The Steve Dangle Podcast - Live from BOND|ST with Oshawa Generals Simon Wang & Sam Roberts | November 23, 2025
Episode Date: November 24, 2025On this episode of The Steve Dangle Podcast, Steve, Adam, and Jesse are live from BOND|ST Event Centre after hosting SDP night at the Oshawa Generals game. They talk about the Leafs losing to Montreal..., take questions from the fans, and are joined by Oshawa Generals players, Simon Wang (2025 Sharks draft pick) and Sam Roberts (2028 NHL draft eligibility). This Movember, let’s change the face of men’s health. Help us raise funds and save lives. Donate to our Mo Space here: https://movember.com/m/15182986 Watch all episodes of The Steve Dangle Podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLk7FZfwCEidkgWpSiHVkYT7HrIzLPXlY Watch clips of The Steve Dangle podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLk7FZfwCEieOJuIrqWyZPWSIJtVMCbLz Buy SDP merch https://sdpnshop.ca/ Check out https://sdpn.ca/events to see The Steve Dangle Podcast live! Watch hockey with us! Live on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLk7FZfwCEifCTX0vkKEaGg9otrW4Zl2k Subscribe to the sdpn YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@sdpn?sub_confirmation=1Join Subscribe to SDP VIP!: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0a0z05HiddEn7k6OGnDprg/join Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/thestevedanglepodcast Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sdpvip/subscribe - Follow us on Twitter: @Steve_Dangle, @AdamWylde, & @JesseBlake Follow us on Instagram: @SteveDangle, @AdamWylde, & @Jesse.Blake Join us on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/MtTmw9rrz7 For general inquiries email: info@sdpn.ca Reach out to https://www.sdpn.ca/sales to connect with our sales team and discuss the opportunity to integrate your brand within our content! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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so today on the show obviously we've got uh uh simon wang we've got uh sam roberts joining us
yes but he goes by simon we're bringing him we just spoke to the guy yeah he told us to call
him simon he said everybody calls me simon uh we asked the guy yeah he said hey i'm simon and we
said oh oh no no that's not what we were told anyway yeah uh so we're excited to bring them
on in a little bit i think the first thing i want to talk about though is jesse and his food choices
what i don't know if you guys know this i'm sure you do if you go to regular jenny's games but you
You can buy beanless chili at the Oshawa Generals.
And so Jesse gets a big bowl of beanless chili.
Is that not just bolognese?
Yeah.
Well, I'm pretty sure it's a big bowl of bolognese.
What it is.
Isn't it just for the hot dogs?
What it is is they have chili dogs at the Jens games.
You get a hot dog and they put a bunch of chili on it.
But if you don't want the hot dog part, they just take all of that chili topping and they put it in a giant soup bowl.
And it's huge.
And you can eat it.
Yeah.
Yeah, and I got that.
It was delicious.
So if you get a picture next to Jesse tonight,
fair warning, he smells like onions.
I smell a little like onions, but it was delicious.
I got all my beef protein in today and chili.
It was great.
And it was good, right?
It was fantastic.
Yeah, I'm 10 out of 10 recommending it.
I can't believe this guy's eating a big bowl of chili at this game.
Steve was worried I'd have the runs, so I don't.
It's beanless.
It's beanless.
That's the sprints.
I don't know.
That's the 100-meter dash.
The other thing I do want to mention, you know, traditionally, you know, just off the top, before we bring anybody on, we are an NHL podcast, as you guys know.
And as of three hours ago, the Toronto Maple Leafs are last place in the Eastern Conference.
Officially last place.
It was like, this can't be this bad.
It can't possibly be that Buffalo wins a game because Buffalo had to win a game for this to happen.
And they beat up Carolina.
The Sabres are supposed to be the Blue Sabres.
So I'm just curious.
Before I ask Steve and Jesse, I want to ask you.
You guys all watched the game last night, right?
Why?
Do you guys wish you'd done anything else with your Saturday night?
Yeah.
Okay.
Now, everybody yell out at once the one thing that you think is holding the Toronto Maple Leafs back.
Go.
And this is the thing.
Somebody said the media.
The media.
Did he say the Toronto media?
You know what?
Good point.
The Toronto Maple Leafs.
Oh, we heard that too.
Which I think is the right answer.
The media.
When you talk to people.
The media.
Kevin McBride.
Everybody gives you a different answer.
Everybody has their theory on what the hell is going on here.
And I have to be honest with you.
I cannot, and I want to know if I'm wrong.
I can't allow myself to believe that it's just because of the injuries.
There's a lot of people online, the takes are hot, and they're saying, well, you know,
they got 40 million bucks sitting on the sidelines.
You got no Tanev, you got no Matthews, you got no Nyes, you got no Stollers, and when
you did have Stollers, he was not looking like Stollers.
So I want to ask the two of you, give me in one word, if you can, Steve, what's the thing,
the thing, or even a sentence,
I'll give you that, okay?
What's the headline thing that is most
wrong with the Toronto Maple Leafs right now?
This is going to be unpopular.
You're already out of words.
Shit!
Say Marner.
I dare you.
Who?
Mitchie?
Well, the guy who cost his team the game last night.
we all saw that turnover right which the guy who's on his worst point production uh pace
since his sophomore season the guy who's getting paid 12 million dollars to be on a 15 goal pace
are you cutting this is who they're missing are you cutting a promo on me no no no no because
everyone wants to start the music back up it's promo time everyone the leafs are bad so everyone
wants to have a mitch marner conversation but no one wants to have a mitch marner conversation
he hasn't been great they have seven overtime losses to try to do the thing that you asked me
to do yes coach coach oh we can get into that jesse blake i'm gonna one-up you gm
all right all right who do you want me to start with steve or jesse on the answers here i want
them to expand. You want
Jesse? Oh.
Hey, more interesting guy. Maybe we should have
the Jesse Blake. It's always great to have it
confirmed in person.
I guess it's slowly becoming
the Jesse Blake Sports Report. That's fine.
That's a good name.
That's a great name for a program.
Rolls off the tongue. Jesse,
tell us why you
say General
Manager Brad Treleving.
Your question was, what is
most wrong with the Leafs?
it's the players on the team so i have to blame the person who assembled the players on the team
and what they're going through right now is i don't realize if these fans know how lucky they
were the last nine years of hockey making the playoffs every single year isn't supposed to
happen you're supposed to have ebbs and flows in your franchise and we've really lucked out with
a really successful regular season team so this is bound to happen but this year it's happening
because the talent that they've accumulated isn't good enough and and to that point none of the bets
have worked have exactly so you look at Michele hasn't worked out Dakota Joshua isn't what he was
at the peak of when he was in Vancouver doubling down on Max Domi has given Craig Berube a chance
to play Max Domi which has been a disaster when he's been playing at center and you look at the
defense and bringing back the same defense core that they had last year that looked a lot better
but clearly this year they don't have what they had last year and there should have been upgrades
made there the sending the first round pick out for carlo has been a disaster every single move
here hasn't really worked out for true living because this is just how we've seen it play out
so far so i'm going to put the blame on him for assembling the team now i want to say something
and our social media guy justin over there on his phone as you would expect um it has said listen
listen and we were walking the uh into the arena tonight and he's like it should have worked though
it feels like it should have worked and i agree with him jesse why isn't it working why is why
does it why is it all going bad all at once but what should have worked right well like carlo was
good last year carlo was good but he's coming to this year and not been that player and whether
that is for injuries injuries are going to happen we saw his hit stats drop completely off the table
He's hitting at a per 60 rate about a quarter of what he's done over the course of his career.
So that means, like, something's going on behind the scenes.
And they don't have the puck ever, so that number should be going the opposite direction.
So he's not comfy or he's not injured.
He's not playing well.
If Carlo's injured and not playing well, there needs to be a contingency plan,
and the contingency plan is what we're seeing right now, and that's not working.
So eventually, the guys there aren't playing well.
And if you need new guys, that's on the GM to get new players that are playing well.
It's now on Treliving to do something with the lineup and go in a direction.
If we want to rebuild, he's got to go in that direction and start selling parts.
Or if he wants to win this season, he starts doing stuff to get players in that are going to help them win this season.
So that's why I keep landing on the GM needs to do something here.
All right, Stevie.
To back up, Jesse.
You can't head coach your way out of this.
No, I, first of all, I think you're right. I think we're both right, but let's, let's break it down. I've talked about how Dubas, like I thought he did a number of things really well, has no idea how to build a decor with Brad. I don't think he knows what he's doing when it comes to forwards.
uh last year they got by on what was largely uh the previous guys guys uh up front and now they
none of the bets they made up front are working and how's calgary they can't last not just last
but can't score there's two teams below the leafs in the standings in the nhl and one of them is
Calgary and Nashville.
Like, uncle.
Just uncle.
The reason I say coach is last year I operated under the idea that Craig Berube knew what he was doing.
And they won 52 games.
Why would I be like, oh, yeah, this guy who won a cup sucks, actually.
And, like, the team got better under him.
No, he's bad.
I think it changes very fast in the NHL.
A lot of guys are nominated for the Jack Adams or win the Jack Adams,
and within months, they're bumps.
And I think sometimes you just lose the room.
Like, I don't know if that's, you know, he, in the Pittsburgh game,
supposedly second intermission, he tore the paint off the wall,
and the Leafs came back.
But you only get a certain number of those a season
before the team just starts tuning you out.
and every time he gets behind a mic he doesn't know the answer to any question he's asked
when is this guy coming back from injury uh why can't they start a game on time um you know why
can't they give a full effort full 60 he doesn't know the answer they've been subpar all season
that was arguably their worst game of the season definitely the worst period of the season
and it's followed by a three-day break which is something that I'm pretty sure they're not
going to get for the rest of the 2025 calendar this is when coaches get gassed this has always
been when coaches get gassed but you're now going to give this core of players their fourth coach
I mean Leaf fans are you know irrational and crazy and everything it sure does feel like a
please do something, anything kind of scenario here.
Because one thing I'm fairly confident of,
the answer is not in the room.
You're not going to...
So you don't think when the guys come back,
when Tanev is back, when Matthews is back,
when Nyes is back, when Stallers is back,
who else is out?
Jake McCabe is injured.
We don't know the timeline on that because we never do.
Here's the thing.
Oh, once they get everyone back,
they're still losing guys.
There's room to dig.
And also they were bad when they had all those guys
Minus Lawton
Was Lawton the Jenga piece
Holding the whole tower together
You know what I mean
Apparently he was
I've loved watching
Every time he's on the ice I feel safe
I love Scott Lawton
I love him
And I know he's a Jenny
And I just want to say
I think he's been spectacular
On a terrible team
And I'm like thank god he's there
Like there's an adult on that team
Easton Cowan the other day said that he was funny.
And I was like, I've never heard that about Lawton.
He's a funny guy.
I was like, oh, that's surprising.
I don't think I know what his voice sounds like.
Yeah, he's very soft-spoken, but apparently in the room,
he's like one of the loudest guys in a – it's a riot.
They really like him there.
I don't know.
I think – like, are you guys losing your patience a bit?
There you go.
Would you pay to watch the Leafs this year?
that here that that I'm hearing a lot a lot people listen 10 years ago when the Leafs were bad
uh people stopped going and Jesse you know we talked about it we were at that Islanders game
where John Tavares of the Islanders scored against the Leafs in overtime and their arena was maybe
three quarters full and that was like a story like oh my god and you are you are at the games now as
a reporter and you're seeing that yeah the round of applause hey you have jesse jesse jesse jesse
man isn't employment great employment's cool yeah congrats on having a job buddy no credentials are
awesome and they allow me to go to the arena for all the home games and see that slowly and slowly
there's more empty seats and it's not just the empty seats because people are down in the
restaurants that they've built in scotia bank arena they're genuinely people who have season
seats are not getting them sold on the secondary market and then choosing not to go to the games
because that's their first option right you put the tickets up for sale and ticket master hopefully
they go you don't have to go to the game but now those tickets aren't selling and just the season
seats are just sitting empty and it's something i haven't seen since we've had credentials yeah
And, you know, I have to tell you, the only way that can make me happy is that stupid guy that owns all those tickets who always cheers against the Leafs with his daughter.
He's losing money this year, and that makes me really happy.
You know, I don't like that guy.
I'm sure he's a great person.
I don't like him.
I'm not sure of that.
Yeah, I don't think he's a good person.
I don't know.
I'm not a fan.
So you go ahead and blow your money, pal.
But, you know, it's one of those problems.
It's like, well, if they fire the coach, what will they do?
I don't know.
well if they fire the GM what will they do
I don't know if they make a trade
how will they do that I don't know
and here's the thing doing
nothing seems like the worst
of those outcomes if they do nothing I can tell
you what they will do and that's
continue to lose
that was meant to be
implied you didn't have to
but you're right you nailed it man you really
read between the lines there you lose real
sharp on that one definitely nothing gets
past these guys holy shit we gotta
to come to Oshawa once a month let's do I miss it here I miss it here I really do man I do want to
say I'm glad we set up such a depressing segment for uh Simon Wang I so anyway here comes um now
listen I want to talk about him for just a quick second like he's not here he is past he is in that
door there but this is a the third ever Chinese born player to be drafted into the NHL six foot
Six
San Jose shark
Prospect who we love big shout out to the San Jose Sharks who are the best shout out all the truthers
Are there truthers in the room are there truthers among us?
We are very very excited to welcome
Hoshi aka Simon Wang
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a patio window you can do that yourself and i'm like well hang on a second what if i don't want
i don't have the stuff because you gotta have that scraper thing and the and the washer thing
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All right. Now, I don't think that mic stands big enough for you. You can pop that off, whatever you want to do. Yeah. There you go. Here, I'll take that out of the way. Oh, okay.
We're so good at this.
Yeah. So, welcome. How's it feel to be up here?
Feels great.
Yeah, you're good?
Yeah.
Okay. All right. Now, listen, we got some Sharks fans in the crowd already, by the way. Just thought you should know that.
um so listen the the you have such an unbelievable story which is why we're so excited to talk to you
and it starts in beijing when you were four and a half how did you fall in love with hockey how
did you find out about hockey because we're we're hoping one day that this actually becomes a true
international sport like soccer but it's got a lot of ways to go how did you find out about it
i think it was absolutely you know luck obviously because it wasn't big at the time at all and my
kindergarten friend start playing so he was like yo you gotta check out this really cool sport
when i went there i was like he's putting on cool equipment tying a skate i'm like wow like really
it was just like that yeah it was just like that and then i told my mom i have to try it and you
know it was a hassle to buy all these equipment because obviously is it not readily available at
the corner store right like where do you even find it right like yeah it was it was a pro shot there
Oh, there is?
Okay, good.
And hopped on that week and just fell in love with the sport.
So literally it was the next week you were on the ice trying to play at four and a half.
Wow.
Yeah.
That's crazy.
But it is kind of that thing.
Like everybody in this room, you guys all know when you fell in love with hockey, right?
There's that snap moment.
What is amazing about your story from there is, first off, I asked you backstage, you were always the tall kid, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I was always the tall kid.
So in all the hockey pictures, you're in the background in the middle, right?
Yeah, I was always in the middle.
When did you realize, okay, I might actually be pretty good at this?
I think just obviously playing in China, there wasn't a big opportunity for me to pursue as a professional.
So my friend, actually another friend of mine, decided I came to Toronto to chase his dream.
and I was I had a long chat with my mom whether should I stay in China and you know eventually
quit hockey because how how much pressure they go through for the education system so I don't
really want to go through that so my family discussed that it's probably the better choice
that sent me out overseas to Toronto and you know see where it goes and luckily it turned out great
now let me ask the two of you um if you guys had told your parents at 10 or 11 years old that you
wanted to move to a foreign country how how might tina glenn or tina dangle have reacted steven
well once she woke up in the hospital
poorly i think she would have gone back to her roots and thrown a wooden spoon at my head and
and jesse jesse how about your mother uh not not well okay no no so it would have been a no
so this is this is what i need to know i'm dying to know this how how good was your argument
Because I can tell you, I would never have won that argument with my mother.
How did you, what was the thing that convinced her?
It's kind of funny because I wasn't great at school at all.
So she doesn't, she didn't really have a say on, you know, on what I should do.
And she's really open-minded.
So I was really lucky to be born with open-minded parents.
And, you know, I made my points, like, come on, like, you know, if I stay here, like, there's not much I can do for study.
So might as well just release me and, you know, to Toronto and see where it goes.
And she was sitting there like, you know what, he's got a point.
Yeah.
She said, you're so bad at your education, we might as well give you a shot at the NHL.
Exactly.
That was the better option was you become one of the 0.0% professional athletes who make it to the show as opposed to you just, like, study math.
And also you just happen to be, like, the 0.0001% of the population that gets over 6'5", too, right?
Like, what?
That's crazy, man.
Yeah.
Okay.
Great call.
Great call by your mom.
Yeah.
You know what?
Your mom was on to something.
Jesse, Steve, I'm going to turn it over to you guys.
What do you have to ask?
I want to know about draft night because that's, like, the biggest moment
because that's everything in your life works up to that moment.
What was draft night like for you?
It was everything I expected.
My brother wasn't there for the first round,
and I was actually really happy that I didn't go because San Jose called,
and they said they might slide me into late first and early second,
and I was like, it's supposed to happen because I want my brother there with me
at the moment and luckily he made it the next day and the first thing you know my name got called
and my brain just completely went overdrive yeah you like blacked out in that moment oh yeah i was
like i had no idea what happened i was floating down until i was putting on the jersey that that
moment just hit me like wow it's it's a shame that it wasn't well i guess you're glad that it
was on day two.
But if it was on day one,
you would have had
about 45 minutes
on stage by yourself.
Oh, that was the worst.
Yeah, they did.
That first round
just dragged on.
And then they bring you
into the big brother room.
How do you feel
about playing
for our team now?
Oh, oh, oh, oh.
Anyway, sorry.
Welcome to the Sharks!
Arks!
Arks!
Terrifying.
You didn't have to do that, right?
No, no.
Where you look into the thing
and the GM talks to you
and all that?
Yeah, thank God
I didn't have to go through that.
some guys uh obviously you have conversations with teams before you got drafted it always
seemed like it was going to be the sharks no actually i have no idea until you know when
when the draft night came and you know i had a little conversation with my asian obviously he
didn't want to spoil anything so he's like just just let whatever it takes you takes you so um
And, yeah.
Is it kind of cool that it's West Coast as well,
so it's a little bit closer, you know, to home?
Oh, yeah, way closer, man.
It's a lot closer than here.
Okay, fine.
You know what?
You're right.
You should have gone to Florida.
I'm trying to be...
I know, I know.
It's got to cut five hours off the flight, right?
Like, it's not so bad.
No, it's not.
Definitely not.
It's closer to home, and weather's great.
Can't complain at all.
Tanning every day I was there, and just loving it.
Well, you know, it's funny we got to interview William Eklund and was it was it him that told us he said he said yeah
Yeah, he told us he's like I'm from Oshawa
He's from Oshawa and he was like I'm pretty soft now that I've been in California this long like it's pretty off amazing
He's like I'm not sure I can handle the winter at this point
So, okay Steve go ahead buddy. What do you got?
Oh, no, I was just saying it was Ethan Cardwell.
Oh, okay, you have nothing else?
No, nothing else.
So one thing that struck me when we were kind of doing some research about you,
and I don't know if a lot of people know this, and if you've heard the story, well, you're going to hear it again,
but your mother got involved in arena building.
Is that correct?
Yeah, that's correct.
So explain that one because, I mean, I'm assuming that you were the one that convinced her to build the arena too?
You seemed like a pretty convincing guy, or how did that happen?
i i mean it was um i remember there's beijing won the winter olympics and at the time she was
thinking whether she like should pursue it as an opportunity for an upcoming sport and take a risk
at it and obviously driving an hour and a half every day to practice is not ideal at all because
you know beijing's such a packed city and going everywhere is a like just pain yeah it's a pain
so um she saw the opportunity she she discussed with a couple of her friends and
decided to make it happen and never looked back oh is that it yeah just build an arena that's
crazy yeah well but you know what that's that's amazing because you know it speaks to i think
what hockey really is right at its best hockey is a family sport everybody gets involved
and, you know, kind of plays
their role, right? Like, I didn't come from
a hockey family. My dad was into
auto racing and my mom is an American
so she liked football. And as soon
as I was playing hockey, you know, my dad was coaching
and mom was hating going to the
arena at 6 a.m. but whatever. You know,
you get that sort of
thing. But I just think
it's really special that your mom was like, okay,
my kid's playing but I really want this to grow
for other kids too. And I think that's
pretty cool, man. I know. I told you
she's open-minded parents yeah best best mom i can ever have come on how great is that
uh clip this and make sure we get him the file so he can send out yeah
i gotta send this to my mom yeah well speaking of clips and everything i want to know
uh you know obviously you played and you loved playing it but did you
consume any nhl media or hockey media uh from like at what age did you start watching highlights or
instagram videos or what i actually didn't start watching nhl hockey until i was 12 when i first
came to toronto because in china we didn't have that um you know live stream on nhl hockey
highlights and all this stuff we barely have it here so when I first came to Toronto that's when
I started you know every morning wake up like turn the TV on for YouTube highlights and just
go through everything and yeah from then I just you have a team no I never had a team but I did
cheer for Boston hold on hold on hold on hold on I'm sorry Bobby Orr played there guys yeah
you've heard of him right come on that's some good pandering that's that's that's that's good Adam
I did cheer for Boston for a bit because my brother went there for school and you know every
time I visit him I go you know watch a couple games and the vibe is absolutely amazing and
that's when I'd fall in love with the game even more.
That's awesome.
Shoot, that's a good answer.
How have you liked Oshawa?
Has it been fun living here?
Yeah, it's been fun.
People call it some sort of names,
but I actually love it here.
Oh, yeah.
This guy.
This guy.
It's awesome.
Schwalewood.
Schwalewood.
Exactly.
You know, I got to ask you about playing for the Generals
Because obviously, you know, in terms of junior teams in this country, it's one of the most storied franchises due for a Memorial Cup soon, I think.
What do you guys think? Yeah. Been a while. And frankly, you know, amazing players.
You look at the people that are hanging in the rafters. You know, you've got Orr, you've got Lindros, you've got Tavares.
I think I saw Tony Tanti up there
Max Savad
Nathan Horton
so many people
what has
stepping into that been like for you
because I think we all have to remember
even though you're taller than all of us
you are you know 16
years old when you first put on that jersey
right? I was 17
you're 17 okay but still 17
you know like what
what is that like?
it was definitely like a mind-blowing experience because i didn't thought i was gonna play major
junior because the ncaa rule right so when i got the call like you know oshawa wants me to sign
and play there for the rest of the year i was like wow it's it's gonna happen and the moment
practice the first practice i remembered you know seeing beckett seeing richie all these star guys
I'm like, wow, this is something else.
But definitely mean a lot.
You know, it's a great franchise, and put on that jersey every day means a lot.
So, yeah.
By the way, Beckett's been pretty good, eh?
I don't think he's coming back.
I don't think he's coming back.
I don't know.
Is that still an option?
Yeah, it is actually still an option for him to come back.
But I don't know.
What's he like to play with?
I mean, he's just such a talented player that, you know, makes so much plays.
Up and down the aisles, how smart he is.
Fun teammate, too?
Fun teammate.
Amazing.
All right.
Well, listen, I think we've held you up here for long enough.
And I want to say, to sit up here at your age,
handle yourself the way you have in front of a room of people,
I couldn't have done it.
Congratulations on all your success.
We will be rooting for you, man.
Thanks, guys.
Thank you.
Let's give it up again for him.
Simon Wang, everybody.
That is a star
Absolutely awesome
Man, that was hilarious
You know, I have to think about this too
Sometimes when we do these interviews
Because I have to remember what I was at 17, 18 years old
And Steve is the only one in this room
Who remembers that, unfortunately
Justin was there
Oh yeah, I guess Justin was there
Adam, you were a front man in a band
Jumping around on stage
In leather pants
I would have been like, hey
Drop the mic
yeah Adam
what are you lying about
you were on stage
performing at that age
in leather pants
I paid to see you
yeah
I think
I think
I think it's different
when you're talking
versus like
you're in a band
oh yeah
like in a band
okay
alright show us
start dancing
the difference in a band
is that you're
you've got guitar players
you can hide behind
do you still remember
the songs
uh
like the ones we wrote
yeah
like we wrote our own songs
yeah for sure could you do a rendition no no no here's a little bit the problem was is that
of the guys in the band i was by far the least talented which is no no i'm not you're the lead
singer i know and i wasn't good jesse jesse so he's right so you know i think i think when you
know when when simon's up here and sam will be up here in just a second uh you know like everybody's
eyes are on them, right? Like, I just have to
say, like, the composure was amazing.
Also, he had a great suit, I gotta be honest.
Really liked that vest. That was a good suit.
Yeah, anyway, should we bring Sam up?
I think we should. Alright, ladies and gentlemen,
16 years old,
Sam Roberts is
gonna join us right now.
There he is!
Yay!
So, listen,
Sam, I'm going to ask the question
that I'm sure you get every day
and you're exhausted by it
how many times a week
would you say, did somebody come up to you and say
okay man, your dad was my
favorite player, and that his dad
by the way, Leaf legend, and only
Leafs, Gary Roberts
yeah
famously played for just one team
just the one
yeah, I don't know, it's almost like
sometimes it feels like it's every day
someone's asking me about it but
I think it's super cool to have
a dad like that but it's
getting a little repetitive these days I don't know
I can't wait
for the first hockey night in Canada feature where
four or five years from now you're going to be like
yep that is my dad
and it'll be like Ron McLean sitting in front of you like
so and
and you'll be like yep it sure is
yeah I don't know
how many more questions people are going to ask me with my dad
I feel like everyone's been asked you know
all the questions
The only thing I want to ask you honestly on that
And I do have a question about your dad
Oh my goodness Adam
Hold on
It's a good one
Are the rumors about training with
Your dad and that group true
Because here's the thing you guys know that Gary Roberts
Runs like a whole training thing right
Apparently it's the most intense
Adam you're not supposed to break news on the show
Are you allowed to have carbs
Tell us a little bit about that
What's that like
Carbs are, you know, only on cheat days.
Only on cheat days.
Okay.
All right.
No, but, yeah, the training, you know, when he's in the gym, you better be on your A game, that's for sure.
Yeah?
Yeah.
And how long, how far back does that go?
Like, when did you first step in?
I bet I was eight years old.
Wow.
Probably lifting weights.
Yeah.
What?
It was real early.
It was real early.
Wow.
I love it.
I love it.
Um, who had, cause I know all the players would show up at the house.
Who had the nicest car?
And I asked this because my uncle used to live right there and I was at an event where
Stamkos was there and I was like, I'm pretty sure this is Stamkos' car.
He asked me to send him a picture.
He's like, oh yeah, drives like an idiot.
Um, yeah, like it was probably Stammer had the best car.
He was probably the biggest star there, but I think he had a Ferrari at the time,
and that was sweet to see, that's for sure.
That's pretty cool.
Quaint, quaint little vehicle.
Jess, I was asking you backstage, I wanted to prep you a little for this,
because the hockey locker room, the nickname is a big thing.
Everybody has a nickname, and I just wanted to know amongst the Jennys,
can you give us some of the nicknames of some of your buddies on the team,
and then give us who's got the best one?
Yeah, there's a couple guys with cool nicknames,
but Murnane, he calls himself the bull.
Why?
Who knows why?
Calls himself the bull.
They were doing some talk with some guy,
and he was like, what's your inner self?
And he said, I'm a bull.
And, you know, you wonder sometimes.
That's for sure.
That's awesome.
That's a great answer.
Who's, is it Sniff?
Yeah, Griffey, yeah.
The guys call him Sniff.
I have no idea why.
I think Simon said it was because it rhymes.
It rhymes, kind of.
Swanger said it's because it rhymes.
I think, you know, it could mean anything at this point.
But, yeah, there's some wicked nicknames for sure.
And then, like, the day-to-day balance for you
is a little different than some of the other guys
because you have to actually get an education
while you're also playing hockey.
Who needs that?
Look at Simon.
Simon doesn't need that.
He doesn't need that crap.
Could you walk us through your typical day
or your typical week as a Jenny?
Yeah, like we go to school Monday to Friday,
and we're only there for two classes,
so it's pretty light,
and my grades are still taking a toll.
And then you get to the rink,
usually have a hard practice,
tuesday to wednesday they're they're real beggars um and then uh and that's pretty much the day you
lift after and you get get some pretty good rest yeah what's the worst subject chemistry i got a
51 right now oh no but hey that's a hold stop the count
right now you're at a 51 you're passing let's just say education's not my not my right path
I also want to say, listen, listen, taking chemistry, I avoided that like the plague.
That's a skill issue, man.
You shouldn't have signed up for that.
What are you doing?
That's my mom's fault.
So, listen, like, I think that's the craziest thing, too, is, like, you know, you and I, we talked to Simon about it a little bit.
You know, you're 16 years old.
You walk in, and this is one of the most storied franchises out there, right?
Everybody knows the Oshawa Generals in hockey.
The history is unbelievable.
what is it like the first time you put on a jersey here yeah i thought it was pretty crazy
you know it was like a week before draft night they called me and they were like you know we
want to take you and i was i was shocked almost you know like the jennies it's kind of been
hometown team and it was it was a surreal moment putting on the jersey that's for sure yeah yeah
and what kind of player do you want to be like you're you know again this is the thing like you
as you grow into your role on this team and and and in this city what kind of if we were to sit
you in a room and have five coaches what would you want them to say about you probably being like
a like a hard hard-nosed power forward in a way you know i think i gotta grow my role a little
bit but hard-nosed power forward with some good skill okay some good some finish on that yeah
a little finish score some goals yeah okay exactly what what's changed the most since you played your
first game uh probably like you know adapting to the the pace like the first game was like
holy like i'm in i'm in the ohl now this isn't minor hockey uh so but probably the pace for
sure you know it's a fast game but adapting you could say adapting do you have any nhlers you
kind of model your game after you look up to yeah like i i watched a lot of stammer um you know my
whole life but i like to try and model my game after like nizey like matthew nize you know a
little Leafs guy.
He's pretty popular.
Pretty popular, yeah.
He's got the new age
power forward thing
going on.
Exactly.
That's why I try to,
you know,
I like to watch his clips
sometimes and try to
model it.
What is it about him
specifically?
Like, you know,
you're in front of
a hockey mad audience.
What nerdy thing
about Matthew Nizer
you're like,
man, I want to do
exactly what he's
doing there?
His puck battles.
Like, it's crazy.
Like, the way he
protects his puck
is like, it's insane.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. And I got to ask, like, in terms of, like, when you step on the ice and the first goal goes in and you're on the ice, do you hear the crowd?
Is that something, like, because I've always, listen, I never played in front of anything other than, like, my parents and aunts and uncles and stuff.
What does that feel like?
I don't know. Like, the first time I scored at home, it was, like, I was kind of, like, I kind of blacked out almost.
You know, I was a little surprised I scored, but Griffey's passed me the puck.
so I got to bury it.
But I don't know.
You kind of hear the crowd sometimes,
but more as you're going back to the bench.
As you're going back to the bench.
Yeah, I was just getting back to the bench.
So does it become background noise eventually?
You kind of just ignore it
and it's like what's on the ice matters?
A little bit, yeah.
Okay.
A little bit.
All right.
Is it distracting when you're the answer
to a trivia question during the game?
I was...
That happened today.
That happened today.
You were the answer
and I had to be like,
and also he's going to be on my podcast later.
And anyway, he's playing a game right now.
All right. Have fun, Sam. Hi, Sam. Hi. Yeah, I was on the bench.
I was looking up and I was like, oh, it's me. And I was like trying to get the boys fired up.
And I was looking up, you know, seeing if the camera is going to be on me.
Well, listen, I got to tell you, like I'm you know, it's it's very, very special to come here and obviously see like the fans in Osh who are unbelievable, as you know.
but it's cool to see a team where you know the generals are right now like you know obviously
uh we're all pretty familiar with ben danford we're all pretty familiar with beckett seneca
and colby barlow and all the guys that were here last year but what i always find amazing
about ohl junior hockey in general is the cycles that you guys go through and you know one year
it's like we're going for the memorial cup the next year we are rebuilding and there's this whole
new injection of talent, and you are the
next generation. And that's got to
feel pretty cool. Yeah, that's
for sure. I know I talked to, you know, talking to Mario,
talking to Raj, like, you know, being the
new generation of players coming through, like,
you know, we got a lot of 08s, you know,
09s. It's going to be special, I think,
as the years go on. I'm going to die.
Pretty soon, too.
Yeah. Oh, my God.
You're a couple years away from that, Adam.
I was already a working adult
in a way
and that's the thing
season 2 of LFR
I know it's crazy
your YouTube channel is older than him
by like a few years
we're old
I want to say this and I said this to Simon too
you coming up here
at 16 cracking jokes
in front of all these people is pretty impressive
And it shows, first off, that the organization values character, good people, and there's some confidence here that I'll tell you, none of us had at 16.
None of us sitting on this stage.
I don't know how many people in this room can speak for that.
But you being here and being comfortable the way you are, I want to say we're going to be watching.
We're going to be cheering for you.
And thanks so much for joining us, buddy.
Amazing.
Thank you, guys.
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
Well done.
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Give it up again for Sam Roberts.
Another good suit, too.
These guys with their suits, huh?
It's looking good.
It's frustrating.
I was thinking about, like, myself in pressure situations when I was 16,
and I remembered going for my G2 driver's test.
Shambolic.
Did you pass?
I did, but only because the instructor just didn't feel like failing me.
That's fair.
I did really well.
I nailed everything, and then a fire truck passed, and I went, uh,
and I didn't stop all the way.
and which is an that should be an automatic fail auto fail yeah that's like really illegal
but but it was weird that's so illegal it was weird what are you doing and i knew that and so
it's just this death march to go to my backing into a space test which i also just buckled and
i do it we go in and she hands me the hey stupid you passed papers and i go and and she tells me
that and i go so wait i passed and she doesn't even lower her sunglasses she goes i just said
that and walked away like like csi i was like that was unnecessary why are you drive like a
driving instructor in aura farming i didn't i didn't understand what that was about but i was
happy to get the pass wow you know adam when steve texts us all the time when he's running late which
every day and he's complaining
about traffic, I'm starting to think that
maybe it's not the other drivers
and maybe
it's the guy who probably shouldn't have
a license because he didn't really pass
his driver's test.
Whenever I say if I was a tyrant
if I was a tyrant for a day
I would just take away everyone's license.
That's me too. Yeah, your own
license would probably be taken away.
I'm part of everyone.
I think my favorite part about Steve Dangle is
the fact that he gets on the road every day and expects
it to be anything other than what it is.
And every day
there's traffic and he's surprised
that it's every day.
And we're like, Steve, it's the
same every day.
Like, I don't...
When is this just going to be the normal?
I can't believe the word the is spelled
T-H-E again.
It's the same reason that I'm a Leafs
fan. It's optimism.
I'm an idealist,
Adam. I think of a better
world, and I just
try to, I think if I dream hard
enough, it'll happen.
You're going to dream hard enough.
They're going to have
a parade on
a DVP that is moving
smoothly.
I want to be part of that world.
Realistically, there's going to be traffic
and it'll flood. I think my favorite part about,
we're up here going to
shoot the shit for a little bit longer. Do you guys mind?
We got to do questions. We're going to do questions.
Don't forget the order of things.
Let me just do the one thing.
My favorite thing about Steve being late
is that
When you walk in with him also late?
No, when I'm also late.
But I give him
I give you an ETA.
Like I told you today I was going to be 15 minutes late and I was.
That's wrong, by the way.
I was 15 minutes late.
I was here at 4.45.
You said 4.30.
Steve will be like, I'm going to be a few minutes late.
And he's very evasive
About like hey
Do you have a time on that
I don't know
The number keeps going up on Waze
And I just don't know what it is
I do not use Waze
Or whatever Google Maps
It's true
Questions from the audience
Do we have a mic for questions
Can you grab the audience mic
Which is in the back
So raise your hand and then Justin's going to come around
I mean you don't have to raise your hand
And then you can ask the question.
You know why I don't give you an ETA?
Justin, go ahead.
If you don't get picked, it's Justin's fault.
Why don't you give us an ETA?
Because I would never lie to you.
Oh, listen to this.
All right.
Your name?
Hey, it's Ethan.
Hi, Ethan.
Everybody, hi, Ethan.
It's nice to finally meet you guys.
So I was at the Blue Jackets, Bruins, and Penguins game this year.
Oh, it's your fault.
Yeah, no, it's definitely, yeah.
Well, hold on.
What's the goal differential for those games, by the way?
We won the Penguins game.
Yes, you did.
Yeah, that's true.
It's a good point.
It is my fault because I'm a season ticket holder, so it's our fault.
So you're having a good time.
Yeah, definitely.
So I was curious.
I think that the first two periods of the Penguins game was the worst that I've ever seen the Leafs play in my 28 years of life.
so I'm curious if you guys think that this year there's potential for us to be worse than like the
FNUF Kessel beginning era or do you think that we've kind of bottomed out in as as as little
hope as the team will give us so there's something there the the Leafs keep hanging on to the
injuries thing which is gaslighting like they might as well just look down the barrel of the
camera and go hey you stupid pigs eat your slop you little piggies oink oink wow okay no because
all right they were bad before the injuries right those leaf teams that we look back on
not all that fondly they played competitive games because a lot of those guys let's face it either
shouldn't have been in the league or shouldn't have been in that kind of role on a playoff team
or on a on a cup contending team whoever was on the second line might have been on the third
might have been on the fourth might have been like oh my goodness yeah right 18 minutes a night
under Randy Carlisle right yeah but they were hungry and the X's and O's weren't quite there
and the skill wasn't quite there but they were hungry Dakota Mermis is you know sometimes he's
treading water sometimes he's drowning the guy's hungry the guy's got fire the guy is trying he's
busting his ass you see that like scratching quillen was such a mistake like you you talk
about a guy who is fighting for every hour he's in the nhl right now that's exactly the kind of
thing you want out of your lineup and you take him out why so what confuses me about this team
and i think what disgusts people about this team is listen if they were gonna take a step back
fine they should their last place in the east that's pathetic i don't care how many injuries
you got i think too you're you're fighting against expectations like i straight up will be the first
to admit i had the leafs winning the division this year i think the atlantic is wide open i
think it's still wide open if i knew what the atlantic looked like i would have had them winning
too 100 like tampas tampas fighting injuries and you know getting older florida has 40 guys on the
IR Ottawa's looked shaky sometimes good sometimes not Montreal's had a bit of a rough go of it
lately and so you're fighting the expectation that hey this team is supposed to be good and
they're not at very least I mean the the management group during the FNUF Kessel years thought that
they were going to be good but like no one else did everybody else is like yeah okay sure guys
yeah if you squeak into the playoffs cool but like I don't think so I'm I'm seeing right now
it's like like it's they're not slightly underperforming they are vastly underperforming
and when when they uh when they did everybody in the lineup like they were just like you know I
don't feel like playing the first period and you guys don't know what that looks like right like
you know what that looks like you're not stupid and that's what's so frustrating and here's the
thing after every game Craig Berube says that he's like until we dig in and play 60 uh and then in
the next net he's like until we play dig in and play 60 and at a certain point they're it's pretty
clear, they're not digging in and playing 60
and it's the end of November. So I
think that's probably the other side of it.
Other questions? Sorry, is that depressing?
Anyway, isn't this fun?
One thing that I don't think we'll pick
up on the podcast,
like in the middle of me being like
they're pieces of crap and they stink,
like the air conditioning turned off.
So it got even quieter.
That was a eulogy.
What do we have, Justin? What's your name? Maverick.
Yeah, it is. Hi, Maverick.
In the middle of watching the last game, I was just thinking about how this is the worst
I felt about the Leafs in about two decades, even worse than 15-16, because at least it
was expected.
And then I got to thinking about the 2016-2017 Colorado Avalanche.
And I was thinking, do you guys see any comparables with the Leafs there in terms of team structure?
And if so, who is Matt Duchesne on the Leafs, and where is he getting traded?
well because the the weren't the team wasn't the avalanche team before that like first thing in
hl but they were like a pdo three three yeah yeah they were like a monster and then they were out in
the first round yep and so they were a bit of a paper tiger and then the next year they had the
awful year and then they drafted high and yeah what did they get was that the that wasn't the
mccarrier was it yeah that was the mccarrier yeah hey hey you know if we had a first round
pick it's the it's the in the basketball the equivalent was the san antonio spurs had this
guy named uh david robertson and they had a whole championship run and then they stunk for one
season and they got tim duncan and then they went on a 20-year run of being great so the hope is
there the leafs have a nine-year run of playoffs here you stink for one year you keep that uh top
three protected pick and you get a high draft pick and the next year you are is it three or five
top five sorry oh thank god three top five protected draft pick i was gonna have a bad
drive carry on the long running of good regular season after this year so they're it's not out
they are a possibility because you have nylander matthew matthews uh uh nize uh tavarez riley cow
and you have a kind of really good core locked up that should be playing better so if you trust
those pieces that you have a brief pause and then a retool for next season makes a lot of sense
it could work if you're gonna get up in the morning and still be a leaf fan you might as
well believe it might work yeah um but like the other thing that we're selling hope here now yeah
the thing that came out of that season though for the colorado avalanche is they slip fall and uh
land in Nathan McKinnon's contract which was the greatest contract in the NHL 6.3 mil and it
directly led to a cup like they won a cup with him on that deal if you look at like a lot of the 2010s
cups and the ones in the 2020s yeah the teams are built a certain way and they had star power
but the way they were able to get that mix comes down to a math equation and that math equation
usually comes with they got a bunch of guys on sweetheart deals and can i give you an answer
give me what if the leafs equivalent to the mckinnon contract is the salary cap going up
and their guys being locked up right now what if that jump to 110 million makes the contracts that
they have right now that are on the books that the teams have to sign the other teams have to
sign in the future under that old cap makes the leafs an advantage position so the secret is
I don't hate that at all.
Yeah, not having any good players to sign is good.
No, I'm kidding.
John Tavares' contract is absurd.
Amazing.
He is one of the best players in the league right now
at his current performance level,
and he's making under $5 million.
That's stupid.
Yep.
So there is something there to hang on to,
plus Austin's locked up, like I said.
That contract, it's the second highest in the league right now,
but as the cap goes up and guys continue to jump that,
It'll only get better.
Same with Willie's deal.
Nye's deal is comfy.
You know, like the contracts they have now can turn into really good deals.
Yeah, they have a lot of current problems.
They don't have very many long-term problems.
Exactly.
Which is good news.
It's just, I don't know.
But what if I'm sad now?
Even the goaltending, too.
I haven't even touched on that.
If Stoller and Wall are at their top form and they're signed for combined under six together.
It's like under seven, seven and a half.
It's under eight, I should say, probably.
Like, that can also be really good for their cap.
So there's hope here in the future.
It's not – I don't think this needs to be a bottom-out
for 10-year San Jose Sharks situation.
No.
You know?
No.
Well, you get Simon Wang out of it.
Yeah, yeah.
There you go.
There you go.
All right, next question over here.
Justin, your name, sir?
Hi, my name is Sean.
Hi, Sean.
Everybody say hi, Sean.
Hi, Sean.
And I have a question about the defensive system for the Leafs.
so last year the Leafs
win the division they have one of the strongest
cores they probably have had in the last
20 years maybe one of the strongest in the league
and then they come back
with almost the same core
the same GM the same coach
and they're defensively atrocious
is there someone else
on the Leafs coaching staff that should
be under the microscope after Lambert leaving
well yes so the
implication I guess is
Derek Lalonde yeah but what I'm trying to remember like last I gotta stick to what I said last year
because people were like should Mark Savard be under the microscope because the Leafs were doing
really well their power play was awful and I'm like well when was the last time you saw a team
fire just an assistant coach mid-season sometimes you'll see an off-season change or like an
assistant coach will leave with a head coach that's not uncommon but like you you might have
to fire Craig Berube in order to get rid of Derek Lalonde um at this point like I I just don't see
one guy leaving right now because that's uh it's very atypical what they would tell you
is that they haven't had the guys like if you were to talk to them because you know they're
going to be stubborn about it they made the hire uh they're going to say well listen I mean look
who he's had you know Tanev's been gone um you know Carlo was clearly hurt from the beginning
I hope he was hurt from the beginning because the play wasn't there the numbers suggest so yeah yeah
so like yeah the hit stats fall down you kind of know the guy's in pain right so I like and Derek
Lalonde was the assistant coach that was running the Tampa Bay uh championship team defense which
was so good the problem though in Detroit when he was the head coach and here now is there's no
victor headman there's no mcdonough there's no syrnak there's no like sergachev sergachev on
the come up yeah like there's it was a completely different kettle of fish that he walked into in
detroit and then here in toronto as well and i don't know that i don't know what he's trying to
do but they're not pulling it off right but what do we always say the jack adams trophy really is
it's the oh my god well you guys are better than i thought yeah like sometimes uh you know you can
be the overwhelming president's trophy team and and win it but it's usually whoa it should just
be called that whoa like i i didn't expect your team to be any good like and there's there's
another world where you take this decor that should not be good and whoa look at that you're
like kind of all right and in a playoff spot um and like i see like those tampa teams you know
what they didn't do whine about injuries ever cj talked about this they used to look forward to
and embrace situations where guys were out and they would play you harder and they would win
anyway right uh that's that's just the way they operated they're facing injuries right now
and and nikita kucherov said something along those same lines yesterday you have to find a way
stamkos game three the stanley cup plays one shift scores a goal can't play the rest of it
Like, that's a dog, man.
They won a cup without their captain.
That is, if it wasn't the bubble cup, it would be a way bigger story in hockey lore.
It should be.
It should be.
Honestly.
Like, if you count that cup as legitimate, which you should because it is,
they won a cup without a major, major piece of their roster.
And then he, like you said, he played one game.
Scores.
Peace.
Yeah.
Leaves.
Stayed in a bubble for two months, didn't have to, right?
Shows up for that one moment.
Like, that really does deserve a bigger piece in hockey's lore.
And they found a way.
Absolutely.
Jesse, anything else?
Are we going to do questions?
More questions?
More questions.
Hello, sir.
What's your name?
Hi, I'm Jacob.
Hey, Jacob.
Hi, Jacob.
Hi, everybody.
So, I'm a Winks fan, so I'm going to distract from the Leafs fandom.
Ah, thank you.
I love it.
I love it.
Steve, I need to know how many points are we scoring
in the Learner League this year?
Yeah, you know what?
You know what the generals want to hear?
Steve's stats.
I'm just so relieved it wasn't a question.
You could just go, how about them Red Wings?
So, what are your numbers?
I'm on a bit of a skid.
Oh, no, Mitch.
My team won their last game.
Well, I didn't give the puck away.
But, you know.
Did you show up in the big moments or no?
I had points.
The pressure too big for you?
Points in five straight.
Oh, shit.
Damn.
Two goals, three assists.
And I'm going to text my teammates tonight because I'm missing the game right now.
They have an undefeated record without me.
And in their last game without me, they got a shutout.
Does your league update the stats on a website that you can go check and look?
Yeah.
And you can look up Dangle and it's all there?
Okay.
It's my real last name, but yeah.
Would you take you in fantasy?
Yeah.
Yeah?
Like if your league had a fantasy league, would you take you?
Because the ref is just out and told me, he's like, I'm really nice when it comes to your assists.
That's fun.
That's a great question, by the way.
Thank you for that.
That was awesome.
What else, Justin?
Okay, over here.
We already know this guy.
This is David Owens, everybody.
Say hi to David.
Hi, David.
David drove down from Kingston.
Hey, guys.
How's it going?
Yeah.
So trying to go into a bit of a brighter note.
Okay, let's do it.
I was going to ask you guys opinion on
some Blue Jays because
my question primarily is for
Jesse but I would like you all to weigh in
do you think Santander being
healthy is going to be
the boost that they need
if he's healthy
I think they'll need
another
the bow situation
makes everything tough like I think that's
where you got to start is like okay what are you
doing with the bow money are you bringing him back
Is he going to be your second baseman?
Because I think we're out on him playing short now
just based on what his defensive abilities are right now.
Santander being healthy is going to change a lot
because they didn't have him all last year.
But when he was in the playoffs, it was rough.
There was no reason for him to be in that lineup.
And I think the injury was enough of an excuse to be like,
go away because it's going to bolster the lineup.
But I have a very sunny outlook on the Jays for next season.
I think it's building on the World Series year.
now it's not like you're the underdog coming in and nobody thinks you're going to do well
it's you are one of the top dogs in the american league go out and prove to everybody what you can
do and i think the roster that they have now with whatever they're going to do in that bow slot
will make them a contender are you pitching staff is good enough to hold up everything are you bow
or kyle tucker i'm bow you're bow yeah why are you bow because everybody's talking about kyle
tucker well he fits the jays perfectly i think he's going to sign there what bow has proven as
a hitter. Consistently
year in, year out, I'm going to put up the most hits in the
American League. Nobody's going to stop me. He almost
did it this year in like 20 less games
than the guy who actually finished in first. I think
he finished like six hits behind him.
I want that bat every day of the
week and I don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon.
Even if you have to eat
money at the end of the contract when he's old,
who cares? You're going to get him for this window
right now where they have a shot at doing
something really special. He looked
like he had body-itis and
he still hit the hell out of the ball
in the World Series, so
God, I love Bo.
And also my son will be really sad if he
goes. So he's now
old enough where there's players
where I'm like, really hope they don't
get traded. Does Leo have
favorite players? Bo Bichette.
Yeah. His teddy bear is called
Bobo because
it was originally Bo the Bear, but
he couldn't talk that well when we
bought it for him, so we just started calling it Bobo.
What about on the Leafs?
Austin Matthews.
Austin?
Okay.
That's like a default.
Every kid just defaults to Austin.
And he has an affinity for Steven Lorenz because he scored the game winner in the first game
he went to, and he likes Simone Benoit because I think he's impressed that he can say a French
word.
Like Benoit can or Leo can?
Yes.
Any more questions?
All right.
What do we got?
Hi, guys.
Hey.
Hey, how's it going?
Good.
First off, name for everybody.
My name is Yusuf.
Yes, we know.
Hi, Yusuf.
Hello.
Nice Red Wings jersey, man.
Yeah, thanks, Steven.
Actually looks great.
Two of you.
There's two.
I have two questions, and both of them are for Adam.
Uh-oh.
Is it Red Wings related?
Mr. Adam Wild.
Do I have to eat crow?
Where is your Oshawa Generals jersey?
Oh, okay.
So, interesting story.
I don't know.
i have i have in my truck a antropov so nick antropov's kid played for the jennies and it's
signed and it's in my truck listen i don't think anyone's breaking in to steal it but uh it i've
tried it on today and it looked like it was spray painted on so i put on a few pounds since and i
was like you know i don't think i'm gonna wear that but yeah uh the generals were lovely enough
to give us a jersey last year, and I have misplaced it.
It's either in the basement at work
or it's somewhere in my condo, and I don't know.
If you know Adam, it's very on brand.
Yeah.
None of this is surprising.
No, and I, of course, left it till the last hour
before I had to come here to check for it.
That's the part of it.
So, yeah.
Second question.
Second question.
I know you started the season not a believer
of our Detroit Red Wings, but how are you feeling so far?
I think Detroit had a good start in 23-24 as well.
We'll see in March.
We'll see what happens.
Listen, I'm open to it.
The East is literally, especially the Atlantic, wide open.
Wide open.
And we saw last year when New York and Boston fell out inexplicably.
Like nobody expected that.
Montreal and Ottawa get in, right?
So, you know, if you're Detroit, go and take advantage of the Leafs falling apart.
go and take advantage of the fact that the senators have looked kind of mid without brady i mean he is
their best player but you know i think i think that's the thing is like detroit could absolutely
make the playoffs here what will be hilarious about it is that it'll make steve eiserman
convinced that he's doing the right things and i i i love steve eiserman i loved him as a player
on agent provocateur anymore i loved him i had him we had him on agent provocateur the guy's
awesome like he is a wicked guy but i don't understand he's gonna come on again wearing a
ring with the cup in the shot he's got like six rings doesn't he yeah but this one is the adam
wilder yeah yeah yeah it's probably on the middle finger i deserve it too i deserve it i'll say i'll
say this about the red wings like please sign more big defensemen like ben charotte i want more
Are you talking to Brad?
Justin Hall?
I'm human.
I want to be right.
So my prediction was they're not going to be good.
And then they started the season really well.
I'm watching the out-of-town scoreboard,
and Columbus is up on them, and I'm like, yeah.
Detroit even.
I'm not that salty about it.
I didn't even find out they tied it.
And it's just Debrinket wins it in overtime.
And I went, oh.
Well, and then I watched my team get murdered.
Murdered on national television.
The joy of this job is that you get to eat a lot of crap.
And it's always your own words.
Nobody remembers when we're right.
It's only when we're wrong.
Although I am going to, listen, I'm floating through the air on that duck's pick.
I'm telling you.
Oh, yeah, that was a good one.
We got a question over here.
And this will probably be a couple of our last questions here.
Hi, my name is Jonas.
Hi Jonas
Last year I asked you guys about Ben Danford
And I was going to ask you guys again
But obviously he's not here anymore
And you are wearing his jersey
Don't remind me
Long may he rest
So instead I'm going to ask you
You guys just watched the
Without including Beckett Seneca
Who is never coming back
The youngest and tallest team in the league tonight
Take on the Kitchener Rangers
What are your thoughts
Like Sam Roberts mentioned the 08s, the 09s
A lot of these young kids
What are your kind of thoughts on this rebuilding team
after being the only team who beat London last year in the playoffs?
I thought Roberts and Wang were the best players on the team.
Are they still here?
No, they left.
They left.
But you know who was a player?
It was Griffin.
He had a chemistry test.
He has a chemistry test?
Does he actually?
No.
No.
There's no way.
No way.
Legit.
Oh, that's so funny.
I don't know if he's going to do well.
Hold that 51.
That's so great.
We should wax poetic on the goaltender for a second.
Yeah.
Goaltending is amazing.
And I think it had been a two-game winning streak before this with no goals.
Shut up.
Two shutouts in a row.
132 in a row.
Yeah.
You look really good.
A couple of really good saves.
He got hit on the shoulder a little bit.
Shocked it off.
Saved him the game.
Yeah.
He was excellent.
Warrior out there.
Yeah.
Really, really good.
Griffin's crazy.
Griffin's great.
Yeah.
Really, really.
Yeah.
Watch out.
Really? Yeah. My fiance loves them. Hey.
Whoa.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I have to say, like, it's a, it's, it's, I mean, it's the long, is it not the longest playoff streak or one of the longer playoff streaks?
Like, the Oshawa Generals never really bottom out, right?
So, it's a, it's amazing sort of what happened last year.
But it's, what's cool about it is CJ always says you're selling wins or you're selling hope.
Last year, selling wins.
This year, we're selling hope.
and the hope like you can see it right the fans have bought right in or whatever i'm like maybe
the least should come to a jenny's game yeah have a look around you know what's awesome the crowd
was into it the whole time the whole time like the you guys sell out that building all the time
the crowd like the bowl was filled and everybody's into the game and like the least the equivalent
it's funny because you don't get that at least games when things are going bad the crowd also
goes bad but with you guys like the score wasn't close at times you fight fight back into it the
crowd's still into it. It was a great atmosphere.
To be fair, though, the generals don't
torture their fans.
Right? Generally
speaking,
there have been heartbreaking moments,
I'm sure, but I don't think
that it's like, you know, it's like you're going to
sit here and you're going to watch this.
And you're going to know the end of this
movie for the next nine years and you're going to
watch this. You know what I mean?
You're talking about Leafs games.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
They play all 60.
yeah exactly they play all 60 it's a fun atmosphere yeah it's a hungry it's a hungry
team a great product i thought they had a real good chance to tie it until that bogus diving
call that i thought was i know garbage as soon as he goes down i'm like yeah and the ref goes like
this and i go now so that's something that just permeates league to league apparently but
yeah no it's gotta come from somewhere yeah a hundred percent yeah you got to develop uh
Incompetence right
So
Like
It's important
It's important
Is that what they're doing
In the O
Yeah
They call a trip
And it's like
It's the playoffs man
No
But it was
You're never gonna get called up
To Gary's league
With that attitude
It was right in his feet
Don't talk back like that
Unless it's London
Unless it's London
Yeah
Yeah I hear London doesn't
Nothing gets called
They play by other rules
Yeah
Yeah yeah
Anyway
We have more questions.
They're just smarter.
Last question here.
St. Louis Blues jersey.
Look at this.
Oh, it's a Marty Brodeur St. Louis Blues jersey.
You're so difficult.
Stand up and let the whole audience see.
You are the most difficult.
Look at this.
Wow.
Oh, my God.
I don't think Marty has one of those.
Wow.
And your name is?
Devin.
Devin.
Hi, Devin.
Hi, Devin.
A quick stack to make you feel old and then have a question.
Oh, cool.
I want to feel old again, for sure.
I saw a stat that Matthew Schaefer was 12 years old when the pandemic started.
Yes.
I told you that on the show last week.
Did you not remember that?
No.
And that was your reaction.
So I got to do that twice?
Yeah.
It hurts both times.
Yes, it did.
It hurts both times.
And second one.
So over the last few seasons, everyone's been saying how bad goaltending has been.
Minus Stuart Skinner, because we already know he's bad.
Are we at a point where scoring is just so good now
that goaltending is just bound to be less good going forward?
Interesting.
So I take issue with that,
not because of you on what you're saying there.
Because I know I can be a little harsh on people.
Adam hates you personally.
I know I've got a bit of a rep for that.
And he's going to start his answer by saying how much he dislikes you.
But people will say that, and I'm like, okay.
That's a stupid question.
I'm not going to wear a jersey.
But the goals per game in the NHL the last couple of years has either been flat or been going down.
That's the risk.
Yeah.
And that's so – you think about how many goals did Leon –
Dreisaitl was number one last year.
He won the Rocket.
It was like 50-something goals, right?
First season in a while, we haven't had a 60-goal guy.
And so I think – I actually don't know if that's necessarily the case.
But I do think you're right on the sense that's like there is seems to be in the NHL a very have and have not goaltender scenario where the guys that have them.
So you're Connor Hellebuyck's Jake Ottinger in the regular season is sometimes up and down.
But I think come playoff time, nobody doubts it. You're looking at I mean, Stoller's emerged last year.
He was great. You know, Dustin Wolf is great on a really bad team.
There are guys that are just awesome. And there's only about 15 of them. Right.
and then after that
the fall off I find
is a lot more pronounced and that I have
no stats to back up but it seems
like the goalies that used
to be like the middle class
are just non-existent. It's a lot
more normal now to have two goaltenders
like nobody runs out a guy for 70
the guy in the back of your jersey
plays 82 games when in his heyday
or four. Everybody's
running out two goaltenders
one for 50 games and
the other one might be 41 41 split so i think that's more of the reality now right probably
yeah it's probably true too yeah i i shooters are obviously getting better like i think the era
that we're in is a shooter's era right like one thing you know maybe earlier in the podcast that
i was a little too stubborn about is you know conversations about guys who played
in the 80s and then into the 90s and you look at their career stats and they don't stack up and
like why is this guy in the hall of fame and why does he always get talked about on the national
broadcast but if you go and look at their 80s numbers in the context of just the 80s if you
if you take like from 1980 to 1990 uh when you know or 92 when when scoring started to plummet
how many guys are above 900 it's probably a shorter list than the one you even just said
yep 100 of 15 and yet there are some legendary goaltenders in that time who had it like their
save percentage like oh we had a 902 and 86 how that's so crazy yeah and what am i to take from
that all the goalies of the 80s were bad yeah and if you go back and watch the footage you might be
like actually yes um but they hadn't figured out the position even then i don't the goalies look
weird the players look weird it was a different time different equipment different everything
um i think shooting technology i mean the sticks are made of rubber man like every photo the sticks
like bent in half it's weird you travel back in time they'd be like what the hell is that demon
person uh shooting that with i can remember when the leafs played the penguins in 99 in the
playoffs i think it was 99 second round 99 is one of the most like lethargic scoring years in nhl
history yeah and i can remember just talking about sticks though um that everybody in the nhl
therefore everybody at my house league hockey team had an aluminum stick where you could change out
the heel right remember that uh except for me i had the mario lemieux ten dollar twigs that would
snap in half mine is still at my parents house that's it yeah and and what happened was those
sticks were so stiff and so hard that the that jogger had to continually get off the ice and
take his skate off so the trainer could run the stone up and down it because his skates would dull
during the game right like that's how crazy the technology changes too right so yeah i think
you're seeing incredible highlights that we would never have seen and i think didn't ryan reef say
in an interview a couple weeks ago he's like there's stuff that they're learning that they're
teaching kids now that he's like skating on my best day i'm skating skating yeah it's like the
whole way it's trained and coached and taught and the skill development and the fact that a lot of
kids are not watching a game they're watching the highlights on youtube and they're seeing the best
of the best and that's what they want to do and emulate yeah he was like it's big it's big bent
over long strides and they're like actually it's the opposite now yeah nope upright and on your
toes and head up yeah which is crazy so yeah does that answer the question okay we got a little
off track but you know that's fine what we do um do we wrap it up there i think we're good okay
listen i want to thank you all on a school name for coming out not only the jenny's game but also
here it's so great to be here i want to thank the oshawa generals i can't believe that we get to
partner with the oshawa generals we used to just the three of us would just come down to the arena
on a Sunday and watch a game
together just to hang out.
This is obviously pre-kids when we had time.
And the fact that
we now get to partner with them
and work with them and have players on stage
and actually have people show up, I want to tell
you something. It's really, really special.
So I want to thank you guys for coming.
I want to thank the Oshawa Generals
for putting this on, and I want to thank
Bond Street Events Center, who always,
always treat us like gold. Big shout-out
to all you guys.
Incredible, incredible, incredible.
And I want to thank Simon Wang, and I want to thank Sam Roberts.
I also want to thank Matt, Matt Beechin from the Oshawa Generals,
who always puts this on and does an amazing job.
You guys are amazing.
And we will be here for, like, pictures and stuff afterwards, should you want them.
Remember, Jesse does smell like onions.
It's not Steve and I.
I don't.
Okay?
But he doesn't have the tooth.
There's no beans.
Nice.
I smell nice.
Thank you, guys.
We really appreciate you being here.
Thank you.
The Steve Dangle Podcast.
Follow the guys on Twitter at Steve underscore Dangle,
at Adam W-Y-L-D-E, and at Jesse Blake.
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