The Steve Dangle Podcast - My Enemy's Downfall | January 8, 2025

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

Come see The Chris Johnston Show live in Cobourg! Get your tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-chris-johnston-show-live-at-boston-pizza-cobourg-tickets-1116629682439?aff=oddtdtcreator On this episode of The Steve Dangle podcast, the downfall of the Bruins (00:00), looking ahead to the trade deadline (30:00), Calle's comeback (1:01:00), what does Ryan Reaves do? (1:03:00), are the Leafs actually bad? (1:16:00), and half a season with credentials (1:30:00). Visit this episode's sponsors: This episode is sponsored by/brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://betterhelp.com/sdp and get on your way to being your best self Find your push. Find your power with Peloton at onepeloton.com/en-CA Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at https://airbnb.ca/host Subscribe to the sdpn YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@sdpn?sub_confirmation=1 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 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!Reach out to https://www.sdpn.ca/sales to connect with our sales team and discuss the opportunity to integrate your brand within our content! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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download that. TaskRabbit.ca. Code Dangle. 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. guys we have some breaking news oh like breaking breaking and what i love about this is this comes from andy slater who works at fox sports 640 down in south florida whoa and we have panthers or

lightning news uh it's panthers news and andy slater has a hashtag slater scoop oh he's got his own scoops we have we have no friedman i'm ready for this not repressed it actually well it's it's basically confirmed that the panthers are going to host the winter class yeah that's not a scoop i think that's a scoop that's been a week we have a date reserve the right to fight you for holding up the show for that january 2nd 2026 so they won't do it new year's eve they won't do it new year's day they will do it january 2nd neat man i think it's cool doing it no it is it is it is that jaded are we that jaded we can't get excited about an outdoor hockey game in florida steve do you know what the stadium the miami marlins play in is called oh doesn't it have

a silly name isn't it bad isn't it indoor like doesn't it have a bad reputation and it's indoor oh it's retractable yeah didn't okay didn't they have some sort of monstrosity in the outfield yeah yeah yeah what's it called tropicana oh that's the one in tampa that's actually really uh that they're not going to be able to play in because the i don't think next year like i think the renovations oh yeah they uh they the hurricane completely destroyed the entire stadium so playing in the Yankees minor league facility for all of next season. And they still won't be able to sell it out.

Oh, wow. Nobody freaking goes to Rays games. Nobody can dig it. I will dig it. The Marlin Mansion Field. Lone Depot Park. Cool, man. I've been to Lone Depot Park. It's quite nice, actually. Yeah? Yeah, it is very nice. It's one of the worst named

buildings in sports. Yes, no kidding. Yeah, no question. Lone Depot. Lone Depot Park. Not Home Depot. Lone Depot. Lone Depot. What do they have there? Loans? I assume. Is it?

Oh, okay. But you don't really need a depot for those. You don't need a place to store loans. I think it's cool that they're going to try this. Yeah, I think so, too. They had the one in Vegas. They had the one in California. Do you remember Vegas?

They had a Vegas one? Or no, it was Vegas, Seattle, I guess. No, they did have a Vegas outdoor game. Are you sure it wasn't in Seattle? Yeah, maybe that's what I'm thinking about. Vegas has been a part of two because they did that. There was a 1991 outdoor National Hockey League game in Las Vegas. It was an exhibition game.

I did not know that. It was 29 degrees Celsius at Puck Drop. I'll do you one better. They've had an outdoor game in Mexico. Have they? They have. They have. I don't remember who was playing, but they did.

Wow. There was melted ice and a locust swarm. that is the closest i've come to spitting out coffee on jesse nice poll man i'd never heard of this yeah no i've i've i've remembered there's been some sort of reference i didn't know it was that long ago yeah but uh yeah and i didn't realize it was an exhibition game too so it's a little less um like cool but yeah well so it was the brainchild of rich rose president of caesar's world sports and uh and a rangers fan um his vision stage an nhl game in the parking lot of a casino using a temporary rink and the best technology available at the time and uh you know

gretzky would have played in that game and uh brian leach would have played in that game and it would have been anyway so the reason i started that sentence was to say they had an outdoor game in vegas they've done dodger stadium in la they did uh levi's stadium where the san francisco 49ers play so they've done San Francisco so going to these ultra warm climates isn't something that's unfamiliar to the NHL yeah that's kind of neat well they've done

it it's not even possible we've seen it exactly grasshoppers swarmed the ice thinking it was water not understanding the concept of frozen they built the rink the quote is they built the rink in Caesars Palace Stadium and there was grass surrounding the stadium and these grasshoppers

were attracted by the light and when they managed to find themselves on the ice they froze to death yeah yeah is there footage of this game there must be there are pictures it's just they're very grainy listen panthers fans you have to understand we want the game to go very well and it will however if it doesn't it'll be i want it to go that direction well at least they're not doing it in a parking lot it's in a legitimate stadium where they're going to be able to put in ice technology and good for them. That's neat. They're building on the momentum of

Florida hockey, man. Yeah. People freaking like it and why wouldn't they? They were supposed to have a second outdoor game with the Kings and Rangers, but they canceled it after the ice was so bad in Charlotte, North Carolina, after the ice was so bad in Vegas. So they realized

their error and they said, you know what? It's 1991. We can't quite do this yet. Let's not go through with the next one. Let's do it 35 years from now. yeah yeah when the technology yeah uh there is a maddie you can't show this but if you go on youtube and you go to the nhl's uh youtube channel there's a video called 1991 gretzky plays outdoor outdoors in vegas and you can watch a big chunk of the game it's a 26 minute long video and you can see it it happens i want to see if they have any grasshopper footage no no

Oh, here. Could you go back to that exact moment you were just on? Because it... I don't know if I can find it. No? I was just skipping around. Okay, well, it's a dude futzing with the ice, trying to get it to be icy, and he's in a t-shirt, which probably should have told you maybe this wasn't the greatest idea in

1991. Yeah. Can you just look up, like, a grasshopper image on Google? Oh, you're not on mic. There you go. Can you just look up on Google, like, grasshopper, you know, winter classic or whatever? See if it comes up, an image. Oh, of the grasshoppers?

Yeah, yeah. Sure. But, yeah. Just so people can, if there's anything they could see. I don't know if they had the footage of the grasshoppers dying, but. No. Not dying, but on the ice. It would be kind of funny.

Yeah. Anyway. And then they ground them all into burgers. No, it's just black and white stills. Oh, yeah. And that sort of stuff. Yeah. also i don't think cameras back then would have been sharp enough to pick them up

you look at you look at the uh you look at the footage and you go oh my god uh you would have just seen players going well no i'm just talking about the the like the game the game itself we got it up here we're watching it's just so grainy um and you know what people will do now and this is the one great use for ai that i've seen is they upscale um and some of that 80s footage some of that 80s hockey footage is being AI upscaled and it looks great. What a save.

Big save? Yeah. Is that Kelly Ruddy in that? I don't know. Is that Rangers? Or is that... Yeah, that would have been the Rangers.

It could have been Glenn Healy. Yeah, that's crazy. Anyway, that's fun. I also want to mention that the Chris Johnson show is going to Coburg, baby! Yeah! Coburg Papa is going to be there.

Doors open at 5. It's Boston Pizza. The podcast starts at 6 and the meet and greet starts at 7. CJ and Julian, obviously are performing and then you know we're all going to be there and get to meet and hang

out and it's why Coburn because that's where Chris is from he's never mentioned it for the 300th episode we thought you know what we need to go back to Coburn we need it so that's where we are we need it and I hope it's newsy what do you mean could be newsy oh it should be yeah absolutely

that's a lot going on that's Friday January 17th which is yes next Friday how about that I got the date right you guys look at you high five Now, I want to start the show today with something a little bit different. Is it Grasshoppers Dying? It is not Grasshoppers Dying.

That's the preamble. That's the prequel. When we get to the main event here, we could talk about the Leafs game last night, and we will. But really what I want to talk about is the downfall of the Boston Bruins. And I'd like to read to you a quick paragraph. And yes, we all prayed for this. uh from 98.5 the sports hub this is ty anderson who is a reporter for the bruins for 98.5 this was the sports hub which is a radio station there blown out and honestly not even looking somewhat

competitive along the way by the oilers on tuesday the third of boston's fifth straight defeat saw a td saw the td garden crowd break out into fire sweeney chants oh that echoed throughout the building this wasn't just the raving of a mere row of those in balcony 308 or uh some other people i don't know he's got some sort of boston reference there it was sung out by a large segment of the arena from the balcony to the lodge and the chant was loud enough to be picked up by the nesson broadcast fire sweeney chance can you imagine this a year and a half ago when Boston were setting the record for the most wins in NHL

history? Adam. 2023, guys. It was not that long ago. This has come up in our friendship many times. I went to Catholic school. You did. Kindergarten. You and Jesse. You're the Catholic boys. We did. And I don't say it enough, but

God is good. You glad you took your confirmation and got that done? God is good, Adam. That is, uh, listen, what was, what was my, uh, what was my December? Uh, my, my little holiday bold prediction for the year. You said they would not make the playoffs. Maybe, maybe like I'm also good, but could it be that?

Could it be? No. I mean, listen, it is a minefield, um, to get into the playoffs in the East. um the Bruins have been down and out before this season fought back very uh resiliently they're on a downturn again it's bad and like having going from the best tandem in the league bar none to uh Swayman gets off to a bad start he's since pretty much recovered and like you're Replacing Allmark with Korpisala. I warned you.

Yeah. I warned you. I thought it would be enough. I thought it would be enough. It still might be. Currently 28th in the NHL in goal differential. Ooh. But I think a lot of that is holdover from the beginning of the season.

Maybe. That they still haven't recovered from. They are 31st on power play. You think the least power play is hard to watch. Oh, I can't believe that. They are. Let's just look at their PK. I don't even know where they stand on that.

Oh, yeah. They're 25th on PK, too. now so that's bad now the head coach is responsible for the power play and the penalty kill right i think so yeah yeah well you do have power play coaches like the assistants sometimes take the lead on that oh oh man i don't know if this keeps up jim montgomery's gonna lose his job well they did as you mentioned when joe sacco took over uh-huh they did have a bump they did they came back and started playing well where'd it go well i think that they're kind a flaw you know well like what are the Red Wings awesome now like it's interesting that almost

everyone gets the new coach bump yes and the Red Wings are definitely experiencing that I think they've won five straight Patrick Kane's having this ridiculous renaissance and uh the Todd McClellan wings uh how many games have they lost under McClellan was it just the I think it was just the Leaf game like that's crazy but can you keep it up can you stay this way the Bruins are fascinating I don't agree with every decision they've made some of their additions some of them make perfect sense I'm like yeah Zdorov should be a Bruin that makes a lot of sense um Hampus Lindholm I don't know Elias Lindholm is the egregious one oh sorry sorry Hampus I'm Shoot! I was like, no, I'm going to get the right one, and I got the wrong one.

Hampus Lindholm's been great. Sorry. Elias Lindholm. Brad Marchand hasn't been great. Brad Marchand needed somebody to be the next Brad Marchand. When older guys on Boston got older, Marchand and Bergeron were able to carry the torch. He's the 21st oldest player in the league. We talked about this last show. It's Patrick Marchand is the same age as Patrick Maroon Brad Marchand Did you sleep are you okay

No I didn't The LFR into podcast turnaround How's Isla Isla's good thank god Did she sleep through the night She did Over the holiday Yeah she woke up polka dotted

And we're like she'll be okay And then she woke up more polka dotted And we're like uh oh let's call a health professional And they're like monitor her overnight And so we did and then she woke up and looked like she had been stung by an entire hive of bees and so we went to the er and they said she's fine and we're like thank you for that that was a great use of three hours anyway that's how trips to the er usually go these days it's yeah no by the way

the fact that you were only there three hours is amazing yeah it should be called the oh so you think this is an emergency room that's that's what it should be called because the vast majority of the time it's not it's like they let you sit there to be like this isn't an emergency isn't you're fine you're gonna be oh you broke your nose steve you went to the er for a broken nose grow up anyway um yeah i don't agree with uh everything they've done but the bruins have been this weird team that um i just haven't applied logic to because you shouldn't right it's dumb to do that uh they could make as many bad decisions as humanly possible and i would still bet on them because they're the bruins yes and they always find a way they won 65 games and we're like oh

well what's the drop-off gonna be like and they started better like they won 10 straight games to start last year they had the coach bump this year and i said oh there you go but it's almost like adam you're a huge wrestling fan so i know you know there's no reference undertaker versus roman reigns and what happens when the undertaker is lying flat on his back well disney rise from the dead yeah he does that zombie thing where he rises from the dead and he always does it and you're like what do i got to do to keep this guy down but in his last match against roman reigns the undertaker went to get up and he couldn't do it and he fell over oh before losing the match and leaving all his gear in the ring for one last time and it's it's happened honestly it's

happened half a dozen times at least where i'm like well bruins might be cooked and they keep coming back stronger uh 28 years later how do they keep making sequels i don't know the zombies keep winning i don't know i don't know um they sure seem to be flawed this time it's so hard to bet against them yes there's a lot of i think there's i think there's leaf trauma there like i'm sure if you're uh uh la king's fan you're like a little bit of a duck fan we'll be fine well they'll you're looking at the bruins going no they probably are cooked but as a leaf fan you can't ever believe that the leaves are gonna because they'll catch you sleeping leaves are gonna screw around and win the East and the Bruins are going to get the second wildcard.

Oh, that would be terrible. That would be, it is downright likely. Well, the lightning keep losing too. So you never know. Oh, good. Great. Like really? Those are the options.

Yeah. Like, are you freaking kidding me? Or Montreal or Columbus? Oh, how did those series go? You just listed the last four teams to beat the Leafs in the first round. Yeah, the only other team we haven't mentioned is the Caps. And they're too good. You mentioned the last four teams to beat the Leafs in the first round.

Florida doesn't count because that was not the first round. Yeah. Cool. Great. Glad those are the options. Yeah, it's great, isn't it? Really fun. So this is the thing.

I was talking to somebody yesterday about this, specifically about the Bruins. I was like, hey, I'm like, did they watch Elias Lindholm in the playoffs last year? Or all of last season? All of last season. And I'm like, it's no disrespect to this guy, but at the end of the day, he wasn't good in Calgary, but he was running off of what he had done with Goudreau and Kachuk. And then they trade him for an enormous package to Vancouver.

And Zdorov does well. Lindholm does not. Vancouver tries to trade Lindholm before the trade deadline. He is fine in the playoffs as a defensive guy, but he doesn't score much. And then they give him $60 million. Adam. When Lindholm got nominated for the Selke in 2022, how many goals did he have? 40. 42.

Oh, okay. What is the most goals he's had in the season since then? 22. 22? How many goals he has this season? Oh, he's got like eight. Seven. Yeah.

I think you bought high. Well, so what the person said to me was there's a cascade effect because they needed somebody at center there wasn't really anybody else available unless you count like who else who went to seattle it was oh james stevenson yeah and and that hasn't been the best either right and they also have a chandler stevenson in pavel zaka right it's a center who plays good defensive hockey and yeah you know what i mean charlie coyle yeah and so they were horrible center they were looking for a marquee guy one wasn't available but they had to buy one and i just thought boy like like think about where we're at with with vancouver and you got jt miller and alias

petterson potentially available one or the other maybe both bruins can't make that trade right now how many players have over how many players have 20 points or more on the bruins that's a good question i have no idea four how many players have over 21 points less than four two oh no pasternak is still friggin ridiculous 42 points in 43 games which is honestly still probably less than you expect for that money um marshan is 32 and 43 which is again very good but it's not the brad marchand we're used to because time catches all of us and then it's zacka with 21 points in 43 games so he's less than half a point a game yeah their third leading scorer is less than half a point a game and lynn holm is fourth so like we're criticizing lynn holm he's still fourth

you know what i mean it's uh they got a miraculous performance out of mark castellick hasn't really done a ton since then like i'm just i'm just looking at the bruins and going where's where's the answer well some of them some every time this happens to them they find one uh well the some people are thinking it's uh is it is it i always print patra yeah patra or lascell uh lascell i'm surprised hasn't got one game this year yeah i'm surprised he hasn't got more time but he's got 18 points in 28 games in the ahl uh what is it again patra patra 18 in 21 and last year he was a monster he has one goal in 14 games this season yeah four points but the but fans are pissed that he's not up because they're like listen whatever he had uh it was probably

mostly under monty that he was playing anyway yeah and well okay that's fair so give it a fair give him a shot that's definitely fair but like you're you're saying oh well he's only got one goal how about the guys that are making eight million that that are like six goals so what i what i would say is if a young player has four points in 14 games and we don't need to have them up and we have the option to put them in the aid that's what you do yeah you're doing the right thing there now that you have a new coach though yeah i think it's worth revisiting you're totally right well it's it's i would love for this to be a nanny boo boo segment but we're like we're legit trying to figure it out bruins yeah we're trying yeah we're trying to figure it out because

were i don't know trying to be impartial and you've got swayman who missed training camp and again let's talk about the unforced errors here i talking about the the free agent signing lynn home i don't i was not a fan of the elias lynn home signing guys you know how i felt about the eunice corpus allo coming back for uh like you could have had so many other goalies at so much less or so much less time and he's giving you an 892 swayman missing training camp is a is completely on Sweeney and but Swayman's got an 893 yeah why do you think he's got an 893 yeah no no but I guess what I'm saying is they're identical basically yeah you're getting the same performance like so Corpus Allo is below league average but keeping pace with your starter yes and your starter missed

training camp and therefore will have to play catch up all year that's got a better record than than swayman too he's above 500 at very least that's what i'm saying man nothing's going well now the thing about the bruins that you have to remember is that the bruins are always always always in it at the trade deadline so it would not shock me to see these guys whether it's before or right after four nations completely change this up but i feel like by doing what they did last summer and this is what kyle dubas did in 2023 when he arrived in pittsburgh you buy too much you cap yourself out and then there's nothing you can do mid-season to change that you're locked like dubas is still locked to that graves deal doesn't want to be he's locked to that jar deal

doesn't want to be that is sniffing the playoffs i agree berg penguins i i listen i call them the playoff penguins but how dare you is sniffing the playoffs where the bruins think they should be no never like they these Bruin this Bruins management thought that they had enough cards to go into the season without having Jeremy Swayman signed that's how that's how bullish they were on this roster that they're like you know what we probably can just let them sit out training camp because we're gonna be okay see I am not gonna give them the benefit of thinking they did that on purpose I think they just fucked up they made a mistake yeah but okay it's one thing to fuck up and it's like three days into training camp when you allow that to go on that

long and it's the difference of four million dollars over eight years or six years or whatever the deal it was i'm sorry at that point that's intentional you're the boston bruins everything goes your way everything everything figures itself out and when everyone doubts you which people were this summer you figure it out yep that's that's i think where some of the arrogance came from is arrogance or confidence or naivete yep uh i i don't know but everything works out for them this swayman thing was the first thing uh where they like hey man this was a fairly obvious mistake they've done that a few times where it's like hey this seems pretty stupid you're so your plan is to lose the best two-way forward of his generation and do nothing to

replace him that's your plan and then they came back and they were awesome they were awesome and they got zaka right yeah but they had him they already had yeah but they had they already had oil yeah yeah and you lost crazy too and your plan is to just not replace them you're out of your mind you're nuts and then they were fine things just keep working themselves out for the boston bruins and that's why it was weird to see like i definitely expected corpus allo to win his first five games with a 950 i a million percent expected that yeah who didn't honestly sense fans who didn't uh it's weird it's weird to see the bruins in this spot it's weird and now i see them kind of for what they are and not they're the boogeyman Boston Bruins right now I see them

for all their flaws instead of last year when we were just like why are they winning games I don't understand it that's that's why I wax so poetically about this team it's not just that they beat the Leafs it's Bruins hockey and they trade for Bruins and they sign Bruins and they draft bruins they don't who struggles to fit into the boston bruins when they're acquired it doesn't happen often and it hasn't happened for a long time it's starting to happen it's weird it's unsettling and i hate it they're about to win 10 straight you think that's what's gonna happen i don't know man you're gonna have bruins fans throwing these clips back in your face yeah it wouldn't be the first time it's okay jesse yeah if you were a boston bruins general

manager being a former sabers and leafs general manager all right jesse's in our living room what are you doing at the trade deadline uh first of all yeah you invite the head coach over you let him use the washroom then you fire right that's the first thing you do right i think the boston bruins i would say they're in a position entirely to buy right now i think there's a there's a good case here that okay they're not what they are in the standings where they're still third in the atlantic um in terms of the playoff spot they're not even frustrating they're not even in a wild card spot they're in one of the the division spots in the atlantic which is great but they're going to probably be competing for that last wild card spot i can see them falling down to that

position and they can easily get into the playoffs through that avenue so i think if you're if you're don sweeney right now you're you're trying to buy you're trying to just figure out the the situation that's happening in the locker room because it seems like it's in flux when they're losing they're losing big and even when they're winning they're they're winning but in in games that are that are back and forth like they have the the islanders loss in ot on sunday and that was a 6-5 game and they've been playing a lot of those games i remember there's a jets game last last month where they lost eight one yeah it was the eight one loss to the jets and it's brutal they're doing that over and over again and that's where you're getting this massive goal differential and that

to me is more of like the guys aren't in it fully right now because you're you're losing your head if you're consistently allowing a whole bunch of goals and either chasing your tail to try and get back in a 6-5 game or just blowing off the rest of the game and losing 8-1. Like there's no commitment there to finish off hockey games. So I think there's a locker room issue in Boston. And they're also just not capitalizing on opportunities. If you look at their Corsi, which is suiting percentage plus save percentage,

and it's supposed to be 100. Right now, I think they're 30th or 31st in the league in Corsi percentage. so that should go up but if you're just also not shooting the puck well it's not going to go up i can see their shooting percentage which is amongst the lowest in the league staying in that little area and them just being the eighth seed in the east here but because that's still a playoff spot you have to buy at the trade deadline i don't think there's an excuse where you because you're not you're not chicago right now you're not anaheim why you gotta buy why are we wasting our time why how do they acquire JT Miller and Chris Kreider for a conditional seventh each

it's it's the way of the world you don't want Chris Kreider right now it's what they do Jesse his back is doesn't work but he's such a Bruin yeah but his back doesn't work yeah yeah and he's gonna score Bergeron's back didn't work and Kreider's gonna come and finish the season with 40 goals they got a crider's got to fix he's out right now they put him on ir finally because i think that's what why he's been awful yeah no ir stands for i don't want to be on the rangers anymore if they give brighter time to fix his back i think he gets back in the lineup he's all right but who knows how long this will linger like his whole job entirely there's an entire nhl career to stand in front of the net and take cross checks to those rear back like the low part of his

back and now it's broken and he's not playing well anymore can i can i tell the story of uh my buddy who has he has a shitload of pro stock sticks in his garage um so this is the guy who gave me the outdoor rink um that i play on with my adorable son in the cold weather and he loves it and he thinks i'm the best father ever ever and you guys are both bullies um he has all these pro stock sticks and he showed me his headman headman has a 122 flex that's a hard stick i tree put it over my knee and i just reefed on the thing reefed on the thing trying to get it to bend even kind of no can you imagine getting cross-checked by a 122 i know they used to hey listen they used to do it with metal sticks oh metal sticks were so tough that skates used to

get dull if they collided with a metal stick like you'd have to get on the ice or i remember yager having to take a shift off because they had to take his skate back because he'd stepped on a metal those should have never been legal i can't believe that they were like it's insane that we were swinging those around even in june like minor hockey all my buddies had one yeah aluminum stick yeah yeah it's cool it'll last longer no no no no man it's insane everything else won't yeah though uh it's um uh and and i'm sorry anyway the reason i brought that up is chris crider took those right yeah takes those like victor headman still walks among us he played chara uh allegedly had a 130 you're you're a dead person yeah but sorry your point was that they're gonna acquire somebody

at the trade deadline i 100 agree with that like whatever there's gonna be a big fish out there they're gonna try and go for this thing because i think they they're that's what they do they're in a position to go for they're gonna be a playoff spot it's interesting i feel like all these struggling teams like vancouver to me is a good trading partner for them because they're two teams sort of in the same position like they're both well so let let me bring you to the offer that was leaked yesterday oh okay because earlier this season the rangers did offer me because of being a jad to the vancouver canucks for jt miller one for one and because the canucks are not insane not maybe not just that well yeah and the canucks did the right thing and said hell no right no

fucking way it's it's not like it was ever like happening it's the beginnings of a trade negotiation yes you know that that's that's where it needs to be framed it's not like oh my god look at these fucking idiots you know these are two human beings who are having a conversation and it's leaked that that was a starting point in the conversation yeah you know which i feel like is completely reasonable and you would be surprised at how often these conversations happen yeah it's like okay who you got you know what's available what can i get back i think both teams like if you figure it out like obviously just don't do it one for one but both teams get a huge shock to the room um the Rangers get someone who just radiates passion and the Canucks I mean Elias

Pettersson who doesn't like this guy who's way too in his face gets like his his calm cool Swedish friend who he's gonna play with internationally we talked about this literally before Christmas I was like I wonder how many trades we're gonna see or what kind of trade talks come out of the four nation face-off when all these elite players who are maybe in tumultuous situations get to play with other star players around the league like there's a few rangers who are supposed to be going to that tournament there's obviously a few canucks there's a there's uh i'm sure i'm sure there's gonna be a few bruins right there's gonna be well at least yeah there's gonna be some very interesting conversations there i think

Zibanejad maybe puts like do we think Pedersen is having a good time right now oh no do we think Zibanejad is having a good time right now are both those guys good players when they're in their happy place yeah I think they could be in their happy place yeah but there's a 10-year age gap there yeah yeah I'm not saying they're going to be bosom buddies but no but I'm talking about like you mean traded for each other or is that what you're kind of no no no no I'm I'm saying they join forces. Zabinijad joins Pettersson because Zabinijad was traded for Miller. Interesting. Right?

So I could see that working out for both teams. The reason I think the Canucks are a good trade partner for the Bruins is we're talking about how disastrous things are going for them right now. Like Jesse said, they're in a playoff spot.

The Canucks, I fully expect them to make the playoffs. Like, I don't know if they're in a spot right now. I don't think they are. They are in a spot based on points percentage just because Calgary's played more games than them, but they are tied in points in the second wildcard spot with Calgary, who's just out.

So things are not going well for them and they're still in a spot. They're two peas in a pod. The reason I wouldn't wait till the trade deadline if I were the Bruins is the closer you get to the deadline, the leverage that all the sellers get goes up, which is not good for you as a buyer so i would pull the trigger now if there's a trade canucks the same uh the rangers i mean you suck wait just wait if if you're listen if you still

want to make the playoffs yeah definitely work the phones get a deal done now um if you're if you've made peace with you know what this ain't our year wait wait until after four nation face off when the trade deadline comes what is it march 8th this year or something like that seventh just wait yeah just wait with the with the boston bruins i can see somebody like brock nelson being a really good great yeah a really good fit there i'll be mad if he's not a leaf at the end of the year jesse i'll be mad i think it costs too much for the leafs i think they're saying It's a first-round pick. The Leafs go, I don't want to call it bargain hunting,

but a cheaper option is a much more appropriate way to put it in Yanni Gord. I feel like that would be... I saw your video on that. Don't you think Yanni Gord's too short based on what they do? Like, to me, Nick Bukestad, if you're going that direction... Out of your mind. No, listen, I love Yanni Gord, but the Leafs have one player under six feet tall, and that's Max Dome.

Yeah, but Yanni Gord plays like he's 6'3". I love him. And Yanni Gord, at this point, Like, he's playing really low in the lineup in Seattle. And I think that's where he's going to fit in the Leafs lineup, too. You know, you're not asking a lot of him. I think if you want somebody who you want to get more out of, Mikael Granlund, for me, is my dream Leafs acquire him.

Really? Yeah. Not like a Ryan O'Reilly or something like that? No, that's number one for me on the list. He's been having such a great season. Granlund strikes me, though, as a guy who does well when he has that kind of ice time. And I just don't know what he's going to do when he does. He can play high up in the lineup in the Leafs lineup.

He's playing first line center right now with the Sharks. I agree, but where is he going to play? If everybody's healthy, he's playing third line center. The Sharks have so many elite young pieces, and we talked about the Sabres overselling. If I'm the Sharks, I don't do that. I keep them. Really?

All of them? Zetterlin, Toffoli, all those guys? All of them. Well, no, not all of them. Like Toffoli probably you want to do. Yeah, I probably sell off Toffoli. Yeah, but what's the goal here? Be good eventually.

Be good soon. Yeah, but you can trade him and re-sign him if you really wanted to. that would be great if you could pull that off it's rare yeah i think for the sharks right now you want whatever assets because you're gonna get like a nice little bit you are at least you want to if they want to acquire him goes on a foreign exchange program and then comes back and tells everyone about his adventures in france yeah no that's in toronto yeah in toronto yeah well what's interesting now is where we're at especially in the eastern conference is that you have five or six teams in that wild card positioning like hey we could we could all make

it and you know you don't want to you don't want to standings watch too much right now but there are some teams that are objectively pulling away in the atlantic division i'm talking about the leafs and the florida panthers i think that you know the washington capitals have been spectacular and they frustrate every team that they play but then you know that glut and let me bring it up here of of the you know the standings towards the bottom uh where you've got tampa columbus pittsburgh ottawa montreal detroit philly within five points of each other yeah that's a lot of of teams so that means guys that if things remain the same or similar ish if you got five six teams and that means there's not a lot of sellers at the trade deadline which means prices go up exactly

like things are going to be tight this trade deadline i know we're all hoping for a lot of movement but because so many teams are in that contention you're not going to get all of these teams selling yes i feel like yeah you're right about the prices being a little higher this year interestingly last place team in the in the east is seven points out of a playoff spot yeah but like but seven points is a lot oh yeah yeah seven points is a lot well the next and hopping eight teams the second last team is five yeah that's a week okay yeah week none of these guys by the way none of these guys the hilarious thing is you go look at their last tens and the only one that's really got one that's like sparkling are the blue jackets they're six three

and one you got the lightning or five five and oh like i said the blue jacket six three and one uh penguins are four three and three sends or five four and one oh sorry montreal canadians are a two and oh yeah my bad they're one of the teams in the league how about detroit detroit six four and oh and they're like yeah we'll pull up their last five games five and oh five wins yeah but then like you know i so so there's that and you look at the western conference right the flames are a point out or flames are tied technically but they're a game behind the connor zary injury last night oh man that didn't look good no st louis is within three points utah's within four anaheim is within six you're kidding no i'm not they've been playing really good hockey lately

the ducks are up on the kraken yeah oh shit that is a call listen i haven't done enough of a deep dive on the kraken you know in a long time i really thought they were a playoff team this year i don't know why i was a moron an idiot i was like hey guys so they need goal scoring and they acquired this dude in chandler stevenson who is an assist powerhouse right how is that going to generate goal score you're right yeah and he's got like he's got like 22 assists and like three goals right now if i remember correct i was high on them too well you know why though because i felt i felt like okay all all the seattle kraken need to do is have these guys have normal years and they'll be fine what's their last 10 kraken yeah because they haven't had

Let's see what's crack-a-lackin'. They're 2-7-1. Yeah, so that makes a lot of sense. Joey Decord was... Sorry, it's not the Sens. It's the Kraken. Hey, oh, hey. Joey Decord was having like a Vesna conversation kind of year.

Yeah. And they've been missing him not even for that long. I think like two weeks. And, dude, they got no one beyond him. Yeah, Philip Grubauer is really bad. He's bad. Brutal. Bad at hockey.

I think he's back on the ice, though, Decord. That's Vesna nominee. I feel like there was some news about him. I think he's back. Yeah, yeah. No, he's back. Fantasy holder of Joey Decord. So with the Ducks, Lucas Dostal on 24 games is 9-13.

Yep. John Gibson, don't look now. 15 games, he's 9-14. Yeah, he's trying to get his way out of Anaheim. Yeah. So they're getting great goaltending consistently from both guys. So that's how you work your way into this conversation. The Seattle Kraken.

All right, let's take a look. Joey Decord, 9-12. That can get you in the playoffs. Philip Grubauer, 8-80. Uncle! Holy shit! Why even put your pads on? 8-80?

8-80 for $5 million, almost $6 million, 8-80. they put a nameplate on your jersey for that you know what they could holy shit you know they could probably do do a nice little swap with the ducks you go get john gibson he'd get you better numbers than that you imagine i know well dude 880 880 that's the nominee 880 how did you where'd you get five wins from 880 oh my god do they practice they're tired they're a little too tired do they use different weighted bucks in practice like the blue ones you use for kids 880 sometimes life throws your curveballs and you don't have time to get to them and that's where task rabbit comes in and i think you should check this out because here's the deal one of the things one of the

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You should download that, TaskRabbit.ca, code DANGLE. 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 hey the steve dangle podcast is sponsored by better help and let me tell you something it's that time of year where you're like gotta reevaluate life a little bit what do

i want the next calendar year to look like where am i at where am i at where am i heading to and where your head is at determines your reality uh and that's why this can help you know this is better help it can help with you kind of sorting out that journey the thing about therapy is it doesn't have to be like everything's on fire and everything's wrong you don't need to have a eureka moment every time bingo this is about it's it's it's the habits that you bring into your life that make the long the long-term difference and i think uh the the best part about this is it's served over five million people so far worldwide which is amazing uh 30 000 credentialed therapists with a wide range of specialties you can easily switch therapists anytime there's no cost to that

and it is on your schedule did they have to talk to the leafs to get those credentials they did not have to talk to the leafs credentials no those are different credentials jesse really yeah there are different classifications of what the media pass i have right now doesn't credential me to work for better no like you wouldn't come up as one of the therapists if if an stp listener that's probably probably the best well you know you're a good listener he's a good listener yeah well listen betterhelp.com slash stp 10 off your first month it's better help help.com slash stp give your head a break sorry we're hopping in a little bit all over we are the i started we started this about i thought uh brock nelson would be good to acquire

for the Bruins, and then we went to Leafs' centermen. What team did you want us to focus on? Brock Nelson, you bring up an interesting point, because I have a big crush on Brock Nelson's game, and I think he'd be perfect in a Leafs jersey. Another guy I look at on the Islanders that I think would be a killer

ad for any team is JG Paggio, who is super underrated, and great in the playoffs, and is a face-off winning machine, as far as I can remember, and sometimes doesn't even play center in in the island on the island inside oh hey hey you uh and and i feel like that guy

you talk about bargain bin hunting jesse that guy would be a great fit uh with teams like toronto with teams like even i i look at i look at somebody like the capitals and i go man the way you know how the caps like fight for every puck yeah like they're that annoying kid in daycare that every time you pick up a toy they have to have that toy they're a terrible team to play on the second half of a back-to-back oh exhausting dude whoever gets them in the first round good luck justin years ago i think he wrote this when he was still with the score he has a few things that he wrote with the score that like are still just i love going back to them it was players you hate to play hungover i like that which to me is like the same thing yeah and half of a back-to-back

and like at the time it was like brendan gallagher this was like way earlier in his career how the hell do you follow around the sardines uh stuff like that oh jg pageau with the with the hangover jesus with what do you do with nelson i see pageau being in a similar situation where the cost is going to be very high yes and pageau is a little unique because he makes five million dollars this season and he's still signed through next season so any acquiring team has to budget for we're keeping pageau through next season as well and there's probably a higher price to pay because you're not just paying for three months of services of this player you're also paying for all of next season so i think it's a little more expensive the leafs do want that whatever it is

they get they apparently want a guy with why wouldn't with some term so and i don't blame them so yeah i wonder if the leafs were to do peggio how that changes the roster outlook for the least because they are so hey we got all of these giant guys and all these contracts now that we're going to commit to five million dollars for whatever wherever peggio is going to play yeah i I would expect Paggio to come in at half. Like you're retaining on him. Like the Islanders are? I think they'll get somebody to take that contract.

You think so? Yeah, yeah. $5 million is something that you can find a team around the league to eat next year. Yeah, especially with this cap going up. Yeah, okay. It's also Brad Treliving. Like, all right, Brad, you have 10. Hit me.

15. Hit me. 20. Hit me. That's how he operates with the cap. And on the other end of that is Lou Lammarello, who I think if he's selling his players, he's going to get the maximum value.

He's not retaining for anybody. So I don't know. I think the cost is going to be pretty high. It might be like now we know what we're doing with Tavares if we get Peugeot because we got that $5 million that we're going to line up in the middle with Peugeot, and then now we can figure out the Tavares contract. So it might actually be good for the Leafs

to have that caught certainty for next year. Let me play some of the greatest hits for Peugeot. So his last two playoff runs haven't been the greatest. He had one assist in six games and then a goal and an assist in four. To be fair to him, the Islanders weren't great last year. Exactly. So he's been a part of three deep runs. He played 19 games with the Sens.

Yes. 2017. He had eight frigging goals, 10 points. Then the back-to-back years that the Islanders went to the conference final, 22 games played, eight goals, 11 points, half a point a game. 19 games played the next year in front of people. 13 points in those 19 games Peugeot has been a gamer

for a long time man yeah it's he's a name I like that guy getting brought up enough yeah and I think it's because he's still signed you know he's still he's not he doesn't look like the premier trade deadline fodder you know I want the Islanders desperately to move on from Lula

so that they that not because I want Lou out of the sport because part of me thinks it'd be hilarious is he he's the first hundred-year-old general manager like And he looks identical to how he does today. Believe me, this is not personal against Lou. I really have deep affection for Lou Amarillo. He turned things around a lot here in Toronto.

He doesn't get enough credit for the culture shift. However, if... I think the transition has begun there. They're going, yeah. And I think this summer he's going to be gone. And so... Oh, really? What I'm hoping is that...

Yeah, especially if the Islanders aren't in it, right? If they're not in it, and they're not. You think the Rangers are bad, the Islanders are worse. Five points out, buddy. Five points out. I don't believe the Islanders aren't in it. No, they're not. No, but they're five points out.

Thank you, Jesse. Thank you. But my point is that if we could get a new view on this Islanders direction, like where do they want to go from here? Because this is the end of this chapter for the Islanders. Whatever happens from here, this ethos that they've built their entire identity on, dating back to when Barry Trotz was their coach, that's done now. And so this is the last few months of it.

And it would be nice to see them start selling. The Islanders haven't been able to score consistently through the last half decade. Every single year they rank in your 20th in the league and goals for and somehow they've managed to make a couple of playoff runs and have very, like very good success through those years. And now it's finally caught up with them where everything just isn't working and nothing's clicking. So it's time to, yeah, some sort of change there. But Lou Lamorello is also like the Hazel McCallion of general managers. Yes. Hazel McCallion, the mayor of Mississauga, was the mayor of Mississauga for her entire life up until she was like 180 years old.

I'll look it up. You're not even wrong. Lou Lamorello, I feel like, might be that same situation where they're never going to get him to remove from this post until he's the sun setting on his days. Jesus Lord. okay hazel mary muriel mccallion was born february and hazel she was hurricane hazel was born valentine's day 20 sorry 1921 she died january 29th 2023 yeah at a hundred and just shy of 102 oh wow just shy of 102 when was she first elected mayor the first year mississauga was founded she's their own she was for the the majority of her life up until i think she was like 98 she was the only

mayor of mississauga that they've ever had you know what's funny it wasn't the majority of her life uh because she lived to be 101 okay give me a year give me a year uh when was she first elected 60 1960 it's for some reason it says she's the fifth mayor of mississauga oh really yeah oh and Anyway, I mean, I got that stat wrong. She was first elected in November 1978. McCallion was mayor for 36 years until her retirement in 2014, making her the longest serving mayor in the city's history. Yeah, that's so 88.

She was a successful candidate in 12 municipal elections, having been acclaimed twice and reelected 10 times. I don't know what a claim means. Yeah, so I think lose that of general managers. Right. Wow. And you're not wrong, Jesse. Let's not go into the Hazel McCallion any longer.

It's far too local. This show is international. I have no interest in going any deeper into this. I want to know. I want to know. No, I have a new obsession. New obsession. No.

Who was in charge longer, Hazel McCallion of Mississauga or Lou Lamorello being a GM in the NHL? Don't care right now. I do. Would rather talk about the trade deadline. I do. Really? Because she retired in 2014.

Quit her. Lou's still at it. He is. He is. And he's been at it since the 80s. She's 20 years his senior. And he's been at it since the 70s, friend. I think it's a tighter race than you think.

Well, you know, it's interesting, Steve. I just don't care. I do. So I was almost right about the first mayor thing. I just wanted to check out where I got that from. So Mississauga became the city of Mississauga in 1973, and then she was the mayor in 1978. So she was almost – before that, it was like a township. So almost when it was city, she was almost the first mayor.

Right. Yeah. Anyways, I think we can very much move on. Yeah, let's please. Please, God. I'm going to keep going. Please, God. I'm looking up more.

I know CJ's coming out with a new trade board. I think yesterday he said on the show it's happening. It's out right now. Is it? Yeah, yeah. So that's something to obviously keep an eye on. And I think, you know, there's been hints that there will be almost like a soft trade deadline before four nations.

And CJ has hinted that. And the reason he hints that is that a lot of guys want to get some of this stuff done. Maybe not all their homework, but some of it done before the four nations. Why do you want to be distracted? Why do you want to be distracted? Also, did you know, I asked him yesterday, I was talking to him at one point, I was like, is there a roster freeze? He's like, no.

So you could see a trade during. And there was like a mini trade deadline before the roster freezes here, which you don't usually see. Right. There were what, three, four? And so he's of the opinion that it could be a bit busier this year

because of the cap going up. Teams are more willing to take risks. What I also noticed too, and forgive me for jumping around here, but I think this is important as it pertains to the trade deadline, is when I look at the Eastern Conference and when I look at the Western Conference,

the good teams for most of the past five years with a few exceptions have been the good teams yep the bad teams for most of the past five years have been the bad teams with a few exceptions i look at i look at the okay atlantic division is like the perfect example of this the leafs the panthers the bruins the lightning they've been the team so frustrating yeah ottawa montreal montreal that's run in in in you know um uh in the canadian division but it was that was like the outlier that was the yeah we gotta we gotta scrap that yeah you know like if it's not that it doesn't count it's just that it doesn't count in this context take out that season and the weird covid bubble thing where like technically chicago made the playoffs yeah you look at the teams at

the top and it's about the same six teams and then like two teams each year swap in amongst the eight and every single year it's amongst the same six teams that make the playoff covid bubble chicago and Montreal made it as the 23 and 24 seed yeah doesn't count so we're not gonna so we're not gonna take those two years because they don't they're not in this context right they count the records count blah blah blah you're gonna have it you can have it but it doesn't count in this context so I look at a team like the Blues which have fallen a bit the Flames which have fallen a bit uh and I look at the Canucks who have actually come up they're the outliers Vegas has been good they missed the playoffs once Edmonton has been good especially the last five

years they had that one year where they they had like that abominable penalty kill remember it was like 50 and then all of a sudden that that ended and they were good again the jets the wild have been in and out but mostly in the stars made the stanley cup final uh the los angeles kings have been pretty solid the abs won a cup so those teams have always been good and look who's been bad uh utah arizona yeah anaheim seattle had one year in the playoffs nashville in and out right San Jose's been bad Chicago's been bad there's a weird

I don't even know what to call it like we'll call it the pumpkin category where just the Predators turned into a pumpkin

yeah the Rangers turned into a pumpkin yeah but what I mean is that like I look at a team like the Ottawa Senators for instance going into this trade deadline

and they have been stuck in in second gear for five years they're in such a frustrating spot because they were humming and then

well then Leendis went down Allmark got hurt And no goalies are available. But, like, you got to do something. Montreal is playing with house money. Whether they make it or they don't, Canadians fans will look at this month,

like this end of December and early January, and go, that's us. This, if the Habs make the playoffs, I mean, it's obviously a triumph. If they finish, I don't know, seven points out? That's a triumph. By the end of the year? That's an improvement.

You're playing meaningful games through late March, maybe even early April. that's exactly based on the discussion we had pre-season that you guys gave me shit for like that's exactly shit for that canadians fans gave you that's true that's that's exactly where they ought to be so it was so weird that i got pushed back actually we're supposed to be dog shit oh okay uh you said it's time for the canadians to take a step forward and then when they didn't mean to pump your tires forward to start the year then they were all like how come we haven't taken a step forward yeah if they have liney the whole time they might be in a playoff

spot right now my point in bringing this up is that the teams have stayed relatively where they're at the good teams have been good the bad teams have been bad it's time for some of these bad teams to go out and make an earth-shattering move i'm looking at a team like the montreal canadians uh in the next year have got to make a move for a real no disrespect to kirby doc because canadians fans love them um kirby doc is not your long-term second line center i don't even know if nick suzuki like if you're if you're you're looking for a guy that competes with nick suzuki for the top line center that that's the thing do you see what i'm saying like i you want somebody on that he needs support and so when i look at when i look at an elias peterson and i know that

they're not rumored in this at all but if i am kent hughes i want a guy like elias peterson because you need a guy who needs a fresh start you need a guy who needs a different The vibes are wicked in Montreal. And Elias Patterson needs some good vibes. And I feel like that kind of trade, I'm not saying that they're going to trade for him, that kind of trade is what I need to see from some of these teams. I want the Islanders to stop being whatever it is they are

because the ship is sinking. It's just sinking slowly. The Sabres need to do something or Kevin Adams is gone. It's weird. The Islanders did take a big swing a couple years ago getting Bo Horvat. And right now he's second on the Islanders in scoring, and I would argue he's still disappointing. Well, yeah, but it's also part of how they play.

And as Patrick Waugh said, this is the roster Lou gave me. That's not exactly a ringing endorsement of the players you have in-house. That's a crazy quote. The fact that not more was made of that. And the reality is that the Rangers have sucked up all the oxygen in New York. That's a crazy quote. I think I'd pay significant money to be in a room and invisible. with Patrick Waugh and Lou Lammarello at the same time.

Problem is, I think I would be discovered by one of them based purely on smell and murdered. But can you imagine a conversation, a private conversation between Patrick Waugh and Lou Lammarello? And a player eval where they disagree. Those are two unique human brains that are not alike. It was an awkward hire from the beginning. Everybody was surprised, right?

I would love to be a part of that. And it doesn't mean that it's not a fit. It just means that they're very different people. I'm looking at the Senators. I'm looking at the Canadians. I'm looking at the Red Wings. I'm looking at the Flyers. I'm looking at Utah.

I'm looking at St. Louis. I'm looking at Calgary and going, are you guys going to make maybe even Anaheim? Because with that Vetrano contract, it sort of says, no, we'd like people to stay here now. I feel like one of these teams is going to go out and do something crazy. And I'm excited for that.

Because the first one that does, I think we'll be rewarded for it. Oh, 100%. The team I put at the forefront of that is the Red Wings. Who Steve Eisenman said on December 27th, I think. Yeah. He's like, if you have any suggestions, I'm open to it. Dude, that was like a week and a half ago.

And here they are knocking on the door. I think it might be Stevie Y. I hope so. Because you know what? It would be fun. I think Ryan Whitney said this. There was like a chicklets clip that went viral last year. Remember the Red Wings started really hot last year?

yeah they had like a great october hall was going for the norse yeah and everybody's like see you guys are wrong you're stupid and then the red wings became themselves the uh damn the the thing that ryan whitney said that i really agreed with was the league's better when the red wings are good yeah i sort of agree with that it's like it's like f1's better when ferrari's good right there's some there's certain teams it's like you know if i can't hate the new york yankees then baseball's not as fun. I'll have to take Witt's word for it because the Red Wings were good my entire life

until they missed the playoffs. For the first time whenever it was, 2015. It's true. Like, they were good since before I can remember. Yeah. 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.

Now, let's talk a little Leafs and not necessarily trade deadline. We all know they need a 3C and maybe potentially a winger or whatever. From what I asked somebody today, and I asked about Yarncroke and apparently the plan is for him to play.

So they are going to get a center and what will be interesting is when Yarncroke comes back that makes him a winger but he can move to the center should they get an injury in the playoffs. People have been asking me

after every game for the last three games about Yarncroke and I'm like, where did this... Because the trade deadline is coming up and it's like,

are we going to blow assets or are we going to bring this guy back who is a valuable piece? He was also hanging around the other day. Was he? um yeah he's in the locker room so he's like not um he's not like gone somewhere you know you see

him so he's around the team he's not playing he's not practicing he's not skating but he's around which is interesting he i think i think would be in the conversation for a try at third line center has to be if but if he's not back in time you got to make a move no no exactly but like i I don't know. I was just watching Domi, and I'm like, man, I don't think he's a center. He can do it. He can do it. I just really don't like it.

It's not my favorite. Yeah. What he's doing this season is actually admirable. I don't think he's been in a position to succeed at all, ever. He played hurt for a month after a really good start, and now he's playing center on a Frankenlein that's just terrible. I like the Frankenlein. yeah it's fun they they up until saturday's game you talk about high event hockey you keep

mentioning that and i agree with you it is high event every shift but they were outscoring their opponents eight to four two of those games the opponent was the sabers i know you play who you play i know you play that's like saying you know the goal doesn't count because it was on the power no but which was i watched for a while against good teams they struggled they did okay it's relevant i i agree with you but what i'm saying is that i i feel like you give them too much shit based on because the leaves i hear you on those streams i'm watching those the leaves are really good the leaves are really good and the bar's gone up bar's gone when they score when the lander's on the ice you don't give him as much shit as you give the domi line he's been he's

been bad the last couple of games but i don't want to talk about that i don't want to start about that no what i want to start with is this this is a kevin pipetti tweet kevin is good at Twitter, even though Twitter doesn't matter as much anymore. But Kevin is very good at it. Five different Leafs have fought this season. McCabe, two times. Domi, two times. Name the other three. Conor Dewar. Yeah.

Wild. Didn't Morgan Riley have a fight? He did. Austin, right? Nope. No. Although that would be hilarious. Not Willie. Not Patch Ready.

oh uh bobby mcmahon i think upon his homework oh shit yeah so so the reason i bring this up and i think we need to start the segment here is the leafs have a really good fourth line i like it lorenz doer and normally holmberg uh i like uh lorenz camp doer that's great too yeah but one of those guys has to sit good mix one of those guys has to sit when ryan reeves is in the lineup ryan reeves last night played six minutes and i'm and i understand dressing him against the flyers because the flyer yeah i don't hate that but at the end of the day the fights this season not one from ryan he had three fights in the first three games last year what's going on is there an injury here no i don't i i think what is it is it nobody will go

yeah no one will go why okay what's the point of opening that door then what's the point of playing him no he's a deterrent he's a deterrent yes okay um and i love ryan reaps yeah just to be on the record i think this guy is great for the team but i'm just curious when that fourth line is performing like they are their their offensive zone numbers are insane they're getting like 10 of their starts in the offensive zone and they always finish their shift in the ozone oh it's like going to the store wearing a mask and staying inside and no one gets sick and you're like what's the point of staying inside and wearing a mask well it's you took precautions man ryan reeves is uh the covid mask he is i don't think he'd like to be referred staying six feet

away he is no he's he's social distancing from the stars i would if i was out there i'd social distance from ryan reeves what the fuck and and like because he doesn't score all that much i don't he made one good defensive play yeah he did then he was out there for a goal against i didn't love that um like what is the what's the benefit of going ryan reeves okay why would you do that so so here's my thing though yeah is the fourth line better with him on it no but and we've had this conversation before it's 82 games yeah that's so many games right and sometimes you need guys to get you through you need them for certain games he shouldn't be playing against hurricane yeah yeah to that to that point are do you think what do you think

they should do with ryan reeves is because like okay that was gonna be my next question if you don't want him to play the solution isn't scratching him for 82 games no the solution isn't sending him down no and i don't know if there's a trade partner so like if you're not playing him what's the other what's the other end of this i i want i want them to define a role for him when he does play because there are times where i feel like he it feels a little bit like okay so what what are we doing with this line really what's happening here I think they have a I think they have a defined role for the fourth line and it doesn't include him and he's actually been and I'm on the record good with Ryan Reeves playing I just want to know what the direction is

what's his north star where's he what's he pointing towards he's been adequate uh his north star is try to keep the puck in the offensive zone bang and crash keep the flies off okay and if he can give you six solid minutes against the flyers 30 ish games okay half a season okay maybe like this team has had a depth this team has enjoyed a depth that they just haven't had in recent years yep and i'm not trying to pick on him but it did feel a little bit sore thumbish last night sure but like in a I thought the game called for it the Flyers they beat the Leafs up a little bit first half of this home and home okay they were the chippier team and now you're down McCabe you're going into Philly Domi elbowed Hathaway in the head and got fined for it something's

probably gonna go down and then pre-game you're lining up who the potential dance partners are and you get to ryan reeves who on the flyer is going ryan reeves and for what reason is hathaway well why would you do that it's a bad trade for them it's a bad yeah he uh set up a screen for a goal i don't know i'm going i'm going ryan reeves that's it i two trade deadlines ago was worth a first second and third i'm going ryan reeves boo and phooey i'm not doing that okay so who else is going i'm like zamula or like what's what's the point travis connecting well that's not a fair weight class and also he's one of the best goal scorers in the league as joel farabee fighting no but he is fighting connor doer which is super weird god bless connor doer he's

i feel like leave fans don't even know the guy i like him i hope he scores a goal or two jesse what are your thoughts on this and what do you think the organization thinks after covering the team for now half of half of a season i think steve makes a great point about the games played like ryan reeves has already gotten into 27 games this season that's quite a bit like that's he's he's clearly been very useful to craig berube and that's like 60 ish 65 ish percent yeah what did they play 43 42 something like that something like that so yeah it's it's not an insignificant amount for for a guy who's not making a whole bunch of money i think our framing of what 1.3 million dollars on the cap is has to change once the cap's at 95 million yeah it's

off season so it's it's not anything that he's making and he's he's been very useful you got two assists it's minus one but like he's not out there for the points he's out there to just be a body in the way and i don't think he's done a horrible job at that so far this season i saw ryan reeves assist live in person i think that's crazy that happened and last year uh because of how that series ended and because it was so horrible we forget he got into five playoff games five of the seven games ryan reeves was needed to be in that line not the final two not the final two and things uh they had to win those games and they won game five which they also had to win and he was in that lineup but that's true um he's he's a body that i think they like having around because

he is useful on the ice and he's at this point i don't think he's hurting them you know for me it's a net it's a net even you know he's he's not generating anything offensively because that's not what he's there for but he's also not hurting them uh defensively when he's only playing six minutes a night you got carolina tomorrow yep carolina's i mean there's no use for ryan reeves out there so i'm not okay i'm not using them all right so now it's okay do we need to shut down Carolina they haven't scored a ton this season uh so I don't know about Holmberg I don't know I don't know okay Robertson then Robertson we need some goals we're we're trying to outscore these guys all right here we go Robbie gets in yeah and also I think we're all forgetting that

it's not Nick Robertson in the lineup tomorrow if if he if he gets in it's Nick Robertson coming off of a healthy scratch which gets like at least a seven or eight overall rating bump in ea he's a canon yeah they should they should program that into nhl if yeah that's true if nick robertson normal is a 70 nick robertson 70 it's okay the guy's 75 no he's probably i would say he's like a 78 ish 78 aren't the guys in the ahl like 75 yeah yeah okay there you go so he's he's a 78 81 we probably look it up too like it's not guessing boring if he's a 78 nick robertson coming off a healthy scratch 85 85 like he's unreal he's an 82 yeah um really yeah yeah that's kind of what they've because you got to do the scale right right yeah if mcdavid's in 98 or

whatever roberts has got to be there but with with reeves and last night not fighting hathaway it takes two to tango like i'm not i can't get on ryan reeves if hathaway isn't gonna fight him if like that's the mentality of hathaway is like i'm gonna get under ryan reeves's skin by not fighting him right like what i can't criticize reese for that which would be very garnet hathaway too he's good at that reeves reeves gave him like a bump and it wasn't even a significant one near the beginning of the game when they're near the bench yeah and it's basically don't fucking run around tonight and hathaway didn't and he focused on playing hockey actually to the flyers benefit yeah yeah and the leafs still well maybe ryan reeves hurt the leafs

you better run around tonight you made them yeah hey you better hurt our guys piece of shit no i i don't think it it wasn't it like i think it was helpful i think it was helpful having him out there last night to be a deterrent for hathaway and yeah like i said he's not he's not hurting anybody in terms of uh they're not losing games because of ryan reeves they had to play like i think austin put it perfectly in the post game like it was they had to play defense like some nights you got to play offense some nights you gotta play defense they had what was it two goals on nine shots or whatever it was they just hunkered down they did harden a whole bunch of time they just did harden harden harden and the other pokemon couldn't get

to them and that sometimes that's how you got to win a hockey game and the least were really good doing that and ryan reeves is a part of that by being a part of their hearted let me just let me just help whoa hey hey now hey i like it i like phrasing let me oh it's good uh let me let me just run just the shots by 32 for philly 17 for the leafs usually when you look at that you go that's not great and they got away with one and perhaps they did joseph wall made some great saves towards the end of the game oh definitely the flyers doubled them up in shots it's not like it was score effects at that point the flyers were up from the beginning it was it's all strategic by the leafs tell me about that yeah tell me about jesse's i think jesse's right that's how they

wanted to play last night well i think the first period was shit yeah no no first period was dog shit yeah yeah the first period was dog shit and they were very lucky to get that early goal in the second and make it one one and they're like okay it was jt who scored that that first goal it's like we got we got some legs we came out after that first intermission where we are look we looked awful but we stemmed that storm you know we we got through that and we only down one nothing now we've tied it now we know we're not really good tonight let's just play defense and and the guys can just get one they can get two and we can win this game right around when the leafs took the lead for the first time the shots were close to even and if i'm not mistaken

the um shot attempts were even closer right to even and that's after a first period where like you were not in it then the flyers with the power play with score effects start running away with it that's why i think the total looks so shit so it was a combination like yeah the first period was terrible and they were i think fortunate to get out of it down one nothing yes um after that it was 35 pretty tight minutes i thought 35 pretty dog shit opening 20 tight 35 score effects i think that's basically what happened you think that's the game that's the game i i even said this in the lfr i'm like if you only watch the highlights for this game you will definitely be under the impression the Leafs were horrible all night first period

bottom five first period in the season indefensible after that it was fine now there's a lot of adjustment going on with leaf fans with this because i do think for me anyway i like the way the leafs are playing this year more than i've liked them the in the matthews era this is my favorite brand of hockey that they've played it's it's less fun i think it's more fun yeah because what i don't what i hated about the babcock and then the keith eras were um we're gonna get pushed around and we're gonna skate off you can push us around yeah and i fucking hated that now i embraced it at the beginning but as i've told many times game three boston tavaris gets shook by marsh and skates away and i'm like could we show some emotion please it's the playoffs but

they played the playoffs comes around and that's always the problem they played fun regular season hockey these guys are playing the hockey that you need to play to win it's different it's so because there's there's a lot of people are like well they're scoring a lot less goals that's really concerning what do you guys say to that they're allowing a lot less you could it is it better to have 10 goals people who would tell you that they're that Their first place right now in the Atlantic is a mirage. That they are on the verge of collapse and all the teams need to do is figure them out

and it's going to happen. Okay. I don't think this is 2013. Like, I don't think they're riding a ridiculous... Well, there is comparisons being made by some more extreme members of the analytics community. Like, well, they're playing like they did when they let Reimer hit 40 shots a game.

That's ridiculous. Okay, tell me... But tell me why. I have to bring this up because there are conversations happening, right? That team got shelled every damn night. Every night. They were the second best team almost every single time they took the ice.

They could get 20 to 25 shots a game, score four or five. I don't know what the goals per game comparison is, but I am willing to bet the 2013 team scored more. Reimer had to be – Reimer got a heart vote. One. 2013, one. What play? But he got one.

fifth oh fifth you got a fifth place hard that's nice it was uh i want to say it was it oh man it was a penguins writer he got out of hockey writing a long time ago shoot i forget um but he did he got a hard vote he was unbelievable um now stallers he's one of the best goalies in the league whoa he's been a very very good goalie for this team they've got wins out of matt murray they've got wins out of dennis hildeby um if they're not careful or to act him off might trip and fall into an nhl win this year man but um this is a tight brand of hockey they play a lot of tight games they're not blowing leads when the leafs went into the third period with a lead in 2013 i've never seen footage of world war one

but it was artillery like what i imagine artillery to be right and just hiding in a trench and waiting for them to run out of missiles that like i it's a miracle sports net forced me to watch game seven for an article game 7 2013 for an article that how the the bruins i think the leaf should have taken the bruins to court for letting them get to seven and getting their hopes up because it was mean if you watch game one they're playing with their food a little bit it should have never been close it should have never been close it should that series should have been over in three that team should not have even made the playoffs um the end result like for last night was the leafs got out shot

for sure i understand um this isn't you know maybe it's an age thing i don't know this is nothing like 2013 okay not that they were bad they were straight up bad they were the second best team nearly every game that season uh this season they have bad periods they have bad stretches for sure they play tight hockey it's tight they play in competitive games whether they win or they lose now austin matthews being back gentlemen has led to uh i don't even know how many points in the last three games but he was nearly a point of period yeah uh this concern that we had has poof all of a sudden gone out the window he when he first came back he didn't look like this he looks totally different he didn't look like this in december he didn't

look like this at all does it change your opinion of him playing in the four nations listen if he wants to play he's gonna um and I still stand by like what I said it at the end of the day it is still three or four games that's not so many games that's not so many games it's not so many games it's what I said before is I think the experience gained at the four nation face-off um for Matthews who's never been deep and Nylander who's never been deep and Marner who's never been deep Hockenpah has been deep I think the experience

gained for those three guys is going to be one of the most valuable experiences of their professional lives I'm just worried I'm just worried about the guy but like there's there's nearly 40 games left this regular season Matthews could get hurt in any one

Jesse what I'm going to worry about three or four games I don't know with the with the Leafs playing a bad style of hockey and there's a 2013 Leafs I think it it also uh adds to the Matthews conversation because through a lot of the stretch of this season they didn't have Austin Matthews yes I feel like that is an important factor when looking at where how the the numbers that the Leafs had in in the fall like he wasn't healthy and now they didn't have Max Domi for a month right they didn't have a lot of these guys that are in this lineup right now they've been

they've had a ton of injuries and through all of those injuries they've come out first in the division tied for the first place in the eastern conference i don't know how you look at that and you try and spin it into a something negative you know i feel like it's it's a very positive season so far for the least it's been drama drama free in terms of off ice issues and the on ice stuff has been injuries you know it's been it's been matthews in his back and now he with the seven points in three games that he's been back like everything appears to be fine and if if this is just the element you're adding to a team that was already playing really well through november it seems like it's going to be a good second half of the season for them as well matthews is gonna

give you we talked about this before the season began he had 69 goals last year 69 way better than nice freaking elite and i go if he takes a step back at all like let's say he scores 50 you're a 19 shy you might be lucky you might be lucky to get 40 let's say he gets 39 you're down 30 goals and the team's better in the standings that's not just luck no that's not just luck so with with that number like austin he's not going to score 69 again like the leafs are 10th in goals four like i get like it's not the the deep analytics that i'm gonna give to you here but they're 10th in goals four and goals against their um 11th like that's i'm very fine with that that's top third with that type of hockey one thing they do struggle with they do allow a lot of shots

yep um they're high danger score uh shots that they have high danger shots against i believe they're also in the 10 11 area which isn't great but in that area is also a washington you know and carolina is also in the top 10 there so it's not indicative too much to me of like okay they're a bad team overall because you can play hockey where you allow a lot of shots where you also block a lot of shots and and and you're able to play a great defense and weather those storms and that's just kind of the brand of hockey that brew basically has to have them playing it's low event it's we just need a couple goals and we're gonna win here this stat has to be kept somewhere i think the leafs are probably a bottom half team in terms of shot attempts that ends up end up as

shots on goal they miss a lot and they get blocked a lot because they're they're trying to through the shoot through traffic a lot the leafs are the leafs are okay because last night was one of those nights i think they had one shot and then it got docked and they were down to zero and i feel like that happens to the leafs a lot where you're watching the shot counter it goes dick dick dick um because they're taking a lot more shots through traffic than they were before i like i wonder if that's part of it possibly yeah because like are they doing that bad and expected goals like coursey for you know just pure shot differential i know they're not doing the greatest um how are they doing unexpected goals quality of chances because like their opponents

spend a lot of time in the leafs end a lot of it's just bumble fucking yeah that's that's gonna result in the shot counter going up for their opponents and that's gonna result in the analytics that are largely based on shot metrics they're gonna tick up and not look great for the least and i'm just i'm not concerned about those numbers right now frederick anderson was forced to tear his groin nearly every night on a two-on-one frederick anderson who's very injured right now yes apparently he's back skating today is he yes okay there's there's an update yeah but it was i was like oh look at freddie good for him they all they need that they need that back to check off can just do it all on his own yeah he but but i i brought that up like the shit frederick

was expected to do for this team the pure quality of chances that friggin guy had to face every game you never watched the leaf game and said whoa freddy had a boring night oh man freddy only faced 17 shots none of them were scoring chances never once you said the same thing about reimer man reimer got just shelled just shelled but like it was different reimer had to face a lot more fire drills frederick anderson had to face like just an insane amount of three he had to stretch his skin across the net the entire net like like a friggin marsupial and by the way i just want to say that i had to double check because i never trust myself but i was right he has resumed skating there you go oh excellent great there's a wild scoop um austin matthews too

in his last nine games that he has played with the leafs they're eight and one in those games it's silly season right now oh my god and people hate watching the lfr because steve's just like you know what they're kind of good i know i you friggers you mothers everybody watch them Everybody wants to see Steve melt down because they lost their 10th in a row to Anaheim. I thought I was very funny and charming last night. They lost 14 straight games to the Blackhawks, and Steve's upset. Like, that's not what it is right now. Yeah, no, it was better in 13-14 when I was just drinking whiskey on camera,

probably violating YouTube policies. Well, they didn't have those policies back then. They have them now. Yeah, probably not. No, sorry. So I said all that. So Reimer would get shelled with artillery. Frederick Anderson had to have

a just silly putty groin and Wohl I feel just generally speaking needs to be a goalie he doesn't need to be God every night he makes a couple good saves and makes a couple really good saves

but every goalie's got to do that every night he doesn't need to be every member of the Fantastic Four all at once he yeah a couple good saves good thing where you say sometimes you need to save well he gives you one he gives you one Stoller's gives you one Stoller's is a far more exciting goalie than Joseph Wall yeah I think people just look at the numbers and they go Stoller's better and maybe Stoller's better

Stoller's crazier Stoller's funner yeah certainly he's very Cujo in that sense in that not not like what Cujo what Cujo was just diving everywhere right like he was a lunatic um but that was sort of the style at the time. Like, Hasek was like that, too. You can never replicate what Hasek used to do. No. Joseph Wohl is,

all right, we're going to storm in there and I will use intimidating shout. Yeah, yeah. Stoller's is, all right, let's do this.

Leroy! Jake! That's a deep cut. Yeah. Is it? Well, not a deep cut. I guess it's a old gut. Ooh, 2025.

I know. That's what year it is right now. No, the idea that the Leafs or anything like that atrocity of a team is absurd. Okay. All right. So we're feeling good. Yeah, I'm feeling...

Like, listen, they're not flawless. All right. No team is. No. I thought that's what you guys just spent the last 20 minutes saying. Yeah, they got no problems. Everything's fine. Hey.

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. Don't you wish you could just hit skip on the worst parts of your life? You know, the same way you can skip an ad? I get it. I'm Ciaia, and I live in Ice Cove. I've made some questionable decisions that didn't end up the way I planned. And today, I'm still figuring it out. Somehow, things usually get worse before they get better.

Apparently, that's how I roll. So bundle up and come along for the bumpy ride. Don't miss the new season of North of North starting September 8th on CBC Gem. Okay, Jesse, I want to ask you something. And their power play's not even clicking that great. Anyway, sorry. Steve wanted me to bring this up. And I think this is a good question.

You have now been reporting on the Toronto Maple Leafs for half a season. Can you share insights to us, the fans, who may have grown up wanting to be Leafs ourselves and then said, maybe I'll be a reporter and then maybe didn't do that either? When I grow up, I want to be Jesse Blake. What is it like? One, I don't think reporter is the best designation for me. What do you call yourself? Just a media guy with you guys who has credentials.

Because I don't do a lot of the reporting on the team on a day-to-day basis. But what aspect of it are you guys interested in? What would you like to hear about? Well, how's the food? The media food? Yeah. So they have, in the press box, you have access to free popcorn, which is awesome. You get free popcorn.

There's drinks in the fridge, like smart water or cans of Coke or bottles of orange juice or apple juice. I was going to ask about orange juice. Okay, good. You get coffee, hot chocolate, any of the beverages you want, plus the popcorn. Plus, at the beginning, when you first arrive, there is a little heater thing of pizza, pizza. And then at the first stoppage of the game, they refill it. So at the beginning of the game, you can also get pizza in the press box. I just figured out why CJ got into this business.

Do you have to pay? No, that is for free. It's just a take if you're in the press box. But if you want to enjoy a medium meal where they actually provide you with – it's similar food to what's available in the suites there. So it's like the chicken that they always have at Scotiabank Arena and some other regular fixings. I've never partaken in the medium meal, but that one I believe is $10. I talked about it before how – The Jays do something similar, yeah.

No, I was going to say. I talked about it before how they didn't have it for a little bit. and then um it was it was steve simmons who talked to brendan shanahan and he got him to bring it back wow yeah they didn't have it for a little bit they had just like vouchers for the media people it's like a ten dollar voucher to go in the concourse and like get something if you wanted it and then how would you do that though you would have no time to do yeah i it's not close i would rather just go to like subway and buy a subway or chipotle or something and so david alter is telling me the story about how he talked to steve simmons like steve simmons talked to brendan

Shanahan is like every other place has a media meal why don't we have this in Toronto so now they actually have it back and it's in the media center which is on the event level of Scotiabank Arena and the event level if you're not aware is ice level so that's where the events happen there's you enter it's the bottom floor where everything's happening and in between the two locker rooms there is a room called the media center it's where Craig Berube does all of his post game avails and usually the pregame avails he's standing at the little podium with the big leafs thing behind him and the rogers logos and all that fun stuff behind him or in front of him on the other side where you can't see our cameras and then in a work area and then before the game

they set that up as an area where it's like a buffet style where you go through and you you pay your money and then you get your meal so i've never partaken in the media meal which happens a few hours in the afternoon before every game day but that is the food situation so reporting on the front of maple leaf interestingly david alter is now taken to putting tiktoks up of what the away food is like yes and he he said last night because the flyers make you pay 18 dollars and american american and he said it's not very good and he ran us through the whole thing oh damn and like and really in philly he's like yeah it's just not yeah the altar's gotta if you're interested in like the reporter life behind the scenes stuff david alter's got a great tiktok

where yeah and he's been doing i think for a couple seasons now every arena he goes to he shows you what the media meal is like and he always says that uh detroit has the best one interesting and he didn't get to partake in in in it last year even though he's been to every single leafs game for the last 300 games um because they were in sweden or not sweden where was the oh where's the global series no i am sweden okay sorry it's sweden yeah they're in sweden and that counted as the detroit red wings home game that's right that they would have played with the leafs so he never got to visit uh wow we there um so caesar's caesar's uh place or whatever it's called now um little caesar's arena caesar's palace place joe louis i was about i was

like wait no that's wrong stop saying he didn't get to visit it last season so this season got to go back and yeah if you go on his tiktok you'll see they have the best media meal apparently in the league but yeah wow that's the food what's cool what um what have you seen just hanging around the team that maybe you didn't expect i think it's one thing that i think is fascinating if you're not in those areas with the players is how i i don't i don't think the right word is accessible but how around they are at moments available before and after the game you can't it's not the right place in time to talk to them at all but you see um in areas where not the public can't really walk through but people who have higher end suites they're walking around people

who are family and friends and us media and people are working the players often hang around those areas like you'll see when um minton had his call up i forget which game did you remember which which game the first call up was which game steve but if you remember he had some friends on the other team and as a kid who just reached the nhl level like he's probably hasn't seen those buddies in a while because they've already on nhl teams and after the game like after we did our media veil he's just in the hallway chatting with some of the dudes on the other team and hanging around there and you'll see like willy will come out and there's there's one moment where there's a couple fans and he's just chatting with them because will he have a shirt on no okay no willy does

not often wear a shirt in a lot of areas i'm curious with with their least pr because they are notoriously stringent and they've been good to us but like they are and i would say that to steve keogh's face i'd be like steve you're you're tough um i wonder if they've ever said hey willy do we need to have do we have to have both nips on television like you know like is that a chat that they have or they just let willie do his thing um you know what's funny i i feel like this is something ryan reeves advocated for what just getting out there shirtless no because last year remember he was told to put on a shirt or something oh really and he's like but i got this great body and wicked tattoos yeah you don't yeah you don't remember that i don't remember that but

That's hilarious. And then this year, I noticed I'm like, Willie never has a shirt on. Like Reeves, sometimes you have it. He didn't last year. Now it's never. Never, ever. No towel in sight, nothing.

Just chest hair and a chain. So to finish, sorry, I was kind of long-winded with that one. But to finish my answer on your question, the reason I said the thing that kind of surprises me most about being around there and how around the guys are. And the other day, I saw Pacioretty with his kids. you know like i didn't really imagine seeing all the just the players around so often is because when you're a kid and when you're a fan you have these ideas of these athletes of them being these

superheroes right and that's why we all fall in love with the the sport and with players and we watch them on television and it's this grand thing so then to see when you get access to the stuff behind the scenes and to see those walls break down is it's it's really cool and you think about those moments where it's like okay you you know you grow up watching whatever player and then you see them on tv and then you just see them hanging around and then there's that there's that it's not it's i guess sort of breaking over the third wall of like hey this is a regular dude i talk to you sometimes you know like joseph wall i asked you like about losing your stick you know and now i see you over there um just chatting with the guy you know on the other team you know so that that's

sort of the the from the fan who got credentials part which is what we're all we're all fans and that's what i am and then eventually now we're just media people that's been the coolest thing and the biggest uh step there is just like hey they're guys you know we're here how intimidating is berube in person oh uh good question yeah he's like he's like a silent uh silent dude that's scarier to me yeah yeah i hate that because i don't know where yeah i hear i hate that he's a lot he's a lot easier than somebody like sheldon keith in terms of dealing with media in terms of dealing with i think everybody really yeah because sheldon keith i think you can you even it came across anxious energy in very in his media veils and what he did publicly is that he ran at nine

or 10 at most moments and berube has moments where he's the two yeah he's also he jokes a lot he's he's very calm he's very silent like it's not it's not high energy all the time and i think there's been a big change in the organization going from keith who ran out of nine or ten to somebody who can often deal out of two yeah keith like and i don't even say it as a criticism i see myself in Sheldon Keefe's energy perhaps derogatory like it's just

yeah it's it's he doesn't need to tell me he's anxious for me to know he's about to explode yeah I think I think a lot of people felt that and there isn't that anxious energy with Brubé at all I think he gives the like

I know what I'm doing kind of energy you know it's like I got confidence in what i'm what i'm doing here with with everything that's going on he looks like he has and i've never met him in person um but he looks like he has enforcer eyes which is which is something i've tried to convey to people and anyone who's ever met an nhl enforcer they have a way of looking at you that touches the back of your skull and i think it's just something that you have to develop to lead that kind of life bob mcgill fuck he was a nice guy when i worked at leafs tv i hated making eye contact with him i freaking hated it because he just stares right through you ty domey i met

he just stares right through you it's just uh and craig berube looks like it's it's this hollow he's he that thing where uh nize and marner had five points in a game and he goes oh that used to be an entire year for me i looked it up he's right he wasn't wrong he's yeah that did used to be an entire season for him some seasons less um he was not there to put up points and he was a forward he just beat the shit out of you um uh two-part question and you could choose to ignore one of them what's your favorite interaction you've had with a player or coach that you've been a part of or favorite and or favorite interaction you've gotten to witness i my favorite interaction with uh anybody has been uh well from the player side of it is i

asked matt murray about um if it's taking time to get adjusted to the nhl shot and it was my favorite interaction because i was like oh i think i did something smart because i got a good answer out of him because he said yes and i wasn't i didn't think like i was like oh i was i was surprised at the answer because i was like oh he had i think he was open and honest about something that could be an insulting question yeah to a guy with the wrong ego yeah so it was the game there's most previous this most recent start is when he allowed i think there's the like couple of one early one i know it wasn't a great goal and i was and he was talking about how it was the first question he answered and he was like yeah it's it's taken we're not playing hockey for

so long it's taken a while to get back up to speed and all that and i had one early that i didn't i didn't really like and i would want back and i i was like is it taking you a little bit to get readjusted to the nhl shot because he's playing the ahl this time and now it's it's a different league it's it's not the same like we talk about all the time the nhl and the ahl they're they're different tiers it's very clear and he said yeah like there's there's a readjustment to that and yeah i want that one back and yeah i'm still getting acclimatized to that to that um to the game here at the nhl level and i was like oh okay i got something good so i think i did something good yeah so that's probably that's probably my favorite interaction there from a strictly like

hey just trying to do my job you know you never know what you're gonna get yeah you could ask a great question it sucks being like this is a gem right here and they just give you yeah no for sure like i said yeah well like i said oh fuck i hate like i said yeah well because usually tavaris usually starts with like i said but he hasn't answered a question right man well like i said well you haven't said that dude is media trained to the gills absolutely i've told this story before where i interviewed him when he was with the gens um so he's a teenager and i'm like two years older than him or something and uh i i i go how are you as a person and he just starts talking about the game and i went oh shit and i better turn on my recorder oh i was i was the

interviewer and was not aware that the interview had begun right just media trained to the absolute gills well there you go now being around all the the media people who cover the leafs on a daily basis is just awesome too because i did a wealth of knowledge that every guy down there has like you'll hear mark masters tell stories and he'll be like oh the 2015 season blah blah blah and and david alter who i sit next to in the press box he's been an absolute gem to deal with has helped me like along the way and he's just always telling the best stories and like on the other side it's like alish and terry koshans is always there like all the people there too are just absolute gems like everybody deal with i like terry a lot oh terry's reporting too he's super

reliable guy just is like i'm here i'm gonna be a reporter and that's like he's not controversial in that way i like terry a lot adam i feel like at least once a season i get the opportunity to say this or i have a reason to say this jesse you're so impressive yeah man this is cool you're so impressed i've been enjoying this this is great you're so great uh see i'll run into cj every now and again oh and he'll just be he'll just be texting him gm getting the trade details he is locked in i love watching cj in action yeah he has no he he humors me in the group chat but in person like that if you go if you go for a drink with him he it's guaranteed he's going to be interrupted two to three times over an hour oh at least oh sorry i gotta take this oh sorry

i gotta take this sorry i gotta take this i'll never tell you who it is either he's very very keeps it within and that's respectfully that's what i would want oh you know what i mean like well we'll hit him up for like hey cj like what do you think of this or what do you think of that sometimes he'll give his opinion or whatever but a lot of the time cj is like cj's i think reputation and the confidence that people place in him is not unfounded this is not a leaky ship you ever been on the phone with him and uh you hear the dude like he's getting a call yeah you know you're about to be hung up on yeah within the next five seconds well because he'll be fully engaged in a conversation and then and then he'll be like yeah and and it'll just be silent on the

phone yeah and he's like i'm sorry i gotta call you back oh yeah gotta go by alan's like that too i've run into like myrtle's been down there a couple times he can't get to every game but the ones he gets to um i'll usually see him there and i'll talk to him and i don't know if anybody has like a better pulse on the inner workings of the team and mlse than myrtle like he's he's he's dialed he's dialed in he's great to talk to yeah and just ultimate nice guy yeah you guys all know that love love someone you can look at i die me oh personally because we're both oh you recognize something in each other i don't know what it is one day when my when i'm better at skating backwards than i am we'll we'll team up to be the twin towers of rachel raiders oh on the back end

yeah like we'll do that martin marich in one and two jesse is playing more defense yeah there you go yeah i buy backwards skating isn't good enough to play defense that full time but you know we'll get there well you're coming off okay so why don't we wrap the show there and uh it's been it's been fun it's been a pleasure two and 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 can i do one more thing oh for god i'm sorry is

it about fucking mississauga and the mayor or something it is not about all right all right what is it what is it what do you want so what do you want i i realized that i mostly only did it in the LFR when I talked about Leo's first game with the Leafs. I wanted to show, for anyone who didn't see that video, I wanted to show the fist bump line with Leo getting to see all the players. And I did want to do a shout out to Andrew in security for helping get me down by the glass, and Stacy for making the fist bumping action possible.

it was like it was I felt like I was meeting the president yeah well it's tough they were like you have you have oh my god that's my son they're like yeah you have like a minute to like make a decision that you're coming here to get these fist

bumps and Leo was right at the front of the line and if you play the audio you can play the audio on this one you can hear Reeves go release us and a few of these guys like a few of them like little tippy tap with the fingers on his little four-year-old fist a couple of them like they punch yeah like look at mccabe mccabe nearly

got leo to punch himself in the face that's really cool this was such a like just a magical damn experience already said no oh yeah yeah no he was just he was honestly he was probably talking to somebody you know i know i didn't i didn't have the training staff also yeah weren't patch's kids there uh yes so we were down by the glass and it's funny i was just like man there's a lot of tavaris fans down here and patch ready fans and i'm a cape jersey i oh these are all their kids ah yes yeah wait christmas time right yeah they're all around it was the last game before christmas or no no sorry that was uh we went to the new year's eve game right because we couldn't go to the christmas game uh because everyone got sick um but i was like oh there's

one two three four five patch ready jerseys okay he's got five kids there's one two three four or sorry one two three Tavares jerseys um and the most intimidating part of all of it is Tavares wanted to give a puck to his kids and he was tapping on on the camera hole and for some reason the photographer who was there didn't know how to open it oh no what which is you think is part of the gig and so I'm the next I'm there because the photographer's the the guy's like well i don't know what i'm doing and so i just go uh and i start like jigging with the thing trying to get it open did you get it open yeah i did eventually but stavaris is standing there like what the fuck trying to get a puck to my kids like it's not rocket science

i was i was very intimidated did he recognize you by the moment i know he never even locked eyes oh oh okay okay yeah if you never locked eyes then yeah yeah yeah but uh because of the experience It's like those things matter. Leo, he's always loved hockey. Holy shit, will he not shut up about it. Aw. Since that game, he got to watch Joseph Wohl warm up, and he's like, Joseph Wohl's my favorite Leaf goalie.

Aw. Because of all that. Ilya Sorokin, so Wohl squirted the water through his mask. Ilya Sorokin lifted up his mask to drink water through it, and that blew his four-year-old mind. he didn't know you could do that and now every time we're playing and leo's the goalie he lifts up his mask and take a drink oh that's cool i barely get to shoot on him he spends the whole time lifting up his mask because he thinks that's the coolest thing ever um he he talks about how

austin matthews is his favorite player but he got to see john tavara score in person yeah and he's had his stuffy since he was like a baby um and so you know he always he's talking about john Tavares we had the rink in the backyard now like this kid is locked in I I've we've had the rink operational for 48 hours and he's been on the ice for four or five of them that's amazing like he's just so locked in because of that one experience now that could be in certain circumstances considered child abuse because you're signing him up for a lifetime of leaf in and I do he doesn't know any of the bad stuff yet he handles loss so much better than i did oh good as a kid oh man i would throw a fit every time they lost uh and he just goes oh did he make it through the game were

you able to leave early or we had to drug him with uh mini eggs uh oh yeah we uh yeah get him on some upper second intermission he was thumb in the mouth he was he was dazing and falling yeah i Three hours is a long time. It is. It's a night plus the commute. It was in the afternoon. He's already had to be going. It was a one o'clock game.

Oh, if it was night, forget it. Yeah, I don't think he would have made it to first intermission. But no, thumb in the mouth. He's fallen asleep. He's already had the excitement of he got to watch warm-ups. He got to do the fist bump. He got to meet and hug Carlton the Bear. And by second intermission, boy, was he fading.

So we just shoved a bunch of chocolate in his mouth, and he was good. And he snuck around, yeah? he slept the whole car ride home yeah okay that's great yeah yeah because that's a what six hour excursion especially because you went down early for warm-ups and everything plus leaving and then that's right yeah back we leave the house probably at least 11 yeah yeah man it was a long time yeah it's a long time for a four-year-old for a four-year-old yeah so that's what i was wondering well i i i don't think i don't even know if i made it to the end of my first leaf game and i was almost six so he's leo's a trooper that was also at night though

yeah wow has everly been to a sporting event no uh gonna take her to a marley's game because that for me like everly goes to bed before the leafs games happen she goes to bed at seven every night i'm anal about that it's a sleep thing i'm i'm after especially after doing mornings i am anal about sleep children need to sleep let them sleep i let her sleep in as long as she wants she's five and a half so it's not like she's sleeping until 10 a.m anyway uh i believe in sleep and so um i haven't had her staying up and watching any any leafs games but every time we watch we follow like you know people flags up and stuff like that uh she'll be like that's our team so she knows yes um so i want to take her to a marley's game because a it's cheaper uh and b usually you can

get an afternoon game on a weekend and uh so that's that to me is like the family thing i wish we lived in like only for this one reason but like if we lived closer to an ohl rink that would be nice you know osh was an hour away peterborough's an hour and a half right what are scepter's tickets like impossible to get really well they're so they're sold like they've sold really well i mean that's the next step because i want her to see women good play i want her to see people with long hair and i want her to see people that she can look up to do that but i want to start with the marley's easy to obtain that ticket the other day then if she's if she's good on that one then i'm gonna be like all right i'm gonna i'm gonna pull some strings get myself some scepter

tickets and then i'll take her to that but marley's is where we start we were playing hockey in the basement and leo was whining at me to watch hockey but i'm like dude it's the middle of the afternoon there's nothing on and i turned on tsn and the the world women's under 18 canada versus slovakia was on so we watched that for like two periods oh yeah no it's great he loves it he's locked in yeah so okay well that was more interesting than i thought yeah to be you know never you're never sure it's a wild card when steve was actually did you have to buy a ticket for leo yeah oh yeah full price yeah i don't know they don't have like they don't have children like an under under five ticket no oh wow that sucks the leafs will tell you that they are not the least will say it's if you want

family go to the marley's like if you want family pricing it's the marley's the leafs are a premium buy adam i don't blame you because uh not everybody is saudi steve over here you can go when she's like 10 you know so leo he's dipping his toe in the you see him when can get away with and he's like i want to see the leafs play the flyers oh he said that and i'm like okay we're not taking requests but we're uh i think and we've already been like yeah maybe we'll see a leaf game next year he has said he wants to see them in the spring yeah well good luck with that you're not you're streaming well you know how i hate saying no yeah but i sure as hell didn't say yes yeah oh my god you're talking playoffs no way yeah sorry bud talking about

No, wait, man. So let's fire that extra, Jesse. Let's wrap this up. Before Steve goes, you know what? Let's look at what was invented after Hazel McCallion's birth. Man. Everything. Everything.

Society. The photograph, I think. No, that was in 1880s or something like that in France. I have looked at the first picture ever. I mean, the Leafs, I think. The Steve Dangle Podcast. Follow the guys on Twitter. at Steve underscore Dangle

at Adam W-Y-L-D-E and at Jesse Blake. Connection complete.