The Steve Dangle Podcast - Live from BOND|ST with Oshawa Generals Simon Wang & Sam Roberts | November 23, 2025

Episode Date: November 24, 2025

On 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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Starting point is 00:00:00 Sometimes life throws your curveballs and you don't have time to get to them and that's where TaskRabbit comes in and I think you should check this out because here's the deal. One of the things, one of the weird quirks about my condo building is that they use my floor to repel down and clean all the windows but they never clean my windows. And their way around on that is like, well, it's a patio window, you can do that yourself. And I'm like, well, hang on a second. What if I don't want to? I don't have the stuff because you got to have that scraper thing and the washer thing.
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Starting point is 00:01:10 download that. TaskRabbit.ca. Code Dangle. Your playlist might get you through the workday, but have you ever wondered how your ancestors spent theirs? What work helped them build a life? How did they adapt as the world around them changed? With Ancestry, you can search select historical occupational records for free for a limited time and discover the stories behind the jobs in your family tree you've got questions we've got ancestors search free until august 31st visit ancestry.ca for details terms apply 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
Starting point is 00:02:06 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.
Starting point is 00:02:44 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.
Starting point is 00:03:03 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.
Starting point is 00:03:15 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.
Starting point is 00:03:30 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.
Starting point is 00:04:01 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.
Starting point is 00:04:21 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.
Starting point is 00:04:35 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.
Starting point is 00:04:47 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.
Starting point is 00:05:15 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!
Starting point is 00:05:40 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
Starting point is 00:06:12 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
Starting point is 00:06:51 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
Starting point is 00:07:07 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
Starting point is 00:07:39 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
Starting point is 00:08:21 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
Starting point is 00:09:06 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.
Starting point is 00:09:35 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.
Starting point is 00:10:00 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.
Starting point is 00:10:54 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.
Starting point is 00:11:18 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
Starting point is 00:11:53 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.
Starting point is 00:12:37 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.
Starting point is 00:12:50 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
Starting point is 00:13:05 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
Starting point is 00:13:19 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.
Starting point is 00:13:34 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
Starting point is 00:14:01 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
Starting point is 00:14:53 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.
Starting point is 00:15:25 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?
Starting point is 00:15:40 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
Starting point is 00:15:55 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
Starting point is 00:16:15 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
Starting point is 00:16:51 Hoshi aka Simon Wang sometimes life throws your curveballs and you don't have time to get to them and that's where task rabbit comes in and i think you should check this out because here's the deal one of the things one of the weird quirks about my condo building is that they use my floor to repel down and clean all the windows but they never clean my windows oh and their way around on that is like well it's 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 chemicals you gotta have the right chemicals see what i'm saying that's why i used taskrabbit and
Starting point is 00:17:34 i employed a tasker here's the thing taskrabbit connects you with taskers in your area for furniture assembly home repairs lawn maintenance mounting window cleaning all that stuff here's the deal 3.4 million pieces of furniture have been assembled 700 000 home repairs 1.5 million moves and counting, go ahead and get ahead of your to-do list. $15 off your first task at TaskRabbit.ca or on the TaskRabbit app using the promo code DANGLE. Taskers across Canada book up fast, especially for same-day tasks. Get $15 off your first task right now with the promo code DANGLE at TaskRabbit.ca or the TaskRabbit app. You should download that. TaskRabbit.ca. Code DANGLE. 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.
Starting point is 00:18:29 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
Starting point is 00:18:52 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
Starting point is 00:19:37 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.
Starting point is 00:19:51 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.
Starting point is 00:20:11 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
Starting point is 00:21:01 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.
Starting point is 00:21:46 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.
Starting point is 00:22:25 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.
Starting point is 00:22:47 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.
Starting point is 00:23:00 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
Starting point is 00:23:34 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.
Starting point is 00:23:55 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?
Starting point is 00:24:05 Oh, oh, oh, oh. Anyway, sorry. Welcome to the Sharks! Arks! Arks! Terrifying. You didn't have to do that, right? No, no.
Starting point is 00:24:13 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
Starting point is 00:24:36 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?
Starting point is 00:24:56 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.
Starting point is 00:25:06 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?
Starting point is 00:25:37 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.
Starting point is 00:25:55 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
Starting point is 00:26:48 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
Starting point is 00:27:10 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
Starting point is 00:27:26 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
Starting point is 00:28:25 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.
Starting point is 00:29:09 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.
Starting point is 00:29:26 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.
Starting point is 00:29:51 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
Starting point is 00:30:10 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
Starting point is 00:30:30 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?
Starting point is 00:31:03 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.
Starting point is 00:31:19 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,
Starting point is 00:31:35 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
Starting point is 00:31:51 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
Starting point is 00:32:07 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
Starting point is 00:32:21 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
Starting point is 00:32:32 when you're talking versus like you're in a band oh yeah like in a band okay alright show us start dancing
Starting point is 00:32:38 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
Starting point is 00:32:46 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.
Starting point is 00:33:19 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!
Starting point is 00:33:33 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
Starting point is 00:33:57 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
Starting point is 00:34:13 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
Starting point is 00:34:29 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
Starting point is 00:34:44 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
Starting point is 00:35:00 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.
Starting point is 00:35:13 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.
Starting point is 00:35:27 Probably lifting weights. Yeah. What? It was real early. It was real early. Wow. I love it. I love it.
Starting point is 00:35:34 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,
Starting point is 00:36:06 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?
Starting point is 00:36:29 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.
Starting point is 00:36:49 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.
Starting point is 00:37:10 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
Starting point is 00:37:31 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,
Starting point is 00:37:49 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
Starting point is 00:38:17 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.
Starting point is 00:38:46 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
Starting point is 00:39:19 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
Starting point is 00:40:05 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.
Starting point is 00:40:25 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?
Starting point is 00:40:32 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
Starting point is 00:40:40 doing there? His puck battles. Like, it's crazy. Like, the way he protects his puck is like, it's insane. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:46 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,
Starting point is 00:41:20 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.
Starting point is 00:41:30 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
Starting point is 00:41:41 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
Starting point is 00:42:21 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,
Starting point is 00:42:47 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.
Starting point is 00:43:07 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
Starting point is 00:43:27 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.
Starting point is 00:43:54 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. Wayfair's Labor Day clearance is on now.
Starting point is 00:44:06 Right now at Wayfair, you can get up to 70% off everything home. Shop Wayfair's Labor Day clearance now through September 7th at Wayfair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home. Give it up again for Sam Roberts. Another good suit, too. These guys with their suits, huh? It's looking good. It's frustrating.
Starting point is 00:44:31 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,
Starting point is 00:44:57 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
Starting point is 00:45:47 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.
Starting point is 00:46:06 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
Starting point is 00:46:22 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?
Starting point is 00:46:37 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
Starting point is 00:46:55 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
Starting point is 00:47:13 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
Starting point is 00:47:29 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.
Starting point is 00:47:43 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
Starting point is 00:48:01 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
Starting point is 00:48:16 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.
Starting point is 00:48:29 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.
Starting point is 00:48:47 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.
Starting point is 00:49:00 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
Starting point is 00:49:42 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
Starting point is 00:50:32 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
Starting point is 00:51:23 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
Starting point is 00:52:05 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.
Starting point is 00:52:36 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.
Starting point is 00:52:53 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?
Starting point is 00:53:21 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
Starting point is 00:54:01 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
Starting point is 00:54:52 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
Starting point is 00:55:42 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.
Starting point is 00:56:11 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.
Starting point is 00:56:26 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.
Starting point is 00:56:45 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.
Starting point is 00:57:01 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.
Starting point is 00:57:13 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.
Starting point is 00:57:24 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
Starting point is 00:57:39 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
Starting point is 00:57:56 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
Starting point is 00:58:48 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
Starting point is 00:59:33 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
Starting point is 01:00:24 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.
Starting point is 01:00:56 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.
Starting point is 01:01:11 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?
Starting point is 01:01:30 More questions? More questions. Hello, sir. What's your name? Hi, I'm Jacob. Hey, Jacob. Hi, Jacob. Hi, everybody.
Starting point is 01:01:37 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?
Starting point is 01:01:51 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.
Starting point is 01:02:21 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.
Starting point is 01:02:32 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.
Starting point is 01:02:57 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.
Starting point is 01:03:16 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.
Starting point is 01:03:25 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
Starting point is 01:03:38 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
Starting point is 01:03:54 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.
Starting point is 01:04:12 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
Starting point is 01:04:38 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
Starting point is 01:05:04 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
Starting point is 01:05:20 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
Starting point is 01:05:36 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.
Starting point is 01:05:52 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
Starting point is 01:06:10 word. Like Benoit can or Leo can? Yes. Any more questions? All right. What do we got? Hi, guys. Hey.
Starting point is 01:06:22 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.
Starting point is 01:06:31 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.
Starting point is 01:06:40 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
Starting point is 01:07:06 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
Starting point is 01:07:26 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.
Starting point is 01:07:44 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?
Starting point is 01:08:01 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
Starting point is 01:08:41 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.
Starting point is 01:09:10 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.
Starting point is 01:09:33 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.
Starting point is 01:09:46 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
Starting point is 01:10:01 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
Starting point is 01:10:15 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.
Starting point is 01:10:29 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.
Starting point is 01:10:37 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.
Starting point is 01:10:51 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.
Starting point is 01:11:04 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.
Starting point is 01:11:11 Really, really good. Griffin's crazy. Griffin's great. Yeah. Really, really. Yeah. Watch out. Really? Yeah. My fiance loves them. Hey.
Starting point is 01:11:21 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.
Starting point is 01:11:46 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
Starting point is 01:12:19 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
Starting point is 01:12:35 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
Starting point is 01:12:59 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
Starting point is 01:13:16 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
Starting point is 01:13:25 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
Starting point is 01:13:36 Nothing gets called They play by other rules Yeah Yeah yeah Anyway We have more questions. They're just smarter. Last question here.
Starting point is 01:13:43 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.
Starting point is 01:13:55 Oh, my God. I don't think Marty has one of those. Wow. And your name is? Devin. Devin. Hi, Devin. Hi, Devin.
Starting point is 01:14:06 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.
Starting point is 01:14:22 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.
Starting point is 01:14:36 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.
Starting point is 01:15:02 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.
Starting point is 01:15:20 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.
Starting point is 01:15:50 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
Starting point is 01:16:15 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
Starting point is 01:16:30 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
Starting point is 01:17:15 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
Starting point is 01:18:06 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
Starting point is 01:18:52 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
Starting point is 01:19:31 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.
Starting point is 01:20:07 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
Starting point is 01:20:23 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.
Starting point is 01:20:44 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.
Starting point is 01:20:56 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.
Starting point is 01:21:13 Connection complete.

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