The Sheet with Jeff Marek - West Coast Fireworks ft. Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: April 22, 2025

Greg Wyshynski joins Jeff Marek for MvsW Tuesday. Discussing Lou Lamoriello out on the Island, Jim Rutherford and Tom Fitzgerald's potential solution, the opening games between Los Angeles and Edmonton and Washington and Montreal, teeing up the Battle of Florida, loud pings, and much more...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👍🏼 JP Wisers: http://www.jpwisers.com👍🏼 RVEzy: https://www.rvezy.com/ownerReach 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.

Hi, Jeff Merrick here. Let me tell you about Cozy. Everyday home furnishings made easy. Cozy is modern, built for real life, practical, and designed to make your day-to-day feel a little lighter. You need to refresh your living room? Cozy makes it simple. Shopping for furniture shouldn't feel like a chore. Cozy makes it easy to breathe and easy to enjoy the process. It's your home, your way. With Cozy, you can unlock endless possibilities. Its modular design grows with you. Add, rearrange, or swap pieces on your sofa, no problem.

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. Gentlemen of the New York Islanders, put your razors away. News breaking, not that long ago here, if you're watching or listening live, that Lou Lamarrillo's contract will not be renewed. The search begins by John Collins for a new general manager for the New York Islanders.

We'll see what this means for Patrick Waugh and the entire hockey operations department. But in the meantime, on a day where we're probably supposed to be talking about hockey games, we'll try to get to them, we promise. And there were some great ones last night. Like last night was a fantastic night of hockey. Every single game delivered. But we're gonna start the show off

by talking about Lou Lamarrillo, because it is the big news of the day right now. So let's get right to the Daily Outlines. And what we have coming up on the program today, Daily Outlines powered by FanDuel, make every moment more with North America's number one sportsbook. North America's number one sportsbook app provider is

our friends and presenters here at the Sheet FanDuel. Coming up on the program today, Greg Wyshinski will stop by as he always does every Tuesday. It is a very topical day to talk about the Islanders and to talk about the Devils and the Vancouver Canucks and things like tampering. Tampering's gonna come up, the Battle of Florida's gonna come up, and we'll start the show by talking about Lula Lamarrillo done with the New York Islanders. I know the NHL doesn't like it when big news drops on game day, but what are you going to do? Teams need to get business done.

With that, we'll bring in the one and only from ESPN, our favorite around these parts, Greg Waszynski, who joins me now for MVSW here on Tuesday. Greg, how are you taking this news of Lulamarrillo? And let me, let me, let? And let me couch it this way. The whispers have been out there for a while. This has been discussed in hushed tones for a number of months now, but everybody knows when you're dealing with the New York Islanders

under Lou Lamarillo, if anything gets out, it's over. And that topic gets extinguished. Anyhow, Lamarllo is out as general manager of the Islanders to which Greg Wyshinski says what. I'm moderately surprised because I didn't really know where ownership stood with the current state of the team. You know what I mean? Like there was talk about Scott Malkin

becoming more involved. There was always a sense of deference to Lou and his building of the team. I mean, for those who don't know, Lula Murillo helped design the arena. He helped design the bowels of UBS Arena to better fit what he felt the team needed. Now, he's a very important person for this ownership group, a very important person for this franchise. But at some point, business talks, money talks, ticket sales talk, jersey sales talk. And the fact of the matter is that by tripling and quadrupling down on the same roster of, let's call them somewhat underwhelming veterans

with diminishing returns, and not playing a style of play commiserate to what this league needs in this day and age, I think the writing was on the wall that they were gonna go in a different direction, but you're always a little bit surprised when the labrador doesn't have a job, aren't you? Yeah, you are, and that's why I think that,

and again, the statement from the Islanders was pretty terse. Like I thought it would, to be honest with you, I thought it would be a little bit more flowery, but the Islanders putting this one out around 2 20 Eastern this afternoon, the New York Islanders organization announced today that Lou Lamarrillo's contract as president and general manager will not be renewed.

Effective immediately, operating partner John Collins will lead a search to find the next general manager. The islanders extend a heartfelt thank you to Lula Amarillo for his extraordinary commitment over the past seven years. His dedication to the team is in line with his Hall of Fame career." So it's a couple of short sentences.

I did think that this would be a little more flowery unless, and this is what I do wonder too, this is just the way that Lou Lamarrillo wanted to do it. You know, I think this is like, when you have someone like Lou Lamarrillo doing something like this has to be handled sensitively. And I wonder if this was a situation where essentially ownership went to Lou and said,

this is the decision that's been made, how do you wanna do this? how do you want to handle this that that's how I can see this one going down do you think that it's possible they came to him and said this is a decision that was made we're willing to put you into some emeritus role in the organization but you won't have any real power and he said peace out done maybe I could I. I could see that. They have enormous respect for the guy. They have enormous respect for him.

It's interesting. You mentioned the Patrick Wav at all. I mean, I think that opens up a door to what happens with him. I mean, not only with the new general manager, but also with him not having Lou there. I mean, Lou recruited him to be the head coach in New York Islanders. Does he become the general manager of the New York Islanders? Let's pause on that for a second. I did think about that too. The names that we're all going to hear, you know, the names are all going to hear in various roles too. Let's not forget, like there's a manager position. There'll also be other executive positions in the

Allenders organization here to fill. Ken Holland's name is always out there when there are general manager avails. Matthew Darsh's name is always out there when there are GM avails. I know things didn't go swimmingly for the New York Rangers this year, surprise, surprise. Not that that's a headline, but I do wonder about Ryan

Martin as a potential here as well. year, surprise, surprise. Uh, not that that's a headline, but I do wonder about Ryan Martin, uh, as a potential here as well. Um, you know, Mark Bergevin, uh, his name is out there. Uh, one of your colleagues, Kevin Weeks, um, has been in and around various organizations and has interviewed for, for key positions. Um, Steve Pellegrini has been there forever. And I've always wondered if, if that could be a role for Steve Pellegrini. Uh, I wonder about Bill Scott, who's the assistant GM. I'm just gonna name everybody here.

Of the Edmonton Oilers, Brandon Pridham, who helped me mention, like, you know, Lou helped build the UBS. He was also one of the architects of the salary cap, as was Brandon Pridham, who's probably ready to take that next step in his career. He's the assistant GM with the Maple Leafs. So like, there's gonna be no shortage of names here

to draw from, but I just don't think that it's gonna be maybe one position that gets filled. I kind of have the feeling that it's gonna be a couple here. It's gonna be a GM and some other executives brought in, just based on what people have mentioned to me. So you're thinking young GM and then a president of hockey operations.

Could be, I would not be surprised with that lineup. No, with that ladder, no, I wouldn't be surprised. Would you? No, not at all. Just to be blunt, just to be blunt here, I mean, everyone's sensitive because Lou is such a respected figure in hockey. This is an organization that needs a personality. Like Lou's thing has always been, you

know, the logo is the personality, the wins are the personality, that's how we do things here. But this is an organization that needs an identity and needs a personality. One that's not just varsity club, you know, the logo is more important than the nameplate. So that's why I wonder if someone that they bring in, and this is where I wonder about someone like Kevin Weeks who has a dynamic personality, understands the game etc. I know it might be uncomfortable to talk about a colleague Greg but that is a name that has been out there and will probably continue to be out there. Knows the league well obviously. Had a brief stint with the Islanders as well like 40 or 50 games I don't know I love that one out there but

I do wonder about someone like either Kevin Weeks or someone like Kevin Weeks along with someone who's more senior I I'm friends with Kevin like you know colleagues friends what have you I've long said that in the pantheon of insiders, there's actually no one more connected than Kevin Weeks. It is insane the amount of information that floats in his orbit. I will say, I mean, it's no secret he's talked to teams in the past, and it's also no secret that

his lack of experience within organizations, I think, has worked against him. Personally, I don't think that should be disqualifying of all four people from the outside coming in, but teams traditionally like a more traditional path. I mean, you know, you're the assistant GM, then you're the GM, you're the, you know, the GM of the AHL team, then you're traditional path. I mean, you know, you're the assistant GM, then you're the GM, you're the, you know, the GM of the AHL team, then you're the GM. I mean, like, that's how they'd like it to work. And I don't think it should. I think they should take more chances on people

that don't follow a traditional path, says the guy who wrote a blog and now is the senior editor for ESPN. But like, that's just how it works. I'm intrigued. So John Collins is running the search and John Collins, for those who don't know, if you've heard the name, Steve Mayer, the guy who does all the outdoor games, all the events for the NHL, John Collins was Steve Mayer before Steve Mayer showed up. He was the guy who was sort of super pioneer of that position and helped start the Winter Classic and things

like that. Brilliant guy. Good business, man. I'm intrigued to see what direction he wants to go. I think the fact that John Collins is leading this search should indicate perhaps that the next general manager of the New York Rounders will be someone who intends to ice a more entertaining product than they currently have. John Collins is there to help make the organization money.

John Collins is there to maximize revenue streams. I'm not saying that hockey won't be paramount in this decision. But I do think like you, Merrick, a general manager with a little bit of personality and who wants to give this franchise a little bit more personality is something that I think will be top of mind for John Collins in this search. Can he keep Matthew Barzell healthy is my question about John Collins. And also here's the here's the other thing about Matthew Barzell. Because so much of this announcement to me and the future of the New York Islanders to me is wrapped around one of the great

personalities in the NHL that nobody knows about. Matthew Barzell is one of the most dynamic entertaining people, well one of the most dynamic entertaining players on the ice and really entertaining off it as well. But you wouldn't know it. But you wouldn't know it because he plays with the New York Islanders. I think what you're winking at here is things like that could be about to change.

And to me, right away, first thing, front and center, get Matthew Barzell out there in front of cameras and microphones, if I'm whichever general manager comes in next. You have a fairly recently constructed building to fill. And you've been trying to fill it by, you know, keeping Pagio on the roster for 10 years. It feels like 10 years. You know what I mean? Like, it's not to disparage J.G. Pagio, but to me, you know, the Silencers team made the conference final a couple times

during the COVID times. Let's not forget about when they were doing this. And then it's been Demissioning Return since then, but the reaction from management has not been to radically reshape the roster. I mean, the Horvat trade happened. The Romanov thing happened. Like, they've incrementally changed the roster, don't get me wrong, but they've not taken the necessary swings to reshape the style of play, to surround Barzell with better, more dynamic offensive players. I mean, there's a ton on the table

that's going to be there for the next general manager of the Islanders to accomplish in contrast to the way the team has been run recently and again I it's a business they're in a very competitive media market a very competitive market for your entertainment dollar in a building that has beautiful amenities that need people to come to the game and buy beer at and buy sandwiches at and buy rainbow-colored bagels at like they they need to do something to change the personality of this organization and it starts at the top.

Finally get to see Cal Paul Mary with his beard again. Are you going to get it anyway? He's a free agent, but I'm just thinking to myself, like if I'm Cal Paul Mary, I'm like, why now? Like I, I don't know. Normally there's like an eye adjustment when someone shaves off their beard. Nothing was more profound for me than Cal-Palm-Mary without a beard.

And I never got used to it. Never. Ever got used to it. Anthony Duclair wasn't more... I know, I know, I know. There's another one. Yeah, like, dude, feathers, come on. Exactly, exactly.

So I don't know, listen, you guys know me. I'm a devil's fan from my youth to now and, you know, Lou will always have a very special place in my heart as the guy who constructed a quasi-dynastic Devil's team that won a bunch of cups when I was a kid. And I'll always have time for Lou. I think if I've told this story it was on the old pod but in 1995 I was what was I I was old like 15 or something like that. That's all? 16? Who the hell knows? 17, 18? I was 25. So the Devils you know famously won their first Stanley Cup in

95. I was a senior in high a cup half a cup according to Rangers fans because it was a lockout year 48 and my parents company my mom's company that she worked for had season tickets So occasionally I would get the perk of being able to go to the season ticket ticket events. Nice. So I Was there it was the night when they're all the devils are there signing autographs at the arena. And I it was right after they traded for Neil Broughton. Oh, and I was very excited because the devils needed a center. And Neil Broughton was a pretty good one. And so I I'm a kid, like a senior in high school.

I bump into Lou Lavarillo in the hallway of the arena. And I say, Mr. Lavarillo, just wanted to shake your hand. He shakes my hand. I'm just like, pleasure to meet you. Thanks for all you do. And thanks for finally trading for a center. And that's this man shot me a death glare. A death glare.

The cute little shit. Who are you? And then turned heel and walked away. That's awesome. Still love that story about Lou. He's the best. Did you ever share that one with him? I always loved sharing the, hey, when I was younger, I said this to you and I kind of

feel stupid about it now. No, I'm traditionally scared shitless of Lou. Like, I respect my peers. You know, and I know a few of the insiders have a relationship where they text him and he texts back and they have a casual conversation. Like Lou scares me, man. Lou, Lou once scared, almost had me soil myself at the arena one day in Jersey when I'm a credentialed member of the media. I didn't have my credential on at that point, like I wasn't wearing it.

And I'm walking down the hall and Lou motions to one of the security guards and he's just like, does this man belong? And I'm just like, I've talked to you with the capacity. I was a reporter. We know each other. And I was like, am I going to get thrown in my ass by Lou Lammerill? So yeah, I love it. Well, we'll see what happens. We'll stay on this story. This is going to be one of the

all of a sudden now one of the more interesting stories to follow. Who follows in the footsteps of Lula Amarillo as general manager of the New York Islanders. You mentioned the New Jersey Devils the other day now or the other second ago. Rick Dollywall mentioning on Twitter earlier this afternoon that the NHL is not pursuing tampering charges against Jim Rutherford for musing about the Hughes boys going to Vancouver. Let me um, let me couch this like this. I don't believe for one second that Jim Rutherford went out there yesterday with the intention to tamper with those two players, with the New Jersey Devils. I think that he went out there and much like Jim does, if you ask him a question he will give you as thorough an answer as he can and mention that Quinn Hughes wants to play with his

brothers. And then thinking to himself,, that might just be inciting a media storm here, tried to scramble back and said, well, we could bring them here instead. Just to try to calm everybody down in Vancouver. To me, it was the classic got out over your skis a little bit too far, and then had to really scramble to stick any kind of decent landing. I don't think he went out deliberately

to tamper with the New Jersey Devils. But nonetheless, how did you see the situation yesterday with Jim, I guess you should throw Tom in there as well. You throw Luke in there, Jack, and most notably Quinn Hughes. It's always fun when we change the rules on the fly in the NHL, like just to fit the situation that we need. And now I understand that the tampering rule, which is a little bit muddy to begin with as to what tampering is and when it's enforced and when it's not, there's an amendment to the rule that's the kindly old man amendment in which if he's a kindly old man that we like and he goes

and talks candidly about the acquisition of players under contract from another team, then we will give him a pass because maybe he was just speaking extemporaneously about the other team's players under contract. What does let me let me let me add one thing here. I thought they were going to rig them up with a big fine as a message sent as a message sending thing to the rest of the managers because of that memo that was sent out before the season to everybody about tampering specifically and how you are allowed or more specifically not allowed to talk about players on other teams. I thought this was going to be one of those the NHL is going to fine

Rutherford massively To send a chill through all men. I really did I really did up until like I saw that that Rick Dolly wall tweet And listen Dolly was plugged in I'm not disputing him I really did think that they were gonna they were gonna they were gonna fine him I think it wasn't gonna be like they were taking away draft picks or anything But I thought there'd be a fine on this one. I thought so too, cause it was tampering, and that's usually what happens when you tamper.

It was hard tampering. It wasn't the soft kind that Chris Drury and James Dolan were engaging earlier this season. Technically, he never said their names. He didn't say Jack and Luke. He could have been anybody. Yeah, it could have been anybody. Could have been former figure skater, Sarah Hughes, for all we know. It could be been anybody. That could have been anybody. Could have been former figure skater Sarah Hughes

for all we know. It could be anybody really. Could have been, Tommy Hughes. But here's the thing, like if you're the devils, why would you even care about trying to pursue a tampering charge against someone who you're gonna be actively negotiating a trade with over the next 12, 16 months?

Glad you got us there. Glad you got us there. The headline. The headline there. Glad you got us there. The headline, the headline there. My first thought was if I'm Tom Fitzgerald, you know what I do? What's for lunch? I do nothing because I know I've got to negotiate with this person. Yeah.

For, for, for Quinn Hughes. The headline is that, is that, is that, that Jim Rutherford, on the record, and maybe it's hyperbolic, maybe not, but acknowledged that Quinn Hughes wants to play with his brothers. Which means that in the best case scenario, the Canucks get good and he stays, and maybe one day down the line when they're all in their late mid-30s,

Luke will still be like 28, then they all can play together. The worst case scenario is that he's got himself a Matthew Kachuck Calgary Flames situation on his hands in which he is going to lose his best player for nothing in a couple years because he wants to go play elsewhere and then you have to figure out what to do about that. And now, the good news for Jim and the Canucks

is that if they wanted to be proactive about it and the ultimate destiny for Quinn Hughes is to play for the New Jersey Devils, the Devils have a lot of things you might be interested in. You know, they've got Simone Nemec. I mean, it probably starts with someone named Brat Urhisha in order to get Quinn Hughes at this point with the controllable contract and, you know, being the second best defenseman in the league. But they've got a lot of stuff you might like, considering your predicament,

which is that you aren't very good, and you're trying to figure out what the next phase of the team is going to be post-JT Miller divorce. So, if you're, you know, Tom Fitzgerald, you're not going to the league and being like, -"Hit this man with a fine." -"No." You're like, -"Ah,, kind of the old man's, spoke out of turn. Hey, Jimmy, let's talk jerky. You got a problem. I got a solution. Let's figure

out how to get all these crazy kids together in New Jersey. Jim Tom here. Now we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way. I'm prepared to wait. Me and my organization are prepared to run the clock out on Quinn Hughes with the Vancouver Canucks or Or the single funniest thing by the way the single funniest thing was like all of these Canucks fans that heard Jim say maybe we'll bring Luke and Jack to Vancouver not in so many words, but that was it was inferred now all these Canucks fans are like okay How the hell do we make this happen? I know what if we retain 50% on the player that we've said is soft

and terrible now and the reason they had to trade JT Miller because of all the soap opera soap opera act drama. What if we then make him the centerpiece of a trade to get Luke and Jack to Vancouver? We'll convince New Jersey to do that. They'll sell a bunch of extra season tickets by having this guy as the replacement for the two most beloved players on the roster, that's what we'll do. That makes sense. Mother's Day is coming up. Make sure you're calling your mother, but doing a little more for someone so important is never a bad idea. Get your mom an Aura digital picture frame.

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Terms and conditions apply. Yeah, see here's what I wonder about now. Like the minute that I heard Jim talk about, um, that Quinn wants to play with his brothers. My first thought is, okay, going through Quinn's head right now is my manager just put an expiration date on me here. How can I still wear this C? When Jim just went out and essentially said, yeah, we're going to try to resign them, but it might not be for money.

It might not be money. Money might not be enough. He wants to play with his brothers. Yeah. The question becomes, how can Quinn wear the C when there's when when Jim Rutherford has put an expiration date on him and isn't committed to the team long term. Maybe Jim was just bored. No, you know what I think? No, here's what I think. I like, I like, you know, he's like, this has been, you know, I like it so messy.

You know, we're the Real Housewives of Vancouver. We've had a soap opera going on for the last two years and then we traded JT Miller. Now we got to, it's getting boring. Let's let's put a target on the back of our best player and have him become the focal point of media and fan attention. You know, that's a real positive way for the franchise to move forward. We're just trying to distract away from Rick Tocket by making an even bigger fire over here. Yeah. I, I, I do wonder, because this is all sort of like, Yeah. I do wonder because this is all sort of like, this is all still like there's still burning

embers from the J.T. Miller trade and that the saga with Elias Pedersen. And you'll recall like the Globe and Mail interview that Jim did, I looked at that and said, okay, that's chumming of the waters for a trade. That's that's and I and I first, one of my first thoughts was, is Rutherford prepping the market for something here? Like is Rutherford already just sort of planting seeds that, oh yeah, for sure, but you know what, this might be a reality.

Is he already sort of planting seeds of something that he's going to do maybe sooner than we all think? Who knows? But I'll tell you one thing, I've heard a lot of uncomfortable laughs in my time. Was there a more uncomfortable laugh? I don't know if we have the clip, Zach, than Patrick Alveen sitting next to Jim Rutherford

while he did some light tampering, some very light tampering with the New Jersey Devils and then sort of looked over at Patrick as he straightened up and, ah, get me off the stage right now. It was like, honestly, Wish, you've seen and we've all seen uncomfortable laughs. Was Alvean's laugh not one of the most uncomfortable laughs

you've ever seen? Sure, I mean, it's not a position you want to be in if you're the GM. Here's the question. If Rick Tuckett stays, if he decides to secure the gigantic bag that'll be coming his way, if the franchise does value him this much as a head coach,

does that mean that Pederson has to go? If Tuckett, well, here's the thing thing here's where it gets complicated so I'm of the belief that Quinn who Jim Rutherford is dedicated to trying to keep as a Vancouver Canuck wants both to stay he He wants Pederson to stay and he wants to stay. Yes. Okay. And removing one from the equation, perhaps moves Quinn Hughes that much closer to not being a Vancouver Canuck. There is one of the conundrums here, but it is pretty obvious that Tuckett is

not a huge fan of Elias Pedersen. And it's also obvious that Rick Tuckett is a fan of the Philadelphia Flyers. You know what I want? Here's what I wonder about. Here's honestly, this is what I really wonder about. I really wonder about Seattle. And here's why. Rick Tuckett was the original choice in Seattle. Then for whatever reason that situation went south and they went to, they went to Haxtal. But that was the year that Tocket was supposed to be the original coach of the Seattle Kraken. And I wonder if the timing of the Seattle decision on Dan Bilesman with tournament as contract coinciding with Vancouver saying,

we're gonna leave it up to Rick here. I, again, like I don't wanna get too grassy and all on it, but I don't know if I wanna consider that just a coincidence. You know, like I always wonder, you know, when teams like, look at Anaheim. Anaheim just had like a 20 point improvement and Greg Corning got punted.

Yeah. Cause he's not a good coach. And that improvement came from their goal setting. Hold on, hold on a second here. Hold on a second here. But how many other things are at play in the market? I.E. who has suddenly become available or indicated that they are available to allow a team to say bye bye to their coach.

I can understand what you're saying. I completely understand. Do you hang on? Do you see that with CF? Do you see that potential with Seattle and talk it? Yes. But more to the point of. OK, Rick Rick talk.

It probably doesn't have as much of a relationship with Ron Francis as he does with Jason Botterill I think Botterill was was his assistant GM in Pittsburgh. Yes, right? Yeah, and so that's that's the that's the thread That I find most fascinating here vis-a-vis your theory Which is that there could be somebody that comes available that has a relationship with your current general manager It's hockey nepotism. We see it all the time. And from that perspective, I could see Tauke in Seattle because of his relationship with Botero,

assuming he has a good one, because we never know. We see two names on the roster and we assume that they're buddies. And sometimes they just hate each other or have no respect for each other. No, no, that didn't happen this year at all, anywhere. And so like that makes sense from that perspective.

Yeah. I think two things about Bilesma, and we'll talk about this now, and obviously I think they're doing availability today, so we haven't really heard definitively what they're selling as the reason for Bilesma. I heard there was definitely some friction there. Bilesma's got a huge ego,

and there was some friction internally in the organization with how he wanted to do things, how management wanted to do things. They weren't exactly enamored with him on the NHL level. And the bottom line is that when you make a change at the top, and we'll talk about that change in a top in a second, you know, you allow the new general manager to have his guy there and perhaps Bilesma was not Baldereral's guy. So not a shock there. The one interesting thing though, dude, they fired the staff save for Jessica Campbell. And I found that to be really interesting because when you are the new head coach,

you surround yourself with your assistant coaches. Every coach does it. I mean, Rare is the assistant coach that gets to remain on staff when a new head coach comes in. Certainly there are examples. In Edmonton, Glenn Gullitzen is Connor's guy. Glenn Gullitzen will survive through several coaches probably if Conor deems it so. And then there are other examples of this too.

For them to be that explicit in keeping her on staff, coming from a coaching regime that was extremely unsuccessful, the Kraken were a bad team this year. Do you, don't this, doesn't it feel like they're kind of kicking the ball downfield for the new head coach to make a call on her? Whether it's to take her off the bench and maybe make her the eye in the sky or or have her removed completely like it does It seems like the Kraken don't want to make the call about a history-making assistant coach in this instance one year out someone who doesn't have the same type of history or

Legacy of success like Bilesba has. This is her one kick at it. I honestly, I really think that Seattle is, this may be just a simple, too simplistic way to look at it. I really do think that the Seattle Kraken are determined to give Jessica Campbell every single opportunity to succeed. Right. And I don't know.

But ultimately now they're leaving that decision up to the new head coach, who then has to decide whether to make a very unpopular move or to keep someone on staff that they have no relationship with. But sometimes, you know, you'll have a situation where the manager will say, okay, you pick one assistant and we pick one assistant.

That does happen often. And that could be Seattle saying, that's our pick. Our new, whichever new head coach comes in, that head coach can pick one, we pick the other. That happens often. I'm not trying, this is not a passing judgment on the job she did or anything. I'm just saying that it is extremely peculiar for a team to be like, this first year assistant

has been retained while everyone else is gone and the new head coach will then have to like make a call. It's not, it's not a traditional path. I don't know. I don't know. Again, like I just don't know. Maybe, maybe they'll, they'll talk about this at the avail, but I just don't know that this isn't a situation where this is Seattle saying, no, she's on the bench. That's our choice. That's our choice.

It could just be she's on the staff. She's upstairs. She's, she's back doing the skills. Could happen. Who's to say? Um, let's talk about Botterill for a second. Cause I've been absolutely fellated by half of Buffalo for having the nerve to say that I think he's a good GM who deserves another shot because apparently what I've come to understand from my friends in Western New York is that while Terry Pagula has been the owner throughout this entire playoff drought it is the few seasons that Jason Botterill was the general manager that is the reason the Sabres suck.

I've come to realize that now. Did you know that? I had no idea. Yeah, apparently that's the case. This is all, like there were things. He made mistakes. There's no question of being mistakes. Of course.

Bridging Stan Reinhart instead of signing him long-term was a mistake. Maybe not getting other more valuable pieces in the Ryan O'Reilly trade in which he traded a guy who didn't want to be there anymore. Oh, but he did get Tage Thompson. Maybe you can dig him for that. I'm not putting Brandon Hagel on Broderoll.

Like, I'm sorry. Like no one knew Brandon Hagel was gonna be Brandon Hagel outside of Julian Breesbaugh. Or else they would have, again, and about Hagel, if they really did know that he was going to be Brandon Hagel outside of Julian Breeze. Or else they would have had an about and about Hagel if they really did know that he was going to be that good. They wouldn't have drafted him that late. There are a lot. There are plenty of plenty of other players that get drafted that late that are in the

exact same situation that don't get signed. Yeah, I agree. I like that. That has been brought up ad nauseum by people. And I'm sorry, like show me some proof. Go back to your blog, go back to the Pat LaFontaine appreciation society dot blogspot dot com and go show me

when you were outraged over Brandon Hagel walking away. Like show me that, show me your work because no one knew he was gonna be Brandon Hagel. The Blackhawks didn't know he was gonna be Brandon Hagel or he would be on Connor Badapottard's wing right now. Come on. There, I mean, listen, can it pick a ton of stuff? The one, and again, like, I don't know if this was

barteral or if this came from above, but there was the one draft where everybody was prepared and they'd all signed off that they were taking Martin H's. And then when he stood up to make the pick and they went and they picked Casey Middlestad. But that's gonna happen. I think it came out that it was Baduro.

Listen, I'm not saying the guy's perfect. It was his first job running a team. He made mistakes. I don't think he's the reason the Sabres are where they are. I think that's Terry Pagula. I really do. He's the through line. Oh, by the way. did Bauderil make some mistakes in hiring the wrong people potentially? But we don't know necessarily what the, what the hiring tree was for like Ralph Krueger.

Here, hang on. Was that Bauderil or was that management? Who's to say? I don't know. Here's another one. While we're talking about, while we're talking about Terry Pagula here, I think it's today that he meets with Kevin Adams. And I think we're gonna get a clearer picture of the future of Kevin Adams with the Buffalo Sabres in the next couple of days. I think it's today, maybe tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure it's today,

is the meeting between Terry Pagula and Kevin Adams. Yeah. Wait, what are you trying to say? You're trying to say, hey, Buffalo Sabres, say goodbye to your beards, because Uncle Lou's coming home? Oh, Just to the carousel over to Buffalo. He's needs some discipline. I mean, the last time Lula Abrello lost a job, he was in Toronto like 48 hours later.

All I'm saying is we always see. Here's the thing, though. We always see coach shuffles at this time of year. It's just like the nature of the beast. You wanna make your decision quickly and allow that person an opportunity to find another job. I think it's the kind thing to do if you're gonna dismiss someone.

But rarely do we see so much manager movement all at the same time, right? Ron Francis, no longer general manager. He gets the, uh, gets the punt upstairs. Um, we're going to see Kevin Adams is having his conversation with Terry Pagula. We'll hear that. I have not had my ringer on silent. This is so unprofessional. I got a new phone and I must have pressed the button. Sorry. Why did you get some stupid? I got the ringtone going.

He probably didn't hear it. And I probably just blew up my own spot mentioning it. You know what? But here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here,

but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but here, but. That's rare, but that's a bomb. That is a bomb from Dylan Larkin.

It's a bomb and I appreciated it because I think Iserman has been, not a disaster, but extremely underwhelming as GM of the Detroit Red Wings. A lot of that is obviously like bad lottery luck and what have you, but I mean, what is even the plan for this team? But what I'll say in Iserman's defense is that it's not as if the Red Wings had necessarily earned the right to have major changes come to the organization. Like there, it wasn't as if they were scratching clawing and had one, one finger on the top of the ladder, they're playing poor hockey. And so I will say in Iserman's defense that you gotta earn, you gotta earn the

reinforcements because if you don't, you gotta earn the reinforcements because if you don't, then you gotta beat Doug Armstrong about it and be like, you guys haven't earned the right to have all this augmentation and all these reinforcements and all these people that come to save the day because this isn't a good enough hockey team to win. And so, part of it is like that. Now, what I thought you were gonna ask is about Ranger's breakdown day, where I was as well. And the interesting thing about Rangers Breakdown Day was the talking around the managerial

decisions of Chris Drury. The two things that really stood out to me in talking to guys like Zabaniadjad and Kreider and others, and I know that Zabaniadaniad's been kind of criticized for saying that the way that Barclay Goudreau and Jacob Trouba were handled had a deleterious effect on the locker room, like put on your big boy pants and man up and don't worry about it. But listen, when management does, and I tried to get this out of Kreider, but he wouldn't go there. When management does those trades in the manner in which they did, threatening

waivers on Truba, putting Goudreau on waivers, like that really does not set well. And, and, you know, Truba being traded in December, look at the timing folks. He gets traded. That team goes in the toilet for the next month. That's where the season was lost. So, you know, there has to be some responsibility for management when they do things that really kind of just, you know, kicks dirt in the face of its own players. And I think the things that Chris Drury did this season, the timing of things, the way he treated veterans, I truly think that this Ranger

season was lost partially on the timing and the mismanagement of what Chris Drury and by virtue James Dolan decided to do with this Rangers team. All right. Is there anything else? Cause I do want to get your thoughts. We're 40 minutes deep into this show and we haven't talked about a single game yet. And I do have to say this about Lou and I do have one question for you about

a very specific game, but go ahead about, about Lou. Lou reminds me of Miranda Priestly from the devil wars Prada. Like the minute you think that Lou is done, the minute you think that Lou is too old, the minute you shove Lou out the door, you realize he's had another thing in his back pocket this entire time. So while we joke about, while we joke about him going to the Buffalo Sabres, while we joke about what's next for Lou, this man is gonna be involved in hockey until he's dying of breath. And the islanders are his last stanza,

I don't think anyone should assume that. Before they went to Aizerman in Tampa, when Vinik bought the team, he wanted Lou. That was the manager that he want and ended up getting steered to Iserman who did have to be talked into it as well. But that was the original choice. Hold on. Yes.

You use a word like steered and go ahead and say who steered him there. Probably the commissioner would have steered him there. The commissioner of the National Hockey League, Gary B Bittman said you should hire Steve Iserman. Yeah. And Vinick hired Steve Iserman and the rest is history. Yeah. Well, okay.

The history is getting Stamco's getting had been getting creature off and having some really great draft block. But Iserman was also signing deeply, deeply discounted contracts and turning and turning to a to a former lawyer as your head coach, who again, you know, put in his time and screws, but still, there's a lot that went on. There's been a couple of former lawyers in Tampa that have had like dramatic effects. Like for how many years was like Jay Fiesta referred to as,

oh, the curbside lawyer running the Hershey Bears. Oh yeah, good luck in the area. And then the next thing you know, he's winning a Stanley Cup. And it's all, I love it. It's like that. The curbside lawyer just won a Stanley Cup. It's awesome. I'm on, I don't want to, I miss J Feaster. I miss the name. I've not heard for a long time. I missed the NHL with J Feaster. I really, really miss the NHL with J Feaster. Okay Okay here's my question to you. First of all last night was amazing. Every single game delivered. It was such great hockey. So to

all of you folks out there that want to change the playoff format, remember it's your boy Jeffy that says you want the teams when they're the healthiest. That's right. That's why roll your eyes wish. You look at Dallas, Colorado and how great that was yesterday. It's a travesty that these two teams are beating so early. I'll take that all day long if we get hockey like that. But here's my question. Uh, I don't know who won a game. Who won the LA Edmonton game? Like there's the score, but who won the, you know, who won the game? Because I keep going back and forth. Now, technically the Los Angeles Kings, the couple of seconds left, Phillip Deneau scores a little bit of a breakdown from a couple of forwards on the

Edmonton Oilers. But nonetheless, like Kings were up 1-0. But did they win the game? Because couldn't make the argument that the Oilers won that game. I think the Oilers won in the sense that Look, you have to make declarative statements in playoff series. Like Montreal, they might have some juice left if they win game two, but they could have really conjured up the ghosts of disappointments past in Washington if they had one game one in overtime. Like, they still exist.

The ghosts still haunt that arena, even with the cup win. I mean, I was getting questions about Jaroslaw Halak all week. Okay, so they still have- Mike Kameleri. Kirk Muller. Yeah, they still have the PTSD of disasters of playoffs fast in Washington. So you needed to kind of probably win that game

to really force the issue as an upset candidate. And to your point, if the Kings had won 4-0, now all of a sudden, when Leon and Connor look across the ice and see those jerseys, they might be thinking in the back of their head, maybe it is different this time. They got Darcy Kemper. They were a really good defensive team this regular season. Maybe, maybe we're in a little bit of trouble here.

Instead, what we have is exactly what we thought we could have coming into the series, which is we have Connor and Leon. When they want to exert their will, they will exert their will. And we have the other part of the equation for Edmonton, which is a wildly inconsistent defensive team in front of goaltending you can't trust. And so we're right back at square one, Connor and Leon trying to outscore the flaws of the Edmonton Oilers. And you know what? They, they, they did. I mean, I know they didn't get the win, but they were one knuckle puck away from going to overtime

and probably winning the game there. It's kind of lost in the chat here and I didn't get the name and I apologize, but someone just mentioned that was a real junior game. Like that felt like that third period felt like a junior game at Christmas time on the international stage. That's what that thing felt like. It was fucking awesome. Yeah, it actually did feel like that. The whole last night was great, but that third period specifically was incredible. It felt very like a world junior game because in the end the Americans won.

Oh, that's cute. Oh, that's cute. Don't bring up the world championships on the weekend. Okay, thank you. Let's just move that along. Oh, what is? Oh, I'm sorry. Are we in Prague? Are we Finns? US won, that's what I'm saying, like, don't bring that up while you're pouring salt on the women. Yeah, the women's. Yeah, that was huge. That was great. Sorry, I'd love you to talk about the men's world championships, in which case I say, you know, are we Latvians or do we care about worlds? Yeah, no, I think that was a declarative statement

by the Oilers that they're gonna be okay in the series. But we've also seen other declarative statements, like Winnipeg winning game one of that series was so huge for them. You can't even quantify it. I mean, you can, they're up two-oh now, but like Hellebuck didn't have his fastball. No, you know, the Blues are pressing the issue in the back of your mind You're the team that can't get past game five in the first round you win that game and now you're off to the races

Like I would be absolutely Stunned if they lose that series now because now they've got the confidence in the wind in their cells And then last night with Dallas, look at man, we didn't want to put it on billboards. We didn't want to display it for the world to see, but we all knew that if Dallas loses that game, you might as well just pack up the tents. It's over. You know, you can put Miro Heskinen back on the ice in a robotic exoskeleton suit to allow him to play the rest of the series. it wouldn't have mattered if Colorado was up 2-0 going back to Denver about to get Gabe Landiscock back in the lineup. So Colin Blackwell saved that series for fans, for the stars, and for everybody else, because

if they lose that game, my God, their goose is choked. the occasional laugh. He's angry about everything. He doesn't have a great poker face does he? I would like to play cards with Bruno Fernandes. You can listen to The Guardian Football Weekly wherever you get your podcasts. Hopefully see you soon. You know, and here's another one. You know who is good in that game? Cody freaking Cece. For all the, and there are plenty of them. They exist all over the NHL. You got to admit, wish Cody Cece was good in that game.

And that was no tomorrow for the Dallas Stars. And Cody Cece was really good. He was. There was one moment where he rushed the puck for the stars into the attacking zone and like the announcer said like here's Cody Cece. I'm like no that can't be right. Surely that must be someone else on the roster but there he was and he was active and he was effective and he played really well. And again, like the stars reminded you why everybody was on their tip,

why everybody was glazing them up to be a Stanley Cup champion last night. Like even in their diminished capacity. And by the way, like Jason Robertson's loss is felt so severely on that power play 100%. They gutted it out, they still got gamers, they still got guys that just just give you everything they have. And taking over that game in the third period the way they did was really impressive.

I just don't know if they can keep up with Colorado. I don't know if they can keep up with that pace. I just don't. That was awesome last night. That was great. Good on Dallas. Amazing. For how long can you try to keep up with Colorado? You can't because again, essentially in that overtime, along with knowing if Dallas lost, the series was over. You were the whole, the whole basis of the overtime was can they score before Nate does? That's the whole point. Can they score before Nate does? Like you were counting down the seconds until McKinnon makes a play to win that game. Can you get your goal before Nate

ends it? And they did. Again, and we talked about last night being amazing. I had it on the split screen. The Kings win that game and then like 10 seconds later, the Stars win that game and it was unbelievable night of hockey. But what makes the Stanley Cup playoffs the Stanley Cup playoffs is a Stanley Cup playoffs, is a guy scoring a goal in overtime who's on a one-year contract making league minimum. When Jim Nils signed Colin Blackwell last July, it probably doesn't even make the ticker at the bottom of the screen, you know, as far as free agent signings go. And this guy wins the game. Like that is, do, do, do respect to the NBA

and Major League Baseball, the NFL, whatever. That is the essence of why this is the best postseason of professional sports. It's the best. Okay, let me finish with you here with, we save this for you at the end, okay? Great. Hang on, time now.

You get to look at food, okay? First of all, you get to look at food. Okay, first of all you get to look at food Oh, all right. Yeah time now for the crispy inbox presented by the ninja One portable glass air fryer. Enjoy this one Meet the first of its kind the ninja crispy portable cooking system the power of a full-sized air fryer in the palm of your Hand so you can cook big or small batches. Just prep it, crisp it, serve it and store it all in one. All right, stop drooling, Wish. It is an all in one system. Go ahead. Sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean no. I got a script read here. I got to be a professional broadcaster here. This is what I didn't go to college for. It is an all-in-one system that includes

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Tom Fitzgerald on the hot seat after this season huge letdown a trade deadline to get team depth scoring large no movement contracts handed out left and right majority of draft picks not panning out or traded the Tom Fitzgerald question in New Jersey. So it's a tough one because here's the thing. Jacob Markstrom is so far having a really good playoff through one game.

Yeah, one game I know. But like he played really well in game one. And so that was the biggest swing that that Fitz took. And if that comes out to be a successful acquisition by virtue of how he plays in the playoffs, it's hard to ding him for that. He's made some other ones that kind of worked out, Cotter worked out. And there's some things that have happened to the Devils from a performance standpoint that aren't necessarily on him. Who thought that Dawson Mercer, who everyone was like, keep him out of the Timo Meyer trade because you can't give up on this guy, would not take the leap?

And he hasn't. All that said, should the Devils be thrilled with his performance as GM this season? Probably give him a B. I mean, there's definitely things about this team that don't work, but they're correctable. There are also things that I don't think you can necessarily blame him for. Simone Nemec, being what he is right now from a progression standpoint, he's still got time.

He's still super young, but that's, no one had a problem with them taking him in the draft. And then the other thing about it too is that's, no one had a problem with them taking him in the draft, you know? And then the other thing about it too is that he, the ultimate answer to this question, Merrick, and our friends in the inbox, is he's got the ultimate cover story, which is that his best player, the team's franchise player, is not going to play in these playoffs.

And that's it, that's the end of the story. I mean, like, we can, like, again, like, DeBoer's name sometimes comes up as a guy who might have to lose his job if the Stars don't win this playoff series. How do you possibly fire Pete DeBoer, even though you know that he is a coach of diminishing returns? How do you possibly fire him if he loses this playoff series without Robertson and Heskinen? You can't. Just like you can't have Fitzgerald or anybody in the front office necessarily pay for what happens this season with Jack Hughes being out of the lineup.

And especially now it's Hughes, Seek and Pollar, Luke Hughes, Brendan Dillon, all out of the lineup at the same time. It's crushing, it's crushing. I know. I think all of these series, like all of these series have the potential to go long. Even the Ottawa-Toronto one,

I still don't think Ottawa's out of this thing, but I can't see Carolina and New Jersey going much past four, maybe five games. I don't know if the Devils have a game in them. We'll see. They had their moments, but it's again, like the biggest one for me right now is Luke Hughes, because the essential,

the only way you're beating Carolina is if you can decrease the pressure in your own zone with their forecheck. The way you do that is to get the puck out of there or skate the puck out of there. Quickly. And Luke Hughes can do both. And now he's not there. You know who else, you know who else is really good at that? And I just wonder about this randomly for no particular reason.

Quinn Hughes. He's really good at doing that. Quinn Hughes is pretty good at that? And I just wonder about this randomly for no particular reason, Quinn Hughes. He's really good at doing that. Quinn Hughes is pretty good at that. I know, he's very talented. I wonder if he's got any reason to just look at the devils as a possible possibility. I cannot believe he's not getting fined for tampering. Man literally just sat there and being like, maybe we can take these two guys in the contract around the devils and bring them to Vancouver.

And the NHL's just like, ah, whatever. When Rick Dollywall tweets, I listen. When Dollywall tweets, I listen. I believe him. He popped the Werthers in his mouth afterwards. Oh, jeez, you hit the Werthers again? Grandpa Sweater is making goofy, goofy fun talk and talking about other teams' players that are under contract. We don't need to enforce anything.

Ah, okay. Well done. Bravo. We didn't break anything, I don't think, so it's a mission accomplished. Thanks, we'll talk in seven days when things will become a little more clear here with the playoff picture. But like honestly, dude, scale of one to ten, this has been off the charts. How good early on this season the playoffs have been. Every single night's Oh, by the way, 11 o'clock tonight, Minnesota, 11 o'clock Eastern. Man, just when you just when we stopped hating like, and I think it was Doug Wilson that started, just when we stopped hating Doug Wilson, the San Jose Sharks for the 1030 starts, all of a sudden, comes Vegas, Minnesota with an 11 tonight. I'm a night owl to begin with. I'm more pissed off about the six o'clock start for the Devils game. You gotta go get that. I mean I got a one year old. That's like feeding time and stuff man.

I ain't gonna have time to watch too much of that game. So I'm all for the night game. The nightcap is great. Sit there with a little glass of scotch. Enjoy that then. Sit back, watch, uh, hope that Krip, Kaprizov and Boldy can do anything to help this lineup. I mean, they, they were, they were the offense in game one. They'll probably be the offense in game two, but. I'll tell you what, we've, we've seen exciting games, but as, as mentioned yesterday, as far as like, just like, if you're just a pure fan of hockey, the best capital H hockey game was Vegas, Minnesota. That was, that so far has been the, not the most exciting over the top. Like, Winnipeg St. Louis game

one was great. LA Edmonton last night was fantastic. But if you're just a fan of like pure hockey, Minnesota Vegas was the best. It's the best game. Well, yeah, that's because we've had to wait seven days to have the battle of Florida tonight Which is like oh, yeah, right the most are they Dallas, Colorado is the most compelling series This is what I really want to watch I can't wait to see if You know 20 of us picked the lightning in the ESPN experts like picks. I'm a little concerned I thought I was gonna be an outlier I thought everybody was gonna be on the Panthers, but a lot of love for the lightning. We'll see what happens

So we hagel and kachak have to fight off the draw, right? That's how we do this. That's how these things work now It has to happen, you know just to bring the pressure down Bring the pressure down a little bit It's gonna be awesome. Thanks bud. We'll talk soon seven days there is Greg was Shin ski from ESPN every Tuesday here on the program we did very little talk about the games but like when you have a day like on the heels of Jim Rutherford and we'll see what happens with Buffalo and Lula Morello no longer in the mix and who would have said that's six months ago, but here we are anyhow We do have more games tonight and all indications are it's gonna be like a continuation of the greatness that we've seen so far

The sheet is powered by fan duel folks home of the same game parlay Make every moment more on fan duel fan duel proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them. And what matters to us tonight are the four games. And yes, there's early. There's New Jersey and Carolina, game two. Carolina leads a series 1-0. And Zach, I haven't heard from you much because bluntly wishing I have sucked up all the oxygen here on the show. Marks from starts, Anderson starts. It's like you want to make a list of more of the players that are in versus who aren't in because the length of the list is long for the New Jersey Devils.

Brendan Dillon, Luke Hughes, out. Cody Glass is in after almost getting chopped in half by Jacob Markstrom in game one. Dennis Chalowski and Simon Nemec. Didn't it feel like it was an old magician's like trick like watch I will now chop my beautiful assistant's body in half and move these boxes. Yeah. Anyhow so we got that one we've got Ottawa Toronto game two so you are going to be busy pre and post game. Who's leading this series by the way Zach? I think that you said yesterday on the show it was pretty impressive you didn't take any lead from me or anything You said the Leafs Thumped the senators. I think those are you said think thumbs. Yes. Let me know when the swelling goes down

Let me know when the swelling goes down one nothing leaves this one still ours versus Lena Sallmark Florida and Tampa as wish was just talking about a second ago Vasilevsky versus Bobrovsky Matthew Kachuck is game time. Does anyone believe that? Game time. Game time. And speaking of game time you're gonna be staying up late for this game time. 11 o'clock Eastern the Minnesota Wild and the Vegas Golden Knights and I will keep saying it until I'm blue in the face. Last five years Minnesota Vegas have made consistently the best hockey games that we've seen in the NHL.

That's why I love this series. Vegas leads this one one to nothing. Game one was a total thriller. And let's see what they have for the encore. Anything spice in your chili here on this one? Or is it just the obvious? Yeah, since I mean, the 11 o'clock game is kind of silly. Why not?

It's good for me because I told you like I missed a lot of the last one. Pretty much all of it other than really highlights. Like that kind of sucks when I just don't get to see them. Like last night I watched everything. That's exciting for me to get to see. Florida, Tampa is... I can't believe it took this long to get to this game You know like it almost felt like at this point like the series just didn't exist to be I know Tuesday night where we had Saturday Sunday Monday full of games to get to here and be like oh game one's kicking off So how did that happen that one obviously is jumping out off the page to me?

But yeah, I mean leave sends will be at Greta Vic and I, we got Rosie calling into the show here tonight. We got people coming by. We had people in person joining us on the show last time on the After Dark, so that's gonna be exciting as well. But I'm looking forward to tonight. Do you bring the salts when you do a live event? Do you bring the salts with you? Yeah, well, I forgot them last time,

and I got a lot of shit from people in the chat, so they will not be forgotten tonight. I basically had them in my hands the entire time, just being like, don't forget, don't forget, don't forget. So they'll be with me tonight. All right, tonight Greta Bar, what time should people show up? 6.30 is the pregame show, so get there ahead of time. Obviously 6.30 pregame show though,

and then we'll be there throughout the entire game and then the after dark show there as well. Awesome. Love it. So you got to get hustling and so do I. So listen, on behalf of Zach Phillips, our producer and occasional co-host here on the program, don't forget to check him out tonight. If you're in town in Toronto, go visit him and producer Vic on King Street at Greta Bar. That's an awesome place. Thanks to Greg Wyshinski for stopping by as always. Listen, it's been some newsy days here around hockey

and I think there's gonna be more newsy days coming up on the horizon. We will always try to put a premium on the games because that is always most important. But when, as we like to say around these parts folks, when news breaks, we fix it. How about that, Zach? How about that as our positioning statement

for the program? When news breaks, we fix it. What do you think? Can you workshop something around that for maybe? It's a good start. Okay, well, see where we go. That's a good groundwork. Normally I would tell you, no, this stinks.

That one's fine. You know what? I kind of like that idea. But the shots ate one? No, that's still not growing on you. That one, no. When news what, I kind of like that idea. But the shots ate one? No, that's still not growing on you. That one, no. When news breaks, we fix it. No, it's all right, fine.

Oh, one thing I do want to mention as we wrap up here, the program is heading to Ottawa for game three. So this show, the sheet, will change start times for a couple of days. So tomorrow we're on the air at three o'clock Eastern as per normal, our daily face-off YouTube channel, but then Thursday and Friday we will be on 1 o'clock Eastern and I think we're at the Canadian Tire Center for these games too so that'll be really cool. So we're taking the show on the road for game

three between the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs deep battle of Ontario. Enjoy the games tonight, they're early and they're late. What can I say? The hockey's been awesome, continue to enjoy it. We'll talk about it again tomorrow and more off ice news as well I'm sure. The sheet Monday to Friday at 3 o'clock Eastern right here on our daily face off YouTube channel. Join me tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy the games. Talk to you in 23 hours.

Bye. I said 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month. I said 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month. I said 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month. I said 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month. I said 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month. I said 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month. I said 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month. I said 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month. I said 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month. I said 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month. I said 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month

I can't get out my head, lost all ambitions day to day, cause you can call it a rut I went to the dark man, he tried to give me a little medicine, I'm like nah no, 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. It's enough, enough, help out And get you sometimes losing

Helping on the days that went wrong