The Steve Dangle Podcast - Midtropolitalk | April 3, 2024

Episode Date: April 3, 2024

On this episode of The Steve Dangle Podcast, sdpn employee wars (00:00), the Panthers have been bad (05:00), the Toronto MEEEDDDIIAAAA and Marner's injury (17:00), the Newfoundland Growlers officially cease operations (40:30), the East playoff race is so bad (55:00), the Leafs have an awful schedule to end the year (1:21:00), and McDavid is going to make history (1:31:00). Join SDP VIP: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0a0z05HiddEn7k6OGnDprg/join Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/thestevedanglepodcast Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sdpvip/subscribe Visit this episode's sponsors: Visit https://www.betterhelp.com/sdp today to get 10% off your first month. Follow us on Twitter: @Steve_Dangle, @AdamWylde, & @JesseBlake Follow us on Instagram: @SteveDangle, @AdamWylde, & @Jesse.Blake Join us on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/MtTmw9rrz7 For general inquiries email: [e-mail] Reach out to https://www.sdpn.ca/sales to connect with our sales team and discuss the opportunity to integrate your brand within our content! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two in five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire

and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca. You gotta try breakfast at A&W. You gotta try breakfast at A&W. And what better way than with the delicious Pret Organic Coffee. Starting at just one dollar, all day, every day, now until December 31st. You gotta try breakfast at A&W. At participating A&W locations in Ontario.

hey just a reminder you can get every steve dangle podcast episode for 6.99 ad free we're calling it vip ad free and by the way we do a fourth episode if you haven't heard that yet it's pretty awesome and fun and somebody actually messaged me last night they're like those are my favorite episodes now oh well thank you i think it's it's the whole the whole thing is familiar characters us unfamiliar situations non-hockey content yeah which if you've been around for a long time you know but you know for the last four or five years that's all we've done is just straight hockey so adam it's wednesday it's raining outside can i let my intrusive thoughts win yeah of course all right give me a sec all right oh this is my jacks always loves these and

This drives me crazy. It drives me. Nobody listening has any idea what you're talking about. I've got tendrils hanging out. I've got curly hair, and it's hanging on my forehead, and it drives me bananas because, you know, my ADHD goes bonkers. Well, so does mine. I can feel it.

Yeah. I've got to look at it, and I keep wanting to bloop it. I wanted to say this. If the Leafs get one point tonight against the Lightning guys, they are officially in the playoffs. Hey. Woo! Now, the way Florida's –

Before you move too fast away from SDP VIP. Oh, sorry. to clarify some things as i did last episode there's more things to clarify as we continue to learn how these platforms work got it so on when you're listening on apple podcasts um so right like yesterday's episode if you if you have the subscription tier you'll see two episodes right there was there's one that was ad free and one that was just the regular episode with the ads in it but there's sometimes we can we can sync the episodes so moving forward you're going to see one episode but if you're on the subscription tier you're going to be able to listen to

subscription audio where there's no ads in it but if you're not on the subscription you'll just listen to the regular episode so you're going to see one episode there on your apple podcast app and if you're subscribed it'll automatically serve you the one without the ads and so that'll be how it's going to be done moving forward but like previously you would have seen two episodes so mine the two episodes they're going to live there for now but today's episode you'll see one episode and if you're subscribed it'll serve you the no ad one automatically if you're on spotify there's a whole different feed so you don't have to worry about that's an apple thing that's an apple thing okay yeah it's it's funny because every platform is a little bit different yeah on youtube there's

two videos you'll see there's two videos there and you can just choose to watch whichever one you want yep and then uh that's and then google podcast shut down so so far every platform we've had ideas and they're like you can't do that it's a little different here yeah um but yeah if you're if you listen to us on google podcast i'm sorry like google shut down their podcast department We used to do pretty good numbers on Google Podcasts. A lot of people had the Google Podcast app on their Android phones. Well, you know, they've run into hard times, Google.

They have no money. I think they're trying to focus their efforts to YouTube music and that side of it, but podcasts don't really work. When are we going to get dynamic ad insertion on YouTube? I know I'm a salesperson, but I'm really annoyed with the lack of options on YouTube on that one.

Yes. And if you're like, Adam, I'm not annoyed with that. I don't want it at all Try SDP VIP ad free Hey Speaking of our YouTube channel I do want to say thanks to everybody who tuned into the stream last night

I did And I know Jesse did And Drew was trolling me He paid $19.67 We had a poll going about Who's the better SDPN employee Drew or Justin Who won

I think Drew came out on top I'm honestly surprised It was like 51-49. It was real close. Wow. You know what? I don't think we're over yet. I think we need to make that a seven-game series.

Right? You're running it back. Yeah, we got to do that the next time you do a stream, Steve. Hell yeah. Yeah. Oh, I think Justin will win. You think so? Well, because my stream will be more Leaf fans.

Right. Whereas you were doing a Preds-Boston game. It's whoever. I think Leaf fans will profoundly vote against Drew. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. I think we need to try. you're assuming this saturday right uh no not this saturday next saturday yeah the 13th yeah

the 13th okay i think on the 13th that he said we need to like lead the stream with who's the best employee don't even say who they're playing we got to put their paychecks on the line oh your family didn't eat sorry should have won the popularity loser doesn't get vacation it's like the joker breaking a pool cue except way more mundane exactly exactly um I don't want any part in this No no Maddie wins You know what you weren't going to be But now that you mention it

Maddie's holding the belt You know like they gotta take it from her Like she's US champion right now She's also like Heading up the switcher And can make us look really shitty So I think you're doing a great job Thank you

I think you're doing a great job Thank you. As I said, the Leafs are a point away against the Lightning from being into the playoffs tonight. But what's more important here, guys, is that the Florida Panthers have been bad lately. They lost to the Montreal Canadiens last night. Now, they did not have Carter Verhege.

They did not have Matthew Kachuk. Kind of big losses. It's like the Leafs without Marner and Nylander, or Matthew's a Nylander, however you want to look at it. Ish. Ish. I know Verhege's not on that level, but he's still... He's pretty damn good.

Pretty damn good player, yeah. um so i'm looking at this and i'm thinking okay the leafs have two games in hand on the florida panthers okay they gotta win them both but right we could we actually be looking at home ice advantage it's possible like i didn't allow myself to believe it just because you expect teams to be average ish yep if you're in the playoff picture you expect to go something like Six and four in a 10-game span, seven and three, somewhere in that neighborhood. But sometimes one team gets hot and the other team gets really cold. I wouldn't have put my money on the Panthers getting cold.

What's really interesting is the Florida Panthers don't appear to give a damn. Well, they're 2-7-1 in their last 10. I think they care a little bit. They do care a little bit, and there's obviously some things with their game that they're unhappy with. um but i'm i'm struggling to figure out if they're just taking their foot off the gas maybe some injuries maybe some resting yeah ahead of the playoffs like carter verhage i think paul murray said is week to week um i'm not convinced he would have missed more than a shift if this was a playoff game that uh two seven and one is since march 13th so this is over two weeks now

And that would give them the 30th most points since that date. Wow. The only team with less points since that date are the San Jose Sharks and the Anaheim Ducks who are tied with them at five points. And they're good. Who? Those two teams? Yeah, yeah.

Something like that. Wow. Only the Sharks have less points than the Florida Panthers since March 13th. That's not a great stretch. I'm surprised. Yeah. Why I think this is a big deal is because, you know, as much as going into a series like you talked about this on your LFR I think on

Thursday night Friday morning whenever I watched it listen to it the last week you're saying the Leafs are a good team they're a really good team feeling good about the team but going them enough that I'm like you know what great great job assembling this team yes but going into a series against Florida going into a series against Boston you kind of mentioned and I agree with I don't I think the other teams get the edge they've struggled against those teams this year And those teams are really good. Yes. I think that it's interesting for Florida.

If they are taking their foot off the gas, maybe it benefits them. However, the matchup doesn't because there's a big difference between playing the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round, whether they win or lose, and playing the Tampa Bay Lightning

or the Washington Capitals. And they were in line to play one of those two teams. Now, it's not that the Lightning are bad in the playoffs. We know they're really good, but we know that second wildcard, and we'll get to the terrible wildcard race

in the East and the West. man don't expand the playoffs yeah no i'm in for expanding the playoffs but i was uh but washington is i'm not anymore this season ruined it yeah um but but washington is a far different opponent i don't want to say easier but it's easier well it's interesting you have teams who have lots of guys who have won the cup in recent memory on those two teams right yeah in in the lightning and the caps and then you have the leafs who are still well i can't use the word wild card but they're still a bit of an unknown and for the panthers they're unknown you beat them last year and even some of their tough guys who uh who you know have have maybe changed their game a little

bit this year they were on the team last year you're not afraid of jake mccabe you know what i mean there are a few other guys i i don't know if the panthers are afraid of anybody i don't think they should be no but i do think it's a different matchup i do think there's more of an attrition that happens when you're playing the Leafs now versus a Washington Capitals team. I also think we're overthinking things. I think sometimes, I was the one who said

they're taking their foot off the gas. I'm sure they want to get healthy, so maybe they're taking their foot off the gas in that respect, but I don't think teams win or lose based on who they want to play against in the playoffs. Right.

you know what i mean uh if they i'm sorry i have a problem with that yeah yes absolutely what specifically uh i think you're wrong completely wrong i think you think teams blow games on purpose no i think teams want to want that first spot in their division well that's what i'm saying when you're saying they don't win based on that i i said they don't win or lose they don't lose right but then you just suggested earlier that they've taken their foot off the gas perhaps yeah and then i corrected myself oh okay yeah and i think the it seems like the division title is a little out of reach like we we talk about how oh you might be four points back but four points gaining four points in the nhl is hard thing to do with the three with the uh extra

point system so yeah i think like right now they're just so far behind the bruins that i don't think there's a chance and even if they pass the bruins they probably face the lightning because the rangers exist and the hurricanes exist to get that actual number one seed so like i don't think they're too worried about their place in the standings. I think it's just about playing good hockey the next week or so. I mean, you know what? There's a greater than 0%

chance of happening. Leafs versus Tampa, the rubber match. The Leafs would have to pass the Panthers and so would the Lightning. Right, but the Lightning are not going to... How far back are they? No, the Lightning are 10 points behind the Florida Panthers. No, they're not. Yeah, they are.

Florida's got 99. That's the gap? yeah yeah and by the way shit here's how much first in the division matters for for if and winning the face frankly winning the eastern conference matters if you let's say washington makes it in this is the playoff picture you're looking at it right now if washington which is in the second wild card spot you play them if you're the boston bruins you have a plus 44 goal differential they have a minus 35 goal differential and i know that's just one stat well but there's a huge chasm between what the panthers are going to face and what the bruins are going to face right And the Bruins wouldn't even play them right now.

No, they'd be playing Tampa. Although that would be, I was saying last time on the stream, Bruins-Tampa would be incredible. It'd be a good game, yeah. It'd be Rangers-Caps. Good for the Penguins for being in the playoff picture once again. Also, oof. Yeah.

They don't even have 80 points. And they have seven games left. And they could very realistically make it. Can we not get into that yet? Can we not get into that yet? No, okay, fine. I'm waiting on that. Sorry.

I'm talking about Florida and the Leafs. It's on the screen, which means I see it. It erases everything that's being said. Well, there's an interesting wrinkle to the Pittsburgh thing. That's why I'm saving it. Home ice to me with Florida and Toronto. Toronto struggles so much at home. They get the yips when their own crowd is cheering for them.

Well, their own crowd is sitting on their hands nervously waiting for the Leafs to choke in front of them. So home ice to me doesn't really matter this year. I've seen it too many times. Adam and I have been at too many games where they've blown it. We haven't seen a single playoff win at home the last three years. We haven't seen a single win together, you and I. No, it's been awful.

So if they get home ice, if they don't get home ice, I think either way the outcome is going to be the same. Well, I'm trying to remember what my last Leaf game I went to was. I think it was with us at the Scotiabank Lounge. No, then I went to Sweden. I think my last game was in Sweden. I've seen more Leaf games in Europe this year than I have in Canada. That's cool.

Now, I want to ask this question, guys, for the Toronto Maple Leafs fans in attendance. I know that it's really hard to play here because what happens is when you play at home, the media get on the ice and they go, whoa, whoa. James Myrtle, they actually let him go on the ice and just play as an extra man for the other team. It's crazy. It's a new rule the NHL implemented. And he's tall. He lacks foot speed, but he's long.

Yeah, he's got that reach, you know. So the media gets on the ice. You're like, whoa, boogeyman. Sorry, Leafs. I was watching, and I've been talking about this a lot. There's a channel on YouTube that post-sold Leafs playoff games. The entire game. So you get to watch the commercials, everything.

And it's Bob Cole and Harry Neal. And it's funny because I was watching Game 7, 1994. Who were the Leafs playing? Game 7. Game 7, 1994. What are you, afraid of sharks or something? the san jose sharks yeah and so uh so when the leafs were in the western conference that's right that's right and so here's how here's how um uh bob cole and now like starts the game off he's

like there's two goaltenders and then he's and then he said who playing goal in a game seven no thank you that's a really funny clip and then later on in the game real hardcore uh uh i'm i'm like if you're a goaltender, 10, the goal Archer's Irby is the worst puck handling goaltender I've ever seen in my life in 1994, in 1994. He's horrendous.

And they even say it on the TV. They're like, they're like, Hey, you know, it's really, it's tough for the sharks defenseman to predict what Archer's Irby is going to do.

But really dry. The reason I'm bringing it up is because if you go and you watch these games on YouTube and Jesse, you mentioned the noise, the leaf fans are freaking ear cracking loud it's deafening yeah they are they are in the game they are throwing balloons around they like it's maple leaf gardens but it is rocking in there and we've been there jesse when they at least at least have scored a couple times it does get loud in the scotia bank arena yeah no there was there were some really good playoff games last year where

the crowd was loud but there was a there's a nervous twitch i think from all the recent failures the worst one was the tampa one where um that the justin hall the pick was called because that that entire third period was silent yeah in in scotia bank terrible that was awful that was awful energy can i i thought we put this to bed three years ago when they blew a 3-1 series lead in front of uh no one empty buildings yep yeah it's over their easiest chance to run to the Stanley Cup final. You got it. We're so nervous about it. What? The concession guy's

not even here. Do you still have the division champs shirt? Oh, no. That's someone in Oshawa's wearing that. Oh, you donated it? I donated a lot. Oh, I would have kept that as like a relic of what the hell, why did you print this? I probably should have. I have so much

memorabilia. I have other people's throwaway memorabilia. we've we've talked about this before one of the most unique i have a one-of-one item in the blue room it is uh my buddies used to do audio visual hookup and i have a spoof movie poster of wendell clark in a cowboy hat it is signed by wendell clark addressed to joe bowen wow because my buddies were uh setting up a tv at joe bowen's house and he has so much memorabilia that he has a signed gift from wendell clark and he's just like i have nowhere to put it so here you go joe bowen has no idea i have that that's cool it's just in my house that's cool yeah it's it's

in every lfr video um yeah but the beliefs they choked in front of nobody yeah they did maybe they felt the pressure through the cameras could be i just i think it's a made-up thing i think Listen, the, the media narrative, uh, I think, I think the worst is, um, remember Steve Simmons came on our show frigging 11 years ago and he said, Darcy Tucker knew where the commas were. Um, I think newspapers and TV and radio used to poison the minds of some guys who would listen to them. And it's a totally avoidable thing.

You don't need to listen to it. And I think for some guys, social media is a huge problem. Yeah. that's why i don't think it's a made-up thing at all i think when they are in those situations like even in the bubble where there's no crowd they feel the pressure of the largest fan base in hockey weighing down on them yeah there was no they play a little tighter and i think it's been evident over the last eight seasons there was no covid shutdown for twitter so yeah exactly like everybody's still if anything like we were all together there's more eyeballs on it you know and like there were

There were fans in that. Remember they brought like a thousand healthcare workers into the building and all the tweets mocking them about they put them in the worst position of the pandemic to watch this team and all that stuff. I feel like they do feel the weight of the situation, what's on their shoulders. And you know what? Those people never saw a first or second period leave goal.

No, that sucks. I think, by the way, nobody remembered that, and now you've brought it back to the fore. You're welcome. And I just want you to thank you for reliving that trauma with me. Well, because I just had to sit there for like six days going, this is happening. Yeah.

Oh, my God, this is happening. They're blowing it. Let's not get down that road. That's not what I was trying to do. Nope. What I was trying to do is say, Toronto fans can get loud. We can. You just have to go outside the arena.

I keep saying that. How many other teams have 40,000 fans show up for a playoff game? Right. Only half of them get in. But there are 40,000 fans that show up to every Toronto Maple Leafs playoff game Whether they're here or not Wait, Edmonton Edmonton does, yes

Because they put a bunch of them in the hall They put them in the hallway By the way, is there not fire code issues with that? Well, I mean, you know, we make fun of them for that And then it's like, what is it better to stand in the rain? Yeah I've been there, man It can be cold there too

It's not the greatest place to watch a hockey game I'm looking at inside the arena, it's pretty nice though Inside is great, outside, cold, rain I guarantee Vancouver is going to have one of the best playoff atmospheres this postseason. Yeah, they're just going to be rocking. Yeah, that's going to be a fun city. What do we think of the clinch shirts?

I didn't see them. They had t-shirts Well, I want to go a different direction. They were clinching a playoff spot and people were dunking on them. When we come back. Is that a clinch? Yeah, well, because I mean that to me is on par with Toronto Maple Leafs Canadian North Division.

Like, okay, you clinched the playoff spot. sick i don't think one of half the teams i don't think you need to sell a t-shirt for clinching a play guys can you let baseball can you let can you let people just have a good time both of you sound curmudgeony right yeah if a kid wants that t-shirt are you gonna take that that's not what winning is children no kid has ever asked for that it's a shirt that says their favorite team oh so it's marketed to children and the leaf should have one it should be called clenched as in clenching that's a good one i think if the leaf sold clinch shirts i think if the leaf sell anything we would be mocked for years oh my god the leaves could make millions and millions of

extra dollars if they just finally put their pride aside and were in on the joke oh yeah sold dude i'd buy a clench shirt that's so funny that's a great idea i'm just saying i'm saying like Listen, if you don't like it, you don't have to buy it. But let them celebrate it. When was the last time they were in the playoffs? 2015? Jesse, forget editing the show. Put clenched shirts on the store today.

Today. Clenched. Yeah, put that in the SDPN store. Today. You said if they get a point today, they clench? Yeah, they clench. Is that what it's going to be now? Clench.

They clench a playoff spot. Two in five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca. You've got to try breakfast at A&W.

You've got to try breakfast at A&W. And what better way than with the delicious Pret Organic Coffee. Starting with just $1 all day, every day, now until December 31st. You've got to try breakfast at A&W. At participating A&W locations in Ontario. Along the media thing and the pressure and that sort of thing, we did get a little off track. You know, when Mitch Marner was interviewed, I think it was this weekend, before Morning Skate. It was odd.

He made a comment about how he didn't, it seems as though, and I'm paraphrasing here. I'll play it. I'll bring it up in the house. Bring it up, yeah. Seems as though, and I'll introduce here. Seems as though he didn't love the way that his injury was covered. Now, I think it's really important in, you know, if you're a Leafs fan, most of the clips that you're going to see or written word that you're going to see is on video, right? Most of it's posted somewhere.

So make sure you watch the video first. But I'm curious about what you think hearing this, watching this on the SDP, because he seems kind of ticked. Well, I... I'm going to pull up Steve's tweet. Yeah, this clip, I quote tweeted it, and then I posted the video. And people were like, see? And I'm like, yeah, it confirms the way it reads. You think so, huh?

Oh, he's kidding around. Oh, yeah, he looks miserable. He looks completely miserable. He'll be back, looks like Saturday, by the way, while we're setting this up. Morgan Riley should be back tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning. and boy i post a lot of you tweet way too much i'm trying to support the business we found it holy shit hold on hold on i want to i'll we can read your tweet as well and then just let me cue the video here okay i still by the way as long as we're stalling for time

unless jesse found it you got it what do you want no i was just gonna say i still like the idea of marner on his own line okay so this is what steve said this is the video uh watching it he just seems ticked that people speculated as to what his injury was question mark who knows there's a game tomorrow and i'm sure everyone mitch included would rather talk about that and then let me bring up the video watch this video yeah and then by the way they played a game and they won the game and no one no one's talking about this anymore um but i mean it's worth it's worth mentioning well watch the clip watch here we go how you feeling first practice in a while yeah it's great it feels nice to be back out with the guys obviously you know

um we want to be around the guys and um want to try to be helping out so it's nice to be back out there and get a sweat with them how close do you feel like you are to playing again yeah um it's close so you know just take it day by day uh just keep progressing the right way and you know just be uh ready when the time comes when you initially got hurt did you think you'd be out this long um oh it's just uh you know didn't really know what was gonna happen and um you know it's kind of just been what it's been do you see any benefit mitch in getting two or three weeks to as you recover at least recharge the battery to an extent before players um i think that's how you got to look at it because you know we're all competitive in here we don't want to

miss games especially uh you know this this late in the season so um you know you can look at it that way and that's how i've been trying to look at it such a strange play when you got hurt like what do you what happened there what do you recall uh yeah i mean i've been watching every game you guys been talking about it every single game so i think you guys can uh you know say whatever you want it's behind me now um you know stuff happened and kind of just go on from it you of course went through an ankle injury back in 2019-20 what do you recall about that because he came back pretty pretty strong back then yeah um that's a compliment it's a softball mental's good you know i'll let you guys speculate on what you think it is so oh is it not is it not a high

ankle i don't know whatever you guys want to say it is but um you know it's behind me now i'm excited to be back out here with the guys and you know competing with them again oh shoving buddies right all right now that's there it is that's a guy who's oh yeah he's kidding and loving it so so everyone can we can we stop i think people are entitled to a bad day uh i think people are entitled to be grumpy but i think it is important that you know you mentioned steve simmons talking about darcy tucker knowing where the commas were right this is where this all thread comes from the reason i'm bringing it up is not to make mitch marner look bad he's clearly frustrated i like that he's frustrated actually i to me the frustration he's been pissed off all year and

he's been playing fine yeah well and i think now he wasn't playing fine at the beginning of the year right like okay yeah sorry he's been coming on since early december he's been i think he's been fantastic uh a lot of leafs did not have an ideal start no i think he's been fantastic almost all year so uh while i do disagree with that vehemently uh because the first two months of the year i thought he was not up to his part even though he was still a point of game i think that mitch martyr has been a spectacular like incredible leaf when he's been on the ice this year and i don't think anybody's going to disagree so as well but my hold on but my point is i'm i'm concerned about like when we make this show who do we make it for the fans maddie we make it for maddie

maddie yeah yeah we make it so like most media we don't make it for the players i'm not like it's not that i wouldn't be friends with a player but like i'm not like oh man i'm in the media i hope sure hope one of the players notices me like i'm it's not like you know what i mean and i know that there are certain media organizations and certain things where that makes sense right where a player you know the media guys arm around the player like that's cool like whatever but you know when we bring up these things it seems to be certain players really get bothered by them and then certain players completely don't care i look at i look at you know mitch talking about the media tells me he's blocking out the noise but he's not as he's mentioned many times he blocked and and

this is the thing like you know i don't think sarcasm steve no i'm saying what he said verbatim he blocks it i don't think mitch or the people around him and free has mentioned this a lot not specifically due to mitch but just with players in the past do not send this player clips do not send this player newspaper articles times the people around them got to stop they got they got to stop because like that any favors that to me it's like i have to be honest after mitch went down i thought it was business as usual like for us and we're not you know the major tsn's and sports nets or whatever even during the games i don't remember the commentators talking about it all that much i don't remember the intermission panels talking about it all that he was in the

upper he was in the press box where as far as i know they don't have the sound on because the game's going on beneath them what do you mean you heard what i have like what he says like a a freaking ear horn ear trumpet uh going up to you're listening to what chris cuthbert said stop when he says i watched the games and i hear what you guys are talking about my injury no i have no idea what he's talking about i don't either i don't think anybody i don't know a specific instance where anybody was talking about his injury in like a negative way but you don't have to talk about it also it's not shit happens it's right all anyone said was the first few games without him jeez leafs could sure use mitch right now leafs could sure use mitch right now

i i don't understand it listen someone uh there's this is my back back to that i think somebody must have sent him something that he saw some sort of clip and he got and they got to stop yeah i think the thing is is that you know this is a this this year in particular is a is a an important one for the leafs because we're now seeing the maturation of the the core three these young guys that are in their mid to late 20s now and need to succeed and mitch's contracts up in in like he can start negotiating with the leafs july 1st which is not a big deal for most players but he's a star so we start talking about it way ahead of time exactly he's a star he's an extraordinarily good holy shit he's a great player and the team needs him send him this clip mitch martyr's

fucking incredible i think what else do you need yeah i think i think it's just i think it's just that my concern in seeing a clip like that and again everybody's entitled to a bad day is you know i pissed off mitch martyr playing pissed off great that's awesome but that's the kind of shit that he doesn't need around nobody needs that nobody david kahn doesn't need that around playoff time the the i i think a lot of people will disagree with this just leading up to marner's injury it's the best he's ever played yes no the best the best marner ever played is when he set the all-time franchise record for a point streak well jesse i didn't get to watch that game so i'm a little bitter about it that entire stretch no i mean he he you know what he was

really good during that stretch i still disagree i think leading up to that injury he was setting up plays he's he's got a a more versatile scoring touch than he's ever had he was actually like finishing checks and hitting guys and he's still responsible defensively um i think getting him back it's part of the reason that I think he can manage his own line just fine the issue and that's where I want to go by the way expand on that well the the biggest problem I have with it is who the hell plays center because if you're taking Domi off of Matthew's line to be Mitch's center then what's the point yeah having the three different lines we but I I just think the depth on the leafs would be crazy and i think it would be a match-up nightmare to have all three of those

guys on a different line it's something that i don't know if they've ever tried like even going back to when they were rookies um i like the bertuzzi matthews domey setup it'd be cool to see like mitch uh matthew nyes and i don't know who's going to play center on that why why don't you pair him with jt well i mean you can spread the talent over three lines yeah no but then willie is on a separate line yeah but one of the one of the better lines in the league over the last couple months in terms of just owning the puck and owning the lion chair scoring chances has been mcmahon tavarez kneeland but they did it earlier this season yeah where we said john tavarez was on the quote third line yeah there are so many options there's there's lots and lots of

options you you yeah you could do that yeah you could do that um and i and i still and i still disagree about mitch marner's best time of his career i think during those two months he was the best player in the toronto police okay like solid best best game suited for the playoffs okay all right all right all right i like that i'm excited about it i think i think uh you know that clip made a little bit of a stir and then the leafs won and nobody talked about it and i and i think it is a microcosm of listen you know this is a guy that's been in this in this system for what eight nine ten years drafted nine years ago wow yeah so wow so you know i can understand that there'd be a little bit of i was drafted nine years ago i know all right one one two minute

soundbite in nine a hundred percent and there's been a couple of it's like you know i can understand there being a little bit of friction it's the end of the year you're coming off a frustrating injury and i you know i don't i don't really care i mean i figured it's an ankle sprain or a high ankle sprain i don't really care what the injury is as long as he's healthy um but it's going to be this is this is and we've we said this a couple weeks ago this is a playoff that mitch marner really needs to establish himself as a playoff performer you know nylander has done it matthews after some questions there were questions especially after that montreal series has done it marner had a banger first three games against tampa last year and dropped off a lot and

and then and then in florida had one game where he scored any points at all yes and so you're the one who always hampers that when people bring up marner's points from last season you say go look past game three yeah it's and they need they need that well and then and then the one game they won against florida they won because marner was good yeah marner won that game by himself it's crazy When you have a player that's that good and makes that much, most of the roads are going to go through him and the other guys that make that much. Well, and the reason they're, you know, people were like, oh, God, like, what's the injury? How long is it? He's a star.

He's a key part of the team. That's the gig. Isn't that what the money's for? I also every other league has injury transparency and the NHL doing the stupid thing about like upper body injury, undisclosed lower body injury. It's bullshit. we should know guys's injuries for the sake of covering the sport and like it's a huge thing the nfl for betting reasons for for gambling you have to report what a guy has on the injury reports that are due on certain days of the week and i think there should be a transparency like

that with the nhl and every other league i i don't need to know what a player is going through um i'm i'm less picky about that if if you know it's enough that he's injured it's enough that he's out and i don't even know how you would approach that with the playoffs the list would be if there's 20 guys it'd be 20 guys long yeah they all have something wrong with them yeah and that's i think that's what you have to do is you have to list the injuries and if guy's missing a game or if he misses a practice you have to state this is the reason he misses the practice yeah but what if you get on the ice with like a completely remorseless psychopath like insert player here and they just start targeting that injury yeah no but then you're not injured if you're playing

right like if you're out with an injury then you're injured i brady kachuk brady kachuk matthew kachuk there's only two kachuks and i fucked it up matthew kachuk played the stanley cup final and scored goals with a broken sternum right so the way the injury designations would work is you either you designate some guy be questionable to play with blank injury or good to go no injury you know it's i think it's a very simple thing that other leagues have i i think i think uh there would be a lot more public outcry from people going this player should not be on the ice i think you are you are over complicating it why am i over complicating it because i'm telling you it is a very simple process that happens so you're saying don't label it you're

just saying questionable injury no if somebody is is playing then they're healthy and they're good to go if somebody is questionable leading into the game coming out of practice then you label what injury they have what if it's patrice bergeron and it's a punctured lung and the public outcry would be insane i think we all know that he had a punctured lung at the time like we know he had no idea we didn't know that we knew he would beat up yeah so i think you would say that and then he plays like like it's and then what are you gonna do what are you gonna do run down to TD Gardens and stop them? I don't know.

I don't know, but you're going to stop them from getting on the ice, Steve? A lot of people... Oh, I don't... Listen, it's your body. I think the league would call. If they knew, if the league knew that there was a player taking the ice

with a punctured lung, they would call. I don't think the league... Then maybe they should! Yeah, maybe they should. Maybe they should. Then the other side, yes, then we should disclose this. I don't disagree.

I think you're accidentally agreeing with me. You're saying they shouldn't disclose this information because god forbid we get upset oh i'm saying i don't need it you're saying that they shouldn't disclose this because god forbid we get upset that a player goes out there and plays with an injury and i'm saying you should probably disclose it for both of the reasons one we should get upset if he's playing with a punctured lug and two there should be full discussion there should be full transparency about what guys are playing with i i don't need to know it i understand why you want to know it i understand why you want to know why don't you

why don't you need to know it i don't know i'm two dollars steve it's not as big a deal no no like for the sake of being a hockey fan why don't you need to know you're not providing because i've watched enough hockey to know that everyone is essentially a reanimated corpse come june but that doesn't make them ineligible to play i'm talking about injuries that keep you out of a hockey game so if you're not yeah but yeah listen so what does happen in the nhl and the reason they stopped doing that they used to do this they used to just tell you used to ask the head coach coach would be like well he's got a broken thumb john tortorella still does oh he had to shit yeah yeah yeah but you know they stopped doing that because oh he's got a broken

thumb and he's back in two games cool well i'm gonna slash that hand and and so that i think that's why it's happened but i think you do make a good point of if the player's got a punctured lung and that is an extreme case or a broken sternum uh perhaps you can't play yeah perhaps it's an insurance also like if a guy is intentionally targeting someone for an injury it's called the suspension and well they're not and they do that oh yeah now which one of us is being unreasonable oh yeah let george peros handle it because don't worry it's fine we all watch leon dryside will play on one foot like if somebody is hacking at his foot it is very apparent and that's what the flames did all series long okay all right we're moving on we're moving on

you don't think football players attack a guy's injured ankle like they do yeah if they're gonna do it anyway then i'm just saying maybe maybe tune into something else besides hockey listen just because i did terribly in my fantasy football doesn't mean i didn't watch like four football games. You didn't make the playoffs in her. No. Eight out of ten teams make the playoffs.

Yeah. Christina from sales, she beat me in the tiebreaker. The Steve Dangle Podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. And listen, if you're feeling a little bit angsty these days,

it's because the playoffs are on the horizon. Is that why? Yeah. Well, listen. It's not that it's always raining? What if I just like listening to My Chemical Romance?

Could be that. While it's raining. Some would see that as an outlet, you see. But I would say that if you're feeling angsty, it has to be playoffs because you're worried

about your team and will they succeed or will they not succeed? You know, because the playoffs are a painful combination of I'm enjoying this, but I also am in pain

until this game is over. You know what I mean? Right? The organ music is nice, though. It is. It kind of suits you. Yeah, I like that. It brings you around.

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And what better way than with a delicious Pratt Organic Coffee, starting at just $1 all day, every day, now until December 31st. You gotta try breakfast at A&W. At participating A&W locations in Ontario. Chris Ballard, play-by-play broadcaster for the ECHL Newfoundland Growlers, said this, after three seasons in Brampton and five at home in Newfoundland, it appears my time in the ECHL has come to an end. Very few people actually get to work their dream job, but I did.

And I am forever grateful for the opportunity to have broadcasted in our home province's only pro hockey championship alongside an incredible crew of co-workers. Thank you to the fans for watching and listening to our broadcast each week. It was an honor and the privilege of a lifetime to be the voice of the Growlers. And I genuinely enjoyed interacting with you and sharing our passions together. Thank you for the best five years a homer could ask for. The Newfoundland Growlers obviously officially ceased operations yesterday. we got obviously we've heard rumors and we weren't sure whatever after the recording of the show

yesterday that's when it was officially announced that it was not a lot of lead up to that no there wasn't and and so deacon sports and entertainment is a company that owned the uh the echl growlers and they also own toile riviere they were able to offload toile riviere they were not able to sell the newfoundland growlers um i from what i understand the building wasn't selling that well well they were getting like 4 000 fans a game is what i heard yeah and uh probably not a very profitable operation and each echl franchises are not cheap well so you gotta find somebody especially yeah they gotta fly basically everywhere they're on an island yeah they're on an island and there's not a whole lot of people on that island uh with respect to most

other major metro well and it's cities in north america it also speaks to the fact that canada and this is a canadian rule uh only canadian airlines can fly between canadian cities which is why traveling within canada flying within canada is so expensive and in chris johnson's article on this he was talking about how the growlers have to subsidize airfare for the visiting team so that cost comes goes to the growlers and that was just way too much and there is another team who had to do that a few years ago in the ahl and i believe it was the abbotsford heat i think it was the abbotsford heat uh they were the former um farm team of the uh calgary flames and it felt like the marley's played them every second day and a part of me

wondered like is it because the marley's are the only team who will play them like it was it was so weird they played them an unbelievable amount of time so they had to also pay for the travel the visiting team they did i think it was abbotsford or was it somewhere else because they have the Canucks now like it's and it's one of those places where hey there's enough people here and they love hockey not unlike St. John's but it's so far not easy to get to yeah yeah well and and there I think there was a time when I mean the obviously they had the St. John's Maple Leafs which were an AHL team for years and years and that was the Leafs farm team they've tried it a thousand times they have I think that the fact is the costs are up enormously especially in airfare

travel in the last decade um and it's going to be difficult to put a team back in newfoundland without an owner who's willing to accept some losses i just don't money i just don't know like you know with an echl team there's obviously local businesses that are going to get in there and support just like an ohl team of course but you know the population is not huge in newfoundland it's it's it's like vibrantly culturally extraordinarily vibrant well saint john's is it's 120 150 000 like there are smaller cities in the e sure but they're not they're not canadian travel and we're not talking about american travel i'm not talking about southwest airlines where you can get on a flight for 60 bucks i'm talking about god that's if you can like it it

costs the same for us to fly to halifax as it does like one way as it does to fly to florida florida four times it affects shipping too when i was shipping books i've told the story before it cost more to send a book to like British Columbia or Halifax than it costs to send a book to Japan it's unbelievable but like because I guess with the travel you might as well be sending it to Japan yes yeah it's it's insane yeah so it's it it's a shame uh I feel for uh Growlers fans I feel for the players I know the players got really involved in the community and and you know really beloved by the community well and a number of those players are out of a job too yeah which Which was sort of an underrated factor there.

Todd Skirving, one of those guys, he's a free agent right now. I'm wearing one of his shirts right now. And he was the captain? He was the captain. So as I understand it, the guys on NHL and AHL contracts, they're MLSC's responsibility, the Leafs and the Marlies, and they can disperse them throughout the ECHL. They can call them up to the AHL.

The people on NHL or AHL deals, they're unable to play in the ECHL. Oh, really? Yeah, it's only if you're an ECHL player and on an ECHL deal, you become a free agent. Well, that's even more complicated. Yeah, if you're on an NHL or AHL deal and you're on this team, you have to go to one of those higher leagues. Wow. So the ECHL free agents now have to find new jobs. Yeah.

And that league does not pay well. And there's six games remaining in the season. So it's like, who wants to load up for the playoffs, I guess? Can you find somebody to take you? Would they even be eligible? Oh, they have to. Yeah, yeah. They'll be eligible for whatever team they play for,

but it's going to be tough. Can you imagine? That would be doubly cruel. Oh, hey, by the way, your team stopped existing. No, I know. And fuck off. You can't go to the playoffs either. Devil's advocate.

What if you're the team who has to play them? You got to ring her. Well, all of a sudden, you got like six new guys with six games left in the season. You're like, what the? I'd also, like, I feel bad for the guys whose jobs they're taking. Like, imagine you're a fourth liner on one of these teams. Somebody comes in.

And you're like, fuck, now I'm a healthy scratch. Yep. One of the guys I was worried about. It's so bad. One of the guys I was worried about is Vyacheslav Peksa. He's a goaltending prospect for the Leafs. The ECHL doesn't churn out a ton of NHL players. Bobby McMahon played ECHL games.

Timothy Lillegren? He played one. Still? Alexander Burrows played for the Greenville Growl, spelled with several R's. And it doesn't churn out a ton of skaters, but like goalies it's kind of an important pipeline and the least of a shitload of goalies and sda was the other one sda played there yeah and there's also the thing is too it's it's it's

coaching it's it's uh that's where a lot of people get their start as head coaches like echl ohl these are these are really important grounds for guys that are going to be yeah i guess matt cook doesn't have a job then he's got no team coach yeah that's crazy yeah and so this is the fourth team that hasn't survived in uh st john's because it was it's the st john's frog devils who are a qm jhl team i think that's the future if there's going to be a team there it's going to have to be the q but like it hasn't worked i know like so no i'm just i'm just saying like four teams haven't worked now it's probably not going to work did you call them the frog devils that's what they were fog devils i said frog devil i was like wait it's the fog devils

the ice caps the maple leafs and now the growlers that's four teams i don't think hockey works when you got to do that travel like probably the local hockey works when it's centered around the islands the east coast there but when you have to play teams who are provinces away it seems like it's just not viable senior hockey's alive and well that was the texan terry ryan uh yesterday and he was saying as much um the locals are there to support they they talk about bobby mcmahon like he played there half a decade he played there like a handful of games um it sucks i don't know what the solution is well i know that there's enough people there to support a team a normal team but they're not under normal circumstances i wonder too about um um about what the leafs are

going to do because the leafs do need an echl team yeah it's important they need to be aligned with somebody now they don't need to own it but it should be something that they are able to you know have an agreement with like they did with the growlers the growlers were loosely associated but it was never an mlsc team the growlers uh lost an entire season because of covid and it screwed up a lot of people's development yeah um you know who might still be in the leafs organization and not playing for a divisional rival uh uh justin brazo yeah who looks pretty fucking good for the bruit yeah oh you got hit you got a stinger last night i don't know if he made it back into the game but uh you know who doesn't

this time of year either way i'm curious to see what the leafs do about this i thought that maybe they would jump in on that and at least grab the franchise and move it uh but it might just be cheaper to start a new one if they wanted to own one themselves i also know that the reason that you know the the whole thing that the argument about against the wnba team in toronto was uh one of the owners didn't want another money losing franchise on the books um uh And we can debate the merits of that or not because TFC loses money, Argos lose money. So they didn't want another one.

So if they, you know, MLSC is probably not looking at this and going, yeah, let's buy an ECHL team, even though they probably can light the money. Yeah, Rogers and Bell also just didn't want to give up the Scotiabank dates. Like, they didn't want to give it to women's basketball and it was awful.

Yeah. Yeah, well, I think we also need a, frankly, on that front, I think we need a new stadium downtown. Toronto lacks the good 13,000 seat stadium. yeah you know like 14 maybe ish you know well i i just feel like wait didn't they announce they're gonna do renovations at coca-cola coliseum did they i don't remember because the the solution should be tearing that place down making it actually it's 100 years old dude it's so old

and it smells like horse poo like tear it down it does it smells like well that's where they store the horses that's where they put the horses in the police if anybody's not familiar with toronto They store the police horses where our AHL team plays. Yes, and have for 100 years. If you walk there, you know you're getting close because you smell horse poo, and also the roads stop making sense, and it's a nightmare place to drive.

They're just kind of like pathways. Oh, I hate it. Oh, my God. I've driven to a Marley's game like a couple times. What the fuck am I saying? No, never. Every single time. That's why the GO train's right there.

That's the train. 100%. But anyway, Coca-Cola Coliseum, I mean, that's an expensive solution. But it's a perfect location. The building's there. I know. But then I think of, like, could they put an ECHL team in Mississauga or Brampton? Oh, no.

Speaking of places where hockey doesn't work. Brampton and Mississauga. There's a bajillion people there. There's, like, three quarters of a million people in those two cities combined. Well, Mississauga alone is a bigger city than Winnipeg. It's comparable. no it's bigger it's more no it's bigger i mean it's not comparable it's a hundred thousand more it's yes fifth or sixth in the country yeah it's really really really really really big yeah and

i've always thought the what is it still the hershey center or they call it no paramount fine foods that's they mississauga has an arena problem where the location of paramount fine foods is in the worst location possible it's the worst it is the most cumbersome tiring tedious place to get to there's nothing around it there's it's impossible to transit to they they need something um where square one is where that's quote downtown mississauga is more centralized like that would be the perfect location but there's no there's no um land it's like at the least plate at the toronto zoo exactly yeah yeah but there's no land left in mississauga around that area to build an entire stadium so i don't i don't know what the solution

is there like does London Ontario love hockey enough that they could support an ECHL team like what do you try to put one there in that little belt of London Kitchener Waterloo there's a shit ton of people that's an interesting solution yeah well uh you know the other option is you head east Kingston has an OHL team Belleville has an AHL team um I don't know what you do oshawa we got it well do they just like take over one of the american markets you know like do they close by yeah it's possible i just feel like that's a that's a whole other kettle of fish as they say like you know because you're crossing the border and all that i the gta is huge it really feels like it should be able to work here you don't need that many people for it to

succeed i don't know but but there's so much competition yeah for the dollar that's a huge problem it's it's the old uh story that i've told about my buddy's band our buddy's band who uh aberdeen they did the uh the theme song for lfr they struggled to find venues in toronto and then they did a tour of the east coast and they ran out of merch yeah they sold no one knew who they were they were just like hey we're gonna show up we're gonna listen to your music we're gonna support you and they ran out of merch in like two days yeah or something like that it's it's the way I described Saskatoon. There's nothing to do, and everyone's at the nothing.

That's right. Let's do some trivia. What's the population of Mississauga? I thought it was 700,000. I think it's 750 to 8. Steve, what's your guess? 700,000. Adam, give me 750 to 8.

I'll say 800. It's 717. What's the population of Winnipeg? 650. 750. 749 oh yeah so adam in 2016 you would have been correct oh so mississauga was 721 winnipeg was 705 but in 2021 the population of those two cities mississauga 717 winnipeg is 749 wow because winnipeg over covid a lot of people move there plus 6.3 percent change wow there you go

that's huge that's huge um uh now i want to talk about the pittsburgh penguins jesse can we bring up that uh the nhl standings again sure because um this is an important thing pittsburgh penguins have been really bad this year um but frankly they could still make the playoffs because the midtropolitan is it's worse than we thought we called them the midtropolitan as a joke we didn't realize that they would be two good teams and everybody else kind of sucks okay the metropolitan sucks let's talk about what it really is the metro sucks and sydney crosby is absolutely fucked he's completely insane what what was the number 50 or 16 points in his last five games uh yeah but it's his most over that stretch since march 2013 11 years ago steve you

have a very good hockey memory uh yeah can you do you remember a time when we've had a worse playoff race because all of these teams are booty and none of them deserve a playoff watch them go on a run i feel like there was a pretty bad one in the west one year but this is the penguins have a legitimate shot with seven games left they have 79 points if they win all seven games what would that get them 93 oh that's not a playoff team in some years in the majority of them i'm trying to think of how many the leafs had the year they made it with the rookie team uh like one of the like basically you're gonna get that second wild card if you if you hit the 90 mark dude it's bad like how many games remaining do all the teams have so we bring it

up yeah you can pull it pull it up there maddie uh pittsburgh's at 75 islanders at 75 red wings at 75 capitals at 74 flyers at 76 good lord so we got between six and eight games left so like if the if the capitals win out so that's what 16 points 88 98 but that's if they win out they finished with 98 points yeah every team below the capitals well okay not every two of the teams the two teams immediately below the capitals they've won their most recent games uh the red wings won and the islanders have won two straight but they're both below 500 in their last 10 this race is miserable the best team out of all of these teams is the penguins who are only five three and two yes and their last they've won two straight and it's resurrected their season

they're like oh my gosh can i also three and two can i also throw out there that the penguins uh before last night had lost seven straight games to the devils they beat the rangers and the devils back to back and half of the team has diarrhea oh so they're calling this the great diarrhea run of 2024 at least according to confirm uh apparently the team's very sick yeah This has not been a good year for that for anyone. No, that's been going around. No, and the team that we forgot to mention in all of that is the Flyers, who have essentially not won

for the better part of a month and are still there. I was interested. Brian Hayes from Overdrive was on SportsCenter, whatever they call it. Overdrive. No, no, but he was on the Jay Onwright's version of SportsCenter, whatever that is. The Jay Onwright show.

Jay on SC? I don't know. It's a complicated name. Anyway, he said after all the John Tortorella press conference stuff, he's like, I find it interesting and I'm paraphrasing here. He's like, it's always the players, the goalies, the this, the that. When is it the John Tortorella?

And he said, listen, they've had a great year. Nobody thought this was a great team and they're in a playoff spot and they got a few games left. Why are we taking this tact i'm i'm not gonna rip john totorella for having a hard go at his players that's what he does i think it's okay for a coach to speak his mind every time john totorella says

something cantankerous i'm not gonna rip him what i am gonna say is i'm allowed to have takeaways from his words i don't i'm not 100 convinced him and danny briere get along great i'm not either Danny Breer didn't hire him, though, right? Chuck Fletcher did. I think you're right. And also, he's like, these guys can't play in these situations. I thought it was interesting, the spacing between can't play and situations. He's said that about guys before.

I can't remember exactly when or who. I'm almost positive it was with Columbus. He talks about guys not being able to play. I think he said it about Anthony Duclair. i'm not totally sure but you know what one thing is when you say guys can't play in these situations you're just leaving it out there nice and vague for the media and for the fans to look at the highlights and go well who's he talking about and i certainly hope like i was watching one of the highlights and jamie drysdale did not look good on one of the goals and i'm like i certainly hope

he's not talking about this kid who like almost certainly he is well because way to make cutter cutter goche look like this the smart one here oh he's looked like the smart one since day one the way the flyers handled the cutter goche situation and they were talking about jamie drysdale like he's the second coming like listen jamie drysdale is a good player but you lost the trade you lost the trade if they put more effort into gassing jamie if they put as much effort into picking up Jamie Drysdale as they did into cutting down Cutter Gauthier, he'd be in the Norris conversation.

Yeah. That was, it was just a hit campaign against the kid. And you don't have to love what he did. A lot of it seemed unprofessional and rude, but... Oh no, somebody was rude? Oh, in hockey? Man, I'm listening to Burke's Law right now. By the way, is Tortorella rude?

He's a rude dude. Oh, that's so weird. So he's upset when people are rude to him. not bad not bad let's not confuse rude person with bad person but uh i'm listening to burke's law right now and let's just say uh hockey has had a history of uh an absence of tact i just worry too much about him being rude i find that funny that tortorella who is 65 years old can be rude that's totally fine is he 65 yeah but kid who just says you know what i don't want to even really talk to you guys because i'm ready to leave i don't want to be a part of this

and torts is reported to be the reason because he doesn't want to play for him oh that's bad don't draft a college kid like everyone talks about um you know oh i don't want to sign a russian kid because you never you might stay in russia like yeah you might uh or you might draft a college kid who can just stay at school and doesn't feel like signing with you zach hyman did that yeah that's why the leafs traded greg mckay for him greg mckay in a seventh um because he was drafted by the florida panthers right i was gonna say that i think the the philadelphia flyers did a great job in that trade all things considered all things considered they didn't call anybody nobody knew he was available yeah no but getting jamie drysdale for a guy who

just doesn't want to be in your organization i think is a tidy piece of work i agree and like Maybe I'm getting too far away from the point here. That is going to be a fascinating thing for this offseason because Mike Babcock and the Leafs, him and Dubas very obviously did not see eye to eye. And you could tell by the things that they said, Babs in particular, and the way John Tortorella speaks. I don't think he agrees with the direction of this team.

yeah i mean listen i what's what sucks about this is it's a losing streak and they're perilously close to losing their playoff spot and i think that if i was danny briere i would want better leadership from my coach you don't have to throw a hissy fit in front of the microphone every time i ever every once in a while being pissed like sheldon keith uh and i relate it back to the least because everything relates back to the least the sheldon keith has been out this year about how he feels about things he was never allowed to be that under the previous administration it's yeah the difference is it's a gm going say whatever you want right it seems very obvious based on the several years prior and this year that he has a license to be who he is sheldon

this is sheldon but but in philadelphia i'd be like john can you control your emotions please you're the leader you're 65 you don't hire john tortorella to get a guy who knows how to handle his emotion and if i was danny breer i'd be like i didn't hire him well then there you go he's gone i have there's whispers there's a whisper there's gonna be a lot of turnover in the metro i think i i would hope so yeah columbus is the one that i keep banging that drum i think it's going to be the hunters um but uh torts i think is one to keep an eye on but we should also like remember the expectations on this team i get it's been yeah it's been a pretty monumental collapse considering i don't remember the time the flyers weren't in a playoff spot this entire season

because they started hot and have rode this playoff spot this entire time and they might fall out of it but we need to remember that the expectations coming into this this season was hey Maybe we can get Celebrini. We could be that bad. I agree. I think it's a difficult thing for Tortorella to accept, and I understand. I don't know if either guy is wrong.

I think Danny Breer did right by the Flyers organization. I think he had a great trade deadline, and I think John Tortorella wants to win. And what Danny Breer did at the trade deadline does not line up with winning now. Yes. And I think coaches want to win always, and I think heads may have been butted.

uh in the process right and i think john tortorella john tortorella needs to re-evaluate what this season was supposed to be and realize hey okay we get that you guys failed down the stretch but you're trying we understand you're trying to win every game keep doing that like i would encourage him to keep doing that because that's what he's there to do and you go into next season with a lot of positive things to take away from this season even though you you failed in the latter half the the reason i'm smiling jesse is you and adam just going torts needs to torts needs to uh torts isn't going to do any of the things he needs to do he is john tortorella he has lived as john tortorella he will die as john tortorella and i think that that's why

he's there in that position i think what he's he's done a fantastic job this season i don't hate the job he's done no not at all like no i think you can't take that away from him no not at all and he's done that by being john tortorella just in terms of he needs to change i don't think I don't think that's in the cards. I'm not asking him to change anything. Or change his perspective? No, I think the way this will end will be his perspective on things. If he looks at it and he says,

okay, I wanted to make the playoffs and we didn't make the playoffs, I feel like he'll realize, okay, we didn't do enough here, and he'll go into next season with the same attitude that he had last season where we're trying to win, and now I know what I have in my team and that it wasn't good enough, even though I thought it might have been. Good story. wrapped up in that um the islanders had a big lead flyers come back with ivan fedotov in net they end up losing yeah they lost in the shootout they did but they get a point which at least helps

them escape the other teams nipping at their heels the problem is the islanders are one of those teams but fedotov looked good did you see the funny clip which one the one of uh he was sitting in his net either before overtime or the shootout, and Simeon Varlamov had to skate over and be like, that's my net. He was in the wrong net. I did see that. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. I thought

that was very funny. That is awesome. I think there's a... Just wrapping up the Tortorella thing, I just bring the temperature down a little bit, calm the guys down. They're a little jumpy. You've had terrible goaltending. Not all of that's your fault, right? Most of that is

in fact not your fault. It's true. just just get them get them to the postseason you're going to look like a god you're going to be nominated for the jack adams you're four or five games away from it just i think if the flyers can get into the playoffs their team's going to look really good because they currently sit last in the league in power play uh percentage like if they had any type of scoring on the power play like this playoff thing wouldn't even be a question but where like what jumps out to me is the other side of the special teams is their third in the league in penalty kill and they're right up there with the hurricanes the lightning the bruins all of these top colorado avalanche are up there

all of these really good teams are really good at having a great penalty kill and if they get into the playoffs where special teams kind of like goes away a little and they've shown that they can play great defense when they're when they're down a man like i feel like there's a lot of confidence there with that group where they could steal a couple games yep i mean even just the the ability to learn from playing against what i assume is going to be the boston bruins like you know it doesn't always lead to future victories uh as we've seen but it'll be good to uh learn in that environment they won't young group don't play the bruins uh would they be the second wild card and they would oh you're right it'd be the metro they'd play the hurricanes or the rangers because

the rangers are currently first right so oh my god that's how every espn and tnt executive wants rangers flyers imagine you get new york philly first round the ratings yeah no we need that we Oh, Torch's back in New York. Oh, yeah. Okay, I know what I'm cheering for now. You know what's funny? We're getting carried away. That would be the matchup if they drop to the second wild card.

They're still in the third spot in the Metro, and I believe the team they'd be playing is New York. No, the Hurricanes. Oh, damn. They're either going to play the Hurricanes or the Rangers, it looks like. so we need we either need the rangers to stay there and the flyers drop or we need the flyers to climb up and the rangers drop we need that you don't want hurricanes flyers it's not as fun yeah they know that like hurricanes fan who's more beatable

for the flyers who's the better matchup for them oh man man oh man i don't know if you had to do like probability winning probability for the flyers in each series like which one's higher against the rangers or the hurricanes maybe the hurricanes and you just try to bully them you think so yeah that's that's i mean that's the only shot they're not gonna they're not gonna be able to beat them straight up they're not gonna be able to beat either team straight up and i just like their although what a story that would be oh my god you imagine 20 points behind them well it'd be bloody florida last year against boston oh yeah i i'm i want a new york philly um and i I think Carolina will handle Philadelphia better than New York would.

I do think Carolina or New York would advance. Both teams beat them. But I think Carolina plays the more defensively smothering game, and the Flyers can't score a lot of goals anyway most of the time. So you know what I mean? Carolina needed one thing, and that was goaltending. And they've got it for several months now. Frederick Anderson, baby!

Chekhov has picked up his socks, too. If Carolina can survive what they had to survive with that atrocious goaltending, like, no offense to the New York Rangers, but they have the edge in that division for me. Yeah. Because they had horrific goaltending for three or four months.

It was a long time. And the Rangers are a great team. But I also think the Rangers and Flyers are going to get into it in a physical way that I don't think Carolina necessarily would. It'll be better TV. It'll be way better TV. I'm sorry, Rangers-Flyers is better TV.

It'll be war. Hey, I was saying on the stream last night, I'm like, we're always talking about the matchups we want. what are the matchups we don't want like what will be what could be the most boring matchup in the playoffs if they started today who do you not want to see playing each other and a lot of people were talking about um what was it the uh i'm trying to think of what came up last night um i think it was sort of like it was mostly western conference and it'd be something along the lines of you know los angeles and winnipeg or vegas los angeles if vegas somehow

vegas is on a tear by the way beat up on the canucks pretty good last night um there was a lot of that because they do play that kind of ground up game you know what i mean and la is going to play that kind of game if they make the playoffs assuming they do they're only three points up on the blues yeah no if you're trying to sell the game you want the kings to lose as fast as possible but uh they're playing exactly the sort of hockey you need to win in the playoffs yeah uh the kings have lost three straight the golden knights are seven two and one in their last ten uh isn't it isn't the turnaround for teams this year like breakneck it is i feel like no one just goes 500 a week ago everybody was like man the golden knights stink and then

and now they're on the verge of uh like st louis or or a minnesota like taking their playoff spot and all of a sudden they're going to face the Oilers and might have home ice against them. Like, it's crazy. They're three points shy of that. Yeah, and the Canucks have not been great of late. 5-4-1 in the last 10. They need Demko, right?

Yeah. He's rehabbing. Of course. He's one of the best goalies in the league. All right. It's going to be, it is going to be, it's hard to find a bad matchup, but there are some teams that are boring

and people were saying, like, if the New York Islanders get in, it's going to be whoever they play is going to be boring. Right? I mean, ironically, for, I don't know about Canadian ratings necessarily, but American ratings are like, please don't give me Toronto, Florida. Yeah, I think underrated. If the Islanders, who are one point out of the second wildcard spot right now,

Washington does have a game in hand. If the Islanders get in, they're playing New York. Oh, Subway Series. Yeah. Love that. Now, I love that on the outside. Is that going to be a good series? like they'll go to war but like the way the islanders play they're gonna be a boring playoff

team that's what they're supposed to be right that's what they do that's what so will nashville can they still do it can they i'm trying to remember if the last time they went to the conference final they still had devon taves i don't remember if they did like that's a big loss i don't remember when he was traded because it was during covid i know no there's like how they ever traded that player is beyond me for two seconds yeah adam put together okay a realistic matchup like something that could happen with the standings the lowest rated playoff like ratings wise the rate of television rated playoffs well first off it's going to be it's going to be in the west coast okay that's the later game winnipeg la so i'm not that's not a realistic possibility

oh not a realistic possibility so there's colorado winnipeg which locally would do quite well yeah yeah it's called dallas winnipeg locally would do pretty dallas winnipeg might be up that's not great it's not a great matchup and it's not because not because it wouldn't do well in their home markets and we're not saying the hockey is the hockey would be fine about tv rating hockey would be awesome dallas winnipeg might be it so then you've got vegas vegas edmonton which i think everybody's going to watch because of Edmonton. I think Vancouver's going to do really well in the national ratings when we're talking about TV audiences because they're such

an exciting, fresh thing. When you're new, when you're fresh, and it's like, wow, you're good all of a sudden, people are interested. It was like when the Leafs got in and played against the Cavs. People were like, wow, the Leafs, interesting. If the playoffs start today, are all four Canadian teams in different series? Three Canadian teams. Nope.

Four. Oh, yeah, Winnipeg. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think they are. They are, yeah. Yeah, they're not playing each other uh which means that they could all be out in the first round it could be the opposite that'd be neat it'd be way better if it was the opposite does it involve nashville oh yeah nashville small small market but nashville yeah smaller city no offense nashville you're great city and boring hockey like i the bruins nashville game last night i can't tell you how boring that was i don't i don't know if you even watched any of it i i just streamed i just started talking

shit on the stream it was so on twitch there's a uh the category of stream and it's called just chatting that's what it felt i was just chatting it was the just chatting i was for sure just chatting it was good there was no goals guys until seven minutes left in the third like it was bad and it wasn't like it was an exciting like david pasternak had a couple chances ryan o'reilly had a couple chances but there was nothing going on it was all like neutral zone takeaway neutral zone takeaway oh my god oh we pushed him off into the quarter oh that's crazy like it was so hot hockey Barry Trotz and very Bruins hockey the one thing I did say was every time the Preds got on the power play that Boston penalty kill was crazy and their first goal was

a shorthanded goal um who'd you like who did I like outside of the uh like main suspects like Charlie Coyle yeah he scored last night he's always been good how they got him for a third round pick I don't I'll never know I'll never forget I'll never forgive the Leafs for that because how is it that Devontae's goes for two seconds, Charlie Coyle is a third, and the Leafs aren't in on these guys? Yeah, you need to fleece someone. Fleece someone, please.

It'd be great. Yeah. Simply fleece someone. Simply fleece. Just do it. Adam Carolina, Washington. That might be a contender for your lowest rated series. I don't know.

So the Kuznetsov story is cool. Oh, yeah. I like that. TV ratings-wise? TV ratings. It's not great. They're not too far from each other, right? No.

I mean, TV ratings, you just take the two smallest markets. And like, dude, Vegas Edmonton is, I imagine, for American audiences, poison. But it's probably, it might be the best hockey. No, because it's the best player in the world. Yeah. Yeah, they haven't featured him very prominently, though. Well, because he's not the biggest superstar in terms of personality off the ice, right? Interesting.

Jamie Benn. Yeah, Jamie Benn. I don't think anybody's accusing Conor McDavid of being like, wow, what a great, enormous, he's a good guy but i think he's a hockey player right i think that you you want the the stars are like jack hughes and like some quinn hughes and some of these guys that are like bubbling under the surface matthews i think has got a bit of a star quality to him um ultimately you need good teams who hate each other yeah that is the key to a good man i think edmonton vegas would be money two great teams who hate each other i think anybody match again from last year yeah oilers

kings are two great teams who hate each other three times yeah i think the two boring teams in the west though are nashville and la and they're in the wild cards uh the boring teams in the east that are going to play quote-unquote boring hockey philadelphia i think carolina can score and they had a lot of injuries going to last year's playoffs and still managed it they're not boring um washington so what's interesting about washington for me is you can sell that series based on most of the guys yeah tk oshi's like 35 you know it's like oh and they're here ovechkin sells it like that's that's a money yeah um panthers man i don't know how you can't sell so give me now you really didn't give an answer i know i'm sorry it's difficult he's kind of named

every series give me the highest rated tv series now uh it's going to be the leafs whoever they're playing end of story it is it is like it no and not just in not just in uh not just in canada you're thinking this no the leafs are always among the highest rated in the states as well A lot of expats. I think whoever the Rangers play, so let's say it's... No, but Adam, you can't just name them all. But if you're asking me to say... I'm giving you what's number one.

Now wait, there's the Penguins. There's the Sabres still have an outside shot. I can't actually make a decision when you go to the Reds. There's the Flyers. Are you going to do this for 10 minutes again with the Lois? There's the Devils. All right, all right. So my lowest rated is Colorado-Winnipeg.

Lowest rated is Colorado-Winnipeg. no offense to those markets but no one's accusing denver or winnipeg of being a major major top five city in north america okay fair so that's what it is it's fair doesn't mean it's not good hockey one of the only matchups where weed is legal in both markets highest rating in the in in let's say north america relevant if it's not the toronto maple leafs and whoever they're playing it's new york versus washington oh dc versus new york there's a rivalry there Oh, highest. Highest.

For a second, I thought you were... I was like, you're falling apart. No, I moved on. I picked one. Yeah. Now I picked a higher one. You get the Rangers. You get all the Rangers stars, plus you get the Washington.

And you get Ovechkin. And you get the... He sees a huge metro area. Huge. That's good. I like it. TV time with Adam Wilde. That's what it'll be.

Their metro's booming. Oh. Hey. Hey, I'm... He's a hip-hop listener. All right. All right. Hey, let's do the press conference.

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until December 31st. You've got to try breakfast at A&W At participating A&W locations in Ontario. The Presser S.D.P. The Steve Dangle Press Conference. Steve Dangle Press Conference. You ready for it?

Steve. You ready? Since it's the press conference, how do you feel about coming back from an ankle injury? Oh. No. I'm kidding! Thanks for asking me your stupid fucking question. I am just kidding.

Also, I don't listen to anything that you say. So who are you? Yeah, there you go. There you go. This is from Chef Bice. I think it's a very interesting point that they write on our Discord server. SDPN.ca, there's a link to join us on Discord. Actually, it's in the description of every podcast as well.

Chef Bice writes, The Leafs play a back-to-back, finishing in Tampa to end the season on the 17th. the panthers and bruins both finish on the 16th the panthers only play two games in the last five days of the season how is extra rest not a competitive advantage so i'm fascinated by how these playoffs are going to begin um because the leafs end on a wednesday right and i was looking at that and going well okay you'd think they want to start on a saturday or a wednesday um but that feels way too close so the playoffs aren't going to begin on the 20th and they weren't originally going to it moved it moved and it it does feel kind of shit

that the leafs like i assume the leafs are going to play on the saturday and not the sunday And NHL, if you have any type of competence, which you don't very often, you will have the Leafs opening the playoffs on Saturday night. Right. So they're going to have two full days off when the team they're probably going to play against is three. That's not enough time between the regular season. Like, forget that it's the Leafs for a moment. What are we doing? Two days?

two full days Thursday Friday I'm bringing if I'm the Leafs I'm bringing two planes and the second one is full of the Marlies and they're playing both of those games it's two days off after back-to-backs two days

off after back-to-backs on the road and I can't remember who was talking about it if it was CJ like you might be playing against Florida so you're just gonna stay which like do you have the schedule up yeah i can bring it up so like they're gonna be if they stay in florida which is their prerogative but it's also the smart thing to do probably after all

that shit they're gonna be away from home for like a week leading into the first round of the play yeah there it is so their last home game is april 13th against detroit we're gonna be stream in that game i assume they arrive in florida on tuesday to play the tuesday game against the panthers the next night they play the lightning then they probably don't go home they have thursday and friday off and then they play saturday that sucks ass terrible the leafs play that home game like you mentioned on the 13th of april if they don't get home ice they probably won't be back in toronto until april 24th that wednesday because they'll play two games in florida open the series and then the wednesday uh they'll probably be back or maybe

even the thursday i'm bringing two planes that's ridiculous samsonov doesn't even dress um reeves is on the first line like i matthews marner nylander are barred from the building how fun is it that the week before as well they have back-to-back with travel oh i just i i hate when the league i i just hate that the league does this and i know every team has to deal with it it's just such an obvious competitive disadvantage not just back-to-back with travel jesse um road game day off home game road game so three games and four nights two of them are on the road there's travel sucks ass it sucks there have been a few really weird and not nice blips uh on uh on the schedule this year at very least for the least i know every team has to

deal with it but right but you couldn't figure out the schedule to where you're playing pittsburgh and then new jersey both on the road instead of going pittsburgh home new jersey road new jersey home it feels like they have so many of those this season why just the random jersey road game when you could have gone Pittsburgh home, New Jersey home, then New Jersey on the road with a day off to travel. Yeah, I liked the COVID season because you had the MLB setup where you played two or three games against the team at once. Leafs played three straight games in Edmonton.

And won them all. Three almost shutouts. It was two shutouts and one almost shutout. With three different goalies. I liked that. Was it three shutouts? Almost. Yeah, it was three almost.

I think Campbell and Hutchinson both got a shutout and Freddie let in one. Unbelievable. Yeah, it's insane. the schedule is this is bad well yeah forget the regular season just a two-day gap between the end of the regular season and playoffs feels unusually short but i also feel like i'm i i don't want to get worked up about something because what even is the schedule i have no idea this for like listen as someone who works covering hockey i have very few complaints and i don't expect anyone to give a shit about them no these are minor but no no but but every year i try to make plans and people

go are you available are you of it and for a solid month every spring i have to go i don't know until they release the schedule but then i'm gonna have like a 48 hour turnaround yeah i actually thought between the release of the schedule i i actually thought they delayed the playoffs to the 22nd am i wrong no it was originally the 22nd they moved it up to the 20 last week or something or two weeks ago they announced that it's going to be the 20th is the new start date of the playoffs okay sucks which is i've never i don't remember last time the nhl's changed a major scheduling point like that this deep into the season no it's usually they usually have nearly a week they usually lock it in like last june is like hey here's the nhl calendar for next season

and this year they're like okay we're moving the playoffs to the 20th so i don't know i originally saw from pierre lebrun oh it was lebrun yeah man but yeah so the it's gonna be a tough sled in for the leafs this last month of the season they're gonna last two weeks sport science team is gonna have to work overdrive and they're gonna have to use their full financial might to you think i'm joking no no bring two planes you're dead serious like nobody should play that tampa bay game well oh absolutely yeah like that's like a steve's keifer bellows game right does marsha rafai want to play 25 minutes yeah bellows isn't under contract i know i wouldn't even dress sheldon keefe i'd be like somebody else take this like let let him have a night off yeah have gibouche

do it just stare down the panthers so uh last year uh uh their final game of the regular season was april 13th of 3-2 win against the rangers they finished with three games on the road they didn't play game one against tampa until after four days rest and this year we're looking at two now you You can bring it up there. It's a big difference, man. Wow. That's last year's schedule. It's a very big difference.

Oh, they end the season with the Florida Tampa back-to-backs again. And this is the normal, by the way, this is the first normal season since COVID. So you notice that it goes to the 29th last year. They were still dealing with fallout from moving the previous seasons, too. So this is the first. No, this year it starts even later. The playoffs. That 29th is.

Oh, that's the playoff. The playoffs started April 18th last year. That's weird. This year starts later. It starts later. Yeah. And then they have, don't they have like a weird break

between the Eastern Conference and Western Conference finals and the finals? Isn't there like a week off? There's a set date for when the Stanley Cup finals begins and ends. I think Frank Cervalli tweeted that

the final day of the Stanley Cup final, if it goes to game seven, is like June 25th, which is also really late. They don't need to do that. I don't know what's going on this year. The start date of the Stanley Cup final can move. If both series were four-game sweeps, they can move that up.

But there's a latest start date of it. Got it. And that makes sense for broadcasting perspective. And then that last date, it's like two days before the draft. Every freaking year. I was a first-year employee at Sportsnet, and they didn't guarantee or wouldn't guarantee for months and months if I could go to the best man from my wedding's wedding.

um and i was like i'm like dude i'm in the wedding party i'm a behind the scenes worker it doesn't matter that i'm gone and uh yeah anyway i well i i think your complaint actually is a lot of what the broadcasters would complain about too because they're holding revenue and like think about it if you're a salesperson well we've sold you on a campaign when does it start we don't know well dude there's it's it's like the super bowl for several employees like sports net and all these broadcasters i've seen them i've seen them do it um they run around like chickens with their head cut off that okay if this game ends this way tonight it's the worst is when the regular the end of the regular season the very last day has all these uh playoff

scenarios playoff scenarios because of wins and losses you know if it ends up sorting itself out before that then it's not it's not so bad but if it goes all the way to the last day of the season there's a two-day gap and they gotta go all right this team this team and this team we're setting this broadcast team and yeah it's a pain in the ass it looks like it's gonna end up that way in the east yeah it very much looks like this is gonna come down to the last day it's a pain in the ass uh this next question is from jazz jackrabbit they wanted us to check in on the art ross race because for the pod today remember early on this season it seemed like kucherov was going to run away with the art ross and steve said not to count out mcdavid eyes emoji so if we take

a look at the art ross race the points race in the nhl right now nathan mckinnon and akita kucherov are tied for first at 127 each and connor mcdavid is in third place well tied for i guess yeah third I guess because the first two are two people tied at one so he's third at 126 I think he's one point back go ahead and click on McDavid how many points shy of a thousand is he

you want that because I noticed everyone's starting to talk about it and I've been on this shit for months he is at 976 now I know there's not a lot of games he probably won't but he's gonna get friggin

close i'd like to say something no i'd like to i'd like to say something i think i think the real story here with conor mcdavid is why he's regressed so much yeah because last year he had 150 points so you know we're talking imagine austin matthews scored 25 26 less points in season than than he had the previous year yo does mcdavid think i think there's a western bias i think there's a western bias always has been yeah really and i feel like uh i feel like we need to be talking about this more this is a player that scored 150 points last year why does he have how much 20 less points more like sports west am i right let's not i don't know if you're right on this one adam no i'm kidding um although did you see the graphic from sports that people

were so upset in the west as they are who's the people uh just internet people drew because it said it said it was talking about the art ross race kucharov mckinnon mcdavid and then it had like an asterisk underneath and i don't know why it's like matthews has 98 points or something and No, no, it said Matthews has 62 goals, which isn't what the graphic was about. The graphic is not about the Rocket Richard, it's about the Art Ross. Yeah, so why did they include Matthews? I don't know. The only thing I can think of is people getting confused between what the Art Ross is and what the Rocket is,

like the difference between a points trophy and a goals trophy. That would assume that people care about the trophies that much, and I don't think they do. It's odd. It's odd. It was an odd addition to the graphic. It didn't need to be there. No, it did. What is he in the actual NHL points race?

Matthews? Matthews is eight. He has 98 points. Whoa, he just took over the Leaf scoring league. He and Willie could both get 100 points this year, which would be the first time either of them have gotten 100 points. It would be nowhere near. Marner ending on 99 last year is like heartbreaking.

Oh, yeah, I know. He was going to do it this year, too. For sure he was. And he'll do it next year if he's healthy the whole year. But don't ask him about it. Well, the Toronto media sends their worst and meanest after him. Absolutely. Kevin McGrath.

What a monster. Lance Hornby. Mike Zeisberger. Two things. Shout out Zeis. Two things with the points stats going around. And Connor McDavid, since we're talking about him, he's about to hit 100 assists in a season. Goofy.

The 100 assisting Sean McIndoe of The Athletic wrote an article about how amazing, like how exclusive it really is to do 100 assists. The only three people to ever do it are Gretzky, Orrin, Lemieux. That's the end of the list. That's crazy. We put a lot of emphasis on 60 goals, on 70 goals, like Austin Matthews chasing that down. but a less percentage of NHL players have ever had 100 assists. This is one of the most exclusive clubs in the entire NHL record book. And it's three people, and it's soon to be four,

McDavid, Orr, Lemieux, Gretzky. And they're all in the Mount Rushmore conversation of who is the best player ever. It's Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr, and you maybe throw Howe in there. So when you're talking about other numbers like 70 goals and just other point numbers, they're not as exclusive. Yager never did this?

No. No. Those other numbers include guys who you're like, oh, maybe he's not even a Hall of Famer. Like even Joe Thornton. Like he had, his 05-06 was ridiculous.

Nobody's done it except for those three guys and soon to be Connor McDavid. No one in the 80s, Stassney. None of them. None of them. Or did it.

I think we've established that there's only three players. How long are you two going to go along with this? We can just keep going. I'm trying to emphasize his greatness. And so what I will say to that is what's more impressive, 70 goals if Matthews gets it or McDavid with 100? McDavid with 100 assists?

No, I think we learned assists matter more than goals. Thank you. Yes, yes. I think that achievement is more impressive because less people have done it. I think you're right. And the three people who have done it are three of the all-time greatest players. That's insane. I don't disagree.

Hold on. How many people have done it? I'm just wondering. three hold on so how never did it so wait lafleur never did it no dion never did it he never did crazy that he did no david comp never done it wow nick patan never done it dennis malgan matt staging never done it wow tyler bosak that's insulting to tyler bosak got close maddie's favorite player of all time tyler bosak hey um last uh stat thing that we throw out Sidney Crosby, did we mention him clinching a point a game for his career?

And Kyle Dubas going out there and tweeting it. I had this in our prep yesterday, and then I didn't get to it. I'll bring it up. Yeah, I get it. So evolving hockey, and I got to give evolving hockey credit here. They're like, not to be pedantic. Okay, to be super pedantic. Like, you know, numbers people, I think that's what you have to be, right?

Splitting hairs is what numbers are all about. yeah and that's okay but it is exhausting so what at evolving hockey evolving wild tweeted uh not to be pedantic okay fine to be pedantic points per game is a rate stat are the penguins just going to sit him the rest of the year and this was a quote tweet of sportsnet saying that's 19 straight point per game seasons for sydney crosby crosby is now tied with wayne gretzky for the most in nhl history and sydney crosby passed the 82 point mark so he clinched a point per game and Evolving Wild didn't realize that and thought he was just at a point per game

at this point in the season. I really hope they were kidding. Yes. No, it was April Fool's Day. And in reply to this tweet, Kyle Dubas himself tweeted the Tim Robinson, I think you should leave. You sure about that?

Are you sure about that? I'm sure about that. Meme. It's very, very good stuff. See, this means Kyle Dubas watches I think you should leave and it means he has a favorite sketch. What do you think it is?

I need to know what that is. I don't know. I think, okay, Dubas is really weird, so I think it's the eggs one. The one where the guy has to feed eggs to his little guy and then the guy shows his butthole in the office. No, I don't remember that one. There's so many.

There's like eight in an episode. It's a 30-minute episode. They go by so fast. What's so funny? I'm just laughing at the sketch. I think it's nice when Kyle Dubas does tweet because usually Kyle Dubas is tweeting annoying stuff, like philosophical things.

You're like, damn it, Kyle. I just want to know what you're thinking. Yeah, every defenseman on the team is injured, and he tweets like a YouTube video of the Chinese farmer, and it's like, Kyle, Travis German is our number one D. I don't want to hear it right now. And then the world shut down. Anything else, Jesse?

No, we're all good. Okay. All right. Well, listen, we're going to wrap up the show there, but we will be back Friday. we'll have a Tampa Bay game to talk about

and a playoff race can any of the metropolitan teams go over 500 over a 10 game stretch we'll find out in this stunning conclusion to your

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