The Steve Dangle Podcast - Simon Says | Oct 5, 2026

Episode Date: October 5, 2026

On this episode of The Steve Dangle Podcast, 00:00 The Red Wings are a Disaster 46:00 Leafs Lose to the Senators 1:25:00 Should we over or under react to these starts? 1:40:00 Barkov Out Till December 1:44:00 Alex Ovechkin is Retiring 1:52:00 Aaron Portzline of The Athletic joins the show to talk Blue Jackets! Visit this episodes sponsors: Tims new NHL Hockey Cards are available for a limited time at participating Tim Hortons locations across Canada, while supplies last! Visit TimHortons.ca/Hockeycards for more information and to checkout the 2026 Collection! Thanks to all of you, The 2026 Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Road Hockey Event fuelled by Longo's raised over $3.7 million dollars! This remarkable number should be celebrated by everyone who showed up to play, volunteer, sponsored, or donated to our historic 15th game day. We truly couldn't have done it without you all. Visit https://pmcfroadhockey.ca/ for more imformation! Light The Night is a national movement that brings communities across Canada together in support of people affected by blood cancer. Funds raised in Canada support Canadian blood cancer research, vital services for individuals and families, and advocacy for better access to care. Learn more and register, form a team or donate at ⁠http://lightthenight.ca/⁠ Watch all episodes of The Steve Dangle Podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLk7FZfwCEidkgWpSiHVkYT7HrIzLPXlY Watch clips of The Steve Dangle podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLk7FZfwCEieOJuIrqWyZPWSIJtVMCbLz Buy SDP merch https://sdpnshop.ca/ Visit https://sdpn.ca/schedule to see when our next live stream airs! Check out https://sdpn.ca/events to see The Steve Dangle Podcast live! Watch hockey with us! Live on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLk7FZfwCEifCTX0vkKEaGg9otrW4Zl2k Subscribe to the sdpn YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@sdpn?sub_confirmation=1Join Subscribe to SDP VIP!: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0a0z05HiddEn7k6OGnDprg/join Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/thestevedanglepodcast Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sdpvip/subscribe - Follow us on Twitter: @Steve_Dangle, @AdamWylde, & @JesseBlake Follow us on Instagram: @SteveDangle, @AdamWylde, & @Jesse.Blake Join us on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/MtTmw9rrz7 For general inquiries email: [e-mail] Reach out to https://www.sdpn.ca/sales to connect with our sales team and discuss the opportunity to integrate your brand within our content! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spaghetti Woo! S. D. P. The Steve Dangle podcast with your host Steve Dangle,

Adam Wilde, and Jesse Blake. Ew! Don't do that! What did you do? He did this, the Squeezer nose, this thing. I hit the scuba. Oh, no.

You hit the scuba. One time I went to Laser Tag with my friends because when you're adults and you go a laser tag, it's fucking awesome. Yeah, it's great. And there was obviously a bunch of like teenagers and stuff also at the laser tag.

And then at the end of the game, I scubaed on them. And they all freaked out. They lost it. Jesse's going to be a good dad. He's going to be embarrassing dad, but he's going to love being in that. Yeah. One day. I'm not suggesting anything.

Hey, it's Monday, October 5th. And just like we all predicted, the New York Rangers are the NHL's top team. Amazing. Now, I think this is a good chance to go to sdpn.c.n.com. slash SDP and go, ah, you effing losers? Where did you predict that New York Rangers would be?

Jesse, can you bring up our predictions, please? Yeah. Steve and Jesse and I. Well, Stephen, you and I. So this is the site, sdbn.com.com slash sdp. You scroll down past our lovely faces. You'll see all of our season previews there.

And then you can go to the predictions tracker where we have our scoring system where two points for an exact division finish is two points for an exact division finish and then one point for a correct over under. So if we go to the Metro Division here, you'll see that I had them in fifth and over. Adam had eighth and under,

this New York Rangers, and Steve had seventh and under for the Rangers. They're over under is 89 and a half. They're on pace to have 123 point season. Now it's early. It's early, but Shisterkin, Fantasy God right now. My wife picked him up in fantasy for SDPN's fantasy

and absolutely thumped Steve this week. She beat the brakes off of me. By midweek, I'm like, I'm just not going to make any moves. So did you, are you, I've heard rumors that you're going to go through and actually rate everybody's fantasy team and put that on on social. Is that still happening? No, it was the fantasy team name. Oh, I would like to do that.

Okay, you need to do that. Igor is fifth in the league on the team and scoring. Who is? Igor Shosturkin is fifth on the Rangers and scoring. I mean, that makes sense. And she probably didn't even get a point for that. No. Which sucks.

Yeah, who doesn't count that? Golly goals do not count. Only goals and assist should count. They should absolutely count. Especially they should count for more. That should be a fun and little bonus prize. We were going to rank team names, and I'm a bit, I'm in two fantasy pools. And it's a shame because I think one name is way better than the other, and it's not the SDPN one.

Oh, the SDPN one, my team name is Radic Donk, and it's a goose with a big butt. Yeah. And I think that's great. It is good. It's good. In my other pool, my team name is David Staples Pistink. Oh, I think you could do better than that. David Staple's Pissink?

That's the greatest name. And it's just a photo of the David Staples Pistink. Right. Yeah. No. It's deep internet lore. I don't know if it's creative, Jesse. It's great.

Oh, it's the podcast lore. It is deep podcast lore. I think it's pretty good. I like that name. All right. I like it. We've all nailed the Red Wings being an eighth and under. It's early, by the way.

Bellos. Yeah. And it's getting later, though. It is getting later. It's how time changes things. Last year we were too hard on the Red Wings. And this year we are not going hard enough. We are not.

And there was a bombshell report. And this is what's so crazy. In this day and age, when was the last time any rumor, any report ever broke on television? This used to be a thing. Like, we used to wait for that's hockey for Bob McKenzie to show up with Gino Reda and be like, All right, Bob, tell us all the shit that we missed that's going to be in the newspaper tomorrow. Right? Remember those days? And you're going to write it.

And you're going to be the one that writes it. And for hockey news, I think, too. And this was somehow, Elliot was able to hold this back and drop it at the second intermission, too. He held it back all the way through Saturday night hockey, whatever it's called. No, you said it. It's called Saturday Night Hockey. Okay, good, I got it. And I will not call it hockey.

in Canada because Hockey Night in Canada still belongs to the CBC and is coming back in December. But Simon Edvinson prefers to be traded. Now, you have to remember that, I believe, and I don't know if this part's been verified, but he had to be insured to participate in Red Wings Camp. And my understanding is he paid for that because you have to pay for that because the team can't pay for that. He is back in Gautenberg practicing with Fralunda right now. And he thought, okay, they got Horcoff done.

they've done the Larkin thing. Now we can get to my contract. And the two weeks happened and nothing happened. And now he's pissed. He's blameless, right? Like, he went to camp. Like, I would have told him, like, don't go to camp. What are you out of your mind?

You think it hurt. There's plenty of players around the NHL who have requested a trade at this point and varying degrees of what were you thinking and varying degrees of, I understand. Is anyone more blameless? More blameless. We're going to go with that. I think that one more blameless than Simon Edvinson.

No, he's, I mean, he's been eligible for like 15, 16 months to sign an extension. So yeah, I think he's blameless. What did showed up to camp, did not need to and then apparently paid out of pocket for apparently. That's not been confirmed, but who else is paying? Like, I don't need that. You know what I mean? I don't need that nugget to be like, he's an angel and you pissed it away. Like you have all the.

he's what are the I've never seen a GM of a team that is so obviously doing the wrong thing at every turn take absolutely no criticism whatsoever because everyone knows it's not his fault yeah well he couldn't do anything all year long and all summer long I mean we had this conversation in July

we're like okay so Horkoff's running the day to day or Eisman was supposed to be running the day to day but that's what they told him yeah When when Iserman was fired, he's going to stay on. Horcalf wasn't in the conversation then. It was Iserman who was supposed to be running the day to day in that period. And then nobody was running the team through August while they looked for a new general manager. And then eventually in September, I believe on the 15th-ish, they finally let Horcoff be in charge of the ship.

So during that time, nobody was in charge to sign this contract. And now that somebody is in charge to sign the contract, they're still not signing the contract. And Patrick Kane would have been back because they were in the process of resigning them. He would have been bad off is essentially just a wacky waving and flable arm flailing tube man. Yeah. Like he's just, he's there for display purposes. He's there to call Chris Illidge and go, what would you not like to do today? And Chris Illich doesn't answer the phone.

Well, and what? Are you the athletic? I don't want to hear it. Click. I need to spout a bunch of nothing. Or it wasn't even the athletic. I think it might have been. Oh, no, maybe it was L.C.

Who cares? Maybe it's been, maybe it's Detroit for Chris. I don't know. Yeah. Doesn't matter. It's, I feel bad. I feel bad. Hold on. Hold on.

Specify who you feel bad for. Red Wings fans. Okay, good. I feel bad for Edvinson, too. Because it feels like he wants to play hockey. I feel like every NHL just wants to play hockey. And nobody has been there to allow him to play hockey for this hockey team. And now he's fed up.

Please let me play for you. Please just let me do this. I want to sign a long-term contract to stay here. I'm the second best defenseman you have. You can pair me with your best defense. and we can run show for eight years, the next eight years for your franchise, and you don't want to pay me the money to do that. They're pissing away like two of the better contracts in the league, by the way,

and Lucas Raymond and Mo Cider. Actually, I mean, you could honestly throw Larkin and do it in Larkin. Six point four is crazy. I want to talk about that. Well, even DeBrinkeh, what he's making on the last year. And now he's going to walk. And they're saying like, oh, DeBrikan wants to be a red wing. Who wants to be in that situation?

Nobody. That's nice right now. Yeah, now. Exactly. So I want to talk about that, Jesse, because I want you to imagine your Lucas, Raymond, Mo, Sider, or the very soon to be out of contract, Alex DeBrinCat. And remember, Larkin's a local guy too. He's a Michigan guy.

Oh, it's been documented, Adam. And he wanted it. Yes, breaking news. Michigan guy wants to leave. And, you know, remember the big wake-up call for Red Wings Management, if you want to call it, that was Zach Wrenskiy going, I don't want to play for you. and don't even bother putting in a request.

And then them going, but we're the Red Wings and him going exactly. Unthinkable at basically any time in our lives. In the 80s. Nobody wanted to play for the Red Wraith. No. I don't count myself as I was born in a eight. I don't remember a second of the 80s. Yes, but they were bad in the 80s.

I bet. And we were born in the 80s. So let's get factual, Steve. Well, they were on year what, three, four. But you're absolutely right. In the early 90s, they took off. and they were good basically up until about 2013, 2014, when they last made the playoffs.

And even then, you get a few years of grace to be bad. Absolutely. Right? We were kind of like, ah, they'll be fine. And we, ah, they'll be fined them for like six or seven years. And then it was like, ooh, this iser man. Iser plan, excuse me, is not working. Yeah, no, but they know how to do stuff.

But if you're Lucas Raymond and your Moe-Sider, forget to Brincat. Sure. I know his decision's coming up quickly here. nothing in Detroit is coming up quickly. What are you talking about? Yeah, well, the decision's coming up. The actual ability to make one will never happen fast. But Lucas Raymond and Mo Cider, I want to give you a world.

Because the way I see it is the Red Wings can make a good trade with Larkin and re-sign Edvinson. That seems to be the most likely path, or at least it did until Saturday night. They could also make two good trades. They could trade Edvinson. They could trade Larkin. They could get great returns. or they can do what they're trying to do apparently, which is trying to convince Larkin to stay,

which is evidently what they're happening. And Larkin's team has basically said, that's not likely. And they will then have to pony up and pay Edmondson, and maybe they can keep them both. So here's what I'm worried about. You keep both. The Red Wings are what they are.

Nothing's changed, right? They're a team that can get pistol hot, might even be first place for a little while, but they can never sustain. it. And the four years of them falling apart in the spring, back me up on that. Right? It isn't two years. It isn't one year. It's four straight years. So to me, they got a window here where you go, okay, let's make a good lark and trade, re-sign Evanston, and now we're a little bit different. We got, oh, you know what? We're going to trade them both, but we're going to get

a whole bunch of futures back, and it's going to be young, and, you know, it's Lucas and Moritz's team and hopefully we can get to Brinkat to stay, but if he can't, we'll trade him at the deadline because we're going to be a bad team anyway, and we're going to get a fortune because he scores a lot of goals. Okay, lots of opportunity there to, the problem I think is that decisions would have to be made for any of those scenarios to be played out. And if you're Lucas Raymond or Mo Cider, if DeBrin Kat goes, Evanson goes, Larkin is going, depending upon the return, and even if the return is okay, what if it's true?

tomorrow's. Are they going to want that? Are they going to want to be a part of that? Or is like this is how quickly this ball can roll down the hill these days, especially with the contracts those guys have. And like I start to wonder how many players, uh, if given the option, or if, uh, they had the ability would refuse a trade to Detroit. Well, you'd have to get younger players that don't, that are not eligible for that. You'd have to and that, you're not getting veterans. That probably fits Detroit a little better. The reason I, I bring that up is everyone is trying to be like, well, it's a foregone conclusion. He's going to the Panthers. Well, no, it isn't because they don't have anything. Like, yeah, no, he's a perfect

fit there. They don't have anything. At some point, it's going to become, like, especially with Marshand back, I know they lost Barkov, but they got Marshand back. At some point, Cardover Hage is going to be a luxury you can no longer afford. Right? If he doesn't want to to go anywhere. If I'm not mistaken, he's got full trade protection, which, like, that's a good player, but yeah, yeah. Come on now. Yeah. Um, he's not going. He's not going. And maybe that's a league-wide thing. And he just wants to stay in Florida and it's got nothing to do with Detroit. But Detroit has never not been a destination. People want to play this hockey town. What? It's a good organization. Great fan base. Great arena. Great arena. Lots of great things. And it's a good

great things about playing for the Detroit Red Wings organization and free pizza. Free pizza. Every year, what did I say all September long when we were recording previews? To end up in the top five of the league, you can't just be good, everything has to go right for you. And to end up in the bottom five, you can't just be bad, everything has to go bad for you. In the early days of the season, the Gong Show team presents itself. front runners Detroit. There's a lot of other teams that are...

Oh, we'll get to them. They're sniffing. Yeah. They're sniffing. But no one can measure up against it. And you know what? You can't defeat, Jesse and Steve. You can't defeat a chaotic front office.

No. No. You can't play around it. You can't play through it. If your friend office sucks, it's eventually going to show up on the ice. I mean, Nashville took a little bit longer. Their friend office from all reports was an absolute disaster under Barry Trots. They got that one.

winning streak thing, played six playoff games. But since then, they've tried to fight through it, but they're a disaster. We'll see what they're like under Christmas McFarland. But like you take Vancouver, for example. Disaster front office. Complete catastrophe. Yep. Last year. Yep. Especially at the beginning.

I don't remember the last thing any of them said. I just watched their games and Paul Carter has four goals. Isn't that nuts? Wow. And they let Paul Carter talk. Yeah. And that might not be good enough to get you in the playoffs. Right. But it's good enough to keep you out of just being a chore to watch.

Are the fans having fun? They sure seem like it. Are they chanting sell the team? No. At multiple points throughout the opening game? No. Although, let's leave the window open for that one. All those fans are going to get removed from the arena.

But, like, they might. No, Detroit. Like, you can't pull one over on those fans, dude. Jesse, Detroit or 0-1-2? As of this recording, tough loss to Winnipeg. I believe it was yesterday. Um, do you see a way where in a month, let's say these situations are solved. Let's say they resign Edmondson, they trade Larkin.

Do you see a scenario where this is fine? I don't think the on ice product will be very good this season for the Red Wings. Like I think it's too hard of a division to compete in. I think they don't have enough talent. So regardless of if they get those two contracts sorted, I don't think they have the talent there this year. And just the way they're playing. I don't think it's great. I think they have a good head coach in place.

I think Todd McClellan is a good guy to run. write this ship eventually. I think he's saying all the right things. I loved when he was talking post game one where he was like wearing a Detroit Red Wing sweater mean something. I thought that was really cool for him to say that and go out there. But in terms of just how they're running the organization, it's going to be a mess as long as Chris Illich has his grubby little pause on everything. Because it just, there's so much evidence that he doesn't know what he's doing. And every single problem we have can go can go right back to the top and right back to him what did you guys think of them putting larkin out there at the at opening ceremony to be booed by the crowd i think if he's not

there he's he would be embarrassed forever you get your ass out there you made the trade request i know the front office is not functional that city's given you a lot biz made the art pa business net made the argument on tn tn t that this is a bad look for the organization because other players will look at that and say you put him out there to be ridiculed by the fans and nobody will want to go there by the way you're treating your players imagine the ridicule if he hadn't have been imagine what we're talking about today if he had been hiding because people would have been like you're hiding and i think i i respect the hell of it i understand where paul's coming from i think Paul's always going to be player guy, player first guy.

You're telling me, Paul Bisnett, Biz. You're telling me that the Red Wings start winning and people won't want to play there because Larkin got embarrassed once. So there's a lot going on here. Paul Bissonet has his finger on the pulse of what the players think and how the players feel. No question.

So I believe he's right in that regard. We're forgetting something here, fellas. A lot of these guys are dumb. Oh. they're dumb, dude. Dylan Larkin didn't deserve that. Dylan Larkin.

No, it's not that he didn't deserve the reaction from the fans is that the organization should have shielded him from that reaction. So let me throw this out there then because your great question leads into my even better question. No, it's...

Your question leads into my question. I think there's... Red Wings did that as a canary in the coal mine, they want to see exactly how bad it is, which leads into my question. In the event, Dylan Larkin stays. How does Detroit make that work? Because the way things are trending, fellas, he's staying. They bet. Bet, hard on Detroit doing nothing at breakneck violent speeds. You wouldn't believe the levels of nothing Detroit can do, right? That's how they're operating right now.

Bradford for living last year. That's how they're operating right now. Breakneck levels of nothing. There was a sign during the home opener. There were a lot of signs, but I don't know if you saw this one. it said you can't stay injured forever Dylan which is a that sounds like a threat it does sure sound like a threat yeah yeah that's how it reads explain that one in court um but they're also right it

sound like they made it sound like oh he tweaked something and he'll be back soon he's gonna suit up here well we were asking him Remember right off the start of the year we're like, is he going to be taking opening night phase off? He would have. He would have if he hadn't have tweaked something. I think when if he scores a goal, it's going to be hilarious because he got a root for the goal. Like, ah. And then you got to also boo him.

Yeah. Yes. But like that may be the only way forward. Yeah. Here. I think he would have got fewer booze or maybe quieter booze if he was playing. Because yes, he requested. of a trade. Yes, he wants out. Yes, this, yes, that. He's there. You show up. You're in a, you're in

your dress clothes and a lot of, let's say it what it is. This is not me saying it. This is not Adam or Jesse saying it. A lot of fans just straight up don't believe he's hurt. He is hurt. No, no. They don't believe. Yes. Yes. But they don't believe that. They think that. Okay. But I do want to say like that I understand where that comes from being a fan and that sort of thing but now you're crossing over into your like don't don't jump on that as your

main crux of your argument because you're going to lose it's a you have the moral high ground here just leave the injury shit alone you know what I mean you grab that you lose it yeah but a lot of people when they get the moral high ground they pull out the battle axe because well I have the moral high ground

yeah it's carplosh to do whatever I want like and what state in his career. Has Dylan Larkin ever lied about an injury or ever lied about anything publicly? I don't know. So why all of a sudden would he do that now? That's not a thing.

If you asked Red Wings fans in February or March last year, hey, Dylan Larkin, big liar, Wimp sits out games because he's fake hurt. No, that's my captain. We're going to the playoffs. He just won a gold medal. Hell yeah. So let's not do that.

Let's not go there. Things have changed pretty fast. But how does he get into the, like does he, what I'm coming up with is I think he just has to take his lumps. Yeah. He has to take his lumps. He has to get into the lineup and he has to play well.

Yeah. You got to make a team want you. And if you would accept a trade to Canada, deal would already be done. Montreal would probably do it right now. If you would accept a trade to most parts of the United States, but you won't even do that. You want to go to exclusively contenders. The Panthers don't have a draft pick until all of us are. are dead. The Minnesota Wild are in a somewhat similar position, but they have a little bit more

to offer. But their futures, and that's not what Detroit wants. There's Vegas. There's, and Utah, which would have been a probably a good destination, got Vinnie Trocheck. Yeah. And they don't need you. And again, I'm going to emphasize this for, there's a number of teams around the NHL where losing isn't actually that big of a problem. And Detroit might just sit there and see how, like, If they start this season like, oh, and five or something like that, oh, four and one. There will be hell to pay. That turns into like two, seven and one or something.

Yeah, no, they'll get booed and everything, but they'll also be justified in being like, well, I don't think we'll try again next time. I can see it being a big problem in terms of the stands being completely empty. And everybody turning on the team like wholesale. And like it all goes back to the guy who owns the thing. And if he makes the decision to fire Eisenman at the end of the season because of how many times the team has collapsed and the fact that his captain doesn't want to be there anymore and he gets ahead of everything, I think this whole thing is just avoid it. And like if Eisenman's not there come April, they do the regular GM search through the spring and then they hire somebody for the draft.

This we're probably not sitting here talking about any of this. Jesse, if you're a great general manager and you're a great coach for that instance, you know, because there is, questions about the coaching here for no reason. It's not Todd McClellan's fault, but there are still people going, well, Todd, you got to get them going. Okay, well, good luck with that. He's not a frigging miracle worker.

You're a general manager with any sort of tenure or brain cells because there are many general managers who have graced us with their presence in previous years who do not have either. Dumb guys. But there are some smart guys out there. Maybe they're AGMs, maybe they're GMs that are looking to upgrade their pay

because a lot of teams will underpay you. like let's throw this out there. Guy like smart like Eric Tulski, who apparently is very underpaid in Carolina. Sure. When that deal is up, man, sure would like to get my hands on that guy, right? How do you, if you've had to deal with this,

let's say we end this scenario, Jesse, and there's no DeBrinCat, or at least he's not signed, Edvinson's gone in a trade, and Larkin's gone in a trade. How do you attract a general manager to that after seeing what very publicly as a GM of the team you have to deal with. How much managing up you need to do. Because that's the other thing.

Yeah, Sider and Raymond might be going, whoa, this is insane. I don't know if I want to sign on for this. Who's going to want to sign up to manage Chris Hillage? Someone always signs up, man. Yeah, that's not what I'm saying. Somebody who's got a brain cell. Hey, Vancouver Canucks got Jim Rutherford and that dude is in the Hall of Fame. Jesse.

what do you think that would ever impact like do you because i know everybody thinks they can do it but what's since eiserman's left look at how many holes this boat has sprung i think it's one of 32 jobs like the jobs are so coveted you can find smart people it's a matter of like is he going to be able to find the smart person to do it and like and is that person going to be able to do the job of managing ownership is a whole other conversation but people will want the job i don't understand the like fill in the gaps guys if i'm missing something they wanted the detroit tigers guy didn't get them and ran out of ideas like do i have the measure of this they didn't do a proper search they one they did it too late yeah because they fired ours in the middle of july yep

you never do that ever that doesn't make any sense and then two they had one guy and then he didn't want it and they had no backup plan yep because they don't know what they're doing that's all right man are they gonna end up with Shanahanham I think it would make a lot of sense because that dude is a snake charmer like he

they need someone with their hand on the wheel at least which at times especially at the beginning he did very well here he got too involved managing down but he's great at managing up

and the second he left holy shit No one's accused Brendan Shanahan of not being charming. No. And I thought Brendan Shanahan did a great job running MLSE. I think he was really good for the culture of the team. Like the pension plan puppet days of the Toronto Maple Leafs were terrible. Yes.

That was a disaster of an organization. And eventually they're like, okay, we need to write this ship. Rogers and Bell come in. They bring in Laiwiki to, hey, fix this thing. I know you're going to put up the Bon Jovi banner, but that's a bad idea. but everything else you're going to do is going to be good. And then he gets Brendan Shanahan to go in there. And it was a decade of good stuff.

Like the way the Leafs were run was pretty good. The on-ice product of getting through the second round was a disaster. But in terms of behind the seams and running a team, they're really good at that. From where they were. From where they were. He took them as far as he could take them. But he froze up as an executive towards the end.

He just, he was completely, people give Brad shit for this. And I think you're out. ultimately right, Jesse, but I do want to mention that he was completely frozen by any hard to say. By the end of it, he fucking sucked and the team should have moved on from the core a long time ago. Yeah. But in terms of running, getting from where it was, the pension plan puppet days to the very successful regular season team they had for a decade, that was a great transition that they were able to do at the corporate level. And Detroit's in a mess right now. And maybe in five years, if they're able to get somebody like Liwiki in there who can then bring in,

and Shanahan to run the whole thing. They can have a good transition here. But they need to figure out how to handle Chrisillich. And how do you get an owner to commit to a five-year plan like that? After 10 years of missing the playoffs. And this isn't me making it about the Leafs. Who's, it's October 5th. Who's available?

That's why you should have fired Eisenman in April. Yeah, I brought up Shanahan because he's the guy. Who? Okay, so you've already committed kind of. sort of to hork off. If you needed to hire a president or a GM, who are the candidates out there who are available? Shanahan and Trilliving.

Again, not making it about the Leafs. That's objectively true. Yeah. Let's continue. Yeah. But if you wanted to poach any of the smart guys from around the league, you can't do it. It's the middle of the season.

You have to do that in the off season. Right. So now we're, all right. Like who works for, uh, friggin? Maybe they need to get calendars. in Detroit. Like, do you think they own calendars? Start putting it on the pizza boxes.

Okay, can I? Yeah. I don't know what CJ's going to say in the CJ show today about Detroit. I know Detroit's their lead story. He's going to confirm a larkin trade. But I want to. As soon as it shows up. There was something that Freed said in 32 this morning that he was like, yeah, the clock

doesn't stop in the NHL. And I think that Chris Hillage thought that it did. I think that's why he said it. Now, if you listened this morning, I thought it was very interesting. that he explained a little bit of his reporting on that. Because again, you don't often see a bombshell like that drop on television anymore. It just doesn't happen. And he was like, well, I was very careful with the word prefers a trade and blah,

which means that he said that immediately got a call from the Detroit Red Wings organization and said, hey, F you and F this, this is bullshit, blah, blah, blah. The thing is, with Evanston, he's a free agent. So any team can call his agent, ask what he wants. they can say, hey, listen, if they want to work out a trade with Detroit, they don't have to ask Detroit to talk to him. Okay, we'll get the extension in place first and then we'll try to work something. Cannot be offer sheeted.

Cannot be offered sheet. I was asked that on the stream. I didn't know the answer and I got the answer during the stream. Cannot be offer sheet. Which is weird. It is odd. And that's a weird feature. He's a free agent. A mid-season offer sheet would be electric.

Absolutely. Gary would hate that, though, because he'd have to, I don't know, he'd have to gird his But I think there's, I think with this in particular, like Detroit's probably pushing hard on this. I think they're just trying to hold all of this stuff back. And I wonder, I wonder how any of them can survive this. Right. Like, Illich is, what are you going to do? Fire the owner?

Well, this is, so he gave that interview. I forget who it was with too, Steve. And I apologize for not giving them the right, the right sourcing on that. But it was total bullshit all of it. It was all corporate bullshit. Every answer. And Detroit fans are smart enough to know that. It's also a town that's not going to swallow that shit.

Right? That's not in Detroit's DNA. And not a single decision maker employed by the team is going to pay because they shouldn't. Like who you look down their executives. Like this is not Horcoff. This is not Chris Draper. This is not Nicholas Lidstrom. Oh yeah.

Red Wings fans right now are up in our. like Nicholas Liddstrom doesn't know hockey. You know what I mean? It's one person. It's so rare that you can nail it down and it's the hardest person to get rid of because it would require the commissioner. How do you get, do you know what the bar is for getting rid of an owner?

In the NH, like I can't even think of it ever happening. The only thing I can think of is Clippers guy. Yeah, yeah. Might happen again. Probably not. Probably not But like

And I mean If it doesn't happen this time Holy shit I think he can never He's got to be He's got to take the Keith Pelly route Which is never talking In front of a microphone publicly

Ever ever ever ever ever Yeah but like You're only These people are only used to talking to people That get paid by them So you have to You have to understand that when you're talking To the general public

They don't get paid by you So we're not really interested In what you have to say Unless it's something substantial Here's what Oh Let me do my stretches This is gonna hurt

Okay This is going to hurt. Also, just to interject here, he can be offer sheeted. We can. What? I don't know where you got that from. Oh, I thought he couldn't. I heard that.

I got it from that website. When you go on Puckpedia and you click a contract, you can see, like, can he be offered sheeted? And it says yes. Oh. Still? Yeah. Well, that would make sense.

It doesn't make sense that it would be the other way. Yeah, because I was like, he's a free agent. Why would he, because he could be offer sheet during the summer. He wouldn't lose the offer sheet eligibility. He's still actively eligible. for an offer sheet. And to be honest with you, we should have been, we should have been through that with Nealander and Marner.

We should have known better. What happened? What? Did you just read like a text? I'll just tell you exactly what happened. Okay. So Jesse's on Puckpedia right now. Yes.

That's where he got this information from. Yes. And they also wrote it. So I looked at this and I was like, okay, they said yes. Let me do some more digging just so I don't say something incorrect because you were so confident about the no office sheet. They also wrote an article.

Yes. About how he can be so uniquely offer sheeted during the season. Yes. So I texted Hart, Levine from puckpedia. From puckpedia, but it was during the stream so I guess I wasn't paying proper attention. I said

can teams offer sheet, Simon because Edvinson was too difficult to spell on the fly. I said, never mind apparently they can'ts. He responds, yes, of course they can and links to that article. Amazing.

I'm just an idiot. Steve definitely read it. Yeah, you didn't read. Did you read the follow up and be like, ah, whatever. I guess not. Jesse,

you know, if you ever have kids, one of the things that happens is that they ask you a question about something that they're curious about. Okay.

And then they start talking over your answer. Yes. Oh. And I have to stop Everly and I go, do you want to hear the answer to my question

or do you want to just ask a bunch of questions and I'll sit here finally. Or do you just want to talk at me. What would you like? So I think that was Steve with heart there. Yes.

Of course they can send. Amazing. Amazing. Incredible. Beautiful work. No notes. Okay. Here, wait. This is the thing I was going to say that's going to hurt. Let me stretch it out.

I have to give Keith Pelly credit. Okay. When he hired John Chika and Matt Sundeen, he did that disaster press conference. And now that those two guys are in place, it's, hey, he vanished. He's gone. I think he needs to be because TFC is a fucking. disaster. Yes. But we needed him and demanded for him to speak. Yep. Because he was the sole decision maker. Yes. Right. So. And he did say it was go time last fall. Now that they have a

decision maker, do, do, do, do, go away, go away, leave, be gone. Who should be answering to anything in Detroit? Chris Illich, Chris Illich, Chris Illich. Leave the other guys alone. Like, What the, no one even trusts that Sean Horkov has agency to do. I don't know if he has a key to the building. I was just going to say. Like, does his pass card work? Is there a confirmation of that? When he goes through parking, yeah, we got a John.

Uh, I don't, I don't know who John is. He says his name is John Borikoff. John, uh, let him in. Fuck him. Let him in. I don't know. He looks like a nice guy. Uh, the offer sheet thing is very interesting because, uh, there's a lot.

lot of the league who's eligible to do this and has the requisite draft capital to offer sheet edvinton over 11.9 million dollars 11.9 so the ducks bruins sabers flames hurricanes black ox blue jackets stars redwings uh oilers kings wild canadians preads devils islanders Sends, Flyers, Penguins, San Jose Sharks, Seattle Cracken, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, Utah Mammoth, Vancouver, Vegas, Washington, and Winnipeg can all offer sheet Edmondson above $11.9 million. In very interesting, it very interesting that the price is for first round picks, but then it says in the next five drafts. So you don't need four consecutive first round picks. I thought it was in consecutive years. You need four of the five. I'm lying to.

Calgary should not do that. They're terrible. Who out of this list would you pick? To do it? Yeah. It's got to be a team that wants to continue to win. So if Vegas didn't have Rasmus Anderson logged up, I think they're going to grant that deal. Who's got the cap.

Who cares who has the cap space? You can make it work. I mean, Edmonton is interesting because they got to get it going. Vegas might as well. because they've kind of just committed to never drafting. Yeah. And it's fine. But didn't they get fined a second or a first last year?

Yeah, second. Carolina. Yeah, wipe your butt. Carolina'd have the cap space and they could... Yeah, but they're going to trade for Elias Patterson soon. They're going to need that. You think they'd rather that?

I think they would rather that, honestly. Okay. We're going to get into that later. There could be something to what Adams said. I don't know that anybody should do that because I think you can trade for him for less than that. And I don't mean that in a... I think... Adam's right.

I'm not saying that four first round picks is not ultimately what he's worth. Here's a question for you. Because I was like, I was like in my card today. I'm like, John Chica, please trade for Simon Evanston. Not everybody's got a good defensive draft pick. Ben Danford. Ben Danford. Colorado's first.

And Colorado's first. What else do you like? That's not. That's not enough. That's not enough. You almost didn't make it through waivers. I love Ryan. I'm going to say that was enough, guys.

Stop it. I'm trying to build a trade here. And you guys are like, well, it's not enough. I know. I'm trying to build it so that there's like the green and the green bar match. Let's make it enough. Okay. So, Tinas.

So Tinas, Luke Cobler, Ben Danford, Big Tinas. Colorado's first. I don't think that's. If I'm Detroit, I don't want that. I don't think it's close. Yeah, no. I have Simon Evanston.

Like, if I don't, I want, like, I just want him under a contract. This is so silly. This whole thing is silly. Thank you. That is the word that we should be using. It's silly. Yeah. It's ridiculous that you have such an agreeable player

show up to camp and now he's in friggin' Sweden. I would pay him more than the Bo Byron contract, which is 12.5. Well, in context of... I would pay him more that easily. Today. Six years, 12, 5? Good. I think I'm getting a steal.

interesting. I mean, you might have to. Their guy who's one year, four games or whatever. Leno last year, 7.5, and he's going to be their second defenseman. He played on the top pair. And like, that's a good. So if I'm thinking like Evanston is so much better than that and I know what he is, 12-5 makes sense to me.

Hayden, can I predict what you're about to say? Strammel. No. No, I'm not building a pack. for the wild. I just want to say with the offer sheet thing, maybe the, you guys talked about it with Cutter, maybe it wasn't Cutter, but someone else, but maybe they just don't want to do Detroit's homework for them. Like if they, if someone offersheets him for whatever the, you know, whatever the exact amount is for the first tier, the top tier of the offer sheet,

why wouldn't Detroit just go, okay, done? Because they haven't. Because they could have. But that's what I mean is no one's offered in the offer sheet. You'd be doing Detroit's work for them. I think the thing is, is that he needs to make 10 and a half to $11 million. You look at what Zeev Bouillon got. And I know Tristan, people are pointing at Tristan Linot, who by the way looks fucking amazing. But Zeeb Bouillon's deal for me. If I am Edvison, and I think he, they could have had him for like six or seven million like 15 months ago. Like that's the crazy part of this. But if I'm looking at that, I'm going, well, you've taken the bet on, they've taken the bet on Boullium. You know what I am. You know I'm great.

If you offered me Zeeve Boulliam's contract, and I'm Simon Evanston, I never speak to you again. Yeah, evidently they're offering less than. 9.38 is Booiam. Yeah, I'd never speak. You're a 10.5 million dollar defenseman. I think he's the Byram contract. Like, I'm willing to give him that at this point. Yeah, but Jesse, he's not running a power play.

The thing with Byram is, A, they had him on the wall. Like, it's Darren Ferris's client, number one. Number two, you make the trade for the RFA, like with Marchenko, the lease were offered. Here's what you'll sign him. to or you won't get them, right? So Byram's sort of the same thing. And that is a, what Chicago projects to be your number one defenseman. I don't think anybody acquiring Simon Evanston's like, he's more eight cider.

He's not a number one guy. He's a number two. That's great. But is it 12 and a half right now? I don't know. Yeah. That's why it seems high. Yeah, but is that fair?

I think it's fair that the price is going up league wide. And also, um, humans get mad. and there's a tax? There's a tax when I'm mad. Yeah, that's fair. I'm mad. I went to camp. I was a good sport and you're still, I'm mad.

Yeah. I gave you my goodwill. You gave me nothing. You know what? It was 11. Now it's 14 because I'm mad. Yeah. You know?

I'm not saying those are the exact numbers, but I hope they are. People are people. Well, we'll see what happens. The Tristan Leno thing's funny because, yeah, he's there number two now and he's eating a bunch of minutes and he's like, oh, and now I'm made it the 20th game in the the NHL. I got my $7.6 million contract.

Has he finally hit over 100 shifts? He's not at 20. No, no, he's 15. I think he hadn't hit 100 shifts yet. When he signed the deal. 14 games last year, right? That's got to be wrong. But he got, so again, the rumor was today that he got injured a couple years ago.

The Ducks said we're going to artificially. Remember I said to you with Zach Kavanaugh's message on Friday? He was sort of edged out of the lineup by Goudis. And I was like, But Gouda sucked last year. And Ducks fans were the first ones to tell you that. And what I guess they said was, no matter what happens at the NHL level, you're not coming up. And this is them paying him back for being patient.

A little bit like Ryan Bacher in Montreal. He's probably one of their top six, but it's better to have him in LaBelle. Yeah. So anyway, we'll see what happens with Edvinson. But I guess I'm a little higher on Edvinson than you guys. I think he's great. But I'm willing to pay him $12 million. But is he running a power play?

No, but I think, you need him to. I'm paying, yeah, we have cider and you're just locking up that assurance. Like, this is my decor at the top forever. But you have to pay him 12 this year. That's the difference too. Like Marchenko's like three and a half, four million bucks right now. Evidence is you have to pay him that now. You like, and they have the space to do it.

You could have done this July 1st, 2025. And it would have saved you a lot of headache. So true. 2025. And they could have done an eight-year deal, brought the AAV down. You messed up. Eisenman thought he could do the same thing that he did with all the other contracts. Well, because he had a moral issue about paying guys too young.

Yeah, he doesn't like paying young guys. And he thought he could just work Edvinson and, oh, eventually he'll sign a sweetheart deal to remain a Red Wing. And somebody finally called his bluff. And now he doesn't have a job. That's also too bad. I don't like this. Is that how you run a team? Oh, I don't like this.

Right. Oh, like Eisenman? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if that might have been Illich too, but that it wasn't, that was something directly attributable to Steve Eisenman. Yeah. I think they worked in tandem. Like, I think Illich's thing to Eisenman was, hey, grind these guys down.

And it poisoned the relationship with Lark and that, that, since that contract negotiation, that has never been the same. No. That directly led to him asking for a trade right now. And you could say, hey, Dylan, you could open it up to a few more teams, and I agree. But Steve Eiserman set the seeds of his own demise by grinding Dylan Larkin the good soldier down for a long, long time on that deal. Dude, I'll write the book on why the Leafs suck. But I'll read the book on why the Red Wings are. Oh, man.

I'm sure there's plenty of editions ready to come out, man. It's crazy. And it's a shame because, you know what, the world is better. The NHL is better when the Red Wings are good. What would you call it hockey frown? Yeah. Hockey frown. Oh, my God.

Oh, man. That's actually good. Okay, hockey fans. Breaking news, just getting word. The Tim Hortons has brought the future to their hockey cards. You see. You see. Because we've got the brand new Tim Horton's NHL hockey cards,

and the future is not the future anymore. It's the present. I got Pedersen. I got Victor Hedman. And I got Brandon Hagle. I got some veteran presents. But you know there's Macklin Celebrini cards in here. You know, well, you saw the commercials.

The Brad Marshand is in there. they're chirping as well at the back of the thing. What do you have? What do you have? I have a top 10 smell to experience in life, which is opening a pack of hockey card. Hit me. Top 10 smell. We got Dylan Genther.

We've got, oh, sensational sellies. We got Elias Seroken. Fancy card. And we got kale maker. Nice. All right, Jesse, your turn. I have Nick Suzuki, Dylan Cousins. And one of my faves, Adam Fox.

Hell yeah. There you go. So, listen, this is the time to get your Tim Horton's cards. And I believe Tim Horton's new NHL cards are available for limited time on participating in Tim Hortons across Canada while supplies last. So get them at your local Tim's. All right. Now, Leafs and Sends Saturday night, Ottawa's first game of the season. They had to wait and wait and wait.

Odd. Very odd. Yes. Ought, you might say. Hey. And, you know, from the Leafs perspective, the first two periods are pretty good. I think they've played probably eight good periods out of nine. The third period, very bad.

Horrible. Easily they're worse. Now, I want to say this is very interesting. We talked a little bit on Friday about, hey, the third line carried them to a victory. Let's not get too upset about the way the first and second line are performing. And what did we see on Saturday night? We saw Marchenko and Matthew score. Yep.

Hey, that's crazy. And you know what's great? Mike Kelly, NHL works for the NHL. network stats guy Marchenko Matthews Roslovick 5 on 5 check this out shot differential is a plus 10 that's fourth in the league like that shot slot sorry slot shot differential plus 14 that's first in the league like that expected goals 84.3%

first in the league that goal differential is a zero so they're even that's 15th I mean they've been robbed and hit the post and the crossbar it's gonna go in yeah it's been frustrating though can I can I do a one just butt on the numbers there. Oh yeah, sure. Both of their goals didn't happen on that line. So Matthew, Ross Levick wasn't out of Roslific. Marchenko wasn't out there for the Matthews goal?

It was Willie, wasn't it? Marchenko scored on the power play. Okay. So like that line, the trio of them, hasn't scored yet this season. So like it's even, it's actually less lucky than the unlucky thing. And what I would say, they're zero on goals. They look crazy. They look good, though.

They look very good. And the numbers, that makes what I just, told you better. Yes, they look incredible. They need a score. Because the goal differential is zero because they haven't scored. That's probably why. McKenna Tavares-Nee-Lander.

Shot differentials in negative 10. That's 39th. Okay. Slot-shot differential. I don't know how many lines there are, but this is the last place line. Minus 8. Last in the league. Expected goals.

15.2%. That's last in the league. And goal differential minus 3. Again, it's early. Which is surprising to me. that they are last in the league on that, given what happened in Edmonton, what happened in Vancouver,

what's happened in Calgary and Chicago and some of these other places that have allowed a lot of goals. Philly. Somehow, Philly had a good second game, though. And the Penguins like blew a five to one lead on Saturday, still won. But, you know, I just look at this and I go, okay,

again, I will go back to, and we'll get in the game in a second. Third line looks good. We're happy with the third line. First line looks good. think it's going to start going in. Second line, I think there's enough talent there to figure it out. And I think these numbers look a lot better if William Nealander had converted and not hit the post on like two Gavin McKenna pass?

Hit the post or whiffed or healed it or. I think the numbers look different. It's been frustrating. It's been frustrating. And he's last year, William Nealander and Craig Barube did not gel to say the least. What gives you that? It gives you that thought. It's a new coach, William.

Grow up. Oh. He's starting to piss me off. Oh. He's starting to, no. Whoa. No, because. All right.

All right. Like, I, I'm, you know what I'm tired of? And I hate doing this with a lot of different players, but like Willie at the top of the list. Yeah, well, you take the good with the bad. Yeah, but what if the bad is completely optional? but skate the same way on defense you do on offense. So just no? What player?

Simply no. I know what player you're referencing, but what player are you referencing? Willie? No, no, what play? Not player.

There's a play specifically. Adam, I couldn't tell you. There's like four. I thought it was going to be the Rattish one where he went on a rush and then nobody got back. Yes. Morgan Riley was exactly where he should be.

There's that. Yeah. No. Radish was fine. Mo was fine. And then it's either the 18 year old or the, well-established vet you could argue as the team's most talented player

who makes 11 and a half, right? Like, oh, that's a discount now, so you just don't have to back check? You're going to let Mike Matheson make you look like a little boy? After you dominated the second period, that goal going in was like... Yeah, and then you get a breakaway

and you're excited on offense and you do all these crazy moves. Like, he must see TV. I love watching him night in and night out, but he drives you crazy with what he could be. The best I ever saw him play was when he was playing for a contract extension leading up to that trip in Sweden. He was legitimately one of the best players in the league. Yeah.

Will. Drives me friggin nuts. Everyone's on Tavares, and it's some of it's valid. Some of it's valid. I do wonder about the top six thing. I don't know if it's expired, but the expiry date's coming. Yeah, I know that they're patiently aggressive, according to CJ, about the defensemen that they want to add. Yeah.

They might need to add a center first. Or you might need to move Nick Paul up. I don't know. You ever look in the fridge and you go, okay, the milk's not expired, but you all need to start eating cereal? Yeah. You know what I mean? It's a little bit like that. McKenna is 18.

There's very little he could do that would make me go, oh, Gavin, oh, I just expect there. to be struggles there because I'm a reasonable human being. Tavares is, you know, it's not the 2010s anymore. And he's still good, but there's still going to be struggles there. William, I'm like, God, you're in your prime! When you're in your own end, focus! God! And he gets a pass because he's fun and he, they do a season promo video and he says,

fuck and he does really cool moves. I love Willie. Yeah, but I don't think anybody's disagree. Chessie, do you disagree with what Steve is saying? back check. Jesus. Steve. I think, yeah, I think you can complain about Willie's defensive abilities. I think, I don't think it's ever been a strong part of his game. I have more issues with Tavares' game so far this season than Willis. If you look at the goals above expected on Moneypuck,

Willie leads the team and Tavares is last. And I think that line as a whole just does not gel. Like we haven't seen them play well together. I think McKenna's, he's finding his game. And like He said that's going to take so much time. And DeVars is clearly a step slower than he was last season. This is what's frustrating me and why I'm like, you hear the anxiety in my voice when I'm talking about this line. The first line is so good. I absolutely adore it.

Third line, I really like. I have no justification for what Jim Hiller did to it during that third game with Ottawa. Fourth line struggling, we'll get there. But that second line plays well. If that second line breaks even, the Leafs are an extraordinarily difficult team to beat. And they're just not playing close to their capability. And I think it's also valid that I expect more out of William Nealander

than I expect that of John Tavares. You know what I mean? So I mean the salaries would dictate that you should. Well, the salaries, the age, like that stat you threw. out there, like, that doesn't shock me in the slightest. Yeah, no, Tavares needs to pull his weight and he's the center and it's

going to be a problem if he doesn't have a good season. Yeah. Right? I need more out of Willie. Need more. We talked about how this team, no matter what they do, like if Matthews doesn't have a good season, the team is probably not going to have a good season. Same goes for William Nealander.

We need more. Yeah, he's got to be like a big factor in like why they're winning games if the Leafs are going to be successful this season. So I think, I think it'll come though offensively for him. Like I think it always does. I think we'll be fine there. It's just you're asking for some of the defensive stuff to step up a little.

And he's got to drive that a little bit. I think just because I don't know that JT's got the foot speed sometimes to get back. Well, like, I think that's that's going to be a problem with the line. If John Tavares isn't who he used to be, he would be able to cover up some of the defensive deficiencies that William Nealander has. And like a little thing like his faceoffs this year, he's performing at a 43% clip right now. The team's getting killed.

That's not good. How is that part? That never happened. 43% for JT is terrible because in the last couple seasons in his career, he's averaging about 58%. That giant drop off there is a factor on the ice. You know, if you're not winning possession off of these face off draws, you're going to have a hard time scoring goals and like getting things turned up ice. and then you're playing more defense, which that line shouldn't be. They should be sheltered more.

And Jim Hiller has tried to shelter them because they have, I believe, the most amount of offensive zone starts on the team out of the four lines. Wow. But it's not helping because they can't win those face-offs. And like, Giroux kicked his ass on Saturday whenever they were in the same dot together. Claude Giroux. Yeah, so. And that's not something that we're used to in Toronto.

I mean, at least even last year, they were a brilliant face-off team. They were awful at everything else. Where'd they first? One of. And that's why their PK was so good too, right? They could win the faceoff. But Jesse, I look at this. Let me throw this at you.

If we are going to make a switch, why not a guy who a couple of years ago had 22 goals and 41 points and won 54% of his face-offs? Is this Nick Paul? Yeah. Now, I know you're changing the dynamics of everything that's going on here, right? Like I just don't, the guy that I would love for them to try at center is Easton Cowan. But I don't think you try that in the second line next to Gavin McKenna.

So I think, okay, if you believe Cowan is actually a winger, which is fine, that sucks for me because I would really like them to develop a centerman. Put Paul up there for a game, see what happens. Put Paul next to Nylander and McKenna. He's played with talented people before. Tavares can slot down. He can play him with Sizzins, have him in Cowan. That line's going to be a little bit slower. Is that that that bad?

Like, why did you get Nick Paul if you're not going to give that a shot, right? It's interesting. Or do you give it? And again, I'm of the belief. You give it more time. These guys will figure it out. I didn't like, and I know there were a lot of special teams, but I didn't like the treatment of Jack Rosavik.

Like his role was random man. You can't have anyone in your team who's random man. That's not a thing that winning teams do. Here comes random man. What was his job? Random. Do we need him offensively? I don't know.

Do we need him defensively? Why would we do that? he's a right with center lefty he's out there jack go get your minutes what do you want me to do coach random i hated it i it was like some players are letting the team down that was a mystifying coach i don't know i like i like him i like rossel think i like what he's brought so far i like the speed i think he's it's nothing against ross no i know that but i'm just saying i think he's played pretty well yeah your role i thought they got rid of the rover position a hundred years ago.

Turns out, here you go, Jack. Hey, but he's doing well. Like, that second power play unit does have it cooking. They do convert or they get things to net. Because he's not random. Your role is, you're on the power play. Right. Five on five.

And they throw you out there with whoever the shit. So here's, John Tavares usually starts quickly because he's in such great shape. Is it possible that this is a veteran who's just not starting quickly? were three games into a season. He's playing next to an 18-year-old 160-pounder and William Nielander, who's deficient defensively, to say the least, and give them five to seven games to go,

all right, what do we look like? Eight games is roughly 10% of the season. Give them 10% of the season and go, all right, now what? Because I think, I think the fourth line guys has actually been pretty good. I know you don't love it, but it's not... Their numbers are horrific.

Well, they should be. They're getting defensive zone starts. I guess. Okay. Third line looks good. I don't mind the fourth line. I don't mind the fourth line at all. Third line looks good.

First line looks good. Let me tell you something. That's better than most leaf seasons I've watched. Yeah. Where it was the top six and fucking no one else. Definitely last year. Yeah. How about we start with that and we don't,

we just kind of see how it goes? Because I feel like with William Nealander and John DeVars, they'll figure it out. I think they are still throwing out there the most ideal lineup. And I think you got to give it time. I agree with you. And which is why I'm putting it on the players. Or a player specifically.

Like after the, when I did the LFR for that game, I came away with, oh my God, in the comments during the stream too, I was like, you all need to calm down. And when Steve Tangle tells you to calm down, I think you should evaluate your behavior. But I was just like, guys, like I generally like what I've seen. I generally like the individual performances. I generally like the lines.

Riley Radish has been a complaint, and that was easily their best game, I thought. I've seen a lot about Bob, and I don't understand it. I thought he was great. I think he's been totally fun. Omerk was very, very good. Yeah, he did. Bob was fine.

I thought Omerk was the better goalie in that game, but you didn't lose that because of Bob. He was a better goalie because he had to be. He kept you in it in the third. Yes. Yeah, there was a couple big saves. One midway through the third where he came out and he made that save on like the partial break that Bob did. And I was like, okay, there's the big save you get from your goalie where it's like, oh, we need a save. Now let's go out and win it.

And then that end of that third period, they could not get out of their own zone. They couldn't break out the puck. And I was like, this is a disaster. And then that last power play where you have like an opportunity to tie the game, it's brutal. It's a terrible power. One of the worst like goalie poles I've ever seen. Yeah, that too. I don't, none of that was on Bobrovsky.

No. No, I was very confused by all that. So I know I'm going to get a lot of, you're being dramatic about William Nealander. I will not apologize for holding a star player to a high standard. Sure. Right? Like, yeah, his goals are going to go in.

He's not going to whiff on Gavin McKennon passes. He's going to stop hitting the crossbar. He's going to stop hitting the post. Goals are going to go in. You'd be stupid to bet against William Nealander, offensively. Defensively, I'm not asking him to play differently in terms of, you know, take away from what makes him special.

I am asking him to put the same effort into the play in his own end that he has offensively, because you can see it with your eyes, folks. It's not the same. It's not close. It's never been that way. Maybe you're asking an old dog to do tricks. because, you know, to learn a new trick. But they've given him that money for the play that he's had,

and they know he's that type of player. But now that John Tavares isn't the same player that he is, at least at this point right now, I think it's fair to ask Nielander to just get a little better. Drive a line, Willie. Yeah. You can drive this line. Yeah, especially because like McKenna, too.

Like, if these are the two guys you're playing with, you have to be more of an impactful player. Is that so unfair? Because that's what the money is for. That is not unfair. Is that unfair? No. No.

No. I don't. I think that's perfectly fair. You like the third line? You like the top line? Okay. I also have to say, rest of you know what job you need to do. I've really liked what I've seen from the team, the majority of the periods that we've watched this year. I do want to say that.

Like, I do think they're going to be fine. Chris Tanev is chicken soup for my soul. I'm so glad he's back and I'm so glad he looks okay. Yeah. Yeah, it looks great. Chicken soup. So the lineups today looks like at least stature will not come out for at least as of today. And again, tomorrow is when they play.

But Blankenberg is a former Pratt. I thought he might get the start tomorrow. Stetcher played, was the third most minutes. Yeah, they like him. Defenceman on Saturday, I believe. Yeah. But he was out of there. He's nails.

Like, you're not going to get a lack of effort out of Troy Stetcher. Yeah. But he's like, Jim Hiller isn't deploying him like the sixth defenseman on this team. Like, he's getting to that a little bit. I'll just pull up the time. I'm curious about that because I do want to know how everybody's sort of being deployed. I've not done a deep dive on it. I, the more time passes, the more I'm like, I don't know if they're keeping OEL.

Well, he's got a great deal in no trade protection or 15 team or whatever it is. He does have a great deal and you're up against the cap. So how are you going to get a better defenseman for that cap? Dakota Joshua's contract. Potentially. Oliver Eckman, Lars. You're talking about money working. Yeah.

I mean, because if you're giving up, if you're getting another defenseman, which is what apparently they want to do, you're giving up Ben Danford. That's what it is. I don't like it. On the time on ice for Saturday, Troy Stetcher did have the third most minutes out of any defenseman. Wow. It was Darren Radish at 22, Morgan Riley at 18, then Stetcher at 1810. Actually, he had more than Riley, second most.

Wow. Troy Stetcher, yeah, out there for 1810 and Morgan Riley. Oh, no, Morgan Rattice 1823. My bad. 1823 for Morgan. So third most and 2246 for Troy Stetcher. And then Jake McCabe came in at 1745, Chris Tenev at 1728, and OEL at 1704. I like that they are not burning McCabe Tenev.

Like I like that they're in and around 17, 18 minutes a night because it's a long year. But Stetcher, like I don't. So like the swapping for Blankenberg, I get it. Because like Troy Stetcher has been such an important piece of their lineup right now. All that time is taken on the. penalty kill too. He's been a very efficient penalty killer. And that five on five is clearly being trusted. That's great. Hey, that's a guy you signed for what is a million three five or a million and a half. Got for free. It was waivers pretty much. No, no, the extension. Yeah, but I mean like,

you got him for free and then he signed him. Listen, thank you Brad Trill Living. Brad Trill Living got you, Krill Marchenko. I know nobody wants to talk about that. But that deal that he made, listen, Brad left him with a lot of shit, but there was a lot of great extension signed in the Brad for Living era. And I will, I will stick to that. He does. does deserve some credit for that. The Tavares extension, the Nye's extension, the Tava contract's not bad when he's playing. OEL's contract's pretty great. McCabe's contract's pretty great. Like there's some good, I mean, he even signed Nealander. No GM is wall to wall bad. No. Well, we act like he is.

And that's not, I don't, wall to wall to all bad. His trades perhaps at the deadline were disastrous. Yeah, but the extensions were good. What is the overall? What is the all the aggregate? Oh, it was the good and the bad. Well, see, Jesse's question is where it all falls Hold on a sec. He did get to game seven. Stop. Game seven. They've done that so many times.

Second round. No, they haven't. I had two questions for you guys from Saturday. I just want to throw out there. The play style when I was watching, it reminded me a lot of the Sheldon Keith Leafs and that they were really driving for offense. And when they made mistakes, like on those two goals where they didn't really get back and it was in transition where Ottawa scored, it's they were kind of getting used to playing

this new style of hockey. as opposed to the Brubay style where we're all just sitting back and doing nothing, where they're actually trying to push for offense, but they're not used to playing this way, so they're getting caught, and that's how Ottawa got those first two goals. You can tell the Baroube system is getting beaten out of them,

because I want to say the first, like, five minutes of the game. They kept dumping it, and I noticed it, and the chat noticed it, and we were like, what are they doing? And it's almost like someone on the bench went, stop that, cut it out. And they, I thought they were the far better team for 40 minutes and then forgot. And I would love to blame it all on Tim Stutzelah and that ill-gotten penalty.

But like, ill-gotten power play, I should say. They definitely should have taken both. He's the most disgraceful diver in the entire national hockey league. Oh, I've got the. But they lost fair and square. They did. Jesse, can we, I just want to bring up this picture. Because today, this is the Neeler one.

Today, Montreal Canadiens fans have weighed in on the Tim Stutzla thing. And at first they were like, what are Lee fans crying about? Because they're Canadians fans and that's what they should do. Oh, what a conundrum for them. And then they saw the clip and slowed it down and froze it. And they're like, oh, yeah, that's the guy we know. No, no, no, no, no, Adam. 31 fan bases are wrong about this player.

No, no, no, no, no. The 31 fan bases are wrong about it. Should the Marchenko thing have been a penalty? Yes, it hit him in the vice. visor. Should that be a dive penalty all day? Where's your visor, Adam? It's right here. No, it's not at your mouth. No, it's not at my mouth. Grabs his mouth, acts like he's been absolutely shot. Look at this, look at this. See? God, you said. That didn't hit his mouth. God, you step. That's not his mouth.

You're such a disgrace, too. So, Steve, you spent, what was it, like 60% of the LFR. Way too much time. It was about 60% of the LFR on Saturday. I need to, I need to shorten talking about No, you know. Tim Stutzla and how Toronto players don't get calls. Is that a good summary about it? And you went through Cadry and you went through bunting. And do you want to do some of that here? Sure.

Uh-oh. Sure. No, no, no, no. Just the league, I said the Leafs have a Toronto problem. Yeah. Last year. Because, like, the way, the way the current administration treats Leaf fans is they embrace them. And they understand them.

I feel understood. Like, I don't know if they're making all the right decisions or whatever, but I'm like, okay, they at least get what makes us tick. Matt Sundeen at the helm, John Chica actually is a Lee fan. Like, yeah, no wonder they get it. It felt like they were terrified of us last year. And they had a big Toronto problem. I think the league has a Toronto problem.

Like, listen, you can say what you want about me. I've been around long enough that I vaguely know what I'm talking about. A lot of the people who work for the National Hockey League hate us a lot. And I don't mean this podcast. I don't know if they know we exist. They hate this city. They hate this team. They hate this fan base.

And is some of it earned, perhaps. What I was talking about with Nazim Kadri, because he got incredible at drawing penalties as a leaf. We, as a fan base, stupidly, perhaps, pointed it out. Yes, we did. We pointed it out, and I made it into a bit in my videos. And so what did the league do? They responded, and he never got a penalty again.

The refs who collude with each other, and we know they do. So if you need an example that isn't the leaves, Dennis Widman hits a ref from behind or a linesman from behind, I can't remember. Hits an official from behind. And, you know, I'm not here to relitigate that incident. But after that happened, the Calgary Flames got absolutely fucked by the officials in this league. Right.

And the reason he was suspended 20 games. 21. 21. And then I think it might have been reduced, but it didn't matter because he'd already there, he'd not played them. The reason he got suspended was that was the punishment. but then the refs thought let's continue to punish them

outside of the league rules and Brian Burke got up in a press conference that said okay we hear you now look at the amount of penalties we're getting called enough no no Adam let's rig games

well that's what it is right it's match fixing and I know that they want retribution but that's what the suspensions for yeah like you know how many illegitimate Calgary Flames games there were during that Like illegitimate games. Did you buy tickets?

You went to illegitimate hockey games. Those are those are, those are, the refs were calling it intentionally against the Calgary Flames. And I don't think, what do you call that? Dennis Wyman didn't even play for them anymore too. That was the other part. Oh, I wouldn't give a shit if he was, was their top guy. You can't.

It's your job. I understand you're a human being, but it's your job to not be biased. against one team or the other. So anyway, that's the flames side of that. Cadry was really good at drawing penalties and we pointed it out and maybe we shouldn't have and I made it a bit and maybe we shouldn't have. So the refs wildly overcorrected,

match fixed and never called anything on Nazim Cadry ever again. Ever, ever, ever. You could beat the dog shit out of that guy and it didn't matter. it took Mike Babcock going, all right, guys, enough. And weirdly, he started getting calls again because they were doing it on purpose very obviously. Michael Bunting was more sad, to be honest, because he didn't get to go on and have Nazim Kadri's career, right? Michael Bunting,

listen, can be a greasy player, maybe even dirty. Definitely mouthy. Mouthey. Mouthey. Outer mouth. Yep, yep, yep, pip. And he gets pushed by linesman Dan Kelly, who brained Andreas Johnson and the minors. Now he's helping call hockey games. Sick, sick, cool, great league. And nothing comes of that.

Bunting becomes really good at drawing penalties. And again, stupidly, guys, we got to stop doing this. If you notice it, stop pointing it out. Because more content is made about the Toronto Maple Leafs than any other team. So it's reasonable to assume more content is consumed about the Toronto Maple Leafs than any other team. They're reading this shit. They're using it and it's affecting the way they call hockey games.

Stop it. We got to stop. We all got to stop. You're asking us to stop making content about the Toronto Maple Leafs? If you bring up a player on the Leafs is leading the league and drawing penalties, I'm going to ask that we cut it from the show and I'm going to change the topic. I'm serious. I'm dead fucking serious because it's screwing the hockey team that I love.

Because these guys are massive. Well, but we don't have anybody that's good at drawing. penalties like Tim Stutzland is Steve. Well, oh, just give me a sec. The Leafs with Michael Bunting. The refs realized it. And Bunting, there was one I remember. He just holds his arms out and looks at the sky.

As three guys are beating the shit out of him and nothing happens. Now, his teammates should have come in there like axe wielding maniacs and helped him out. But they were told by management to take the penalty. Yes. And they're. And, and get the power play. And they were gross, disgusting weaklings about that, and that's a whole other problem. But the officials were like, fuck Michael Bunting.

Let's not make it about the... Brennan Gallagher! That guy, who was mouthier to the refs over the course of his career? Oh, my God. That guy would come in... Maybe Crosby early on? Crosby early. Yeah, and they hated him.

Yes, they did. Early on. But, no, Gallagher at the beginning of every season comes in like a straight-up litigator. And it's like... Like, if you see here, Your Honor, the refs is established precedent and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They hate the guy, right? When is Tim Stutzelah going to get the Nazim Cadry whistle? He's not.

When is Tim Stozzell going to get the Michael Bunting whistle? He will not. When is Tim Stozzell going to get the post-Dennis Wydenes-Wydman Calgary Flames whistle? He will not. When is Tim Stutzler going to get the Brendan Gallagher whistle? When are refs going to stop letting this player stuff them into a locker? Every call, like, Steve, it's a high stick, but... Nobody said it wasn't a penalty, by the way.

Embellishment. Yes, is a penalty. Every call against Tim Stutzelah should result in him ending up in the box as well. Because he's a disgrace. 31 fan bases are not wrong about this player. I won't hear it. I won't hear it. And I think Sends fans.

I'm not wasting my life arguing with people who are wrong. Sends fans know it, but they're not going to admit it. Just like, once Brady left town, they're like, okay, all those jokes about him not being able to read were pretty funny. Yeah. Well, and like, yeah, I defended Nas because he was my snake. Yeah. And now he's no longer my snake.

Yeah. But when this gets clipped later, just understand that we know Sends fans know. We know they know, but it's good for them. Yeah. No, totally. So I don't have a problem with Sends fans here. My problem is with the stupid. No, sorry, sorry.

refs read they're going to see this so let's stroke the ego a little bit refs know where they're let's stroke the ego a little bit they know I am so I'm going to try this thing where I don't call them stupid anymore that's nice I'm surprised that national hockey league officials who we all agree are the best hockey officials in the world I think that is factual information factual information yes I mean how else do you get to the NHL these guys are the best, right? They're the best. I'm surprised they keep letting Tim Stutzelah get away with this. Their job is hard enough as it is, right? It's hard enough as it is. It's a fast game and they keep seeing this, you know, and they see the visor go up and he goes down and what are they supposed

to do? I'm just surprised that the best officials in the world keep letting this player get away with it. I think that's a fair statement. I don't think anybody can disagree with that, and I'm sure Every team in the Atlantic is wondering the same thing. No, no, no. 31 fan bases are wrong about him. Jesse, after the game, I'm always curious about the vibe. Because I, again, this is so stupid and very copish of me. But I didn't feel bad after the Montreal game.

I look at the late power play the Leafs had where there was posts and whatever, and they were just throwing everything at the net on PP1. Remember that in the third period there? Yeah, the one, the power play, that sucks. Well, actually, was it the second period then? One of the power plays, they just threw everything at the net. There was one where I was like, oh my God, they're going to score a thousand gold. They were like shelling Allmark.

And Allmark was great. And they also had hit a bunch of posts and crossbars and stuff. I was like, ah, it's a totally winnable game that they didn't win. Is that the vibe you walked away from? Like, is that what they're thinking? There's growing pains right now with the team and how they're playing. Like, it's a whole bunch of new players. We have to remember the same attitude we had after game one where zero preseason for

a team with 12 new guys from the previous year's roster. And Marchenko has not practiced with this team except for a brief practice. That would have been Thursday. No, he's had one practice. I don't think it was Thursday. Friday maybe. Like, they need to learn how to play with each other and they need to learn how to play in a new system.

And the short and preseason affects this team more than a lot of others because they haven't played together. And it's going to take a little bit. and you start to worry if the results don't come. That's the thing. If they're playing the right way, they're getting their chances, they need to be a little bit more responsible in transition. If it continues, then it's a problem.

But you can see how this thing can work. You can see like the pieces of a pretty good regular season team here. And if it goes the way it looks like, it'll be good. But if it doesn't come in the next couple weeks, then you can be concerned, but you still have those weeks to get through. You got to keep a cool head about it. I'm stuck somewhere between Jesse is 100% absolutely right, and you have to keep a cool head about it.

It's early in the season. And tomorrow's game is actually very important because you start your season with four games at home. You'd like to come away at two and two, at least, right? Then they go on a three-game road trip. Vegas, Colorado, Utah. Three really good teams. Three very good teams. That's a buzzsaw of a road trip.

Outside of your time zone, too. That too. That too. One of those is really, really late. The Vegas game. Yep. 10 p.m. on a weekday. I think that was requested by.

I'm sure. I'm sure. Anyway. But like, again, it's very early in this season. season, it might take them a while to gel, but all of a sudden kind of feels like tomorrow's game is somewhat important. Well, sure.

And it'll be, it's as important as the next game will be the next week. Oh, those road games? You should try to win those also. Yeah, that's crazy. But I think it's a very long season. I'm encouraged. I'm very encouraged by how they've been playing. And I think Jesse's right.

Like they are trying to beat the Broube system out of this team very quickly. And also there's a bunch of new guys. We said in the season preview, man. Like, if they start slow, I will not be surprised. How do you turn over a roster with this many changes? Only three forwards left over from last year from the starting lineup in game one? No other team has had to face that. And every team that has massive change like that struggles a little bit.

I'm encouraged with what I've seen. If they are a little bumpy in October, you know what I'm seeing in October that I didn't see last year? Anybody gets close to Bob and they are all over them. Do like that. All over them. I would like it very much if they're scored a thousand goals against Nashville.

Yeah. Because as good as they've looked, as many posts as they've hit, as many crossbars as they hit, two goals, two goals. Score more. I agree. Score a thousand goals. Well, you need them again again. You've got to get them in.

You've got to not hit the post, man. Fans will stop complaining about the goalhorn if you play it eight times. Yeah. I don't really care about the goalhorn. Is that weird? Should I have an opinion on that as a fan? I don't really. Okay.

I'm over. I want to say very quickly, Radish and Riley. Put my head up and say, for the second game of a row, I didn't mind. Am I crazy? Two to three. Am I crazy, Jesse? No. What did you see?

You liked it too? Yeah, I'd like to see Radish capitalize on a power play goal. There you go. Yes. When you showed the ice time there, I was surprised by Morgan Riley barely played special teams at all, like power play or penalty kill. It's over 17 minutes, even strength. That's quite a bit. And as for Rattish, it wasn't just that the third game was a good game for him.

It was him as advertised. Right. Offense, offense, offense, offense. With steady defense. God, he, Simon Evanson looked really great next to him. Just saying. It's going to happen. Jake Sanderson was sent back to Ottawa.

He's not going to play tonight, according to Travis Green. That was new today for further testing. He played five minutes against the Leafs. Has been fighting something all training camp. We don't really know. They're being really cagey about it. It's weird. I was talking to Julian in the press box about it.

They've been secretive about his injury. That is weird. Yeah. Anyway, so that sucks. So we did our Princess Margaret road hockey stream a couple of weeks ago. I went to the event in Vaughn this weekend. It was amazing. It was crazy.

There's like thousands of people there are playing road hockey all at the same time. But the numbers came in. And this is pretty incredible. 1,900 participants, 148 teams, $3.7 million raised. And two participants stepped up for the shoot for 100K contest and each took their shot for $100,000.

Wayne Robbins scored from 75 feet away on the very first shot, brought himself $100,000. What? Wow. And he announced he donated his prize to the Princess Margaret. The whole thing. The whole thing. That's incredible.

Wow. also buried the winning goal on the carry the fire road hockey net, and that's a specialty net made from patient wristbands represented 122,08 live saved since the event's inception in 2011, which is pretty incredible. So if you want to see more, obviously check out PMCF Road Hockey on Google. You can or click the link in the description, whatever, but it was a pleasure working with them. Just wanted to say a big shout out and the event was amazing this weekend. Incredible work. Now, I would like to move on from the Toronto Maple Leafs. And I would like to get into overreaction season

with Jesse and Steve. It's a new little game that I would like to play. You guys ready? That wasn't what we just did? No, no, no. This is overreaction season around the NHL. Got it. Okay.

So I'm going to give you guys a team and a thesis and the concerns around that team. And you've got to tell me if we are reacting properly or if we are overreacting. Okay? Very simple.

And we're going to start with the Calgary Flames who look bad but they should look bad because they're supposed to look bad but it's already being suggested that maybe it's time for Ryan Huska to go. Again, we're a couple of games in here.

Well, fans. And I got to listen, we're a podcast dedicated to fans. I think it matters what the fans say and I know that nobody on the inside of league is saying it but I think fans are like because here's why they feel this way. You ready? they have allowed the second most goals in the league.

Not good. They are, yes, supposed to be bad. But they're so bad, it's embarrassing. Their goal differential to start the season, this is three games in, is what? Negative six. Jesse, you have a thought on that. What's their goal differential? I'm going to go higher.

I'll go negative nine. Negative 13. Holy. Seattle was 6-1. Yeah. How many goals? How many goals of flames have this year? Five.

No, they have two, three. Wow. And here's their schedule this month, okay? Because again, Calgary's not stupid. Their fans are not stupid. They know what this is. It's a rebuild, right? We know.

You want to show some signs of life, right? Sure. So you just lost to Seattle, 6-1, and then you lost to the people that you're supposed to be fighting with for bottom of the league, Vancouver, 4 to 1. And then last night, on the second half of a back-to-back, get lost to Seattle again. Seattle, the listless franchise. I'm regretting my Seattle 8th prediction.

Well, yeah, they might be like 6th. Here's the rest of the month. I'll just give you the next couple of weeks. Colorado Thursday. Ducks Saturday. Ducks Tuesday. Vegas Thursday. This is next week.

Then it's Carolina. Then it's Minnesota. And the next time they play a non-playoff team, from last year is the Detroit Red Wings on the 24th of October. Both teams have that circled on their calendar, like an oasis in the desert. Oh, boy. That's rough. It's not just they're good teams, like they're really capable of scoring goals,

and you're apparently hemorrhaging them. Yes, with a goalie who's, you know, that is your future, you know, and that's not, I'm not saying it's Dustin Woll's fault, but I'm like, try not to maybe defend the guy a little bit. Well, I mean, they're a young, team. They got kids out there. When did Elias Pedersen just

decide he's going to kill everybody? Well, we're getting to that. Hold off on that, please. I'm asking about the Calgary Flames. Got it. Well, he killed the Calgary Flames. Yeah. Asking about Calgary Flames, though.

Got it. They're bad, but like, we knew that. And it's kind of by design. And, oh, they should get younger. They did. I don't know. Like, this is part of a rebuild has taken your lumps.

Okay. So you're saying the overreaction is not warranted. Not that it's not warranted. It's just what did you expect? I expected them to be better than this. Because I don't think any team in the NHL sucks. Like everything's got to go wrong.

Everything's gone wrong so far. Jesse Blake, do you think the overreaction of the Calgary Flames after three games is warranted or unwarranted? What is the reaction? The reaction is, holy shit, we might go 84 or 0.84. That's a correct reaction for the roster. that they're putting on the ice. Okay. Damn.

So you're saying that it should be completely, this is exactly what it needs to be. Yeah, if your reaction is that they're bad, thumbs up, you nailed it. It'd be weird if you said they were good. Yeah. That'd be odd. Okay.

That'd be the overreaction. Now let's flip this. Yeah. The other team that should be doing what the flames are doing. Now, I know people are excited about how fun the Canucks have been. But are they going to screw up their own lottery chances this year

because they are fun. They have scored the most and allowed the most. and allowed the most goals in the league, which is a wild stab. The Edmonton stuff skews that. Sure, but they've also scored the most. There's nine goals.

But they have scored the most. Yeah, but Adam, they have Paul Cotter. Of course they've scored the most. And they scored four against Calgary. Don't forget. Oh, my God. They have the vibes. And let me give you this.

Elias Pedersen's stat line. He is third in the NHL in points. Woo. He is sixth and assists. 13th in goals. He is, uh, he's playing 20 minutes a night. He's throwing hits. He's 51.2% in the faceoff dot.

Guys. Are the Vancouver Canucks going to screw themselves over the, out of the first overall pick again this year? No, because they're going to finish like, I don't know, 20 second and win the draft lottery because that's, that's who's been winning it in recent memory. Right. Islanders leaves. Right.

Yeah. Okay. Jesse. What do you think about? the Vancouver are they going to be too good to get the first overall pick this year? Probably.

I think there's something there. Like their roster doesn't look terrible. So Jesse, I need to check on something on the SDPN website where we did all our predictions. Yep. So really stupidly,

the Pacific Division has eight teams. And in both preview videos for the Canucks and the Flames, I said they would finish in seventh. Yes, you did do that. Yeah, I misspoke because on the paper, that I had, I wrote one as six and one is seventh.

Then we threw out the paper so I don't remember what it authentically was. Did I end up on the Canucks 6th or Flames 6th? What we went with based on your thumbs up was you had Seattle in 8th, Calgary in 7th, and Vancouver in 6th. All right. Are you happy with that? Yes. Okay.

That's what we're sticking with. Happy with, I should have had Calgary in 8th. Happy with Vancouver in 6th. I'm banking on it. All right. You know what? I do think Vancouver looks better than last year, like just based on the small sample size we have. And I think the roster, like, is decent.

Oh, yeah. They don't feel like a 32nd place team, like, just based on the four games we've seen them play. Part of it is it seems like people are enjoying playing for the Vancouver Canucks again. That too. People enjoy playing with Paul Carter. Who couldn't be? Now, I love being right about a player. The eighth place Calgary Flames is where it should have been in the predictions, just looking at, like, I had Vancouver eighth and under.

I already think I'm wrong on that. I was way too recency bias. You know what it was? Well, the Cracken are rudderless, but the Flames are doing the right things for a rebuilding team. That does not make them good. Right? So I had a little bit of summer brain on the Flames. That's where I went wrong.

Mind you, I have them seventh out of eight. And I'm like, oh, I should have had them lower. It's true, though. It's true. Yep. All right. Last one. This is a fun one.

Chicago looks bad. They have allowed 16 goals, which is good enough to be tied with Calgary for second worst in the league. Just behind the Canucks. Crazy. That's not worst. They have scored five. Oof. Which makes their differential a negative 11.

They have not scored a power play goal this season. Their average shots per game, guess. 23. Jesse. 19. 18. Oof. Average shots given up or allowed per game.

29. Jesse. 31. 32.2. Oh! Their face-off success rate is. They're getting almost doubled up in shots. 44.

Jesse. 42. 39.9. Oh. zero evidence that Jeff Blasheel is a good coach, dating back to his time edge, right? Zero. He might have been a good assistant,

but there's zero evidence he can head coach a team. There's zero evidence that Kyle Davidson's a good general manager. Zero. There's been no results. And just going to finish with this stat, and this stat did change. I'm going to give you, there's a picture evolving here.

Scott Powers, October 1st. With the Vlasic Byram pairing on ice at 5-on-5, the Utah Mammoth led 23 to 1 in shot attempts. 11.0 in shots on goal. 14 and 0 in scoring chances and 1 in goals. Just one, which is a fucking miracle. Now, Byron didn't play the other game, the other night. Vlastic, 2 assists, plus 3, 22 minutes, 33 seconds.

So perhaps that pairing isn't working. Maybe. But Chicago fans were hoping for a step forward this year. it's three games in. Is the reaction they're giving you, which is big and angry and kind of sad, warranted or unwarranted? A thousand percent warranted.

Here's what I'll say. Kyle Davidson has not been wall-to-wall bad. You know, he's assembled a pretty fun core of young prospects and everything. But sometimes the construction of a great hockey team, requires more than one head chef. Sometimes one guy does very well at one thing. Then he gets fired because his time has come.

Someone else comes in and they're better at whatever the next step is. This could be the best thing to happen to the Chicago Blackhawks. Interesting. They need a new coach. He's not it. And it's probably about time they get a new GM. Jesse warranted or unwarranted the Blackhawks fans' reaction to their start of the season. I think the Black Ocks are actually bad.

I don't think they're underperforming this early start. No. This is who they are. Okay. Okay. Very interesting. Just wanted to throw all that all out there. Overreaction season is still on and I will have more for you to overreact too.

I do have a question as we end this segment and it's on Elias Pedersen. I gave you his stat line. It's looking good. He looks energized out there. He's cracking jokes. He's smiling. If he does this for three months, will you believe in the resurgence? And if not, how long will it take you to believe in the resurgence of

Elias Pedersen? Honestly, if he keeps this going until the end of the month, you'll believe that it's back. Yeah. Jesse, what about you? I don't think he'll ever be what he is at his peak. I think he can reach a new high of what he can be. I've loved his defensive game.

Like last year, his block shots were through the roof amongst the league leaders in block shots. for centers. And I think if you can work on that side of his game even more, like, or just keep that going and then also add most of what the offensive production that he used to have back to his game. Like I think there's a really good player still there. You know what his game so far tells me is this is the healthiest he's been in a long time?

Because if you're not 100% sure of your body, which he wasn't last year, what you are not going to do is throw yourself into violent collisions. And he's obviously feeling great because he is out there trucking guys. Yeah. He is. I was not familiar with your game. I did not know he had that in his bag. So then my night, I got two follow up questions for that very quickly.

If he returns to, I mean, he's always been good defensively, but the scoring went away. If he returns to 80 or 90 point guy, is there any point in trading him? No. No, no, I'd hang on to him. Okay. Yeah, because at his peak, he's 100 points, 35 goals. If he's 30 goals, 80 points, that's great. That's a fantastic player for 11.5 for Vancouver.

Hang on to that guy. Okay. And the added, like, the other stuff he provides on top of that. Oh, yeah. Okay, so then my next question about that would be, let's say they did. Okay. If you're an acquiring team, are you worried about getting Tristan Jari, which is bad for two years, you're good for three months,

you get pumped and dumped and traded and then you're stuck with that gigantic contract. Yes. But it gives me pause that the hurricanes were interested in this player because they're a pretty smart hockey team and they liked him when he was still bad.

Right. And I'm like, what do they know? Right. What do they see that I'm not seeing? How serious? Like, do we know? It kept getting rumored. I don't know.

I don't know. I think maybe it just got rumored because the cap hit would make sense on the hurricanes because they have the space. But I don't know how serious Tulski was about it. I have to ask CJ. But that's, yeah, I don't know either because obviously they could have gone him or rantan and they went ranting a couple years ago, right? I don't think those two players are comparable.

I know, but that was those were the two people that were rumored. I'm not saying they're comparable. I'm saying they were rumored. Before the ranton trade was made, there was a ton of smoke between Carolina and Vancouver. There was. Yeah. Yeah. But how real was it?

I don't know. I think it would have been real if Carolina could have got him for next to nothing and taken on the contract. That's what it would have been real. The rising cap is very odd. It's very odd. Because, yeah, all right. This is a perfect time to trade Elias Pedersen. You know, but that deal looks pretty good now.

You know, who's pretty good value is Elias Petters? Okay. On Alexander Barkoff, Armando Veliz is reporting today that this injury will sideline him in the range of 10 to 12 weeks. that would put him returning around Christmas or New Year's, which is good for the Panthers. You say, I mean, not if they want to win hockey games in the room. Yeah, you got to stay in the fight without them.

Yeah. And they don't look great, do they? I mean, they beat Carolina, but they're looking a little sluggish. Brady Kachuk, zero points. Marchand scored in his return. Yeah, because he's always dependable. But Brady Kachuk's ice time,

16 minutes, 19 minutes, and 16 minutes. Sense fans are having a field day right now. Now, I want... He's a marginal player because that's what he signed up to be in Florida. Is that you being facetious? Or like, you being mean, though? Is that actually how you feel about Brady Kachek?

Because I don't know that he is that guy. Like, I don't know if he's, like, we're going to find out if he's that guy. He doesn't seem to be that guy yet. What did he sign up to be? Play 20 minutes a night? Well, he can't on that Florida roster. Right.

Okay. He's a fighter now. That's fine. Jesse. Bit expensive. I'd also say, like call them a little they don't look great talk they haven't lost in regulation

yet they'll be fine they'll be good well people are met Florida fans this is how high they've got the bar set they're like oh we lost to the ducks and sharks I'm like that's listen those are good teams now they got down early they were down 3 oh and they battled back to get that point in overtime the ducks game I believe in that game too

they were down 2-0 overtime last night was electric and they battled back there too to tie it up and Marchand yeah it was 2-9 nothing. Then Marchand gets that goal with two minutes left and then they tie it. And then just the ducks are so good and three on three you can't ever beat them. And then Florida also took a bad penalty to give the ducks a power play for the rest of OT and then they eventually scored. But it's not like they weren't in all these games. And then the Carolina one, they won in O.T. That was sloppy game, you know? Lundell's got to be a star. We keep talking to him like he's

mini Barcov. He's got to be a star. They were in the fight for a good chunk of last season at the beginning without Barkov. You got to do it again. I think Markstrom has been better than anybody could have thought so far. I think he's been decent in that. And there hasn't been many instances that makes Steve Yel his famous catchphrase. No, that belongs to Jordan Binnington, who is, like, I don't know, is Joel Hofer on the stock market and is Bennington investing in him?

because that's the only reason to do the things that he's doing. What a weird goalie and a weird guy. Team Canada's goalie right there. Canada's goalie is the second best Canadian goalie on the blues. Light the Night is a national movement that brings together communities across Canada together in support blood cancer and funds raised in Canada support Canadian blood research. Vital services for individuals and families and advocacy for better access to care in this fall. Gather your friends and family and raise a lantern in solidarity with Canada.

his blood cancer community. Last year, Light the Night supporters raised $6.2 million, which is amazing. If you would like to participate this year, and it's pretty incredible,

go to lightenightonight.com. The link is in the description. Jesse, last thing before we wrap it up, and this is a big one, we have wax poetic about this player, and there's a video that I've highlighted on the prep sheet

there that I like to get to get to. All, Codder. All right. Wax poetic about this player many, many times, and we were wondering when this announcement would inevitably come, and it has come this morning.

And it would happen at Morning Skate. The Capitals tweeted it out. Spencer Carberry steps to the middle of the dressing room, I guess after practice or before practice or whatever. And out comes Alexander Ovechkin to say that this year will be it. And I really love the way they kind of did this. It's awesome. Okay, guys, I'm going to call up our captain, Alex Ovechkin,

to address the team for a few minutes. Come on guys. This is going to be my last year. I'm pretty sure it's, for me, for my family, it's very important to you guys to know first. And yeah, it's sad. But, you know, it is all it is. We have a unbelievable team this year and you know 82 games left. Let's make a playoffs. Let's have fun and enjoy the moment because you know,

times fly for young guys who first year or experienced guys, you know, remember their moment and enjoy the time because how I said, thanks lie. And, you know, it seems like yesterday I was here my first year, and right now this is my second, 20th second year. And, you know, it goes like this. So, yeah, it's hard, but let's enjoy it. And let's do some special thing this year, right? He is as of now 15th in NHL games played ever,

49th in assists ever, 10th in points ever, and first in goals ever. 929 goals this, I guess coming into the year. He's got one this year, I think. And he probably, if things keep going the way that they're going, because remember last season, he had 32 goals, can get past the 950 mark. Won't likely get to 1,000 unless he scores 70 goals.

No, he would have to play another year. But at least. But 950 would be pretty cool. It would be. I remember being in the cafeteria at our high school and we picked our fantasy team on paper and I remember someone being so happy with themselves they're like watch this old Vetchkin guy's going to be insane

and they drafted him I was like he's a rookie 51 goals it's 22 seasons that blew me away it's a long time yeah long time it's crazy how much has changed I don't know what you say about Ovechkin now, Jess, that hasn't already been said. But if there's a perfect ending to this season aside from a Stanley Cup, you know, I mean, the caps look good. They've definitely geared up for him. What does a perfect regular season for Alexander Ovechkin look like? Well, from like outside of how great he is and all that stuff, like I wanted to talk about just like the strictly hockey part of his career right now,

because the way he's being deployed, at least in the first two games of the season, is like how he is at his stage of his career. So on Saturday, he gets played 10 minutes at even strength. That is the amount of time a third, fourth liner gets played. And it's interesting to me to see Washington look at the greater picture and say, we have an actual goal of winning here. Ovechkin, at this point in his career, is a 10-minute, a night player. And he knows that. And he's aware of that. We're aware of that. And we're not going to

change that just because of the eight of a capitals that's on the back of his jersey. Just because he's the greatest goal score all time doesn't mean we're throwing him out there for 15 minutes at even strength and playing him that much. We're committed to actually winning hockey games. And Ovechkin clearly understands that and is willing to take what is essentially a fourth line role in terms of ice time. I thought that's been fascinating the first two games. absolutely fascinating. But still on the power play, it was like 250 minutes.

Guys, do you think this should be the year they figure out a Vetchkin spot on the power play and shut him down? I wonder if it's going to work. I wonder if him standing there is going to work this time. Finally devise a system to stop the thing that's been happening for 21 and a half years. I would, I think it'd be funny if someone kept track, like by the end of the season, strides per game. He probably wouldn't be hard.

Well, he stands still. Yeah. So if he plays, what did you say? 2.30 or whatever? He played, I think it was Saturday. It was 253 on the P.P. And 10 something even strength. Okay.

So if he's, oh, I thought it was 10 minutes total. So what percent of his ice time is he literally just standing stationary like a cannon? A lot. Like, we're talking like 20 percent something of his ice time. they're making it very easy for him and it's i think the whole organization understands what the player they have now is a goal scoring machine in one spot he is very very very very old okay now he had 32 goals last year over or under 31 and a half this year none so far this year i think you said oh yeah yes sorry no he has an assist he has an assist so far this season for him to publicly

like, yeah, this is it. I'm going to say under. So that would mean he doesn't get to 950. Or he might tie it at 31. 31 is where he is. I think the lead up, it was fun for us. And I think it was fun for the team,

but it ultimately, I think, tired them out heading into the playoffs. I think the pursuit of a number is exhausting and I don't think he's interested in any part of it anymore. Let's just win. I just want to win. win a cup. That's what he wants. They look good, man. They look real good. Jesse, over or under

31 and a half goals. 31 and a half. I think Steve Dangle did the thing that we do every time with Alexander Ovechkin, which is not believe he has the abilities to do the impossible in terms of goal scoring. I'm going to say over. I'm going to say over until the day he hangs it up and he doesn't do it anymore, which is at the end of this season. Okay. Now, my other side of this, and this is way more fun. And then we'll wrap the show. he had 32 assists last year Alexander Ovechkin over or under

24.5 assists this year 24.5 because I'm saying he's going to play lesser of a role. I mean they've got tuck, they've got Kyru, they've got a whole bunch of different players like they're pushing him down the lineup. I'll say over that's not very much. You say over Jesse? I also say over. Okay. Yeah. Even in

65 games in 2425 he had 29 assists. All right. there you go he's still the playmaker okay so uh that's it for today's show um but i i i have to say i'm surprised i actually think it's going to be less i think he's not going to get the assist i don't think he's getting him this year i think it's just feed ovi

and then you don't see him because how much how much ozone time on five on five is he going to get they're not going to let him go out there and look bad you think that makes him look bad i don't think it makes them look bad no no like like just go out there and not be able to throw up anything they're not going to let that happen No. Okay. We'll see what happens. So now, because we've done the OB thing, we've done everything else, it's time to bring on Aaron Portsline from The Athletic.

We've got to talk a little bit, Columbus, clean up some of the stuff that's happened since the Toronto Maple Leafs Columbus Blue Jackets trade. Get a little bit of a Columbus perspective. Welcoming on again, returning guest long time ago, it's been a long time since we've had him. Aaron Portsline, the Athletic, Columbus Blue Jackets beat reporter. and Aaron, you know, I want to jump right in with this. The Matthew Nye's trade, which is what you would call it. We'd call it the Krill Marcheco trade. Have you heard of this?

Yeah. Right. Just looking sure. Okay, good. How is that, how is that received before game one? I think that's really important. Before he comes out and scores three points into his debut, what was the feeling around the Blue Jackets team and the fans?

Well, I think they were actually partly relieved, but also excited. relieved because the Marchenko situation had been taken care of, the latest example of a player asking his way out of here, basically. So that was taken care of. But so often the Blue Jackets have had to make moves in the wake of those player requests from a position of weakness where it's just get the best you can get, And let's just get this, let's get out from underneath this. And I think the feeling with a lot of fans was that not only was the Matthew Nye's return

really good and a little surprising even, the fact that they also were able to move the contracts of Elvis Mersleekins and Miles Wood, Merzleekins is up this year, 5.4, but Wood has two more years after this year and was pretty clearly not in their plans even this year. So to be able to throw those both in. And then the other question was, who the hell is Emil Andre? And do we like this guy? Wait, and a second rounder? Really? So there was all of that. But I think people honestly were delighted by it. That's the majority of what I heard. You know, I wonder about about the market in the sense that so Toronto, Aaron, we've had a lot of players in many different sports. And this goes back to the first player that ever broke my heart, Sean Green, Toronto Blue Jay.

People that wanted out, Sean Green, Carlos Delgado eventually, Vince Carter, Chris Bosch, and, you know, and it goes on and on and on and on. So we've seen this before. This has happened a lot in Columbus. I wonder about, you know, this young group that they're starting to put together. And do you feel like, because again, it was your article here that said Columbus Blue Jackets, the team that parody forgot, legendary article. Do you think that that, do you sense a slight change in that? Are we headed finally in the direction that we need to head in?

Well, I'll reserve judgment on that because I think things are looking up here despite all of the noise that occurred this summer. like the thing that I think it's forgotten here is that the blue jackets did a it hasn't been as successful but they did a rebuild similar to what San Jose did what Anaheim did they did it four years ago and it's been much more of a slow climb than a sharp climb as it was with Anaheim last year in San Jose as well so you know four years in a row the the points have gotten higher the Placing the standing has gotten higher. So they've been competitive. They're starting to build towards something,

which is why I think the Marchenko thing was surprising. But even earlier in this summer, the Werencki stuff was absolutely disheartening for people here. Because then if, you know, if that guy's not happy here, that player, Zach Werenski, who's always been such a defender of the city, the organization, et cetera,

then geez, you start to doubt every player in that room. So I feel like Adam Fantilli signed for six years. Guys tell you that they're really guys from outside are really surprised by the city pleasantly. And the players who are familiar with it really find it to be a good spot. But I have to say this to, I don't know, literally I don't know anybody who has said that I need to leave Columbus because of the city. I don't like the city. even Panarin wanted to play for the New York Rangers and by all accounts loves New York but he didn't hate Columbus

Sergei Barbrovsky didn't hate the city of Columbus I really have never heard someone say I have to get out of this place now it's not for everybody I mean it should be if you're a young guy you've got Ohio State up the street literally like a mile and a half from nationwide arena

65,000 co-eds right if you're an older person there's so many, if you have a family, I should say, there are so many suburbs here that are picturesque, perfect, and incredibly close to Columbus. So it's not get ourselves.

It's the organization. It's the losing. Six playoffs in 25 years. That's why players don't want to be here or have run amok here. They want to go to a place where they can win. And there have been some other players who,

you know, Pierre-Luc Dubois jumps to mind that just, just basically played his way out of town because he wanted to be somewhere else. So there's a variety of reasons. But it feels like the room is in a much better place right now. They keep staying in there who, you know, if you don't want to be here, we don't want you here. Which leads me to believe that everybody's sort of on the same page. But I don't think we get a straight answer all the time from people when you ask questions like that either.

Don Waddell has been like a hotly contested figure on our podcast. for a long time for the way he's run, run teams. I assume you're not surprised to hear that. How do you feel he's handled Marchenko and Werensky and the Fantilli deal and just navigating his tenure in Columbus? Yeah, three very different, three very different processes there. I thought the Marchenko trade, frankly, was a stroke of brilliance and maybe his best move in Columbus. I'd have to look. maybe one of the best moves of his career, honestly, again, to be in a situation where you could really be in a bad way. You could have, you could have, a lot of GMs here would have said, just take the best offer you have from Montreal, and it would have been a bunch of futures and

prospects and picks. So I think he deserves a ton of credit for that. I feel not knowing exactly how the negotiations went, but I feel like once we had the, the Carlson offer sheet to 18, which which blew things up, and then the Bidar contract at 15, which kind of brought things back to reality a little bit, it just seems to me as though Fantilli at 13.75 could have been done earlier without him having to miss a week of training camp. Now, the complaint there was five years or six. Ultimately, it may not matter that he missed camp, but that's one that felt like you could have been done earlier. The Werencki thing is still partly a mystery to me,

and it feels like there was gross miscommunication there between Werenzky's agent and reporters in terms of where that stood, because I don't think Zach Werenzky had any intention of that becoming a public drama this summer, and it freaked him out a little bit when it did. So, listen, you know, the idea that all of that was a media creation is ridiculous because he was traded to the Dallas stars.

Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, it doesn't reach that point if it's just a bunch of people throwing, you know, stuff against the wall. But his best argument, and I think the reason he's been shown mercy here from the fans who are fed up with all of this guy's not wanting to be your stuff, is the fact that he did say no to a trade. locked a trade to the Dallas stars. The Dallas Stars are a Western Conference power. I don't need to tell you guys that.

There are no taxes and no income taxes in Texas. I don't need to tell you that either. So that's a great situation. And he said no to it to stay here in Columbus. So he's got it. He's got two years left on his contract. If they're out of it, the trade deadline,

it's going to pop back up again. If there, if he doesn't sign an extension next July 1st, it's going to pop back up again. It's now a thing. For sure it's a thing, but mostly it's been late to rest here for a bit, and it's calming somewhere underneath the surface and not a daily topic around Columbus right now. Leaf fans and Blue Jackets fans are somewhat kindred spirits, just because from the outside, the long-term forecast of your team is dictated by your American Olympian who has two years

left on his contract and trying to keep him happy. You know, you talk a little bit about it with Zach Werenski, but does getting Fantelli done, getting the Marchenko stuff done and adding a, you know, pretty nice piece in Nyes, does that bring us any closer to a world where Zach Wrenzki might be satisfied with the direction of this team long term? I think only the standings are going to, we're going to determine that. I think it helps. I think he likes Nyes a lot. I think he wants it to work here more than anything. But you look at his resume. He's got that Olympic gold there.

He's now as a Norris trophy. The big piece that's missing is playoff success, Stanley Cup, conference championships, that sort of stuff. When he arrived in Columbus, he made the playoffs the first four years. And I think that's how he thought it was going to be. It's now been six years since he's made the playoffs. He's been in the league 10 years already, guys.

And when you've been in the league 10 years, I think you start to think about, I think you can see the finish line easier than you can when you've been in the league for four years. And I think he's recognizing to himself and he wanted the team to recognize that his next contract is going to be probably his last big contract. And it's going to be done with a team. The commitment is going to be made toward a team that has shown that they can win. that they can challenge for cups and that they can do that, that they're going to push the pedal to the floor every year to win. And I think the nice trade is the pedal to the floor kind of move. I think there are other moves that could still be made.

But I think it's a step in the right direction, but I think ultimately the standings are going to reveal that. Okay. Now, do you have faith in what Don Waddell can do versus what happened on the Yarmokhekala line in years? because I've been very critical of that. I know they made the playoffs, but I felt like they were, they never, ever took a step forward.

There was that Tampa series, which was unbelievable. Obviously, you embarrass the Leafs, but embarrassing the Leafs, that's par for the Leafs. Everybody embarrasses the Leafs, Erin. I mean, let's talk about, like, is Don Waddell a legitimate upgrade?

Is there more vision? Is there more directness here? Yeah, well, I think they're, you know, let me say this too, because this is a very difficult topic. and it is I think it is forgotten that

it's such a hard thing to even express because the Johnny Godreau tragedy is a human tragedy before it is the hockey tragedy it is a human tragedy it is only a human tragedy who are we kidding

hockey is is nothing in that he still has an indelible mark on this team locker's still there let's not kid ourselves that this team could use a 100 point

left winger, right? I mean, that's just reality. And so that has set them back emotionally, psychologically, absolutely, and also just pure talent-wise on the roster. And it sounds almost crass. I hope I'm presenting

it in a empathetic way I intend to. But that is, you know, what would this team look like with Johnny Godro? on it right now. I mean, that's a huge thing. So it sent everything here reeling a bit, frankly. And yeah, so the challenge before what else has been to build this thing back up. Their last three first-round draft picks are all college players who are still in college.

So they've got nothing from that. And typically those guys don't take long to get to the NHL. The other thing that has affected them, and this predates Waddell as well, but they have not had a mid-round guy pop. And if you think of the players that helped elevate the blue jackets, even in that 2019 series that you mentioned, Cam Ackinson, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Josh Anderson, those are all mid, three, four, five round picks that have popped, and they've gotten nothing out of that aspect of the draft.

So the challenge before Don Weddell has been, you know, it's been significant. Having said that the coverage were not left bare here. Fantilli, Sillinger, Matechuk. You could go on. I would have said Marchenko, but he's with you now. So, yeah. But I think the challenge is, I don't think it's just a GM challenge here. I think it's an ownership challenge here too.

to not just be happy that Columbus has an NHL franchise, but to push and push and push. And look how this league is run now. Look how individual teams are the most competitive teams in this league are run now. It is pedal to the floor. It is creating different ways to build your roster at a new level of depth and power than has been done before. And I think that's what Waddell and his staff are looking at now.

I think that's what Wrenski wants. Frankly, I think that's what Fantilly. I think that's what all the young guys in the room would like to see is this team really, really, really, really push. And I'll say this too real quick. Some of it's on the players in the room. It is. Like the standard has to be elevated.

You heard Rick Bonas's great ranch just on the other side of this room at the end of last season. It's on those guys to deliver. There's a ton of first round picks in that room. down there that have been good but not great. And this is a very, very important year for those guys development. Rick Bonas really carved the team at the end of the season. Yeah.

And he sort of did it again in training camp. They're not all that far removed from hiring Mike Babcock, even though they didn't end up going through it, I guess in the end. There seems to be a real desire to have a hard ass in the room in Columbus. Were they making a point by bringing back Rick Bonas at his big age that the players don't run this thing? So I think Bonus is a different kind of hard ass than certainly Babcock. I think he is a – I think he has hard-ass ability for sure. and that post-game tirade, if you will,

Rant did not land well with a lot of guys, but I think he was okay with that. I think he was okay with him going into the summer pissed off. They do have to give more here. What's interesting to me, and I've been thinking about this a lot, because this team has only ever had success with veteran coaches, veteran veteran coaches.

Dave King, you go back to the first year, they way overperformed under a veteran coach. Ken Hitchcock, right? John Tortorella. Now bonus. Those guys, and maybe that speaks to weaknesses above them or weaknesses below them. But John Tortorella, for all intents and purposes, was the captain of this team. And in addition to being coach, he was in the room all the time.

He was always riding the crop, if you will. and I think Bones is trying to go about that in a different way but he is he he he canceled plans for something was going to be enjoyable for the players tomorrow and they've canceled that because he didn't like the way they played Saturday at all so they're going to practice hard today they practiced hard tomorrow I think they're off on Wednesday but then back at it but he does push but I think he does it in a way that

most of the players really really respond to and really appreciate him as a coach. So I guess we'll see how long that lasts. But for now, I do feel like he's in good standing with the crew. I know we've taken up a lot of your time. So I just wanted to get in this one question here before we let you go. Mike Babcock and his tenure there. What was the brief interactions with him like?

Were you surprised he got another job? And then December 27th, I believe Edmonton comes. to town in Columbus? Yeah. Is that a date marked on the calendar for the reporters there to ask him some questions about his tenure here in Columbus? Yeah, well, I had, we had, you know, press conferences with him and availability with him leading up to training camp.

I had a one-on-one with him that took on, it was very strange and very clear that he was, almost more interested in exerting his, what he felt was his authority than just having a conversation with the local reporter. No. Well, it was just like it was scheduled for a certain time and maybe 20 minutes before it was supposed to, we were supposed to start. He's calling and barking about where am I and am I going to, am I going to get here? I wasn't late.

I was early, but it was just clear throughout the whole thing that he was trying to exert that he was in charge of the interview. I'm like, it doesn't have to work this way. we can just have a conversation. No, it can't, actually. Yeah, not with him. Ultimately. He seems a little bit different now, frankly.

I don't know if that's the case. But I think, yeah, I think there will be people here that have marked that date. I think management here, or former management, I should say, were pissed off because he kind of threw them under the bus. when he took the Edmonton job. What happened in Columbus, he was asked, and basically made it sound as if the people around him did not have his back, the people who actually hired him

and cashed him out with quite a bit of money in his settlement, though he never coached a game here. So I think that rubbed them the wrong way, but most of those people have moved on now. But for sure, it will be a topic, and people here will ask fair, but from his perspective probably difficult questions or other he chooses to answer them or not.

We'll see. Two observations. Another awkward Mike Babcock thing involving phones. Right. And the other, you had a private moment with him that was ugly. Yeah. But it seems different in Edmonton. And I think that's because you're consuming what he presents publicly.

which is always pleasant, right? He presents pleasantly, publicly, in private, I'm still waiting on the first good interaction that I've ever heard of. Interesting. It's just, I can't help but observe that this MO is something he follows religiously. Yeah. Yeah, it was just weird to me because it was not a, it was not, it was not a threatening interview.

It was not a challenging interview. was like, what are your ideas about the defensive pair? So, you know, what is, I mean, all of it. And, you know, but it was, I yeah, I mean, it's, yeah, I mean, it was, uh, it was one of the most bizarre interactions I've, I've, I've had and I've, you know, I'm old. I've seen, I've had opportunities to have bizarre interactions before, but it was right up there.

Wow. What's this, what's this guy's deal anyway? What's this? Aaron Ports. Aaron Portsline asking questions about the defense. How dare he? Trust anyone with a Zed in their name. Yeah, exactly.

There you go. That's probably it. Aaron, we appreciate your time today. You've been phenomenal, as you always are. And I'm sorry that it has been a few years. But, you know, the Leafs and Blue Jackets haven't done anything for a while. Very last, very, very last quick link. Miles Wood, NHL player or not, what do you think?

Are we, should we expect to see him in a Leafs uniform this year? You know what? They were looking for him to be a real, Ford checker on the fourth line and it just wasn't there. Ryan Lomburg is not here if Miles would played as they hoped he would. It gets hurt a lot, leaves himself in her vulnerable position a lot. I'm not sure if that's just tread off the tires or what.

Good guy. It's there. I mean, he certainly has the frame and the guy. He can still fly. But you just wonder if he's still up for that style of game at that age, taking the hits and the injuries that he's had. I'm stealing the phrase, tread off the tires.

Yeah, that's a great one. Good one. There you go. Airport sign, you can see his work in the athletic, and obviously if you're Blue Jackets fan, you know him and read him religiously. Aaron, thank you for your time today. We really appreciate you.

Awesome. Thanks, guys. Thanks for having me. The Steve Dangle Podcast. Follow the guys on Twitter at Steve underscore Dangel at Adam W-L-D-E. And at Jesse Blake. Where some see heroes and others see egos. Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. While others follow the noise, we follow the money.

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