The Steve Dangle Podcast - McElovely | March 18, 2018

Episode Date: March 19, 2018

On this episode, does the Hart Trophy mean anything anymore? (00:00), how are the New York Islanders not in a playoff spot rn? (11:30), the Montreal Canadiens are in a good quick re-build position (19:00), revisiting the Tyler Seguin trade and more Canadiens talk (34:00), CURTIS MCELHINNEY FOR PRIME MINISTER (55:00), the Caroline Hurricanes GM search is a mess (1:20:00), and the press conference; the 2006 Olympics and Steve does math (1:40:00). Originally aired: March 18, 2018 Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/i7CKdn8rMlQ Merch: https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/fancydangleshirts Follow us on Twitter: @Steve_Dangle, @AdamWylde, & @JesseBlake Follow us on Instagram: @SteveDangle, @AdamWylde, & @Jesse.Blake Subscribe to us on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/steve-dangle-podcast/id669828195?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Panago Pizza presents S.D.P. The Steve Dangle Podcast with your hosts, Steve Dangle and Adam Wilde. The floor is yours, sir. Well, I'm just excited. I'm just really excited for our show today. Why? Well, Adam, I'm sure you put a lot of prep into our show. I did. But I regret to inform you it was a waste of time.

Why? Well, why not have, right now, let's have the longest podcast we've ever done. Oh, let's make it five hours, six hours. Let's make it all damn day and have it just be about the Hart Trophy. Oh, my God. And what it means. And how it should be awarded. And why McDavid should get it.

Why do you care? Same question I had last year going into the NHL Awards. Why do you care? Who cares? There's an answer to that. Okay, tell me. I mean, I cared about Matthews winning the Calder. I didn't care about that.

Okay. So I'm a bit of a hypocrite. We look towards... Look at my Jesse's face. We look towards awards... Validation. As a historical reference to what happens. Oh.

You hope that when you look back at the Best Picture winner, that that'll be what is a snapshot of what happened that year. And you want to look at the MVP in whatever league it is, And you want to say, yeah, that player represented the best player of that year. Except that's not how it's worded in the NHL. But everybody wants to confuse the damn thing and be like, no, it's the most valuable. But is it also the most skilled or is it the best player? So we don't know what this award means and now it's useless.

What if he's the best player and they miss the playoffs by like a couple points? Like Jerome McGinley lost the Hart Trophy to Jose Tator a few years ago. Well, he can't really say that about McDavid this year because it's a lottery team. Well, why should that matter? My thing is not about the argument. It's about the argument going all day on a Sunday. Where do you get the energy? Tell me where this fountain of youth.

Everyone says I'm way too caffeinated. It's the in-season Julius Honka. Like, it really is. Do you remember that last summer? It's sunny outside! No one gives a shit About this middling prospect For whoever this team is

Let's spend five hours on that And it was awesome because everybody Important was on vacation So it was just everybody else Just bitching about it Everyone important Bob McKenzie wasn't out there talking about Julia Zahara He was drinking margaritas at his cottage

The way he should be He's just wasted on his dog His favorite Oh no, you know what man If I were him, I'd throw my phone in the lake for the summer Forget it Here's the problem with the NHL MVP The NHL MVP is the

MVP THT Most valuable player to his team And that's the problem It's clearly Connor McDavid I would agree But then it's him every year Yeah, probably would be That's not how it works

It should never go to a penguin It was a good one Which is a valid argument What I think is Who's the best player in the league Carter or McDavid Sure Just give it to him

Who cares It's not great for our hockey podcast That our answer is who cares We should have a reason Mine How does it change the NHL Your life Marketing for the NHL

Like how does it change anything It has not Like really nothing Like it Okay At least with No No

It changes things If you gave it to Frederick Anderson Who was like Freddie's the MVP of the league That means something Because it's so ridiculous That would be a bit

I mean he's close But that would be ridiculous So it's Kapanen Say Kapanen's the Hart Trophy winner Then it means something So there is a Significance

Because if you did something Ridiculous like that It would mean something So what is You know we should have Started with this And as a radio professional, I've let us down. As always.

What is the argument here? Oh, Adam, I didn't pay that close attention. Because there are two sides to this. Are people getting hung up on the fact that the Oilers aren't making the playoffs and that's why he can't be the MVP? It's not that they're missing the playoffs. Because it's contributed to the success of his team? The 2000, I want to say, what was the year Aguinla and Teodor went off against each other?

I want to say, like, 2001 or something. Anyway, the Flames missed by a narrow margin, and Aginla was pretty clearly the best player in the league unless you consider it to be Jose Teodoro. Now, there was some uproar about that because someone who had voted Jose Teodoro number one because you're allowed to vote for five players didn't have Aginla on the ballot.

Like, that's ridiculous. Like, you don't need to think he's the best player in the league, but he's one of the top five. Didn't make the playoffs. Trusted hockey man says so. They didn't make the playoffs. Now, I don't remember how much they missed by, but it wasn't much. The Oilers stand a very good chance at getting Rasmus Dahlin because they're in the lottery picture.

So this was the whole thing today, and people were just arguing very passionately. And I don't know if I should make fun of their passion. I wish I had that much passion. I thought I did. I don't. I thought I did. I knew about other things. My passion ended well before that.

I don't care. like it's like okay so you know the thing is is that I'm happy for the person that wins and good for them and should the NHL clarify the way that like it's completely subjective yeah how about it's completely your opinion hey 100% do you like the Beatles

uh yeah do you like the Beatles okay Jesse how do you feel about the Beatles I love the Beatles okay I also like the Beatles but I know some people that don't like the Beatles what what show me them hard to say but it's true I'll fight them right now crazy I'll fight their family

I'll fight their cat How do you feel about Ludacris? Love Ludacris Underrated As an actor How do you feel about Ludacris? He's a good actor How do we feel about Nellieville?

No I'm kidding We're getting deep Angry, mad, disappointed The point is You're right, it is subjective Do you like that piece of art? or do you like that piece of art? Both are great.

See, is it subjective when there's numbers involved? Well, I think that you can, yeah. I think because the numbers, it depends on what numbers you value because there's many numbers. You know how many people just went, what? Throw their chair.

Just punch through bulletproof glass. What did everyone just do? What? Throw their chair. Through the studio window because everyone's sitting in a studio right now recording a podcast. I hope one day...

That's what they're doing. I hope one day there's a Doug Sifu Computer Boys Award for the analytics player loved most by the analytics community. You son of... Don't ever mention that word around me. For reference, the Calgary Flames finished with 79 points, which was 15 points out of a playoff spot.

Okay, that's pretty far back. But only 11th in the conference. But here's the thing. We know that hockey is a team sport And the Calgary Flames were close to bankruptcy And absolute garbage back then They had no payroll and Jerome McGinley So they didn't surround

It wasn't like they were close And they lost the plot They were always going to be bad But it doesn't mean that he's not the most valuable player to his team And I mean if you voted for Teodor Great, good for you Montreal would be better I have my answer

Who would you vote for the Hart Trophy so far? My answer is Nathan McKinnon my answer is based on well he's doing really well he's got a lot of points he's scored a bunch of goals especially in the back half of the season he's been very valuable to his team he has willed them into a playoff position after they were last place last year and you might say well what about Kucherov and I'd say well he had this Batman and Robin thing going on with Stamkos for you know a big chunk of the season yeah I know he put up a lot of points but I just think McKinnon's more valuable to his team.

And if you have another opinion, you know what? Good for you. That's fine. Hey, you said Kucherov. That's very funny that you say that because I didn't say that. Do you want to argue about it? It is a Sunday.

No. Jesse, do you feel like arguing about it? Like, yeah. Because it's in my nature. But I will hold back. Here's the thing, Jesse, you've never been in an argument on Twitter ever. No, I don't do that. So that's, there you go.

He can believe in the bottom of his heart that it was Nikita Kucherov. If someone said it was Nikita Kucherov, he'd be like, McKinnon. He'd be like, Barkov. Are you aware that William Carlson is one goal away from 40 goals? Yeah, oh, I'm surprised he didn't hit 40. I thought he was going to score four or five goals today. So he just ended at the hat trick? It's just, it's stupid.

No wonder he got claimed in the expansion draft. I'm surprised he even got claimed. Why did Vegas want him? I am blown away. Because they got picks. That's why. I was watching that game, but a little blown away by what's going on in Calgary, man. Whoa.

I mean, I think they'll be back to being good again next year, but they should still be good this year, and there's still going to be some problems. Yeah, I don't get that. Yeah, a lot of the numbers back up that they're good. They're just crumbling. Justin Bourne did an article. It was interesting in The Athletic about the performance anger. he's so good

he is and I've always wondered about that because I had a coach once we were terrible and I'd been called up to a single A team

and that was like big deal single A team but the reason you're called up to that is you're bad the team's bad they don't

the good teams don't need extra players from house league so I get called up to this team I'm feeling pretty good about it we get skunked

in the first game I play like just 5-0 something like that and the coach comes in and throws all the sticks on the floor and we're like 14

And no, no, not even like 12. And we're like, I'm like, you know, you're pre pre-puberty and this coach is coming in there and raging. And you haven't had your first shave yet. And this guy's like, you need to act like man. And, and it was just like, I remember thinking like, what was this man from Alabama doing coaching your Scarborough hockey team? Why was Nick Saban coaching your Scarborough hockey team?

That's a good point. Gotta be a man! I just, and I remember thinking, what the hell is that? So it's an interesting read. You should check it out. But it's about Glenn Galutz. And as I've said before, I've made fun of him a lot for the fact that he just always seems miserable even when they win. But maybe he's just an intense dude.

And I'm sure it's like Tortorelli. You get him outside of the hockey rink and he's fine. That's right, cares. I wonder about that. Like if you're already down, if you're already not feeling good, how is a guy coming and yelling at you, screaming at you, going to make you feel better? gonna make you feel inspired you gotta it seems like the Flames

need to be somewhat built up and it almost seems like the same thing in Carolina like they're just they're good enough they are the goal timing hasn't been

the Flames are good enough for sure they need to be built up there's a confidence issue there the two teams who just based on watching them play and predictions on them

before the season who I who have been the most disappointing actually I'll throw three in there Flames Hurricanes

Islanders I don't get how the Islanders are not in a playoff spot right now. Jesse, did the Islanders win today? Because that game was ongoing while I was in the car, and I couldn't listen to it. I know Tavares on the wing lasted one period, unless they went back to it. The final score was 4-3 for the Carolina Hurricanes.

Hey, well, it's a big win for them. I mean, they're pretty much cooked. Well, they're only nine points back. How are they nine back? They were like one back two weeks ago or something like that. It's not good. Ten games left. It's not good.

It's not good. Panthers playoff hopes took a dive yesterday, too. They did. They're still in it, though. You know, I'm looking at the standings right now, and it's really like it's a horse race between Florida, New Jersey, and Columbus here. and Florida's really outside on this one. Hot lately, lost last game,

but the Devils and Blue Jackets have both picked it up too. Their only hope is that they win those two games in hand that they have on New Jersey and then you're one point back with the same games. Florida's another team that for two years now I think has underperformed. I felt like Florida last year and this year should have solidly been a playoff team.

Well, last year was mostly injuries and this year you can blame it on that too. And firing your coach And that Was that last year? Or was that the year before? No, that was last year I can't

All my hockey's Dude, that was like 15 months ago Like it seems like forever ago Wow 16 months ago Jesse and I were talking In the car last night Because we were

We were all hanging out last night And got crushed at NHL online And did our Hisense promotion And everything Couldn't mention that Sorry Not fun I'm so upset

But anyway No, no No We're not mentioning it Because we're hurt I'm sure we'll eventually mention it Uh, we're hurt, and we'll say something we don't want to say. For real.

No, I, I, uh, we were, it feels like, just like, a week ago, when Jesse said on this show, it's too early to make any, like, it was like 25 games into the year, or 20 games in, and it was like, it was too early for, and you mentioned it in an article in Sports, and all of a sudden, we're, this is, we're three, four months later, and here we are. Like, this is, it's winding down. The Leafs have 93 points. I made a video, I want to say two months ago, that went on Sportsnet that was basically, watch out for the New York Islanders

because they're the team that can make the biggest splash this season. Because they got the first and second from Calgary and their own first and second. They got this crazily explosive offense. Barzal has just taken the whole league by storm. Tavares, Everly, rah! And yeah, their defense kind of stinks and their goaltending kind of stinks,

but they got the assets to do something about it. And then they go on this crazy slump and get Brandon Davidson. They did nothing. Garth Snow's phone is off. So it's interesting because Garth Snow is normally the guy whose phone's on. And what else is interesting about this is that Tavares, it's been reported that he's going to move to the wing, and I think his bar is always going to be center.

Sure. Doug Waite's just trying stuff. Kipper said yesterday, Nick Kiprios on headlines said, the sense is out of the Islanders organization that they didn't do the Taveras situation any favors by not going out and spending something at the deadline to try to get this team into the playoffs. Like, you have good young pieces on your team. You can afford to spend, like, a second or something, one of your two seconds for crying out loud. If the second gets you, what? What did seconds get? Like, Thomas Placanik.

Could have got a Thomas Placanis. You could have spent one of your firsts and gone out and got... Hartman. Dude, Stastny. Yeah. They could have gone out and got Stastny. That's a good point. Wow.

They could have gone out and got... Who were the biggest fish that got acquired at the deadline? McDonough? Ah! Well, McDonough, that was... That was too much. Maybe not him. But, although, holy shit, would that have helped them?

Ah, Rangers. Would have never happened. But they could have gone out and maybe outside of McDonough gone out and got any of the big fish. Any of them. And they got Brandon Davidson. Apparently Bukestad's available somehow because I keep hearing Bukestad to Vancouver rumors for some reason. They keep popping up on my Twitter timeline. Anybody.

Could have got anybody. Something. Evander Kane would have been a great cheap pickup for them. He wasn't bad in terms of cost. It was Daniel Regan. No, no, they're done with that. Daniel Regan a second and a fourth

for Evander Kane dude who just scored a hat trick don't tell me you couldn't have done that but Doug Witt said before the trip was it four goals?

was it four? I don't know I just saw the picture of him holding four pucks I knew he scored a hat trick but oh wow it was four I'm pretty sure

his first career hat trick and then he just goes one more but what's interesting about that is is he the first guy to do that since Austin Matthews?

first career hat trick but it's actually four? I don't know anyway good question fun stat I'm all about the fun stats. We'll get right into that later.

Doug Waite said right into the – going into the trade deadline that they weren't going to trade futures. And to me, at that point, it signaled like, all right, then they're expecting that this is 50-50 with Tavares because – I mean, really, if you look at it, anything in life is 50-50. But the idea that – like, I feel like if Doug Waite's comfortable and John Tavares has already signed his extension, then they go out and get something at the deadline. Not Doug Waite, sorry GM, Garth Snow Sorry, I don't know why I said Doug Waite I think that the problem is that

They're afraid to spend Those assets Because if Tavares is gone And you've spent those assets You can spend one second You can spend one second How much was Brandon Davidson? A fourth? I think? A third?

Possibly? Yeah Don't be cheap Like, I don't know I don't know if he was being stubborn Or what, or cheap I don't understand Like, it's funny

I feel like this started as like a heart conversation You brought up two other teams And I'm like, how about we yell about the Islanders I just have this fetish for yelling about teams that wear blue and orange We're talking about teams that are underperforming Brandon Davidson was a 2019 third round pick Whoa

Really breaking the bank there Come on That's probably how they feel Not just Tavares, the whole team, come on I don't get it I don't get that, and it's okay Because The Oilers may have gotten that pick

But did you hear that today They actually lost a pick Because Al Montoya Played X amount of games So they owed The Canadians a fourth? The Canadians a fourth round pick Which, I don't know, I'm not gonna

It sounds terrible now But I don't remember Ripping on that trade At the time I don't remember I feel like I might have Because Cam Talbot was out And they needed somebody

Because it was Oh, Laurent Brassois Yeah He was just getting fed To the wolves No, yeah I think everyone was Ripping on that trade

And if I remember correctly I was like, meh They could have made A worse deal So, yeah Looking at that And then you look at Montreal's draft situation

For this year It looks so good Yeah After They have an insane amount of picks, yeah. Yeah, because so now their fifth round pick that they got from Montreal is upgraded to a fourth round pick, and the amount of games

Montoya had to play was seven games. Seven minutes of seven games of 30 minutes or more. At least 30 minutes, yes, correct. So yeah, now Montreal has their own first round pick, four second round picks. Wow! There's Chicago's, the Leafs'

Washington's, their own third round pick, and then now Winnipeg's fourth, and Edmonton's for. Well, there you go. There's your turnaround draft right there. But they better hit. They better hit. Who is the French guy? They will trade all those second round picks to draft.

Who's the middle six French guy that they're going to trade all that for? I can't wait. Cannot wait. We got him because he speaks French. We've got Carter Hutton to back up Carey Price. We've traded Charlie Lindgren. Yeah, so $14 million in there. Because Carter Hutton's going to get four.

And then you got Carey Price at 10. So $14 million wrapped up in goaltending. Hey, forget about Carter Hutton Because he's only second in the NHL In save percentage out of goalies Who've played at least 10 games You want to go out there And you want to give big money to the goalie

Who's first right now Among goalies who have played at least 10 games Save percentage Curtis McElhinney Is this our next? Yeah, that's actually true 9-3-5 Leeds the effing league

Can we just hold off on him? Can we not go there right now? Because what if you got called in, you're an AHL call-up, you got called in for the final five minutes of the third, you made four saves, stopped them all. Then you have a save percentage of 1,000. My comment was the other way around, in that you should probably do a higher barometer than Ted.

Yeah, I did 15. McElhinney still first. And then you can even go up to 16, and then you can't go any higher because that's as many games as he's played. All right, can we just... What? Sorry, the coffee is just... Yeah!

While you were out getting your coffee, Jesse was talking about coffee timing. Yeah. Right there! Nailed it! Right on the sweet spot today! Let's go! I'm sweating!

I'm sweating too, it's hot in here. There is a gauge behind you, we can turn it down. No, it's all the way down. Oh, God, these studios. And I'm all the way up! Let's go! Mac lady! Why are you so fired up today?

He slept. Oh, wow! You know, he didn't have to work today, because he works, you know, a lot. Before the show, I asked you a very simple question. I said, how many words did you write today? Because if you didn't know, Steve's writing a book. I'm writing a book. And your answer was a big, fat...

Zero. Why? No, I wrote over, because I got up late and I did the LFR. I did 2,000 yesterday, and I'm going to write a bunch when I go home. Okay. My point is... I'm at 50,000 now. I've been

mowing away at that book and I'm feeling good gonna listen to some Deathly Hallows on the way home Harry Harry and I'm gonna go home

and write 7,000 words about how there's no such thing as true friends and everyone's a snake alright alright alright we should just end the show yeah we're done

I think so Curtis McElhinney is great I wanna get back to him but I wanna I want to stay on the Islanders thing for a second because I think it is important that we talk about that. That is so many things.

So many bangers come out of headlines and we're going to get to a few of the other ones. And I like doing Sunday shows because it's all fresh, right? All that stuff is still fresh. I like it more than coach's corner. Can I just say it? Yeah. Headlines like, no, you're not, you're not.

No, no, no. But like, that's an institution, but like the best part of hockey night in Canada besides the games is headlines for sure. It's, it's the one thing, like whenever it's on, I'm like, everyone, shut up, shut up. I'm watching headlines. Yep, so If you're the New York Islanders, oh shit and John Tavares is there ready to do nothing. Sorry. I'm a method actor what?

What do you do if John Tavares leaves because the question is always suck are they gonna Cuz here's that like Jesse. Do you have their cat friendly up? I do okay Can you talk to what's the draft look like this year? There'll be a lottery team But like Everybody's a lottery team Two first round picks Theirs and Calgary's

Two second round picks Theirs and Calgary's So they're two potential lottery picks Two seconds Theirs and Calgary's again You could get the first and second pick Technically yeah You're fine

Man If I If I signs his contract the next day So this is That's what's so great though Is that the NHL The turnaround is faster now Oh yeah

Yeah yeah Means you can fall off a cliff faster though I saw something about I want to say it was Montreal Like oh Man they got like a three or four year road ahead of them

like didn't the Leafs put that to bed didn't the Avs put that to bed I was about to say the Colorado Avalanche were historically bad last year

the Leafs were historically good as far as last place teams go what did the Avalanche have 47 points yeah and now they've got

double that already that's over now they're in a playoff spot they're gonna make playoffs it's over it's done

dude Carey Price comes back they have the exact same team Carey Price comes back and he's hot playoffs

if you're Montreal and I know that the tax situation makes things a little bit more complicated for them there. By the way, I feel like, and this is totally random, but if I am a CBA person next year, or in two years, whenever they have to go on strike

again, I think that the cap should be rated based on taxes. So if your taxes are higher, it's not fair that, like, if you look at it, it's not really fair that Nashville and Tampa

and places where there's no income tax can get these guys on cheaper deals. Right, that would never happen. But they should do that. If parity is what they're going for, then they should say, okay, Montreal, your tax rate is like 50% at that bracket. Same with Ontario.

Parity is lower on the list of priorities than money. But you'd make more money. The players would make more. You'd get more. They don't give a shit about the players making more. It's about the teams not having to spend as much. So if you do that It just makes it so that

But then it's harder to make your team good The Habs can spend more I think that's just what you have to deal with In terms of everybody plays in a different city Like how many people are in the GTA? It's not like the Panthers are in first place Well I mean Tampa is It's like how many people are in the GTA?

8 million? How many people are in Winnipeg? Double? 1.5? No, 700,000 And then you have to deal with tax situations It's just the burden that comes with playing in a different city I just think, if we're talking about fairness But you're right With the Islanders though

With the Islanders and the Canadiens If the Canadiens have a really good draft this year Think about this And then they go sign Tavares And maybe JVR or Kovalchuk Because they have that much cap space They have division winning potential Absolutely, Carey Price comes back and is healthy

That's terrifying Well, exactly Lekkonen missed a big chunk of the season You know, Gallagher is maybe in the peak of his career. He's having a career here right now. And if he could somehow get a taker for Carl Olsner's contract. Like, think about how much money they would have if they didn't sign that deal. That is just not happening.

Boy, Eric Engels had a real good one yesterday. A little too slow to... Jesse, can you look up Engels' thing about Olsner? It's really good. But the gist of it was basically, like, this human being is so nice. One of the best guys. but good lord this contract but we

when we looked at the analytics going into that all the analytics said exactly what's happened that's what makes me laugh is that everybody said um you know dude like like wasn't he struggling to make the lineup against the Leafs

in the first round because of Nate Schmidt yeah because Nate Schmidt was so good and then they lost him well they lost both I mean one thankfully and the other not so thankfully but yeah when it comes to the computer boys like boy

is their batting average high when it comes to the big contracts they're not right all the time though Steve not all the time it's true where were they on the coyotes who have actually done some clever things but were still shit and they never were actually on their side

huh how about that very specific one team odd example or you know you look at the Leafs and Maybe analytics and the old school. It's amazing how what can happen. No, it's great So the Leafs are a brilliant combination of both schools, but only one school is given credit Which is the old by both sides by the way? Oh, yeah both that one you mean like Kyle Kyle Dubas does everything That the Leafs does that the Leafs do well to the analytics. Yes, and Everything that the Leafs do that is old school and boneheaded is I don't know Jacques Lemaire or something

they don't know but it's one of them it's the old guys one of those guys Mark Hunter it's them it's Cliff Fletcher by the way

I think it's a little unfair for Mark Hunter to be put in the the old guys category no because Mark Hunter said draft this really tiny guy named Mitch Marner

over big scary defenseman Noah Hannifin you know I have thought today during the LFR because everyone's been like you know what the hell are the Leafs

going to do to replace JVR JVR has been incredible on the power play and he's done one thing extremely well. But who's the straw that stirs the drink on the Leafs power play? JVR? No, it's Mitch Marner. Oh. Mitch Marner. When they

give the puck to Mitch Marner, spin the wheel, what's he going to do? Is he going to throw it to JVR for the pass to Bozak? Is he just going to throw it straight to Bozak? Is he going to throw it in front for the tip from JVR? Is he going to throw it in front for the tip from Marleau? Is he going to throw it in front for the tip from Kadri? Is he going to throw it

back to Riley at the point. He is the guy who drives all of it. That's the straw that stirs the drink. Wait, it's not Leo Komarov? You know, believe it or not, it might not be. I'd be interested to see.

But Leo, that. You know what's going to be hilarious? Next year when Mason Marchment scores 20 power play goals because of Mitch Marner. I want to see it I'm hyped for that Can I make a special announcement?

It's not going to happen But I actually think it's going to happen Mid-show special announcement Today is Eric Engel's birthday Oh, happy birthday, Eric Happy birthday, Eric Engel Twitter has little balloons When you go up on their profile

Isn't that how it goes? I would have gone into that confident of Before I go singing it You know what I mean? You bailed That's not one that I go in questioning Is it a happy birthday? Now do the Italian version, Jesse.

Okay, alright, alright. So here's the thing. Montreal has a good draft. They get some great players. They sign a Tavares, a Kovalchuk, a JVR, a Stastny. Even Stastny. Oh, JVR would break my heart. Oh, I didn't even think of that one.

Like, there's a ton of guys that they could go out and get. They have a ton of room. If they can find a taker for that Alsner contract, send a second rounder. They can't. Send a second rounder to the Coyotes. Give them Alsner. And get rid of that contract. Now you can do it.

The Oilers. The Oilers! Oh, yeah. I'd be ringing off the hook. Carl Oilsner. I can see the headline now. Carl Oilsner. Does he have a no move?

I bet he does. Oh, my God! I bet he does. Please do. Please actually do. I want to see. He does not. I'm so disappointed.

Do you have Angle's Twitter up because you found the stuff? No. No? I mean, that is the gist of it. Okay. The gist of it is he's a very nice man, but Jolie Smokes is this shitty deal. So another team, so we're talking about quick turnarounds. The Islanders probably could.

The Canadians, while we're on them. And they had some injuries. While we're on them. and then we'll get to the game in just a second here. Jeff Molson took questions from the media Friday about Marc Bergevin, and I'm taking a little bit from the score and from the athletic here.

Here's why I'm not firing the GM press conference. Yes. Shut up. Stop talking. He described the season as unacceptable. I feel like that's what Adam's telling you while he's trying to get through this. No.

I'm going to make a case for why Bergevin would stay because that's what I've been doing all year. That's me. I've been saying, yeah. Well, I know all the evidence points one way, but have you considered? No. Well, that seems to be what this says. So here it is.

Molson explained to TSN Radio, if I look at his experience at the business of hockey, again, Bergevin, he had a lot of success building a successful team in Chicago. I think he's probably one of the better evaluators of talent out there, and he's somebody who really understands how to build a hockey team. And I also think in a season, you can always make up an excuse for what went wrong,

But at the end of the day, it doesn't fall on the general manager. It falls on a culmination of many things that happen in a season. It could be injuries. It could be poor performance. It could be poor development. It could be not enough guys in the pipeline. Wonder why. But it adds up.

There's no reason, in my opinion, why this should fall under the shoulders of one person. I think that one person has the capability of creating a better environment to make us who we should be, which is a winning team. But it's everything that counts, not just one person. Jeff Molson is one of my favorite Leafs. He is. He is. Hey, I'm a Leafs fan. Great.

All those quotes make me happy. The whole thing. The whole gosh darn thing. I hope Bergevin gets signed to a 10-year extension. And I hope Jeff Molson is the owner of the team. I hope he lives to be the oldest human being. I hope he lives to be 140. In the Guinness Book of World Records.

Guinness Book of World Records. And is the Habs owner forever. and Bergevin is also he's 135 he's just a little bit behind and he's still the GM with his cool suits

hey he does have great suits you guys keep doing your thing keep doing your thing what do bad Canadian teams do better than nothing they just

hey you know what we believe in Jim Benning we believe in Peter Shirelli we believe in Mark Bergevin keep doing it keep doing it I love it Don't burn it to ash

Like most other teams who do a good job I made On the drive home last night I made Jesse watch The fabled And I hadn't seen this Somebody sent this to me It's the fabled Peter Chiarelli

Assistant General Manager Jim Benning Still President Cam Neely Talking about trading Tyler Sagan After the season where the Leafs were defeated By the Bruins of the playoffs The Bruins should be like putting copyright claims on every version of it. They should try to delete it from the internet.

How do they release that? It's bad. So if you want to look it up, just Google, I forget what it's called, but basically just Boston, Sagan, Chiarelli trade. You can find it. And they go through the decision process, and this is what's really important,

and then I'll let you get to things. They go through the decision process of how they came to trade this player and how these guys are evaluating. and there's actually a scout named Gretzky there and I wonder if he's one of the Gretzky family. I think he is, yeah. And they're talking about,

sure, he's a superstar. It's my favorite quote. Sure, he's a superstar, for sure. But does he fit our culture? And it is like, it's mind-blowing that these conversations happen. These people, by the way, make a lot more money. Dumb sport.

Than we do. Dumb sport. They get to work in this, like, what an amazing business to work in. They get to work for the Bruins? An original six team? They got a cup. They got a cup.

They won. They won. At that point, they had to be pretty confident, I would think, right? And they're very upset about Nathan Horton leaving to go to Columbus. Now, what's interesting about that is they're super upset about Nathan Horton leaving, and this is pre-injury, so let's take the injury out of it. Nathan Horton was a warrior, great player, but was Nathan Horton a guy that could win you an MVP award?

Yeah. Or could win you a Rocket Richard award? The level of concern that they have over Nathan Horton leaving is just so weird. It's like, why are you so deeply invested in Horton and you're trying to trade away this 21-year-old who looks like a potential superstar? Yeah, your security should be, well, at least we have Tyler Sagan.

Yeah! Or we're going to get rid of him. Well, that's the great thing. The interesting thing, too, is like, well, if we lose Nathan Horton, we're going to have to trade Tyler Sagan. When you think, that's the time to keep him! That's when you keep him!

You madman. Well, we've lost Nathan Horton, so now we've got to trade the 21-year-old superstar? I don't get it. But you've got to watch it. The video is called Behind the B, and that's the letter B, dash the Tyler Sagan trade. And if you just YouTube that, you'll find it. So why did they release that video?

And you said they must be feeling confident. 2011, they win the Stanley Cup. 2012, they're— Everybody copies them in 2012. Everyone copies them, including themselves. No, and they have a very good regular season. They're the second seed in the East. They're upset in the first round by Washington.

Oh, I remember that. I think it was Joel Ward, Game 7 overtime winner. He's such a hero in the playoffs, man. He's ridiculous That was kind of like at the height of his lore And then he goes to the Sharks and does the same thing But then the next year They go to the Stanley Cup Final

But it's not good enough that they did well And they were in the Stanley Cup Final And they were so close to forcing a Game 7 It's that It was a Traumatizing defeat Two goals in 17 seconds Costs you the Stanley Cup

And There's nothing worse There's no worse position to be in In this league, it seems Than being a really good team Who decides There's a huge issue We've seen it many times

Over the years If you are a really good team We need to just blow it up And boy did they If you are a really good team And you lose, and it's traumatizing I.e. Vancouver losing to Boston Is it fair to say

That you don't actually have a big problem Because if you're If you're the other team In the finals And You storm You toy with the Penguins They toyed with them

If you're If you're that far in Fair to say that you don't Have any major problems Yeah You might lose But you probably don't Have any major problems

If we just believed More though If we were more Mentally strong We wouldn't have Given up two goals In 17 seconds I don't want to

And I don't want to Take away from Nathan Horton Because he was a warrior And he was a hero And you know Well, I'm more focusing on Sagan. For sure. But my point is that I don't want anybody to get that construed

because I remember when Nathan Horton was at the top of his career. He was. But to say that, okay, now we don't have to pay Nathan Horton $6 million. We'll have to trade Tyler Sagan, who will also be worth $6 million. I thought if they signed Sagan, or sorry, signed Horton, then they'd have to trade Sagan for cap reasons. This is a crazy thing. They had Sagan signed until less than six.

Less than six. He is up for heart consideration this year. and he's making less than $6 million. Him and Tavares have the best contracts. Can you imagine Boston still had him now? They'd be on the same streak that the Penguins are on. And say again, it would be insane. If the Leafs lose JVR, does that mean we have to trade Nylander?

Yes. The same thing. I think that's how it works. Yep. Stanley Cup. Here we go. Or Marner. It's like trading one of Nylander or Marty

It makes no sense And there's no guarantees by the way I mean those guys are very good But like We don't know that they're a top line center So we should trade them He was a center at 21 Do they fit into the culture

Do they fit into the culture You know It's crazy this video You must watch it It is No yeah the Bruins should be I guess there's no urgency Because the Bruins released it

And like the guiltiest parties are no longer there yeah I suppose well I remember watching this watching and thinking like just for the first time a couple days ago and I know it's been tweeted at me before but I just never could bring myself to watch it because I knew it was going to be painful

and it's pain and I don't want to like you can't single out Shirely for that one move they did win a cup it was a room of people who were like hey how about this the thing was wasn't just one person's mistake Everybody in that room was culpable, and they did edit it.

But nobody said, no, this is a bad idea. And those guys are still active. Like, the clip that they showed of Doug McClain passing up on, well, fist-pumping that the Habs drafted the goalie, who ended up being Carey Price. This is a terrible draft pick. That was Pierre Maguire's quote, right? No, that was, oh yeah, that was Carey Price.

Yeah, he said this is a terrible draft pick. Terrible pick, yeah. Yeah, so Doug McClane was jumping up and down the wall. Because he could get, what, Jerry F? Because we can get, no, so we can get Gilbert Brulé instead of Enze Kopitar. And it's funny because, like, he's an analyst, he's on TV, he hasn't been a general manager for many years. Those guys are all still in it.

They're all still in the game, man. Prominent roles. And listen, you're going to miss on some things, but at least, but when you watch this. Hey, Eugene, I need some of your Ukrainian hackers to get rid of this video. Allegedly. Allegedly. Allegedly, of course.

God. I saw it in a movie. There was a guy named Eugene. I saw it in a movie. It was very good. It was on Netflix. It was on Show Me. Let's take a quick break here to just mention that Puck Talks Rec Room, April 7th, Saturday,

it is sold out. But hey, there are some tickets available on the Steve Dangle Podcast Reddit page. Some of the listeners, some of you guys can't come. Totally understand. If you can give your tickets to someone else that wants to come, there's actually a thread going right now at Steve Dangle's Reddit. Easy peasy. And we'll see you there.

We're really jacked. And again, if you can't make it, just make sure you can give your tickets away to someone who can. Now, let's get on. I want to do a little audio here. And I want to turn it over to our good friend Joe Bowen. I say good friend. I don't really know Joe Bowen.

I've met him once. I brought him a drink at a golf course once. But he's a very nice man. What? It's in the book. Did we gloss over that? Oh, yeah, because it's in the book, man. It's in the book.

We can't talk about that now. Jesse, you've got to pay for that information. I hope you leave that book to your family. You know what? I was thinking about this the other day. I was thinking about that the other day. We pay for audiobooks, and yet podcasts are free. And I was kind of thinking, like...

So we're better, is what you're saying. No, no. All I'm saying... No, no, and I'm not saying anybody should pay for this show. What I'm saying is, it's like It's almost the same thing, I guess Books are maybe a little more concise and a little more Story driven, but

I'll just straight up say they're harder A lot harder Anyway, I just think audiobooks are like Big podcasts that you actually had to write And, you know, run through with somebody Yeah, so I'm making one of those And it won't be free, so Just throwing that out there

Put your headphones on I'm trying to listen to you You can still hear me. Oh, yeah, I can. Here's the thing. Headphones don't completely... Shut up, Mom. Anyway, let's listen to this piece of beautiful audio

all the way through, and we're not stopping. There's Hyman getting down into the zone, gone around Petrie, back of the net. Mike Riley runs into traffic on the far side. A tip pass then by Hyman didn't work, comes to center. Carrick fakes the shot, sends it off to Hyman on right wing, going wide. Hyman around back of the net, center, scores! It's the kid, Andreas Janssen!

And that smile is going to go viral! I don't think he's closed his mouth yet. He's been coming to the Leaf bench now to exchange five high fives. The only smile bigger might be that of Zach Hyman's, who was going around behind the Montreal net and then threw it out on the short side. Got Lindgren just to lean away from the post enough. And Janssen got to the top of the crease and just chipped it.

Now, Janssen had like the third happiest reaction out of the scrum. Oh, yeah. Man, Travis Dermott's reaction to Andreas Janssen's first goal was bigger than Travis Dermott's first goal. But, you know, it's awesome. It was awesome to see that. And obviously we talked about last episode, the fact that, you know, he's drafted in the fourth,

or sorry, seventh round, 200 second overall, asthma patient that they didn't know. And they're like, oh, he doesn't try hard enough. And it turns out he's just got asthma and all of a sudden he's here. What's interesting about all of this, I think, is, and it's lost in this, he had in 13 minutes of play last night, seven shots.

He had at least three on one shift in particular. And the thing was, and I think it was Stephen Birch that tweeted today, that only Matthews and Nylander have done that this year on the Leafs. That many shots, I think. Seven shots in a game. And they've each managed it only once. And I think Matthews led the league in shots last year, which is crazy to think. Well, because he had a shot in every single game.

Yeah, but, you know, that is a guy, and Jonas Segal kind of talked about it in The Athletic this morning, that's a guy that may not play in the playoffs, But he sure looks like he should And Babcock loves his new toys Does he? Oh post game

He loves the good ones though Well of course I would hope so he's the head coach You know what the happy meal buzz Lightyear he's happy to get Yeah sure whatever Maybe throws it in his little Toy bucket But this guy

Friggin you push all the buttons and he says shit And the wings come out This is the real McCoy. This is the real deal Buzz Lightyear. And he said, he's like, oh, I think, what do you have, seven shots? It wasn't even funny. He's looking down at the stat sheet, and he goes, and two misses. So nine attempts on net.

I mean, that's pretty good. That is pretty good. He was tantalized a little bit. And he goes, when he's looking down at the stat sheet, he goes, I think he had seven shots. What's his number? 18? 18. He goes, what's his number?

What's, uh, so I, uh. similar to Kisperi Kapanen, I think he's going to have a very hard time putting this toy down when the time comes. So here's what's interesting. He said this after the game. It's a shame. About the feeling of scoring your first goal in the NHL,

and I loved this quote. Adam, before you read that quote, I just want to save you and say that Matthews did not lead the league in shots. Oh, he was leading for a while then. Sorry, thank you. Brent Burns led it for 320. Oh, thank you.

Before you get all the tweets. You saved me for so many tweets there. He was eighth. So good. Jesse you probably didn't save me because it came too late. Yeah, so people will tweet and then and then they'll be like Oh, Jesse saved you Two minutes later, but never mind sorry We're gonna get three partners tomorrow, it's gonna be hey never mind. Sorry. Haha. I just heard that other part

I'm looking forward to it. Yeah followed by three deletes. Um Um, he said this about his first goal and I, I, I grew up imagining and I used to write essays, but whenever they asked me to do creative essays in school, I would always write about being a draft choice of the Toronto Maple Leafs and playing and scoring my first goal. That's every creative writing story I did was about that. And he said this, it felt like just happiness, happy filled my whole body. Nothing went through my mind. I just screamed and jumped.

And I don't know if you can throw that any better that like, can you, can you, sum that up any better? No. It was great. I love that those moments still happen. You know what I mean? Just pure,

unfiltered, like genuine happiness. Joy. True joy. Genuine joy. Like an actual dream coming true. And the best part about it

is that all of the guys on the ice at one point were his teammate with the Marlies. All of the guys on the ice. Hyman, Dermott,

Nylander, Carrick. Yeah, Hyman, Dermott, Nylander Carrick, that's it. And they were so happy for him because they know how hard it is. I think Janssen on the wing

with Nylander in the middle and Hyman on the other wing was actually a line for three games when Janssen came over and then he got brained in that series against the Albany Devils. Brained? Yeah, he got brained.

Is that a phrase people use? Didn't the guy get suspended for that? Ten games. 10 games in the playoffs Yeah Well, I mean Marley's eliminated them anyway But

Yeah, no That was real bad And Carrick was part of that Playoff series as well And Travis Dermott has obviously Been his teammate for Two years now And

Like a thick two years No call-ups Two C's Double C, Adam Thick Like you Like that Butt

What'd that butt do? The coffee's now wearing off Oh, it'll come back. I'm sure there'll be a round two, Cavi. Jesse, show title, What That Butt Do. Write it down. Do it. Anyway.

No, but, yeah, there were no call-ups until Dermot got called up this year. So, you know, they've been together. It's a great thing about developing your team. Together. Together. I don't know if the Habs have that. Well, and I was going to say, you know, for the game itself that happened last night, what a difference

24 months can make what a difference man what a difference 18 months can make in this league dude 12 the Habs won the division

last year last year and it just seemed it was like a tale of two cities last year or last night it's like

it's their it's one's going one way one's going the other now 18 months from now with all the draft choices they have and the cap space they have

could be a completely different story again absolutely absolutely and I you know what I genuinely hope Montreal gets better

because I like the rivalry. I want that. We keep going back to the cap space. Why didn't they utilize it at the trade deadline to buy a whole bunch of contracts and get some draft for assets? They don't believe in that. They don't.

Your guess is as good as mine, Jesse. Dude, to me, that would signal them waving the white flag, which the Leafs did. But I think there's some pride in Montreal in the management sector. I'm not talking about the fans. Yeah, thank you for making that distinction. Because we make fun of Oilers fans.

Look, can you just admit X trade or Y trade was bad? Montreal fans, like, there's a unified front there. Everyone is waiting outside with torches and pitchforks. This sucks! They're very smart hockey fans. Absolutely. Yeah, and they're all like... And that's not to say Oilers fans are not or Canucks fans are not.

Before everybody gets offended. I'm not saying other fans aren't smart. No, I'll just say they all seem to have the same opinion. This blows. This blows. We sure ain't losing. We know why they blow. Stop it.

Stop it. And they just won't do it. And I think there's a refusal. And I mean, it starts, I hate to bring this up again, but it starts with the PK trade. Who was their analytics guy? Oh, Matt Pfeffer? Yeah. So Matt Pfeffer?

Pfeffer? Pfeffer? The spelling was a thing. So Matt. With that name. The story goes that he made a... I want to say three Fs. This trade was proposed, and he made a passionate argument to the effect of, please do not do this trade.

This is a terrible idea. And they go and they do it anyway. Now, Shea Weber is still a very, very good defenseman. Who hasn't? He's barely played this season. Yeah. Like, that contributes. Part of the problem, though.

In a league this tight, that contributes. But nobody can say, nobody's going to say that the Canadians walked out and won that trade. or even walked out and maybe even like it's arguable that they got fair value because honestly they thought their window was something that it wasn't and they made a trade for a guy that they thought was better than suban and you can argue whether or not he is or not i personally don't think he's better than suban but the point is they had the analytics guy there and after that passionate thing and then they trade suban anyway they fired the end or they didn't renew the analytics guy and now they don't have one and that analytics guy by the way is with uh nashville

the best team in the nhl currently because of him and his intern dave poyle that's right but but you understand that that there there is a it's not even it's not even that they're slow on the slower on the learning the analytics side of it it's that they outright reject it I don't understand the direction We're not going to do that I don't understand the direction But that's the thing It's almost like they're out to prove

That they don't need analytics to win But like sometimes they make Like little moves that are smart Like getting rid of Al Montoya for a pick Made perfect sense Like a high pick in the fourth round I think Berkshire said it best though He said

He said he's Bergevin is really great At getting you bottom six guys Hey You might get Victor Arvidsson with that pick. I think the Predators got him with a fourth-round pick.

So it's good to stockpile those picks. But how long until Victor Arvison is Victor Arvison? It took him, I think, three years. I'm just saying. I just don't understand what...

Like, looking at the roster they went into the season with, I'm like, I don't get the plan. Well, there wasn't a plan. The plan all along seems to have been John Tavares. But there was no plan

when you look at the roster. Even Ron McLean. They were just a whole bunch of spare parts doing nothing. Yeah. And, like, we got this Drew Ann guy. and we're going to try him at a position

that we've never tried him at before, and he's going to be the first in that position. Like, we try Nylander at position. Yeah, we put Nylander in that position, right? As a rookie. As a rookie. Well, Duran's not a rookie. Yeah, you're right.

Duran and Nylander are about the same, right? Like, Duran's a bit older. Yeah, but Matthews isn't in the picture, and you're our first center now. That's what I mean. Yeah. Like, they didn't try Nylander at center until this year when Matthews went down.

And they still, like, Babcock. Nah, I'm not sure, I'm not sure. You gotta twist his arm. That's the point. They set him up to fail. And that's not his fault. He might need some time to develop, or he may never be a center. But the fact that they said, you're our number one guy, and all you've ever played at this level is right wing?

Come on. I don't know if it's Julian's fault either, because... Well, he can only play what he's given. Yeah. I was like, jeez. So, anyway, it will be interesting to see what Montreal does. We spent too much time on them. I got a question about the Leafs.

And this is specifically about Leaf fans, because I don't think management thinks this way. And based on their actions, in fact, I would know that they don't think this way if you base it purely on their actions. Don't you think it's time that everybody stop hoping Curtis McElhinney is going to fail? Yeah, we're done here, guys. He's awesome. He's awesome. And he will remain awesome until he is not awesome. That's how this works.

What I said today in my LFR is his career as a Leaf is the living embodiment in goalie pads of a 16 seed beating a 1 seed. Why do you watch March Madness? Why do you watch sports for moments like McElhaney stealing the show? 33 saves shutout. Got an assist in the shutout. He had more points last night than the Habs. 931 save percentage in 16 games Not bad

935 Adam Even higher He has 8 career shutouts 4 of them have come in his 30 game Leafs career Since getting claimed off waivers From Columbus Get behind this

Incredible story Why can't you And that's what blows my mind because Oh well they might trade Sparks as a result because he's on a One way. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. If you have time, take it.

We're going to the playoffs. Yeah. He, what has he done other than his job? Yeah. Win, stop pucks. Our Hockey Night in Cinema in London, I believe, was the first game he played for the Leafs. And he won. And he won.

And he was great. And, you know, the thing is, is that, like, I understand a little bit from this perspective that Sparks and Calvin Pickard have been historically good in the AHL. Great. And they've had an unbelievable tandem, unbelievable success. The Marlies are doing great, and that's fantastic, and people want to take a look at that depth. They just want to see, what else do we got?

But the point is, if he's winning, which is the point, that's why you play. You play to win the game. Now, why would you hope for him? And every game, every game, I get tweets from people going, is this McElhinney's last game as a Leaf? Like, the first game of the year. Yeah.

First game of the year, there was, like, I think he let in four goals or something, and I think they lost. He had a couple rough ones. Which everybody does. Sure. And people are like, is that McElhinney's last game as a Leaf?

It's every time. Every October. Is this Freddie's last game as a Leaf? Does he have four? Yeah, really. Do people not like him because his style of play is, like, out of 1995? Oh, dude, he looks terrible.

But he always wins. But I look behind him, and there's no puck. Now, the problem leading up to this, it's understandable that a lot of people would think, well, he'll revert back to his career average. But if you look at a guy, even if that's true, in the last 18 months, he hasn't. And look at Andrew Hammond. He had half a year. And injuries. And injuries.

But look at Andrew Hammond in Ottawa. Yeah. Took that team on his back with the hamburgers or whatever to the playoffs because he was hot. Yeah. You run it until it's not hot. They signed him to a two-year 800 grand deal that you can get rid of so easily or bury, which I think was probably the intention in year two, bury him. It gets to be a problem when you sign them to, you know, over a million bucks for several years, kind of like they did with Hammond, and then you run into injuries, and then it makes it even worse. The cold business part of me is like, okay, you sell high on McElhinney in the offseason and then go with one of Sparks or Pickard.

But the sports-loving part of me is friggin' let it ride right now. Best goalie in the league, statistically. I mean, in his current role. In his current role. In his role, sure. I had some people, like, one person, I know, I know. Curtis McElhinney is not the best goalie in the league. Okay?

I get it. But I had someone go. That's right, Tampa. Curtis McElhinney. Better than Vazilevsky. Vazilevsky? Unlikely. Curtis Mackle-Jennings has something to say about that.

Mackle-Vezna is what I got tweeted. That's not even good, you guys. Mackle-Vezna's good. No, it's not. You just added Vezna to it. Don't you talk about Kurt Hart-Mackle-Pearson that way. How dare you. Kurt Hart-Mackle-Pearson.

Oh, wait, no, it's Kurt Hart-Mackle-Lindsey. Mackle-Lindsey. Actually, that kind of works. Kurt Hart sounds like an 80s heartthrob guy who's in a show that's like Miami Vice like Kurt Hart and then like

he's in a pink tank top solving crime he's the third member of the Rockers Shawn Michaels Marty Jannetty Kurt Hart Kurt Hart

Mackle Pearson Mackle Lindsey Mackle Jennings Curtis Mackle Lindsey dude he stops pucks look someone said

he's really good in his role as a backup when you start to make him a starter maybe it becomes a problem hey maybe you're right

he has earned the That's what he's supposed to do Maybe he should be a backup then The crazy idea Maybe the guy who excels at being a backup should be a backup But what you're saying is better at defense And we can't play him at forward

We can't rule it out And now that he's on defense we can move Gardner up to wing Stanley Cup here we go We're going No but I guess what they're saying is If Freddie's out a month for example You can't then give McElhinney Like 10 games

Which is why you have depth in the system him in the first place. Which is what they're arguing. So make Sparks the starter and have McElhinney back him up. That doesn't make sense, though. I agree. No, it might. It might. I get the thought process, but he has played so well that

you need to give him the chance to stink. Which he hasn't. Why would you give the chance to the guy who hasn't been playing with the team and hasn't had the best save percentage out of anybody in the league the last 16 games? Give it to the guy with three shutouts and

14 starts or whatever it is that's pretty good why would you ever 25% of his shots of his starts end in a shutout yeah

something like that math I don't know there's no argument for Sparks to take the role except for that people are big fans

of the unknown right and it's like it's a new present totally which is why we go get out of here

Dominic Moore I want to see what this Johnson kid's made I like that people love draft picks because your draft pick is a superstar You know what a draft pick is?

Your imagination. Exactly. And your imagination could be anyone. Imagination. Oh, this fourth round pick we got for basically nothing could be the guy who, man. Victor Arvidsson. Thank goodness we drafted him instead of Dahlian

because he is, Dahlian might be a super saiyan, but this guy is like super saiyan four and he just reverted back and he has a red cardigan for some reason. Here's the thing. The way the Leafs operate is that you've got to earn your way. You've got to take someone's job, as Mike Babcock likes to say. Unless you're Dominic Moore.

Screw you. If that is the case, then the Leafs are going to continue to play Curtis McElhinney until they get a back-to-back. And that's just the way it is, man. A Mac-to-Mac. Or he stinks. Or he stinks. Yeah. And that's the thing.

Garrett Sparks is going to have to go in there and prove it. But he's not just going to be thrown in there. Okay, Garrett, you're the starter now. Congratulations Also No why would you do that McElhinney goes in The next game

Allows six goals in one period Gets yanked Well that's it with McElhinney We're not playing him ever again No No It's more than one game Stop cheering against

If you're a Leafs fan Stop cheering against this guy Love it It's an amazing story Love it When is the last time We had a backup goaltender That anybody talked about at all

James Reimer That was any good James Reimer James Reimer When they forced him into the back of the role. And before that? For no reason. Before James Reimer.

Who was Vesa Toskala's backup? Andrew Raycroft. And JSO band. All-time wins leader, Andrew Raycroft. Oh, that makes me so mad. Freddy, come back. Come back, man. And just, oh.

God, that makes me mad. It makes me so mad. He wasn't even good. That's the part that I just, I look at that and I go, how freaking sad. Because this guy has been nothing but a pro. And they got him for nothing. The two focal points of that game were both fantastic stories. Curtis McElhinney is a fantastic story.

Andreas Janssen is a fantastic story. Odds constantly stacked against him. He's playing with asthma unbeknownst to him, and despite that, was just good enough to get drafted. Like, barely. What was he, like, fifth last? Something like that. Barely good enough to get drafted, but they draft him.

And then they find this problem, and they solve it. Tears the Swedish league apart. He does so well that the Leafs, hey, invite him over. You're going to come into our lineup in the middle of our playoff run, even though we're stacked anyway. Gets brained. Knocked out of the playoffs. I don't even think he began the season on time.

Wasn't that good. Took a while to get his feet back underneath him. Waste a whole season in that regard. Then he tears the league apart this year. Still doesn't get a call-up. He had a really good back half last year. Had a really good back half last year. Tears the league apart this year.

But Levo there. Soshnikov there. Dominic Moore. Thomas Buchanitz. Thomas McAdish gets added to the team, Matt Martin is still with the team forever and ever on end, and he somehow gets his opportunity, plays seven minutes and he gets smashed into the boards, gets stitches, barely even plays in his first game. Babcock doesn't even get a full evaluation of him. Matt Martin's back into the lineup the next game and then he decides, hockey night in

Canada, I'm gonna give this kid a shot and he leads the team in shots and scores a goal. It's It's a fantastic story! It's incredible! And it completely overshadowed McElhinney, who we don't even like. Screw him. Like, I'm sick of it! I'm sick of it! This six-foot-three man in his mid-thirties who plays like he's a four-foot-two!

Who looks like a math teacher. Looks like a math teacher. Looks like a math teacher! Looks... Like the antithesis of a rock star hockey player. He looks like the uncle you know the least about. Like this totally unassuming man who just happens to be good at hockey. He's the guy who asks you, how's it going?

And you have a 10-minute conversation, that's it. Who you don't hear about ever. The last time I remember McElhinney getting this much attention is when Mike Keenan made a joke about him when he was in the minors when Keenan was coach of the Flames. That's what I remember. I think it was, I think it was, I want to say Kiprasov was one of the Flames goalies, and I don't remember who the other one was, and they had a really good game after someone

got injured, and then Keenan, someone goes, Keenan, who are you starting next game? And he jokes, he goes, McElhaney. And all the reporters in the stand, and they laugh about it, then you don't hear about this guy ever, until the Blue Jackets put him on waivers, and you're like, oh, I didn't even know he was still in the league, and then the Leafs claim him, oh, why the hell you're claiming McElhinney. Comes in as great despite looking like a flubber. Remember

that movie? Just bouncing all over the place. Like Hasek, but not on purpose. And he just wills the Leafs into the playoffs. Stops a Sidney Crosby shot. Yeah, but it wasn't even that good of a Sidney Crosby shot. Shut up and believe

in magic! Enjoy it! Just shut up and believe in magic! Even if it's not even that good of a Sidney Crosby shot, it's still an unbelievable save. It's an unbelievable save. It really is. Were you inept to stop it? No, you weren't. He was, because he busted his ass. He had to be

Curtis McElhaney for a decade and a half trying to play pro hockey. And he gave himself this opportunity and in his mid-thirties, he's played the best hockey of his life. Why won't you just cheer for this man? Well done. Wow. I agree. Well done. I totally agree.

That was very impressive. Thank you. I think the second wave of coffee hit. Yeah. And it's going to hit again. There'll be a second and third. It's hitting him tonight. We might have a crash coming up. Yeah. But he's, this is, like, it could be the next Tim Thomas story, minus him shooting a television

and a Chick-fil-A. It could be that. I made that up. That's based on a tweet I did a long time ago. Do we? Cheer for McElhinney, yes. End. Bench Anderson when he comes back and play McElhinney.

Yes. Yes, I'm so inspired by his story that that's what they should do. Look at the numbers, Jesse. Look at McElhinney's save percentage versus Freddie's. McElhinney's is higher. If McElhinney kept this up, if we let him be the starter, and we went on, and we got 10 games left, we won the last 10 games,

Anderson's ready for the first game of the playoffs. Do you consider benching him? Anderson? Anderson. If we're ready for the first game, we go 10-0 for the next 10 games, McElhinney posts a 9-5 save percentage. He's the hottest goalie ever.

Five shutouts in those ten games. Do you bench Anderson? I slash Anderson's tires before he even gets in the car so that he can't make it to the game so I can start McElhinney. No, you play Freddie. Of course you play Freddie. You wouldn't ride the hot hand? No, you play Freddie.

Jesse, I'll tell you what I would do. When McElhinney wins the consmith for the Toronto Maple Leafs, I'll sell my car and house and spend my entire life savings to get his game-used equipment. What, Steve, to sell it? No, to wear it to bed every night. In the house you don't have. In the house you no longer have.

On the streets. Yeah. Let's walk A.L. Sleep on the pads then. You started it by saying you're selling your house. It'll be summertime so he can sleep outside in the park. He's got it. Adam thinks. There you go.

Adam, homelessness is not a joke. I did. I wasn't making a homeless joke. Are you making fun of home? First of all, I'm a blogger. I'm going to move into my parents' basement. Oh, obviously. Guys, you think I haven't thought this through?

You thought I haven't thought of Curtis McAleady's Conn Smythe performance through thoroughly? Come on, guys. Just believe in magic, everybody. Hey, cheer for the players on your team. You know what's starting to become a thing? That's a weird concept. I know.

You know what's starting to become a thing on Twitter? Hating your own team? And I hope it's sarcastic. I hope it's not because I want it to be a thing. Late season Polak. What? Talking about late season Polak. Like, Polak just gets good at the end of the season.

He was good at the end of last season. Sure was. He was really good until he blew his knee. And now he's looking better at the end of this season. So you know what? Late season Polak's a thing. It's coming on. I'll cheer for that. You just wait for

playoff, Polak. It's even better. Play-lack. Super Saiyan Polak. Just friggin' killing all the penalties. Polak, Curtis McElhaney holding the conspite in one hand

and one handing the cup above his head in the other palms the cup, just palms it like Shaq and hands the cup to Polak who gets it next. Who then hands it to Dominic Moore Because screw the rest of you

No not Thomas Placanet Who then hands it to Thomas Placanet Who then hands it to his Beloved coach DJ Smith Like it's just out of order It's totally out of order Can you do me a favor Jesse Can you bring up and this is serious

I want I got a thing about I was just thinking about it while Steve was going on his rant When was the last time two goalies won a Vezna Might be Bauer and Sawchuck No. Early 90s. And I think it was Montreal. See, the Jennings you split.

Is it Jennings you split? Jennings you split. I don't think Vezina you split. Okay. Jennings. No, I don't know if the Vezina was ever split. I think that's why they had the Jennings, basically. They had three winners in 1980, 81.

Really? They split the Vezina? There was nothing in the early 90s? Early 90s? No. No? Late 80s? Yeah, if you go back, it's just... Who won it? Who won it in the early 80s? Oh, that's so weird.

Yeah. Denis Heron, Michel Laroque, and Richard Savigny. Savigny? Savigny, sure. From where? Well, it says Heron and Savigny were Montreal. I wonder if Laroque was, too. Because it doesn't say it, it just says total.

So maybe it's the Jennings that I'm thinking of then. But my point is... That's weird, right? My point is... It seems like... Sorry. No, go, go. It was a thing they used to do.

Like, Bauer and Sawchuck won it in Toronto in 64-65. So... Hodge and Worsley... It was more of a team goalie award. It seemed like through the 60s and the 80s. And then in 82, it kind of became the one goalie award. And since then, there has been no two goalie winners. Okay, so since the president recently has not been to do that,

I mean, how do you argue against Anderson and McElhinney, though? For the Vezna? Well, not the Vezna, the Jennings. Well, no, because the Jennings is, it's kind of dumb. It's just the least amount of goals allowed. Yeah, that's a stat trophy. No, they're definitely not. I just think that, like, you know, if you look at,

and, you know, even if you're not a Leaf fan. Who likes to invent a trophy to give McElhinney? If you're not a Leaf fan, fine. The Rudy trophy The point I'm trying to make The point I am trying to make The Corey Schwab award of excellence Is they face probably the most shots in the league

And the Leafs have More points than the Metro division All the metro division teams Like this is A pretty significant goal tending From both of them In absence of an award Adam

How about their own fans Freaking support them How about that I don't under Like what's What's the rush You think Garrett Sparks Wants to just be

Randomly thrust Unfairly into this You're a starter now He's a goalie He gets it Garrett you're starting tonight Why It wouldn't make any sense

Calvin you're starting How come I'm surprised they gave Calvin Oh wait no It's cause McElhinney was sick That one game Shots against

NHL, number one, the New York Islanders. Number two, the New York Rangers. Number three, the New York Steve Dangles. Number three, the Toronto Maple Leafs. I just want to say New York again. And Anderson has probably played much more than either Islanders goalie because they kind of split

it. And I think, I don't know how much Lundqvist has played in New York though. King Henrik? I feel like Rant, not Rant, Pavlik played more than McElhinney. King Henrik? Has played 58 games.

That's a lot of games. But he's only had a 9-16 save percentage with two shutouts. So he's not McElhinney. Freddie's a 9-19. Take that, alleged King Henrik. You're barely even 10 of clubs, Henrik. Compared to Curtis McElhinney. Yeah, I don't know.

I just think there's... I mean, Leaf fans should appreciate this, I think. Maybe that's the point. Let's wrap it up. Predators, Ducks, Kings, then Leafs. Wow. You know, what, 15 months ago or so, I would have never thought I would go on a yelling, screaming defense of Curtis McElhinney, but here we are. We talked a little bit about the Habs hanging on to their general manager.

What's interesting is that on headlines last night, we got a statement from the Toronto Maple Leafs about their general manager. And I actually want to play the clip because Elliott Friedman brought it up at the outdoor game with the guys. And I think it's really interesting that Brendan Shanahan, he talks about how Brendan Shanahan approached him. That is interesting. Well, I do know Shanahan is aware of the things said about his team. As any good president should be. Exactly. They keep an eye.

They don't say very much. But it's interesting to me that he found this worthy of clarification. I mean, at some point, it's an interesting strategy. Like, I wonder if part of the strategy of... Can we just, can we get to the clip before we get to that? Okay. Because I know what you're going to say, but I just want to play the clip so everybody gets it. Two interesting points here that I want you to look out for, okay?

First off, that Brendan Shanahan went up to Elliott Friedman and had a conversation about it. Yeah, and Shanahan probably said, come here, young man. Yeah, and then Nick Kemprios... Even though you're older. And then listen to Nick Kiprios' comments afterwards on why he doesn't believe it. That is more interesting. This morning on Morning Skate Against the Canadians, I happened to run into Brendan Shanahan. We started talking about a conversation we had a couple of weeks ago in Washington

about the future of the front office and specifically Lou Lamorello. And, you know, Shanahan wanted to ask a couple of things we'd mentioned. And then he gave us a quote. No decisions have been made. I haven't spoken to any of the particulars. We are concentrating on the rest of the season and the playoffs. Any decisions about the organization won't be made until after the season is over. Nick, Lou Lamorello has a saying, if you have time, use it.

And that's what Shanahan seems to be subscribing to. Elliot, I can appreciate the quote, but I also think it's rather inconsistent in the way that Brendan Shanahan has led the Toronto Maple Leafs the last four years. Let's face it, since day one, this guy has had a plan. And there's no signs whatsoever that he's deviated from that plan whatsoever. however so maybe just maybe what is consistent is that he's already elliot made his decision but to respect the people around him he's going to keep it quiet until he's ready to go public with it as he said at the end of the season all right let's now i tend to believe nick

kiprios on that is good man kipper is good of course he's got a plan yeah this guy rips me on national television i'm allowed to say he's good if i could say he's good you have to say he's good too how would he not have a plan of course he's got a plan uh you know like I haven't really thought about the future of the franchise I run. That's sort of his job, right? Of course he has. There's hockey going on, man. I just...

I just... Well, you sound like... I don't know. You guys play Fortnite? He just tries to change the subject. That'd be like if somebody went up to Steve and they're like, hey, what do you think of the Leafs? And Steve's like, ah, I haven't really been paying attention.

I don't really know. He's just playing the media. I think that's what Cheney's doing. Tiger had a big weekend. The right way. Tiger's back. What's great about that is he stepped forward as the president, made the statement, and made it back about the hockey team again.

Done. Well, and what's great about the statement is, so it's just this cycle of speculation. That's all that's been going on. And now that he's said something, it kind of puts a little bit of a bow on it until there's further news. which there won't be because it's the leafs so he gets the last word in a way although he didn't

there kiprios did but uh kiprios said his piece what's left to be said exactly we're no closer to finding out who it's going to be and the thing is now we know there's not going to be an answer so why talk about it yeah shanahan says a thing kiprios says bullshit what are you left with with respect respectful bullshit respectfully bullshit what what are you left with other than Fair enough. Yeah, I mean, I think... That's it. And I don't think any of that is unfair.

If you're Brendan Shanahan, why would you make another... That's the best thing you can do. That is the statement you make. Your team has won 12 straight at home. Maybe don't become the center of attention. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

By the way, I've read in the last seven weeks, the Raptors and Leafs have gone 24-1 at home. Well, I think it's 24-2. Oh, yeah. That was a stupid, stupid game. So the refs left with a security escort. I saw that. I saw that.

Because they did a great job. Every referee that does a great job needs security around them. I fell asleep, Jesse, so I missed it. Did you see it? I did see it. Do you think that the—is it Toronto fans being Toronto fans and being like, Oh, my God, we got screwed by the refs. Yeah, the world's against us.

No, it was— It was bad, eh? There were a few very bad calls, especially at the very end when they started just throwing at everybody for saying anything And Dwayne Casey, the best part is when Dwayne Casey gets thrown out because a fan in the first row is chirping the refs. And Dwayne and Kyle are standing in front of this fan and the refs like standing off to the side. And he thinks this is Dwayne Casey yelling at him. And he turns around and gives him a tee, tosses him out of the game.

And Kyle just starts laughing because there's nothing you can do at this point. Your head coach just got thrown out because the ref wasn't paying attention and thought that a fan yelling was the head coach. Anyway, so that was kind of a microcosm of how the entire end of the game went, because it was tied, or the Raptors had a one-point lead with like three minutes to go, and then from there went all downhill, and we lost. I saw Michael Grange said something about, you know, DeRozan getting slapped, and generally speaking, you know, the league's stars get those calls. But because he's not considered a star, because the Raptors have been—

He plays in Canada. Only 30 million fans up here. The Raptors have been Like an expansion franchise For over two decades Like they don't count But this is This is the year Where that turns around

Is it? Yeah because they're gonna finish First in the Eastern Conference And they're gonna make A deep playoff run And people are gonna Finally start respecting them I think in this game

It was just DeRozan's going up He's a superstar But he's going up against A team with super Bigger superstars I think He's not gonna get the call over

To fully get respect Around the league Not only are they gonna Have to show up in the finals We have to win Yeah The Jays were not respected until they won

and then the Jays lost respect because they sucked for the next 20 years after that they will not get the respect like the Jays

were respected until they weren't Canada's winning shut it down and then they shut the league down and that was the year the Expos were gonna win

they were the best team in the league we can't have this again shut it down now back to hockey for a second another thing and we'll get to it

it was mentioned on headlines Carolina I didn't know this it eked out of Carolina somehow that the GM search was cancelled I didn't hear this

but then on headlines they were like well they reported that it was cancelled and it's not to which Elliot said bullshit do you know on twitter when they have the blank is over parties like if snapchat like if Selena Gomez told something terrible

Selena Gomez's cancelled party I felt like that's what this was like when Conor McDavid was Donald Trump and he was cancelled for a night and then it was like no nobody remembers that oh it was Donald Trump for Halloween Everybody's offended It's cancelled everybody. He's done. It's over. Yeah, you know it's good. We've never heard from him since Twitter sure Shun that one or work. Yeah, Twitter works

Twitter just absolutely does not work It's just a microcosm of assholes of which we're part of It's just like you're just you're just like I think Twitter gets things done, and it changes well Well, I know how I spent my Sunday, which is arguing who should be MVP at the NHL when the season's not done. I, you know, that's what I've done. No, but we're talking about, so Carolina, I don't know what you're going to say about Carolina being canceled. I don't know where I was going. I think I had a boy that was over.

I need to see, like, a remix of the Lemonade video where Beyonce just takes a bat to a car with a Canes logo. Because they're just, they're over. They're done now. My Alabama You know like that You know that Alabama Do you do this shit again Where the yeah

Like from Lemonade Where she drops a diss track On her husband Sorry You know what Elliot Friedman Just Drops a diss track

On the Kings That's a silly visual I'm trying to remember Some words from Formation Is kind of my favorite That could ever happen Yeah

It's pretty bad I'm not gonna lie I liked when they did the Taylor Swift remix of that song my mama, Minnesota Alright alright, we're getting a little off track here. Can we fucking focus here for just a second so Two tweets, I'm gonna read to you now. We already talked about Mike There's a lot of tweets, man. I don't know.

Pierre Lebrun earlier this week. Carolina reached out to Pittsburgh regarding assistant general manager Bill Guerin a few days ago, but he politely declined to get involved with the process. Timing wasn't right. Number two, Paul Fenton has withdrawn himself from consideration of the GM job in Carolina. The Nashville assistant general manager, by the way, this tweet from Bob McKenzie, has been one of several candidates for the position. John, how many guys need to withdraw themselves from this position

before Carolina understands that paying a guy $400,000 to be their general manager and not giving them any control isn't going to work for them? That became a meme on hockey Twitter yesterday. Everyone just started tweeting, I'd like to announce I've withdrawn my candidacy for GM of the Carolina Hurricanes. No, but, dude, 400 Gs to be an NHL GM? $400,000 is a great amount of money to make. But if you're making less than the player

The worst player on the team You're making less than the league minimum I thought it would be at least double that Maybe not a million for all of them But I thought it would be at least double that It should be a million bucks Bar none There are 31 of these jobs

31 Mike Babcock was the highest paid person On that team for the longest time Well he is still at this moment Until we sign Matthews What does Babcock make It's like let's say it's six million bucks. I know it's more than that So he makes no it was ill appraisers eight two was it not that came out is it no

Here's really yeah, we got to look this up I want you to listen to this because I want you to there's a there's a makes like an exponential amount of money There's a piece of headlines that I think you need to listen to that's very very interesting with this situation Headlines was the shit Good yes Backus, the latest injured. 6-2-5. Steve was right.

You guys are the worst in A.H.U. Among those who are out. It's a long trail. Boston dominating Tampa this evening. So, Elliot, the Carolina hurricane situation. Well, it got very public, Ron. Obviously, you know, everybody kind of knew who was being interviewed, who was being contacted, and who was pulling themselves out of the race.

And what Carolina has done is decided to go underground here. They talked yesterday internally, decided they didn't like how much of this was public. And while they're saying that the GM search has been suspended, I don't necessarily believe that's the case. I think they will continue to go at this, but they want to do it quieter. Don Waddell is the interim GM. You know, Mike Futa got interviewed. Steve Greeley from Buffalo got interviewed. He actually went to Mexico to meet with the owner, Tom Dundon, who's on vacation down there.

Paul Fenton was a phone interview. Tom Fitzgerald by phone. And, Nick, from what we understand, there's two particular reasons to this point it didn't get filled. number one was i think there were some people who felt how much authority would they really have over decision making and number two was as you said last week show me the money elliot jerry mcguire and apparently carolina is not showing the money i'm told in the ballpark of four hundred thousand dollars a year that's where that job will start and there's just no way that they can attract a good hockey people credible people experienced people to take that salary now that

Whether or not that it's a lesser role still remains to be seen, but it's a non-starter for many of the established people that we've heard that are out there and that have shown interest, Ron. Now, here's the thing. A couple things. You have to take on a job with immense responsibility, and your head comes off the chopping block. And if you do a bad job, you may never be a general manager again. So you're taking a huge risk because it's a little bit more comfortable to be an assistant general manager. Not that it's any less work. it's probably more, but you've got

the opportunity to be a part of the success and not be the figurehead of it, so that's great, but a lot of people, remember hockey people are not, they're not showy like these are all like the players, oh I don't like to say too much and so then they gotta go to Carolina

they gotta take a pay cut, because most of these assistant general managers make way more than that already, gotta take a pay cut, and you're not really gonna have any control and you have an owner down your neck, and here's the part that got me and i like this owner he said all the right things the assistant general manager of the sabers flew to mexico to meet him imagine you you talk to a guy who just bought a hockey team and he says sorry we can't afford to pay you more than 400 grand in mexico and he's in mexico he's like you

know i'm really tight for cash at probably his house hey one of them and i'm not saying that this guy needs to pay the sun and the moon. And I just think that this is the position for this team that you do spend money on. It's interesting, though, because the number got out there, which means that number is about to go up.

That number's about to go up. Well, because they can't attract anybody. I think, though, this should be an attractive job for somebody. Now, I don't know if you're allowed to have an interesting contract. Like, I don't know if you're allowed to have a

$500,000 base salary, let's say, and you get an extra quarter of a million if you make the playoffs? I don't know if you're allowed to have a contract. Sure, why not? But what if you sign a short one- or two-year deal? You get to leave the hellscape that is the Buffalo Sabres.

You get to join the Carolina Hurricanes, which have an excellent foundation of young players, make a change here or there, and look like a genius. All they really have to do is get league average goaltending and they'll be a good team. You make a tweak here or there, Hurricanes make the playoffs, you look like a genius, and it's the NHL, you can ride that for at least eight years. You're the guy who saved the Carolina Hurricanes.

You can ride that for the better part of a decade in this league. I think that should be an appealing job to a guy like, what was his name, Steve Greeley? Yeah. I think that should be an appealing job to him. What I also found interesting about this was the GMs that don't want to be involved, The excuses they're giving. Remember, we had one feudal... Oh, we're going into the playoffs.

Playoff run, Kent. Bad burrito. They may not even make it. The Kings may not make the playoffs. That's still an opportunity that... Actually? Yeah, I'm pretty sure they're still... It's on the edge.

Okay. I'm not saying that they won't, but... Bill Guerin. Knocked off by William Carlson. Bill Guerin a few days ago. Timing's not right for me. That's like what you say to a person you don't want to go on a date with. You know what Bill Guerin probably doesn't need?

First of all, LOL. Second of all, 400 Gs for a former NHL player. The Kings, by the way, are sitting in the third spot in the Pacific Division. Oh, they're doing great. But they're also tied with Anaheim, who's outside of the playoffs. So Anaheim has 84 points, and the Kings have 84 points. So they could maybe not make the playoffs. If the Anaheim Ducks win one game, Los Angeles is out of the playoffs.

Does that make sense? It's crazy that Colorado has more points. Yes. Bonkers. Which is, I'm not going to bitch about the format again. It's okay. I got you. I got it.

So I look at the situation, and I know he's going to come in and do things differently, and we could be eating our words in 18 months. And I bet he's banking on that, this new owner. And Carolina fans should be a little excited about that because this sport does need a bit of a shakeup. But there are certain key positions to me in any organization that you pay for.

That are the backbone of the organization. If you want to be the front-running, awesome Carolina Hurricanes who do it on a budget, you're going to need a guy who's brilliant. Who can do more than the average guy. The one position you should maybe invest in. You know what I mean? It's like the Leafs.

President, general manager, head coach. All all-stars. It's a little different because they're able to throw up Brink's truck of money at Babcock. But are you telling me you can't get 80% of Lou Lamorello or 70% of Lou Lamorello at that position? Or Mike Babcock? Not for 400K. Not for 400K.

That's the point. I just think some lower-ranking executive somewhere who's still smart, probably a little younger than most of his peers or her peers, should be eyeing this job. I realize that it seems like the owner is being cheap, and maybe he is. but I just seems like he is he is but I look at the job ahead in Carolina

and I go it's pretty good that's a that's a cushy gig that could potentially be a cushy gig you go out there you

get league average goaltending and cut the ties with Cam Ward can we cut the ties with Cam Ward like Jesse

can you bring up their cap friendly and like let's let's go forward with the assumption that they have an internal cap you know

this isn't a team that I'd be scared of as an executive, especially like Steve Greeley from Buffalo. That should be an appealing. What would you like to know? Okay, so this is interesting. So we got Jordan Stahl making six for eternity.

Jeff Skinner's in there, 575. Justin Williams, 45. Victor Rask, four. That's not a bad deal. Tevo Taravainen, 286. Not a bad deal. So, okay, you got a lot of guys to re-sign. Elias Lindholm, Lee Stempniak, Derek Ryan.

Lee Stempniak is still playing. God, I want the Leafs to go after Derek Ryan. Joachim Nordstrom, they got three RFAs on the back end. Actually, you know what? You do have a bit of a job ahead of you, don't you? But Cam Ward is a UFA, so you're probably going to cut ties there. You have an opportunity to do something. There's enough of a base here that you could do something.

Projected cap space, almost $16 million. There's I think This could be a really good opportunity For somebody If you're willing If talking contracts is your thing If negotiation is your thing

I think this should be your team Because they have a wicked Base to work with I think Noah Hannafin That's not going to be a fun conversation Good players in the pipeline too Absolutely Yeah, Noah Hannafin, that's not going to be a fun conversation.

There's a few names I'm looking at where I go, eh, I don't envy you that much, but I really do think if you're able to hold the team together, maybe get a guy here, a guy there, you're fine. All right. And optimize Scott Darling, which I don't think should be too hard to do. Also to mention, Chris Johnston goes on to mention,

at the very, very end, they squeaked this in, one of the topics of the general manager's meeting, besides the offsides and the goaltender interference, is long-term injury reserve. And he cited four people. Nikita Sashnikov, Joffrey Lupul, Marian Hossa,

and another one, and I can't remember. I think it was three. It was just those three. It was just those three. Yeah, you got it. And two Leafs. Now, what's interesting is

I imagine that that conversation doesn't go very far. You don't think they change it? You think that general managers are going to vote to hurt their chances to make things even harder on themselves, you're out of your mind.

That'd be like the players going, you know what, let's all make less money. The general managers want as many options as possible. Any general manager that has a problem with this is just pissed off they didn't think of it first, or they can't do it because their owner wouldn't let them. You cannot tell me that a GM, every GM ever all over the

league wouldn't do the exact same thing if they all had the same financials. It'd be like telling the NHL to make all the GMs wear a backpack full of weights, but then you also have to wear that backpack full of weights. So it's like, you know, maybe just leave the backpack full

of weights out of it, man. That's how I look at it, Adam. That's how I look at it, too, man. It's good. No, you're right. I don't think that conversation lasts. I think the way the conversation goes is a lot more informal. They go to the Leafs and they go,

can you chill? Can you not? Yeah. Hey, Lupo's contract's up anyway. We don't care. Exactly. And I mean, really the marion hosa thing of all of them i actually think that's the most egregious like they were very much over and then it was like oh no he's got this skin condition and like because then they go on to explain the leafs have never explained it they've never said anything the chicago actually offered an explanation and it's like okay so he's 37

and now this is a problem with hosa i think it's the least egregious because i believe that he's actually got the condition, whereas I think Lupo was just bad. I'm not saying he doesn't. I don't say he doesn't. I'm just saying it's not as bad as maybe they're saying it is. They're using it. They're all bad. They're all bad.

It's a little convenient that his contract was designed specifically for him to basically retire this year, but I do believe he was actually ill, whereas Lupo, I just think they didn't think was very good anymore, and Sashnikov, they just didn't want to lose for nothing. That's it. So out of the three bad things, well, at least Hosuh's got the thing that they said he has. They got the Brandon Davidson deal for him. They got the fourth round pick for Sasch. Isn't that what Brandon Davidson got? Isn't that what the Islanders paid for him? No, third. Third. 2019. So it's less valuable. Because next year you won't need it. That's right. That's how it works. Because you'll be a Stanley Cup winner. Nah.

Hey, that's 2019 me's problem. 2018 me says let it ride Here comes the cup I love how they put less value on picks From the next year The further you go into the future The less it's worth I guess in general manager terms

You can really only think of Year by year Because you want a return on your investment And if it's like 5 years from now You're like I'm not even going to be here for that It's like OHL GMs They trade like 2022 prospects Elementary school kids

Yeah, literally, the picks are like This is a nine-year-old This pick is currently a nine-year-old Here's how the conversation goes, I think With the next year's pick I want a third-round pick, I'll give you a fourth-round pick I want a third-round pick, I'll give you a fourth-round pick I want a third-round pick, I'll give you a fourth-round pick

Give me a third-round pick next year You gotta deal You son of a gun It's like a third-and-a-half-round pick Yeah, yeah, third-and-a-half Well, I guess the further you push it back the further that prospect takes to develop

and then the further he actually impacts your team and you're like the further you back it up the less it is my problem today exactly I love it

it's one of my favorite things that first round pick it won't come back to bite us that's 2020 as we said with the Phil Kessler trade Tyler Sagan

memories that's 2020 Jim Rutherford's problem for now we got a god damn Stanley Cup streak to protect you know in Jim Rutherford's game

How many times a day does Jim Rutherford say god damn? I don't know why I gave him that persona. He probably talks like just a normal dude. I don't know where that came from. I assume he's just a guy. Why did I make him into Peter Parker's boss? Parker. These pictures suck.

Alright, on the front page I want Claude Drew. Captain or Menace! Captain or Menace. But that's the thing, man. What a stupid episode this is. There's a lot here. There's a lot to digest. Jim, I want

ten million dollars. You serious? Sorry. Anyway. Let's do the press conference. No, we're doing the press conference. The Presser S.D.P. The Steve Dangle Press Conference

Astro Master 13 wanted to know if you think Stamkos will ever play an Olympic game Oh yeah, he broke his leg Stephen Stamkos has never played in the Olympics in his entire life

Do you think by the time he retires from the beautiful game of hockey, he will play a game for Team Canada at the Winter Olympic Games. It'd have to be Beijing. Four years from now, he'd be, what, 33, 34, 32? Oh, so he could do eight as well. Yeah, he could.

If he'd still make the team, who knows? I mean, Iserman and Sakic did on that year that they were terrible in Torino. That was a bad team, though. That was a bad team. Here's the old guys. Let's pick all the old guys. Oh, Iserman's had 14 knee operations.

He's our guy. Didn't Zagic's productions Fallen off in the last year? Yeah, he's our guy Didn't they have Like Crosby They didn't No, Crosby didn't play

They cut him No, Crosby No, I think he was On the taxi squad Oh, was he? And so was Eric Stahl I want to say Spezza I want to say like

The answers were right there Like in the press box Iserman, I think Would have not picked Iserman Like if Iserman Was the general manager As he would later become Well, and then he didn't

He had the opportunity to select Eisenman, and instead he chose not to select Martin Saint-Louis, who actually won MVP, so it's not that much of a comparable, but anyway. What was the question? Oh, yeah. Is Sam Coe ever going to play for the Olympic team? I hope so. I think he will. You think they'll go to Beijing?

Yes. Okay. He's still really, really good, and I have a hard time believing he'll have such a drop off over the next four years. Bettman did say after the Olympics this year, well, there's no guarantees. Oh, shut up. I mean, that's his job. I don't even blame him for that.

Like, I don't even hate that quote. It's like, well, okay. I mean, he hasn't got the deal he wants yet, so of course he's going to say that. His job is for his words to have the same effect as a fart. And you just go, ugh. And just leave the room. Do you think he's upset and loses sleep over the fact

that you said he can't come on this show? I hope so. You guys want to know the 2002 Winter Olympic team? No, 2006. 2006, I think. 2006 Winter Olympic roster Led by head coach Pat Quinn Who led the team in 2002

When they won Brodeur, Luongo, Turco in goal On the back end we have Rob Blake, Bowmeister, Adam Foote McCabe, Pronger, Wade Redden And Robin Regeer Brian McCabe I forgot that he made the team

And at the time he deserved it Yeah he was, he was great And then the forwards Todd Bertuzzi Shane Doan Draper Simone Gagné Danny Heatley

Jerome McGinley Vincent Lecavillier Rick Nash Brad Richards Joe Sackick Ryan Smith Martin St. Louis And Joe Thornton

That is a pretty old team 2006 Who was the taxi squad though? Does it say? Because I swear Crosby was on the team Unless they did cut him Jason Spezza and Eric Stahl Were selected as reserves

In case of injury Before the tournament began No Crosby Nope In 2006 That's so frustrating After the start he had too Crosby scored over 100 points that year

In 2006? It was his rookie season With the 05-06 season Oh yeah That's unbelievable Anyways Thought that was fun They deserved to lose that year

Glad they did They lost to Switzerland Martin Gerber in the Swiss This article is from ESPN December 22nd, 2005 Yeah, I remember being disappointed too and thinking this is bad. Oh, that he was left off. Yeah.

I thought you were making fun of him and you're like, yeah, I also. No, he was the best player. He was so good. And I was like, I was thinking at the time, like, okay, like with, with apologies to Chris Draper. He was getting old. Yeah. Like Chris Draper, that was not, you know, 1997 playoff run Chris Draper. That was 2006 playoff, Chris Draper.

He was old. And he was a good player for the team in 2002, for sure. He was a good NHL player, even, but Team Canada. That was their problem with that team. Team Canada was supposed to be the most jacked team on planet Earth, and I don't know if he was still so good at that point in his career that he should have been on that team. I think there was that, you could hear it,

where like Shane Doan and stuff like that, and Shane Doan was probably at his peak at that point, but I think the... It's hard to think about it. How could you not... Peak Shane Doan, though, in comparison to Chris Draper. Exactly and that was my point At that point it's like they still felt like they needed to build that

Like an NHL team Well we still need a tough grinding line on that international ice surface That big ice surface We need guys who can grind them down No you don't Like play four first lines That's why first lines are great We only have four first lines because we can't have four first lines

Hockey Canada has a loyalty thing Well they have less of it now They have their guys Yeah but like Gretzky I remember He was criticized for having Theron Fleury on the 2002 team and then they won and it's like proved you wrong

didn't I I mean thank goodness Belarus somehow beat the Swedes but yeah I proved you wrong they should have been loyal to letting the greatest player ever take a penalty shot in 1998 yeah but Ray Moore got one

I love that in 2002 Canada won the gold in a game they weren't even playing in it's crazy that The final question is a comment on our Reddit page from Polar underscore zero zero. He posted a picture of his calculus textbook. Oh, God. And it's a hockey-related question. I thought I'd read it to you guys.

Oh, man. I'm going to hate this. This was question 22 from his textbook. When the rules of hockey were developed, Canada did not use the metric system. Thus, the distance between the goalposts was designated to be six feet, slightly less than two meters. If Sidney Crosby is on the goal line, three feet outside of one of the goalposts, how far should he go out perpendicular to the goal line to maximize the angle in which he can shoot at the goal? Orange.

I know there's people listening to this that love questions like that. I saw Sully's triangle. Next question. I would rather be taken outside and hit in the face with a baseball bat than attempt to even try that question. No. I would take the hit from the baseball bat. To solve this question, you can use this diagram they have

and just determine what X is on the triangle. Josie, I quit math forever when I was 17 years old. You don't want to determine what X is? No. Okay. when they said do you want to take math again

I just put a big X that's my X did they throw that imperial do you want to take grade 12 math no did they throw that

imperial metric thing in there to mess with people yes no I think it's because they want to use the round digits

to for the math question because like you're not actually using because you are you are talking at beers right

but the numbers but the numbers can be anything they can be represented You're determining what the X is, but doesn't have to be like it just pretend meters It's just so they can use round numbers because they went with the other system They'd have to use like two point whatever it actually is To me the answer

To me the real answer to that is it's Sidney Crosby and it doesn't matter what angle it is That's what I would write on the test. It would get a zero, but it really I mean that would Might get a one right though might get a one like it's probably out of four or five but I'll probably get one. It should get 8.7. Ah! Maybe even 6.9. Or 4.20.

4.20? You mean 4.2? No, no. He knows what he said. And you just draw a picture of Crosby with sunglasses and a blunt. Anyway. Hey, did you know that...

No, I dropped that like a bad habit after grade 11. Did you know that 42 is also 420? Because... Yeah, because decimal zero right after. Right? But then it's also... Then it's also 4200.

Because you can just keep adding decimal zeros. Because the one decimal is the zero that shows you that there's no other decimal. You can add as many zeros as you want to anything. I dropped ever having to think about this again in 2005. Why are you guys talking about this? That was before Canada lost the Olympics. my last ever parent teacher thing

my parents decided to meet with my math teacher in grade 11 and he's like oh yeah I like Stephen he shouldn't take math next year and it's the nicest thing I think any teacher has ever said about me he wrote in my yearbook

he and I liked Pink Floyd so we used to talk about that but he wrote in my book he said hey Adam you're very talented maybe not at math but other things and continue on with those things i love mr money yeah he was like a notoriously known hard teacher to have in our school but like we we figured him out it's probably adam because he's a freaking psychologist adam probably you know dropped something hey do you did you know about the fur treaty during and then they bonded over that but um no adam had him pegged like in the first few weeks of school he was like you know what if we just behave for like

The first quarter of class He'll like us He loved us He did love us We didn't love our test results We were stupid Yeah, sure We were not smart

Still are Oh, no But But, no, he liked us Yep And I think that That bumped me up to a 57 Which is how I retired from math

I had a 60 So I beat you Whoa, you did Wow It was really competitive The real race to the bottom on that one we should do at our live show

like a math math olympics like you and me oh my god I know what I'm doing tonight getting fucking

math questions ready playing quiz master on April 7th oh that could be fun fuck yeah and then we could

we could place bets on who wins and then just like you know have like one half of the audience is Steve's fans one half of them is my fans

it could be like darts you know the fucking crazy darts fans 140 anyway alright hey that was a fun show it was a long one

oh gosh god we needed to get that out felt good yeah hey love you guys we'll be back I think Tuesday Tuesday

Steve flies out on Wednesday he's going to Woody Nutsville and what are you flying out for Steve? I'm flying out for the Ed Snyder cup

it's for That might not be the exact name But it's through World Gaming You're just as bad as explaining it the first time Like you have not improved at all And you're going to this thing So the Ed Snyder Cup is for what? World Gaming

Yeah, I'm doing a play-by-play for the games With Evan Pivnik I hope not Okay, everybody's playing NHL 18 And you're calling it Like Joe Bowen Yeah And his mouth is not closed yet

And you'll be calling it No A little leprechaun has found a pot of gold Can we live stream it anywhere at all? I believe so, yes I think it's on Twitch He still doesn't know Go on my Twitter because I retweeted the link today

What if you don't have Twitter? Welcome to Okay, then you're definitely not going to Twitch Fair Yeah, that's fair I'll give you that Alright, I talked my way out of it, good We also have podcast merch as usual.

Yes, we do. You can find that on any of our videos or wherever you listen or watch the podcast. You just scroll down, go to the description. It's always there, a link to things you can buy from our show. Our store on Teespring is under the name of Fancy Dangle Shirts. Why? Because they're Fancy Dangle Shirts. That's what I made it.

Could have just been Steve Dangle's store. No, it's correct advertising. Fancy Dangle Shirts. Okay. All right. They're fancy, related to Steve Dangle, and shirts. All right. Love you guys.

There's also mugs. Bye. Stickers. Hoodies. Bag. Follow the guys on Twitter, at Steve underscore Dangle, at Adam W-Y-L-D-E, and at Jesse Blake. the steve dangle podcast brought to you by panago pizza order at panago.com and stuff your face with deliciousness