The Steve Dangle Podcast - He Would Know | October 11, 2022

Episode Date: October 12, 2022

On this episode of The Steve Dangle Podcast, the NHL season begins tonight! (00:00), Scott Smith and the Hockey Canada Board step down (03:00), Vancouver vs Seattle (11:00), You Can Bet That with Sports Interaction (19:00), Nick Robertson doesn't make the Toronto Maple Leafs (25:00), figuring out the Leafs lineup (30:00), what are we most excited for this season? (39:00), Drew starts today! (50:00), the newest Agent Provocateur is a must listen (59:00), Akim Aliu and Wayne Simmonds fire back at Steve Simmons (1:04:00), announcements are coming! (1:29:00), if a season begins in Europe does it really begin? (1:32:00), the Flames dressing room is a joke ( 1:38:00) and Jagr is finally done (1:47:00). Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/1BxJBVMqV-w Originally aired: October 11, 2022 Visit https://sdpn.ca for merch and more. We've joined The Athletic and you can too! Hit the link to subscribe: https://theathletic.com/sdp Any opinion expressed is not advice, a promise or suggestion that increases the chance of winning. Gambling can be addictive, please play responsibly. To learn more, visit: https://help.sportsinteraction.com/hc/en-us/articles/216779528-Responsible-Gaming-Self-Limitation-Self-Exclusion Or if you have concerns about a gambling problem, call ConnexOntario 1-866-531-2600. Ontario Only. Must be 19+ or older to play. Visit this episode's sponsors: Get 20% off + free shipping with the code DANGLE at https://Manscaped.com/. That’s 20% off + free shipping with the code DANGLE at manscaped.com. It’s time to get wet and clean with your new MANSCAPED™ Shower Routine." https://sportsinteraction.com/sdpn https://athleticgreens.com/sdp https://betterhelp.com/sdp https://mintmobile.com/sdp Follow us on Twitter:@Steve_Dangle, @AdamWylde, & @JesseBlake Follow us on Instagram:@SteveDangle, @AdamWylde, & @Jesse.Blake Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

jesse steve you've been looking after them uh my family have you been looking after them of course i have been jesse you've been looking after them i have how is that with the three with 4.0 what are we on now the manscape package 4.0 performance package 4.0 a different family i'm gonna ask for the five it's that we're talking about the creator of your family partially anyway this show is presented by manscape go to manscape.com slash dangle to receive 20 off your next purchase two and five canadians will hear the words you have cancer that's why every step and dollar raised matters on september 19th join thousands in toronto for the princess margaret cancer foundation walk challenge yourself friends

and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research together we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer register today at pmcfwalk.ca the steve dangle podcast powered by sports interaction canada's sports book the steve dangle podcast with your host steve dangle adam wild and jesse blake two fabulous pieces of news the nhl season i'm sorry to the czech republic but officially starts tonight oh by the way dominic hasik tweeting that the nhl is no longer welcome in the czech republic i don't believe even though people don't realize that it's a democracy over there i don't believe he has the authority to make that call dominic has more of a spirit thing

is not the emperor of czechia yeah he said it was czech republic on his tweets but it is czechia i i've heard i heard from some of our listeners who are from the czech republic on the discord and stuff that czechia was kind of just a way for the government to come up with a new kind of catch-all for their sports organizations make it easier for the rest of the world and that a lot of them like czech republic better instead of czechia okay so yeah so look you know listen if hasik's saying czech republic and i forget czechia from time to time i'll say czech republic and i don't think people doesn't sound like people be that offended can you rebrand a country right that's what they were trying to do we're gonna hard launch czechia for the international

landscape so there's different opinions on if you should use czechia or czechia they have a bunch of wacky waving affordable inflatable tube men like welcome to oh no but like they only did one layer of paint so you can still see czech republic yes exactly just faintly underneath you're still in your neighborhood able to point out the old blockbusters because the sign is still sort of there on the concrete you know it's all sort of there's a i think it was on reddit but it's it's it's a fast food restaurants that have just taken over buildings of other places so it'll be like a kfc button you know how they have the giant bucket yeah now it's like a library but they kept the giant bucket and just all of those images there's there's a there's a popeye's

chicken i pass on the way here that is very obviously a pizza hut yes is that on kingston road there's also if you you know the you know the uh the red roofed thing on kingston road at i believe is it lawrence same area as the pizza hut i used to go to that pizza hut by the way it's an old dairy queen and i think now it's like a i think it's like an animal training place or something like that i'm pretty sure i know what you're talking about it's an old dq um uh the other great piece of news today is that the hockey canada board of directors has announced that scott smith scott smith who is the ceo uh along with the entire board have all agreed to step down and this comes in the wake of bauer pulling its uh support for hockey canada and

obviously it's the official equipment supplier so it was pretty much the last one yeah like someone made a list of all their major sponsors and oh bowers yeah well over the weekend it was uh canadian tire uh nike uh tim hortons nike makes the jerseys right so that was that was one that i saw people flag as okay i think they might have to do something now they don't have uniforms yeah it's you know not obviously not to make light of it but uh it it has taken on this angle of the hockey canada scandal has taken on uh almost a dark humor to it because we're all just sitting there going freaking just leave yeah all you have to do is leave yeah and like you know and the thing was is that they could have they could have done this and then a company like

canadian tire which is a massive funder of hockey canada wouldn't have had to say something like we're leaving and we're leaving permanently like they're they're completely diverting their funds to other things they're not coming back you might have some of the other sponsors come back but you could have avoided all of this stuff yeah so if you'd been apologetic and been like you know what really messed this up we want to be part of the change i mean sponsors can i mean retire and unretire like yeah wrestlers yes i'm sure they'll come back and they'll rebrand it and this is i'm sure they i'm sure in some offices somewhere there are already agencies planning the campaign yes um but you know you don't want the paralympic program to suffer you don't want the women's

program to suffer you don't want the men's program to suffer either all of the all of those programs the paralympic and the women's programs were going to continue to be supported by a lot of the sponsors that left they were taking their money away from the men's program because that's the big generator of money for hockey canada right now and the program that was basically at the root of of all the issues yeah so yeah i don't think it was ever an issue of those programs suffering then i don't think it was ever an issue of the lights being shut off uh which was i don't know unreal and a big shout out to andrea skinner for an all-time sports news dump all the time yeah the jays hadn't blown it they were mid blowing it they were mid historic playoff collapse

and oh by the way i resign yeah just a little i saw rick's tweet and i'm like rick win win or lose win or lose it was that was going to be the time that they were going to do that yeah and i mean her contract was up in four weeks anyway but it was funny at the hearing she was like i haven't made a decision yet i still haven't and they're like you must have thought about no i'm just focused on this i'm going i don't know what what's she gonna do quit mid-hearing all right and her resignation letter and it maintained the same energy she was giving during those hearings like her emphasizing that she was a volunteer and and she she didn't really sign up for the media storm that came with the position and all that but you know good rid all it took

you know for all of this to happen scott smith to be gone was just like four months of them digging in their heels thank god that's all it took yeah she she said what was it my time volunteering for hockey canada has come to an end that was the energy okay but why what you didn't need to volunteer we're super didn't need to do this right did it anyway why'd you do it yeah jesse was making him anyway anyways we're all done we're all done there well i mean but we're not we're not yeah it's key that you know that we're not done no we're done with that part yes yeah because um we're still we still haven't heard from bob nicholson oh my he's coming out like the we're just waiting on the hearing to happen i know but you know i'm just i think two weeks i'm gonna say

it again i'm not hearing a whole heck of a lot about bob nicholson out there guys not hearing a whole heck of a lot of that coverage so i did i did some thinking about that you know you're you're really good at i'll be like we need to talk about something and you'll be like all right what's there other than mentioning it and i was thinking about bob nicholson and we you know we said what we had to say last show where you know the president of a canadian nhl team the president of connor mcdavid's uh nhl team is about to go on hearing in front of the canadian government and that's a massive deal what else is there until he speaks what might he know is the question that is a great it's a great question what might he know and i think there's nothing wrong with

writing an article setting that up and saying what might bob nicholson know i think it's i'm waiting for that headline what might bob nicholson know edmonton journal yeah it's like where is that it's a question worth asking and i also think it's a question for people smarter than i am because i i don't know how to even go about finding the answer so i'm excited to see what comes out of this or interested i think sometimes i think sometimes in that situation steve i think you can first up you can ask other people who are part of other sport organizations okay so i'm gonna i'm gonna talk to volleyball canada talk to the ceo of volleyball canada sure and there is one and you say hey what do you know if this came up would you know about it if there was two secret funds

would you have known about it right if there was a an assault by one of your players would you have known about it right and so it's interesting so then no and there is like sport canada funds a whole bunch of different things you could talk to anyone from sport canada and say hey what would this person know what would a person in this position know and say listen we're not saying bob knew or does know i guess we'll find out but we do know from this head of this organization that that person would know i you know when i when we talk about this story and i talk about how muddy the waters are i always uh hello mom and dad if you're listening i always use them as a barometer because they're they approach it two different ways my dad will just like just

yesterday it's you know thanksgiving dinner and he's just like so here's how i understand and he'll bring me mostly correct things and you know i'll steer them in the right direction on a on a few others and then there's my mom who's trying uh to be actively involved and like i I got a text from her this morning. Bauer just dropped out. You know what I mean? Um, but I think, I, I think it's still a tremendously confusing story, uh, for a lot

of people. So with the Bob Nicholson thing, I don't know if this is the right way to approach it. Um, I, I think it's important that we flag it. And then the second we get a huge information dump, which is exactly what we're going to get when he does his hearing. that's when we can get to work okay also we worship tina of course we worship clementine

that's right absolutely um i was alarmingly years old when i found out my mom's real name is not tina how old were you so i was like a teenager really yeah i was like what did you find out i just let your mom's real what clementina clementina yeah it's all yeah i and then i find out all my uncles like because she has three brothers none of them are the name that i call them okay what are the names give me the names lenny rocky and dom right or dominic chris pratt yeah yeah no so be what leonard lenny is leonardo leonardo rocky is come on Rocco. Rocco, okay.

And then what's the last one? Was the short one? Dominic. Domenico. Oh, okay. And Clementina. Don't ever say I'm not Italian. Don't ever say it.

Delicious names. They're great names. Nobody names like the Italians do. Absolutely not. Okay, so we got the Rangers and Lightning tonight and the Golden Knights and the Kings. And then all the Canadian teams sort of kicking it off in the next couple days after that.

Leafs Canadians tomorrow and Oilers Canucks. I've never understood. so they start the season with leafs canadians but they never start the season with like oilers flames and the oilers and flames are only playing three times this year anyway but it's very odd it's a that's a that's an easy one right and that a slam dunk and then i would have canucks play the kraken because that's the that's the non-rivalry that i think we all want to have uh i mean you gotta try to make it a thing i suppose right i mean the kraken have to be a thing before it can be yeah they have to be good you gotta play playoff games versus each

other i i'm curious i'm curious and maybe you guys can tweet this at us or talk about it on the discord like are vancouver and seattle fans excited about that prospective rivalry because i mean it's a short drive isn't it i think in sports proximity doesn't create rivalries as much as the matches against the other team so like right now if ottawa's not good and toronto's great there's not really a rivalry there unless something on the ice happens it's like there's like a chippiness to it yeah but last year battle of alberta was just that exactly because it's it's the chippiness it's the fans but it's also two teams vying for first place but if the games aren't chippy if they're just regular games then the proximity doesn't automatically create a

rivalry the games also have to be chippy they also have to matter a little bit so maybe it's like the nhl pushing them together but instead of saying kiss they're saying fight yeah hey hey why don't you get into a uh bench clearing brawl in the opening we need a moment we need a moment of vancouver versus seattle where it's the highlights the next day and somebody and and somebody's fighting brock messer and that's where the documentary hit you know and that's where the rivalry begins but nothing's happened so far i there's kind of close this is this is silly this is dumb but i i i'm a big believer in magic when it when it comes to sports and seattle's first game last year they were down three nothing and they stormed all the way back but they end up

losing the game no vegas in their first game gets their asses kicked but mark andre flurry stands on his skull and brain james neal scores two goals they win two one and part of me wonders how different Seattle's season could have gone if they had just won that first game. Because, well, you're talking about moments. You're talking about moments, and I'm trying to remember a moment from the Krakens' first season. That's very wishful thinking.

And I don't have a lot. Oh, I'm not saying they would have gone to the final, but like, it would have been more exciting to watch. Maybe they would have had a couple more, like, coming off that game, but the rest of the season, they had no goal technically. It wasn't really their fault. I will tell you how well they would have done. They, instead of 27

wins, would have had 28. like so maybe 30 maybe they'd have 62 points instead of 60 oh you don't believe in magic no because ron francis did a bad job at the expansion draft no so he's believing keep holding on to the belief that he's done a great job guys he has it ron don't ever stop believing in magic we're slow we're old and we're injured great job i don't think old i don't think you'd carry a game one win over 82 games unfortunately no but it's it's an interesting way to start your season it is I wish better for Seattle Me too, I want moments

Agreed, they have to be watchable As we said in the season previews They were not watchable They were depressing, it was bad They have such cool jerseys If you're going to have a cool jersey You have to have swagger to match them And if you're going to have a cool goal horn, you've got to use it

One thing about Seattle was that they were A high effort team They tried really hard You should watch me play hockey, I try really hard i'd say this skill wasn't always there but it was this it was a team that tried really hard and i commend them for that fine where's that kind of support when i screw up man do you do you ever support us like that we try really hard too there's no support like that i don't believe there's effort in your game oh i think you screw up because you're hot dogging

wow like i see you like adam is adam goes to the corner he says not today i got i got a family back at home yeah i'm not getting injured today i am the perception of willie kneelander yeah adam's not in the corners by the way by the way i'm not to give you your props steve sometimes though sometimes in the corner sometimes in the quarters not all the time well yeah jesse uh is gonna see me in the corners a lot when we start playing hockey together this week yeah are you guys playing hockey and i'm fishing the puck out because i fucking lost what are you guys playing hockey we're doing like instructional league what you'd you'd straight up be way too good you're not good enough for it's it's like for people learning hockey when are you guys playing

it friday nights what yeah it's you didn't even invite me you can't you wouldn't be able to you'd be too good for it you'd be way too good okay well i've been looking for i was talking to uh robert from our stp and socials team and i and robert is doing power skating and i want to get back into power skating because i think it would be a great break from like you know uh obviously say i don't have time to go to the gym very much right now not that anybody if you could tell i really hide it well but um i think you're looking great sweetie thanks pal but uh the one of the things i want to do is like i want to do cardio but i don't want to do like running on a treadmill cardio do hockey that's what i'm saying take a shift it's too long so that's what i do if i

could do like power skating where you just they skate you for an hour like they did when you were a kid and you and you die you feel like you're gonna die right on the ice then i feel like that i would get my cardio you should do that and there was from steven there was adults wow because we can't stop so we need to do our own thing not on a dime but i could i could slow myself down i could stop on a really really large time i can pivot there you go and i could go backwards a bit stopping is essentially like a pivot that you push harder on for sure it is man because you're turning you're just turning quicker i just sort of do it i hate that all my friends who are like oh yeah you just sort of stop i hate that they were all correct it does sort of just happen

i was like this this isn't helpful and no you just do it enough times and you're like oh that's how i want to see you guys by the end of the season if you're going to do this instructional thing i want to see you doing skating backwards and doing crossovers backwards oh shit okay well crossovers that's a magical magic that i don't understand yeah well i want you leaning into i want i want some power turns where the sticks like all the way all the way where you're going it's almost behind your butt you better be like mitch you better be doing uh the like splits thing he does absolutely his toes are pointed outwards he just goes around yeah yeah you better be doing that by the end of like this month i do that uh at the beginning uh when i'm on the ice making

sure my groin doesn't explode before every skate and you're doing it stationary yeah stationary skate blades off the ice lying down um there's a few things that we are going to talk about including what the leafs are are going to start the season with some insane cap gymnastics pulled off by a couple of teams uh did the avalanche get blink 182 back together uh and some other controversies that happened this weekend but first you can bet that sports interaction Canada's Sportsbook presents You Can Bet That with David Bastol Must be 19 plus, please play responsibly

Ontario only His name is David and he has picks He has picks for you Actually, this one's really interesting I'm glad you brought this up, David What game Hockey Sorry, which team will Obi score

His 800th goal against Oh And so, just to give you um uh give it let us know how far away he is okay so so dave's got the you've got the odds up but he is 20 goals away yeah and dave when you when you came to these odds it's interesting that the ottawa senators are number one along with the flyers and jets at eight how did you guys come to these is is it like did you look at the schedule like how does this all work well that's exactly it adam um it's one of those things where,

where are we projecting Ovi to actually hit 800, right? Is it 25 games? Is it 30 games? Is it the 30, you know, cause you know how he is. He could sit there in game number one and score three goals for your sake. I hope he doesn't, but you know, and then it'll kind of alter everything, right? So we are projecting at sports interaction for Ovi to hit that 800 goal somewhere between, I'm going to say November the 30th to December,

the 11th say i know it's a little bit of a less than a two-week window somewhere in that range so that's why we're targeting in those areas because you have the senators play in that week the the flyers play that week the jets play uh on december 11th so that might you know even columbus is part of that equation because they play them on the 11th so it's all or the first of uh december i should say so it's all about you know projecting and is he gonna come up blazing Is he going to slow down? It's a fun little bet that, you know, you could have some tinkering with

and when he actually may or may not score. See, I love this. And I'm looking at the cap schedule right now. I'm going to give you the date, guys. You ready? Yep. December 17th. It's a Saturday night versus Toronto.

And the reason I say this is because Aleksandr Ovechkin career versus the Leafs, 41 goals, 33 assists in 53 games. 41 goals in 53 games against the Leafs big spotlight the reason I was looking through my phone there is I was like I think he's going to score in game 32

and that's December 13th against the Blackhawks two games later right is the Leafs it's the Leafs it's 100% has to be the Leafs by the way the Leafs are at 12 on the odds also we got the we got like a normal game to bet on

Dave I know Toronto Montreal I know it's exciting Wednesday night Leafs favorites at Sports Interaction paying uh 140 on the money line puck line is something I'm kind of interested in because it's near a two but again in a puck line the Leafs have to win by two or more goals to qualify as a win on that bet over hundreds at six and a half any feels on this guys as far as hunches I know I know Montreal plays Toronto well and the Leafs are slow starters it's tough the Leafs are slow starters yeah it's 3-2 overtime, I feel like. Yeah, I've been hammering it

that the Leafs are going to have a really difficult October. And if they lose the first one, I have a really hard time believing they're going to win the second one. So I have the Leafs in this one because they have to. Okay. I like that.

I've got to try that on my NFL pick. They've got to win. I'm taking Toronto at 140, but I will take Montreal on the puck line because I think it's going to be a tight game. I really do because the Leafs just do that. Yeah, I could see overtime or a shootout. Veteran Chief Jesse, what would you take here?

I would take the over. I think you got the offensive players are a lot warmed up, more warmed up than the goalies. So the bet I would make on the game today would be over six and a half. Over six and a half goals. Early season power plays. Yeah. I think that'd be my best bet for tomorrow night.

David, we will talk to you again on Friday. Thanks so much for joining. Thanks, guys. See you then. Two in five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk.

Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca. Well, I guess you two idiots. if the comment section is to believe you two idiots we're not incorrect about uh nick robertson he is not on the starting lineup today gentlemen we said it for like a month no i'm not happy did you watch do you even watch the game do you know hockey oh my god have you ever been on reddit were they no hockey they do they do they do no hockey but robertson should be for all rights on

this team it's just and keith said it yesterday it comes down to the fact that one is waivers exempt and one is not yeah and sean mckenzie uh had a good tiktok as as he does he is a very he's very good at that he is quite good um basically as i understand it if tavaris is not ready to go for the second game of the season on thursday nick robertson can be recalled on an emergency basis okay but uh yeah i it looks like tavaris is gonna be back so it was interesting because what what keith also said is that they're if tavaris isn't ready to go they're just gonna dress a short lineup which in your home opener is garbage frankly um you had the whole summer to prepare this man like i yeah someone got hurt um yeah that happens in hockey they're

you can't dress a short lineup in the home open they're four dollars under the cap right now that's what cap friendly revealed yesterday yeah so they're they're spending over a bunch of teams are spending over but they're using ltir we've gone over this a thousand times the closer you are to the cap um the more you are allowed to dip into your ltar pool which encourages teams to spend more money which flies directly in the face of what the hell the salary cap is there for so i don't know what any of us are doing here and the zach no no tell me again how teams don't like using it they don't like it man oh it's hard we hate it um and zach aston race i think we discovered why he was on a pto uh it was never a pto ever at any point it was a we don't know what we can

give you yet do you care if it's a few thousand dollars yeah you're gonna make over 800 grand anyway and zach asson reese who's obviously a legend said yeah don't worry it's cool and then brandon pridham said what can i get for this many and plunked down a bunch of random money on the table and if you had listened to the cj show he said as much which i don't if you're a listener of that show i love the cj show you would have known this weeks ago when cj said at the end of this zach astin reese is gonna have a contract it's just not right now and they said here well what is the what is the the dollar amount adam has it the dollar amount what for zach astin reese yeah 840 000 800 no no no no there's there's like when brandon pridham signs a contract

He uses all six of those digits. All right. I'll look it up on CapFriendly here. All six of them. 8-4-0-6-3-0. That's 630 bucks. He makes sure every cap hit looks like a phone number. Take Pritam and Dubas out for lunch for that one.

Yeah. That is an exact number. Or just ask Mitch and Austin to pay because they're the highest paid guys. And also they had to get their jersey number. If it had been $640 or $650, at least you're in cap overage. Isn't that funny? $600. $630.

If it had been $640, they're $6 over. $635. Yeah. Could they have given him the $4 is what I want to know. No. Yeah. Yeah. You know what?

Today, he might be thinking like, why couldn't you just give him the $4? Wouldn't that have been hilarious? Why? Dubas, you cheap jerk. Give him the four bucks. I'm going to assume the accounting is easier when it ends in a zero. Give him the four bucks. Give it to him.

You let the Canucks out-calculator you by having zero dollars. Give him the four bucks. Justice for Zar. Z-A-R. Oh. I don't like that. No, you're right. There's nothing wrong with Zar.

I don't like it either. Zar is not what we're going with. Just oppressive regimes. Z-A-R. Oh, he's Z-A-R. He's been Z-A-R his whole career. What about Choco? What?

What about Raz? Or Chocolate. We call him Chocolate because it's Reese. Oh, no. Or we call him Peanut Butter. Peanut Butter? Peanut Butter's good. Oh, my God.

PB? Reese is how we finally get our cup. Oh. Hey. We call him Cups He was Mid-season One of the missing pieces

Oh I think I think Cups Cup Cupsy Cupsy That sounds like Sounds like another

Crave presentation Of the universe What's the Shorzy And what's the other one The The fucking Yeah

I don't know You know Yeah Anyway Cupsy Let's do it Cupsy If Tavares is ready to go, the lineup is as followed,

and you might want to get used to this because the top six seem pretty much set until Robertson's up full-time. Bunting, Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares, Dennis Malgan, Leaf fan favorite. Engvall, Kerfoot, Jarnkrok. And this fourth line is, I think, on paper, the worst fourth line I've ever seen in Leafs history.

And what I mean by that is worst to play against. Aston Race, Conf, Obey Kubel, who has that that's Jonas Siegel and by the way, Riley Brody Muzzin Hall, Giordano Sandy, what I kept saying is everyone who has

David Kampf on the third line, or sorry, on the fourth line you're wrong, that's the third line center, what are you doing Kerfoot to be the, what appears to be the full time third line center not how i saw this season going i mean we traded that guy months ago where what are you doing where

are you where are you putting them well are you moving them around i like the thing that's death this is a perfect lineup so what the reason they're doing it is they have obviously made a decision that we're not doing the nylander kerfoot uh tavaris thing nylander so sometimes reporters screw up the left and right but it appears jonah siegel has them intentionally correct so Nylander is on the left Tavares is center Malgan who is sometimes the center sometimes right wing is on the right wing Engvall Kerfoot Yarncroke you could flip Engvall and Kerfoot but Kerfoot's probably the better center at this point yeah and that's I mean that's a that's a really that's a stupidly deep lineup and and you know you you got some scoring threat from the third

line but the fourth line the reason I think it's so something worth actually focusing on is that if this line can live up to its billing which is defensively strong it would be the best because the leafs have never ever since we started the show been able to figure out what the hell to do with the fourth line we started the show it was in the uh the wake of uh brian burke's dismissal in the dave notice era which was top two lines score bottom two lines punch face yes and and be otherwise useless truculence truculence and and like and when we say useless i'm talking like guys who could not play anymore no guys you couldn't be that could not be trusted in any situation other than to grab another bike guy by the collar and go sit in the box

now you've got players that you know they're tough to be fair to brian burke he had the best ones he did have the best yeah he did have the even that anaheim team you don't know you would not have wanted to mess with that anaheim team no listen if you're gonna if you're gonna goon it up you better have the best ones yeah they did they did but it wasn't very effective and if you look at at the leaf since then like think about their fourth lines even through the matthews here like what was it was matt martin and who oh man on the fourth line he was the designated tough guy which i don't think works no and then they had they had you know spezza for a few years there which was fun i didn't hate the when clifford spezza simmons was running like when they're all

got their full powers uh if they were uninjured sure yeah yeah uh what so i'm just looking at the lineup and like the idea of a shutdown line i my favorite version of it is engvall camp yarn croak but here's the thing he can still do that if he wants sheldon keith can just be like okay camp go out there this time all right you know what i mean it's it's game one there there's going to be flipping there's going to be flopping a kerfoot trade could still happen sure because uh if the way stop it stop stop trading kerfoot well no but if he's the fourth line center he's not no but if that flip happens and he's more regularly the fourth line center then it could absolutely and then somebody gets injured and you're like you know what i wish i really

had that and then he's right back up yeah yeah i don't i know i know people are exhausted by it but like i just don't i don't i don't see how you trade him and get better i don't want to watch Kerfoot and Nylander try to have chemistry again They don't Whenever Tavares is out it's like oh that Second line is gonna be Garbage they don't work well together Nylander Tavares Malgan

That's a line you know what Maybe Malgan's the center Uh If Tavares is out oh if Tavares Is out well I thought you were doing the Tavares is a winger now no no no No no not yet Well so I'm

Another thing I'm looking at so camp is wicked on face-offs. I don't know if Obey Kubel or Aston Rees do much of that. Engvall can take him, Kerfoot can take him, Jarnkrook can take him, Mulligan can take him, Tavares can take him, Nylander can take him, Matthews can take him, and Marner, he

can't, but that's a shitload of guys who can take draws on a team that was already one of the best teams in the league at it. Listen, it's a great team. Leaf fans, just enjoy it. I know all that matters is how they do in the playoffs no this is gonna be a fun year enjoy it enjoy it

you can't don't wish the time away you can't speed it up time is undefeated both ways both ways you can't speed it up it goes how it goes it goes how it goes so just enjoy it are we sure uh we don't want to try matthews and willie again and marner and tavaris i think that if you switch marner and matthews up um i think you're gonna have an angry austin matthews and i think no i think austin matthews wanted to play with mitch marner for years babs wouldn't let them because babs was i think he was smart in one way in the sense that he was like listen i i know that nylander is going to do better with matthews and martyr can handle things on his own but also uh he was stupid because why wouldn't you put those two together you imbecile so the

path to a solution is not to create a problem right matthews and marner is one of the most dynamic one twos in the league he scored 60 freaking goals uh so it's up to Tavares and Nylander to be personally better and for Malgan to work better right and we gave Edmonton shit for years for playing Dreisaitl and McDavid together the whole time but it seems to have worked out for them it's been okay well it's just they didn't have anybody else to play for them well right do you take away from that strength or do you figure your shit out address your weaknesses elsewhere and that's what they did yep yep and Edmonton's found a way to not to pivot to them but like they don't do that anymore because they got hyman and kate yeah they found

solutions for that so now you can have a dry starter line and a mcdavid line and you're even more dynamic and they're not expecting too much of nuge like what i always thought was because of his draft pick pedigree it was always like well nuge has got to be this star is this and he's not a star he's a very good player and i think that nuge especially being healthy i mean for people in inside edmonton you're probably like what the hell is this guy talking about but from the outside perspective it was always like hey you know stop expecting nuge to be a hundred point guy he's not he's not but he is a solid 65 point guy fantastic last season absolutely and this is this is the thing right this is where the depth comes in and it's so important for the others uh vancouver

uh is even on the cap that's unreal i thought alan walsh of agent provocateur fame made a good point yesterday on twitter saying listen i like he's like the excitement of the nhl season shouldn't be who's compliant and who isn't yeah and he's right like like we're like we're celebrating this like it's steve i think you retweeted cap friendly it got like a thousand likes and i'm like this is the only like do i don't ever hear about where the i hope the raptors are cap compliant ever in the nba they talk a lot about the uh luxury tax right and how much they go into that because it's way more fun to talk about a luxury tax because you don't have to be cap compliant you can just go over right so it's it's it's all very but adam only the same

three teams win in the nba no they don't milwaukee just won a championship excuse me the raptors damn it yeah exactly uh raptors a much bigger market than milwaukee yeah but respectfully milwaukee's about 500 000 people in the nba it's like oh they want the raptors to fold so bad oh they want them to fold they want them not to work yeah how can we move them to give houston a second team i don't know like just figure it out by the way they want them gone so could baseball be happier that the jays are out in two they could not i did i did like that this year they allowed the canadian broadcast to be broadcast by people that cover the team because the last time it happened the american broadcasts were happening and one of the uh broadcasters when they showed

a shot of toronto said oh and there's the ocean outside of toronto uh because he didn't know that toronto is not a coastal city even though it's a coastal great lake city um so not hard it's not but why look it up and then he said afterwards oh i was kidding right okay um shut up uh shut up make fun of yourself for god's yeah just let it go i hate when guys don't tell the truth in those situations just shut up you messed up give me give me a storyline in the nhl this year that you guys are most excited about the leafs winning the cup uh okay other than that other than the prospect of the least winning the cup which every year the least have the chance have a chance to win the cup i want to know and it could be leaf related but i'm sort of hoping like nhl wide what

is the thing that you're like i can't wait to follow x um i want to see the under 25s of this league takeover um everyone's waiting for everyone's coming out party uh jack hughes might be leading that list you know matthews is still under 25 that's incredible um i want to see if he can hit more than 60 can he do 70 can he do 70 uh kale mccarr can he go for a heart trophy um there's there's a really good youth wave uh going on here in the nhl like the nhl as a uh as a product as a collection of athletes is extremely healthy you know like they're a great product there are there are an enormous amount of uh you know problems surrounding the sport but as we have said many times it's not the sport that is under attack it's the culture around it once you actually

you know see the product on the ice holy shit i don't think it's ever been better um i talk about it in hat picks all the time is you know a guy scoring a between the legs goal is just tuesday it's just tuesday guys do it all the time i uh it used to just be like the super duper stars of the team and we would see matthew kachuk do it in overtime and holy crowd uh crap that was crazy and I'm not trying to dump on the guy but like last year we had one from Tyler Mott like that's a great player but you're not like

holy smokes remember that Tyler Mott Tyler Mott goal he's definitely going to light the Leafs up on Saturday but it's I'm excited for the for the youth the youth of the league Jack Hughes

Kel McCarr still somehow keep the list going jesse what about you uh you mentioned what i was gonna go with i was gonna go with uh kale mccarr norris trophy season i think heart trophy he won the north or sorry yeah north he already won that last year uh heart trophy season um i think like this is the year like it's utter domination kale mccarr you know especially with them already getting the championship now it's kind of like that's monkeys off your back you have a championship belt under you have that you know

you have a ring it's now it's just go out there and show that you're this superstar so i think camel cars especially uh we're gonna watch them for like game one all the way through 82s even win the heart trophy and then like um a lot of the team the canadian teams are very interesting this year because because ottawa all the spending they did are that what are they going to be um calgary you know you revamp your entire your entire uh first line what is that going to be and like um winnipeg are they gonna crush you know are they gonna are they gonna be awful I don't know there's a lot of interesting Storylines if you go through the teams

There's every team that kind of has a thing this Year which I don't think we usually go Into the season expecting Edmondson pursuing A cup yeah I Have a my thing is this Every division has has a team Where you have to ask are you good or are you not good And anybody who tells you

That they know the answers to these four Teams is lying to you all right hit Me in the Atlantic division the Ottawa Senators okay yeah that's a fair one you don't know and by the way we had i thought we had a pretty balanced look at what the senators were going to be and immediately looking i was like the one place i looked at the comments i'm like senators if senators typical toronto media don't know anything about the senators i'm like yo you still don't have any defensemen we knew we keep hearing on 32 thoughts

that they're going to make a trade for one until they do they don't have any yeah anyone who got mad at any preview video your favorite team's gonna do great yeah uh like the fans are coming from a perspective of their fans they think they know like they think they know my team is going to do well and that's fair it's it's not fair because you don't know yeah well especially with the senators don't tell me listen they are are they improved yes are they playoffs i mean that's going to be a 40 point swing they had 60 something points last year it is it's super fair to say they can do it but it's a lot they can do it but it's a lot it's a lot if you could accurately predict sports constantly you wouldn't be doing whatever you're doing you wouldn't be doing

whatever you're doing right now we don't know we're we gave our projections and we're gonna see how it plays out and sometimes don't be so sure of your opinion sometimes teams with a lot of turnover struggle a bit despite the collection of talent so that's gonna be a really interesting story to follow yeah because you gotta gel right yeah it's an interesting story to follow in ottawa and uh to a similar degree uh calgary um we're uh uh in the metropolitan division the are you good are you actually good team there could be two but i'm gonna lean on one because they've fallen from grace lately i think i know and we've seen that they can be good and that's the new york islanders are you good or are you not good because i could have said the devils but they are coming

from a place of they were horrendous last year so i don't have three i mean are you talking about the blue jackets no who are you talking about well who are you yeah uh well i think the caps are still good they're good and then that's what i'm asking are the islanders good a lot of injuries with the cap yeah true uh we don't know so and you don't know the devils the devils are like what's interesting about the islanders is they're like uh eastern second round third round completely out of the playoffs and there were circumstances leading to that but i just find it i think the islanders are going to be a team to sort of watch and be like are you actually good because they could be amazing i think they're going to be bad but that's just me um there's a lot of people

jesse who would say on uh uh speaking of teams that used to be good as the blues are the blues good because i'm shocked at the amount of low predictions from everybody from st louis and again this is a team that a few years ago won the cup a lot of the players that they won the cup with are still there including the goalie and yet we wonder i had them fifth what did you guys I don't remember I think I had him fifth I think four amongst The Oilers The Lightning the Preds

And the Blues the Blues are second In that they gave the Avs the best shot Yeah best run at their money To eliminate them in the playoffs last year That's true like I thought they had a better showing than the Than the Oilers did In their series yeah that's fair I thought it was a serious shot that they could have

Come away with um like Like who knows if Bennington stays Healthy and they get an accurate they sneak out like game six or something like that who knows what happened in game seven you know remember we were talking about that and you were like you just don't want this to go to game seven because anything and the abs took care of business yeah but if that goes seven who knows how we're looking at the blues and they made a conference final yep it's just one game i wouldn't be down on the blues they have a lot of talent so the blues they did lose perron i i put the blues at fifth in my in

my thing as well it doesn't mean they won't make the playoffs but fifth fifth is harder uh and then in the pacific division there's two teams i was looking at but really i i'm a believer in the king so i'm gonna take them off that list i was shocked to see how many people had them low i know i think i actually think the kings are really good um uh the vancouver canucks they are the same lineup as last year plus ilia mckay and i and i love ilia mckay he did a great job yeah okay plus a new head coach but but you know but this is the thing full season literally and dom dom said in his previews like are vibes enough and sometimes they are yeah i mean look at how they did under boudreaux right immaculate vibes and the same team so i'm i'm curious to see what the

canucks actually are are you good or are you i'm gonna finish uh 17th in the league you can make the playoffs in 17th i mean you can my my whole point about the 17th is you're out of the 16 that that's what i was trying to say uh do no you you butt actually me so hard on that oh my god no here let me put on my glasses push them up nice do you remember when the canadians were the 20th place team in the league and they allowed them to complete compete for a playoff 24th 24th in the bubble and they said you know what let's include them in this thing remember when the blackhawks were 23rd they were 23rd and both of them made it was so dumb they had no shot at making the regular season playoffs but they said you know

what let's conclude though neither did columbus who beat the leafs no columbus had a shot at the play yeah no that that was they fully they fully could have made the play they were the lower seat listen oh it was valid that they that leafs team was weak anyway i that was all the leafs teams we've covered that were supposed to make the playoffs that was the weakest they made me yeah they made me so mad the 18-19 or the 18 sorry 19-20 Leafs right yeah weak

of the Matthews era probably the most frustrating team we've watched yes we overrated that team in the beginning of the season with Babs and all that it also didn't help the moment they lost to the Bruins what did I say fire the guy

fire the guy oh so we're just going to sit here and wait until he we should go back to that post-mortem show with cj because i swear i said like oh yeah okay so we'll just get fired in november you did say that i'm pretty sure you said that come on i can't i can't verify i can i don't have time to somebody go back that's a lot of content i'm right.org bill burr owns i'm right doc uh congratulations to colorado avalanche fans uh first off i actually

i want to shout one fan in particular out producer drew who starts with sdpn today hooray it's uh producer drew's first day that happened uh what is this i know it's a new hire announced it oh my god follow him when does he start you should follow him he just he starts today oh i didn't he has started already oh wow yeah or no he should follow you he told me the other day he's like i discovered i don't apologize what a dick oh yeah i know not only is he bringing his bad food takes and his bad team takes um but he did uh uh he did want to shed i'm sorry i wanted to give him a shout out and also i want the palate of an eight-year-old boy i know it's weird right we need to have him on to talk about it a little bit more because no we don't he's upsetting it's

upsetting when i hear people you don't think like i don't make people really mad summer episode no that's just a really good hire i don't know like the collection of guys who decided to bring him over like they must be really is it the greatest hire the greatest hire in all yeah it might be like is put that on the mount rushmore of hires like i didn't know what's happening and like whoever decided to hire him and like give him this job like kudos to them pat them on the back so it was adam and jesse and that's why that's why we're giving him shit jesse loves this look at that i didn't even know he was starting today it blew my mind anyway we want to shout out drew and we

also want to shout out abs fans who today are rejoicing not only because your team is really good and you'll probably repeat but um you're undefeated so far this year and blink 182 is reunited and uh and that that's with the original lineup mark tom travis the whole thing and they're doing a full tour and they come out with they're coming out with a new song which is typical blink 182 it's called edging uh oh my god and they have a whole promo video and it's about like man if they come i'm gonna explode and it's like a whole bunch of people talking about it's very funny it's very blink some of you don't remember going over to your your friend slash neighbor's garage in grade seven and listening to that whole album and it shows

sometimes blink 182 videos will show up on like an instagram page and some of the lyrics and people be like wow people in the 90s were crazy like some of the lyrics they have are incredible uh and uh to me take off your pants and jacket that was the that was a defining moment in my life i had the pants one because you remember he had your cd it had the pants and the jacket and there was something else i think it was a plane i wouldn't know i wouldn't know you didn't have it went to catholic school you weren't allowed so i went across the street to my despicable public school neighbors well look at that you went into business with your despicable public school neighbor i would also just like to say i did not have that as well you didn't have a blink moment

no okay well i tell you man they were big big part of my childhood uh how are they gonna get travis barker to perform when he's gonna be sucking courtney kardashian's face i know i know they make out a lot i don't do if you man i know you watch a lot more reality show than you shows that you let on yeah i know reality is fun you've gotten me into so many like selling sunset and something jesse was the one that told me and it's because of your partner gabby yeah we watch them together so do you watch have you been watching the new kardashians the one on disney no we haven't watched the uh the new kardashians yet the old ones a little bit yo is the new kardashians good not only is it good it's gripping like it's well shot and when when chloe finds out about

tristan thompson and i'm looping the sports in about him having a another baby with another woman i was it's like he plays he plays them is the connection you've just never you've just never it's crazy crazy crazy television crazy uh and i know everybody hates me for saying it but i it's fantastic television but they are always the two of them the reason i bring them up is they're always making out it's it's and they're like it's like they're out they're at like thanksgiving dinner and they're just in the and she's sitting on his lap tongue down 13 year old yes you know it's good for that level good for them i'm happy for them but it's a lot sometimes you know it's and i love a good makeout session in public for them not enough adam and i make out in public all

the time and people go oh my god that's marilyn dennis's son and that other guy and that yelly yelly leafs guy yelly man no that's a nasher they call me nasher and i'm like hey is that graph yeah a lot of weight and i'm like guys that's not it's no he didn't and also I want to fight you on selling sunset It's a good show It's a good show Oh I'm trying to sell this house And I'm worried we can't sell this house

And at the end of it will they sell this house Let's see on selling sunset That's what it is Selling sunset was that And then selling sunset just became the drama Between the girls It's not about the houses anymore Oh we're having a viewing today

I hope it goes well and then you know we need more prosciutto at the house for the viewing and sparkling you know oh no we need a rush we need a rush order on pretentious glasses can we get some pretentious glasses to put sparkling liquid in yo when i watch selling sunset all i can think is man living in la sounds exhausting is that my california axe yeah like they're well it's true it's good it's good it's okay it's good it's like it's got to be like german it's like uh you got to watch the californians a bunch of time on time the california viewing is going poorly it's like your your alan it just needs a little bit of work

a little tweaking but yeah it's gonna it's there you'll find it can we hear your alan again is there can alan walsh sell sunset this house is no i can't No, you're getting into it. And he's selling the house to Gary Bettman. Oh, you wouldn't fucking do that. Good evening, you piece of shit. Alan didn't say that. He never said that.

No, that's just me as Alan calling him. Eventually the impression is going to get so good, I can make Alan say anything. You're going to deep fake Alan with your impression? have you guys seen those on tiktok where people will be like they'll make spongebob say anything because you can go on like a website you just type in the celebrity voices no i don't like the future they'll be it'll be like uh it's scary it'll be spongebob rapping travis scott it's just an ai that just made it and punched it out oh man oh yeah it's it's kind of cool it is cool um

uh the one thing that did freak me out uh and i didn't listen to this podcast but tj was telling me uh last week that he listened to a show because he's obsessed with space and he's obsessed with ai and uh i guess that they they had one of the google engineers on who's since quit and ai has gotten to the point now where you can run tests on it but it asks for consent first it asks you to ask it for consent first what uh yeah and then we're talking about like will ai like will will ai ever terminator us will it ever get to the point where uh it decides humanity's bad for the planet which you know objectively we might be um and and take over and they said well we've we've set the the settings on it to please are so high that the likelihood of that is pretty

slim however they are aware enough to and they want to be considered you know a species or like a thing like a like a being yeah but like a glass of water exists what if i throw a water glass of water on the hard drive how are you gonna how are you gonna terminate these are the debates of our time this future is scary you're right i feel like i could i don't know if you want that out there in the internet when the robots take over though i feel like i could defeat a robot real easily we're all sitting there watching the terminator like this is one of the greatest cinematic achievements of our time and you're just sitting there in the back of the theater yelling yeah but what if it rains right they get rusty in the rain take that t1000 tell me how this

computer is gonna survive oh the toronto winter when it snows a lot oh yeah but you know a bunch of real estate agents trying to sell a house this is how they say house you brought up agent provocateur we should shout out justin davis incredible episode great episode i listened to it twice so when when alan said he was gonna we were gonna have justin on he said this episode's gonna be he said you're gonna hear some explosive stuff and uh he's never said that before with any of the guests we've had on and there has been explosive this is gonna be bad yeah well he didn't say bad he said explosive and there was it was interesting because justin basically he's coming out with a book uh and it's about life uh his life but life as a middle of the road player

in junior in canada uh played in the ohl won the memorial cup was drafted in the fourth round by the washington capitals in 1996 played with joe thornton yeah um in the zoo and rick jackman i think as well um yes i think i think that's what he said so they you know and there's there's everything in this in this interview from uh how his concussion uh which happened in the united states how the team tried to bill his parents for for the hospital bills because he had bleeding on the brain how they tried to get him across the border to avoid bills that's right um uh then uh he talks about uh a particular hazing hazing incident that is it's such an it's such an intense story and i think his perspective on it's so fascinating because obviously he's the victim

in this particular hazing incident and the weird thing about it is he's you know there there are there there are adults on this bus where this occurs and it's the hot box thing it keep it happened with akimalu uh akimalu and we'll talk about akimalu um uh later on in the show because we've we've got a topic there as well but it happened to him and this also happened to justin and it's the the hot box one yeah and i'll let the interview the thing explain it but he says you know my question's always like well we're there are adults there how is this happening and his thing is they're all junior hockey guys too yeah they all played this happened to them so they see it as normal and you kind of think and and then we sort of we talked we touched a

little on hockey canada but it really kind of brought things into focus for me as to why if you're a part of something for that long and there's a problem with the culture it's almost impossible for you to even see that there's a problem let alone begin to try to fix it and your interview sort of starts with him talking about how he didn't understand the way these things he didn't understand exactly what was happening to him at the time because he was so immerse right in the culture and then he'd be talking to someone he'd be talking to a civilian because they they talk about how they talk um they refer to non-hockey players as civilians um and he'd be telling a story and they'd be like what the hell are you talking about that's crazy

yeah but then there's also the invert like he does have some good stuff in there and you know hockey yeah you know didn't do very right by him in a lot of respects but also brian kilray who's a hockey lifer he was a coach in uh of the ottawa 67s for literally decades uh saved his life you know it's dude really good job from uh the the both of you on on that episode they're all good all the episodes are good but this one is uh it's particularly eye-opening and i think it's the it's the give and take of of hockey right now because we all love the game love it has given us so much like look at the three of us right look at what talking about hockey gives us and you know and and they and i have lifelong friendships from when i played now i never

played at a high level i was like house league single a guy but lifelong friendships um because of hockey but at the same time all of these bad things are happening too and that's sort of where he kind of justin's really good at sort of saying there's this and then there's this and he said that's the that's why it's a bit of a mixed bag right now it's a bit of a weird relationship and i think uh the more conversations we have about this the more we can kind of get this out there we can move past it fix it move move forward to the point where we're not having to talk about these things anymore because they're not happening as much and i think like that's why the the episode is so important and the book justin davis wrote because he was on it to promote his book conflicted

scars and i think they're both very important because for an outsider to learn these things about how major junior hockey works it's fucking it's eye-opening like it's wild the the stories he has are like must hear must read and then for people who are going into that uh pursuit like if you're chasing nhl dreams if you're a parent for a kid who is gonna go away to play major junior hockey it's also a must read and a must listen because you need to understand what's going on in that world in the underbelly because like as somebody who never played a high level of hockey or it'd be in i was completely outside of that world growing up i i had no idea these things were going on and like still to this day like until i heard justin talk about uh stuff like

the hot box like you never know that these things are happening to kids who are 14 and 15 and 16 they're yeah and they're being harassed and hazed and they think it's so normal and then this this is the view of the inside of the hockey world and the underbelly that they all think this is just normal stuff the beer one the the beer ones yeah listen to the episode man also uh one of alan's first clients like he just inside with alan i think he was his third client ever alan said he had nothing to prove to justin's parents he just had his word that he would just try as hard as he could he's like i have no resume i have no other clients i can just say i'm gonna try really hard because i really want to be a an agent yes and they believed him and look at him now and if you've

ever wanted a vivid visual of alan walsh and cowboy boots you're in for a treat um yeah yeah so um thank you for the shout on that steve that's great it's a it's a very it was a very interesting episode to be a part of and uh some of the some shocking moments some really funny some good levity in it um okay so listen when we when we talk about this stuff um i take no enjoyment bringing up steve simmons's name we've talked about this guy on the on the show before he's been on our show that was eight nine years ago now like our first season it was about an analytics debate it wasn't anything but what's been interesting about steve simmons is he went from guy who has controversial slash kind of shitty takes just in general like pot shot cheap

shot kind of journalism to oh flat out you just are not down with what's happening right now and it goes back to I think that the turn must have happened before this but where I first noticed it personally was when he was talking to Masai Ujiri and he was talking about a particular charitable initiative initiative that the raptors were doing and he said to messiah something about gun rights or gun uh gun violence gun violence and why why the raptors aren't doing something to address that and vaguely and like why they aren't when it happened during the pandemic right it was on it was all on zoom so a lot of these things sort of get lost because it was the pandemic we all lost a lot of like memories brain cells brain cells honestly so that first

hearing that and that was i believe their bubble playoffs and and that i thought was like okay so we know where you stand on this um because it's like well what oh the raptors are donating to charity why not the anti-gun charity well steve why uh why do you pick that one in particular steve simmons did you ask the leafs that's the question so and and again this is something you got to remember that this guy really likes it when you don't like him and the whole strategy is let me put something in there that that pisses you off and you'll click my article a bunch of times and our advertisers will be extremely happy if you're asking why the toronto sun likes this guy he generates a ton of controversy which generates a ton of clicks and he represents a viewpoint

that of a lot of people scarily enough there's a lot of people who agree with and believe exactly what steve simmons said in his here and there um column on sunday this week um and it's unfortunate because it really uh i'm just pulling it up right here jesse unless you have it right in front of you um i read the quote i haven't watched uh akim's video yet i assume we're gonna play that so here's what i have okay so here's what he wrote no one wants to say this because of the politically correct police and all, but those who coached Akeem, it's Akeem Alou, I guess I keep saying Alou, I apologize. Those who coached Akeem Alou must cringe every time they see him in a news report or a commercial talking about what's wrong with hockey, like he would know. By my count,

Alou played for 23 teams in nine different leagues in 12 professional seasons and rarely finished any season with the same team he started with what if uh what if that was color related uh sorry if that was color related how is it that wayne simmons just spent the same 12 seasons playing in the nhl it's a it's a really confusing quote and it's really it just shows an ignorance it just shows an ignorant sure frankly because the like he has not been paying attention like willfully has not been paying attention to anything akima lewis said i don't know how you can have a problem with the things he says when you don't pay attention to them because if you're like which coach steve are we talking about uh

bill peters uh the coach who called him the n-word are we talking about one of the coaches or trainers with the colorado eagles that showed up in blackface who showed up to a halloween party dressed as him are we talking about uh there was another one in there there was a third one and he mentions it actually in the video and we can play it if you want there you go so but i'm not trying to like you know no no but it's like there's so many there's too many to even remember off the top of your head yeah like that's a point right in itself coaches didn't do right by this guy like so what i don't understand the point he's trying to make other than pointing his middle finger at akim and saying fuck you right and like the motivation for writing this was seeing akim

on tv and in commercials trying to make the game a more inclusive place like that offended you so much you had to go put it in your sunday column you had to go write a paragraph about it because you saw somebody trying to make hockey a safer space for everyone there's other guys what is wrong with you i don't why is that why is somebody trying to open the game to more people offend you yeah why is why do you have to say it makes people cringe steve i don't understand what you were trying to do with this i what the fuck man well and and also let me say this uh i think it's interesting that he goes uh um those who coached akima lu must cringe every time they see him in a news report i don't think we care who coached him or how what their experience was oh

the other one was the coach who let the team captain beat the shit out of a 16 year old akima oh yeah yes right no no that coach must cringe well i'm at yeah like oh man bill peters who has to coach in russia now right where they'll just i'm sure he's cringing i'm sure bill peters is not cringing uh because bill peters really fucked up and was shitty on several instances not just akim but also there's there's stories out there about that guy and i have to be honest man which which pal are you serving right now right no the only person who has a problem with akeem and what he's doing with the hda is steve simmons for a reason we don't know well i think which friend are you doing a favor i think we can guess what i want to i think we

can guess what's the guess is that first off there's an audience for that that will read that that will like that and the toronto sun does serve that i think we know that um i also think that Steve has been in the game long enough to know a lot of people. And I think there are a lot of people who do cringe when they see Akeem Alou on television. I think Steve here is making a point that is truthful, which is invalid. And what I mean by that is I think there's a lot of people in the game who think Akeem Alou, bad guy even now. And that's the problem. Sources say. yes that's the problem and if you i think we gotta we can play the video now because i'm we've

delayed that long enough but i i think you gotta listen to his words a little bit here here the other side and then i'll read wayne simmons tweets thanksgiving to you all just want to make a quick video to address the comments made by steve simmons of the toronto sun earlier today obviously being in this space there are times that people say negative things about you but you find a way to let it go but this one got me good this one got me at my core only reason i'm addressing this is because it's all over the internet. I've seen Steve talk negatively about me for some time now, and the funny thing is I've never spoken to him or met him in my life.

I actually found out about what he said through other members of the Hockey Diversity Alliance. People like Steve are what's wrong with society. This is the first time in history the crucial conversation of race is prevalent in hockey, and I believe my story in which the HDA is doing is a major reason for that. You have absolutely no clue, Steve, what I and my family have been through, both physically and emotionally, since I started playing hockey and the scars it has left. When I show this to my dad, he literally broke out in tears. This is a man who didn't own a pair of shoes

until he was 16 years old growing up in Africa and delivered pizzas as my mom cleaned hotel rooms to get me by in this game. My dad who was with me literally an hour ago at an HDA grassroots event to promote diversity in the game and underserved communities. He's still giving back after all the years of pain trying to navigate a sport he didn't fit into.

It's so clear what you're trying to do and that is to divide us. But what you don't realize is that this unites us and makes us stronger. The real question here is, are you saying there's no racism in the game with everything that's gone on? What actually are you trying to do

by comparing myself to Wayne who is actually an incredible leader in this space and is promoting the same message as I. What coaches are you referring to? Guys like Bill Peters? Are you saying I didn't get called and get sent down to the East Coast League when I was actually leading my AHL team in scoring

in my first professional season? Are you saying I wasn't hazed in my rookie year in the OHL, made to strip naked in a bathroom with five other men and afterward got my teeth cross-checked out for not wanting to do it again and then subsequently getting blackballed by all of Hockey Canada as I watched my stock drop? Are you saying I didn't have a trainer

walk into a team party with my jersey and blackface? And then afterwards, I asked for a trade. Are all those instances my doing? Because that is how the hockey establishment made it to be. If you actually did some real journalism, you would know that the Chicago Blackhawks management team that did everything in their power to bury me came out. Out of that organization came out five National Hockey League GMs. That's close to 20% of the league at the time.

Countless others went on to scout and have other management positions. You're a racist and you're an arrogant. And you have zero credibility and respect from even your own peers in the media space and athletes alike. and if the chauness son had any integrity whatsoever you would never write another column again once again i'm going to tell you you will never divide us we're just going to be stronger together holy shit uh wow wayne simmons was pretty pissed off too he should be uh yeah because it's like why are you why are you bringing me up and again

uh this is how this is how you um this is how you demean people hey uh athlete that didn't make it who has who has a particular skin color why don't we compare you to athlete who did make it of that same particular skin color i don't know why he chose to uh you know i don't i don't know what he thought he would gain by picking another member of the hockey diversity alliance and be like see well so another black guy made it you can make it yeah wayne simmons tweeted just a quick message to the hockey world i usually don't have time for this but tonight i do i really appreciate uh what you're trying to do steve simmons your article was asinine and in no way reflects the real plight of myself akim or other what other players of color go through you are

minimizing the pain and suffering uh and dismissing the actual fight that we as people actually have to endure just to even be accepted in the game of hockey at a lower level, never mind the professional ranks in caps. Do not ever use my name or any other player of color's name and try to make your point. We will no longer sit quietly as our characters are assassinated, Steve. This will only make us stronger and speak out against people of your nature. If you were trying to be cool or funny, you missed your mark. You've been warned. P.S. This is me being nice. And I want you guys to know too that steve simmons tweeted at wayne simmons today doubled down and said i supported you and sent an article a link to his article where steve was uh writing about wayne

simmons hitting a thousand games in the nhl yeah you wrote about him kindly which because that was the story because wayne was gonna get a thousand games in the nhl yeah the tweet was at simmons 17 must have forgotten this and it's just a link to Steve Simmons saying Wayne Simmons remarkable and unlikely journey to a thousand NHL game I don't know what you think

that affords you like it's me giving Adam a cookie and then slapping him in the face I gave you a cookie though the week that a leaf hit a thousand or a leaf hit a thousand games he wrote about how that leaf hit a thousand games like he can count

like and it is a great story wayne simmons does have a great story but that is in one bucket and over here in this bucket are the comments about akima lu the comparison to wayne simmons and the fact that uh you're who are you trying to please here and i think it goes back to what steve says are you are you trying to please your sources is that what it is is this a text conversation you were having with somebody while you're watching a preseason game you're going oh i cringe whenever i see this guy and steve goes oh really why is that well he was this he was that he was this he was that yeah you know what and you hear that enough and then he prints it but we like and it all it all goes back to ignorance and like all these things that we've covered so right so he

was talking about the the three most high profile incidences that happen to him windsor uh colorado and uh and uh rockford he he talked about those are just the top three but he was talking about the chicago management team and how they spread through the nhl and we talked about the network of whispers and how that spreads and i mean for everyone who has that information you took the bait hook line and sinker and and this is part of part of the criticism of not just hockey but like sports journalism is you just hear something from someone and go well that's the thing someone told me this guy is difficult someone told me this guy has a good shot someone told me have you ever been told something about a player and then watch them and gone that i don't know

what the hell that person's talking about it's a microcosm of that um like you gotta like you can't just regurgitate the information you get you're given you have to research this at any base level and i think i think what's upsetting about akima lu's story is he's the one who had to tell it because i think if we did a better job in sports journalism and maybe this is me talking out of school because i've never done it never lived it but akima lu shouldn't have been the one to have to tell all those stories we should have known about rockford we the only reason we knew about windsor is because it was on camera and we should have known about colorado there was a picture there was a picture probably posted on like instagram and really it was probably

a little more pre-social media like the the we're a little more not not that it happened pre-pre social media but like there was stuff that everybody used to post on facebook and think it would be gone or that we would forget or whatever and it's all come back now now we i think understand the internet a little differently things spread differently um issues that were perhaps just not talked about clearly not talked about i remember being very confused reading that story going i don't understand how akima lose the bad guy yes all right and yes what's so upsetting about steve simmons is too is that we've been making progress on these incidents in the in the culture within hockey over the last couple years like there's been actual kind of like

okay, there's conversations happening now. We don't look at Akeem as a problem in these situations. We look at the people who were above them and managing them and the racist things they did. And we say, no, this was a kid just trying to play hockey and look at the racist thing that happened to him. And there was progress being made. And Steve Simmons just wasn't there for any of that, just chose to pretend like all of that stuff didn't happen, trying to take us back to this area where we're like, no, he's a problem and this black kid trying to play hockey

he's the problem here. It's a step backwards and it's so upsetting. I think a lot of people get called racist these days or either you are a racist or you did you're not necessarily a racist but you did something racist and

it just bounces off of them. What I would say is if you're immune to that sort of criticism at at best at kindest this is lazy sloppy ignorant work that should be beneath anyone employed to write for a living um yeah i don't know what to what to give you beyond that i don't know what he's been listening to over the last like decade you know like where have you been he prepared us

he prepared us like all of this right now that's happening he prepared us for it with the first sentence so it built in to his criticism that comes out of nowhere is the fallout and it makes it seem ridiculous and unjustified but oh it's the politically correct police well you can't just do whatever the fuck you want steve like yes we live in a free society but it's not free from consequences you can't just do whatever the fuck you want and this is why i think this is all premeditated it was fantastic promotion for him he is trending as of this morning um he's getting a ton of hits on this article um he got one former nhl player and one current nhl player to weigh in i would tell you and and he got he would point the

politically correct police thing at a conversation like what we're having right now um and and i would say honestly i think he got what he wanted and i think here's here's the best thing you can do with this guy this guy in particular ignore yeah ignore this person i think what you how you started this conversation when you brought up simmons uh asking masai the question about gun violence in toronto and then that sparked the whole debate about how like kyle dubas isn't being asked about gun violence in toronto and all that discourse there is it and then he went at if you remember he went at kayla gray and he he asked her if she had a comprehension problem do you remember on twitter oh i think it's important to bring up these instances because these are just

like checkpoints down the list and that he he's done this before and that that moment you remember we talked about steve for like weeks there because that that was a controversy that he kept doubling down on and then that kayla gray incident on twitter happened like i don't know a couple days after the Maasai one, then Steve Simmons conversation kept happening. This isn't a person who's going to learn and grow. They figured out that we can antagonize Black people, and I'm going to get a lot of attention for it. So I assume he's going to try it again if he wants to down the road, but this is a lost cause here. Nobody's changing this man's mind because he can get a lot of attention from this. And like you just said, the best thing right now is to ignore him. And I wish

people will de-platform him and not give him the avenue of like toronto sun and a newspaper to write in but he's not learning there are fabulous fabulous sports writers who are not working right now fabulous amazing pros uh who who are um dedicated to telling great stories and then there's this but again because it spreads like wildfire and as we know from like the various documentaries on netflix controversy is the thing that sells the thing that divides is the thing that gets the most clicks until we can break ourselves of that there's going to be guys like this who are absolutely reveling in it and i do not believe for one second that that was in there for any other reason other than to generate a ton of clicks and i actually do think sounds like he

believes it because he he kind of said as much here's what's confusing to me i don't think it generated a lot of clicks the reason this spread is because one person read it screen grab uh grabbed it and it spread on twitter i didn't see anyone sharing the link i agree but i still think people would have it would have i i can i would put money on that and having a bump i went to it to read the see if there's more you know outside the screenshot because i like and i'm looking at talk about it right now i'm looking at a daily hive article by adam lascaris who we know yep and it has to link through to the toronto sun article for context so it's there's the link there and like the trending all day on twitter stuff that you brought up like that means something

to him i assume in the sun he wants to he wants his name up there because then people click on it on twitter and go why steve simmons trending he's been around for so long and done so many things you can be trending for something else right and and here's the other thing like there's still 70 000 people following the guy and i know there's a lot of people hate following the guy like like i can't stand this guy and i'm following him because i want him to fuck up stop doing that that's don't do that to yourself for your health drop don't do that shit something something follow people something that i think he could have potentially written about and it would have been uh not racist frankly and but still on brand is how could delise put wayne simmons on you know

what i mean and he could talk about the lack of grit on this team like which i think we would all expect. Simmons is going to the Marlies and Clifford is going to the Marlies and what use is it to your team if all of your organization's toughness is down in the American Hockey League? This had nothing to do with Simmons and the Leafs. This had to do with Akeem

Alou trying to make the game better and him getting texts from... But if he wanted to play to that base, the Toronto Sun knuckle buster base... Sure, there's a million different ways he could have gone about it, but this one, that one, we're not sitting here talking about it. Just a cheap shot. He went for the lowest, the lowest denominator

and just said i'm gonna go here yeah it's awful yeah man that's terrible like completely unprovoked it's it's just it's really confusing really confusing steve and i'm waiting now i'm waiting for the phone call and i'm waiting for you know because it's this is all whispers behind the scenes about akima lu i already know people talk shit about this show we we know all too well and sometimes we hear about it and we hear who and now I'm just waiting oh well whatever

I'm just waiting and for if any of you are listening to this right now don't waste my time if you contact me tell me what you're mad about come to me with something specific try to change my mind don't waste my time and just yell at me because I'm

a grown up now a lot of people think I'm still fucking 19 come to me with some actual feedback or don't call me at all okay there you go do you want to do a press conference yes let's do it