The Steve Dangle Podcast - Dumb Sport | March 15, 2018

Episode Date: March 15, 2018

On this episode, Puck Talks! April 7th! (00:00), the Carolina Hurricanes GM situation (05:00), Klefbom is injured ans still playing and the Oilers are still crazy (28:30), the Leafs last night; Polak, Andersen, Mitchym, and Gardiner (55:00), will Matt Martin be a Leaf next year (1:10:00), and the press conference; Pokemon and Reimer (1:24:00). Originally aired: March 15, 2018 Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/Q9FdATYe6Ao Merch: https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/fancydangleshirts Follow us on Twitter: @Steve_Dangle, @AdamWylde, & @JesseBlake Follow us on Instagram: @SteveDangle, @AdamWylde, & @Jesse.Blake Subscribe to us on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/steve-dangle-podcast/id669828195?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

you know it's bad when i have to start the show wow it sounds like every time i'm away it's well it's usually because yeah yeah or i've done something wrong it's either because i can't be the adult or i've done something wrong it's usually now Steve and I'm like what this is not a now Steve though

sorry no this is not you're probably wondering why we haven't recorded a show in over a week well last Monday

my mom passed away from cancer and Adam and Steve were gracious enough to put the show on hiatus

until I was ready to return and now we're back so I just want to thank everyone for being so patient in waiting for our triumphant

return to the podcast that's it now let's do that hockey if that's what you want to do we'll do that hockey man so on the worst pivot in the history of mankind thanks Jesse

no we gotta talk about puck talks live at the rec room I'm not even kidding yeah we have to jump right into that listen I know it sucks there's no way what other way should I have transitioned out of that you got it man Jesse and I already went over this

before you got here. It was going to be terrible anyway we did it. There's no great way to say it. We're not going to dwell on it. We've said all we need to say privately to Jesse. So if you're worried about us

not being supportive enough, okay, fine. But we do need to talk about moving forward here a little bit. And Puck Talks presents Steve Dangle Podcast Live Saturday, April 7th at the Rec Room.

Just wanted to let you know that we are live streaming and I threw it up there. I was like, hey, you guys want to live stream? So if you can't come because it is sold out, live stream it.

Now, I know there are some people that have reached out tickets that they reserved and they no longer can have. I don't know how to unreserve your tickets. Why did you reserve the tickets? They thought they'd be available and they couldn't. Hey, I reserved

16 tickets! Why did you do that? My second cousins are all huge tramps. Never. If you want to, reach out to the PuckTalks people at homestand.ca and they'd be able to help you out.

and please, if you can't come, please release your tickets so people can come and put yourself on a, I'm sure there's a wait list actually, I'm not sure I don't actually know, but keep checking every day because there will be tickets that are released this is the way these events always work free event, people are like, yes, I want to go

oh no, I have a life so that always happens so just keep checking for tickets, they may or may not pop up but again, if you're watching from home if you're out of town, if you can't make it, that's totally cool we're going to throw up a live stream on YouTube through Pug Talks and of course the show will be available for download

afterwards in video and audio form. They're actually shooting the whole thing on video for us. I believe it's on YouTube. I think it's going to be on our channel. I'm not sure. Maybe our channel and the Pug Talks channel. Well, the Pug Talks guys are so great. They're like, yeah, you can have

all the content. We're like, awesome. I didn't know they were doing that. That's awesome. I watched their last stream which I think you can find on their Twitter feed and the quality was actually like surprisingly good no offense to them it just

it was a really big room you could hear it on the stream better than you could hear it there I can't wait till you have kids like when it gets an A and you're like wow that was surprisingly good wow

you didn't screw up that's alright everybody put their headphones on uh oh I have some clippage that I want to play now if you have if you've ever

listened to this show you heard us several times I'm sorry refer to a game that happened in 2014. It was the last game of the Leafs season that year. We're going into, it was 2014.

Going into the final 10 minutes, the Leafs were ahead. 2013. 2013, okay. That's how long ago it was. That didn't take me long. Damn. Coming up on five years.

Not only did they allow the Boston Bruins to come back and tie it up, they lost in overtime in the seventh game. Scary. Totally scary. The Carolina Hurricanes had a similar situation happen to them just a couple days ago. It was 4-1 for them. Toughest lead.

Hardest to defend lead. Apparently. So the Boston Bruins is the team they're playing. And I just wanted you to hear this rally from Rally North Carolina. This guy, do his sports report. It is so good. Have you seen this? No.

Okay. All right. So let me just make sure. How many jump cuts are there? Oh, there's no jump cuts. He's an actual anchor, so they're not allowed to do jump cuts on live television. Which is a stupid rule. How did you answer him seriously?

Well, Steve, you see, they can't do that on live news. That's how the television works. I wasn't looking at Steve. I couldn't tell. All right. His name is Mark Armstrong, at ArmstrongABC11 on Twitter. Rally North Carolina. This is the world's best sports report.

I hope you're ready for this. News Sports. People far smarter than me pegged the Carolina Hurricanes playoff chances is entering tonight at roughly 4%, or put another way, a 1-in-25 shot. Certainly not likely, but this squad has got moxie. It's got the heart of a lion and the never-say-die attitude that put a man on the moon, I tell you. Those poor Boston Bruins never stood a chance on this night. Second period, Boston fluked its way to a 1-0 lead.

That wasn't going to last on Sebastian Ajo's watch, making 25 goals for the Finnish phenom. It's 1-1. The Canes power play the tip of a remorseless spear. Roofless stuff here from Ajo to Terravainen. Make it 2-1 and the route was on. The Bruins begging for mercy. I love this guy. Says none will be granted.

It's 3-1 Hurricanes. And then next it's Elias Lindholm. Watch this upcoming stampeding over the plains like Genghis Khan through Eurasia. Momentarily repelled but Brock McGinn's second wave would win the day and at that point Boston cried out to the heavens in great fruitless

anguish. The Bees scored five straight in the third to win 6-4. Three tournaments. So if you're missing that, the Canes are up 4-1. 3-1 Hurricanes. And then next, it's Elias Lindholm. Watch this. This is the best.

Stampeding over the plains like Genghis Khan through Eurasia. Momentarily repelled, but Brock McGinn's second wave would win the day. And at that point, Boston cried out to the heavens in great fruitless anguish. The Bees scored five straight in the third to win 6-4. Three tournaments. You can't do that. He just left it! He left it!

That's the start of the bit! I love that. He ended it there! Yep. Wow! Yep. Wow. Props to him.

I mean, okay, anyone who watches and is a Hurricanes fan, like, I mean, you probably already know what happened, but if you don't, you're going, what, what, what? What the hell? Yeah. And then it's not helpful to you at all. And now you gotta go somewhere else to get your news, because you're like, I'm pardoned, but what? Sorry, what?

Yeah, but I mean, I... The thing is, they've had a rough year, and it looks like Bill Peters will be gone, but they're going to find a new GM first. And so, that brings me to Hockey Central, because yesterday at noon they were talking about

the GM job. And normally under normal circumstances, throw your headphones on, gentlemen, it would be a pretty attractive job. NHL general manager. Only 31 jobs available. But apparently... 32 very soon. 32 very soon.

Apparently, it's sort of tough. Let's say to Carolina that they make this brilliant move, put in the new GM, and things go on to become unbelievably successful, like whatever he made all his money in. You guys have any thoughts on who that might be? We've heard all the likely candidates. Mike Futa, by the way, pulling himself out of that one.

Mike Futa pulled himself out because the LA Kings playoff race. He's a distraction for the playoff race. Do you think that's the reason? I don't know. I have no reason to dispute. I would think that it's not a good fit. So you're saying it's not just the L.A. playoff run. That's the reason he pulled it.

Well, come on. Let's be honest here. All these guys are aspiring to be GM. General managers. Exactly. And there's only 31 of them. Exactly. You pull yourself out.

So what makes this less attractive then? We've seen coaches pull themselves out. Style of ownership. Style of ownership. Because the GM is going to report directly to the owner. There is a belief in our industry that this won't be the highest-paying job. Sure.

So it might fall into that Chica mold where it's not a traditional general manager salary. So the names are out there. One name I heard the other day. So that's all we need to play from that. Oh, now we can pause. And thanks to Hockey Central, guys. No, I just wanted to make sure we got those two points out there.

Two major points in this, which are A, not going to pay very well. Nope. B, you have to report directly to an owner who's not an expert in hockey. Yeah, Kiprios with a great point, man. Great point. There's only 31 jobs. Why on earth wouldn't you want this one?

I just wanted to pause because I love when Jeff Merrick asks questions that he knows the answer to. Oh, okay. Which one was that? Well, Nick, why wouldn't he want that job? Dude, tell us. That is really interesting to me because it does seem like if you got the chance to run an nhl team damn what an opportunity well mike fuda has been like in this conversation since like i think we started the show maybe long before that he was credited as like i think i think i

read a thing a long time ago he was credited as like the guy who found wayne simmons because he was drafted by the kings a lot of people forget and he's just been in this permanent bridesmaid role where he never gets the gm job but he pulled himself out of this for the king's playoff run i beg your pardon what did that did that what what happened with botterill last year did did he what didn't he go through the whole playoff run with the penguins they won the damn thing and then he went to the same and it was public knowledge in the eastern conference final wasn't it yeah like we knew yeah was he interviewing well what's an assistant general manager doing in the playoffs anyway?

Like, really? What are you doing? He's got a lot to assistant general manage. You're probably prepping for the draft, which you have other assistants for, so if you're Botterall, you don't need to be too involved in that. And prepping for free agency. But other than that, like, a couple call-ups here

and there? Are you filling out paperwork? Like, I don't know what you're doing. And that's not because they're not doing stuff, it's just because like, okay, well, you could still stick it out with the team. Wow. He is not interested in this, eh? That's interesting.

That goes back to the Ottawa conversation that we've had so many times over so many weeks. When you get owners involved, you look at what happened. Look at what's happened to the Dallas Cowboys since the mid-90s. Jerry Jones bought that team. Maybe you can help me with that. I'm like, yeah.

Jerry Jones bought that team and they won a couple of big championships. He rebranded them into America's team. He's done an amazing job with that. Made piles and piles and piles of money. But what do they won what have they won in the last 15 20 years a bunch of first round exits Tony Romo like like was great in the regular season but every time they got to the playoffs good good play-by-play guy Al yeah Al Davis uh the owner of the Raiders uh for years he his whole draft thing was I'm

gonna draft the best athlete and we'll make them into a football player and that worked in the 70s when things were a little bit different but by the 90s didn't work anymore Bill Goldberg and they kill it they still kept doing it brock lesnar that's the point so when you've got it i i respect this owner because at least he's honest about things right he goes out and he says well i'm i'm not sure about this and i'm not sure about that and here's why we got rid of ron francis and he seems to have been saying the right things totally yeah but when you make those choices and you don't trust your people to do their job or and in this case nobody's even got the job yet And there's already people going, yeah, I don't think so.

Well, and what's also concerning is Kiprios is like, well, I guess they're going to go with the John Chayka model. Who thinks that's awesome right now? Nobody. Like, I know the Coyotes are hot, but who goes into a game against the Coyotes? Yeah, it literally doesn't matter. They're going to burn themselves right out of the basement

into second last place. They're going to burn themselves right out of Rasmus Dahlen, potentially at this rate. I mean, I don't know. Are they even in last place anymore? No, Buffalo's in last. just crazy man are they

going to be disappointed when they draft second two points back of Vancouver Adam Buffalo would have to win a lottery

to draft second that's true they do they're going to pick at least fourth so yeah that's right

watch them get dolled that's going to stink but no I don't understand and there's

been some things recently I think it was well I think I know it was Steve Simmons basically where are the analytics

people on John Chayka now. They never really liked him. Yeah, John Chayka was sold as an analytics guy but was never really a traditional analytics guy. It's all... Anything can be analytics

but it was... No one really trusted him. You know what miles per gallon are? They're analytics. Yeah. You know what tracking goals are? Analytics. That's very... Points. Tracking wins. That's analyzing your play. weird is that the same point though

you know what I mean like mundane shit is analytics sometimes I'm like I'm not going to say anything and then I'll just hear like the slightest peep from Jesse listen it's the truth okay and that's

so I think to call him the analytics like cause we that's what we were sold on is the analytics guy I don't know that that's necessarily the case with John Shaker What I don't understand is keeping Ron Francis around, because they're doing that, and does that often prove to be the right decision? Like, it's not like what is being proposed with Lou Lamorello, where he basically retires into a different role. It's getting kicked upstairs, as they call it.

And Ron Francis is also 25 years younger than Lou Lamorello, right? Like, he's not an old man. Wow. Hey, I saw him play in my lifetime. That's not furthering the conversation though That's really not pushing us forward here Shut up I saw him play once

I saw him play once Why am I old now? You are Just because I'm 30? I hate this That's the So this is the This is the thing where

If you're already having the best candidates go Meh I don't think so That Seattle job's coming up That might not be too bad It's your opportunity to get creative What did we talk about just a few weeks ago? Hockey has the most former pro players in management roles than any other sport.

Like, by far more than the NBA. By far more than baseball. This is your chance to get creative. Arizona got creative and has thus far failed. But that doesn't mean you will. Right. Yep. And also, the framework in Carolina is excellent.

Like that team Is Like a couple Non-fart goalie performances away From being in a playoff spot today Today Looks like Scott Darling Hasn't worked out

They've stuck with Cam Ward For like if you had a baby When Cam Ward was a rookie That baby's a teenager now And he's been on the Hurricanes the whole time And he's had a grand total of I think Three good seasons I don't get that relationship

Didn't Cam Ward beat the Leafs In the playoffs In the conference finals Wasn't that Cam Ward's Big coming out party No I think that was Artur Serbe No

It was Artur Serbe Because Cam Ward was 0-5-0-6 Martin Gerber Was the Hurricane starting goalie They fell down 2-0 to the Habs

In the first round Cam Ward comes in Steals the show Wins the friggin' Conn Smythe Wow. Artur's freaking Irby. That's crazy.

Fun fact about Scott Darling. Of any goaltender that's played more than 30 games, he has the worst save percentage. You know, 888. Now we get into the interesting Paul Maurice conversation where I couldn't help but notice, Mr. Bill Peters, that we were saying the same thing about Eddie Lack last year where he was criticizing him and we need a damn save.

well was chicago's defense so amazing and is carolina so poor that the difference in darling's numbers is that huge what's what's the big difference for darling what is that chicago's defense by the way i don't know is that worth mentioning adam sure duncan keith has how many primary points Guess This year?

Yeah, so that's goals and first assists He never scores, so Or he hasn't scored this year much He's got one He's got one goal So it's gotta be I'm gonna say At least one

I'm gonna say he's got at least 40 points But 40 points I think he's got I wanna say he's got Look up how many points he has, Jesse Just look up how many points he has And we're gonna figure out

We're gonna guess based on his point total How many primary points he has And this should give you an idea of why Chicago is struggling this year. I wonder if Darling would have had the same problems on Chicago this year. Because Crawford was so good before he came down with Vertigo. Duncan Keith? Yes. Has 29 points this season.

He has 29 points this season. One goal, 28 assists. How many didn't come on shorthand or power play? No, no. How many are primary? Primary assists. So you know how there's first assist and second assist. Oh, not your Thomas Cabral-Lagoste assist?

Or I call it the Jason Allison special. Okay. Primary. jeez I'm gonna say 25 of those cause he's a playmaker I don't know

I'm gonna go the complete opposite I'm gonna say 6 Jesse Roman Polak has 6 primary points this season

Duncan Keith has far more 7 whoa whoa at least he's on a good contract it's not as bad as Brent Seabrooks

I I couldn't believe that when I saw it couldn't believe it now apparently he had like off-season knee surgery

so I mean might take him a while to bounce back I maybe just you're not gonna make the playoffs this year

so shut him down I don't know I don't know how hurt he is exactly but sorry sorry to completely transition all the Blackhawks fans

are like you were talking about the Hurricanes but no I saw that stat a little while ago and we haven't done a show since

and I was just like like sitting on that number but what are his advanced numbers I don't know how is Chicago going to tell you that you're wrong? Oh, no, they're not going to tell me I'm wrong. I'm just going to say, why'd you have to say that?

Dude, I remember saying last summer, I didn't understand the Scott Darling year, or deal. I remember saying that on this show. I was like, what the hell? Scott Darling, really? And people were like, wow. And I got tweet after tweet after tweet. And you know, I said the same thing about Cam Talbot.

And one year in Edmonton, great. The next year, he's been injured. Not so great. I have a question for you, Adam. who's gonna do it again this summer it's gonna be someone who is gonna sign

Carter Hutton or was Michael Condon up too to Scott Darling money I don't know but he's no Carter Hutton Carter Hutton is leading

the NHL in save percentage right now and he's played enough games like a Scott Darling-ish amount of games where you go wow

check out Carter Hutton who's gonna give Carter Hutton four plus million dollars I'm excited to see can't wait Calgary Calgary

might be St. Louis might be St. Louis Calgary well it's because there's two there was two bad deals that just didn't work out I really thought

Antti Ranta would be good with the Coyotes I'm really surprised he's been good yeah so so he just there was just the whole team stunk

yeah again losing kind of just becomes itself it's like McKinnon last year yeah

who is I think still my leading candidate for the Hart Trophy he's just so good so good he is it's really gross

well it's funny too because it's amazing what mindset will do in any sport like you look at the Cleveland Cavaliers right now and there's just a poison atmosphere no matter what they do they move half their freaking lineup in the trade deadline and they have a couple good games

they're still losing well for two games against Oklahoma City which was good and then what was the other one Golden State Jesse, do you remember that one? No, they didn't beat Golden State. They didn't beat Golden State. They had two good games after the trade down the line.

It was like, oh, LeBron fixed it, everybody. Don't worry. And I saw that crazy pass he did. Yeah, well, he's, listen, LeBron is still LeBron. But the point is, their owner's a bit wonky. And things are a bit weird there. And it's funny, like, when you get, when you take Matt Duchesne out of the Colorado situation,

weird, they all of a sudden start winning. And I'm not, that's not to say that Matt Duchesne is a bad player. It's just a little interesting Having that sort of negative Feeding into your dressing room Every day can't be good for you That's interesting And who's to say

We don't know what happened there But it is a little interesting He's been good in Ottawa After we ripped on him for not being good Well he wasn't good We ripped on him when he wasn't good And people are like four weeks later See he's been good for four weeks now

Yeah, but he hadn't been good for the four weeks previous. Someone posted a great GIF the other day. It was Matt Duchesne right now, and it's the scene from Saving Private Ryan where Tom Hanks is firing his pistol at a tank and it explodes. That's terrible. That's funny. Really good. Anyway, back to Carolina for a second.

I just think it's interesting. Don't you think it's interesting how? Have you seen this? Have you heard about this? I do find it weird that some of the better candidates would pull themselves from it. And here's the other reason I think a guy like Mike Futa pulls himself out. Tim Laiwiki and the Oakview Group in Seattle, which is definitely going to bring a team there. If you're a West Coast guy, Seattle's not that far from L.A.

And Seattle's, I don't know if you've heard this, quite beautiful. So is Raleigh, though. So it's kind of hard. but if you get to work for if you get to work for small smaller Carolina bit cash strapped new owner who's going to spend

money but also a little bit like in your face or you get to work for Tim Laiwiki and his brother who just signed on with the group who was the former head of the Seattle Seahawks I'm going and no offense to the owner of the Carolina Hurricanes I'm going to Laiwiki's every time because I saw what we saw what Tim

Laiwiki did here he turned MLSC around and then he's launching a franchise. I don't know if he gets enough credit for that because they were still kind of bad. With the Leafs? Yeah, right around when he left. Yeah, but he... The Raptors were good, but everyone's like...

Tim Laiweke changed the entire culture there. Like, he just changed the way things were done. And you can see the effects of it now. The Raptors are in first place. The Leafs are sixth in the NHL. TFC just won a championship. The Marlies are breaking records. Like, this is not a joke, right? This is how this

this organization is now built to win. And if I'm, if I'm Mike Futa, I'm looking at, okay, I can go to Carolina or I could go to an organization that's run by a guy that's got some serious history that used to head up the Kings and the Lakers.

Like, I don't know. Didn't, yeah. Wasn't Lewicki from the Kings? Yeah. So that's, that's a,

just a perfect connection right there, dude. I was going to say, I wonder if an opportunity comes up for him in LA, but I, I actually had to Google who the GM of the Kings was. Rob Blake. I forgot.

Yeah. Rob Blake. You know, How old is he? 45? Oh yeah, he's not going anywhere. And Luke Robitaille, isn't Luke Robitaille? No. I think Luke Robitaille is involved, yes. He's the president or something like that.

Anyway, it doesn't... The point is... Again, former player, former player. Mike Futa, there's an obvious connection there with the Oakview group. I feel like that's where he ends up. And if I'm them, that's who I want. Are we missing the main point here? Which is?

That the lead candidate for the Hurricanes job is the man in the clip. Doug McClain. Is he the lead candidate? Are you making things up? I would love that. I heard a rumor from a smart guy that... Hold on, a trusted hockey man? A trusted hockey man.

Did Doug McLean tell you that he is the favorite? I don't know. I believe you, first of all. Thank you for believing me, because it's the truth. I'm going to say Doug McLean didn't tell Jesse that. You know, he might have. No, I'm basing it on the fact that the last time we did a show, Ron Francis was still the GM of the Carolina Hurricanes,

which would mean Jesse has not seen Doug McClain if he ever does see Doug McClain hasn't seen him since so I think he's pulling the rug over your eyes here I think he DM'd Jesse just before the show just just to light a fire just to start a thing

that would be good well I don't know I just think it would be very interesting to see what goes on in Carolina because yes we have not seen many owners meddle and do well on the field or on the ice, but

there's a chance that the Carolina Hurricanes are finally financially a stable organization which is great, and they do have a lot of young, incredible players, and I think, I look at them a lot like I looked at Winnipeg last year. Now, I don't think they have the depth of talent up front that Winnipeg does, but

they're a goaltender away. Like, not even that great of one. An average goaltender away. Crying out loud, just solve that stupid problem, and they're paying too much money for below-average goaltending. It's got to be $7 or $8 million between

Darling and Ward. It's ridiculous. How long was Darling signed for, do we know? I want to say it was four times four. The goalie cap situation right now is 4.15 to Scott Darling until 2021, and Cam Ward's a free agent after

this year. See, you've got to make it work. Like that said, another one of those deals where you can't just be like, well, one year in, he sucks. We're done here. I mean, Darling's body of work suggests he's a better goalie

than that. Oh, I don't doubt that he is. So, yeah, make it work. And I mean, maybe it's just a crappy year and he comes back next year and destroys Worlds. And I wonder if the same thing happens with Cam Talbot. I wonder if that's another thing. He started the year injured. He started on a bit of a wobble and the whole team wobbled and then they've just been wobbling back and forth ever since.

That's another thing I was looking at. He's still among the league leaders and wins because they just Talbot? Yeah because they just ride that freaking pony

ride him into the concrete of the building if there's one thing that the Oilers I'm surprised have not done because this is relatively easy to pull off

it's find a competent backup can you believe the Leafs paid a 6th in Tobias Lindberg for Calvin Pickard who by the way is now their 4th goalie he's their 4th goalie

the Leafs just call up Sparks Sparks played yesterday That's a fourth goalie. Man, like, it's so strange to me that goalie, goaltending is so cheap, and teams still have trouble finding a goalie. Yeah. I don't get that.

It shouldn't be this cheap based on how important it is to your franchise. I am surprised when the market is so soft. But, I don't know. Anyway, moving on. And we don't want to start. I didn't want to start with the Leafs and Stars. I can't even get to them yet because there's so much other stuff to get to. ridiculous games I've ever seen.

We'll get to that in a second. I know you were there, but the first thing I think we should talk about is we need to talk about Oscar Clefbom. Ah, yes. And then we're going to talk about Ryan Nugent Hopkins. Quite the Clefbom that was dropped. Oscar Clefbom, next week,

is getting surgery that will end his season. He'll be ready for training camp. Good. Did you know that? No, I didn't. Okay. I think I missed that one. So that's happening. So why then... Did it take so freaking long? Is he playing? why is he still playing? Can we just say plainly hockey's not a smart sport?

Well, because I... Like, what? Why? Shut him down. Shut him down. So, wasn't the rumor that he was being showcased? Okay, well, if the resume from the last season and a half isn't enough for you,

then you're not going to trade him. Like, if a team's like, well, no, I need to see him now, right before his injury, because I want to know how good he is now, as he's injured. Are you kidding me? No, it's not.

As much as we've made fun of the Oilers, there's a number of statistics that would seem to suggest that this year is probably an outlier. And next year, they might not be world beaters, but they should be in playoff contention. They should be way better. Wouldn't you want Oscar Kleffbaum to be perfect and good and ready to go and have lots of training camp under him and lots of summer to get ready?

No, they waited, what, at least a month on this shoulder issue to shut him down. For what? And they haven't shut him down. That's my point. They haven't shut him down. He played last night. So wait, when's he getting the surgery? Next week. What is... Hockey's a dumb sport. Like, let's just call it what it is. Is hockey a dumb sport, or are there just organizations

here that need to get their brains checked? Organizations. Multiple. That's insane. Let's not rip on Peter Chiarelli like he's the first person to ever do this. He's not. Or the last! It's a dumb sport. Dumb at the top, dumb top to bottom

and it's gotta get fixed if you're showcasing Oscar Clefbaum at his best show him last year no we need to see more we need to see him

no we want to see him playing at 75% injured with a shoulder injury okay and here's the other thing that gets me if you show him off

at 75% expect to get 75% of your expected return yes and people people are saying 75 might be generous what if it was

Oscar Clefbaum who wanted to play well I'd say too bad too yeah We're leaving your skates in a locker And they're going to be locked up You can't have them

Yeah Like I don't understand This is not his choice Believe it or not I don't get it Believe it or not It's not John Tavares' choice

To play for the Islanders every night They can choose to scratch him He doesn't have to play You gotta coach like Mike Babcock Who like Wears out the knees in his pants Begging and pleading With the team to get players back

It seems like And they won't give them to him You know why? Because the team says no Do you guys want to hear what Clefbom said about playing through the century? I would love to. So, Oscar Clefbom says, It's going to be a big year for me on this team next year,

so I want to be 100%, and now is the time to get my shoulder repaired. Makes sense. That's okay. Not what I expected to hear. This is from the Edmonton Journal, by the way. The writer writes, This begs the question,

Why bother playing a game or two if he's headed for surgery and won't play again once it's done? Good question. Great question. Right? Yeah. All right, Mr. Clefbaum, what do you say? I want to be there for my teammates.

I've been having this issue for a long time. Dumb sport. Every player has bumps and bruises. I just want to play through it. I've been playing with this injury for many years. That's not going to stop me. And I want to be there on the ice with the guys and help them out any way I can.

Until the procedure, I want to be on the ice and help them. Can we just... You get one life, Oscar. Fix your shoulder. Can I just throw this out there? Like, what are you doing? What are you doing? Do you want a long, fruitful career or not?

And, uh... Men are stubborn, and hockey is stupid. It drives me up a wall! Why won't this sport just let me love it? Oh, we're gonna fuck with the playoffs because we have 32... Let me love you! You dumbass sport! Yes, Adam?

I think my major point of contention with that would be, again, it's no player's choice to actually like, if you give the player the choice, they're going to play. But the thing is, the choice is always the team's choice. Austin Matthews never has to play a game for the Leafs again. It's up to the Leafs, right? It is up to the Leafs.

If they wanted to scratch Austin Matthews for the remainder of his contract, they could. They are well within their contractual rights to do that. Not a smart move, but you can. And in this particular case, first off, Jesse, do you want to reread the first sentence from that quote again from that article?

Before he goes into why he's not blind? Yes. He said, it's going to be a big year for me next year on this team. Hold on. Right there. It's not because you'll be on a different team. And that's what I think is going on here. Elliott Friedman said this in 31 Thoughts. They're showing him off for a potential

trade. And I don't freaking get it either. And it's that, this is all around just bad. It's a terrible idea. And I don't care if the shoulder injury is okay enough that you can play. That shouldn't be the goal.

The goal should be, I'm healed. If you want to be there for your teammates, be there in the dressing room. Be there to support. You can't tell me that it's the right choice on an already injured shoulder to continue to play hockey in the number one league in the world

with the hardest hitters in the world. You can't tell me that's a good choice. Does this change your mind at all? Todd McClellan said there's no risk of anything he's played for three years

or however long he's had it there's no risk of any damage at all I don't believe you that's not true I'm not going to

deny him the opportunity of contributing to this team and playing in front of his fans because he has a procedure scheduled for later on

when there's zero risk of any more damage categorically untrue I don't believe you because if you continue to play what do you

expose yourself to more injury I don't think Todd McClellan is like lying. I just think he's misinformed and he's wrong.

In the same breath, he acknowledged that he has an injury and then said it can't get worse. Is there an injury that exists that can't get worse? It's hockey! And if it's at rock bottom, then he shouldn't be playing! If it's so bad that it's already the worst it can be!

But he's been playing with it for three years, so it's fine. It's fine. Imagine how much better Oskar Klefbaum would be. here's the other part that gets me the other part that gets me is it's not as though he couldn't sustain another injury like oh he's got one injury no he's at his peak

that's the most injuries that you can have at one time this isn't a video game this is a guy who isn't playing properly to work with this shoulder that he has that has obviously become a huge issue he's played with it for the last three years now it's so unbearable that he's got to shut it down early in the season well not early in the season

but early enough in the season that you're not playing a full 82 games don't tell me that it's a right that there's no potential for other entry that's ridiculous, it's a joke it's a joke I'm looking at my favorite one my favorite one from a few years ago

of a player just, you know what I just want to be there for my teammates you know what, I just want to play strong prove to you all blah blah blah, we got a real chance to do something Joe Colburn, Toronto Maple Leafs he is in the Marlies.

He's on the Marlies. What year is this? In the American Hockey League. This is the 11-12 season. This is the year the Marlies went to the Calder Cup Final. I remember this. With Scott Clementson. Yeah, and please correct me if I'm wrong.

No, that was with Ben Scrivance. Oh. Clementson might have been on the team. I think you're thinking of the infamous year where Greg Gilbert, the head coach, played Clementson instead of Pogge and everyone freaked out. Yes, that might be it too.

So, Colburn is, I think he won AHL Player of the Week honors or Player of the Month honors several times. He had 35 points in the first 41 games. Final 24 games. Anyone want to take a guess what his stat line was? Goals to assists, points? So Joe Corbin's final how many games?

24. 24 games. This is one of the league's leading scorers. He's almost a pointy game player. One scored 20 goals for the Avalanche, too. You bet. I know what you're going with this I know what happened to him

So I'm going to say not a lot Give me a stat line Goals, assists Goals, assists I'm going to say What, last 20 games? 24 24 games

He was playing about a point per game clip Yep Before that Before that So I'll say down to half 5 and 5 I'm going to say 1 and 3

Or sorry 6 and 6 I'm going to say 6 and 6 Jesse got the points right But it was actually Zero goals 4 assists In 24 games

In 24 games Here, let me go ahead and look at his playoffs. Let me go ahead and look at his playoffs. How many, how many are you doing the playoffs that year? Uh, 2012 Calder playoffs. Hey, in 15 games, two goals, six assists. Much better. Much better.

Counter-argument. Freaking guy's wrist didn't work. His wrist did not work! That's why the Leafs handle injuries different now. And then they traded him for a fourth. Now he signs a big deal in Colorado. Uh, yeah, Colorado. but that's why

back in the minors by the way Leafs have handled the injuries much much different now and your counterpoint as three guys who's never

sat in a locker room and I have sat in a locker room just not an NHL one sat in an NHL locker room and taped our sticks next to our brothers

our comrades how do we know the real effect of having that guy there next to you in your dressing room we'll never know or having a paid babysitter

so maybe we'll never know Matt Martin's in the lineup tonight playing these two games means a lot to McDavid and the boys there I just don't understand I think they all just want to get the season out of the way and go get on the golf course and forget about it

forget it even happened and I don't blame them for that trade your best winger and then trade your second best winger and then ruin your best defenseman and then just do whatever you want hey your fans will justify it

Like one thing Oilers fans Like god Let me Let me Yeah It's my new Favorite TV show

On Twitter Is watching Oilers fans Talk about how bad Their team is And how they Cannot Understand

Why I don't know The Hall move Was great The Strome move Was great No it wasn't The Strome

No but it was Easter Piece of shit the thing with strome that gets me is that like he is playing at exactly his career average this year he's had a good year for him we didn't get it we don't understand what the issue could be but that's because you play you traded a six million dollar player for a 2.5 million dollar player there's gonna be some skill difference and i know strome was a fourth overall pick but let's not pretend that strome is a guy that should have been a fourth overall pick all things

considered. He's a 30 to 35 point guy. Strome. Was he? Oh, no, that's Dylan Strome. I got another Strome. He was still top 10. Yeah. He was top 10. So he's a top 10 guy. Maybe he shouldn't have been. But the guy still scores. He scores like, what, 35, 40 points a year? Ryan Strome was drafted fifth overall. So Dylan

was fourth. I didn't realize it was that high. That was the Coyotes' Dylan Strome I was thinking about. But anyway, regardless, you got a guy who scores 35 points a year max. He's done that for you. Look, I don't want to do this again. Someone Someone sent me this great picture, and they didn't follow me,

but it was the Eastern media when they have an opportunity. They didn't follow me. Yeah. So they don't matter. So it was the Eastern media when the Oilers are bad, and he just tweeted a photo of a gentleman with his hand outstretched, getting moisturizer on his hand and tissues in the background. Yeah, I look forward to it.

I look forward to it, guys. Picking on the Oilers is my favorite hobby. Didn't you write an article about how excited you were for the Oilers last year? And they still told me F off. So, you know what? F you. How about that? How about, except for the good ones, like, I don't get it.

I don't get it. No, sure. You're doing fine. You're doing great. Mark Spector wrote an article. How many times can you offer advice and be told to F off before you're like, all right, you know what? You F off too.

Mark Spector has also. What? What? All right. Okay. If the management in Toronto had the roster of the Oilers, how much better are they? Is it a management issue? 100%.

Honestly, it might be. Like, okay, I was listening to the 31 Thoughts podcast on the way in, and Friedman said a couple alarming things. Like, one was he was answering a question from someone, who's more likely to get moved, Kleffbaum or Nugent Hopkins? And I'm just screaming at the stereo in my car going, how about neither? But the other one was management needs to convince McDavid and Dreisaitl that they need to play a part.

management needs to convince what convince who of what what are you talking about i how is that their choice at all i don't understand they're players you're employees if you can't convince them to play on different lines and the inmates are literally running the asylum what are you even doing there you're a manager who can't manage what are you getting paid for you bum you're getting paid for nothing then if you can't convince

players one guy to play on line one and one guy to play on line two yeah it's never worked when your top two players are separated

Pittsburgh's on route to their third straight cup by the way it's never worked never worked so if you have to blame someone

for the evidence or someone who's missing the playoffs who are you blaming ownership there's a few people ownership because this has been

a long standing problem for hiring the wrong management So we can blame it on management, and rightfully so, but ultimately a decision was made by their friggin' cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, Mr. Burns of an owner. I don't get it. It's just a shame that he can't move the Oilers to Seattle now.

It's too bad. And he got his arena, though. Got his arena. Beautiful arena. I haven't done anything wrong, though. Mark Spector wrote an article today, and it came out today, and I love it. And the title is, Why Nugent Hopkins is Auditioning for Both the Oilers and the Senators. So the idea is that there's a potential deal in the works here that Nugent would go to Ottawa for either Stone or Hoffman.

I thought you were going to say Carlson. Stone would be incredible. Now, either of them playing with McDavid would be great. I think you could play anyone with McDavid and it's great. But the thing here Is This is what I don't understand about hockey trades Stone and Hoffman, those aren't the same player

No They're not the same quality of player They're not the same type of player I don't understand I'm sure there would be some picks Maybe there are, maybe there aren't They just love their one for ones And they always do great

And this would be Not in Edmonton's Vein of trading away the better player In every deal that they make Hall and Eberle are both the better players. Would you do Hall and Eberle for Larson and Strome? No. Never. Never on any

day. And so when they talk about potentially Hoffman or Stone, I'm like well at least then you've got some pretty good scoring coming back. Now I haven't sat down and done severe comparisons and I'm sure people can write blog posts until they're blue in the face, that's fine.

But what I find extremely interesting is of all the issues on this team the money wrapped up in Centerman seems to be the biggest problem they think they have and what I don't understand is why that is the problem

why isn't it the fact that we've signed Milan Lucic forever ever and amen and we can't get out from under his deal because I can tell you what would be happening right now if Milan Lucic's contract wasn't signed you probably still have Jordan Eberle and you probably signed James Van Riemsdyk in the offseason

and my other favorite thing going on right now Oilers Twitter Is I think it was Dave Staples I saw Talking about Oh people were Criticizing the dry sidle contract

I wonder what They're going to say About Matthew's contract And Nylander's And Marner's They're mad men Probably not What's in the water

What is in the water Probably not the same I don't get it I don't get it Can you imagine I don't know You know what The great thing about

Nylander, Marner and Matthews Is Matthews The great thing about Nylander, Marner and Matthews Is they play on the Friggin line that you Tell them to

can you imagine Lou Amarillo he's gonna get fired for nothing can you imagine Lou Amarillo having to say listen

Austin and Willie I'm sorry we have to split you guys up can you imagine Mike Babow going well we can't get them split up like no

they wouldn't do it it just wouldn't happen Neil Enner has been on the fourth line for a long stretch this year several times this year

so has Marner in both of their professional seasons and wasn't Matthews like benched in a game at some point this season I think he was

I don't remember I think Yeah, I think I was thinking of the OT game, when they went to OT and he didn't play for the first, like, four minutes, and then he came out for the last game. Yeah, there was something like that. But there was some sort of penalty in that, wasn't there? Yeah, because they were restricting his minutes a whole bunch early in the season.

Anyways, yeah. But Dreisaitl's freaking running the team. Like, sure, nothing's wrong. That contract's great. Every trade is great. You know what? God, it's just the Eastern media and earthquakes or something going against you. Like, I don't know.

I'm so tired of talking about this I have a guy I'm not, I freaking love it Dysfunction is my favorite I'm sorry, but this is fun And it's not because I don't like Oilers fans I think the Oilers fans that get it Really freaking get it

And it has nothing to do with that No, of course It's this NHL dysfunction That you go, are you serious? I don't know If it sounds like there's a heightened anxiety in my voice Why is Steve so animated and upset about the Oilers

for some reason. I've seen it. I've seen it and experienced it. You don't like it, but we're brothers in this. Brothers and sisters, Leafs fans and Oilers fans.

I'm trying to help you onto our side. The great thing about when it looked like the Leafs were good last year, when we got our first glimpses of it,

what did everyone say about the Stanley Cup Final? What did they want? Leafs Oilers. Leafs Oilers. I still want that. McDavid-Matthew. I still want it, too.

It'll tear the country apart, but we had a good run anyway. Civil War breaks out over the Stanley Cup final. Just think about the hockey, though. Four to seven games of pure bliss. Oh. I don't know. Oh, my God. Can you imagine?

I'm getting goosebumps thinking about it. And you know what? Listen, the Oilers will be in the playoffs next year. I don't get goosebumps about things that I know aren't going to happen, Adam. Unless something changes. The Oilers will be in the playoffs next year. But. I agree.

I don't know if I agree. If that roster doesn't include Clefbom and Nugent Hopkins, then I hesitate to see how they're better. They might be somebody really smart. How are they better? Great question. Great question, Adam. I don't know what a very merry-on-birthday-to-you

Oilers friggin' management is going to do in the summer. I have no idea. Well, I know. They're going to win the lottery. I don't know. And then with us, they'll all be forgotten. And everything we said won't matter because they'll have won Rasmus Dahlen and that's it.

And they'll have the defenseman they've been searching for. cool good for them like I don't know you ever you ever have anyone in your life where you give

advice and you just watch them make mistake after mistake after mistake and you go you try to help them and they just

do not do ever once the thing that you tell them to do and you ever just get bored of

telling them after a while I had a friend once I kept trying to tell them to move downtown so they wouldn't have to make a trip to from Oshawa

and they just wouldn't listen. Tell me this. Okay, so you've got... That guy sounds like a dick. Sounds like a great writer. You've got Nugent, Hopkins, McDavid, and Alberg as your first line.

You've got Luchich, Dreisaitl, Camilleri as your second line. How is Jesse Pugliarvi third on the depth chart behind Pontius Alberg and Michael Camilleri? I don't know.

Who cares? Like, seriously, who cares? Like, how is that possible? No, like, I just... I don't know. I convinced myself. I don't want to talk about the others.

Like, I'm sick of them. I'm sick of them. If you're going to make a deal for Stone, would you not just try and package for Carlson and Bobby Ryan? Yeah, sure. Why not? Who cares? It's the stupid Oilers.

If I could, if I'm Edmonton and I can, I don't know how financially they would do that unless they got somehow Ottawa to retain. I would put Bobby Ryan with Connor McDavid. Does he still have his legs? Does he still have his shot? Good, that's all he needs. Give him whoever.

Who gives a damn? No, but think about it. I'm not going to care about the Oilers until they give me a reason to care about them. I decided I'm done. I talked myself into it I screamed myself into it no man

you can't you can't step away from this so Rasmus Dahlen Rasmus Dahlen was on was on the Andrew Walker show on Sportsnet

650 in Vancouver in Vancouver and the big quote to come out of it where they said how would you feel being drafted

by the Vancouver Canucks and he said it would be awesome of course and Canucks Twitter lost their minds now I mean

I'm sure we did the same but okay Matthews here's the thing if you're if you're a player the David Groff the Leafs fan

you're a player and you're being asked by media of a particular team you could end up on how you would feel about being drafted

to that team what else are you going to say nothing like that's what you say right that is 100% what you say

and that's great that you'd be excited about that and I'm sure Vancouver would be more excited to have them but it's like okay guys

like let's chill here in Swedish and yeah would you like to play with the Sedins of course yeah yeah thanks

although I'm I hope you can score because without Besser in the lineup it's like you got a bunch of people who can pass

and you never know well you know they've drafted some players you never know the Canucks

they were talking about Demko who's got an interesting future for the Canucks on the 31 thoughts podcast like you know

they all think I hate them but Not hating on them Not hating on them I just Cause you know what Their fans don't

Defend their stupid moves No they don't They don't Well they used to They're kinda mean Generally speaking But Did you hear what Kevin BX

Had to say about it Before the game last night In Anaheim What did he have to say Cause he's at least honest right Yeah And he said something about He said

Something about a sinking ship And he's like Have they got off the ground Or have they got off the bottom yet Like it's like And then Oh, talking about the Canucks? Yeah, and then he's like, no, I can't really comment on that.

He's like, I feel bad for my friends that are there that are struggling and whatever, because it's been a long time. I can't really comment on that after I commented on it. I just can't. You can't throw that bomb. He's right, though. He's right. He's totally right.

Is it funny or sad that Goodbranson was shut down for the rest of the season? Well, did you see the tweet from Jeffler? Smart. Smart! They just signed him long-term, didn't they? They invested in him. It's another case of a hockey player playing through an injury. He was injured on November 22nd.

Even then they were out of the playoff race. Like there was no shot. And he's been playing ever since. Okay, here's what gets me. Tough guy, good leader, all that macho bravado shit. Jeffler had a great tweet the other day and it said, Good Branson since he was traded from Florida. Games played, 82.

Games missed, 82. Yeah, like he's literally missed. He'll miss, like he's 82 and 82 in two seasons. He's played And it should have been more Yeah Exactly When are we gonna stop this?

When are we gonna Like look Okay If you Have an injury And you're in the Stanley Cup final And you Think

You got it in the tank To play through it I get that I get it I'm not even gonna rip On I'm not gonna rip on Good Branson

An athlete for wanting to play hurt. Well, especially because his deal was up. Players want to play, though. Taylor Swift said that, I think. Well, no, he waited for the deal to be signed, and then... Well, no, but I think the Canucks shut him down in that case. I don't think it was like a Vander Cane in Winnipeg

where he's like, I'm done. I'm not trying to hate on him for that. I think that's a smart move. If you've got no deal, and you've got to figure out a deal... That's interesting. You know, wait until after your extension's signed. That's what I would do. I have no problem with his decision in all this.

It's the team. It's the team. It's the team. You think he's worth all this money. Look at all the money that they gave him. And you're letting this guy... What was the injury? I don't remember.

So... Shoulder surgery is what he's going to have. That was a shoulder issue. Big guy lays a lot of hits. He doesn't need those. Nope. Nope. Okay, so here's the...

Okay, what's the big deal? He's only got like, you know, he's 36, 37. He's only got like a couple years left in his career, right? If he's lucky. Right? I don't understand the students. Young guy works hard. Pissing me off.

I don't get it. Let's talk about another injury that occurred last night. Roman Polak pushes Alexander Radulov into Freddie Anderson. Was that the play? Yep. Well, that's what they think was the play because that was the only thing that he had hit on him. Radulov lands on Anderson while he is stretched out and down. So his arm is behind his back.

And Radulov lands on it and pats him on the head and says, sorry. And by the way, the guys after the game were saying, Kiprios and Doug McLean were saying, that is not a goaltender interference call. And it wasn't. It should not have. He should have never gone. Radulov should have never gone to the box for that.

It's ridiculous. Yeah, so what were the calls? Because I was there. It was goaltender interference and, like, roughing or something like that. What? Yeah, so Polak roughed him, and then Radulov somehow interfered with the goaltender. That's dumb. I thought it was a diving call.

No. Radulov did not interfere with, would not have interfered with Anderson had Polak just angled the body, not pushed him. Yeah, I don't think I get that, no. So what's frustrating about this is a lot of people were, like, tweeting, you know, oh, of course it's Polak. Well, that's sort of unfair. That's sort of his game.

That stuff happens. But what's really sort of frustrating about it all is that... Polak might have been the Leafs' best defenseman last year. Yeah, he was. He was a beast on the penalty kill in the overtime. I didn't say it in the video. Hainsey looked terrible. That's so bad.

He looked real bad, in the first especially. Sorry, continue. The frustrating part for me is that it was Roman Polak. it had to be him because then it becomes well of course it had to be him no other Leafs defenseman moves anybody that's true

but if we're going to criticize somebody if we're going to criticize somebody I would at least like it to be fair and I don't think in that particular situation there are many defensemen like him who play his style that would do anything different and I think that's part of the game that if I'm a coach

and I understand that that happens as part of the game If you're a defenseman Stop pushing other teams players Into your own goaltender And that happens all the time Tell me that at a professional level And every team does this

Tell me at a professional level that it's not possible To eliminate that I wonder how much Hainsey would have got it If Dumoulin had knocked Freddie out Literally the game before Stop doing it I think it's a fast sport And it's chaotic

And a lot happens very quickly I don't think Polak meant to do that I don't think Radulov meant to do that That just didn't strike me as a reckless play Because he's there to get the guy Away from the goaltender Because he's screaming the goalie So he's trying to shove him out of the way of the goalie

There's the force of Polak And there's the force of Radulov coming in I think you need to look at the play again Because when you look at the play It's just a push And that's the point It's not a push in a particular direction If you're going to push someone in that area,

you've got to think about it a little bit. You've got to think of where that push is going. And very clearly, Roman Polak is in front of the Leafs net, and I understand it moves fast, but he's also paid a million dollars to do it. So if you're a millionaire because of a sport, you should be a specialist in that sport. You should be pretty damn good.

And you know what? Compared to most hockey players, Roman Polak is. He is. Most hockey players in the world? Yeah. Dude, compared to his teammates last night. So don't tell me that it's not possible. To avoid that stuff on the whole.

And I see it all the time. All the time. Own defensemen. That's ridiculous. Now, what if, and I can't help but think this, and it goes with the theme of the show, can't help but think this, what if

Freddie was already a little hurt? He might be. That's a good point. And that did it. I don't know. We've been talking. Another thing I was listening to on the way in is they were talking about Brent Johnson went on this, former NHL goalie Brent Johnson,

went on this great rant about Braden Holtby potentially being burnt out. Then he dropped kind of a bomb about Vasilevsky being potentially tired. I was surprised that Freddie Anderson didn't get mentioned in that conversation at all because he should be one of the most tired, if not the most tired, goalies in the NHL right now. So to see him getting hurt in game, what is this for him, 60? For 59? It's a lot.

It's not shocking to me. I wonder, again, if it's another one of those plays where it just pushed him over the edge. He was sore. He was tight. Tighter than he needed to be from playing too many games. And that's what pushed him over the edge. And they have played Leafs schedule. It almost looked like last year when the schedule was compressed.

Leafs schedule at this point has been insane. They are finally not leading the league in games played. I saw the other day. They have 70, I think. A couple teams have 71. I think it's the first time since November. It's crazy. Crazy.

And McElhinney played in game 11? I think he still only started 8 or 9. And he was scheduled to play tonight against Buffalo. That was regular. I don't know. I'm not too freaked out about the Anderson injury. He tried to play through it. I don't think it's that serious.

Took himself out wisely. Wisely. We could scold him for not taking himself out right away. He wanted to test it out. But now maybe he can get the rest he freaking needs. And one thing I want to get out there. I saw a few people like, should we panic because Sparks is up? Okay, you're just sounding silly at this point.

If you're going on half-injured rookie Garrett Sparks' barely half-season with the last-placed Toronto Maple Leafs as your barometer for what he is, you're wrong and out of date. He's the best goalie in the American Hockey League right now. 178 goals against average, a 9.36 save percentage. He just tied the shutout record for the Toronto Marlies that he set last year. Got a shutout last night. I don't know what else you want. If they called up Pickard instead, it'd be insulting. If Garrett Sparks plays, I expect him to play well.

The Connor Carrick giveaway, when it was tied 4-4. Oh, jeez. See, here's the problem. Connor Carrick has the talent and the potential to play in the NHL, as he is playing. The body. Strong. He is strong.

He's kind of small, but he's strong. Players hate him. Other team players, they just hate him. Seems like a really nice guy. He has all that Carrick's fuel right before the game, and he goes nuts. The problem that frustrates me with this particular play, and if you go back and look at it, you can see that. And if you're on the right side, if you're a right-handed defenseman,

you're on the right side of the ice, and you're in your own zone. He throws it across to Hyman on the left wing. Right. You never throw a puck across the ice in your own zone, ever. It's simple. And that's stuff you're taught from preschool. Were we playing drop-in ESHL together? Like, are you sub-tweeting me out loud?

No. is that what's going on no listen you should have had that pass what's frustrating is that there are there was a guy

there was a winger available also on the right side I don't think Hyman called for it and I don't even think Hyman was looking at him

well no because you don't do that I don't think he would have got it so it's those sorts of decisions and I know Connor I'm rooting for him

oh same and when stuff like that happens I'm like man like what what is a coach supposed to do

and bless him for flailing like at least you tried You know he's like, no! Those giveaways, man. Who's going to be on the highlights tomorrow if I make a great glove save? Ah, and he missed it.

Those giveaways, those Leafs defensemen have. And it's all of them. I don't see other teams doing that. I just don't see it. I don't see other teams doing it on this level. They've got to do something about this. The fifth goal was Carrick's fault. But when I was there live,

I couldn't help but notice it took Marleau and what felt like an eternity to turn around and then he went towards the wrong guy like again the Leafs I just want them to talk in their own zone I don't know if they do it enough and they make so many decisions where

that's all I'm left to conclude is that they don't friggin talk to each other and Richie was wide open I don't get it whatever they won they won hooray What I didn't understand About the Stars Like we

We focus on The Leafs defense And then when the Leafs Score a goal We focus On their offense Dallas' defense Was dreadful

Dreadful Last night Against the Leafs Like one of the worst Defensive performances I've seen Put up Against the Leafs

They were really good In the second period At clogging up The neutral zone That was super frustrating But That one JVR goal Where he had like

Three cracks at it That was hilarious That was hilarious No one was on him the final minute of the game Marner got the puck and he did what Mitch Marner

does, fired in from the hash marks looking for a deflection he did that three or four times three or four times and what I couldn't understand is one time, I think it was just before the Marleau goal Marner missed the pass because he wasn't expecting it

I'm like, it's coming to you! It's the fourth straight time in the last minute you know you're getting it Mitch and the stars never figured that out

to be fair oh my Mitch has it what ten seconds later what Marner another ten seconds

what it's going to him the stars were out there for like ten straight minutes at that last minute sorry what was it the same guys were out there

they were that was on purpose ten minutes they were kind of tired it's going to Mitch they were kind of tired I know they were tired that's Ken Hitchcock's

thing, though. He put them out there. He's the one that called it, right? I just didn't... I don't know. I feel like it's not good when dummy me in the second last row of the building is like it's going to Mitch. Hey, look, Mitch got it.

Mitch did the Mitch thing. Oh, that didn't score. Alright, it's going to Mitch. Alright, they put it to Mitch. Mitch got it. And he did the Mitch thing. And they just did that until it worked. They just did it until it worked. Next time they leave score a goal that way, we're going to get a tweet Pete's going, Mitch did the Mitch thing.

Mitch did the Mitch thing. You know why Marleau scored? Because Mitch did the Mitch thing? Because the puck didn't even make it to JVR. Yeah. You know why? Because that's the Mitch thing. Like, I don't get it.

That's why that power play unit is just so lethal. Because the Mitch thing isn't the only weapon in their arsenal. Exactly. The other frustration... Marleau was in the Kadri position. That's usually Kadri's job. The frustration I also had was the Jake Gardner giveaway in overtime that led to the Mitch Marner penalty.

I didn't understand that. I didn't understand. Oh, my God. There were these two older gentlemen sitting to my left who all game, they just kept going, oh, good Jake, good Jake. Oh, bad Jake. Bad Jake. There's bad Jake.

And then they told me about good Jake, bad Jake, which, like, these guys don't have Twitter. They're not into memes. Like, this is just a widely known fact about Jake Gardner, and they said this verbatim. You'll see good Jake and bad Jake in a game often on the same shift. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think that's incorrect.

Mike Babcock said it. He's like, sometimes you don't know what the hell he's doing. He made several plays in this game, especially at the line, at the offensive line, where I just went, wow, out loud, wow. And then he did, I don't understand what, I would love to know what he thought he was doing. I would love to just get in there and be like,

what was about to happen? Okay, Jake, what happens next? It's like when you paint something abstract and people are going, okay, so what's the inspiration? Where do you want to go with this? I really love giveaways, so what I drew here is me giving the puck away. What I also didn't understand about that play is, shouldn't that have been a penalty shot?

No, it wasn't a haul down. Yeah, I know. You didn't haul him down. But he was clear, though. You didn't haul him down, though. You have to haul him down, don't you? I don't know. I thought all you had to do was be clear.

Because he was away. Who was the player who Mitch hooked? anyway I thought he was clear he's probably a good player he's probably a really good player I just think you know

and that's the thing is that like again I'm not trying to pick on on Jake Gardner or Roman Polak or Ron Hainsey or Connor Carrick

Morgan Riley's the only one we didn't mention the point is this this defensive group this six-some and I would include seven

when Nikita Zaitsev comes back because he's no stranger to this too they give up the puck a lot on situations

that are simple. I understand if it's a complicated play and you mess it up, fine. But these are simple breakout passes. This is stuff that they have to nail down or they're going to get killed in the playoffs for it. That's not an NHL mistake.

No. And the thing is, these guys are all NHL players and they're all good. They're all very good. Jake Gardner's case, probably Morgan Rielly, 1A and 1. I just don't want Carrick

to be the next TJ Brennan. He's got all the potential to, if he wanted, get sent down to the minors, score 60-70 points a season as a defenseman. He's that good down there. Boy. I don't know. It's tough. We've said this

a number of times with certain players. You're cheering so hard for them. So hard for them. And I was just thinking why does Babcock keep going back when he has to to that Gardner-Polak pairing? It doesn't work. Has never worked. Stop using

it. Why not just make it Gardner-Karik and which it was for a good chunk of last year it was Gardner Carrick yep

Babs doesn't trust Carrick there it is there it is Justin Bourne goes well that's Carrick for the season and I mean he's right

he might play tonight or whatever I don't know if Zaitsev's in the lineup no he's out still he's out still Travis Dermott looked phenomenal again

he looked real good yeah he is like he's really good he's unbelievable he's I told you, I think he's the best skater on the team.

Although, oh boy, Cappy. Cappy's so good. Andreas Janssen looked really good in the seven minutes that he played. That was a bummer. I watched Mike Babcock's press conference after because I love watching him. I just love hearing what he has to say. But he said, they said, what do you think? And he said, I can't really give an honest assessment.

And he's right. We were chasing the game. I can't give an honest assessment. And he's right. And he's putting Martin in the lineup against Buffalo. And I know I sort of threw a little bit of shade at that earlier. I don't hate that decision because it's going to be that kind of game. And in a game where the Leafs didn't look great, he did against the Sabres recently.

He deserves that. He deserves it. McElhinney deserves the start. With regards to Matt Martin, obviously from time to time he'll draw in the playoffs. So he'll play at some point. I hope they play long enough. Yeah, he does. and and it makes sense if you're going to trade him to continue to interest teams and that sort

of thing too especially if he's hurt but with matt martin you know being a the role of player that they they wanted him to be and that they praised last year you haven't heard that praise this year as much like as a locker room guy yeah and i'm wondering and now we're hearing don cherry going on hockey night oh martin's gone well don cherry's not he's not listen you can say what you want about don cherry and i disagree with don cherry on many things but i have a ton of respect for him um don cherry's not picking that out of thin air don cherry talks to people people talk to don cherry i think he's smarter than he uh than a lot of people think and he's smarter than he appears on television.

Do you think it's because the locker room now belongs to the Matthews and the Young Kids? Do you think now it's their second year, they went to the playoffs, now they're taking control and proving that they're the leaders in the room? And they don't need Martin.

A little bit of whatever, Dad. Exactly, yeah. A little bit of that. Yeah, it could be. Well, and also what's been interesting, with the exception of the Levo trade rumors that, I don't know, It seemed like he really regretted, and I don't know if that was 100% his decision.

It might have been his agent. It seemed like it might have been his agent. And also, I mean, the request wasn't all that unreasonable. Play me. Please? Please? No, but with regard to Martin, all we ever heard about him getting scratched from the lineup is it devastated him. And, I mean, if you're that internally, fine, and I totally get it.

and I don't blame him for feeling that way, but it sounds like it was outward. And how great of an influence can that be on the team? Like, if you're Josh Levo and you're seeing Matt Martin pouting, yeah, welcome to the freaking club, dude. That's what he said, though. I mean, I think the Athletic asked him about that, and he said, like, I can't really complain.

Oh, Levo? Wait, Levo did or Martin? Martin. Levo. No, sorry, Martin said, I can't really complain. Josh has sat out and been a good soldier. Well, if that's what he said, then I'll take that right back. I'm fairly sure.

Now, don't quote me on that, but I think that was the quote. He's like, there's other people on this team that have sat out and whatever. Sure, if that is what he said, then... And that's fine that it's devastated him, because of course... Maybe he says all the right things in the media, but in the locker room, it's not so much so. But in his last game, he was real good. So all you can ask of a player who gets sat is when you play, frickin' be good. Not that hard of a request, I don't think.

Fair enough. And he was last game. And I expect him to be this game. Matt Martin plays his best hockey when he plays hockey. Yeah. When he's not finishing checks that you don't need to finish. Yeah. And he's not yapping.

He does, like, you've said it before. He's got a hockey player's brain and a non-hockey player's skill set. I think so. He is an NHL player. There's no question. He's playing in the wrong decade. Like, I think there's a reason why he was so good earlier in his career. The game is just changing.

He was really good in his role. He was really good on that line. I don't know what their numbers were or anything. I know they had success. But he chose his hits carefully against the Sabres, and he squished someone. I think it was a rookie, just like a bug. It was so bad.

And I think it was Gus Katsaros I was seeing tweeting about this. Finishing your hits is great in some circumstances. And in a lot of cases It's just a waste of energy He didn't waste any Against Buffalo last game There was a lot of There was a lot of

Windshield wiping Going on in Buffalo He smushed some guys Andreas Johnson May have only played Seven minutes last night But I figured this story Was fun to tell

Because More stitches than minutes Played by the way Nine stitches People first off It's Janssen I was gonna I was about to ask

Is it Janssen It's Janssen So here's the confusion So because Romanuk It was Johnson Johansson And then finally Janssen last night

Johnson it was he was spelled Johnson for the longest time and he no one corrected it and he didn't correct it

and it's funny that we know there's a second S on there so it's Johnson like the second S means a Y means the soft J

yeah I don't know this is my favorite story about him and it doesn't have to do with his name spelling okay he's the 7th round pick

in the 2013 draft okay why at the time and this is according to Rory Boylan's piece on Sportsnet.ca This is a great story. So how did a player selected so late in the NHL draft

come on so suddenly and significantly in Sweden's top league? You have to remember that he outscored Alex Wenberg and won the SHL Rookie of the Year. Wenberg went 14th overall. Jansson went in the 7th round. Blossom getting one of Toronto's best prospects. Prior to his draft year, the

knock on Jansson was that he had to do with his ability to keep up with game speed and that he lacked drive seen in other players. But as it turned out, he had a case of undiagnosed asthma, which, after proper medication, became less of an impediment. Once it was addressed,

he exploded as a top-line producer. Asthma and mono. Lilligren, Janssen. Your top two prospects in the organization, arguably. Who's a forward prospect better than Janssen? Who's a defensive prospect better than...

Because I don't know if Dermot's a prospect anymore. No. So you nailed it. Wow. Wow. That's the way I had not thought of it But here, read the sentence before Before the asthma Prior to his draft year The knock on Janssen had to do with his ability

To keep up with game speed And that he lacked the drive seen in other players Now if he has Because one of those Pieces of feedback was correct It sounds like He did lack the game speed Wasn't able to keep up with game speed

What's the second one? That he lacked drive You know what He's just not trying hard enough He's just Oh Maybe he can't breathe He lacks heart

And like Lungs I have asthma You can't just try through it No but I bet if you tried you could Your lungs literally fill with water No Or fluid

Have you ever tried playing through it Yes. Adam, have you ever tried being Canadian through asthma? It works. If your shoulder hurts and it requires surgery, you better play the next two games. See, that's the Canadian approach. And then what they did, team doctors there,

took the Scandinavian approach, which is, oh, free medicine. Let's find out what's wrong with them. And wow, lo and behold. Wait, we have free medicine here too. I know. But we also have that old school Victorian mentality. No, don't complain about your problems.

Stiff upper lip, everybody. On with it. So there's one of the things, Tyler Dundon? Is that what it is? Is it Tyler? Tyler Durden. Durden. Maybe that's why I'm confused.

Sorry. Whoever the new owner of the Hurricanes is, Dundon. I know it's his name. Dun-dun-dun. One of the things he said. Is that how you think he's announced that board meeting? Dun-dun-dun. Dun-dun-dun.

Here's Dun-dun. Yes, Dun-dun. Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun. So anyway, he wanted a critical thinker. now how much critical thinking do you think went into

the scouting report that said you know it just looks like he's not trying is that how much research was put into

you know what he just doesn't look like he's trying because if you met the player you'd probably be able to figure out whether they cared

or not right or you'd get a sense of their attitude wouldn't you but if he's panting a lot when he's talking to you seems like he has

a lot of trouble breathing out when you meet someone you kind of get a sense of their attitude, right? Nah, but I had to leave after the second period. That's okay. I would love an explanation

from someone, anyone listening to this show. Why do a lot of scouts leave after the second period? That does happen a lot. It does. Why? Why? The third period is kind of where the pressure cooker situations tend to happen. It's where the most games are won!

yeah that's when you find out what a player is I guess you're only looking for certain things or whatever but stick around for the

third period you might learn something that you weren't expecting to see mhm you might find out that Jordan Eberle this guy scores a lot of

game tying and winning goals the fact that which he didn't do he's now played 7 minutes in the NHL is 7 minutes more than I think like 99% of 7th round

draft picks in history like like most guys in that round never see a game It's probably more than most people drafted in 2013 still You know It's just funny to me

It's very funny to me That Are we about to look up the same thing? Do you just think it's funny how? I just think it's funny how You know he's just lazy He's also I notice he's Really lazy on the treadmill

Doesn't like running very much Yep Critical thinking man Why, like do a little investigating You might find out This is a lazy player You do your due diligence You know what, I have a hunch

I have a scout's hunch, this is why I get paid the big bucks That this is a lazy player And then you do some research, you find out You confirm that he's a lazy player You know what, I earned my salary today What if his coach tells you he's lazy and it turns out to be like asthma That's where it's tough to be a scout man A lot of coaches are real critical thinkers

Adam, it's a stupid sport It's dumb It's dumb You know what I'll Steve are you Trying to suggest That you know more

About hockey Than these people No No No These guys Know more about hockey Than me

And most others I question Whether or not They know more About much of anything else And I'm not that smart Of a guy So

That's all I'm saying Jesse what are you looking up He's got a smile on his face He's counting we should whisper so we don't throw them off. Is it expected goals four per 60 minutes?

There was, I think, if I didn't lose my count, 87 players who played from the 2013 draft. Okay, out of... And Andreas Janssen

becomes number 88. 30 times seven. Oh, Adam, I don't do that. Three times seven, 21. 210. You want the total number of people who were drafted?

210. It would be 211. Damn it. It's not bad. How does that work? So he's in the top third, basically. Ish. Not bad.

Yeah. 87-21. And that's just now. That's after seven minutes in the NHL. Seven minutes. Did you see my preposterous Alex Ovechkin stat? No. From the other day?

I am trying to look it up. And then we've got to do the press conference. Okay, so as you know, he scored his 600th goal. I'm surprised it took this long to get to it. He scored his 600th NHL goal. he's I mean he's gonna snore

his way to 700 unless something terrible goes wrong so I tweeted comparing Ovechkin's goal scoring

to the best goal scorers in history is fun comparing Ovechkin's goal scoring to players from his draft year holy hell so in 990 games

Ovechkin has 600 career goals do you know how many goals the next closest guy has? who is the next closest guy?

Evgeny Molokin oh really? Evgeny Molokin who's played 772 The problem with Evgeny Malkin is he's not one of the top 100 players of all time. Which is just looking dumber and dumber and dumber as every day passes by. I don't know. I think it was a good choice.

Yeah. Did it look as dumb at the time? It looked pretty bad at the time. Yeah. I don't think it got dumber. I think it was already at a level of pretty dumb. But it just kept digging. Wow.

Wow. There's so much depth. This dumb hole can get bigger in a dumb way. So here's just how stupid, crazy Ovechkin is. 600 goals, next highest guy, Malkin, 367. 367. 367. Now, you might look at Ovechkin's point totals,

1,109 points in 990 games, and then Malkin's 919 points in 772 games. And by the way, these are now a couple days out of date. But point per game, I think Ovechkin was 1.12. Points per game in his career Malkin 1.19. So they're they're very close together in terms of goal scoring. No one is close Ovechkin 600 Malkin 367 the next closest guy to those two Andrew Ladd with 242

Blake Wheeler with 217. So this is the 2004 draft There are only four players who have reached 200 goals so far and Ovechkin has three times that he's so goofy the next guys on the list drew stafford johan franzen who exists still um ryan callahan david crechey troy brower travis ajak christopher stieg brandon dubinsky and also mike green who the capitals got in the same draft like ovechkin is not comparable to his draft peers. Nope. Even Malkin.

At least when it comes to goal scoring. Press conference. I saw the Andreas Johnson draft open. Oh, and there was three, one, two,

three other guys who were drafted in the seventh round of that year who have played in the NHL. Oh, that's cool. Who?

Yeah, Mackenzie Wiegar, Florida Panthers, played 48 games. John Gilmore for the Flames played 17 games. And Joel Vermin

for the Lightning has played 24 games. So, apparently he's falling behind. Wow. What a bum. I think he's a bust. He's a bum, is what he is. No, I have confidence he's going to be a very good NHL player.

Although, it's funny watching his first NHL game and how he played, and then watching JVR score a hat-trick, and then going, yeah, Johnson's just going to step right into that role. Yeah. I, boy, I don't know if the Leafs have a player who does what JBR does. They don't. We'll miss him. We'll find some way to replace his production.

Guess what? You play differently. Yeah, we'll be fine. You have to. Yeah. You have no choice. So, press conference. Jesse, question.

So, first question. I'm going to give the first answer, and then I want to hear you guys' opinion. So, Braydol23 writes, Do you prefer evenly leveling up your Pokemon team or having one or two over-leveled Pokemon carrying the squad. And the correct answer, because I've only done this way my entire life, is you have, like, two guys who are, like, maxed out. One is usually a Charizard, you're starting Pokemon,

and then you get your next guy probably, I don't know, some sort of bird Pokemon. Legendary bird, probably. Yeah, legendary bird Pokemon, and then you go with those two, you get them up to, like, an 87 or something ridiculous, and then you have the rest of your squad around 20s. What's your answer? I try to go as even as I possibly can,

but it is usually there's one or two that rise to the top pretty clearly. So when I'm in a battle that I think is pretty easily winnable, that's when I let my five, six guys kind of have them. You've got to have a legendary bird Pokemon because you need to fly. You've got to have a really good water Pokemon because you've got to surf. You've got to have a really good plant Pokemon because you need to cut.

Don't forget Dig. Doug Trio might be the most underrated Pokemon in the entire game. And it's funny, no matter how many times I played Pokemon through, I had almost the exact same roster every time. I used to like to jack up my Lapras's

by the way too. I was always like Lapras was good. But they're not very useful. Well, except, see here's the thing, you guys are both missing the point here. which is, what you do is you take the Lapras and you go, is this the swim or the float or whatever? Surf. And you go to that,

you go to the island and you go up and down the coast until you can cheat and get yourself a bazillion rare candies and then you can level everybody up. And missing no. That's not fair. I mean, I did it, but it's not fair. Oh, I'm sorry. Is it not fair to the computer game that's not a human?

I'm sorry. Ice Pokemon in the original Pokemon were like Disproportionately useful So I would go like legendary Pokemon I would go Articuno I would usually go Blastoise I would have a wicked Victory Bell

I would have a Dugtrio And then I think I would mix it up Or like If I didn't have a legendary Like Articuno I would have like Just a jacked Pidgeot Crazy jacked Pidgeot

But Fire was one of the least useful Pokemon types in the original games. That's why I don't understand everyone's obsession with, like, you know what? Everyone loves Charizard. No one loves Moltres. You know why? Because Charizard is the coolest looking Pokemon. That's why everyone liked him. If you have Flamethrower, you're winning every battle.

It's a very strong attack. If you use Solar Beam or if you use Hydro Pump. No. Blastoise and Charizard don't compare Charizard is far and away a better Blastoise beats Charizard

no he doesn't he does no beat my level 102 Charizard with your level 60 how'd you get up to 102

I have had it for 14 years no but 102 you doesn't it only go up to 100 nope 102 I think you're lying

next question or a nerd next question I want you guys to take turns answering this next question Leafs Hayes 20 wants you to wish

James Reimer a happy birthday happy birthday happy belated birthday I think James Reimer or what day is today it's today oh happy birthday

James Reimer happy birthday James his 30th birthday do you have any well wishes for James Reimer Adam and Steve it just feels good to be James'

older brother exactly two days older than James Reimer I hope he gets better didn't he get injured recently did he yeah for his birthday

I hope he has great health and he has a fun time being a daddy and I agree I don't know I've got nothing else I love James but I don't know what else to say here's a little world is a tiny

the world is a tiny play story these two guys walked up to me yesterday at the Leafs game they were in Stars jerseys one of them has on one of those 10 gallon hats they came up from Texas to watch this Leafs Stars game and look at their money's worth

But along the way they went to a game Against the Panthers And they saw James Walking out on crutches And they go Hey James get well soon Steve Dangle says hi And apparently James

Responded like oh well that's yeah That's great thank you yeah He was very thrown off And I think he may have Found it creepy so thanks guys No creepy no Creepy! No way.

No, the love of my life would never think I'm creepy. What? Sorry. Last one? Was that it? Thumbs up. We're good. Alright, hey, thanks so much for listening.

It's great to be back. We'll be all over social media on Saturday because we've got a second little fight with Phil Lorette in Montreal. Leafs, Canadians. We'll be throwing out videos and stuff with Hisense. Just an excuse to get together. Yeah, basically, and eat a bunch of chips.

Chips and pizza, yeah. So, yeah, be looking out for us. We'll be all over our socials on Saturday night. And we'll be back to our full two episodes per week as of next week, although we don't know which day is yet. Okay? Love you. Bye.

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