The Steve Dangle Podcast - Divorce? | July 30, 2021

Episode Date: July 30, 2021

On this episode of The Steve Dangle Podcast, Chris Johnston hasn’t stopped running (00:00), CJ breaks down the winners and losers of the NHL off-season (06:00), are the Toronto Maple Leafs doing the right thing by sticking to the plan? (45:30), when will the Eichel deal be announced (1:02:00), is Tarasenko’s value dropping? (1:08:30), and did you know that Adam is divorced? (1:13:00). Originally aired: July 30, 2021 Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/mxsnRq1CeTs 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 Visit this episode's sponsors: https://www.creditkarma.ca/ https://www.brooklinen.com/ https://www.manscaped.com/ https://www.betterhelp.com/sdp Search for "The Lead" on your favourite podcast app. 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

with your host steve dangle adam wild and jesse blake cj cj2 our show's back together the whole family how are you cj good to be in the environment with you gentlemen man so it's a long weekend friday and this is how you know cj loves you um two days of free agency we got the draft before that we got the expansion draft before that draft and he's making time for us on really what should be his first day off truly like this should be your first relaxed day in like what three months four months two years man two years yeah dude what are you talking about he was tweeting stuff at 11 i know it's crazy um so see i'm not gonna complain but there has been very little time off since october or september 2019 like it's this has been insane eating losing all

of last off season and then half of this one this is a grumpy hockey world as a result yeah it's the running streak at because it's still going right it's still going i think it's 457 days it's in the 450s for sure damn good for you what's the average distance that you do like is it the same every day do you switch it up what do you do so for my when i did the full year i averaged 11k for 365 a day i'd probably i've definitely been running a little bit less since then um so it would be down but it's it's still averaging over 10k a day i try to basically do 10 some days i feel frisky and go more but then i've been kind of busy in july so i've gone less a little bit more when you were in tampa did you run like you ran i assume before the games like

you run by the arena by the hotel how did you do that yeah and it was awful jesse like you know not to complain but it was so hot and so lucky like like i tried going at 6 a.m i tried going at 6 p.m like there there was no good time to run and tap i mean it it rains every day it rains every day in the summer and you can't bring your phone because like it could it could rain like biblical rain at any moment and if you're somewhere where you can't hide your phone's drowning uh you know it was just it was really it was that was one of the toughest times because every day was so so hot um but i you know i got it done and i also ran when it was you know a foot of snow a couple days too so you just gotta if you're gonna run every day you can't you can't be expecting

good weather so let me ask you this with you know we're we're at the point now where we're just over a month away from players returning to camp um which is kind of crazy like it's it's what five six weeks from right now and you know normally the hockey world gets like a three-month breather or at least a two-month breather and then a way too long training camp um the season starting like a week later than it normally would uh are how's everybody going to handle that how are the players going to handle that how are the media going to handle that do you have like a temperature check on what it's like inside the hockey world right now and how they're feeling about again it feels pretty compressed yeah there's a lot of burnt out people i i mean more behind the scenes i'm not

saying the players aren't but i haven't heard that from any players but you know this has been tough on everyone i think every industry you'd probably find something similar if you you know we're talking right now this this has been a difficult stretch i think this was a difficult season on teams definitely on players some of the restrictions not playing in front of fans again just you know what what a couple years this will have been i think that where there's hope adam is that you know we're going to probably have fans in most of the buildings if not all of them come october it's going to look closer to normal the schedule is going to be killer though i mean it looks like they're going to beijing to the olympics and so that means more games compressed

into a period of time here they're still going to have an all-star game in vegas before that so there's just fewer days you know it's just a lot of games in fewer days like people might laugh because it's 186 you know day give or take regular season but every day you carve out a few If there's a three-day All-Star break, you start to do the math. Like, it just compresses things a little bit more. So it's going to be a tough year, but I hope it's an exciting year with a new team in Seattle, with fans back. And, I mean, I've never seen an offseason like this.

Like, I'm sure we'll get into this. But, like, I can't remember who plays for what teams already. Like, it's just been, like, a tidal wave of transactions, trades, buyouts, what have you, and then the signings these past few days. you know this is this it could make for a pretty exciting year i guess is what i'm getting at just that all the change that's happened around the league well so what's what's throwing you off the most or surprised you the most then um what has made this offseason the most unique to you i'd say the sheer number of moves the trades too you know like there's always trade

rumors around the draft because teams are starting to test the market but there was a lot of deals right i mean a lot of a lot of players actually got traded um and i you know we're still waiting on jack eichel trade among others so there's i think there still will be more between now and mid-september when training camps open uh you know that's that's probably been the biggest thing when it comes these last few days i've been surprised at some of the contracts obviously it was a really good free agency to be a defenseman of any caliber i think the third pairing guys

got paid more than i thought you know we've seen some of the high end guys probably get a little bit more money than i would have guessed and you know basically all the restraint we saw in october 2020 where it looked like free agency might be changing because a lot of players did get squeezed there you know it went out the window um you know in these last few days and and that's you know it's fun right it's not my money it's not your money uh we might question the sort of business decisions here but i think it makes for a pretty fun and splashy off season and it's going to make sure that there's bio waivers in in coming years, because I can guarantee you some of the contracts we've just seen signed will not

get to their conclusion. There's just no way with the money that was splashed around. Well, there was a, it was a tweet from our buddy, Justin Fisher, who said there's a lot of GM signing. That's the next guy problem contracts today. And it seemed, it definitely seemed that way, but I, I specifically, when you talk about the squeeze last October, and then we'll get into this off season, but one of the most interesting guys from last off season, probably the most interesting is Taylor Hall. And, you know, it's basically been rumored, and I don't know whether this has ever been confirmed, that he had some sort of seven-year offer from somebody and had a pretty high dollar amount, higher than what he got in Boston to re-sign, and that it just fell

through. Like there's been multiple outlets that have hinted at there might've been something else that surprise, surprise, signing for a year in Buffalo wasn't his first choice. How do you think he feels about how things have gone. Like, you know, he got, he, you know, he ended up on the Bruins, which is great. And it seems like he's found a good home there, but there's a good chance that he's put millions of dollars or left millions of dollars on the table. Do you think he looks at it that way? Do you think he cares? How, how would, would that group, the Ferris group handle that? And how are they talking about that? No, I don't think he's, I think he's actually really unique. So I'm just getting a call here. I'm going to stop. I think he's really unique

in terms of the free agents because he moved around right a bunch edmonton new jersey arizona buffalo boston he didn't want to move anymore and so i i think that he would have got more than four years and six million average had he gone to the free agent market and been willing to move again you know i think taylor honestly wants to win i know a lot of people say that but you know he's made good money he's had some big contracts he's seen the other side of it right he hasn't really played in very many playoff games and so you know I think he's at the stage of his life and his career where he's focused on putting down some roots as much as you can as a pro athlete and and trying to chase a cup and so it went really well for him in Boston everything that happened

after that trade he played great um you know we might quibble with the fact like I I kind of see the Bruins is heading in the wrong direction big picture I'm not saying that next year there'll be a disaster by any stretch but you know I wonder about you know how much longer Patrice Berger has left in his career you know as we're talking right now david crechey still hasn't signed i think he's you know weighing his own future to karask at hip surgery he doesn't have a contract it just feels like a lot of what made that team great for 10 years you know might be slipping through their fingers here um so i don't see him as a problem if i actually want to hold someone up though as like a difference between october to now i'm looking at cody cc and look i know

this guy gets kicked around a lot online that's not my intent here but last october i think he waited seven to ten days to even get a contract at all in free agency he signs a one-year deal in pittsburgh a little bit over 1 million and you know this this time around at 1201 one minute into the thing they're finalizing a four-year deal 3.25 million i mean that's that that is the difference to me it's it's players of his ilk that that you know aren't the best absolute best players available you know those guys got squeezed last year they had to wait They had to take one year deals, you know, at lower money. And then it was back to the frenzy come July, you know, late July, you know, players that are third pairing defensemen like he were, you know, got term and money.

Tucker Pullman, 10 million, four years in Vancouver, like, like bless these guys. This is life changing money. I'm not bemoaning that, but that's, that's where the difference was to me is, is those kinds of guys had leverage and got big paychecks in for agency in 2021. one well uh yeah and it is interesting though the the lower end i i did want to ask too i mean there's so much that we need to get to with you um but we got time man we got nothing but time don't don't don't rush well so i guess i you know the the instinct i think is to start with the least but we're not going to start with the leaves um i think the the biggest story for free agency at least for me and steve and jesse can be like what the hell are you talking about is what is

going on with the carolina hurricanes the nedeljkovic trade signing freddie anderson to a you know they call it a short-term deal but three years is a long time and two or is it two years oh it was two years and then three four uh anti-ranta wasn't it was that two years as well i can't even think that was two times two years so regardless it doesn't seem like they've saved a whole bunch of money in goaltending their final offer to dougie hamilton was from what we've heard Sarah Sivian said somewhere in the neighborhood of 6.2 million a season. David Pagnotta had it closer to seven, but it was well under what he was going to get paid. It seems, and the Tony D'Angelo signing as well.

What is the goal here with Carolina? I wish I could ask the question better, but what are they working with in an internal cap? I thought Tom Dundon was flush with cash here. I'm not really sure what's going on. i think that the best way to put it is they don't spend money they don't feel they have to spend and you know they make a lot of smart decisions as an organization like i don't think anyone can get around that but if you look back at their trading history like they have consistently found value in trades you know all the way back to getting like table teravinen from chicago when

they were cap squeezed you know i just think they've consistently you know improved around the margins and that's why they've become the team they have I mean obviously they have some special young players too but they've been efficient and so they approached their goaltending that Alex Nedeljkovic I think there was still some concerns that yes he had a breakthrough season this year I know he's trended in the right direction former AHL goalie of the year someone they know well I think that they weren't ready to give him the big money and so they're not afraid to trade someone like that even though it opens them up exposes them to criticism second guessing the the potential of being wrong. I, you know,

I think that they're comfortable doing that with Dougie Hamilton. I mean, they, they took the first, you know, the first salvo here was they said, Hey, go talk to the whole league for two months, like a head of free agency, because they're they're bad or their calculation was that the market wouldn't be as good for him as, as maybe Dougie thought and that there was a chance he would come back to Carolina. And I think, you know, he was willing to,

the money just was never going to be the kind of money he got in New Jersey. And so the, you know, I feel like we have to separate the Tony D'Angelo decision because that, that really, you know, there's a separate conversation there. There's nothing to do with hockey, but if we're just talking about the hockey side of their off season, I think they believe that they can let players walk, that they, that they're, they will hold a certain line. You know,

they were only going to pay Rod Brendamore so much as head coach. He did come back. They've even done it with their broadcasters, right. You know, they lost John Forslund, who's, you know, one of the best play-by-play guys in the game. You know, he's in Seattle now. um you know they they just they do things their own way and they're betting on their efficiency and so i think it's that simple i you know tom dunnan has shown he'll spend when there's a reason to he matched the ajo offer sheet uh they have a big decision uh right now on spechnikoff who's a restricted free agent but you know clearly is in line for a monster raise you know they'll spend

it where they they can because you're not replacing spechnikoff anywhere but you know i think that they believe they can replace their goaltending and they can even find ways around losing dougie Hamilton that will cost them less money. Well, CJ, we really appreciate your time because the Svechnikov offer sheet has to be coming any moment now, right? Well, I don't think so. I think that's the beauty of matching

the Ajo offer sheet in a sense. When Montreal tabled the offer sheet to Sebastian Ajo, they believed that Tom Dundon wouldn't match. They weren't doing that just to try to mess things up there. They thought that Carolina was a team that would be cheap and that they would just let them walk and take the draft

pick compensation and move on you know obviously they match within a day or even less and kind of made a statement in doing so and so I think that's going to scare teams off of doing a Svechnikov I mean I actually think if we're talking offer sheets like they should it shouldn't be for the superstars necessarily because I think teams more often than not will match on a superstar it's it's for the second tier talent you know a team like Tampa you know has been both last offseason and this one to me more more vulnerable because you might give a guy like a two million dollar contract in an offer sheet which only costs a third round pick i believe and tampa might just be like do you know what we can't keep them like it's just the price we're not able to hold on to

them um you know could be a superstar but i wonder even about carter hart in philadelphia you know the flyers have done a lot of spending if you look at it right now i don't have their their their puckpedia or cat friendly page up right now but i know they don't have a ton of money left for him you know maybe you come for him and he might be a superstar in the making but he didn't have a superstar season like i feel like we should be targeting maybe some of the less obvious names when it comes to uh offer sheets but obviously teams they just they don't believe in it it hasn't proven to be a good way to get players out of out of other teams and so everyone just doesn't bother because you know they've done nothing and they're all out of ideas like it's not

like it happens all the time it's well it hasn't proven to be good because it hasn't happened I mean it right and you got to compel a player to sign it right yeah that that is the flip side like last year uh if I'm remembering Tampa right they had to sign Sergeyev they had to sign Chernak they had to sign um Sorelli Sorelli as well right so they had all these RFAs plus you know they had their own tricky cap situation like you have to convince those guys coming off a Stanley Cup to sign an offer sheet with you and to leave Tampa which let's face it objectively is one of the best situations you could be playing in the nhl just lifestyle tax weather great team great organization great owner you know there's almost nothing not to like about being a tampa bay

lightning other than the fact some guys can't get fair market value just because of their cap situation um but anyway yeah i i do think we're gonna see it though like i'm still there's like this much hope in me that we're gonna start to see less true hockey people running teams you know we're starting to see that in a sense like the hockey isn't catching up fully to the other sports but we've seen this you know in baseball you got like nasa engineers running teams and stuff i think that's going to come to hockey and i think that those type of people will identify market inefficiencies and will maybe make offer sheets more of a thing than they have been in the last 10 years or so going around the league here with a couple other teams who have made some

signings what do you make of the situation going on in vegas right now where in the last like what is it seven months they've lost schmidt and they've lost reeves and they lost marco andre flurry and the players leaving there seem to have no uh good things to say about the franchise and how their time was spent there do you think there's a problem there with them having too much turnover in their players and do you think it's a conversation amongst the guys well it's certainly a bit of a conversation around the league you know and the organization makes no apologies for it Like they're trying to win a Stanley cup and it's, it's a fine line, right? Because they've won so many games.

They keep building a great team. They've been aggressive through trades and in free agency. Like, I feel like if you're a fan, other than the fact you might've bought a Jersey of a player who's now playing somewhere else and you're disappointed to see your favorite guy go, you know, this is sort of what fans demand of their teams is they're, they're literally turning over every stone they can to win a Stanley cup.

And, but there's, there's a price to that, right? I mean, first of all, there's no guarantees you win a cup of course but secondly is is there is a reputational factor there but you know I think it's a reasonable bet that guys are going to want to keep playing in Vegas you know it's it actually reminds me of Tampa has all the same benefits it's a great place to live a great place to be you know for your family in terms of weather and the school setup and the tax situation is favorable the team's great it's an awesome building great fan base i mean you know i think guys are still going to want to play there um but you know they're pushing the envelope in some ways you know the flurry situation too though maybe hasn't been

discussed in its full nuance either i mean um you know a decision was made where you know alan walsh's agent tweeted out the picture on twitter when he wasn't uh starting the games in the bubble in 2020 and the organization didn't forget that you know i'm not here to say who's right and wrong in that situation but it you know wasn't it's not fair to say that there weren't some shots lobbied back and forth and you know it was evidence to me of two sides you know I think Marc-Andre Fleury clearly loved playing in Vegas I think he performed great for the team by and large but you know it wasn't a completely happy marriage so you know I'm not surprised that they chose Robin Leonard over Fleury also just he's younger and he signed for more years at a

lower cap it and so you know part of that is it's just projecting out of you know sort of medium term for their roster building so you know there's a fine line there but you're right clearly there's not a lot of loyalty um but this is pro sports and i think there's not a lot of loyalty in a lot of places if we're being honest about the way decisions are made and some of the things that go down look at minnesota you know with ryan suiter um and you know in particular i think Zach Parise was probably welcoming the change of locale, whereas Ryan Suter didn't really want to be bought out. I mean, it doesn't end too well for too many players in this league.

I think that's just a fact. To combine the two conversations there between Carolina and Vegas, there's a disconnect here that's not making sense to me about the market. They were spending, they being teams, spending money like drunken sailors in free agency, but the goalie market was so poor for some reason that Nadelkovich who was nominated for the Calder was traded for a third round pick and Marc-Andre Fleury,

the reigning Vesna winner was traded for a fifth round pick from 2018. Did either of those things shock you? Because it's obvious that cap space is valued there. That's the message being sent from those deals, but it's completely different from the message being sent in free agency. yeah there's a dissonance you're right it's just like it doesn't all completely add up and frankly those trades were mainly leading into free agencies so that they had more cap space to spend on free agents um which is you know kind of strange i mean look the vega situation there's

not many goalies making seven million right as mark andrew floyd is now he's performing up to being among the best goalies in the league even if even if you don't think he should have won the he was without question a top five goaltender last year top three goaltender whatever like like even if you want to quibble with the way the gms voted for that award you know he was he was tremendous last season um and has been tremendous for the bulk of whatever 16 17 years in the nhl um but very few teams could take on a seven million dollar goalie or were willing to vegas didn't want to eat money on them because obviously they still have their own cap like even as of now they might be above the cap so they still have to make further moves

even after trading away ryan reeves for just a draft pick so um you know that one makes sense that nedeljkovic one is interesting because that's that's more of a philosophical decision like with vegas i think we can all kind of understand it even as much as flurry was the face of the franchise like it as i mentioned it wasn't the smoothest relationship behind the scenes he is 36 37 7 million is a lot to pay for goalie and so i can see where they're just like addition by subtraction for them in that regard with carolina you know what it was the delco which is contract 3.2 million in detroit something like that that is three three flat three flat there you go so that's a decision not to pay him three million and he's 25 and he's just come off

a season where you know he ended up becoming their starter he also passed through ravers quite recently too so i mean look it's true goaltending is is voodoo a little bit um if i remember correctly he they claimed anton forsberg from edmonton in training camp because they were putting the delcoch on waivers the next day and they wanted to have a third goalie so he started last season as carolina's third goalie and so you know i just think that they don't fully believe in him as as a starter like a guy that they could count on to play 50 games next year for a team trying to win the stanley cup uh it might be a bad bet but the flip side of that of course is they've had him in their organization for years they know him probably better than anybody and

that's the decision they made so i was surprised in in a little bit but also i kept hearing they weren't going to give him a qualifying offer they were just going to let him become a free agent because they were worried about his arbitration case so um yeah but i can't explain how all this fits together because i i think i think i think the leagues like like that's sort of what you're asking right i think the league has been drunk for 10 days honestly like it's yeah it's it's like on one hand we saw what more trades for nothing that i've ever seen like more just like we're setting this guy we're not even going to call it future consideration it's just like we're trading this guy and draft picks and that's it yeah for nothing which i didn't think you were

allowed to do yeah i guess you are right for nothing so that became like a trend there was a lot of buyouts and then there was a lot of big contracts handed out so like it doesn't all really add up but as i say i think it makes it fun i mean it's it was pure chaos these last 10 days 206 nhl players signed a new deal in the last three days wow wow yeah or at least extension or update that's from cap friendly that's what signings in the last three days is 206 contracts well i mean if you do if you do 25 players per team and now we have 32 teams right that takes you to my math will not be quick enough on this but 800 players basically 900 players at the most like that's that's a huge number quarter of the league yeah that's crazy so chris let me ask you

this um you know you had to cover it up close so sometimes you can get too close to the painting to see the full picture you've had a couple days to digest because you were just i saw it you and frank and elliot just churning it out on uh on free agency and it was funny because i i was like really they're gonna go to the jays game now because this is the best free agency we've ever seen um so thankfully i have my 360 subscription oh can't hear you can't hear you we've lost you we've lost you that's probably best can you hear me now oh yeah what did you say i said are you trying to walk me into saying something i'm gonna regret it no not at all not at all no i just i just i was i was surprised i'm like i know live sports trumps all but like this is the best free

agency we've ever ever ever seen now um uh based on what you've seen and you've had a few days to digest which is my original point who's the big winner who's the big loser who who who did the best and i'm not just talking about free agency it can be how they handled seattle how they handled the draft you know the last you know since the stanley cup was awarded what's the team for you that you've been like i'm really impressed so i think the teams that didn't spend like crazy are kind of my winners Toronto Maple Leafs um let's save that one we'll get to that yeah yeah but like like like so okay this actually is a little bit invalidating my point i liked what New Jersey did like they spent big on Dougie Hamilton but i love that addition for them

you know they add Luke Hughes in the draft like I think that that's an organization that's going to take a step forward now they've been a long way away the last couple years from being competitive so of course you know they're still I'm not saying they're going to win a Stanley Cup but like I think this has been a good two weeks for the New Jersey Devils I think it's been a good couple weeks for the Columbus Blue Jackets and I I'm sure we can get into the Wierenski contract a little on the high side but like the what they got back and trading some players away and the way they position themselves moving forward and keeping wierenski for all of his 20s like i think the key distinction everyone on twitter missed is they literally just bought his best years and

didn't buy any crappy years on the end and so yes the contract's high but they have a scale macar okay but kale macar is younger and so colorado was buying more of his restricted free agent years what the implication there is that his ufa years are worth much more than nine and a half right and he and so i'm not saying i didn't like to kill my car contract but like i just think the distinction people miss is like literally they just bought his 20s like that's when you want to have players locked up yes it's a little bit high but they kept another star from leaving their city at a time when i think they have to push back against that narrative and that idea and to me they didn't over commit themselves to the wrong years of his career like if they they paid him

not till he was 35 i'd be like disaster like that's that's trouble um but this i think it's a smart decision for them so i like them i actually like what arizona did quite honestly um they they took advantage of this weird period in time where so many teams are cap squeezed and they got two first round picks and five second rounders plus a whole bunch of other crap i know they're gonna be five five five second rounders in the in the 2022 draft that's great arizona sorry go ahead let's face it the teardown part of a rebuild is the easy part like i get this because they have to make good decisions with those picks and all that but like they weaponize their cap space the way like i think any team that's been adrift like that's what you should

want your franchise to do because they still have players they can trade out and i think they're still going to sign for agents on one-year deals that they're trading at the deadline like they have restocked the cupboards and they were aggressive at this great moment in time when no one else was doing it i i think it's a good two weeks for them uh now they have to make a lot of good decisions whether this works or not and let's face it that organizations had a lot of stops and starts but i like their offseason um who didn't i like well anyone that was spending drunken sailorly is likely in for some trouble so i care i have here to name names well i just got to think through my brain you know i gotta i wonder about edmonton i i like the hyman signing

i really do even at the number even at the term i think it's a smart bet for them i think that people i think in a lot of ways zach was underappreciated i know by not you guys as Leafs fans but maybe in Toronto in general you know he was always like the fifth fiddle right because there was all these shiny toys around him um and I think in some ways maybe that led to him being a little underappreciated for what he does but I I worry about where their defense is at after losing Adam Larson you know their right side now they have Bouchard who's very young Barry and and CeCe I could just see that not going well and then they didn't upgrade in net and I know that they were right in on darcy kemper up until the end um but look they had a lot of holes to

fill and i and that's tough to do in free agency um without making mistakes but you know i just wonder they definitely improved their forward group in my eyes and that was badly needed even derrick ryan like i just it's it's going to be a better top 12 but everything after that i was like you know this might not age well i want to support i want to support a couple of your points and then I have a couple of questions because Arizona has four firsts over the next three drafts, eight seconds and five thirds. I've never seen five picks in the same round on cap friendly. I've never seen them have to stack.

They have to stack the way it's displayed. It's unbelievable. And that's going to go up too because of the trade deadline. They'll dump a few more. Yeah, probably. That's so sure. Like 100% for sure. They're going to assign guys that can be flipped.

they're still going to try to trade phil cassell i think christian dvorak might be traded like anything that isn't nailed down there is is in play gone um well and but you know what if you've been as lost as they've been like i think it's the only way to attack it like i think like i'm making some light of it but this this is actually a plan right this is the start of a plan and bad on purpose yeah well and they got shane right maybe coming it's like if they get the first overall pick next year and they get shane right and they make good drafting it like we're going to be talking about them totally differently in a year and a half's time right like this is this is how you do it like get aggressive lean into being crappy and maximize everything you can at

a time when the whole league is looking for cap space like they did an awesome job in that oel trade i think like from their perspective i get why vancouver did it like they unloaded most of his contract like they're in such a better position today than they were at the start of you know the month yeah and worker bees like rusell and beagle you're telling me no one's gonna want them at the deadline shut up someone's gonna give them give them picks for that and all those picks i mean they're gonna have to support austin matthews somehow yeah um wait you're zach warrensky oh yeah oh yeah i think they're comparing i think yeah they're gonna make a run at him for sure your zach warrensky point reminds me so much of thomas vanik years ago with buffalo because they

lost briere and they lost drury and they finally they put their foot down and they said no not this one we're keeping this guy except vanik signed an offer sheet with edmonton and they had to match it oh that's right and it was absurd money at the time and they would have got four firsts and they would have been edmonton around the 2010s firsts we should do you should do like a trade tree version of that steve like look at what that would look like what it would have looked oh it would have been like i i gotta go back i think i did it once it would have been like jordan eberly ryan hopkins like it would have been taylor hall it would have been yakupov i think it might have been yakupov it would have been unbelievable i want to know the alternate universe of what

could have been for buffalo if they let him walk you got it buddy yeah i'm on it great um chris any other any other teams sorry steve i just was gonna ask if if there's any other teams but keep going with your point if you need to the the last thing i was gonna say is a cost getting getting traded is like it's a done deal right is it to buffalo like it just seems like just kiss already like it's it seems like the perfect match i think i think that ship has sailed actually really yeah i think the plan is to start the season with smith and koskinen as their two goalies okay buffalo's gonna start with dell and anderson yeah and something else might shake free but i think that that's i mean dell got a two-way deal so he's their third goalie

i think i i mean i don't know anderson takarski i i don't i'm not sure i'm not i'm not i'm not comfortable saying anything is done done but but you know there was some talk uh with edmonton and buffalo on koskinen i think that was all tied though if they were going to be able to get kemper and they were going to trade koskinen in a separate um trade but now that that didn't happen i'm i'm it's my understanding edmonton's just going to grow with koskinen smith to start at the year and make adjustments as needed. Do they lose Staloc on waivers when the year starts?

Because they have three goalies right now. They probably... Well, who knows? You can usually get goalies through if you do it right. I think the strategy is to put your third goalie on waivers early in camp before teams have made decisions or allowed their guys to get injured in a preseason game

or whatever. Obviously, you're rolling the dice by that, but there's a world he gets through. I mean, Nedeljkovic got through last year. And look, like how many teams could have used that claim a little bit more effectively so i think he could get through but it all depends on time who else didn't you like jog my memory who made really obviously did you like vancouver switching flipping all of their signings from last off season this season i did because i think i think it was a realistic way to approach their problem

like they backed themselves into a corner with a lot of bad decisions they've they've delayed the pain here like i think they're definitely a better team next season doesn't mean they're going to have cap issues again in future years but you know if you're talking about gms that aren't guaranteed to be there long term i think jim vett falls into that that category you know they they left themselves room now to get quinn hughes and eliza petterson sign like i i i like their off season from from where they were to where they got to i like it but they really just delayed the pain it's like me it's like you know young cj procrastinating every work as their school assignment like always perpetually like i feel like they're procrastinating they're really

bad years but at least it's not going to be next season it's going to be three years from now or whatever um i think there well there are a couple teams that's been spent wildly uh but there's a team that i've been particularly hard on and you're wearing their their t-shirt uh the preds like did you see anything that makes you believe they're going in one direction or the other or are they a first and out team again well i mean i think what they did leading up to free agency leads me to believe they're moving into a rebuild honestly i mean trading alice trading arvidson um you know those are key pieces from the year this was a media giveaway the 2017 stanley cup final was it or 2016 yeah 16 16 we were all there 17 17 16 16 i was at both i was

so yeah can i tell you a story about this t-shirt yeah please so they gave us this to all that like there was a selection of national related t-shirts they gave to the media during that cup final and like obviously in public i don't wear team gear really for any team other than like the blue jays or something and so that summer i think it was just like a bad laundry day and so i throw it on one day it's like middle of summer whatever and i walk out of my apartment and go like two blocks and i bump into frankie corrado and frankie was on pittsburgh as a black ace like in that cup final and so like it's just like three weeks after the cup final ends and i'm walking around you know wearing a t-shirt for the team that they just played in the cup final like

it just was funny like frankie's a good nature guy but it's like you know that's kind of awkward and then literally the next time i wore it was like a month later probably the same situation and i walk out no joke like one more block further from my house three blocks instead of two and i walked by pk suban on the street now i didn't talk i didn't talk to pk i don't know if he saw it i don't even know if he would recognize me or know who i am um or anything but i'm like i'm never wearing this t-shirt in public again because every time i do i'm seeing a member of the predators or someone just played them in the cup final wearing it so maybe i'll regret wearing it on this podcast but

well you never know who's watching which from we here is uh from what we've heard anyway it's more than we thought um uh so yeah did you guys get in trouble anyway uh well i have i have uh two more teams i wanted to ask about this is a house of honesty you guys what's going on what do you what you just hear things from time to time that's all um jesse go ahead so two more teams i want to ask but one was philly what do you think of uh moving out goss's bear bringing in uh ristalainen and martin jones and ryan ellis yeah what do you think of their moves especially on the d core oh man it's a hard one to make like i get why they looked at last season or like we got to change the court here right like they trade away voracek too and get cam atkinson um like something

wasn't right there after they had a pretty good run in the toronto bubble and you know last summer so i like that that approach i actually don't i don't hate what they did like the risk to line in what they paid was probably more than i'd be comfortable paying but you know other teams were they were in the right market there i i think that they could emerge from this better but it's kind of a big pile of I don't know for me to be honest like I don't think it's blatantly horrible but it's also some strange decisions and and you know I think it highlights maybe some of the challenges of trying to get better in free agency is that you gotta you know you got to take some big swings at players or you're not sure about and so that's why I do think some of the teams

that were in a position not to have to be getting too aggressive right now as much as that is boring or less interesting. I think that in some ways, you might be in a better off because you're more likely to make a mistake if you're out here swinging the bat as hard as they were. And my last team...

Oh, go ahead. I was going to say, my last team was Calgary. Yes! Tell me about Calgary! They bring in Chris Tanev and Blake Colman. And Markstrom is really their only goalie right now and then they lose their captain. and we expected wholesale changes in calgary and that doesn't seem to be happening i think

they changed more than you think yeah they did change a fair bit but what's interesting is there you know it sounds like they're talking with johnny goodrell about an extension not so much exploring the trade market on them i mean i think the issue they have is their best players that they might look to trade away are not at their highest value point like even if they were to entertain i know there's lots of smoke around matthew kachuk like he's not coming off his best season so it's it's a somewhat depressed asset in his case i think clearly sean monahan and johnny goodrow are you know from where they were a few years ago they're just getting older and they've been less productive things haven't gone well for the team in this last year so you know it's

probably harder to get good value for them i think that they're in a really difficult spot as an organization um because they haven't fully embraced sort of like a rebuild type of situation and i it's getting there at some point right like that's i think that's the question for me with calgary is like okay we know you're gonna have to rebuild like how long can you delay the inevitable or the pain you know but when you're signing you know they signed marks from was it six years last last summer and then six years for coleman like they're not behaving like a team that's you know entertaining a rebuild anytime soon um i can still see them being better like i i picked them to win the north division which shows you how much you should pay attention to my preseason

predictions um but i you know i thought the last couple years prior to this when they were the best team in canada didn't get enough goaltending then they got markstrom i was just thinking they're poised to do something like i find that they're very confounding um but i still think they should be decent and they're in a division let's call it as it is like that that pacific division i think it's right there for almost anybody i mean vegas with the powerhouse in it but you know i think if you're in the pacific it makes sense to be really aggressive because you could go on a run and win two rounds i i don't think you should feel bad about the calgary pick because to me that was the their standings results versus their roster had the biggest

discrepancy like they shouldn't have been as bad as they were and when it comes to the gadreau thing it reminds me of what we said about line a pre-season either trade him now or make a commitment to him like i've been on the trade johnny gadreau train for a while but a commitment to him is at very least a decision you know what i mean but that's a very recent decision kicked in they had the chance and now it's a i believe that's kicked in now and and so it's going to be a lot harder to trade him so make a decision you know if it if the decision is extend them great at least you've made a choice right and i think what's what's interesting with him is there's always been this notion that he wanted to get back to the the new jersey philly area

where he grew up you know is he willing to commit to them you know and i don't i don't have that answer i mean obviously they're having trade contract discussions so he's at least willing to entertain his his options there and see what the market might be but um i think i think both sides kind of have to make a commitment or not in this one um you know and i don't know because johnny's pushed back about that but it's it's just been loud enough that there there must be somebody saying that or enough people are saying that there might be some element of truth and and i don't think we can blame them just as you know when when players have come back and played in toronto in their hometown or whatever like i think it's totally fine when you have that ability

and free agency to make a decision for your family that that might be different than in the organization's best interest but i'm just curious to see how that works out because both sides kind of a decision my eyes the uh another one we mentioned and i swear all the leaf fans come on talk about the leafs we'll get to them uh the florida panthers have made you just want to make sure they listen to the whole pod yeah that's what it well we're gonna we're gonna slice it up and put it up anyway so they'll see it but my my thing is that the florida panthers made some perplexing moves and you know they they had found money with sam bennett uh and then they and but they resigned then they gave it to him they gave him a lot of money and then a year out from having

to give carter verhege money because i believe he's got another year left at a million they were like we're going to extend you and give you four per season florida's wild with the contracts they won't sign the goalie that did well for them last year i know they've got spencer night but he's sort of an unknown quality quantity what is the plan there it you know is is is it a safe bet carter verhege at four million are we sure it's not a safe bet but i don't mind that one so much i mean to me that's rewarding a player like they signed him to a very value deal he was delivered on it you know he kind of overlooked a little bit in tampa like that's i like rewarding your own guy because i do think that in this case he's likely to live up to it i mean there's there's

enough of a sample there that i think it's pretty clear he's an offensive driver and if he's playing in offensive minutes with certain line mates i mean i think he's going to produce and that's what we saw this year so that one doesn't bother me i think the danger with the sam banger contract is you know he had like 108 pdo or something after the trade like you just you didn't see he had he had a tough season in calgary and then you know there might have been some shooting luck just involved in the small sample you saw him with the panthers and so you might be paying for that high performance but I actually don't mind Florida's offseason you know like they managed to move Anton Strahlman out like I think Bill Zito is showing himself in a year as a GM to be

pretty effective he's certainly unafraid to take a big swing and really the biggest question for their organization now is what happens with Barkov right he's he's one year out from unrestricted free agency and obviously based on the kind of play areas he's in a position for a huge deal you know i'm curious to see how that's approached if they're able to get him to get on a long-term commitment if they can afford that how that looks but i i see the panthers as like a real rising team in the league and you know even moving on from keith yandel like i i like their blue line the goaltending you know bob has not lived up to his contract obviously but i i think that that's a really good team and it's probably one of the reasons leaf fans out there should be most nervous

is that the Atlantic is getting better around them and they are treading water at the moment. So I don't hate their offseason, but I agree. Those contracts might have, the contract with Benham might be a little aggressive, but to me, it's still a movable deal. And, you know, they didn't pay him so much that there's an implied no move clause there.

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our new double espresso with ginseng extract. Whatever lies ahead, don't change your morning. Let your morning change you. Discover Coffee Plus on Nespresso.com. okay so i guess we got to ask the question you know we criticize vegas for turning over every stone let's move to a team that will turn over no stones we're not gonna look at this we're not gonna change anything we are gonna we're gonna throw a few more pebbles in the pond and that's what we're gonna do uh it has set up the leafs to be one of the more interesting stories this year

not that they're not already but this doubling down on a team that has failed for five straight years in the first round or the play-in round what did you think of their offseason so far i mean it's obviously you know there's still a couple months before the season starts again so we're going to keep that in mind but what you've seen so far cj are you impressed i'm impressed with their conviction you know that's a choice that's a choice it is a choice and it's what they said they were going to do two days after the season and every time kyle Lewis hasn't been in front of a hot mic since and they and he has been a man of his word so I think that I go back and I know everyone's sort of bored of this because it's almost played out

but I go back to what Brendan Shanahan said in 2015 the problem in Toronto isn't to have the plan the problem is to stick to the plan and they are sticking to their plan and I actually I agree with that approach now I think we can get into the weeds here and I'm fully willing to on whether they've made the right plan and whether they bet on the right guys and all that stuff like i think that there's a fair conversation to be had there but if i listen to even just my buddies or the people that always want to offer me their opinion on the leafs like every day it's like you got to trade this guy you got to do this and like that would be no way to operate any team if you're just a prisoner of the moment and you're reacting emotionally and so i do think it's been a

good off season in terms of laying out what their vision is and delivering on it and so nothing has surprised me like i think because you know i've been saying that hyman was gonna go i was saying that right after the season and he went and you know i i kept saying like they're not in like people were trying to like link them to all these guys landiskov and all the stuff and i was like that's just not happening like i don't know what universe those rumors are coming from other than maybe an agent wanting that the toronto you know to get a little bit of play around it or sir valley saying that d'angelo might be a fit in toronto did he say that surprise yeah apparently he did on his podcast

yeah and we were kind of like I don't I never that doesn't line up with what I know and what I've heard but I don't I never heard that if that was the case he might have just been spitball right yeah because they always need a right-handed guy but

right-handed go ahead Chris handedness that's what I was talking about what oh you steve you're talking about their power play was bad he could anyway so the least yeah but but i do think so i think that there's something to be said for them sticking to the plan and and the only thing that i found interesting and not to parse his words because

we need the gm to speak publicly but you know kyle dubas did say i think just before the entry draft when he spoke to reporters for better or for worse you know i'm sticking with these are my guys i believe in them and yes it's just two words for worse but it does imply that there is at least some doubt creeping in and you know i think that would be fully reasonable rational i think that that's why we've seen such an emotional response from people that love this team like you guys like steve is that there's there's now doubt there and you know they didn't go out and do anything big to you know ease your concerns um and it's pretty clear if kyle's ready to go down with the ship if the ship's going to go down maybe maybe a smaller move um so they lose bogosian wants to go

to tampa where it's nice and they win and also he didn't like the restrictions and all that so they got dermot in potentially that third pair right slot but eric angles reported that yanni hockenpah got basically um where did he say he signed in dallas right yeah and they offered him 1.5 million per year which is exactly travis dermot's cap hit um what's going on there you think they end up moving this guy travis yeah not at this point i mean maybe if they can find a replacement i i think you know right now you've got sandine lilligren and dermot essentially as the bottom like the five six seven um it's not bad but i also think they wouldn't want to make it any weaker because you know there's going to be injuries and things like that 82 game season

so you know look Dermott was exposed to Seattle and expansion they they are even just by making that move they were willing to lose him you know his place here long term is far from secure but I don't think they're looking to move him I you know I still think he's good value at one and a half million which is probably how Kyle Dubas looks at it so you know it's it's a long way of saying he's not here 100 for sure but i don't think they mind having him and at that cap number i think that's perfectly fine for him as a third pairing d speaking of expansion there were some things that uh we clearly agreed with with the leafs some things that look maybe dumb at the time and look pretty smart now i think you were in the camp of well they just got jared mccann

surely they're not going to lose him what was what was your reaction to that saga and then afterward i want to get into justin hall i didn't mind the move to to get him and to insulate themselves like like i i'd always heard that the vegas or sorry vegas seattle was interested in in kerfoot i i think their interest was legitimate way back a long time ago um i as much as i i see like steve birch and lots of people out there saying like there's no way you can protect justin hall and you can replace him so easily like unless yanni hockenpah for example was coming here which he wasn't i mean look he's like six fins in dallas i think he's very comfortable joining his countrymen there again tax-free state like there's lots of benefits to dallas um i don't

think that i didn't see that many clear replacements for justin hall that could that went for less money than he makes in for agency there might really hockenpah might be the start and end of the list and so I think that they protected an asset that they can that was going to be harder to replace essentially I don't think it's a statement that Hall is necessarily more valuable than McCann might be but it's it's like look we're still we're on day three for agency as we're recording this there's still players out there that I know the Leafs were interested in that I think can fit into the kind of role that that McCann would have played on this team and so I didn't have any problem with it I was just more surprised they didn't work out a side deal

to ensure that Kerfoot was gone. You know, that was always what I assumed. I assumed that there was going to be a side deal we hadn't heard about after that move, just because it kind of pointed to that. Turns out Seattle didn't make any side deals because they were asking so much of the teams. And so ultimately you give up a seventh round pick

and Phillip Allender is a B-level prospect to protect that area. You know, I don't, I think with hindsight, it's hard to really quibble. It's just a lot of people would rather McCann be here than Kerfoot I think among the fan base but at least they didn't lose both of them Adam do you have any questions about side deals well my my opinion Chris is that because Seattle didn't get anybody across the line that they asked too much and made a mistake in not re-evaluating their

price and I'm not saying you just you sell low but you should be weaponizing the cap space that they have and maybe you know they probably still can what do they got 20 million left but it seems as though you had the opportunity to gain those picks now and in the next draft. And they didn't do it. Is your sense of things that they really thought people would pay that price or was the price set that way? So that teams like they'd be shocked if any team actually paid it.

I think they've, they more made comfort with the idea that they're trying to be really good in three or four years than next year. And you establish a high price meeting. It's sort of like I'm not selling my house to you unless you pay me so much money that I have to. And so I think what I know you're thinking here is like why I don't I don't think they want to get into that. That game just yet of leveraging everything just to, like, get all these draft picks. Like, I think that they they've much more value protecting their cap space and getting the players that they want.

And let's face it, too. It was a totally different environment. And I'm not even talking about the pandemic and everything. It's just, I think other teams were way more skittish about making deals and trying to galaxy brain this thing. And so they were, they were operating from a weak position that way. And I think that they were maybe hoping one or two teams would, would bend. But, you know, if you just got into like, okay, you're not going to pay me a first for this guy.

Well, I'll just take a sixth. When, if you establish the market at a sixth, I mean, what are six round picks, let's face it are not worth very much. So, you know, I, I find there's the strategy doesn't look as good coming out of the expansion draft as I thought it might, but I'm still hesitant to like rail on them because we've seen them make a couple subsequent trades. I still think they'll make more trades from their deep pool here and, you know, having that cap space is going to mean something too. And so I don't, I don't hate their expansion drafts. I'm just still not sure how at all, like why it went down as it did. they're almost too incomplete to evaluate like yeah but there are still some like bay ruther

quenville like there's some really confusing picks but bay ruther the decision is basically they didn't want max tomey right like max tomey is the other player available you have to pick a player from every team yep by bay ruther they picked so that was their pick and then they just didn't sign him and so that that means that they didn't take on anyone from columbus they didn't really want and they obviously didn't want max dolmy at his cap number and so i think that that's how you have to evaluate all those decisions like i think uh vegas took the goalie jf but ruby i want to say and didn't sign him like essentially a net neutral pick they took that was a side deal though right but like the point is is that and they picked connor brickley

from carolina and didn't sign him um you know like my point is instead of taking someone from every team that you don't like they just in some cases they basically punted on a team and that was that was quenville so i guess the question is should they have taken zadorov right because he's since been traded um to calgary and i think it was a third round pick they got yes yeah it was uh i think it was the leafs third round pick so would it have been better yeah for riddick that's right so it would have been better to take a zadorov and try to flip them for a third yourself or not obviously they took john quenville who they're not signing so yeah i mean i guess that that to me maybe there's more criticism to be levied there than the side deal that didn't

happen on the draft because i don't think many teams really want to make those back to the leafs the two ufas that i'm looking at are probably the front runners to join the team nick ritchie and andre kasha do you see them as as the guys who could be playing toronto next season and if it's not to those to uh either of those guys who else do you see coming over you know Richie's an interesting one like I heard that he was in the Leafs offices since free agency like getting a tour or whatever talking to the team uh so obviously that would suggest there's some mutual interest there the one thing I wonder about is can they afford him like I don't know that the Leafs are in his price bracket and and so perhaps part of what they have to do to get him to sign

with the Leafs is to maybe take a little bit less and he could get elsewhere and maybe sell him on the opportunity on development chances on where they're going on the opportunity when a cop all that stuff um you know i think that this has been a challenge for them so far right like they would have liked to bring back nick felino but not at 3.8 million that he got in boston i think that they liked grandlin certainly not a five million that that nashville uh you know signed him to on a long-term deal and so i think the leafs truly are bargain hunting right now and you know i i haven't heard specific issue interest in kasha but he makes sense richie it does seem like there's there's certainly some ongoing conversations there I think Thomas Tatar is someone that that's

a possibility for Toronto as well and you know he kind of aligns with what we think of their team you know excellent underlying numbers has been quite productive relatively speaking you know on that line with with Gallagher and Deneau for a couple seasons now in Montreal and you know probably after being scratched through most of the playoffs isn't in a position to demand too much in free agency so I think those guys all make sense but you know my understanding too is they're quite open to uh trades if if they don't end up landing any of these guys and so you know i think the least will probably add two forwards to their group still you know one that we can identify as probably being a top six type of role player uh someone who might get a chance to play with

matthews and marner is that is that like a tyler bertuzzi which is the name that's come up could be tyler bertuzzi you know wouldn't surprise to see me move hints wouldn't surprise me if he's moved on from detroit he's a restricted free agent so he needs a contract um yeah like i i think that that's a possible like i i don't i don't get the sense they're focused in on one guy i guess is the point uh i think that they're open-minded about who this is because really they're focused in on a certain cap number i think it's about three million give or take is roughly what they have to spend on another winger uh again it's someone that we're talking could be played with matthews Marner next year or Tavares and Nylander depending on how things shake out you know maybe maybe

there's a chance to circle back and bring back an Alex Galchenyuk you know I think whoever this player is it's probably not going to make a massive headline like we're not talking guaranteed superstar someone that gets everyone running to the store to buy their their jersey um but this is where you can make smart decisions no one was doing cart cartwheels in Tampa when they gave up a first round pick for Barkley Goodrow and Blake Coleman within like a week of each other And then they end up forming two thirds of one of their most effective lines over two cup runs. So I think what the Leafs are trying to do is identify the next Goodrow and

Coleman. They can't sign those players once they're they've established themselves because of where their market is. And so I think they're trying to find the players that are about to pop and Nick Ritchie makes sense to me. I think, you know, he's a top 10 pick. He hasn't quite delivered maybe on the promise that, that accompanied him in his draft year, but I still think he brings a lot of good attributes that put in the right

situation. You know, his best years could still be ahead. There was definitely part of me when I saw the good draw and Coleman deals where I was like, Oh, Columbus broke their brains. Like they fried them permanently. And then they ended up winning and they went through them in the process.

So this is, this has obviously been a ridiculous off season, perhaps the most ridiculous off season of your career. Definitely of mine. When's the aftershock is there's a lot left. When's the aftershock. Is it going to be steady activity? do you think or is there going to be a day where the dam breaks oh i i think it's going to be quiet

for most guys now i mean maybe today you might see a little bit more action but i could see it being very quiet through august for these these players i mean that's that's a tough thing like if you're a free agent who isn't dougie hamilton like dougie was going to be able to sign kind of on his terms more or less but if you're in the middle or to lower tier free agency like if you don't get a dance partner on day one or two like it could be a long august of you know ramping up your workouts not knowing what you're even working out for like who you're working out to play for and so i i think september will get busy again but i i'm predicting a pretty quiet august i mean there's arbitration and stuff that still happens like there's going to be league news but i don't

see it being a fertile period for free agents i think you know after this this kind of first you know we get the this was a real frenzy right july 28th and too much less to agree july 29th that's a real frenzy i'm thinking by august it gets quiet and then september there's ptos and there'll be some other stuff but you know i it wouldn't be too comfortable right now if you don't have a contract sorry i was too indirect let me be more direct announce the eichel trade announce it one two three announce it september 19th that's not tomorrow what i know man i think it i think the next pressure point is is training cap and i mean in this case i guess the unknown here quite honestly is we don't know if jack eichel can participate training cap no matter

where it is at this point like we don't know where his neck health is at if he's going to be able to do that but i would think if he is assuming he's able to participate in training camp i don't think buffalo wants any part of the scene of day one of camp with jack eichel returning like i do shane in colorado that's exactly where i was going right and and like to shane like to shane and get trade till the start of november you know maybe everyone is going to have to go through that but you know once they got through the first round of the draft like i that trade got harder to make like it was easier to make if you were getting like the fifth overall pick that night plus plus plus plus plus but once you get past the draft first of all

teams have started spending money elsewhere like minnesota is basically backed out of this thing because they had to get on with building their team and it's a pretty big deal if you're adding 10 million in the one c spot or not in terms of what fall what kind of fallout there is there like they're not signing both caprizov and and kevin fiala this we're both restricted for agents if If you're adding $10 million there, in fact, you might be trading one or both of them as part of the package. Anyway. One or both?

Well, look, I don't know what this – that's the thing. The asks have been massive, as they should be. I don't know what the truth is. Like, I don't know who's actually going to step up and meet this four – you know, this equivalent of four first-rounders sort of idea that's out there. You know, I think Anaheim has interest, but, like, I don't think they're all that – well, in fact, I know.

they're not all that excited about the prospect of dealing away like Jamie Drysdale or Trevor's egress, like two of their, you know, their top two young prospects who are basically are on the cusp now of being full-time NHL players. Like anyway, it's a long way of saying I think Buffalo is going to get squeezed a little bit, even though they hold, you know, every Kevin Adams availability, I hear him saying like, we control this and all that. And it's right. They control the player and they have the most attractive player that's going

to be moved in whatever trade is made. But at a certain point, it doesn't benefit the organization out of this drag on. And I think other teams are counting on the fact that price is going to come down. So I read a tweet last night and I want to get your thoughts from bill to spiel Adams, as in Kevin Adams is forcing Eichel's camp to make an official trade request.

So he can take the shitty package that he was going to get anyway, but take a bit of the onus off the team's mishandling of the situation. It's actually a little smart thoughts. uh i'm knowing that shitty package is not chris johnston's words yeah i mean i don't think this is kevin adams's fault like no like you know i mean like he became gm in this situation had been bubbling and whatever i think he's in a no-win position though and so i guess how you frame it you're trying to get a small pr win out of this but this is not gonna it's there's no way to win this trade i don't think i mean the only way you ever win this trade

is if jack eichel and i'm not cheering for this i'm not manifesting it but like if he's so injured that he can never be a version of himself again but assuming that he gets back to being the player that he's shown himself to be like you're not winning this deal there's just there's no history is just full of these we trade you a bunch of guys but you get the superstar and the superstar always is the guy you miss but i also think you traded wristline and you've traded sam reinhardt you lean into your rebuild here and and just make the best deal possible i i don't i wouldn't be worried like easy for me to say i wouldn't be worried about pr i i would just be like just make the deal and take your bullets and even be honest with the fans like i think fans are

way smarter than than we give them credit for half the time honestly like i think people get it like if you're a sabers fan you probably hate this but you get it like you're not bringing this guy back like he's not gonna play three more seasons in buffalo like there's just no chance Like he might have to play three more games because this might drag on and be a soap opera. But I kind of feel like we're getting to the stage where it's just best to make the best deal and move on and start, start building because there's this,

this building's on fire and we don't have enough fire engines to put it out. Jesus. Bad reference. I don't know. I was trying to think it's like, it's beyond, it's beyond salvation, right?

It's beyond repair. No, I got it. It it's drove the message home. This marriage has gone through therapy and the couple still doesn't like each other. At some point, you're calling the divorce lawyer. Let's get on with it.

What are you, an Adam's DMs? Whoa. What are you, an Adam's DMs? What are you, an Oilers fan? I didn't know divorce jokes were safe here. They are. They are.

You heard the Duncan Keith one, right? I don't think you did. I don't know. oh yeah there was anyway it's chris i'll send you the link later um i think uh i think at the end of the day here you know it's it's just for for the sabers is like could the pr really get any worse just do it um and i think what's a bummer for sabers fans is now they get to sit through the entire summer with it well do you know what fans want they want a winning team or a plan like they want to see that you're you either have to be like winning a championship or on the way to winning a

championship like like that's the only two things that fans will take and that's why like i'm saying i like arizona's thing like yeah that team is going to lose a lot of games this year but if you're in their fan base you're like wow okay we got a gm he's being decisive he's like he's doing things that can give me a reason to care again and so i think that buffalo there's no like jack eichel was supposed to be their their captain when they won a cup right it was this build was supposed to be around him. It hasn't worked out. It failed him. He's failed. I don't even know if he's failed them, honestly. I mean, unfortunately, his health's failed him here in the last little bit. But like, I just think you got to move on. I'm with you. I don't think there's anything to

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Whatever lies ahead, don't change your morning. Let your morning change you. Discover Coffee Plus on Nespresso.com. Vlad Tarasenko his uh according to Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic his his um value is sinking like a rock too because again after the draft and after free agency nobody's got the money anymore and even at 50 50 percent retained this is a guy that's played 30 games in the last two seasons and has shoulder issues and is known for his shot and he's 30. Where does he end up um and and when i see that trade's coming sooner i could see him ending up with the islanders

uh maybe new jersey like new jersey is looking for a score so if they're not able to find it there like where do they go maybe carolina wouldn't rule it out i'm not saying it's likely the hurricane sort of kicked tires on everybody um but i i do think that it's that's another relationship beyond repair the beauty for him is yeah he makes seven and a half million but it's only this season that's coming in the next. So it's, it's a little bit less risk. You know,

you're not, you're not counting on six more years of him and him finding his way back. And so I think all those places make sense. I mean, the Islanders are hilarious, right? Like we fully expect that they've signed Zach Friese and, and Kyle Palmieri in free agency.

As of this moment, they haven't announced it for whatever reason. They just never will. There's no, August 31st. They'll just be like a one-line press release that we signed this guy, this guy. we traded for tarasenko or whatever um it's actually like it doesn't offend me i just find

it funny or amusing sure um you just think it's funny how huh well i mean like whatever they could like you do you man like like it's it's 2021 we just been through a pandemic we all got to live our best life so whatever whatever you think is the best way to approach it um but i i anyway i do think tarasenko we move i just saw by the way that david crecci i mentioned him earlier that he's announced he's retiring from the nhl so he's moving on to the czech republic to play and you know the story i've been told there is that um his his parents are don't speak english and his kids don't speak czech you know essentially he's raised kids in in boston in north america and his parents you know lived in the czech republic and i think i think he's he has a

desire to reunite his family so to speak or like to to you know after all this time move on you know i think it's a big blow for the bruins i like i like what the bruins did in free agency but there's a to me there's still a sizable kind of hole in their second line center position like maybe it's eric holla that's stepping into that role is signed i mean maybe they try nick felino there obviously he can play all three forward positions and has done so throughout his career but like creche and hall were a key part of their second line you know late last season and even at creche's age i still think he was effective and so i'm sure emotional decision for david uh probably the right one for his family but you know this leaves the bruins to

me in an interesting spot like the decline might come sooner than we think with that team that's all that's all i'm saying it's not that's not a full prediction i just see them as a team that's been so good for so long you just assume i'll never fall off but you know it's it's death by a thousand small cuts you know might be might be coming to that organization i'm just his playoff numbers are in all three trips to the finals that he was a part of 23 points in 25 games 26 points in 22 games and 16 points in 24 games in the most recent one 0.79 points per game in the playoffs like what a playoff performer david crate she was as a leaf fan good riddance yeah get out of here super guy too like really really good guy cj i mean i admire making this decision

in first family too like yeah that can't be easy like i i know i haven't talked to him i'm not in his shoes but like i can just imagine that that wasn't the easiest call because when you're one of the best in the world at doing something like that you can only do it for so long and and to leave when he still could play man that's got to be tough would he play in the khl or the check league maybe the check league you know him and your yager can uh tear it up their battles there well i don't think they'd be on the same team so um that's wild because they played on the you know that one cup run jogger was with boston too so that's right that's right um yeah i mean good on them but the czech league is great and all but it's not the nhl right is there has there

been a change in mindset just based on the conversations that you have because this is like i know it's it's valiant and everything but i also don't think this is a decision that gets made pre-pandemic at the same age if that makes sense you know what i mean i think i think everyone has a new perspective on life after all this yeah if you didn't you did the pandemic wrong like and i'm saying that obviously tongue-in-cheek but like let's face it who among us hasn't had either an opportunity to consider like just reevaluate our priorities look at situations friends family work whatever differently i mean i i think the whole world like this has been an earthquake and that shook every country touched everyone in certain ways and so i agree with you

i you know it's hard to alternate reality we can't do in this case but i think it's possible that everyone has looked differently i know i've looked at things in my own life quite differently too through this and so i think that that's fair assessment even matt niskanen right like he walked away after the bubble with billy from i think it was around four million bucks like he just said i'm done he didn't want to do it anymore move back move his family back to minnesota um you know and he was younger and still could play and so i i think there are a lot of guys i mean it's funny it's gone the other way with some of the older players like i've heard a few older players kind of suggest they didn't want to go out with these seasons like they want to they want to

stick it through long enough to see fans again and to be around the excitement and the way the game was that they remember so like it doesn't mean that it's driving players en masse out of the game but i do think it's driving maybe different decisions that would have been made if it didn't happen and you know i've even read also that like 25 companies are expecting they're going to lose 25 of their workforce because of this like every company no matter what you're going to have part of your workforce that absolutely wants to keep working from home you have part of it that absolutely wants to come back to office part of it that like wants some hybrid like there's no way to make everyone happy in this and and you know this is going to

be probably the most significant event in our lives honestly um like in our that we'll witness yeah well if something is crossed if something bigger and more disruptive is coming uh we're probably not doing a hockey podcast so um i've had it with significant moments i would like to go back to well this is pretty boring i love it you want you want to keep your life comfortably between a three and seven out of ten kind of yeah right now i do yeah i mean like you were talking about changes and you brought up divorce i mean i did pandemic and divorce at the same time it was spectacular so you know for me i feel like we could we could ratchet the drama down a little bit you know what i mean i see i see yeah like i i mean and with no and and with no i'm not making

any sort of side shot at my at my daughter's mother it's just like it was a lot there's a lot and and it feels like everybody seems just pooped like everybody i talked to like i'm just really tired of everything like and it's not a side shot it's not a side shot but you are saying my daughter's mother like well yeah i mean that's what she is what do you want me to say my ex it sounds so much worse when you say your ex right it's like really i just think back to like if your parents are fighting and your mom's like well your father tell your father this you know what i mean it's like my father he's your husband like what the heck like why are you changing the anyway yeah i'm just trying to be positive about it right like it's not that big of a deal we're

fine uh it's anyway i know i saw that you got a new bow you've been talking about on instagram yes yes did you see that yes you've been going public with your with your feelings that well that's that wasn't my choice you know what it's funny there is some crossover between this podcast and virgin radio but a lot of times it's just completely separate audiences and so yeah you know i'll bring up and i've talked about it openly on on virgin and then i'll bring it up here and people be like i didn't know that and it's because it's like a hockey podcast right it's the only place you'd know me from so you know we're not talking about it that much but yeah anyway long story i'm just happy that you're happy bud thank you chris thank you i appreciate that i love the

half the half dozen people in your in your instagram comments because it'll be a lot of listeners of this show going what what what what what and there's a half dozen people that just go all right i got the tea and they explain everything yeah listen i got you here's what's going down it's funny every time i post anything now and and i know by saying this i'm gonna get like our listeners are uh uh very very funny so we have so i know so there's basically from there's a there's there's three groups of people that follow me they're the people that were you know virgin radio listeners are people that sdp listeners and then there are the breakfast television slash really like my mom's show and so therefore we'll pay attention to what

i'm doing as well but they really don't consume any of the shows that i do and so um so what they'll do is um like if i talk about anything relationship wise they'll just write divorce question mark just divorce what happened and then and then so now i know i'm gonna get 40,000 people every time i post something writing divorce on my comments oh no sdp listeners have started picking it up and i know who you are by the way and they they absolutely know what's going on and they just write divorce just to fuck around um and so do you know what i'm gonna do now it's gonna be the dead of august i'm gonna be somewhere totally off off the grid you will not have heard from me and you're gonna have like one of your like cheesy car commercials or whatever

on instagram and i'm just gonna let you know what you know what chris you know what i respect it i respect that sorry that's a sign of love though i know i know i know that you chris would make fun of you he's far too polite unless he really knew you and really liked you yeah you're gonna be on a boat somewhere telling me this is Ontario they're gonna be like hey hey hey that campaign's not done yet

don't go bashing it yet thank you oh my god I'm crying oh my god can we sell you some peanut butter divorce alright alright alright Chris alright

so listen chris we we love having you as always that's okay that's okay so listen it's been it's been a wild eight months nine months almost uh can we call this episode divorce yeah question mark question mark question mark is that too real oh that'd be funny let's do it i think it's let's do it that's good divorce question mark with cj um i you know what no everyone's gonna think i'm getting divorced so you can't listen yeah so listen well you know what really chris we love you take that well-deserved break uh we can't wait to have you on again in like eight weeks when we're teeing up the season um but you know thank you for for everything this year with us and and you know sticking with us through the pandemic as well

because you've been a great resource and uh spectacular every time you're coming on for you know people that listen to this show it's it's uh i find myself when when you're here i listen to the show and it's really nice wow i can't ever listen to myself on anything that's i only hate when i'm on a show because then i can't listen to the show right there was there was a moment early in the podcast where there was an awkward pause and was like right i'm on the steve dangle podcast okay um even live and in the moment i listen i'm like listening like oh that's really fascinating yeah i can't wait to see what the next question is it's gonna be really good well thanks to you guys obviously you guys are my buds and i love you but also i love your audience

like it's part of what's made this so much fun the last few years for me is getting to be on your show like people are all in my everything telling me how much they love this thing so it's it's cool to get feedback like that honestly almost nothing else i do you do you hear positive things from because we don't live in it we don't live in an era where people go around saying hey you did a good job but i get so much positive vibes out of doing this this this podcast and that's kept me coming back in addition to you guys it's a special group it really is so chris thank you for your time you're from a special guy uh yeah you know we uh we can't wait to catch up again maybe we'll get out for a beer at some point in august and not post about it on social media hence the divorce

comments uh divorce but the peanut butter line holy shit chris i'm still crying oh my god i'm never gonna be able to sell anything again chris um but yeah it looks to me like you're doing a pretty good job man i buy everything that you post on there listen we we love you buddy thanks so much for the show and uh everybody enjoy their long weekends we will be back next wednesday Wednesday with Rick Westhead to talk about the Chicago Blackhawks. Definitely going to be a tough episode, but definitely going to be worth the listen. Chris,

you're amazing. We love you. Thank you. No problem. I just thought of one thing. Yeah. Everyone's all over me about that mystery player. It didn't happen.

It didn't happen. It's not happening. Didn't happen. Not happening. Didn't happen. Okay. Have they not? Could it happen?

Maybe next year, but anyway, I wasn't making it up. I think everyone thought I was just doing that to be extra dramatic and make everyone crazy. But no, just didn't happen. Sorry guys.

Okay. Okay. It's all right. Why don't you run the lease? Cause I would be a disaster. I would be so bad. All right. Sorry.

Next question. What's your problem? Thanks so much, Chris. All right, guys. Be well. the steve dangle podcast follow the guys on twitter at steve underscore dangle at adam w y

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