The Steve Dangle Podcast - The Steve Dangle Podcast - Dec 16, 2016 - Everybody's Talking

Episode Date: December 16, 2016

On this episode the guys look at the Leafs recent struggles and debate what Mike Babcock is doing, Corrado breaks his silence, Friedman joins the show to talk about the Panthers drama and the guys have a big announcement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Panago Pizza presents S.T.P. The Steve Dangle Podcast with your hosts, Steve Dangle and Adam Wilde. Boy, it sure is a good thing that you're always wrong, Steve. I'm glad you're always wrong, personally. The Leafs won't win a cup in my lifetime. Don't do that. I don't know if they'll win a cup. I'm trying.

What other options do I have, Jesse? I'm trying everything I got We're already at this octave Jesse I just want you to know That you've taken him there How long did that take? 8 seconds? It took about 8 seconds

Who's team? I walked in I haven't seen your video yet But I have heard it Because it was coming up On Jesse's computer And it almost split His speakers in half

With the octave levels I didn't realize That your voice was Capable of actually Going that high Fun fact Two speakers Are already split in half

Because there's two Separate speakers Wow So they're already split So, will we blame that on Steve, or has it already happened? Whatever, you nerd. Yeah, nerd. Nice Christmas sweater, nerd.

Thank you. Tell me more about audio, nerd. Leafs. What are you, a producer? Is that your ugly Christmas sweater? This is a Team North American jersey. Because the team was so awful that your sweater is ugly? I wear it because it snowed last night, and it's dangerous out there,

and people will be able to see me on the road because I'm wearing a bright orange jersey. That's right. Honestly, yeah. It does look kind of a little bit... Yeah, crossing guards. Yeah, crossing guard-ish. Dressed like Austin Matthews and Connor McDavid a couple months ago. That was the best team that nobody wanted to play on.

The best team that nobody wanted to play on? Like, because they said, you know, Connor McDavid in three more or three and a half years, I guess, when they do another one, he was like, yeah, I hope I get to play on Team Canada. Yeah, I told you. But he won't be old enough. Neither will Austin Matthews.

It just furthers the narrative that Connor McDavid wants nothing to do with teams that wear orange. It's obvious. It's very clear. Very, very clear. He'd rather play with the one with the leaf. I mean... Or if you're a Montreal Canadiens fan, the red and white.

Oh, or, yeah. What do you mean, if you're a Montreal Canadiens fan? You. Just say you. A fellow Montreal Canadiens fan. Yeah, a fellow Montreal Canadiens fan. Oh, right. I forgot.

I forgot. Fan to Canadien, Montreal, whatever the hell. That's right. You tell me. You're the French one. We have a ton to get to today, including... Can I announce it? Can we talk about it?

Have we talked about it? Well, it won't be a teaser by the time people hear it. Okay, so I guess we can say that. Oh, I say we say it. Okay, well, Elliot Friedman joins us. Yay! He's going to join us on the phone. We're going to call him just after we go to the download portion of this show,

which is amazing. You can get that at sportsnet.ca. But for right now, we need to talk about the Leafs and Coyotes game. I thought you were teasing something else. Oh, is there something about us? Also, we have a date and location for the new Hockey Night in Cinema. Well, that is also true. And a contest to tell you about.

Oh my, there's another one? That's all in the download portion. Oh my goodness. Can't get to any of that now. So you got to listen to me yell and scream for at least 45 minutes. Exactly. Exactly. So let's talk about this Leafs-Coyotes game.

No. Yeah. Like, no. I don't want to. We have to. I'm sorry. We have to. I don't want to.

It was... Good. It was good. Was it the best overtime you've ever seen? Man, it was up there. It was great. How many posts were hit in overtime in the shootout combined? The shootout was at least four.

Yeah. Yeah, and I counted, well, there was Hansel at the end of the game. Yep. Oh, no, no, no, Verbata. Verbata, it was Verbata. With, like, literally less than two seconds left. Which was insane. I can't believe it.

Freddie and him battled. Like, that was a battle. It was crazy. And hindsight 2020, I would have rather the game ended there. If Matthews scores the baseball bat pass from Nylander. Or any of the other three. Is that the best goal of all time? Is that goal of the year?

It's overtime goal of the year for damn sure. It's one of the goals of the year. And against his boyhood team That hand-eye stuff That they talk about, right? Rarely do you really get to see it In such a crazy way Only a guy like him could do that

Greg Millen made a great point It's not just that he hit it It was a fluttering puck On target I mean, yeah, you could hit it dead on But because it's fluttering, it could go anywhere He hits it right dead on And they're going, man, you know

Good on Mike Smith for the awareness I'm like, man, that thing hit Mike Smith. Mike Smith did not hit it. He happened to save that. He's lucky. Yep. He's lucky. Yep.

And we got to give our props to Freddie Anderson, who, you know, despite the fact that he faced less than half the shots of Mike Smith. Oh, the Shane Doan one? The Shane Doan. At the end of the game, Shane Doan wants that 400th goal so bad. Ah, he's not going to get it there. Freddie Anderson was like, no. And that we haven't seen.

I don't think we've seen Glove work like that since the Cujo Bell four years. He's been doing it all season, too. It's pretty remarkable. When you don't have it for a while, you really notice it. I think there's a lot of markets like New Jersey. I don't think to New Jersey that's a big deal because they had Brodeur and now they have Corey Schneider. But if you're a market like us that hasn't had the A-quality goaltending that we so needed.

I mean, James Reimer had spurts. Jonathan Bernier had spurts. Vesa Toskala did not You know We needed We haven't seen A goalie stand Like he stood

You know what's weird We grew up With the Leafs Depending on goaltending Yeah Felix Felix Oh good

Thank you for acknowledging him And I mean He was such an acrobat In the net Felix And then Curtis Joseph Was just Just Red Bull

Before Red Bull Yeah And even Ed Belfort You know He was pretty good At the end of his career Still an athlete Still real good

And very dependable for the Leafs, and then boy, was there a sharp drop-off. Very sharp drop-off for a long time. And yeah, Reimer didn't make the flashy glove saves, really, but he was exciting to watch.

His rebound control, boy, though. I'm kidding. I'm actually kidding. I'm actually joking. There were times. Sure, there were times. I think the rebound control thing for Reimer was a bit overblown, but Freddie Anderson is the best goalie we've had in a long, long time.

Most consistent. Let's say that. Most consistent. Who's been better? Well, okay. Reimer's 2013 season. Was good. Was really good.

Adam. Took him to the playoffs. Yeah, it was the reason they made the playoffs. Literally the reason. I thought it was Ryan O'Byrne, but okay. Jesse Spector, I mean, it's still... Yeah, Ryan O'Byrne. Jesse Spector, it's still funny that he did this,

and it's over the top. It'll forever respect him. He was the only writer in the Pro Hockey Writers Association to give James Reimer a heart vote that year. Wow. And now he ranked him fifth, which is the lowest you can rank him, but he was on the ballot.

He was on it. I remember when we were first starting the show, it was right after that season. It was. And we were talking about the Leafs who just roared out of the gate that year with Reimer and Bernier. It was Bernier's first year.

And they never really let up. No, they were good. A little bit towards the end of the season, that's it. Well, no, no, no. I'm talking about the non-lockout season. It was the season after, when we started the show. so what I'm talking about here is like we started at tail and we started the show

about a month after game 7 yes yeah okay sorry that's where I was confused so when we started the show the Leafs had roared out to a really really good start the next season it looked like they were going to make the playoffs again right up until I don't know the last month when they lost 10 in a row or something

the interesting thing about that was that was the first time we started to see articles on not just shots against but shot attempts and where the shots were kind of coming from in major publications. I remember Sportsnet magazine actually publishing an article talking

about James Reimer specifically and about the way the Leafs were playing and could they sustain all of these high risk shots that they were giving up and continue to outscore the competition and the thinking from the Leafs management at that time

was that they could and they did until probably what mid-February and then it just fell off. Wheels completely fell off. I don't remember if you were there, Adam, but New Year's Eve heading into 2014, I remember watching the Leafs beat the Bruins, and I think Kadri had a big night,

and I remember going, wow, I think they might actually make the playoffs again. They were well into a spot, and they were doing well. And I think that was maybe their fourth or fifth last win until my birthday in March. Yeah. How Habs fans felt last year. Like a legendary drop-off.

I don't know if I've ever seen that before. Was that collapse worse than Montreal's last year? It might have been. I don't think so, because Montreal was in first place. Fair. When you fall from first, I think that makes it more spectacular. You're 100% right. And especially the way Montreal started.

They were not just first place. They were first place with a bullet. They were in a situation where it was like, if they go five games under .500, They'll still end up with 95 points And they managed to go 20 games under That is very true Because their streak started

Like What like 5-10 games Before they even fell out of first Let alone the playoff spot This team though Okay we haven't mentioned Peter Holland yet No we haven't Was there another way that game could have ended

The answer is no but go ahead Well the way it should have ended was Austin Matthews scoring against his hometown team That should have been the way it ended It could have been the ultra good storyline For the Leafs, Auston Matthews scores It could have been another Heartbreaking storyline, which is

Leafs lose with less than two seconds Left in overtime After dominating overtime, by the way Yeah, but it couldn't It's not heartbreaking enough It's not the most heartbreaking outcome possible So Peter Holland has to win it in the shootout And of course he's the third shooter

Yeah Like Dave Tippett Definitely did that on purpose Oh yeah 100% Yes Because I mean brilliant move

Because If it doesn't work It doesn't work But if anybody knows the goalie Well and anyone knows the goalie But like if it does It's not just that it works It's the timing

Holland could have scored You know On the first shot Could have scored it on the second shot No it had to be the third Game deciding shot You know how good the Coyotes feel right now Really good

And they stink That is not a good team. And I think we saw that, which makes the loss even more frustrating. They need every piece of good news they can get. What a huge piece of good news. I wonder if they can ride it for a little bit. And there was three or four guys that could have put in that spot besides Peter Holland, and you would have been like,

yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, 100%. I mean, they've got so much young skill on that team. They really do. And I think, honestly, and no disrespect to the Coyotes, but what I see with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and I think this is going to come as a surprise to nobody, is there's these stretches of 10, 15 minutes

where they just break down. Like, you look at that first goal yesterday. It was Riley Zaitsev. And it was, when they actually scored it, I forget who scored the actual goal, but it was a pass from behind the net to in front of the net. And Riley and Zaitsev were not either behind or in front.

And Riley went for a walk. They were at the hash marks. Like, it was Anderson versus two, so it was a 2-0. Oh, and he makes that incredible stretch save. Yes. I couldn't remember if that was a first or second goal. That's happened to Anderson three or four times this season, where he's made an incredible save and the next shot goes in

because he's still down and out. No one's there. Nobody's there. Nobody's there. And you know what? I tweeted criticism of Riley, but I really liked Nick Kiprios' breakdown at intermission because it's, I mean, it's so easy to just look at the five, six seconds

leading up to the goal and go, well, here's what happened. And, I mean, Riley didn't look good on it. He still probably shouldn't have done exactly what he did, but it was a bad line change from Connor Brown. Yes. That kind of forced Riley to, I don't know, I guess I got to cover for both. But, I mean, when in doubt,

shouldn't you stick closer to your net? That would be, from everything I remember about playing hockey, that's exactly what you're supposed to do. I know, like, I don't talk X's and O's, really, but... Well, let the goalie, the point is to let the goalie see the shot. So if the shot's coming from the point, cover the guy who's down low, make sure he's tied up. Make sure he can't tip it.

Make sure he can't get in the way, get in the view. The Leafs have got to be one of the softest teams, like in front of their own net. Yeah. In front of the, and like, you know, you might say, well, it's because they got all these small guys and they're all offensively minded. Russians and Americans.

Yeah, you know, and all this analytics. So what they need is a guy like Eric Good Budskin in front of the net. Big and strong. Good Budskin. I'm not even talking about Get a big tough meanie To stand in front of the net I'm talking about tie him up a bit

You don't need to be the biggest or strongest To tie a stick up Tie him up for one more half second And one guy doing it Getting one guy who can do it Isn't going to solve the problem You need all six defensemen doing it You can throw out Nathan Gerby

As long as someone is there Physically there, no one's there Ever yeah you know like Polak I remember there was one in the Tampa game where he lost

a battle to Alex Killorn in front and I'm like big for nothing you know and I was all mad about it at least he was there yeah

at least he had a chance to stop it I know he didn't but oh my god this team is so frustrating well but we gotta look at the good side here

what's that first off the Roman Polak stretch pass to Mitch Marner which was beautiful I'm telling you

like there are little flashes where I'm like, why doesn't he do that more often? There was a little stretch this season where he was like jumping up in the rush and I like his shot. He can do stuff like what he did to Marner. Yeah.

There's little stretches where I'm like, where is that all the time? Yeah. Yeah. It drives me nuts. Well, and I think, I mean, first off, it's nice to see that he's got the confidence to do that because I don't think he was doing that last year.

I've never seen him do it. No. So it seems like they're allowing him to do certain things or he's just finding the confidence to do those certain things. The second thing is, I think, you know, when we look at, first off, Austin Matthews getting that first goal, Mitch Marner, you know, breaking his quote-unquote goal streak, which really isn't that bad. Well, it was 12 games, but, I mean, he was ridiculously hot before that.

He still got a couple assists. You know, it's fine. Rookies are going to do that. Totally fine. He still has eight goals. I mean, for his first year in the NHL, pretty amazing. Look at it this way. He went on that huge slump.

Still top five rookie scoring. Yeah. Yeah. I wonder. Matthew's too. You know, I just wondered to myself yesterday. I was watching the team and, you know, watching basically them fall apart after working so hard.

And I thought, this team needs to learn that it doesn't need to work so hard. Okay. So the reason they worked, they worked it in overtime, right? they were all they were flying they were all over the coyotes if they had taken some of that energy and pressed them at the beginning of the third period or or um shut them down or shut them down at the second you know you then have then you don't have to play that extra five minutes then you don't have to play that shootout they are working when they do work hard they they are untouchable especially in three on three which you know they just had a higher skill level

But I find that they have to work so hard to catch up with the dumb things that they did 10 minutes ago that it really, I think after a while, that would get pretty frustrating if you're a young player. Maybe that's the joys of dealing with young players. They're working longer and harder longer than they need to. If they would just sustain it and literally break it down, like break a period down into 10-minute segments.

No, with this team, five. Five-minute segments, fine. Okay, we got through the first five minutes. That was great. Let's keep it up. Let's keep it up. Yeah, they drive me nuts. So, you know, because that's what it is.

It's these lapses of 10 to 15 minutes, which is a really long time in a hockey game. But the rest of the time, they are absolutely flying. Like, look what happened with the Avalanche. I mean, same thing with Phoenix last night. Sorry, Phoenix. There we go. Arizona last night. They are out-shooting them, out-chancing them.

Not just, yeah. And some people were tweeting me like, well, maybe they're just gaming Corsi or whatever. Or they're taking shots that suck. No. You gotta watch the games, man. You have to watch the games. I'm gonna, from the analytics standpoint, gonna use watch the games on you now. They should've won the Minnesota game.

Yes. They should've won the Colorado game. Yes. They should've won this game. They're getting robbed. Robbed. And I mean, Freddie's doing his part too. Oh my god.

Oh my god. How did they lose any of those games? How'd they lose the Winnipeg game three games into the season? How'd they lose the Ottawa game the first one? Like, even that one you can look at and go, well, they choked. This one, well, and these three that I just mentioned, they were the better team in each of them. And it's okay.

They have a chance to get back on track on Saturday. Who are they playing? The Penguins? Ah, never mind. You don't think? You don't think they have a chance? Adam. Steve.

They're going to get killed. It's hockey night in Canada. It's the Penguins. The Penguins are averaging like five goals a game right now. Crosby has 21 in 24. Do you think he can keep that up? Do you honestly think he can keep that up? No, absolutely not.

He's shooting 27%. I want that answer to be yes. I want that answer to be yes. It's so stupid. Stamkos is already like, I think we talked about it last show, he's already cartoonishly stupid. Like an elite shooter in the NHL

shoots like 12, 13%. Crosby is at 15, usually. Stamkos is at 17, which is like so much higher than everybody else. Crosby is 27% right now. Wow. He's 78 shots. 21 of them are goals.

One was from behind the net. He can't sustain. Now, here's the thing, though. He's on pace for his lowest assist total, like, basically of his entire career. Because he can't get assists when he's the one scoring all the goals. So when his goals do eventually dry up a little bit, because they will, those numbers will go up. I don't think his actual scoring pace

is really going to slow down. No, I don't think so either. Like his points? I don't think it's really going to go down. So we're going to finally have someone crack 100 points again. Sure looks like it, doesn't it? And by the way,

missed the first six games of the season. Yeah, I was just going to say, didn't he have a concussion? Yeah, well, allegedly. Unquote, unquote, a concussion. I'm still not convinced. That it was a concussion? I think some people just need a rest.

Look At some point you gotta go We're the Pittsburgh Penguins We can afford to give Crosby Six games off No No They would never do that

I know But That's how good he's playing at them That I'm thinking Genuinely stupid things like that That's a stupid thought But look at them They're amazing

You said Hit 100 points again Patrick Kane did hit 100 points last year Oh he did Was it 100 on the nose? He was 106 Yeah but we don't acknowledge it So

How much time do we got? in the first segment. A lot of time. We had lots of time. Okay. Nothing but time. So here's what I'm worried about with the Leafs,

getting back to the Leafs. Someone asked me today, like, is Babcock like as good of a coach as we think he is? And I think he's a great coach. I think he's done a great job

with the Leafs, which makes his mystifying decisions more mystifying and more annoying. But here's what I worry about. They mentioned, I want to say it was on Sportsnet a couple weeks ago.

Babcock is trying to sell hope to these guys in the room. Yeah, you're losing some games, but look at all the good things you're doing. They've hit a real rough stretch, okay? Where they're just playing their brains out and losing all the time. They cannot beg for a win from the hockey gods or the demons. They can't beg for a win. And you got this Frank Corrado thing that is really casting a shadow now.

Like, it's starting to genuinely become a distraction. Is it? 100% For the players I got to imagine it is Because it's a thing before the game All the quotes come out It's a thing before the game

They talk about it during the broadcast and after They talk about it after the game And Mike Babcock actually addresses it And talking about You get in the lineup based on how you play What are you talking about? He hasn't played Mike I think he means in practice

Come on Mike You're that much of a genius like what what are you seeing in these practices out of all seven other defensemen that you're not seeing out of frankie is how what is he such a bad practicer that he gets one out of 29 games mike come on be reasonable what are you doing with this player then what would it be i don't know like i i gotta wonder if there's something behind the scenes because that's the only logical explanation other than Mike Babcock is simply unreasonable he's he's unreasonable Detroit fans have claimed that for a while like there were some players that Babcock really relied

on than players he wouldn't play that well like Mike Commodore has this huge grudge against him but like we're talking about a I can't speak for what he was in Anaheim because I don't remember but at the end of his career in Detroit like I mean that's a marginal player right so Babcock was trying to push him out. That's an older, marginal player who's, who can,

is struggling to still play in the NHL. And I don't think he did after that. Corrado is like a shade above a prospect. He's a young man. He's like, what, 23?

They're not playing him. They're not developing him. You can't get anything for him in a trade. So what's the point? You're, okay, Martin Marincin's now

out four to six weeks. Let's say someone gets hurt against Pittsburgh. You need someone to step in. You got Frank Corrado. How on earth do you expect him to step into the lineup and play competently? How do you expect him to play at the NHL level? I mean, I agree.

They're not setting him up for success if they're playing him in one of 29. No, therefore you're not setting yourself up for success because he's on your stupid team. Alternate side to that is if you believe that you, in your heart of hearts, that you are putting out the best lineup possible, if you put Corrado in the lineup and you don't believe that you're putting out your best lineup with him in the lineup,

then you are doing your team a disservice. Then there's a genuine disconnect between Babcock and management. That is my only other... What other assumption can I make? I think... Well, I mean, you can make that assumption. I think the other... I think the possibility there is that

they are exposing Hunwick and Polak as much as they can, i.e. what they did last year with Dion. there's also a thought that they claimed him for nothing they don't want to give him up for nothing they might not want to use him but they might just give him up or keep him for now

because it's an asset management thing it's a team policy management wise that they're not going to just blow assets out the door for nothing this guy has the patience of a saint that Chris Johnson tweet yesterday blew my mind Corrado wants to play but he'd prefer it to be with the Leafs

Like, we're talking about the patron saint of the Leafs being from Woodbridge. Yeah. I can't believe it. Is it correct to say that you're not as big a fan as Babcock as you were last year? He's, no. You know what it is? He's just been here longer. And, like, last year.

You start to see his idiosyncrasies. Yeah. Last year, there wasn't really a reason to be optimistic about anything I saw, really. other than they didn't like I went into the season expecting so little

and got so little yeah I know like they weren't even like young like the good kind of young that they are this year they were just

they were simply bad at the end of the season okay whatever but they were just bad across the board and I expected them to be bad

and I wanted them to be bad this year I've seen them be good even if they're losing Jesse I've watched them I've seen it

I've seen them be good we saw it last night we've seen it the last four games. I've seen them be good like 55 minutes a game on average. But if you watch Arizona for long enough,

you'll see them be good. Not for as long as I see the Leafs be good. You just, you don't watch Arizona enough. You're right. Maybe you're right. You talk to Arizona fans, though.

I know, yeah. They hate that team. They hate that team. The other option in your LFR was that maybe they're just not there yet. I was, well... And that just might be it.

Maybe they're just not there yet. Yeah. And we're expecting a little too much. The points to leave in on the board, Jesse, Yeah, but Steve, that's a part of it Because they're not good enough to get them

But how do you lose a 4-0 lead Without getting it first? Because they're not good enough They got a 4-0 lead They're not good enough to hang on to it There we go Their defense is not good enough I don't get it

And I said this before the season I said it multiple times Patience I didn't I said Personally, I'm like I don't think they're going to make the playoffs And I think they're going to frustrate the hell out of you this year

I said it and said it and said it Now wait though Sorry, so we got a little off track from um so Babcock is trying to sell hope not just to the fan base uh fan base but to his players he's trying to sell hope okay guys um you're you know you're doing all the right things out there you know I know the winds aren't coming but uh trust me winds are coming you guys are doing all the right things then there's this Frank Corrado thing that is becoming a distraction I mean we spoke about it enough like there's enough material on this story that we can talk about

it for a long time now peter holland comes to town and just makes him look like an absolute dick makes him look like a complete fool um now look look look no no jesse's giving me a look i am not saying peter holland should have been on the lease yeah i'm not saying i'm not necessarily saying babcock should have treated him differently i am saying it has to be personally embarrassing to Babcock that that is the that's what happened that's an embarrassing

way to lose you're the coach who wouldn't put the guy in the lineup I don't see it that way I really don't see it that way he's going to shoot that goal that's not a big deal

yeah Steve I gotta be honest but it had to be him Jesse but it's not he's not going on a 10 goal game streak you're looking at this you're a storyteller

you're a story guy yeah Mike Babcock is not a story guy Mike Babcock's a hockey coach so you gotta what about everyone in the street

hang on let me finish this let me finish this point he is not looking at it like that Mike Babcock doesn't give a damn who scored the game winning goal he doesn't care that much is obvious Adam so why do you think he's embarrassed by that

I don't think he's embarrassed I bet it was a little awkward in that dressing room after that game it had to be Peter if it's not Peter it's not much of an embarrassment but it's a guy that he shunned

the coach shunned And there's this thing with Frankie And there's this thing with Oh yeah you're doing all the right things And after four or five losses in a row You're like shut up Shut up I'm not saying he's going to lose the room

I mean that contract holy smokes Babcock's not going anywhere guys But This has not been I'm not saying anything is going to come of it I'm just saying this has been a terrible Two weeks for Mike Babcock It has been

As coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, it's been a terrible two years. I love you. I got to disagree with you there. I don't think it's been... Actually, I think if you're selling the hope, if he's selling hope, this is the perfect thing. This is perfect. What?

What is? Because they are playing really, really well. If you're selling hope... I'm in the dressing room, man. I'm telling you. The players. You don't think the players thought that was a little funny? I'm sure they did.

I'm sure they did. Absolutely. And you don't think they find the Frankie things a little ridiculous? I don't know how they feel about that. Because I feel like, and having played a little bit of competitive hockey myself, when people sit out, that's part of the game. And when coaches don't like players, that's part of the game too. And in that regard, it's kind of dog-eat-dog.

You're used to that. You're used to seeing that. You're used to seeing guys who are not good enough, guys who are cut, guys who are in the coach's doghouse. You're used to that. And most people I think at that level Are able to compartmentalize that

If every little thing like that Bothered you You wouldn't be able to function at the NHL level That happens everywhere Now I'm not saying it happens with Corrado This specific Corrado situation happens all the time Think of the trades, think of the signings Think of the contract negotiations

These guys are able to go Okay, business decision, hockey decision Compartmentalize, I gotta worry about me And playing my role on this team I really do You think people are that robotic? They're professional athletes They have to be professional athletes

They're not fans Guys, be reasonable Like, as if that is 100% the way they all think That whole 23-person room thinks that way I would say that is the prevailing thought That would be my guess Maybe, I hope so I hope that is

Because your option is Mike Babcock and nothing Steve, if this is enough If Frank Corrado is enough to throw off this Leafs team I'm just saying, but if Frank Corrado if this were enough to bug them then they shouldn't be playing at the NHL level they'll never win a cup I'm serious

it's not just Corrado what else is it though? man, I've been talking about it for the last 5-10 minutes you're selling hope, team's playing well wins are going to come you have an 18 year old who's leading your team in scoring how dare you, he's 19 I think that there

I think there really is a lot of hope to be derived from these past 5 games yeah you're no no sorry maybe i've made uh this maybe i've worded this poorly there's of course there's hope because they play great of course i think so i agree with that but i gotta wonder if it's just if there's a little bit of atrophy in the room like hey guys hope hey you know you played well you played well okay shut up mike shut up coach now here's babs over here you don't think they've had a couple conversations like that

over coffee at lunch but here's the thing when when you have a boss inevitably under your breath at some point you'll

you'll probably tell them to F off yeah maybe and when you start winning yeah that stuff goes away that's true and I think

when's that coming I know it's not Babcock he's not the one on the ice it's it's themselves that are sitting there losing the game

okay let me get a couple things out there one I do believe there's legitimate hope Two I don't think Any of this is his fault I'm just

Yeah So I don't think the players Are looking at him And saying it's your fault They know it's their fault They have to know that I just worry I worry that they might

You know why you worry? Why? Because you're a burned Leaf fan And I get it What option? I get it What else should I be? You don't have an option

This is how you've been conditioned And you know what? I get it But here's what I would say to you What? As your friend Who loves you Who brought James Reimer back

By the way Thank you In perfect working condition. It was in perfect condition. Oh, does it smell like Florida? Does it smell like tropical beaches? It does. Does it smell like Pitbull?

Why? Oh. I was like, did Adam give this to a Pitbull? Oh, the popular artist. No, no. Who's not popular? I would say that Steve. Who performed at a Walmart in Alaska?

This is a... This is my favorite. This is the beginning of the beginning. These three months... The beginning of the beginning. It is the beginning of the beginning. We are way too early to be worried about this stuff. This is a tough stretch.

These are NHL players. Like in life, you will have tough stretches. And guess what? That passes. You have to put one foot in front of the other, not to sound like your mother, but you do. And you must trudge on. They continue to play like this. They continue to outshoot their opponents by double.

They will absolutely 100% start winning games. I'll ask one more thing. Okay. so Corrado was just a quiet soldier this whole time right yeah

but now that he's talking and now that it's in Mike's ear and someone ratted him out to Mike publicly I wonder if they go really

our eighth when everyone's healthy our eighth defenseman is giving us a headache ship him out of town we'll figure this out with someone else

yeah you know I think you might be right there I also don't think I'm surprised that David Alter from The Athletic who got the interview

who's been on this show many times I was surprised that he was allowed to speak to him at all Corrado? well anyone's allowed to speak to them

I'm just surprised I've been in the dressing room I got to talk to Frankie I'm surprised you're not allowed it's no it has nothing to do with Alter

it's everything to do with Corrado's fed up I know oh no I'm just saying in the Lou autocracy I am very surprised

that Frank Corrado is allowed to talk to the media considering what's going on I'm surprised anyone's allowed to talk. Man, guys, I've been putting in video requests. I have ideas for fun videos to do with the Leafs, and they're all getting shot down. And it's not for lack of trying.

It's not for lack of trying. It's not the PR's fault. It's literally team policy. You know what? I genuinely hope the Leafs win a barn burner on Saturday night. You know why? More like a marn burner. A marn burner, right?

You know why? Because then I'm talking about how Babcock's a genius? No, no. Frank Garano gets a hat trick? No, just because I want to see you smile. Just because I know how deep this cuts you. Today, I could feel it. I could feel the tension coming off you.

I think it genuinely has an effect on me. I absolutely agree with that. When I had Steve up to the cottage to name groomsmen. groomsmen and they lost to the happy occasion for about five minutes they lost the chicago game which another game they should have won and i i i like i said jesse i he he got he was crushed he threw his phone across the room it's not even my cottage my parents cottage i was like wow it's a good thing they didn't hit anything we were also drunk we were also somewhat yeah and it was like it took a while of playing call of duty zombies before steve came back to us so we got

our Steve back. Does Steve care more about the success of the team than Mike Babcock? I don't know. Can I answer that? Yeah.

Babcock, oh, he's the head coach. They finished last place. Oh, that had to be hard for him. Oh, yeah, it had to be so hard for you, Mike.

I'm 28. You've been cheering for the Leafs to win for a year and a half. Try your entire life. I think it's yes. I think it is, yes. I don't know if anybody could care about something that much.

Yeah, did you care when they coughed up a 5-0 lead in the third to St. Louis? Yeah. All those years ago, Mike? No, you didn't. No, you did. Great seven, yes. Everyone in this room cares more. I remember that.

Great seven. Okay, so we're going to take a break here on Sportsnet 590. The fan, when we come back, we're going to talk about that Henrik Lundqvist-Cody Eakin thing. Yeah. Which was mind-boggling. And then, of course, on the download portion of the show, Elliot Friedman joins us to talk about Florida. I think he might have to be on the broadcast portion because we're supposed to call him in eight minutes.

Well, we'll be done in eight minutes anyway. Oh, perfect. I've timed it perfectly. I love that your video up in front of the beginning of that game was all about how that would happen. Like, I just think that's so perfect. It was awesome. You can pay Nick Kipros and Elliot Friedman whatever you want.

You can fly them wherever you want. I'm a Leafs fan! They are not going to learn any knowledge that I haven't learned through magic and voodoo. Have we started? Yeah, I think so. Okay, hey, let's talk about that Cody Eakin and Henrik Lundqvist. Yes, please God, let's escape the leaves.

We've got a ton of different ways to pronounce Lundqvist, our way. Grumblast. Grumblast? Yeah, Hank Grumblast. Is that how you do it in Swedish? No, it's just people keep telling me how to pronounce it, and I'm going to intentionally not pronounce it right. Let's call him Andrew. Andrew.

Henrik Dubqvist. So we saw the Cody Eakin, Henrik Lundqvist kerfuffle. I loved Friedman's breakdown on the broadcast last night where he just goes, I don't know what he was thinking. What could he possibly have been doing? I don't know, but it's the Lucic Miller thing from a few years ago because people kept bringing that up. Which, by the way, that's how good goalies have it

is we have to go all the way back there to think of a hit on a goalie that hard. Yeah. Like, I mean, at least Miller was way out of his crease. He was kind of body-to-body. Eakin followed through. He trucked Lundqvist, went right through him, and beamed him right in the noggin. I don't know what he was thinking.

It was a hit to the head. There's no question. It was a complete hit to the head. Like, if that was a defenseman, Eakin would be getting suspended. But this is not just a goalie. It's Henrik Lundqvist. And it's so funny how Lundqvist is now a topic on the show again, like he was last show, but for such a different reason.

Pitched a shutout, an amazing game. But now I'm going to talk about him like he's a star again. Because not only is that a goalie, it's a star goalie in this league. A well-respected player. I think Eakin's going to get the book thrown at him. Because it's not just about protecting goalies, and it's not just about protecting stars. Like, Eakin is going to be,

I think an example is going to be made of this young man. So by that, what's your, and this doesn't have to be based on any prior knowledge, what do you think he's going to get? Yeah, even if Eakin doesn't have prior offenses, which I don't remember, at least five games, I think. He targeted the head of a goalie.

Like, definitively. Like, conspiracy theorists are like, Gionta on Reimer. I mean, maybe. but like this there's no conversation to be had no he did

he beamed the goalie in the head behind the net if if there's a low watermark let's say Cody Eakin doesn't have

any prior suspensions and I don't actually know if he does or not if there's a low watermark where this many games is acceptable and this many games isn't is it five

or is it less than five like if he gets three are you going to be like okay it has to be I'd say three is the minimum minimum but it's lung fist add another two it's hank it's the king you gotta i i really cannot believe he did that no i it is it is it kind of defies any sort of explanation

other than he was in competitive mode and just did it and wasn't thinking and he probably wasn't thinking yeah um i i and how did no one no one on the rangers fought him no not one what happened yeah they're the broad broadway bullies like i i don't what happened to hockey like i know you could definitely argue like i don't know if you got a five minute major on that okay you got ejected yeah okay well there which is a automatic yeah five and automatic so you can say well don't bother doing anything because you're about to go on a five minute power play nuts to that he he creamed your 34 year old star goalie who is essentially your captain that is essentially the rangers captain i know it's ryan mcdonough but whatever

uh how do you how does nobody who's the who is the worst person on the ice like who is who is the least important to the team whoever you are whatever your strength is whatever your history of fighting in the national hockey league or any hockey league is go get him drop your gloves don't wait for him to drop his and start feeding his face but i guess that's not the game anymore doesn't seem that way uh it was like it was like a few nights ago did you see the argument well where are you gonna have you seen the arguments that it wasn't intentional stop who said so what are the what are the arguments is there anything that's sort of legitimate so egan wants to come in and put four check pressure behind the net thinking lundquist is going to play the puck

sooner lundquist stick handles a few seconds trying to lure egan closer to beat him with a pass egan thinks he can take the outside route around lundquist initially but has badly miscalculated because he leaps towards the boards that coincides with the moment lundquist drops his head and shoulder to shoot, resulting in a clear-as-day charge that knocks Lundqvist to the ground. This is from the SB Nation... Whose blog?

Oh, is this from... Galastar's blog, SB Nation. Oh, that's a friend of the show, I gotta say. I mean... Aaron Bolan. Who? Aaron Bolan. Yep.

I mean, maybe, guys. Maybe. But, look, okay. i don't know if that matters that much yeah like i i know when when i when i was hit in an intersection uh just down the street from here and someone totaled my car two years ago um they didn't mean to hit my car or total it but the fact was they hit my car and totaled it and it was their fault yeah but the argument could be like did you do something that altered their judgment and therefore kind of caused the accident.

Yeah. So, but again, it's a goalie and it's Lundqvist. Like, even if you determine it wasn't intentional, you got to give them at least two or three. Yeah, exactly. And you can't, I don't know in this case if you can prove intention,

but the fact is the event happened. You have to suspend that. There's no time to be Inspector Gadget, like in the moment. Like, if you're one of the Rangers, you have to go in and fill in that guy's face. You have to. Do you think Alan Vigneault had a talk with his players after that?

Yeah, because wasn't he a maniac on the ice when he played? Alan Vigneault? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. I don't believe it. It was like I was having an argument with Berkshire, who's written some great stuff recently, by the way, about the Emelin thing.

Explain that. So it was basically, I guess some people were getting on Emelin because he turtled from McGinley after that ridiculous hit on Colburn. a huge flipping hip check it's a 10-1 game in which his team is winning 10-1 and he lays a hit like that yes it's within the rules yes it's a 60-minute game yes he's allowed to lay that hit no you're not allowed to fight someone yes Aguinla was the guy trying to fight him yes it is true that Emelin has a plate in his face that he got in I think 2009 from a fight When he was in the KHL

So yes it makes sense That he would turtle From a fight But you don't understand What I mean Here You don't understand What I'm talking about

Where someone If you're gonna do Something like that There has to be A price to pay That's my boy You're messing with There has to be

A price to pay A price to pay for what It was a legal hit Stop Like you don't know What is coming Out of my mouth Stop

play you don't understand but Steve stop with the semantics but Steve and if he's such a delicate flower if this guy simply you cannot touch his face first of all he's a defenseman like how on earth is this guy allowed to play in the National Hockey League he gets a puck to the face it's over Johnny oh well it's such a low risk that that'll happen okay we'll tell that to Mark Stahl and tell that to Ian LaPerriere and tell that to Brian Burrard and tell that to Richard Zednik and tell that to Casey Zizekas from the other night and

tell that to Clint Malarich I can tell that to all kinds of guys stuff happens stuff happens out there and you can say well that's a freak

accident versus a fight look the fact of the matter is if this guy's face needs to be protected he should be forced to wear a full mask and

he shouldn't be doing ridiculous things like that yeah I don't know if a full mask would have protected him from from laying that hit

he still would have done it right no no but like I don't know I'm saying if you can't fight this guy if He's just... Yeah, yeah.

You know, I'll be straight. I wouldn't want to fight Jerome McGinley. Totally. Oh, no, I understand why. I'm not saying he should have. I'm just saying it's certainly not weird that McGinley wanted to. No.

And it's definitely weird that no one on the Rangers wanted to. Will people, and I know the New York media is tough on their teams, will people make a story of this? That nobody fought on his behalf? And does that mean anything? The more I read,

and the more I like observe Toronto's not the hardest media market out there. No, Montreal and New York I think are. Montreal, New York I think Vancouver is even harder Really? Yeah, I do I do. It's where goalies go to die and also

like they really the fan base is so split on what the team is management is obviously just out to lunch for what the team is If you go to the homepage of the New York Daily News and you hit sports the first thing that

pops up is Mets mailbag and now we wait what's going to happen to Cespedes so it didn't even make the so it didn't even make the Daily News website well listen, if you're a Mets fan here's the answer, you're not winning you're a Mets fan

you're not winning, that's the end of the end of story, Cespedes will probably even if he plays for you, you will still not win, you're a Mets fan it's two it's two great stories in one One, he got hit, and there's your negative story. Two, shutout after getting sad for four straight games. Yeah, but baseball in New York, man.

Baseball in New York. Well, I mean, it is December. I know, you're right. You're right. It's perfect. Like, aren't the Rangers one of, like, three teams in this league that turn a profit? If you scroll to the bottom, I found it. Right before the end of the page, it says,

Lundqvist returns, Rangers shutout stars, and 2-0 win. Oh, good. Well, glad that squeaked in there. Weird. Hey we gotta go On Sportsnet 590 When you download us At sportsnet.ca

You will find An interview with Elliot Friedman Which we are about to do Right now Which is very exciting Because I know You're just dying

For more Florida Panthers The show has brought you by Exactly Panago Pizza It is what is on the inside That counts Give the gift of Gretzky 99 stories of the game

By Wayne Gretzky First he rewrote The record book Now he's written The story of our game To mark the NHL's 99th anniversary, Gretzky looks back on the last 99 years and tells us, from his point of view, about the NHL's most memorable moments. We already know what he means to the game. Now, he shows us what the game means to him. From hockey's fierce early battles on natural ice, through its mythical Golden Era, where Hal, Richard, Beliveau, Hall, Orr, and Esposito defined greatness.

Through the unforgettable dynasties in Montreal, New York, and Edmonton, and the success stories of today's NHL, Gretzky takes us onto the ice and into the dressing room to share never-before-published stories about the great players and great characters who have inspired him. Head over to your local bookstore today and to cross another person off your list this holiday season. All right, we've got a couple of big announcements.

Elliott Friedman is, we're going to call him and try him again. We tried him once, it didn't go through. doing important Elliot Friedman things I can only assume yes Elliot Friedman will be on

but we need to talk about a couple things Cespedes not Cespedes no we need to talk about how Kevin Durant praised the Knicks that he had no time for

is that a headline that was a headline in the air post is that Elliot yeah he said give me two give me two alright

so we got two we got two announcements gentlemen first one Steve I'm going to let you take this one oh which one is this

this is the Hockey Night in Cinema are you ready now wait Let me make sure I got the right date Because I'm not a smart person The date is January 14th Thank you, okay, good

So the date is January 14th In what grand Canadian city Will Hockey Night and Cinema travel to? Will it be Toronto? We've never been to this city before Will it be not Ottawa or Toronto? So it won't be Toronto, it won't be Ottawa We're staying in Ontario though

So it will not be Montreal It will not be Montreal Or Vancouver Sorry dad Sorry dads How do you say Oh Mont Frere

Hockey night in Canada Won't be in Montreal I think it's Mont Frere Mont Frere Did you say Is that your mom and dad Mont Frere Mont Frere

Is it Frere brother Oh I don't know You took it to grade 10 I don't know Did you say Did you say Hockey night in cinema Won't be in Montreal

Yeah C'est dommage I don't even know What that means I think it's too bad Oh Zoot Zoot hello

Get ready Cause Hockey Night in Cinema Is coming to London, Ontario Home of the London Knights Wow Jesse can you pull up Marn's Old Barn

Marn's Old Barn That's right Who were the Leafs playing that night I don't remember That's why I want to check Where in London You're going to like this The only place in London

Yeah the only place in London That tiny hamlet Worth having a huge party at I mean if we're going to go to London This is the place to have a party Literally one of the most notorious party schools in North America That's right it will be At Western University

That's right Apparently they got their own cinema there Which I didn't know Ottawa Senators January 14th Now we can tell you not only will there be free pizza Which I mean that's a good thing But

At that particular time we will be giving away London Nights tickets what? yeah so there are going to be some giveaways there there are going to be

a whole bunch of other things the way to sign up is Eventbrite we've got a link for you Steve is going to tweet that out at some point tonight I'm going to say as soon as the show is released

maybe yeah I think so yeah so as soon as Jesse posts the show Steve will tweet the link and we'll all retweet but this is an important

distinction over the last time so here's what we've we found is that we Everybody that wants to come has to sign up on their own And the reason for that is We want as many of you to Be there as possible

So when you have It's amazing because it signs up really quickly And all of a sudden We fill the list in 12 hours But the problem is that sometimes life happens And we understand that Man, if you get two or three tickets You're not doing anything that I wouldn't do myself

Yeah But now you have the option of Okay, so I can't go Or I was going to go with my friends We all have to register And I can't go So I'm going to relinquish my ticket So somebody on the waiting list can

And that way you don't have to It just takes the headache out of Oh my god, can you message Or can you retweet this I have an extra ticket to Hockey Night in Cinema Someone can take it You know what I mean So you don't have to worry about that anymore

London, Ontario, January 14th It's going to start at 6 o'clock I believe doors will open at 6, 6.30 Someone there, we'll clear that up Yeah, that's usually how it works It'll be on the Eventbrite page, and use the hashtag HockeyNightInCinema, because when you do, you show up on the Eventbrite page, and we just want to fill that sucker up. Beauty.

Hashtag HockeyNightInCinema. When do you think this podcast is going to be up, Jesse? Eastern Standard Time. 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Wow, okay. So, I will tweet the link after this has been up for a few hours, okay? Okay. So, it's not just the first people.

Maybe after dinner, like 7.30? Something like that, yeah. Cool. Something like that. Let's make a time. Well, no guarantees. I got stuff to do tonight. Sure.

Let's say seven. Seven because people will be tuned into their whatever. I'm just excited to live like 17-year-old Nazem Kadri for one night. In London. In London. Oh, my God. I would love to know what living like 17-year-old Nazem Kadri was like. Or Mitch Marner or anybody that ever played there ever.

I'm on the radio. It's not quite that, okay? Yeah, it's better. It's way better. Are you kidding me? So we're going to call Elliot Friedman in a second. He said any time. He's getting cantankerous.

We will call him in just a second. The other thing I want to mention to you is right now we have Leafs tickets to give away. Leafs tickets. And because I'm a bad person and because I've been working all morning, I can't remember what fucking game. I cannot. I knew. I don't even know. I had it in my head and I've lost it.

Okay, well, if you're sitting there wondering or demanding to know who they're playing, then you don't deserve the ticket. We want you to be such a big fan. Coyotes. Good enough. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to post the actual contest info on our Reddit page. But for now, all you need to know is there's Leaf tickets in the next couple weeks. And what we're going to do is this.

This weekend, I want you to write a poem about the Steve Dangle podcast, including Steve, Jesse, myself, and Panago Pizza. And it has to be in the vein of Twas the Night Before Christmas. Oh. So, you're going to write these up, post them either on a red... No, no, email. Email. You're going to email them to us.

You're going to write these up and you're going to email them to stevedanglepodcasts at gmail.com. We're going to pick our favorite three and we're going to go through them, count them down, and then, of course, number one will win

and then number two and three will win some Pentagol gift cards. Whoa. So you'll at least... Yeah, so we at least have some bronze and silver medals for people. In the form of a wheel. Two pops and a wheel.

Right? A couple pops and a wheel. Yeah, a cold pop and a wheel. Oh, my God. I hate when people say that. I hate that. Adam Wilde, enemy of the everyman. SteveDanglePodcast at gmail.com.

That is what we want you to do. And we're going to read these out. We're going to read these submissions out. So be as funny as possible. You don't have to make it as long as Twisted Night Before Christmas. I just said in the vein of. It has to include Steve, Jesse, and myself and Panago Pizza. When's the deadline?

We are picking a winner on Tuesday. On Tuesday. So you don't have a lot of time. Yeah. Especially if you've got finals. And maybe try to incorporate, I don't know, the fact that the Leafs keep giving up goals at the wrong time or that Steve's a little bit frustrated

or anything that you want. Get into this. You've got to be like Toronto's hockey team and make me laugh. Get it? Make me laugh. You see, because the Facebook...

Oh, wow. Monday at midnight will be your deadline. That's when I'm going to start looking. Oh, Professor Blake. Yes, yes, yes. If you don't get them in by then, you're getting a failing grade, class. That's my teacher voice. That was your teacher slash Richard Pryor doing a white person voice. This voice is how I'm going to talk from now on.

Is that every impression of a white person, by the way? No, that is specifically Richard Pryor's. I saw some Richard Pryor last night. I feel like they're stealing it from Richard Pryor. Okay. Yeah, well, that wouldn't be new. I mean, a lot of people steal stuff from Richard Pryor. no his is like

he kind of makes his mouth a little smaller come on can't get him I don't know Elliot just does not want to talk

to us what if he's doing this on purpose he's like I'm gonna fuck with these guys hey Steve

fuck you we called again LOL he just sent a picture of his dick wow hey Steve

fuck you this is Elliot Freeman of Hockey Night in Canada if this is Dan Google fuck yourself I would like to see Elliot Freeman just throw up

just like a couple middle fingers because I didn't know you could call that. Yeah. Hello? It's Elliot Freeman calling. Elliot Freeman, you've reached the Steve Dangle podcast. Is that good or bad?

It's great. We thought you didn't like us, actually. I got no issue here. We were expecting your voicemail to change to be like, no Steves. Don't call if you're Steve. I mean, Kiprios already very obviously doesn't like me. I saw the TV. I can't hear what you're saying.

Oh, you can't hear what he's saying? Oh, here we go. That would be my fault. Go ahead, Steve. Hello, Elliot. Now I can hear it. I knew it. This board is configured in a weird way, okay?

It's not my fault. Yes. Well, first of all, I guess let's start nice and easy. How are you, sir? I'm good, Steve. How are you? I'm a Leaf fan, so that's unfortunate. But other than that, I'm good.

Elliot? Yes. This is Jesse Blake. Hi, Jesse. What did you eat for breakfast this morning? I actually had a chopped egg bagel and a coffee. Oh, that's a good breakfast. Why did you ask that question?

What did you have in your coffee? I drank my coffee black. The correct way. Yeah, so does Jesse. I put crap in it. I now have an inane question for you. How hilarious was it? Are we being recorded right now?

You bet. How hilarious was it? yesterday when Steve did that video for you guys on Hockey Central saying it has to be a former Leafs scoring tonight and Kipper sort of dismissed it and said that Steve's segment should be sponsored by Excedrin, which I thought was a good line.

And then you came on and you're like, yeah, that's the life of a Leafs fan and then it actually happened. Is anybody surprised? The moment he took the pocket center ice, he knew he was going to score. 100%. With Nikita Soshnikov's move, too. Well, I don't know

if anybody predicted that, but Yes, I think we all predicted Holland was going to score at that particular point in time. So now, we've got to wait to see who Frankie Corrado ends up with and how he beats them in the shootout. Do you think that's going to happen? Because, I mean, I did something on free Frank Corrado, then Chris Johnson did something, and you did too, and it was all in a 24-hour span a couple weeks ago.

Do you think this guy's on the move? i'm curious to see how they're going to react about the fact that he finally spoke out about it that's that's what i'm wondering about like he's been a really good soldier and he's kept his mouth shut and yesterday he finally said something and i thought the question to babcock whether now i didn't see who asked it or or how it was asked but either the questioner misconstrued what corrado said or babcock misunderstood the question but whenever somebody says something, I'm always curious to see how Lou Amorella was

going to react. Do you think that, and Steve mentioned this earlier in the show when you weren't on, he said their eighth defenseman is giving them a headache. Do you think it's surprising that Frank Corrado's allowed to speak to the media at all? No. I think that Frankie's done

the right thing. He's kept his mouth shut for over a year. I think he's been very good to them in that sense. I think it would have been easier to complain a lot sooner than this. And what are you going to do? You're in a dressing room.

If a media member walks up to you, it's your choice whether to talk or not. And Corrado decided he would not say anything for a long time. And, guys, like, there's no coincidence to the fact that it happened on the same day that Peter Holland returned with Arizona. Same agent. Same agent. And also, if you're Frankie Corrado and you saw this guy, he was basically banished from the team. He gets traded finally, and in his first game, he gets two assists.

And in his second game, although it hasn't happened yet, he scores the shootout winner. Like, you don't think Frankie Corrado's sitting there and saying, boy, it would be nice if I got my opportunity. Like, there's no coincidence in that. So what do you think is going to happen? What's the likely outcome, given the personalities involved? Babcock, Lula Amorello, Brandon Shanahan, anybody else that might have a hand in this? and Frankie Corrado's agent, obviously.

Do you think they have a similar conversation with Lou and say, listen, it's time to make a move here? Or have they already had that? Adam, I think that conversation has happened a long time ago. The only thing I think that changes here is that Corrado talked. And now, you saw what he said. He said, obviously, Babcock does not like me as a coach. He doesn't like my game.

He said that he gave Lammarello credit for perking him up a little bit at times. And I think it comes down to one thing. Does Lammarello or Babcock say that, okay, now that this guy's talked, let's get him out of here? And that's the only variable that changes in all of this, as far as I'm concerned. Pretty big variable, though. Yes, it's a large variable. It's like your mortgage. You feel it.

So, I know you're just dying to talk more about the Florida Panthers. Yes, I am. So, I guess a little bit of context. So, we're on the online portion, so I can talk about Bob McKenzie now. He went on quite the rant yesterday. Did you hear it, Elliot? Yeah, somebody said it to me, so I heard it. He's getting pretty fed up with all of this.

So, what did he say? You've got to contextualize this for anybody that didn't hear it. I know he said, we're not making this stuff up. And we've got to rewind it a little bit here because Darren Drager reported that Dale Tallon's duties had been increased. Did he not? Yeah, they had changed and then I think you said they hadn't? Well, no, this is how it works. Okay, good.

So Darren comes out with the report that Dale Tallon's kind of back in charge or back in charge. so you know i got no reason to disbelieve darren he's a good reporter and he's right about most things so i start checking around to see what's what's up and i sent a text to the owner vinnie viola one of about 10 people i sent text to or called and he called me back and he said no change and so and i and you know the the panthers aggressively pushed back not only with me but with chris johnston and their local media uh george richards and harvey field cops and so i know what that's like when you're in darren's shoes when like for example i remember you know a couple years ago when i was reporting that tim liwicki was going to be out at mlse there were

some people who put that push back pretty aggressively and i know what that's like you're sitting there no you're right but you start doubting yourself and then people start calling you a liar or wrong and uh you know it's not a great position to be in so i think bob's rant was as much about defending his teammate as anything else you'll hear at the end of it he said look we don't make stuff up so he was defending i think one of the reasons bob was so demonstrative and angry was because he didn't like the the heat that darren was under which i get believe me i get i don't think darren was wrong i think what happened here is something definitely happened in that organization the ground kind of shifted and dale was asked to

get back like dale was he was like i'm fed up with this i don't nobody listens to me i'm on the outside whatever and i think they went to him and they said we need you to be more active come back can be more involved because we need to fix what's going on here and so it got out and i think the team was a little bit embarrassed i think they would have preferred it didn't come out and their point is saying look like dale's title has never changed right and that's and it's a bit of semantics but that's what they were doing and you know but i do think there's no question that dale's influence, which was waning as recently as a week

ago, has now grown back a bit stronger. Is that because of the last 10 games, and they've gone, what is it, 2-3 and 3? Yeah, 2-3 and 3 in the last eight. Well, actually, after last night, I think they're 2-7. They've lost 7 of them. Whoa. But four of them are in overtime or

a shootout. And you know, I remember, like, I'll play a story, guys. I remember a couple years ago, I was eating dinner with some friends, and a guy came up to me, and he said, so-and-so is over here and he's going to be buying a team and he talked to you for a second and i said i was introduced i said hello and um you know he said to me do you have any advice and the one thing i told him was i said i i don't like it when like really wealthy successful people

ask me for advice because i'm not wealthy and i'm not successful like them so i i said to him I said to him, look, the one thing you're about to learn is people should care more about your business because it's more important, but they won't. They'll care more about your sports team. You can make all the mistakes you need to make in business, and 98% of the time, nobody's going to notice, and nobody's going to make a big deal about it, and nobody's going to care. but if you screw up your sports team get ready because you're going to get a public monsoon that you've never seen before and vinnie viola's going through that right now this is the first time he's probably ever seen anything like this in his life um you know he's had a pretty famous book written about him by michael lewis the guy who wrote moneyball that's right it's not it's

nothing like this and i'm sure he's going through the ringer right now and everybody's telling him what a terrible job he's doing and how dumb he is which he isn't and he's saying wow like I've never been through this before and you know that's what's kind of going on he's sitting there and saying I'm in the eye of the storm how do I get out of this and if I'm going to help ask Dale Talon to get me help the one thing I don't know here guys is if Dale Talon was to walk into his office tomorrow viola's office and say i've got a six-player trade that i think can fix us can he do it that i don't know who can is there ultimately it's the owner's call right but some owners are like okay if you tell me this we'll do it like i know there's like

a couple weeks ago there was a player i heard became available and he is like an owner's favorite the owner loves him and i said can you trade this guy and because i heard the owner likes you and actually it was not a couple weeks ago it was a while ago it was a year ago and and the uh and the g and the gm in question said yes you're right my owner likes him but he said he leaves it to me he says if you really think this is a move we need to make fine i won't like it but fine and it hasn't happened because he never got a deal he liked. But the fact is some owners say

you're in charge, but you don't surprise me. And other owners are like I've got to know everything. And I think Viola is in can't be. Okay. Very neat. So you put us in 30 thoughts last week, which is

crazy. Well, you guys did a good podcast with us. I didn't even know we made it. That is like, wow. Adam's been on vacation. That's amazing. He didn't even know. He found out just now.

Awesome. I guess they don't have the internet where you went. Yeah. Ironically, Elliot, you know where he was? Florida. Oh, yeah. They don't have the internet in Florida. No, they don't.

I mean, there are some things that happen there. Or a stable hockey team. World star. World star. So you listened to that, I assume, the whole thing. Yeah, I listened to this part. Yep. What were your

Wow Elliot's just dropping A hot fire on us right now Keep going What were Did you learn anything from it? Oh yeah I learned

I thought the whole Like I thought the whole idea About the About the structure Was interesting I really I enjoyed that bit

You know I thought it was good He came on Like if there's One thing I've learned About the Florida Panthers In the last month is These guys are not afraid to answer questions You know, Tom Rowe came on and did it

And Doug Seifu did it with you And Vinny Viola called me back this week And a lot of owners wouldn't have Like, these guys don't run away And I do respect that See, I guess that was the confusing thing for me Because people were asking so many questions about the team But that was it

they were asking the questions and then that was kind of the end of the dialogue and these guys are actually pretty easy to get a hold of which I found kind of strange and one thing I've kind of been talking about a bit and Bob obviously touched on it in his rant

do you think a lot of people in we'll call it the industry feel like they have a personal they have a dog in this fight what do you mean by that? Do you mean the analytics versus non-analytics? Not even analytics versus non-analytics,

but some people, I think, feel like the Panthers represent the way they want hockey to go and also the way they are threatening the way they want hockey to be. You know, well, you are talking about analytics. Yeah. So why didn't you say yes when Adam brought it up? How come you had to talk circles around it? I don't know, because I try to be smart.

Elliot's just coming in here slapping everybody. Well, he treats me nicer than Kiprio did on the air yesterday. But you know what, Steve? I think that's gone both ways. Oh, 100%. 100%. Like, look at this. Like, first of all, to me, the whole analytic versus old school debate is the stupidest debate ever.

Like, it really is. It's childish. It's immature. All the two sides do is bait each other. like if i was running a team i would want to know that my team my hockey operations department was doing everything it could to win everything and if and to be honest like i think there's a lot of teams out there that do use analytics but i'm not sure they're using the analytics that we use or that people on the internet use like you know scotty bowman used to do uh keep stats of

who won puck battles and when you shot the puck into the corner did you get it did our team get it what happened like so i think teams have been using different tools all the time like i know vancouver under the mike gillis administration one of the stats that they really believed in was how much you had the puck in the offensive zone and and they didn't just track shots they track actually how much time you had with the puck because la a team always that gave them trouble was a team that always had the puck in the offensive zone so i think that there's a team doing this stuff but they're not necessarily doing this stuff that we keep track of on twitter or on the internet and i think that's one of the problems they like when babcock goes off on his

Corsi thing yesterday about Hunwick and Polak, he's saying that there's things I value and that there's things that people online value, and we don't value them the same way. And I think it's tough to argue with a guy who's won a Stanley Cup, a World Junior Championship, a Canadian University Championship, a World Cup gold medal, and two Olympic gold medals. Like, you know, when he says I believe a certain way, it's tough to argue with him. So I think this whole thing is stupid and people just bait each other and I really don't pay a lot of attention to it anymore. What I think that has happened in this case, I think there is an issue with the Panthers doing it differently. I do think there's a segment of the media that doesn't like that.

Absolutely. And also, and I say this myself, I like Dale Talon. And I like Gerard Gouin. and i've known uh mike kelly the assistant coach who inspired there i met him when i was 18 years old and as a student at university of western ontario when he was the assistant coach there and i like those guys and but i don't think but i think there's a lot of people who like dale and i think that that does you know we always give the benefit of the doubt to people we like and i you know i always try to be fair and i always try to bend over backwards but i do think

that the guys who got kind of let go in florida weren't as well known as the guys or were much more well known as the guys who were there and yes i do think that plays a role but conversely guys i also feel that there are people on on hockey twitter i guess sure who would trash an nhl team that was doing this, but bend over backwards for the Panthers because they're doing it the way they like it. So I think the biases go both ways. 100%. Because it confirms their point of view.

Elliot, what I want to know, and this to me is the more interesting question in the Florida Panthers situation. In any sport, you have owners that have personalities. You get your Jerry Jones in Dallas. You've got Dan Snyder in Washington in football who, like it or not, he's a personality. Um, you know, you've got personalities in, in baseball, the Steinbrenners, uh, you've got it all over in the NHL from what you've seen with guys, owners that are, are involved,

got their hands in everything and owners who are not, um, what teams on the whole are more successful? What kind of ownership groups do they have? Are they ones that take a hands-off approach and let the hockey people do the hockey things or are they the ones that are in it and involved and learning? What, what do you think? You know, Adam, I think that question is impossible to answer 100% one way or the other. And, like, I'll look at it this way.

You know, Vancouver has an owner who's very active, the Aquilini family. But there have been times they've been very successful, and there have been times they haven't. i think what so like like like san jose like doug wilson has a very autonomous position there their owner he rarely meddles and they do great camp of a chef vinick their owner rarely meddles steve eiserman has a big stick there and they generally do very well detroit you can argue that they've been the most successful team in the last 20 years 25 years um the Illich's almost never meddle and they do great and New Jersey which won their three Stanley Cups they never meddled and they did great for a long time so I think there's an

argument to be made for let your experts do what they're supposed to do but there have been teams who've been successful with a meddling ownership. I just don't think it lasts as long. That is the fairest, most Elliot Friedman thought out answer. It's so nice not to have a hot take. It's cut and dry.

You're right. The question would be impossible to answer. I appreciate the fact that you went to that length to try to answer it anyway, though. I appreciate that. Well, you know, I try to limit my hot takery because, you know what? I'm a big believer in save your bullets.

If you have hot takes all the time, people get sick of them. So you've got to just have the right moment when you really believe you have something, which in my case is about once every six years. Here's something I've wondered aloud a couple times. Dale Tallent has one of the best resumes out there in terms of present-day NHL and management and everything. If this situation is such a headache

Don't you think he could just leave? Because wouldn't someone scoop him up instantly? You know, that's a great question, Steve A year ago, almost I heard he was going to Vancouver Like, this situation was brewing And, you know, I heard he was going to go When Vancouver was kind of going through struggles

At the end of last year The word was that he was going to go there and he was going to move in between Trevor Linden and Jim Benning. And I heard it a lot of different places. And don't forget, he's got a connection with Vancouver. He was their first ever NHL draft pick. Wow. Yeah.

Wow. Yeah. But it never happened. Trevor Linden told me, I keep hearing this rumor, but it's not true. And it hasn't happened. so you know and i you know when las vegas came up there were rumors that he was going to be on the list for vegas and i don't think he ever got interviewed so i don't know like you would think you know he did a great job in chicago he set them up to win a stanley cup although he didn't

win one there he really stabilized florida and got them going again but to this point and like the secrets it's not exactly a secret in the industry people know that he um you know people know that he is available or wants to leave but it hasn't happened that's all i can tell you i have heard that he's just kind of comfortable doing what he's doing i don't believe that no okay no like you know like he had a vision there and it's not the vision that's shared by current ownership and I don't there's no way he liked Branson getting traded and there's no way he liked Jared Gallant getting fired and there's no way he liked the training staff getting let go and stuff like that I I don't believe that I think if uh now do I think he necessarily wants to

like how old Dale he's got to be in 60 something maybe he doesn't want to be grinding the way a guy has to grind but i think he'd like i don't think he enjoys this um there was a report uh out of the province in vancouver i think it was jason botchford he said that he reported that dale talent did try to trade good branson before he kind of had his his role changed did you hear anything to that effect yeah i think i don't think jason's wrong i think that the conversation was pretty accurate, but I think that, I don't think he would have made the deal that

they made with Vancouver. Okay. Fair enough. When do we get to stop talking about them? Hopefully soon. Hopefully at the end of this interview. That's not going to happen. I'll tell you this,

and I kind of alluded to this last week in my blog that Adam didn't read. i always read it i always read it you always sometimes read it but but i i think that the thing that bothers the nhl the most is that florida as an organization has been a tire fire for the nhl for a long time and they looked at it last year and they were like all right this is one last headache we have now and now you're looking at it and you're going um what do we got here yeah and i think that's the concern for the nhl is do we have a problem

that we thought we were rid of so i think that's the way the league looks at it and i think that's but i think the other thing too here guys is that i'm just curious to see where this is all going to shake down at the end of this year like when when the season's over whether the panthers are in the playoffs or they're not in the playoffs whatever happens to them

that's the question when they get some time to really breathe and see how things shake down where are we and I think

that's going to be the big question man this team is too young and too talented to be going through all this stuff to me

I don't know it's just there's so many great young players on this team for them to have these problems and I would

probably agree with that but let me ask you something Elliot try to go back in time mentally here

Let's pretend Nothing happened Gerard Gallant Is still the head coach Mike Kelly's still The assistant coach Yeah And over the last

I don't know Eight games Nine games Whatever it was They have the exact Same record It's two three and three Or whatever it was

Yeah Do we even bat an eye I think you bat an eye Because the team's Not doing well Right I mean that's not Catastrophic though

It's certainly not good But like it's not Uncommon for a good team To go Like to get Two wins in that stretch I think the problem this year is If you're doing the math

Right The The margin of error in the Atlantic Division Is really small Because you're looking at the Metro Okay you're looking at the Metro And you're like Guess where the wild cards are coming from

Both Metro probably Yes yeah Like barring collapses You think it's all coming from the Metro so if you're in your and that's you know that's

the problem for the Maple Leafs too if you're in this division your margin for error is really small

you gotta get one of the top three spots yeah yeah good times you know I love it

Elliot Freeman you know we'd love to see you in person but the fact that we got you on the phone mid-season

is amazing and we so appreciate that well you know what my wife says Adam the less you see me the more you like me is is there is there one more thing you would like to say about the

situation before putting it to bed you know i think the one thing i would say about those guys is in florida like i said i know a lot of those guys who i used to be in florida the guys there now like to me it's like keep an open mind um in the sense that you know i'd like i would like to see if this works um in the sense that you know the way they're building a team we've all heard arguments about whether or not this could work and why it can't i'd like to see if it actually took. That's what I'm curious about. Now, the only other thing I would say is that if I was Vinny Viola, I think I saw John McDonough give a speech a couple weeks ago, and it was an awesome speech. He said, since we got to Chicago, we've gone from a rotating door

of GMs and coaches to consistency. You have to make a plan, and you have to stay with it. I think that's what Florida has to do. Make your plan, stay with it. Do you think the Leafs will do that with their current defense core? No. I think eventually they will make changes to that. If they had, like the dumbest thing I were to say,

But if they had Ekman-Larsen Like we were watching Last night I want You know How much better It would seem

If they had one guy Like that One guy One guy It's literally one guy But then it's How do you get How do you get

An Oliver Ekman-Larsen Well that's the problem Look what Look what Edmonton Had to do to get Adam Larson Right Yeah

Yeah They didn't even have To pay for the Ekman there Oh Wow You see because Elliot Freeman Steve do you have

any more questions are we good that was that was etc that was etc yes

absolutely hey Elliot thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to talk to us and you know what we hope to get you

in the studio at some time I'm sure that'll be in the summer time but you know we love you and really truly appreciate

what you're making time for us and what you had to say today alright we'll do it after the season guys sounds like a plan Thanks, Freed.

Bye. It's been my pleasure, guys. Take care. Elliot Freed, he wants the same thing I want. He wants Oliver Ekman-Larsen. Yeah. So do I. No, I'm not even talking about the Leafs.

I'm talking about to watch this thing play out. The games, the hockey, the fun. Yes. Remember that? Remember all of that? Gams? Hmm? Play some gams?

Play some gams? Run some shell? All summer. He just wants to run some shell. sometimes in Chell you have pain and sometimes you have pen you have pen

okay okay maybe this is the perfect time to bring this up when we were at your house Steve oh this wasn't on the show I don't think so what happened I thought this was on the show

me Steve and Jesse were talking about we were just talking or whatever and Jesse got Jesse got a little antsy and he was and he wanted to play NHL

and we were both like ahhh and Jesse's like fight me at Chell bitch and then we thought we thought that that would be a really great YouTube series

called Fight Me a Chow Bitch and so basically Jesse challenges people to play him at NHL. Yeah, but like in the street. Like he just walks

up to an eight-year-old and like shoves him. Fight me a chow bitch. Just fight me a chow bitch. Friedman. Sorry, we just went from really great

interview with Elliot Friedman to that. I know. That's our show. Hey, maybe this is a great time to bring it up. In retrospect, no.

Sorry. Sorry. I love you, buddy. That was, man, that It was really enlightening. I did not know the Vancouver thing. Or maybe I did know and forgot. I didn't know the Talon connection to Vancouver.

I don't think that's widely known information. I don't think so either. I bet Vancouver would have been like, sure, we'll take him. He talked about Lyndon shutting down those rumors. So, I don't know. Maybe that was just a conversation. I don't know that that was necessarily reported, though. I don't know.

Because unless I misunderstood, that would have put Talon ahead of Jim Benning. Benning would still be the GM, but Dale Talon would be in charge. He would be, I guess, the Shanahan to Lamorello sort of thing. There was a report by Scott Lewis on Sportsnet that says Canucks deny they're interested in Panthers' Dale Talon, and that was back in May. I also think at that point, to be honest, it would have been less of a story. I think given all that has happened with the Florida Panthers in the last three weeks, now that's interesting. But I think back then it would have been like, okay, so Dale Tallon's leaving and they're going analytics.

What a surprise. And I liked Friedman's reaction to that question because it seems to me that that is a fairly obvious option. Why doesn't Dale Tallon just leave? He is far too old and successful to stay in a situation he doesn't like. I didn't bring this up, but I don't think that that's necessarily possible. And I'll tell you why. Okay. So in my contract, I have what's called a non-compete.

Essentially, it means if I want to go somewhere else, I have to give my station X amount of months heads up. And I can't tell you how many because that's breach of contract. Of course. But you have to give this many this much time. I have been given a contract with a non-compete clause for a company that I didn't even work for yet. It was basically in order to pitch me this idea,

whether I actually sign with them or not. I still can't work for a competitor of theirs for six months. You didn't sign that, did you? They did a naughty thing and told me who the client was. And so, yes, then I did. But I told them I refused to sign it

until they told me who their client was. I would have refused to sign it outright, period. I'll explain the story after. Okay. You'll understand. All right. Would it have made sense? All right, I hope so.

100%. Because that's not fair. Trust me. It turned out great for me. Okay, good. Okay. As long as that's the case, because I would have been like, uh... It turned out great.

Here's the thing. I don't think Dale Tallon could just leave and go work for another team. I feel like if the Florida Panthers wanted to, not that they would, but if they wanted to, the ownership has enough money that if Dale Tallon were to resign, they could pay him out the rest of his contract. I don't know where his contract ends, but if he's still under contract, they have to give permissions for other teams to talk to him. And if they don't give that permission, then he sits on the sidelines.

Well, this is what I'm confused to. so GMs get signed to contracts coaches get signed to contracts like is Brandon Shanahan on a contract or is he just the president like is he a full time employee but a president would have a contract even though he's like I have a contract

that expires yeah I have a contract that expires I'm a full time employee no no no you do Brandon Shanahan would too pretty straightforward I mean it's not the reason you do that is so that they can't just up and leave well yeah exactly it protects the business and it also protects the person working for the business

and someone with the value of Brendan Shanahan, what he brings to your business and what Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment really believes he brings, that you need to A, protect your asset and B, you understand that that asset coming in is probably going to want to protect themselves. So it's a, I feel like Dale Tallon couldn't just leave.

I think it'd be really hard for him to just leave. And I don't think, you know, he's probably looking at it like, okay, so I work out my contract here. I finished my contract here and then I can go wherever I want. do I spend the rest of my contract sitting on the sidelines

or do I just put up with it until my contract's done my thinking is Dale Tallon wants to be around the game wants to stay sharp on things wants to stay up on his contacts and continue with this until your contract's done

just thought fascinating fascinating heading into the season this is not where I thought the story of the Florida Panthers would go me neither I thought they were such a slam dunk

it's really who's still out for them is it Huberto or Barkov Huberto's out. Barkov's back. I don't think they're that bad. Is he back?

Barkov? Oh. Sorry, I'm sorry. Barkov is playing. Okay, so Huberto's still out. That's a big one, though. It is, and I think this narrative is much different, i.e. Columbus last season if Bobrovsky had started well.

I think the narrative's a lot different if Huberto's in the lineup. I'm not saying that Gerard Gallant wouldn't be gone. I'm saying he'd be coached. Oh, 100% he'd be coached. Their record would be better, and he'd be coached. Because it's Jonathan Huberto. They wouldn't be one game above .500 at the time he was fired. They'd be well above, I think.

If you take a top-line player out of any team, you're not going to replace them with a top-line player. So you're going to be missing that scale. Yeah, exactly. Unless you're the Pittsburgh Penguins, and it just doesn't matter. Yeah, unless you're one of, like, five teams. Yeah. Which the Panthers are not one.

Now, Steve, to get you on the road in time, before the snowstorm hits, shall we do the press conference? Yes. we got two questions one because I like the username bringer of champagne

writes I like that you're invited to Jesse's party tonight yeah who would win in a tag team Nova Scotia style

Greco-Roman match wow which Adam you might have missed the Ken Reed show I missed most of it Adam doesn't read Friedman

he doesn't listen to us see Adam It was a good episode, man. I know. I know. I know it was. I know I missed it. If you had listened to it...

When would I have had time to listen to it? Do you know how my day started today? Hey, how long is a flight to Toronto from Florida? I think it's about three hours. I slept! I slept. Jesse, better question. Does he not have 90 seconds to look at his friend on television?

No, he doesn't. He needs to play on his phone. I was watching the whole thing. That's not what video evidence does. Not only that, but I rewound it and record it and was trying to play it for Elliot Friedman when he came on because I have the audio of

Nick Kiprio saying your segment needs to be sponsored by Excedrin. And I edited it up, but the computer will not let me play it. Well, today I just learned that you're supposed to be awarded for things you tried to do as well. Wow. Well, I'm Cody Eakin to your Henrik Lundqvist. I tried to get out of the way.

I just want to congratulate the Leafs on trying to win the Stanley Cup every year that I've been alive. That's what matters. That is what matters. It's that they tried. Wow. Okay, anyway, continue. Anyway, so who's going to win?

Steve and Ken Reed or bad friend Adam and Jesse? Oh, man. See, Ken, like he's got that experience. I mean, he was trained by Mr. Yankov. I'm liking my teammate there. I think Jesse and I win because... You guys are formidable. Well it's not

It's not just that I think Jesse's long-limbed And I think that matters And I think Adam Has a solid base You nailed it You guys I mean Jesse

Yeah Long limbs man Those long limbs So he can just Kind of spread out And he'd be impossible To pin And then Adam's got that

You can't move that butt He's got that booty It's a booty It is a booty I carry a formidable booty I'm not gonna lie You know what kind of A German suplex

You can throw on a guy With a booty like that Oh man Hey what would be your WWE finisher move? Probably the stunner. The stunner? No, no, like,

if you could come up with one, you're over. Like, I have my trainer. Come up with a move? Yeah, my trainer's like, what I would do is this, and he always does it. He's like,

I would do a back rake, so they go like, ah, like, you know, and they puff out their chest, and then I'd spin them around and punch them right in the heart. And he's like, in WWE world,

that would actually be a finishing move. If this was 14 years ago, I probably would have thought of something. Hey, I think, I'm just asking. I think there's a lot of people

out there who have thought about that answer i uh submission move would be uh i'd probably just do guillotine choke wow 100 yeah yeah that's what i would do in a real fight i think just try to get him in a headlock well because like real people are clumsy in in fights they're not ufc fighters they're dumb and they duck their head all the time take advantage of that real fights are sleep real fights are so so bad yeah yeah tough people think they're tough and they're like and you're like, wow, you have, like, this is so sad to watch. You worked out so hard to look that way, and you

still can't throw. The average person doesn't know how to throw. Adam's not allowed to make fun of me for going on WorldStarHipHop anymore. No. You know, I would say 90% of the people I watch fight on that website lead with the wrong leg. Yes! They're not, and they don't

plant on their back leg. What are you doing? What is this? I'm not afraid of that. You're not a cartoon character. This isn't some tough guy talking to you. why are your arms out here it's close that's the point I don't get it

anyway I fight with my hands down because I'm tough I go full Anderson Silva yeah there you go Conor McGregor behind the back I just stun outside the bar

when I'm really drunk and fight you with no hands but I would also so you could do that because you have long arms and legs I feel like wrestlers

that have submission holds for finishers are like not as popular though so I wouldn't have as long of a wrestling career see I'd want something that would be like flying

what do you mean Rick Flair? Oh, that's true. But Rick Flair had... It's suspense, too. He had charisma. That was Rick... You'd have to own your talking moments.

If you own your talking moments, yeah. Like, I mean, honestly, it's either you're amazing in the ring or you're amazing on the mic. Bret Hart putting over Stone Cold Steve Austin, too. Because he put him in the sharpshooter, but Austin didn't tap out. He passed out from lack of blood

because he had a cut in his head. And everyone... That's when you knew Stone Cold's got guts. That's so something, man. It can't happen. Shut up! You know how much blood he would have to lose

to actually pass out? I just want to say, I love it. It was a submission and he passed out from it. What? It was a leg lock. Jesse,

it was a big cut. Five ankle locks in a match and finally gets a successful one. Oh, but he's tapping, but somebody knocked over the ref. Oh, now he realizes the folly of his ways. Oh, and somebody's playing trumpet

on the sidelines and the ref's distracted. Anyway, you're the eighth tombstone from The Undertaker. Maybe it'll work this time. All right, next question. I don't even remember what the last question was. At what point can we start giving credit to Jake Gardner? Good point.

You know what? I don't notice him ever in the defensive zone. That's such good news for Jake because I used to notice him all the effing time. He's so much better, and his offense, I think, is just going the way it always has. Best defenseman they have, I think. You think the best defenseman the Leafs have is Jake Gardner? Who's better?

Morgan Riley. Morgan Riley's better. No. I think he will be, or could be, certainly. He's got some work to do on his own end. I think he's the best offensive defenseman they have. Or maybe him and Gardner are tied. Gardner's...

Better in his own head. Do you know how many tweets you're going to get about that? That's interesting. I'm going to get a lot of people going, you finally came around. Really? Oh, 100%. Honestly, I always thought that with Jake Gardner, he had Brian McCabe syndrome. It was like he played great and then would do something daft.

And he still does. But he's getting burned less because he's doing it less. I thought a lot of the stuff McCabe did was by accident. I'm looking at Gardner and going, you intentionally did that. What's the matter with you? What's the matter with you? He's been great. He's been really, really great

And deserves all the credit due He's been great And he's nice It's nice We got a solid top four Just that Five, six It just hurts me a little

Underrated storyline in the Leafs Let's get Sites to have a damn goal Yeah He's come so close That's true He's come so close so many times I feel bad for the guy I asked him what he wants for Christmas

For a video that isn't up yet And he goes I don't know Hopefully score some goal Score some goal Score some goal Who leads the league in scoring In points scored

Right now At the end of the season or no? right now it's only David 39 points I might have checked this morning damn it

I was like as soon as he answered that that quickly I'm like who's second in goals second in goals well okay Crosby's first with 21

I think it's Pasternak David Pasternak wow he's man the Bruins are kind of a bubble playoff team

without him I don't think they sniff he's got a Pasternak around the net that's what I'm saying what He's going to pastor knack for scoring.

There it is. That's way better. Hey, listen. As I said, I woke up at 4.15 today, okay? It's currently 2. He's going to pastor knack the puck. Is that what you were trying to say? You're going to pastor knack the puck to him?

He's going to pastor knack for scoring. It's great. You can put that on a shirt. It's Christmas time. That's what I'm saying. That was really funny. Thank you. Somebody actually shouted me out on Reddit.

That was my first Reddit compliment, I think, ever. Yeah, the title of the Reddit post was, We need to give Adam his due. And the rest was just Christmas time. And it's the way you said it, too. Ah, Christmas time. You dick. You're such a dick.

You know, the fun thing about doing this show is we can go from serious hockey talk to that within a matter of 30 seconds. And there's no platform other than the one that we've currently, thank God, created here with the help of people who actually listen to the show where that would be possible. That is not possible anywhere else. We would be considered completely unprofessional and no one would talk to us.

I texted the boss of Sportsnet Radio a while back and was like, how are we doing? You sick of us yet or whatever? He's like, nope, not yet. I was like, oh, okay. Much to my surprise, I still can't believe they let us on. Well, I can't either. I can't either.

Let's be honest, we shouldn't be. Yeah, I mean, yeah. Yeah, I would agree with that, but I'm happy with the fact that we are and I'm not going to even I'm going to say that I don't say we deserve it, but I would say that I'm thoroughly

excited that they would have us on. Has not got tired. What's that? We had Elliott Friedman on. I mean, what other radio show can get away with? We're going to have Elliott Friedman on, but you won't hear it. That's what we did. Yeah, that's true, actually. And then Jesse, what Jesse

said about Elliott. Hey, Steve, fuck you. Like, wow. I hope Elliot doesn't hear that. It might be the last time. Well, he might laugh. I don't know. He's enough of a friend that he actually listens sometimes. Oh, well.

Listen, I don't listen. I obviously don't watch. I steal James Reimer, and I didn't read Elliot's article. I'm in trouble. Okay, very last thing before we go. What's something you did with this that you're not willing to tell me? Oh, I tried to. I tried to take a selfie with it in the shower.

Like James and I are showering up and getting ready But then I was like if that has any holes in it It's going to wreck the cardboard And Steve's going to be upset But the very fact that you held this with your naked body Well I was in the room with it With my naked body I didn't hold it close to me

James saw your naked body Adam He's seen my pee pee I'm sorry man He's a pure boy Well I thought it was fun And by the way James Reimer has now seen a Tampa Bay Lightning game from the stands.

It was a really bad game, though. Holy. It's not even... What? This Rhymer figure isn't even the best of the figurines. It's the last place in the figurine collection. It is not last place. Last place would be a common. It is a bronze. Yeah, but then there's

silver and there's gold. Yeah, because those are more rare. I've explained how this works! Well, there's 2,000 of them made. Those are worth so much money. Listen, just because 2,000 of them were made does not mean 3,000 were sold. Wow. you think fuck you guys

do we think fuck you guys is that you're asking us you know what there you go wow there's a little bit of oh whoa

hey are you coming to Jesse's party tonight uh I was telling him it's a hard maybe because if we're gonna bring Iggy we gotta drive

and the roads are gonna get bad and I have no problem then you can drive us oh yeah cause we're bringing we're bringing Bindi would you love that

oh I don't know If we want both dogs In the same car Why not But anyway I'm good at driving in the snow I'm amazing I am also planning on drinking

So I'm not going to be driving home Right Fair enough So I don't know We'll see You can stay over at my house If you want Oh dope

And then maybe Marley's Maybe I got some stuff I got to do tomorrow Like sleep Jesse just wants to be I slept for four hours Hey Steve's got to go

Guys we love you Thank you so much What the hell Jesse Remember we have Leafs tickets We're not really sure what game Because we're unprofessional like that But I will post all the details on the Reddit page

as soon as possible and you'll get to know us. Remember, it's Twizz the Night Before Christmas. It involves Steve, Jesse, myself,

Panago Pizza and go crazy with it. Steve Dangle Podcast at gmail.com. Follow the guys on Twitter at Steve underscore Dangle at Adam W-Y-L-D-E and at Jesse Blake.

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