The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Western Conference Finals, Adam Foote Fired, and Cassidy Controversy ft. Brian Burke & Colby Cohen

Episode Date: May 20, 2026

Today's episode of The Sheet with Jeff Marek features Brian Burke joining the show to break down the latest movement and drama surrounding the NHL coaching landscape. The guys dig into the Vancouver Canucks' decision to move on from Adam Foote, discuss where Manny Malhotra could potentially land, and react to the growing Bruce Cassidy controversy, including the statement released by the coaches association and what it could mean around the league. They also shift gears to the playoffs, looking back at the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens series, what ultimately decided the matchup, and what storylines carry over into the Conference Finals. Later, Colby Cohen joins the show to continue the playoff conversation and tee up the latest around the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including the start of the Western Conference Final tonight and the impact of Colorado potentially being without Cale Makar as the star defenseman remains day to day. Coaching shakeups, playoff drama, controversy, and Conference Final previews all on today's edition of The Sheet with Jeff Marek.#TheSheet #JeffMarek #NHL #StanleyCupPlayoffs #BrianBurke #ColbyCohen #Sabres #Canadiens #Avalanche #CaleMakar #BruceCassidy #VancouverCanucks #HockeySHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 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!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoffReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're going to talk a lot about Vegas today and talk a lot about Game 1 against the Colorado Avalanche and talk a lot about Bruce Cassidy. I'm not going to lie to you. Welcome to the sheet. I know it is the gift that keeps on giving the story keeps continuing here. Wednesday, May the 20th. Glad to have you aboard today. And before we get to Brian Burke here, quick little thought. I was thinking about this last night and this morning. Zach, I think there's one way to take the chaos factor between the Edmonton Oilers and the Vegas Golden Knights, one level higher. Not that we need to necessarily reset the story here, but for everybody else who hasn't been paying attention, I suppose, the Vegas Golden Knights have denied the Edmonton voters, Los Angeles Kings as well, from talking to recently without, yeah, they have not granted permission withheld, not denied, I don't know, however you want to frame it.

They've denied permission right now to speak to Bruce Cassidy. So there's one way this can get worse, or more interesting, if you will, or more chaotic might be the way. the Edmonton Oilers go out and get their first round pickback from the San Jose Sharks and offer sheet Pavaldorafiev. Hmm. Okay. I do kind of like this.

So it would be two first round picks, the second and a third if the threshold is 11.9. Maybe make that times two. And do we have a deal just to take this up to the next level? As you think about that, let's get to what's on the program today. I know you like that one. You're smiling. I like that. You like it like, oh, man, I wish I would have thought about that one.

The blueprint is powered by Fanduel. Download the app today and play your game on Fanduel. It is Wednesday, civilian Wednesday around these parts. Thank you very much. Brian Burke is standing by. I'm sure he has plenty of thoughts on the situation between the Vegas Golden Knights, Bruce Cassidy and the Oilers slash L.A. Kings. Kobe Cohen will stop by, former NHL or co-host of Morning Cup of Hockey.

Things to discuss today, Adam Foote dismissed by the Vancouver Canucks yesterday. It seems as if the red carpet is there for someone like and specifically is Mani Malhotra. Bruce Cassidy updates and conference finals gets underway today with the Western Conference today and the Eastern Conference tomorrow. In the meantime, someone who knows more about situations like this in Vegas than I do and probably you as well. is someone who's worked as a general manager, who's worked as an agent, who's worked as an employee of the NHL as well. He is Brian Burke,

and he joins us once again for Civilian Wednesday. First of all, Berkey, thanks so much for stopping by today. This is a story that just continues. And as every day goes on, there seems to be another sort of little breadcrumb attached to it. But we'll back up to the initial denial. Vegas saying no one's talking to Bruce Cassidy right now while we're in the playoffs.

The general courtesy, as encouraged by the NHL, when you fire a coach, you let them go and interview and get another job. I understand there are some situations that I would be sympathetic with Vegas. Probably never happened. But if Vegas was playing Edmonton right now and Edmonton wanted to interview Bruce Cassidy for another position, I would say, not so fast, that's an extenuating circumstance. were not granting you permission. A situation like that, I would understand.

This one, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around. Your thoughts on it. Well, first off, people have to remember how this all evolved. There was a time when coaches got fired and did not get paid. Gary Benvin fixed that. Going back to Eddie Johnson, Mike Keenan, they would get fired. The team would say, oh, it's for cause. We don't have to pay you.

Gary Bennett's straight out and said, everyone gets paid. If you fire a coach, you got to pay him. But the flip side of that is you can restrict his ability to work elsewhere. This is not new. It's not the first time it's happened. I don't understand why it's such a fuss. Well, I mean, you want to be able to. And the NHL has always encouraged teams to allow coaches.

And this is a sort of protocol, these sort of unwritten rule, the handshake amongst teams and managers, that if you fire a guy from behind the bench, you allow them the opportunity to work somewhere else. So if you're done with them, let him continue working, no? No, not in the same division or conference. I can see the issue here. I can see the issue.

I would let the guy go, but I can see the issue. I understand it. I don't fall to Vegas for taking this view. Remember, there is a time when players didn't get paid. Now they all get paid. And it'll save Vegas a lot of money if Bush Cassidy gets hired somewhere, but they don't want to let him go because they don't want the competitive disadvantage. I get it.

Move on. So if this then extends for the full duration of Bruce Cassidy's contract and not just a couple of uncomfortable weeks here, who knows, Vegas may make it to the Stanley Cup, may win the Stanley Cup, or they may bow out here against the avalanche, you would still say even if this extends to the end of next season and his contract, you'd still be good with it, keeping them on the sidelines, or is there a time limit to this? I wouldn't be good with it, but I'm a lawyer. I would say it's fine with me. It's the league rules say

So I don't care. Move on. 100% agree with that. Technically, there's nothing wrong here. But the NHL has always said, look, let the guy go and find work. If someone else wants that once it wants to get them, you're going to get the financial offset. Yeah, you get the offset. Bush Cassidy is going to be working regardless real soon.

They don't need the offset on this guy. They'll get it from someone else. They don't need to let him. go. He's going to have four or five opportunities. And this is crazy to keep, we just wasted 10 minutes on it, Jeff. Let me ask you one more. Hang on. I got one more question for you. Actually, I got two. I got two. One, do you think this leads to specific language now in coaches' contracts about what happens when they get fired? I don't think a team can waive individual rights like that

that are granted by the league. I think the league would take. precedence over that. They would say no, it doesn't matter what you agree with, you can't. And they won't register the contract with that type of language would be my guess. The league is a lot smarter than we are. I know. The other one that I would follow up with then, and we'll personalize this, have you ever denied, like when you've dismissed some, like when someone's been dismissed, have you ever denied anyone the ability to talk to another team? No. I didn't fire a lot of coaches either.

I think it's crazy how quickly coaches get fired out. Adam Foote gets fired after one year, one year for God's sake. I know they didn't hire him, but this is crazy. So no, I never did. I wouldn't do it. But I get why they're doing it now. So you're taking us to Adam Foote here. I'm glad you did because one of the things that I wonder about here is if there wasn't,

like the presence of Mandy Malhotr makes this really intriguing because in a lot of ways, to your point, and even we heard Ryan Johnson last week, the new general manager of the Vancouver, Canucks say, listen, it's really tough considering everything that happened to Vancouver, both on the ice, you know, in the hospital, with the hospital bracelet and the hospital gown and off the ice, and everything that happened to this team last year, it's tough to evaluate Adam Foote's performance.

Yet a week later, now he is without a job in Vancouver behind the bench. So I do wonder that if Manny Mahotra weren't, coveted by other teams, maybe Toronto Maple Leafs here, would they have still dismissed Adam Foot or would they have brought him back for one more year knowing that this rebuild is going to be longer than just one year? I don't have a problem with firing the coach. Ryan Johnson's a good guy. He's a good man and twins I love. So I have no problem with them saying they just took over. Adam Foote's only had one year. He's a quality guy. He's a good coach. But he's not a fit for us. I have no problem

with that. Generally speaking, I have a problem with it. One year, you get one year? But they didn't hire him, so I get it. So now it's time to move ahead. Anna Phyllis going to coach again. It's unfortunate, but I get it. I do want to ask you about

the Siddins, since you kind of had a thing or two to do with them getting together in the first place in the NHM. I'm not sure if people know this, but Brian Brian Burke actually pulled this wild trade and a number of trades actually to end up drafting them both together. One spot of time, Brian, I'm not sure if you ever told that story.

But. I'll tell you what that one, Jeff. No, maybe once or twice over a drink late at night on the road. Maybe once or twice, Brian, but I'm not exactly sure. How do you think they do in this role? Like, there was, like, at that press conference last week, I'll tell you, Brian, there was one moment that really stuck out to me as being very sedenish. And it was when someone asked about a situation whereby Henrik felt one way and

Daniel felt another who would have final say. and the Siddins kind of didn't know what to do with the question thinking, how do you think that him and I, you know, us two and our lives together, wouldn't be able to arrive at a consensus? Like the idea of them disagreeing so vehemently that they couldn't come up with a solution was a foreign concept to the Siddins. Anyhow, your thoughts on them now as major power players in the management with Vancouver? I was waiting for that question to be asked.

I was waiting, waiting, waiting. It's like someone has to ask it. I think the answer is these two are working out. They have a twin thing. They always have. They're able to figure this out. Co-GMs, co-presidents, will not and does not work anywhere. It will work there, as my view.

What is it about them and how they communicate, though? Like, I mean, you've seen it up close and personal, up close and personal. Again, like, I'll say, like, they were, like, really baffled at the concept that they couldn't come up with a solution to any problem, just the two of them. they didn't need a third party, or they didn't need someone with the hammer to say, no, sorry, I'm one rung up on the ladder here, so I'm going to rule. Like, I'll be honest with you, Brian. It was a really refreshing answer.

I've never seen it at an NHL press conference before, but it's a really refreshing answer from two grownups. I couldn't wait for the question. I couldn't wait for the answer. It was perfect. That's what they would have said anytime, anywhere. They're not going to have a problem there. Ryan Johnson is a tiebreaker for me if they have one. they do ever get in that situation, which they won't.

When you look at Vancouver right now, and I want to get to Colorado and Vegas here in game one, the Western Conference Final, that should be the most important story of the day, but just backing up on Vancouver last week. Tearing it down is the easy part, building it back up is the difficult part. How big a task is this for Ryan Johnson? And we even had the owners saying,

we even had the owners saying rebuild. I never, Berkey, thought that I would hear the word rebuild at our Francesco Aquilini's. but there it was last week. Anyway, you've been in Vancouver a couple of different times. Your thoughts on how massive this is. You can call us whatever you want. It's a rebuild.

You can call it a retool. You can call it a refit. Call it whatever you want. It's a rebuild. It's a massive job. The problems are legendary and massive. Ryan Johnson's got a big job. But he's not afraid of that.

He's a good man. He's going to work through this. Starting with Patterson for me. And with the first pick, the first strong pick. Which is third overall. Would that, if they, if they, hired, if they hired Mani Malhotra as their next coach, if you were the general manager, would that preclude you from drafting his son Caleb third overall?

I would say yes, but I would listen on it because Mani, I've seen Caleb play probably five times in the last two months. He's been excellent. He's just getting better too. He's so mature and so smart. He's just getting better every night. So I think yes. I mean, Mani Malhotra's done a great job. I would have that conversation in general. I would not want that conflict, but if there's anyone who can do it, I think it's Mani Malhulter.

Would it be more difficult for Manny or from Caleb to have that dynamic? Like as the player, part of you is wanting, okay, so what are the other guys saying about me because dad's the coach? And then for Mani, there's the pressure of, again, this is all hypothetical, but there's the pressure of not wanting, to show favoritism. It's not hypothetical. I think it's very real. I think it's a big problem.

I also think the number three pick is going to be a defenseman. So I don't think it's a problem. All right. Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens. We saw today was interview day, and there were a lot of very pointed questions to Alex talk about his future. And his quote was essentially,

I don't know about the future. So we'll see. there over to Yarmou Kekalainen. But as you're doing this sort of autopsy on the season for the Buffalo Sabres, I think if I told anybody on December 1st that this team was going to make it to the second round of the playoffs

after being the hottest team in the NHL after the middle of December, Buffalo Sabres fans would have said, yeah, we'll take that any day of the week. You know, losing Game 7, nothing to be ashamed about considering it's been 14 years since you've made it to the playoffs. As you do the autopsy on the Buffalo Sabers,

Burkey, take us through like a Brian Brick triage here. What's most important? What needs to get dealt with? Like, how do you, how do you handle everything here if you're Yarmal-Kickelanen? Well, start with the second question first. You start with all positives. This was a great year, a great finish. You asked if they would have signed up for that. They would have signed up for that. I paid money for the chance to play a game seven in the second round of the playoffs, especially after the start they had. So, yeah, this is a great year, a great result. It would be all positive. For Alex, Chuck, Alex Tucker's going to get paid, folks.

People talk about he won't get paid because he had a bad playoff. He's a reliable goal score. He can kill penalties as he's paid. He's a good kid. He skates hard, skates well. He's going to get paid. There are no free agents out there except for Alex Tuck, maybe two others. Darren Rattish comes to mind as well.

He'll probably get a nice payday finally in his career too. But you're right about Alex. Talk, like I have a hard time. I know we put so much on, you know, what have you done for me lately? I have a hard time saying that one series in the Stanley Cup playoffs is going to scotch an entire career. Mitch Marner. Look at Mitch Marner for God. Mitch Marner.

Wake up, smell a coffee, folks. He has one bad playoff. And he's leading the NHL in points in the postseason. Really? I hadn't noticed that, Jeff. I hadn't noticed that. He's leading to league in scoring. Yeah, he is. Jack Eichols number two heads up, both on Vegas.

But if you're Yarmot now, like there's the, the Tucker. situation. I've wondered about, and I floated out the idea, if you're the Buffalo Sabers, you know, UPL was leaky all season long, Alex Lyon had his issues, Colton Ellis is still unproven as a starting netminder in the NHL. Given how far Buffalo has already come, and given that, you know, Connor Hallibuck is wondering about his future in Winnipeg and at his age and wants to win, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, I've wondered if there's a fit there, but does Yarmelkekeleine need to do something about the net minding in Buffalo to take the next step for this team?

You left one name on. Who's that? Levi. Do you think there's a future there? I think they like him. I wouldn't rule them out. Anyway, I think we've got to ask those questions. Yeah, I got to ask those questions, but Yarmul's a veteran guy.

ask those questions, but I think you can make the goal-tending work in Buffalo with what they have. What would you do here with this team? Is it a lot of internal developments? You know, the Dole-Ossland situation was a unique one. I mean, he really looked like a legit NHL of the first time he was called up and he's going to be an impact player for a long time with the Sabres. But do you just say that's experience and it

needs one more year of maturity from the young kids and then we swing this back? Or, like I always talk about this. Like, you and I have talked about this plenty of times, Burkey. When are you ready for the big swing? Like a team will tell you when it's ready for the big swing. Is Buffalo ready for the big swing? No, they're not. But I think, let me go back to the Tuck.

I think you got to re-sign Tuck if it's a five-year deal. He's asked for seven or eight years at Big Doe. I wouldn't do that. That contract's going to age poorly. So I do a five-year deal. He doesn't want it, he can walk. And people in Buffalo are prepared for that. If he'll take the right money for five years,

I've let them back, maybe six, but I'd say five, and if not, let them walk. But what else? They're not ready for the big swing for me. Figure out the goal attending, lock up the key guys you've got to bring back and keep building. Let me ask you about one more Buffalo Sabre, and that's Rasmus Dahlin. I've been making this point over the past couple of days that the Buffalo Sabres really have a unique player in Rasmus Dahlane in that he's a defenseman who's getting Norris love. Maybe it might even win the Norris Trophy one of these days.

he has that kind of skill. He also has a sort of Brad Marshan, Ken Lindsman, I'll even go back to like Dennis Palanich who want to go all the way back, ability to get under the skin of the opposition, whether it's Jacob Dobish, whether it's Brad Marshan

who we saw tear apart his helmet in the penalty box earlier this year. Like we normally don't see high-skilled defensemen like this have a sort of rat king quality about them. But Rasmus Dahlene does. What is it about this guy for you, Berkey? I think every year this is coming out party in the playoffs. I think Rasmus Stallings was this one.

I think he was great. I always knew he was a good player. He's a great player. He was the best defenseman for me in the first two rounds. I thought he was excellent. He does have a rat quality. The other thing is, he's big. Unlike some of these other guys who are smaller,

he's got size, he's got some weight to him. And he's a rat. He's a mean guy. I love it. So he got them going. He made things happen on and off the ice. He scored key goals. He made great plays.

He killed penalties. He's a great younger defenseman. He should be talked about for the Norris, for sure. Absolutely. Another one who has those qualities, too, up front on the wing is Zach Benson. When you talk about coming out parties, everybody knows this guy now, whether it's goals, whether it's agitating, all of it. And he's restricted as well.

This guy really did himself some good businesses, these playoffs. Yeah, it's one thing to be a rat. one can be a skilled rat. And he was a skilled rat. He was an impact player. He made an important play. He scored important goals. He made a difference in every game in the playoffs except maybe one.

I thought he was excellent. But being a rat's not enough to get paid. You got to be a good rat. He's a good rat. So the next Brad Marchand, perhaps, or do we say he's the next Seth Jarvis? Where do you go between those two? He's got to be a little more successful than those two for me. But he'll get there, I think.

I love him. Oh, what's not to like? I mean, unless you're playing against them, what's not to like watching Zach Benson? Okay. Vegas and Colorado. No Kail McCar tonight. Which adds a whole new wrinkle into this series.

Like, I don't think that San Malinsky is 100% healthy. I don't think that Brent Burns is 100% healthy. Josh Manson go right down the list. Arturi Lechon does return for Colorado tonight's. But no kale, McCar. Obviously, it's a factor. In this series starting tonight, how much of a factor, Burkey? Huge.

You look at no one's healthy. No one's healthy in the third round of the house. But they just got a great break. And Carolina got an even longer one. So the year we won the Cup, we had time off after every series. We won in five, five, and six. And we won in four and five at the end. So we had time off.

We were really banged up, but we had time off after every series, at least a couple of days. they've had a week off or five days, whatever it is. They have time to recover. That's like gold to them. So they'll be much better even being banged up. But Nokia-M-Kar, you're talking about taking out one of the best defenses in the league. It's going to be a huge loss.

Hopefully it's only one game. But it tips. I don't like betting. You know that. I don't bet. But it tips the betting scales, I'm sure, Nokia-M-Kar. It probably makes it much more even. So obviously now a lot more expected of, you know, someone who's,

again, like you mentioned, everyone's dinged up right now, but someone that we saw last series get dinged too is Brent Burns. All of a sudden now, you know, the Iron Man in the NHL has an even bigger load than before. But like, that's a really good blue line. Not that, okay, Brent Burns got to step in and shoulder all of it. Just like all around like Devon Taves and Brett Kulak has been fantastic. And I mentioned Josh Manson. Like, this is a really solid blue line.

But now, even more on the plate of Brent Burns. And I'll be honest with you, part of me thought that, you know, watching Brent Burns play with the Carolina Hurricanes the last couple of years, I thought he was on his last legs. He gets to Colorado and he's a new defenseman, Berkey. Yeah, he is. He's playing much better than he did the last couple of years. I love Brent Burns.

I love him as a player. I love his career. He started as a forward. People forget he was the right wing when he first came up. He converted to the defense. Very few guys can make that switch and be a premier player like Brent Burns has. And he's found new life in Colorado. Maybe it's the air.

Maybe it's just a change of scenery. He's found a new life. And he'll make up for some of the missing attributes that Cal McCar will not provide. Brent Burns will make up for some of those, but it's still a big hole. All right. Last one. I want to get your thoughts on Vegas here. Eicholdorafiav and Barboshev has been excellent for me.

That Carlson-Marner-Hauden line has been the line. I just love the combination of Carlson and Marner together. Two players that in some ways are more similar than different. different and now you're starting to see Mitch Marter really flourish in the postseason. Hurtle was sod and Sizzins and I know that John Todrella fell in love with Nick Dowd at the beginning of that series and maybe played him a little bit too much, but nonetheless Nick Dowd is one of those guys that coaches fall in love with. Your thoughts on the forward group specifically with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Well, there's no holes. They got offense, they got defense, they got toughness. Barbershire has throwing more hits, I think, than any big hits and any player in the 84 to the blast. He's been mean and ugly and affected. Dorothea's turned into a star in front of us. He's been great. You remember when they talked about Michael playing with Martyr,

and I told you at the time. You did. You did. But he's playing great with the other guy. He looks great. William Carlson. They got wild bill. They got full marks.

They're like the ducks without the fighting. They're like my team that won the cup in the sunset. They can play anyway. you want to play. You want to bang? They like to bang. You want us running gun? They can do that too. The, um, I'm glad you mentioned wild bill there, William Carlson and injuries are always a factor there. He's that guy that I just say to myself, man, if this guy could just stay healthy, he's one of the best two-way centers in the NHL. You know, I was saying this other day, like there's, to me, there's two great compliments for a player. one of them is when you tell a guy

you could play in any era pick any era in the history of hockey and you're good enough to have played in any of them that to me is one of the great compliments the other one is do you make the game easy to play for everyone around you and William Carlson does that if he could just stay healthy

he makes it not that Howden's not working but the game's easier playing with Carlson not that Marner's not working but it's easier when you have a center like William Carlson Berkey. I agree because it's The hockey IQ is so high, and his skating ability is terrific. But, as one of my high school football coaches used to tell me, the greatest ability in pro sports or high school sport, is availability.

So, we're going to say you guys available for 60% of the games, big deal. All right, really quick before I let you go, the Carolina Hurricanes and the Montreal Canadiens are your Eastern Conference finalists here. We'll get that underway tomorrow. Do you have a quick little preview or thought on this one, what you're looking for. Montreal is right back into the fire. Meanwhile, what is it, 11 days, Carolina, chilling out. I think the rest will help Carolina. They're a veteran team.

They're not going to waste that time off. But I think Montreal and Cicina are arriving at the ball too late. But I think this toast can steal a couple games and make this a series. Should be fun. Okay, the Great Canadian Hope is still alive. Burkey, you'll be well. Thanks as always for stopping by and bringing the fire with Butch too. That was pretty special. We're not talking about Bill McCreary?

Oh, I did want to mention this. Yes, sorry, I want to get your thoughts on this. Because I was going to mention this. I just got this book today, just arrived in the mail. Stories from Ice Level. The great NHL referee tells all Bill McCreary stories told to

our friend Rob Simpson. Your thoughts on Bill McCurry, who was not just in his day, but in the history of the NHL, one of the best officials we've ever seen. I know you like them. It's the last referee to go into the Hockey Hall of Fame. And I think that's a tough category. They don't admit any, but he deserves it. I work with Billy. He was great. He's the best referee I ever saw. I love him as a person. I had one fight with him when he worked for me.

I'd say to him, Billy, first off, we overused him. We overworked him. So the way it was set up back then, the CBA, a referee could work 80 games or 82 games. and then he had to work anything over that he got over time. We had Billy McCurry playing in Colorado, working in Boston, wherever there was a hotspot. We'd send him. He'd fly back and forth across the country. Gary Bennett said to me one day, why he'd make him Billy work this hard?

I said, we got too many hotspots. We need him. So that's number one. He was overworked and he was terrific at it. He told me once. He said, just keep flying me wherever you need me to work. But I told him once, you can bring the temperature down in some of these games

by talking to the flyers. just go to the bench and bark at him. He said, Berkey, I'm not a schoolteacher. My job is not to talk to these guys. It's a referee. I got followed him for that for years. I love it. And we're going to play that clip back

when we have them on the program once I'm done this book, which will probably be this weekend. Great stuff, Berkey, as always, on fire once again. Thanks, pal. We'll chat you in seven days. Thanks, Jeff.

There is. Brian Burke, Civilian Wednesday. here on the program. I'll be honest with you. I thought I really did think that Brian was going to go the there's the rules and then there's the rules when it comes to the Vegas Golden Knights

situation with Bruce Cassidy. Maybe Colby Cohen will bite. I'm pretty sure he will. He is the co-host and co-star of the Morning Cup of Hockey program which now everybody watches and listens to as they should, former NHL as well.

Colby, first of all, Good afternoon. Thanks so much for joining me here today. I don't know if you ever had a favorite referee. I just got this book, some Bill McCrary stories from Bell. He's going to be on the program. Not too long. Did you have a favorite referee? Like one guy that you really clicked with when you played? Well, it's funny because I had all the same guys in college at BU as I did once I got to the American League in Providence. It was a lot of the same officials would do the American League and do hockey East. So I just kind of got to know all those guys. And a lot of them, you know, one guy, he was actually a, he was a congressman in Rhode Island. And, and, yeah, because, you know, those guys aren't full time. A lot of those guys, they have other jobs. So I always had good relationships with the officials when I played Jeff to the point where, like, now there will be times when I'm in town doing a game and I might go get a couple of beers with the guys after.

Like I, at least those guys, it's a little different now when I'm on TV because I can be critical. So I don't think they like me very much anymore. But I had I had good relationships with officials as a player. You know, I think back to a story that Jay McKee, speaking of relationships with officials. And there's a player by the name of Caleb Malhotra. You may be familiar with him, Colby. So Jay McKee told me the, I asked Jay, I said like he's a coach of the, the Banford Bulldogs, said, give me an example of when you realize that Caleb Malhotra is a second generation player.

And he said when he came up to me at the beginning of the season, because he played the BCHL and his first year in the OHL, he's like, can you get me a list of the first names of all the linesmen? I want to be on a first name basis with all the linesmen. I don't know. Maybe the puck gets dropped a little closer to your skates. I don't know.

On a face off. But like that was like, and Jay is like, okay, like, if you don't have a dad who did that before you, you probably don't know to do that. But the relationship between player and official isn't something that we talk a ton about, but can really do you a load of good when you're coming up to a faceoff. And it's like, hey, Keith, how you doing? Hey, Steve, what's going on?

Hey, Frank. There's a lot of different benefits you can have being on a first name basis with these guys. Listen, I think especially in the American League, I think I got the benefit of doubt all the time when it came to calls. So I completely agree with that. I don't see why you wouldn't at least try. And at the end of the day, like most of them are good guys. They're just doing their job and they're passionate and fiery just like you are. I mean, you know, I've gotten to know Brian Murphy over the years.

He's a U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer, reft in the NHL for a long time. You know, we've had Dave Jackson on our show. You know, he goes on ESPN and is a rules analyst. And people really get after him. are really critical of him. But like at the end of the day, these guys are just, they're competitors too.

They're good, solid hockey guys. They're people that you'd love to go drink beers with. They've got stories beyond stories. So I just always went out of my way to, for the most part, when I was playing different as a coach, I'll be honest with you.

I'm not at a very difficult time with the officials this past season, you know, coaching junior hockey. And part of it was because I just felt like There was not any respect being given to the coaches or the players. And I'm like, this isn't how it's supposed to work. They're supposed to be a healthy competitive respect between both parties. So I think that's really smart of Caleb Mahaltra.

I love to hear it. I can't wait to see him wearing the jersey that's over my right shoulder here next year. The nice old double-striped red B.U jersey. But, you know, I do agree with you, second generation type of guy. I certainly never would have the idea or the thought to do something like that. You know, you mentioned Dave Jackson. He, every time I talk to Dave, I get my eyes open about something about appreciating. I learned something new every time.

You know what it was this year for me with Dave? I asked them about tiki-tack penalties because fans hated, players, hated, coaches, all of it. And I'm just like, I think I phrased it like, I don't even know how to bring this up, Dave. But like, tiki-tack penalties, like, nobody likes them. Nobody likes them. Fans grown, players, oh, gee, like really, that's a call, especially when it's the first call of the game, which is rare.

Usually the first call is a really good call because that establishes the line. And he said, I understand where you would get upset at the quote-unquote tiki-tack calls, but what you don't understand is you don't see the three times before that that that player got warned. Do that again, I'm sending you off.

And so it doesn't matter, like, how tiki-tack that is. What you don't see is the four-time that you tell that you're telling the player we're watching you if you do it again if you do it again if you do it again okay fine boom you're gone and everyone goes oh what a cheap call and when he said like that

like you missed the first four times we warned them that really opened my eyes because these guys don't want to make cheap calls they don't no no that's what I'm saying like these guys contrary to popular belief they want to finish a game and have nobody know that they actually did the game bingo

Really. I mean, I mean, I've had run into these guys. Like, I've seen them at bars, restaurants, especially, you know, there's been tragedy in the hockey world and everybody's close with everybody. And so you get to drink beers with these guys and be around these guys. And it's not their MO. As much as people think it's their MO, it's so far from their MO. And with Jacks, you know, listen, Jacks is a great information broker. Like he, he, gives good information he constantly says things that you're like oh i didn't quite realize um you know that that that was part of this rule and and i think he does a great job of that i really do i i think that he uh he he's a guy who who for me i reach out to all the time to get his opinion get the information from him and then if he has a wildly different view on something than i do it usually makes me think, well, this guy has done this job for a long time. I have never done this job. I should really put a lot of stock into what he thinks about a certain play.

And what I love about it too is he does it on Thunderdome. Like he goes into Thunderdome on Twitter and takes questions and explains it. Like he's just not like preaching to the choir. Like, you know, like people that stand up and lecture everybody on campus. everybody thinks the same way you do on campus. You're not actually doing the work. He goes to Thunderdome on Twitter. And like where people are yelling and screaming and throwing stuff and just

awful bit. He came on the show one morning, Jeff. And he wanted to stay. And then we talked after. And he was like, it was so enjoyable to be able to flush those conversations out. Like he goes on his hit. Because I work with him in the national championship and the Frozen Four as well.

And like, you know, he has 12. seconds, 15 seconds max to give you information. He came on our show and he was like, is it okay if I stay a little bit longer? And we kept them on for like an hour. We kept pushing people back because we didn't want to let him go because the information was so good. He's excellent. He's excellent.

He's a good guy too. He is a good guy. And his son works the lines in the NHL as well. We should point out. So that's how we can talk about second generation, the Jackson family. Okay. Bruce Cassidy's situation here. Yeah.

I was laughing. I got on the show because I've been watching. So I watched the first 30 minutes of the show. Oh, yeah, yeah. Burkey was, I mean, like, I texted Zach right away. And I went, well, he was on fire today. I'm like, he was great. His, like, his annoyance at this topic,

which is dominating the airwaves. And you just, well, one more. Well, one more, Burkey. I want to follow up with you on that. I really enjoyed the beginning of May's show. I thought he was going to go like we all have this handshake where if a guy's unemployed, you'll let him work. And I think, I think he prefaced the whole thing first with I am a lawyer. And I always have to remember that with Brian too, that he's coming at this from a lawyer's point of view.

Even when he was like when he was an agent, he was like that when he worked in the NHL. In one of the main offices for Batman, he was like that as a general manager. And there's always like moments. Like I've been on the road for years with Brian. and there are those moments where you're reminded like, oh yeah, he's a lawyer. Oh, yeah, that sort of fuels everything that he's thinking about. And a lawyer would look at this situation and say,

I can argue this in court. Yeah, Vegas is doing nothing wrong. I can argue this in court and I can argue this in court very successfully. Yeah. But there's the law and then there's the law. Or there's the law and then there's how things are done. You know what I mean? Like there's a couple of different streams running here at the same

time in this situation. And I think this is what makes this one so juicy because there's the, there's the rule and then there's the unwritten rule. And when those two things are in conflict, what should take precedent? And you can see it. Like you guys have it on your show, you guys have it on your social media. I'm the same way. And you can argue both sides here. Where are you, because sometimes it can change. Where are you falling on right now? because to me it's you're not used like the point that I raise is I could like there are some scenarios where I can see Vegas legitimately saying no you're not talking to them like in the unlikely scenario like if Vegas we're facing off against Edmonton right now and they want to talk to Bruce Cassidy for some other position I would say no chance you're going to go on a fishing trip and get information about our team no way let's wait till this is all done I would understand that this one I have a hard time with what do you think so I don't agree with it, right? Like, I don't agree with it as far as holding him back to coach because it's like,

okay, you're not good enough for us. But I got to say, I think it's smart business by Kelly McCriman. I really do. I, it's like I do have a brother who's a lawyer as well, you know, who would probably say the same thing Burkey did. and I think Bruce Cassidy is is one of these coaches that probably can add more. You know, I always say it's like an 80-20 rule. A coach can make it maybe 20% better as a team or 80% worse.

You know, maybe the really, really good ones, it's like 30-70 type of deal. And so I think Bruce is at the top of that chain. And I just think Kelly McCriman is sitting there and he's like, listen, this is good business for us. If Bruce Cassidy is not coaching and my owner's okay, paying him $4.5 million next year not to coach, well, listen, this is part of, you know, the idea here that, you know, you sign guaranteed contracts. And I heard you bring up, you know, I didn't realize that the coaches contracts are actually registered within the league. I guess I never thought of that.

It makes sense that the league would be involved in it. So I guess there's a standard coaching contract, like there's a standard player. contract i i i guess i kind of took that out of that i learned that when burkey said that on your your show just a little bit ago um but would a coach then jeff want to come in and agree to say hey this doesn't have to be a guaranteed contract so this way if you do fire me i can go wherever else i want i mean i i'm with you more and like i don't like what's going on right now but i also don't blame Vegas. Like I, would I do it if I was the leader? No, because I would be so confident in my own product that I would say, listen, I don't really care where you go. But I would just say that

the Vegas Golden Knights have operated in a very shrewd way. I don't, I don't know if ruthless is, is in my opinion, the best way to put it, because at the end of the day, it's not like they don't pay their debts. They sign a contract. Oh, yeah. They're not, they're not being ruthless where they're like, you know, we're not going to pay you, we're going to try to sue you, we're not doing it. I just think it's shrewd. And he's running it like a shrewd businessman that's saying, you know what, you work for Pepsi, you ain't working for Coke.

I'll pay you so you can't work for Coke and you're going to have to wait for your non-compete to run out to go work for Coke. The irony, and I just threw this out on Twitter X this morning, is Keller-Rillard, had to approach Danny Breyer to ask for permission to get John Tortorella and Daniel Breyer as general manager of Philadelphia Fires extended that courtesy. Yeah. There's an element. There's an element of justice for the, but not for me in all of this.

Well, I would have Berkeley, Jeff. Like I would have said, because he said there's been instances of this in the past. And my immediate thought was when. Like, because I'm not, I'm not doubting him, by the way. because listen, Berkey. Oh, it's happened. It's happened. There's not people that have done as much as Burkey have.

And I don't even mean, like, successfully. I just mean the hats that he has worn in the game of, in the NHL, it's hard to find somebody who's done as much as he's done. So if he says it, I believe, I would just want to know when and who and what was the scenario around it. Like, I would love to learn about those situations to see if it's apples to apples. but listen, I don't think Kelly McCrim, like, it's not like Kelly McCriman is unaware of how this stuff works. They're just making a choice, which I'm sure Bill Foley is signing off on. Yes.

And like, yes. There's no way he's not. For sure. And I think, and I think, honestly, I think it all ties back to the Braden McNabb's suspension. And then now it ties into the whole suspension or the second round pick, the hundred thousand dollar fine like i i just think that it's all interconnected this sort of beef and like this this cat and mouse game where i think they're going to use this as a bargaining chip if you want us to let bruce cassidy go then you better give us our second round pickback like i i think

that is a nchl won't do it no no no way no way they will jeff but i'm saying i think vegas is saying this is leverage that we'll use at a later date that's my opinion that's the way they operate that's high level business take any leverage you get, hold on to your leverage, and then use it in six months if it's good for you, in one month if it's good for you. Whenever that leverage matters, that's when you want to try to use it.

I just think that there's no way they're going to let them go to a rival if they don't have to. And if it's going to cost $4 million, so be it because you're looking at the Edmonton oil. And if you say to yourself, they can spend this thing around next season with a better coach in Bruce Cassidy and beat us in the playoffs. Why are we handing him to Edmonton for $4 million? dollars. Why are we risking

losing the Stanley Cup over $4 million? And look at like I'll tell you a story about Bill Foley. I remember when he um, oh Jesus, it's what would have been the first year, second year of the Vegas Golden Knights? When I was doing the pod with Elliot, we had him on. And I said, and I always love asking owners this question.

If there was no salary cap, how much would you spend on your players? And he kind of smile like, oh geez, what am I going to say? The commission was going to hear this. And he said, I don't know, like $150 million. Like that was the first thing out of his mouth was $150 million. So you're going to tell me like,

which means it's probably more. Yeah. So I greet that and go like, he's not worried about like the money or what the offset is going to be. He doesn't care. Like to him that is a competitive advantage. Again, like the guy that's just followed this game for however long and understands like the,

the secret unwritten rules or unwritten code of how everything gets done doesn't like it. but as far as like using it as a competitive advantage, not like a bargaining chip to get something back, but just as a competitive advantage. Like every year Vegas and Edmonton are on a collision course. Yeah. They are. And even though you're done with Bruce Cassidy,

that doesn't mean that Bruce Cassidy, you want to make sure that Bruce Cassidy's not done with you and does something about it next year. So I do get it. And that's why this is one of these rare topics. Right? This is where you can talk, I mean, I can talk myself into both explanations and see both points in all of it. And at the end of it, who rules the day?

Lawyers. And that's why I think Brian couched this perfectly. Look, I'm a lawyer, so nothing's wrong with this. Move on. Let's talk about the game tonight. Well, hold on, Ricky. One more point. Well, hold on.

Yeah. You know, and even then with like offsets, right? offsets of salary. So the way that it works is, just for all of our listeners and viewers here, the way that it works is if Edmonton hires him and pays him like $4 million, Vegas is only on the hook for $500,000.

Which doesn't make sense to me either, by the way. I don't think that that... Well, there have been situations, like you ask about specific situations where like the offset was an issue. I remember Bob Clark, with Ken Hitchcock. I think it was like something goofy,

like they wanted to hire him for like a dollar or something like that. Dallas pick up. I think Florida tried to do something similar with Dan Bilesma once in. And the NHL always steps in and says, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This, we're not letting this happen.

Like, there has to be like an understood number that everybody is comfortable with here. I just don't think that it could be 3.7. million or something like that or two million to two and a half million but yeah no i i but but just the whole the whole thing i mean i i i agree with you jeff that i think this could change verbiage you know verbiage i guess would actually be the correct word in standard contracts for nchel coaches with the you know with with with different situations listen maybe it's a situation like in college sports you see it in the NCAA football a lot or basketball,

they'll hire you with a buyout in, which basically says if you're going to leave us to go to a better situation, and you don't see, like in the NHL, you don't see a coach usually just up and leave in the middle of a contract like you do in NCAA football, but there's a buyout clause in those contracts. So I wonder if that's something that comes,

a buyout clause. If I can pause on that for one second, I was having a conversation with someone yesterday about this because I do believe the coaches contracts are going to change because of that because there's a lot of coaches out there like everybody's watching and saying oh oh I don't want this to happen to me I wonder if there becomes sort of different trigger points like if you want to talk to a division rival you can't for six months but if it's for someone in the

other conference maybe it's two weeks or sort of a stat maybe it's different for every contract. Or maybe you make it standard. I don't know. I would much prefer case by case and you negotiate that in. And all of that, that clause could be waived if the team just wants to have a message to the marketplace, which is we're a coach-friendly or player-friendly team and this is how we're going to behave under the umbrella of.

And I've always, I've always believed this, Colby, I'm curious your thoughts on this one because it does inform this conversation. I've always believed you don't judge an organization by how they bring you in. You judge an organization by how you leave. That's how they behave when you leave is how you judge an organization. First of all, do you believe that? And if so, second of all, how do you feel about how Vegas lets people leave? Or in this case, doesn't let people leave.

Yeah. I think there's 100% truth in what you're saying. And I've been on the other end of being. fired, obviously not as a coach, but as a as a as a TV person. I've worked in a couple of different organizations and and I've had some different experiences, uh, with that. I don't like I think everybody's chalking this up as like Vegas operates in a very shrewd way. And I think we're leading to a topic or a conversation of is this going to affect coaches wanting to go there in the future? And that's the one thing I don't buy whatsoever. I do not think what they're doing to Bruce Cassidy will have any

impact whatsoever on getting the next coach and the coach thereafter. And I'll tell you why. Because there's 32 jobs in the world and there's a zillion people who want them and there's probably 250 that are well qualified for it and money talks. And for 99. I just said this morning, yeah. 99.9% of people. It's just like when all free agents aren't going to want to go play for Chris Drury in New York. Yeah, I don't believe that. It's New York.

It's New York Rangers. People aren't going to want to go coach in Vegas and have no state income tax and golf a ton and live in the sun and have a big house that doesn't cost as much as it costs. I just, I will push back with my every single breath that no matter what happens. happens in these situations. The reality is there is such a limit and these jobs are in such high demand. If they want John Tortorello to be extended, he will extend, which I think that they should. If they want to go out and move on to the next coach, I do not believe getting whomever they want in the door as the next coach will be anything remotely close to a problem. I truly don't believe that. And Jeff, I could say this for myself who have made decisions in my career,

on money and chased certain things and said, you know what, the money's so good, I'll make it work. That's just reality. No matter how many times I've done it and no matter how many times I've said, I'll never do it again, I'm sure I'll do it again at some point. Listen, the hockey universe is populated with that as well. And when I'm hearing you talk like this, the first NHL name that pops of my mind is Jonathan Huberto. It may not. been the best situation for him, but how do you turn that down? Like, he loved everything about Florida. Like, loved everything about it.

He gets moved to Calgary. And all of a sudden, someone's waving that in front of you. Things change. I know, and Bob McCown used to always tell me, don't F with Happy, but I don't know, man. That's a lot of dough. Everybody's so sure Quinn Hughes is going to take a two or three year extension and line it up with Jack and then. figure out his next move. And I'm like, yeah, there might be some truth to that until Bill

Garron pulls out a piece of paper and he does the Billy Bean and he slides it across the table. And it says eight times 15 or whatever that number, $126 million, whatever that number is. And he's sitting there and he's like, oh, like, am I really going to walk away from $120 million dollars guarantee i mean not many people are built to walk away from that type of thing billy bean was in in boston he said no to john henry all those years ago but not many people are built to walk away from that type of guarantee it's it's hard it's very challenging you know what i really don't want to take away luke's power play time so for the good of my brother i'm just going to take a hundred 20 million dollars uh colby great stuff has always

pal. Morning Cup of hockey, it is a much watch, must watch, must listen to properties we all know by now and one of the co-stars joining us here now,

Colby Cohen. Thanks, Colbs. Enjoy the rest of your day. I didn't even ask you. I didn't have to see about game one. We're talking about Kail McCar. You have a quick thought on what you're expecting tonight?

Well, look, I'm expecting the four, the two teams with the best four centers to really go at it. Like, I think this series is a lot closer,

especially without Kail McCar. I think this series is a lot closer. And I think a lot of the series, Jeff, is going to come down to, you know, the goaltender who makes the timely saves because I think both goaltenders are going to be tested more than they have. I think Carter Hart has had his ups and he's had his downs. But I think Carter Hart has the confidence of knowing his coach is ride or die with him. I think the other guy who's been really good, I think he plays on a little bit of a shorter leash. And while Carter Hutton kind of pushed back on me and said he's,

used to it by now. I still think, you know, playing with the, the coach's full vote of confidence behind you versus being the guy who's had to come in and come out, I think can create a little bit of an advantage maybe in Vegas's way. But again, Nathan McKinnon, Marty Natchett. I mean, you go down the list. You look at the depth of Colorado. I think it's Colorado series. But when you look and you're like, okay, if you were going to pick one player who could go toe to toe with Nathan McKinnon down the middle for seven straight games. Jack Eichael. Sorry? Jack Eichael. Exactly. That's the guy. He comes right to mind. Like, I didn't even have to finish my sentence. And you knew where I was going with that. So, like, I think this is going to be a series that, that goes deep. And I, I think it's more of a coin flip. I think Colorado is going to win it. But I think this is more of a

coin flip than people are, are writing it to be. All right. Last one then. What did you think of my idea of Edmonton getting their first rounder back from San Jose and off for cheating Pavel Dorofiev. I hope so. I hope we get that type of, like I heard you say that. I saw it looked like when in the Grinch movie, Zach's face, when he, his face lights up. That's how Zach's face look when you said that to him. Oh boy, would that, first off, Pavoldorafia off, a guy that Bruce Cassidy deserves a lot of credit. it for rounding his game out to where he could just be that one-ish dimensional score,

but now he's not a guy who's a liability on the rest of the ice. And Bruce Cassidy, I remember talking with him about Dora Fiaf when he was like a first and second year guy. We were chatting outside the dressing room in Chicago about him. And he kind of was saying to me, wait until you see how this guy can one time a puck because Bruce knew that was something I always like to work on in my own game. I always like to stay on the ice and work on one timers. So he's like, you're going to like the way this guy fires it.

They're not going to be able to afford him. And boy, what I love to see. I love to see somebody. You know what? You want to do this with us? We're going to hold your feet in the fire, not even to the fire. I pray. I hope Stan watches your show.

And I hope he is right now figuring out a way to get that back. And make this happen because like that to me, I faced did the same thing Zach's face did. I went, oh, that would be something. Emergency show live five days a week if that happened. Morning cup of hockey, you'll be live in the summer if that happens. Let's go. Now we just got a wheel.

It's got to talk about it every single day to it finally gets to Bowman. And he finally relents and calls my career to get that first rounder back from Walman. Okay, great stuff. All right. What's that? I talk to you soon. I say Jersey's a businessman. 100% is.

There's work to be done. Yep, totally true. All right, thanks, pal. You'd be good. All right, see you. Kobe Cohen, the co-host of the Morning Cup of Hockey program. Anything there grabbing you, or are you still getting that Grinch smile?

Thinking about the Dorothea of Offer Sheet from Edmonton. That's a good point. That is what I looked like when that happened. Get that pick. I love this idea. Like, Vegas here, what they have kind of done over the last two weeks, effectively. And it's a bigger picture thing here where, you know,

maybe a word has been described or used to describe them, such as ruthless throughout their time in the NHL. And in the last two weeks, they've basically taken that and what they've been and been like, you think we've been ruthless before? Hold my beer. We're not going to go to the media veils. We're going to lose the pick.

We're going to get fined and we're going to withhold permission to speak to our coach. And then at some point here, if the oilers just come over top, and they kind of give them a little slap back. I think it would be unbelievable. It's easy for us because it's free content for us to talk about every single day. Colby just said they'll go live every day if that happens. Dude, your remtruck will come back. Your remtrak will come back from vacation.

Like, you know what I mean? He could be like a rooba's like honey pack up. Like we're going back home. Why? Oh, Dorafia of offer sheet. What? We're getting off the, yeah, you heard me right. 16 hours into the golf stream.

Getting off the TV. I mean, like, we have to do a show now. And put that hole in one stream. to rest. But yeah, like, I think it's also just good for the leak. If that's, if that happens, obviously you don't want things to go banana lands where it's like, all right, like, there's no laws here in the society. And we've got a real things back in. But if you get that going, where something crazy like that happens and somebody says, okay, yeah, you, you want to, you want to throw a punch at us here that way? Watch this. I think that would be unbelievable

entertainment. And also, you look, this, that you may have some pushback to this where where I say this is like yes GMs will still have to have respect for each other but Stan might have to look at this and say we got to take some swings here because we've got Connor McDavid him hang on it happened to him it happened to Edmonton oh yeah this is not like right like enough like the the gentleman nonsense it's tactic right and he's like we got a year here maybe with Connor to show and to get ourselves in the right direction. Why not?

What do you have to lose? What do you have to lose? Oh, no, you start a war with Vegas. They did it. It's already a war. It's already a war. We can start it. That's like saying he started it when he hit me back.

Like, that's not starting with a war. Yes, right. Just threw another log on it. All right, this segment is a presentation of the Ninja Crispy Pro countertop glass air fryer. Shark Ninja is elevating the airfire experience. The Ninja Krispy Pro is a family-sized cooking system that comes with a 6 quart and 2.5 quart glassware. Storage lids, crisper plates, and a modular base for any occasion.

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or go to shark ninja.ca.ca. One game on the board tonight. Zacharoo, game one. I got something for you here. Uh-oh. What are you got now? You'll think this is, uh, you're going to laugh, I think. Okay.

So you, uh, you told me the other day, Tyler Nother is now the owner of the, uh, on sound attack, right? President and, well, President, the Owen Sound Attack, yes. Right, President, sorry, he's the president. So I keep thinking, I'm like, Tyler, Tyler, that name sounds really familiar. Yeah. And I go and look it up, and Tyler Nother is my age.

I played against him playing minor hockey. So then I was like, well, that's kind of scary that there's a guy who's my age, who's now the president of an OHL team. Oh, HL team, yeah. That's a little bit nuts. And then today the Owen Sound attack announced their new head coach, Keenan Reynolds. Yeah. Keenan Reynolds is also my age.

I tweeted that yesterday. Thanks for paying attention. I tweeted that yesterday. Thanks for paying attention. Okay, yeah, okay. And he's your age, too, yeah? They post that. And I realized that basically the entire front office in Owen Sound is being built out with people who are my own age.

And it made me sit there and realize what the hell is going on. Because the president of Owen Sound and the head coach of Owen Sound are both 98. It's my time. Do you want me to make a call? Like is this you trying to like get off the program? You want me to make a call? You're just going to leave like broadcasting altogether? I'm going to go run an O HL team with the rest of the 98th.

For Elwyn Sound. Those rink fries they've got. Yeah. The best. Sam McKee was the first to get on board that one and bang that drum. But yeah, like the Harry Lumley Bayshore is like legendary for the French fries. It was just shocking to me because at first, Tyler and all, doing it and stepping in was like, that's crazy good for him.

And then Kenan was also announced, I was like, well, what am I doing? So let me ask you then. Did you have the, what am I doing with my life? Conversation with yourself. Here you're talking about offer sheets for Pavl Dorfiav with the Edminton Oilers. Yeah. Meanwhile, I'm yelling and streaming after West Coast hockey game. So the Leafs Lose to the Sharks on a Tuesday night and it's 3 a.m.

My girlfriend's getting mad at me telling me to go to bed. Yeah, she's right. You should. There's people my age who are running. Yeah, but the smelling salts down. Yeah. He's not,

Tyler is not sitting up until two in the morning on live stream doing smelling salts. I can assure you of that. As far as we know. As far as we know, I'm going to stick my neck out on this one and say like, yeah. First time I met him was the Memorial Cup in 2017 in Windsor. That's the Rocky Thompson team.

All right. Gabe Valardi. Yeah. McElagie. Sean Day, Jeremiah Addison. That was a good team. Michael D. Pietro. It was shocking.

It was shocking. Yeah, just keep getting older. Wait a little you see like a hockey player that, like a favorite hockey player of yours. And all of a sudden you start covering his kid. Like I was just talking about Malhotra. Like I covered all of Mani's career going back to the OHL. Right. And now here I am going on.

Well, you're wearing your bulldogs at going on about Caleb Malhotra. And every year there's a. You get to a certain point where every year there's another one. You just like, you stop feeling old and you're just like, I'm old. I'm not feeling old. I am old. You know, the tree's not made of what it is. Getting there.

Yeah, okay. The announcements of the, the Owens Sound president of head coach was. Do you want me to call Tyler and ask if there's room for another 98 in the organization? Yeah, see what positions they've got available. Thanks, Jeff. I appreciate that. We may not have a job for you, but we have a position. All right.

Let's get to your favorite segment here. The sheet is powered by Fanduel. Play your game with Fanduel. It's the NHL season, and Fandul is your home for all the action on the ice. From Blue Line to Bet Slip, we've got you covered all season with unique promos,

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and physically located in Ontario. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling, or the gambling of someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600. Do speak to an advisor free of charge. 98-born, Zach. One game on the schedule here tonight,

which is going to become tough for me doing these parlays every day where we go one game, one game, many games over the next little while, so we've got to get creative. But in that one game here tonight, The big story, obviously, is that Kail McCar will not be able to play. And I'm sure that with all the time off that he had and trying to get ready for the Western Conference finals, Kale put forth a valiant effort to be available for tonight's game, but he won't be available.

And I know that a lot of people are saying that this poses a problem for the Colorado Avalanche. But with that in mind, I think that the dog steps up big time for the abs while they're missing an important cog in their system. Once part of the time, I'd say cog would be cogliano. But let's see the big reveal here for what you have for us today. Valiant effort. Very nice. Dog, of course, Nathan McKinnon. And the cog is Gabriel Landis.

Cog. Calgary Natushkin, Nathan McKinn, Gabriel Andes Gogag. $5 wins $1190.99 to help your week go smooth. This is what I'm doing. And Keenan Reynolds's coaching and Tyler Nother is the president of the Owen Sound Attack. I think we should, every time you do something like ridiculous on the program,

I think I should just like have this like on a post it beside me. Like do you know what's a couple of other 98s are doing? Like you know what I used to do? Such a dink. You know what I used to do to all my friends back when I was in my 30s. I mean what you think about this. Every time I had a friend of mine turned 33, I would buy them a Bible. And inside the Bible, I would write, this is what Jesus did by the time he was 33.

What have you done? And I would give that as a birthday presents. No? That's, uh, no. Yeah, good. Thanks, man. Put your life in some perspective. Here's what Jesus did.

What have you done upon turning 33? What have you done? Tyler Nother just did. Look what Tyler. Nothing just did. Oh, wow. I might just torture you with Owen Sound Facts now. Oh, you know who's behind that one?

Wow. How old is he? Oh, he's a 98, just like you. Yeah. Oh, you're going to play men's league tonight and then go to the bar with your buddies. Well, you could be the president of an OHL team. Look what you're not doing in your life. Had to call an Uber after hockey again because you were over served.

Again. Okay. Yeah. That's what I'm going. Look what you're not doing with your life. Every time the own sound attack make a move now. I'm going to be like, hey, Zach, you see this? You see this?

98. All right. I'll try to say that I won't torture you like that, but that's a lie. But this is not a lie. We are going to be on tomorrow, but it'll be a taped program. We're recording it early in the morning to broadcast later in the afternoon. And you know why? I will tell you on the show tomorrow.

How about that for a big hook? Also another note for people. here on the Daily Face Off channel we dropped the feature with the Brantford Bulldogs the full feature is out over the next little while more interviews are going to be coming out including one today with a guy

whose name was brought up numerous times across the entire network whether it's because of his father or himself sit down with Caleb Malhotra will be coming out later this evening as well so make sure to subscribe here to the channel to catch all of that. It's fantastic we'll amplify all of it on our daily faceoff feeds

and on my feed as well and I suspect Zachs. Two, thanks to Brian Burke for bringing the fire, just like spitting bullets today. Got him on a hot topic early. He just got him right fired up about Bruce Cassidy and the Vegas Golden Night. So thanks to Berkey for stopping by each and every Wednesday,

especially today where he was just livid about stuff. And that's always when Berkey's at his best. Passionate hockey man, Brian Burke. Thanks to Colby Cohen, one half of the power duo that is the morning cup of hockey. Watch it every morning. Listen to it if you can't get a chance to watch it and you're on the go.

I've always maintained, man. Like, that's my favorite program. Those two guys are stars, him and Johnny Lazarus. Thanks to you for watching. Thanks to you for listening. Thanks to you for being in the chat and entertaining the goofy ideas that we have on this program. If you've already subscribed to our daily faceoff YouTube channel, we thank you. If not, please consider doing so.

If you have already subscribed to us on various podcast platforms, we thank you, if not please, considering doing so as well. That's it for me, a recorded version, not live, of myself, along with Greg Wyshinsky, coming up tomorrow right here. Fuck, Eastern on a daily faceoff YouTube channel. We'll talk to you then.