The Steve Dangle Podcast - Chuck | March 11, 2022

Episode Date: March 11, 2022

On this episode of The Steve Dangle Podcast, Adam was invited to park at people's homes, an update on the Hart Trophy race, Petr Mrázek gets pulled against the Coyotes, NHL refs blow 3 huge calls and change the outcome of 3 games, Jack Eichel returns to Buffalo and the fans BOOOOOO, Chuck Fletcher gives Rasmus Ristolainen $25.5 million over 5 years, The BALLS BATTALION, and The Calgary Flames are really good. Originally aired: March 11, 2022 Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/0nlvLYWNx0k Visit https://sdpn.ca for merch and more. We've joined The Athletic and you can too! Hit the link to subscribe: https://theathletic.com/sdp Individuals must be 19 years of age or older to open a Sports Interaction account. Terms and Conditions apply. Any opinion expressed is not advice, a promise or suggestion that increases the chance of winning. Gambling can be addictive, please play responsibly. If you have concerns, visit: https://help.sportsinteraction.com/hc/en-us/articles/216779528-Responsible-Gaming-Self-Limitation-Self-Exclusion to learn more. Visit this episode's sponsors: https://sportsinteraction.com/sdp https://manscaped.com/ CODE: DANGLE https://www.edmunds.com/ https://www.workable.com/ https://magicspoon.com/sdp Follow us on Twitter:@Steve_Dangle, @AdamWylde, & @JesseBlake Follow us on Instagram:@SteveDangle, @AdamWylde, & @Jesse.Blake Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

oh how's everybody oh you know big friday show big what's why is this one big well there's lots i mean there's lots to talk about um and we've got a you know the outdoor game is this weekend in hamilton it is yeah i um a bunch of people said that we got the go train stop wrong what was the go train stop we said so uh aldershot used to be the last go train stop in on the line uh for going west lakeshore west line aldershot used to be the last uh stop but they added one they added an extension so you can go deeper into hamilton now there's a hamilton west i think i forget what it's called and that's the one they say it's a 10 minute walk from the go train yeah we'll uber and i want to show i don't know about that that walking through hamilton we will

definitely uber um i on a sunday in the cold the thing yeah it's not about hamilton it's not it's about i'm i don't want to walk in the cold weather on my sunday i'm not walking what is this this is the weekend on your sunday on my sunday i'm not walking on lord's day or i'm going to going to a game nah yeah make it easy for me even jesus took an uber on taking the day off come on um i i do heard about the three wise men in an uber that's a very uh just like dad frankincense and mazda dad i want to play catch on sunday exactly like there's just so i can't i can't it's sunday i want to shout out all the listeners who messaged me like in my dms personally and there had to be 20 20 or 20 or more okay people who were like hey i have a house near there comes to park in my

driveway you're joking i'm not kidding we were to drive down yes i got dm after dm after dm like hey you know i don't want to make you uncomfortable or whatever i promise i won't take pictures of your drivers uh your um your license plate but like come park in our driveway if you want to and somebody else said hey i actually rent out my front lawn and people park on it yeah they said but we'd give you we'd reserve you a spot that's a huge thing downtown for when the x is going on if you're uh if you live like south dufferin street you could just uh rent out your your front lawn there wherever you have parking just to pay like 10 bucks to whoever and they can park there uh people were parking on my parents streets for um the raptors parade because they

they don't live anywhere near downtown or where the parade is but they live near a ghost station right and you had to be downtown for that the earth went down that day and uh yeah did they make any money oh no ah we gotta get we gotta inject some capitalism into your parents i agree let's take advantage weirdest one you got the weirdest one i don't think none of them were weird they were all about the same like hey i don't want to be weird i know this is an odd thing but uh but if you know if you wanted to you could park on the front lawn or whatever and and uh we wouldn't charge you or whatever it was suit like i was genuinely blown away and i really appreciate but as jesse said we don't walk on the lord's day no right no adam you can park in my driveway for

the low low cost of feet pics from you yeah thank you for that i appreciate that does your uh are you sitting in the stands or in the press box still don't know i think i think i'm gonna be walking around oh you wouldn't just hang on the press box with you and watch it i'm gonna have a long day like i think i'm gonna be there like at like noon so so we isn't this in 48 hours what do you mean we have stuff to do as well do we i do but we have stuff to do i gotta do stuff for the tickets oh i don't just get tickets oh are you an influencer wait a second my date to the outdoor game is an influencer that's pretty cool i'm gonna have my shoes off they're gonna be sockless feet pics oh i hope your dogs aren't barking no i got a pedicure and they're good damn yeah

that's why i can't walk you gotta keep the feet fresh yeah okay good point now that you explain it i get it i don't we don't need those no hobbit feet for that um well and you know who's gonna be there yeah only fans no okay that's what if you want to sit outside you're you're a fan that's a I won't take anything else. Stop it. Boo. Boo this man. Why?

Stop it. We should go watch Willow. Willow's performing pregame. Oh, yeah. She's pregame and Alessia Cara is intermission. Yeah. She can do that one TikTok song. Is Alessia Cara the intermission, really?

Yeah. Oh, okay. Okay, Brampton. So I wanted to throw this out there. Just an update on the Hart Trophy race. which I believe right now is game to game. That's how tight this is. We got Austin Matthews.

We got Igor Shcherkin. And only one of them allowed four goals on 17 shots last night. I just want to know. I just want to know where all the Rangers fans at. You know, I got a lot of hate. A lot of hate after last episode because here's the thing.

I was going after Connor McDavid and Rangers fans got pissed off because I wasn't mentioning Igor Shcherkin. Oh, yeah. And to be honest with you, they've been all over me about it. And right up until the start of last night's game, I had tons of, you know, people just like to send me his picture. They like to send me pictures of him making saves, his percentages, how stupid, whatever.

What is the puck behind him? Hey! Yeah. So here was the argument from Rangers fans last night, and this is how I know you guys are losing. Of the four goals, they said, like, only one of them was really Shesturkin's fault. The rest of it was definitely the defense. Oh, you're treating him like Hutchinson. Yeah.

That's great. a hundred percent yeah i just i just listen i i hope i hope that that igor shisterkin doesn't think about this but he might be thinking that the pressure is clearly on listen because like whether you agree with adam or you don't you have to respect his ability to rent a blimp that says i'm right on the side of it and fly it every time something goes his way listen i i just people are asking the question, and I think rightly so, will Igor Shcherkin fold? Adam changed his name to people.

Will he get crushed under the pressure? People are asking the question. People are saying it. You have to ask the question. One has to ask, and game to game, Matthews won last night's game. Wow. Also, if the Edmonds and Oilers go on a run and make the playoffs, McDavid's winning MVP. Well, that's going to be the narrative

because the narrative is what's going to win the award, right? And if McDavid wins the Art Ross, they go say they go on an eight game winning street to close out the year they make the playoffs and everyone's like oh connor carried the team then he's gonna probably unfairly win the heart trophy so it's not ruling i don't think yet i i you know again i think that connor mcdavid is just such a phenomenally talented hockey player but i don't think this is his year i think it is a two horse race honestly like i know i love to gear rangers

fans but i honestly think it's matthews you don't think he can get back into it i'm sure he can but But if it ended today, can Conor McDavid get back in any race ever? Absolutely. I'm like, there's 30 games left. There's a lot of season. There's a lot of runway. There's so much damn season. Yeah.

We're not even at the trade deadline. I know. It's still going. That's true. And that's why I wonder about how Shesterkin's going to hold up down the stretch. I mean, he hasn't even played 40 games yet, and he's already letting four goals in and 17 shots. Adam, I think the answer is obvious. He won't.

won't i want to read you a headline read it i want to read you a headline from the athletic don't read it anymore this is the maple leafs report cards this might be tic-tac-tomar i'm not sure if he did this one or not oh the the the headline is the leafs went with you can't blow the lead if you never have one approach and wound up with a 5-4 loss of the coyotes that sounded like omar to me but i'm not sure it's him that does sound like it does have omar's sense of humor on it um so listen uh here's how bad i knew it was i hadn't watched the game yet and i get i i look at my phone and i got five different text messages including two or three back and forth between jesse and steve and again this is like five minutes in and jesse goes dear

god morazic and steve you said something to the effect of what you what you tweeted later on last night which is pull him and never let him see the ice again yes now is it actually that bad when comes to peter morazic no that's something that you tweet in anger but here's what i know okay you know we've had a lot of conversations recently that pertain to the moments right matthews better than mcdavid yeah in this moment in general but in this moment yeah i know two things for sure peter morazic is an nhl goalie that's number one yeah number two is no he's not so his contract says he is his contract says he is and his resume says he is like okay he had abnormally good numbers last year because carolina i mean one thing we can

say with certainty because of all the goalies that have gone through that team over the last couple years um they make a goalie's life easier do they ever like i'm not taking anything away from freddie but marazic and nedeljkovic were amazing and both those goalies on different teams stick they took they they were that that's that was some biggie versus tupac shit last night between marazic and nedeljkovic that was uh marazic just decided to not be in his net at all what do we say about goaltenders 10 the goal 10 the god he doesn't know he doesn't know where the net is and it's so that's what i've been saying i highly doubt marazza gives a damn what i have to say but other people are talking about his his foot placement

one foot is clearly way ahead of the other yeah his right foot is always ahead of his left foot and there are supposedly he's already done that but his fundamentals are so poor at the moment that you look at his career and you're like, how many games has Mrazek played in the NHL? I will look that up for you. Please do. Keep going. Because it's impossible.

It's impossible he's played that many games. 291 games. I don't believe you. Which is for a goalie. That's like 500 games for a player is like 250 for a goalie, right? Yeah. There's a real good chance he's going to hit 300 games this season. most goalies don't most goalies don't hit 300 games that's a shitload of games yep if shulgren

hits 300 games uh that's amazing kyle great job signing that european free agent who played 300 games for you so he we know he's better than this the jury's out on is he good you know is he league average perhaps just a couple ticks below you know maybe let me run you through his save percentage since 12-13 when he started. First season, 9-2-2. Second season, 9-2-7. And this is when the Red Wings started to be shitty

after the lockout. This was Babs last year, 9-18. Babs' first year with the Leafs, so 9-21, he's Red Wings. And then falls to a 9-0-1, but the Red Wings are garbage in 16-17. Right.

And he kind of rebounds the next year, 9-10. Hey! And then with the Flyers, when he gets traded halfway through the season, it's an 8-91. So it's a 9-10 with an 8-9-1.

Probably around 9-0-2 he finished. 18-19, Carolina, 9-14. 19-20, Carolina, 9-05. Last season in Carolina, only 12 games, but a 9-23. Yeah, he's not this bad. What is he right now? 8-84. 8-84, read his record.

His record is 10-5. The Leafs are unreal. Where do you think 8-84 ranks among all goaltenders who have made at least 15 starts? at least 15 it has to be it's got to be top bottom five but but like a couple of the devil's goaltenders have to be in there right yeah they're just bad they've had some unusual names start a lot of games and nadeljkovic has been so bad man that goal last night where he's trying to clear it with the back end of the paddle and clears it right into his own net the goalie own

goal oh my god net accomplished i think i'm gonna say last an 884 save percentage on the season is dead last among net minders who have appeared at at least 15 games so that's he's the worst goalie in the national hockey league right now this entire season and by safe percentage i don't think him and the leafs are a wonderful match like their styles do not gel at all that's a failure of scouting but it's also between the ears um i think it was frege pointed out in the broadcast last night there was like an easy catch that he just fumbled and that dictated the entire rest of the game and now sheldon keith is faced with okay so for the next two weeks i don't have my starter the next game is outdoor at a football stadium do i start this guy who has had bad games

before he'll be fine but he's also really fragile right now or do i give eric shulgren his first ever in front of like 40 000 people outside yeah and sheldon keith slipped up uh after the game and surprisingly it wasn't against the refs he said he wanted to pull marazic after the second goal yeah and the only reason he didn't is because he didn't want to put shulgren in that position which means marazic was that bad he and he saw it he saw it after that second goal the second goal which was ridiculous. Like how slow can that puck be going? And it's still true.

Yeah. That was like, somebody's got to step on the puck. Everyone gets one, right? First goal trash. Everyone gets one. You know,

not everyone gets two and they especially don't get two in the opening five minutes. Two things worry me about this because as fans, you know, you never hear players turning on their goalie. You never hear coaches really turning on their goalie, right? You never,

you hear rumors of it, but you don't, you don't hear it. A couple of things that worried me last night. Keefe's post-game comments where he basically did everything he could not to say Peter Morazic blew it because they were talking about, hey, this is his first chance to really grab the crease, right? This is very obviously a mandate, too, with the team to speak positively.

Yeah, don't blame guys in the media because then the Toronto media is just going to jump on that. He slipped up. And they're right. And he doubled down. He's like, the goalie didn't give us a chance to win. He said it without saying it. Yeah, he said it was really tough.

Yeah. It was tough for the guys. It was really tough. here's the thing that got me on I believe it was the second goal Wayne Simmons gets a he got a close up and you see him say are you fucking kidding

me really you actually can see it the video is floating around online oh boy well hold on let me see if I can find no I'm going to yard sale the whole show all right so my two co-hosts are on their phones taking over

half an hour on Pokemon you gotta help me out for that so you know that was uh there was a i forget who had it but somebody had it in one of those like gift replays and you could see wayne simmons say it like while he looks up now were him and morazic teammates in philly philly i think they might have briefly been maybe but that to me is kind of scary and that's why i tweeted last night you have to wonder if this changes the leafs trade deadline plans remember they were only going to get one player and it was going to be defense but if you've got wayne simmons saying you got to be fucking

kidding me that seems to me like a team that's not going to play like itself in front of their goaltender because they don't trust their goaltender who who's the guy it's what about the list is mark andre flurry who's probably not going to come brayden holtby if you want to go that route or the guy ottawa shouldn't trade anton forsberg because he's on fire and has an unbelievable season he's only 29 that's the guy is no but why would they ever trade him uh because they are dumb he's gonna have to put on like a hamburglar mask for that for that heist yeah and there's a very outside chance of yara holak getting out of vancouver but i really don't think so but like you want someone like you know who would be adequate someone with the career numbers of

peter morassic yeah that's why i hope he's an answer i guess but he's not really now that's why i'm like okay dubas has got to do something but who who and let's speak in context here right is the leafs are a point behind he's okay the leafs are a point behind he's not but what we're talking about the goalies i know and i was trying to give context to that the leafs are a point behind the tampa bay lightning who play the oilers tonight big game Or Saturday. They are six points behind Florida. Catchable.

Yep. Where's the Bruins? Bruins, 75 points. Leafs have 79 points. They've played the same amount of games. They're two games away from awesomeness or disaster. Welcome to the Toronto Maple Leafs experience. Let me ask you this.

Now, listen. They have to figure this out. I don't doubt. Not for a minute do I doubt that. That's so not fair. but let's say Boston and Tampa had to beat the crap out of each other in the first round and we had to play Florida good oh I would love that that would be preferable wouldn't it to playing Boston or Tampa in terms of stylistic matchups I think that's probably what's best for the Leafs

there are no good options someone tweeted me yesterday um eight of the top 10 teams in the league are in the east like really you look at that up why why well it's just it's the way it is one that'd be colorado and calgary the only other two who aren't if it sounds like three of the top 10 three okay so it updated after last night if if it sounds like lee fans are being really hard on the team dude that's the standard they're being held to they're among listen despite everything they're among the elites so there's an elite expectation or there's an elite benchmark yep yep we're for the better part of the last two or three months their first round opponent has been the back-to-back reigning stanley cup champions that's the benchmark and right now

we're talking about do we play marazic or a rookie they put up an interesting graphic on the on the game last night because knowing where the leafs are in the standings like imagine if they had competent goaltending the graphic they put up was their safe percentage by month throughout the season we've seen them with competent goaltending they didn't lose october 893 november 953 they're unbelievable november they won 14 of 16 the rest of the season 893 890 889 848 they haven't had 900 save percentage outside of one month this entire season

and look where they are in the standings. Imagine if they had a decent goalie. How much better would their defense look if they had a goalie who had a,

not, sorry, a higher than 900 save percentage? This is still fifth in the league. Do you need to get a good defenseman?

You need a handful of saves. Okay, here, here, I want to play a fun game. Do it. Dame,

you watched the game. I did. You watched the game. who was the goalie for the coyotes wedgewood wedgewood but i didn't know guy scott wedgewood scott wedgewood jeff his whole career is journeyman guy yeah yep waver wire journeyman guy and he gave them saves and he's been giving them saves he floundered in that third period yeah sure did yeah sure did you need to hit that floundered also made like an absurd save they did and the the ot save on willie was nice like yep he made saves i that was my biggest reaction

of the season by the way um i stood up and i was cheering him on like a like he was a horse at a race because colgren makes makes that unbelievable shalgren sorry he makes that unbelievable save matthews feeds willie for the breakaway and me i want the leafs to win and i love a good story that's that's the best one shalgren literally gets an assist on the ot winner like i actually i stood up and i was like i was like uh freaking kramer and seinfeld when he was cheering on the and he's like smacking you're hitting your own ass yeah Come on, come on, come on. Like I was actually like,

Willie, get out. Subwoofer guy. Sorry, whatever. Subwoofer guy. I feel bad for him there. You did hit it hard. Yeah, I didn't mean to. Yeah, I saw you do that

and I thought that can't feel good. It's tickling, Jesus Christ. Oh, God. It's like I cracked a funny bone in my thumb. Anyway. The equipment in here is not soft. No. So anyway,

fuck, I was just trying to smack my own ass. Anyway, you were smacking your own ass, Willie. You were smacking your own ass watching Willie like a drum. God, stop. Yeah. It was very sad that he got stopped. You know, I got –

You know, and I thought, first off, his move was spectacular. Wedgwood did make the save. It barely didn't go in. But here's the thing that everybody wants to talk about. First off, I want to talk about this comeback because I think lost in the fact that they didn't win last night is that that comeback was nothing short of amazing. Oh, so funny.

It was like the Columbus one. Like, it was reminiscent of that. Yeah. The Columbus one was more spectacular. But, like, this team, anytime they want to just turn it on and come back in any game and put up a pile of goals, they do it. And it's fair to say that their goaltending has sucked

most of the year. And they've done this. It's amazing. Now, Matthew scored again last night. Sorry, Igor Shcherkin fans. But I thought it was nice to see Pierre Engvall get one into the second period because he has 10 goals this year.

He's been pretty good. Pretty damn good. I'm okay with it. Willie's goal was great. Alexander Kerfoot. that kicked everything off man there and he's only got 10 this year i don't know what kind of trade sees him leaving in the team getting better that's a tough one man i wish he scored more man i'll be honest i agree i agree well and he's

capable of it and this is i sort of forgot to get to this in the lfr but this is a sheldon keith special when a line is struggling he separates them and he tries a bunch of different combinations none of which work and then he goes back to the old one and they remember how to play together so his his coaching strategy when a line is slumping his absence makes the heart grow fonder and it worked sorry nick yeah nick robertson looked fairly miserable on the bench unfortunately. He didn't have a good game. Sheldon Keefe seems unnaturally hard on him.

Is there a reason for that? And I think Sheldon's a good coach. It's not his time. I think Nick Robertson's got a lot to learn before he's an everyday NHL player. Not his time, interesting. It's not his time. It's a shame. He can play. We know he can play.

He can keep up, but is he making the right decisions? I don't think so. Is he thriving? Right. There's one shot he took uh he he was skating across the middle of the of the zone and he just took like a snapshot on the goalie and just went wide i was like that's a that's a decision play where you have you just don't have the minutes in national hockey league where you probably just don't take a snapshot that goes wide and then the puck's out of the zone he threw what uh could have been a fucking huge hit um someone coming across the middle i don't know if he let up or if he just

doesn't have the size to do it and then yeah i didn't even mention the uh the tavara's pass that was jt was going off the uh off and that led directly to the third goal for morazic yeah remember that was a bad pass from tavaris right no that's nick robertson who was passing the puck to jt who was going to the bench at the blue line but jt couldn't touch i'm thinking of a different play then yeah so that led to the third morazic goal that's probably why the breakup happened yeah and then it goes the other way it was bad yeah it was decision making is not there But he'll get there. Like, he has all the talent.

Of course. In the Morazic conversation, I mean, the team didn't help him in front. You need saves. You need saves. All four of those goals. And only if, like, let's say two of them don't go in. Different game. They win.

Ref blows it for the Leafs in overtime. Terrible. Not a single penalty in the game except for the unsuccessful challenge. Wow. Now, I know, was it Jeff Fayette that tweeted that the Leafs are among the last place team in the... Hold on, I got it right here in our text message conversation. Yeah, I got it. It's pretty...

Yeah, well, I got it. Do you want it? Okay, do you want to get it? You get it. Oh, actually, no, I don't got it. Okay, I have it. This is like the third time this show. No, I got it.

In penalties drawn per 60 the last five years, the Leafs in 17-18, 29-31, 18-19, 31-31 teams, 1920 25th of 31 teams 2021 23rd of 31 teams 21 22 25th Of 32 teams This is why you sound like a silly goose When you're talking about the NHL Help and delete

Well ignore the fact that they haven't won shit ever Or ever won any trophies Of note either So where's the highest they are in penalties drawn 23rd 23rd in the last 5 years And here's the thing I'm going to run you through

Five years. So Toronto, just to complete this, 29th, 31st, 25th, 23rd, 25th. Here we go again. Tampa Bay, 3rd, 3rd, 7th, 5th, 3rd. Florida Panthers, 9th, 6th, 12th, 2nd, 2nd. Carolina, 25th, 8th, 13th, 14th, 12th. And Colorado, 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st. No, he's kidding with that one.

I'm kidding. Oh, okay. I was going on his team. He made the last one up. Isn't that bananas? Like that, I mean, listen, I don't want to say that Toronto plays a tough game and draws a lot of penalties or whatever. You can make that argument, I guess, but I actually think it's complete,

utter horseshit. What happened last night with Chikrin and Matthews is objectively a penalty, and the ref saw it, and Matthews yelled at the ref afterwards, and he knew Matthews wanted this game. It was against his hometown team. He was right in front of a linesman, but he darts straight for the ref in the corner. that was the they saw it everybody saw it there's only six players on the ice in overtime you could

see that well yeah there's no excuse so so the one the one ref at the far end doesn't call it and the linesman gets in his way so it's yeah listen it's bad league um they they don't talk after the game they don't answer any questions it's thanks for your money uh fuck you go home like it's ridiculous that there isn't some sort of statement or anything you're not allowed to like listen don't put their face or name to it fine can credentialed nhl media who pay for the rights submit questions and buy you know within two hours of final whistle have their questions answered why is the answer to that no act like a league just act like it like listen there might be a lot of uh scenarios i'm sure there are lots of scenarios where refs can go here's what i saw

here's what i know you're wrong you think this is a slam dunk call and it's not and here's why they can even use video for it they do it for suspensions why don't they do it for this not a league i like the idea of the two minute report like even if the refs don't want to answer questions at least if they file the two minute report for everybody doesn't know the nba at the uh at the last two minutes of the game they issue corrections if there's any missed calls they'll issue like hey these were the missed uh calls in the last two minutes of this basketball game we made a mistake that's it we'll move on i i'd appreciate that in the national hockey league as well maybe the last five minutes of every game if there's a missed call they issue a report and

they're like hey these are the missed calls and then you move on or how about this overtime bare minimum overtime overtime report where if we miss a call we'll issue a statement yeah and they talk about you know uh the popular narrative a couple years ago is the leaf style does not invite penalties hog shit there was a time where i think that might have been true last night there were i can't remember what the stat was there were over 60 shots so it was high event and 74 i think it was hits oh justin hall like broke christian fisher's ribs oh yeah eng vol getting battered in front and tavaris getting hooked and held and there was one with marner too and bunting getting tossed all over the friggin place there was a trip the uh that i thought was

going against the leafs clear as day in the third period i think it was and then didn't well so like this isn't a woe is the leafs thing except for the set that you brought up but as it pertains the last night's game that was an infractionless affair you're wrong you're wrong yeah i'm not asking you to uh to arbitrarily call penalties that doesn't help anyone that's wrong the old tim peel thing oh you know i was looking to get one for nashville right i'm not asking you to arbitrarily call penalties that game had at least one infraction per side they did a bad job they did a bad job and they should have to answer for it they did a bad job long before the game got to overtime and then they ruined the outcome of the game so they did a bad job for 60 minutes and then

in the few minutes that they did in overtime they ruined the outcome of the game they should have to answer for that and it's a disgrace that they don't have to you know it's not a league i would be interested to see what tim peel would say about that although he has been decidedly pro refs when i look at his twitter uh and i i don't blame him for that but i i would be like tim if he were on this show i would say tim you like refs should have to answer questions too and by the way why can't you put a name and a face on there uh well that sorry the face i made it's not like oh screw no no no of course it's it's it's uh i just don't expect you know goalies often stick up for goalies and uh refs will i mean they see it from the ref what i was referring to with the name in the face

is something you said earlier oh well they don't have to they don't have to answer for it they don't have to put their actual name on it but why can't they answer the questions why not well because i'll tell you why because people are nuts yeah but in every other sport people like people know angel hernandez is a crazy person in baseball yeah everybody knows who angel hernandez is they know they know the best the basketball refs we celebrate uh joe west is no longer an mlb umpire oh it's a better league better league today than it was the day before is he out yeah yeah did he retire retiring oh wow okay yeah yeah he's bad and i also saw that brad meyer is retiring at the end of this season so we can look forward to the nhl being a safer place but we genuinely can

um dangerous rep um but uh they did a bad job last night and uh i would just like someone anyone to act like this is a professional hockey league can we do the this the refs actually had a hat trick this week oh because on oh the matthews non-call wasn't even the worst one no no the the wednesday one with ovi and uh in also in overtime when ovi clearly uh has a hooking call and they don't call it um capitals go on to win they score like it's it's unbelievable they don't call that one and then also last night um they throw they gave uh gabe landis kog a game misconduct for talking back to the ref and for a valid point because they missed a call they blew a call and can i play uh his yeah he's gonna get fined 25 grand for this by the way it's unbelievable not a word

of a lie how honest he is here in this moment a lot of it's defending nas and cadre which is i love seeing it you know like kudos to him for sticking up for uh noz mr bob ross but here's uh game landis cog post game after being thrown out of the game i wonder if west is going to make a funny tiktok about this one 11 years i've never sat and talked about referees in a press conference ever uh i think west and tj luxmore do a great job tonight actually for 50 something minutes of the game uh they call the high stick on nas on nita rider which might have been a high stick but nita rider falls easy we're arguing that it's a flop they say it's still a

high stick fair enough nas gets at five five fifty something on the clock nita rider is hooking nas up the boards um you know the puck turns over we go the other way they score we're arguing that it's a hook they're saying that nas is flopping we're arguing it's still a hook just like they're arguing before and it's unfortunate because that's a playoff game tonight and uh you know it's it's very unfortunate it comes down to that uh like i said i thought west and tj did a great job up to that point um and you know it's one of those things where you know it's a very competitive game power plays don't come come around very often especially in games like this and that's why i'm I was happy Wes and TJ did a good job of letting us play all game tonight.

It's unfortunate it comes down to a bounce like that. And, you know, unfortunately, you know, whether a guy has been suspended numerous times or not, what's he going to carry around that heavy baggage forever? You know, I'm not saying that TJ and Wes were, you know, didn't call it for that reason, but, you know, Nas is a guy that's competitive and whether he sold that call or not, you can look at the video and the stick is in his waist and that's why he loses

the puck. Uh, I think it's unfortunate. And I think it's, it's time for, you know, sometimes it's time for players to step up and, and speak our truth. Cause you know, I'm the one that looking like an idiot for getting thrown out of the game, even though I'm just, you know, just being honest. And I guess TJ didn't like that. I said he had a tough night, but that's the way it is. And then this follow up.

like that so yeah i mean we're just yelling from the bench and i wasn't happy with him and i guess i heard his feelings and unfortunately you know that's fine he can kick me out that's that's that's the line there i guess i heard his feelings you know what um he might he might be right he might be 100 right i gotta call out gabe here and i and yep and i gotta call the rest of the nhl players stop complaining when i bring you a meal prepared the way you asked for it what what do you want what do you want gabe you you no no no what do you want do you want a penalty you want a penalty called on nino yeah or do you want the refs to let you play you're talking out of both sides of your mouth no no no he's absolutely talking about both sides of his mouth no he's asking call the

game as how we're playing it you know he's saying okay so if you're calling the game one way the whole game 50 minutes you know we're let you're letting everybody play and then you call a penalty on nas and then there's another penalty other other end you can't go back to hey we're letting them play pick one he's asking the rest to pick one if you're if you're in this moment you're calling penalties so the nas penalty should have never been a penalty if the nas penalty is a penalty in that moment then the other one's yeah if the nas penalty isn't a penalty then the other one's not about you just call it how are you gonna call it so we know how to play that's the that's all players want to know how do i play this game tonight that's fair and the refs are so damn

confusing and they're so arbitrary with when they're gonna call their whatever they want to call that the guys on the ice don't know how to play the game and yeah what i just want to say how much i appreciated how you even though you're conceding jesse's point a little bit i do appreciate how you went after Gabriel Aniskog there, and that really got my attention. I was like, what way do you want it, Gabe? No, no, no. I don't know.

That's a prevalent feeling in hockey. Right, right. And, you know, hey, why is this steak medium rare? You asked for medium rare. Make it yourself then. Like, what do you want? I don't think this is the moment to go after him. they know if this is the game no because i'm sick of hearing that from players no they call it the

way that we want it all right well then you want a shitty game like i don't i don't know what to tell you um but no i agree he's asking for consistency consistency is a big issue and he's right and this goes back to another thing that i have talked about uh in recent memory um did you see the video where the ref is he's on the mic and he's announcing a penalty and the players chirping at him and he goes shut the fuck up like right into the mic oh yeah a whole arena to hear and then he cut the mic cuts when he gets to fuck and the u is like off mic but yeah he says it and and uh producer drew and i had a conversation um that was i was like the ref should absolutely not be able to speak to a player like that and he's like well the player is speaking to him like

that so if he's going to get it he's got to be able to give it here's my argument neither should be able to do it how are players like again please act like a league how are players able to go that's a stupid fucking call you fucked us there how are players able to do that and then the ref is able to go fuck you go sit on the bench that i i still can't get over that footage years ago from hbo 24 7 it was uh dion finoff arguing with harry zolner chuck and the ref said fuck both you guys you're going to the box one of them is the team's captain fuck both you guys can we please act like there's any kind of professional conduct and the reason i'm saying that is because feelings get hurt as gabe said feelings get hurt and then guys get kicked out of games and then this this uh

you know case of hurt feelings is gonna cost gabriel landis cog 25 grand and then the the case of hurt feelings is costing them points in the standings and could cost you playoff games like all of it and if i don't if you did any lip reading of matthews after the game like how many f-bombs were dropped in the span of like five seconds at that referee and i think i mean a it's warranted b it's crazy he's allowed to do you i don't know like do you so is there a new mandate where you can't just fucking go at guys all the time back and forth like i think that's the relationship that nhl referees have maintained with the players they know them on a first name basis they all swear at each other back and forth are we telling are we telling the guys you can't

do this anymore this is why like i don't talk about the different aspects of hockey culture being kind of fucked it's dude like and like how do you put that genie back in the box right that's what i'm saying it's it's so far gone down the road that you can't just be like hey nobody tell a ref to fuck off they'll learn well and here's the thing no they won't because they'll change the rule potentially like let's let's fantasy scenario they'll change the rule you're not to swear at the refs by christmas they'll be telling you know go set yourself on fire like because because they never stick to anything i know by the way uh oh yeah we're cracking down on crosschecks the justin hall leaves coyotes game give me a fucking break they are not no

give me a here's the thing break we can't find a coffee sponsor for these guys wake up i think wake up holy shit don't give me your one-liner oh i like it i like it they're terrible you need The Folgers referees? Hey. Listen. When was the last time you saw an espresso? An espresso. Listen.

The players and the refs, I think they should be kind to each other. I'm beholden to no such thing. You do a terrible fucking job and make the game worse. I don't mind the players and refs swearing at each other. What I do want to say is... By the way, why don't Toronto draw any penalties? Because assholes like me. What did you want to say?

Sorry, Adam. Nothing. I think Steve... Steve... Steve... does this bother you yeah let me enjoy hockey for the love of fucking god i'm just this is a part of hockey you gotta accept it you know i i do have to tell you and this is a day that we can all look forward to because it'll happen in our lifetime no gary betman will eventually retire

and when that happens you're gonna see a very very different betman protege step into his seat A very different NHL. You are going to see a very different NHL because I think the NHL is so, he's so, there's parts of this NHL that are so Gary that only Gary could keep them that way. And so when that day inevitably comes, and I don't know when it's going to be, I think it needs to be, in fact, if we're going to backdate it, I think it should have been around the Kyle Beach situation and the way Gary handled that. But once that day comes, I think a lot of the complaints that you have are a lot of the complaints that the players have,

that the agents have, the coaches have, the GMs have, the presidents have. You know, they have the rule in the NHL where if you want to bitch about a call, you can't call the commissioner's office the next day. You have to wait a full 24 hours until you can call, which means if the game happens at 7 and the call happens at 9 p.m., well, you can't call till 9 p.m. the next night, which means you're not calling till the very next morning. So it's really a 36-hour rule. I didn't know that. Yeah.

yeah yeah that's a that's an actual rule it's called the cool down it's like the cool down rule or something and if you don't you don't follow that you can be fined for it oh wow and and so um you know things like that that's a gary bettman thing i don't want to hear your bullshit i'm gary bettman and it'll it'll get better once i think i absolutely i think it well i mean you look at okay the mlb is a terrible example but it's still a lot better than under bud seal it i don't know don't you i rob manfred and bud see we went to the same school they're both shit i mean yeah adam here's what i'm getting to you think it'll be better once gary's gone like can you explain the reasons for your baseless faith i think i think well i think

the way baseball's marketed has changed i think the way that we consume baseball has changed like they have changed things that under buds like that's not what we did 100 years ago so why I think what you're looking for is David Stern and Adam Silver. Yes. And I think that's, I don't think it's going to be as good as Adam Silver, but I do think it's going to be a lot better once Gary is not here. And a lot of the problems, including the referee thing, are going to change. Now, I would say, you're probably going to ask the question, how do we change this now?

How do we fix the referee situation now? There is one city in this NHL ecosystem that can change this. What city can change? what city can change this forever today this one toronto not toronto this definitely not certainly not toronto if it was toronto we would have changed it who would it be new york why do you think new york because that's where the headquarters are okay jesse what about you why not toronto also because toronto would have changed arizona because the nhl loves arizona more than anything in the world the real answer is vegas and that is because the nhl oh is bet on

now and it is officially sanctioned by the nhl and nhl players like austin matthews signing up with bet 99 and uh uh conor mcdavid signing up with bet mgm and it's going to happen more and more and more and more if you can't prove to me that your league is reffed properly then it kind of throws the odds doesn't it which brings down the amount of people who actually want to bet on the game in the first place doesn't it and that's why the nba after the what was his name the the guy that the scandal there was a scandal what was his name tim donaghy tim donaghy if tim donaghy if the tim donaghy situation had never happened the nba would not be as accountable referee wise as it is now and i don't want the nhl to have to go to a situation where a guy is

literally betting on games before we can get the kind of accountability that we need however if Vegas, if the major sportsbooks in Vegas push this, the NHL will have no choice. Betting is going to keep, you have no idea the amount of money that flows into the NBA, the NFL, the NHL, UFC, all the sports that you watch. Run on gaming. Run on, the broadcasters that you watch, run on gaming money. So if that money goes away, the NHL is fucked. Fuck your TV deal.

Fuck your bread sponsorships. fuck your tim horton sponsorship none of it matters i just money is in the gaming and if the gaming does not support the nhl they gotta change the way they do it adam bless your optimism as a life rule for me right now i'm done putting my faith in people who don't deserve it okay i i i hope i hope it gets better i do but for now our continue to be in unending disappointment you Shambolic hunk of shit league I think there's a lot of credence To you gotta clean up stuff

If people start complaining about the games Not being reffed To the standard of being able to Wager on games because then you get in trouble You can't be in trouble with the sports books So Jesse I'd like to talk to you I'd like you Actually not to talk to you I'd like you to play

The clip I sent you This is Jack Eichel after the game In Buffalo last night and this is The kind of NHL theater that I love. Oh, you want me to play it? Yeah, play it. Good thing it's over. Yeah, I'm pretty happy it's over.

Let's move on. Were you surprised at the level of intensity of the crowd? That's about the loudest I've heard this place ever. Really? It only took seven years and me leaving for them to get into the game. But, yeah, I mean, I'm sure there was mixed. You know, it was a nice tribute. and there was plenty of people here that were supporting me

and there was plenty of people here that were booing me. They must just be booing me because they wish I was still here. I don't know. It is what it is. I'm not the first kid to deal with it. Just move on. It was a tough game. Give them credit.

They played hard. That's good. That's good shit. He said it's the loudest he's heard the building since he's ever played there. Now, Buffalo Sabres fans, we got to talk. That's not true. The Leafs winning it in overtime.

There were a lot of home runs. That was, yeah, yeah. No, Buffalo Sabres fans, we got to talk. You guys saw it last night with the video, right? The video tribute that he had. And you saw that you heard the audio, right? Faisal Kameezah said this morning on Sportsnet, on the highlights. He's like, the script says there was cheers, but I only hear boos.

Now, to me, I think it was mixed in the arena. but boos always sound louder anyway yeah because it's the lower end of your voice but there was a lot of boos it was 70 30 i don't know that it was 70 30 i think we're more like 55 45 oh you thought it's closer that was real close in terms of boos yeah 70 booze yeah oh really you thought it was that well maybe maybe but it was a lot of boos jesse i agree with you they did the video tribute very well because it wasn't the team essentially thanking him it was the hospitals and the charities and the communities that he worked with doing the thank you messages so i'm very good so i want to talk to the fans that booed and i want to talk to the sabers organization for a second

because both of you are are are in trouble both of you are grounded i saw signs on the ice and we saw it in the morning highlights too um one of them said right on the ice right where he was warming up thanks for nothing jack saw some people who said nice nice things and forever jack eichel fans and all that stuff in buffalo so i want to acknowledge that there are good buffalo sabers fans and then there are these people for those of you that boot i want i want you i want to remind you of something jack eichel left the buffalo sabers and is not their captain and is not their number one center anymore because the sabers refused his request to do what he wanted with his body the sabers exercised their right and they said we would prefer that you fuse two discs in

your neck together because we just don't know about this new surgery now he was rewind a little bit for jack eichel thanks for nothing quote unquote jack eichel need i remind you that he was drafted to a team that intentionally tanked in the worst way was historically one of the worst nhl teams not an expansion team one of the worst non-expansion seasons we've ever seen to get somebody not named jack eichel and they weren't alone in that journey but they were sure the best at it do you remember do you remember the look on tim murray's face general manager at the time when he found out he would only get generational center jack eichel not connor mcdavid jack eichel are the two most devastating words he's ever heard do you remember tim murray's

quote directly after i'm disappointed for our fans is that what he said when he didn't get the first overall pick the general manager of the buffalo sabers looked morose and said i can't hide it i'm disappointed for our fans the week leading up to that draft lottery which is the one before austin matthews which you were there for steve i was he said this about conor mcdavid i watch him too much and i think too much about him i wish i could help myself that's what jack eichel walked into so before his draft day jack eichel knows he'll never be Connor McDavid. Now let's run down some stats.

His career in Buffalo, 355 points in 375 games. 139 of those are goals. He is the team captain at 22. He involves himself in the community as we saw last night when they thanked him

with the video. And he commits to the team long term. And this is a team that, while he played for them, never finished higher than third last in the division.

They finished last or second last in the division four of the six seasons he was with them. Jack led the team in scoring four of those six seasons. And the only reason he didn't on the other two seasons

is he was a rookie or he was injured. Remember, one of those teams was Ryan O'Reilly saying he lost his passion for the game of hockey. He was traded

and then he won a cup with the Blues. And Conn Smythe. And Conn Smythe. Yeah, that's right. Most valuable player in the playoffs. No passion.

The Sabres have had nine general managers in their 40-plus year history, which is impressively low. Impressively low. Jack played for three of them in six seasons. That's wild. He had four coaches in six seasons. Four coaches in six seasons. One of them was Ralph Kruger,

who wasn't even coaching hockey when they hired him. No, they liked him. He was coaching soccer, and they brought him in because they thought he was a good guy and a good motivator. I'm sorry. He's a good guy? Ted Lasso.

disastrous and the only other season that ralph kruger had coached in the nhl was with the disastrous edmonton oilers and that season was a disaster he was on the nhl all-rookie team went to three all-star games runner-up for the calder only three only three wow i know it's crazy right and after all that the sabers say no sorry you can't get the next surgery you want you're gonna have to do it the way we want now an organization run that poorly can't even get out of the basement of their own division. Four out of six years.

Are you going to trust your medical information and take advice from them? I wouldn't trust the Buffalo Sabres with a coffee run. They couldn't even get two sugars.

Yeah. That's a lot of sugar. It's too much. Yeah. They couldn't get one sugar. You know what? I would say two Splendors then.

We're going to be healthy about this. An organization that runs this poorly asks you to permanently change your neck for the rest of your life. you're telling me you'd say yes now the pagoulas sabers management past and present and sabers fans who booed last night in that building or at home you should be embarrassed why would anybody

come to play for you after you treat the best saber since dominic hasik like that why would anybody want to sign there unless they absolutely fucking had to i can't find a job anywhere else i guess i gotta be a saber taylor hall i blew my long-term deal with another contract well my long-term deal with another team so i gotta sign and be a saber taylor hall that's what happened with payton krebs says hello oh listen payton krebs was was traded there yeah but he wanted he wanted to go to buffalo that's the thing i mean listen wait are you talking about alex tuck sorry alex i was like he did sorry yeah and i think he grew up there didn't he

ra ra yeah yeah yeah listen it's not stuck it's not jack's fault that the sabers ownership group did not care when he was there just like and by the way i'm calling out leaf fans who were booing phil kessel last night it's not phil kessel's fault that leaf's ownership did not care while he was here also still yeah i know i know still show jack eichel some respect for some reason this guy was willing to get married to you and you drove him off anyway now their Eight-year contract, and you drove him out of town. Some people are like, well, he wanted out long before the neck surgery. Wouldn't you?

Wouldn't you? They've gotten rid of everybody. And the only reason I've been positive with the Buffalo Sabres this season is because the bar is so low. I am. I'm being nice. I'm moving the goalposts for you. You're being nice to the good Sabres fans, of which they are the majority.

you're shooting into a soccer net here and sometimes it still goes wide they're uh under 25th in the nhl and have been for most of the season but because they're ranked most of the decades steve but because their rank in the league this season doesn't start with a three i've considered it to be a positive the bar is still way too low for this organization they're making some moves in the right direction um but i tell you what would uh probably help right now having a guy like jack eichel it's amazing how you could build around a franchise centerman what can happen in a couple of years yeah i'm sure he has his faults and i'm having a hard time blaming him for having them so to the pagula management group past and present to the

sabers fans that booed last night just the ones that booed the ones that cheered you get it good luck with your rebuild. It's going to be long and painful. You deserve every minute of it. Wow. To the fans that showed the support, you're lovely. You don't deserve this. You deserve way better than this, and you know that. Some

bullshit thrown at Jack Eichel last night. Bullshit. Sad my piece. Got a lot of faith in Devin Levi. I hope they don't ruin him. Listen, I think that the Eichel trade has worked out pretty well for them. of course so far yeah look good talk's been good yeah how do you boo the owners like how do you go

to us well they don't go to the game so you can't yeah and the bills are bills have made a resurgence right so you're not going to boo them at the bills game right no it's i i feel like i feel like the way they looked at uh eichel in the mcdavid eichel draft is the way sabers ownership looks at the sabers you're the ugly duckling you're the other team you're not connor mcdavin which in this case is the buffalo bills yeah i feel like i i thought it was important to bring that tim murray quote up because i don't think at the time we talked about it in the show people said we made too much of it i don't think we said it enough i don't think enough was said And this guy came in and got involved in the community

War of the Sea at 22 Signed for 10 years Or sorry 8 years 10 million What do you want from this guy I mean Play goal Play every position

Like dude Sam Reinhardt's gone Rasmus Ristolainen's gone like you don't hear a ton of players leave that situation to go well actually it was great it wasn't um speaking of former teammate of jack eichel steve's favorite general manager favorite favorite general manager um chuck fletcher loaded up the money cannon and fired it right in erasmus bristolinan's checking account last night just a money arsonist Five years, $5 million. And I just, before we get into letting Steve go off on this.

He's a treasure. Rasmus Ristolainen's projected wins above replacement is 1%. He's in the bottom 1% of players in the league. That means he's among the least effective players in the league by any metric. So here's the funny part. Darren Drager said, Some wondering if Risto extension opens the door for a Travis Sanhain trade. Either before the deadline or in the offseason.

and he'd be pretty high on a few teams' lists. Left shot, $4.675 million cap hit. Travis Sanheim's projected Winslow replacement is 94% for less money. It's weird because Risto plays on the other side, so I don't know why you would trade a lefty, why the right D signing opens up a space on the left side. That doesn't really make sense.

It's a Chuck Fletcher team. The funny thing is, Jay Fresh wrote this, and I love this. He said, with a gap between underlying numbers and reputation slash market value like Ristolainen has, and he does.

He has talent. The eye test. Yeah. He said, you typically expect to see some, quote, stuff in the microstat that says,

this is what he does on the ice. He said, that's not the case here. He's big and he shoots the puck. Yeah. He has talent. He, we far too often

have the conversation, should this defenseman be moved forward? it was really in style a few years ago it's sort of gone away uh legit i think it might be a good idea here but again i think that ship has sailed earlier in his career like there's there's some brent burns action that could have happened there or i guess the opposite yeah why not i mean it worked out great for brent burns yeah i remember i used to draft brent burns horrible at defense i used to draft brent burns in my fantasy like in the nhl games and he was still playing forward

when I first started drafting. Remember because his projected was super high? Him and Sean Avery were like a 95. I'm old enough to remember. What's his name? Brent Burns. Brent Burns. I almost called him Tim Brent.

Brent Burns played as a four. Risto, when he was with Buffalo, he put up a point every half game. A half game, a point. I don't know how to phrase that. But he put up at least 41 points in one, two, three, four seasons with Buffalo. It's not bad.

You get some points out of your defenseman. That's good. He's 8th overall pick You expect him to do some damage in the NHL But his offense has fallen off a little He's not putting up 41 points anymore But the Flyers have been bad Yeah, the Flyers have been bad

And the defense has never been there I don't know how you justify giving him $5 million Because he scores Despite getting outscored When he's on the ice He puts up points But he doesn't do that anymore Consistently

But he's done it in the past He once did chuck fletcher i don't know what would let's play a game called what would chuck fletcher do if his last name wasn't fletcher what what i'm gonna go are you saying he's a nepotism kid absolutely dude he's terrible objectively terrible i can tell you he wouldn't be he wouldn't be nhl general manager i'm sure he's got some sort of acumen he could be working in the league to some degree uh like most gms have something shiny in their uh track record well here's the track record lost in the conference quarterfinals 12 13 13 14 uh lost in the second round uh 14 15

lost in the second round uh the next three years lost in the first round he made the playoffs like six seven years in a row with the wild yeah by spending 196 million dollars on two players man how did how do you do it fucking give me a give me 200 million dollars to spend i'll get you in the playoffs and disappoint you once you get there like i can oh you know he's special though he's real special like yeah he deserves one of 32 jobs in the world for sure for based on that they won two playoff rounds after spending all that money are you joking like i know i cheer for the leafs but i don't know if you've listened at all but we're not exactly happy about it um he's terrible he's real bad and i don't know why the flyers thought he was the answer

and he's doing even worse than i suspected he would did you know chuck fletcher was an assistant general manager with florida when he was 25 years old that's when he got his first job in hockey man what a prodigy he went from agm in florida from 25 to 34 what adam 25 that's special let me that's unusual adam that's special talent what a prodigy here tell me more about this wunderkind i'll give you chuck fletcher i'm gonna give you his resume and where why why he is where he is right now and how he got there Chuck Flesher's career. This is from Cap Friendly, who is amazing.

Their borderline FBI investigation is crazy. This is his staff history, according to Cap Friendly. AGM in Florida, 93 to 2001. That's age 25 to 34. So the age I'm about to turn. Went to Florida as their interim general manager. He did that for a couple months. And then he went over to the Anaheim Ducks

Where he was also their AGM When was he AGM with the Ducks? 2002 to 2006 They won after he left, hilarious 2002 to 2006 He was the AGM and Director of Hockey Operations Then he moves over to Pittsburgh Where he's also the AGM

2006 to 2009 So he would have got his cup then No Yes, he would have got his cup May 21st 2009 is when he leaves AGM so he leaves right before the playoff run because he gets hired

oh no he gets hired in Minnesota to be the GM in May of 2009 so they probably give him a ring they probably put his name on the cup yes that sucks but that's the first Crosby one and yeah he missed out on the playoff run because he went over and he took the Minnesota job as general manager

which you can't blame him for Steve you're going real hard at Chuck ledger right now yeah so your favorite part of his career from 2009 to 2018 he is general manager of the minnesota wild and they make the playoffs does that for eight years very successful there in minnesota they can't get over the home he wasn't very successful in making the playoffs success is getting over the hump are the least successful no no couldn't get over the hump moves over to new jersey briefly senior advisor to the general manager did a little advising in the meantime after he got fired from minnesota that's just that's just and then he leaves hockey

dudes money laundering like yeah here's a job you're out of work between jobs literally that's what it was yeah um and he leaves his advising job in new jersey to go be general manager of the philadelphia flyers executive vice president and now president of hockey operations so he has those three titles uh actually he let he took the they took away the executive vice president he's now is president of hockey ops and general manager of philadelphia flyers from 2018 to present wunderkind what what do you what stands out on that resume um teams win as soon as he leaves um he's worked in hockey for over 25 years of his life definitely earned some stripes if you say so it's a long time to be doing a job jesse in a business i've tried

jesse's pulling i've tried uh because he's 32 of these gigs uh-huh and he deserves one he's worked a long time he knows a thing or two about hockey jesse yeah working a long time qualifies you for nothing you don't see it just means you've been alive for a while you don't see some accomplishments in that resume yeah but they were a long time ago like let's say he was a big part of that penguins cup in 2009 which you know fair fair uh they were hot garbage got sydney crosby and malkin and jordan stall and mark andre flurry so he probably helped them with the let's be bad for a bit part um and that but then as agm you can't deny that his fingerprints are all over that championship team that was 13 years ago

mm-hmm that was 13 years ago there's 32 of these jobs he did a bad job in minnesota and he's doing a bad job in philadelphia i don't understand with him how many teams how many teams have more than one person in their front office who would do a better job than chuck fletcher i don't have that answer for you he's not great at this he's not good at this gig his draft record is decent yeah yeah yeah who's he got uh a lot all the big minnesota guys caprizoff well i hope so he was there forever capo grandland dumba zucker greenway um i'm just scrolling nick letty brodine alex tuck arison eck he has he has a carson souci like i can keep running darcy kemper pretty good at drafting

a couple good names in there i think almost every gm that you pull up you'd be like oh look there's some good players i i'm cheating because he's been doing this for eight years you know you're gonna if you draft a hundred guys over you're gonna get some guys you think i'm not sure the least in the early 2000s yeah and then you will not get some guys but i i i don't know so just so steve you're saying that objectively given the resume that he's about as about as bad as as he can get i think the only bottom half i think the only person who's probably worse in my estimation and again i we're grading on a scale here the guy's still a gm still had teams in the playoffs still drafted great guys like capri's off and crazy stuff but like the only

person who was worse than him is the guy that replaced him in minnesota which is paul fenton who was a former flyers gm i don't know how they keep trading people back and forth it's and i feel bad for philly fans honestly because i think listen rasmus ristelainen has value as an nhl player just not where they keep putting them yeah not at that number defense well i mean no if you put him okay if rasmus you're both right if he's in your top four and he's four of four and he's paid three million dollars it's not good man it's not good it's not good you said it a few months ago they traded goss despair to make room for finish goss despair and goss despair is having a better year ah

and like how much better are the flyers than the coyotes really not much not much not much uh better run it's a better business model having having 18 000 fans in the arena every night helps yeah better business model um oh man i would like to congratulate chuck fletcher on the genius business decision to place the flyers in philadelphia i what i what i think will be interesting is the claude geroux situation i think we will see We will truly see, because the Rasmus Ristolainen signing is not good, guys. It's just not. It's just not.

Not a good signing. Shouldn't have done it. The next GM is going to have to mop that up. There's, I'm sorry, go ahead. But what I'm going to say is the Claude Giroux situation, then you take over after that, is when they trade Claude Giroux, that to me is going to be, where is Chuck Fletcher really in terms of how you rank a general manager? If he's able to get some good pieces back, like I have to be honest with you, Kevin Adams

sort of surprised me with what he could get for Jack Eichel. Honestly. Honestly. So if you get a return that's, I guess, you know, Giroux's a little bit older and a little bit less good than Eichel right now, potentially, if you trade Giroux and you get something comparable, then I'm going to go, okay, Chuck Fletcher's off notice. But right now he's on notice.

This team sucks. They don't play like the Philadelphia Flyers play. The Flyers have a brand, and a brand is a promise continually kept. They have not kept that promise for, like, five years. Well, and here's the thing. there was pressure heading into this season um which is why he made the moves that he did you know uh ellis and ristaline and and goss despair there was pressure which means he doesn't make good trades under pressure at this deadline there is a pressure to sell and to get the maximum

that he can for drew and i can't wait to see how it goes um here i'm really good at impressions um you want me to uh uh you you do a show with alan walsh yeah so you know a little bit about like the ins and outs of being an agent a little bit so here's my impression um of uh of a good agent every summer hi is chuck there if you want to get the max for your client you call up old chuck futcher of the philadelphia flyers you're gonna get the most and is he okay is he top half of the league in trades is he top half of the league in free agent signings no okay like he's he's a lot of bad gms in recent memory can draft well benning could draft if you're general manager and the only thing you're good at is drafting i got news for you you have the wrong role you're

a scout you're the head scout you have the wrong role jim benning look at he found this guy this yeah everything else was hot shit and a good gm hires a good scout a good gm has to negotiate with free agents has to make good trades and he held on to that job for seven years can i give you chuck fletcher's last four trades i mean jesse laughed it's probably a bad start right It's Voracek for Cam Atkinson. It's Robert Haig, a first and a second for Rasmus Ristelainen. Gosh. It's Shane Gossespierre, a second, a seventh for Future Considerations.

Oh! It's Ryan Ellis for Philippe Meyer and Nolan Patrick. Those are his last four trades. Those are disgustingly bad. That's rough. Does he win any of those? No! I don't think so.

I guess the Borchek-Atkinson deal. I mean, Atkinson's good, but Borchek is good. Borchek's had a great year. And he saves three male on the cap. He got money off the books there. Yeah. So that was... He got value for value.

But like Ryan Ellis hasn't played this year. You know, and you trade away Nolan Badger. And he gets zero sympathy for that. Ellis obviously gets sympathy for that. But Chuck Fletcher, like, oh man, I traded for this guy and he's not in the lineup. That was always a risk when it came to him, bro. The first last year that you gave up for a risk to line in. Like, how do you justify that?

You can't. You justify that by you thought you were going to be good. Yeah. And you super were not. And then you paid a second to dump Shingas's bear. And you got nothing back. I don't know what the future considerations haven't turned into anything, according to CapFriendly. It's often nothing.

It could be something. I don't know. Yeah. So. Okay. Not good. Listen. you don't get to have a dream job when all you create is nightmares

okay i think that's a good way to wow holy moly all right let's do the press conference