The Steve Dangle Podcast - IOC U Later | December 5, 2017

Episode Date: December 6, 2017

On this episode, Russia has been banned from the Olympics (00:00), the SDP takes over Montreal (20:00), Babcock tried Nylander at centre at practice (29:00), Polak has not been good lately (38:00), Ken Campbell had one of the worst hockey tweets of 2017 (54:30), Key Arena is happening in Seattle (1:10:00), and the press conference (Forbes most valuable franchises, Kris Russell, & we're selling shirts) (1:26:00). BUY OUR TEE SHIRTS HERE --->> teespring.com/en-GB/stores/fancydangleshirts Originally aired: December 5, 2017 Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/9EG5qaPu-U0 Follow us on Twitter: @Steve_Dangle, @AdamWylde, & @JesseBlake Follow us on Instagram: @SteveDangle, @AdamWylde, & @Jesse.Blake Subscribe to us on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/steve-dangle-podcast/id669828195?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Panago Pizza presents S.D.P. The Steve Dangle Podcast with your hosts, Steve Dangle and Adam Wilde. So what will a neutral Russian hockey team look like? Like, would it just be... The hockey team of players from Russia, is that what it would be called? Okay, all I want to know is, will we get outraged at the jersey? Because we have to, it's mandatory What would the jersey be?

It's the Olympic flag It's kind of cool, I like that It'd be a white shirt with rings on it I mean, it sucks for anybody who's cheering for Russia But it's still kind of cool I mean, the Olympic rings are pretty cool They just make the rings red, white, and blue For America, right?

No, no, it's not You need it Well, the KHL's not going Yeah, because Vladimir Putin has said He doesn't want anybody going, but that is not confirmed yet. I haven't had a chance to catch up on this news. So it was just Russia as a country was banned. The country was banned.

But have we gotten an update on the KHL at all? So according to Bob McKenzie, because Bob McKenzie was the one who called Rene Fussell, essentially he said, I just got off the phone with double IHF president Rene Fussell, who says it's too early to make any declarations on where we go from here. He said more from Faisal, we need 24 to 48 hours to see where things are at. This is the first time in history we've had to deal with something like this. Now, the background is KHL has threatened that if Russian players couldn't compete under their flag, the KHL might not shut down its season for scheduled Olympic break

and may not permit any KHL-contracted players from any country to leave their club team. Yeah, they're not going. Yeah, they're not going. That league's not going. No way. And we can only go off what Vladimir Putin said before, which is I wouldn't let them go, clean or not. So all the athletes that are not clean can't go. All the athletes that are clean or at least were never caught can,

but I can't see who pays for that. Yeah, they also have to pass a bunch of strict doping protocol to even get into the clean-up. So they have to do a whole bunch of more testing to get into this new Russian Olympic athlete thing and compete under the Olympic race. The Olympic athlete from Russia. Yeah.

And then if they were to win a gold medal, it would be the Olympic song that played, not the Russian national anthem. Russia is banned. Yeah. But their athletes can still compete if they go through this new doping thing. I don't understand that. What do you mean? Like, either they're banned or they aren't banned. No, no, you go ahead, Jess.

Because there are some clean athletes. Yeah. Maybe. Okay. So then don't ban the country. No, but the... Ban the... No, no, but they have to ban the country.

You can't have a country who stuck pee bottles through a hole. Oh, I agree with that. Compete in the Olympics. I agree with that. So, none then. Well, here's the thing. What the IOC doesn't want is something like what happened in the mid-70s where Russia refused to go to Los Angeles. Or was it 84 or whatever they boycotted the Olympics or, you know, or they threatened a boycott in Montreal or something like that.

Whatever happened. They don't want another wall built up between Russia and the rest of the world, which I understand. And I believe what they said in the press conference, and forgive me if I'm wrong here, Jesse, or correct me if I'm wrong, that is. But forgive him. They have. That's your friend. They have kind of extended an olive branch to Russia, as in if you do all these things, we will let you back in for the next one. It's just this Olympics, you're not going as a country.

So they they want to reconcile with Russia. And I believe the head of the Russian doping anti-doping agency apologized. And then there was another guy ahead of the Russian program who has been banned for life along with his assistant. So, I mean, it's amazing that for, you know, four or five years they were they were doing this and the punishment is only this severe. Like, ultimately, you would think when you get into the nuts and bolts of the actual punishment itself it isn't all that bad they banned all the they banned the state because

the state sponsored it they banned the athletes that participated in the state sponsorship but they didn't do a full one and i have to applaud them for that i think because if you go and you just do a blanket ban and you ban a clean athlete then what do you stand for and athletes cannot be responsible for what their governments do right and as the ioc is supposed to be politically neutral the idea is to have the athletes there that are clean and i i respect that they went as far as they did i do too but like if a russian athlete goes under the neutral flag and wins gold that's a russian athlete who won but they're competing for the olympic rings they're not competing for that country then it's bad also sochi was four years ago right so there's

athletes that have not ever competed in olympic games that have grown up in some 17 year old skier who's just qualified for the Olympics. Why are you banning that person? Yeah, no, that's fair. So, yeah, the rule is Russian athletes will need to be invited to the 2018 games by the Olympics to participate, and they must never have been disqualified for any anti-doping violation in their career and undergone all pre-Olympic testing recommended by the Pre-Games Testing Task Force.

So there you go. And they have been banned from track events and Paralympics. They were banned from the Rio Paralympic Games. When's the next summer? Or who's the next summer? Or where is it? I don't know. It's three Asias, I believe.

We go, because we're going to South Korea, and then it's... Japan? Japan. It's either Japan. No, China has the winter. Yes. Yeah. Here, look it up.

Why am I trying to guess? We have Google. It's three Asias. Yeah, three Asias. Got it. Okay. So it's Tokyo. Sorry, it's Pyeongchang, Tokyo, and then...

Beijing. Beijing again. Winter, yeah. I will be very surprised if a single Russian athlete competes. I'll be surprised. This one? Yeah. Yeah, I think so, too.

I would be surprised, too. I think, on principle, they're going to make it difficult. Well, I can't see, because this is one of the things, at least from the very little that I know about Russian politics, one of the things that Vladimir Putin props up his image on, because let's be honest, the elections there are, he's going to win, but he still has to win over the people, right? One of the things he props up his image on is winning in sports. And, you know, one of the things going into Sochi was got to win that hockey, got to win that hockey, even though they didn't, because it props up his macho image.

Apparently, he never even played hockey until like 10 years ago. But he just started playing. Yeah. But he just started playing for political reasons. Have you ever seen the footage of him playing? We watched it on the podcast. Hilarious. Oh, it's the best.

Their dear leader scoring 10 goals in a game against NHLers. Like, it's very funny. He got a goal and won. Yes. yeah who is it uh kim jong-un who has 10 hole in one kim jong-il is it yeah yeah yeah because kim jong-un i don't think is physical enough to play golf yeah they can't lie about that he's got a lot of life left to be as good of a golfer as his dad yes you never know also the thing they can't lie about that that's untrue they can't they can lie you're right they can

lie about pretty much anything um but this is going to be a bit of a black mark and i believe this is an election quote-unquote year uh and i say that because i'm not there are people running But I think the resistance running the guy running resistance against him is like a journalist who's banned from the Capitol. Like it's it's pretty fair, pretty straight forward who's going to win. So do you. But I don't know if this is so. So the only politically the only logical thing for Putin to do is go. They hate Russia. Clearly, they hate Russia. The world hates Russia. That's why you need me. That's exactly what I was about to say.

That's what I was what Donald Trump would do. Yeah, I mean, it's the same against the world. Absolutely. And that's sort of, I think, how Russians must feel because there's a ton of sanctions against them. The economy's taken a large hit in recent years, especially while Barack Obama was president. And there was issues with obviously the Ukraine and then before that, Jordan. And so, you know, not to get too political, but on that landscape, he's been propping his image up every single time the world punishes him for doing something wrong and that he's used that as political gain, as in the world hates Russia, whereas the world really wants to get along with Russia. It just seems to be like there's a guy at the top doing stuff that it's like, what do you do it?

Well, how about this? Ovechkin and Malkin get on Instagram and change the whole thing. Whoa. No, no. Oh, what's that? That's ridiculous? It won't work? Got it.

How lucky is the NHL that they're not going? They just avoided a huge mess. You think so? Probably. And they look kind of smart now. I don't think that, well, no. That's like the Leafs looking smart for not re-signing Dave Boland. They were geniuses.

No, they got outbid. Is this where you were going with this, though, Jesse? Because there's rumors that the NHL is extraordinarily soft on drug tests. There has been that rumor. So, what happens now, or how does it look, I guess, if the NHL goes, KHL goes, well, forget the KHL, NHL goes, but the Russian players aren't allowed to go. so now while canada is over at the olympics and the states are over there all these russian stars the nhl can't go because their country has been banned because of like steroid use and stuff how does that make you know a guy like malkin or a guy like kovachkin or any russian-born player

in the nhl look like do we start having the sydney crosby as a vampire conversation again where we start talking about Ovechkin maybe being on roids or something? Is that where you were going with that? No, I think if, kind of. A little bit? I'm still recovering from the weekend, and my words are not good. We're not claiming that Ovechkin's on steroids, to be clear. No, no, but people will.

100% people will. People already do. People did before this. People did the same with Jose Bautista when he started hitting like a maniac. based on the grounds of, well, he is very good. Yeah, he's sure never done this before. Literally based on the ground of, well, he does hit a lot of home runs. There was an argument made in a certain Toronto newspaper

by a certain Toronto columnist who will remain nameless if you don't know what we're talking about. When Jose Bautista had his breakout year, he suggested that it might be, probably was, not might be, probably was steroids. Well, he did hit a lot of home runs, Adam. And then as he continued to hit home runs, And season after season after season, that kind of went away.

But it was like, whoa, he's never hit like this before. Steroids. Well, clearly, it's like we don't know how the pyramids were made. He continued to be on steroids. We don't know how the pyramids were made. Aliens. Aliens. Right?

And one thing about the journey of Jose Bautista's home runs is that during that period, baseball only ramped up their steroid testing. Like, that's when it kept getting stronger and stronger, and he just kept hitting more home runs. So, good job, Reiner. I think he got smarter. Oh, yes. Lance Marner got around it. He called up Lance Armstrong and said, what are you doing, Mr. Livestrong?

Anyway, it's a... Mr. Livestrong. What was I on? I was on my booster juice, busting my ass. Jose Bautista has a booster juice sponsorship for American business. I just thought I would throw that out there. Anyway.

It's kind of fun because in the commercial, he hits home runs, but they're pineapples. one has to ask were those pineapples on steroids right true

were they juiced oh wow that's the play wow and and he flipped it

he flipped it I'm so god damn I'm so just proud that I'm in the same room as you man man I'm good it's good to know you

Costanza the show Costanza the show yeah we can just end it right here yeah let's go let's just get out of here alright

no I'm not sure why here we go so I mean At the time of this podcast, we have no idea what's going to go on, but it's interesting to see what will, and I have a really hard time believing that anybody from Russia is going to go, because wouldn't Russia still have to pick up the tab? Because they have to pay the IOC $50 million in fines, and pay for the investigation that the IOC did, before they can get back in. Really? Yeah.

Yeah, so we did all this investigation, it cost us $15 million, you've got to pay that back, plus all these fines. Wow. Um, so I wonder, I wonder if like, if a team wants to go and your, your, your country won't back you up, how do you go? Well, who pays for you? How about this? Let's look at an example, like friend of the show, Ben Scrivens. Uh, let's look at an example like that.

We were talking about the, what the Canadian team is going to look like at the Olympics. And his name was kind of at the forefront for who's going to be in net. So. And he's playing in the K, right? Place for Salavat Eliyev of the KHL. What happens now? Now, he could just be like, you know, he's a Canadian citizen. He could just be like, KHL isn't for me.

Rip up his contract and go home. Now, there's a lot at play there. Will he get a job when he comes to North America? Will he be paid all the money he is currently owed? Because scheduling is an issue there, let me tell you. Yeah, what exactly happens there? And this also only weakens every hockey team that goes. Like, it's going to be really funny.

It's going to be weird. It's going to be a crapshoot. There's no way to predict who's going to win. Who are the best? Like, does Canada just send? Why not send the World Juniors team? Why not just send the World Junior team, make it nice and easy? But then you've still got players like P.A. Parenteau could go.

Well, yeah, World Juniors and P.A. Parenteau. And Jerome McGinley, perhaps? You keep holding the candle for that? I don't think it's going to happen, man. They keep talking about it. They keep asking him. You know, who retired? What about Shane Doan?

Who's someone who just retired? You know what I mean? Shane Doan makes the team. Let's say Team Canada. Hey, hey, but enough about the Arizona Bears. Let's say Team Canada goes to the tournament and they finish last. And then, again, the next tournament, the NHL doesn't go, and they finish last.

Does Shane Doan ask for a trade, or does he stay with them? Hey, how about this? What if Canada does finish last and gets relegated, and they can't compete in China? I don't think that happens. No. No? No.

Yeah. No, Steve. Steve, you don't get relegated in Olympic qualifying. Can't you? In the Olympics, you don't get relegated. It's not the same teams every single year. Steve. They would sleepwalk through any sort of qualifying that would go on.

Oh, because it's not based on this. No, it's different How does it work in the World Juniors though? Isn't it the bottom two teams Or bottom three teams get kicked out And then you gotta qualify to get back in But if you're one of the teams that got kicked out You don't get to play in the qualifying tournament

I don't know, it's a good question in the Olympics It's like how Latvia is always like Come on Hey, we're in! Oh, we're out Hey, we're in! Oh, we're out Kazakhstan, hey! I think the Olympics are better with Latvia and Kazakhstan because their fans are wicked.

So qualification for the men's tournament at the 2018 Winter Olympics was determined by the IIHF world ranking following the 2015 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. The world's determined the... So it's based on ranking. Yeah, the host along with the top eight teams in the world ranking received automatic bursts into the Olympics while all other teams had an opportunity to qualify

for the remaining three spots in the Olympics. Wow. Well, I assumed Canada would be fine, so there you go. I didn't think that was the conversation we needed to have. I didn't think so either. What if they got relegated, guys, and they're playing Tier 2? What if it's based on performance? And what if they have a bad one?

They never have one. What a privilege to cheer for a country where we don't even know the answer to that question until we had to look it up. It's great. It's great. I'm just saying. I'm just saying,

if they get relegated, does Shane Doan stay with the team or does he ask for a trade to another country? Which radio show host does he get called out for not requesting a trade sooner? That's what I want to know. Is the NHL going to be in China? Oh, I think so.

The NHL thinks so. Rene Fussell does not. I hope the IOC says no. I hope they don't go. You don't like Gary Bettman, though. Correct. I wonder how you'd feel about Rene Fussell if we knew more about him too

I think there's a little bit of quality I'd probably say screw the both of them No, I was on their side with the you can't have your cake and eat it too Oh, we're not going to go Oh, but we're going to go The balls to have already said before the Olympics

have even been played in the Korean Olympics that we're going to go to the Chinese Olympics The balls. Wait. You know that saying, the body's not even cold yet? Body's not even dead yet for this one. The Olympics haven't happened.

And they've already said, but we're going to go to the ones in China. It's what's called a power move. Yeah. And screw them for that. So I hope they don't get to go. Steve doesn't like the fact that they have giant cojones. Cojones, yeah. Oh, fuck that.

Giant cojones. Here's the thing about Gary Bem. He's walking around with his giant cojones. First you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the withdrawal from the Olympics. Rich lawyer, so brave. Shut up. I hate these people.

I get up in the morning and I put on my suit and I got to. Make me sick. Got to take my cojones and put them in my black suit. Make me sick. I hope they don't get to go. So Yakov Mirinov. I hope they don't get to go. Yakov Mirinov.

That's not real, man. I hope the Olympics are like, you can only compete in the Summer Olympics. Yagov Mironov is one of the writers who used to work at the Leafs Nation Network with Steve. Posted a picture, and he tagged Real Sports, which is the big outlet in Toronto for buying sports apparel. And he said, yo, Real Sports, will this be available in store anytime soon? Okay, and what is it? I'm going to read it out to you. You can't see it yet. Oh, I think I know what he's talking about.

Do my Leafs offend you? and it's a skull holding two two revolvers pointed at you maybe maybe and as in maybe may be two separate words no maybe you need a prescription for two testicles do my leafs offends you maybe you need a prescription for two testicles you call you laugh now somebody's gonna i'm gonna be dumb enough to buy that you know it's gonna be a huge bummer when i see that walking around oshawa in like two months oh my god i have seen those i have seen those really bad the facebook ad thing oh you don't like my stealers because because facebook knows i like the steelers because it's user generated or like it's like

a bot generated sorry working in human resources is bad but vacationing in jamaica is a great time Oh, you think being a managing editor is cool. I'm also a badass. There's one that I got because I was managing editor at the Leafs Nation. The HR manager one would be like Ninja or something. More like HR Ninja. There should be... You know what I'm cool with?

Edited democracy. Like if you're walking around wearing one of those shirts, they go, you can't vote. I'm kind of cool with that. I think this falls under your... Who objects to that? I think that's not democracy. Yeah, I think this falls under your punch, whoever you want in the face. And also, one legal punch.

I'm going to run on a very unique platform. One legal punch is funny. A lot of people tweeted me. They're like, I don't know about your legal punch. I don't know. I don't think Steve should run anything. Like, be the head of... Well, no.

Also, fuck the Olympics, Annals. Gary Bettman's banned from Canada. No. No. Can't do that. Can't do that. Jesse's like, alright, as long as you know You can't do that

I'm the guy who makes Jesse's Thanksgiving awkward Hey, should we tell them Should we talk about Montreal? Yeah Where do we want to start? My voice is hoarse We did my bachelor party in Montreal And I'm not sure how much we want to divulge

Not much, but the game was fantastic We went to the 10-1 Habs Red Wings game That was ridiculous. Well, and the best part about it is we're all in Leafs jerseys. And I had to wear that stupid Jerkshire jersey with a bunch of Leaf fans. And I had a jersey, a Matthews jersey on under it. I signed Matthews jersey.

Yeah, crazy. I have a good friend who gave me a good hookup on that. And that was super cool. And I asked him, like, are you sure I should be wearing this to the game? He's like, yeah, you absolutely should be wearing that to the game. He could probably get you a couple more. Your friend gave you that And the rest of the guys, we all looked at each other

And we're like, we didn't get you anything So we hope you enjoy your party Because we didn't get you anything But what was great about Getting into that stadium First off, Andrew Berkshire wore a Leafs jersey My Leafs jersey, my other Leafs jersey The whole night, God bless him

He's a good man Imagine not having to do that and doing it anyway He grew up a Habs fan That's a good friend That's a guy I see like once a year And yet, how nice is that? More like, good guy, Shire. Jesse told me that one.

Until that jersey was made. But what was interesting was that all the Montreal fans were pretty cool about it. Yeah, we didn't get yelled at until after the game for some reason. Did we yell that after the game? I did. For sure. What did they say? Fuck you, Maple Leaf, go home.

Go home and I just go, you won 10-1. Have a good night. Was it 11? No, it was 10-1. It was 10? It was 10-1, but it was on the 22nd anniversary of a game where they lost 11-1. And lost Patrick Waugh, too. And lost Patrick Waugh.

To brilliant, critically acclaimed radio show host Mario Tromblek. I wish Patrick Waugh could hear this, but he can't because he's got Stanley Cups plugged in his ears. Both his ears. Both his ears. When they started to go up, I was sort of thankful. Because let's say... Right away, too. Let's say Detroit blew them out of the water, and we're walking around with Leafs jerseys.

I feel like the reactions are going to be different. Yes. Yes. I feel like they might have been more hostile. And I don't mean that just Montreal in general. I think that's a city-to-city thing. Oh, my God. Any city you're in.

Philadelphia maybe more than everybody else. Philly. Oh, Boston. Boston gave you a hard time. I went to a Leaf game in Boston in 2011, and they were in pretty good seats. And I remember saying to everyone around, I'm like, hey, you guys are pretty nice. I was just talking to them. And I was like, you know, I was worried you wouldn't receive me so well.

And they went, oh, if you sat in the bleeders, you'd get your ass kicked. I was like, all right, cool. Cool. All right. Neat. Suspensive money when you go to Boston and wear your own team jersey. Yeah. Buddy system with the bathroom.

Yeah. For sure. By the way, Bell Center, most urinals I think I've ever seen, ever. Remember we were commenting? Yeah, they have like eight rows of urinals. Pretty easy to pee, for sure. It's very easy to pee. Very important.

Yes. I also thought. Key. Edmonton should take notes Does Edmonton not have good boundaries? Remember last year during the playoffs They ran out of washrooms Well that might have been because they sold concourse tickets

No This was enough urinals For an entire city Adam Anyway really fun time Really fun game to be at By the way at the end of the game Our entire set all of us stood up and applauded the Canadians It was a great game

We cheered every goal They have an amazing goal song. Oh, it's the best. And I'm so jealous that we don't have something here in Toronto like that. Hey! Hey! You know, I just I was thinking about this. I'm like, God, every city we go to, it's so much fun. Hockey's

so fun. And then I'm thinking, well, yeah, it's hockey in different cities. It's pretty sweet. Hockey's fun. I mean, Leafs games are hit and miss. Some games they revert back to the very boring suit brand, but like the playoffs were unbelievable. Well, give it some time to

resuscitate the body, okay? Like even now We need a couple years of playoffs And rabidity If that's a word I was standing I was at one of the preseason games I was standing

I think it was during a fight There was a big hit And I was yelling and I started standing And a lady behind me told me to sit down And that made me really upset And it should It's stupid But what's interesting

is when i uh on the on the blue line podcast we talked to a a toronto maple leaf scholar a guy that was a historian and what he said was the last time the leafs won the cup only about 20 000 people showed up and he said because because first it was their fourth cup in like seven years and the other thing was he said toronto didn't go out and do things together he's like there were no street festivals there were no like you notice that there's nothing like all like the taste of the Danforth is a pretty recent thing. And, you know, the Fort York concerts are pretty recent. Yeah, like all those things were not things that happened in Toronto before that

because he said it was a very, you know, Presbyterian culture. You stay at home and you stay with your own and you have small, don't make a lot of noise. And Toronto is still really like that. Even the immigrant community. Like when my Italian grandparents came over, all they did was just hang out with other Italians. Right. Everybody kind of stuck to themselves. And I think it's only been recently.

Like, think about, did you ever go downtown and do anything in Toronto growing up other than go to a Leaf game? I'm trying to think. I went to the Santa Claus parade once, but I always thought those pictures were of the Toronto Santa Claus parade. And I found out later in life, no, that was like Pickering or Ajax or something like that. Right. So, no, I'm trying to think of stuff I went downtown for. And nobody at that time never really lived downtown. So we're sort of just developing.

And I feel like, Jesse, that is like a cultural thing that's shifting. Because I think Maple Leaf Square is changing that. I think, you know, Jurassic Park when the Raptors are in the playoffs. But that was never a thing that happened. It was never you went out, like, you know, after the Jays won their World Series, you saw people out on the streets. And the reason that was such a big deal was because no one ever went out on the streets. It was like Queen West.

3-92. Yeah. No one in Toronto spoke. And then after that, change. we always talk about the great 92 speaking sorry we listen every year we celebrate conversation i'm just trying to say that i don't think you could argue with that no i don't think you can it's a great 92 speaking it's great um i think that there's a cultural thing in this city which is you know don't make a don't make too much noise man don't make too much don't make a fuss

Don't draw attention to yourself. Yeah, that's changed. Ah, yeah. For sure. For sure. Hey, Philly won a game. Did they? Yeah.

I didn't even see that. They snapped their 10-game win streak. Ben Bishop was a net against two. Guess. Wait, Ben Bishop? Ben Bishop, their goalie. Or Ben Bishop. Brian Elliott.

Brian Elliott, not Ben Bishop. When you're like, Ben Bishop was a net. Brian Elliott. I was going to be like, one of the two Flyers goalies. Brian Elliott. I don't even know who they played, so. That's what I mean. Guess.

Brian Elliott's a net. So it would have had to have been a bad goalie. Significance. Significance. Significance. Brian Elliott. Who did they play and beat? Did they beat Calgary?

They did. And they beat Mike Smith. I believe so. Ten game win streak snapped. Boy, that sucks if the Leafs get the Flames next. Now they're going to be extra pissed. See, if you can find everything bad. I think maybe the Philadelphia game has nothing to do with the Toronto Maple Leafs-Calgary game.

I can find a way to make everything bad and about the Leafs. Yes. It's a skill. No, I think there's some relation there. Oh, there's no relation there, guys. We're playing Calgary next. They're playing Calgary next. Tomorrow.

The Leafs, like, destroyed them last time they played them. It was an embarrassing game for Calgary. And then they lose to a team on, I think, the longest losing streak of any team this season. So they're going to come back, and they'll be extra motivated, and that sucks for us. Thank you. That was a low five. I wasn't expecting that, but I recovered. You know what?

What? You know what I don't fear? Why don't you fear him? Because William Nylander was tried out at center. Yes. But Bozak's back today, so. Yeah, that was crazy when I read that. So he had food poisoning that was so bad,

he said he was throwing up for three days. I've heard of people getting food poisoning before. Three days? Maybe it might have been like something that turned into a stomach bug or something like that. What the hell did he eat? Yeah, seriously. And he said, you know, obviously he, you know,

didn't have much energy because I guess he couldn't keep anything down. So I'm thinking he might not even play tomorrow because it's going to take more than one skate and a couple good meals to get back to feeling normal. It's kind of weird because for a professional athlete, you'd think that his diet's so regulated and so, like, micromanaged that he'd get food poisoning, that that's bad, that it's that bad, and nobody else on the team has anything. Yeah, that was a little strange.

That I didn't understand, so maybe... Maybe he'd pick something up from, you know, the airport or, you know, they have been on the road, so, you know, you're not eating at home as much, right? Because they were, you know, they did just finish a road swing. Well, yeah, it could have been like, yeah, they probably could have gone out in Vancouver after the game. The first thing I thought was, oh, Vancouver.

No, well, see, he didn't play against the Canucks though. Oh, so it would have been in Calgary. First thing I thought was they got in early, had bad sushi. But it wouldn't have just been him then. Yeah, he had that one piece of sushi that was bad. It's weird. I don't know. Or maybe it was

a bad steak in Edmonton before they we're really going to overanalyze a guy getting food poisoning for three days Adam what else is this podcast this is Toronto like if we're not going to spend an hour on Bozak getting food poisoning why am I here

let's call a doctor and ask how long food poisoning should really last I want to know I think maybe stomach flu likely story I think it was actually the Lou flu and he's going to be traded any day now for Ian Cole who the Penguins have been sitting out.

I rest my case. Prove him wrong. You can't. This is the same city that had Babcock's flight tracked when he was signing that. Yeah, that's true. Tweet from Sean McKenzie.

Babcock had a little fun this morning starting his media scrum. Saw this. It's getting a little quiet around here. I'm a little disappointed. Let's get some rumors going right now. Get some shit that really doesn't matter. What do you want to go with?

That's pretty funny. That is great. That is great. I also like people swearing. I like him swearing. I've always just thought swearing's funny. Yeah, no, it's... He's awesome.

William Nylander at center, though. So if he does play tomorrow night at center... Which I hope he does. There's a pretty scary lineup there. Well, it's just so funny. Like, Babcock, we've talked about, like, you can kind of trust what he says. and you're going to take what he says at face value. He seems very blunt.

And he seemed very blunt in, well, yeah, I don't want to do that. Like, he doesn't seem interested. But my whole thing, and I know he wants to win every game, is it would be better for the development of this player if he were to get good at center. And with Bozak maybe going out the door at the end of the season, isn't Nylander at center a way to solve several of your problems? Well, I wonder if, I agree with that, and the only reason I'm going to interrupt you here is that I wondered about that same thing, but I think some circumstances have changed.

I think at the beginning of the season, the reason he didn't want to do that was because him and Nylander and Matthews were playing so well together. Yes. But now that Nylander's not on that line, and Connor Brown and Zach Hyman look really good with Austin Matthews, now it's like, well, now there's no reason not to, right? Now try it. Well, and your strength is a surplus at wing. Yep. And we've seen with Patrick Marleau, who over and over again, I didn't get him to be a center. I didn't get him to be a center.

All right, don't use him at center. Put the other guy there. So they have a surplus in wingers. Take one of your wingers who can play center, make him a center, bring in another winger. Oh, no, Bozak's leaving. Cool. Well, we have this guy.

He also happens to be a right-handed shot, if that matters to you that much. He's been taking – hasn't he taken more face-offs than Auston Matthews this season, Nylander? I'm pretty sure I saw that stat. That might have something to do with Matthews missed a few games. Well, and they also have been playing, you know, Babcock's been on each separate sides making one or the other take the faceoff. It doesn't mean they play center.

It just means they take the faceoff and Matthews go back to playing center. But that's interesting because that would be, to me, the first thing I'd be worried about is, are you winning faceoffs? And I believe he was. Now it's a matter of, can he play the 200-foot game? It's a bit more strenuous, right? Well, and they're second in the division. I think top five in the league and conference.

And there's like over 50 games left. Try them. Try it. Try it. Try it. I don't understand why they haven't tried Nylander at center more. Well, yeah, and I agree, but I think that's why that circumstance has changed in the last five. Especially at home.

You can control the matchups a little more. For sure. Well, and I think I love the line that he had him with. It was Nylander, Marner, and Xavier, wasn't it? Yeah. Justin Bourne made a funny comment. He's like, so what are the odds this line is played at all in the third period if the Leafs are winning?

And the answer is 0%, but I would love to see that line. Just give them offensive zone starts, man. You got a guy who can bang and crash. You got a spark plug who can just wheel the puck around and make any play he wants. And then, I mean, that description, I think, sort of fits Nylander as well, except he's maybe got a better shot. Your face-offs, that is incorrect.

Okay. Matthews has taken 260 face-offs, and Nylander has 214. What are their percentages? Face-off percentage for Austin Matthews is 53.8. Face-off percentage for William Nylander, 54.7. Hey, there you go. So fewer face-offs, but better percentage, ever so slightly. Well, those are very good.

I don't know. I just feel like developing Nylander at center, like, what's the worst that happens? Is it fails and you go back to just having Bozak there? Well, I don't understand what the downside of this is. Next year, it's Matthews, Kadri, Tavares. Exactly. So maybe you don't need it.

Where does Nylander fit in? Jesse makes a good point. It doesn't make sense. Fourth line, Thornton. Right. Oh, yes. Right, so, no, you know what? Sorry, I'm with Jesse.

You just convinced me. Well, here's what I was thinking about, too, this weekend. If you've got—a lot of people want the Leafs to go and deal their depth for a defenseman for these sorts of things. And I understand the want to do that. The more I think about it, the less I think I'd want to. The reason I feel that way is the more skill players you have, the more you drive down the prices of the people you have to resign. So, you know, so it's, it's basic. It's like a basic, like if you took economics in university, you're going to sort of laugh at me here.

But the more of something, I did not, the more of something there is theoretically, the more the price should go down. Right. Yeah. If you print more money, the cost of each dollar goes down. Right. Because it's worth less. Like Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel could ask the Oilers or Sabres for more. Right.

But, you know, because they're team. Why are you taking random shots at Vincent Buffalo? I don't know if that's a shot or if it's the truth. It's both. Check the scoreboard. Tom Ford. Biatch. That was Steve's Ed Bell for a moment.

Check the scoreboard. The Sabres are... so if you have guys that are ready to step in and jv a guy like jvr or a guy like bozak wants to stay you go sure you could stay but five million bucks uh five million um yeah five million bucks for jvr uh minimum yeah bozak you're gonna make less than you made last you know and you have to share We signed JVR to one- JVR and Bozak to one contract combined, and they have to split it and play goalie Cuz I'm Lou! And we're only giving you one Xbox this time

Xbox or PS4 make your choice You can play NHL 14 We'll give you the South Park game, but it's the old one. Adam, were you trying to make a point? I was trying to make a point go ahead but it's the old one you gotta play stick of truth you gotta play stick of truth before you can play the fractured butthole

how's it pronounced shut up I'm Lula Amarillo and then he stunners him and climbs together two bears that'd be cool I'd watch that Lula Amarillo is stone cold stunnering someone can we make a gif of that

And the Shanahan comes in the ring, and they cheers. And they stunner Shady, too, because Stone Cold just used to do that shit. He was the rattlesnake. You couldn't trust him. Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun. La-mer-re-lo-dun. I'm sorry. The coffee kicked in.

I just want Lou, like, a gif of Lou just flipping the bird. And then stunnering. I don't think his Providence College would allow it. Robin Hood's college background would allow him to flip the bird twice. I think it might. Well, anyway, the point I'm making is that players want to play for a winning team, right? Yeah. They do want to.

Damn it, man. If they want to stay in Toronto. What? They're going to have to accept less money because we can somewhat replace most of them, right? We can't – we can replace 80% of JVR or 60% of JVR, 70% of JVR, and then make it for – What? No, that was a perfect opportunity! So my point is keep the depth you have and don't deal that depth because it will keep you out of contract hell with the guys that usually bog down the deal. It's not the Tavares deal that kills you.

It's if the Islanders had re-signed Kyle Ocpozo or gone after Andrew Ladd the way they did. You know what I mean? It's the four and the fives. It's always the fours and the fives. Don't get into those. The Marlies, like, okay, I've talked about certain players just rotting in the minors for the Leafs. I don't know if that's the case yet. It's going to happen to guys, but it's not the case yet.

You know who's a guy you trade? Tobias Lindberg, who's having trouble getting into the lineup every night. Who used to play for the Leafs, by the way. Yes. I saw his first career point live and in person in Buffalo. They beat the Leafs. The Leafs were that bad. Hey, are the Buffalo Sabres...

Another one, for no good reason. Are the Buffalo Sabres good? No. What are they? They're, in fact, bad. What are they, though? Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. Thank you. What? No, but that was an example of there's... you got to let him go somewhere else.

He's not going to succeed with this team. There are other players on that team. Like Timoshev, for example, was a guy that we sort of moaned about. Like, oh, he's barely even playing on this team. He's barely even playing on this team. This year has a bigger role with the Marlies, and he's doing great. Branco is a guy who so far this season, we've been like, oh, he's barely playing, he's barely playing.

Watch next year he plays. Well, yeah, because somebody will graduate. And what is it? coin toss goes to the veteran as babcock said that's true in the minors too doesn't matter who you are unless you're really really really good really good sorry the casperi capitan he was a healthy scratch a couple years ago and wouldn't you know it ruined his whole damn career yeah i remember when that i remember when that happened and people were freaking out about that oh man i mean we might have been one of them but like it was i don't know he is going to make the

show yeah Brendan Leipzig was another healthy he was a playoff healthy scratch for the Marlies and he's in the NHL this year on and off and with an expansion team but they don't ask you how he's there yeah he's in the show he made it um the Toronto Marlies currently have 18 wins in 23 games is that good I want to I want to well when we take you to the Marlies game by the way we'll have a contest for you starting Thursday this week to win that game um it will be against the manitoba manitoba moves who have won 17 games in 24 not as good not as good but still pretty good marley's 18 and 5 manitoba 17 5 uh one and one what a joke the the next closest teams are the texas stars and the lehigh valley phantoms each with 13 wins to their credit there are two teams

in the regular season race marley's are a little good there are a lot good because we used to have NHL players playing in the Marlies. It's what you want. It's what you want. So maybe don't trade away all your strength. Yeah. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, I'm just saying it's going to drive down.

If JVR really wants to stay, then he's really going to have to not get maximum JVR money. Someone sent me a tweet. And again, I'm... And Bo's out too. And that's why I think, sorry, my point about that whole long, long point is that Nylander should be playing center

at least a little bit this year because next year that drives down the cost. I would say. And if you want to go out and get not a Tavares, because he's going to get what he's going to get. But if Bozak, say, wanted to stay, then you're like, okay, well, you're in this role, and it's this price, and that's what we can afford you at, and I'm sorry it can't be anything more than that. If, I completely forgot what I was going to say. Have you?

Yeah, I did. I completely forgot. Marlies. Oh, someone tweeted me, like, what are the odds if the Leafs do end up making that move for a big defenseman? What are the odds Connor Carrick, like, survives that trade? Oh, I think he's part of the deal. Yeah, there's just no way. So I wanted to ask about that because what Babcock says, and you know he never speaks about a player specifically, but he talks about trust. The most recent one I talked, he talked about trust.

Yeah. And he said if he trusts you, you get in the lineup. And I understand why he doesn't trust Conor Carrick. Why do you understand? Tell me why. Why wouldn't you? Well, okay, like, we talked about it with Kadri for a very long time. I was like, Kadri's going to be great.

And, like, I died on that hill, and every mistake he made, I'm like, you're making me look like an idiot. So I've obviously been watching Conor Carrick very closely, because I was like, I'm going to die on that hill. And every play he makes that's bad, I'm like, no! You're betraying my trust, Conor. And so he's had a bit of a rough go lately. But to suggest that that is the...

He must be trying to get a message across to Connor Carrick. It can't just be that he trusts Polak more. That's one of those quotes where you do gotta go into the subtext a little bit. Because Polak was directly responsible for the game-winning goal against the Leafs. it was on a delayed penalty call that was his screens his own goalie.

How? That's a player I trust to get the job done. That's a player I trust to take 19 penalties against Connor McDavid because they're just not

the same species. I think it's basically you're going to sit for three or four games or whatever it is no matter what happens. unless someone blows a knee you're gonna sit for three or four games and i'm gonna say all these quotes basically subtweeting you in in the media until you get it that do as i tell you

connor i told you don't do this i told you do that i told you don't do this and i told you don't do that and you're gonna sit the entire time it's not a roman has a bad game and you get in because of that it is i am punishing you i am driving a point home so i don't think it's necessarily the babcock trust polak more although i kind of think he does and that pisses me off i wonder i wonder because objectively speaking there's no way that you could argue that connor kerrig isn't the better player but i wonder if easily the better player if it's a decision making thing and it is that it's it's i know what roman polak's going to do in these situations now whether or not

whether or not he's able to execute them at least you know what he was trying to do right friggin I guess just go with me on this so maybe Mike Babcock is trying to say okay walk before you run Connor Carrick I need you to do these three things

do these three things do them well do them extremely well and then you can do those other things that you want to do and we'll get you there but you're not there yet keep your game nice and simple Keep it simple. Please do as I say. And I wonder if it's kind of one of those situations.

Because there's nobody looking at the game that could go, well, Connor Carrick's definitely the less good player. He's not. He's not. Although, he's won the Goat Horns a bunch of times on many goals. Well, there's going to be, and that's the thing on this team, and this is a message for other players too, which is there's going to be,

you're going to have to take responsibility for that. And there's going to be penance. You're going to have to have consequences for that. And sometimes that means a less good player goes in for you because you don't just get to play. It's annoying. It's annoying for fans. That's for sure.

Do we have a new sixth defenseman on the team after the trade deadline? Do they trade for somebody? Oh, I hope it's not sixth. God, what a waste of resources. They got Brian Boyle because, one, they literally didn't have a functioning fourth line, but also to help get them in. If they're clearly in a playoff spot by the trade deadline, I don't know if they do that. I don't know.

Babcock probably pushes for one, but I don't know if Lou does. I just don't want to, like, you know, excuse the term, but piss away resources on a sixth defenseman. Unless it's like Mike Green. That, to me, is not a sixth defenseman. That's your top four. I'm trying to think of what you would even do in that case. Because Hainsey's on your PK. Zaitsev's on your PK.

Both of those guys are on the right. Like, is it Riley Green? Is it Green Borgman? I wouldn't break up Riley Hainsey. I'd break up Zaitsev Gardner. Zaitsev Gardner. Because let's not kid ourselves. As much as Conor Carrick has won the Goathorns,

So has that. That pairing needs to go. That pairing at five on five stinks. And they shouldn't. I don't know what the numbers are. The numbers probably say otherwise. But visually, the eye test. Yeah, I'm going there.

They stink. I like Gardner on the power play. I like Zaitsev on the penalty kill. Five on five stinks. Bad. Awful. What would be the problem with putting Zaitsev and Borgman together? Well, they did for one game, and it was trash.

Okay, well, that would be the problem then. But I think, I don't know, maybe give it more than one game. I think that'd be good. Well, Mike Green's a right-handed shot, correct? Yes. Yeah. My thing with Borgman, and we sort of touched on this the last time we talked about him,

we saw him as this big, bad stalwart. Like, that was our first impression of him. I don't think he is that at all. I think he's a guy who rushes into the other team's zone unexpectedly and does crazy shit. I'm so excited for the future of Andreas Borgman. I know I talked about Conor Carrick like, just you watch. Just you watch.

But I said that trying to convince people. This isn't me trying to convince anyone. I'm telling you, look out for Borgman. That he'll all die on. I wonder if Conor Carrick, too, they're just hoping to get whatever the issues they have sorted out now. So that come trade deadline. I'm sure they go out and maybe pick up another defenseman. Although they still have Martin Marincin they can bring up.

And what's wrong with that? He's been on fire in the AHL. Yeah, like a lot of Leaf fans are pissing and moaning. All right, you can have Polak or Marincin. Who do you take? Oh, all of a sudden you guys like Marincin. Or all of a sudden you like Polak. Well, pick your poison.

Right. I want to play a game. The rules are simple. Choose between one defenseman you hate. Jigsaw. Yeah, it's interesting. I don't want them to throw anything away on. If you're going to use resources to get a defenseman, make sure it's a good one.

Make sure it's really something that's going to change the game. Like an Ian Cole is not going to change the makeup of this team. If you're going to give up prospects, if you're going to give up picks, go and do it. But is it better than what you have? That's all he needs to be. Is Ian Cole better than what they have? I don't think so. His numbers aren't great.

But the imaginary guy we're getting, is he better than what we have? Even though he's going to play in the fifth or sixth spot. He can call out a good playoff. And wasn't he Hainsey's partner? Might have been. Don't know. I don't know. I feel like we're a very long way away from this conversation.

We are. You're right. Ultimately, I think Carrick is in detention. Okay. Fair enough. Well, that's fine. And you know what? You know what's good about that?

Is that it doesn't mean Babcock doesn't believe in him. Nope. I agree. It means that he's trying to get a message through. If he wasn't trying to get a message through, he'd just be sent down. yeah right if Babcock doesn't want you you don't you are not long for the team I think he's shown that time and time again and here Conor Carrick still is yeah so he's trying he does believe in him it's just he wants him to get to a certain level fine could have easily gone with Marincin

um interesting story Paul Coffey almost ended up being a Toronto Maple Leaf I have not heard did you know this story yeah it's a brand new so basically at the time um Harold Ballard was quite old and uh you just keep getting sent these ballard stories huh well this is from sportsnet um it's in uh it's on luke fox's quick hits um or quick shifts sorry but uh basically paul coffee says that um around in the i think it was the 87 88 season uh or it was 86 87 one of the two the one where his it was the season before gretzky left and his contract talks with edmonton basically broke down because Edmonton was Edmonton was broke that's why they had to get rid of Brett Gretzky too uh then Brett Gretzky Gretzky um and so I guess Paul Coffey lives in Toronto and in the

summertime back then still did and John Brophy just went over to his house one day John Brophy being the coach of the Leafs oh so direct tampering yeah and said hey uh if we could get a deal done would you come and he was like yeah in a heartbeat um but I believe there was whatever restricted free agency was back then that's what he was they couldn't just sign him um but the issue was a there's no way the that that deal wouldn't have included wendell clark going the other way and b in the in the like what three years after he was drafted yeah exactly a hard deal to make and b uh because uh i believe it's craig simpson that went the other way for him or chris simpson craig simpson craig simpson craig simpson went the other way for paul coffee when he went to

pittsburgh i believe did he not or is that that sounds right let's have a look craig simpson owner of the best career shooting percentage really ever yeah no kidding i looked that up the other day that's a lie steve was last year i don't remember why so it was coffee dave hunter and wayne van dorp that is a name traded for craig simpson dave hannon momantha and chris joseph and that's the thing is that uh craig simpson was a huge young prospect at that time and I guess Gord Stelik, they asked Gord Stelik about it and they said could this have ever happened and he said

well the thing was that Harold Ballard wasn't exactly into paying guys back then so even if they got the trade done, there's no way he would have given Paul Coffey the money so it never would have happened. By the way, Paul Coffey's like I took 20 years away from the game and I am still a Leafs fan which I thought was interesting

I'm like Paul Coffey, Leafs fan, that's good I wish he could have been Paul Coffey, Leafs legend would have been nice Breaks my heart. Gretzky, Coffey, all the guys. I hate hearing those. Don Cherry could have been our coach. I know, it makes me mad.

The next thing we want to get to. He played for so long, too. And he played well for a long time. Is a very interesting development that developed over the weekend and did not need to at all. Oh. We saw it in passing because we were out on a bachelor party and, you know, just having a good time.

And you ever pick up your phone, you go on your Twitter, you see a tweet, and you go, that person is about to have an awful, awful day. That was my reaction when I saw Ken Campbell talking about Cassie Campbell, Pascal, and how maybe she shouldn't be doing Flames games on Hockey Night in Canada because she's married to who? I didn't even know that she married.

I'm looking for it right now because he's tweeted a lot since then and I'm not actually seeing the tweet. I wonder if he deleted it. Yeah, he might have. Does he have a big long apology? He did apologize and no, it is no longer there. At least from what I can see.

Jesse, I don't know if you can say anything different. I think she's married to the assistant GM. She's married to the assistant GM. Someone with the Calgary Flames organization. And said that there's no way that she could objectively cover the game if her husband is the assistant general manager. Do you have it?

Yeah, I can't find it. Anyway, then people said, well, wait a second, what about Ray and Landon Ferraro? And he's like, well, that's a good thing you bring that up because I don't think Ray Ferraro should be able to do Landon Ferraro games. And what about Louis Dabrowski and Jake Dabrowski? Well, that's interesting you bring that up. I don't think you should be able to do Louis.

I don't think Louis should be able to cover Jake Dabrowski. And then everyone on Twitter is a truth accountant. and they pull out the receipts, and there was an old Ken Campbell tweet about a Ferraro calling his son's first goal or something like that, and he was like, oh, that's great. He heard us. You got it.

Where the hell is it? Sorry, I was stuck in my thought. Me too. I might have shot a screen grab. Did you find a screen grab? Yeah, from somebody who wrote a blog. Oh, okay. It's in there.

Of course someone wrote a blog. What does Lena Dunham think about Ken Campbell? cassie campbell is a very good well-informed and intelligent color analyst but that is a great tweet right there oh wait it keeps going oh ken campbell continues but because it's twitter it has to have a butt in it no but it's unacceptable unacceptable that in brackets hockey night in canada has her working calgary flames games he lives in calgary her husband Brad is the Flames' assistant GM.

Brad Paschal? I don't know. Must be. I don't know. Oh, Ken. And the second I saw that, and I think I saw it very shortly after it went up, I'm like, oh, he's about to have a bad time. He's about to have a bad time. Now, I didn't comment on account of alcohol was a factor.

Yeah, don't tweet when you're drunk. No. No. That's bad. And he... By the way, if you're checking, we were drunk in the middle of the afternoon. Oh, yeah I mean, have you ever been on a bachelor party or a bachelorette party?

So, yeah, his follow-up was After I ignited a Twitter firestorm with my comments about Cassie Campbell and Hockey Night here are some sober second thoughts I appreciate everyone who kept me accountable Would you like to hear all of his sober second thoughts? This is a very long one

It's a long apology The apology is quite good The apology is quite good I was looking for a direct apology to her And I don't know if that was made Yeah, I This is one of those funny situations Where, like, I basically

When I started making videos And when I first got Twitter I mean, I yelled and screamed about hockey teams But I also yelled and screamed about hockey analysts Sure, me too One of the first things I ever wrote about the Leafs It was, he wrote, like it was like 10 reasons why Matt Sundin shouldn't be in the hall of fame.

And this was an author who also wrote at the hockey news. So I wrote a piece in 2009, 10 reasons why Brian Costello should fact check. Wow. Yeah. That's aggressive Steve. It was a great title I thought. And I wrote about why he should be in the hall of fame.

And one of us was right. Sundin is in the hall of fame. So, you know, I would yell and scream about... I think the important part here is that Steve was right. That is certainly... Listen, let's talk about the real hero. Isn't everyone bored talking about Ken and Cassie? I think we should talk about me.

Steve Dango, who called it in 2009. He called it. Good guy, writes books. I should write a book about how right I was. I'm right. I'm right and you can too. i'm right and so can you um so anyway i wrote ripping you know people in the media a lot ken camel is one of the people i've had the pleasure of meeting and every time i talk to

him it's it's nice well the first thing steve said i'm like oh what a nice guy first thing steve said is oh but he's a really nice guy but so often i'll look at his twitter and be like oh ken no oh ken ken and before we go any further just as ken admitted he was wrong oh all the way wrong ten thousand percent not even a not even a question wrong and i would tell him right ken come on ken kquist what is ken why did uh now and and when you go into the logic of that which by the way nobody agreed with um to me it's like as i said at the time how fucking objective do you need to be covering a game like like what could cassie campbell pascoe possibly say that would that would definitely put her journalistic integrity at at stake well someone i think

tweeted um uh you know ken what did you think about darren dreger covering the leafs years ago when i think who's dave known as his cousin yeah he had all those weirdly had all those leaf scoops And I saw Ken's response was, you know, I didn't actually know that. This, to me, seems like the sort of tweet that you should maybe ask your friends about first. Because you never know, you might get an answer. Hey, do you think this is a good idea? What do you think about this? You know?

Listen, the whole time it was a bad idea. But the great thing about friends is sometimes they save you from your own bad ideas. And you abandon that bad idea right away. For a good idea. And hockey is so small that everybody knows everybody. Everybody who's an analyst is a former player. They're calling guys who are in management now and they were on the same team. Like, it doesn't make a difference.

There are people he knows who he could have gotten a, instead of sober second thoughts, he could have got a sober second opinion before throwing it out to the world where everyone goes. Also, going back to your irrational hate of Gary Bettman. Yes. He could also be a good guy, and you could disagree with his stuff, you know? Totally. So, don't hate on Gary so hard. Screw him.

Ban from the show. Ban from this podcast. Locked out. I don't know. Man, I just think we all, listen, I know people made this a sexism issue. I know people made this a whole bunch of myriad of different issues. It did happen to be, like, there were any number of men he could have said. Yeah, it did happen to be Cassie Campbell Paschal.

It was so good. Yeah, so I mean, there's a hockey legend in this country. Gold medalist, Olympian leader. I had a Cassie Campbell stick growing up. I played with a Cassie Campbell stick and a Haley Wickenheiser. I have to say, it was... Your faces were on everything in 98 for Nagano. It was ill-timed, and it was...

Ill-born. ill-born and poor on all levels the question now becomes when you move when someone makes a mistake like that because he acknowledged it was a mistake we all move on right yeah like is he still you think he's still getting tripped today oh for sure yes and i think he will for a while i i you know my one of my biggest fears in broadcasting i'll just say it is like it's not i'm not afraid of being wrong i'm afraid of being wrong forever yeah yeah i'm afraid of being immortalized in the hall of fame of making a mistake and nobody ever letting you live that down well and then like yeah because i like like

funny mistakes here i'm off you know by goals or i got a record wrong or something like that that's fine but like saying something that i look back on and go what the fuck was i thinking like that i'm sure if i were to listen to our show from three or four years ago there's probably some takes that i had that were piping hot but i i would worry about i i guess you just yeah every broadcaster i think has those moments you do enough broadcasting you're gonna fuck up and every writer's gonna do that where you do enough writing you're gonna fuck up and i wonder again and i always talk about this um what's our forgiveness level on people how do you know is it time is it is it when they you know he owned it he apologized i would like to

see a direct apology to cassie campbell maybe he's reached out privately who knows uh excuse me cassie campbell paschal um so you know i just you know that that part of it is like you know i think that everybody in in the back of every broadcaster and writer and public person personas mind is shit what'll happen to me when that when i say something dumb because we're all capable of saying something dumb the other issue is i think people will give leeway to people they like and he has tweeted many other things that people were like shut up right you remember

when Friedman called the wrong a swimmer in Rio yeah I look at that and I say okay he got through it at least we don't hold Elliot to that to this day I think it also helps that like he's you know primarily a

hockey broadcaster and most of his fan base was like dude we don't care alright so what he was mortified too Well, and it's funny you should bring up Friedman, because I thought you were going to bring up something else. Oh, the other time he fucked up. When we had him on the podcast. Ten reasons why Elliot Friedman needs to swim back, Chad.

Here's my 31 thoughts about why Elliot Friedman is a shithead. 31 reasons why I am Lena Dunn with Elliot Friedman. Sorry. I think Elliot never hears that. How come? I'm sorry. Well, she is a bit of a lightning rod for criticism. A little bit. So, okay, so when we had him on, he was talking about someone, he didn't say who, someone

who had severely messed up, and everyone jumped on him, and rightfully so. They messed up. They did a bad thing. But what he said that kind of stuck with me whenever something like this happens is, all right, when is it enough? When do you get your pound of flesh? You know what I mean? Like, all right, you took your swipe, be done with it.

I don't know. It's very interesting. because the one thing we definitely all seem to agree on is he was fully wrong yeah i don't think there's a single person that agreed with him not a single person and i you know ultimately i'm not really sure what he was thinking because there is like this is what i'm saying text a friend call a friend like who cares no one no one listening is gonna go well ray ferraro he can't call landon's uh in fact i would think ray ferraro would be harder on landon ferraro one thing i've always noticed about right like all the stuff about landon seems to be from the producer or

from who's trying to bug him yeah or like gordon miller they're like hey we're gonna talk about your son tonight but you you can he's very curt with it yeah he humors it and he's like look i don't want this whole thing that my kid's on the fourth line tonight i don't want to talk about him all night yeah and then i think there was one game where he scored against elise and also that's when you can okay ultimately here too you know hockey isn't changing lives for the most part you know it's different if it's politics it's different if it's business oh you know what i mean like there's the fate of the world does not hang in the balance here no and ultimately what hockey is is a family game so i would think you would celebrate the family connections i mean

yes we got hard on we were hard on dave notice and the darren dragger connection when it was happening uh because it seemed like okay you're defending a an objectively bad move for these these and these reasons yeah um but ultimately when you look at you know um jake de brusque and louis de brusque and louis de brusque being there for jake's first game and crying when he scored like tell me that was those moments weren't great ray calling lando landon's first goal i almost called him lando that's such a great point because like when you're growing up playing sports who's usually the coach your parents your dad someone else yeah now that's interesting Two very different things though

Ray Ferraro calling a Landon Ferraro goal And Louis DeBrusque Just at the game as a parent Sure very different You're right it's apples and oranges for sure But all the same I think it's one of those things that doesn't bother me Until they give me a reason for it to bother me

Which she has not done So then you have to look at the actual situation Rather than sweeping with a broad brush and say Look at Has Cassie Campbell Paschal ever given you a reason Not to believe that she's not objective No. Then what the hell's the problem?

Jesse, I had a thought. I was just watching the Flames game, and I'm thinking Cassie Campbell-Paschal shouldn't be on the broadcast, to which Jesse responds, um, what? Also, don't hit the microphone. Yeah, I didn't mean to.

I messed up. See, I messed up. Sorry. No, keep going, keep going. Tweet at me. Keep going. That's it. That's it.

Yeah, you saw where I was going with this, right? Basically, I think he could have saved himself a lot of regret by just being like, I had a thought. I had a thought. And then having a friend go, dude, no, shut up.

Put your thoughts away for tonight. Have you ever, like, pitched a dumb thought? Sure. Just pitched a dumb thought and then been checked by a friend in private? You all the time.

I ask you stuff all the time. I go, I'm thinking this. Am I crazy? You know how many times I have forced Adam to be like, Steve. And I go, Adam. Yeah.

Yep. For sure. Someone needed to go, Ken. Well, and Jesse does it to me all the time when I respond to certain comments that I should just be ignoring. Like, oh, I'm, I'm. And Jesse's like, Adam, why are you talking? I am the most do as I say and not as I do when it comes to that. Because I'll be like, never humor the trolls.

And there I am yucking it up with the trolls. Just, oh, I've gotten better. I'm a recovery addict in that field. but god it's hard to avoid it all of the time anyway

I I don't know what the answer to the forgiveness question is but I I tend to not judge people

based on one action and then you're gonna get a lot of people going it wasn't one fair enough and you know what fair point

absolutely fair point and I will accept that you know you can only you can only judge it based on you know multiple things

I think people are a little different when you meet them in person, but how else are you supposed to judge that person when the only way that you know them is through Twitter? Well, that's why we keep bringing up Mark Spector because he seems like such a jovial guy in person.

But then he writes, the Oilers have quit. And he's not necessarily wrong, but there were times where we were like, okay, Mark, okay, Mark. And we would say that to him. To me? Yeah, we would say that to him if he were here.

Like the Jordan Eberle stuff that happened last week. And, you know, you want to get him on and explain it, but you would hate him for it because, you know, you're like, OK, I know he's not a bad guy. So where the hell is this coming from? So anyway, interesting. We'll move on. Key Arena will be renovated in Seattle. And they're saying that the next expansion fee in the NHL will be between six and seven hundred million. Vegas paid five hundred million. And Wyshynski, Greg Wyshynski tweeted earlier. He said, I honestly believe that if this renovation had been in place, this deal for the renovation had been in place when Vegas was up, we would have had two teams this year. Really? Or he said, or it could have been like, you know, one team this year, one team next year or in a couple of years.

So the cap is already supposed to go up significantly. Yeah. 80 million this season or this coming season. I, as a Leafs fan, want this Seattle franchise to hurry the hell up and get here because that will just mean the cap going up even more. Yeah, but then we're going right into a lockout that next year. No, that's no 2021, man. Let's get it done. Get the Seattle team in here as fast as possible.

Get that cap up nice and high. Tell the Leafs to spend all the way up to it. Go for a cup. Yeehaw. Let's do it. So Tim Laiwiki is heading up this the key arena, like the Oakview group, I guess. And I didn't know that you didn't know. Oh, no.

So he's all a part of this. Right. And we were drinking all weekend. NBA, NHL back to. Well, he's been with it for a while. And Tim Laiweke, as we know, as L.A. fans know, as Toronto fans know, charismatic, brilliant, pretty wicked guy. And going to get this deal done because he's just that kind of guy. NBA, NHL come back.

If I am an NHL investor, because I'm assuming they're going to have to get not one person, but several people involved in the initial ownership of this team. Cause it's going to be, you know, you know, three, $400 million in, in, in renovations. And then other 600, you're talking about a billion dollar investment here. It'll take a while. Yeah. And take a while to pay it back too. Um, do you not have a clause in there that says we don't have to pay you this fee until you've got a new labor deal done?

Because let's say, let's say they, let's say the season before they were like, all right, we signed the papers. We're coming in next season. You pay the NHL $600 million, or $700 million, and then they're on strike. You've got to have some protection, right? I don't know if that's how payments work. Like, I don't know if you just hand over a check. I think there is one check.

Like, I think it's just... No, I don't know if that's how that works. Maybe. I think it is. I mean, I think it depends on the contract you sign. You can say it's one fee. I would have a protection. It can be several installments.

That is interesting, though. The one thing I would say, though, and the reason— Who's Buddy from BlackBerry who tried to get a team in Hamilton? What the hell was his name? The guy who owned BlackBerry. And he was going to move the Penguins. So funny. He was, like, the number one name in hockey for so long.

I'm so upset. Yeah, I'm upset. I can't remember it either. I remember him holding his BlackBerry up with the Penguins logo. Yeah, and then it was supposed to be Nashville or something, wasn't it? That was Boots Del Biagio or something like that. That was a different guy. I forget his name.

I'm going to be upset. Jim Balsillie. Jim Balsillie. So the reason, I think. Real name, James. Balsillie. The reason he does not own an NHL team is he tried to dictate the process to the NHL. Gary Bettman is a cantankerous and uncooperative individual

when you break the rules that he has set in front of you. I have a feeling if the Seattle investment group were to say something along the lines of, we'll give you this money. If then Seattle doesn't get an NHL team. There's no, if these are the rules, man,

this banana costs 69 cents. Like Gary Bettman is, is at a grocery store. You don't haggle with him, but if I spent 69 cents on that banana and I don't get it for another year, you pay for the banana. When I could be making money off that banana. You paid...

Listen. Can you imagine what would happen if there's an expansion draft after a year-long lockout? What the hell? It would be a free-for-all. It would be insane. Think of all the contracts that would have expired.

So, sorry. This... When do they think a new team would arrive? 2020? 2020, I think. Oh, geez, it's going to take that long? Yeah, because they've got to get the deal or the arena done.

Keeps ideas out the window. That sucks. No. The NHL is not totally allergic to money. I don't think. I would imagine a deal would get done if they were to expand to 32 teams. And you know what? The union, the players' union, wouldn't they be pretty happy too?

They would want this. That's like 25 other jobs. Yeah. You're adding 25 jobs to the pool. And added a bunch of security. And less escrow. Yeah. Yep.

Higher salary cap? I mean, the players would want this team to succeed. I think that would make a lockout much less likely. Everyone's happy. How many times when we talk about lockouts and play stoppages and whatever in the NHL, do we talk about both sides being happy about something? It's very rare. So they would both want this.

So let's say the salary goes up to $80 million next year and then continues to go up. Now, I don't think it'll go up by $7 million each year, but it goes up to $80 million next year. okay and it keeps going up and keeps going up and let's say by 2022 we're getting close to i don't know 90 95 does the connor mcdavid contract then become the biggest steal of the century you know you're all gonna groan at what adam just said but drew dowdy and eric carlson have both acknowledged that well dowdy a little more specifically than carlson they look at suban's $9 million and go, boy, is that guy getting ripped off.

Who will be the first player to have a cap hit higher than Connor McDavid's? How long will it take? I think it's no longer than two years. No, I disagree with that. You think it'll be longer than that? I disagree.

I think the Leafs are going to get hot take. Oh, no. Don't you dare. Leafs pay less money for Austin Matthews than the Oilers do for Connor McDavid. Oh, no, I agree. That's not a hot take. That's icy cold.

No, okay, good. All right, so it's reasoned. Yeah, no, no, no. Fair enough. Reasoned. That's a take. I love that you turned your back on me. You thought it was going to be so hot.

I thought you were going to say Matthews is going to get more. Oh, I don't think so. That would have been a hot take. I was like, oh, here it comes. Oh. Nope, don't agree. Don't think that's going to happen. Yeah, because Steve said he doesn't imagine anybody for two years.

I think. Who's it going to be? Dowdy Carlson? Dowdy Carlson. Probably not Ackman Larson. What's Tavares is going to look like? See, to me, Tavares is going to get 10+. If I'm Tavares and I'm looking at Jonathan Tate, for instance.

I'm just saying. I'm just saying. Like, you're, and Jonathan Tate, by the way, is a guy who makes 10.5. That's what I mean. So I look at that. I think, it's funny, all teams will be pointing at Conor McDavid and going, well, this is what Conor McDavid makes, and you're not Conor McDavid. but there are so many more examples of players who make eight nine ten but i am leon dry sidle

i'm at least leon dry sidle i'm jonathan taves i'm pk suban i'm better than pk suban and suban makes nine million dollars doughty and carlson i think are going to have an enormous impact on what players make for the next decade with that decision they make two years from now if i could have a list of the free agents in front of me that like if we had a definitive list of whose contract expired when it'd be fun to one day do that and go okay so who really is it and it might be dowdy and carlson i can like if there's very few teams there's very few players that are so good that they change the makeup of their of your team when they show up but i think drew dowdy and eric carlson are two of those guys like you you change the fortunes of a franchise imagine audible

without Eric Carlson. Eric Carlson... They have to just tear it down and rebuild. Is Eric Carlson worth $10 million to the auto centers? Eric Carlson is worth the league max to the auto centers. Okay, you're Eugene Melnick, okay?

Except forget all the stuff about Eugene Melnick. You're the GM of the auto centers. Dorian. Yeah. And money's not an object. Eric Carlson says my number's 10. do you give it to him uh-huh Eric Carlson how many years do you want yeah Eric Carlson says my number is 11 you give it to him yep Eric Carlson says my number is 12 do you give it to

him yep Eric Carlson says my number is 13 do you give it to him probably not uh-oh and this is the conversation we're having right I don't think Connor McDavid's gonna have the highest cap hit for very long it's funny when it was signed I was just like oh my goodness oh my goodness no one's going to pass this for so long i think it's going to take two years already next year the percentage of cap that conor mcdavid is eating up which i think is somewhere around 20 is going to go down several percentage points gonna go way down it's gonna go away and you know you you add an expansion fee to that look at what the expansion fee has already done to the nhl you'd add an expansion fee to that you add you know another team yeah you all those jobs and you would assume revenue

going up again because tv revenues are going up they're figuring out how to make money in the new world um with you know internet and that sort of thing um you know these types of in these are interesting times because tv revenues fell off a cliff like they recently fell off a cliff for for across the board they've gone up though espn oh i see espn just laid off what is it 140 people jesse save themselves save themselves like 100 million bucks in salaries It's crazy. Or they're going to. And the work will be just as good.

It should be great. But that's what's so interesting about this is when they figure all that out, because the product's still there, and they figure out how to make money again off of this stuff in the same way that they were 10, 15 years ago, then that's just going to go up, up, up, up, up, up, up. And I wonder if, you know, like think about Nikita Zaitsev. Don Cherry got on Hockey Night in Canada

and flipped out when it first leaked that he was going to get a 7 year deal 4.25 million a year? What does Zaitsev make per year? Exactly Let's just look at it Because I think that's important to what I'm about to

calculate on my contract Nikita Zaitsev makes 4.5 million dollars through 2023 So when I saw that I was like Holy moly holy moly it's actually longer than that it's 2024 wow that's a long time i can't i can't fathom that year existing in my head yet you know same so what's the cap this year 75 adam i think i'm

gonna guess that it's isn't it 74 something maybe 75 no that's not right so let's say it's 75 million Right now, Zaitsev takes up 6% of the Leafs' cap. Let's say it goes up to $80 million. Zaitsev takes up 5.6% of the Leafs' cap. Now, let's say in 2024, when he's on the last year of his deal and he's through his prime, but in 2024, he's a second-pairing guy still. He's playing adequately, and he's making the same amount of money, but the salary cap is $95 million.

4.7%. And, of course, it becomes 4.5 as soon as you hit that $100 million mark, which I happen to think they will before that time. Oh, that was quick maths. You just did 4.5. Then Connor McDavid's contract is 12% of the Edmonton Oilers. Yeah. Connor McDavid right now, 16.6%.

Holy moly. But then again, it goes up to 80, and it goes down to 15.6. Yeah. Yeah. And there's something to keep in mind is salaries will go up, you know, and your bad contracts will go up. You know,

your Matt Molson contracts, those guys that your bottom end also rises with the top. Yeah. So now we're getting into things that the NHL won't like, but the players will love. And that's, that will be what they clash on. And I,

I, that's why I love the strategy of, and I'm taking it back to our earlier argument, which is, I love the strategy of pay your, pay your top players, pay them the big bucks, and then keep developing these young guys

and driving your prices down. Well, and also sign the young guys who are clearly gold to long deals. Yeah. Just get them on a long-term deal. Yeah. You don't have to do it for everybody. Like, for example, the Oilers with Nuge,

you could have maybe done a bridge there. You know? There are a few examples of guys who are maybe signed a little too much, a little too long, a little too young. But a guy like McDavid, a guy like Matthews, a guy like Eichel, you absolutely signed to that deal. And as long as Eichel, for example, is locked in at 10,

it's very difficult for another Buffalo Sabre, no matter how good they are, to be like, I want more than 10. Or another Leaf to say, I want more than Matthews. Or another Oiler to say, I want more than McDavid. It's interesting times. I think this is good news, the Seattle news. It's good news. It is.

And the idea that they're talking expansion, I think, should be a breath of fresh air to a team like, oh, I don't know, the Hurricanes. We're dead last in relocation. They shouldn't be. The Hurricanes? Yeah, they shouldn't be. I think they just got to generate a little more buzz in that city.

You got to give it some time. Maybe it's just a bad hockey market. Maybe there's not enough hockey fans who live in Carolina. But isn't it going down? Like the interest? Yeah, maybe there's not enough hockey fans. And the ones who are there aren't interested because it's not good enough.

I think a market can be ignited by one player. I think the Hurricanes are an exciting team. They don't have that one player, though. They're a decent team. Yeah, they need that one player. They need... I don't know who that is, and I don't know how they get them. And winning.

Winning helps. Going to the playoffs. These guys won a cup. Oh, it's true. They won a cup, but it's... You're right, it's consistency. What have you done for me lately? Yeah.

You build up that fan base. You get the kids. Then you get the memories of the kids who grew up and saying, remember when the when the Carolina was this it's not like the Jays had wicked attendance

when they had missed the playoffs for like the 20th straight year or whatever it was when they won the World Series oh

couldn't keep people out of the building when they got good again oh and they're still they weren't even this good this year still had good attendance

there was a ripple effect because the last four years we've been unbelievable yeah I mean look at look at the dangles for instance buying the flex pack

we would have never done that you got hoodwinked Sure did But I'm happy to contribute to Whoever that guy they got off waivers From St. Louis I thought that was a trade Oh was it? I don't know

Oh was that the Goins trade? No Goins didn't get traded he just got non-tendered And Stroman got all pissed Well Anyway yada yada yada No the Seattle news is good news For many many reasons Okay let's do the press conference shall we?

The Presser S.D.P. The Steve Dangle Press Conference. Did you guys see the Forbes list of the top hockey franchises? No. In terms of value? No. Came out today?

Oh, I did. Who's number one? Can you take a guess? I know. S.K.A. St. Petersburg. This is the NHL teams. It's not going to be the Leafs, is it? Current value, number one, the New York Rangers.

Of course. They're valued at $1.5 billion. Now, why is that? Do they make more money than the Leafs? Their current revenue is $246 million. Okay. And their operating income is $94 million. At second place, the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are current valued at $1.4 billion, as opposed to $1.5 for the Rangers.

And their revenue is $211. New York was $246, if you didn't remember. and operating income is $76 million. Wow. Wow. That's a lot less than I would have thought.

It's because of the Canadian dollar. Oh, there it is. So if you look after that, actually, maybe not because of the Canadian dollar. I still would have thought their operating income

would have cost more. Yeah. I'm really surprised with the dead contracts they had and stuff. Because the Montreal Canadiens... They also pay Canadian employees, though.

Yeah. With Canadian dollars. But the Montreal Canadiens, they're operating... They're in third place at $1.25 billion. Their operating income is $92 million.

As opposed to the Leafs' $76 million. I wonder what that is. Is it taxes? Well, taxes are higher in Quebec. Maybe. But they're still pretty high in Ontario. Montreal's revenue is also $236 million, which is much higher than the Leafs' at $211 million.

But the valuation is still higher for the Leafs. Now, is this just a hockey team? No, it's not the corporation that owns them. It's just the asset. It's just the team. It's if you sold this. Because MLSC has five teams. You can't compare that to any other.

And condos, which apparently Montreal has, too, and I didn't even know. By the way, quick trivia question. Who is the first team to win a championship under the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment banner? The Toronto Argos. Jesse? The Argos are owned by MLSC. Just answer your question. None of them.

Raptors 9-0-5. Oh, come on. That is the professional team. That is professional league. It is a professional league. It's a minor league. But so is the AHL, and it's a professional league. It's a minor professional league.

What's MLS? That's a professional league. Oh, don't even get started with the footy fans. By the way, Argos are not owned by... You would be right otherwise, but the Argos are not owned by MLS. Are we not part owned? Nope. They leased the chemo field.

I thought we had a piece. MLSC does not own that. Who's in last place? Hurricanes. Arizona. Adam, you said you saw this last. Oh, I didn't see the bottom, though. I only saw the top.

No, I'm serious. I didn't. They are valued at $300 million. The Hurricanes. Yeah, so if we got a couple dollars together, we could really... No, the Coyotes. You know who's interesting? Is really low on that list is Winnipeg.

It's like 325. 375, down in 26th place. Below them, so 27, Carolina. 28, Buffalo. 29, Columbus. 30, Florida. Winnipeg needs an arena with more than 15,500 seats. That's all they got.

That's all they got. They could sell more. But then you got to get into Yeti. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyways. Interesting. There's no way the Jets... There's no way Winnipeg loses the Jets again.

No, I think they have... I think they've got a good financial set up there. I think they're okay. They're going to be fine. Okay, good. Especially if they just get good. Yeah. Chunky Chow on our Reddit.

Who has been the most disappointing Leaf this season? And what could they do to turn around their season? Adam Wilde and Steve Angle. Pull up the roster maybe if you want. By the way, Roman Polak's cheating. Yeah, no, no, he can't. Because he wouldn't be disappointing. He's at what you would expect.

No, I'm going to go with Roman Polak on account of I was hoping he wouldn't be signed. And then they did. And I was like, oh, nuts. He's disappointing because he is on the roster. Can I say Jake Gardner? Because I feel like the first few games. No, you can't. Stop.

I feel like the first few games. He looked so good. I thought he looked so good. Like he really took a step into this elite territory, and then I think he's been kind of a disappointment so far. That's your pick, Steve. You don't have to name every guy. I guess you're right.

My pick is, and this is a tough one, is Tyler Bozak. I don't think he's been great. I've been really, especially at the beginning of the season, I think he's been better lately. And, you know, we've been hard on him in the past, but I have it's almost as though he wasn't moving like it just it felt like when that line got out. Zero impact. Yeah. No, not impact. It was like it was like using a Pokemon, you know, water against fire against water. Yeah. Fire against water. Like this has no effect. Like it was just when the team was flying high at the beginning of the season, that line was dead. Well, it's amazing how much having a center who's not doing well

just assassinates the rest of the line. Or when you have a team that didn't have any centers like we did. Well, yeah. But I just wonder if maybe that's part of what's wrong with that line, is that Bozak seems to be having an off year. I saw a tweet. I want to say it was Platinum Seekos. Bozak, who's in a contract here, is on pace for like 33 points.

Komarov, another guy Contract here, he's on page for like 21 And how many of the points he has Are like from empty netters Right, and to be fair It doesn't mean that, say, Bozak Hasn't been better than Dominic Moore Or, you know

Yeah, but I didn't expect him to be much Exactly And that's, I expect Tyler Bozak To be better than this You know, you could make arguments for William Nylander at certain points But then you look at his points But he's playing well

Yeah, he is playing well. He's not finishing. He's got five goals and 15 assists in 28 games. That's pretty damn good, man. It's not bad. And, you know, you could make the same all Mitch Marner. Well, he's got, he's had some pretty bad luck. Two goals, 14 assists, 16 points.

I just feel like he's going to break out. Yeah. All those guys I think will be fine. But to say, Tyler Bozak set a standard for himself last year, and we were praising that. Well, now he's not even on pace for 40. I haven't seen that this year. Yeah.

And it's not like the team doesn't score. So, you know, lost in the what do the Leafs need situation. Like, if Bozer picks it up, like, I'm not sure how you stop this team. Like, just what a ridiculous onslaught. The way you stop them is you're Tampa Bay. Yeah, but if you're not them, I don't know how you do it. That's the thing. Like, Tampa Bay, man.

They look so good. holy shit I don't know how you beat them I know Pittsburgh has had a slow start but they're Pittsburgh Matt Murray I hope he's not I know he's been hurt or he was sort of hurt

they're winning games without him because they can because they had good organizational depth and they didn't trade at all wait a sec I think that might be a warning Jesse do you have an answer for that one who do you think yeah now that we've named every player

think about it yeah most disappointing tough one yeah because they've been great by the way third in the division right now

just while you're coming with it Montreal Montreal is back of course but you think about like who Babcock's been disappointed with

Marner and Nylander who we sent down to the fourth line it's like but they've been bad no they've been bad he just kind of wants them to be better

and I'm not upset with that he knows they're great yeah you know what has not been emphasized enough in Nylander getting demoted And Marner getting demoted Brown has been so

Holy shitting oh my goding good this season Yes he has He deserves every promotion he's gotten He's been great And he started the season on the fourth line Yeah and like he shouldn't have been And then the question we had was Well then where do you put him

And the answer is the second someone slips up Connor Brown gets your job And then what sucks is every time Connor Brown gets your job He looks really good doing your job And now it's his to lose As Mike Babcock always says Gotta take someone's job

And we're talking about players like Marner Who were all like oh he's gonna get like 7 million dollars And Nylander and oh he's gonna get 7 million dollars And then you got a guy making what 2.1 Who's outplaying you That's a great deal Connor Brown's such a player man Love him

Have no problem with him on Matthews line None Three things before we wrap Shout out Dave DefdorkNHL On Twitter who sent this to me He said. He sent me a copy of the Colorado Avalanches in-game promotion.

Oh, man. They were giving away something very odd. The team? At a game on December 3rd. It was a showerhead. What? When you leave the game tonight, don't forget your free energy-efficient showerhead, courtesy of Xcel Energy. Grab it, install it, and fill out a survey

to enter to win four Club Lexus tickets and a Zamboni ride. What? And I thought that was hilarious. I would be so upset with that because that makes me do work. I don't have to install that. You just get the shower head.

Congratulations. You get a free two hours of frustration. Yeah, no, thank you. You get a free argument with your wife. Yeah, really. How many of the people just said no? I would say no You can keep that in the box

Keep it I'm not I don't know how to install that I don't want to try to figure it out YouTube it Nope You get a free Frustrating life lesson

With your child Yeah I'll put CLR on it Okay I got a new I have a shower head I can take a shower That's so funny

Imagine the one guy in the room He's like Well I just have a hole in the wall So this is great Thank god I don't have to put my head Against the wall So the water might hit it

So wait That's on the way out You grab it when you leave That is so smart Yeah The Avalapes are losing 10 to 1. It's like literally grenades. Like they're throwing friggin' coconuts onto the ice.

Metal coconuts. I don't hate that. It's energy efficient. Is the arena in Colorado the XL Energy Center? Who is that? It's either that or the Pepsi Center. Or maybe it used to be the Pepsi Center. Energy Center.

What city? I mean, otherwise, why would they give away free showerheads, Josie? Minnesota. Oh. Wait, so is Xcel Energy cheating on the wild? So Xcel Energy is cheating on Minnesota. Do Minnesota fans get a free showerhead? Because if I'm a wild fan, I'm like, yo, dog, what the F?

Step it up, Xcel Energy. I, too, want an argument with my wife. Want to make your showers wild? Oh. Get it. Get it. Do you want to be asked in a passive-aggressive tone? Do you have to swear so much while you do everything?

Is this based on anything, Steve? No, of course not. I always handle things in a very calm manner. Thing two of three before we go. Todd McClellan's comment on Chris Russell. We missed this on Saturday. Chris Russell is a character individual, and that's why our team cares so much about him.

Whoever's criticizing this individual probably has never played a competitive sport in their life. And if they have, they've been perfect, and that event never occurred to them. Then they should be in the Hall of Fame somewhere. Mistakes happen. There's no intent for him to shoot it in our net. That's the one video clip we don't even review. What are we going to look at?

But what he means to our team, and I know all the analytic nerds out there find ways to run him into the ground, but he means a lot to our team. Every single one of those players, regardless of the goal the other night he put into his No net will tell you that any day in any place. I'm pretty sure a lot of guys in that locker room down the hallway would tell you the same thing. So analytics that if you want. Todd.

Todd McClellan. Todd, that's not what they're analyzing. Yeah, stop being dishonest. I wish everyone would stop being dishonest. They weren't. Is he part of the dishonest coaches media? Yeah. Yeah, he is.

CNN for coaches, am I right? Dishonest that. Like, I don't know, whatever. I just wish all the people defending Chris Russell amidst this would stop being dishonest. Like, the criticism of Chris Russell before that own goal is the exact same as when he scored it.

We weren't like, our spreadsheet says that scoring on your own net is bad. Did you all know that? No. Are you sure that's not what everybody was saying? He was a dogpile before you got him. He was a dogpile when you signed with that contract. and he was a dog pile before he scored in his own net.

It had nothing to do with that. I just say you like him. Just say you like him. Like, you're not going to be honest. He did say that. Exactly. Good. Fine.

Don't say all the other stuff. If you like him, you're never going to criticize him. He's a good teammate. No matter how good or bad he plays, stop. Stop. Stop. The media, the coach, all of you, shut up. You love the guy.

We were talking about this. Chris Russell must be the best. He has to be. Best quote. Not even the best quote, just a good guy. There's lots of guys who aren't the greatest quote, but they're good guys. Chris Russell must be a fantastic individual. But what I was saying is people were like, you know what?

Before that own goal, he was having a great game. And I'm like, I agree. And people would take you more seriously when you defend this guy if you would just criticize him when he's not good, which they don't and never will. So let's stop the conversation. Well, what I found interesting about that comment, and I remember reading that, and I don't know why I didn't have it in my notes, but what I loved about that was that's the last thing the analytics community is going to criticize you for. No. The analytics community does not criticize that.

It's your overall play over several seasons. We're not looking at one shot going, wow, that was a laser beam into his own net. See, we could have proved that with a graph. This is coming. This is coming. We could have predicted this. No, no. No.

Read. Read. But why? It's so much easier to do what he did. Why read when I can just as easily write? True. Anyway, that is a very funny quote. So analyze that.

Nerd. Nerd. Spreadsheet nerd. Yeah. Have you ever hashtag played the game? Yeah, you've never played a competitive sport in your life? Nerd. You've never even had the opportunity to score on your own net.

Nerd. If you tried to shoot your own net, you couldn't even score on your own goalie, nerd. Shut up. He must be an awesome dude. Like, I'll say that to his credit. He was playing great earlier in that game, and he must be an excellent individual. Yeah. He must be.

Why not? Nobody's ever said and claimed that. That also, that shot was a laser beam. Holy moly. It was a hell of a shot. Well, what's weird is if it had missed the net, it wouldn't have gone around. No, it would have gone. It would have just.

It would have jetted out front. Yeah, it would have maybe bounced off in front and gone right on Kadri's stick, gone in off Brassois' skate. Yeah, that was a brain fart for sure. Happens. Maybe he slipped. We're the Leafs. We know all about it.

Yeah, Brian McCabe. That is exactly the sort of situation where I would look at and go, that must be so mortifying for Chris Russell. I feel so bad for him. People would have felt more sympathy for Chris Russell if everyone didn't preemptively jump to his defense. Yeah, that's a good point. That's a really good point.

Just say you like him. That's all I want. I just want an honest conversation. And an honest conversation would be, you know, I like the guy. End of sentence. End of story. Just say you like him. It's fine.

Hey. You adore him. Would you say you were honest today? Yeah. I would say so. I still have 0.3. Oh, you have 0.3. And then I have a bonus one because I just remembered.

Okay. 0.3. Steve Dangle. I've never seen you ever be so mad in your life than on Sunday when I beat you in Chell twice Steve doesn't actually get mad

until it involves hockey I never get mad at people I get mad at things and Chell Jesse you know what I've been playing such a I've only been playing threes since I got 18

Jesse does not like threes Jesse likes regular Chell, playing Chell and he puts it on the super hyper realistic mode and there was one game where it's so much easier playing on your own than with someone else

so the first game I joined in mid game also oh no, keep up with the excuses no no I'm not pre-phase you get beat with excuses so the first game Jesse's winning 1-0, as soon as I join the game we tie it up, I'm like alright

Right, and I had no impact on the play. He just took a shot and it went in. And then Jesse lights us up for like five goals. I put us down five on four. I put us down five on three. Jesse scores in that power play. I put us down again. Every shot I whiff on.

I give the puck away. I put it right on his... I was shit. And you were so mad. Because I couldn't believe how every single play I found a new way to mess up. Then the next game it was just me against you. Yeah.

I think I made it 1-0. yes in the first yeah you took a goal you got a goal right away within like first three minutes or something and then you tied it up

in the second yeah and then it went to overtime I even had a power play heading into overtime yeah no you had

a five minute power play because I hit somebody from behind and got a game misconduct and I screwed it up because mid power play I took a penalty you took a penalty

and I scored on the four on four that's what it was yeah oh ah god that's so frustrating all i want to do is win but you analytic nerds wouldn't understand that winning means everything to me anyways i wanted to brag so analytic that by the way has todd mcclellan ever played eashl no maybe he's never played in a competitive league he just coaches in one i mean yeah that would be you know you have to play you have to hashtag play that

game are you telling me that the team that was so receptive to tyler dello might not believe in analytics uh you know do you think tyler will ever write about that i would love to i want to know what happened there he's he's told some really good stories at puck talks events this is why everyone whenever you see tickets are available to a puck talks and it's near you you should go because every now and then a story comes out from any of the people who go, and I'm like, I can't believe they're on stage telling that story right now.

I can't believe, I've told stories where I was like, well, I'll just throw it out there. It's amazing what a live audience will do to you. When you think you've run out of material, you're like, well, there is this I could just pull out. Why have they not just stuck a camera in front of everybody and thrown it up on YouTube? I don't know.

And I will talk to them about that because I think they should. Because that seems like a big oversight. They do put it on... This is the thing, though. They do put it on Facebook. Like, one of the last times I was there, they streamed the thing on Facebook.

I want to take over the thing and just get my hands dirty. Yeah. Produce that. I want to produce the shit out of that. Expose brick. Yes, Steve. Expose brick. Last point.

We have t-shirts for sale. Yes, we do. Good player. Good player. Good. T-shirts, totes, stickers. t-shirts totes mugs what where can you where can you find these shirts teespring.com slash fancy dangle shirts is it actually yes i have a store and there's a there's several

other shirts in there but we have the um we have the good plur shirts now if you were listening to this as soon as it came out and you're like oh i really want to order this but i don't know if it'll be there for christmas read what it says in the fine print on teespring i'm fairly certain if you order in like right now or like in the next 24 hours or so there is a decent chance it'll get there before christmas oh uh and if you don't i mean just buy it anyway you should because it's good no we got we got like we we got a lot of women's stuff in there i think we have women's tees we have those uh what do they call them like slouchy sweatshirt it's like it's not a crew neck We have crewnecks too

We have hoodies We got v-necks We got tote bags We got mugs I think we have a tank Muscle shirts Yeah And stickers

Yeah We have stickers that are I think they're two bucks Nice S-T-E-E Spring Dot com Slash

Fancy Dangle shirts And remember to stick those stickers On strangers' cars Check that Stick those stickers on strangers' cars Because that's where they belong Yes

I always say Or on trucks, because they go across the country, and then that's more advertising. Oh, good point. Yes, because they'll see that tiny little sticker. Yeah, that says good player, and then they'll automatically know. I have to check out that podcast. Or vandalize things. Sticker me.

You should always vandalize things. So I'm trying to get this to load beforehand, but I'm pretty, I'm almost positive. Or just, like, type in good polar shirts. Or go to my friggin' Twitter, which has 100,000 followers. Let me go ahead and throw that out there. That's not at all propped up by over 20,000 bots. Good guy writes books. Has 100,000 followers. Cries hard. And I would sure like to change that to 100,000 subscribers. So why don't you go ahead to my YouTube channel. And subscribe if you really like it.

Tell all your friends. And we're out. And that's the bottom line cuz Stone Cold said so. Okay, we're back. Yeah, made a mistake. So it is fancy dangle shirts, but that link doesn't work. Teespring.com slash slash e-n-g-b slash stores slash fancy dangle shirts just go to my twitter just google it but that's the link if you need it what can you google though to find this good plur shirts is that work i don't think i don't think that works i bet i don't think we'd come up good plur shirts No, Steve. It doesn't? No.

How would we ever pop up? That's the first thing that comes up for me. See, you have to get so specific with the Google. I typed in good blur shirts. Okay, I'm just somebody who's listening. I typed in good PLR shirts. I didn't know I have to put an apostrophe there. See, you got to think like the listener.

That's what you think the listener's dumb. They know it's PLR. I didn't even know that. I'm sitting here, and I made the shirt. What? what well that makes you extra dumb you made the shirt all right all right here wait so yes if you want to buy a t-shirt from us that says good plur you have to google good plr apostrophe r no pl apostrophe r that's what i said you know you said plr apostrophe r oh my god

P-L-apostrophe-R shirts or go to twitter.com slash steve underscore dangle and you'll find it right there you want these shirts? what?

oh goodness they're good shirts follow the guys on twitter at steve underscore dangle at adam w-y-l-d-e and at jesse blake the steve dangle podcast brought to you by panago pizza order at panago.com and stuff your face with deliciousness