The Steve Dangle Podcast - So Pucking Close | July 12, 2020

Episode Date: July 12, 2020

On this episode of The Steve Dangle Podcast, Chris Johnston is back!!! and we begin by talking about Dubas' press conference (00:00), we have 6 more years of labour peace, we talk about the RTP plan, and details of the hub cities (03:00), what happens when there are positive cases (24:30), let's talk about Leafs roster news: Petan, Bracco, & Robertson (50:00), how will Freddy fair in the playoffs? (1:12:00), our favourite first-round match-ups (1:18:00), and the Coyotes, free agency, and Vancouver's cap troubles (1:26:00). Originally aired: July 12, 2020 Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/hVBJqkknL1c Merch: https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/fancydangleshirts Follow us on Twitter: @Steve_Dangle, @AdamWylde, & @JesseBlake Follow us on Instagram: @SteveDangle, @AdamWylde, & @Jesse.Blake Subscribe to us on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/steve-dangle-podcast/id669828195?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Panago Pizza presents S-S-D-P-P, the Steve Dangle Podcast, with your hosts, Steve Dangle, Adam Wilde, and Jesse Blake. Let's go! Okay, guys, we're back. Chris Johnston is back, and Harky is back. Come on. Let's get excited. Let's get ready. Now, Chris, you just got off the phone with Kyle Dubas. I guess you and him just have conversations directly all the time. Actually, it was a press conference in this particular case,

but we actually delayed the recording of the show just so we could hear what Kyle Dubas had to say. And I think that, obviously, there's a couple things in there that you mentioned that we're probably going to hit a little bit later on in the show, but kind of the Cole's notes are a lot of people kind of raised their hand and I guess raised an eyebrow when Nick Patan was let off, uh left off the uh training camp roster it looks like he's back on in place of

Matt Hollowell uh what else did you find out from Kyle Dubas because it was nothing crazy was it I wouldn't say anything crazy but there's some news it's been a while since we've spoken with him uh you know Austin Matthews is fit and healthy and been skating in Toronto he's going to be there Monday for the first day of training camp uh Nick Robertson also will be there and it certainly sounds as though he's going to get a fair shot to play games in this playoffs that just because he's young he's 18 just because he has an entry-level

contract that potentially the first year could be burned if you were to play 10 games I don't think those things will get in his way of you know potentially playing for the Leafs this summer assuming that he earns his way onto the team and and you know Kyle kind of pointed out that you know as camp goes on they're going to have some scrimmages and that that's the kind of area where they'll look to see what you know how Robertson stacks up against men basically because if you remember guys he didn't even skate in an exhibition game back in in September when when he went to camp and so it's uh you know he's had a pretty spectacular year in the OHL since I would suggest with Andreas Jansson's injury um you know that there's potentially some room there on the left

side for him to play if he does perform well in camp so that will be something we'll be watching closely and and as for Jansson he's still rehabbing after that knee surgery he had in February he's actually back home in Sweden right now but the Leafs feel if they advance past the best of five with Columbus advanced past the first round that that you know somewhere around the start of the second round he could be eligible to to rejoin them if they get that far a couple of big ifs there now we will we will get in that a little bit later in the show because obviously we do want to talk Toronto Maple Leafs and that sort of thing but I think we got to start with the start of the negotiations for this so we you know like jumping right in here we've got 52 games in nine

days to start off the season as of august 1st which is unbelievable um and i guess you know from the beginning here we figured uh there would be a deal in place for the players to play this year and we knew that there was some sort of labor labor talk coming either this year or three years from now had they decided to extend it based on the previous deal but you know all of a sudden they come out with a deal that's six years of labor piece they do a full extension uh and it includes the nhl is going to uh the olympics which everybody wanted as well and and it's it's uh maybe the owners didn't want it but the players wanted it um how did that conversation start when did they say let's not just worry about this season let's get the next six sorted out well there's

two things here i think that the fact that the nhl and the nhlpa met right through last summer being summer 2019 was huge here because you know i i think it's not so much that they had any deal done per se but they'd had extensive talks about what an extension might look like I think that those talks went very well you know as we know in the past these two sides don't always have a good history of being able to work through issues together it's it's you know much more often than not been you versus me you're wrong we're right this this that yeah everyone misses six months of hockey or more and then we finally do a deal under duress you know I think the fact that last summer went well really set a good tone for these talks and then really the key moment is

that in the final week or so before the season went on pause the PA and the league were on the phone with each other 24-7 I think that they recognized a few days out where this was likely headed in terms of the season having to be stopped in terms of massive uncertainty in terms of a huge blow to the to the league's business as with you know most other major companies both here and around the world, you know, due to this pandemic. And instead of adopting that, I'm right, you're wrong, trying to fight over the $1 between them, you know, I think that they focused on ways that they could best navigate these challenging times together. Instead of going against each other, they went and tried to find a way around the pandemic. And so, you know, I got the sense that

this was far more of a shared journey than even a negotiation. You know, it's not to say at the end that there are some back and forth on some of the smaller items that are included in this deal. But this was a very peaceful process. It was not an easy process because let's face it, what's underpinning this agreement and what's under underpinned really the talks is there's, there's no revenue. You know, this, this league was going to make 4.8 to $5 billion in the 2019-20 season had everything just went the way we're used to it going. Well,

no one knows a whether they'll even be able to play this playoffs. It's looking more hopeful. I'm trying to be optimistic. and what that'll mean. And then next year, you know, how many people are going to be able to buy tickets and come into games? You know, I think that's still a very open question. What happens a year after that? I mean, we're still, this is going to be a couple of years. I think we're all pretty clear that this isn't going to be normal or what we

used to think of as normal at the start of the 2019-20 season. And so basically they're, they made a deal about how can we split less money than what we're used to amongst each other most fairly. And I think they've come up with a really creative solution under the circumstances uh i'm totally been in the bag for international hockey love best on best competition and so i'm very pleased that we're going to see this next generation of stars get a chance to represent their countries in that kind of environment in the 2022 olympics and you know i

kind of wonder is this just the moment in time or is this maybe the start of what could be a peaceful next 20 years i mean that's that's what happened in baseball they lost the 1995 sorry 1994 world series uh to a strike and really until right now they're finally having a fight when it comes to labor talks but they've had about 25 26 years in that sport of of labor peace i mean perhaps this is the start of much better days days unlike those that we've known you know any of us have been following the last decade or two i'm loving the optimism cj i'm loving feeling good right now man are you i'm kind of gushing yeah yeah wow i love it do you do you have a feeling of uh because I know as a fan a lot of people are like oh this is awesome I'm just going to sit on my

couch for nine straight days but covering the first round of the playoffs is it's a war usually it's it's it's it's complete calamity and the precursor to that is going to be 52 games in nine days how are you feeling about covering all that nonsense well I'm excited to get off my couch you know I'm excited to get out of my house and and you know I love where I live but I live in a condo downtown toronto and and you know i certainly can't complain i still have a good life even in pandemic times than before but i'm used to traveling and moving in general and so for four months to to be inside my 900 square feet working on the phone obviously you know my partner is doing the same it's it's it's been different it's been a huge change in our lives i think probably

like most people listening so i'm excited by the idea even if it's going to be weird and different and no fans and i'll be wearing a mask and getting my temperature checked that i'm gonna you know even as of tomorrow morning go back to the least practice rink and watch their first day of the summer training camp. And then, you know, as we get into the games, I mean, obviously that's just going to be a sugar high. I think for the first few days of watching all that, it'll be long, especially if we get some overtime and, you know, have one of these eight o'clock local starts,

maybe not start till nine or nine 30. I don't know exactly how they're going to handle that, but you know, I don't really care whatever happens next. I'm not complaining. And if what happens next is that everyone stays healthy and safe, that they're able to play these games, I'm going to be happy no matter what it demands of me and my attention span. Have they announced the rules for media members in the bubble? Like how many of you guys will be in there?

It's going to be a limited number. You know, the league hasn't told us specifically what that number is. I probably got ahead of myself here a little too, Jesse, because we haven't even actually officially done the accreditation process. I guess there's probably a world where I don't get an accreditation. I don't know how that'll work exactly. But what we do know is that as a media member, when it comes to the game phase,

you're not in the bubble with the players. You know, you don't have to stay at a hotel. You're not subject to daily testing the way they are. And then the flip side of that is you never get anywhere near them. And so when you come to the game, if you do get accredited, you go to a very specific entrance.

You do have a temperature check there. You have to report any symptoms. Assuming you're deemed to be healthy, you get in the building, you go watch from a very designated area, and then you leave. And any sort of media availability is done on Zoom or one of the other platforms, and you never get anywhere close to someone that's living the daily life in the bubble.

So it'll be – I just think it'll be most weird, honestly, probably for fans on TV the same, just to be in an arena for a game that matters and have no atmosphere. I'm very curious to see will they actually pipe the music into the building, like will we hear it, those of us in there? How is that going to feel? Are we going to be able to hear what the players are saying on the ice? I mean, I think even if you're in the upper bowl,

which it sounds like media members probably will be, you know, you probably will still be able to hear it's going to be an empty building for the most part. So it's going to be wild, but I mean, there were so many days during this and I do pride myself on being optimistic where I thought we'd never even get here. And now it does feel as though like this is something that's actually going to happen. I'm very fortunate. It's going to happen, you know, a kilometer and a half from my front door. And so, you know,

I just have to walk to a Scotiabank arena, hopefully, and hopefully they let me in and we get to watch and see what happens. So, you know, you talked about how the NHL and, and, uh, and the NHL PA found a compromise. Uh, and I know, I know CBA talk isn't everybody's favorite thing, but we do need to kind of cover this, uh, because I, I want, I'm curious about this deal as in like, what's different about it. What really changed? Did anything really major change?

the biggest change and i'll try to use not too many annoying terms that make your eyes glaze over your ears i appreciate that have everyone who's listening to look at their phones and try to see what's going on on twitter or whatever but um essentially in the past the since 2013 that the league and players have split the money 50 50 in terms of what was brought in for a year and the way this is going to work now is next season the league isn't anticipating that very many revenues are going to be brought in so if they had to continue to split that 50 50 and you were someone like say austin matthews who was due to make 15 million you know you're you would have most of that money taken away because 50 of the players overall pot wasn't going to be enough to

cover that and so what this has done essentially in very general terms is next year the players are going to receive more than 50 of the overall revenues because the owners want to more closely honor those contracts, which obviously is beneficial to those players, especially that the stars of our game, whether it's Connor McDavid, Marner, Matthews, you know, all these guys have massive deals. Leon Dreisaitl are owed a lot of money next year. So they're going to get to keep more of their money. And then over the course of the agreement, as the business comes back and it looks more normal, the owners will get paid back through a variety of mechanisms. And so essentially, I think the owners are kind of fronting them a little bit of money at the start,

and then the players are going to give some back over time. And then, you know, within the CBA agreement obviously there's there's some small rule tweaks and and changes to some of the smaller rules but i would say that that is fundamentally where the compromise was is that they had to find a system where we didn't just say okay it's the end of the year you know here's we we made 4.8 billion you know players you get 2.4 billion owners you get 2.4 they've had to come up with some other ways to make the money work because honestly players were going to have to play for almost free next year likely where revenues are going to go if this is going to happen and so obviously that wasn't going to work I mean it's hard enough you know and we can get into this I'm

sure more but you know players are that are playing even in this summer's playoffs and as much as we're excited about it we shouldn't look past there's a real human cost to this I mean these guys are being asking up a lot of personal freedoms obviously we know some players aren't totally for a variety of reasons comfortable with it and some are opting out but you know we shouldn't look past how difficult this will probably be especially for those whose teams go on a long playoff run and have to spend a considerable amount of time living with not a lot of freedoms, not even the ability really to go walk around a corner with a coffee

or just do the stuff that even in lockdown times we all are able to do at this point. I think in exchange for doing that, the players had to know that the next couple of years that they would be looked after too. And so they found a way to do that with the deal. By everyone's own admission, Don Feer said this to reporters on Saturday,

it's not perfect. There's parts of the agreement you might look at and say, that doesn't really make sense but i think everything makes sense under the under the whole fact that this was signed in 2020 and as we know in 2020 very little does make sense so you you touched on some of the issues obviously i i think only like half a dozen players have opted opted out uh but even though 79 percent of players voted to approve the return to play is that right that's right that's about what was it like 175 still voted against it do you know what their objections were some of them well i from what i've heard secondhand there is a

number i mean some just didn't like the cva and so it's not even connected to return to play but they might not they might have felt that the players could maybe push for more um you know at this particular time because they do have some um you know they'd have some leverage i i do think that there are other teams out there though where players are going to come but for a variety of reasons they would prefer not to be playing under these circumstances and you know obviously every player did get the right at least through Monday night to opt out without any penalty they don't have to provide a reason they don't have to explain to anybody they just have to tell the team the PA and league that they're not coming but you know I think it's hard for some to do that who might

still not you know that it not be their preference and so you know I've heard of some some older players that voted against this you know guys with families who think it's going to be difficult I mean basically it's going to be six weeks give or take in the bubble for any team that plays through the second round without seeing your family and you know there's there's there's guys out there like you Steve I don't know if we can talk about this who might have newborns or you know that that are dealing with that and don't want to leave that all to their partner or you know what have you or put that burden on their family extended family what have you and so you I think a lot of the opposition came from those type of people I know some specific teams didn't

have you know weren't that fond of it Montreal for example which was the 24th of 24 teams included in this I do think that there's some members of the team that aren't entirely enamored with the idea they're being brought back to play this I mean remember this was a year where the Habs traded players away at the deadline as part of a looking ahead rebuild retool on the fly kind of approach And, you know, they get a pretty tough matchup in the qualifying round against Pittsburgh. But, you know, those players are still going to play, I guess. So, you know, there's all kinds of reasons for it.

I do think that there's more players that probably aren't thrilled with playing that are still going to go ahead with it just because, you know, that's what people do at work. Everyone's got to pull their load. But they did have an ability to try to vote against it. And so, you know, I think we'll still see a few more opt-outs before monday's deadline but it's not going to be evidently it's not going to be a great number unless there's a huge rush at the last minute right right um so with the whole hub city concept

like what do you know about i mean i mean you kind of gave us a little bit of a a glimpse into what your life's going to be like but my thing has always been like they're going to be stuck in these two hotels at least in toronto and i guess edmonton's somewhat the same in a lockdown campus like atmosphere sort of like you'd being at university only you can't leave and you know what's their what's a player's day-to-day gonna look like if they're at hotel x in toronto uh like what what can what can they do how do they eat what where do they go what you know where do they work out what's what's available to them eating is probably the easiest part funny you mentioned that because they have a lot of options on this front which i mean i think look the league

is doing everything it can while trying to execute this safely to to make sure the players are comfortable or feeling as good as they can about this well recognizing that's probably impossible but for eating teams are going to each have a conference room area where they do team meetings which which would happen normally on the road as well and there'll be catered meals in there at certain times if that doesn't suit your fancy you can order anything you want from room service within the hotel that that's just you know at any point in time you're in your room you want something it's on the menu it's yours if that isn't good enough my understanding is there's going to be some food trucks and other things brought in probably on the cne grounds in toronto

um you know where it's just where hotel x is and so there'll be some extra options outside for that and if that isn't even good enough there's one more and you can order from local restaurants it won't be i don't suspect like an uber eats kind of vibe for the rest of us but it gets delivered to a specific area of the secure zone as it's called the bubble all the food and packaging will be wiped down or the packaging will be wiped down and then it will be passed on to the player but you know the players i mean you could put on the freshman 15 here if it was me or you going in there but i'm sure these guys are probably going to be a little more mindful of that but but eating is not going to be an issue everything else is going to be more

complicated though i mean even down to the fact the hotel x in toronto which is is the the best hotel the primary hotel that's being used in the toronto hub you know it's got a great workout facility and everything but everything has to be scheduled because not only do you have players you know staying there from five teams the top five teams in eastern conference by points percentage you also have staff members and potentially some nhl staff and they don't want those people in the workout room at the same time and so everything like that has to be scheduled for example uh you know there's a whole protocol about how you use the elevator uh fingers aren't allowed you're supposed to use a knuckle or your arm your elbow what have you to hit elevator buttons there i mean

the list goes on and on we're talking about 100 pages almost of legalese you know a lot of it's to do a testing protocol and some other things that aren't just about how you live your life but you know in reading that when it came out a week or so ago guys that's that's where it hit me like yes these guys are obviously very fortunate to do what they do in their life it's cool to get a chance to play for the stanley cup but this this is not anything like you or i have ever lived under i mean it's it's i don't want to give us too much of a headline but it's like five-star jail kind of i mean to be truthful i mean there's the name of the show right there oh my god you can't you can't just leave is the point i mean the only the only accepted reasons

to leave is if you have some sort of medical issue or appointment with a doctor that's that's outside the zone uh there will be some team outings on days off for example maybe going golfing or something like that so the teams will leave the bubble then the secure zone obviously they leave when they go play games or practice because the leafs are using their practice rink at Etobicoke and the game rink at Scotiabank for games and beyond that there is a special exemption for anyone who has you know a birth in the family death in the family some extenuating circumstances where they can leave you know for a couple days if their GM gives them permission to and then when they come back they have to isolate for a period of at least four days and produce

some negative tests but the point is is that even if you're the Maple Leafs and you're and their secure zone is at the Royal York downtown and even if your family lives 15 minutes north of there i mean you can't go up and see them uh i don't know if there's going to be a fence maybe you can view them through the fence i don't know if that's allowed it wasn't accounted for in the rules but i mean it's going to be a very weird experience and i think that that it will be difficult i think that the teams that find a way to embrace the the suck the embrace the you know how bad how it's going to be a drag some days i think there's just no way around that are probably the ones that are going to have the best chance of success because the playoffs are always a mental

battle as much as a physical one and i think the mental strain here will be huge even on the teams in their own cities i think you could even make a case if it could be worse almost if you're in your own city but you can't do the stuff you normally do in that city and you feel more locked in um and so this is no one knows what's going to happen i mean we can't say what's going to happen on the ice off the ice matthew steider works for hlpa said this is like going to mars nobody's ever been there like we don't know what this is and i i thought that was the best analogy i've heard because it's going to be fascinating on all kinds of levels. And as I say, my main hope here is that everyone gets through it safely

and we just get to enjoy some good hockey. Toronto and Edmonton have been called worse things. Yeah, absolutely. There were some headlines made with – so the Blue Jays are at the Rogers Center. And I saw Nazem Kadri respond to this. I want to say a couple other NHL players did too. if players are caught outside of that building they could be fined i think it was three quarters of a million dollars and face potential jail time that's a government thing though right

that's of course right but does that have does that have any application to the nhl players at all it does because essentially that's a federal government rule about breaking quarantine right obviously that's at the extreme end i'm not i mean i i'm certainly not qualified to say even and how likely it is that would happen. But that is the absolute potential fines. I think when it comes from the NHL, though, you know, part of what can happen is you're just kicked out of the tournament right away. You know, you essentially lose your job.

You let your team down. You know, that wouldn't be nice either. And on top of that, the teams are responsible for their players. So the teams can be fined several hundred thousand dollars as well and dock draft picks if this happens. So I think we can call this safely about the worst thing you could do. you know if anyone gets photographed during this period while they're still in competition at a bar or even at a coffee shop even if they're not doing it wrong you're doing something wrong

if you've left a secure zone not for one of the reasons i mentioned previously if you've just done so on your own and you know that's why i kind of called it five star prison is because you're made to stay there you know that's just that's how this is designed that's the only way they can can best keep everyone insulated from those on the outside and i think that's the part that'll be hard you know it's it's that's why what they do will be important we haven't seen like in the NBA I know they're going to show movies that haven't been released yet they're going to have concerts in their bubble they're going to they have all kinds of things planned to try to to give players something to do because the truth is outside of when you're playing there's a lot of

time you know I think it's something NHL players battle in general it's probably why so many of them are playing video games with with you Dangle because they have the time to do it right and so it's one thing to do that in the comfort of your own home it's another thing to do that when you can't leave the hotel x even as nice as it is and so um you know i think the league is going to do whatever it can to keep everyone happy but this this this will probably be a difficult mental challenge as i say for for some players that have never done anything like this before so tomorrow training camps begin does that mean every player is going to be uh flown into their team's home city for training camps or how does that yeah everyone is in their home market and so we've

got 18 teams in the U.S. and at this point it's going to be called phase three of the NHL protocol everyone can still go home at that point and you're still allowed to go to the grocery store or a restaurant or a bar or what have you anywhere obviously that it's allowed in the area that you're in and so this is actually the most concerning period I believe yeah from a spread of the COVID-19 virus among the NHL population kind of thing because you know what the league needs to do to not have these next two weeks make all the wrong headlines is is try to avoid an outbreak they know there's going to be positive tests but it's about if if it oh there you're back yeah sorry you died mid-sentence there just to pick it up chris you do expect that i mean the

nhl expects there's going to be positive cases because every time we've seen a positive case people are like well throw the season the garbage's over so we should expect to see positive cases especially the way things are going in the states um how does the nhl handle that so that they don't actually have to throw the season in the garbage and that they can move into stage four of this, which is actually playing. There's going to be a lot of positive cases. You know, I hate to be the one to say that, but I don't see any other way around it. You had 47% of the league that's returning players in the league haven't been

tested regularly yet by their teams. And that's going to happen now starting at training camp. And so, you know, obviously a number of people testing anywhere in the world, not just in, you know, professional athletes are asymptomatic. And so there's going to be players that have this and don't even realize and they're soon about to realize because they'll be tested. And so the key for the NHL during this phase where everyone is back in their home cities where they can mingle is that anyone who gets a positive test is immediately isolated from the team, that they follow the protocol laid out, which involves having to produce multiple negative tests before you can come back and skate or work out or be around that team and to make sure that there's no outbreak. That's the key here to seeing this season finish is preventing a scenario where 15 guys on one team all get this. I'm not saying that would cancel the whole playoffs because we've already seen the MLS and that some return to rule out two teams that had a high number of positive tests among their players, Dallas and Nashville. And I tried asking Gary Bettman about this on Saturday with the league, with the NHL, consider that if one team had to be ruled out and he didn't answer the question.

So I don't have that answer, but I can't say 100% that they won't. But, you know, clearly the biggest fear here is not so much positive tests. I mean, obviously we'd all prefer that everyone was healthy and no one had this, but, I mean, it's just not realistic of where we're at right now. And so with a lot of players now being tested, I think it's about following the protocols, keeping distance from each other, and then obviously any positives are immediately removed, you know, from the environment around their teammates.

baby i it's it's funny to me it's really funny to me that they didn't just bring everybody to the hub cities now yeah because especially if you look at like the the lightning right what we've seen in tampa uh what we've seen in the in the florida area like it's it's um um relative to their population it's 250 000 people that have it but you know overnight they had 15 000 new cases right um or that's 15 000 new positive tests those are just people that have been tested and so it's kind of and you know and obviously we saw what happened with austin and arizona um you know a lot of these southern states texas are really struggling with this um and because they have governments that for whatever reason political will will not shut them down won't go

through the the protocol so what happens when you know when these these teams from you know because I believe the coyotes are going to be in, uh, they, you know, are they, do you know of any particular special, um, above and beyond measures that those specific teams might be taking, um, to say, okay, guys, like we got to make sure that we're able to make it into this tournament. We're locking you down, even, even though you're at home. Well, I think Tampa has taken some measures. For example, there's, there's a couple of hotels right around, you know, their game

rink in in downtown tampa there happens to be owned by jeff finnick who runs the lightning and you know some players that don't have permanent residences they're kind of being able to create a little bit of a mini bubble in that environment i think all players though honestly not just the ones in in the hot spot areas are being sort of warned or told during this period to exercise extreme caution i mean teams are even obligated to go get your groceries or do errands for you during this phase if you want and and it's not because they just because they want to make your life easier they want to limit the times that you have to be somewhere where you could you know risk exposure to the coronavirus so you know i think that there's a

huge load right now being placed on players shoulders because they're not in that bubble environment they're not uh you know being segregated away so to speak but you know you don't want to be the one that brings us into the dressing room you know a week or two before the playoffs start and so you know there's a lot being asked these guys my guess is the vast vast majority of players returning right now are basically going to the arena going to their house and that's about it and getting getting errands or what have you done either by family members or or the service that the teams are offering and and so it's it's a bit of a self-imposed bubble in your own life now for most players but you know i think everyone understands the

importance of this because it literally could be one outbreak that threatens the whole thing 100 um so you you have an article up at sportsnet.ca about a doomsday scenario know like what happens if there is um bill daly had a statement i believe in the article chris about uh and forgive me if i'm wrong or if i'm misquoting this but uh the fact is we're going to be taking advice from the experts the medical people in terms of what is and isn't appropriate as we move forward and understanding covet 19 out there and what the risks are uh nothing more than that obviously we're living day to day here and we'll see what happens you get the sense that the nhl has a plan at all for something like that or is it sort of like we it's tough to react to

something they've never seen before they've got a plan they're just not telling anybody what it is and and you know that includes the general managers you know the gms of the league had a call saturday morning with the league head office an information session and this was discussed again in this sort of general terms you read there from my story but was not laid out that you know it's 32 tests is critical mass. I mean, I think really what was conveyed to the GMs as it was conveyed to me was that it's if the doctors feel that they've lost control of it. If, you know, it isn't just, you know, player A and B on a team, you know, produce positive tests, they were kept aside, everyone else is fine. It would be if the spread, you know, went right through a team or

through multiple teams, you know, that might be the scenario where they shut it down. But, you know the league obviously knows this is a possibility uh it would be a huge cost to them financially this is not a cheap undertaking you know i think they're going to administer something in the area of 2 000 tests a day believe the tests are about 125 dollars a piece um you know the league's brought in some some commercial companies to do that they're not they're not using anything within the communities of toronto or edmonton the sort of the public supply of these things but i mean you have that plus the costs of the hotels the bubbles all those food options i mention. I mean, there's, there's a cost attached to this. And so obviously there's, there's from a

business standpoint, there's a huge desire to see this through properly. So I'm sure they have a plan, but they don't want to come out and say what it is because it might change too. I mean, I don't know that it's necessarily to be secretive, but there's probably no upside for them to be that honest with us all right now. So you're talking that they're spending probably a million plus a day. I mean, that's the number you just quoted me there on the test is 200 grand. And then there's all the hotels and all the meals and everything else on top of it it's i mean is that a is that a league expense is that a team expense is it both like how does that how does that work it would be a league expense i mean keep in mind if they get the the playoffs in here you know

they're due to get a couple hundred million dollars i don't know exactly for between four and five hundred million between what's left on their tv deals uh and so you know it would be counted against that but i mean there's still revenue to be made they're still gonna they're still going to make money if this happens it's just you know the the worst thing that could happen for all kinds of reasons of course is to start up and then have to shut it down permanently and and and sort of live out that doomsday scenario and so you know i i think that there's i sense there's a high level of confidence that if they can get to the bubble scenario they get to the point where the games are starting and everyone's settled in hub cities that they can

contain this and that you know the threat of that is not that large um because you know even you know housekeepers or someone working at the lobby bar or the front desk of these hotels i mean they're tested every day too it's not just uh the players on the team or the equipment managers and what have you i mean it's there's a a huge testing protocol here to ensure that everyone uh is is you know the minute that essentially that pretty quickly they'll be found to have the symptoms if they have them or be uh produce a positive test um so you know the worst thing that can happen is starting up and shutting down um and so you know i do think that if they can get through these next two weeks this they'll they'll be in a good spot uh but that's not a guarantee i'm hopeful

i'm optimistic as i told you i'm excited uh but it's we none of us should get too comfortable before july 26 when the teams are due to travel yeah it seems like the next two weeks are the most contentious part because it's hundreds of athletes flying across north america just all around trying to get to certain points and then living their lives within their new areas and then getting to these hub cities and hundreds of athletes that haven't been tested being tested now and and you know there will be positive results in there i don't know how many what's the public reaction going to be if it's a huge number and again i i'm probably not the one to tell you what the huge number is but i mean there's just it's a fine line to walk and then

obviously you know what's changing with training camp starting monday is that you're having all these players on the ice together i mean some teams are going to have 30 35 guys out skating together i'm sure they'll spread them around dressing rooms so they're maybe not all in the same dressing room at the same time but you're just having more people in close proximity to each other than they have been even during this this previous stage where they've been doing voluntary workouts at the team facilities and so yes there's all these protocols put in place but you know someone might forget someone might not put on their mask you know they're just this is this is a whole new world for everybody and so this this is this is the kind of the the

make or break i think now i mean obviously the first make or break was getting the deal in place and getting the players to agree to it. But now they have to not screw it up. And, you know, I don't say that lightly. I see what's going on in the MLS, in particular the soccer. You know, I think they canceled three or four of the ten games that they – Postponed a game this morning, too. I woke up at 9 just to watch TFC, and they postponed it five minutes before.

There you go. And so, you know, this could happen. Nothing exists in a bubble, even though we're talking a lot about bubbles right now. It's not as though it's because the MLS is doing it wrong. In fact, what was interesting is all the sports leagues actually agreed to their protocols sort of in concert with each other, obviously leaning on the advice from the Center for Disease Controls. But the MLS protocol doesn't look that different than the NHL ones will. And so the point is, if it can happen to them, it can happen in other leagues. And I don't even think that anyone's saying anything wrong.

It's just this is a highly communicable virus. It spreads easily. That's why it's basically shut down huge parts of the world and all of North America for the last four months. And so this is difficult. You know, Gary Bettman termed it, you know, we're not even at the end. We're just at the end of the beginning. Right, right.

Well, it'll be interesting to watch. It was apparently one player on D.C. United that tested positive, and then there was a TFC player that came back inconclusive. So they erred on the side of caution, which I think is the right thing to do. They postponed the game. It's not canceled. Like, we'll see what happens. and they're getting tested like crazy too.

However, they chose to play in Florida, which you're asking for trouble down there. Even if you are secluded, it's sort of the place where it's all happening right now. Well, you're secluded until you get injured. Then you got to go to a hospital in Florida. Oh, Jesus. Same for the NBA.

I mean, that's the problem. I mean, we call it the secure zone, but it's not 100%. I mean, people will leave that area And unfortunately, you know, I hope everyone stays healthy again, but if any player has to go somewhere, you know, with a medical issue, they're, they're going to a hospital in Florida during the NBA and MLS tournaments.

Right. And, and, and like, there's places in Toronto, I think there was like, I think of 26 hospitals or something like that. And 15 of them, you know, reported no new COVID cases and some have no COVID at all. And like, so there's, you know, that's the difference, right. Is there's, you know, if, if you're working in the, if you're the, in the NHL and you got an injured player you can bring them to a hospital where it's just not there you know what i mean it's just that they don't have it there's a scenario here honestly where the nhl is the only of the big sports leagues that the team sports that finishes the season i think it's possible that

that happens because they brought the games to canada and so i mean there's a lot of things i want to give them credit for but leaving that decision till the end and picking two canadian cities because what was starting to happen in the u.s is probably the smartest decision they've made so far so but because i i know you you talked about it like it's a five-star jail and it's not an ideal scenario and you don't want to be away from your family for even the amount of time that they committed to let alone longer than that but because this two-week period is so critical it's so unbelievably precious is there any talk of any of these teams going to the hub cities early No, I don't even know if the hub cities are ready to be honest. I mean,

I do a lot of my jogs down by the CNE here in Toronto and the hotel X doesn't look like there's no secure zone built around it. There's no fencing up. There's no security in place. You know, they might be ready a couple of days extra early, but I know teams have already booked flights for July 26th. And so I don't think we'll see unless something changes. Look, I guess I shouldn't say anything that declarative. There's still 12 or 13 days.

maybe it takes a turn somewhere and they let a team come early but i don't i haven't heard any conversation about anyone trying to do that now so they're arriving the day before exhibition games start um or two days i think two days i'm pretty sure the leaves play on the 28th their exhibition yeah 28 29 30 i think yeah okay okay i i hope it works man i'm glad you mentioned the extra security because a couple days ago when hotel x was trending and for some reason we knew the four hotels jesse and i were texting back and forth i was just like why do we know where they're going to live yeah i thought it was a little odd for a broadcaster to put it on tv and be like hey police are going to be at the royal york you know i don't know if that's good information to have

out there well because people hang out outside the hotel with giant books of please sign this and no don't go anywhere near them you're not allowed well there will be fencing of some sort though there's going to be some sort of blockade to keep you from getting anywhere near them um i think the reason it's out there honestly is because the government agencies in this case have given the nhl some special privileges to be able to come here and so the public is owed some insight into their planning and that we wouldn't normally get uh i know there's a debate about that i've seen it in my in my timeline i i put out a picture of the hotel x and got yelled at by half the internet for a day um but i mean look it's it's the league publishes it it's it's

been made very available we can know basically we have everything but which room each player from each team is at at this point so um i think it's it's part of the facts i know the nba did it as well and i think that part of it is just not to hide anything it's it's to show your plan show your work and be held accountable to the the canadian public because quite honestly it might not even be the nhl that ends up having to make a doomsday call it could be the government if if the government is concerned that the league isn't following some of the things that have been agreed to here and and i think part of that is knowing which players should be where and when yeah um sorry i've been a little lost on account of the little human who keeps waking me up

throughout the night but there was there was supposed to be an nhl conference call and then And there was a delay, I think, because of the Canadian federal government. What was that? Yesterday, right? Was that yesterday? And did that get resolved? It's not resolved as we're talking yet. It's to do with being allowed to cross the border and what's being called the cohort

quarantine, which is what teams are being allowed to do when they come here instead of having to sit for 14 days without doing any activity for NHL staff. So it's been agreed upon that, say, the Boston Bruins can fly up to Toronto a day before two days before their first exhibition game and be fine as long as they're just staying in this secure zone in the rink but i don't think that that's been resolved for how it's going to work for all the nhl staff that's due to travel here and let's face it most of those people there are some staff based in toronto because league has a head office here but their main office is in new york and so in fact it's not even fully decided if if gary batman and bill daly will be

here it's not to say it won't be i think there's still time but you know some of that wording is still being worked out with the federal government do you think uh i mean obviously vegas was the front runner in the west for a long long time for for in terms of a hub city toronto always seemed to be in the mix in the eastern uh conference it just seemed to make sense um uh but you know do you get a sense of you know i remember when vegas opened up their casinos about i think it would be about a month ago now and cases spiked um and you know do you think it was things like that like opening up too quickly that led to them saying no let's consider vancouver edmonton because we can't because it's it is surprising really you know a league that is

trying so hard to build this game in the states uh would have two hub cities be in canada just the optics of that if you had asked me a month ago when this was still up in the air there's no way i would have said i would have been like yeah maybe one of them's toronto but there's no way both of them are canadian cities um you know how much how much of how much discussion went into that how bad did vegas want it how bad did vancouver want it and why ultimately edmonton well vegas was up 4-1 in game seven and in the hub city discussion oh vegas literally blew a three nothing lead in game seven and you went with the wow wow i know my audience i see that picture of you in a leaf jersey over his head

I know, I know who's out there and not to make light of it, but yeah, certainly Vegas is a city opening up at the start of June, created the conditions where the NHL ultimately decided they couldn't go there. And, you know, the league wanted to go there from the very beginning. I mean, it just makes sense. We could have sat around on March 15th. We were trying to handicap this and figured out that that was a good place to go. I mean, for one, the hotels in Vegas are unmatched pretty much anywhere in North America.

it's a city geared towards tourism a series you know they're all basically resorts you could create all those things i was talking about indoors uh at a place like that and of course that's a negative thing for covid19 but in terms of a bubble uh you could have just had one of those hotels blocked off with 20 restaurants in it and provided all kinds of things that players could do but at the end you know they had huge surge in cases there that they actually had a specific problem where a lot of hotel and casino workers uh were getting the virus and was just making it too unstable and i think ultimately my understanding is that the city or the tourism board or the health officials there came to the nhl and just expressed a concern that they couldn't

do this safely anymore and so you know i think in some ways vegas would say that that's interesting well it's that bad you know and that's why as much as i'm joking about it i you know i want to be serious in the sense that you know the league absolutely wanted a canadian and a u.s hub city from the beginning that was the plan uh that that made the most sense i think vegas was pretty much locked in quite honestly and then there was some debate about where the second one would go uh you know initially actually that was going to be vegas and columbus uh seemed to be favored uh in the very early in the process that was before we knew if the canadian government would would make any concessions when it came to the quarantine you know then vegas and toronto was

kicked around you know my understanding in that circumstance was that Vegas was going to have the cup final and everything too so it was going to be similar to what we have here then it becomes Vegas and Vancouver and of course you know BC among the the highly populated provinces in Canada has probably been the the leader Dr. Bonnie Henry there has done a great job of communicating with the people and everyone's followed the protocols that looked to be done and then Vancouver pulled out that it was back to vegas toronto and at the last minute vegas couldn't do it and edmonton won because they had a strong bid all along i think you know the benefit of edmonton for those who haven't been there is the jw marriott hotel is less than a year old very very nice hotel it's

right across the street from rogers arena and so they can create essentially their secure zone safe zone that includes the main game rink and where the players will stay and in fact the second hotel which is the Sutton Place Hotel all within the same safe zone and so that's probably ideal I think that's you know one of the issues with Toronto is that it's the middle of a large city and and you can't shut everything off right around Scotiabank Arena we we have you know Union Station there and certainly a number of businesses and office towers connected all throughout there so you know those those people still have to be able to go to work but the way it's able to to work in Edmonton is they have a very secure zone Alberta also hasn't you know they've had a recently an

issue in a hospital there but certainly when the decision was made they'd had very few cases and you know they kind of got chose by default honestly i don't say that as a shot at them it's just you know i don't think the league was looking to have two canadian hubs until that was really the only thing they felt was available to them to do it safely if um if the league is able to successfully pull this off and you mentioned it um uh and i swear we're actually going to talk some hockey here coming up too um but if the league is able chris to pull this off in leagues like the MLS, the NBA, the MLB, because the MLB is still bound to determine

that they're going to travel from city to city somehow. I don't know how they're going to do that. The Jays have it scheduled with Boston, like an exhibition game coming up in three weeks. Really? Yeah, see, that's like an exhibition game. They're going to go and play an exhibition game. They're just ignoring reality. And then they're going to go to Florida like five times this year.

It makes no sense. It's insane. And I believe certain players have come out today and said, we haven't even been tested yet. Like where are the tests? So calling that a plan, by the way, that's like me saying I plan to go to university and I'll tell you when I, the day I moved to university, I woke up in the morning through all my stuff and garbage bags and moved it. And that's literally the equivalent of what the MLB plan is.

And that was, you know, 18 year old CJ. I didn't know what I was doing in a lot of ways. And I just went by the seat of my pants and that's what the MLB is doing right now. wow okay so you know so what kind of opportunity sports wise does this present for a league like the nhl that often struggles being muscled out with the mlb and the nba and you know nfl when it's on as well the nfl will depending on their plan kick into gear here in about a month and a half um so you know they would maybe have to compete with nfl games which is like competing

with God in the States, right? It's just, it's the biggest thing. But, you know, if leagues like the NBA and MLS can't, and MLB can't get it on the road, does the league foresee, have they looked at this as a potential opportunity to really gain some ground with the average sports fan in the States? Well, I think it's hard to overstate

how important that could be, honestly. I mean, what makes the Stanley Cup playoffs great under normal circumstances? It's the intensity and it's the unpredictability of what you see. I mean, it's a crazy sport. I feel like anyone, even if you don't quite understand hockey, if you watch a playoff game, it's hard not to be kind of brought in and drawn in by what you're seeing. And the fact that you have this moment in time where, let's face it, there's almost nothing on TV. I mean, I'm watching F1 races. I watched a Bundesliga soccer match at

some point. Like, you know, I'm just craving anything that's kind of sort of like what we used to have and so i i think even if the other sports get up and running this is still a great opportunity for for the nhl i think the numbers in canada are going to be outrageously good at the start of this you know just jumping right into a best of five after 142 days on pause i mean it's it's insanity i mean it's already unpredictable as it is we're going to see massive upsets in that first round i mean that qualifying round like i i just think you might as well pick it out of a hat you might do better than actually trying to use what you thought you learned you know with the season that ended on March 12th and so you know it's it's going to be

spectacular if if they can pull it off and and you know even when you think of October hockey right I mean it's more scoring less defense no lead is going to be safe yes oh well hey we're Leafs fans that never is man right right ever exactly so I mean like you're you're gonna never be able to turn a game off early and you know I'm not rooting against the other sports because I like them as fans you know I'm a huge Jays fan I love the Raptors was out on the street when they won the the championship last year back when you could be around strangers you know but if the NHL gets the floor to themselves in North America with team sports I mean I just think it's a massive opportunity even if you're just drawing in a few more people I mean it's it's it's the power of

of building you know sort of scale and you know really we don't know what the future holds beyond this year too so you know if they prove that they can do this right i think it's a huge feather in their cap well let's talk about a little you talked about the unpredictable unpredictability at the plans and the playoffs that we're going to go into i want to talk i want to go to the leafs because we haven't had the chance to actually break down something that's happening with the leafs uh in three months and it's sort of nice it was nice today to see the least roster tweeted out uh what who's going to be at training camp uh and then it is already changed so one of the names that stuck out to me there were two names that weren't on that list that were i think

pretty big the first one was uh nick patan uh who has since been added mac hallowell has uh been taken off uh and number two was jeremy bracco so i i guess so what what could have happened there why was nick patan not added until several hours later uh and then i guess you know the follow-up to that chris is where does this organization see jeremy bracco because it looked like for a while there he was going to be the next winger to come out of the minors or maybe get shift off to shift it off in a trade or whatever it seems like he's fallen significantly and and probably and i believe he requested a trade as well yeah a couple things there so patan had an injury uh during this phase two uh the league is actually no longer teams aren't allowed to tell us what the injury was so

i don't have any specifics on the details and he was actually only cleared by doctors on sunday to participate in camp hence why they had to announce a roster without him and then quickly make that change uh tough bounce for mac hollowell you know who would have been a great story even just to get to the camp a guy who played from newfoundland growlers for you know a number of games this season and find himself in that sort of summer training camp would have been great for his development but you know his day will still come uh i think for jeremy bracco you know you should you're not wrong to read this incorrectly i mean the marlies were actually quite clear after the season that they did exit interviews with every player that wasn't going to be invited to this

camp and he got one right away and so you know I don't think it's it's a stretch or unfair to say that they weren't happy with his year you know he had to leave the team for a personal reason for a period of time during the season I don't think he took the kind of step that they were hoping to see from him and I think his future of the organization is in serious question entering an offseason where you know his contract's up I don't think it's a foregone conclusion you see him even get a qualifying offer from Leafs which would be required just to keep his rights just to make sure that they retain him as an RFA I do think there's a scenario where they let him walk away you know in part because he didn't take that step they've got other players coming

but also because this is a difficult time when it comes to the salary cap you don't want to be committing a one-way contract to him if you don't see him as an NHL player next year and when you're not even inviting him to this camp where you can have what 18 forwards or 19 forwards that they're bringing if he's not one of your 19 right now you know it's hard to see him being one of their 13 or 14 next season so um yeah i would suggest you we're going to see him play his next professional game for another organization one way shape or another whether it's a trade or you know through free agency this summer and and leaps move on i i you know he was he look he had he's had some great years in the hl i mean i i'm not saying he won't be an nhl player but his his growth

certainly stagnated here in the leafs organization last year or two that's interesting yeah you know it it definitely felt that way and the leafs are are sort of hoarders when it comes to players like that so i'm surprised to hear you say um that they may even not even qualify him because you know obviously you know they'd have to probably let him go to free agency even if they wanted to sign him to a two-way deal right because he can't rfam like they can't sign him to a two-way deal if he's an rfa and they've retained his rights correct right so they gave him the qualifying offer the player has a right just to take that offer right and be signed or or they can just continue to negotiate and it allows the leafs to retain his rights as an rfa um you know look i

don't i don't know the decision has been made yet either so it's not to not to say he will he will not be qualified but i do think they'll look to trade him uh if there isn't a trade to be made there you know there is a scenario where maybe they just let him walk because i think he would like a fresh start and it's it's probably time and you mentioned nick robertson earlier uh who will be wearing number 89 which i a small insignificant portion of twitter but still a very loud one we're very upset that someone would dare steal leaf great alexander mcgillney's number uh because that matters the first and only leaf to wear 89 yeah right uh but he will be wearing 89 uh he will be in training camp doesn't mean he's gonna play but let's talk about it's

sort of like the the exact opposite sort of situation here with Jeremy Bracco unfortunately would be nice to see them both jumping in but Nick Robertson's growth the fact that he was even a second round pick last year looks like an absolute steal what is this player what do they have here and does he draw in against a really tough defensive team like the Columbus Blue Jackets in frankly games that that matter every game matters even more than a seven game series against the blue jackets and we'll get to that matchup in a bit but like this is really really important do you think nick robertson's gonna play against tortorella yeah i think i think cj let me answer the first part of adam's question what is he a forward fair enough yes yes sorry cj go ahead

he's the right shot d the leafs have been looking for it instead he's the left shot winger that uh that's probably going to play games in this playoffs that that's that's my feeling about it you know obviously that's a sense more than you know that decision hasn't been made either you know this is what i'll say what jumps off the page about nick robertson is 55 goals and 46 games the ohl i mean even if you don't watch ontario hockey league games obviously you're excited if you're a fan of leafs about that kind of production you know what a team that told me that was looking at drafting him last june that they loved about him was they were a little worried about his size because he's a little bit more my height than a typical NHLers height.

But they loved his mind. They felt that he had a professional's mindset, I think, was the word that they termed. And they felt that that alone would allow him to sort of overcome anything that might be put in his way. And the Leafs have learned that since picking him, if they didn't know that themselves, when they did draft him 53rd overall in 2019. You know, this guy has absolutely used every resource the organization's

made available to him. and obviously playing for the Leafs they can do a lot more than most other teams you know he told me he had over 100 text messages with their nutritionist he would literally send her pictures of his meals for feedback all year long he said that the strength coaches are annoyed with me I know they're annoyed with me because every off-ice workout he would videotape and make sure he's doing it right and seek feedback on his form you know he's he's obviously really approached this I think in a serious manner and then he has this great year in the OHL it plays well at the world juniors you know he's put himself in this position where the organization can't help but

look at him I mean and and consider playing him in these games and I think it's it's the mind that that could make this possible because you know if the Leafs do play him you know we're not looking at a top six role absent injuries or the things that might happen but that's not going to be the position they're putting him in they're not going to be playing him on the number one power play you know looking for him to repeat those goal totals that he had in junior at least not at this stage and so I think that he has to be able to show that that he's got the mindset and honestly something as silly as picking 89 to me shows that he has a little bit of that that that mindset he's just a supremely confident very business-like about how he goes about things

if you've seen his instagram videos about working out i mean he's an absolute tank for you know someone who's he's not that that tall in stature but but he's very very thick strong on his skates uh works out like a fiend and is doing absolutely everything to maximize his ability based on what's been given to him and I know he's opened eyes in a huge way in the Leafs organization because of all those things and so even the fact that he came up here quarantined for two weeks at a friend's house in Windsor because he was back in LA where his family lives during the initial part of the pause and then has been in all these optional workouts since June 8th the phase two workouts the Leafs have been doing you know I think he's got a real shot to play and then you

know we might look at the lineup itself with Andreas Janssen being a left winger that the Leafs would like to have for a series like this I just think that there's a natural spot for him on the left side of the third line might give the Leafs bottom six a bit more punch which you know it was something I think was missing especially later part of the season before the pause and so you know if he plays well it's all in his hands I really don't think Kyle Dubas is bluffing when he says they're not gonna they're not gonna say wow we got to keep his contract for the future I think the Leafs really are trying to win a Stanley Cup right now and if he's one of their best 12 options he'll be playing it's so funny because uh uh and it's

steve i think you'll i'm asking this question for steve go ahead nick robertson didn't draw into a game when mike babcock was coach in october this season which is weird to say all of those things that happened this season and i wonder i wonder if mike babcock is still the coach i wonder if this is an option right you just you wonder you have to wonder about that and that and the change and i don't need to we don't need to speculate about that no i'll speculate there's no chance oh okay well there you go and that's not and that's not you know on nick but i mean look this is a dynamic and i know this from speaking to gms around the league like this isn't just a leafs dynamic the biggest obstacle sometimes for the front office to do what they want is they're

on their own coaching staff i mean it's convincing that the person who's making those decisions each shift and then there's a lot of decisions in the game for head coach um you know if they feel comfortable with that and I would say most old school hockey coaches especially entering a best of five with one exhibition game would just not feel comfortable with even the idea of dressing this this player is one of your 12 or even 13 forwards if you want 13 you know if you whatever you're doing I but I think that Sheldon Keefe and Kyle Dubas are just so on the same page and this is something if since the front office is willing to do it I think Sheldon is so that that answers your question i just i really just don't think crazy this universe crazy would i mean look and

he might be a camp but i think we'd be i'd be answering this question about whether he might play totally differently if mike babcock was on the bench i i i just look at the leafs lineup and you know you mentioned you're probably not going to throw them to the lions right away with the top six role but i look at their bottom two centers and assuming kerfoot is c3 there's a pass first guy and Jason Spezza I think is a pass first guy I'm looking at Nick Robertson's numbers with the beats 55 goals in 46 games his center also a leave prospect SDA 63 assists 12 goals that's it so do you think they're jacked about the idea of putting them with a playmaking center like that or do they are they going to continue that Kerfoot uh at left wing experiment they were

doing? I'd be surprised if they did because remember we're getting Ilya Mikheyev back as well right you know what I'm expecting is that Mikheyev will go back in his spot that he's on if we want to call it the second line the Tavares line with Marner could be a first line anywhere else in the league pretty much and then you know that gives you this option on third the third line I mean they didn't want to play Kerfoot I don't think too much on the wing realistically it's just They had a hole there after Mikheyev went down. You know, they tried Kasperi Kapanen on his offside in that position there. Didn't really work and wasn't successful.

They actually put him back there the last game against Tampa that they played before the break. But now with Mikheyev back, you know, and look, there's an X factor there. I don't know if he'll be able to do what he used to do because of the severity of the injury he had. You know, I would have to think there's almost some PTSD associated with that. I mean, it was a very scary situation that he had getting, you know, some arteries cut by a skate. But, you know, at least to start, you know, I think you've got Hyman, Matthews and Nylander, maybe with Hyman and Nylander switch because Nylander seems to like the left side now. Then you got Mikheyev with Tavares and Marner. And then that's where I think, you know, you might see on the left side there instead of someone like Pierre Engvall, for example, being an option. To me, Robertson makes a whole lot of sense with Kerfoot and Kaepernick on your third line. And then, you know, do you have Engvall, Patan, and – I got Spezza on there.

I think Clifford will start. Maybe Goat too. I mean, Goat and Spezza kind of were shifting back and forth between wing and center together. That's my rough sense of what this is going to end up as. Chris, you know, when we're talking about the Leafs against the Blue Jackets, it almost – I mean, if we were going to base it on what the team we saw in december versus say the leafs team we saw in february early march before the season uh and i

believe they can't the the game against nashville was canceled like a couple hours before uh before it was due to play and i had a friend that was going um and he was like yeah i'm going in national game tonight i might have fun it might be your last game for a while and then you know it didn't happen um i'm wondering you know if we the leafs team we saw in december seemed frail well they were on well they were on the 20 game win streak sorry or January they seemed to to to kind of peter out a little bit after the the bump of Sheldon Keefe coming in as the as the head coach um and so there was you there were two Leafs that you saw like there were two Leafs teams you saw this year there was the Babcock Leafs obviously and then the Keefe Leafs but then they seemed to

regress back to what they were at the beginning of the season and you said to us you know months ago when we were talking that that you know you felt like that they were starting to get things back on the road and that they felt like they got their groove back a little bit how does this team match up against the Blue Jackets who play a very uh tidy tough defense game um where the Leafs do not and and and don't have the same structure that the Blue Jackets have the Blue Jackets have done a lot with very little they have I think the Leafs have an opportunity here to beat the Blue Jackets the way Boston beat Toronto the last two years which is with the power play you know there's a huge disparity in this series between high-end talent from one side

to the other, at least offensively. I mean, obviously the Blue Jackets have some stud defensemen and Wierenski and Jones, but, you know, the Leafs have offensive weapons that frankly Columbus can't match. That doesn't mean anything. We could have said that about Tampa going into last year's first round and Columbus beat them in four straight. And so, you know, I think it's going to be a bit of a grind for the Leafs. And I think, you know,

for them to have success, I mean, it'll always come down to goaltending either way in any playoff series. And then beyond that, I think Toronto has a real opportunity to hold the edge in the specialty teams. And, you know, in a series this quick and, you know, where the margin might be quite small between winning and losing, you know, I think that's of utmost importance for the Leafs that they bury the Blue Jackets.

Because to me, they should be able to outskate them in a lot of areas. They should be able to goad them into some penalties just with the way they can move the puck around and the way they like and prefer to control the puck. And, you know, I think you'll see the Blue Jackets try to be physical and you might see some aggression-type penalties, and then Toronto can make them pay in that area. And if they're not able to do that, it could go the other way.

I mean, but, you know, I think this is a pretty good matchup for the Leafs. By no means is it easy, but, again, if you go right down the list, other than the two 5-12 matchups on either side, which is Edmonton-Chicago in the west and then Montreal-Pittsburgh in the east, I mean, most of these series, it's a razor thin. I mean, I think the Leafs and the Blue Jackets are the same point total, if I'm not mistaken, when the season was paused. I know Vancouver and Minnesota, I think, were separated by a point.

They're playing the West. I mean, all of these are kind of coin flip scenarios. But I think the fact that Columbus beat Tampa the way they did will have the Leafs' attention and respect. It will certainly be something the coaching staff reminds them of as they go into that series. And, you know, I think that this is a series the Leafs should win. But, you know, it's one thing to draw it up on paper

or try to evaluate it from my kitchen. It's another thing to see it played on the ice. And Josh Anderson apparently is still not going to draw in, still injured. How big is that in terms of what Toronto is going to face? Well, you think of a guy like him being a playoff player. I mean, for me, at his best, he's got some Tom Wilson-like qualities. He's big. He skates well. He had a great offensive season last year.

He had a miserable year this year. I think the injuries played a factor in that. And for whatever reason, his season never got up and running. But I don't expect to see him at all in this round. So, you know, he's not someone Toronto's going to have to get 10 with. But, you know, the Blue Jackets have a guy by the name of Liam Foody, who, you know, is a Canadian national junior team player. You know, it looks like he might get the Nick Robertson treatment

in this series and get thrown in there. So, you know, just because, you know, Anderson's down doesn't mean the Blue Jackets can at least come with certainly not the same type of player. Foody's more offensively gifted. But, you know, there's opportunities in their depth chart, I think, to introduce some unknown quantities here. And, you know, I think what's kind of interesting, big picture, probably for all the series, though, is that the coaches never have this much time to prepare for an opponent. I'm pretty sure it was May 26 that this format was officially confirmed. And so, you know, you can't imagine that the Blue Jackets have played any meaningful hockey in the last couple of seasons and the Leafs haven't looked at the videos, studied their tendencies, looked at their player usage, vice versa. and so the training camps to me are so interesting just because you got to think that coaches are

going to throw wrinkles in there whether it's different personnel usage or you know maybe new power play formations or things like that that you know it can at least keep the other team on his toes and so you know I think the coaching matchup in this series is fascinating it just turns out that John Tortorella is actually one of the the people that is a mentor to Sheldon Keefe he was actually his coach for a time with the Tampa Bay Lightning back when Keefe was a player I know he cited him as someone that he's really appreciated as a coach and has tried to borrow from but you know obviously you have a huge disparity in experience um you know at least at the NHL level between these two guys and I do think coaching will play an important role in

these types of series so I think this this will be kind of an interesting chess match but ultimately if the Leafs lose this series no matter how it happens I think they'll be disappointed I mean they'll they'll go into this series for the first time of any of the last you know three four years counting the Washington and the Bostons this is the first one where they really believe they should be favored and and I think that's it that's a fair way of categorizing it you get the sense internally that the management and players expect a deep playoff run or expectations kind of in the air because we're in a scenario that no one's ever seen before no the Leafs think they have an advantage you know they had almost their entire team back here on June 8th when when was the first

day you could start having those small group workouts those are entirely voluntary around league a number of teams you know have only opened their facilities in the last week and the Leafs have had you know a month now where their players have been skating together I think they've done some some social things together at least that you can still do like up in cottage country kind of vibe you know I think that they see an advantage in the fact that they have a pretty young team because let's face it this layoff is going to affect different teams different ways and you know even just symbolically the fact that so many players bothered to show up for those small group workouts that were that they didn't have to be at I think it's a sign that the players

are enthusiastic about playing and you know I can't tell you what teams weren't but I do know there are teams out there for sure that weren't totally sold on this plan that didn't think it would ever happen that you know maybe some of those players whether it was on purpose or just you know the subconscious of all the uncertainty around this maybe didn't work out as hard as they should have or keep their conditioning at a level and you know I think the Leafs feel that they have advantage in all those areas young team fitness level at a high level they've been skating together for a while I think that they intend to win the Stanley Cup honestly that's not to say they're going to but I don't get the feeling this is just a oh it's nice it's in the city and maybe this

will work out for us like I think they are preparing for a long run and I think they should you know quite honestly I mean if you look at the teams they've lost to in the playoffs last couple years as painful as I've been and I know it feels familiar because you got game sevens against Boston but you know Boston then went to game seven of the cup final and and they probably didn't deserve to beat the Leafs if you look at the full balance of last year's series that the year before was a different story 2018 the Leafs were probably fortunate to hang on and force a game seven but I you know I think the Leafs carried the play in a lot of last year's series and so you know it struck me watching the last dance documentary you know way back at the start of

this pause that you know even the Bulls were you know once upon a time labeled as a team Michael Jordan's Bulls that couldn't get over the hump that kept losing to Detroit and you have to just sort of make that first step and it's in there and I think the Leafs feel even though they haven't won a playoff series since you guys were all at diapers or roughly Leo's age that all it's going to take here is beating Columbus and getting a momentum going and using all the things that can work in their favor and that this could be a special summer and fall in toronto rather than in spring adam just just to emphasize what chris just said you and i i think were in ottawa at the sears drama festival the last time the leafs won a playoff series that

would have been grade 10 grade 11 that was grade 10 there you go for the two of us you mentioned some pictures you got to find some like 2004 pictures oh my god yeah i have some full makeup i have some full makeup and everything yeah and basically like the last time the least what a playoff series this was adam and i yeah yeah and leather pants were you in leather pants yet adam uh there was a little later that fall that fall um yeah no it's it's funny to think because it's uh it has been that long and i i wonder even if you know if they get if they're able to get through columbus even if that's not technically a first round playoff win because it's not um if that will get the motor running a little bit get the ball rolling okay so this is

what it feels like to win to actually win something you know and and they can win it without and then they can go into the next series whoever that happens to be against they go okay we've done this even though it's not technically the first round they still feel like there's something here and we can do this um the one thing that we keep talking about every every time Toronto loses to boston uh and i guess i guess the capitals as well was was um and this has been a long-term issue with the leafs is freddie anderson and the amount of games he's playing you know is he healthy is he rested we have a fully healthy rested freddie anderson but he could be rusty what do we expect from a fully healthy fully rested potentially rusty freddie anderson

because Freddie was, for a while, known as a bit of a slow starter. His October numbers weren't great. Some of that's gone away. What are your thoughts? Well, I think two things. At least they have Jack Campbell now behind them, which I think gives them a little more security than you've seen, at least since the Curtis McElhinney years, you know, behind Anderson.

And I think that this plays right into Freddie's hands. You know, he's one of these guys that we're all like this in our own lives to a certain degree. He's his own worst enemy. Like, the reason he's played so much hockey, yeah, Partly it's because they maybe haven't always had the backup behind them to split the starts more evenly, but he wants to play that much. I think that he likes that.

But it might not always have been to his utmost benefit. And, you know, now he's had that long stint at Austin's place in Scottsdale. I know he actually left there a couple weeks before Austin came back and was down in California with his trainer down there that he normally works with in the offseason. And then he came up here to Toronto and has been on the ice at least the last two or three weeks before training camp. and i think this is the perfect remedy for him in what you know was statistically his worst year as

an nhl player um you know i i've gotten the sense from from those that know anderson well that he doesn't believe it was actually his worst year that he thinks that there's some extenuating circumstances that maybe tell us a little bit more than those numbers but still uh you know the facts are the facts he didn't stay stop the puck as frequently this season as he has at any other point at the same rate and so you know i i think anyone that had a year they didn't love is gonna love this reset because it's not good there's no tie to what happened i mean it goes down in history officially as the extension of the 1920 season but this is this is a total break like yeah i'm still having trouble remembering who's on the team and certainly you know other

teams you know your brain just hasn't gone there for four months too often especially traded players like patrick marlowe's in pittsburgh right who who was the guy for you cj because i was looking And I went, Dennis Mulligan? I forgot he was a Leaf, man. Dennis Mulligan. That's a good – that was who kind of stuck out to me too. I mean, because, you know, he's sort of a quiet guy, played a few games. But, you know, it's – I just think for Freddie that this reset will be huge

and the fact he is healthy. And, yeah, he might be a little bit rusty to start. I think all goalies are going to face that issue. But he still has 13 days of camp. He's got an exhibition game. He's got another couple more days of camp. I mean, he's got a lot of time here facing shots and getting back in the rhythm.

And, man, things could line up for a team like the Leafs. Honestly, I do think that this – I like this scenario for them. I think it's good for them to be in Toronto for two rounds. Although I do wonder about our social distancing practices. If they do go on a run and win a round or win more in a round, are people going to abide by those things? No. They're not, but if they win, there's going to be a parade.

Oh, there will be an impromptu parade. there's no question if they win a best of five you think the streets are full oh i don't know about the best of five but i think they win you know they get in the second or third round and you start to see people i think the first i think people want to see them get into the playoffs because frankly they are not in the playoffs yet do the leafs need to lose for the good of the world that'll be that'll be a hot take in one of the local yeah we did you guys a big favor and lost again could we be cheering for i was about to say the panthers let me redact that i don't know but not a canadian team man i don't know could go real bad you'll be making a laugh right in your

video before you know it no yeah exactly give me give it that might be better just from a troll's perspective no it wouldn't in the record books though this is technically all these teams have made the playoffs correct sort of like any any goal scored will go down as playoff stats but it doesn't affect the playoffs as it pertains to the trade conditions that are out there so so so it's the mid it's a middle meshing area yeah yeah okay i think we're all just going to pretend it didn't happen yeah yeah it sounds that way um chris there are so many cool matchups happening here you know the one of the i know that you've mentioned there are some teams that are not necessarily thrilled to be in this montreal being one of them um but i mean there's

going to be some really fun things i mean the round robin's interesting philly philly boston uh capitals tampa and if you've kind of lost track of um uh i know the guys on this call haven't but basically if you've lost track of why they're doing that round robin it's to determine the one through four seat so it's philly boston washington and tampa on one side and then in the western conference you've got st louis colorado dallas and vegas and everybody else has the best of five playing um so i'm going to go through the i'm just going to go through the matchups here quickly we've got new york versus carolina that's the rangers versus carolina you got florida versus the islanders you've got uh montreal and pittsburgh as chris mentioned the

leafs in columbus uh and then in the west you've got chicago edmonton uh winnipeg calgary arizona nashville and minnesota vancouver so if and i'm this is a question for everybody if you were to pick a series in those round uh sorry not the round robins the uh the best of fives that really kind of sticks out to you as a series that you think is going to be pretty hotly contested that you think it's going to be a series that you got to watch uh chris we'll start with you what do you think in the eastern conference what do you think is going to be the series to watch oh then you tag the eastern conference on me i was gonna say i was gonna say calgary would have bagged but Well, okay, so we'll start with the West then, Calgary-Winnipeg.

Yeah, I think that one will be legit. You know, it was a strange year for both teams, but, you know, an opportunity now to go through each other and get to the first round officially. I think that one will be razor thin. Calgary probably has the edge in some of it. The goaltending goes to Winnipeg, and I just think they'll be hating that series.

It just feels like kind of a Western Canadian rivalry. Maybe we wouldn't think of them as traditional rivals But certainly they play each other a lot And those all-Canadian games They take on a different feel usually during the regular season And I just expect that one to be Some pretty entertaining hockey Steve, what do you like in the West? We'll go West first

Well, okay I know this isn't West, but there was some talk About like, oh, Carey Price could Disrupt the whole Penguins thing From the 5th-12th angle Dude, the Chicago Blackhawks Are not the nicest matchup for the edmonton oilers man i think connor mcdavid and leon dry settle could get in there

and completely spanked them but the blackhawks despite trading lennar and everything remember when lennar was elite for like five minutes and then he got traded to vegas yeah uh like that's i i look at i look at a team's skill and i look at their chemistry as huge advantages uh in this best of five thing a lot of the chicago core has been together forever and they're insanely skilled and it's best of five edmonton's goaltending is yeah that one uh could be very interesting and they just got gifted a playoff game essentially like they had no chance to make the playoffs right no this court didn't know if they were ever going to play another playoff game together again and and i know this we're saying there's a debate whether this is playoffs or not

but let's call it playoffs they get to play meaningful hockey and play the spoiler and and you know we talked about players who could use arrest with freddie anderson duncan keith like that guy had ridiculous miles on him and now he's just posting all these thirst traps on instagram you know looking like thanos like it chicago could be a problem man they could be a real problem jesse what do you like in the west that's the uh that's the matchup i was gonna go with and i was gonna i was gonna mention cory crawford because i don't know where he is right now in terms of his skill set i know he was below 500 his record was during the regular season And I just don't know going into that matchup.

If he shows up, I think Chicago could be a problem. I still think Edmonton comes out of there. I think the match would have come out of the West. But Chicago could be a serious problem just to test them, maybe send it to five games in that first round. I'm going to go with Chris, Winnipeg, Calgary for me in that. I just think that they are a tale of two teams, right? You've got Calgary that should have been great,

Winnipeg that shouldn't have been, and they both kind of met in the middle. And I think it's going to be sort of fun to see where that ends up. Now let's go with the East. Chris, what matchup do you like in the qualifying round? What's your favorite one to watch? It can be the Leafs if you want it to be, but what one interests you the most? I'd say Carolina Rangers, which, you know, might seem like a hipster pick or something. But, you know, for me, what's interesting about this one is Carolina was one of the

two teams that voted against this playoff format when it was at the NHLPA executive board level. and you know they had trouble with the Rangers in the regular season I think they've had trouble historically against them uh you know obviously Carolina I think is a team that actually could go on a run here too you know I think that they are sort of a sleeping giant as an organization and will probably be a powerhouse if they're not already quite there yet obviously they're getting Dougie Hamilton back in this series but you know we could see Henrik Lundqvist we're going to see Artemi Panarin um I just I think that that matchup is interesting and sort of getting a

window into the process knowing that the hurricanes weren't all that thrilled about their draw in the way that this worked out um yeah i think just makes that that a little bit of a tasty sidebar for that series steve i was gonna say carolina new york as well uh they're they're two pretty young teams uh they're the embodiment of fun uh carolina is this team that we keep saying oh they're gonna take a step they're gonna take a step they're gonna take a step and they look good last year uh the rangers honestly i know they were kind of far back the way they were chugging along i picked them on camera before this all shut down to make the playoffs in the east i just really like that team love everything they're doing um with that rebuild and i just

think it'll be a really fun high scoring series all you needed was a pandemic for that prediction to come true yeah exactly i was right jesse what about you i'm gonna go somewhere different i'm gonna pick a round robin matchup i think tampa boston is going to be the most interesting thing we see on the first round of the east because it's okay it's the best team in the regular season versus the best team over the last two years and i think boston's their top end players outside of passionate are a little on the older end so i'm excited to see how this little layoff affects those guys. And then you have Tampa who's just been, it seems like they've been going

since this thing has been on pause. They've all been out all these practices, practicing real hard and I want to see how they come out. And no Stephen Stamkos. Right, no Stamkos. Maybe. Injury, maybe. Who knows. I want to

see how that ends up. Maybe Tampa comes in there and they take the number one seed away from Boston who should have had it by default based on the standings. yeah they should have taken away from them which would be crazy interesting um i'm gonna go with montreal and pittsburgh and the reason i think montreal and pittsburgh is because um this could be the last i i think this determines where carrie price is and and that might be a bold statement but carrie price once was the best goalie in the world uh i don't know that he is anymore but if he

is and he decides to be now uh which is you know he's he's in his 30s now he's you know we're into that contract that you know may or may not look good if carry price is the carry price that we knew olympic gold medal carry price um dragging the montreal canadians to wherever they were going to go carry price the montreal canadians could upset a lot of people now i know that if you know Max Domi is still uh unsure yet they're going to take seven to ten days to figure out whether he's going to be there I mean 17 goals in 70 games this year that's an important part for a team that doesn't score a lot of goals but to me if you have Carey Price potentially shutting down Malkin and Crosby and I know very well that it could go completely the other way what a story

and if he gets hot when Carey Price gets hot he's almost unbeatable the question is can he get hot like he used to anymore that's what i don't know and i think this series is going to say a lot there was that interesting little tidbit i don't know if you saw this cj uh going around of uh i think it was what crosby's been doing over the past couple weeks and malkin just messaging the rest of his teammates like you better be ready you only have so many chances to win the stanley cup we're gonna go for it and a lot of the reaction to it and i kind of agreed with it was imagine being locked in a hotel with that person oh like it's it's one thing to have him as your teammate and you can like escape from them and you only got to deal with them a couple hours a day

imagine you're locked in the same building as that guy for two months you could see how phil kessel and him maybe didn't get along yeah a little bit of a different personality clash there um speaking of which and i think it's fun we should we should shout out the coyotes because they are they are in the uh in the best of five taylor hall and phil kessel both have underplayed uh what we thought that they were going to be and i think what the coyotes were hoping they were going to be Is this an opportunity for Taylor Hall? I mean, this is going to be a tough re-agency for him. Is this an opportunity for him to recoup some money?

And do you see them hitting kind of the reset on their season, Chris? Because it was a little up and down. You know, they had some really good successful moments and then sort of fell out of it. Well, yeah, and they got a reprieve too. I mean, they were far from a guarantee to make the playoffs. They were still in the race, but they were on the wrong end of the race. um you know i think for taylor hall that's going to be awesome remember he just had his first

playoff appearance a couple years ago in new jersey uh so it's not something he's had a lot of experience at i think it lasted five games in a series with tampa so you know when you play as long as he has i think just to even get into those games if you can even put the free agency aside for a period of time here it's just that's going to be great for him and um you know i don't know if he can get his money back it's this is going to be the strangest free agency we've ever seen And I'm not saying it'll be Taylor Hall, but there's going to be someone that just takes a one- or two-year deal that typically would be signing for six.

Just because I think that it's probably a sensible bet to leave your options open to become a free agent again. But it could mean you move once and you've got to move again. In Taylor's case, he had to move in season. You know, I'm sure he would prefer to get a little bit of security if he could. But, you know, that's going to limit the number of teams that are bidding for him. And so, you know, whether it's him or Alex Petrangelo, I mean, we probably don't want to get to the offseason yet

before we've even seen if the playoffs happen. But I think that this is like if you love stuff that doesn't happen on the ice in hockey, the next year is going to be bananas because you have an expansion draft. You have a flat salary cap. You have the uncertainty that I think everyone's going to be feeling their way around the new CBA and some of the rules. And you just don't have a lot of teams that can go out there

and inflate the market. And so, you know, I think we'll see some crazy trades and certainly free agency is going to be tough for guys like Taylor Hall and Alex Petrangelo. But, you know, they're still the best players available at their position. They're still going to make out quite well. I don't want to talk about the Leafs offseason yet, but I did read a very funny article on sportsnet.ca from Ian McIntyre

about the Canucks situation and how, you know, this is supposed to be them entering a golden era and all they can think about is all the terrible contracts they've signed the last three summers that everybody said were terrible at the time and now now given the world that we're in almost impossible to unload some of these deals and it means guys like Stetcher and Tanev and that sort of thing just may have to walk and uh and you know they've got new deals I think coming for Pedersen in a couple of seasons or another one more season and there's they're in some serious trouble already with the cap yeah

they're in jail um you know i think that the the concern on that team is legit uh i mean there's two ways of looking at this they have two of the best brightest young players in the game so they have the hard part you know on their roster this is where the leafs were before they had their key guys signed is that everyone's like oh it's going to be a huge problem and i'm like yeah but it's the problem every team wants like they're going to be arguing between do we pay him 10 million or 11 million a year and it's because he's worth it uh it's it's not because um you know they're not making it up with other things the problem of course is that making that all work how do you create the space you'll probably see them entertain a buyout maybe in this offseason

certainly might have to be on the losing end of some trades just to shed salary but you know when you have talent talent wins and we've already seen that elias petterson and quinn hughes are more than capable of dragging along a roster that has some significant holes and and you know taking them to some special places so you know i think that vancouver is in a a great spot on one hand because they have those players it's going to be a rocky difficult job for the front office um you know they have a bonus overage this year i don't know what the number is but they basically spent over the cap in the 2019-20 season so you add that to all the other problems you know and the cap recapture and everything and a cap recapture and next year pedersen still in his

entry-level deal and if he finishes in the top 10 in goals or goals per game which is very possible he gets a two million dollar bonus added on you know they're yeah it's it's not pretty and so yeah everyone that's out there getting angry about this and keeping sports radio and business there's a reason for it it's not it's not invented it's not it's not a problem that's coming like in the distant future here it's it's as soon as this summer tournament's over so you know maybe they want to make good use of the time they have now because it's going to be hard to put a good team around those those core pieces with some of the other issues they got one of the things you said uh maybe a couple months ago was once all these games start uh getting going bet on a team with

a lot of Swedes uh were Elias Pettersson because their arenas were open basically the whole time were Elias Pettersson and Jakob Markström practicing together in Sweden I can't remember the answer to this no I'm pretty sure Pettersson wasn't able to skate much when if at all when he was over there um wasn't he no it was more he was in a part of the country that didn't have arenas open uh a lot of the guys that were near uh stockholm and gothenburg were skating but those that live in the north you know like victor hadman went back at one point i don't think he was able to skate much so you know you're gonna have to look at where your suites spent their their time in quarantine if you're gonna take me up on my my tongue and cheek my first thought was william

kneelander and then i saw he was in north america i'm like oh come on that's not as fun i think he was walking like the sunset strip without a shirt on with alex kneelander like he was he seemed to be thriving he'd be having a great time oh he was having hot hot boy summer for sure and and sorry the um there it was a it was a it was a consistent point brought up with taylor hall just to go back to what you said so if i if if there was a goalie out there who had a 925 save percentage last year and a 928 save percentage this year you'd probably call him one of the best goalies in the league right darcy kemper yeah if if we're looking for monkey wrenches in this little tournament that could be a big one because his injury killed their season and it just happened to

sort of line up with taylor hall joining that team interesting well it'll be very very fun to watch i'm excited about i'm glad we got to talk about it um chris thank you as always for your time it's so nice because i think the last time we talked to you was like what does the next eight million years look like uh and and now it's like hey we're you know we're a couple weeks away potentially here assuming everything goes well so i know that things are going to get crazy busy for you and i know that they were this week so thank you for carving out this much time before you got to go back to work for real tomorrow for us and for this audience we really really appreciate it for real for real anytime man like honestly i had some dark days during this thing

this thing was difficult and i shouldn't complain like i should say first off i kept my job luckily my health is has been good and that of my family and so i know there's a lot of people out there with worse off but this was this was difficult and so i i feel that's why i feel so great now the weather's turned here the last few weeks little leo is gracious with his presence we got games on the schedule i mean it just feels like holy crap this is happening uh so let's let's hope again that everyone does this safely and that we get to watch just a crap ton of hockey here the next few weeks amazing and we'll uh hopefully we'll hopefully check in with you although i don't expect that we're going to have much we're going to get to connect with you because you're

going to be so busy but we'll be watching uh and uh and cheering along so chris thanks so much great to see you again great to talk to you again the uh the official or unofficial fourth member of this show let's be honest chris johnson from sportsnet uh follow along at reporter chris on twitter i mean if he's not i mean like really he's he is like the fourth member we just we're just We're going to have to, we're going to have to book them on cameo if we want them over the next couple of months. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. But Chris, thanks for your time, man.

We really appreciate it. No problem. I'm just like the guy that drops in every once in a while, plays a little bass and gets out of here. Yeah. I love it. I love it. and at jesse blake brought to you by panago pizza order at panago.com and stuff your face with deliciousness connection complete