The Steve Dangle Podcast - CapDolphin | January 8, 2020

Episode Date: January 8, 2020

On this episode of The Steve Dangle Podcast, McDavid BEST, Rielly WORST (00:00), who wore the crown?!? (05:00), Leafs lose to the Oilers and face the Jets tonight (12:30), Justin Williams signs with the Canes and almost with the Leafs (26:30), the new All Star jerseys are missing something (34:15), Eric Engels of Sportsnet joins the show to talk about the Canadiens (36:00), when will Rasmus Sandin be called up? And the Leafs cap situation (1:03:00), and a Bachelor episode 1 update! (1:08:00). Originally aired: January 8, 2020 Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/eKZ5X_99y9M 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 host steve dangle adam wilde and jesse blake let's go man you got do you guys remember i remember do you remember when morgan riley was trash yeah morgan trash is he the worst player in the national hockey league Could be. Jesse, yes. Wow. That's what I thought. Wow.

That's what I learned. Man. Holy. I'm just so embarrassed that Morgan Rielly is our guy. I've been saying it for years. I've been tweeting it for years about how Morgan Rielly is trash. Okay. But actually trash.

Is Morgan Rielly more trash than I am right? Because I'm pretty right. Did you know how right I am? How right are you, Steve? Jesse, let me tell you. What is this? Let me answer. what is this? I am so right.

What did I say for the first couple months of the season? Hey, this guy looks injured. What have I said for the past couple weeks? Hey, this guy actually looks better. Athletic article comes out today. Jonas Siegel is injured.

Okay, friggin' Brent Siegel or whatever. He releases from that site the blog app, whatever. He releases a thing. Morgan Rielly was battling injuries For the first two and a half months Of the season

He would say lower body That's all he kept it to He had something done And an MRI He had something done All I was concentrating on was how right I was He got something done over the holiday break Which I suppose was an MRI

And he's been getting better And I said hey this guy's been playing better And look at that! Except Connor McDavid went and ruined it all There was a great, I want to say it was Jake B. Leafs, who said, wow, Connor McDavid actually got Morgan Rielly to admit to injuries. That's how bad. That's really funny.

That's a good tweet. Yeah. It was such a good move, and the reaction was so ridiculous, that Justin Bourne basically resurrected systems analysts for the Sportsnet YouTube channel, where he broke down the play and explained, hey, idiots, there's nothing Rielly could have done. Right. Sometimes the best player in the world is going to pull best player in the world stuff.

And that's just the way it's going to be. You know how the Oshawa Generals shut down Conor McDavid in the 2015 OHL Finals? How did they do that, Steve? They triple teamed him! If it's one-on-one with the best player, you lose! You know what's funny about all this is that I was in bed before this move happened, and then I saw it in the morning. Good move.

But I did not get to see this reaction. Morgan Riley is trash, but apparently it was pretty intense. I didn't realize that people were so mad at him. What's wrong with this guy and this and that? And I'm like, okay, listen, I do think he's been battling injuries, and he has concerned me at times. That was Conor McDavid bullying. If it was Jude Jarcarra, I would have been like, okay. Oh, shit.

Yeah, Morgan Rielly's hurt. Yes. And no offense to Jude Jarcarra, but I don't think Jude Jarcarra is ever going to pull a move like that. If he was in this room right now, he'd be like, no, no, I get it. Conor McDavid's better. If it was Chris Russell, I'd be like, whoa, Morgan Rielly might need to sit a few. Yeah, wow. Injured reserve for the rest of the season.

Yeah. Holy shit. Hopefully he's ready for the playoffs. Connor McDavid skated like 15, 20 feet at Morgan Rielly without looking at him. Yeah. The audacity, the disrespect, the confidence that he's Connor McDavid. But as you say, cheat code. He's a cheat code.

He's a cheat code. He's unbelievable. Connor sure liked to, he really seemed like he liked scoring goals in Toronto. I think so. Connor, you should try that. Did you see his quote post-game where he said. Yeah, I saw it. They asked him if it's nice coming to Toronto.

He's like, yeah, I love coming to play in Toronto. It's also nice when you get to leave. He just kind of said it on his breath, and I was like, damn. You know what was great? The people that I did see come up on my Facebook page, every once in a while you'll see people be like, hey, I was at the Leafs or whatever. Many of the people that I saw that were at the game,

the unanimous sort of thing that they said was, what a treat to watch Connor McDavid play live. Oh, yeah. You've got to see the best players in the world live. I've said it about Sidney Crosby a thousand times. Yeah, he's amazing to watch live. Have I ever seen Conor McDavid play live? I don't know if I have.

I don't think I have. I gotta. Stamkos watching him live is pretty incredible. Stamkos live is fun. Crosby's fun. I said when I was much younger, Peter Forsberg really got to appreciate how good he was. Ryan Getz's laugh in his prime was unbelievable. I didn't really get to see him.

I was in the West. I was in Calgary. You know what? I did get to see him. I thought he was honestly arguably Canada's best forward at the 2010 Olympics he was unreal

yeah he was so good I can't wait to see Connor McDavid live yeah that's going to be something that we have to make time for now we got to get into this because you know if you live generously life will treat you royally right oh well you know it's a good

mantra Steve why not pour yourself why not why not pour yourself and a friend at Crown Royal because we're going to talk about who wore the crown, where we, with the help of you, recognize one Leaf player

each show who gives it all for the blue and white because it's our town, it's our crown. It's not about what you have but what you give. Let's crown a Leaf

that lives generously by giving it all for the team brought to you by your friends at Crown Royal. Live generously and life will treat you royally and let's get into it. Steve Dangle

against the Edmonton Oilers and you can't give it to Connor McDavid. Damn, that plan shot bad. I was planning on doing that as well. Sorry, Jesse. I'm going to have to stop you from that. You guys, take your time

with this. I've got to come up with someone new now that I can't give it to McDavid. Shoot. Way to put Jesse in a predicament, Adam. I know. I'm sorry. I'm going to give it to someone who I think is on a point streak who I love night in and night out

and is quickly becoming like he's like a cult hit. Yeah, I know who you're going with. Pierre Engvall. Yeah! I love this guy.

Yeah. I love this player. He was my hipster Marlies prospect for a while. And then I saw him in the preseason and I sort of moved off him. I didn't think he was that great. I don't think Babcock was a fan, which is the strangest thing. Because he's 6'4 every time he steps on the ice. He's 6'4 every time he steps on the ice.

6'5. Oh, sorry. 6'5. There you go. Yeah, but half a foot of it's in his neck. He's like a giraffe. and he I didn't

I had no idea he was this fast it's so crazy that he was into motocross because you imagine a guy in motocross that tall I can't ride normal bikes because the seats don't go up high enough if I sit down my legs will hit it so I don't know how he did motocross

how tall are you? like 6'4 and a half we're probably about the same height but yeah I gotta get special bikes if I want to ride a bike See, your shoulders are above his shoulders, though. You think so? Because it's all neck.

It's all neck. It's all giraffe boy. What do they call horses? They measure them by hands. He's got several. He's like three hands. There's hands. There's horses.

They're like there are 12 hands or 20 hands or whatever. Yeah. Is that a Red Dead Redemption thing? No, that's a Dan Carlin thing. Dan Carlin. Yeah, he taught me that on his little show. I love campfire stories without a mind. I know.

Is that related to horsepower, like for cars? Well, yeah, that's where they initially, because horses were the main mode of transportation, right? It's like 40,000 hands. So your car is like four horses or three horses. Right, and it started with locomotives because they were in the 1800s. It was, it went horse, locomotive, car, plane. So that's why, so the initial engines, that's how they rated them based on how many horses it would take to pull the same. Yeah.

It's wild times. That's cool. Yo, that's crazy. Fair, fair, okay If you had a history podcast It had to be called Wild Times Wild Times Wild Times in the past

With Adam Wilde You know what I heard With Adam Wilde Yeah, no I gotta give it to Engvall Cause Like him And

Man It sucks so hard The Mikheyevs out Yeah Because they were In Brian Burke's words Found wallets Yeah

Those guys are So good But Engvall He's on pace for I want to say over 40 points now, plays on the penalty kill, and a very good point that I saw from someone, no power play time. Right.

Like, getting all those points. Unreal player. He gets the crown. For me, and it's not because he was the best player in the game, the crown's going out of Brooks for me. And I've been so impressed with this guy. And what blew me away is apparently the reason he sat out the previous game is because he was sick, kind of like what I am right now.

Yeah, I thought that was weird. It was weird. And then it made more sense. It was like, oh, he's recovered from his illness. So he probably had a nasty flu or something like that, which has been going around. But he made Freddy Gauthier and Mason Marchment look like hockey players again. And I really believe it was him driving that line. And I'm not saying that's not an insult to Mason Marchment, who I'm still not blown away by.

Freddy Gauthier. Nice assist. Sure. Absolutely. And, you know, maybe a little more confidence. Maybe you were right. I think Freddy Gauthier has blown me away this year based on my expectations of Freddy Gauthier. But recently, yeah, my expectations were never that high.

So, you know, but it's nice to have Freddie because you have your centerman. But I think it's nice to have some, you know, I don't know what they see Adam Brooks as being. I don't know if he's going to be like a fourth liner. I don't see that for him. But I think he's come in and he's looked really great and has made that line a little bit more complete. And so my crown goes to him. He's just been a heck of a player since coming in. Jesse.

If I had a Trey Croner, I'd give it to three players. I'd give it to Kerfoot. I'd give it to Tavares. I'd give it to William Nylander. But since I only have one crown, I'm going to just hand that crown over to William Nylander to the man who represents his line. Because that line had to go there every shift

and play Connor McDavid. And I think the highlight of that entire game was Connor McDavid. Like, and him driving that line. And they played so fast, both teams. It was a very fun game to watch. Yes. But, yeah, every time they'd go out there,

Keefe would send out Taveras, Kerfoot, and Nylander. So give the crown to them for just taking that assignment and doing the best they could in a circumstance where Edmonton just had their wheels going and could get the puck up and down the ice. So my crown goes to William Nylander representing his line. Absolutely. I thought it was a shame that the shutdown pair is Hall-Marinchen.

It just shouldn't be. I'm not going to jump on the Marty-Marinchen sucks train. I don't think he does. But, dude, like hard minutes against Connor McDavid is ridiculous. Justin Hall had maybe his worst game of the season. He took three penalties. But I felt like everything that went wrong in that game was understandable. Because if the other team, they have no flaws for 60 minutes, what are you going to do?

The Oilers walked in and had an amazing game. Yeah. They played really well from start to finish. The whole team. The whole team. Yeah, top to bottom. It wasn't just McDavid. But what I wanted to say is maybe Keefe should have switched it up, gone back to his old

shutdown line of Hyman, Tavares, Marner for that game. But I don't know if that's fair to Kerfoot, Tavares, Nylander because I just don't think the pairing behind them was adequate. Sorry, like, Marty is good at a lot of things defensively. Dude, that's a terrible match. A terrible match. And it's unfortunate because going into the game, they're playing so well. And then you hit, and you just hit this brick wall when you're firing all cylinders, and then you just can't do it anymore.

But I assume you want the guys who are doing the best to go up against them. You're just praying, like, okay, maybe it continues. Maybe they can challenge this team that's doing so well. But it just didn't. It just didn't work out. And now your next challenge is you get the Jets who hung almost 50 shots on you last time. It's just Freddie bailed you out. Yeah.

Hey, Freddie, you coming back there, bud? But let me wrap the segment first. That's Who Wore the Crown for this week. Brought to you as always by Crown Royal. Next time the puck drops, why not? Why not? Live generously and treat your Leafs crew to a Crown Royal old-fashioned. And, you know, the Jets are playing the Leafs tonight.

and they are man when you look at what the Jets defense went through this summer and I mean listen it's not like Tyler Myers based on how he's playing in Vancouver has been any loss I don't know if he's hurt or not but even for Tyler Myers it's not been great

it's just unspectacular he's just not a great fit for today's game he can still play not at that point that's another yes and that's the Vancouver Canucks in a nutshell, even though they've been hot, is you look at... Beagle, Sutter, Erickson, Myers.

And you look at all those players and you're like, yeah, okay, fine. And then you look at the contract, you're like, oh, okay, okay, maybe not. Yeah. And they'll find ways to move on from those deals. You can always find a way from under us. Detroit exists. Detroit exists. Exactly.

Arizona continues to move spooky ghost contracts. The Leafs too. Listen, anybody who is pissed off about the Leafs using LTIR should be just as pissed off about the Senators and Coyotes taking on ghost deals. Oh, yeah. But they're not. The Blackhawks still have a currently illegal deal on their contract. Which one?

Duncan Keith. Yeah, but that's fine because that was signed before the current deal. His cap hits less than six. What everybody should be mad about is whatever the hell happened between Mike Richards, the Kings, and the NHL. You should be mad about that. Absolute shenaniganery. Shenaniganery.

they broke they absolutely broke something nobody's talked about it nobody's done a breakdown nobody's explained to me why mike richards is going to get paid is it half a million bucks every year until 2030 something like or like why is that a thing how about um this magical mystical 20 million dollar cap hit that's supposed to go against the preds if shea weber ever retires that's never going to happen like wait what will happen there's supposed to be a cap recapture Which is what Luongo has done to Vancouver this year. Yes, except Webber's is supposed to be like 20 mil. In one season?

Oh, yeah. Whoa. It's not going to happen. Yeah, they would never allow that. No. They can't do that. Because the Preds would just go to the NHL and be like, okay, cool, we can't ice a team this year. Yeah.

Like, we literally cannot ice a team. So, with Mike Richards, the Kings will be paying Richards out until the end of 2031-2032. During that final season, Richards' settlement will be at its lowest point with a payout of $400,000. His contract was terminated so early in a long-term deal, the Kings will still be responsible for a cap-recatcher penalty of $1.57 million over the next five seasons, with an additional $1.55 million to be paid out in 2015-2016. So that was already passed. Are you listening to the show in 28? When Mike Richards' contract expires, you will be 40. Yeah.

And that started four years ago. Right. 2016 was four years ago. Wow. Like, dude. What? For as screwed as they are capitalized, they should be more screwed. Like, remember when New Jersey was docked a first round pick for the Kovalchuk deal and then it was given back?

Yeah. Because he decided to not finish the deal? Because it's Lou. So from 2020, so starting next year until 2032, the final year, the Kings will pay Richard $7.7 million. An average of $641,000 per year Not bad So, well, there you go It's like League Min or AHL Min

Wait, what is? The $641,000 Yeah, roughly I think it's a little under Yeah I want to give a little shout out I don't think we're done with Mike Richards and being upset Yeah, we're not

Let's continue to be upset Let's pour more gas on this No How come nobody's done an expose on this? How come it's been four years and nobody's done a deep dive on what happened with Dean Lombardi, the Kings, the NHL, and Mike Richards? I know that – and this was documented at the time. There were substance abuse issues. I understand that.

There was an incident at the border. With prescription drugs. Yeah, that's the lead of the article. That came out because of Lombardi. Yes. Yes. But I don't understand that. I don't understand how that's allowed.

Like, if there's any one thing you should be mad at at the CBA currently, because it's been the same CBA since, it's that. You should be asking questions about that Can I Can we look at this as a microcosm of the NHL Running their company Like their old boys club And that everything they want kept inside can be kept inside Because it's the same guys who run the entire system

And everything they want to leak out they can They can At their own whim Like they did with the poor Mike Richards there Anyway Getting to the least though No shut up Do your damn shut up

Is it related to anything? Yes. No, I bet it popped into his head. Shout out to Purolator. They're now hiring. I look behind me automatically. Is this Steve's 31st thought? Yeah.

You know how in 31 thoughts there's always that random thought? Soon to be 32nd thought. Yes. Starting two years from now. 32 thoughts. You know, Elliot, the best part about that is he has like four thoughts before the thoughts start. So that's why it's like at the end, he's like, well, I could give a shout out to someone. I actually scolded my phone last 31 thoughts that I read.

Like, because I was scrolling. Sometimes I just scroll to number one, which I'm a bad Rogers employee for doing that. But I'm reading it and I'm scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. And I just went, Elliot, he wrote like a full 2000 word article before the thoughts even began. It's not fair to everyone else who has to write articles, too. Don't you understand that there are other writers out there who also need clicks? yeah come on you owe with your

fucking info sucking up all the clicks being the fucking man watch our podcast when they're freaking reading 31 thoughts

you dick come on Steve took two years to write a book you took one week to write a book he writes a book every week

I know it's called 31 thoughts one and two and three and now he's got more than land before time and also Fast and the Furious

that's right hey anyway you were saying I want to shout someone out September 2015 the Leafs made a trade

with the New York Islanders the Leafs acquired Michael Grabner for five guys this is when they traded everybody who was at

picture day everybody who was at picture day Taylor Beck Carter Verhage who got a god dammit Adam sorry

what happened let's focus on Taylor Beck for a moment former Nashville Predator Taylor Beck very good

what year was that NHL so it would have been NHL 16 if you hold on to Taylor Beck because they released the game

pre that trade so he's on the Leafs roster the year prior he got three points against the Leafs in the nine point game hold on to him for a couple seasons

and be a GM second line player hey alright he matures into like an 83 more like Taylor sack cause that's how he plays

instead of Taylor Beck he's so sack anyway Taylor Beck super excited about being a Leaf did an interview with Paul Hendrick

about what it means to be a Leaf traded like half an hour later and that's what it meant at that point anyway got his picture taken It's like the wrath of grapes

The Don Jerry thing Where he gets his picture Ticket and you're gone Yeah So Taylor Beck Matt Finn Former second round pick Tom Nilsson

A little rat of a player Who we were really liking Chris Gibson The only player Still in the Islanders Organization From that trade I think he's their

Third or fourth goalie And Carter Verhage Who had a hat trick Last night So he went from For who? Tampa Oh

I didn't know he was on Tampa He I believe was the highest score in the American Hockey League last year. Good for him. And Tampa was like, you know what, we'll give him a shot. So he went from third round pick looking promising to throwaway bum to hat trick guy. Good for him.

And he still only had a third of Tampa's goals last night. Crazy. Shout out to him. Shout out to him! Talk about the Leafs there, LeafsNet, Toronto Sports Network. In the last 11 games, the Leafs are 9-1-1. Don't laugh, Toronto

Oh, cuck. By the way, Eric Angles is joining us. I'm just trying to be every comment section. Eric Angles is joining us later in the show to talk about the Montreal Canadiens. He had an article, to end all articles, saying the Canadiens' playoff chances are done-zo. And at the end of our interview, he talks about the Leafs. That's right. And it's magical.

It is magical. Jesse's a time traveler. How did you know that? I don't know. How did you know? Anyway, long story short, the Leafs are 9-1-1 in their last 11. And I only know that they're 9-1-1 in their last 11 because I knew they were 9-0-1 going in the last night's game.

Quick maths. People were very... Sorry, was it last night or was it the night before? Two nights. People were so upset that they lost to Edmonton. And so mad at the team. I didn't like it either. Well, no, but at what point do we just enjoy the fact

that they had 15 wins in 20 games and that's a really cool streak that we've never seen in our entire lives. In my entire life existing on this planet. I've been here 31 years. That has never happened. No? Why is no one... 1994.

Okay. Oh, shit. Well, sorry. Okay, it happened in 1994. Don't you remember that so clearly and vividly? Oh, yeah. 1994. A year after Joe Carter brought the Home Run World Series back to Toronto.

The 94 season is like the forgotten good year that they had because there was no more Wendell Clark. And they went all the way to the conference finals, but they almost lost to the Sharks along the way. And people were like, well, they're clearly crap. And then the Pavel Bure, Vancouver Canucks beat them. I feel like people weren't able to be happy for the Leafs because they were like, what do you mean there's no baseball? Yeah, probably. Probably. I'm just, I don't know, man.

I have to tell you, I'm a little. You don't have to. You can keep it to yourself. I'm a little upset. No, I do. Because this is a show and we're paid to do this. Are we upset at Leafs fans for their reactions? Yes, I'm a little upset at Leafs fans.

Because I've had enough. It's been like this forever. I scolded them in the LFR video I was like Listen if you're mad at the Leafs Like okay you can be upset with their performance And okay there's some things you need to clean up I think that's fine

But if you're like Oh this freaking team If you're one of those folks The Stanley Cup's not for you And you're never going to be able to handle it You're going to be able to handle a run into June Find another hobby There's lots of shows

Netflix is churning out so much shit But those people are the most passionate But probably for the wrong reasons Nah That's like Oh I was about to say That's like going to a bar And seeing the drunkest guy yelling at the TV screen

Makes everyone uncomfortable And I'm like oh That is on occasion me But like man you gotta You know what I saw all night last night Boy this team could really use cadre Holy shit You know what

The Avalanche Haven't done 9-0-1 Or at least I don't think so Maybe they have Actually When they were healthy

Well they're injured Well if ifs and buts Were candy and nuts Shut up I guess what People get injured During the season Yeah

Although it was cool With Kadri Did you see Kadri What did he do Well okay Rangers fans Will get upset with me But whatever

Ryan Lindgren I think his name is He destroyed Unistanskoy But I I thought it was a bit of a head hit I saw a lot of people calling it clean and Kadri just went

we're going, dropped the gloves and proceeded to beat the brakes off of this young man he got two for instigating, five for fighting and a ten minute misconduct and then he came back into the game, I think he might have scored actually, or gotten an assist or something

Avalanche ended up losing so we needed that Monday night to beat the Oilers To body check, or not body check, when Conor McDavid scored on Morgan Riley, Kadri should have stuck up for his teammate, dropped his gloves, and beat up Conor McDavid. Wow. And no other would say anything else. How do we, do we just tell people it's unreasonable to be upset at a loss when your team won 15

of 21 games? Like, it's that simple, right? Part of being a fan is you're fanatic, so you react in the moment, and I get that. I totally get that. But it does seem like even though the Mike Babcock era has passed, the Leafs finally playing fun again, they're having a good time, it does seem like there's a lot of us who still are struggling with just enjoying this.

Like, look at where Nashville is. They just fired their head coach. They're a brilliant, like, they're a great team. Now, Tarca Arena is not going to be great. And Jeff Merrick made a really good tweet. He's like, oh, a coach was fired. Let's check that team's goalie save percentage. Yeah, he's absolutely right.

He's right. It's perfectly fine to be mad at a loss or disappointed with a performance. That is perfectly legitimate. But to look at that Oilers game and be like THIS IS WHAT THE LEAFS ARE while totally ignoring the 10 games that came before it is just ridiculous. Like, forget go easy on the team. Go easy on yourself. What do you watch this for? You don't work for the team. This isn't your life you you want to build your legacy and win a few rings and win a stanley cup like you're watching to enjoy the thing chill enjoy it when steve dangle is telling you to chill seriously you got a problem therapy you won't regret it what it's good for you the leap

where you went from hey don't be mad at a team for losing to go to therapy yeah that's a giant However many people go to therapy, twice as many people should be going. Sure. That's based on nothing. But it's right. You can't extrapolate that off of who he treats, man. Adam, I said it into a microphone. It's right.

Okay. All right? So one of the things that's Leafs connected is Justin Williams from Coburg, as Chris Johnson loves to point out. And it came out from Pierre Lebrun yesterday that before Justin Williams inevitably showed up at the Canes game in street clothes last night to sign his contract and hung out with Tom Dundon and, you know, everybody else.

Excuse me. Everybody else. That it came out that the Leafs had made a pitch for him. And a lot of us went, how? And I'm still wondering how. How is it possible that Justin Williams could have played for the Toronto Maple Leafs? Now, his contract is structured as such.

He's got a $700,000 base. If he plays 10 games, he gets a $150,000 bonus. If he plays 20, it's another $100,000. If the team qualifies for the playoffs, it's a quarter mil. Another $100,000 if they win rounds one through three. So each round gives them $100,000. If the team wins the cup, it's $250,000. And if he wins the conspite, it's $250,000.

Oh, my God. So it's like, you know what? A quarter million dollars for the conspite is a bargain. Yeah, that's great. So LeBron said, I think the deal is happening. And I think Sarah Sivian had that too. I think the deal was officially broken by Pete Fisher of today's Northumberland.ca. Wow.

That's fun. So shout out, support local journalism. I suppose he just like called up, he was probably his neighbor. Yeah. Myrtle wrote an interesting little paragraph on Williams today in that the Leafs should have made this signing in the summer of 2017 and given this money instead to, instead they gave it to Patrick Marleau. he said uh when lou had a pile of dough to throw around on a veteran forward in the summer of 2017

and he would have come cheaper and been more productive and maybe toronto would still have its 2020 first round pick who said this instead carolina has both williams and the pick that's james myrtle in the athletic man he's right he you know i am always amazed when fans of other Canadian teams call Myrtle a Leafs homer. No one turns the knife like that guy. Nobody turns the knife. Every time after they lose, his

first tweet ruins my night. Whatever it is. No matter what. I'm like, thanks, James! Because it's something honest. And you're like, damn it! I don't want to admit that to myself. He goes through all the layers and just goes right into your subconscious and just goes, katana! And just stabs you in the brain.

Hey, where's your feelings? Katana! And he just friggin' Mortal Kombat to you right in the feelings. It's the worst. You're the worst, Myrtle. And I'll tell you why you're the worst for $4.95 a month.

All right? It's coming up. It's one of our upcoming stories. Yeah. You won't believe it. So yeah, this season, they could have totally added Williams, but it just would have pushed the bonuses

to next year, because they're not LTIR, so then all of this makes a cap crunch next season. But this season, who cares? if you're going for it. Yeah, it doesn't really matter. And I mean, I guess with the Leafs too,

like I feel like they'd be able to find a way out of it easier next season when they've got a whole bunch of cap space coming. But, you know, Justin Williams, outside of a Canes jersey at this point, would just not make any sense to me. Like, he needs to be in Carolina. That's where he should be.

Otherwise, it wouldn't look right. However, with the Leafs, I respect the fact that they're always trying. And, you know, people will be like, well, they need a defenseman first. And you'd be right. But here's what Justin Williams costs. A couple performance bonuses.

Defenseman costs probably Kasperi Kapanen or Andreas Janssen. And the signing of Williams leads you to getting a defenseman because that pushes your right wings down and one's free and then one can be shipped out to get a defenseman. And they can't have not getting sliced, too. Well, and there was that. So here's what I was trying to figure out last night, all right? The Leafs sign Williams.

Where the hell does he even play? So here's my best guess. Hyman, Matthews, Marner Janssen, Tavares, Nylander Kapanen on the left Kerfoot, Williams on the right And then You put Kapanen on the left

Fourth line Maniac Well, it's either that or we put a three and a half million dollar player on the fourth And, I don't know No, Kapanen's somewhere else And your defenseman's on your back end You're probably moving him I mean, without making a trade though

Like, that's my best guess. I think that's a domino move if you get Williams, because that's just found money. But now, are you going to trade a fast, young, useful player who you've locked up semi-long term, we'll say medium term, for an old guy who hasn't played all year, who you signed for this cup run only? What's your return? Like if that move doesn't happen until I'm like Okay, oh I'm getting this defenseman That we've been begging for for the last three years Does Kapanen get you that defenseman?

It's Kapanen plus We're not talking about just Kapanen Kapanen plus first round pick Now we're all, we don't have that first round pick Right? This trade I don't think exists That everyone's talking about Oh, Petrangelo

For what, Bracco? I still don't understand Why would the reigning Stanley Cup champions trade their captain? They're not. I don't get that either. I don't understand that. I can't yell as loud. I'm losing my voice here.

But I'm telling you, I'm with you on that. I don't know if Petrangelo's the guy. I'm just saying there might be other guys out there. There might have been another deal out there. It sounds like they were sniffing. And if one thing we know about NHL GMs is that somebody's going to make a bad deal. You know? Oh, yeah.

There's always somebody out there who's going to make a trade. I hate January. January is just in the way of the trade deadline. It's just in the way. Friggin' January. It's the hangover of months. I'm a time traveler, but I do know that we're going to talk about Jeff Petrie with Eric Angles. Right shot defenseman.

I saw that suggested. Tab's falling. Today, no. You don't make that trade with a division rival again because they'll just steal your lunch money again. You want to pay a... Thomas McAnus cost you, what was it? The second-round pick and two prospects? I don't think so.

Well, there was Valiev, who's not much of a prospect, but still. Right. Oh, and Kirby Reichel, who wasn't much of a prospect either. Still, okay, the second-round pick. And two warm bodies. You walked back to those prospects real quick. Pretty fast. I thought they had a good one in there.

As a former first-round pick and Kirby Reichel. It's true. That is true. Anyway. Anyway, the reality is it's nice that the Leafs made a pitch. I'm just happy that they're in on him. I don't think that they would have expected that Justin Williams was going to come here. It would have been cool, but I think it's way better that he's in Carolina.

It doesn't make sense to be here. If you're a guy like Kapanen or even like potentially Nylander, because he's been so good, Nylander and Marner, both on the right, do you look at that rumor and go, uh, why? Yeah. Uh, what the hell? No, I think you probably look at it and go, good, more support. More people, more leadership. I don't think that can hurt.

I don't think players look at it that way. I think if you're a fourth-line guy, you're probably like, well, I guess I'm going back to the Marlies. But if you're any of those other guys, they're secure. They got their deals, man. They're going to be there. So I don't think so at all. And calling the fourth is wild.

One thing they might look at and go, what the hell, are the new all-star jerseys that came out today. Which look like, I keep waiting for the color versions of them to come out. Why do they keep releasing black and white photos? Oh, wait, because that's what they look like. The, okay, the, I suppose the black and white with a color logo is kind of cool. I can get behind that. But then to just have nothing and, like, a couple little stripies, I don't know.

I'm not a fan. It's so, we're minimalist, man. I'm not into it. There's nothing going on. No. No, there isn't. There's just stripes and a logo. I don't understand it.

How about just let everyone wear their team jersey and have home and away? You could pull it off. It'd be like stick and puck. It'd be great. Which is all the All-Star game is anyway. I think you take the opportunity to make some jerseys and sell some cash. And sell some damn jerseys. And sell some jerseys.

Sorry, sell some jerseys. I think we found it. And then, but you make good jerseys. I think that's the simplest solution. It doesn't have anything to do with St. Louis. Adidas is the hockey, the official, right? Yeah, you know what? They should make all-star jerseys have something to do with the city they're in.

Here's a freak idea. Have the all-star jerseys be home and away. Have the players' actual team as the logo, but have it go over the blues alternates. You know, the blue, yellow, and reds, the old school alternates. have both versions of it, the home and away, but like an Avalanche logo in the middle. Yeah, but other players wouldn't do that. Why? I think it would be cool.

They would never do that. They would never do that, but they should have jerseys. I know I said the jerseys suck and that's my shitty idea, but I think it's cool. It's still better than what they have. It's bad. Now we're going to bring on Eric Engels. Yeah.

I wonder how it's going to go. How will it be? You're such a dick. I hate you. How will it be? Okay, so we're going to bring on Eric Engels from Sportsnet.ca and just Sportsnet. I don't even know, like, do I just say Eric Engels of Sportsnet or do you prefer Sportsnet.ca? Do you guys care about that?

You can say whatever you want. I work for both. I'm a senior columnist at Sportsnet and an insider on the Montreal Canadiens at the NHL. And a hater of the Montreal Canadiens, as it turns out. Question number one, how quickly were you blocked by former scouts? you know what answer the question now

this is my show boy you really lit the world on fire with this one Canadians playoff hopes all but shot with loss to Red Wings I think I saw a Dimitri Filipovich tweet last night that said 27% of all Red Wings wins this season

have come against the Montreal Canadiens it's amazing Eric, how many people from the Montreal Canadiens organization don't want to talk to you this morning? Yeah, there's none really. I mean, I don't think I'm saying anything that they're not aware of. This is a situation that's devolved over the last couple weeks with injuries to key players and Jonathan Drouet and Brendan Gallagher,

Joel Armia, Paul Byron, and there's not many teams in the league that can do, you know, that can work miracles with three top six forwards out and a fourth is a top nine forward. And, yeah, people will point to the Pittsburgh Penguins, but they're the anomaly. They're not the rule. You know, any team that loses this caliber of players is going to have issues. And given the fact that they went through an eight-game winless streak in November, it didn't help their positioning.

You know, it's amazing. They went to the Christmas break on a winning streak and in second place in the Atlantic Division. And, boom, it's all come apart in a couple weeks. And, look, I look at the way the Toronto Maple Leafs play, and I look at the way the Tampa Bay Lightning play, And I know people are excited in Toronto with what's gone on under Keefe, but they could easily go on a losing streak from here at the end of the season, and so could Tampa Bay with the way they play.

Two games that I watched them play against Montreal, they probably should have lost both of them, but they ended up winning because the Canadians have fragile confidence right now. But even all that considered, the reason I wrote what I wrote is because there's four teams between the Canadians and the wildcard position, which they're seven points behind. And even if Tampa or Toronto goes on a losing streak here, the competition is so thick that it just makes more sense to the Canadians to start considering who they're going to move off their roster going to the trade deadline. Because if you really look at it, you know, Cole Caulfield will be here next season.

Alexander Romanoff will be here next season. And both of them are going to be with the big club, I believe. You know, if they make one good summer acquisition, who are the Canadians next season? I think they could be a pretty good team. So it's an interesting situation, a difficult one, obviously, for the people in the organization to digest. And my column last night is just telling it how it is. So, well, exactly. And you're saying three very legitimate things, man. Like, they have so many injuries. They've been losing all these games by one goal.

they have such a great pipeline of prospects but i'm wondering where the patience is for mark bergevin because i feel like we've fired him five times over five years on the show and it's just never going to happen um there's sort of arguments on both sides where's the patience at for the montreal canadians well i mean i think that the real question is where the patience is in the fan base and and i know that it's certainly running out they want to see results and they see this is a colossal failure but at the end of the day you know I evaluate Mark Bergevin's work in segments and you look at the first five five and a half years of his job you know there was just about everything that he did was good uh and then he went through a year and a half phase where

everything he did was bad and I thought that at the end of that year and a half at the end of the 2017-18 season he deserved to lose his job um you know it was just so much bad there whether it was the Allsner-Hemsky straight signings and letting Radulov and Markov go in hard-line negotiations and the team going from first in the Atlantic Division to 28th place in the league. Those were all reasons, especially from the trade deadline the year before that up until all the decisions I just mentioned that Mark Bershman probably deserved to lose his job at the time. But once Jeff Molson stood beside him and said, look, if you look at the other five years there and all the good that he did, I'm not going to react this quickly

and just gas him at the first opportunity. It really set Bergevin up on a successful path because there was only one path to take the Canadians on, and it was to build more for the long-term future than the short-term. And Bergevin's commitment to that has been unwavering so far. He said it several times that he won't trade away prospects for a quick fix, and the prospect pool that he's built up since that time is one of the most impressive ones in the National Hockey League,

and I think they've made a lot of decisions to improve on the development side, whether it's bringing in Joe Bouchard at the American Hockey League level with Alex Burrows on that staff, to bring Dominic Ducharme and Luke Richardson to the Canadiens bench, and the hiring of Claude Julliet. So there's a lot of good in the development, there's a lot of good in the drafting, and the long-term plan looks healthy

because with these young players coming along, There are some veteran players here in Montreal who are still on the upside of their career that are important players for the Canadians, whether it's Mac Domi, Jonathan Drouin, who was busting out before breaking his wrist this year, or I should say ripping a tendon in his wrist. You know, Shea Weber is putting together a Norris Trophy campaign this season. If not for John Carlson, he'd probably be at the top of the list. Carey Price obviously has been mercurial. he's either been great or awful and that's not what you want to see from the guy you're paying

that much but i don't i believe that if there was a good team in front of him you'd probably turn a lot of heads and a lot of people who are doubting it would say oh oh yeah that's what he's supposed to look like so it's uh it's a strange situation but but that's where it is with burge man i don't believe that even a playoff uh miss this year is going to cost him his job i know how this is going to work out because i remember a year where the habs were very good and then they were mysteriously bad and somehow ended up with the third overall pick and went right back to being very good so you're a reporter you get to do lots of interviews have lots of fun what is the number one thing you're looking forward to asking lafreniere next year well i mean you know

there's all kinds of juicy storylines around lafreniere the primary one being that the draft is being held in Montreal this year, and the Canadiens still have 12 picks in it. I don't know what they're going to be able to do to swing things in their favor to get him, but I think Detroit has a pretty healthy edge in the race. That said, it's an 18% chance if you finish last overall in the league to draft first overall,

and stranger things have happened in the lottery, and Leafs fans can attest to that. Certainly Sabres fans can attest to that, and Oilers fans can attest to that. um the canadians also you know no matter who they strip off the roster no matter what they do they're they're still they're a team with a lot of heart they're going to compete from here to the end you know they i i i didn't write that it's all completely dead last night i think you know if somehow miraculously they win the next six games going into the bye week it's it it changes the

picture once again because after the bye week you're going to get armia and drew a back and Gallagher should be back between now and then and Byron could be back and who knows if the Canadians can put together 27 wins in the last 38 games I certainly would not be delusional to the point where I would suggest they're going to do it but stranger things have happened so before we start talking about Alexi Lapinier there's still 38 games left in the season and it's hard to completely discount where they're going to be if you do let's say they play 500 from here on out, and they are, you know, and they're in a position where you said, you know,

where they have to start considering moving guys off the roster. Who would that be? Because a lot of the guys that you named are like, you know, they're prominent players, you know, at least the players that are playing well. So, you know, what team, what players from Montreal would garner a lot of interest, and who do you think that they'd be willing to move on from

if the price was right? Well, Thomas Tatar is the guy at the top of the list, and he leads the Canadians with 37 points. He's got 16 goals in 44 games. He's played great, and he's put up 95 points in 120-odd games with the Canadians since coming over in the deal with Vegas. So that's a guy that went for a first, second, and third-round pick to Vegas at the 2018 deadline.

What's he worth now at 29 years old and with one year left on the deal, whereas before that he had four years left? So that's a guy who should be able to net them a first-round pick and a good prospect. And it's hard to say no to trading that guy, even though he could be a key player next year for them. When you have Kakeniemi coming up and Suzuki coming up the middle, and you could move Max Domi to left wing, and you have Jonathan Drouet at left wing, and you have Paul Byron at left wing. Those are good options that make it palatable to potentially lose to TAR.

and recuperate a first-round pick and a top-end prospect. Jeff Petrie is another guy that's going to garner a lot of interest. I don't think Mark Bergevin is going to actively shop him because I think he sees him as a piece he'd like to resign down the line. And especially given that even though Cale Flurry looks like he's got top-four potential, we're still a couple of years away from that, so the Canadians don't necessarily have a replacement in the system for what Petrie brings if they trade him with one year left on his deal.

But I can guarantee you that even though he has a 15-team no-trade list, there's going to be a lot of teams that are calling Marc Bergevin about that player. He's a top-end, right-handed defenseman, and he could help a lot of teams. Well, and I think there's a few teams now that are out there looking for goaltending, and Georgiev's name keeps coming up. But Montreal's got, I think, four guys who have played in the NHL this year. Correct me if I'm wrong. What's going on with that situation?

Are they moving off any of those guys? Yeah, I mean, I think they would listen on Lindgren. You know, Kincaid, it's a no-brainer, but I don't think anybody's coming calling on him. And Perrimo's as close to as an untouchable as you can find. And, you know, unless Carey Price is asking to be traded, I don't think there's a chance he's going to move. And I don't know of a team that's going to take a $10.5 million hit

from here to the end of the season and then for another six on top of that. And you look to the summer, and Price is going to be, he's going to be a topic from here to the end of the year and there will be plenty of people that will wonder you know what's his future with the organization like look at the goaltending market this summer first of all the goaltending market generally doesn't bear the type of value where you're getting the better end of the deal if you trade your guy versus keeping him that's the first thing carry price is an exception of the rule obviously because it's carry price but when the goaltending market has robin lanner cory croft or yaroslav halak and jacob marksham

currently not under contract you know that's a saturated market to say the least so i i don't see carrie price moving i think people will suggest that it's time to move them or they should move them i don't think we're there yet and i think the canadians like i said at the top here could be good next year and potentially a contender in two years with what they've built and it would be a shame to ship that guy out the door, leave the ball in Primo's hands when he's not ready to handle it at 20 years old, and then all of a sudden you're looking for the one piece you traded when you get to that point where you're ready to contend.

So I understand where people are coming from with those suggestions, but I just don't see that happening. Eric, honest Marc Bergevin is my favorite Marc Bergevin. There's some times Marc Bergevin makes a move and he's, you know, as any GM would be... I prefer Jack Mark Bergevin. I don't think you get a choice on that one. You just get Jack Mark Bergevin no matter what.

But when he signed Ilya Kovalchuk, he came right out and said, well, it's his last chance and good luck and we'll see what happens. And I kind of loved that about him. And I wanted to know, I know it was Ilya's first game, well, it's his second game,

but his first two games this week. What's your impression been of the Ilya Kovalchuk signing? and how Claude Julien plans to use him. How do you think that's all going to work out? Well, my impression when they signed him was, yeah, it's a no-risk move for a guy that when I watched him play his last game before signing, I thought he couldn't even keep up with their American Hockey League affiliate.

But it's clear that Kovalchuk himself is highly motivated to prove that he can still play at this level. Otherwise, he never accepts a two-way deal worth the league minimum and a $70,000 salary in the AHL. And for him to come here and play 19-25 and over 21 minutes in back-to-back games, not playing since November, and the way he played away from the puck and to register three assists in those two games,

if there's anything we've learned about him is that there's a possibility the Canadians might be able to ship him out for a decent return from here to the deadline because they are going to get healthy and his game is not going to stay at that level. And potentially they make that decision sooner than later when they do get healthy. So it's all gravy.

It's a good move by Bershbe. It's a move he had to make without sacrificing future assets, like you said he wouldn't do. And I think the team really appreciated it because the effort – I've got to say one thing about the Montreal Canadiens. Their effort through 44 games, night in, night out, is unimpeachable. I can't think of two other teams in the league that try as hard as this team does. And it's bared out in the numbers.

And the coaching job that Claude Julien has done has been above board because they're top of the league in shot attempts and they're second in the league in scoring chances from the slot. And they just try so hard. So you've got to commend them for that. We're team chaos. It's definitely the most fun option. fire bergevin trade everyone for 19 000 picks and they get rid of all those picks their job though

in all honesty that's uh that's the thing that we tell ourselves for sure it's a thing that we say out loud i don't know about what's going on in our head but everything that you're saying uh to me just suggests this is just kind of a bad lot it's just a crappy year and they gotta ride this out can you do that in montreal when the fans are getting pissed off yeah you know if you're going to manage in montreal and own in montreal and coach in montreal you better care about what your fans think but dismiss it altogether when you're making your own decisions because you know otherwise you're the the inmate something about the inmates running the prison you know what i mean like uh this is a situation where you know my job is to look at things as pragmatically as

possible and be an analyst you know i have no emotional tie to what's going on and i'm able to sit back and and call it as it is and it took up until last night to suggest that their playoff hopes are almost dead and even leading into last night's loss of detroit i was among a few people saying you know it's not over yet um and it's still not completely over because there's 38 games and a six game winning streak could change everything combined with a losing streak from one of the the teams we mentioned at the top whether it's a wild card team or toronto or tampa so you know we're not there yet completely we're not we're not there yet but we're we're definitely heading in that direction and you know what i wrote last night i was careful about the words

i use which is that mark bergman has to start has to start thinking about who he'll be moving off the roster it has to be a thought not necessarily that he has to start acting so So, you know, we're going to see what happens. I think we all know where it's going. Bad luck, yeah, it's been a factor. Bad play in that stretch in November and bad play from their goaltender is a huge factor. And this current streak is just the injuries, you know.

Like, it's just the injuries. And the fact is, you know, they're trying as hard as they can and the results just aren't there. Yeah, it's definitely important that in your role you be pragmatic and measured. Anyway, what was the best line you deleted from your article? What did I have in there that I might have deleted? That's actually a good question because I'm sure I did delete something that might have been overboard. I've never done that.

No, not you. You've never done that. I've watched your videos. No. I was even in one of them. You were in one. your your volume level in the video we did together was was way lower than normal so yeah i think the hotel guest appreciated it well i think maybe being around you eric was a bit of

a calming influence for him too maybe that's yeah that's that tends to be my uh that tends to be my influence in general although my wife might suggest otherwise but um what did i delete out of last night's column probably something about bergman he's got to be hard to talk about and i love the fact that you're answering this because most people yeah no it's more i'm not telling you it's more the framing of it like where you know where i could have said it's time for mark bergman to start selling off assets i said that it's time for him to start thinking about it you know like it framing is important and even i think the most challenging pieces to write are post-game right because you're kind of up against the clock and you want to make sure it's as analytical as

anything that you do when you have more time and you know sometimes you have to really hold yourself to account and make sure you're framing things properly because it's easy to write something that you end up regretting at it just a few minutes after it comes out so wow i've had this happen have you ever had this happen where a player will tell you something and then they'll contact you after and be like actually could you take that out yes it actually happened to me last week i can't tell you which player and what was said but but uh yeah you know players do regret saying something or or they want to ensure that something that they said that they felt was off the record remains off the record i have a very good relationship with the players of montreal

which is the benefit of being around for 13 years with this team and being around for and building the relationships I have with the guys that are there. And, you know, I do probably more than a few other people in Montreal tend to have a lot of conversations with these guys on the sidelines and certainly outside of the rink. So, yeah, I respect those relationships always. You know, and sometimes I'll have to push back and say, I'm sorry, but what you did say has to be used, you know.

So it doesn't happen very often one way or the other. So, yeah. Wow. Wow. Well, listen, Eric, it's been a – it's always great to catch up with you. It really is. But I think the thing that stuck out in your article the most, and I encourage everyone, sportsnet.ca, check it out. It's the quote about Philip Zedina.

When he was passed over, he said every team that passed him over, he was going to go third overall. And Kakeniemi went third, and Tuchuk went fourth, and Hayton went fifth to Arizona. I was telling my agent, if they pass on me, I'm going to fill their nets with pucks. And you write this, how fitting it is that he'd be the one to record the winning goal for the Red Wings on this night, extending Montreal's current winless streak to seven games. Do you think that really stuck in the craw of Montreal Canadiens fans? And I can't imagine that they regret picking Kokaniemi, but is there maybe a little bit of that? No, like, I don't think anybody cares, to be honest.

There was just a point of irony that was worth pointing out. and enabling me to build my points. But, you know, you guys are about to let me go, but I haven't even heard your thoughts on the Leafs yet. Oh, wow. Well, I don't want to – see, here's the thing. I never want to take up too much of your time because you actually have something to do, whereas we're like, well, whatever, man.

Well, I'll tell you very succinctly and bluntly. They went 9-0-1. It was the best stretch of 10 games I think I've ever seen since I started making videos. But they lost to the Oilers once, so it's all shot. Yeah. It's all done. You want my opinion? Yes.

I don't like the way they play at all. Eric, what? I will be very surprised if they do damage at the playoffs, if they continue to play this way. All that said, they are incredible at scoring goals, and they have such superstar talent that it might not matter in the end. And I think the most interesting stretch of the season is right now without Jake Muzzin, right?

What is it going to look like without that guy who is an anchor? Because, you know, when I watch them play, there's a lot of stuff that I like about the way they play, but there's a lot of stuff where I'm just like, I don't understand how they win games. So it's gone exceptionally well under Keefe, and there's a lot to be said about the joy of the team and coming together and becoming a team and that propelling them to such success right now. But I can't wait to see what it looks like come April and if they can find another level of commitment. because for as much negativity as there was around Mike Babcock and the influence he had on that team,

the one thing that he was always trying to get them to commit to was a recipe that would enable them to win in the playoffs. And it was boring, and it was frustrating for some of these young creative types, but it was what he was trying to do, and we'll see if it even matters. And maybe what the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to prove to me and maybe a lot of other people around the hockey world is that this is the new way, and it can lead to a Stanley Cup. And if it does, I'll be the first to call you guys up and say I was wrong.

And the way they play is maybe the way it should be. I was about to withdraw my invitation for you to sleep in the basement for the parade in June there, Eric. Hey, listen, a lot of people have said similar things to what you said about the Leafs' style heading into the playoffs. So I need you to make a list of the Leafs from most hardworking to least. Right now. And don't worry, we'll pass it along to them. Yeah, no, no, no, we will. That's good.

Well, I'll say this. I don't know what the general opinion is of Jake Muzzin in Toronto, but I think he's one of the most important players on that team. Oh, I think there's no question about that now that he's out. You can really see it, you know? No, I like Marty. Marty Marichan? Yeah, boy. Eric, the only reason I was going to cut you off is because I just worry that you've got something else to do, like I said. But, you know, we love talking to you, and thank you so much. And you know what? We're going to have you on if we can.

We'll have you on before. But I'd like to have you on right before, hopefully, when the Leafs make the playoffs because it's by no means guaranteed yet. When the Leafs make the playoffs, going in the first round, I want to get the Eric Engels breakdown. He's wasting his time with the Habs. I'm always going to text from him, like, let me tell you about those Leafs. Let me tell you about those Leafs there, Steve.

Like, you tell me, Engel. I'm going to watch them play and see, you know, it's clear that they're good on their strengths. Let's see if they work on their weaknesses from here to the playoffs because I'll tell you one thing. I watch Boston play a lot. They're really good. You guys know it.

Washington looks like a team that could get back to the Stanley Cup final this year. And Tampa, you know, if they can put it together, a very similar team to Toronto in terms of the way they play, maybe it's a galvanizing win they just got against Vancouver, but if they put it together all of a sudden and come in under the radar, you could have a situation like we saw with Washington a couple years ago, which, by the way, that year I predicted that Washington would win the Stanley Cup when everybody thought that they were going to be out the first round.

So I think being under the radar is a big thing going into the playoffs for a team like that that should have gotten it done but didn't get it done so many times. And I kind of see Tampa that way right now. So, Nostra Blagos, you think it's going to be the lightning? I'll tell you what, I would love to see Tampa and Toronto play in the first round. I mean, they're set up to do that right now, And I think that would be one of the most exciting playoff series you could ever have.

And it would be really interesting to see which one of those two teams buckles down and plays the type of playoff-style hockey that leads to success that we've generally seen, or whether or not they just go full nuclear and just try to win every game 10-8. Well, me, Adam, and Jesse are banned from those games. We saw them go full nuclear and they lost 7-4. 7-4. Yeah. Wasn't good.

Yeah, no, it was not good. And, you know, part of me just wishes that, like, that Florida has a little bit of luck and then regresses back to what they've, or at least Bobrovsky regresses back to what he's been. So that way the Leafs can just, here's the thing, in Toronto, Eric, it's just get past the first round. That's how low our bar is. And if we can just get past the first round, success, amazing. If they don't get past the first round, the storylines are going to be awful. And the worst part about losing in the first round in Toronto after doing it

is you've got two months until the bloody playoffs are done and then you're into the awards and into the draft and in free agency. Well, at least they'll be there because we've got two and a half months here in Montreal for four of the last five years. That's what it'll be if they miss the playoffs this year in three in a row. And, yeah, how many hours do you guys spend just praying that Freddie Anderson will be healthy every day? Every day all the time since he arrived.

It's what I pray to before meals. Do you sleep? No. Do you sleep on the spot? No. Never. Dude, you know what I got for Christmas? A weighted blanket.

That's how stressful this team is. I got a weighted blanket for Christmas. Do you wear it during the game or after? Yes. It works? Does it work? I like it. It's really good for naps.

It's really good for little naps. I'm a kick-the-covers-off kind of guy. Like, I heat up too much while I'm sleeping. Me too. It doesn't work while I'm, like, full-on sleeping, but it's good for a little nap. Eric Engels, do you like naps? I love napping.

Yes! It's a hockey reporter's best friend, considering the hours I'm working. Yeah, no kidding. No kidding. Well, listen, Eric, we so appreciate your time, as always. You're the best. Have a nice nap.

Yeah, and... Yeah, because that's probably what we're letting you go to do, and we hope you have a good one buddy we'll talk to you soon okay alright take care so Eric's a fun guy man that was great wow

so good that we just did that I hate you so much why? I'm your friend I just hate you man I just don't know what to say about you right now stop cursing I guess Rasmus Sandin was on a few different media outlets yesterday. He said that he thinks Timothy Lilligren is ready for the NHL.

Yeah, he's right. Sportsnet has listed Rasmus Sandin himself as the number six best player not in the NHL right now. According to an upcoming list that they have. What? Yeah, like players that have been drafted that are not in the NHL. hl interesting interesting very much so so my question to you is you know we keep talking about the two of them coming up do you think it's going to happen for realsies and when do you think it's going to happen i want to get i want to get some dates out of you guys the this is the the problem

with all our little fantasy scenarios sandin and lilligran and what if we brought justin williams in and we don't trade anyone we just push guys down no it's all a domino thing because of how tight the cap is okay i would love for the leafs to call up sandini and lilia grin and just have a full-blown fun pair that's their sole responsibility is just to be the third pair and have fun but they literally cannot do that so i'm struggling to picture this fun little fantasy scenario because let's just cut the fat. It essentially means they have to trade Cody

CZ and how the hell are they going to do that? Cody CZ doesn't have to play. So he's just going to chill? Yeah. Can they afford to have him just chill? I don't think they can. Unless he's allergic to his equipment or something. These guys are making lead men or rookie men.

They're making 925. Why can't they? I have, Adam, I have long ago stopped trying to figure out the Leafs cap situation this year. It's impossible this year. It's impossible. I don't get it. Yeah, so...

So, yeah. If they call them up, I'll be like, wicked, can't wait to watch. And if they make a trade, I'll be like, wicked, can't wait to watch. It's just, I don't want to be like, yeah, here's what they should do. Not understanding the cap situation. I think that Tavares and Marner's cap situations, because they were injured, I think freed up some space for them, from what I understand. No idea.

Marner apparently freed up a ton, and McCabe's injury is doing wonders for it. And I wonder if they're saving that towards the end where they're like, okay, we gotta get those two ready standing back from the thing, get them 10 games or something, and then at the beginning of February it's like, okay, we kinda know what we got here. Let's get those guys in. Here's two guests we gotta have. We still need CJ.

I know. Working on that. He's a busy man. Working on that with CJ. And Cap Friendly. I know you listen. It's about time you come on the show and explain why we're dumb. Explain what the hell's going on. would be easy explaining the leafs cap situation would be amazing and you know what would be great

is that if we were able to have cap friendly on more than once a year so the beginning of the season midway through the season like we're going into the like trade deadline what can the leafs actually do here yeah you know i'd love that and i'd love to see if they can out print them print them like and just have the title of the show be called hey stupid because that's all he'd be doing all episodes hey stupid well it's more than one guy right it is several people i don't know i only know one of them. I thought it was a dolphin.

I thought it was just a dolphin flipping his flins at a keyboard. Just smacking the keyboard. Was that nice? And then all of a sudden the website is built and

all the caps are right. Yeah. Okay. Ahead of time. Because you always ask me after the show. Today's episode is Cap Dolphin.

All right. Cap Dolphin. Cap Dolphin. All right. Well, boys, we're almost running out of time here because somebody else has to get into the studio. Last minute was booked before us.

So damn it. Do we have anything for the press conference? If you will allow me. The Presser SDP. The Steve Dangle Press Conference. I will not. Okay, question from Steven. Adam, are you dying?

I'm dying. I'm dying slowly. Do you guys want to hear about Hannah Brown this week on The Bachelor? Oh, Jesse is so obsessed right now. when I didn't want to watch the Leafs game. And I am very upset. Why are you very upset? Talk to me about Hannah.

Tell Steve Hannah's thing. Why does Hannah Brown have you feeling Hannah blue? Hannah Brown was a contestant on a season of The Bachelor a few years ago. She was a contestant. She didn't win the prize, but she captured America's hearts and they gave her her own season of The Bachelorette. That's how it works.

So she got her own season of The Bachelorette. Isn't it better to be the runner-up? I think so, because you get to milk it for longer. Yeah. And Hannah Brown. And still find love. Exactly. But probably not.

But probably not. And she's nailed it. She's mastered the art of milking this. Because on her season of The Bachelorette, she ended up with a gentleman named Jed. Jed. Yes. I already know that's not working out. So at the end, when they fall in love, it's like, hey, we're engaged now.

We're going to get married and stuff. Because that's how this television show works. And it turned out Jed had a girlfriend back home. The whole time. The whole time he was on this season of The Bachelorette, Hannah's season, he had a girlfriend back home. So, that failed. A little bit. So, once she discovered that, things were broken off.

So, they said, okay, we're going to give you a second shot of love. And she said, I'm going to ask out the guy who came in second. Because we also had chemistry. He was runner-up, right? Right. It's like, this whole thing about who you fall in love with, he was the second most person I fell in love with. The silver couple. So, Hannah Brown, she made all these, she made all the tabloids, all the magazines, everything, because she's like, okay, I'm going to choose the second guy, and me and the second guy are going to try it out.

Excellent. Things didn't work out with him. Oh. Yeah. What was his name? I forget his name, that's why I keep saying the second guy. Jed 2. Jed 2.

He didn't work out and didn't click. The third guy in that season, a Hannah Brown season of The Bachelorette, the third guy was Peter. Now, Peter might sound familiar because Peter is the Bachelor on this current season, the season that we did the bios for and the season that launched on Monday. Peter is the Bachelor. Right now. Right now. So, what happens on Monday?

They bring in Hannah. As a contestant? No. Or do you call them contestants? So, on her season of The Bachelor, Peter, like I said, he came in third. He's a pilot. he had given her his I think it was his cuffs

his wings if they were cufflinks or just like a little trinket he had given them to Hannah and be like hey I love you so much here are my pilot wings because I want you to have them because I love you and then she ended up didn't choose them and all that stuff

people love them together on Hannah's season because there's this huge drama of a windmill they slept in and apparently they did it do you remember this when it took over the internet So the thing was, on their season, they had adult relations four times in this one windmill. They watched an 18 and up movie? Yes.

Four times in one session. They watched a movie with gratuitous violence in a windmill? They did. Oh my goodness. Yes. So they did it four times in this windmill. Everybody made a big deal, loved them. She ends up like, I told you.

They watched four gratuitous movies in a windmill? Yes. That's a lot of gratuitous movies. It is. Good for Peter. Yeah, Pete, you know. Listen, we're, like, not upset about that, though. No.

Like, good for them. Right? That's awesome. Jeez, that many movies. That must have taken all night. So we know that that story didn't end up great, because she chose two other guys ahead of him. But now she came on this season after they introduced all the girls.

They bring out Hannah, and Hannah gives him his wings back and says, hey, you're free. I know we did it four times. You're free? We did it four times the windmill. Is he a genie? I had feelings for you. You had feelings for me. And he's like, okay, thank you so much for coming.

This is like within the first half an hour. And you're like, oh, it's cool to see Hannah again. And then, so the whole episode goes on. They bring back Hannah for the first challenge of the girls. So the girls, they go to. But she's only supposed to be back to give back the wings. No, but they brought her back in the second. So it's a three-hour special.

First of all, ABC. Oh, my God. Get it together. Milk and this. No one. Is this The Bachelor or The Irishman? It's longer than any hockey game I've ever watched. Oh, my God.

Okay. So during this three-hour special, hour two, the girls who are left after they chopped off half of them, they eliminated half of them. They didn't get their rows. They do this bouncy thing in an airplane hangar where the girls, where they like, hey, they're spinning around. They're all dizzy because they're doing this flight simulator thing. And Hannah Brown's there, like, controlling the whole thing. She's like, game show host to that. Right.

And then so hour three comes. Hannah comes back again because she needs another conversation with Peter. about how they were in love and how she didn't choose him and how he's free to go and choose his girl now. And Peter says, No. You know what, Hannah? No!

Come join my season. Maybe I'll fall in love with you again. And she says, We don't know because it's going to happen next episode. Oh, the worst! They didn't do it! But the internet is not a fan of HB. she was on her own season

she was a contestant on a season she was on Bachelor in Paradise and then she did Dancing with the Stars and now she wants to join another season you know why the internet's upset? Jealousy 100% Hannah Brown's a freaking boss

you gotta understand you gotta recognize what it takes to go on 5 different reality shows in a couple years within a year and a half that's an unprecedented run not even Boston Rob from Survivor can boast of that

he's gotta take a couple years off in between Survivor seasons so don't even give me that that is next level Survivor the patriots of reality shows right now she is, she's got five rings already man look at that sorry I just

I just clicked on I typed in her name to remind myself of her face and I just remembered she was the one So there was the windmill thing And the controversy of it was There was another guy

And was he also on the windmill? No he found out about it I guess Or she told him And he was just like Oh well like I don't want you anymore Or whatever And her face

I just remember the gif of her face Just turning to like utter hatred Yeah yeah Yo I can use smash Right? Like I'm gonna get it I mean good for her right? Right?

Whatever I just People are enough I didn't think we were doing in the windmill Adam, so you're on the side of go get it, Hannah, join this season? Yes. Yeah? Yeah, man.

Listen, first off, to anybody who can get it on four times in one night. Peter. Man, good for you. That's great. That's great. I think those days are past for me. But I'll just be honest with you. Everyone was asking.

The show still has the E next to it, right? Okay, good. No, there's no swearing in that. Yeah, I suppose That makes it clean then Don't hate on someone's success No In the bedroom or otherwise

Or sex-ess Yeah, bingo Listen It's a thing, I just said They might still have something going on Love is complicated Let it play out In front of the television

But Okay My problem is You had your chance Thrice Yeah You could have picked him in your season you could have picked him when your marriage failed

your almost marriage failed but you didn't and then now you're like again Pete I need this attention she's married to the game and all the girls in the house already hate her well they're gonna hate her but she's not there to make friends she's there to win love

right so or another season listen I think Hannah Brown knows how to play the game the other girls and the people who are upset at home are upset because they don't know. A lot of Bachelor fans, if you were to dig deep down,

would love to be on that show. Would love to have I think that's a large reason the majority of them watch. Yes, it's a fantasy. Yes. And so, let's be straight here. You think that you're going to find love the first time. Everybody dates several times. So, why not let Hannah date

several times on television? With your friends at Crown Royal. Sorry, it's in my contract. Why not have a Crown Royal and watch Hannah Brown. What? You know what? Why not? It sounds like a good night. Just me and Jesse you know,

watching. And are we in a windmill? I'm watching next Monday now. Could be. It's good. I can't wait to hear what she says. And I didn't even see the first episode, damn it. You don't need that's it. The whole episode is okay, like McKenna, we love you, you're from British Columbia, but you're

kind of out there. Was she gone? So McKenna, BC girl, she is... They always pick girls from BC if they're Canadian they're from BC always so she got picked

to get the rose but she had the loudest scream when Hannah walked in and I was like like bad like just she lost her cool

gutter yeah she lost her cool cause she knows she knows it's like Stone Cold Steve Austin walk it up it's like glass breaking

it was Vince McMahon yeah or Stone Cold yeah she knows or Eric Lindros in NHL 99 Hannah Brown

is walking in there she knows Hannah Brown is undefeated that's why she screamed she's upset she's like damn

she's back again what kids do I have she's Goldberg so she's one of my she's Goldberg yes so who's the worried one McKenna

McKenna's one of my closet favorites so she needs a cattle prod she's Canadian and she likes to go psycho so it's awesome so she needs a cattle prod like Razor Ramon

or what was Razor Ramon's name new name. That's how they beat Goldberg for the first time. I don't know. It's Scott Hall. He friggin' cattle prodded Bill Goldberg. I don't remember that. And he pretended to get electrocuted. Well, sorry,

not pretended. It was real. And then he lost. Lost the world title, and that's how the streak ended. Wow. So I'm very interested to see if Hannah Brown will join this season. If she doesn't, I'm okay with that, but if she does, there's going to be a villain in the house, and I think the season gets a lot... Oh, no, Hannah's got to be there.

The season gets so much more interesting. You can't have a three hour episode that ends with she might and might not And then she doesn't And then begin the next episode with no You never know I won't be there unless she says no She says no and then they give it to her The next season somehow

How about this She says no And then At the first rose ceremony There's only one rose left And she walks in You gotta find ways to extend the show She walks in

And then, you don't find out until the next week's episode. We haven't even had a rose ceremony, and we're on episode three. Stick with me. I'm the producer now. Producer Dangle. Producer Iceberg. What's that? Producer Berg.

The Tom Hanks name? Ice is my first name. I am the Bachelor now. I am the Bachelor now. What if this is just Anna's season now? No, I think it is Anna's season. She takes over for Peter. Yeah, wow.

Jesse, thank you for explaining that. You told that beautifully. That was great. I'm excited for next Monday. Oh, me too. Who cares if there's a Leaf game? I'll be watching. There is?

Is there? No, I'm not. Okay, well. I just thought I'd say that. Hey, we're peacing out. We will see you Sunday. Love you. S-T-E-P.

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.