The Steve Dangle Podcast - Centre Ice | January 14, 2026

Episode Date: January 15, 2026

On this episode of The Steve Dangle Podcast, the boys are live from the Connor McDavid OHL Top Prospects game in Peterborough, Ontario, broadcasting from the Peterborough Memorial Centre 00:00 OHL Commissioner Bryan Crawford joins the show! 32:00 Leafs lose to Utah 40:00 The Leafs play Mitch Marner tomorrow 1:01:00 Our OHL experience 1:05:00 Hamilton & Anderson trade destinations 1:19:00 Who replaces Point at the Olympics? Visit this episode's sponsors: Get an exclusive 15% discount on Saily data plans! Use code DANGLE at checkout. Download Saily app or go to https://saily.com/dangle Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use code SDPN to turn five bucks into $300 in bonus bets if your bets win! Head to http://fabletics.com/SDP and sign up as a VIP to get 80% off everything! If you’re thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. Visit ⁠⁠https://www.betterhelp.com/sdp⁠⁠ today to get 10% off your first month. Watch all episodes of The Steve Dangle Podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLk7FZfwCEidkgWpSiHVkYT7HrIzLPXlY Watch clips of The Steve Dangle podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLk7FZfwCEieOJuIrqWyZPWSIJtVMCbLz Buy SDP merch https://sdpnshop.ca/ Check out https://sdpn.ca/events to see The Steve Dangle Podcast live! Watch hockey with us! Live on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLk7FZfwCEifCTX0vkKEaGg9otrW4Zl2k Subscribe to the sdpn YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@sdpn?sub_confirmation=1Join Subscribe to SDP VIP!: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0a0z05HiddEn7k6OGnDprg/join Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/thestevedanglepodcast Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sdpvip/subscribe - Follow us on Twitter: @Steve_Dangle, @AdamWylde, & @JesseBlake Follow us on Instagram: @SteveDangle, @AdamWylde, & @Jesse.Blake Join us on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/MtTmw9rrz7 For general inquiries email: [e-mail] Reach out to https://www.sdpn.ca/sales to connect with our sales team and discuss the opportunity to integrate your brand within our content! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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which is pretty, I mean, this is groundbreaking stuff. Please welcome to the Steve Dangle Podcast for the first time, and hopefully not the last. We'll find out, I guess. Mr. Brian Crawford of the OHL. I mean, I don't know how exciting it is. It really depends. We'll see. I think it's pretty exciting. You are like, you're like an international man. Well, not international. You're a provincial man of mystery.

Well, we looked you up. I've been called a lot of things. That's the first one. Well, I just have to say, like, you know, I obviously knew about you and heard about you when you came over from Golf Canada to run things in the OHL a couple of years ago. right but did not remember that you were a football player first and foremost for the toronto argonauts uh because yeah that was uh that's and you're forgetting a step because then you went to basketball before golf that's right is that correct yes i did i did i actually spent eight years in university sport uh even prior to that so yeah it's been a weird so canada's next or what do you got f1 tell us about your time with the space program

I'm going to knock them all off. 43 years old and you've already done all that stuff. I mean, like, he's the son that my mother wanted. I know that. But, Brian, you know, I guess we, you know, before we get into, like, the OHL stuff, and obviously we're here for the Connor McDavid Top Prospects game and we're at Center Ice, which I think is pretty cool for us

considering we started this. This is cool. I've never done an interview at Center Ice before. It was a brainchild of Eric from the Peets here. And, man, it's been very, very cool to kind of see this all come together. But I want to start with you so people get to know you a little bit. So even before football, who are you? Where are you from?

How did you get into sports? Like, you know, let's pretend we're on a first date here. What's the – where do we start with you? Not to make it awkward. I raised my eyebrow, too. There, see. All right. Yeah, I mean, I'm a born and bred Hamiltonian.

So Hamilton Mountain, went to Barton Secondary School in Hamilton. and we grew up in a very kind of active household. I have a younger brother and a younger sister. It was hockey, baseball for me growing up, kind of right up into high school. And grade 12, I decided that I was done with playing hockey and I wanted to play football with my buddies. And from there, off we went, so to speak. But, you know, kind of great, very, very passionate sports family growing up.

My sister was a soccer, basketball player. my brother played football as well and so we were you know it was sports kind of every weekend and you know there'd be a point in time where you know my parents would you know go see my sister playing she played the NCAA go play see my brother play in U sport and then come see you know my CFL game all in the course of kind of one weekend and so it was great it was a great great environment to grow up in and lucky that it you know really kind of inspired my passion for it and you know led me this way before anybody else asked another question i do want to say i think it's fitting you're sitting on that side because you two are the athletes and we're the two wannabes

i i have to tell you people like us can't stand people like you guys because you're like yeah i played a lot of hockey and baseball and then i just picked up football and and then i became a professional at it yeah what was your youtube channel like what are your subs well i'm a little older than that so youtube wasn't actually a thing uh you know i was i was still on the napster streaming you know kind of uh arc adam talks about me being an athlete but like i never played a professional level if we want to spend a little time on that you went in the fifth round of the cfl draft you win rookie of the year if i have that correct no that was in i was in college that was in college okay but you have a long successful cfl career it's it's football careers are very

short and you spend a lot of time with the argos yeah i mean uh i was lucky you know it wasn't ever really a goal like I started playing football because I literally wanted to just play football with my buddies and I went to a really great football school in high school and then the opportunity came up to go play at the university level and I got to go to Queens and we had a great team and had a lot of success there and same thing it wasn't really like a goal until late in my uh my time uh there and it was like geez maybe this could actually be a something I could do is play at the next level and i got drafted and i remember sitting uh we were sitting in a coffee shop with uh my girlfriend at the time who's now my wife and you know i said you know she asked me what

does this mean like i was like i don't know i might you know go to tryout and hopefully you know maybe i can make the team and play a season or two and you know better part of a decade later she's kind of like um i think it's time to move on uh you know move on with life but uh you know I was incredibly fortunate to have that experience to get to play, you know, in the CFL. But you're from Hamilton. I'm from Hamilton. It was definitely a crisis of conscience. Yeah.

I'm easily bought. So whoever signs the checks, bit of a mercenary. But, you know, I was lucky. I got drafted by the Argos. I lived in my parents' house my first year in the CFL. And then my wife and I ultimately bought a home in the Hamilton area. and it was a great way to start out life and to get to be a professional athlete and I got involved with the players union and was active there and you know play for pinball for quite a number of

years and some other great you know folks uh you know from Damon Allen to I played Ricky Williams for a season oh yeah he came up yeah oh yeah that's cool yeah yeah we could do a whole podcast on that I totally could do a whole podcast on that Ricky was a great guy great guy great teammate we've got some stories but maybe for the next one so it was it was a great start and you know I'm really fortunate to have had that opportunity and but while I was playing you know my wife was great we talked a lot of these things and I was kind of motivated to think about what was next and you know I sat down with pinball one day and we were talking about it and I'm a year in and you know

I'd finished school and wasn't quite sure thinking of masters graduate school what I want to do and he gave me the best advice that you know anyone's really ever given me and he just said figure out what you love to do and make that your job he was like geez that's that's that's pretty obvious yeah and I thought about it and you know I wasn't playing in a league where I could retire for the rest of my life and move to Muskoka right unfortunately um and I wasn't going to be a coach because coaches love the game a whole different level but I love business and I love sport business and uh the PA stuff had kind of introduced me to some of it and I decided that you know yeah maybe this is what I want to pursue

When Pinball told you that, was there music playing? Was there a magical light aura behind him? Did he levitate? Elevated into the sky. Some of the Americans watching this show might not know the aura of Pinball Clemens, but what is he like? So for those that don't know who Pinball is, which is hard to imagine there's anyone who doesn't know who Pinball is,

but certainly he may be more of a household name in Canada than he is in the U.S. went to William and Mary is where he played his uh university football came to the CFL he's a five foot five running back and he is his Michael Clemens is his name but everyone goes calls him pinball because that's what he looked like on the football field just bouncing off of tacklers bang bang bang went on to you know hall of fame career in the CFL uh as a Toronto Argonaut you know could be the mayor I mean hell he could probably be the prime minister he wanted to be no question and uh you know became a coach and has you know stayed involved with the Argos for a long time and was the coach when I was there and he is uh the most passionate inspirational motivational person that

I've ever met in life and I think probably will ever meet in life um and someone who just cares for people you know more than anybody as I said I've ever met like he he just truly cares for people and you know having that sort of guy as your coach was was pretty special experience as well so one one thing my boss never let me live down uh because i very famously on the show worked at the toronto zoo for seven years okay he never let me live down that when i applied there i was a teenager i had nothing to put on my resume so i put that i did the morning announcements uh as as one of my qualifications you had pinball clemens as a reference i did and i'm guessing you got the job yes um i've gotten a few of them with him as a reference that's pretty cool yeah you

know i mean pinball is great you know uh people that have seen him he's a the most um amazing public speaker uh speaks all different places yeah right everybody's got a pinball everybody's got a pinball he doesn't even mind either no he loves it and he thinks it's great oh he loves it he loves everything he loves it but uh also when you when you spend that much time with him he's the same guy too like in behind closed doors as he is in public when you spend that much time with them you hear all the slogans all the speeches all the stories you know them all and so you'd go to uh you know maybe you go with him to an event that he was doing or something and we were part of it and you'd hear the speech and you know where it's going you know where it's going to land because

you heard it in the locker room or you heard you've heard it's heard him say it before but yeah can't say enough great things about about pinner jesse oh like i i thought like the pinball clemens point in your career must have been like the stepping point to everything else in your life you know he motivates you to get everything uh to move on to the next obstacle and then you you accomplish that and then now you're commissioner and then so your goals with the ohl if you want to go on to that um what does success look like to you for this league yeah i mean you know i want this league to be revered everywhere for how a sports league can be run and what it can be um you know there's scale to everything right it doesn't matter um necessarily

what you're doing it's it's all scalable right it's just the number of zeros might change um but i think that we can you know operate operate our league in a way that you know is an example to you know people everywhere about how a how a sports league can can run uh you know what really drew me to this opportunity was I think that we've got this kind of duality. We have this really, really noble mission, two missions really, to develop people, and young people especially, but people in general, whether it's staff that work for the teams or in the buildings in addition to the players themselves, and then supporting the communities

and developing the communities that we're in. Because the OHL, we're sitting here in Peterborough, and the Pete's are amongst the most important thing that is in this community. and that's true across our 20 markets and that's really special that's really really unique and really noble and to have that kind of be the leading mission is pretty cool but then on the other side of it you know we have this really dynamic sport business that we get to run and operate and grow um you know do things like this and and and bring people into the game um whether they're a fan of hockey or they're just you know a sports socialite and they want to be part of

what's cool or they want to just get out on a you know friday night or saturday night and see their friends and and and family members and colleagues and community members because you know the weather sucks here in canada for a lot of the year and what else are you going to do but you know get out to a hockey game in the middle of the winter right and that's special and and that's really part of what drew me to it well you know i think too like we we're we're living in an in an era where uh uh the costs of everything are going up and what strikes me about the ohl and why you know we're so thrilled to be kind of working with you guys on an officer with specific teams and doing highlights and things like that is that it's one of

the last affordable family tickets out there for live sports. I mean, you even look at some of the, um, the, the brands that have sent, for instance, coming to Toronto,

obviously you get the scepters, uh, their tickets are very expensive to get, uh, especially if you're trying to buy them aftermarket, which is you can't buy them cause they're sold out. Um, the Toronto tempo are going to come in and that's going to be very exciting.

But again, there's going to be, uh, a mad demand for that sort of thing. And, you know, growing up, our families would have been able to go to a Leaf game as, you know, a four or five group, and it would have been totally reasonable on a family budget.

Not so much anymore. You know, I look at this, and when we go to these games, and we've worked directly with the Frontenacs, now with the Peets, the Generals, we're going to do something with Guelph in March, is, you know, I see kids. I see moms and dads and entire hockey teams in the stands. and you know sometimes they're usually the ones that are screaming the loudest and they usually

have the jerseys and the shirts off and they're going nuts and but it's it's it's that is what we grew up and wanted to have and I feel like this is sort of this area this arena this this league that you have is you know the next thing for families and it's always sort of been there for a lot of families but even bringing new people in I want to talk to you about growth Because I look at your resume, you know, obviously basketball Canada, then golf Canada, two sports hugely on the rise in, you know, Canadian sports culture. And then you come here and this is a league that's been around a long, long, long time. But the business and the world is changing around it. And you guys seem to have injected a ton of energy.

And how are you going after new people that have maybe never been to a game? Yeah, I mean, you touched on a lot of great points. certainly it was a little bit too long of a question if i'm being honest was there a question there uh no the uh you're right you know one of our superpowers is our connection to the communities that we're in and certainly being a family-friendly affordable option i mean you mentioned whole teams i took you know bought 40 tickets to the bulldogs earlier this year and took my entire you know youth triple-a baseball team there as a as an outing this fall for our team and you know that happens every single night, multiple teams and multiple buildings, you know, across the league

because it is a family friendly event. And it's also like, you know, I went there with my parents when I was a kid and now I'm bringing my kids, you know, to the game. And, and that's pretty, that's, that's pretty special. And so we always, you know, we certainly have to, as we grow and evolve, you know, keep that front of mind that, you know, we're, we're driven by the communities that we're in and we're and by being you know a community connector the reality is of course you know as you mentioned like the world's changing and things are getting more expensive and you know costs are going up and that is certainly true for our league as well so you know figuring out ways that we can you know grow our businesses grow you know revenues and stuff

so that we can invest in the game and we can you know continue to give back to the communities that we're in and and and ensure that you know we have a stable bright you know future for for this league that is better than the one that, you know, that I came to inherit and the person after me will inherit as well going forward and the people that follow us. You know, we're stewards of it, right? I get the great opportunity to kind of take on the legacy of David Branch and what, you know, 45 years built, you know, this major junior

or junior hockey, you know, it's 130 years it's been around here in the province of Ontario. You know, the Peets are being one of the oldest, of course. and so that history is is deep um and strong but you know being able to build upon you know what was done before and and and leave it for the next is is our goal here wasn't wasn't sure when or how to bring it up but can you talk a little bit about you know david branch and his impact on on the league and any any conversations you guys might have had yeah i mean i think that you know you don't have to do much more than kind of mention the name to someone who's maybe a casual sports

fan or something and they know who he is like they know who he was and um that means something that's pretty pretty special right um his impact is massive right he's um you know touched the lives of so many folks not just guys that have played in our league but people that have been part of people that have been fans um you know he was incredibly warm and supportive uh to me in this transition and and and taking over uh the role um you know i'm sorry that we didn't have a chance to work together and and you know get to know each other a little bit more than uh than we did but um you know I remember like he had a great laugh great smile you know he'd love to you know put his hand on your shoulder and and I was told very early on if he if he called you he said

go get him kid that you were in his good books and that was the key so I got you know I got one of those early on and so yeah it's it's a sad loss for the whole hockey community of course our league and so many people that spend so much time with him. So I anticipate that his memorial that will be taking place in a week's time in Oshawa will be quite a sight. Yeah, and I want to ask you about the business side of this because we are really fascinated on this show about the business side. When you're talking about things, rumors that we've heard of potential expansion, especially south of the border into the States, obviously that's already happened a little bit.

but what do you foresee on that um i guess on that track like are is that something that's a real focus for you at the moment or is it something like hey if the conditions are right we'll we'll look at it um expanding on both sides of the border is absolutely a focus of ours yeah um there's an i think opportunities there that we want to try to uh chase down uh you know we gained uh 120 players into our league this past year from other leagues that wouldn't have traditionally played you know in the ohl that's you know you basically you basically have four teams worth of players there that have come into the league so there's an opportunity to grow the league while keeping that level of play not only high but actually even higher than it's been still um and there's

a demand for it right there's a demand for it so you know we have to obviously find the right opportunities um these are the sorts of projects that are also managed in years you know not months Yeah. But, you know, we're we work hard on it, you know, kind of every week and trying to, you know, make things happen both here in Ontario as well as on the other side of the border. And, you know, states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and hope to hope to see the opportunity to grow. What represents a viable market? Like what would you be looking for? Yeah. I mean, certainly you've got to have a hockey, you know, a hockey kind of history and fan base there. um i think that's a big big part of of success in in a new market that um you've got fans that are you know know the sport that are engaged in the sport so that's important uh facilities of course

if you don't have a building there's lots of places we could go but there's no building right and it's not uh it's not a cheap endeavor either to build somebody told me it could be north of 200 million in some instances to build from the start yeah i mean you're 150 to 250 million dollars depending on the size of the building and other factors. But it's a big investment for a community to undertake and to find public-private partnerships to tackle those sorts of things. So, yeah, it's a big project to do. So that's why I say they're kind of measured in years, not months.

But we're hopeful that we'll be able to introduce new franchises into the league and grow the league because there's so many opportunities that come with that you know in terms of reaching new fans that maybe are hockey fans but haven't had a chance to interact with the OHL as much you know I'd be an example of that being from Hamilton like Hamilton most of my life didn't actually have OHL hockey it was really only you know kind of in my 30s when the Bulldogs were you know in the in the city and so there are markets across the province where they're kind of loosely connected to the league but they don't have a team of their own so And then likewise in the U.S. as our kind of exposure grows, the three teams we have have done fantastic jobs in those markets.

We've seen the six teams in the Western Hockey League. You could make an argument that the Seattle Kraken wouldn't be there or having the success that they're having without the Pacific Northwestern division of the Western Hockey League and what those teams have done to grow the sport there. So for us, part of our job is to grow the game, create new fans of hockey and, you know, bring others into into our league and what it's all about. So I was in an arena host for the Mississauga Steelheads for a season. And what are you laughing at? You've never mentioned that before. He put that on his resume. Yeah, it comes up quite often. You reference and then you got the Steelheads.

That's a good question. Brian, you're now officially a member of the show. School announcements, I like that one too. This is every show. I can't wait to tell my kids what their future has in front of them. So that's a team that, you know, I was there. There weren't a ton of people there. And, you know, Toronto proper doesn't have a team. Yep.

What in your estimation is the struggle there? Because, I mean, there's no shortage of people. It's definitely a hockey market, but, you know, sometimes it can be a tough sell. Are you looking at getting into Toronto proper or back to Mississauga? And how do you do that? Yeah, so, I mean, you definitely touch on a challenge for our league and making sure that we are viable and strong in the GTA, which we definitely need to be.

You know, Toronto proper, the reality is everything that there is in the world is available in Toronto. And the competition is probably the biggest challenge, right? So much, yeah. NBA, NHL, of course, Major League Baseball, you know, soccer and lacrosse and every festival and, you know, the Toronto Film Fest and cottage season in the summertime and all of the sorts of things that are available on a daily basis. the market has a lot of competition and I think that you know as I said part of what has been the success or the secret to the success of our league is how important we are to the communities that we're in those mid to small size markets where we are the sport and entertainment property

in town right and so you know that will ultimately still I think guide a lot of what we do in the future and even as we think about expansion and markets that we can operate in I think there's lots of opportunities around the gta uh for us to explore and we are exploring you know i think toronto proper um is is a different is a different deal and and it doesn't make sense there is a bit of a team there that takes a lot of focus at least yeah the jays have been unbelievably popular this year uh no you're exactly you're exactly right and it's in and and that's so that's okay That helps our league as well, the fandom for the Leafs and the NHL as well. And in parts of the Golden Horseshoe, Hamilton, Niagara fandom of the Sabres, right?

Or in Windsor fandom of the Red Wings. So those are, I think, some of the realities that it doesn't make sense to necessarily kind of fly into the headwinds in that market. Yes? the majority of people watching right now they're nhl fans they got their nhl team and they're excited for that and the nhl looks at the chl and the ohl is like their feeder system for the new talent but i mean we are that's what it is but the majority of the people who play in this league don't end up graduating like we have the dowdy and the mcdavis behind us how do you balance that where you're a league on its own where you're trying to give these players an opportunity to

play but you're also trying to be this feeder system for the nhl how does that balance work yeah i mean you know first and foremost um i would say that you know every player that comes to our league i would guess has the dream of trying to play in the nhl sure and that's great they should they should that that is what we're trying to provide is an opportunity uh to make the next level of hockey and that's the nhl that's other levels of pro and that's now the ncaa as well and um and we can say that we can say the ncaa word and we can say that absolutely absolutely and i think that's a great that's a great thing for families that's a great thing for the players um so we want to we want to be able to give them the platform to perhaps achieve their dreams

the reality is is that very few will actually get there and we are also developing them as people and they're going to become doctors and lawyers and accountants and firefighters and maybe even commissioners we don't know i mean yeah exactly i mean um our kind of one of our legal counsel on the commercial side a guy by the name of aaron franson aaron franson uh played for the guelph excuse me played for um kingston front knacks went to queens while he was playing for the front knacks got his degree uh he was traded so he finished his career in owen sound when they had some great teams there um went on to do law school mcqueens went on to become a partner at stikeman elliott major law firm uh in Toronto uh leading mergers and acquisitions like he's an example the story

of what the majority of our players actually are and what they actually uh become and he's you know come back to support our league and help us um you know in in those ways so you know we have to kind of always balance that yeah we're our goal is to develop NHL players when it comes to the on ice hockey part but we have to keep in mind that we're developing young people for to be you know successful future contributors to their communities and that's in their chosen career paths and it's probably going to also be in the community as coaches and mentors and you know those sorts of things so that's what i said that kind of duality of being it you know being a really noble mission as well as being a really dynamic sport uh entertainment environment adam's bringing

out the trophy so last question here because this this top prospects thing everybody knows about the CHL top prospects game yeah but but you know the OHL top prospects game is a very recent development yeah it is second season by the way I don't know if you guys if you know this but the the guys in the head office allowed us to keep this for like a month uh and we just had it floating around the office and that sort of thing what's this uh chip yeah there might be a little nick on that it might have been the trophy when you win when we uh play a little bubble hockey but that's besides the point there's a lot of plaques on here this is a lot of years so you know you guys could take one of these ones on the oh that'd be great we'd love to be on that

but you have a sharpie in your suit jacket we can fix that it is the connor mcdavid ohl top prospects game how do you get him involved why do this in the first place i guess is the first question and then how do you get connor mcdavid's name involved obviously there's a 97 on the trophy for anybody listening on audio um that's a big deal yeah yeah yeah so i mean you know credit to uh dave branch on on on this in so many ways uh when the chl decided to kind of shift the prospects top prospects game that they were running to do this challenge between the chl and the ndtp um he said you know we still need you know ways to profile prospects that aren't going to be maybe part of that that team and uh so it was a real important to him that we maintain that

So, you know, my rival, we got to launch this, you know, first one last year and profile the great prospects in, you know, in our league. We've got 40 guys here, you know, half of that is half of the 80 that were on the midterm rankings are getting a chance to play here. Which is, by the way, 80 guys. 80 guys in the OHL. That's a record. That's a record. That's crazy. the we think about the you know the league success last year in the draft like it is definitely kind

of stacking wins upon wins uh you know we had a record year of attendance last year like three and a half million people came to ohl games last year there's no other sport and entertainment property in the country that does that none like you take what the chl does in the year not the cfl not major league baseball not the nhl none of them right we have 61 teams operating markets across you know you've got four or five thousand people a night and it's it's it's huge so anyway so back to the back to conor mcdavid top prospects um so when we thought about trying to build this brand out build this property out you know of course connecting to you know one of our most notable recent alumni uh who is obviously at the top of his game in the nhl that the kids playing

today have been inspired by that are pursuing you know kind of his success uh it made all the sense in the world and he you know said yes to it immediately you know was was great about it was got behind it um and so it's about connecting you know what was one of our top prospects you know a decade ago uh to the game connecting keeping that connection to the league um and really you know charting charting the path for the future so we're really excited about it was a great event last year in brantford you know we were we're building something there we've got and we're physically building something there with a new arena coming now you know we're we're looking to you know do more here in peterborough we're going to owen sound next year um so going to communities where

um they provide a great opportunity to host this game and and to to do things in those communities as we you know continue to build you know our brand and legacy uh in those markets so uh it's been a great been a great uh first season this one was uh has been fantastic we've added to it with the u16 um prospects games the gohl prospects games which was a new partnership this year and just trying to build you know size and scale with everything that we do brian you've been so great about your time we really appreciate that uh and we've we've held you here for a while held you hostage at center ice here but we want to say uh i have loved being a part of this so far thank you for having us here and thanks for making time for the show we very much appreciate it and we hope

you guys know i appreciate it appreciate all the time and energy covering the league and everything that you do so thanks so much i'll send you the rest of my resume just so you have it it's important i'd like all the references as well we'll need to do reference checks sometimes life throws your curveballs and you don't have time to get to them and that's where task rabbit comes in and i think you should check this out because here's the deal one of the things one of the weird quirks about my condo building is that they use my floor to repel down and clean all the windows but they never clean my windows oh and they're way around on that it's like well it's a patio window you can do that yourself and i'm like well hang on a second what if i don't want

I don't have the stuff because you got to have that scraper thing and the washer thing. The chemicals. You got to have the right chemicals. See, that's what I'm saying. That's why I used TaskRabbit and I employed a tasker. Here's the thing. TaskRabbit connects you with taskers in your area for furniture assembly, home repairs, lawn maintenance, mounting, window cleaning, all that stuff.

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Yeah, I'm warmer than you guys because I am wearing my Fabletics. Oh, look at you. I'm a big deal. I threw on the vest because it's a little chilly down here in Center Ice, but thankfully I have this from Fabletics. Well, Jesse, sure, it looks good, but the quality must not be there at all. Steve, you could not be more wrong. The quality is top notch. Excellent.

But listen, when you get top quality, you're paying top dollar, aren't you, Jesse? You're not even doing that, Adam. What? You are paying very reasonable prices. 80% off, actually, when you become a VIP with Fabletics. Listen, the quality surprised us. The fact that it works so well and it's so warm. And it also looks great.

And the thing is, you're not going to get any of the waistbands creeping down. Joggers actually keep their shape here. Imagine that. Jackets that are actually warm instead of just looking like they're warm. Fabletics VIP, you've got to check it out. They already have an incredible deal. And we've got an exclusive offer just for you. And by the way, Jamar Chase just signed on as an ambassador,

and he did his first clothing drop, so you'll want to check that out. 80% off everything when you sign up as a VIP, and yes, that includes Jamar Chase's first drop. Just head over to fabletics.com.sdp, take the quick style quiz, and be sure to select SDP when prompted to unlock your 80% off. Again, it's fabletics.com.sdp. Jesse, it was wild card weekend last weekend. How'd you do on your picks?

I went undefeated. Hey! 6-0. I went 6-0. Listen. Yeah. And it's like we did our public picks. Like, you can check it.

It's all there. I was first in the league tied with a couple others who also went 6-0. It's a little easier when there's less games here. It's not 16 games. It's only six. But I lucked into it. Okay. Now, how do you think you're going to do this weekend?

Because DraftKings is offering some pretty great odds. They are. Listen, they're an official partner of the NHL, too. Like, you should know that. But, you know, football, it's the playoffs, that sort of thing. Jesse, how are we feeling about our picks? Who are you going with? Yeah, I'm just looking at the games here.

There's one, two, three, four games, and last week I went 6-0, so this week I'm going to go 0-4. Okay. Because that's how it works. That's right. That's how it works. Pete, you're still up. Yeah, no, 6-4, but not too bad.

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pass-through of per-wager tax may apply in Illinois. 21 and over. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Restrictions apply. Bet must win to receive bonus bets which expire in seven days. Minimum odds required. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG.co slash audio. Limited time offer. Another big thank you to Commissioner Brian Crawford of the OHL for joining us. That was a really great in-depth sort of interview.

I thought at some point he was going to be like, OK, guys, stop asking me questions. I have other things to do. I wanted to tell him more about the jobs I've had. You should have gone granular with the zoo. Tell him about Scootles, the llama. Camel. Oh, camel. Excuse me. what was the one with the extra leg uh chaka chaka yeah how could you forget chaka how could you forget chaka you can't you can't um and and listen i i think you know there's nhl stuff to talk about today um obviously the leafs lose a bit of a stinker last night and you know if you

if you did stay up to watch the game because it is a western road swing they come off of a a very emotional win over the avalanche guys and it's in the mountains and they immediately go to another city that's in the mountains uh and get in at 3 a.m and you could tell uh even though it seemed to me anyway that the formula that they are playing was still there the jump in the skates was they didn't have it they just didn't have it they didn't have it you could tell from opening puck drop and and sometimes that happens and you're like all right get it back and then utah scores and you're like all right you're down one nothing get it back and then every minute that passed i'm like they don't have it yeah and like it's not like utah stinks like oh no that's a

good playoff spot right now they're in a playoff spot they can score they can skate it felt like every player in their end was holding three sticks like there was if all you did was wake up and see the box score and go what the hell happened brother sister yeah they weren't able to get a thing going against utah they were never going to win that game now i felt like the effort was there jess oh a hundred percent it's just you can't compete when the other team's been sitting at home for almost a week now because utah's in the middle of a seven game homestand that spans almost three weeks and this is the third game they're just sitting at home having fun and when you go in there the nhl is a very competitive league it's the top league in the world all of

these teams one through 30 team or 32 are very close regardless of what you think of the standings and these players these players are all really good and when you come in on the second half of back-to-back on a western road swing where you gave all of your effort against the colorado team because they tried during that game the least did and it worked it was awesome and then you come the next night to a rested team who's sitting at home you're gonna look like that on some nights now wait jesse we got to get into one of my least favorite tropes which is they're pro athletes no what do you mean they're tired and what i always say is yeah who's on the other end of the ice pro athletes rested exactly listen i'll be honest with you i have said that before but i

I think it's more when the effort isn't there, that's when you get annoyed, right? But I felt like last night, too, if you only look at the box score last night, you don't really realize that the game didn't get away really, really until the third period. Like, I think it was, you're still in it. It never looked close, though. No, it didn't look close. You're right. It wasn't the goals they allowed.

It was they weren't able to generate anything. And Hildeby wasn't very sharp. No, no. He's been playing more than he has in his entire professional career at the NHL level. It's going to catch up with him, I think, and he can't have it every game. And when the team in front of you doesn't have it, your goaltender is also not going to look good. It's a lot harder. Dylan Genther just got way too many looks.

He's seventh in the NHL in shots on goal. I can see why. Top 15 in goals. Unbelievable accuracy on that first goal. Sniper. Steve's not wrong, though, that on those nights where your team doesn't have it, you'd like your goaltender to stand on his head but if he can't do that in that instance then you get a 6-1 final score that was essentially your only chance of winning the game is if he'll to be

goalied them yeah it's rare you turn on the television over the last four weeks and you say the Leafs are very clearly the second best team on the ice so I'm willing to give them this like they went from like when when they started to pull it together it was like all right they're still not playing great but they're finding ways to like get a point get two points then it was just oh they look just like last year's team they're they're very strong i mean you go eight oh and two and then you have that one game you're forgiven my son yeah like it's it's not all of them are going to be david airs could you imagine if last night you did a one taker and lost your mind on the team at 1 30 in the morning and just ripped everybody apart at one no it was just you

made me stay up for late for this no but nobody would believe it i i hope nobody would buy that the last two lfr videos but sitting in front of that camera at 1 30 starting up an old lawnmower and kicking it and shit trying to get it to start yeah that it was difficult man yeah it was uh dragging your rear end late but i have a feeling uh myself and you guys and pretty much all the leafs nation are gonna have no trouble getting up for thursday's game well and it will be the leafs turn to play a team on the second half of back-to-back because vegas is playing la the night before and it is the vegas golden knights versus the toronto maple leafs on thursday night this is mitch marner's first game against the leafs since he left town

in the trade, sign and trade, whatever you want to call it. And then he comes back to Toronto the following Friday. And Steve, you will be streaming tomorrow night's game on the SDPN channel, so you better get the Evinrude going. You better start pulling that cord because that outboard motor better get it going. This is going to be, I think, an emotional game, but it's obviously not at home.

And so I'm curious about, I feel like the Toronto Maple Leafs know, if you're in that dressing room, you know, the fans want this game. The fans probably want this game more than maybe the players do because the players probably are looking at it like, okay, he's not at home. We're going to Vegas.

Vegas is also a very good travel city for Leafs fans. So I wouldn't be surprised when you turn on the game tomorrow night and a quarter of the crowd are Leafs fans. You know what? In previous seasons, I would have been like, you know what? They've been doing well lately, but they didn't show up for this one. And this was an important one, and I'm really disappointed. I looked at the standings.

Are they still in a playoff spot? The Leafs? After last night? I believe so. Every game, like, you don't need a reason to get up for the game. You get up for the game because... They are. Oh, there you are.

So, their second wild card right now. Boston is in there now, kicking out Buffalo. So, it's just every night, it's musical chairs. You need these two points. I don't need you to look at this the way we do. I don't expect you to look at it the way we do. You're pro-athletes, you're pro-hockey players, whatever, whatever, but we want this friggin' game. Oh, yeah, and they know that.

Like, how can a guy like Austin Matthews not know that? It's not even... And it's also his friend. Don't you want to beat your friend? You want to beat your friend, right? You're competitive. There's a show about that. It's very popular.

Well, you know, I want to be one, but he was one, and now I'm upset about that. And you go to the award show, and you're like, hey, that's my friend at the award show. Let's have a little thing on stage, and then who knows what happens in the bathroom. Who knows? Who knows? It really is that show. It has the world and apparently me. This is funny.

Vegas, Vegas, you know, just so many parallels. So many parallels. Atlantic Division teams. Austin Matthews doesn't live in an igloo in Alaska. He knows what this game means to us as Leafs fans. And as much as they say they keep it in the room and, like, nothing and no noise and all that stuff, they want to win. All right? And, well, how about this?

If I can add a little, like, F you to it. You don't have to hate the guy. You don't have to want to boo the guy. You can love the guy. You can love the guy. But how about this? For two months, when your team was trudging through the muck and at the bottom of the conference, what was everyone saying? You got the team you wanted.

You guys ran him out of town. Could have used more now. What is this impression? Who's talking? That's how I. The world. It's how I blunt the severity of Twitter in my own mind, Jesse. So when someone says something really mean, I just put a dumb voice on it.

Oh, you got a big fat head out of it. You're strolling. They go on an 8-0-2 run. Where'd they go? Where'd they go? Where'd all those jerks go? Are they behind there? No, they're not over there. No, are they maybe where's that other? There we go. Are they up there? Where'd they go? By the way? I love the sky cam Jesse. Oh, yeah, Maddie. Can we wave to the guy waving to the sky?

Can I look at we got that's our logo. I told you 40 times yesterday that we'd be at center ice here We are for a go Well, they're up there. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, you mean the chirps gone gone. Where'd they go? Oh, why? Because the Leafs have had more wins than them for the better part of a month. Yeah. You mean the Vegas? Vegas has had more losses than wins for the better part of a month.

Yeah. I know they're top of the Pacific. But the Pacific looks like the not the, yeah. It's not the best division at the moment in the sport. No, because people decided this trip doesn't really work anymore. I'm just going to tuck that. They'll bring it back out. But I didn't forget.

And the team shouldn't either. Guys, every fan in hockey said you suck without this player, and for two months they were right. It's time to show them. Yeah, I like that. If you can't get up for this game, you can't get up for pro hockey. And it's second half of back-to-back with travel as well. They play in L.A.

That's the game tonight. Right. And I think if somebody could travel back in time and redo their tenure as a Maple Leaf, it might be Mitch Marner. based on what we're hearing from Jonas Siegel and The Athletic today. That is one of, and I haven't messaged Jonas about this, but I'm going to. This is one of the best pieces Jonas Siegel's ever done, as far as I'm concerned. He spent...

Kind of dropped out of nowhere, too. I think he's been holding this back. I think sometimes when you're a journalist, you know. I wasn't expecting this. He went in December. Yeah, spent a couple days with Marner in December. And first off, Mitch did say one of the more relatable things is that the thing he doesn't miss about Toronto is the Gardiner.

um and amen to that absolutely that is a born and bred gta boy he is correct and i don't want i don't want to get this quote these quotes taken out of context because what will happen when i mention what i'm going to talk about and i'm not we're not going to read the whole article here you should you know get an athletic subscription this is worth it scroll but no pay your dollar 99 or whatever discount the new york times are running exactly listen they're always running discounts come on pay it it's worth it um but you know there are little things that when you move cities and i i've done this right i've done this a couple of times um i could i could look at and relate to so you know one of the things that that comes up is you know um you

don't get to see your family uh son he said sunday mornings are facetime mornings because it's the one time a week and this is a very family oriented guy who was used to having his family over all the time uh that that you know you can't do that anymore uh because you know his mom and dad are still back in in canada and i would assume his partner's mom and dad are still back in canada as well so uh there's also like hey uh there's a time difference so when i used to get home and blow off steam and play video games with my friends they're all asleep because they're adults this is from the article this is just like examples these are things adam saying these are things that mitch marner said in this article very revealing and i and i thought too you know

So, you know, the fact is that they love the winter. They don't get the winter there. And I think there's, you know, it's an adjustment. It takes, I always say to people when they ask me about moving cities, it takes at least six months before you feel normal again. I really mean that. Forget, you know, you've moved houses before. It takes a while to feel normal in a new house.

A new neighborhood. A new neighborhood, yeah. A new city, it's like you're really. Country. Country. He's in a different country. Exactly. So, you know, and there's always been a microscope on this guy.

But in reading this article, and Jesse referenced it perfectly right off the top, I can't help but think there might be a tinge of, man, not that he doesn't like Vegas, not that he's not having a good time, but things were really red hot when he left. He was, you know, and I'll just be straight with you. The people around him, I think, and we've talked about this ad nauseum, I think really did not like the way he was treated here. and they were right in a lot of instances right but I do think that that creates when you have that in your circle and it's constantly going it creates a boiler effect and then you go and you make the decision and then you're the one not the people around you that has to live with that decision and I do sense a little bit of maybe not regret but a wish that it had gone differently and by the way as a host of a podcast that does a lot of Leafs coverage does a lot of NHL coverage

i wish it had gone differently too yep i mean i don't know if morning is the right word but you did you lost something i mean millions of dollars and you know i'm sure he's still having a great time and playing with these great teammates but i think in any large um life transition there's a morning period you know we we lived we lived in a place for nine years And we moved And I missed But also remember He also lived in

Not just nine years Well I'm talking about me Oh but you Oh sorry Oh I thought you meant Mitch He's sharing a personal story About the zoo Sorry yeah yeah

We worked at the zoo For nine years The llamas And the zebras I'm trying to relate And then I went to Sportsnet And then it was really hard And you can read it all

In my book All right talk about me Which one? Sorry The first bestseller Or the second bestseller? The first one The first one

So no like i i miss my old home of course and your blue room so do you regret your new home oh no you'll be taking me out of that place in a bag i freaking love it but i do miss the life i built in that other place i i don't i i love it as a humanizing story uh because i don't think we really take that aspect into account like he he signed what was it 96 million something yeah 12 million a year eight years yeah but there are as cliche as it is some things money can't buy yes right and proximity proximity well and it's at a very special time in his life too i can't imagine living a five-hour flight away from my uh family you know being a first-time dad it was hard enough during

covid living like a 20 minute drive away yeah right so uh it was a really humanizing feature um well like i agree with you it's it's some of jonas's strongest work jesse what do you think was your pull from from this because it i it is i think every relief fan should read this because the marner thing it'll be something we talk about 20 years from now it's a consequential moment in this leafs franchise it's one of the biggest moments in franchise history and i think one thing he will always understand and realize is that that tenure it's you're never going to get it back and there's probably a lot of regrets about how it played out because if you're able to dream up the perfect scenario as a hockey player who grew up in the GTA it's I get drafted by the

Toronto Maple Leafs I'm a star on the Leafs and then I win the Stanley Cup with the Toronto Maple And in there, I think you can hear that part of his heart that we talked about it when he left and the chapter was over, that that's never going to be a reality. And eventually, I assume after this mourning period, which still feels like it's going on for him because of all those things you guys are talking about, how it's a big adjustment moving to a different country. When that period's over, he'll probably come to grips with that and that'll be okay. But I feel like it's still so fresh and so new that that's probably still in there somewhere. If you were able to give Mitch Marner truth serum, I think he would say yes. I'm so disappointed that I wasn't able to give this franchise a Stanley Cup because that was my boyhood dream. And that was a team that he cheered for, like you said, from the start.

He also goes from being the guy, him and Austin and Willie, being the guy to being a guy. and he he has played left wing he's now playing center he's used to playing right wing bruce cassidy they talk about the minutes bruce cassidy wants to keep him at 20 minutes a night it's it's like right back to the babcock era in terms of ice time uh the points have have not been as easy to come by too because he's played with three different centers he's still racked up a decent rate he's lower than last year it's the goals he's not scoring goals right and i and i i wondered immediately when when they when they did at the introductory press conference one of the things that the general manager said was well we're going to put them with eichel and everybody's like well

who's going to shoot and they and the general manager said somebody better figure it out and they figured out that nobody was going to shoot it doesn't work and they've split them yeah now the eichel combination doesn't work that's to me when when you're like oh he's a guy no he's a 12 million dollar guy though like what do you mean you gave 96 million dollars to a guy you don't know where he's gonna play are you joking like i think vegas is very much find the big talent and then make it work and then figure it out and i don't and i don't blame them i would do the same i would do the same and it's it i think it completely depends on who you ask well look where they are in the division yeah look at the division right it's it's but we were having a

conversation with uh justin fisher uh our social lead before the show started i'm looking for him I'm also looking for him. Oh, there he is. Hey! He's in section C8. Yeah, right under the Kojiko sign. In the nine seasons, I think he was in Toronto or whatever it was, Marner legitimately played more shifts on D than he did at left wing or center.

When was he ever a left wing or center? Even once. One shift. Ever. How many face-offs did he take? rare it's a crime against humanity that the leafs didn't try marner at center like one of him or willie what are you doing i think no they tried you know what and it failed jesse you know what i think so go to the other guy you guys we've talked about this before but there's that famous

story about mike babcock wanting i think it was noah hannifin instead of mitch marner and he said you know i want men i don't want could have had a fin as a title podcast that's right and and i think Babs being there going I don't want an undersized center and that's why they tried Willie and they probably kept Mitch on the wing because Mitch is not a short guy he's still over six feet tall but he's compared to the Giants that make the NHL he looks a little bit shorter and Babs was a guy that was really about that right and in almost weirdly so then I'm like okay so Sheldon Keefe was there for how many years like why didn't he try it yeah three different head coaches are like

we're going to try Willie at center and they all tried it for I think 5 4 and 3 minutes each respectively. Marner should have been tried there. If he can play defense he can probably play

shot. One amazing in the OHL. They tried him at D that one game and it was fun He didn't do so bad. No he's an expert defensive player if we ever gave Selkies to wingers like he would be right up there but we don't so whatever i don't know why we don't i don't get why we don't know we should i don't i don't remember i think i want to say it was dimitri

filipovich he basically said in another life mitch marner would be quinn hughes oh yes that's a perfect comp well and just i the way they skate the way they move the puck the way everything about their game except yeah they just never tried them they're different positions and like it should be able to translate to center too one of the things mitch was known for here in toronto and and I guess has reportedly continued in Vegas, is that he used to be the guy that hosted a lot of the team parties, get-togethers, got the guys together, and was beloved as a teammate. He's done a little bit of that in Vegas as well.

Tougher when you've got a baby at home. But I'm assuming their house is probably big enough that the baby can hide somewhere. I'm thinking about both squads. And Greg Wyshynski said last year on Somebody's Show, and I forget sorry Greg I forget which one you said it on you said if Mitch Marner leaves it should have been ours uh if Mitch Marner leaves not only the Leafs will will regret it because they'll miss Mitch Marner and Mitch Marner will regret it because they he'll miss the Leafs and

that seems a little bit like what's happened now I'll tell you something as a watcher of this team I'm happy there's been a change for better or for worse I think Toronto was ready for a change I think mitch was ready for a change i don't know that that could have gone differently where i think toronto really goofed this up and where i put this on the leafs is management not pivoting after 2021 after the montreal series there should have been something right or after the tampa series the next year yeah or after 2023 or not allowing dubas to make the move yeah we're talking about championship windows how about do anything windows you had a three-year do anything window and you didn't do anything i think this is very important to say because i don't want the trolls

to misconstrue this conversation in that oh they want mitch back like no that's not what we're saying we're talking about his current feelings about his situation in vegas the way it's playing out for the least is actually i think pretty good i think i was saying this in the group chat last night you guys can call me crazy if you want to you didn't in the group chat though so i'm just gonna say this but but tell me if you think i'm wrong here's the thing in the regular regular season basically after 2016-17 which is when they first made the playoffs with this era um they really didn't face any adversity John Tavares arrived the next year and they would sail to the playoffs we'd be it'd be January it's January 14th today we would be we'd be like well they're

playing Boston yep uh Tampa's gonna win the division they're playing Boston we know it was like to be decided home and away yeah and and who are they going to get at the deadline or are they going to get a new buddy or what are they willing to spend blah blah blah so now these Toronto Maple Leafs have faced adversity and what's been interesting about it because that first two months was so rocky and even a good chunk of December was is that there seems to be a coming together of these guys in a way that I'll be quite honest with you I haven't seen in years it hasn't happened in the Mitch it didn't happen I should say in the Mitch Marner era that's not mitch's fault no no but i think 2019 is the only argument maybe yeah because that team wasn't very

good and they didn't yeah they just weren't very good but you you can't adversity or are you just bad could they be forgiven for falling asleep at the wheel a little bit maybe not because you're just so it's it and everybody knew it we used to sit here at the beginning of september and go nothing matters until april yep like and that's boring that's the worst it was boring so this year we're seeing you know character guys come out of nowhere and that was what was missing in the playoffs last year right we were and previous years as well is uh sorry we got a little bit of it in the playoffs last year in terms of like benoit coming in and scoring an ot winner and domi being you know a real factor yeah yeah you know we're starting to see that now i'm talking

about you know the lot and lorenz penalty killing duo i'm talking about uh dakota joshua was playing pretty well before he lacerated his spleen and we haven't talked a lot about that nick was emergence here he's won more face-offs by far than he ever won in Vegas I love that player he's great you know the Easton Cowan coming aboard and injecting some of that youth which Toronto quite literally under the cap could not afford to do no outside of Matthew Nye's outside of Matthew Nye's and even then it was like by the skin of the teeth they couldn't do actually Matthew Nye's at the end of the season they had to play shorthanded to actually bring him in yeah that first time so yeah like that's crazy university goalie and it's a great story because no one got hurt no yeah he

didn't have to play what happened if they did yeah so it's it's i i think perhaps for both sides obviously adversity is a growing experience that's always the thing i'm curious to see uh what version of the vegas golden knights uh who who have times looked good and at times looked a little discombobulated still sort of sorting out their team chemistry i'm also curious about what kind of toronto maple leaf show up i do think these guys are extraordinarily competitive human beings and uh if somebody is your best friend on the other side yeah you want to beat them yeah i i uh i think both teams are going to go in probably having this marked on their calendar you have something to prove and if you go in there ready to play against your buddy you're going to get

run over yeah you better show up with your head up absolutely absolutely two and five canadians will hear the words you have cancer that's why every step and dollar raised matters on september 19th join thousands in toronto for the princess margaret cancer foundation walk challenge yourself friends and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research together we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer register today at pmcfwalk.ca And what better way than with a delicious Pret Organic Coffee Starting with just $1 all day

Every day now until December 31st At participating A&W locations in Ontario This show is brought to you by BetterHelp. Some days are good days, some days are not. Not every day can you take the show that you started in your mother's basement and bring it to the center ice here in Peterborough. And, you know, there are some tough days along the way that got us here.

And I think one of the things that we will fully, objectively all admit is that therapy helped. Yeah, just a tad. Yeah, and so although it's great to be here, maybe you're looking at this new year and going, listen, it's not like it's got to be new year, new me. But it would be nice to get some evolution on these problems, maybe a solve or two. You should give BetterHelp a try because they've got 30,000 credentialed therapists. They serve 5 million people around the world. And you get matched with a therapist really, really quickly on your timeline.

It can be over text. It can be over calls. It can be FaceTime. Whatever it is that works for you on the time that works for you. 30,000 is like, what, six of these arenas? It's a lot. It's a lot. Maybe it's four of these.

Yeah, Scotiabank Arena plus another rink. Several. Yeah, that's a lot. So we want to give you a little bit of a discount code because we think you should give it a shot. BetterHelp makes it easy to get matched online with a qualified therapist. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P.com. Now, one of the things I wanted to ask you guys as we sort of get closer to the end of this show

is we've had a couple of days here in Peterborough now. Right. We saw the U-16 stuff. We saw, you know, I'll just we saw some agents walking around like Mark Hunter was there yesterday. There was you know, there's definitely, you know, everybody in the junior leagues is here. And I'm just curious about what you guys have taken in so far and any sort of anecdotal things. Like if somebody were to ask you about this experience so far, what would you say? It's one of the most interesting arenas I've ever been in. Like maybe we'll be able to illustrate this later. They got, like, a decent lower bowl of seats right behind the camera,

a ridiculously tall lower bowl at one end, only a few rows over there, and then they got the boxes over there. They got a wood panel roof. I love this building. It's the perfect OHL barn, if that makes sense. It's unique. Yes, and, you know, would we look at it a little differently if it was, like, pro? Maybe.

I mean, it's bigger than what the Coyotes were playing in. Probably. But hotel buildings need to have a certain charm, I find. And it's definitely got that. Everyone in this community frigging loves the Peets so much. And also, a lot of people who work in hockey, they need fashion advice. That's why I call them the quarter zip mafia. Yeah, I'm going to say that as a guy just wearing a black shirt with an STPN logo.

it's an ocean of people wearing like a quarter zip or whatever a black quarter zip with a teeny tiny team logo on it and that's it that's i'm wearing the shirt to fit in jesse what about you as we do more and more of these events like over the last few years that we go to kingston we go to oshawa we're here in peterborough we just keep going to more ohl cities over the last few years like i've learned so much about the league as a whole and how important the teams are to the communities because one thing we hear from our boy eric here i don't know where he is our boy eric here from the peats is this city this community they sell out this arena regardless of what the team is doing yes because they want to support the peats and that is how much this

team matters and you go to these different markets and the same thing in kingston like the communities care about the teams and when you live in grow up in a big city like toronto like i do you think like oh least or only thing that matters oh jay's only thing that matters the big teams but you drive a couple hours in whatever direction you end up one of these ohl cities you see that as much as people care about the big club and the least they care about their little club as in the peats and it's really cool to see in person if you've never been to an ohl game like it can be a bit of a culture shock yes yeah it's a lot of fun yeah and it's not quite high school football in texas where it's a religion everywhere you go in these ohl cities

but it's really something that the community rallies around and i think that's so cool uh for the ohl and if you don't if you're listening out there you've never been to one of these games and you got a team that's close to you like go support it yeah go go see one of these these teams in action because it's really cool it's not close to you yeah no make the three hour drive we've done Plenty of that. Go see Sudbury. Now, the thing that everybody always wants to talk about this time of year, this year's a little bit different because we have the Olympics,

which everybody's really pumped about, but trades. And you're starting to see the trade boards come out. CJ's already had a couple. I think Kipper's second one came out today. CJ said on the most recent CJ show he made a few calls and activity around the league is picking up. Oh, the rumblings. Rumblings.

Also, you know, then Pierre Lebrun said today that, you know, a guy like Dougie Hamilton, who we know is going to get traded at some point, whether it's now or it's the summer, you know, the action on him is picked up and the two teams he mentioned, and I don't know if this is Toronto baiting or not. I don't think it is. It would make sense that Brad Treliving might be interested in a guy like Dougie Hamilton.

I don't know that they got the assets to pay, but Carolina's name came up and boy, does that fit. Perfect. Perfect. No notes. yeah Dougie Hamilton uh you've lost Pesci and and Shea in the last couple of years too right yeah but just a player who like a pocket of hockey hates for some reason and a pocket of hockey is also always loved unconditionally the Hurricanes are usually on the loved unconditionally side

when it comes to analytical darlings even if they're aging even if they make a lot yes very cockney emmy was in rumors recently there's a lot of money that needs to move around in a deal like this let's cook let's cook it kind of makes sense it's it is interdivision which is a little uncomfortable but screw it beggars can't be choosers here 100 do you think do you guys think that that that uh new jersey ends up having to uh like he's a right shot defenseman that had almost 40 points last year do you really think they're gonna have to retain on this no i don't think they retain i think they move him i think he's almost like 90 percent gone out the door maybe a little everyone's like like i've seen people like oh yeah retain half four and

a half i don't think so million no no no no maybe a mil yeah four and a half million dollars is a second line center yeah that's a christian devore what are we talking about here no i don't i don't think that's happening okay and they're looking for pieces back that help them competitive help them to be competitive right now so if you're taking that salary you're sending out maybe you can just collect enough bodies with that cap space and bring them back in to affect your lineup to be fair that's most most trades like when they say stuff like that i'm like we're looking to be competitive now okay yeah no no around the trade deadline i think most teams making those deals yeah you're buyers and sellers you're right you're right and i think in this situation for the new

jersey devils it's not a selling it's a we got to make a hockey trade yes that's where i think it's unique yeah and i think you know i got to remember too even though they're both red the new jersey devils are not the calgary flames you know when we have uh the the president of the calgary flames going we want more nazim khadri's not less it's like yeah we get that but not 36 year old 37 year old players um because you should be rebuilding and that and then when we reach to the trade deadline and you're 10 points out of a spot and last in the west or whatever it is Like, you're going to sell. Yeah.

So why are you kidding yourself? What are we talking about here? Yeah, but I don't think Fitzgerald's never been that kind of guy. He's not, at least from what I have seen, maybe he doesn't get out in front of a microphone as much as people would like, but I don't see Tom Fitzgerald straight up gaslighting people. I just don't see that happening. Tonight's a big night for him.

Well, he did also say that the devil's struggles are on him. He came out and took the credit. Oh, he spoke? Yeah, he did. Well, he spoke to Pierre Lebrun. Oh, that one. He hasn't spoken to local media though Which I think if you're a New Jersey Devils fan

I'd be a little upset If my GM's just going to the national media And not talking to locals because there might be hard questions Stop avoiding us So Tom The Devils are in free fall You're in cap hell How do you see yourself getting out of this?

I think Bobby McMahon's going to sign 5x5 I think It shouldn't go without saying that Steve Stahels did the same thing. Okay, tell me about that. Pierre Lebrun was in Ottawa for an assignment from The Athletic, and Steve Stahels decided to give his comments on Statement Gate to Pierre Lebrun instead of talking directly to the local media.

That was mentioned very often by their own PR, head of PR, Ian Mendes, in his blog, and Steve Stahels decided to go to national media to talk about it. And he let the players face the mics. He did. leaders lead from the front that wasn't leadership yeah i'll say it until people hear me on this one now on the calgary flames uh eric francis has a column up at sportsnet.ca today saying the time is now right for the flames to trade anderson and i think i don't think anybody would disagree with that he's been he's on my fantasy team so i pay particular attention to rasmus anderson

but how are you doing he's been having a pretty good year's almost 30 points um and this is a guy who he started a little bit slow but he's been uh obviously mr consistency looking for an eight year contract like we've even heard this season if the flames were willing to go to eight years he would be staying but they're not so he won't and the question will become uh is the acquiring team that wants rasmus anderson and i don't see many teams that wouldn't want him are they going to get the chance to extend him uh and is he going to be open to that or is this a this is a rental because that's going to affect the price significantly this is a right shot defenseman who can quarterback a power play there's lots to love about this guy but if you're an acquiring gm

that's a that's kind of a scary thing dougie hamilton at least is under contract i i think like vegas for example is actually a pretty decent candidate to sign him and just have him as a rental because you know they made the big acquisition this summer obviously in mitch but you never did anything to replace alex petrangelo which i was surprised by and flagged when it happened i'm like hey it's kind of a big hole on your roster the cap's going up seven or eight million bucks could you just get them and then sign oh i'm sure they would find a way i mean they are vegas right but this put it this way this isn't a problem i'm necessarily expecting to get solved right away with with an extension and uh i think teams are a little bit more creative now you don't have to

have an extension in place you know what I want to see a little bit more like the Pronger trade back in the day where you know this wasn't based on an extension it was based on performance but it was if the Ducks go to the Stanley Cup final with Pronger we get an extra first right is what the Oilers said and that led to them getting Jordan Eberle why not something like okay we have aspirations of signing Anderson to an extension we don't know if we're going to be able to do that so we'll give you this this and this if he signs an extension we also give you this like the brad marchand trade uh last year third to a second i think it went they went to the finals yeah even martian but that's performance based that's right you're right you're right

yeah i want to i want to see signing base no i like that i like that a lot unless there's some new cba thing i don't know about where that's not allowed but i don't think so is there so you like vegas is a fit jesse just off the top of your head is there is there a team that to you you go in the playoff hunt could use a right shot d a little bit of power play juice is there anybody that kind of sticks out to you because the one thing with rasmus anderson is vegas has been the key link this whole time but it's not gotten done i mean there is another one who's that one the leafs but they're not oh no come on you're not bringing up calgary to leafs no no i don't think the the Leafs are a real option at all for Rasmus Anderson or any Calgary they would be if he wasn't

a flame I'm trying to go through the teams in my head to see who would be able to pick them up I think it's it right now it screams to me more of a rental for one of these teams especially at that cap is 4.5 million dollars as opposed to like somebody looking to acquire him and then also sign him and if you're Calgary you absolutely retain on that money yeah oh yeah to make it easy or why not because who cares yeah he'll come to you at the cost of less than luke shen yeah and that also opens up the trade possibilities you know somebody's taking on two and a half or 2.25 million dollars for rasmus anderson that's you're working with every team in the league and i'll pay more yeah oh yeah you know it's a team that's looking for a right shot defenseman that were

turned down this summer that are currently in a playoff spot and that right shot defenseman was dougie hamilton they won san jose sharks wouldn't that be interesting because this is like i mean they are in the second wild card as of this morning it's like Dimitri Orlov sometimes John Klingberg you know Timothy Liljegren uh Mario Ferraro like this is not a deep defense core and I just feel like having a guy like is is Macklin Celebrini a tough sell for any defenseman on a power play I can't imagine the go ahead no I was gonna say you might have nailed it like I've been I've been advocating for the Sharks to buy this year I thought they should have been in on the quinn hughes conversation because they have the assets to go get him in

the cast space and they could lock him up to a million years come july 1st when he can resign and i feel like if they are in position to take that next step that's the hardest thing to do is go from the tear down to the build up because it's so easy to just get rid of things and be be i don't want to swear i keep stopping myself yeah there's a lot of people listening jesse there's a lot of people here but um it's it's easy to suck yeah um yeah so for them it's about hey go get guys when they're available and a quinn hughes was available you should be in on that now erasmus anderson's available you should be in on that i love that i love that suggestion i've i've had a few conversations

with people about the sharks and they're so interesting just because they're so young they're so fun they have all this ridiculous space and yeah wouldn't it be great if they bought second wild card you're a point up on la you're a point up on nashville yep nashville's quietly six four and oh and remember the bottom of the bottom of the west is not that strong no i know he's in the window right he's in the window of when we should be competitive which is it might be right now but it'll be next year this this is what i'm saying like are they in position to just be realistic with themselves we're like okay do we want to make the playoffs and get swept by colorado in two and a half or do we recoup some assets now and just see where

the cards fall now trading raspis anderson there would be interdivisional and i think that would be the hitch in the giddy up but i think san jose's got enough assets to make that worth that That one, to me, comes with an extension. San Jose is not pure rental. San Jose is by an extension, and that, to me, makes a lot of sense. When I look at this, too, the other team that I find, you know, it's kind of hard because in the West, you know, you've got Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota.

They're all pretty good on defense. They've got their guys running power plays. Vegas has obviously always been out there, but that's same division. Edmonton probably could, but they can't. And you're not trading Edmonton to Calgary. Edmonton's right side on some nights has been Bouchard, Regula, Emberson Yeah, you don't need that But Bouchard, I mean, I guess, but you have Bouchard

Yeah, but you could also use just Anybody Human beings with a right-handed hockey stick You could use Troy Stetcher, I think Right shot, puck-moving defenseman The Kraken don't make any sense because of the Montour thing And they are also just overloaded with money on defense and the Kraken are in a playoff spot right now.

Utah made their moves with Sergeyev and Durzey. And then you've got, like you said, the LA Kings, the Nashville Predators, the Ducks. On the Eastern Conference side, I wonder about a team like an Ottawa Senators. Can you, and I know you've got Thomas Chabot and I know you've got Jake Sanderson, but is that something that helps their scoring punch? Because I know last night during the intermission, Darren Dreger said, listen, they're going to watch for the next couple of weeks. If they're in a position to make the playoffs, they're going to make a move. If they're not, they won't.

That, to me, kind of seems interesting because Ottawa's not young. They're not old, but they're not young. And they're in the we probably need to do this like pretty soon window. I wondered about them and that fit. Do you, you know, is there another defenseman going back? because obviously they've got Zub and they've got Jensen and they've got Thomas Chabot and Jensen. Jensen who hasn't had a very good season, right?

Like their left side I think is fantastic. Their right side could use some juice. Yeah. A lot of the analytics right now support that Ottawa is a better team than what their record says. They're not getting saves. The thing that is sinking them is goaltending. So if I'm Ottawa, everything I'm doing is getting a goaltender.

Reimer goes on a run, sends me to the playoffs, knock out the Leafs. On the last day of the season. I'm the first one to enter the line and say I was wrong if Reimer does anything with the Senators because I don't see it with him. I'm just for the narrative. It would be cool.

It's way funnier. I'll be wrong if it happens, but I don't know if it's going to happen. It's a fascinating thing. There's going to be a lot more names that we end up talking about. Last thing I want to touch on before we go here is Braden Point is week to week. and he has been a shell of himself. He was one of the original six members of Team Canada named to the team, I believe, in June, June or July,

or whatever it was. And this has just not been a great season for him. I think there's been injuries. I think Braden Point has played a lot of hockey in the last half decade. Incredible playoff performer. Unbelievable. So you want him at the Olympics.

If he can't go, who's the guy you put in to replace him? Because there were some pretty notable snubs. We're talking, you know, Bedard, Bennett. Who else have we got? Shifley's in there. Seth Jarvis. Seth Jarvis could be in there. Sorry, who did you say, Jess?

Wyatt Johnston. Wyatt Johnston, who I think Darren Drager picked him in the intermission last year. I was like, I don't think so. He's really good. He's really good. But I don't know that over Sam Bennett, Colin Smythe winner a few months ago, that I would maybe take him. It's a tricky conversation because, like, Sam Bennett and Braden Point are not even kind of the same player.

Yeah. So what are you going for here? So what are you going for? I'm putting you guys in the GM spot. What are you going for? Well, if you're going for a guy who kind of replaces what Point brings to the table, it's maybe Johnston. But I have a hard time. Like, it's not even like Seth Jarvis is having a bad year.

Like, I don't know. is Seth Jarvis the compromise there you have Johnston you're not really sure though you have Bennett but obviously there's something you don't like there and you know who Seth Jarvis is exactly and to me it was so weird how Seth Jarvis wasn't really in the conversation of the team he was already like oh we're leaving off uh Seth Jarvis like he's done he was at Four Nations but he's not gonna make this one I was like why not he's performed very well he's a very talented player and hasn't dropped off from the guy that you put on Four Nations, I would have him up there along with Bedard

because Bedard to me is the exact same conversation. It's like, why aren't we talking about this kid being the 13th forward here? Because I think they have enough guys there where the guy they're bringing in wouldn't even make the lineup. And probably doesn't need to play tough defensive assignments. I look at Bedard, he gets the toughest defensive assignments in Chicago already. Are his numbers great? But no, the team's not great. But he does the thing that requires to win hockey games, which is score goals.

Yeah, and he does a lot of that. He scores goals, and he's good at it, so why not just bring him and throw him there as your scratch or throw him on the fourth line to score goals? I have a hard time with Bedard because, I don't know, it's a fun conversation, but they're not doing it. Exactly. That's why I'm just shooting into the wind.

So who do you think it will be? Jarvis is my pick. Jarvis is your pick? Yeah. That's who you think it will be? Oh, who I think they're going to do? So Jarvis would be your pick. Who do you think they'll take?

when i hear dragger float something like that yeah i think it's not out of nowhere i think it's a canary in the mine and let's see how people react or whatever or or you're just getting people acclimated to the answer before you give it to them whoa yeah i think it's wyatt wyatt johnson a incredible player really really really good player for the dallas stars it'll be crazy if the stars add another olympian who's not named jason robertson um like yeah they'll have very true very true um uh johnson did have a pretty ho-hum playoff with dallas last year but really really talented player to be fair to him he didn't need to have a good playoff uh migo randon was he was fine and i don't know if it matters all that much to them

right-handed shot yeah i don't know if it matters as much up front it matters they care yeah right and right shots weirdly enough are not they're hard to come by and i think jarvis's as well Bennett's not I don't know, to me I think it comes down to Johnston and Jarvis Conor Bedard's a righty I know people are screaming at the screen right now

Sam Bennett still on the outside looking in Yeah, that's wild Shocking to me I think if Tom Wilson goes down, it's him but like, is that it? These guys, just take the best players like, trying to fill all these roles, just take the best player

Bennett, like forget the Conn Smythe, he's performing exponentially better this regular season than he was last season heading into the Four Nation faceoff. And he made that team. Remember, he made the team and immediately went in a slump and we were like, what are we doing here? And then sure enough, he scores in the final. The thing I hate most about this conversation, and I know we've got to wrap, is just the guys who are building this team talking out of both sides of their mouths and saying narratives don't matter, your resume doesn't matter, and then bringing a guy like Jordan Binnington based entirely on resume.

Totally right. Why? Absolutely right. You're lying to me. They have shown signs that they'll change their mind, though. Because part of the reason I didn't have Nick Suzuki on my team, I was like, well, they're not doing it. And they did it.

So you never know. Maybe there's hope. Let's just pick a side. Pick a side. All right. That's it for us. But we will be, Steve will be back for the, obviously, the Toronto versus Vegas game tomorrow night on the STPN YouTube channel.

Also look out for a brand new CJ show because that's coming out tomorrow too. And then Friday we're back in studio doing the normal show. So it's not, nothing changes, right? We're going to have another commissioner on Friday. Gary. Yeah, Gary on Friday. So we will see you there. And if you're at the Pete's game tonight,

please say hi. The Steve Dangle podcast. Follow the guys on Twitter at Steve underscore Dangle at Adam W Y L D E and at Jesse Blake. Connection complete. Two in five Canadians will hear the words you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research.

Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.