The Steve Dangle Podcast - Komodo Dragon | September 6, 2020

Episode Date: September 7, 2020

On this episode of The Steve Dangle Podcast, Eric Engels of Sportsnet joins the show to talk about the Canadiens acquiring Jake Allen, Marc Bergevin, Max Domi, and the Leafs' future (00:00), Celebrate with Frosted Flakes (30:00), the Dallas Stars beat the Avalanche in game 7 OT (36:00), where do the Canucks go from here? (47:00), Andersen, Dubas, & Steve Simmons (52:00), a little bit more on Vegas (1:04:00), the Islanders knockoff the Flyers (1:06:30), NHL Awards predictions (1:18:00), and the press conference: Lowry, Simmonds, & Pierre (1:44:00). Originally aired: September 6, 2020 Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/K4Tl52Mi-9M Merch: https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/fancydangleshirts Follow us on Twitter: @Steve_Dangle, @AdamWylde, & @JesseBlake Follow us on Instagram: @SteveDangle, @AdamWylde, & @Jesse.Blake Subscribe to us on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/steve-dangle-podcast/id669828195?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you playing the intro, Jess, or am I waiting? Oh, you want me to play it? All right, well, let's start. Woo! S-D-P-P, the Steve Dangle Podcast, with your hosts, Steve Dangle, Adam Wilde, and Jesse Blake. Let's go! Ladies and gentlemen, happy long weekend, both sides of the border.

And you know what I have to say, I'm very excited to have Eric Engels on Sportsnet, extraordinary reporter for the Montreal Canadiens. and the reason we have you on Eric is because we didn't understand what the Montreal Canadiens were doing last week when they picked up Jake Allen you tweeted but everyone else did yeah yeah like we look at our comment section it's like Eric it's like this it's like okay we don't understand what's going on so we're trying to work through it and then all the Habs fans are like you you idiots you don't know what's going on I'm like so obvious isn't it obvious so Eric what that what

do we miss uh i think on the surface most people look at the jake allen deal and see that the canadians are playing paying close to 15 million dollars for two goaltenders um so i i understand where the confusion comes in but that said i think they have 18 players signed and 14 million dollars in cap space and the players they have left to deal with are victor mette and max domi uh neither of which are looking at massive raises. So they have plenty of room to kind of clean up their roster, so to speak, and make some improvements. And they've addressed a massive need.

One that they tried to do cheaply over the last couple of years, whether it was Al Montoya going back to 2017-18, to Antti Niemi, to Keith Kincaid, obviously low-risk gambles, but gambles nonetheless. You know, Jake Allen was relegated to a backup role this year. And he put up the best numbers of his career over 20 games. And if he can come anywhere close to doing that again, he's going to give Carey Price the rest that he so desperately needs. He's going to give Caden Primo time to develop in the American Hockey League.

He's going to give the Canadians solidity in depth and nets. And they've addressed a major need here. So that's why, you know, while you look at it on the surface and see the cap implications for two goaltenders, You know, Allen's deal is expiring, and the Canadians are in a really healthy situation cap-wise to improve their roster. How do you think that looks? Like, what do they go for? Well, I mean, that's going to depend on what their conversations are like with certain free agents who could be available to what's available on the trade market. You know, I know a lot of people might have thought they could have waited to see what would shake out in a saturated goaltenders market.

But you look at the top end there, whether it's a guy like Udovin or a guy like Thomas Grice, they're probably looking at longer term deals, given what they've been able to do before getting to free agency. And I think the Canadians wanted that flexibility of Fallon coming off the cap next year with certain contracts they have to sign, whether it's Mitri or Gallagher or Deneau or Tatar for that matter. so you know it's all about flexibility in this system especially given the the constraints of the salary cap and what's going to happen re-covid whether or not it's going to decrease over time because we know it's going to be stable for at least the next year but you know it's we're in uncertain and difficult times you know the needs are pretty obvious for the canadians they need some some scoring punch up front and they could use some size up there too and if they can fill that within one player you know that likelihood is is probably through trade but i think they're going to be players in the in the taylor hall situation i think they're going to uh look to

upgrade up front and uh they have the flexibility to do it maybe as leaf fans we should understand not cheaping out on your backup goaltender and finding a band-aid solution for several years at of time uh do you know if jake allen's a guy the habs looked at for a while i don't i don't think so steve i i think you know they liked what they saw from him throughout the year they've got pretty strong scouting um presence i would say in that area uh scott mellenby's not living too far away from there's the assistant gm and the canadians you know they know what they're getting i think the rest of the week saw what they're getting as well and and here's a guy at 30 years old who you know it's as much about what he did in terms of his numbers he's got a 927 save percentage this

year and when he stepped into playoffs uh say price got hurt for whatever reason and they needed allen to take over as a starter for a few games or a month or whatever it is you know he's shown look what he did in the playoffs he came in for four games put up a 935 save percentage and granted it's behind a very good blues team but that blues team was inconsistent at times especially earlier this season and specifically in the playoffs so it's about what he does in terms of how he plays but it's also about fit you're getting a 30 year old seasoned veteran who understands um his role and how to play and understands the like the value of of being a good backup and a good teammate and and understanding that he's not gonna that he's gonna have to play sporadically and that he's

gonna have to stay on you know after practice with some of the extras and do all those little things that are often ignored but are big parts of what it means to be a good backup goaltender in the National Hockey League so the fact that he's accepting of his role and and it's not to say he doesn't want to be a starter again in the NHL of course he does uh but you know he he knows what he's being brought in here for and you know when you hear the the GM of the Blues Doug Armstrong say he's a tremendous professional and a great teammate that's got to be music to mark Burge you know it's it's interesting because montreal from the outside and i know to you this is going to seem foreign because you are uh you cover them every day you know them better than anybody

um but for casual observers they can be a bit of an enigma in terms of like what are they and not because the team doesn't have an identity they they certainly are developing a feisty reputation they were so much fun to watch uh especially against Pittsburgh but even in the first round they were like Montreal Canadiens hockey is fun hockey to watch and as a Toronto fan that hurts me but you know it's good for the NHL and I I wonder you know what do the Montreal Canadians think they are because you've got uh you've got some good young talent you've got you know obviously stellar goaltending uh probably I don't know if you could call it the best tandem him in the league I don't know how you couldn't though what is the what is the thing that they're

going for what's the identity that Marc Bergevin wants to put on this team where you play Montreal what are you expecting yeah well there's kind of two answers to that first you know the first question you asked is how do they see themselves they see themselves as a team on the rise and specifically after watching Yosemite Kakeniemi and Nick Suzuki come to the forefront in the playoffs those two guys played great hockey and there's you know whether or not you believe they'll sustain it over an 82 game season I mean Nick Suzuki wasn't much of a surprise in the playoffs I don't know about for you guys but you know we saw what the potential was leading up to his rookie season we saw it throughout the season you know I think if you I think if you had assumed

that Suzuki was going to play on the top two lines that he was going to contribute because He just has that, I don't know what you'd call it, he's just got that clutchness when it comes to playoffs. And yes, these were his first National Hockey League playoffs, but when you saw the way he dominated in the OHL and the way he rose to the occasion and raised up the level of his game, that wasn't so surprising. But, you know, we talk about a team on the rise.

Those two guys are at the foundation of it. Cockney Emi coming back from a brutal rookie, from a brutal sophomore season to do what he did in the playoffs. is a great sign that he's going to fulfill the potential that the Canadians on. And when they drafted him third overall, and you know, those are foundational pieces up the middle for the roster. It changes everything. When you have a guy like Phil to know who you can slot in at number three,

even if he's probably going to be playing middle six minutes and you have a guy like Jake Evans, who's 23 or 24. And now is, is, is coming into his own after his rookie season and looks like he's going to be a smart, heady, good fourth line, dependable player, uh who can move up the lineup you know you're you're set up the middle and you look at the big three on defense whether it's weber petrie and charade and and the way kulak played in the playoffs like i said they're a team on the rise they have some really good pieces they need some

more you know they they address the oppressing need in nets um their identity like you like you mentioned adam they're a feisty team they're a no quit kind of team and that's that's somewhat how they have to play based on the pieces that they have but if they can bolster it with you know even one star up front it would make a huge difference for them in terms of the effort they need to put out over an 82 game season because I think what you see is is a team that has some pieces to help them get through the playoffs they obviously need some top end scoring there that's going to help in the regular season and the playoffs but you know you can't bring a playoff effort every night to an 82 game season and and when the injuries start to hit you need the depth

to shine through so I think Mark Bergevin is going to have some work to do to solidify his fourth line I think he's got to bring in a top level scorer and the defense has got some depth to it now with Alex Romanov coming up so they're definitely a team on the rise and they're a team that's not fun to play against and they're fast they're extremely fast from an ownership perspective do you think Bergevin's sort of maybe being given a nudge a green light to to spend big because the Habs have money they have 12 picks in this draft eight of them are in the first four rounds they got space like at some point does Jeff Molson go to Bergevin and go dude spend my money yeah I I don't there's never been a harness on Bergevin in terms of being able to spend the

money it's just you know if you it's easy to look back on the last two years and say oh they had you know nine eight million bucks cap space and they didn't spend it they were trying to get John Tavares to Montreal he didn't want to take their call and went to Toronto they wanted to take Matthew Shane they couldn't get him he chose Nashville it's not as if they weren't willing to spend the money but they weren't just going to spend it on anyone and just for the sake of spending it um they could have spent more on a backup goalie going back a year they took a risk that keith kincaid could come back to the level we saw two two seasons ago um and it didn't work out so ultimately mark bergevin he's under no constraints here uh i don't think he's looking

uh looking at his cap situation and saying i gotta spend this money that's the only way we're gonna get better i think he's looking at his situation and saying wow we're we're further along the path than I thought we would be based on the regular season and because I have those 12 draft picks and eight in the first four rounds and I have one of what most people in the hockey world would call a top five prospect pool and I have pieces getting later on in their years and a few free agents coming up next year there's some incentive to kind of swing for the fences and make a big move happen and not just go shopping in the bargain bin so it's going to be an exciting offseason for the canadians i'm as curious as anybody in terms of how it's going

to shake out but mark bergman has always said this and i'm going to hold him to it he says you know you're you build your team in in in june and july uh and then you got to live with it through through the winter and i think he's got a great opportunity to build in the offseason on what the canadians just did in the playoffs to give them that much better of a chance of becoming a perennial kind a playoff contender here and inevitably a Stanley Cup contender if the right pieces come into view so it's it's a difficult job it's a difficult task in terms of free agency the Canadians haven't had an easy time attracting players but I think you know now you look around the landscape I wonder how many players out there who are willing to come to Montreal to begin with with all the external

factors will look at players like Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi and say I could be playing with that guy and that that that bodes well for my future too so it's an exciting time for the canadians i think is bergevin's future with the team in question at all because he's been there for eight plus years and they haven't won a playoff series in five years so do you think management is looking at him being like okay the the clock is ticking here i mean the clock is always ticking but especially when your contract is up in two years uh but that said you know you kind of separate bergevin's tenure into two sections or even three for that matter the first section it looked as though he could do no wrong and the team had great success and obviously with

a lot of inherited pieces from the previous administration and then from uh the summer of 2017 onward you know there was uh there was a few crucial mistakes made and in free agency they They lost Andrei Markov and Alex Radulov and signed guys like Hemsky, Straight, and Carl Alsner and put themselves in trouble. They ripped apart the fourth-best defensive team in the league and ended up with something nowhere near as good. And they really struggled for a bit. And since then, since his job was affirmed after they finished in 28th,

you know, following those moves, he's back to making a bunch of great trades and improving the team and sticking with his young prospects and not being willing to move for a quick fix. And, you know, who's looking at the Canadians right now and saying they're going in a direction that's anything but up? You know, it is a tight league. It's a competitive league. So many teams are better than you assume they are,

or some are worse than you think they are. But one way or another, they're all really close. So even if the Canadians are on the rise, it's going to take everything they have to make the playoffs next year. but look at the players that are coming in and the players that just took a huge leap this summer. It's, it's a, it's a bright looking picture. So in terms of Bergevin security, you know, it was there going into the off season,

even with the team that looked like it was going to miss the playoffs, if not for COVID. And it's, I think it's now, especially after those playoffs as secure as it can be. Eric, we love having you on because every time we do, we learn something that we hadn't even thought of before. And, And I know you want to get back to your long weekend, and I don't blame you. So I'm going to wrap this. However, one-word answer, yes or no, Max Domi,

is he a Montreal Canadian next year? You're really going to limit me to one word? Oh, I don't have to. Listen, I'm just trying to give you the out so you can get out of here and you can be like – I'm not in a rush. I can't believe we didn't even talk about the Leafs. Well, listen, if you want to talk, we'll keep you the whole time if you want to.

Like, I don't want to rush you off. I was worried that you, you know, wanted to get back to your life and you're making time for us and we're very appreciative of that. So, Max, tell me the situation. I have a bit more time. So, on Max, I just want to be clear. Like, the Canadians are not looking to move Max Domi just for the sake of moving Max Domi.

And I can't speak to anybody in the organization telling me that they're actively looking to move him. What we do know, though, is that his position with the team is tenuous. You know, he is a center. Claude Julien says we view him as a center. He views himself as a center. And right now you have, you know, you have Nick Suzuki, Asperi Kokuniemi, Phil Deneau, and Jake Evans up the middle.

So if you're going to keep Domi, he's going to be playing out of place on the wing where he's less effective. And they have some undersized wingers. and an opportunity to potentially upgrade and get a player that's a little bigger and has that scoring ability and is a natural winger if they should choose to go in that direction and make a trade. So I can't say yes or no in terms of whether or not he'd be there. If I had to wager on it right now, I would say it's more likely

that he gets traded than if he stays. But that could change really quick depending on a couple other moves that get made. So the most important part of the conversation here is they're not just looking to ship him out because they don't like him. They know he's a really good player, and they want to get a really good player if they're going to trade him. So it's going to be a dossier that we monitor pretty closely moving forward here. Well, going forward, do you think he's more likely to play center or wing on the Zurich Lions? I don't know where Zurich comes into the picture.

Oh, you don't? You will. You will, Eric Engels. You will. Darren Ferrisville. Oh, right, right. Got you now. Honestly, one thing that I will say about Max, you know,

the guy loves the game. His teammates absolutely love him. He's a student of the game. When he's not playing, he's watching. and I don't think this whole situation sat well with him in terms of a down year in his production and the way the playoffs went where we all know, you know, his game is suited to being a game breaker in the playoffs.

So it was just, it was a tough situation watching that unfold the way he was plugged into the fourth line and then finally worked his way onto another line and had an explosive game and then nothing after that. It was a bizarre situation. um but i'll say that i would i would willingly bet that max is going to bounce back big no matter where he's playing next season so that means he's got a lot of value to them staying on the team or uh or elsewhere because you can never have too many centers right they know they got they got

former nhl or marcus kruger on the roster chris chris baltisberger yes like he and phil baltisberger I wonder if they've got to be related, right? All right. Do you guys remember the last time we spoke? Do you guys remember what I said about the Leafs? That they weren't very good? You said they were really good and they were going to win the cup. That you absolutely flippant nailed it?

Yeah. So nobody remembers, I guess? No, I don't remember the exact – Sorry, I didn't know that was a literal question. I do remember – yeah, you're asking us to have a memory beyond the last five minutes, and all of us, except for Jesse, sort of struggle with that. sorry i lost what did you say yeah what did what did you say about the leafs eric when he spoke

we spoke right after i think we spoke right after that 8-6 carolina toronto game oh yeah right yeah and i remember i remember saying this team could outscore anyone and i'm I'm willing to absolutely go mea culpa if they end up shocking and going against the conventional wisdom that they can succeed in the playoffs playing the way they do. But they played defense like a junior hockey team, and I'd be really shocked if they made it out of the first round, I think is what I said on your podcast.

Sounds familiar. Now, I was quite surprised at how they played defensively against Columbus. But I was also equally shocked that they couldn't score goals. That was the part that really shocked me. If they had scored goals, they would have won. It's weird how that happens. You score some goals, sometimes you win. Just how do they end up in a situation where the one reason they can't advance

is because they can't put the puck in the net? That was the part that has to sit so badly with Kyle Dubas and whoever else is in charge there. That's the one thing that this team was built to do. So it's confusing because I thought defensively, I was really impressed with the way they played. I didn't think they had that in them. And I remember, you know, at the beginning of camp

with the optics kind of changing and the things that Sheldon Keefe was saying in terms of, like, getting a defensive commitment in there. So I just, I couldn't believe that they couldn't find the goals when they needed them. Credit to Columbus, obviously. Yeah, it seemed to that, like, the series, I mean, you lose, as Dubas said,

you lose the series in game three when you're up and you allow three or four goals in a row and you don't, and you can't stop. The other thing is, you know, Eric, when Jake Muzzin went down, it really changed the makeup of how the Leafs played defense. And I think that's sort of – and I'm curious to get your take on this because you watched a feisty team that plays a team game, and the Leafs have been rightly accused of not always playing a team game.

You know, you watched a team with objectively less talent go further and against some pretty stiff competition like Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin Chris Letang and you know whoever's in net for the Penguins Matt Murray uh whatever uh is it's it's a uh it's a pretty uh pretty tough that's a pretty tough team and then they you know they they steal a game uh an emotional game in the in the first round as well like it was uh for Claude Julien like I mean it was for the for the Leafs for me the number one thing has got to be first up it's got to be the right side D uh and I don't know how you spend the money that they have uh but i also think that that there is a glaring weakness between the ears with this team

there just seems to be something where they you know and i know this happens with young teams but there's like a a lack of confidence does that make sense did you see that no i mean you gotta you gotta get over the hump here's what i think about the leafs i i think you know obviously any upgrades they can make defensively if they can get some nastiness back there and some big boys it's going to help I agree with you Jake Muzzin is is a key piece on that blue line in terms of the way he plays and the way he's committed to playing you know the biggest takeaway for me and I I don't want anybody to take this as a slight to Matthews because I thought Matthews stepped up and played great in the playoffs but I think moving forward they need to get into a room

with Matthews, Nylander, Marner if those guys are all staying and they need to they need to have a different mindset they need they need a mindset where like this is their team the team belongs to those three guys and Morgan Riley and those guys have to set the example and the bar off the ice in terms of their commitment I'm not saying they don't they don't work hard in practice and they don't work out it's not it's not about that it's about it's about being the top guys though in that department it's about setting the bar for everybody else and when I watched the playoffs and i saw matthews take off and play the way he did i was i was certainly impressed you know marner obviously his production was underwhelming but i don't think it was a question of him

you know underselling his effort but i watched taveras and and taveras his his leadership though muted in the room is on the ice he plays the way you want your players to play he leads the exact right way for that team but it's not you know as much as he's the captain like it's not his team That team belongs to those four young guys. And those four young guys have to be the first guys on the ice and the last guys off and the first guys in the gym and the last guys out and the guys rallying the troops behind the scenes and guiding them through the tough moments

and getting them to commit to playing more of a team game and a defensive game. And if they're not going to be those guys, this is never going to work. So I think that's the biggest takeaway for me. It's time for that hard conversation. and to make them realize you know you think you're working hard but there's a whole other level to it and you should know watching john taveras the leafs the leaf said math sorry the the leaf said taveras was going to be captain no matter what uh before the matthew story came out

are they dirty liars um no i mean i don't think so i i it's hard to it's hard to sign john taveras to the deal they assigned him to and knowing what he brings and what his pedigree is and suggests that anybody else should be captain. I don't think they got that decision wrong, especially with just the way he leads on the ice. And I don't know that Matthews necessarily would be the best candidate to be captain, to be honest with you. But I would love to see him emerge as that type of guy now.

How old is he? He's 23? I think so. I think you might've, uh, this was season four. So yeah, it's 22. Like how old are you guys? I'm 37. I know that like from 20 to 23. Yeah. From 20 to 23. Matthews turns 23 in a week. Oh, okay. So I was, I was, I was mature as a 20 year old. And then if, if you would ask me at 23, what I thought of my 20 year old self,

I would say, Whoa, like I had a lot of growing up to do. it's just the normal natural progression especially for players that jump into the league at 18 years old they're immediately superstars paid millions of dollars it takes a long time to mature and and recognize just how much goes into becoming a champion at this level and they're they're it's it's in your dna or it's not but there's some things that you can obviously improve on in terms of your attitude and and how you carry yourself and i'm i'm not saying this to denigrate any one of those four guys i think they're all solid guys and my interactions with them you know especially with riley it came away very impressed but at a certain

point like that's what that's i believe like you need to get them in a room all together and say guys like this is your team and you need to run it in every way and and the day that this team takes a leap forward is the day that it's not the coach coming in and delivering the message that resonates it's it's those guys who say like we're gonna do it this way and that's what you want that's what every organization wants they want they want their players to take over the room even the the most um oppressive coaches the john tortorella types they want the players to take over the room it seems like that's what tampa's done recently yeah you know that's what's happened they have a great coach too but but yeah i mean they're they're those guys you look at the way

they came together you know prior to the phase three training camp um and i know it led to some covid situations but yeah there there is a there is a a will there that is not just let's show up and play and we're good enough to win it's it's they they learned they they had the hard knocks just like toronto has but certain guys emerged as key role players and took over the team a guy like braden point anybody would have looked at him coming into this season and said okay he's there he's their second line center he's probably the best second line center in the league except he's their first line center now because he just said i'm i'm gonna be the best player on this team uh that's what you need that's what you need from these guys and like a guy like marner

i mean he can take over any game he plays there's no reason he can't be that guy who sets the example for everybody else and starts doing all the other things that come with assuming that leadership that you're getting paid for and i i think those guys have it in them but the the the mindset and the mentality needs to change and it, it needs to be driven home big time. Eric angles, senior columnist and insider for sports net with the Montreal Canadians and, and really around the league,

Eric, I don't know if you ever have time to start a podcast, but God, I would listen to it. I could sit here all afternoon. I'm not just blowing smoke, man. I love talking to you.

Thank you for making time for us yet again, because we love having you on. I love being on with you guys. You guys are great. Well, So, uh, you are welcome on any time. And by the way, if you follow Eric angles on Twitter, go for the hockey takes, but stay for the food takes, because I don't know how you guys like, I don't know who's the, who

does the cooking in your house. If it's you and your wife. Uh, but my God, some of the meals you guys put together, there's not a chance I could ever even attempt them, but boy, do they look good. It's all me, buddy. Atta boy. Well, I'm inviting myself over if we're ever allowed to travel again. Anytime.

Anytime you're in Montreal. Thanks, Eric. We really appreciate your time. No problem. Be well, guys. All right, buddy. Take care. Eric Engels, Sportsnet.

And just, you know, God. I'm not kidding. I love talking to him. He's just the best. That was fun. Yeah. It's like him and CJ. It's just you realize how little you know.

Do you know what I'm saying? Real fountains of knowledge. Mm-hmm. i like i like talking to guys like eric because they're a change of pace from the voice in my own head like he's just so calm you know what i mean like i'm just out outward and inward yelling all the time what do you think is just just just to interrupt you for a sec steve jesse what do you think it's like to live with the voice in steve's head it's awful oh i don't know i think uh i think mrs dangle would be the best person to answer that question because i think she's had

some strenuous times over the last... How long has it been, Steve? 15 years? How long did you make it? 13 years. 13, yeah. She'd be the best person to answer that question. Yeah, but even she gets to like... Like right now

she's like, she's taking Leo out. Like, I'm still here. I'm still... I'm always... I'm always with me. I don't get a break. I don't get ladies' night away from me. I've always got me. It's the worst.

It's led to a very successful YouTube channel. Yeah. I'm just going to say, interview has a very good sense of humor. Yeah. Hey, let's get to our Kellogg's Frosted Flakes Selly of the Week. And I think there's only one choice for this, Steve Dangle.

It's very easy. It's very viral. it's very great it certainly is steve's great but you know who's even better tone joel frosted kibiranta of the dallas stars guy that doesn't roll off the tongue at all yes it does even the frosted flakes people are like i don't know we could work on that that's adequate and guess what this dude this dude who you've never heard of no you haven't shut your face yeah i've not heard of this guy never stop lying everybody on twitter oh yeah i knew you got hockey hipsters here like yeah i've heard of him yeah get out of here when he

played like what nine games this regular season as a 24 year old shut up shut no you didn't no you didn't wasn't a player of oh yeah you just you wait this is a guy who's gonna score a hot trick in a game seven including the ot winner get out of here with your takes on joel frosted kivi renta but this dude winning it for the dallas stars sending them to the western conference final absolutely my celly of the week his celly on the ice his teammates celly and the celly of one i believe his name is anti-machinen uh in finland the play-by-play guy who said how great was that call just amazing just and naturally him and cj are friends because cj is an international man mystery can i throw something out there the network that he works for um it was like ah and

here's the call from finland and they ran it on sports net and i think it was like and then it's like something it's like swami sport but it's funny because swami is finland right but uh but finnish is so different from english i'm surprised they use the word sport because it's an english word but it is no that was one of the weird things i learned you ever learn a tidbit that has nothing to do with anything that you cannot shake it's like what so i was taking this history course and this teacher for no good reason was like finnish is one of the weirdest languages in the world because there's nothing really close to it linguistically at least not even within the region there's no latin connection too right the closest language linguistically to finish

according to this one history teacher that i had once is hungarian whoa which is a wacky language holy and not near finland not at all so where did that come from yeah uh it's just uh but like when when you when you go oh that's the country leo kamarov plays for like it sort of starts to make sense you're like can i play the cocky can i play the yeah please i think so we're just Sponsored segment? Sure. Man, that's great. That's a lot of fun. So that wasn't, that wasn't the square one. Good, good.

This is the, the funny thing is, is like we all, everybody, everybody asks, how do we make hockey more exciting? How about an announcer like that? Oh, easy. I would love to hear an announcer lose it. Like I love hearing Joe Bowman lose it. It's great. You imagine Jim Houston one day just became that guy. Oh, completely unexpectedly. And like, didn't start until the second period, like completely caught you off guard.

one of my favorite things about the kawaii shot is the reaction from the espn announcers because it's just oh yeah i know literally just it's just just a loud oh and it's amazing just because exactly and just because you're a you're covering the sport doesn't mean you still can't be a fan of the sport you don't have to like like i know there's certain reporters that take it very seriously i'm not a fan of this team i just cover this team fine whatever but like if you're an announcer or whatever why can't you get excited it's that the whole point is that it's fun and exciting but hockey's got this like well no i have a uh disinterest in this team even though i follow them every day well and the the call it it it kind of blends in better when they lose

their mind because what's the golden goal what's the golden goal sydney crosby the golden goal and canada has once in a lifetime olympic gold i know that because i've watched it a thousand times did anyone hear it the first time it was said no nobody heard he went so for this guy i'm almost more likely to listen to him freaking out like i might mute my freaking out to listen to his freaking out because he's at least on the same wavelength as me you know what i mean yeah i get that i get that well and it's like the dave miller one though i think everybody or gordon miller one with uh pierre mcguire at the world juniors i can i can like that because a bunch of analysis that no one is hearing absolutely no one country of 35

million people not one of them is listening to the words coming out of my mouth thank you for that 30 second thing there next gm of the coyotes like yeah we'll get to that yeah we sure will yeah so anyway i uh uh right now sally of the week sally of the week and you know what since we talked about dallas a little bit there let's start with dallas nathan mckinnon could have beat gretzky's record but his team just would not let him you know i i uh his team his team adam or the fact that eric johnson was hurt the captain was hurt and they were on michael hutchinson and net those honestly i i think it was that as soon as grubauer went down in game one i thought this is going to be rough not that franzuse is bad but you just because

franzuse is actually very good goalie uh and reliable and had great games against the leafs which really pisses me off but of course here we are um the thing is uh when i and i hate to say this because i know michael hutchinson's a good guy okay i know that he's a good guy this is not a personal attack but when you have a goalie like michael hutchinson and net and you know how he played with the leafs this year and then you know how he played in game six where it's like literally we need to out goal their shots right you can't play your full game with a goalie like michael hutchinson and net now he is the third stringer you can try but you're never gonna play five goals you're never gonna be at 100 with michael hutchinson and net because you're always gonna

to be worried about what happens if i fuck this up when you've got philip grubauer in that you're less worried about what happens if i fuck up this play and it goes the other way and that's that's sort of where i thought i mean dallas took over in game one and and and had i mean i don't want to take anything away from them because they were fantastic but to say that colorado was playing full colorado avalanche hockey in game seven they just weren't and they still scored four goals and still almost won that's a great team this isn't how hockey works but did anyone watch that entire series and come well the first few games were bizarre i was amazed how much dallas dominated colorado but did anyone watch the full seven games and come away with the conclusion that

dallas is the better team i didn't i'm sorry like colorado i there's a reason i picked them for the Cup because healthy they easily win I think or easily at least make it to the third freaking round um and that's not to take anything away from Dallas I mean I mean Radulov is amazing Gurianov is amazing Kivirant is amazing uh Kudobin has you know we're talking about we're talking about Hutchinson Dallas has been using their backup practically the entire time but I just feel like healthy colorado's such a wagon but just what a cursed cursed season for that hockey team man curse season i don't know if if like better is probably not the right word right when we're comparing any two teams this deep in the playoffs but i look at dallas and i and i think that they're

built to succeed in the playoffs so when i compare them to colorado i say oh yeah i understand why they won because this is a great defensive hockey team from the regular season that's come to the playoffs now and has been able to find offense so they've been a they've been a complete team in every aspect of that and I can see how when you're going up against these guys in seven games that they're gonna take four out of the seven the majority of the time you know even though Colorado's there and they're gonna outscore you it's this Dallas team has found a way to just out muster and at will which definitely plays a huge factor in the playoffs of course it's nothing to disparage them but i just feel like colorado is i i was thinking about it the other day who

are the top three teams in terms of performance and just on paper like if if they're healthy everyone you know it's your nhl 21 roster and i came away with tampa vegas two teams that are still in it and colorado yep but that's not how hockey works no dallas won there were seven games they won four the best team doesn't win in hockey and that's okay that's what makes it fun if the best team always won we would kind of suck um now it would be boring like who I'm sorry if you're a Vegas fan fine everyone should have been cheering for the Canucks because they were clearly getting killed yes yeah they were getting killed it was the Thatcher Demko show for the last couple games right like even even in a three nothing loss we're getting to that though please don't

sorry sorry sorry we're trying to segment this out jesse you make a real point and it's funny that that steve is saying this about the abs because earlier in the season and i don't know if you remember saying this steve but you were talking about how you thought dallas was a candidate to win the cup and i thought you were crazy and you said if they could ever figure out goal scoring they'd be there and the interesting thing about dallas too is you got frankly like like everybody still thinks of tyler sagan as a young guy tyler sagan's in his prime that he's 10 years 10 he's drafted 10 years ago i know he always you know he's one of those kids or guys that's like a forever a kid but he's not and radulov's in his mid-30s and jamie ben's up there

and these guys know that it's the time is now whereas i feel like with not that nate mckinnon's a spring chicken he's not he's he's right in his prime prime years as well but colorado is still on the up right dallas is so good dallas is so good very dallas is a very very good hockey club which is this is where they're gonna be you know what i mean like these guys are maximized on their potential maximized on what they are they're playing a great system they got a great goaltender they got really good coaching um and they're you know everything sort of come together where like if you were to play this series again next year i think colorado wins and i think they win it in five or six. The reason for that is I think that Colorado has got another step to take. You look

at what's another season for Kale McCarr going to look like, you know, what's healthy goaltending going to look like, you know, Nazem Qadri, we got to see him for a couple of rounds in the playoffs. What a, what a stud. He's so great. And, uh, and I think that's the, that's the, the thing with Colorado is the step is coming. You can feel it. You know, it's going to be there. Dallas has made their step and they are what they're going to be and I think I think Vegas it's interesting that they're going to be playing each other and we'll get to our predictions in a second but um when with those two teams playing each other I think there are two teams that have max potential as in they're at where they need to be to win the cup and it's sort of unstoppable force

immovable object they are complete hockey clubs and I think they're two of the most complete hockey clubs in the league and that's what's going to make the west final so much fun but We'll get to that in a second. Let's both. And just, you brought up Radulov. Like, Radulov, he was the ideal playoff player in that game seven. Like, he took some bad penalties within every play, and then he went out and scored two goals.

Like, he was a pest, and he was annoying, and he scored and was great offensively. That's a guy who knows what to do in these types of situations, and he bullied around the young team in Colorado. He got a goal this series, I can't remember which game, that he deflected off of his own shoulder like just just like exactly the the kind of playoff goals you need and by the way he got a power play goal i think at least one power play goal uh in game seven there i do have to bring this up michael hutchinson was a 770 i think three

on the penalty kill with the leafs um i think he didn't allow a single one in like his one regular season game with the colorado before that but dude that goalie struggles man that goalie struggles not to take anything away from dallas but oh man so i cheer for him but yeah um i also think and this might be a reach but there was a dallas team in 2012 or 2013 that had radulov and had a few other players on it that were that that nashville team excuse me it was a nashville team that had uh did i say dallas i meant nashville yeah the nashville team of the either 2012 or 2013 playoffs i can't remember if it was right before or right after the lockout um where you know radulov and a player i think they went out to the bar broke circuit kastitsyn kastitsyn and

because yeah because the kastitsyn brothers were you know loaded with talent radulov loaded with talent but they were young and stupid and going back to what eric angles said you know i wonder you know we're all young and stupid at a certain point you know he's a lot younger radulov's now up there this could be you know you start to get into your mid-30s and go especially as an athlete this is going to end and it's going to end very soon so i better take advantage and ragilov is 35 like 34 34 you know he's got to do this if he's going to do it he's got to do it now and adam focuses you right it's your brain that that matures adam ragilov was a great player for the Preds great young player for the Preds for two years and then he disappeared to Russia for

four seasons the Preds had to beg him to come back they had to work really hard plays nine regular season games gets seven points in the playoffs eight games six points so they begged him he was such an important part of their team but he frigs off and he does all that stupidness in the club who's the who's the coach who benched him barry trotz might get a chance to play him in the final oh that's right barry trotz was the coach for like 20 years in nashville was i think it was like wasn't it 20 years almost literally yeah i might have uh it was close it was a long time to it man and uh they might they might meet in the final how cool is that um so it's it's cool to see a guy like radulov because he's such a good player still he reminds me a little bit now

Andy Pettit was a lot older but Andy Pettit when he was like a pitcher for the Yankees like the second go around uh and he was like 45 and he had no power left but it was like curveball you know change up curveball curveball slider and like it was he would mentally fuck with batters and and I feel like that's what Radulov is able to do now he's such an effective player and everything that I think Nashville hoped he would be he is for Dallas which is the way it goes sometimes yeah 10 years later he's peaking yes i really wish i we got to see his full nhl career the guy he's only played 442 games because he spent so much time uh in russia it it was hilarious i still remember our conversations remember we were ragging on the habs for talking about galchenyuk

not taking hockey seriously enough and we're like you signed alex radulov but at the time What else did we have to go on? At the time, it was absolutely a valid criticism, and Radulov has proven that he's not that guy anymore. And now look at him. He's a murderer on the ice. He's a great hockey player. I'm not the guy who was at 25 either.

Right? No. You change. That's what happens. Now, let's move on to Vegas-Vancouver. And, Steve, you rightly pointed this out. How can you not cheer for Vancouver? But it was very clearly Vegas' series to lose,

and they almost did. that last game was a stamp like no okay we've we've had our fun but this is this is this is our sir best sir was so close he was close twice twice he almost scored in the final minute too he hit the post yeah but it was three nothing oh yeah it was over i think it was no it was two it was only two oh wow there's you not every team is shocking oh no they got 14 shots and it was so close when it was three nothing yeah right that's the thing like it was you know and vancouver has a bright future here's my question we'll get to vegas in a second vancouver is the interesting one for me if you are jim benning and you need to put your phone away on july 1st anyway or

whenever free agency hits what do you do with markstrom have you seen enough from thatcher demco to go okay i think we could maybe use that cap space that we may have allocated for markstrom to somebody else or do you want to have markstrom demco next season and take the risk of overpaying markstrom a little bit and then having to try to offload him in a couple seasons because demco is ready because it sure seems like demco is ready but i don't know if you can if you can really know that off of a couple playoff games and the season that he had here's here's what you're you're going off of all right so he's he's 24 he'll be 25 in september um he played one game in 17-18 we're not even going to look at it uh 2018-19 he played nine games had a 9-13

and only 16 games in the ahl that season 9-11 oh this is demco this is demco okay and this past season he played 27 games for the canucks was a 905 but and this is the funny thing about the playoffs yeah it's sample size but it's when it's not just when the canucks needed them the most it's they were all elimination games this guy the Canucks somehow are not in the playoffs right now despite the fact that the goalie they ended the playoffs with has a 985 small sample size but yeah what so what they were all elimination games like that it's it's so hard it's so hard because you can't anoint a starter after three games but can you that's crazy, but maybe you can, like, I don't know if, if the,

it sort of feels like the mandate was going with any way it was going to be, um, listen, let Markstrom walk. He's going to demand so much money and we're going to go young and net. It sort of felt like that before we knew Demco was a demigod. Yeah. Yeah. Now it just feels like, you know how goalies, you know, it's, it's different mentally knowing that you actually have the net. yep like this this is the guy martin marincin beat twice in two seconds you know that right like oh i forgot that he was he was oh my god that whole game he marincin hits the post and

then beats him clean matthew scored the disappearing puck goal yeah i think they beat him two or three times in the first like talk about things that never happen again martin marincin two goals ever even over the season like forgetting the same game uh i think they will go with him as the starter but i think that was the plan anyway and now they're just going to be more confident about it so we got a comment in our in our last uh youtube video um about um about you know the total switcheroo on on on markstrom and and and the views on him people like wow we're just gonna ignore the fact that you know especially i think they were after me about it like that adam just did a total 180 on markstrom and and and meaning that i thought he

was a big part of the Canucks' future. How are you going to re-sign him? And now I think, oh, it's Thatcher Demko, and you let Markstrom walk. And that's the way it goes, guys, in the playoffs. You change your opinion based on the results. Look at the results. Steve makes an incredible point.

You have a goalie that's, what is it, 986 in elimination games? That's the goalie. And here's the thing. You've got a young core, Besser, Horvat, who's not actually young anymore, Elias Pettersson, everybody else. You know, it's not...

the thing is it's it's if you want that core to be together it's time for thatcher demko to probably have the net right i tell you what i think and i was texting producer drew about this the avalanche should bring a brinks truck full of money because they have the space and give it to yakim markstrom and free agency trade one of grubauer or franzos doesn't matter they're both more than capable as a backup or 1a and cruise your way to a cup yeah i think that's absolutely what they should do wouldn't be too bad with the leafs in a tandem well i'm just saying man i'm just saying listen markstrom was great in these playoffs he was just let down by his team he had a 936 despite the fact that the team in front of him wasn't good oh he was right that's sorry

that's frederick anderson i was looking at with the 936 markstrom had a 919 just to uh give leaf fans a little something to chew on one guy is a demigod who carried his team through two rounds and the other guy is a piece of shit bum no the other guy was playing the columbus blue jackets the least didn't score angle said it they didn't freaking score it doesn't matter they were playing the he's he's supposed to have a high safe percentage against columbus one of the lowest they were the bottom five in scoring also no one's no one's saying that frederick anderson is a bum No, they're saying they didn't win the elimination game. We're saying they didn't win the series.

Yeah, it sucks because they should have won. Okay, stop. All right. All right. Everybody needs to stop with the revisionist Freddie Anderson stuff. He's walking around. Freddie Anderson's a very good goaltender. But to say that Freddie Anderson,

Freddie Anderson has performed the way the Leafs had hoped in any of the playoff series, save the Washington Capitol series, would be a lot. You know, there was games. against boston you can't give up six goals two games in a row and hope to win a series against boston and they still managed to close yeah when we when they were like six goals six goals and then seven goals in game seven how long was frederick anderson in that when we went down to boston to see the playoff game like a period yeah oh like five seconds he was terrible he would last that's not acceptable no it's not i know play a game you can have one i literally i saw that

stat and i just wanted to be a dick like okay yeah okay yeah listen i think who they're playing sort of matters and that's that's what's killing me about like like some of the some of the you know there's there's there are people there are huge freddie anderson detractors there are huge freddie anderson supporters i tend to go up the middle he's very good he's very good you will get to the playoffs with freddie anderson that's why i'm hesitant to get rid of him however you look good in colorado stop it uh another trade with the avalanche that the leafs don't succeed on i'll be very upset um we get country back i think yeah maybe hey listen i'll take it i just i look at it and i go you know it's it doesn't it with the freddie anderson situation and i know we're

breaking off from the vegas series we'll get back to it it's a topic it does seem like maybe both sides are a little tired of each other does it not feel like there's a change in the air i don't know why it just feels like both sides are kind of like we're frustrated here's here's my understanding is uh you know we ranted about mike babcock uh not giving frederick anderson adequate rest yep and uh a lot of that was freddie um and it's not like babcock was like oh you know we gotta risk this guy he wanted to ride the pony too but freddie wanted to play like 60 games um there was there was players back-to-back games this year against the abs and the flyers where they lost one and he said no screw that i want the net back and they gave it

to them the next game and they lost that one too not that they would have won well he's gonna go in come on so i think i think um yeah there there is some atrophy there but uh you know and this sort of came out with that steve simmons thing today i don't know if we're going to talk about that but uh there's no reason to trade freddie for the sake of it in the same way that there was no reason to trade tyson berry for the sake of it um the leafs have freddie for another season um yeah he makes five million bucks it's not breaking the bank for a starter of his quality no so we got we got so much time to debate freddie anderson like i don't know when hockey's coming back and we got we got time for that we got time yeah and you know what let me just say as long as

it's not a frigging uh like is he going to switzerland uh conversation i think we're okay by the way this a lot you never know it could be bad apparently his agent's claude lemieux i didn't know that just don't turn your back on him in negotiations you know what i'm saying i get it because he was a predatory player no i think the last the thing i want to quickly say is so that for anybody that missed it steve simmons hinted at an article that kyle dubas is getting a reputation a reputation guys do you hear how older writers talk about him okay can i just finish this quickly no then and then here's another point for anybody that's not in the market there are a lot of you know a lot of people listening to this who are not torontonians

so like a lot like mostly orbiting around it so steve simmons suggested that basically kyle Dubas is getting a reputation for asking too high a price for his players like how dare he get a first round pick for Kasperi Kapanen what a dick said every other general manager that didn't get Kasperi Kapanen that wanted him and that was what was suggested in the article this morning which again listen and Rachel Dory pointed it out on on Twitter Mark Hunter was Steve Simmons's guy he's put a billion hit pieces on Kyle Dubas most of the time it's unfair listen Kyle deserves some criticism for sure uh and we've criticized him at length um however asking too much for your players and getting it is uh the kind of gm i want like you you can't get what you're asking

for if you have no leverage right yeah but the leverage with barry and the leverage with anderson is we don't need to trade this player yeah that's the leverage with kerfoot that's the leverage with johnson there's no need to trade any of those players i personally would like it if he did on account of you could probably get someone on defense considering they have literally no right side yep outside of justin hall um but there's still free agency there's still x there's still y there's still z they don't need to trade any of those players so kyle dubas especially before like well before the draft asking for too much yeah that's how it works that's how i just i just wish steve i want you to sell your house but i want you to sell it at 50 grand under what most

people would pay for it you know why because i don't want you to develop a reputation well adam i hear your offer and uh how about you go shit in your hat that's right like isn't that what i just well and what i what i found funny so people always you know they're dying to leak this stuff to steve simmons and they're dying to you know different league execs and scouts leak this stuff to simmons and some other more senior writers out there and then they wonder why kyle dubas doesn't call them when he has a wicked offer on the table from jim rutherford you're assholes to this guy like i know he's not part of your little friend group like he's not in your whatsapp chat or whatever maybe most of the other gms are

kyle dubas is the gm of the toronto maple leafs and if you want to be uh if you want to make deals with him maybe stop being such a dick to the guy i i don't think you need to worry about that as a journalist it's not not as a journalist oh you mean like gms steve steve can write whatever he wants about so you mean gms you mean gms i'm talking about gms no no steve is just writing what he's being fed so another gm yeah another gm oh why didn't he call me because you're a dick why didn't you call him if you wanted the player what are you waiting for i don't understand this like why are people upset about a playoff trade i don't understand it's legal you're allowed to do it why wouldn't you take advantage one of the eight teams

remaining in the playoffs was mad at least one of the eight teams remaining in the playoffs was mad Dubas didn't call them like what were you on the ice like what oh my team's in the middle of what you were what you weren't on the ice you were on the ice if you're one of the if you're one of the eight teams remaining you can't give them a first round pick like the penguins can it's oh that's I wanted to show you my adorable son that's okay listen you can't see that Steve yeah half the audience can't see that you could not see Steve held up a picture of Leo just so you know um he's adorable i uh but the thing is is that like if you are a playoff team still if you're one of the eight teams remaining when that trade goes through you couldn't offer them unless you offered

a really good prospect could not offer them a better first first round pick than the penguins could and you also can't offer anybody off your roster because they're all on the ice yes you're kind of limited here yeah and you know what boo fucking who you're in the second round the leafs aren't like really what are you complaining about you're in the second round yeah i don't know i don't get it i just listen simmons doesn't like dubas that is obvious to everybody and uh what we saw from the end of season press conferences the feeling is extraordinarily mutual they don't like each other what i have a problem with is other league executives whining oh that he didn't call them when it seems pretty obvious uh like he knows you don't like him well if you hear brian

burke sorry go ahead if we asked him steve simmons that question what do you think he'd say if we said hey do you have an issue with kyle dubas i think he would never say no yeah he'd say i have an issue with the way he runs the team or the players he gets or the way he manages probably i i steve always claims that it's not personal um and i don't i don't know that it is i think he's just i wouldn't think it's personal like having met steve he's not a he's not a um i didn't steve i didn't get the steve dangle i didn't get the sense that steve simmons was a particularly vengeful guy i just think he doesn't like what he doesn't like and he's snarky yeah you have to understand our complicated relationship with steve is he was

extremely kind to us but we just disagreed with him on a lot of things but like literally one of the things one of the things he said though on our show is uh because kyle davis had recent or not kyle davis uh i think it would have been dave notice hired sheldon keef yep um to be head coach of the marlies and he back then this was 2013 or 14 was like i have no time for him yeah now all of a sudden it's this guy who steve thinks is 23 and sheldon keef uh running the show like yeah he very clearly doesn't like what's going on but he would tell you it's maybe on principle and not personal but but also i'm just saying i'm skeptical of that and i've said this from the beginning the leafs could win the stanley cup and the next day steve simmons will post

an article about why they won't win it again why because people will read it he's not he's not a stupid man no he's not no no i'm saying that no well there's a lot of people saying that but that's true but but to to to suggest that he is stupid here's the other thing you got to keep in mind so everybody thinks that steve simmons is like really in with the old school hockey world uh ask brian burke how he feels about steve simmons does not like him no at all um and that had to do with the fact that brian burke was in afghanistan with canadian troops on july 1st and steve said well you shouldn't you be trying to sign free agents and that was the brad richards year and thank god they didn't sign brad richards but that was that was the fight

there so you know it's it's uh i you know that's that's just the way that's the history there so it's sort of yeah everybody sort of feels that way and and um it is what it is uh let's move on let's talk about vegas just a little bit here i mean don't they just look like the stanley cup contenders that they've looked like all season they're so good and every now and then every now and then a video there's videos that go around hockey twitter every day and like you know some they give us laughs or it's controversy or or we're debating a hit or something dimitri filipovich and the little compilation he made of mark stone made everyone stop and go holy shit they're stealing the pucks yeah and that was that's it that's it those those compilations are are so

much better than just watching a guy score goals or make saves because with mark stone and he was good at leaving the clip long a few times because he's like look here's him scoring a goal or sorry here's him stealing the puck and then it led to two scoring chances that is a truly elite player in the nhl and jeff merrick was all over this um in during the marion jose years it's unfair that the selkie trophy can seemingly only go to a center if there was ever an argument that it should go to a winger uh how do you not how is mark stone not the first winger to win the selkie since like yuri letnan or whoever it was that dude is an unreal player uh max patch ready has flown under the radar jonathan march so is so good ryan reeves is always a factor although he won't

be in the first game and shea theodore who was a young player in the 2018 stanley cup final i didn't like his 2018 Stanley Cup final I don't think he even played much did he uh he did I just remember a lot of mistakes and now he's just he's a wagon he's so he's so good um they're getting great goaltending they have a starter who is currently on the bench in place of the better goalie who they got at the deadline uh they're just so good they're just so good and they they still play it's like they play with a dash of Pete DeBoer and they're still this Gerard Gallant wave after wave after wave team that they were would you say inaugural year they play with the sword tip of a Pete DeBoer you see just a little slice a slice of DeBoer a little stab maybe

just a little oh how's it going oh no Siri's recording you now okay right Pete DeBoer, by the way, 4-0 in Game 7s. Really? The man doesn't lose in Game 7s. Hasn't lost yet. And the skeptic says, hmm, only four Game 7s. Because they can beat the score. You know what I'm saying?

Hey! Hey! Now, I do want to mention that, you know, despite Alan Vigneault spending 20 hours a day on video footage and the other four playing hockey the flyer still got killed the fire still got killed man i was i was all on the flyer bandwagon all on the flyer bandwagon and i think i think barry trotz is my favorite coach ever i don't know if i've had an attachment to a coach like i have to barry trotz uh not because the islanders aren't great but man you you really see the difference

right like you see this is a composed brilliant team that just smothers you it's great needs buy-in it needs buy-in right and you know we were talking about the preds right the the the 2012 preds that barry trotz uh coached there wasn't a total buy-in radulov was frigging off doing his own thing kostitsyn there's a hilarious clip out there of there's it was like a three on three coming the other way and kostitsyn just goes to the bench and you see the whole bench going what are you doing and then it's an odd man rush and they get scored on because of course they did If they had a defender just leave for no good reason, they didn't have total buy-in, right?

So, and you might go, oh, well, that's Barry Trotz. You know, you can't get through to his players. You can lead a horse to water. You can't make him drink. And the Islanders are hydrated. They are well hydrated, this team. I compared them on Twitter, and I saw that you liked it there, Adam. You know, we talk about the Islanders being boring.

now i'll just say it i watched three game sevens this past weekend that was the least entertaining one that does not mean they're not a good hockey team i watched the uh colorado avalanche versus dallas stars chris johnson called it a sugar high in his article that he had today it's right it's kind of like uh watching a lion chase and and and that's who's not watching that it's crazy then there's uh what was the other game seven we had vegas vancouver it was demco versus the world the canucks versus the world i it reminded me a lot of the 2013 leafs where i was like okay one team is clearly getting killed here but if vegas slips up once might go in the net and had that crazy insult vancouver like that that was a bad team that got lucky and who with a great

goalie james reimer was outstanding the first first goal that went in in game seven the shots were 33 to 13 sorry that i was reminded of a team that consistently got out no i'm not no i just think vancouver has way more talent than the leafs oh 100 of course they do but they got killed they got killed and what the aisles remind me of because i had someone tweet me today they're like well the islanders i think they lead the playoff in goals or something like that and you know we're talking about efficient predators i i made a video today i was talking about lions i was talking about crocodiles the islanders are the komodo dragon what kind of video did you make yeah or a video about the zoo yeah steven attenborough the gazelle

are the komodo dragon they bite you it is do it in your attenborough voice or you don't do it at yeah or just shut up go the islanders approach they bite their prey in the leg it is uneventful they retreat from the attack and their prey goes on about their day and then the next day slowing down evermore and the next day until their heart stops and they are no more that's the islanders i like that that's that out of 10 out of 10 yeah out of 10 too poetic solid eight solid eight that's not bad all right for all for on the spot i was impressed yeah me too that was good it's watching a komodo dragon kill its dinner is not exciting television no but it's efficient as shit they expend they nearly no energy to do it now i'm getting away from the

comparison a little bit but their venom slowly kills you and then you die and then they eat the islanders are eating okay it's not an insult to call them efficient killers they are they that with the caps they pick them apart with the flyers it's a miracle the thing got to seven but with i just please for entertainment's sake we need tampa to win yeah yeah but but you know people were like well don't you appreciate you know the beauty of how they play of course i do of course i do yeah just say it's the most exciting thing in the world though i don't think anyone i don't think anyone's gonna claim that except for islander fans and they're treat they're cheering for the komodo dragon yeah yeah and they're what what's their mascot

sparky the dragon i'm on to something man oh i thought it was the buick in their in their stands yeah is it a buick yeah i don't know what it is in 1982 my son was conceived in the pack and lot of hey uh okay so just quick guys i want to get your picks because we're going to move on to the nhl awards next and then we're going to do the press conference so real quick you got in the eastern conference you got tampa islanders who do you pick and how many games starting with you jesse uh i wanted to look up what car it was in the brooklyn okay so steve we're going to start with you because it's really important that we get that car right yeah damn it um it's a buick enclave no i'm kidding i have no idea tampa in six i say and this isn't me sleeping on the islanders

this is they have not played a team like the lightning the caps were obviously shaky heading in uh the flyers were obviously not the team that they went into this pandemic as uh they haven't faced a a team like the lightning have the lightning faced a team like the islanders though yes they have the columbus blue jackets but i would say the islanders are a better version of them okay um oh sorry continue steve i didn't know if you're not oh are we just doing that series i'm just no no we're gonna do the other series but i want to go around the room on this one first and then around jesse again jesse go ahead islanders versus tampa yes we're doing lightning um first find the answer first we need a pause and congratulate myself i went four and

in the Conference 75. Oh! Jesse Blake. Thank you. I don't get picks right very often, so now that I went 4-0, I would like my congratulations. Congratulations. You've accomplished so much. Thank you.

I am going to select the Tampa Bay Lightning because I think I don't think the Islanders can keep it up, and I just don't want them to do it in my heart. I don't want them to lose to lose John Tavares. I don't want them to lose John Tavares to my team

and then keep winning and go all the way to Stanley Cup Finals. So I'm going to root for the Lightning, and the Lightning are going to do it in six games. Typical Toronto guy cheering against the blue and orange team hoisting the cup in Edmonton. I'm going to say Lightning, but I'm going to say Lightning in seven. You know why? Because we're Leaf fans, and it has to be painful.

It has to go to the absolute last second. It's going to be game seven overtime. Lightning are going to win. but it's going to be one of those things where Islanders fans are going to be all over us. And I already, I woke up this morning with like, in my DMs, like, ah, see, we got you. It was, everybody was very nice, but it was all like, you know, I don't blame them for like, if you're an Islander fan, you should be in my DMs making fun of us.

Like totally. But the, the, I think it's going to be the lightning as well. And it's not because I don't think the Islanders won't eventually get there. I think Tampa is the better team. And I think this has got to be their time. Now, I don't know if they win the cup, but I definitely think this has to be the year they go, right? This has to be it, right? They're the best team in the East.

The best series by far is going to be Dallas-Vegas. I mean, that's going to be a tough, tough series. Two complete teams at max potential, right? That's what we're looking at. So we know Vegas has got a bit more of scoring touch, but we also know Dallas is probably better on defense. Who do you give the edge to? i just don't really perceive a weakness in vegas really i just it's not just you know the

unstoppable force part of them uh their their decor is solid they got a guy who was nominated for the vesna last year and behind him they got a guy who's stolen uh series uh in recent memory um i don't perceive a weakness in them i think they're gonna beat dallas but how many games oh no wait i have to be consistent with what i said in the sports net video because the dallas stars have been jerks and in their series against calgary and in their series against the avalanche i predicted they would lose and they put me in their video both times on twitter oh that's amazing dallas and seven oh wow all right all right jesse what about you um after deborah reunited carlson marcia so and riley smith and they absolutely dominated

in game seven i'm not gonna vote against vegas so i'm gonna go with vegas in five whoa for the stars i'm gonna go with marcia so needs to chill in his instagram comments and if you've seen what i'm talking about you know what i mean uh but i'm a big marcia so player guy i i really think he's amazing um i think it's going to be vegas and six um i think dallas is going to make this very very interesting um i really do believe though that you know what it comes down to for me is you know you saw what happened with colorado they lost a goaltender and then they lost another goaltender if vegas loses a goaltender they've still got mark andre flurry even if he's got a sword wound that he's recovering from and i think you know this is a guy that took them to

the finals before has been many times has won three cups like i don't or two cups is it don't three cups you know this is a guy that's been there uh if robin lander goes down or doesn't play well they've got still got mark andre flurry i just think that that's the thing um so vegas and six for me just saying now um guys we're gonna move on quickly because we got to get through this quickly so we can match the time that we need to do um and this is really difficult for us because moving the show along very quickly has been a challenge for me in the press conference after this Adam but first I need to talk about the 2010 leaps please do please compare them to a team in the playoffs now um yeah so there are none left starting today

we're going to start to see uh NHL awards handed out because obviously they can't do a show so there's going to be one award every single day so we got one today we got one tomorrow got one the rest of the week um and going into the Stanley Cup finals as well some of the major awards will be awarded so i'm going to go through i'm going to tell you who's nominated and i want you to just give me your pick on who and why wins each award so starting with tonight the king clancy memorial trophy now bonus points if you can tell me what the king clancy is for steve can you tell me what the king clancy is for jesse can you tell me because i sure couldn't before this morning i believe it is for humanitarian efforts jesse what do you think uh supporting your community

best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community oh yeah combined we kind of nailed it yeah yeah half points to both of you um so we okay so we've got matt dumba henrik lundquist pk subban pk who could be perennially in this because can you give me those names again uh matt dumba henrik lundquist pk subban i have a question well i don't know if you'll have the answer So, these trophies are always regular season based? Yes. So, this is the problem, right?

I know Dumba has been very charitable. Lundqvist has been very charitable. Subban has been very charitable. If you're including the playoffs, which obviously you can't, certainly it's got to be Dumba. I'll say Dumba, but, I mean, really, I don't know. I'm not sure. I'll say Dumba.

So Jesse, I'm going to also go with Matt Dumba just for what I've seen him do in the recent months. I know it's probably been already voted on, but I hope he gets it because it's already voted on. I'm not going to pick Matt Dumba, although I think he deserves it. P.K. Subban, because I can't you can't argue with two million dollars for a kid's hospital every year. It's amazing what he has done with with the charity that he has done. It's like really, truly there is no wrong answer here with Matt Dumba or P.K. Subban. uh both great both charitable both forces in the game so uh whoever wins this one it's going to be one of those two guys it has to be bill masters here sorry i do i do want to say one more thing

about pk suban so a lot of people love to jump in and go he's not donating 10 million to a children's hospital he's pledged to raise 10 million for a children's hospital so what's the difference to me that semantics and also raising 10 million dollars is incredibly hard we helped raise a hundred thousand dollars for a charity and it took like four months of effort every single day yeah but steve he's rich and he knows rich people yeah great that makes him a great candidate to raise 10 million dollars right i'm just saying if if peter subban pledges to raise 10 million bucks it means something because he might actually do it yes if i pledge to raise 10 million bucks i got news for you there's going to be a very disappointed hospital

also i'm not going to be able to pull it off give me scott's tots that's a great episode of wow yo i gotta i gotta say anybody that wants to argue that semantics you suck like who the hell like really is that what you want to argue can't we argue about frederick anderson's save percentage or something seriously like pick any other argument other than raising 10 million dollars for a kid's hospital isn't impressive i'd rather talk about coyote's ownership yeah thank you thank you bill masterton announced uh tomorrow or monday depending upon when you're listening to this now this is the uh national hockey league player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance sportsmanship and dedication to hockey i think there's a lock on

this one but it's stephen johns oscar lindblom or bobby ryan and to me it's got to be oscar wow those are three extraordinary candidates stephen johns i think missed a year or two of hockey uh bobby ryan obviously his uh his battle with uh addiction and then and then coming back and didn't he get a hat trick in his first game back? And then Oscar Lindblom, I think, probably was going to win it anyway. But then the fact that when I saw him taking warm-ups for game five, I thought that was just a morale booster. Like, I didn't know he was going to play in game six and seven.

That was astonishing to me. So it's Oscar Lindblom, easily, but three incredible candidates. Now, the Willie O'Ree Award, we're going to skip because it's a community award in here and i don't think that we need to have like a hot take on three people from the community who've done great things to raise money for hockey look into the stories celebrate these people whoever gets it deserves it but all three do um and we i don't need to be like i don't need to compare your charity to my charity you know what i mean like there's nothing to be gained even the masterson one i'm like i don't i think

all three guys did something great right but i think it's important that we give those back stories right it's like yeah we're not debating which accomplishment is better coming back from the substance abuse or cancer you know we don't need hot takes on that it's all it's it goes back to the the thing greg washinsky says he always imagines bill masterton going oh wow yeah very interesting you came back from a broken wrist i died which it's a bit of a dark joke but he always makes it uh adam who are the three names we don't need to debate them i just want to know who the three names oh great you caught me uh you caught me flat-footed on that one i'll just have to look it up give me one sec one oh sorry no we don't have it steve yeah well done buddy now i look

like a gigantic asshole oh you don't even know their names i don't know guys we don't need to discuss this thing because i don't know i don't i don't even know you know it's it's weird when you're trying to lead a discussion you're like hey let's not discuss that uh okay so it's uh Now, I could be pronouncing these names incorrectly. Excuse me if I am. Please look up these stories. Dampy Brower, Alexandra Briggs-Blake, and John Hafferman are the three people that are nominated.

And I feel like, I don't know, maybe I'm wrong. With an award like this, because there are other awards where they don't have nominees, and we'll get to those on the list. Do you need to have three nominees? Or can we just have a winner? Yeah. But I guess it is an opportunity to celebrate three amazing stories, too. So I don't know.

I don't know what the right answer is there. Whatever. Let's move on to the Jack Adams Award, which should be awarded, if I'm correct, on Wednesday. We've got Bruce Cassidy, Torts, and Alan Vigneault, 20 hours a day. There's no question that Torts and Vigneault have to be the two guys that you look at most closely. Obviously, Columbus was decimated in the offseason,

losing Panarin and Bobrovsky. No matter how Bobrovsky performed afterwards, he was still a major part of that Columbus team. And, you know, the fact that Alan Vigneault has taken, finally, the Philadelphia Flyers, who finally are performing the way that we thought that they probably could if they just got a goalie. Who do you give that award to, guys? Jesse, you go first this time.

Easy. Bruce Cassidy gets it. Oh! I'm a big fan. I'm a big fan of the championship team coming back and running it back and finishing number one. Last year, the Boston Bruins were in the Stanley Cup Finals. It was kind of unexpected.

We didn't expect this run for the Bruins to last, like, what has it been now, 10 years? They've been on top of the standings. And if you go to the Stanley Cup Finals and then you finish the regular season number one, I think you deserve to be the best coach. You had the best team last year, and you come, well, second best team last year,

and you come back and you're the best team again. You deserve to be rewarded. I think Bruce Cassidy deserves that Jack Adams award for being the best. now steve what does who normally wins the jack adams award to jesse's point and jesse i know you said that so we could say this yes the jack adams award is the look at you go award it's the team that surprises the most we expected you to suck and you don't suck so here's the trophy so john tortorella wins like i will i will also pick john tortorella yeah the the flyers i didn't

expect them to be as good as they are uh but not awful the bruins i expected to be the bruins the blue jackets i think we can say it was a surprise they were as active in the playoff conversation as they were let alone in it we expected them to be contenders for the number one overall pick that's what we expected dude they lost bobrovsky and panarin two guys who uh this past off season uh went on to make 21.6 million dollars a year like you it's very rare you lose 21.6 million dollars worth of free agent and two guys uh now one was ass but the other was a heart contender yeah but he wasn't ass when he was on their team that's an important distinction adam important distinction uh the frank j selke award the award that steve you mentioned this

will forever for me be associated with Yerry Letton because for whatever reason Dallas was amazing as I was like coming up and actually watching hockey for the first time and Yerry Letton was the guy that always won it and he was a winger we got Patrice Bergeron, Sean Couturier

and Ryan O'Reilly can I just say that maybe aside from the Norris the Frank J Selke trophy is the most lazily voted award in hockey why because look across the generations how many nominees there

have been guaranteed it's not that many guys and we just pick a player who was it bergeron o'reilly and couturier who wants to bet money at least two of those guys will be nominated next year Oh, Bergeron will be. Bergeron will be. I think Couturier, now that he's in the conversation, is going to have a hard time leaving it. And Ryan O'Reilly. Ryan O'Reilly earned this Selke nomination when he won the consmite last year.

Interesting. You know what I mean? And, like, none of them are bad picks. It's just incredibly just lazily voted on. Okay, well, then lazily pick one. Bergeron. Okay. Jesse.

steve to your point since 2005 only seven different guys have won the award wow so that's 15 years and 15 years yeah and how many of those guys are bergeron probably he's bergeron has one two three four selkies yeah he when was his last one uh 2017 wow oh he's due yeah last year ryan o'reilly won it last year so bergeron got nominated for the 2020 selkie in 2017 i think uh who are you picking jesse would you say uh i'll take ryan o'reilly again back to back um i based on that mark stone video that dimitri filipovich put out i think mark stone should win it but it's going to be patrice bergeron this year because boston was the number one they were amazing all all season has to be patrice bergeron because he's the heart and soul in that team along with marshannon and

chara uh lady bing now can you define for me what the lady bing trophy is for because we always forget this there's now there's a lot of hockey nerds going no i know okay can we get you you know most people do not know but nobody's like oh man i'm really waiting around for the lady bing memorial so what does the lady bing stand for it's the uh gentlemanly award yes right gentlemen gentlemanly and sportsmanship player adjudicated to have the exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability so you're not a dick and you're good at hockey nathan mckinnon nice yeah you can't be nice you got to be great nathan mckinnon austin matthews ryan o'reilly now i am gonna pick nathan mckinnon

because I don't like the off-ice performances of the other two guys nominated for the Gentlemanly Award. Right. So I'm going to default to that. Ryan, that was a long time ago. Yeah. That was a long time ago, and people are allowed, as bad as that was, we hope that people can grow from that,

and we have to allow them space to do that. Is that fair? Yes, 100%. But I don't think you can give it to Austin Matthews, given what happened this off-season. Yeah, I'm not even going to look up his numbers because uh the fact that that yeah it's yes absolutely okay so we're unanimous on that so i will go through his numbers though in 69 games to go on a tangent why it's very it's very

small he's about to prove to everybody finally that nathan mckinnon is good at hockey here we go in 69 games he had 35 goals 58 assists 93 points just 12 penalty minutes is he good at hockey Fuck yeah. Steve, I love you so much, man. Do you? Now, the Jim Gregory Award. What is that one? What?

The Jim Gregory Award. Can you guys tell me what the Jim Gregory Award is? Did they rename an award? It used to be the Lester B. Pearson. There we go. That one is... Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. The Lester B. Pearson used to...

Oh, wait. No, I'm wrong. No. The Jim Gregory Award is no. But what is the Jim Gregory Award? I don't know. I have no idea. No, the Lester B. Pearson is now the Ted Lindsey.

Right. Sorry. Excuse me. Excuse me. I got this. So this is, I have the notes in front of me and I still fucked it up. So the Jim Gregory Award is awarded to the best general manager in the league. There are no finalists, so you might pick one.

Now, as Jeff Merrick always says, which Steve, you often repeat, what? Go ahead. the award for gm of the year is the stanley cup correct however gm of the year who do you give it to there are no finalists you can pick from anybody who had the who had a sizzling year and to me easy joe sacking joe sacking is pretty hard to that nasm deal boy it's one deal thanks that can make the difference and if those goalies don't go down we're talking about avalanche the avalanche and the vegas golden knights we're not talking about dallas you know who i think should have maybe been in the jack adams conversation is jared bednar because the the

abs were supposed to be good not with the injuries they had for crying out loud no no so miracle they won actually they pushed it to seven he should be in the conversation uh gm of the year who made some gnarly trades bro so you know some gnarly deals who unlocked both blackberries in nhl 12 uh what about what about tampa like what about julian briswell oh my god you're right yeah sorry he's he's in detroit now yes he's in uh is in detroit well how about this they traded jt miller for a first round pick and got better like that's pretty stupid that's pretty stupid the fact that the tampa bay lightning uh are in the eastern conference final and uh now i'm looking they don't

have either of their first round picks that they had this offseason. I'm now forgetting exactly who they had. I don't know. I'm going to go with Julian Breezewald just because the Lightning are a freaking wagon. The fact he was able to keep that group together. I'm going to go with

Don Sweeney for sticking with his crew. He made, I think, two trades. He got Nick Ritchie, got Andre Case at the trade deadline. Kasha. Kasha, sorry. I always say that.

Should be Case. What's his problem? Yeah, change of name. Fair, fair. Can I award him for sticking with his crew? Yeah. I think that's also a skill, you know, knowing what you got and letting them do their thing.

So I think if you win the President's Trophy with the guys you got and you add two important pieces like Kasha and Richie, I'm going to give it to Don Swinney. I think it's Brian Burke that always says sometimes the best moves you make as a GM are the ones you don't make. So, or is it, yeah, I think it was Berkey that said that. Anyway, I'm going to give it to Don Waddell. I think that team is just, and I give it to him,

he didn't do anything crazy, crazy this year, except for that Vinny Trocek deal, which I think was robbery. And just based on that alone and the team that he's assembled, I'm such a fan of the Carolina Hurricanes. And I know that they didn't play the best whatever, but I'm completely confident that next year we're talking about the Carolina Hurricanes the same way we're talking about the Avs. They might go out in the second round, but they are on the upswing big time.

Watch out for the Hurricanes. I give it to Don Waddell. I think he's assembled a hell of a team there. Okay, moving on. Sorry, just because I said I don't know what the hell happened to their first, the Lightning used those first to get Blake Coleman and Barkley Goodrow. Oh, okay. so yeah all right so maybe maybe you're right with julian breeze walk um the mark messier

leadership slash cookie award no finalists who is your pick uh shay weber every year until he retires jesse leadership so leadership award for leading i think it's on a ship i think it should go to mark messier he should get his own award for refusing to hold up a cookie above his head that's right that's true leadership leading leading off the ice and no who do you who do you actually give it to ah leadership award i gotta think about a little you go ahead adam i'm gonna i'm gonna say and this is gonna be an unpopular one however it could be his last season zidane ochara i would like to agree with adam and say zidane ochara and i think they're gonna do that because Zdeno Chara is a great leader and I don't know if he's won it before and I feel like

he should and I think the writers probably who are voting on it I think that's who votes on that one probably think he should as well there's always a lifetime achievement award yeah and no one is going to look at that and go well that's so that's stupid Zdeno Chara could have won it every year let me let me throw this out there in the same way that a center like a winger should be able to win the selkie i think an assistant captain should be able to win it like why does it have to be a captain bergeron who well bergeron's a good example but who put their team on their back more than nathan mckinnon this year pretty tough to disagree with that landis cog was out of the lineup ranton was out of the lineup and he played his best hockey a in the playoffs and b when those

guys were out of the lineup yep he was an animal this year uh to me it's nathan mckinnon but jesse my pick would be uh anders lee because if we're gonna go with a rewarding like congratulating barry trotz for getting everybody to buy into the system then we need to also uh congratulate the captain on getting his guys to also buy into the system so i think you imagine everybody together you know reward anders lee give him that award can you imagine they win the cup and he wins the machine award now these awards it makes awards the awards i'm gonna we've got four more five more to go but real quick okay these awards are going to be announced during the stanley cup finals we got the calder hart norris lindsey vesna okay so we're going to start with the calder and we're

going to move quick quinn hughes kubelik uh dominic kubelik in chicago or kale mccarr who do you give it to quick guys kale mccarr kubelik mccarr i'm gonna give it to kale mccarr uh he allowed people talk about the tyson berry trade like that's all it was what allowed the colorado avalanche uh to get rid of their power play quarterback was them uh developing drafting and developing a better one in kel macar uh so to me uh kel macar had an enormous impact on the avalanche roster what about quinn hughes yeah him too but to me it was kel macar all cj jesse kubelik kubelik kubelik 30 goals as a seventh round pick first year in the nhl also i'm scared of blackhawks fans if i pick anybody not kubelik

yeah but he's and i'm gonna go asterisk asterisk he's 35 it's true but i am gonna go with quinn hughes who is um i just hate vancouver for the just hate him because that's exactly what the leafs need quinn hughes is the guy and quinn hughes will win that's my opinion um heart memorial leon dry settle nathan mckinnon artemi panarin not the last time that we will get the three of these guys together on an award now this is player most valuable to his team as voted on by people outside the game who do you give it to jesse nathan mckinnon deserves every award for everything he was uh by far the best player on his team and he was just so far ahead of anybody else on the roster the other guys were doing the exact same thing except nathan mckinnon did it better

mm-hmm nate mckinnon same thing i do think though i would not be shocked if it's leon but i think i think deservedly it goes to nathan mckinnon okay you're edmonton oilers fans i'm thanos i'm gonna snap one of dry sidle or mcdavid off your team who do you pick dry sidle yeah i'm gonna thanos snap the league mvp yeah uh david's better and he's more valuable frankly yeah yeah i don't know come on it's no disrespect to dry sidle and again there's another guy who played his best hockey when uh yeah mcdavid was out of the lineup panarin you go oh my god look at the stuff he did mckinnon did a better version of that nathan mckinnon was the league's most valuable player this year easily james norris memorial best defenseman john carlson victor

headman roman yosi which is roman yosi is an interesting one because i'm achieving a word yeah i don't know that he's performed quite as well as the roman yosi we've seen in the past i don't think he gets that one i know carlson's won before and i think yosi has too there's there was i think he's been nominated there there's basically people expected yosi to suck after a while and he just hasn't um that doesn't mean he's the league's uh best defender um carlson i think showed in these playoffs why he's not the league's best defender he's maybe the best offensive defenseman in the league um to me it's victor headman because tampa all the star power they have it really we've really discovered over the past few months that victor headman's the

engine of that team jesse i think uh history has proven that this is not the norris trophy this is the hey who's the best offensive defenseman trophy so i'm gonna take john carlson because of the 75 points he put up in the regular season. I think that's the way the right ears are going to vote because, like I said, it's the best offensive defenseman award. So many points. I'm going to say Hedman. And I say Hedman because not enough is made of Tampa Bay's defense.

Not enough is made about their commitment to it, and that starts with Victor Hedman. The way he plays, the way he leads, the way he is on and off the ice, there is nobody that wanted to cut down on their high-danger shots like the Tampa Bay Lightning, and that started with Hedman. And boy, if I'm Sergeyev, having Hedman ahead of me, what a guy to learn from and what a guy to take the pressure off. Sergeyev is as good as he is because he's got a guy like Hedman

to take some of those great minutes away so I can develop properly. I think it's Victor Hedman all the way. Just my opinion, though. Now we've got the Ted Lindsay Award, NHL's most outstanding player as judged by the NHL PA. dry sidle mckinnon panarin who do you think the players will vote for mckinnon mckinnon you can take what i said before and copy and paste it over to this segment cool all right last one well i will say this because players will have a simpler version of the conversation we're having they're

not going to look at the numbers they're all going to sit around and be like dude he's not even the best player on his team yeah yeah it's it's super easy how is conor mcdavid not up for anything is that stupid that's kind of that's like lebron james not being up for something like you gotta throw on david he'll win the the messy award or something he's got something at least give him like best screen player like come on you know david best art design um last last award vesna trophy winnipeg's conor hellebuck boston's tuka rask tampa's andre vasilevsky all good choices who do you give it to i'll go uh you gotta give it to conor hellebuck the guy who could have arguably also been nominated for the lindsey of the heart

He held up a Winnipeg Jets team that was just decimated on defense, and his numbers are fantastic. The Jets, the Bruins, and the Lightning. What is the difference between them? The Bruins and Lightning are good teams. It's Connor Hellebuck. Done. Same. I don't have anything to add. And you already know how big of a fan of Connor Hellebuck I am

and how disappointed I was that he wasn't up for the Hart or the Lindsay or any of those. Talk about most valuable to his team. Like, come on. How do you not include Conor Hellebuck in that? He should win the Vesna. If he doesn't, it's a joke. That's a joke.

Frankly, he really should. So let's do the press conference quick. We got about five minutes. Is that your guess? Five, ten minutes. Okay. The Steve Dangle Press Conference. First question, is Kyle Lowry a Hall of Famer?

Ooh. that that booty is talk about that that's a hall of fame ass right there that is true he's hall of fame sports asses oh for sure uh ash ashley docking posted on instagram lord give me the ass of kyle lowry and the confidence of og ananobi that's a good tweet or instagram that's good it's it's great um i was thinking about him like i don't know if they're ever going to do like a raptors legends row but he has to be the first raptor he's one of one yeah yep yeah build the statue now it's already done first number retirement i think i think i think i think it depends on what he does this season like what we'll see what where these playoffs go

um but the way he plays i mean and i have to have a better sense of because like here's the thing Like the NHL Hall of Fame, most people that make it in, you're like, yeah, they deserve that. With the Baseball Hall of Fame, it's like this reliever was 51 and 47 or 51 and 60 and had an ERA of like three and a half and he's in. And Larry Walker had a hard time getting in. So I think Kyle Lowry is like a Larry Walker pick. Like outside shot, for sure, no guarantees.

But because I'm a biased Toronto sports fan, i want kyle lowry in the hall of fame and therefore i think he should be dude played in canada it's gonna be tough yeah it's gonna be tough really tough this question is from matt grady on twitter am i wrong for thinking wayne simmons would be a slam dunk cheap signing for the leafs uh you're wrong because he's not cheap ah i think you know what he's not i'm not guys like he's not he based on reputation alone wayne simmons is going to be a three to five million dollar player i think he's three and a half four uh that's not cheap for the leafs you don't think he takes a discount to play here you know this this dude you can take a discount next season

fair this dude i think you're on to something adam in that he's probably going to be overpaid this dude had 24 points in 61 games with the devils uh 68 games on the season he had 25 buffalo got him at the deadline and in seven games he had one assist like i i hope i'd love to i hope i would absolutely love to have him here i hope you know with this long layoff i mean it's going to benefit players like him who have been sort of slowed down by injuries he'd be i would love to see him on the leafs but for the amount of money he can command based on his reputation i don't know although based on wouldn't it be cool wouldn't it be cool for him to get his 500th point as a leaf he's on he's sitting on 499 it's good thing babs isn't the

coach never play him oh you're about to break a record how about we just don't play you you know how much a mike medano bobblehead costs 14.99 final question i liked it i liked it okay final question final question comes from uh at jesse blake uh at jesse blake wants to know what are your thoughts on chris johnson going on hockey night in canada on saturday night and saying that pierre mcguire has interviewed twice for the arizona drop and is being seriously considered for the position cj the c stands for content it was good stuff there cj delicious um i think uh my first reaction was can you believe it steve i can i can i can you know what's interesting though is he was sort of whispered about with

minnesota this is people are stomping and yelling i think he might actually be the gm there well and and the thing the fun part is that like do you remember when he talked about the winning streak that he went on with Hartford and then and then Greg Wyshynski came out he's like actually those games didn't go like that and he's misremembering every game that he coached here's the thing with the Coyotes leadership situation they are non-hockey people and they are looking at non-hockey avenues and one thing you can say about Pierre first off really nice guy second pretty knowledgeable third great talker and you need to have the ability to communicate what you need to do with the coyotes and i have to tell you not everybody they've that they've uh interviewed is a great communicator

and pierre for as much as he's maligned is a pretty great communicator that's why you know pierre mcguire's name is because he gets in your head and you might disagree with him but you know pierre mcguire's voice you know how he talks you know what he says and it's quotable and i think that that makes an impact when you're in a uh an interview like that i mean god they've been he's been bandied about for 20 years like when he was on just tsn with bob and gore like it was pierre mcguire's name came up over and over and over again and he just missed here he just missed there you know he wants it i think he gets it and expectations are so low like for a lot of people Like he's going to get in there and be like most other GMs and people are

going to go, Whoa, Pierre McGuire is going to, he's doing so much better than I, than I thought he would. And let me just say this, every American listening to this show right now, you are cheering for the Arizona coyotes to sign this guy as their next GM. It's going to be fun. Cause it takes his mic off. Well, and let me say this beyond that,

he's the first call I'm making if I'm a GM and he gets hired. he's the first call i don't think him as an agm like an agm an assistant gm is that crazy because you just need someone in your front office who just knows everything yep and like who's just really good at trivia yep you know what i mean and he's pretty good at it maybe not with his own heart for whalers or with everyone else i think i think he gets the job guys i think he's communicator and they need that in arizona right now it's a mess so anyway also one other note uh mike babcock did interview for the head coaching position in washington he did officially yeah the caps aren't aren't gonna put up with his shit i think that would be a good rehabilitation for him

that being said i think gerard galan is a better fit for that team i agree i don't think uh mike babcock and alexander ovechkin are gonna get on if ovechkin's playing you know 18 minutes a game i just don't think that's going to happen so uh i think i don't know why gerard galant keeps being let go but i really am big fan of him i can't wait for the caps to be like fifth in the fire have the have the panthers ever recovered from the gerard galant firing no there's like they were pretty good you know what i mean never really been that good no but they seemed like they were going somewhere have they ever recovered from that one time they were okay for a bit yeah It's been starting a franchise.

They haven't really come back from firing Doug McClain at this point. Before they won their division and then lost to John Tavares in six. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, that's the show for today. Thanks so much for listening. We will be back Wednesday. Enjoy your Labor Day on both sides of the border. And we will talk to you then.

Anything else to add, guys? Cool. Mature, man. SDP. The Steve Dangle Podcast. Follow the guys on Twitter at Steve underscore Dangle, at Adam W-Y-L-D-E, and at Jesse Blake. Connection complete.