20 years ago. He's just, he's, and getting the best left and right. Those are the best shots

where you would see like the blackberry barry in the top of someone's head. I was like, I always thought it'd be a funny bit if you had like an ad on one of the insiders' heads. That just would have been.

If you're an insider has a sense of humor about himself, you'd sell an ad on top of your head because that's all you see at trade deadline time. It's half iPhone,

half head on trade deadline. Deal with your washing machine. There's a lot here. Stay tuned to our socials. Watch the program tonight with Dave and Irf. There's a ton going on right now. All right.

You be well with your washing machine and your phone. The dryer is fine. The washing machine broke with the dryer is fine. So like you just put the kiss of death on it. You just did. You just put the kiss on the clothes. It might stink, but they'll be dry. That was always like the player's secret in between periods.

when they ban smoking in the rooms, going smoke in the smoke and blow the smoke in the dryer in between periods. That was always the moves that the guys would do. Again, not to believe with the point, but like you're delivering a washing machine in a brownstone in New York City, you don't have like five different ways

to try to get it to where it needs to go. Okay, a little peeky into Jeffrey's background. One of the first jobs I had was delivering furniture for the brick warehouse owned by the Comrie family. My Comrie? The Comrie family. family. And the Breck that has that famous tournament now in Edmondson. So I used to work for the Breck delivering furniture. And a lot of our deliveries were in a tiny little area of Toronto called Kensington Market.

So I know exactly what that delivery person was feeling like as they were trying to deliver washing machines or whatever to your brownstone. Because I was that guy when I was 16, 17 years old. Now, by the end of the summer, I was off deliveries. And this may have just like, affected my brain in wains that I ways that I probably will never know. I spent like a month in the factory scotch guarding furniture. If you ever like use a scotch guard spray like you walk out of there like you would rather you would rather fill your lungs with chemicals than try to deliver a couch through a tight doorway. Yeah.

No. I mean, Hey, listen, I feel bad for having yelled at the delivery guys. Ultimately, it's a job. We're all upset. I just offered several different ways to get this damn washing machine into the house. All I'm saying is like, we don't have. How does anyone do?

I'm like, I don't know, man. There's a washing machine in there right now. How do you think it got there? Teleportation? All I'm saying is I was that guy once. So like I have an affinity for that guy because I was him as like a teenager just like learning how to exist in the working world. That's all. These are my people.

I'm like. I'm like just like burst through the wall like the Kool-Aid man with the washing machine. I don't know how you do it. Just get it in the room where I need to be and take the old one out. All right. All right. We're off to follow more trades, not washing machines.

You be well. There's more coming. Thanks everybody. There is Greg Wischinsky. ESPN. ESPN.com. Follow him and Emily Kaplan there doing some outstanding work. And now, before I get back to the program here,

a couple of words from our friends at Air, B&B. Hey, Zach, summer's on the horizon. and, you know, we've spent a lot of time on the road this year, but here's my question to you. Zach, what would your ultimate summer road trip be? Go. For me, summer's all about golfing, getting out on the course. So going back to places that we just went to and just visited like Banff and the Okinawagon, I think that would be the ultimate getaway with some of those incredible courses,

beautiful weather, the scenery, it's some of the best that you can find. It's some of the best that this country has to offer. Now, for me, it's easy. New Brunswick, specifically St. Stephen. Now, my background. When my family immigrated here to Canada in the 1800s from Ireland, that's where they settled. I went there earlier this year when you and I were in St. John and took a little side trip. It's gorgeous there.

I spent the day. I could see myself actually living there one day. Now, after New Brunswick, Montreal. So here's the deal. For me, Montreal is the one place in Canada where you wake up, you decide what kind of day you want to have, and the city allows you to do it. The festivals, the concerts, the patios, the people, the cobblestone streets of old Montreal, street performers, you name it, it really is the best.

And honestly, those kinds of trips are exactly why I love booking homes on Airbnb. You actually feel like you're part of the place instead of just. passing through. And that's when it hit me. While I'm busy blending in with the locals, why not let another traveler do the same? After all, while we're gone, our place back home is just sitting there. So hosting our place on Airbnb could be a way to make use of that space on our own schedule and maybe have a little extra coming in at the same time. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca.com slash host. Let's come on my card here. There we go again. Hey, we're in the downtown Toronto Studios.

You're glad to be aboard today for the sheet once again. The draft is tomorrow. And Pierre McGuire and I will be on a 6 o'clock Eastern right here on our daily face-off YouTube channel with a pregame show and then a post-game program as well whenever it wraps up. And we'll be talking about all the players and where they went and more of the trades as well. We do expect more to happen tomorrow and Pix will be moving. and player you thought was going to go somewhere, all of a sudden because of a trade, now ends up somewhere else. This segment in that spirit, a presentation of Canadian blood services who invites you to experience what giving feels like. In a world that can feel isolating and divided, blood and plasma donation offers something rare and fulfilling. Real connection, real purpose, real impact.

Every summer, people across Canada get swept up in the excitement of the season and donation routines can slip. But the need doesn't. This is a moment to rally together as an age. for a new donors to experience firsthand what you get when you give. At a moment when many Canadians are looking for positive ways to show up for each other, Canadian Blood Services are issuing an invitation to new donors. Fill every donation chair in the country this summer, book at blood.ca through the Give Blood app or call 1-Tripple-A to donate.

And today, Zach, we are talking about Chase Reed. Sue St. Marie Greyhounds defensemen. Now, two years ago, this smooth skating, hard shooting defender was playing in the North American Hockey League after being cuts from Waterloo of the U.S. HL. Enter the Sioux Greyhounds took a flyer on him in the seventh round of the OHL draft and halfway through last season brought him in depth move. But from there, Reed took off and quickly became the Greyhound's number one defenseman and the best in the league. This is someone, Zach, who was, originally a forward, but switched to defense when he was young, and you can see it in his game. He's a right shot defender, which, as we all know, many teams covet, if not all teams. And don't be surprised if he goes as high as two, even though many are wondering now with the Ecclin move, whether the San Jose sharks end up taking Evar St.enberg. But nonetheless, do you have a thought on Chase Reed of the Sue St. Marie Greyhounds? Yeah, well, this is a guy that I, I, I,

thought of immediately when the Chicago trade happened, to be honest with you. Like fourth overall pick, who knows where picks people actually land when that comes up. But all I could think about is how much we've talked about this guy, all the highlights that you watch of him and, you know, how excited people are for him to get drafted and potentially make the leap to their team. Anybody who's picking within that top five area has all kind of looked at him and said, maybe that's the piece we need. And I figured that would have been something that would have intrigued.

Chicago more, but a very, very fun player to watch in his time in the OHL with the Sue Greyhounds. And you can tell why he's so highly coveted. Like he pops off the page when you watch him play. He really does. Okay. And again, tomorrow pre and post, yours truly alongside Pierre McGuire. We have it for you here. And there's a number of watch alongs.

Do you want to plug yours? Yeah. We'll be doing the pre-show. and then in the same office, but just a little bit outside of where we are, we'll be doing a Leafs watch along for the draft out there as well. Jay Rose Hill flying in right now to downtown Toronto. Nick Albergh, myself and Dan Ritchie will be reacting to everything that happens throughout

about the first hour and a bit of the draft before we wrap things up. And then we'll be back in here doing the post show. But over on the Leafs Nation 401 YouTube channel for that. Awesome. Love it. Okay. NHL season has concluded, even though here we are at the draft and free agency is on the horizon. FanDuel, you're home for all the action on and off the ice.

From Blue Line to Bet Slip, we've got you covered all season. Unique promos, live offerings, more features to let you play your game. If you miss Puck Trap, don't sweat it. With a live team game parley, you can build your bets up until the final buzzer. Download FanDuel Sportsbook today and play your game. Please play responsibly, 19 plus physically located in Ontario. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please contact. Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge.

What do you got today? So this one is going to be, I guess, Leafs related again. Ooh, shocker, but more so about the draft. And this one comes up because our guide, DePanota, put out while we were on air here, John Chica and Jim Hiller spoke for the Maple Leafs. And John Chica, the general manager of Toronto Maple Leafs, says, they made their decision on who they'll pick first overall tomorrow added they considered inquiries but they are making the pick and in reaction to that move jeff in real time odds on gavin mckenna to go first overall have absolutely skyrocketed minus 20,000 what versus the field Gavin mckenna number one overall pick minus 20,000 the field plus 3,300 I think on Honestly, at this point, I would need a number way higher than plus 3,300 for me to be interested in betting the field.

But, yeah, it moved in real time here, Jeff. I took a look before the show and then we saw all the tweets come out from everybody tracking and it just went up and up and up. So everyone seems to believe Gavin McKenna will be a Maple Leaf by 7 p.m.ish tomorrow night. We will find out officially just after. I'm kind of surprised that they haven't, like not that they should have done like one of those. You remember what Tampa was Stephen Stamcoast? And they drafted him out of the sarnies thing. And there was that scene Stamcoast campaign,

probably too much pressure on the player right away. But I've never found that it's necessarily a bad thing, even before the draft, to sort of, you know, let everyone know where you're going to do and then start the media campaign. But nonetheless, nonetheless, the Seenstamco's promotion, that would have been Jay Feaster's idea, I want to say. He would have been the general manager at that time. So it was a cool one.

It was a clever one. It was one of the more creative campaigns that we've ever seen. But yeah, you're not going to get that out of the Toronto Maple Leafs. They will hold that back even though I think we're all under the impression. And Van Duel is as well. It's going to be Gavin McKenna that goes first overall. So like we said, like the draft starts at two. The draft starts at two tomorrow.

Our pregame show, however, starts at 6 o'clock Eastern. And then the post game whenever, like last. Last year was like a really, really long. Last year, the first round took forever. Yeah. I don't think they're going to do that again this year. I think the NHL is going to sort of treat it like they treat a lot of their games and like, okay, here's our target number and we're going to hit our target. They've cleaned up the length of games.

Now let's see how much the NHL can clean up the length of the first round of the NHL draft. We will find out if they can get there. I'm praying. Two more. You and me both. We've got to hustle. Okay, there's a lot of stuff going on. Stay tuned to our social.

Stay tuned to our programs, especially. Stay tuned tonight. We'll plug it one more time because it's really important. Daypenio to Erfangipar. Live tonight, DFO Insider Pre-Draft Special, 7 Eastern, 5 Mountain, 4 Pacific. I'm guessing they're going to be talking about Jason Robertson. On the daily face-off YouTube channel,

covering all the latest moves around the league and breaking down what they are hearing leading up to the NHL draft, the picks, but also more importantly for them, the trades. Set your notifications now. Thanks to Greg Wosinski for stopping by. Glad to be here in the Toronto office. It's nice.

And this is still just like the building blocks of it too. This is like still the route. We haven't seen the fruit yet. So we're getting there, folks. We're getting there here in downtown Toronto. Thanks to the great Aaron Ports line from the Athletic for stopping by. And thanks to you for watching. Thanks to you for listening, interacting all of it.

If you're listening on your favorite YouTube or your favorite podcast, channel. Thank you so much for that on our daily face off YouTube. A big tip of the hat. Thank you. And speaking of tips, please tip your Zamboni driver on the way out. Thanks for the buns, the use of the hall. Zach loves when I say that. More trades on the horizon. St. Louis, I think big things. Seattle, we're looking your direction. I think big things are happening there too. In the meantime, we'll be here to document all of it on all of our socials, all of our programs, right here, a daily face off the sheet. at one Easter.