The Steve Dangle Podcast - First ImPREssions | September 21, 2026

Episode Date: September 21, 2026

On this episode of The Steve Dangle Podcast, 00:00 Larkin removed again 10:00 The Leafs played hockey! 1:12:00 The Columbus situations 1:28:00 McDavid on Babs 1:40:00 NHL expansion Come see us at The Course and The Clubhouse!: http://sdpn.ca/events Visit this episode's sponsors: Make Citrus home for your league this season. Start a league or bring your existing league over, and explore hockey analysis, news and Armchair GM: https://citrusfantasysports.com/go/sdpn Sign up for a free trial at https://shopify.com/sdp now to grow your business, no matter what stage you’re in. Join us on Tuesday September 22, 2026 for a live stream on our YouTube Channel in partnership with the The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Road Hockey Event. All the proceeds raised during the live go to one winning team, helping them hit their fundraising goal or climb the draft board for a celebrity player on Game Day. There are two ways to get off the bench: register a team at http://pmcfroadhockey.ca/, or just tune in on the 22nd! Watch all episodes of The Steve Dangle Podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLk7FZfwCEidkgWpSiHVkYT7HrIzLPXlY Watch clips of The Steve Dangle podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLk7FZfwCEieOJuIrqWyZPWSIJtVMCbLz Buy SDP merch https://sdpnshop.ca/ Visit https://sdpn.ca/schedule to see when our next live stream airs! Check out https://sdpn.ca/events to see The Steve Dangle Podcast live! Watch hockey with us! Live on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLk7FZfwCEifCTX0vkKEaGg9otrW4Zl2k Subscribe to the sdpn YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@sdpn?sub_confirmation=1Join Subscribe to SDP VIP!: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0a0z05HiddEn7k6OGnDprg/join Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/thestevedanglepodcast Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sdpvip/subscribe - Follow us on Twitter: @Steve_Dangle, @AdamWylde, & @JesseBlake Follow us on Instagram: @SteveDangle, @AdamWylde, & @Jesse.Blake Join us on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/MtTmw9rrz7 For general inquiries email: [e-mail] Reach out to https://www.sdpn.ca/sales to connect with our sales team and discuss the opportunity to integrate your brand within our content! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you're listening to this show, you're probably an unreasonable hockey fan, which means you've probably got some fantasy drafts to go on this week. Now, how many do you guys have? Like three. You got three? Just the one this week. Okay. I've got two this weekend, which I'm pretty excited about.

Friday and Sunday, which is crazy. And I'm trying Citrus fantasy sports. It's a hockey first, finally fantasy app. Finally, finally, finally. It's not football and then, oh, yeah. I guess it's pretty half you. Which is how all of the other apps take it. It's literally we are football focused and then just throw a hockey thing in there for the hockey people.

More afterthought. Yeah. Now, if you want to start a new league, drafted team, compete all season, you can do that. But if you already have a league, you can actually import it to Citrus and put its hockey tools to work on the league you're already building. So that means keeper leagues or just, you know, new draft every year league because picking a player is easy. Figuring out what you're getting is the interesting part. And Citrus brings together player projections, deeper analysis and storming. your assistant GM there to help you work through roster questions,

all customized to your scoring settings. I mean, Jesse in previous years, has used a pizza box as his assistant general manager. I love my pizza box. I would say Stormy is a level above, a cut above that. We'll see. And if you don't need a fantasy team to get into Citrus, you can dig into player analysis, you can follow the news, you can jump into armchair GM mode,

so all the fun stuff that we like to do when we're at work pretending to work, right? So make Citrus your home for your league, start this season. If you want to try it, citrusfantysports.com slash go slash sdpn or just click the link in the description. Again, it's citrusfantysports.com slash go slash sdpn. Let's start the leagues and let's start the show. S.D.P.P. The Steve Dangle podcast with your host, Steve Dangle, Adam Wilde, and Jesse Blake.

Let's go. Slight change happening. In Detroit. Let's have a look at the... Detroit! So some stadiums do this. We saw this at Keybank Arena too, where you get to sit on the bench

next to your favorite player. And in Little C's Arena, they have Steve Dangle, a captain's bench. They have Steve Dangle? No, they do not have Fulangle. No, no. No, he's not so random.

Not quite there yet. They would hate that. They have captains, the legendary captains you can sit on the bench with, but there's been one minor, Shade throw it up. Oh, no. Oh, so this was 2025, and you can see the captains, and they are Eiserman, and they are Lidsstrom, and they are Zetterberg, and they are Dylan Larkin.

And this year, no Dylan Larkin. Yeah. Valid. Valid. Yeah. Shout out whoever took the photo. Yeah, it was on social media. I can shout them out, and it is champletics.

Okay. Shout out champ Lennox. That's funny. That's very funny. They didn't even replace them. They just removed him. You could have put like Gordy Howe. Yeah.

No. You could have put plenty of guys in there. Sure. Ted Lindsay, Sid Abel. Let's go through that line again. Gourty Howe from the Second World War. Who was the captain? Oh yeah, I guess there haven't been a ton of captains since Eisenman took over because he was the captain for several centuries.

I feel like yeah, they haven't had a lot of captains in their history. Littstrom and then it would have been Zetterberg. And then it would have been Larker. Zetterberg was a captain. captain for like a flash in the pan, like in Detroit Red Wings term. It's sort of like, um, Drew Dowdy being named captain in LA. We're like, okay, for this year. It's, like he's never been a captain before.

It's strange, right? But he deserves it. But, you know, he got Onzei Kopratar. So you didn't need him. Sid Abel was a captain. Ted Lindsay was a captain. Cordy Howe was a captain. They could all be there.

I believe Ted Lindsay. All of the same line. What an embarrassment of riches. Was Ted Lindsay not stripped because he tried to start the players union? I don't know, but that's how. That sounds very much like the NHL of the time. Jack Adams. Alan Walsh.

No, Jack Adams, the owner was just a dick. Just a total a-hole. Yeah. You know, he's like, it was like one of those, he's exactly what you would expect a 1950s businessman to be like, you know. Oh, dude. Every like old school owner story is like, so they were a monster. Yeah.

But the thing is they didn't have Twitter so we didn't know how bad it was because we didn't get to hear their internal thoughts. They were just sort of hidden. Right. See? Now, like, listen, it's not like it hasn't always been going on. It's always been going on, but we just didn't, we didn't have people back then who were dumb enough to put it into print. You know what I'm saying?

Right. Right. So, anyway. So that's the not-so-suttle change at Little Caesar's Arena. Now, I want to remind you, everybody, that the course and clubhouse is this weekend. It's our fourth annual. 40 real courses on those 5-HD golf simulators at St. Catherine's Hub for Indoor Golf. but it's also where we do a show every single year.

And we're really excited for this one. It's our fourth year. Jesse's going to do the longest drive competition. Steve and I will participate, but we're pretty minor in that. We'll be bringing up the rear. I'm going to do the longest drive competition from my house. There you go.

I live the farthest, I see. Good. Hey, this is one of the few times. Unless Steve has a book to promote, he'll actually cross Youngstreet for this. I will. Just for you. Listen.

Listen. Get in now. Because I'm not. crossing young again right if you live on the west side of young and you want to freaking see my handsome face

you have to come to the course and clubhouse this weekend that's right you heard you heard you heard 25 bucks plus tax there are a couple of seats left just letting people know doors at five shows at seven

and there's a bunch of guests coming in too Steve have you swung a golf club since the last time we were there no Adam have on I don't think so. No.

No. All right. This is your yearly tradition of swinging a golf club. That's right. It's like playing in the Easter Seals is my yearly tradition of playing hockey. That's true. I've not done a lot of that either. And you're still better to me.

Well, I also had 12 years as a child to get better than you and have a lot. Yeah. And you haven't been a child for a long time. You got to start. You got to get up to Adam eventually. Eventually. Yeah.

Every. You know, you know what sucks about? But being a bad player who's getting better. Okay. Is people go, you're getting so much better. And you know you're not. You don't think you are?

I think I'm getting marginally better. Okay. I think I'm making incremental improvements, but they talk to me like, good for you. Eventually, you're going to pass Adam's 12 years of playing. If Adam stalls at like only playing once a year, you're going to have so much more ice time than him eventually. but you also don't play as often as he would have played during that 12-year stretch. Do you think in career time on ice, Steve will ever pass you? No, never.

I don't think so because I did remember like we used to do not only would we have games and practices, but I was also in like power skating schools and like in the summertime we'd be, I remember we were doing like dry land in the morning and then power skating all afternoon and then it would switch the next morning. And whenever it would switch the next morning, your equipment was still wet. But it was, you know, right? Yeah. You'd have your afternoon skate, then your morning skate the next day.

But then the next time, it was like morning and then late afternoon and then it was dry. Wow. And we like that. Yeah. So, yeah. Even if Steve plays from how old are you now, 44? 30. 38.

From 44 to, let's say, let's see, you get to 80. The once a week thing for 40 weeks a year still is not going to really catch up. It's unlike. It's unlike. It's unlike. Yeah. Because he's put in so many hours as a key. I would love to play into my.

80s. Jesse and I played shinny and there was a guy in our shinny, Mike, who, so we played at Iroquah in Whitby and I was walking out of the building one day with my hockey bag and he's in the Whitby Sports Hall of Fame induction class from like 25 years ago. Yeah. He still plays. He has an eight in front of his age, right? Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I want to say he was inducted like same year as Bob McKenzie or something like that or he's like right in there. Mike, oh my God. He was like, he was like, involved with like lacrosse and rugby and I should know his name. Mike, you had narrow it down. My uncle and my grandfather

played until they were about 75, 76. And then one of them got it in the face with a puck because he didn't wear a helmet and lost five teeth in his 70s and then was like, I should probably stop it. No helmet. No helmet. Never. At all. No. Okay. That's great. When did he stop

playing? Well, that would have been in the 90s, but he was in his 70s. Wow. That's, oh, sometimes I'm like, I know, dumb. Sometimes I'm like, I'm a young man and then I remember smoking in restaurants. Yeah. Are you going to up your ice time to try and catch Adam's career time on ice? Oh, I'll be a horrible teammate.

Steve, come off. I'm good. I got to get him. Who's Adam? I got to be. Who is this? Well, you know, listen, Steve, you could always throw your weight around at the hockey league that you're part of. Dare you.

You know, because people think Steve's got big sway in the league. Oh, yeah. People were thinking that you were making trades and stuff, like legit, right? Oh, Steve, Steve, Steam won the championship. Yeah. This year. Oh, yeah. This year we lost the other two because I stopped.

Why do they have like four ringers and everybody else's, oh, oh, their regular team? Hey, well, I'm one of them. I'm one of the ringers. Um, okay. Leifes on Saturday. Good. Leaps and Habs. Saturday, split squad games.

The majority of veterans stayed at home in both cities. And the Havs won both games, and that's sort of immaterial. We don't really care too much about who wins the game. It's about how players look. And I think the two most important things right off the bat for if you're a Leafs fan is how did McKenna and Matthews look? Those are basically the two things that we care about the most. So we'll start there, and I want to start with Austin Matthews.

he looked sharp and shifty and had a bunch of shots in the first period and was robbed by Cacanin. Capo Cacaninan. That's one of the craziest saves I've ever seen live. That was unbelievable. Yeah. It was an incredible say. So he probably would have scored on that in most cases, but he didn't. He didn't.

But was looking dangerous. And I think what was crazy, I was like, man, he's shooting again. Really encouraging. And we had three different perspectives of the game. You were streaming it. I was in the seats and just. Jesse was up lording above us with the Toronto media. Yeah, the evil people.

Yes. How are you planning? Did you guys get together and plan your attack for post-game? I can't talk about that. It's got to be a sneak attack. You can't talk about media club. You've got to be a sneak attack up on these players. Let's just say.

I just like Jesse with Barris soap this is Media Club. Let's just say. I might have bought a crowbar. Oh, there you got. There you go. Lance Hornby's planning. Oh, Matt. Watch out, guys.

Don't want you. You watch out for the Lance dance. It'll get you. Mark Masters and his 19-tickety-2 haircut. God, I love him. We never had him on this summer. No, we didn't. We have to have him in.

We have to have him in. Matthews look great. I was surprised by all the fuss after the game about how fast he was. Yes. Like, it wasn't something that jumped out to me, but, like, he had pop. Like, his hands were. really good. You know, I felt like a lot of the players on the team maybe blocked more shots than I am

comfortable with seeing them block in a preseason game. But no, he looked good. He had several scoring chances. I'm not, him and, obviously there was a ton of getting to know you out there. And, you know, this sounds like an excuse early on. I just think it's a valid point, that the Leafs had more turnover than the average team and a shorter preseason does not make that easier.

Oh, they're going to start slow. They're starting slow. I mean, I was watching it and I'm like, they clearly have talent, they're clearly good players, they clearly don't know each other. Yeah. Like I know Rosavik and Matthews played together.

That was a very long time ago. And you could tell. Well, and Jesse, you saw it a few times with Rossi. Roselvik, it's like he giveeth and he taketh away, which has been the knock on him his whole career, right? Like he has this thing where you're like, wow, he can do some dazzling things with the puck. And then Jesse, you see him do like dumb giveaways like you did. I think on the second or third. Yeah, there's a lot of sloppy play, like a lot of turnovers.

I think that's going to be a part of his game. And I don't think that's just going to go away. I don't think we look at Roslovick as a prospect. And he's going to grow and that's going to leave his game. But he kind of is what he is at this point. And they have to work with those deficiencies. And I think seeing a guy who I think can take a jump in NICE Come maybe a little bit better defensively

And if he can play a better two-way game And Matthews obviously played a lot of defense Because that's what all Craig Barube had him deployed to do He's going to be hopefully be able to plug some of those holes Where Roslvik will not contribute the best You know, to the overall winning success of the team But with Matthews specifically, it's against a bunch of AHLers, right? on the Montreal Canadian side.

But even in that environment, he looks so much faster than everybody else. And that was the one thing. It's like, okay, he had this devastating injury to end last season. How does he come back? And he's 100%.

Yeah. And that's something we can't say that Matthews was the last couple of years. And I think right now he's starting the season, at least his legs and his shot looks good too. Starting 100%, which is positive. That's why when Florian Jack I was cross-checked him.

I'm like, you stop that shit right now. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I need him to start healthy. Stop it. Going for his second consecutive of preseason con smith.

Yeah. Like, you got to appreciate having a guy like that in your, in your system and having a guy who tries and he's obviously trying to make it. But you see him in the lineup in a preseason game. You're like, ugh. Well, I, I don't. That's a compliment by the moment. It would be nice.

It would be nice if, I mean, there seemed to be at the end of a shift once where they kind of all said, okay, that's enough of you. And then obviously there was the fight. Everyone take note of Marshall Rify. Everyone take note. Do I think he won that fight? No. But he did it.

You have to do it. You're not going to win every fight. You have to be willing to get in a fight you might lose. He is. It's such a, that's a skill of the mind that a lot of guys lack. I don't know if he's going to play in the NHL, but I want that attitude on any hockey team worth talking. Well, he's a champion, Marshal Rify.

He's Calder Cup champion. And I know, I feel like those two had beef from the A. Yeah, yeah. They fight each other. And it's him defending his captain. We didn't see last year when he got his knee taken out. Yeah. And now in a preseason game for a guy slashing the captain, we see a guy fight.

That's a new attitude for the least. I was really happy about that fight. But that's not a regular. And I know it's preseason. Yeah. But I do want to wave that flag a little bit. I'm hoping that that energy infects to the regular guy. I hope so too.

I feel like Marshall Rofi, like they know him enough. Like he's been up enough that like he's a part. The guy's in the locker room know him. And they're seeing that at the preseason game. Hopefully you take that attitude you add it to the regular season. Arbor Jackai watching Florian Jackai's fight in the penalty box. Really funny. Yeah, he grabbed the attendance phone.

He was watching it. Yeah. I don't know if you get away with that in the regular season. Also, you're not going to be playing a game at the same time. Probably in the regular season. He also probably won't be playing in the regular season. Well. Or will.

I don't imagine. Maybe he'll be. Maybe he'll be like, hey, look, he got a great one in LaValle. Yeah, there you go. So they will be playing simultaneously. The other thing, I want to talk about just the Matthews line a little bit. We talked Roslavik. I have been on record many times as saying, I don't think Matthews and Nyes have chemistry.

And boy, was that apparent. I thought Nyes looked slow. I thought they looked discombobulated. I know it's the first game, but that's all I have to go on. And I don't think this is going to work. And I think, and it's like, well, don't present me with a problem without a solution. And the solution to me is what Easton Cowan brings. If you're going to keep Roslivik and Matthews together, to me, you need a puck hound.

And that's not what Nise is. Nize is a freight train. I'm glad you didn't say McKenna. No. Because that line was... Well, they got outshot to hell. They got outshot. Did that?

Yeah, they got outshed. Everything. Yeah. Outchance? Oh, yeah. I'm surprised by outchance. It felt like everything McKenna touched turned into a score. But it was exciting.

I don't think McKenna should be playing with Matthews just yet. But I think you... No, no, no, no, no. Are we talking about Nyes or are we talking about Mekyllis? I think it's Easton Cowan and I think you got to flip the Eastern Cowan Matt Nyes thing. And I don't think Matt Nise is a bad player. But we saw this last year. I think the only one who looked alive on that line on Saturday night was Austin Matthews.

Roslavik was like, he was sloppy. Just call it what it is. Nyes was, I mean, I saw Matthew Nyes roll into the zone at the end of the game, like 30, 40 seconds left. And he's got McKenna with him. McKenna flips him the puck. It lands directly on Nize's a stick. They're both going down. You guys remember this play?

It's going down the Montreal. So they're in the offensive zone. They're going down the Montreal boards. You got a Montreal defender here. You've got Nyes on the boards. You got McKenna just a little bit higher off the boards. Flips in the puck as they cross the blue line. And I keep going, Nyes, pass it to McKenna.

So he can drive the net. Pass it to McKenna. And then once the board curves, the other Montreal defender comes in and he's in a dead zone. He's toast. I think you got to force it. I don't know if that's a popular opinion here. You can't force it. chemistry, though. You cannot force that.

It is. No, but you can play them together until they figure it out. That's not how that works, though. Because I look at this lineup at him and I don't see an obvious solution. You don't see Easton Cowan in there? Doing what Zach Hyman did? No.

Why? Because Hyman's got like 30 pounds on that kid. Yeah, but he didn't back then. He didn't. He's put on that weight over 10 years. I think that's a lot on Easton Cowan right away. I think this is how you have to start it. I agree with Steve in that. I wouldn't say it's forcing it, but you got to present it to them and say, hey, this is what we're going with and they're going to try and play their best

hockey. And I think eventually, if it doesn't work out, obviously they'll move off of it. But this is the perfect way to start it. So here's what I'm struggling with and we got to shoot this after the show. I hope you've all been watching our season preview videos. We're doing one for all 32 teams. I've done a lot of talking about for the great teams, it's not just that you're great, it's that everything is going right. For the bad teams, it's not just that you're bad,

it's that everything is going wrong. I'm looking at the Atlantic, and I'm trying to figure out how to get the Leafs into the top five. And a lot has to go right. I don't see how it's possible they have success this season without their best players playing. well together.

You know what I mean? Like, is it... Do you swap Nyes and... Nick Paul? Ugh, but then that wrecks what was special about the third line. No, it doesn't.

You've got Nyes on the third line then. What a great thing to have. Spread your talent. I guess that's... That is a solution that's possible, but like, you know, swapping Nielander in there doesn't make any sense.

Now, what do you do with Roselvic? I think you keep that second. line together. I think you need more from them defensively, but we're not talking about that part. I think Nick Paul, who was in Montreal. So it's hard to really judge? Yeah. They got all. Yeah. I think that's, to me, that's,

if you can't do, if you can't do Cowan, then do Nick Paul. But or more is expected of Matthew Nyes. He has got to make quicker decisions this year. He has got to, he's got to look around. And I know that is, I know, I know you said in the, in the, one of the episodes that we had last week, I think, where you're like, listen, when, when, you know, it is highlight reel, he finds Matthews. The problem is is that's the highlight reel. That's not regular. Yes.

And that, I'm not seeing it. I have to be honest. When that the line was on the ice, it felt like last season. My problem, it's got to be better. With Nise is his skating. I think he's a step slower than the guys, like, on his line, especially Matthews. When you look at them together, you see like, oh, one guy is a lot better on his edges than the other one. straight line speed as well through the neutral zone.

So I'd like him to work on that and be an improvement. I don't know if that's like dropping pounds on terms of muscle mass to speed him up or whatever that is in terms of conditioning. I'd like him to be a little faster on the ice. Because you look at Mitch, like that's Austin's best part of his career, is playing with Mitch Marner. All world players. Are we talking about three best skaters on the planet Earth playing in the NHL?

And it wasn't that he was over the moon fast. No. He was just very dynamic. Yes. He can do everything on the ice. And if you want to shift. He's a good word. Shifty's great. Yeah. And Matthew, Nyes brings like none of that. And I don't know if we're not looking for nice. And he played well with that group though, but that was with Mitch on it. Because they had the two of them going out there. And then Nyes can be his nice thing, you know, over on the left wing. And Roslovick's not going to bring that. So I need somebody to at least be skating with Austin.

Yeah. Although the way Austin played on Saturday, I'm like, he doesn't really matter who you play him with. going to be great. Like he really did look great. I can't have him on an island. No, you're right. You're right. And I think he wants to play with Roselvic. So Roslovick's got to raise his game. But I look at Matthew Nyes and I go, okay, so we held you back from a ton of great return. I saw a team that struggled to generate offense. Yeah, which felt like last year. Yeah. And that's where I need, like, Jim Hiller's got to get real serious with Matthew Nyes very quick about what his role is going to be. Like even there's sniff. I'm like, you know, you look up at the scoreboard. You're like, okay, get one though.

Did it not feel like score one when Montembow was in the net it felt like remember a couple years ago where they dropped like 50 shots on him and Sheldon Keefe was like

well we just fired it at his chest remember that so that's that's they didn't shift the goal tender at all. I know what you're talking about and I got great for this

it was an early season game against the New York Rangers and it was Igor Shisterkin and everyone's like they got 43 shots or something like that and he made a bunch of saves I'm like name the danger

ones. Right. Name the, let's, before, we can go back and watch the highlights. It should stick out

in your mind. Like, when I'm making LFR videos, I very, very rarely have notes. Like, if I'm watching the game, I'm paying attention,

I should remember the moment. They look, I remember that particular game. Like, I don't know, they look dangerous twice. K, made 43 saves. How many of them were good? Two?

Right. Kacken made some friggin' spectacular saves. That was ridiculous. And watching that, you know, maybe minutes 30 through 50 of that game, I was like, okay, they're the better team and they're just getting robbed. Like, okay, that's fine. Whatever. I can live with that. The rest of it? Well, you would hope against an HL squad that they would be the better team. Exactly, right? But the rest of it, I don't know, I was pretty unimpressed. So I, like, and I don't want to come across negative here. We have to, take that game and both games and go, what were the good, what were the bad?

The good Matthews look great. And the line mates, I think, need work. That second line, Steve, which you know, you guys saw, I bet, I want to know first from the two of you, the reaction in the arena, was there anything palatable? And I know it wasn't a full barn because the tickets are way too expensive. But was it palatable when McKenna was touching the puck, like were people watching? Every single time he touched him.

The reaction at the beginning of the game was, I think the big thing for the night. So they did the announcing of the starting lineup. They let line two be the starting lineup and they let McKenna go last. So it was the biggest pop of the night, I think came pregame when they announced his name and everything. It was really cool for them. It's cool that they did that because in the Lulamorello era, they wouldn't even say that

they had rookies on the team. They wouldn't even acknowledge you. It's like, because that's not going to happen opening night. He's not going to be in the starting lineup to let the Austin line start. So it's good to give him the preseason game. They'll do it where they announced the whole roster and they all come out. But it was cool for him to have that.

moment. Yeah. And everybody's hyped for them. And the way that they played on the offensive side of the puck, I think was to me anyway, like you could see the vision that this guy has. He's so clearly going to be elite. Yeah. He did look anxious, you know, made some mistakes, had some giveaways, which I think any

playmaker is probably going to do, especially an 18-year-old one. Yeah, he took that penalty early on. But like, I don't think any living, breathing human. human being watched him and was worried about what he's going to end up becoming. Right. He's going to get 70. He's going to get 80. He's going to get 90 points in this league, I think.

How soon is he going to do it? I don't know. And we have to all be okay. Please, please, please, please. Don't freak out when Gavin McKenna starts slow. Yeah. He looks undersized. Yeah.

He looks like he's 18. He's a little nervous. But all of the skills are there and they will come eventually. the first month for him might just be an adjustment. Like it was at Penn State, you know, going from the dub to university hockey was an adjustment. And then by the end of it, he kind of figured it out. All of the skills are there.

There's going to be more turnovers than you like that first month. And that's fine. Yeah. He's all child. How about you tell yourself that, Mr. Media, all right? I'm telling the other members of the media, it is going to, and the fan base, it is going to be fine eventually. He might start slow, and that is okay.

And he was snatching ankles. and great hands. I like his stick work. I love his vision. I thought it led to a bunch of scoring chances. He'll be fine. Yeah, all of the skills are there. Since Matthew's rookie year,

so 1617, I looked this up. The prospect pyramid, I believe, is coming out today. I think the number was there's been 28, 50-point seasons from rookies since the 16-7. season and very few of those 28 are from 18 year olds. It's hard. It's a hard thing to do. It's very, very rare.

You got to, if he hits 50, mission accomplished. Everything beyond that is gravy. And then obviously if it's three years from now and he's at 50, now we have problems. Exactly. But I don't, I really don't think that's going to be. I was saying over the weekend that I think half a point a game is a really, good season from him. If he ends this season with 40, 41 points, that's awesome. Yep. 50 points? I'm over the moon. Yeah. I'm like, that's a great season for McKenna.

You're tall enough to be, which is nice. And then 60 points, I'm like, oh my God, he's already a superstar. Like, that's the kind of the tiers I'm looking at. Yeah. Half a point of game. Wasn't Macklin at like 60 points in his regular, in his first year? Like, yeah. He did really, really well. He did on a terrible team. So one thing I wonder with Gavin McKenna and kind of the lukewarm reception to him sort of heading into the draft is, remember Cam Robinson came on the show and he said, Macklin Celebrini is the, this is before he played in NHL game,

Macklin Celebrini is the best NCAA player we've ever scouted. Yes, I do remember that very well. And I was like, did you guys not scout Jack Eichel? He's like, no, we did. And I'm like, oh, oh, my God. Gavin McKenna had 51 points last season in NCAA. Which is, by the way, really hard to do. Really good.

His next closest teammate had 42. The fact he led his team in scoring at all as a draft eligible player, really good. The fact he did it by nine is really impressive. Celebrini had 64. So I wonder if there's a little bit of, yeah, but he's not Macklin. I think there's a little bit of it. I think there's a little bit of it's, he started slow. Yeah.

And then nobody followed up on that story. The story was he started slow. And that's what makes a story. It's, oh, wow. The thing is, thing did not. meet expectations. But Gavin McKenna exceeding expectations or doing well in the second half, that's not much of a story. People have him at he should be doing well. That's why it's not as big. He had like a 50 or 60 game point streak in the WHL before he went to NCAA. I don't think it would

have been humanly possible for him to have exceeded expectations. Well, I want to do, I do want to say, and I know it's just, it's just preseason here. But that that line was out attempted 13 to 8. Most of it was against the Philip Dinole line, and Philip Dinoe had two goals. I am surprised. The Habs looked really good. Yeah, they look good on both ends, man. Just to pause and give the habs a little credit. Holy shit.

That lineup looked great. That's, yeah, and that's, yo, the Montreal, in Montreal lineup, the fact that the Leafs, the HL, Marlins were able to battle them to at least a tie for a while, is pretty impressive. Like Philip Dineau is like, okay, this team doesn't know each other. I have such great hockey sense. I'm going to go out there and dominate. If you.

It was awesome. Take out goals from Alan Walsh clients. It was a one-one tie. That's true. Frigan jerk. It's like sending us pictures after the game. I'm like, go away. He had a noted hat trick.

Yeah. With combined players. Yeah. Shut up, Alan. But then, you know, it would have been nice to pull off the OT win in Montreal and then they give up a two on O. Yeah, I know. Which, don't.

Don't do that. Hey, man, what if you just didn't do that? With the chances and everything, one thing McKenna did struggle with in his university and junior career is turnovers. He's such a great passer, but I think because his skill is so high, he's a little loosey-goosey at times with the turnover game. And I think that'll come out of him as he plays more NHL games because a coach like Jim Hiller and all these systems, they're going to tighten that up. He's not just going to be out there just throwing the puck around. Can I say something to Leaves did that I thought was a mistake or I'm confused by? Daniel Offerton was in Montreal

and the Leafs had six, seven, eight power plays and did not get a goal at home with their top unit and big guys. They got power play, at least one, was it multiple? Power play goal in Montreal with their power play coach. Yeah, but it was like Rabinsky.

Like, what do we... I don't give a damn. He's an AHA guy. Imagine what they could have done with. someone else? I don't. Wait, what are you trying to get at? I want the power play coach to be working with the top unit at home. I get that.

I understand that. I do. I understand that. Is that unreasonable? Your power play was a huge problem for them last year. Yes, the power play on Saturday was really bad. I think they're all getting used to each other. They need to rejig this power play and get it together.

But they had like the days of training camp where Alpherson is like working with them and everything. And then he just leaves for the game and they're supposed to execute. He can't leave. I guess he's right. Jesse, can he leave them? I don't think the private plane.

Being there would have changed anything about what happened Saturday. The work was done before. Yeah. And now it's like go out and do it. And you know what? Darren Ratch did get a power play goal. Thank you very much. Really genuinely funny goal.

Yeah. We'll talk about him in a second. Was that a power play goal? Oh, maybe it wasn't. I think it was just a slapper from the point. Yeah. But hey, double doink.

Double doink. Yeah. I, yeah. So I want to talk about those things because I think it's really, it's great to see. McKenna, and it's just fun to see that kind of playmaking again. That was just so absent.

Marner being the exception of the first Baruba year, but they're just, that kind of playmaking McKenna Briggs was so noticeably absent last year. And also was not a part of Baroube's system. You like Mitchell? Listen, listen, if you think I'm tough, wait till Islanders fans get on this guy. You think Islanders, you think Leaf fans are tough? Islanders fans, man.

Now, they love you when you're one of their guys, even if you kind of suck. But once he leaves, they're going to be like that guy. I don't think Michelli is going to play high up into the lineup enough for him to have an impact. He was playing the same role he played here. I don't know. I mean, the only reason he played. Here's our Marner replacement.

No, the only. Somebody who's bad. Matthias McChely is either going to get 57 points or be a healthy scratch 57 times. Right. There is no in between. It was a power play goal. by the way. It was about it.

That's what I thought. That's what I thought. So see if it's not so. No, I'm kidding. You're right. Alpherson said, okay, break his stick and then have Matheson like directed it on purpose almost. Like it was too perfect. What I liked about Radish's goal was not the goal.

And he felt bad? No, it was the fact that he blew Josh Anderson's stick up. That was crazy. He hit it so hard that Anderson's stick just snapped. And I thought great. I thought Radish looked good. And you know who was honestly one of the standouts of the game, but. you don't think of him in this way in a preseason game because he's an older guy.

Chris Tanev. Oh, man, is great to have him back. Yeah, as long as we're talking about guys who were injured last year and looked encouraging in a preseason game, yeah, Austin, for sure. Tanniv looked great. Tannov's ability to clear the puck out of the zone when it's in the defensive end and breakout is exceptional. Yeah. They've missed that greatly. I think skating is really good.

I don't think like he looks any different from where he left off pre-injury. He looks solid. And I think the defense changes if TANF is there all year. And Bob also. Oh, well, hold on. Let me get to that. No, and. And, and, hang on.

Before we get to the defense. We're all big TANF fans here. Yeah, absolutely. You've heard us talk about it. Tomorrow is when it happens. The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Road Hockey Event, fueled by Lungo's live stream on SDPN, Tuesday, September 22nd. from 7 to 9, we purposely avoided the Leafs preseason game so that we could do this. Because, I mean, that's the event of the season.

Well, of course. It's the event before the event. It's Hockey Eve. And then there's this. So tomorrow night, 7 o'clock to 9, we've got a telethon variety show. And basically the goal here is to raise money. So their goal is $4 million this year. And again, the Princess Margaret road hockey event fueled by Long Goes is the biggest road hockey event in the world.

It's obviously very charitable. but $4 million is the goal. So super chats and everything else. That all goes towards this. And, you know, we got some special guess. And listen, two and five Canadians will face cancer in their lifetime. It touches basically every family in the country. And let's make it happen.

Actually, it was $3.3 million last year. So they're really ambitious. It's $4 million this year. That's going for $700,000 up on that. It's crazy. All right. Now. Well, and they didn't have our help last time.

That's, you know. So here we go. I see it. I smell a $700,000 teleathon coming in. Right now. From your bank account personally. That's right. That's right.

Now, Jesse and Steve, Jesse specifically, what do we have to look forward to on this? I'm most excited for Pavel Barber coming in and doing a little trick shot something for the audience. I like that. We also have a signed Austin Matthews jersey up for grabs that night. So that's one more reason to show up. Steve, what would you do with a signed Austin Matthews jersey? Where would it hang in the blue room? Would it be on camera or would it be off camera and you'd save it for your side videos?

No, this is where you find a really good hiding spot and give it to your son for Christmas. I like that. You can register your team right now at PMCF, roadhockey.ca. Remember, it's October when the event happens. But tomorrow, let's say you can't play. Tune in tomorrow, September 22nd, Super Chat, your pick for a winning team or donate straight to the Princess Margaret through us at STPN. And we will see you there.

I want to talk about that third line. because somebody asked me in the middle of the game because I didn't even bother looking at the starting lineups I was just there for the vibes. Which third line? Third line in Toronto. Got it. The only guy I noticed who really stuck out

was Harry Nancy, who I've been a big fan of and I thought he had some really good plays. I thought Tinas Luke Kublar, you can see it, but he is absolutely not ready for this. He's still being a team. I know, he's going back home to Sweden.

I get that. He's draft. But everybody's like, what do you think of him? I'm like, I haven't noticed him. He has the Leaf Scouts love this in a player, or at least have in recent years. He has a late birthday for the draft year.

So he's still 18. Yeah. You're right. I was a little, I saw someone go, he reminds me at Engval and I went, ooh, not something you want to hear about a second rounder. You know, the difference with Engval is he was like 24 and they were playing him in high leverage situations. Totally different, totally different. But he's a big boy, made some good plays. I think in the third period he settled in a little bit better.

but obviously that's like an all rookie line and like I'm not worried too much about it but you're looking at you're grading them on a different curve but I think Tinas needs to go back to Sweden get get the adult legs under him a little bit more you can tell he's going to be a player but I didn't think it was a great first two periods I'm surprised you said Harry Nancy

who I liked him was not bad at all but people who go to preseason games are sickos right and my whole section was like Zach McEwen is that oh they liked him Why? What did he do? He did nothing. So Gus Katsaros, this is years and years and years ago.

Gus is a scout, by the way. Yes, who he came on our show and I talked about Kulamon, Nikolai Kulamon, looking like he works so hard out there. He's like, yes, he looks like he works really hard out there because his stride is horrible. He didn't use those words, but like it looks like he's kayaking out there. Right. Like it's an inefficient stride. And so McEwen, when he's out there, looks like he's working his ass off. But I wonder what the reasons for that are.

Yes. Because it's not like he's a beautiful hockey player. I also just was confused as to what he was doing. Like, I don't think it was, if his job is to come in and be a physical force, he was not. Well. And his job is not to come in and handle the puck. So what did we have, right? So you have the veteran heavy rosters on both sides.

The HAB's fringe guys or AHL guys, whatever you want to call them, they gave the Leafs veterans hell. You go to Montreal, same thing. Like, that's not a game you should be comfortable with going to overtime. The B Squad always brings it, because they need to.

They bring it. What I wanted to see out of, like, I see Zach McHughan and Bogru as fighting for a spot here. Then it's Brogrews. It is, is 1,000% Bogru. I agree with you.

And he wins face-offs and he can kill penalties. Are we kidding? I agree with you, but I was like, I don't know. I was underwhelmed by what I saw. With Bogru? Yeah, I thought the third line was just like, oh, this has got two kids. You mentioned it's all rookie, but Bogru's played like,

oh yeah, I guess it's both. 78 games. He's like 24. But I thought, I thought Bogu is underwhelming, but I think it's because he's playing with two guys who shouldn't be out there with NHL. That is entirely. Like, I thought Nancy just looked like a junior kid who's out there.

And the same thing with Tinas, you know? I was very underwhelmed with the third line, but that's what I expect out of a preseason game. Right. And, you know, first game is still about a week away, a little over a week away. But, you know, so it looks like they're going to have an extra forward to extra D. They already have an extra forward.

His name is Stephen Lawrence. But Dakota Joshua is not playing right now. That means there's a roster spot there at the beginning of the season for someone. Well, Dakota's playing. They just didn't play him, right? He's not... No, no.

At the end, because he wasn't in both either lineups, and they, we alter asked Jim Hiller after the game and he's like, he's dealing with something. Oh, man? Oh, that poor guy. No, I feel bad for him.

Me too, but like... I ruin it for that guy. Might not be anything, but if there is a spot at the beginning of the season, someone take it. Yeah, I agree. The McEwen thing.

Jonas Eagle made this great observation post game when I was talking to him. He's like, shouldn't that have been him instead of Marshall Rofi? Like, what are you here for other than to punch somebody and defend your teammates? And Mickey Wood couldn't even do that. I have a question about that. And it's a good point. And that's why I'm really perplexed that you even think there's a competition.

And I'm not trying to be a mean. It's purely because of what is listed on Puckpedia. I don't think he has a realistic shot at making this roster. Yeah. If it's between him and Bo Gru, who are you choosing? Go look at how many games he played last year. Zach McKeown, wasn't it? Yeah.

You mean, like, didn't he play in New Jersey? What do you play? He played three games. Yeah. All year at either level. Oh, either level. So what I'm... You get injured?

So he must have had an injury. And if it was a head injury, like, I think his days is a fighter. An enforcer are probably over. So he's got to reinvent his game. Okay. Well, maybe that's part of what this is, is like, you know, you bring him in, he comes and he plays a role in the Marleys and maybe he finds whatever that is. And if you've only played three total games last year,

I guess it makes a little bit more sense from my perspective. That was a torn ACL. That's a bad injury. That doesn't stop you from getting in there and being physical, though. That is true. So I try to be mean about it, but I'm like, I'll take Bogru 10 times out of 10. Maybe there was a discussion about, you know,

it's got to be Marshall's fight because of, I know Marshall took someone out on LaValle You're doing a lot of Zach McEwen defense I know I don't know What else is this show for? No no no no no it's not it's not I'm You know what? That should be the title

The Zach McEwen defense Someone fought him is all I'm saying Totally you know what I mean Someone fought him Totally but if no one fights them Obviously you start looking around And my list starts with Zach Can you can you

something? Yes, exactly. You're looking to get in there, you're looking to make the team, what else do we have you for? But someone fought him. Yeah. The Florida mindset would be three people fight him. Right.

First, it's Marshall, then it's Zach, then it's pick a name out of a hat. Now, in the Toronto game, in Toronto. I'm calling it the Toronto game and then I'll call the other one the Montreal game, but both teams played both. Got it. Bobrovsky played the first half, Stoller is the second. It was very funny because people were tuning into the stream that I was doing. and they were like, did Bobrovsky get hurt already?

Why is he out? It's like, guys, have you never watched a preseason game before? I don't blame me if you haven't. But still, like, of course, of course they're going to only play him for three, two and a half period. Sorry, one and a half periods. Radish blocked a shot and everyone was like, no, no, no, no, no, no. And I thought Radish had a great night, but Bobrovsky looked really solid. And what was interesting is I felt like when they were a little under siege early, he kind of settled the waters.

And there was a little bit of a minor blurb on 32 thoughts this morning where L. it sort of said that Brebrovsky doesn't say much, but that he's already sort of got a gravitational pull in that dressing room. They really listen to him. Good. As that's good. That's a good sign. He's a Hall of Fame goaltender.

But I think the, I thought his play was really strong. He has the potential to be a presence they haven't had since Freddie in like what year? Freddie, he finished, I think, fifth for the Vesna. So that would be like 2018, 2019, something like that? It was either 18, 19, or 17, 18. Where he was phenomenal. He played a crazy amount of games.

His health wasn't really in question. Every night he played him was a night you had a chance to win. Since then, they've gotten some really good goaltending. But it's been a rotating cast, and you don't know for certain what you're getting that. night. Like, even with Jack Campbell, late Freddie Anderson with the Leafs was not fun. And I know he reclaimed his game in Carolina, but it wasn't fun. Morazic friggin Matt, Matt Murray, stole ours until he wasn't, wool until he wasn't, Elyas Sampsonov until he wasn't. All of those guys

had great stretches in net, but they weren't Bob. Bob, Bob's a dying. breed. You know what all those guys have in common just to jump in? What? You never were sure if they were ready. That's what I'm saying. Bob's ready. Bob's ready. Like I know, it'll be a limpid of the rank and he'll be ready. Well, playing hurt is a skill. But like when he signed that deal in Florida, like an eternity ago, it was, I don't know, he's injury prone and I've been through this a hundred times. Uh, no one's, I think it's no one. He's either top five or top one in game played over a certain period of time. He plays games and he plays a lot of them.

He is money in the bank for 50 plus. I know he's 38. I know he is. Can I tell you what I love about him is his rebound coverage? When he gives one up, he's there. He's there and in front of it. I love just about everything. Well, yeah.

I was like, there was a couple of times Montreal, like, I especially early had a couple of like second and third chances. And, you know, a great goal. tenter supposed to be a sponge and absorb those and cover it. But that's not always possible. And I thought he did a pretty excellent job kind of holding that back. And I think Stoller's coming in, I thought Stollers looked a little shakier, although the goals that were scored on them were off a pretty shitty giveaways, right? So you kind of, and Stollers, you know, didn't play a lot last year, you know, injuries and all that stuff. So yeah, I'm not like putting too much

in it, but I do feel like, but Brofsky did have a presence that I just, you're right. I don't, I don't think they've had for a very long time. Can I ask a question? It's maybe not fair. You can't. Actually, it's a podcast. Be silent. Sure.

Okay. Go ahead. Stollers is 6-7. Do you see his weight? No. He's 257 pounds. I didn't know that. Wow.

He's literally one of the biggest players in the National Hockey League, height and weight. We should turn him into a power forward. Like, he'd be like Dustin Bufflin out there. I'm pretty sure he's heavier than like Ryan Reeves at his peak. Like, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, would be one of the biggest skaters in the league. I know one of the ways to... Where did you see that? Where did I...

Online? That seems high. That doesn't sound right. Look it up. I hope it's wrong. I am. Like Jay Rose Hill saying... On the Leafs site, he's weighing 180 pounds. No, no, that's Bob. Oh. Did I say Bob? No. I thought you said Bob. No, you said Stollers. Oh, you did. Oh, and on even on HockeyDB, he's listed at 248.

I think if Sergit Babrovsky ate $2.452.45, he wouldn't weigh $248. Okay, that's still pretty bit. Like, Freddie Anderson, I remember being 220 and people were like, oh, big boy. Like, because goalies are usually bone racks. If you get injuries, you surround that injury with muscle and support

that often helps. That's something I'm trying to do with my shitty, shitty, so crappy back. Right? Goalies got to move, man. Yeah. And I have no doubt that that guy has muscle. I think if you had a cage match tournament of goalies fighting each other,

Stollers probably comes out of it and wins. Yeah. But I do worry about the amount of power it takes and the amount of stress it takes for him to do what he needs to do at that weight. Right. That's all. Yeah. And like would I have that worry for another goalie?

No, probably not, but I watched this guy explode like what, three times last year? Yep. I'm worried for the guy. He has an extensive and recent injury history. Well, there's not much he can do about it now, Steve. It's September 21st. I know. You can't lose weight throughout the season, though.

It's gaining it, I guess. You can. I was smart. At the Montreal game, obviously the Montreal Canadiens win that in overtime. I want to talk a little bit about Nick Paul and Colton Sizzins. Colton Sizzins with a fight. Also, I love that Mike Pissette is just a, psychopath and went right after somebody.

He got like no ice time after that instigator, which was which was sort of a bummer. I always root for Michael Posetta, just because he's crazy and he's also a super nice dude. And he came on the show. And he came on the show. Friend of the show. No, I mean, no, he's also a dying breed, but there's something about

the lunatic middleweight. Old Sizzins? No, no. Peseta. Oh, Pizzetta. Okay. Sissons can fill that role sometimes. No, he's not a lunatic, though. Pissetta's nuts. He's one of those guys. you can see the whites of his eyes on all sides. David Clarkson eyes.

Yeah, I know. That guy's, there's something wrong there. And I think he would have been a leaf a lot more last year had he not kept getting hurt. Right. And I look at the games that Nick Paul and Colton Sizons played. I'm really encouraged.

Really, really encouraged. Like those two specifically, like Nick Paul, they need him to be a factor, guys. This is why I was like challenging you on putting with Austin. Like I like that line a lot. Like I want that line to work. And in order for that line to work, you have to keep it together and the others have to figure it out. Right? You know, one thing, like we've gotten to stream so many playoff games in recent memory and a lot of them weren't leaf games. And one thing you never really see on any of the teams, like especially

by the end of it, like in the final four, you don't look at a line on their team. And you don't look at a line on their team and go, yeah, it doesn't really work. Yeah, I'm not really sure if it works. They all got a hum, right? So I like that line a lot. I hope they stay together. Jesse, did you see much of that, some of the highlights and some of the play from that as well? From Montreal one? Yeah. Yeah. What did you think about, did you see the overtime? No, I haven't watched back. Okay. I was curious to hear what you guys thought about Easton there because what he was doing out there reminded me, do you remember last year where, He had the puck in overtime and turned it over in Detroit.

It felt a little like that, but I can see it would have been there, Jesse. If the lines are, if they're stationary and they don't move nyes and everything stays the same, I can see how this Sizzins Paul Cowan line is going to be a factor. Totally can. But I could also see how nyes on it could be a factor too. I'm just saying. I know it's, yeah, it's tricky, right? like nize i mean has what 30 or 40 pounds on on cowan and he's been in the nchel for longer

and he's he's done more in this league he can make that line incredible wouldn't it be great if he helped you know a matth or heart winner 60 goal score um also accomplish that that would be great that would be great um i i totally I understand, again, it shouldn't be this friggin' heart to find a player with all his skill sets, a spot. But, like, I'm not, I'm not comparing Matthew Nyes to this player necessarily, but I said it so many times. Pure Engval, the raw tools he has. Crazy. Are nuts.

Yeah. And size. And he's an incredible shape. He's, he's tall, heavy. I think he has a good shot. He can play center and wing. He, and he's one of the fastest players on the ice. And the worst decision maker I've ever freaking seen.

Yeah. Nyes has to shake some of those habits. I know this was a Cowan conversation. Well, Cowan's got a little bit of that too, but he's young. I'm, I can live with that. I can live with that. And that's another problem I'm having placing the Leafs in the Atlantic. I'd look a couple years into the future and I'm like, yeah, no, I could see this really humming.

Like, Nyes is in there. McKenna's. in there, Cowan's in there. Okay, what about today? Right? Three on three, I know some people just brush it off. People ignore the fact that you need to get through the regular season and you have to make the playoffs. Yeah.

Yeah, well, what about when April comes? We've had that mindset for too long here. Okay, well, now you've got to take a step backward. You have to get to April. So those mistakes at three on three, they add up. They do. They had up bad. Jesse,

what are you looking at over there? No, I just had the weights up. Oh, okay. I was looking up the weights. Sorry, go ahead.

I want to talk about the third line there because I thought the, my favorite part of the third line, and I don't know if you guys agree, that it's going to be a really good defensive line, that Nick Paul and Sizzins can switch back and forth for center. Love that. You have two guys who can play up the middle, and whenever they need whichever kind of guy,

and they're both different-handedness to. Yes. So that's going to be really effective in the faceoff dot. And I think for the last little while for the Leafs, you haven't had a really strong bottom six. Like that's been one of the biggest deficiencies of this team, just a bunch of guys they don't know what to do. With these three,

and that's why I like Cowan down there, I feel like he adds to their skill sets and that they're going to be really good at what they do and Cowan's going to be able to grow into his game with those two guys because of how much of a veteran presence they are and how dynamic they both are as centers, is that we can have a serious shutdown line here. And I'm not scared of deploying Sizzins Paul Cowan

or Paul Sizzins Cowan against a top line in the NHL. If you need to go with that against one of the number one lines around the league, I'm not worried. And I liken it to the way Anaheim used their third line to shut down McDavid. Like that was really cool in the playoffs. I know who knows how healthy Edmonton was at that point, but Anaheim got their number with that third line. And it wasn't a bunch of big names.

It wasn't like you're throwing the top guys out there against them. And maybe the Leafs can bring that dynamic with that third line. And if you know, you're in a situation where you're up a goal, five minutes left and you're not too sure about Cowan necessarily, oh yeah. You could throw any number of guys into that situation and probably come out of it okay,

like friggin, I don't know, Joshua, Bluger, Lawrence, so many options. And I think, like, Cowan's tougher than he appears. Oh, yeah. You know, like, he plays really tough, and I think he's going to fit right in with those guys, and I think they figured something out with that third line.

So I'd like it to stay that way, and if you're going to tinker, I think you're tinkering with the guys in the top six. I hope he embraces being a bastard, because now you play with two enablers. Nick Paul, and Colton Sissons, their job isn't to stick up for the kid,

it's to enable his shithousery. Yeah. That's what the best teams do. Grow into that. Grow into your shithousery. Nick Blankenberg had a couple of crazy blocks, one that you could tell really stung him, but he was okay. He looks good, played almost 25 minutes.

And then Troy Stetcher apparently had, like again, I saw pieces of the game. I did not go back and watch the entire game because I'm not crazy. but Troy Stetcher, at least according to our friends that may believe hot stove, they said of the Blankenberg, Andre Stetcher, fighting for that last spot in the regular lineup, Stetcher had the best game.

Now, the thing with Stetcher is you know that he's going to have really good games and then games where he's just not. And you love Troy Stetcher, you love what he brings. If you brought it consistently, he would be making more money. Can I think? Can I tell you the lines at practice today? Oh, I'll give it to me. So training camp's still going on.

They're back at it today. Shout out Andre Leal at the hockey news, who had the lines from training camp today. The defense parrings. Riley Radish, McCave Tanev, OEL, Stetcher. OEL Stetcher again. Andre Blankenberg.

Just to give you, oh yeah, and then Andre Blankenberg, the two extra. So to add to your Stetcher look good conversation, they clearly liked Stetcher looking good there. The Riley Radish thing. What are doing? I want to see it. Why?

No. No. I want to see what it looks like. No. Okay, I get that. Earn it. Earn it. Not in training camp.

Earn it. No. I'm done. I'm no. We're done. I will say, speaking to earn it, speaking to earn it,

a guy who was in Toronto at the game I was at, Emil Andre. Eh. Yeah, he didn't have a great game. He was kind of there. Eh.

Well, like, if this is what we're doing, right? So like those three guys at the ball, bottom are very obviously 6, 7, 8, and you just don't know what order they're in. So you get Stetcher, Andre Blankenberg.

If Stetcher had the best game of them all, that's represented in the lineup that we're seeing. Blankenberg, well, there's only one spot. And Andre was, I'm sure he's fine, but that's all he was in Toronto. And OEL played well in Montreal. We know that. Yeah. So that's great. Good to have him.

He's going to be key to this roster too. And I know those guys are older, McCabe 10 of Owell. But it is sort of, they are sort of the spine of this roster. They're going to allow a guy like Morgan Riley to flourish next to Darren Radish. It's the oldest 6D in the NHL by average age. Yeah. Neat. Yeah.

Well, and Myrtle also had this fun stat, James Myrtle. Is it fun? Yeah, is it fun? Just any stat, Jason, listen, James, I love you. Are any of your stats fun? I don't think there's, I don't think they're fun. I believe I might mess this up a little with the numbers. but I believe it's they have four of the 40 oldest players in the NHL on the backhand.

Or 40 of the four of the 40 oldest defensemen. One or the other. They're old, I think, was his point. 40's an odd number to be picking out. But, yeah, anyways, they're old. That's a lot of defensemen. They're old. It's only six in every lineup.

It might be the whole league in terms of the total player. But James, James, James, every time James is like, here's a fun stat. I'm like, oh, no. That's a problem. And to give you the other lines, the forward group, if you want them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, please. Nyes, Matthews, Roslavik, McKenna, Tavares, Nielander. That looks like the top six is set.

Paul Sisson's Cowan, then the fun stuff with the bottom, the four, Lorenz, Bluger, Duhame, and then Gruel as the extra. So I want to ask this. I know that they sort of split, you know, they had the top six in Toronto, and they sort of had the bottom six in Montreal. all. I feel like maybe on Wednesday night, especially because I'm doing a stream Wednesday night, and I would really love this. Put the fucking starting lineup in Toronto. I think they're going to do that. Like, why are we playing? I don't know. It's like, it's like, oh, we got Austin Matthews. And we also got

Tinas. Like, no, no, no, put the lineup together. You have a short camp. You better figure it out. I wonder if Tinas just gets sent home. Well, pretty soon he will. But you don't need to send him home now. No. Like, like, he's going back to Sweden. We know that. That's what I'm saying. That's not an install. That's what I'm saying. Have them in the full camp and then send him home when camp's there's not the multiple cutt anymore.

Unless he sticks around in the A. Apparently he's going back. Who is the coach in, was it Florida that got put in the Uber and you're just hanging out? Oh, that was Gerard. Is that what you want with Tina? You want Tina just. Get out of your Tina.

Standing outside waiting for an Uber with his wagon. Get back to that commie Sweden. With this hockey bag, you know. I'm just being a, I'm just, you know, they've centralized.

Edison like us. Got it. I don't know why Steve names. I don't know why Adam hates communism. Yeah. Well, I think the,

I think it's like, I also want to see, I want to see Nick Paul play at home. Yeah. He deserves that before opening night. I don't think any of the guys who made the trip to Montreal

will have to make the trip to Ottawa, but I think they'll send some guys to Ottawa because they, they do. Well, Blankinberg and Andre. Yeah. Steve's favorite Zach McEwan. Oh,

grew can go, right? Like, send those guys. Yeah. I was confused about the, because so they changed the eight veteran minimum rule for the, for the preseason games. I thought that they had gotten rid of it completely, but I think they've just made it easier. So more guys qualify. That it's like, because you can start like five first round picks over the last couple seasons and all those guys would count to the veteran rule. So there's ways that they could play pretty much their entire NHL lineup. We're going to see some names go over at Ottawa. Okay. Yeah.

I don't know. With only two, enough of this, there's four preseason games. No. No, there aren't. There's two. There's two. For the Leafs, at least. Yeah, some teams legit are playing four.

Like around the league, teams don't have the Splitswad games. Yeah. I'll be fascinated to see how that affects everybody, like what ends up being better. Because this strikes me as, like, limiting. Yes. Right? I think you're, so you're going to start game one. having never played your full lineup.

Well, that's why I think they're going to on Wednesday. Yeah, which is like a pretty violent change from here's nine preseason games. Right? Artur Actialamoff, just a big quick shout out to him. Had a pretty good game in Montreal. Sure. And that's great. He's the third guy.

Kind of need him to be good. And he's the goaltender of the future. They got two waiver eligible goalies as they're three and four, which is good. I think it, I would say three goalies are going to get claimed off. waivers. You think so? Yeah. Which ones?

Name them. That is a good question. But like during our previews, we're like, sorry, who is this? Yeah. Who, like, there's a few teams where I'm like, it's literally baked into their strategy where they're like, I don't know, we'll just grab someone. Yep. Right? So at least you're in good shape in that regard.

I hope Brandon DeHame makes good on his don't mess with us kind of play too. Like I need a, I need a guy on the fourth line who we can just love. Like, it's like, you know, there's. There's guys that, you know, capture every team and you're like, not interested. The whole team. Give me the whole team. I know, but I...

I know what you mean. I understand and I agree with you. But what I'm saying is I still hope that we can have a fourth line guy that we're like, hell yeah. Every time he just crush that body, hell yeah. You don't think it's Nick Paul? I think Nick Paul is more as expected of. I just want a guy who's like, he is he the most skilled guy?

No, but I know when he goes out there, he's going to crush some fools and then he's going to play seven minutes. I don't want. want a line to hit the ice and then have the thought of, okay, I'm gonna go make a sandwich. Yeah. Which the least had last year. Four lines of that.

Okay, well, they, I don't think they'll get scored on. They're also not gonna do anything. Anyway, BRB. And yeah, you're scratching, you're scratching Easton Cowan for Calliarm Croke. Yep, that's great. Can't wait. We've talked about it many times.

SDPN's shop runs on Shopify, and it made things very easy for us in the early days and the great thing about it is it continues to do so because Jesse, we talk a lot about how you set things up. But, you know, part of running a business is running it day to day and doing it all the time and making changes and adjusting when things, you know, when the winds change out there in the tariff universe.

With Shopify, it kind of makes things easy, right? Yeah, because I was praised Shopify for the back end and how easy it is to plug and play whatever, like, shipping provider you have, or if your merch done by some third party, Shopify connects with everything on the internet in terms of selling merchandise. So everything is so simple to implement and get ready and get your business going. And you can see our version of it right now at sdpn.com. Literally the shop, it's right there.

You can see what you can do. And you can probably improve on it too. You might be amazing. Shopify is your assistant. And also they have an AI assistant to help you with things. And let's be honest, your goal is to maximize your brand online. Shopify will help you do that. That's right.

Yeah. That's right. Jesse always talks about what a great rear end Shopify has. I'd like to be complimented like that too. Okay, so yes. Oh, I guess I should give you the promo code. Oh, yeah. If you're ready to hear some more Cheching in your life and get your first sale today,

or continue your sale, Shopify.com slash SDK to start your free trial today. That's right. Start your free trial at Shopify.com slash SDK. That's Shopify.com slash SDK. I think you forgot he was doing an ad. I thought it was over. Spotify Ads Manager makes it easy to create your first audio ad in minutes for free. Sign up today, launch a campaign, and start reaching your audience.

Something from the Toronto Sun this weekend, Steve Simmons, you hear a rumor often enough that it eventually becomes true. So I keep hearing that Mark Shapiro will be elevated to a senior position in charge of the Blue Jays, Maple Leafs, Raptors, pushing Keith Pelley to more of a broadcast media-related role with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. And I'm hearing it from people who know things. Shapiro is the chosen one with ownership. Whether he wants the job of this magnitude is anyone's guess.

I have been saying that too. Jesse, how far into the show are we? About just over an hour. Actually? Yeah, we're like over hour five. Leaf Talk is back, baby. Adam, I just want to congratulate you on the restraint it took to save the I'm right fest for an hour in.

Where have you all been hearing this? Where have you all been hearing this? hearing. From the guy to my right, who has been right, but the whole time. Hold on. I'm not right until it actually happens, but he might not want it. That's the rumor. That's the thing. Oh, shut up. Chapiro might want bigger things. Kind of like, like, you know, there was, there was a time when, oh my gosh, why can't I pull his name, former GM of the Raptors and president and Messiah Jerry. They were talking about him being like, oh, you know, will he take an ownership stake. Like, you know, his ambitions are bigger.

Is he going to go work at the UN? Like, that's what they were talking about him like. No, Adam, you're doing this wrong. When someone confirms the thing you've been saying all along, you go, aha. It is correct. Now, wait, though. What position is Keith Pelley allegedly going to be moving towards?

Ahead of more of a media role, because the other thing I've been saying is that they're going to spin off, which means detach the sports media assets from Rogers Communications, also known as R.C., and they're going to put that with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

So the radio stations, if they still exist, because it might just be podcasts at that point, and television assets. And you put that kind of like they did with Madison Square Garden Sports and many other, I think Nesson. Is Nesson not partially owned by the socks? I don't know. But it doesn't matter. The point is have all the sports and the media in the same thing and then have the cable company who's, you know, Then the sports media, it's not about profit anymore. It's about just being a marketing arm of the organization.

And then have your cable and internet business not be dragged down by the diminishing profits of the media business. But our ticket price is going up. Yes. Damn it. Because remember, Jesse, to take this phone from my left pocket and then put it in my right pocket, which is essentially what they'd be doing, that also costs money on paper. And therefore, they will pass the savings, in this case, the interest onto you. And there's no savings. It's just how much money it costs.

The reason I asked, Adam, is, you know, world's bleak. I don't know if you know this, but a lot of people are concerned about a lot of different things. Not the Leaf's third line. They're not. And one of them is about just how much the press lies. Oh, is that right? And the media lies. Yeah.

Well, like that witch hunt at that John. on Chaka Press conference where Keith Pelly somehow made himself the main character. And people don't forget that. The lying press. Is that what he did? Oh, yeah. I guess he kind of did do that. You know how bad my memory is.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, when he was like, oh, CJ is lying about his reporting about me using AI. You don't remember that? Well, and like, you know, people. And then he's like, ah, well, we kind of did. Okay. Yeah, but people also made the point that Keith Pelly is, former media executive himself, which is just, you know, true and you can Google it.

But I think him taking a media position for the first time would be great because maybe they'll all stop lying and being lying liars. You know what's funny about that is that Keith Pelly would essentially find himself, if that happens, in the same position he was in 15 years ago when he was running Rogers Media. Yes. And they signed the NHL deal. I think you'll be pretty happy. Yeah.

Listen, you will be well compensated. If you were making $100,000 a month, you don't care. How are you unhappy? Unless you're Aaron Rogers. Or Connor Hellabuck. Ah, true.

Well, he's not making hundreds of thousands a month as of the start of the season. Nobody was. He was. He was. He was. He was. He was happy.

Yeah. Giving it up, hopefully, maybe. We'll see. I want to talk about next, the Columbus Blue Jackets. You guys might have noticed there was a fight between Miles Wood and Erica Branson in practice.

Normally that's a good thing. Normally you want that. But given the fact that we are now on day five or six of Adam Fantilli's absence from training camp, remember we started, I think it was Monday show or Tuesday or was it Wednesday show. It doesn't matter whenever the media stuff happened. And Don Waddell was like, yeah, I'm going to send something over his camp, you know, in the next 24 hours, whatever. Well, apparently the camp, based on just the results of him not signing, didn't like what they sent over. And Columbus are now limited. And I say they're limited because what Anaheim was.

were able to do with Cutter Goce after a really shitty summer, let's be honest for Pat Forbeek. Pat for Beak did really good. They said, let's give you tons of bonuses. Let's bring the AAV down and let's do this before the new contract rules kick in. So they get him at 13 and a half when everybody, we kind of thought 14, 15, right? It was a, it was a victory. I'm willing to call it a victory.

Columbus can't do that now. And what's making it harder is that Karel Marchenko is saying, like they were asking him I think it was Mark Shag that had the video and it was like you know are you going to play here and he's like

I'm going to play hard and you know Oh yeah and context matters and I think you can't even make the Kril Marchenko trade until you know

what Adam Fantilli's number is and because like what was what Fried was talking about on 32 thoughts was like wait a second if you make a Marchenko trade you're expecting

multiple assets back which means the money he makes, which I think is close to 3.85, the money he makes is probably less than what they're bringing back. So if you don't know what Fantilli is getting paid, you can't really make that deal because you don't really know how much space you're going to have and you can't cap yourself out.

Oh my God. It's a nightmare, dude. I will say this. The Gibranson would fight from practice is nothing. Oh, yeah, nothing. But I just think... Have you never heard of Eric Good Branson? or Miles Wood

or Miles Wood but especially Erica Branson who's been 40 years old for the past 20 years and third overall pick Eric Branson who notoriously like you think he's afraid

to go at it with the teammate this guy supposedly the rumor goes I don't know if it was ever confirmed back in junior friggin got into it with Doug Gilmore oh because he was at front now

they were with the front knacks and supposedly got Dougie's face as like a teenager. This guy has always been red missed, the Matt Martin stuff and friggin getting, he was the guy who got spat on

by Garnett Hathaway who spat on a guy. And I'm never going to ever let anyone forget that Garnett Hathaway spat on a guy. Anyway. Brad Martin liked a guy. What's the difference? He should, a lot.

Volume. Volume. Volume. Got it. Yeah. So like, I don't know, practice fights happen all the time. Yeah, it does suck that it happened to be in Columbus if you're a Blue Jackets fan, but whatever. Don Wattell, like in terms of what does he do next? Let me ask a question. We as fans want to see a resolution here.

Well, like fans of the sport. Sure. I want to see Adam Fantilly playing hockey. Blue Jackets fans want to see a resolution here also. What I was going to ask is, is the better thing to do to wait? But I don't think it is. Carolina can afford to wait on Niketian because Niketian is like a third pairing D for them.

Columbus, if they expect to be relevant this season, cannot wait to sign Adam Fantilli. They're going to suck. You are going to stink without this player. He's your number one center. It's like, you know, Detroit, okay, Dylan Larkin asked out, but at least he's showing up in report. That's your number one center.

If you have any hope of being relevant at all this season, you need to have someone in your employee who is a number one center. Maybe you can trade him and get one back. I know, I know. That's not what I expect to happen either. You got to have one. You know, Marchenko is there. There's no fire there.

You should maybe get on it. It doesn't sound like he's staying. You might as well recruit something for this player. But he is very much there. Mm-hmm. Adam Van Tilly's not there. That's a massive problem. And I think they're approaching screwed.

They're not screwed yet. You miss training camp. You are behind. There's nothing you can do to get around that. And I know he's a young player and I know he's phenomenal. I get all that. How about this, Steve? You have your number one center,

but it takes them the month to catch up. Yeah. Put you behind the eight ball. Also bad. Like, you know, I'm tempted to say something like they're on the verge of like coming out of the gate bad. The more we do this show, the more we talk about hockey,

the more seasons that pass. The gate, I think, opens two weeks before the season does. You know what I mean? How many teams have a completely disastrous camp and they're able to recover from it right away? The regular season begins and don't worry about it, everything's fine.

It's rare. You can have problems, but like it's not, if it's a disaster, it's different. When you can galvanize a group, like John Tortorella for all his faults, galvanizes a group. It was brilliant that Vegas did that. They're like, you know what? We're mid anyway. Let's bring together the ultimate FU, us against the world guy and see how long we can ride it. They almost wrote it all the way to a cup.

Yep. Columbus has a 72-year-old calling them fat. I don't think it's going to work I was going to get to that It's like at a certain point Jesse If a 72 year old yells at you for being out of shape

Do you care You've already showed up to camp out of shape You're talking about Rick Bonas Yeah Or 73 now Columbus Blue Jackets I think this is He's not a Rick Bonus

Is not a tough guy anymore He's an old guy Right You want to be wisdom guy at this point But I don't think it's specifically About him talking about people's shapes And how well in shape they are Whatever

I think this is the way he coaches, right? This is his style of coaching still in 26 where it's like, I'm going to try and get you motivated by yelling about these things. So it's a matter of, do you think that works to get the guys to play at the top of their game? It's a weird skill with so many little intricacies and idiosyncrasies. And I don't know if he does it well. I don't know if he does it in a way that makes people go, yeah, I'm going to play for Rick.

Yeah. Because one of the first. One thing I've always think works and there's so much proof that it works is change for the change for NHL coaches because guys tune guys out and Rick Bonas is going in there

it worked. It did. They didn't tune them out. They listened to what he was saying. So like all these things that he's yelling about now in preseason, they were on board

during the regular season. They got them motivated and everything. Is that going to run its course very quickly this year in Columbus? Or is it going to continue how it worked last season when they were in playoff contention

or are we going to go halfway through this year and everybody's tuned him out already. Like, let's do a time machine with the Columbus Blue Jackets. So the final month of the regular season, you take a massive dump. You were right in there. You were right in the mix, and you just took just a big old stinky-ducky. You end your season with your coach, tearing a strip off you in the media, the whole team.

You lose your captain. Boone Jenner just left. and now he's on the fourth line in Washington, which is nuts. But like, that's a big deal. Camp starts. Fantilli's not there. Marchenko is like in a cutesy way being like, eh, please get me out of here.

I hate this. There was all the Werenzky stuff, which I guess we'll call water under the bridge for now. And Rick Bonas starts campies up to the same tricks. So what are you getting at? They're going to be bad. What I'm getting at is this isn't looking good. What I'm getting at is I think...

You can't yell this team into being successful. You can galvanize a group that's weak on paper into being bigger than some of their parts. Yep. We see it in hockey all of the time. When you can't galvanize them, you get Vancouver from last year. Right. I wonder if they hitch their wagon to the wrong guy. I wonder if you got a really good magical run with bonus

and bringing him back might have been the wrong decision. And which part of the Columbus history are we speaking about tethered to the wrong thing? A lot of it. That is their history. That's the name of the game in Columbus, unfortunately. And listen, maybe they get out to a hot start and Cam Talbot is avesna guy and maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe.

Not likely though. Like Cam Talbot, bro. Well, I guess they couldn't land Connor Hellebuck for whatever they, offered for him because I do think that they were in him at one point. Do you hear what you just said? Oh, we didn't get Connor Hellbuck. Let's get Cam Talbot right before camp. That's the most Columbus Blue Jacket shit I've ever heard.

We can't get Connor Hellbuck so we're going to get like a near 40 year old. A little bit of an oversimplification. I know. That was the one for one. But it is the result. I know it is the result. Yeah, but like exactly. Like it doesn't matter.

That's what they're with. That's what they have. Cam Talbot is capable of giving you crazy stretches. But last year in Detroit, the body of work was, oh, it might be over. Maybe it's not. Maybe, though. We'll see. I think they're going to struggle.

Also, Jetgreaves has got to be the guy that takes the step forward there too, right? The guy who takes a step forward and stops 50 shots a night? Well, yeah. Yeah. No one does that. he might be the it'd be like Dustin Wolf a couple years ago

where it was like the flames are the flames but Dustin Wolf might drag them within a point of the playoffs which he still missed which he did well the magical run Jesse's talking about

with Rick Bonas they missed too that's how magical it was it was so magical they didn't play a playoff I guess what I'm asking is what is the best case scenario here that's the ceiling of this

hence why I brought it up everything goes right everything goes right what does that look like? And how many hurdles do we got to jump over to get there? Jet Greaves is a top 10 goalie in the NHL. All right, we'll start there. These are all hypotheticals, by the way.

So he's got to be a top 10 goalie in the NHL. Zach Werenski is nominated for and or wins the Norris. Which is completely expected, by the way. He won it last year. So you'd have to say if everything goes right, he wins it again. Yeah. He wins it again. Adam Fantilli signs and is better than he was with 59 points last year.

So I think, by the way, I think Fantilli, because he's a center, couldn't get a number comparable to Cutter Gochase because I think Gochay's AV is down because of the bonuses. You know, Goce dropped 40, so that's a little different, but he's not a center. And he, and I would say if I was Fantilli's agent, I'd be like, yeah, but he's got Leo Carlson next to him. In this scenario, we're the Leo Carlson. And until he's the Leo Carlson. Right. So actually that number's got to be right up there with Goce, even though he hasn't dropped 40.

He will. And isn't a center. And isn't a center. Okay. Cylinger needs to take an enormous leap. Kent Johnson needs to take an enormous leap. He's going to get opportunities. Someone else is going to have to take a step into the lineup.

And Charlie Coyle reminds you why you got him. And boy, a lot of things need to go. wrong for them to even come close. Right. Go right. A lot of things need to go right. You said a lot of things need to go wrong for them to come close. Oh.

I was like, left? No, a lot of things need to go right. A lot of things need to go right. That's right. Yeah. In order for them to even sniff relevance in the Metro division, I think that division's gotten much better. It's going to be really hard to make the playoffs in the East and in the Metro.

You got the Atlantic is ridiculous. You hope all those teams take points away from each other. but then like Washington looks really good. New Jersey looks really good. Pittsburgh made it last year. Philly made it last year. Carolina are the defending Stanley Cup champions. Islanders,

you're going to have to deal with second year Matt Schaefer and now it's the Rangers and you. Ugh, man. Yeah. I'm looking forward to a non-depressing conversation about the Columbus Blue Jackets. You know what I mean? Yep.

It's always hard. There's always, whenever you talk about the Blue Jackets, and excuse me, Blue Jackets fans, it's not anything personal, it feels heavy. And that's outside of the tragedy that hit the team a couple of years ago.

Of course it's outside. We're just talking about like roster, even when the, like, hey, we got 23 year old 40-something goal score Patrick Linae. And I always go back to this. We got them. This is awesome. Finally a goal score.

We lost Pinar and but we got Line. So how do we set them up for six? success, play him at fucking center. Top center. Yeah, not even like second line center. Top center. We're going to put them up against Patrice Bergeron. How do you think that'll go?

Just an absolute, and by the way, the guy that's the GM in Buffalo right now did that. And I know everybody loves Yarmo, but I'm just saying, I've got questions. And this is why I keep going back to ownership. Like no one goes, hey, what are we doing? What are we, who told you that was the move? Who told you that was smart? I hope they watch. Who told you that was, no.

Adam, they don't even have the cable package. Like, what are you talking about? There's no way they do. Like, I mean, cable is really expensive, even for billionaires. I will say this and this is like, you know, we saw this past year. Like, there's a lot of luck involved here. Like one thing Red Wings fans complain about year in and year out is like, yeah, rebuilds real hard when you don't win the lottery.

And they've done, they've nailed some picks way up at the top there. Lucas Raymond. Oh, dynamite. Cider. Mose cider, dynamite pick. Boy, a first overall pick at some point in that equation really would have tied the room together. The Blue Jackets are in like need to win the lottery territory in order to dig their way out of this. I think what would have helped Detroit's rebuild along too is if they'd nailed a fifth overall pick that turned into Zadena.

Sixth. Oh, six. Okay. Come on. Cut them some stuff. Yeah. Like you can get great players there. You can't tell me you can't.

You can. But who went first that year? Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? Made it! Part of the Beast is the must-see adventure of the year. It's just you and me, boy.

One of the most extraordinary on-screen bond you'll ever see. I'll get you home. Brad Pitt. Part of the Beast. September 25th. Get tickets now. Now, I want to move on to a story here because I want to do this before we run out of time. I sent this through to the group chat today, and you always know that you always know that.

you've hit a live one when a bunch of people respond to it. Sometimes I send stuff in, nobody responds. I'm like, okay, well, I'm going to go home and feel terrible. This one drew some people. Now, again, this is an interview with McDavid. This happened a few weeks ago, 32 thoughts. And it's a Russia Machine Never Breaks article that really points this out. And I want to shout those guys out because they're great.

And the title says, Connor McDavid says he will step in if head coach Mike Babcock crosses any lines. in the Oilers Lockroom. The quote is exactly this. Babs is there to be Babs and to coach the way he sees fit, McDavid said. We're also a team

and teammates who care about each other. If there's an area or a place where we have to step in, of course we're going to do that. But we would do that with any coach. It doesn't matter who it is. Yeah, that's, I think that's nonsense. I think that.

Now, there are a lot of smart hockey people who think this is crazy enough to work, this will work because McDavid and Drysidal are two of the best players in the game and they have more power than Babs does. To be clear, I'm one of those people. I'm one of those people that could easily see

Mike Babcock behind the bench with McDavid and Drysiddle and Company and they win a cup. I can see it. I'm not saying the Oilers are bad and I'm not saying McDavid's bad. I am saying I don't believe him. And maybe that's unfair. but what evidence is there that Babcock has ever shown any remorse for anything he's ever done in his coaching career?

For the most part, it doesn't sound like he's done anything wrong. Even with the Johann Franzen stuff, he's like, oh, well, you know, if I made anyone feel bad or whatever. Not like, sorry about that and I called him and I apologized or any of that. He did, I think there was something about him trying to call, but Franson doesn't want to fucking. can hear from him, right? And that's his prerogative. The Columbus stuff, he's like, well, you know, they did an investigation and I was cleared and whatever. Now I'm here in Edmonton. Like there in, and in Toronto, there was the like, forget the Marner stuff. Before that, it was, it was guys, I want to say it was like Peter Holland. He basically threw like a subliminal at where he's like,

well, some guys thought they could play and then they discovered they couldn't play. You know, it was either him or Livo or Carrado or I can't remember. Um, and, you know, none of those things that we mentioned, maybe aside from Franzon, are like mortal sins as a coach. But like if Babs is going to be Babs, okay. So if Babs is going to be Babs, that is going to require you to step in a lot. And I also want you to put yourself in the position of one of those players who's getting picked on, which we know are typically at the bottom of the lineup.

I'm let's not put a name on it. I'm a fourth liner and maybe I don't even play every night. Maybe I'm the team's 12th or 13th forward. Do I feel like I have the agency to go to, so let's let's walk through this. So my coach is picking on me. I'm now going to go complain to the best hockey player on the planet and he's going to relay that message to his coach and that's going to work out well for me. it's like going to HR it never works out

yeah yeah HR is not your friend and all of a sudden you got a meeting schedule for Monday morning yeah and a man in a suit standing ominously

by your desk like it's lovely for McDavid to say that it's great for McDavid well hockey and professional sports are full of men who talk about

why I oughta and things would have been differently if I was there without ever having to actually back that up. I think too, when you relay that to Mike Babcock, the way Mike's mind works in my opinion, is he goes, okay, well, that player is soft and they'll just never play again.

Yeah. You can't handle it, then you're soft. And Jesse, to bring it on this one, you know, Steve set up a scenario there where it's like a fringe player and it's not about playing time. It's about how he is true. How Mike tries to push buttons, right? As we know, that's the issue with Mike Babcock.

Nobody said he's not smart. I don't think it is about pushing buttons. It's like so many stories I've heard is it's him just being an asshole. But Jesse, forget that for, like forget that all that part for a second, that he's an asshole. Jesse, take Steve's scenario and add this extra part to it because this is the part that I was thinking about. Okay, so they are one game away from the Stanley Cup final and something bad happens. And that would be the time where a star player needs to step in. is the star player going to step in or are they just going to be like well that's too bad but i got to

focus on tonight's game what did you want macdavit to say i feel like it's his decision though that's fair that's his decision hey so connor if badcock crosses a line with one of the players what are you going to do i'm just going to sit back and relax i'm going to go sip a coffee with dry sidle and have a good day like no he said the right thing now whether that happens or not I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen in that locker room. I'm not there. But I feel like McDavid said exactly what he should in that moment.

And if you want to take what he's saying at face value, that's up to you. We talk about in press conferences all the time. Coaches and players, they can go to a podium. They can lie. They can be on a microphone. They can lie because they're not under oath. But I think he said the correct thing. And that's, I'm going to defend my teammates.

I'm going to step in if there is any line crossing. That's valid. That's definitely valid. I just don't believe him at all. Like, let's say McDavid has to step in. And let's say, because he has to step in, the Oilers fire Mike Babcock. Like, this is one of the scenarios that was laid out in front of us when we were talking about this this morning.

So the oilers fire Mike Babcock and McDavid is the one who had to save the day. You know who looks like a complete donkey in this scenario? Connor McDavid. Because he advocated for Babcock to be head coach. Yeah. All you're doing is cleaning up the mess that you created. which I don't know maybe that's life

maybe life is trying shit and it doesn't work out and you try it again and you clean it up and you try it again maybe that's life that is life 100% life and by the way Connor McDavid will be fine Connor McDavid will be fine

I don't think Babcock is going to sink or Connor McDavid's career like I think Connor McDavid at the end of this will be Connor McDavid McDavid could score I'm not making this number up Connor McDavid could score 150 points this season and I wouldn't bat an eye.

If I'm not mistaken, that wouldn't even be his highest scoring season. No, probably not. Like I, you know, he's incredible. I just, I don't know, I don't take that quote at face value at all and nor should any grown up. But I think he said the right thing. Sure. Yeah.

Now, I got to ask you guys, did you see the clip about Mike Babcock talking about Ike Howard? Ike Howard, by the way, who pushed his way out of Tampa because he was worried he would get buried. He was a Hobie Baker winner. and he's gone to Edmonton, didn't establish himself last year, and Babbs said in the press conference, yeah, I didn't really like his game.

Now, he did go on to say, well, you know, there's some more opportunity. And that's Babcock saying the right thing. He's like, well, you know, he knows he wasn't happy with himself and this and that and that. It's just, from my experience, watching the last time Babcock was behind an NHL bench

and not fired before the first game of the season. Yeah, he says stuff like that. told you when he was hired. He's charming. He's a charming guy on the... Of course. Yeah, yeah. No. That's why... Listen, man, I fell hook, line, and sinker for all his stuff. I thought he was awesome. And then all the stuff came out and it was like, you know, towards the end it got stale.

Like, towards the end, you could tell he was actively working against management. And actively starting the wrong players and actively kind of throwing... It felt like he was throwing games. It was like, this is so stupid. It started to feel that way. And it was just a pissing match between him and Dubus, which you know, four and a half years in, okay, he gave it a good run. But then you find out all the other stuff that was going on along the way. And, you know, one thing I will never forgive him for is Zach Heiman was playing on half a knee. And he's like, well, we have no centerman on this roster that could possibly take a face off against Patrice Bergeron in the playoffs.

So I'm going to make Zach Heimann on half a knee do it. Anyway, good luck. Who's a winger? Yeah, good luck. And who was one of his biggest advocates to get him to Edmonton? Yep. Jesse, go ahead. It was Zach, right?

Here's the clip. Babcock on Icower. I think how shout out the bleed oil blue for clipping this. He's had a real good camp. I didn't like him as much tonight, but what I would say with him is, is let's not judge him, let's just, I could just tell when he was walking around, he wasn't very happy. So he knows, so he'll be better, but his work ethic, his determination, his check it back, has been way better. you know that line of all our lines struggled

I think how I didn't think that was so bad no but like Babcock has not missed a beat like that's that's him that's prime Babcock totally absolutely him and he used to say that shit all the time

I think it was it was surprising to us maybe when the Marner stuff came out and Red Wings fans were like maybe you'll listen next time right no I told you he's charming That's a charming quote.

I don't think people understand what that word means. Because I called Brady Kachuk charming, and people were like Brady Kachuk. Listen, people like him. That's what charming. He can't charge as much as his older brother at autograph signings, but people still like him, right? There's a reason he's in so many ads and everything. I don't like a lot of the things he says or believes in,

but he can be charming. Babcock, on the mic, he makes you forget why you ever were hesitant. That's a perfect quote about a young player, fringe player in this lineup. But he's rarely gotten in trouble for the stuff he says on the mic. Yep. Or ever. Or ever.

I'm trying to think of one. I think the only bad quotes I can really remember is when they traded for Jake Muzzen and he was pissed off that it wasn't a right shot. And then there was another one. Cool. There was another one that had just kind of fallen out of my head. But anyway, you're right, Jesse. What is McDavid supposed to say? It'll be down to what they do.

And by the way, they'll probably be in the finals. I feel like it's going to be a Florida Edmonton final again. I just feel like we need a third. Their current tandem is Jari Levi. Yeah, that doesn't have to stay that way. Sam Steele has signed an extension with Dallas. Sam Steele, who had 33 points in 73 games last year, including 12 goals.

How much money is Sam Steele making? How old is he again? Sam Steele is a 28-year-old. His pick was traded, I believe, to Anaheim in the Freddie Anderson deal. I think. I think that was that trade. Yeah, I think you might be right. How many years?

It's a four-year deal. So I'll take him 28 to 32. I got a guess. Steve, what's yours? Four times four. I was going to say four times five. Four times three point seven. Oh, hey.

Fucking did it. That's, that's, hey, listen, I, though I do look at that and I go, okay, we did okay in our bottom six. We signed UFA guys that were like that. That's okay. Yeah, that's a like, that's fourth line money in new NHL. Yeah. Now, I think that kicks in after this year. Yeah.

I think that kicks in after this year. I still think he was under contract, but they just, it's an extension. Still. Gave him some cost certainty. It's interesting seeing the, um, some of the bottom six guys get longer deals at lower Aavs, like Tim Washie, uh, who I love, love that guy. he's not Washy he got a four-year deal too and I think deservedly so

at 2.2 million the ducks needed that real bad yeah they're gonna miss VL a lot this year and Walsh it was a guy that I'm like keep that guy you have to lost VL too yeah VL man they traded VL for Greer essentially

and I feel like they should have held on to VL not that I don't like AJ Greer but VL was a guy you had so they added Greer lost VL and most of their decor. Yeah. Seems bad. Well, we'll see.

But they did the fancy flippy doodles yesterday. They did do the fancy flippy doodles. Now, last thing before we go, because I know we're running a little bit low on time here, the Board of Governors starts tomorrow. And I believe Chris Johnson will have more on this. But the conversation has been about expansion. And it's so funny because you know,

you've got insiders that are really, really obviously close with a lot of the people at the top. And, you know, a little bit of what Fridge was saying today was that I guess he compared it to Vegas where a lot of people, remember Vegas held that thing that season ticket drive to basically prove that people would actually go to the games in Vegas? They didn't, they wanted a local fan base, remember? And like 12,000 people showed up overnight. It was amazing. Essentially, there is, there was a lot of resistance to Vegas. And what Fridge was talking about was there's even more.

resistance to some of these markets, Atlanta and either Houston, Austin. People forget that the NHL was first to Vegas. Yes. No, none of the other four leagues had tried going to Vegas and putting a pro sports team there. And they did it and they hit it out of the park. Yeah. But the Vegas before that had a reputation. It was Vegas and what we all know about it.

And it wasn't that they could cultivate a local fan base that'll care about this, whether or not they get the sponsors is, I think, immaterial to a lot of people how they looked at it because it's going to be like, they won't have a fan base. How can they sustain this if they don't have a fan base? And Vegas flipped it 180 and proved everybody wrong. They have one of the best fan bases of a local fan base. Yep. And that's what the NHL's legacy is there in Vegas. So I understand why people go into these markets and are like, are we sure? Because that was the idea going into Vegas. It wasn't a home run. And the thing about Vegas, I think, helps make it a home run, Jesse, is they were the first.

Exactly. And in Atlanta, you're like, you've got a very deep Braves team, deep in history, that is. Season to season teams go up and down. You've got the Hawks, you've got the Falcons. You know, Atlanta sports is a little bit outside of baseball,

a little up and down, more down than up. But that has been tried before. It has been tried. Atlanta's a two-time failed market. Like, that has to be in the back of your mind when you're one of these leaders in the NHL trying to put a team there. And Vegas, too, like the other upper hand, when I was down there for a game, some of the locals were saying they mean even more to the community

because they're not the Raiders who came from Oakland or the athletics that are coming over from Oakland as well in slash San Francisco. And same with the WMBA team, the Aces. They're true expansion teams where we're the first. We're not taking somebody else's product. So there is that part of it for Houston and Atlanta. Atlanta, but it's still the Atlanta market specifically. You've tried that before.

And the Raiders were really only there because they thought they could make more money. It's not because of some loyalty to the market where Bill Foley was like, no, Vegas, Vegas, Vegas, Vegas, it can work here. It's the way you describe Vegas, Jesse, makes me wonder about Austin. Like Houston's, you know, not full, but they have teams. They have things. They have stuff. They have lots of pro sports teams. I don't, what does Austin have?

Austin doesn't have, they've got the, first off, they've got an insane racetrack. And you might laugh at that, but 400,000 people go to the F1 race there. Great. It's like, so they're, they're an insane sports. The thing with Austin, I think, is the exact same thing they're thinking with Vegas. I think you're onto something, whereas they don't really have that. But Houston is a top six, seven market in television in the States. Five, I believe.

Okay, is even five then. That's even more important to your next television deal, which is coming up. very quickly, by the way, in the States. And in Canada, it's, you know, we signed only 12-year deals because everybody likes the, hey, we guarantee this money for a long time. In the States, because of the NFL walking around and going, we're going to trigger all of our out clauses and all of you have to pay us more money, which is what they're doing right now. The, um, and the only network to turn them down on that is Fox. Fox has said, no, we're just going to keep it the way it is. Thanks very much. The, I do think the NHL really has to weigh that against. Are you going to be,

a gate-driven league, which is what they are, or are you going to be a sponsorship-driven league, which is where the money is? Right? Yeah, $5 million a game in gate. Absolutely, that's incredible, fantastic. That's the average amount of money. But take $5 million, multiply it by $42.

Is that enough? No, you've got to get sponsorships in there. And any major league that gets into the $5, $10 billion range in franchise value, which we're seeing in the NBA and the NFL, they are the major drivers of revenue in those leagues is sponsorship. And I think you need Houston for that. Television rights. Television rights, yes, absolutely.

Not sponsorship. Well, that's what I mean, though. I think you got to be specific about like the television rights that the cable networks are paying to these leagues is the revenue. Right. That the other leagues make and the NHL isn't in the same boat. The NHL is a, hey, people show up at the arena league, which is not good enough. Allow me to be ignorant for a sec.

but you see how close together a lot of the teams are in this league, like especially in the northeast. Does the Dallas-Austin-Huston kind of triangle, sort of a triangle? Does that have the population to have a team in each city at some point? I think it's Houston or Austin. But Dallas and Houston or Dallas and Austin, absolutely. There's a lot of people in Texas.

And there's a lot of money in Texas, a lot of money. Yeah, they're all something like a three and a half hour drive apart. Yeah. They're big. Hockey's thriving in Texas. Well, you've got two major NFL teams. You've got the, you know, the Texans and the, and the Cowboys. It's two in each of the other leagues.

Yeah. There's two basketball teams, two baseball teams, two football teams. I think like it's weird that the NHL isn't in Houston. Yeah. In terms of just the market size for a television viewing audience. audience. Like you said, top five in the, in North America. That should have been like something the NHL did 20 years ago when they're doing the South expansion. So it makes sense to do Houston from strictly numbers standpoint. But Austin would be cool just to be the thing in town. There's,

there is something to being, hey, there's nothing else here. We are the thing here. Yeah. I agree with you. I agree with you. I don't know. I think they have, it's not like slam dunk. But I think if you're going to try, if their true goal is to one day get into Mexico City, then I think Houston's the answer. Because it's right on the border. And you need to have. Look at us. That's what I think.

Look at us debating all these factors. It's going to the highest bidder, guys. Yeah. Whoever's got the most money. What are we doing? It's going to the highest bidder. But I say it's not slam dunk in like picking Houston or Austin. Right.

But like is Gary going to pick the city and then tell the highest bidder they have to put it in one of those cities. Well, that's what Gary would like to do. There's no question about that. Does Gary want to be in Houston? Do you want to be in Austin? Hockey Hall of Famer, Gary, Benham. Yes.

G.B. Hockey Hall of Famer. Does he want to be in Houston or Austin? And is Atlanta set in stone? Can we do better? You know? I think Atlanta, I'm, by the way,

I'm somebody that thinks that Atlanta's going to work. I'm pro Atlanta. But you have to go into these Board of Governors' meetings with probably half the NHL going, hey, wait a second, though. There is history here, which is like what all the fan bases are saying to. You know, every couple months we hear about Gary Betman retiring before he doesn't retire. And I just wonder about Atlanta for his career being a loose end, you know, tying up a loose end. Oh, because it's one of his biggest failures.

Of course. Yeah. Yeah. For sure, Steve. Like that has to be a bit of a motivator. It has to be. No question. It's also a top 10 TV market as well.

And it's, oh, you can easily justify it, right? I think you're right. I think you're 100% on to something there. Legacy is apparently, reportedly, very important to Gary. And, you know, where he leaves this business. Why? He's already in the whole. Yeah.

Well, he has transformed the business in good ways and in not. And, you know, is making it a very attractive investment to people. who have the money. So, and I think, here's the other thing is that there will be this conversation that I think certain people put forward out of the board of governors like, well, there's a lot of debate about, you know, do they have the stars? The NHL believes, by the way, that they do, that they have enough star power. Oh, but is the market going to work? When you dangle $50 million dollars an owner in a $50 million check for doing nothing, because that's what they're all going to get, 30 to 50 million for both of these franchises.

That's 50 million or 30 million times two. They're going to go, yeah, yeah, sure. Oh, it doesn't work. That's tomorrow's a problem. I don't care. And by the way, a franchise failing takes like 10 years to fail anyway. So I might not even own this team at that point. Who cares?

Yeah, I already got my check. For now, I got a toy. Exactly. Jonathan Brigh on North American television audiences, by the way. I would love to. Thank you. Top five, Houston. It's six.

It goes New York, L.A. Chicago, actually this is just America. America TV markets. Yep. Not North America. New York, L.A., Chicago, Dallas, Philly, Houston, Atlanta. That's the top second. Top to stop. Top seven. I can't talk today.

Dallas, Fort Worth being bigger than Houston is, again, I don't know the geography of Texas. Oh, no. Dallas is huge. The other, the rest of the top 10 is Washington, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose. They combine at 9. And then Boston, Manchester.

or number 10. Oh dear. I don't see Austin. Austin is 34. Yeah. Austin's 34 right around Kansas City. Hartford, Columbus is 35. Cincinnati is 37.

Vegas is 40. There you go. Yeah, and like Columbus is up there, right? It's all about what's happening in the market too. Like what is the city, you know, what is it there for? You know, why was it established? What drives its money? All that stuff.

I think Pittsburgh would be, what, 50? I just saw Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh's 27. Oh, they're actually bigger. Okay. Yeah. Pittsburgh's 27, Salt Lake City's 28, Baltimore's 29. Yeah. So it's not that it can't work. Oh, yeah. But there's people. There's television eyeballs.

Yeah. I don't know. I'd love to know if any of our listeners are from Houston what they think. Or Austin. But I think Houston more. Because the fact that Houston isn't a slam dunk with how big it is, my question to that is why. Right. In Houston, are they building a new stadium? because where the Rockets play, I believe they can't play hockey there. Or it's like a wonky setup,

like how Salt Lake City was or Utah is. That I don't know. I think they're getting a new stadium. They have room in downtown Houston. I don't know if you've ever seen an aerial shot of downtown Houston, but it's like Toronto used to be and it's just a bunch of parking lots.

There's like big room, like everybody, everybody parks. So they have room. Like we did 20 years ago, Toronto was all parking lots. I've seen those memes like the European mind cannot comprehend and it's just parking lots.

Parking lots and plazas as far as the... That makes you prime for development. The next plaza you have to drive. And your shoes will melt. Yeah. I don't know, but I do think that makes a city prime for development because I think we've gotten away from the parking lot model most of the time in North America. Plant a tree.

Or planting a tree as well. Mix in a tree. Yeah, yeah, mix it a tree too. Hawaii. Hey, all right. Hey, live stream tomorrow. Yes. Princess Margaret.

7 to 9. SCPN YouTube channel and then Wednesday I'll be back to do the Senators Leaves game. I know it's a split squad, but whatever game Gavin McKen is in, that's the one we're doing. Jack McHugh and I got my eye on you. The Steve Dangle podcast. Follow the guys on Twitter at Steve underscore Dangle at Adam W Y LDE and at Jesse Blake. Connection complete.