The Steve Dangle Podcast - Benched | November 3, 2019

Episode Date: November 4, 2019

On this episode of The Steve Dangle Podcast, video games and old stuff (00:00), who wore the crown (06:00), the Leafs beat the Flyers last night, Willy was benched, and are the Leafs trying hard enough? (13:45), Louis Domingue to the Devils & Scott Sabourin's scary moment (51:00), Dustin Byfuglien's weird situation with Jets (50:00), Edmonton Oilers win again & are trying to win back Jesse (1:10:00), Milan Lucic suspended two games for sucker punching Kole Sherwood  (1:16:00), Jesse's November Stanley Cup pick (1:22:30), Ryan Reaves, Adam Lowry, and Evander Kane (1:25:00), Nashville's outdoor jersey and Adam's jersey hot take (1:30:00), an NHL team in Houston isn't happening (1:37:00), we had a live Easter Seals video game party yesterday! You can watch that on Steve's YouTube Channel and Adam's going to eat a Ghost Pepper (1:39:00), and the press conference: a history lesson (1:44:50).  Originally aired: November 3, 2019 Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/JlQ1waLrH7M Merch: https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/fancydangleshirts Follow us on Twitter: @Steve_Dangle, @AdamWylde, & @JesseBlake Follow us on Instagram: @SteveDangle, @AdamWylde, & @Jesse.Blake Subscribe to us on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/steve-dangle-podcast/id669828195?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Panago Pizza presents S.S.D.P.P. The Steve Dangle Podcast with your hosts Steve Dangle, Adam Wilde, and Jesse Blake. Let's go! Are we quite confident that there's no Purolator truck outside? Nope, it's blinds down day. Oh, it's blind down day. We're good. Oh, okay, so the weekday shows blinds up day. No, it just goes with the wind.

Whatever Jesse, the visor, decides. It's whatever the wind tells me. I listen to it each morning. I get out my wind stick. I raise it to the sky. And whichever way it blows, it tells me what to do with the blinds. Jesse, can you paint with all the colors of the mountain? Colors of the wind, Adam.

Haven't you ever seen Pocahontas or owned Lion King on VHS? Steve, you were really excited about something today. Something you're missing right now that's happening on YTV. By the way, YTV, for everybody who doesn't know Is Canada's Nickelodeon Yes, essentially Basically, except cooler And they used to have a host named Phil

And it was great And video and arcade top 10 And today, they have a Toy Story marathon And I'm freaking missing it to do this show And it's garbage Now, if only If only one could get Toy Story on demand You couldn't possibly

Could do a marathon If you could only get it on demand Couldn't be me Well, Disney Plus isn't out yet True Yeah idiot But you can always buy it on like Apple On iTunes

I don't buy things Yeah well you're buying a digital thing Right You're a digital thing There's something different There's something about watching a marathon on TV That more justifies your cereal eating And pajama wearing

I know There's like an hour added on to it because of the commercials That's what's different That's what's different. Yeah. Yeah. Also, yeah. Listen, all right?

I'm going to be a boomer about this and say the television's better. No. I'm going to say it. Back in my day. Back in my day. That's a tough take. Is that the road you want to go down? Back in my day, this is how I changed the channel.

I had the remote. My Nona used to have this box with a switch on it. She had the joystick remote? No, not even joystick. I don't even know how to describe it. It looked like this thing. It was a rectangle, basically. It was a giant box, and it had, like, this little lever on it,

starting at, like, channel 1 and then channel 30 or whatever, and you'd go... My parents had a TV at our cottage that had only 13 channel inputs, so you could only get... Now, at the cottage, you could get two channels back then, because we had an antenna, but you'd have to, like, go up to the TV and switch them. CBC and what?

We had a CBC and, I think, like, a Fuzzy Global. Oh, okay. Or TVO. TVO was always one of the... Yeah, because you had to get TVO, right? TVO and CBC you have to get no matter what. Because that's a public broadcaster as well, right? Yes, it is.

You've got to have shows about sock puppets at the cottage. True. And in the basement, I don't know what it was about everybody's basement back then, but they always had the TV with the wood around it. Oh, dude, I had that. So you opened it up, or you turned it on, and it went thunk, boom, and the screen just blew. It was this loud thing.

Anyway, we're sounding real old right now. I remember video games, you had to change it to channel three when you turned it on. There was no HDMI input, it's just Channel 3. I remember the first time I had to do an input, I was like, what? I have to do what? You ever had to blow into a cartridge? A bunch of people watching are like, what's a cartridge? Hey, those were when games had slow load times.

Like the load times were non-existent. Nintendo games were amazing for that. You ever have a game that took too long to load and you're like, alright, well I know that's too long, so I'm going to turn it off and start over. Yeah. I had that. Now games can load literally like if you're in a big world like GTA. They're loading in real time around you Yes, walking through the world. You don't even realize it's it's wild

Yeah, that was my biggest contention with Grand Theft Auto 5 by the way It's just a load times were so bad, but they fixed it with Red Dead Redemption 2 Redemption 2 okay, so there's a guy so there's obviously clickbait guy who we talked about there's another guy I think what happens when you shoot guy you can't shoot in the game What I love about that is he got like 500,000 views for that Legitimately rich off of lies like just Dedicated to a guy who's traveled back from the future Apparently that is at least performance

It is wasting people's time. There's another guy named Fiji who like all he does is busy. I think it's Fiji F-I-Z-H-Y I think I don't know And all he does is like Video game videos and a lot of them are about Red Dead Redemption 2 and he's been making them for I don't even know how long I guess The year that the video game

Has been out and he's like hey So there's this cabin that I didn't know Existed and just discovered Because the map is just so ridiculously vast How did we get here? I think we should start making NHL Videos about things you can't do in NHL Like, hey, here's how you can bring on a basketball onto the NHL and throw it at the goalie.

And then we don't do it in the video? Vince Carter on the Leafs? It's always the YouTube, like... And he's dunking a puck into a net. Into a basket that's on the ice. Oh, there's super goalie mode? Where you light on fire and you're also the goalie? Whoa.

Is Austin Matthews actually listening to you When he does that listen celebration This game contains my mom You can go into the stands And have a hot dog What And it's just very clearly A poorly photoshopped like Mitch Marner

In the third row like With a hot dog Huge on his hand Mr. Liar You know what man it's all about the headlines Now let's get to one of them Which is who wore the crown as we always know And as we always tell you, live generously and life will treat you royally.

Why not pour yourself? Excuse me, Steve. Why not pour yourself a friend? Why not? Pour yourself and a friend a crown roll because we're going to talk about who wore the crown. Every week we do this. Every show we do this. And it's about the player that gives the most for the Leafs in the last game, in the last

couple of games, depending upon how long it's been since we last did a show. Because you crown the Leaf that lives generously. Giving it all for the team. It's brought to you by our friends at Crown Royal. Live generously. Life treats you royally. Excuse me. And let's get into it.

Steve! There are at least two people else, two others, who I think could deserve the crown. But I'm going to go ahead and give one, perhaps a generous one, to Jason Spezza. I like that. He keeps taking penalties, and I think Mike Babcock might actually drive him to the moon and leave him there soon. but he finally scored his first as a leaf last year to tie the game uh or last year last night um he got a very generous assist on the first goal but an assist nonetheless and in a shootout where they needed a goal tootsweet he scored a beautiful move to remind everyone that even though his feet

aren't as quick as they used to be his hands are beautiful sure are uh no one needed that performance more than jason spezza so i'm going to give it to jason spezza it's really nice of considering Jason Spezza took two costly penalties last night. But we'll get into that a little bit later. Listen, I'm happy to see Jason Spezza doing well. Did you know he scored that goal, the Mikhaev goal? No, I thought it was him. You thought it was Spezza?

No, I thought it was Mikhaev. Okay, okay. Because until I woke up this morning, I went to bed thinking that Mikhaev scored that goal. Well, because the camera went straight to Spezza because, I mean, the director is just guessing in real time like we are, except they have to make an actual decision, and they decided Spezza.

Yeah. It was weird. And then guess what? Spetsa might not. And we'll get to that. I'm going to give mine to the right-handed defenseman that the Leafs have needed for probably seven years. Eight years. Ten years.

Fifteen years. Justin Hall. Yep. There it is. Justin Hall is the best right-handed defenseman on the team right now. And that includes Tyson Berry? Yes. Not necessarily skill-wise, but he is the best guy in game action right now, bar none.

Who spent more money this season than Tyson Berry? Oh yeah, it's not. Now, we were talking like $8 million a year. If he gets, like, what was it? Jake Gardner, they were saying, was going to be a $6 million guy, right? He could have. I think the Habs offered him that. Yeah, but I mean, I think he took the extra year to go to Carolina and be in a quieter market and all those sorts of things.

And he waited. And he waited, which I think the agent would never admit, but I think that hurt him. I think you should assign the... It always does. Yeah, you don't want to wait past day three. Because you're no longer dealing with a pool of 31 teams. You're dealing with, I don't know, the eight that can afford you. And he also had a back injury at the end of last season, which scared a lot of teams off.

But when he was healthy, they were talking last year like he was a $6 or $7 million defenseman for five, six years. Tyson Berry came into this year, same thing. Now, if Tyson Berry turns it around, I'm sure he'll be back to... I bet he will. But Tyson Berry has spent some money. We were talking about him hitting 60 points, and that ship is very quickly sailing away. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And you have to wonder why, because he's playing with, except for last night,

playing with the Leafs' best defenseman, Jake Muzzin. Best defensive defenseman, for sure. Like, he should be allowed to do what Tyson Berry does, and there's probably a few other things that go around with it, but Justin Hall, that should be the focus. Justin Hall has been consistent, he's been great, And he's been the guy that they should have had last year. Now, you know, at the time, I was like, is Justin Hall good enough?

I remember saying on this show, like, Steve, you were complaining about the fact that he was a ghost, right? He wasn't playing. Like, what's, are you going to use this guy or not? He wasn't a hockey player. He wasn't a hockey player. And then he came in, didn't look good. And I said, well, listen, if he doesn't look good, even when he comes in, that's his job. He's got to look good.

So, however, you were right. Sustained action. The guys looked very, very strong. Or I wrote him off. And somehow. During the preseason, I wrote him off. He wasn't even an option. Timoshev, too.

I'd written Timoshev off dead wrong. Yep. But it's nice to see a guy like him prove that you can work your way back into Mike Babcock's good graces over the course of time. It just takes 18 to 24 months. Now, Justin Hall, you get my crown. Dude, Josh Levo, too. It took Josh Levo like three years. And then by the time Babcock was like, oh, he's a good player, he got traded.

Yeah. Well, he had to. I know. Jesse. This week. This must be a tough choice for you. This is going to be your toughest crown yet. I don't know how you're going to do this one.

I struggle with handing out this crown every episode. Do you, man? I think about it a lot. I go home. I reference back to the beginning of the podcast. I take out the wind stick. I see where the wind's going. And the wind's always pointing at Willie.

Especially after last night. Especially after last night! When Mike Babcock decided to take the old man Leafs fan take and make Willie his whipping boy. Boomcock. Boomcock? Because he's a boomer. What's wrong with the name Boomcock?

I think that could be a lot of things, Steve. I think out of context, that could be problematic. But anyway, continue. I don't get it. I don't understand what Mike Babcock thinks is going to be accomplished by benching William Nylander. Why not? Why would you do it?

Not why not. Why? It's clearly not going to be a motivator to make him play better because he's an adult and a hockey player, and he knows how to play hockey, and in one possession, there was a player beat him around the corner because he went there and he got lazy. Now, to be fair, it's the slowest player.

To be fair, in that play, Matthews also doesn't make a play on the puck that's right there. He probably should make a play on it. Where was Matthews' benching? Where is Cody Ceci's benching every time he gets turned? Was Sanheim benched when he got

beat around the corner by Kapanen and blew the biggest tire I've ever seen? They don't have a choice with Sanheim. But continue. They do, though. You don't have to play anyone. You don't have to play anyone. By Christmas, that might be another defenseman. I would like

you guys to tell me why Mike Babcock has decided to make William Neal Ehlers-Webbinger. Because he's just decided to. Like so many things, he's just decided to. That's not a good enough reason. Yeah, well, I disagree.

I don't understand it either. I mean, he has been their most consistent forward all season. I mean, this has not been a tough take for Jesse to take every single time, considering how up and down the rest of the forwards have been. Oh, yeah.

Like, Kapanen had a great night last night, but he started the first seven games like he wasn't even the same guy. Kapanen's in the role he ought to be in. Right. And Nylander's in the role he ought to be in. And that's where I take, you know what, let's wrap this segment. Let's get into that. Hey, that's Who That Wore the Crown for this week.

Brought to you as always by Crown Royal. Next time the puck drops, why not? Why not? Generously treat your Leafs crew to a good old-fashioned crowned royal old-fashioned. That's right, I said old-fashioned twice. Now, let's talk about that William Nylander situation, because it did draw a lot of ire and a lot of takes. The takes were hot, piping, you might even say.

Now, with William Nylander, you made a statement there about Kasperi Kapanen. Yes. Kasperi Kapanen is now what? In the role he ought to be in. Right. Third line, right winger. Is William Nylander in the role he ought to be in? Man.

The answer is yes. The answer is absolutely yes. He is a second-line winger on 31 teams. You know what's funny? We've been giving him so much praise for the amount of points he's gotten this season, and I went and looked at it. I want to say it was before this game, and I went, yeah, he's doing so much better. He's on pace for 52.

50 okay that's better than last year but like he's supposed to be money in the bank 60 money in the bank 60 and he's making money in the bank 60 money and so the puck's not going in offensively and the stats were there last year it's just not going in okay okay fine and then this year he's looking real good but the again the puck's just not going in so when the puck's not going in he's defensively useless. Useless! Okay, well, he does good with possession. Listen, I cannot ignore the thing that my eyes are seeing.

And I don't care if he has that play nine times out of ten. Jesus Lord, he handed a goal to the Flyers. Handed a goal to the Flyers. I'd rather him give the puck away by accident and put it right on his stick tape to tape than just not giving a shit. For that reason, though. Yeah, okay, the puck's not going in,

but skill-wise, he's in the position he should be. He should be playing with Matthews. He's a top-two winger, whatever, in his position, whatever. Where I'm trying to go with this is the instant reaction from people is, well, Cody Ceci blows stuff all the time, and actually, we'll talk about that pairing, but you had a reaction in your video,

the LFR, last night, which was so funny about, I forget how you reacted to Cody Ceci. Where are you going? Yeah, where are you going? But, hang on. Hang on. Kapanen is in the role he's supposed to be in.

Nylander's in the role he's supposed to be in. CeCe is not. And if you don't think Leafs brass knows that, you're out of your mind. Hold on, though. Hold on. I got to get here. And they also deserve criticism for putting him in that role. Yes.

You cannot. Okay. You can. I get the Nylander benching because Nylander is playing in a position he should be. If you're saying that Cody CeCe, who is objectively failing at the position he's playing, should be playing that position, you're wrong. And you could ask me why the Leafs keep playing in there. Believe me, I don't know.

Big block on the PK last night in overtime, which should be mentioned, but 99% of the time, he's stunning. The point is, you bench guys who are not playing well in the roles that they're set up to be playing in. I don't think Cody Ceci is meant to be playing where he is. So if you want to make that comparison, William Nylander gets benched because that's the position and the role he should be playing, and he blew it.

Cody, CeCe's not going to get benched because that is not the role he's prepared for. That's not the role he should be playing. And that's not the role he's good enough for. And I can almost guarantee Travis Dermott's taking that spot. Almost, almost, almost guarantee it. It's happening. It's happening, guys. That's the only reason you would continue to play CeCe there.

I tell you what, if the plan is to keep him there all year, tuck the season in. It's done. He's that bad. He's not an NHL player. Who? I am fascinated to see what kind of a contract he gets next year

and whether or not it's written in Cyrillic like no NHL team can watch him this season and be like for sure we're signing you to even league minimum he's terrible if Paul Fenton was still a GM I would say he'd sign him

no he's unbelievable I had no idea but the only thing I would say is that William Nylander's not playing poorly. He had one poor play. Let me try to justify that. So, Cody Ceci, they know he's not in the role he ought to be.

The defense is... It's not great to begin with. It's not the best. It's not great to begin with. They're not playing well, and also Muzzin's out. So, certain guys are having to play a little bit more, and the Leafs are constantly on the penalty kill, and right now he's on the penalty kill,

so they keep having him out there. okay fine whatever um you know austin matthews blowing his coverage on that goal john tavaris is out all right babcock blew the doors off by having matthews play 22 minutes or whatever which is blowing the doors off by mike babcock standards okay fine who's hurt on the right wing no one no one so if you suck i'm gonna replace you with any old bum he didn't even replace him with a right winger, didn't he? He was just like, Timoshev, sure, you go. Take your big ass out there.

The point was to be like, all right, who has the least secure spot on this team? I'll just replace you with them. But one of the things as a coach and as a manager, you have to know how to manage your people. I don't think benching William Nylander is going to make him make that play. So we're at a crossroads then.

Either he will play for you or he won't. And you've got to decide who stays and who goes. I'm not saying to trade William Nylander, but like, listen, there has to be a happy medium between goatee sunglasses who say he's useless and everyone who thinks the sun shines out of his ass. Because it, except for you. Because there's, he's just not what some of you think he is. He's not a completely useless player and he's not a completely flawless player. This guy, This guy, that whole allegedly top line, which once Tavares, Marner, Hyman is healthy, you cannot justify that Matthews, Johnson, Nylander is the top line.

I don't think that line's been the same since, and I hate to say this, since Zach Hyman left. That line did not play well together last year. He's clearly very important. And it's not playing well this year. And I know that sounds weird. Me from two years ago, I'd be like, what the hell are you talking about? I just, they look, Matthews and Nylander in particular look so, so bad when they don't have the puck. Yes.

So, so bad. And again, Matthews is making touch of God money. And I didn't see that last night. It was the second time this season where Babcock has actually been like, here, I'm going to play a whole big bunch and zeros across the board. Did you have a problem with the final shot for the Leafs in overtime when Matthews kept the puck and he didn't pass it to Marner, who was opening the slot? I'm trying to remember. It was the three of them coming back down.

Marner was right in the middle, he had his stick up, and Matthews kept it for the shot. I don't know. And then they raced back to the other end. That might have been part of the plan. Like, sometimes you raise your stick for, like, the fake. But then the guy who raced back to the other end was Mitch Marner. And Matthews stayed in the corner. Oh, there were two back checks.

and Matthews was one of them I was like it's overtime leave it all out there like there's no way you're that ugh I gotta tell you

I think I think if you're gonna do the pass shoot it's not to Mitch Marner Mitch Marner's gotta be doing the passing so I'll take Matthews shot any day over Marner's

my problem is he didn't do anything after he shot the puck he's still in the corner and the play went the other way and Mitch Marner the winger on the play

is the one who did the back check Mitch didn't look great on the second goal but he had an honest effort yeah No, and Marner, like, should be commended because he, oh, man, like, he has taken a couple really shitty penalties recently, but he does try. Yeah. He's trying.

It's sometimes chaotic energy and a little bit misplaced. He's still, he's not magnificent defensively. I don't think he's the selkie candidate that some people think he is, but he makes an effort. And I'm not seeing the same growth from Willie, and I'm not seeing the same growth from Austin even. Without the puck. I think the issue is a lot of people are like, okay, well, three of their better players are out, and that's true. Tavares is an irreplaceable guy on this team. Muzzin is an irreplaceable guy on this team.

Hyman is obviously an irreplaceable guy on this team. But let's just put that in perspective. Every team has that. Every team's got injuries. And what about those injuries makes you throw a limp noodle at Travis Sandheim? Nothing about any of those injuries Has anything to do with your effort It has nothing to do with your

Give a shit level And they just don't look like they do When they don't have the puck What I think in summation of what you're saying here is Most of the criticism leveled at William Nylander Is obnoxious and probably too far However It's not unfair to criticize him

No And that's what happens online You've got people who are like Well this is crap And I think, wasn't there like a, didn't Colby Armstrong suggest trading him this week? And it was a really, it was a bad suggestion. I believe it was, I don't know. And then somebody else wanted to, somebody had a Toffoli for Nylander.

Toffoli's not playing in L.A. He's not playing in L.A. He's not playing in Toronto. But regardless of that, just because a player is overly criticized, which we can all agree William Nylander is, doesn't mean he is beyond criticism. He's probably disproportionately criticized. Of course he is. And the fact that, you know, he makes one mistake and he gets bit for it.

I get it, but it was a terrible mistake, and with injuries right now, some guys aren't replaceable. I also don't think his coach knows how to manage him. I don't think his coach knows how to manage anybody really on that team, because he's not able to get them motivated. Even on good games, where they look great, they don't look great for the whole game. Let me tell you this, though. And that's a coaching problem.

I don't think, and I agree with you, but I don't think that that was for Willie only. I think that benching was a message to the rest of the team. That's fair. I don't, I don't think, I think that there's more to that. And I'm, you know, Mike Babcock, doesn't he have a psychology degree? Something like that. Yeah. So like he's, he's all about like mind games.

Right. And, and not in a, not in a manipulative way, but coaches have to manipulate. Right. That's part of motivation is a manipulation. Yeah. And I wonder if, if benching him, it's like, okay, we're not afraid to bench one of our big three here up front. Well, big four, I guess.

And, and if. It's not like he's benching Tavares. No. Well, he wouldn't have to bench Tavares. No, no, he really wouldn't. You're right. But, you know, like, I think that there was more to that than just Willie in a vacuum. I think it was more like everybody wake up.

But because here's the thing. If Babcock, I don't think Matthews earned it. He's blown some coverages. I don't think Matthews has earned a benching this year. But I feel like Babcock's at the point now where he would. You know what Matthews has earned? If that was Matthews blowing that same play, I bet Matthews doesn't play the next shift. I bet he doesn't.

You know what Matthews has earned? Once Tavares comes back, playing behind him for the foreseeable future. There's no... Yeah. Dude, he's not the same player two-way. He gave Tavares the Tavares line, the Bergeron assignment, because him and Nylander, at least together, well, that's a little different. Nylander had to play center because Kadri decided to do the thing again.

Let's not get into it. Yeah, let's not. Let's not open old wounds. But Matthews and Nylander would get eaten alive And a couple times In recent memory We've seen Babcock be forced to use those two Against that line

And they get destroyed They're not useful without the puck They're just straight up unuseful I also think I'd like to see Andreas Janssen As much as I've liked him He was a great goal last night I love his spirit, I love his energy

I'd like to see him pull a little more of the same skill, a little more of the Leo Komarov get under your skin. Because he's capable of it, and you've seen him do it. He's got to play defense for the whole freaking line. He does. That's the problem. I was saying that to myself last night.

I'm like, you know, I'd like to see Mickey get a shot with that line. I want to see Mikheyev. And I'm like, that solves nothing. Adding Mikheyev to that line doesn't make Matthews or Nylander less aloof without the puck. Just try. a little bit more

of what they're doing. We've been screaming about be tougher, be grittier, punch someone in the face. Okay, now we're all the way down to literally just try. It's unacceptable. And we're at a crossroads here. Sometimes coaches get fired and it's not fair. Maybe that's where we are.

Maybe it's you gotta get rid of them and it's not fair, but we're at a point now where the players aren't playing for them. Yeah, I'm moving towards I think I know that the players have this in them, and that there's something wrong with them getting motivated to get up

and just play defense for the entire game. Why were they better two years ago? Martin Marincin's in the top four! Didn't really have a negative impact on this game, did he? No, he's fine. I think if it was sustained he would have a negative impact, for sure. Listen, I know there's a ton of

Martin Marincin is God out there. I'm sorry at the NHL level he's not. But he does have sometimes just a... If he's marginal, great. As long as he's not less than marginal. On Saturday, it didn't affect the outcome of the game. Bingo.

And that's great. That's all you can expect from him. That's the most you can expect. That's fine. And Dermot, who I keep forgetting to mention in my videos, he looks good. He does. He looks like he gives a shit. But he is just warming up.

Yes. He had six months of rehab. Like, relax on the Dermot needs to play 20 minutes. He should be in the top four? No. Not yet. Not yet. He should be.

Eventually, yeah. And that's why I think as soon as January hits, And that's when Mike Babcock starts to play with things, right? If you remember Matt Martin, it was like game 41, 42, something like that. We'll be in the 30s at the beginning of January. That's also the time he clamped down after when he let them just play wild offense. And he was like, all right, come January, we're playing playoff hockey. And then there's no more wild offense.

Always good when random podcasters are able to predict what a coach is going to do. Well, it's boring at this point, isn't it? Well, it is. And I think I agree. I wonder who else it's boring to. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Listen, it's a frustrating situation because, as Jesse said and rightly pointed out,

you know what they're capable of. You know. Yes, yes. But there's obviously a disconnect, and it can't just be Tavares, and it cannot just be Muzzin. That's not an excuse. Or Hyman. These guys are world-class talents. I'm talking about Matthews, I'm talking about Marner, and yes, Nylander too. There are things that William Nylander does, whether the people that hate him want to admit it or not.

The facts are the facts. He is one of the best guys when it comes to neutral. He's great in the neutral zone. He's great at entries. He doesn't turn over the puck that much, despite what Twitter will tell you. He actually doesn't turn over the puck. Who's this, Marner? Nylander.

Oh, Nylander. Doesn't turn over the puck all the time. No. He is a great playmaker. However, there's something wrong here. There is something. Something doesn't smell right with this team. The one thing with Nylander that annoys me is how often he misses high and wide.

Put it on net. Yeah, just keep it down. Put it on net, and then you've got a greasy... You know who that probably drives nuts is Andreas Janssen. That's his bread and butter is getting those rebounds. Otherwise, why is he your lineman? But why are you trying to shoot top corner from where William Nylander shoots anyway? I don't know.

A lot of them seem to be missing the net completely on shots, especially on the power play. Tyson Berry's got to make better decisions with that. There's been a couple games... Why is he ripping slap shots above the net? I know exactly what you're talking about. Can you believe the team won last night the way we're talking about them? Oh, I know. You know, I got a lot of tweets of, and this was before I even posted the video,

a lot of people were like, I was happier with the loss to Washington. Because it was a better effort. Do you want to read your hot take tweet from last night? Oh. The one you threw into the video as well. Well, I mean, it was a little extremist. Was it? Okay, yeah, this team looks bad.

The Leafs have maybe their best start of the season against a team that's looked as flat as they've faced so far. And the Flyers were awful to start this game. That was just a little aside from me. Penalty trouble, goal. More trouble, another goal. Battle back, open the third soft. They just don't look like a good hockey team, man.

How is that extreme? Adam, what do you think? They don't. I mean, man, I would agree. I don't think there's any way that you can be happy with or encouraged by what we're seeing. And I think a lot of this has to do, too. I mean, yes, okay. And people have rightly pointed this out, and I've been talking about this too.

The save percentage has been awful. Freddie had a Freddie October. Freddie, he was my runner-up for the crown. I should have gave him the crown. He's the only reason they won. Last night is the only reason. Yes. And Freddie has to steal you games.

That's his job. However. And that save percentage looks a lot better if you take out the seven goals against Tampa. True. That it becomes, it's like a 9-20, high 9-20. He had one really short. Really? Yeah, when you take out the Tampa game, it bumps up to the high 920s.

No, I know that's moving the goalposts, but it's so early in the season that one really bad game ruins you for like two months. 920's enough. Oh my god, 920's enough to keep you in the Vesna conversation. Yeah, now, I assume that the reason that Freddie's save percentage looks like it does is because we were at that game. And so it's our fault, so we apologize for that. Well, and like, his high danger save percentage and all that. Yeah, which is not good. I look at the Sanheim goal, for example, and I'm like, what's he supposed to do?

What's he supposed to do? He's already down and out from the one save he made. Help him! He's getting nothing! What about Tavares or Muzzin being out of the lineup? Has anything to do with CeCe, who is a penalty killer from the beginning of the season onward, Miscommunicating with Mitch Marner Who's a penalty killer from the beginning of the season onward

What does their injuries have to do With Willie giving the wet noodle there What does it have to do With them taking way too many penalties What does it have to do With this team taking An insane amount of bench minors Over the span of half a decade

The answer is It's got nothing to do with any of those things So This team is going to get better on paper Dude, it might be worse. It might be the same thing that I was talking about before, where they're taking cough syrup for a chest infection. You've got to get antibiotics on that shit,

because they might get Hyman Tavares and Muzzin back and start winning games to their detriment. You know what I mean? Well, they've been winning games to their detriment for three seasons. Right? Especially in October, November, December. Yep. Yep.

Listen, I did want to touch on the penalties, Because, okay, exclude one, because the bench minor at the end of overtime is like, whatever, who cares, right? Still five penalties throughout the game, one of them in overtime. Stop with the goddamn penalties in overtime, and you know why that happens? And Kasperi Kapanen, who had a great game, unfortunately, it was him. It was really, what a bummer. Here's the thing. Here's why I don't think Spezza's going to be around long.

And I love Jason Spezza. On the team? On the team. I don't think he'll be here. I think somebody will pick him up, or they'll trade him somewhere, or whatever. But you can't be Jason Spets and take four minutes in penalties, ever. I think, I want to say two of those penalties, because he got the, for some reason, the too many men was given to him. Oh, is that what it was?

Which was confusing to me. The benchminder was at the end, right? There were two. Yeah. Oh, the second right. No, I think it was the first one, but Kapanen was in the box. I think that might have been an error. Okay.

Unless I'm making a mistake right now. The penalties that he takes. He still took one. Are not ones that you can take. If you take a penalty, and there are good penalties. There are penalties that break up plays, break up break, whatever it is. Yeah, sure. Jason Spezza takes penalties where it's hooking on the hands.

Yeah, lazy. He is hooking on the hands. Lazy or out of position or slow. Or tripping, yeah. But that's not just him, right? Jason Spezza doesn't play more than like 10 minutes. It's the whole team. You nailed it, dude.

Kapanen. Kapanen. One of the fastest players in the league. You're out of position. Yeah, and he got lazy and he stuck his stick out. You are out of position. And that's the problem. They're consistently out of position.

And now it's costing them in the penalties. And thank God their penalty kill has been okay-ish, even though it's 24th in the league. And the reason it's 24th in the league is because they take it in bunches. They took six penalties last night alone. And they can't score on the power play. And Jim Hewson and Craig Simpson were talking about how the Matthews- Sorry, Matthews-Jonson-Nielander line was being taken out of the game. because they're not on the penalty kill,

so they're not even able to get out there. Okay, well, maybe you need to start looking at using them on the penalty kill, straight up honest to God, to A, teach them defense, and B, to keep them in games where the team will not stop taking penalties. Andreas Johnson does kill penalties. Yeah. I don't know why he suddenly stopped. Well, because that's not his role anymore.

This is my issue with Mike Babcock, is that he believes that guys who are further up the lineup, except for Mitch Marner for some reason, shouldn't be playing that role. They should be playing their top-line role, and the other guys should be guys that are good on the penalty kill, which is why you end up with Hainsey, Zaitsev, Polak, CeCe on the penalty kill. And here's the thing. CeCe plays on the penalty kill.

Is Cody CeCe a penalty killer? He is a— He does not— His team killer. He's a killer. Dude, he's terrible at hockey. Dude, he can't play in the NHL. He's bad, man.

But this is the point. He's really bad. Listen, I play hockey. Am I a hockey player? No, I'm not a hockey player. You're a hockey player. I'm not a hockey player. You're not a hockey player by trade.

Bingo. Cody Ceci plays on the penalty kill, is not a penalty killer by trade. And this is the problem that we're facing with this, is that you've got guys that are suited for this role. And you're like, well, you might tire them out. Guys, these guys are 22 years old. I think they'll be okay. We can run them into the ground.

And they're only getting 18 minutes a night anyway. Like, who cares? Are you going to play Andreas Janssen who's got 16 minutes? Are you going to bump it up to 18 and all of a sudden he's going to be tired? Come on. I just don't know. Come on with that. That's crap.

I just don't know. And this is the issue. That's where Mike Babcock loses me. It's putting guys in roles just because he thinks they should go there, not because they've earned it or because they get good results there. That's a problem. And the second thing I want to bring up here is people say, do you remember when Morgan Rielly,

It was his first season, I believe. No, second season under Babcock, where everybody's like, wow, Morgan Riley looks awful. First. And they put him through the ringer, right? He was never playing the power play. He was always playing shorthanded. His numbers were awful.

And now he's one of the best defensemen in the league, maybe not defensively. Best offensive, for sure. Yeah, one of the best. Why is it that Morgan Riley had to go through that, and you're not doing that with Austin Matthews? Why are you not putting that guy through the shredder? Not because...

Yeah, I don't know. Because maybe he needs to learn, too. Maybe the shredder was, we're not going to give you the wingers you want. Or whatever. They are, though. What we've heard is that Kasperi Kapanen, Austin Matthews doesn't want to play with him. It wasn't a good fit. Exactly.

And it wasn't a good fit with Tavares and Marner either. And it's not like there's some fight there. It just didn't work. But what I'm trying to say is Why are we expecting Austin Matthews Other than the salary To all of a sudden

Be good at this If he's not thrown into the fire a bunch of times The guy has the talent If he's got 11.6 million dollar talent He can figure this out But you gotta continue to put him in that position And not let up until he shows you something It's okay to still do that

And this brings me back to At what point is Babcock's message just—assuming he has one, right? Like, we don't know exactly what the message is, but at what point is it just falling on deaf ears? Well, and that's why I hope we get Chris Johnston on soon. The timetables haven't worked out. But I would love to ask him, do they want to win for this guy? And, like, I know they want to win. Of course they want to win.

Of course everybody wants to win. Of course. Of course. But do they want to win this guy's way? And that's the key with a coach Do they believe they can? I don't know man And then like another thing Tavares, Hyman, and Muzzin being out

Has nothing to do with You still have a bunch of wingers On the penalty kill And they have Nick Shore and Freddy Gauthier Every now and then scurry out there To take a faceoff, take it and then Hopefully win and scurry back to the bench Oh what are you talking about? Zach Hyman's a penalty killer

Yeah he's a winger who they forced to take faceoffs Hopefully he's working on that While his knee recovers Working on face-offs Because he's going to be forced to do that again Is it just me Or did they completely change their penalty kill And do nothing to change it

Well they got a new coach and everything Oh yeah For sure Like freaking same personnel Basically like I'm losing my mind with this team Thank god they beat the Flyers Like what a miracle that they irked out

The shots were From the second Third The second period Third period And overtime I think we're 35 to 14. I want to see against a team on the second half of back I want to see one more guy on the Leafs try the kutcher off. You know, I literally I lunged at my television

I wanted to strangle One more guy come down there and fake a shot and let the puck just slide into the goal I know Tim ish of pulled it off in the minors But to see Matthews just flub it so bad. He knows it's coming guys To see Matthews flub it so bad And then have Timoshev In his, I think his first NHL attempt Try that, yeah

Well, I don't know when else he would have done it And he was the fifth shooter It was absurd Is that really your best effort? Eight guys in? I was at a loss I was actually at a loss There was a moment during the shootout

Where I was like, I hope they lose And then Konechny scored and I was like, I really hope Spezza scores. And then he did and it was beautiful. You can't root for your own team. No, but like they weren't rewarded for a really, really bad performance. And I think we got to at least look at the game from that positive angle is that they came out with the two points, which they should have and they won.

And come February, it's still just going to look at like two points on the schedule. And there's no excuse to lose to a team like the Flyers. And they did it. No offense. Right. That's the thing. With the Flyers, I don't care if the Flyers had home ice advantage. Second half of a back-to-back, there's no...

Again, no offense, but Brian Elliott's in net. Freddie versus Brian Elliott. Freddie should win that 10 times out of 10. You know? And now, on Tuesday, we have, again, a fully rested squad, just like they were last night. Home ice advantage this time, and it's against the LA Kings. They should get that game. And they'll probably get Muzzin back.

And Muzzin's going to be playing his former team. There's no excuse to drop even a point. There's no excuse. I hope. And if you drop points to the Kings, I'm very excited to see how the Vegas game goes. I think there's going to come a point when a coaching change is made. And once that coaching change is made, I hope that next coach is given a little bit of time with the squad. And once that time is up, I think then we're going to see who these players are.

Is it fair to say I think we're still, like, two years away from seeing what Auston Matthews really is? Yeah, I think so. I don't think he's there yet. I mean, the guy's 22. No, that's trash. What do you mean that's trash? It's trash. Because, dude, okay, so Ray Ferraro took a bunch of shit last night for saying that right now Leon Dreisaitl is better than Auston Matthews.

I am dying to hear the argument for why Matthews is better. I am too. I don't think anybody's arguing that Matthews is better right now. You point to even strength goals. Okay, fine. What about just... How about just domination? All fucking goals and two-way play.

And domination. The Oilers, beyond that top line, have shit. But those guys dominate. And those two guys just trudge through the frickin' muck. We are making the playoffs, you bunch of bums. And they drag the... And we see a bunch of guys on this team who are making drag you through the mud money. And they're not doing it.

I don't know. I know some people think I'm being negative. Well, a coaching change had to happen in Edmonton. Yeah. Yep. Two coaching changes, actually. It was McClellan and Hitchcock. Yeah, and when during that process was McDavid ever the problem?

And when during that process was Drysaddle ever the problem? Never. Never. Like, the Leafs, I look at them on paper, they're far too good to be this bad. I've said my piece. There it is. I think it takes a lot of losing And sometimes you don't realize

What it takes to do something Until you do it And I think these guys just have to lose a little And actually do something And then they'll realize what it takes to do it It's like what Nick Nurse said in the preseason It was something along the lines of I can't remember

Two of the new guys I forget their names But the standard when they went through Four rounds of playoff basketball Changed the standard for everything the standard for expectations for effort and they bring in a couple new guys who haven't quite done that and he's like okay you've got something to learn you've got you don't understand the level of sacrifice that it takes and i don't think these

guys understand no way there's no way there's a reason you see winners win and teams who are consistently good be consistently good is because they know the effort that they need to put out To get to that level And these guys Just need to realize that Once they do it And they haven't done it yet Let's call it what it is

The Boston Bruins Yeah Understand Oh yeah They understand And it took the Caps A while to get there But they understand

Yeah look how many Penguins understand That was like a Half a decade run That's why it's so funny The anxiety in Leafs Nation And on Leafs Twitter Is hilarious because

People are like Well this team has max Like a five year window No they fucking don't You might win You might win ten These guys will be around Like, Matthews is here.

Marner's here. Give him eight years, you know? Listen, it's just ridiculous because here's the thing. It could be a five-year window. It could be a two-month window. Matthews could go down with a career-threatening knee injury next game. You never know. You just do not know.

But it could also take ten years. Exactly. Look at what happened to Scott Saverin last night. You never know what's going to happen in an NHL game. You've got to look at it, if you're them, as we can't blow another shot. We cannot blow another shot because you just don't know with pro sports. However, the idea that this is somehow all going to be over and the Leafs are going to go back to missing the playoffs for 15 straight years in five years

and Matthew's going to go back to Coyotes and Brian Burke is going to develop wings and fly over there. I don't know. I hate that attitude more than anything. Because they could miss this year and then win the Cup. Look at Tampa. Oh, no, hold on. Who has been terrible?

Here's the other thing that people are doing. They're looking at the Leafs' capture situation, and they're looking at the players that they have currently on the roster and going, well, they're never going to have a better team than this. So, this is fucking huge! This is the best Leafs team ever, and it'll never be like this ever again. Let me legitimize your frustration, because here's the frustration I'm feeling. This summer was such a slog. Yeah, it was. It was last summer.

Yep. And you know what, Adam? So, to that end, it's been over a year of this shit. and we thought okay once we get through this as fans once we get through all this frustration and pen is put to paper whatever it's not my money once the pen is put to paper then they start kicking ass when they start playing hockey that's when they start kicking ass and to start the season oh it's only 15 games oh it's like you know 15 games is enough no at first it was all it's only five and then it was only 10 and now it's only 15 when's it gonna be only 20

and then only 25 and then only 30 and then only 35 like let's keep going we're three quarters of away to a quarter of the season let's let's keep moving the post for this amazing team on paper this handsomely played uh paid like 20 million dollars over the cap team on paper let's keep moving the goalposts let's keep coddling them let's let's throw a diaper party for this team Like, why not? Why not? Pete Blackburn might have to come back on. He might have to come back on.

He might have to come back on. Like, it's, well, it's. Steve, it might take 10 years with these guys. Who knows? Which is going to make for some great podcasts. Oh, yeah. Speaking of the over the cap thing, 16 of the 31 teams now sit technically over the cap. Do you not think it's a problem when half of your league is over the cap?

Maybe the cap isn't set where it should be because they're all spending above it. I don't know. Maybe if we had them spend into a luxury tax where you tax them triple and we could subsidize the smaller teams with more money rather than the pittance they get right now. Maybe we would have a situation. Every time I make that argument, I get a bunch of fucking lunatics in my mentions going, that's not mathematically possible. It all comes down to GMs and owners just disregarding the financial realities of this league. Okay, so you're mad at the Leafs for being over the cap. Okay, let's pretend the NHL is mad at the Leafs for being over the cap.

No, they're mad at the bonuses. And all these front-loaded contracts. All right, what would Vegas be doing right now? What would that three-year-old team be doing right now had the Leafs not, by the grace of God, taken the Clarkson contract? Like, what would Vegas be doing right now? I don't know. I don't know.

Like, paying him? Putting him in LNCIR? I mean, I don't know how that would work. What position would Columbus have been in if the Leafs hadn't figured out that little switch? Nathan Horton. Like, yeah. The uninsured, weirdly contract. They're a friggin' piggy bank, this team.

I don't understand how the league could ever be mad at them. Well, if the league is mad at them, they've got to be mad at 15 other teams. Right. Yeah. It's just funny to me. Don't tell me that the Rangers, the Bruins, like all the major markets in Chicago, when they're good, they're not going to do the same thing. Of course they are. It's just funny when you have a hard cap when nobody's spending to the hard cap.

It's not. If people think a luxury tax won't work, look at the current salary structure. You're incorrect objectively. We should be taxing these rich teams. We should be taxing them to death. We should be taking that money and putting it into other— Let the good teams spend. Let the good teams spend and tax the money.

Why not? Tavares is potentially missing more games, and people are coming out of the woodwork to be like, no, no, no, this is good. Yeah, because the LBI... Keep him in a few more. Like, what? The question I asked at the end of the last episode. Keep your captain out of the lineup?

You get an extra million? So that you can call someone up? For a million dollars. What is this league? It's ridiculous. That's horrible. It's stupid. It's stupid.

It's horrible, and it's why no one in the North American sports media landscape takes you seriously. It's a minor league. it's four it's league four league I don't know when UFC's on I don't know

when NASCAR's on when NASCAR's on Dale Earnhardt Jr. NASCAR doesn't he retired but NASCAR doesn't rate the way it used to it's aging out too

and number four on ESPN too it's pretty expensive to drive a car it's true now hey glad they won

of note of note Louis Domingue is now with the Devils for a seventh a lot of people including James Myrtle mentioned that

the Leafs probably would have wanted to do the same and acquire Louis Domingue. The problem is they don't have the money. They don't have the money. So Louis Domingue is with the Devils for now. Great trade for the Devils. They gotta do something on...

It's a cheap bet. Scary moment for Scott Sabrin last night. Sends loose to the Bruins. That was unbelievable. That hit. I mean, I know David Backus is a pretty solid guy, but it didn't... When you saw the collision, it looked like a

Two tough guys colliding It didn't look like what it ended up being Straight to the head And then I think he So he was out The second he got hit he was out And it's always so much worse It's never good when a guy's out at all

But he was outstanding And then he hit the ice as well It was all bad Freak accident I felt horrible for David Backus I felt really bad for him He looked like on the verge of tears. Oh, he was.

And that was one of the one time, like the one time in the NHL history where David Backus wasn't trying to be dirty. Let's be honest. He is a dirty player. I mean. That's his job. Well. Come on. He's grimy.

He gets in those areas. Yes. But that was just a one tough hockey guy trying to hit another tough hockey guy. And they just happened to conk heads. I'm trying to think of the last time I even saw something like that. And, man, I can't believe Saverin was posting to Instagram and all that. You saw Haley Salvin's post. He's got, like, one of his eyes is just, like, it looks like he was fighting Nate Diaz.

Oh, yeah, yeah. He was, like, he was. Massive it all. Oh, yeah. He's got a black eye that's, like, so swollen it's shut. Well, and I thought it was, you know, not that it's a funny situation, but they're like, oh, yeah, he has a broken nose. And I'm like, that, what? Well, there's some other things.

And what else? Yeah. Yeah, it was a terrifying incident, but thank goodness he's up and about and posting stuff. And I thought it was, I thought it happened at the end of the period. I didn't realize both teams just left the bench, like, out of concern. Yeah, no, they did out of concern, which was cool. That's crazy. And again, and again, Boston.

Like, I'm starting to get over all my rage at the organization and just, I just have a tremendous amount of respect for them. Yeah. What do they do wrong? I can't really find it. Like, okay. And then what are they, 10-3-1 to start the season? Yeah, and they won five straight.

I wonder if they won nine straight. They have. It's crazy. But like, to say they get away with murder come playoff time, okay, fine. What does the Boston Bruins organization do wrong? Nothing. Not right now. And here's the thing, the interesting thing with Boston.

Other than make seats that fit people. I believe Halak has played five or six games of the 13 or something that they've played. And he's been very good. Much better than he was. He was okay with the Islanders, but he's much better with Boston. He went through a rut in his career. I think that more had to do with the state of the Islanders. and the fact that Boston plays defense.

But the Boston Bruins have all the things that you need. They have high-end skill. They have veteran leadership. They have young, exciting, fast talent. Poise. And that's the key. So this is the thing that the Leafs are missing. Poise.

It's the poise and the determination. It's the desire to want to win. It's the grit in your teeth. And the Bruins have come out like they lost the Stanley Cup last year. Yep. They're coming out like a team scorned. We lost the Stanley Cup. So, like, the Leafs and Tampa Bay are playing like two teams like, oh, shucks, we lost, and it sucks.

Boston's like, no, we lost, and we should have won. And we're going to show everybody we should have won. You know what was such an underrated moment? DeBrusque, and sorry, we're going back two game sevens ago. This was 2018. DeBrusque scoring a goal I can't remember if it put the Bruins up Or if he tied it

There's so much time left in the game Skating by the bench and doing the jersey tug thing He knew He didn't even have to look up at the scoreboard To see that they were losing at the beginning of the period He knew the Boston Bruins were winning that game You know why? Because they do Because they do

They can rely on each other too They show up And he's a guy and you look at him and you go What a little shit and he's so annoying And I'm like, dude, I get it. Man, I love that little shit on my team. There's a guy all day. He's being taught by guys who have won.

He's coming up in a culture of winning. He's coming up adoring the team that he plays for. Loves being a Boston Bruin. Look at David Pasternak, who I would argue is better than Leon Dreisaitl this year. Did you see the picture yesterday of Pasternak? No. This guy is texting his buddy. He's like, hey, sorry, I'm going to be late.

I just got in a car accident. And he's like, oh my God. He's like, yeah, I just hit David Pasternak's Porsche. He's like, what? And he sends him a picture. He took a picture with Pasternak. Oh my God, that's really funny. He hit the NHL's leading goal scorer.

Wow. And he's just like, that's what kind of a season David Pasternak is having. So happy that he's like, I'll take a picture with you. You just wrecked my Porsche. We'll be fine. It's just a Porsche. It's just a Porsche. You can afford a couple of them.

I want people to love playing for the Leafs the way that any Bruin loves playing for the Bruins. Yeah. I also think, I think that they're, the Bruins have accomplished enough, at least this group has accomplished enough, where they can sort of, and I don't want to say relax, but they don't have to do the things the Leafs still have to do in terms of culture. Because the Leafs have to be super strict with these players because, A, they're young and they haven't accomplished anything. but B they can't relax because there's pressure to perform

the Bruins have pressure to perform but the way they handle it is different and they handle it like guys who've won the cup and have been to a couple finals since then and I think the Toronto Maple Leafs goal should be to get to that level those guys, Bergeron, Marchand, Chara

they don't act like they're under pressure the Leafs act like they're under pressure the Bruins are under pressure Playing in Boston, you are under pressure all the time. The city just bleeds championships. They shit championships all the time. And they walk into the building as the team to beat. Yes.

But they mentally put themselves there. And I think as much as it sucks, sometimes, like the Oilers did from the Islanders in the early 80s, you've got to learn from your biggest adversary. And the Leafs' biggest adversary, for sure, is the Bruins. I know we always joke about, like, oh, the Leafs are just going to play the Bruins again. Dude, I hope so. I hope the Bruins keep kicking the Leafs' ass until the Leafs figure it out. If the Leafs win the Stanley Cup, whenever the hell that is, don't you want it to be through Boston?

Sure, yeah. The Capitals. You don't want to go through the Cup, but if they didn't go through Pittsburgh, it's still a Cup. People would be like, yeah, but. At least they went through them once. They went through them once and they won the Cup when they did it. Isn't it so much better? And it's in

Isn't it more significant That it was in round two Like where it always is Doesn't it need to be Boston in round one Doesn't it have to be It has to be Has to be

And I look forward to it Because right now I don't think They're the standard At least in the rivalry Or whatever you call it Leafs aren't even In the playoffs right now

If the playoffs Were to start today They're in second wild card Is that it Second wild card Sorry Tampa's not And the Leafs wouldn't be playing Well maybe they would be

Playing Boston because they're second wildcard, but if the Leafs finish third in the division, I think Boston's winning the division this year. I don't think they play the Bruins in the first round. I think they play them in the second round. Tampa looks terrible. And there's another team with no excuse. But they also have zero pressure on them because they play in Tampa.

There's no media in Tampa. A little bit more scrutiny than you'd think. I don't think there's media in Tampa hounding them every day to win more games. They're in 22nd in the league right now. And they still spanked the Leafs that one time. What a weird season around the league. Just a weird season around the league. And then, you know what's not weird?

Seeing the Bruins near the top. There they are again. There they are again, folks. You don't like it? Maybe do something about it. There they are again. Some interesting stuff came out on headlines last night with Ron McClain and Chris Johnson and Elliott Friedman,

and it had to do with Dustin Bufflin. I want to hear this because I missed headlines last night. So we talked about last, and Bob McKenzie, I think, It was the first one to report that Dustin Bufflin had had surgery on his ankle. And I didn't know this at the time, and I'm not sure if Bob tweeted it. However, watching headlines, we do know now that they found a broken bone in his foot when they operated. What? So they didn't previously know.

Now, I don't blame the Jets for that. If even the doctors, Bufflin paid for this surgery himself. And so I believe that it probably would have been a tough bone to find. Because you would think if they're going to operate on his ankle, they're going to take some x-rays beforehand. And if they didn't see it on the x-rays and the Jets didn't see it on the x-rays, probably hard to see on the x-rays. There's a lot of bones in your foot.

But they did find a broken bone. So that's part of what's been giving him trouble. During the operation. During the operation. So while they're in his body, they found it. Now, here's the situation as Elliot broke it down. So the Jets feel Dustin was fit to play and cleared because he was clear to play at the end of last year,

even though, and this is at the end of last season, even though we all knew he was hurt going into the playoffs. And it was his ankle, wasn't it? And it was his ankle, but they cleared him at the end of the season. In his exit interview. Yes. And he apparently didn't say much about how much it was bothering him, too. That's what their position is.

Very hockey. And then he made it clear to them over the summer that he was going to retire. Now, his position in this... Just straight up, I'm retiring. ...is that he was playing injured. Now, if that was the case, Winnipeg would have made a... That's why I don't... Winnipeg says he made it clear to them that he was going to retire.

Bufflin's camp is saying something different. That's what I'm... Exactly. And that's why there's a hole in this story, because if that was the case, Winnipeg would have made a move for right-handed shot defenseman this summer. Not gotten rid of Trouba. Bingo. That's why I believe that's total bullshit.

Unless it's just clear that Trouba was never going to resign. But even so, you make a trade for someone. It can't be Neil Pionk. You don't go in with this. You lose Myers, Bufflin, and Truba in one summer, and Pionk's your guy? I don't think so. That's pretty wild. Dustin's position, apparently, is that he was playing injured.

He took all summer off to heal. He went to Winnipeg to play, but his ankle was bothering him too much. The surgery discovered the broken bone in his foot. So there's going to be, now the issue is. Oh, is this an Owen Nolan thing? I don't know. But let me explain this. Sorry.

So the arbitrator, there will be an arbitrator brought in. he's already lost out on 1.4 million dollars of his salary and he believes that the jets should still be paying him because technically he's suspended because technically he didn't show up and technically winnipeg isn't allowed to say anything about this because it's there's a there's legal legalities in this but it was it was painted as this was a more of a mental health thing now we're finding out that maybe it wasn't and maybe there's a little bit of bad blood between what winnipeg expected out of him and what his actual injury is and apparently he does want to play the question is will he continue to play for winnipeg because apparently there's some

hurt feelings and an arbitrator is going to get involved and rule on whether or not he should be paid and when that pay should start so i think he wins the argument of should he be paid yes because he hasn't retired it's his ankle well he hasn't retired and he hasn't so so he at very least should be on ltir the question and what winnipeg will probably fight is when does he start getting paid. So how much money are they on the hook for him? It's interesting because I guess he didn't go about it properly, technically speaking. And you have to do that.

And if he didn't, then Winnipeg has a strong case. Right. So it's, oh boy, it's murky. If he doesn't know that there's a broken bone in his foot, who knows? Yeah. All he knows is that, like, life sucks and playing hockey sucks more. Right. If he showed up and he says, I'm ready to play at training camp, and then he goes to surgery and then his foot's broken, then it's like, okay, maybe you owe him the money.

But if he was wavering on his decision to play, if they didn't know if he was actually injured and he was going to have the surgery, then it's like, okay, then Winnipeg doesn't have to play. It's very interesting. This reminds me of two things. One, when Crosby was going through his horrible concussion saga in 2011 or whatever, part of it, I think, was due to a misdiagnosed or a missed neck issue. And there were rumors that he wanted out of Pittsburgh because he's like, I don't trust you. Yeah, their trainers, they got that reputation where everybody just make fun of the trainers. And they're still like the most injured team in the world. Yeah, they misdiagnosed like a couple injuries around that time.

And they have been for like 15 years. It's wild. So there was that. It reminds me of that. The Owen Nolan thing I brought up, the Leafs had Owen Nolan through the 05-06 lockout. And I want to say he should have made like $6 million or something like that. And the Leafs were basically arguing that they didn't owe it to him. And he's like, well.

But I was injured. But I was injured. Even though there was. A lockout. Not 0506, 0405. Even though there was no hockey to be played, I was hurt. So you owe me that $6 million. And I think they had to go to an arbitrator.

Do you remember how that ended up? I don't. I think how this ends up is that. And sorry, what complicated it extra is I think it would have affected the brand new salary cap. And it would have basically been like they don't have a $6 million player when the cap was like $42.5 million. Right. Yeah. I think the Leafs got lucky with whatever the outcome was.

I think what happens here, and this is on knowing nothing, right? I know what I told you. But I bet what happens here, because he didn't go through the, technically speaking, go through the proper protocols or whatever, he probably loses the $1.4 million he's owed already. But then the arbitrator says, you have to unsuspend him, and he goes on LTIR. I bet there's some sort of, now maybe he's owed half of that or something like that. If I'm the arbitrator, $1.4 million is a lot to lose out on. So Winnipeg does owe him some amount of that.

But the fact that he is suspended is, to me, that's an issue. Even if he is undecided, even if he's undecided, then you put him on some sort of long-term injury reserve because that's what the rules state. There's no actual reason other than him not reporting for him to be suspended. And then it's the reason I didn't report is because I was clearly injured and you missed the injury. And they're going to rule for the player always on this, by the way.

The player gets the favor in this, and they should. It's always looked weird since this story first came out that he was suspended, and we had really no idea why. And he's just walking away from all that money? Yeah. It's $16 million, by the way. $8 million this year, $8 million next year. Yeah, there's no way.

That's something you fight over. Well, that's why people are like, oh, he likes fishing. I'm like, I'm sorry. I don't think something funny about that. He also likes $16 million. I like fishing with $16 more million in my bank account. Oh, he's made $50 million. Yeah, well, he could make 68.

Because if he's injured, just go on the LTIR and you get your two checks. He didn't have to go fishing. This isn't Tim Thomas. That's why it was always so weird. This isn't Tim Thomas randomly disappearing into the woods. No. This is Dustin Bufflin leaving millions and millions and millions of dollars on the table when just yesterday he was a great hockey player.

Right. Right. You know what I mean? I think the way they handled his injuries last year, and I'm sure more will come out, because he only played 29 games. I'm sure there's some sort of issue there. And that can happen between athletes and teams. It does happen.

And I don't know. I bet Winnipeg would tell you, well, hey, we tried our best and we missed some stuff and sometimes we screw up. And I bet that that could be true. I don't think he's played his last NHL game. I do think he's played his last game as a Jets. Yeah, I think so too. Yeah, eventually you cross the bridge where you're not going back. In which case, the Leafs should go right after that.

Sure. Oh my God, would that solve a bunch of issues? I mean, he'd fit right in. And he takes a shitload of penalties I think he would look great He does at least Shoot right handed And be mean to people

I don't know how the hell they would afford him We'll flip you a Cody Cece Adam I didn't even have anything to say What if the deal was You have to go live in Winnipeg For a year And do JFRs

for a full year and the Leafs get Bufflin. I would make that sacrifice for this fan base. Wow. A healthy Bufflin.

Sleepy. Healthy Bufflin. I would do that. Also, Winnipeg's not bad. I think Winnipeg's a lot more fun than people give it credit for. Because the weather

is so extreme there, they've learned how to have a really good time. From what I understand, the club scene is quite fun. From my radio friends in Winnipeg, they've told me that

it is just outrageously fun. Do you see the same 30 people at the club every weekend? I don't think so. It's too big for that Is there a lot of people in the bank? I heard it's small

700, 800,000 I think Yeah it's Mississauga size I think we gotta postpone the show Why? It's just apparently I gotta verify Something to avoid my bank account Getting suspended I got a text message from a 647 number

What did they say Steve? I got a message from Clearly a cell phone Telling me that oh no You know, the one thing I know about banks is they really like to text you. Should I call them? Yeah, call them. I'm going to call them.

I just want to see how it goes. I don't think it'll go through, though, because I think a lot of that is there's some sort of program with that. Put it on speaker. Okay. Yeah, you're going to call somebody. Oh. Put it in the mic. Front of the mic.

Front of the mic. Come on. Come on. I've got to get this issue sorted out. It's really important. good content. This is really good content. If something happens, it'd be really good content. It would be. Wouldn't it be good?

They're not going to pick up. Come on. It's probably a computer program. I have screamed at these people before. You know, that solved a lot, I'm sure. I'm sure it stopped them dead in their tracks. It did, actually. From that particular... They never ripped anyone off ever again. Well, it stopped... Okay, sorry. It stopped the problem

for me. They stopped calling me. Yeah, true. True. As I said, watch out for scams, people. Now, crazy game between the Pens and Oilers. It could have gone really either way in overtime, especially with Letang missing that shot. But then with Leon, again, Steve, you mentioned this earlier, Leon Dreisaitl. It's a cheat code, 3-on-3. Well, if you want to watch how Leon Dreisaitl and Connor McDavid have dragged this team to a winning record,

watch Leon Dreisaitl race the puck off the ice in overtime and score that goal. That is the, that gif right there is the whole season for Edmonton so far. It's an unrivaled duo in the NHL. Unbelievable. Unrivaled. And, yeah, I don't know Edmonton's obsession with the Leafs. It's because we're the – it'd be like Chicago and New York. You know, like Chicago's got this thing about New York where, like, if you ask people for Chicago,

they'll go to Chicago and they'll be like, isn't it so much better than New York here? And you'll be like, no, Chicago's just great. More New York, L.A. New York, L.A.? Yeah. I don't think New York and L.A. compete with each other, do they? I think L.A. people look at New York people a different way. Oh, okay, fair enough.

Well, it's just, I just know that, like, Chicago's great, New York's great, they're great. And I'm like, man, we're playing the Flyers. Like, focus. Yeah. I don't know, I don't get it. I think it's because, again, it goes back to, who wouldn't want to take a shot at the Leafs? Who wouldn't want to take a shot at Toronto fans? We make it so easy.

They're the Death Star again, eh? We make it so easy. We're obnoxious. We really do. Of course they want to take shots at us. Yes, of course. But there was a funny moment yesterday at Scotiabank Theatre where I was, remember I selected the All-Star team? Yeah.

And, oh, that's not fair, so I clicked random and I landed on the Oilers. And then we all bursted out laughing, ah, we forgot, we were playing threes. Oh, yeah. And I'm winning. Drysaddle McDavid-Neal. As soon as I realized I only needed three players, I'm like, oh, I win. Now, Mike Smith made over 50 saves last night, which was great for him. Holy cow!

Yeah. He pulled a Mike Smith game out of his hat. He does that. He does that. How hard did Calgary have? Like, their offseason was so bad. Well, hang on. We're not getting to Calgary.

Okay, sorry. First, we're going to talk. Underratedly bad offseason. First, we're going to talk. We'll get to Calgary next because, of course, I always put Calgary and Edmonton together. They're the same. They're the same. They're the same.

Same place. Ken Holland is actually going over to Finland to watch Jesse Pujarvi in a tournament that's coming up. Now, it's interesting because there is interest, and this is according to headlines, interest in Pujarvi is heating up, and the Oilers are still trying to say, but, like, you could come play for us. We've had a really good start. Pujarvi's position is no. And the Oilers are right.

They are right. They are right. To be doing that? But I also think there's a point at which, maybe with Bufflin too, it's like, you know what? I just don't trust you anymore. I don't care who's in charge there. It's the same ownership, and I don't care.

I know. And so I don't really blame him. But boy, he sure would look good on this team. If they played him in the role that he should be in. Don't put him on the fourth line. Don't make him a grinder. Put him next to Connor or Leon or Nugent Hopkins. Well, Ken Holland is doing the right thing here.

He's not letting Jesse completely dictate everything. But he's also showing him that he's a priority. Listen, last regime didn't make you a priority. I am coming to Finland to speak to you. Jesse hopefully uses the cards that he has, which is, listen, I'm perfectly happy playing here. So if you don't trade me, whatever, I'm happy to stay here. Then hopefully the conversation gets to a place where, okay, if I'm going to return to Edmonton, here's what it's going to look like. You're going to get me a Finnish teammate that I can actually talk to.

I didn't, you know what the Leafs did recently that sort of went under the radar until Scott Wheeler pointed it out? Nick Antropov got hired as a skills consultant for the Marlies. That was a good pickup by Scott. I was like, whoa, yeah. I didn't even, so. And that's from Mikheyev, right? No, Igor Korshkov. Oh, for Korshkov, sorry.

Igor Korshkov, who is supposedly Kazakhstani, which I did not know. I thought he was Russian. Yeah, they brought in Like the one Kazakhstan leaf ever To talk to him And Antropov lives here He lives in the GTA

Yeah His son plays for the Jens They absolutely Perfect Like you're telling me There's no Finnish alumni ever The Oilers could have brought in To make Bully Harvey's life

A little easier I mean, Yari Curry Might be a good pick Everybody else from the Oilers Is there from the 80s Everybody Everybody from the Oilers Except for Yari Curry

Currently works for the Oilers Like so Right Like, you got Gretzky, you had coffee, you had, uh, who else is still working for the Oilers in a consultant role? So, you're gonna get me a Finnish teammate, you're gonna get me, you know, maybe you hire this random friend of mine who's a whatever consultant, make up some friggin' shitty title, I get to play these minutes, I wanna be on the power play, like, he, he, those are the cards that he holds. And if you're the Oilers, you gotta think about it, because you're not gonna win that trade. How could you, if you're Edmonton, how could you not put him in those positions anyway? Like, he shouldn't even have to ask.

He's very clearly good enough to be in all those positions. That's on the previous regime. That is on the previous regime. On the previous coaches. Both coaches. Ken Holland's doing the right thing, showing Poole Yarby that he's a priority. Yeah, but I do think, I think he gets traded anyway. I think he's done.

But the Rangers apparently are the team that really wants him. And boy, that would not be nice with Capocacco and all those guys. They just become the New York vultures. They just soar over all these teams, and all of a sudden, oh, your college free agent doesn't want to re-sign with them? And they swoop in. Who doesn't want to live in New York? You've got a disgruntled European.

They could sell them on the city. Who doesn't want to live in New York? And then you bring in some random Finnish anybody, and there you go. Yep, yep. Now, also, staying in Alberta for a second, I'm not sure if you saw last night, but Columbus and Calgary were playing. Cole Sherwood came off the bench. Never heard of.

Yeah, spelled K-O-L-E, by the way. I believe it. Took a shot. Goalie saves it. Cole tries to dig it out. And Milan Lucic lands a punch right in his mouth. With the glove on. Socked him.

And kept going when he was down, too. The whistle hadn't gone. Oh, no? When he went to dig out the puck. It was. So I see. Hold on, by the way, just a heads up. Lucic was suspended two games.

Two games. So I see there two players trying to do their job. There's Cole Sherwood trying to dig the puck out during a play that hadn't stopped. Yes. So I'd only seen the gif. I hadn't heard. So I'll take your word for it. Yeah.

Play hadn't stopped. All right. It's like bang, bang, but it hadn't gone. Sure. But that's his job. Yeah. Is to continue to try to score goals. To play the game of hockey.

And score a goal Now a bunch of people Rightfully pointed out Hey Can't dig at the goalie So No Even if it's legal

Like if it's during play I totally You know You put him in a headlock Maybe you give him The stinky glove No Steve You punch him in the face

Even a little cross check All sorts of things That we see Any given play Lucic Hold off And glove on Drilled him

It's an idiotic play Call it what it is Yeah It Okay Hey, you stick up for your goalie. Totally. I'm on board.

On board. You can't do that. You can't glove on, like, falcon punch the guy in the face. That doesn't make you tough. That's the opposite of tough guy. Yeah. Makes you, and Lucic did Calgary a big favor, though, by getting suspended. I'm not kidding.

He is a drag. Drag on that team. He has three assists in 16 games. How close are they to the cap, though? Calgary? Yeah. No, hold on. When you get suspended, does it not still count against the cap?

It counts against the cap, and that player needs to be replaced. Right? So if you don't have to call anyone up to do it, fine. It's only two games, so it probably doesn't affect Calgary. Calgary is projected. Calgary is one of the teams that is just, they are 19,000 under the cap. Wow. So they, yeah, they wouldn't be able to call someone up.

Nope. Hopefully they have a couple spares on the roster I assume they do But the Leafs, people were talking about They might have to play shorthanded Or they might have to play without spares So they cannot get suspended There's another reason by the way

So the Leafs knew how cap strapped they would be Dude, if Kadri gets suspended They can't afford it If he gets suspended Which he just does all the time I'm sorry, I love him too But don't pretend like he doesn't if he gets suspended, they actually

cannot afford it. So you're looking at, oh, do we play 15 players tonight? But this situation just goes back to how bad of an offseason did Calgary have? Well, that Neal trade is a disaster. Yeah. And that Neal signing was a disaster. It was a disaster before

we realized he would work this well with Edmonton. I thought, yeah, it was a disaster the second they made it. It was terrible. We were talking about it like, well, you know, he might get back to like 15 goals. Dude, I mean, this is a player... And we said this.

We talked about this like two episodes ago. This is a player that regularly scored 25 goals. He had one season. He's going to hit 50 by Christmas. By December. But he had one season where he didn't. And that was enough. Last year with Calgary.

But again, and then I go back to this. Bill Peters consistently puts Lucic on the ice as the sixth man every time Calgary pulls a goalie. I'm sorry, but I got some questions about Bill Peters, man. I got some questions about his performance in Carolina I got questions about why Calgary needed him so badly when they were looking for a coaching change it had to be Bill Peters

they didn't go after anyone else why was it Bill Peters? It was set in stone before Carolina had even finished game 82 that Bill Peters was going to be the Calgary head coach why though? That's what I've never been to get the goaltending that they got in the playoffs and no offense to Colorado who I mean is a legitimate

cup contender when they're healthy oh my god Yeah, seriously Last year's Calgary Flames on paper should destroy last year's Colorado Avalanche They had 90 points 90, that's it Squeaked in

Now, hot end of the season, fine but to get the goaltending that they got out of Mike Smith and to lose mind-blowing Calgary is in the second wildcard spot right now They've played Leafs West Yeah, they are, 100%

To get into the Central Division's top three, they need, I mean, they're tied with Colorado for points, but Colorado's played two less games. Yeah, Adam, take a gander at who's at the bottom of the Pacific. Take a gander at who's at the bottom of the West. Boy, Ottawa. Take a gander at who is tied. Ottawa's having a good year. Take a gander at who is tied for second last in the entire league.

Wow. San Jose, 4-10-1. That's rough. They have lost at least five straight. I've got this Sportsnet thing up, and it says last, it doesn't do last 10, it does last five. I should pull up the NHL, but I would love to see. Lost five in a row. Three, six, and one in the last ten.

Yikes. Buddy. Buddy. Bad. That's awful. And I know St. Louis Blues were in last place in January, and they ended up winning a cup. Okay.

Yeah. But at some point, you have a start that's so bad. Listen, I don't think you make or miss the playoffs in October, November, whatever, but it is possible to dig a hole so bad that you can't crawl out of it. Okay. You're 3, 4, and 3 In your first 10 That's different from 07 and 1

People will say, but St. Louis Dude, St. Louis wasn't that far behind the pack Well, they were last at one point They were last, but like It's like how the Leafs They were the best last place team Of the last 10 years or whatever Like, they weren't catastrophically behind the pack

Neither were the Blues The Sharks are getting there, man And the Sens are Who's having a better tank than the Sens right now? They're having fun. No pressure. They themselves are in last, and a team whose pick they possess is in second last. They're having a good time.

It's awesome! So they could have two picks in the top three. And Detroit's looking like, how did they do it? This is so unfair! Well, first off, you don't re-sign all your bad veterans until they get worse and worse and worse. Re-signing Vanek for three years in a row. Come on. Can I place a November Stanley Cup bet?

Okay. Sharks? I'd like to say it before they start taking off. The Nashville Predators this year are going to win the Stanley Cup. Before they take off. Before they get even better. I was about to say, what? Why do you say that?

Yeah, why do you say that? Two words. Pecorino. 7-0. 9-20 save percentage. That's the guy you want. That's the guy I'm backing this year. What a weird goalie.

That's a good horse to back. I think he's on his good year. year. Yeah, exactly. Right? Next year will be bad again. Bobrovsky, it's him and Bobrovsky alternate. So Bobrovsky's having an awful year. Next year, Bobrovsky will be a Vesna candidate, and Rene will be awful. That's just the way it works. Anyways, I like how they're looking.

Uh, who is it? Nick Bonino. 11 points, 14 games. I don't know how they're doing it. Matthew Shane's looking great. Colton Sissons is having a great year. Just all these guys who are guys, just putting it together. Guys. You know? There's, like, Nick Bonino

is just a guy, but he has 11 points already. But with goalies, we are seeing a bit of a throwback to the 90s where, with the exception of three or four guys, you don't know who's good on any given night. I know John Gibson's good. He's going to be great every night. But Pecorine.

I'm trying to think of a 90s equivalent of this guy. I mean, I would compare Pecorine to Pecorine. He's like jacked Mike Smith a little bit. Really tall Jonathan quick he either can't stop a damn thing or he's unbeatable jonathan quick who's fallen off the

face of the earth this season it's okay they only have him for what six more years oh yeah is that really the deal who signed that deal was that uh dean lombardi probably yeah it smells like a dean lombardi contract but how i don't know if it could have been because that the maximum he could have signed was eight when was dean lombardi let go i can't had to be more than two years ago can't remember but i mean it was also difficult to justify not giving him eight years because dude i won you two cups like won you two cups it was me i did it oh it might be the roman yosi thing in the regular season the roman yosi that's so weird because i allowed negative two goals a game throughout the playoffs yeah like what a weird just find a new regular season goal

um did you see the adam lowry hit adam lowry just came back from a suspension for a hit to the head, and then he hit Alex Tuck last night in a game. I did not. So it was a collision that... Isn't Tuck just coming off injury, too? Yeah, he was. And so interestingly... Let me see if I can find it. I'll pull it up. You'll pull it up? Yeah, Jesse will pull it up here, but... Jesse, pull it

up-y? It's one of those hits where I feel like Lowry, even if it wasn't an intentional headshot, he did make head contact, so that means it's a hit to the head. But the refs didn't really call anything, so the next face-off, Ryan Reeves is out there, and Adam Lowry has to face him. And it was a pretty

even tilt. Sure. But the reason I bring up Ryan Reeves is to bring up a tweet from Evander Kane, which is a response to Ryan Reeves from two weeks ago, who Ryan Reeves Evander Kane is just getting on Twitter now to talk about it, which he tweeted this afternoon.

So look at the hit first. You're just showing me the hit. I'll show you the fight too if you want to see it. Oh, it's from behind? Here, can I see that one more time? Oh, okay, okay. He does get them right in the melon Yeah

So whether or not it was intentional or not It's still a hit to the head No, it's on the more borderline side of things But it is direct to the head And Lowry, not Lowry, sorry Tuck is sort of, his head's down He's reaching a bit But like, yeah, again

It's not good when you just sandwich a player's head It's a little bit on the nose, isn't it? Right It's a little bit, yep, here's what the hit was. Yeah, it's tough. Especially after the game after he gets suspended. And then there's the tilt if you want to see it. Sure.

Ooh, fan angle. Getting punched by Ryan Reeves must suck. I think it hurts. Yeah, you know what? Okay, Larry, you know. He did what he had to do. Okay, I know I have to fight you and he didn't get his ass kicked. Yeah, it's a real NHL fight.

That's not a staged fight. Right. Now, Evander Cain, the reason I bring up Reeves is because Reeves, I think, made fun of Evander Cain in the WHL when they used to play each other. There was some sort of thing, and I'm going to pull it up. Is Reeves that young? Well, Reeves, hold on. No, no, no. Don't look it up.

Sure. No. Let me find this insult because I think it's important. Well, he said Reeves just keeps insulting Cain, so who knows when it's from. It's from late September. They're not in the same weight class, those two. I don't know why Kane keeps calling him. They would never fight in the UFC, put it that way.

Right. Reeves has got at least 50 pounds on Kane. And they don't like each other. No. But I'm trying to look at this. What did he say about the WHL? Anyway, there was some sort of chirp about the WHL. And about Reeves said something along the lines of,

when we played in the WHL, Evander did this, and it made Evander look bad. So Evander has now Like a month later Come out and tweeted him back He's trying to Yeah so he's just waiting And so basically

He asked the same thing That you just asked He said at Revo75 Maybe it's one too many hits to the head Question mark You never played a single game against me In the WHL believe me Have to start calling you Mr. Rogers

For all this make believe you spit and so shot so terrible god that's so weak yeah Mr. Rogers

so they only that's who you picked so Reeves only Evander Kane only played 8 games for the Vancouver Giants in 06-07

that was the only year they could have crossed over in the WHL because that was Reeves' last year in the WHL with the Brandon Weekings

and then he went to Alaska to play in the E that next year so there was only eight games he's an e-guy okay and an a-guy um so i guess there would have only been like eight games where they could have crossed over and they didn't play so it's interesting because there was some sort of chirp around that and i can't find it for some reason but it was very funny that

they just hate each other so much and it's great it's great like i loved i loved seeing the joel Embiid, Karl-Anthony Towne stuff. I got it. Okay. So they asked him on Sportsnet After Hours with Scott Oak. They asked Kane. They asked Reeves about Kane. This was a while ago.

They said, where did it start, basically? And he said, well, it might be longer than nine years ago. We didn't like each other in junior. It started kind of early in my career. Him running around, and then I challenged him, and he always says he's going to beat me up, but he never fights me. It was just constant chirping, chirping, chirping. never doing anything about it. Kane then responded to Reeves today saying,

hey, we never played each other in the W.H.L. So that's funny. But I give the W to Reeves on this because look at who he's playing for versus who Kane's playing for. And Kane leads the Sharks in goals this year. But the Golden Knights are at least in the second wildcard spot right now.

Kind of funny. I love the rivalry between those two guys. I really do. Hey, how do we feel about the Preds' throwback jerseys? Oh, they're terrible. The throwbacks to the time where there was no throwback because they were a 90s team. They're every shitty throwback jersey.

Ooh, our name but in cursive. No, it's terrible. Somebody at the event yesterday... The Yellow Jets. That's what they look like. Somebody at the event yesterday said what would have been much better is if they... The crest on the side.

I don't know if you saw the crest on their shoulder. No. Was the... They reinvented the Predator jersey logo. Okay. The saber-toothed tiger? The saber-toothed tiger. If that had been on the side

Then it would have been much, much better Dude, you have an ancient mammal As your logo And it should always be your logo Because it's so incredibly badass Yeah I don't care how you gotta reimagine it Oh, it's sideways?

And now we're gonna make it dead on Don't make it cursive writing Like everyone else Somebody responded with a banner Of the Nashville Predators There's like one that they should bring up to put up in the rafters. And it says, worst use of Microsoft Bush script. Because that's the font.

Dude, it's terrible. It's terrible. Jesse's showing me right now. It doesn't even, Name Tags Hockey was pointing this out. Like it doesn't even look well placed between the lines. No. No, it doesn't. Oh, it's cursive and it's diagonal, terse.

You know what sucks about it is, like, the yellow laces and this, like, that's actually a nice jersey. What are you doing with that writing? Yeah, they just screwed up the entire middle portion of it. What are you, the Tennessee Bruins? Like, what is that? Yeah, it's weird. And even the stripes at the bottom, that's a Bruins jersey. You could easily, in cursive writing, put Boston Bruins and it's a Bruins jersey.

Or Pittsburgh Penguins. Ugh, the NHL, man. You know what sucks Is at the beginning of the year I was talking about We were really The NHL was really on a roll With these third jerseys

The outdoor jerseys for the Jets And the Flames were so good That should just be their jersey There were so many other Really good alternates that came out I'm trying to remember them all But they were so good We were really on a roll

Can I be honest with you about something? I'm really tired of the alternate jersey thing If it's good It's gotta be good Fans love it though I know that I'm just saying me Steve doesn't like numbers and NHL contracts

I don't like You know what I like? I like the fucking Yankees The Yankees have never changed Here's our jersey They're an Italian restaurant where you can't say no pepperoni This is our pizza dick This is it

This is our jersey And I know the Leafs And everybody's going to be like, well, the Leafs have had many, and you have a couple of them. I know. I'm done now. I'm done. I don't think, like, I know this is a fad and a trend, but I do think it waters down the importance of the logo itself. I really don't think, I think, and I'm rarely.

The Leafs are coming out with an alternate this year, too. I know. I am rarely a traditionalist, and I also don't like the Leafs. If that's the logo that they're coming out with. Like the T-O, you've seen that? I think it's awful. I don't think that's a real I think that's somebody

I sure hope not because it's awful mocked that up and that got spread on Reddit and yet like the Arenas thinks cool the same Pat I own the same Pat's jersey

like I get it the Aretnas well you're actually throwing back to something yeah because that actually happened yeah when were the Preds

cursive well the Preds didn't play in the 30s right and that's okay but I just feel like I'm sort of done with this because I want

I'm rarely a traditionalist in anything but these jerseys should mean something These jerseys should mean something. And I'm a big believer that, like, I'm glad the Leafs went back to the logo that they went to because it's the original logo with a few modifications. But that's what it always should have been.

And the only reason it changed was because Harold Ballard was an asshole. But it was always going to be that logo. If Stafford Smythe, by the way, look this up. If Stafford Smythe doesn't lose the Leafs to a shitty deal to Harold Ballard, that logo never changes to the shitty logo it was for 40 years. For any Preds fans listening to this, sorry to cut you off, but for any Preds fans listening to this, imagine if the Preds just had the Tennessee Titans logo at center ice.

That's what happened to the Leafs for a while. Actually, it wouldn't even be the Tennessee Titans. Imagine they just had the Jacksonville Jackwires. Yeah, or some local... The Hamilton Ticats logo was at center ice. Yeah, no, he's an asshole. But I look at these jerseys and go, like, can we just

enjoy the jerseys that we have? Like, why can't, I understand it's a sales ploy, but if you look at what like, profitable, like, the profit for jerseys is negligible for NHL teams. It's probably four or five million dollars. But it's not the team, it's brands like

Fanatics who are making the money. I know, but they are trying to sell the jerseys. I think it waters down the brand. I really do. Would Nike change their logo this many times? Nike has different paint for their logo, but Nike is Nike. it's a swoosh it's a swoosh

why but Nike would initiate city jerseys for all the NBA teams so they can sell 30 more jerseys every year right it's just

I hate it I don't hate business I don't hate business I don't for the traditionalist in me and this is rare that it comes out I don't like it

leave the jerseys the way they are but yeah go make your money and obviously I have a few of them myself I don't mind I don't mind

oh I mean we all are welcome to the hypocrite podcast um Starring Steve Hypocrite Starring absolutely Hey Something

I was trying to think of all the times I've been wrong And there were too many And my brain fried for a sec I have no problem with alternates But the curse of Ugh stop Yeah And it's for a Winter Classic game

Yeah Well that's so weird Because they never do that for that Stop It's boring It's boring Dude You literally dug up

A Sabertooth Tiger skeleton When you were making your arena How do you not base it on that? How do you not make it like some sort of cold, blizzard-ridden Sabertooth? I don't know, something, anything with the badass origin of your team and not just Nashville Predators in some sort of, like, were those jerseys made on a cricket machine? You get the calligraphy from Michaels?

I think it was just easy. It was boring. It is boring. Boston Boons. So apparently, and this is kind of neat, there are drawings, and I don't know how official this is, but at NHL to Houston has suggested that a Canadian-American conglomerate has committed to bringing an NHL franchise to Houston. The NHL has no interest in this, but there is a conglomerate that wants this, and I'm sure there is. Whatever.

Richard Petty made a great point, and it wasn't about Houston. And it was about, supposedly, there's a group who wants to bring another team to Toronto. Which is not happening, by the way. It's going to have 25,000 seats. Every two years, every eight months, you hear it. And they're like, oh, here's our thing. It's not happening. It's a $2 billion price tag.

It's absurd. Before you even play a game, it's $2 billion. Who's going to do that? But he's like, I know you're going to fail because you went public with it. Yeah. Well, this has not gone public. This is just, they didn't mention who it was. But anyway.

Remember Hamilton? Hang on. Hang on. Let me get to this. Guys, guys, this is really cool. That would have bombed so hard. Because they're right. The actual arena itself is kind of a neat idea, and this is why I hope this happened.

It would be the first ever open-air NHL arena concept. A retractable roof and an adjacent high-rise business office. Okay, guys. It would just be, like, I'm sure they could figure it out. Oh, yeah. I'm sure the technology's there. Yeah. I just think it's cool.

They're going to play outdoor games in hot weather climates. And if they want to do one in Mexico City. So I'm sure they can figure it out in Texas But it's gonna rain That's why it's retractable It wouldn't be completely open air Listen, we're at the end of the show I'm just saying it's a cool idea

I'm on the second half of my back-to-back And it would be, even when it was down And covered, it would still be a glass roof Yeah, it'd be like a Baseball stadium How would you pull that out? Well, because most of the games are at night But you'd see the sun go down

And watch the hockey game It'd be like, you ever seen the Milwaukee Brewers, where they play? Yeah. I can't really think of it, no. No, okay. A lot of baseball teams have the new ones. It's the Milwaukee Brewers. The new ones have stadiums.

Well, the Jays have a retractable roof, so you've seen that, right? I have seen that. You've been to the Rogers Center? Yeah. Have you seen the Cowboys Stadium? It's got significant glass portions. I believe Atlanta does, too. Yeah.

Don't the Hawks have a big window? Atlanta, no. Yeah, Atlanta has like a little hole in the top. Yeah, it's weird. They're a little different, too. But anyway, it's kind of a neat idea. It's definitely doable by the science. Okay.

Yeah. I'm down. I'm down for new. Let's talk about a couple things. First off, Easter Seals. Yes. Yes. Oh, just a recap of the event?

My goodness. So yesterday, man, surround yourself with good people. It's great. It pays off. You people. Well, I was going to say you, Adam, and I was going to say you, Jesse, and also Mike Schmidt. Without you guys, I wouldn't have been able to pull off the event at

all. We went to Scotiabank Theater. We played NHL 20 for three hours. Could have played for three more. Could have played for three more. Easily. Easily. It's a lot of fun. I played threes with someone against Jesse and someone

and we beat them. You know, sorry, I just had to point that out. Just had to point that out. But I auctioned off some jerseys and some other things and people showed up and we had the live stream up and you guys were helping out with that uh i believe about 13 000 people have seen the live stream now uh who knows how many people were there in person and the amount of money we raised it's still

unofficial um i think we made about five thousand dollars worth of like auctions at the event Um, about $12,000 was donated just to my page during the event, during those three hours, uh, donations of note, um, Nick Gould again, another $5,000 bringing his total up to 13, uh, Mike Schmidt's whole family basically donated. And I haven't even, I don't have the brain power or didn't have it last night to tally that total. So on top of footing the bill for the theater, helping out with the actual stream itself, and then the donations, he's just an absolute angel that's been helping out with this. And Natalie Olds, who made a very big donation last year, just before I left for the show today, donated $1,834.88 for Janssen Matthews Nylander for that whole line. Wow. Which is something she did last year. So now that everything's all said and done with the event, I have raised over $50,000.

Our team has raised over $60,000. That's crazy. We're going for $69,000, but once we tally up all the money, because that's not even including the money from the event, we're going to be over $69,000. Mike Schmidt is going to match the money that we made at the event, so that's going to bring us up. like i'm genuinely starting to think 100 wow i don't i don't know if we'll get there um but like 80s within reach i think 90s within reach be great it's wild it's wild so thank you so so much to everyone who even watched the stream if you've made a donation at any point we're still taking donations but i think i've bugged you enough and it's obviously

worked. So I'm going to continue bugging you because it worked. I hit my goal, my fundraising goal, finally. Oh my god, you got like three G's. Got three grand from one guy, Mahesh. And Mahesh said, listen, if I've donated three grand, that should mean that Adam has to eat a ghost pepper. And everybody

at the event agreed. Now, I say that instead of eating it in this room. Yes, you eat it in the next room. No. I eat it on Thursday night's show at Regulars Bar in Toronto and I'll eat it to start

the show. So the first thing we do is I'm going to have the pepper and then I'm going to do an hour long show afterwards. Nope. No, you're going to That's what we're going to do? Adam, here, be quiet for a second I need to have a quick conference with Jesse. That's a terrible idea, right? Yeah. That's a really bad idea So who doesn't want to show up to see that?

No, but we'll do it at the end of the show. We'll do it before the game starts We're doing it at the beginning We have just two versus one Jesse How do you want to handle the you and I show? Because Adam's going to be out of commission And I don't think he realizes what he signed up for

Yeah, because if you eat it at the beginning We're not going to have a show Yeah, we will How? I will fight through it Yeah, I don't know They just got to play better without the puck Yeah, I don't know

I think Willie's got the crown again That's going to be you That's going to be your contribution to the show I think I'm going to be able to do it Okay I think we don't let you do that And we do it towards the end. Adam, you're a grown man, a father even.

You do whatever you want, buddy. Listen, I think that people will show up at regulars for the show anyway. But I think they'll want to see it and they'll want to see someone grit their way through it. Oh, you'll be regular all right. And I'm going to grit my way through it. Okay. So there you go. Friday might be a bad day.

But Thursday night's going to be a lot of fun at regulars downtown Toronto. Okay, buddy. So we'll see you there. Oh, my God. We'll see you there. Let's do the press conference quickly. No, we don't have any trivia. No, that's okay.

Do we have any questions? The Presser SDP. The Steve Dangle Press Conference. My eyes are so blind. Question for Adam. Okay. This is from Slightly Underscore Imperfect. Only Slightly.

Slightly Imperfect. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the German 8th Army from World War I. Do you think their success was more due to, A, the withdrawal of troops under the direction of Hindenburg and Ludendorff to prevent overextension, or B, the complete lack of encryption on the radio transmissions of the Russian forces? They're talking about Tannenberg. I don't know. They're talking about the biggest battle on the Eastern Front in 1914. Yeah, what was their security to do to more? So 80,000 Russians surrendered because they were surrounded.

And I think it absolutely had to do with both. I think you had superior commanders. It was A or B. And you had Russians who literally were like, hey, we're going to go here. Cool? Cool. Okay, that's where we're going to go. No encryption in their radio.

So the Germans were listening. And they're like, okay, they're going to go there. And that's where they went. And so the Germans were like, well, we'll see you there. And they surrounded them. And they took them over. And it was disastrous for Russia. Absolutely disastrous.

But which one was more apparent? I'm going to go with the only reason that you, yeah, I'm going to go with superior command always. But, yeah, it helped that they knew exactly where the Russians were going to be and exactly when and exactly what their supply situation was. And exactly, there was 80,000 Russians there, but only 40,000 rifles. Because the Russians, like an enemy at the gates, which you see at the beginning, in World War II and in World War I, they showed up and said, sorry, there's only enough rifles for half of you. So you carry the bullets, you carry the rifle. When he goes down, you grab him.

You take his gun from his dead body? 100%. Shit. Especially at the beginning of the war. Towards 1916, 1917, they started to get their shit together. And then the Bolsheviks took over at home. But they would actually do that. Imagine, you show up to war.

Oh, we can't really give you an outfit. So just wear your clothes We have no shoes And here's a rifle But yeah We're totally Totally gonna go to war now Great idea

You're so wasted On this podcast No I'm not I'd be terrible in it You know how bad I am with details History is all about details That's true

I would be awful Awful I'd have to script everything Oh dude I took I took a couple History courses In university

Which were electives Like what a psycho Like why would I do that Your elective is supposed To be your easy course Yeah, history's tough. And I'm like, oh, yeah, no, I'll take a 3,000-word essay, thanks. But, no, I had a really hardcore professor in one of them who was like, listen, if you get, so if it's 10 steps for your answer and you get one of them wrong, all of your answers after that wrong one, including the right ones, are wrong.

What the fuck? Oh, yeah. So, like, if you got up to four right and then you got number five wrong, guess what? Four to 10. Because that's how history works, though. That's how history works. Because if you're wrong on the fourth step, you're wrong the whole way. Yep.

Even your assumptions are wrong. He's not wrong in that. And I was like, cool elective. History is cool. I did the same thing. That's very interesting. Even if you're right, you're wrong. You're right for the wrong reasons.

It's the reasons why in history that you need to. So that I love history, but I have no interest in proving history. Proving history sucks. And I remember I walked into my first elective, which was history, because I was like, oh, I like history. I've always done well at it. in Ryerson, and the professor puts his books down and goes, you will spend at the end of the class, you will spend

between 10 and 15 hours a week at the library in this class and I said, well that'll be the last time I'll be in this class then, and I went and dropped it I was like, yep, nope, see you later I'm not doing that, I will not succeed, I do not have the attention span I just don't

it's good that you know yourself I knew myself enough at 18 to know that's not going to happen Anybody who got on his computer during a class, dropped the class online during the class, and then just walked out. Good for him. It's like, what a legend. I should have done that.

Why did I go to the Registrar? I should have just dropped it then. Excuse me, madam. Ring, ring. Yeah, no, it's very old school. Yeah, yeah, for sure. But anyways, good times. That's fun.

Yep. Get in your history questions for the history portion of the press conference. We'll be doing it live with Dan Carlin on Thursday. By the way, Jeff Merritt got to do a Dan Carlin Q&A. He got to host one. He was on stage. I didn't even know Dan Carlin was in town. He was on stage hosting an event where he got to ask Dan Carlin questions.

When? Like last week. I'm so upset. I had no idea I would have been there in a heartbeat. I should have told you. I couldn't go. I should have told you that. You knew.

I knew. He then. Traitor. Traitor. By the way. What would history say about Steve Dangle? It would not look favorably upon thee. I also want to throw this out there.

I have listened to. A handsome face. By the way, if you haven't listened to Dan Carlin's new series on Hardcore History, it's about the rise of the Japanese Empire. Really fascinating stuff. So I finished that this weekend, and then I downloaded his new book. And boy. He's got a new book? His book is all about

the end of the world. Oh, great! No, the various incarnations of the end of the world throughout human history. No, it's about how it's called The End is Always Near, and it's about how different societies viewed the end of the world and how they always thought it was coming. And it's so fascinating.

It's so Dan Carlin. So it's another podcast, essentially. And it is just incredible. So download that book. Just amazing. Wow, look at this. Hardcore History Podcast host talks. The end is always near with Sportsnet host Jeff Merrick.

6.30, October 28th. Hey, guys. Steve knew. Tickets were only $11. Adam, do you happen to have $11.50? Yeah. Do you have a way to get to Hot Docs in downtown Toronto? I think I could figure it out.

He could have been there. If he had just known the day and the time. Yeah. Yeah. Right? So. You guys follow Jeff Merrick on Twitter? Yes.

Sounds like y'all better be adults. I occasionally hear from Jeff Merrick on text. And take some responsibility for yourselves. You know what? I know I should have motivated you to go there, but you guys are $11 million players. You should just know. I want to bench you. You should.

But also, like, you're fired. SDP. The Steve Dangle Podcast. Follow the guys on Twitter at Steve underscore Dangle, at Adam W-Y-L-D-E, and at Jesse Blake. Brought to you by Panago Pizza. Order at Panago.com and stuff your face with deliciousness. Connection complete.