The Steve Dangle Podcast - Uninformed | September 25, 2026

Episode Date: September 25, 2026

On this episode of The Steve Dangle Podcast, 00:00 Habs facts 07:00 Zack MacEwen makes the Leafs 32:00 Vintage McKenna and Auston 43:00 Marchenko for Knies 55:00 Stenberg, Macklin, and Hellebuyck 58:00 Blue Jackets finally sign Fantilli 1:08:00 Nikishin changes agencies 1:13:00 Messier vs Babcock 1:34:15 Dylan and Simon 1:46:30 The Jets get their records back 1:55:00 Seattle vs Calgary bloodbath 2:01:00 Zacha's extension Come see us at The Course and The Clubhouse!: http://sdpn.ca/events Visit this episode's sponsors: Make Citrus home for your league this season. Start a league or bring your existing league over, and explore hockey analysis, news and Armchair GM. Visit ⁠https://citrusfantasysports.com/go/sdpn⁠ for more OR download the app: ⁠citrusfantasysports.com/ios ⁠ | ⁠citrusfantasysports.com/android⁠ Get an exclusive 15% discount on Saily data plans! Use code DANGLE at checkout. Download Saily app or go to https://saily.com/dangle Watch all episodes of The Steve Dangle Podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLk7FZfwCEidkgWpSiHVkYT7HrIzLPXlY Watch clips of The Steve Dangle podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLk7FZfwCEieOJuIrqWyZPWSIJtVMCbLz Buy SDP merch https://sdpnshop.ca/ Visit https://sdpn.ca/schedule to see when our next live stream airs! Check out https://sdpn.ca/events to see The Steve Dangle Podcast live! Watch hockey with us! Live on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLk7FZfwCEifCTX0vkKEaGg9otrW4Zl2k Subscribe to the sdpn YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@sdpn?sub_confirmation=1Join Subscribe to SDP VIP!: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0a0z05HiddEn7k6OGnDprg/join Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/thestevedanglepodcast Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sdpvip/subscribe - Follow us on Twitter: @Steve_Dangle, @AdamWylde, & @JesseBlake Follow us on Instagram: @SteveDangle, @AdamWylde, & @Jesse.Blake Join us on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/MtTmw9rrz7 For general inquiries email: [e-mail] Reach out to https://www.sdpn.ca/sales to connect with our sales team and discuss the opportunity to integrate your brand within our content! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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P. The Steve Dangle podcast with your host, Steve Dangle, Adam Wilde, and Jesse Blake. Let's go. All 32, Steve. Season previews are officially out. Big shout out to fans in Montreal who are pushing that Montreal season preview close to 100,000 views.

Wow. It's a little crazy. Habs fans are a little excited for this year. They ought to be. They're a little pumped, I think. I think they'll consume anything Montreal, and especially because I've got the ultimate Habs fan next to me and the ultimate Habs panderer on your other side.

I think it kind of makes sense that we got the Habs fan and the Habs. Jesse's the Habs fan. I'm the Pan. Oh, is that what it is? I thought he was the pandering. No, I'm the fan. He's a fan.

I just speak truths about the haves. I don't pander. I'm not a fan. I just say what is true. And the truth is, Lane Hudson is awesome. Yeah. I don't know.

Oh, wow. What a take. Man, that you really put yourself out on the life there. Sometimes. Gun to the earth. Lane Hudson is awesome. They call me hot take Blake for a reason. Lane Hudson.

Good at hockey. Why haven't we called you hot take, Blake? Man, I'm so upset about that. Also, I think he's going to get a couple points this year. Whoa. Get out. Over under 10.5. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Over. I thought you said a million. I'm going out on a limb here. Got a lot of a hot take Blake. Cole Cawfield will score a goal. Whoa. Now, do you think Mr.

Cawfield can extend it? I know he's a Mr. Saturday night. I get that. But wouldn't you also want to be Mr. Wednesday night, Mr. Monday night as well. Like he should be, he should be aiming for all.

Yeah, I call him Mr. every day for a reason. Yeah, Mr. Every Day. Because he shows up every single day. He shows up every day.

He shows up every day. The season previews aren't only available on YouTube where they're hitting crazy numbers with the Habs fans. They're also available on your preferred audio platform. So if you listen to this on Apple podcast, you probably see in all four divisions.

So we broke out the audio in terms of divisions because they're like 90 minutes each and then the Atlantic's like two and a half hours. Yeah. The Leafs preview alone is over 36 minutes. So if you prefer the audio version, you can go listen to that on Apple or Spotify.

And if you go to our website, you can follow along with all the predictions. So you go to sdpn.ca slash sdp and you scroll down. You can see all the predictions. Can you blur mine? And Steve there, as you can see, has the Leafs in 7th in the Atlantic and under. People were calling Steve uninformed

about the Leafs in the thing. And I was like, boy, listen, he can, he can. Oh, yeah, for sure. You can call Steve many things. Uninformed, I don't know. I don't know if that's an insult. I don't think that's true. Yeah.

No. I mean, it's okay. It's, listen, if I have them high, I've been called everything. Yeah. We had that mechanic clip and everyone's like, Dillusion, oh! And then I said seventh. You're, you piece of shit, you don't know what you're talking about.

I feel, I think that means you're doing your job right. Yes. If you get it from both sides, that means you're doing something right. Oh, worry, I know. I don't know. I've never questioned how much about the frigging leaves. And I want you to put a pin in that about being uninformed because we're coming back to that. Because I'm going to lead with that. But first, I must say this, course and clubhouse. As of this morning, there are two tickets remaining.

Be informed. Get informed and buy two tickets. Get informed. Be informed. Be a part of the action tomorrow night in St. Catharines. We're so excited. Like this is going to be great. Jesse, can you turn my headphones up just a tad? I want to hear how informed I am. It's not coming through informed enough in my ears. Course and clubhouse,

while they're talking about it, course of clubhouse is the place to golf, especially over the winter in St. Catherine's, because, you know, they get winters, just like we get winters, because they're an hour and a half away. Is that the snow belt? I think so.

A little bit closer to the snow belt than we are. Yeah. I mean, London is really the snow belt? Yes. They get walloped, but yeah. St. Catharines is closer to London than we are. That's what I was trying to figure out. Yeah.

And I think, I think, so they'd get like, maybe there's snow belt light. You're on the edge of the belt. I think by the last two tickets. Yeah, by the last two tickets. Please. There won't be snow. We're going to be having fun tomorrow. Yeah.

And there won't be snow. And it's always a rowdy, sweaty fun time. People are always like, ha, ha, ready for hockey. You can see the frothing. That's what's special about this event is everybody's like, just give me it. And it's great. Listen.

don't cause too much of a disturbance outside of Sleep Country Canada that's all we ask is that you not cause too much of a disturbance outside of Sleep Country Yeah because it's next door No because the line always goes to the Sleep Country Canada Guys come out and start whacking people with their mattresses Get out of here!

What's happening here? Anyway, listen We're excited to see you tomorrow to the Leafs and I need to say Adam, you're just tossing this into my lap I don't know what I'm talking about Steve doesn't know he's uninformed

But might I remind you that Steve and I had a debate About a week ago about Zach McEwen making the Leafs Now at the time it was whether Zach McHughan or Bo Gru would make it Turns out both made it And Steve Uninformed though you are called three game Last season Zach McHughan making the Toronto Maple Leafs And I think that deserves a big round of applause

because I don't think anybody called that. And well done. Call me whatever you want. Just call me by my middle name. Vindicated! I'm wondering if the goal that he scored off... That he scored off... That he scored off...

I know, exactly. He scored off of Easton Cowan. I'm like, did that do it? Or was it the fighting and the pushing and that... Pretty good skating, too? Honestly, like, I don't think he did anything in the first game.

But, like, it wasn't just... Like, I was noticing it, but people in my section were like, Zach McEwen? Like, people were... muttering in the building, like just... He can skate? His effort, like, because it wasn't a particularly great game from the team.

No, it's kind of dead. And it's a very typical preseason thought. You're like, it's probably not good that Zach McEwen's sticking out. And then, I mean, listen, it's such a small window to impress everybody. But hasn't that been the leaves downfall for a very long time is looking unimpressive in a small window?

It's, it's, what's harder to do, look great over an 82 game season, or win a single seven game series? The answer overwhelmingly, apparently, is win a single seven game series. So here we go, boys. Like, we got, you all are playing two games each. What are you going to do with them? Gru, I don't think, was fantastic. He was fine. McEwen looked way better than anything I thought he was capable of. Like, listen, based on his career to date, I don't expect anything out of this player. I don't.

No. I expect him to show up every night, work hard, skate, hit, getting an occasional fight. I'm not counting on him for offense. I'm not. I think that's a fool's errand. He looked very good. He's earned this opportunity. And now what happened?

Nick Paul's hurt. Right. So a spot opens up. Right. That was his job. put himself in a position to succeed. Stephen Lawrence? I can't really think of

anything in particular he did. Well, I don't think he was in either of the home games, Stephen Lawrence, which I thought was interesting too. Was he not at the, I don't think he was at the home game. I don't remember. I know he had a screen on one of the goals. I think he was in Montreal and I think he went to Ottawa. Yeah.

And that should have, but that's just the thing. That, you know, Bo grew playing in that home game. Zach Kewn playing in that home game. We should have probably clocked that. well, most of the veterans are here. Maybe they're trying these guys out. He was on a line with Harry Nancy, wasn't he? Not in game two.

No? Not in Ottawa. Who was? Lawrence was there in the Montreal game at home. Did you watch the Montreal game? Yeah, yeah. He was in the first one. Adam, Lorenz was the play.

He was in that one. Oh, okay, all right, all right. And they lost. I rest me. I'm just giving Steve a hard time about the Ottawa game. No, it's confusing because a few, not very many guys played in Holman Road. Yes.

But a few guys did. Sizzins, I think, was one of them. Paul was, for sure. Sisons played Road in the first game, too. So, because remember they had that Nancy, Tinas Luke Kubler. Yeah, Cowan, I think they both. Yeah. My problem with Zach McHughan is that he's not particularly good at anything,

except giving a lot of energy. Like, he's not giving you good skill in terms of he can't score. He's not a playmaker. His fighting is he was willing to get in a fight. Can't really fight that well, if we're being honest. In his fights, he doesn't, a lot of them. He's willing. But he's willing to go. He got sockered. He got freaking sockered. That was a bad one. So, and I don't think that he got the spot because of Nick

Paul. I think Bo Gru gets that spot. Yes. And that McEwen earned the role over Lawrence as the extra forward. Yeah. So I'm happy with him being the 13th guy. If Zach McEumann is a regular in the Leafs lineup, I think that's an issue. I agree with you. I agree with you. And I've never seen somebody go to bat for somebody who is so low in the last. line up. Oh, Jesse. You are going so hard for somebody who is like the 13th forward on the worst team in the league. Now, if he's on that team. Let's clarify something. Time out. Let's clarify something right away. I said they're going to do it. I didn't say they should. They're going to do it. I think it's, uh, you know, it's fun that he's from PEI because. Oh, who doesn't love somebody

from the island? Everyone from PEI. It's like the DeCaprio meme where you go, hey. It's one of us. Like how many players from BEI are in the NHL right now? It's not a lot. That's why they always mention it when they are. PEI's got like 80,000 people. It's a province. It's smaller than Pickering. Yep.

Like it's cool. It's cool. Is this like, okay, we don't know what the outcome of waivers is going to be today. Mm-hmm. Would I rather waive Zach McEwen or Ryan Twerberg? I would much rather wave Zach McEwen. I don't think anyone is going to claim him. I don't.

Ryan Twerberg is a right-handed 24-year-old, offensively capable player. Yes. Who just came off of a Calder Cup championship. Zach McEwen played three professional games last year. Is 30. Is 30. Let's not talk about McEwen like he's a prospect.

No, no, absolutely not. It's straight up not a good idea what they're doing. I will tell you what I do. I'm going to say appreciate, not necessarily like, but appreciate. Kyle Dubis loved his guys. Still does. Oh, yeah. Loves his guys.

Brad for Living, brilliant guy, nice guy, the nicest guy. I have so much respect for him as a guy. He didn't do anything. He didn't do anything. and these decisions at the bottom of the lineup. Like we're talking about like a 13th or 13th forward here. 13th or 13th. Did I say 13th through 13th?

13th or 14th? There we got to go even lower than that, Stephen. Not technically incorrect, just a little clunky. Yeah. We're talking about the 13th or 14th forward. That's what I was trying to emphasize. Yeah, come into this. And I think, I don't think Dubus makes this decision.

I don't think Tre Living makes this decision. But John Chica has this reputation rightly or wrongly for, what is it? He kind of gets accused of having poor bedside manner. And some people, I think he's looked at as cold, like reptilian ice cold. Now, let's all calm down. This is Stephen Lawrence. This isn't him being ice cold. But a lot of people look at this go, oh, you know, it's a lifelong leaf fan.

He was a good penalty killer last year. He signed for term. And he comes in and is like, what are we doing here? This guy played better than this guy. Wave this guy. Yeah, I 100% agree with you on that. Like it does seem like Chica made a decision based on merit. And it's like, I got a week and a half year along with Jim Hiller.

You know, I assume it's a combination of the coaching staff and the upper management. and somebody showed more energy than the other guy, so he's rewarding him. Is it also not true that, like, Lorenz makes 1.35 versus McEwen make it 800 grand. And I wonder if it's not about, it's not a salary thing. But what I mean is that I think it makes Lawrence probably less likely to get claimed. Well. And not that everybody doesn't have some cast space. I get that.

But I do think it's sort of like, am I going to allocate that to a guy who is good defensively and brings almost nothing offensively? Like that, that is the thing where at this stage, I feel like you, if you're the Leafs, take that risk. And you bank on Stephen Lorenz being back in the lineup at some point this year because he's going to be, he needs to find his game again. He even said it, Jonas Siegel had the article in the athletic. He was talking about how Lawrence struggled last year and how he admitted that at camp and said, I got to simplify, you don't have to go and make the big plays. It's the small ones that you need to worry about. I could see him being Grabner and going somewhere

and scoring 15 goals. Last year, hey, they're going to break away. It's Stephen. Shit. Well, Yep. His chest, you know, let his chest know the puck's there. Hell yeah. Yeah. He has that one game winner. Do you remember when he fired it? Oh, it's not one.

Jesse, this guy, he had David Camp syndrome where he would score like five goals a year and they would all be the nastiest Datsukian thing you've ever seen. I'm almost positive the first two Leaf Games I brought my son to. Lorenz had the game winner at both. Oh, wow. He had that windmill goal where he made Romanov look. like a minor leaguer in Toronto. And then, oh, I swear he had another one.

Was it against the sharks or something? It was assisted by Ryan Reeves. I might be thinking of the same goal. Reeves had like two points that season. No, Lorenz, like, he's capable. He had a great goal against Colorado last year. Speaking of David. He wasn't good enough.

Speaking of David Kompf, just as an aside, guys. Who he play for? Someone in Europe. Overseas, yeah, right? Litvinov. H.C. Yeah, he lit money on fire. Should have just kept the money. You should have put your ego aside and played for the Marley's, dude.

With the injuries that have happened with the lease, who knows if Joshua is going to be ready for opening night, he was skating by himself after practice. And then now the Nick Paul is day to day. It seems like McEwen's going to make the opening night lineup, which is good for him. Not just roster lineup. Yeah.

So I think, like, ideally on this team, he doesn't make the lineup. He's a healthy scratch. 100%. Every once in a while, you need some energy. He's in there. there. I just don't think his skill justifies being there every night. But in terms of training camp right now in this window and the two

injuries that have happened, he's earned a spot be there opening night when Scotia Pancairina's cheering on the starting line or the day one lineup. Jack McEwen's going to be right there. We'll say that. Good for him. And like this was forecasted by Cheka and we should have seen it coming. Like we

were everyone put together their opening night prediction. No one had Lorenz in there. Everyone had him as the extra and we're all like, we all got way too stuck to well, Bobroski likes taking his shots in practice. What are we doing, Stephen?

Not Lorenz. You don't get a, what are we doing me, Stephen? You don't get a spot on the team because of that. Well, that's why you're uninformed. That's why I'm uninformed. You're right. They nailed it.

Now, I think the more important player to make the team more than any of the guys we've talked about, Bogru a little bit we talked about. I think Bogru earned his spot last year. Yeah. I think he's a great bottom six player and I'm thrilled to have them, especially at that price, better than David Koff and a third of the cost. I'll acknowledge I'm probably overdoing it with Gru.

I'm probably overdoing. No, I like, but I think he's earned a spot. I like Boger a lot. Nick Blankenberg. I think that is the more important signing of these three guys, Nick Blankinberg, apparently they're working on this deal now. I'm imagining that if Dakota Joshua is hurt, I don't, I mean, I guess they could put him on IR or whatever. Paul's hurt something. They can figure this out. I know they're a little bit over right now, but it doesn't really matter that much. So I think what they would prefer to do is carry two D

and two extra D and an extra forward. Yeah. At the beginning of the season, because of the injury situation, I think it might be two extra forwards, one extra D. They wait a few days, then sign Blankenberg to a contract because he's not, he doesn't even have a deal. No, but they were also worried about people saying yesterday the contract situation, the least were at 50 of them, because you can only have 50 pro contracts, but they put Tina's back at Rogel in Sweden. Yes. So now they've got 49 and they got the room. The thing is like where

who do you lose to sign Blankenberg? Well, Myers went on waivers. So Myers is going down. No, of the current roster, right? Because there, aren't they? No, no. With Rogel, with Tina's Luke.

No, not of the 50 of the 23. Oh, yeah. I mean, that's a good question. Are they not full? You would end up having to waive, I imagine McEwen and right it's not impossible Gru gets waived at some point too yeah and if they McEwen would pass through

I imagine McEwen will pass through I don't think everyone who's on waivers today is going to pass right Warburg's gone no you really no I think I think everybody everybody who was on waivers passes I think they pass through I'll put money on that Gwyn I'll bet you a coffee or something I'll bet you money I'll bet you something at the course

Club house tomorrow. I'll buy you your chicken strips or something. Oh, the dangled tendies? I love that. And if I win, then you have to throw a bunch of golf balls at the screen and throw out your arm. Oh, no. All right, I'll bring a foam roller. Okay, so I think they pass. I think they passed through too. Steve every year, I think since Brandon Kozin, Steve every year's been like, they're going to lose this guy. They're going to, and I remember when they lost Brandon Cozen, he's like, they gave him up for nothing. Thank God. Turns out. It turns out. in that group chat, it's a good thing. There's a chance it's Philip Myers.

No, Myers is, he's not gone. I don't really think so. No, Torberg's gone. Wow. Yeah. All right. Mark this. We'll see.

Mark it. Yeah. You know what? There's no, no team in the NHL has a guy who's 24 who can score at the H.L level. It just can't do without Ryan Torberg. I think Rabinsky would be the guy that I would want if I want scoring my H. It's Brendan Brisson, Vinnie LaTere.

Stephen Lawrence, Philippe Myers, Michael Posetta, Marshall Rofi, Rubinski, and Turvberg. I mean, Refi has been claimed before, so it could be, or am I thinking of Mirmus? I'm thinking of Mermis. My bad, and he already cleared. I think we go eight for eight, and they're all Marley. I could see Lorenz going. Wow. I don't know.

I don't think anybody's going. I don't think anyone's going. All right. I'm worried about it. What are we setting the over under at? 0.5? Yeah. I think it's 8 for 8. I'm going over. Over that. 100% act surprised Hayden. You know what I can do? I can bring the apples that Adam never brought for our other bet. Thank you. If I lose. Because I can't really have citrus. So I would like to put it out.

Yeah. So Nick Blangabberg looks like he's going to make the team, which is, which is great. I actually, I'm a big fan of this guy. I'm really pumped to have him back there. I think he, in terms of depth, you think about the awful third pairs that the leafs have iced. entire Matthews era. And Nick Blankenberg is not on the third pair. He's better than 99% of the guys that they did have in their top six. All of the guys they gave Babcock, most of the guys they gave Keefe. And I think the defense only really started getting deeper under Trill Living. I'll be honest with you about that. I really liked what Triliving did with the defense. I like the OEL deal. I like the TANF deal. The only reason people don't like them is because, oh, well, what if they get hurt. But when those guys are playing, their factors and the McCabe extension, which was a, it was a dubous trade, but it was a Trilliving extension. And I think that, that defense is

far better than it ever was under these other head coaches. And Blankenberg on the outside looking in, I think that's really solid. I'm pumped about this guy. There's two kinds of conversations you have at this time of year. It's how do we fill this spot and how does this player get in? Yeah. I'd rather be having the how does this player get in? conversation. We had too many. How do we fill this spot? We have two. I guess we put this guy here. Honestly, the core, because of COVID, we got robbed. And we'll talk about it later. The way the cap's going up. The core four idea was actually pretty genius. Yeah, and they build on it right as the cap started to go out. With Blankenberg and McEwen, I think really important. They're both right

shots. Yes. And that's something the Leafs have been lacking so much. Lorenz is a left shot. I'm sorry. Like you're born that way. We can't help it. And McEwan being the right shot, I think. gives them just a little bit of an edge there in that department. No question. And then Blankenberg, yeah, just another right shot who can add another dynamic to the defense core. And I think you're right, Adam, and like Trilliving built five of those six guys who were going to start. He did outside of Raddish.

Like, those are all Trillivin guys that he brought in. And I think he did do a decent job there because, and Chaka has shown that he's very willing to move off of all of Trillivings decisions. So if he thought this defense wasn't good enough, I'm sure all of those guys would have been gone, but he stuck with them. They were good. Can you scroll down to the reserve? I'd also say, Jesse, the only guy that Shike could try to move off of this year was Riley,

who was not a true living yet. No, no, wait down. He kept the defense. Oh, you want. Sorry. Yeah. So it's crowded back there. Myers, Rify, Danford, Chadwick, Blake Smith, Dakota Murmiss.

They got McWard there. Vinnie Borgesi. Hundley's another. Yeah, he's an interesting player, right? Yeah. So think of all the names we just said. And then Vilm of. Weber's hurt.

is out long term and Weber is out long term. That's an unbelievable amount of guys because Trilliving just sort of stuffed the miners with, all right, let's hopefully some of these guys were. Give it a shot, which you should. Yeah, you should. But I wouldn't be surprised if in the early season you start seeing Cheka try to make like tiny moves, like getting rid of some of those guys. Well, Refined Danford is supposed to be the top pairing with the Marley's,

which I think is really cool. Fantastic for your HL team. Yeah. I like that Chadwick kid too. It's going to give Danford a lot of time, which is what he needs. Marshall Rofi is an intense guy. Is he? He was at practice the other day, and that dude is just death stares all day.

And I'd like to see him get a longer look at the NHL level because I think he'd bring a certain toughness to the Leafs that hasn't really been seen in a while because he's a lot tougher than I think anybody has seen him play. If I'm not mistaken, he's in back-to-back preseason's gotten his ass kicked by both jack eyes. And, uh, but willingly went into, willingly did it though. And new.

That's half the battle. Yep. He tried. That man's unafraid of anything. Yes. Honestly, fighting in the NHL, like, we do need to, we do overrate who wins a fight. Oftentimes there, most of the time, I'd say it's like, somebody gets a take down, but that doesn't mean they, they got, they won the fight.

Matt Rampi doesn't win a lot of fights. No, what, what fight has he won? He doesn't, his first one. Okay. Yeah. Other than that, though. Remember how his face swelled up like a melon? Like it was, he was just getting piled every game.

But he's tough as nails. He's willing to do it. But that is the point, right? It's just being willing to do it. And I think the, where's I going to go with this? There was a fight that, that happened in this preseason for the Leafs. And I was like, it's like, Bluger fighting is great. Brennan Briseon.

Brisson fought. McEwen tussled. I don't know. Did he fight? He fought. Yeah. Like there's a, who fought Nick Cousins last year? Oh, it's landed sim.

Oh, I love what's wrong. wrong with him. Landon? I love what's wrong with Landon. He's going to play NHL games. Land is 100%. That first punch on Nick Cousins, by the way, listen, there are very few players in the league that I'd like to see that guy get punched in the face.

Nick Cousins is one of them. I don't know what that Andinovsky guy did to Landon Sim. He hates him. Yeah. He hates him. But did you see the first punch Landon Sim lands on Nick Cousins? I'm trying to, well, yeah, it caused Nick Cousins to get into a hug fest. It was.

Yeah, he just rattled him. For a fight. he started. He just grappled him after that. Like he couldn't, he was like, okay, all right, just hold his arms down and, and let the reps get in. That was, uh, I want to say Landon Sim, uh, signing him to an NHL contract was Bradshaw Living's last act as leaves GM. Oh, wow. And, uh, that kid's going to play. There's something wrong with them. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, like wrong with him. You know, we talk about, oh, yeah, it's a spark plug. He's, no, there's something wrong with. Well, there's, there's an old Canadian cartoon from Teletune,

uh, back in the day that used to, it was called Kevin Spencer. And the song was, Kevin Spencer Something's wrong with that kid And it's like And it's literally I don't remember that one Landon Sim I think that needs to be Landon

Sam I can see Landon Sim playing 100 NHL games Oh yeah He's like through Will Pizzata Pizzata has it? Yeah yeah

Marshall FI at practice They asked him What are your goals for this upcoming season Like during training camp And this was his answer And I love this type of attitude Was his answer

to waddle around Easter Island. Look at that, look at that head. Holy moly. All right. And that's coming from me. How many specific goals in this training camp? Yeah. I want to make the team.

And do you feel like to do? I love this. So I'm standing like off to the left side here. I'm like, oh shit. Look at that fucking jaw. He just stares. I want to make the team. Who did he say that?

Were you that? That jaw is like a cow catcher on the front of a locomotive. Holy. I think Marshall Rofi, if they get, gave him a chance he could show some stuff. I don't know if like the skill is ever going to be there to be a regular, but intensity's there. Man,

whenever they did bring him up in the 24, 25 season, Jesse, I thought he played well. It was just the injuries. Yeah. Right? And I think like,

I think this is a sign for the organization. They're, they've kept around the guys who are like this. It's the McEwen things. What you loved about McEwean. Yeah. I think Refai's got that too. And Lorenz for the skill that he can provide from the fourth line was never that kind

of guy. Mm-hmm. Listen, I'm too old to use the term mora farming you think Marshall Ravats that made me feel something

please play that again please play that again and turn it up and so yeah nothing but good things to say about him do you have any specific goals in this training camp

yeah I want to make the team and do I he makes the show I'm getting in Jersey there was no pause in that too yeah want to make the team yeah want to make the team

yeah want to make the team yeah want to make the team yeah want to make the team Yeah, want to make the scene. I remember. Oh, yeah, my favorite 83 to ever play defense for the league. That's a Cody C's your reference. Was he 83?

Oh, that's a deep cut. You bet. Man, I forgot that. How many people heard that and got your reference? Because I was going to be out of his gaggle of sickos out there. A zillion comments, Jesse. I didn't get it either. That took me a second.

I didn't remember he was 83. But I think, I think Steve is right. His people will come out. His people will come out in droves. Oh, I remember. You don't have many people in St. Cathens tomorrow? Because Dup has told me to. And so many people in St. Cathens tomorrow are going to be like, I got it. I got it. Some of them are going to be lying, though. They're not going to say it to me. They're going to say it to you.

I know, but some of they're going to be, no, they'll say it. The ones that say it in front of you, I'm like, you're lying to get in Steve's good books. That's what I know. They're allowed. That's what I'm going to accuse them. They're allowed to lie. Make me feel good about it. Make me feel smart. If you're listening to the show, hockey probably takes up an unreasonable amount of your time. I think it's perfectly reasonable. Well, you would, but everybody else around you's like, Like, that person's a little obsessive. And I think that's why Citrus is for you. Citrus is a fantasy sports app. It's actually called Citrus Fantasy Sports, so you don't get that messed up.

And the deal is, if you want to do fantasy hockey, like, this is the weekend to do it. I got two fantasy hockey drafts, one tonight, one Sunday. My wife is actually in one tonight. And I was like, you better, I asked her, oh my God, this is so embarrassing. So I asked her, I was like, who are you going to draft first? She's like, Gavin McKenna. I'm like, no, Natalie. No, that's not how this.

No, let people draft how they want. You're competing against her. You should have just been like, good. Some people draft to like win and some people just draft to have their favorite players on their team. Well, however you want to do it, and this is why I think Citrus is so great for her, it has an assistant GM name Stormy who goes, hey, maybe don't do that. It helps you work through roster questions, all customized to your scoring settings, and they've got them all. And also, here's the thing. if you're used to doing it on one platform

and you're worried about maybe losing your Keeper League team or you've already drafted but you don't love the service and you want to port it over, guess what you can import your lines? Import everything. So that's the thing. Even if you've already done your draft, you can switch to Citrus and you should

because it is the first hockey forward fantasy app out there. Every other fantasy app's like, yeah, we throw hockey in there, but we're really about football and NBA. No, football. That's awful. Yeah, it is all football. So dig in a player analysis, follow the news, jumping in the armchair GM with your favorite team, citrusfantasyports.com slash sdpn.

And by the way, also available on the Google store and iOS, citrus fantasysports.com slash sdpn. All right. Now, worth mentioning, Gavin McKenna had a night a couple nights ago. And then Ivar Stenberg had a night. We're going to get to him later. But I wanted to shout both of those two out because it's very, very impressive the way they've started. Let's talk about honestly the first game and the second game, the only thing that mattered for Leaf fans was, does Gavin McKenna look pretty good? And is Austin Matthew shooting and

scoring? That's about it. And yes and yes. And let's start with Gavin McKenna, what you guys saw, what you felt. Jesse, you were, you were not at the game on Wednesday, but you watched a lot of it downstairs as Hayden and I were, I could hear you through Hayden's microphone from time to time. Yeah, I had the two TVs running. I watched both games at one. Yeah. That's how I like consuming content. Hell yeah. More content the better.

And then you run some video games, YouTube below it. Yes. So then you can just get all of the distraction. Temple run. No, no. Jumping up and off of a train. I was trying to watch both games at once. It was a lot of fun.

But yeah, every time you look over, it's Gavin McKenna dancing through in the offensive zone trying to look for a pass. Like that's the thing that everybody's been screaming about is like, oh, he's going to one day be Patrick Kane with the puck. And he looked against a bunch of AHLers. he looked like this is what he could be one day. It was really cool to see. The great thing with the preseason is you can say whatever the hell you want.

It doesn't matter. You can look at that and go, that's incredible, and that's why he's going to be incredible. And you can just go, me, the season. The game doesn't count. You're not going to be able to do that. I don't know. I think you're sitting there as a Leafs fan. How can you not just get excited to be happy that he's doing that?

It's better than him not. I can, you know how I can tell Gavin McKenna is going to be great? Because of all the fans outside of Lee Phantom who say he's not going to be great. Oh, cool. Oh, it was the same thing with Austin. It was like, oh, yeah, line is for sure better. Yep. I'm like, oh, all right.

Sorry. The, I think, I think it's not, the thing that stuck out for me, there was, he had the puck. There were two senators on him, and he just seemed to, he did like a quick power turn on his backhand and split them. Reminds me of someone. Like, that was crazy. And I was wondering about, like, people, people, nobody really talked about his skating. nobody talked about his skating when we were going into the draft. His skating's really good.

Not as like a standout. Apparently he worked on it all summer. Good. I wonder about there's no way guys at the top of the draft are evaluated the same way guys in the middle of the draft are. Right? If you see a guy who is projected to go in the third round and he has the same skating as Gavin McKenna, you're going to say his skating is better. Does that make sense? Because you don't expect as much out of that player as you expect out of Gavin McKenna.

So you're basically you push more to the highlight of why I draft this player. Everything else needs to come along, but the skating's great. Yes. So that's their highlight. That's what I think. But Gavin McKenna, like, but that's the thing too. I'm going to reference Madonna here for a second. And I think it applies to sports.

What she used to say when it came to entertainment was there's only one or two emotions that people can attach to a famous person. So what she tried to do with every album was decide what. emotion that was going to be. And she built the thing around it, right? She built the world. So every album, she looks different. She sounds different. It's a clever way of doing things.

And with Gavin McKenna, I think with scouting, it's sort of the same thing. Everybody's like vision, vision, vision, vision, vision, because that is the highlight. But there is more. And I think you're, I think you're on to something with that. Like, John Tavares was, I think his game has always been very simple. And like, dating back to junior. I watched it. I saw it in junior.

I watched him play. And I remember being told you're going to be unimpressed. And I watched him. And I couldn't believe how unimpressed I was. And you look at the score sheet at the end of the first period. He's got two points. Yep. And you're like, what?

And that's always been what he is. How did he? Like, I'm having people, you know, you talk about uninformed. People like he didn't dominate at the NCAA level last year. Yep. He led his team in scoring by nine points as an 18 year old. What are you talking about? I could, the sky is purple,

fire is cold wood is wet like what you can just say whatever you want now you're lying you're wrong he was dominant he was the best player

of his draft class what are we talking about yeah yeah absolutely and I think that this is a this is a guy who played so well and if you miss the game I don't play me

because you probably have a family and a life or maybe you're not a Lee fan that they were like we're not going to play with Matthews is not going to play him with Matthews not going to play him with Matthews. Five periods in, he's playing with Matthews.

Mm-hmm. I don't think, yeah, but I don't think that's by accident. I think they were like, let's see what he does. 100%. That's what the preseason's for. That's what it's for. Keeping the line static. Who are you getting upset at?

They did it. No, no, no, no. The Leafs in previous years. PTSD. I get it. PTSD. Yeah, it's 100% PTSD. There's ghosts, man.

I'm yelling at this thing that they did that. Like, yeah, oh. They do the thing I like. You know what? Adam, I gotta say, this Jesse guy's doing well for his first day on the show. What? What are we talking about?

All right? I'm getting, like, I see the wisdom in putting him on the third line. I see the wisdom on putting him on Tvaris's line. I certainly, I mean, I think it'd be dumb if long term the plan isn't to have him with Matthews. And instead of just being like, he can't play with Matthews. As a rule,

try it. Just see. Do it every couple weeks if you need to. Let's see how he's doing now. Nope, still not good enough. All right. Two weeks later. But he was going to go back in this game.

All right, let's watch this a little bit more. And I want to say, I remember, like I know people are going to be like, well, it was the Sensby team. And it was. Yeah. Like Bathurst and Estutes were there. Clevin was there.

But it wasn't like their great, you know, great defense or anything like that. What was better, though, was that they played Montreal's B team on the Saturday night and looked like shit. Yeah, and everyone was like, oh, man, and it was their B team. And then they beat the Sends B team and everyone's like, yeah, it's the B team. And fellas. They beat them so bad that Levy Maryland got put on waivers the next day. Yo, what happened?

Yeah. Last year, I remember the Sends season preview. I was like, well, they got Olmark and I believe in that Maryland kid. Because he looked good at the previews. He did. he didn't they absolutely curploded and like I was watching the the highlights I was just like oh he's cooked yeah barbecued if he gets claimed I can't I can't see him getting claimed I really can't since fan said Sam erison has looked good in the preseason so good for him good for him

that he earned that job I'm not I'm really not shocked I'm really not shocked by that the problem with claiming Maryland is don't you then have to keep him on your NHL team? I don't think that's something that somebody's going to do. No. Like his, his, I could be strange if a GM sat there and was like,

I want Maryland. I think I don't I think are more likely to claim tourberg Jesse. Yeah, if we're ranking. Yeah, I agree. I agree.

Curvberg gets the, not a conversation we need to have men, Steve. No, okay, great. No, this is a show for sickos.

I, uh, no, like I, I think he can work out, but boy, that's going to be a long road. It's plenty of time. Goalies always are up and down, who knows.

But right now, not great. Yeah, the D.P.HO story in Boston is really cool. That's one of the most touted goalie prospects we've had in like this half decade or past decade. And now he's back, which is cool. Very cool. Now, Austin Matthews looked vintage Austin Matthews. He looked good in game one too.

Yes, but he really looked good in game two. Obviously, the team had it a little bit more together. The goal, though, the thing is like even so I talked to somebody yesterday who, who's more of a basketball fan. He's like, I saw that Austin Matthews goal, though. He's like, that was, he's like, that was Austin. And I was like, he's like, he's like, I don't even watch every game. It's like, that's Austin.

That goal was a lullaby. It was nice, wasn't it? It was a warm glass of milk before bed. It was just, it was just a sign. Everything's going to be all right. He looked good. I thought Jack Roslovick had a really good game too. Yes.

I thought Matthew Nyes did not. And Jim Hiller backed me up on that, guys. He doesn't look. It doesn't look like a fit on that. I don't know if it's the line or if it's him. It's, okay, so we're, this is the conversation we keep having with Nyes. And we've had it with other players, but it's undeniable with Nyes. All the tools are there.

And they're exceptional tools. Yep. His hands, those assists didn't fall out of the sky. Yep. All of them last year. He had over 40 assists. He had over 20 goals. I think he's, he's definitely capable.

of putting up 30 and 50. 30 goals, 50 assists. He's a truck. He skates well for a guy his size. He can kill penalties. He can be a net front guy. He can be a shoot from distance guy. Can he play well with others in the sandbox and find them?

And it's alarming how much he struggled. Yeah. To figure out what he is. Yep. He's still young. Oh, of course. But he'll be, I have no doubt he'll be fine. But I do think it's interesting that he, you know, all the trade rumors that happened this summer.

And then, you know, they told him he's an important part of the team. But, you know, this is pro sports. He has no trade protection. And there is a team with a right winger right now that the Leafs have been linked to now twice. Kiprios and now Elliott Friedman this morning saying the Leafs are definitely tried to keep their interests quiet. But they're interested in Krell Marchenko. And who wouldn't be, you know, last three seasons, 20. 331 and 27 goals

and we'll be in line for a massive payday but who cares the caps going up they went one season without paying so much money to two right wingers that they're like no we need it back we need it back we gotta do it again okay let me do this for the sake of the internet

Adam Wilde and Steve Dangle Columbus comes to you and wants to do a Kirill Merchenko for Matthew Nye's swap if you are the Toronto Maple Leafs are you making that trade So I think Marchenko is the better player But I do think Nye's Yeah has the better tools

Marchenko has had 74 points in this league before This is the guy that is Yes Nyes is tantalizing in his potential I think he's younger He is I think he's 24 Marchanko's 26 So not by a lot but by a little

Here's the big difference for me Is Marchenko is going to make a lot more Yes Right The contract I look at that deal Like when it was proposed yesterday I don't think

The Leafs should be sweetening that deal Are you doing the trade today? If it was one for one One for one What's the contract? I need a number Whatever's fair in your mind I think he's gonna be 10 and a half

Eight or sorry Can't do that anymore Seven times nine hundred grand It's got to be 11 million It's gonna be Batherson It's, nah, I think the rumor's higher than that. Let's say it's 11.75. And what if I give you, what if I give you 113?

I don't hate that. I don't hate it either. I don't hate it either. Which will kick in next season because he is under contract. He's playing right now. And for Matthew Nyes, one for one. Are you saying yes or no? I do not hate it.

Adam, are you saying yes or no? I'm just looking at, I'm just looking at the Leafs sort of top six here. I just need to look at it one more time. I'm not ready to give up on nine. yet, but it is going to come to a head. Apparently there was a smattering of booze for Karel Marchenko yesterday. In Columbus, which is wild. Actually, no, it's clear.

And understandable. Hey, hey, oh. But, okay, where does Machenko play? If he gets traded here, you have Rostovic and Nylander. So where's he playing? You guys are the ones who wants to acquire him. So tell me. So you're looking at it the way we've looked at it in previous years.

Well, we got Rozovic to play with Matthews. So like, what, does Martchenko go down to... You got to look at it like Cheka with his reptilian brain. And you got to go, damn, Jack Rozovic, that's crazy. So anyway, you're with Paul and Sissons. And the first line I imagine is Cowan Matthews Marchenko. Oh, Cowan in the top six? Well, because you're going to need a lefty to move over.

He's a left shot. No, I know. And by the way, Marchenko is a right shot. Yes. And they love that. And he's, but the other problem, so nyes can do left and right. Yes. Whereas Marchenko, I believe is just hard right wing.

Mm-hmm. On his Instagram as well. No, I don't actually. Um, imagine like, I think some people like your pants moved when I said that. Cowan Matthews Marchenko. And then you have McKenna Tavares Nielander. And we know that Cowan works really well with Tavaris and Nielander as well. So if you do end up doing this.

switcheroo at some point. Paul Sissons, Rosavik, the fourth line. Yeah. Okay, let me ask you this. Does it not neuter the third line a little bit? Not that you care. No. I think the main guys there are Paul and Sizzins.

Rosavik will live. Yeah. Well, he did, he was a third liner in Edmonton last year. Yes. And he did great. He scored over 20 goals. He did great. Probably more suited for his role.

Yeah. Yeah. It gives them a little bit. of speed. If someone gets hurt, it gives them versatility, it gives them options. I'm mystified as to why this doesn't work. Another solution they might try is throwing McKenna up there before he's ready necessarily, seeing if he works with Austin and having Nyes play with Tavares and Nieland.

Which we know does work. And also, let's throw this out there. How about the internal option is Nize grows into himself and plays the way that we know he can? He had a nagging knee injury last year. Guy still put up 66 points. Now, somebody had to score for the Leafs last year, but this guy is legitimately a fantastic hockey player, and I never want to take away from that.

It is just their best trade ship. That's what it is. No trade protection, young. The cost for him is so unbelievably good with the salary gap going where it is. But the lineup you put out there, Adam, I think is a better lineup today than the one they currently have. And it needs to be today, doesn't it?

So intriguing because, You don't have a first round draft pick. You need to keep Austin and you need to win. And you're keeping Marchenko for five to seven years. Yeah. And so Frege did say that Columbus does not want futures. So Matthew Nise kind of fits that perfectly. No, you guys answered very solid there.

And like, it's a yes. If that's the lineup. Montreal and Edmonton are apparently interested as our Boston, Winnipeg and I think was it Seattle that was in Archenko? Yeah, lots of teams obviously. The smart thing to do is you play out the season for a little. And you see what Matthew Nyes can do with that. I'd like to exhaust some options, you know, if you need to try them on the third line.

You know who else is interested? Vegas. In Marchanko? Yeah. They ran on him. Nyes was offering some sort of just insight into his game struggling during the preseason. Mark Masters tweeted out his quote. He said, it's been fine.

You can throw it up there. I think my game kind of excels when there's a lot more predictability and a lot more north-south play and playing simple, playing hard. And I think that's kind of what you find in a regular. season. Okay. So you're saying like this other the slower kind of scrimmage nature of the preseason he was saying doesn't really lend to his game, which is like, okay. We'll see how it is in the regular season, but I'll take that excuse for today. You definitely see players whether they mean to mentally or not, not go the extra mile. And like I could over extend for this puck right now.

I'm not going to. I don't think William Nealander ever needs to play a preseason game because I know he's going to be out there giving 75%. Yep. He paid. Passed to Tavares on that Tavares goal because I think he thought it would be mean to shoot. Yeah. I think he's just like, ah, guys. I don't know. I don't know. I'm going to shoot on Levy.

Come on now. I do want to say that I think he's probably right. And I as a fan and as a person who is attached to this player, because I am a fan, I would prefer no trade. And that Nyes works. And I know that I've been the one that's been hard on him, especially on this show. But I want it to work. I would prefer at work. I prefer they don't have to bring in Marchenko.

I would be legitimately sad if Matt Nyes was traded. There is like an emotion. He is a good guy. He's a fun guy. I think there's potential captain material with this guy if he turns into it. Like he's a good person, good leader. There's so much there. You want it to work first.

That's why I'm so willing to do, to just try some things before opening that door. The thing you got to remember with the Leafs and Leaf fans don't necessarily. want to hear this right now, is that they don't actually have the time that they used to have. Like, if this goes belly up, guys, don't be surprised for the Matthews trade request. Well, that's that of those,

just so you understand, those are the stakes here. That's what this management group is working with. Go look at their Puckpedia. The Leafs are preparing for that potential scenario. Yes. And we found out that the salary cap is going to be $127 million, right when that scenario happens,

so they'll have some money to spend. And Steve is also predicting that that is what's going to happen because you said they'd be seventh and under. Yeah. Hey, no. Well, he's not informed. Not necessarily. You said that is what is going to happen with the Leafs. I don't want it to.

I badly don't want it to. I'd be sad if that's how it would play it out. Obviously. Well, you think it's going to play out that way? Yeah. No, I loved having a sparse may. That was great. You didn't like the extra time with your children?

Yeah. You didn't like the extra time with the HABs? I thought it was. are the Habs fans. No, no, no, no, no. Those are your children. I shouldn't have streamed Habs games. You know what I should have done?

Folded my arms and paid zero bill. You know what's crazy is like when you run a company and you cover a game? We can only like, like imagine you tithered your company to one team. Are you out of your mind? Now, I want to mention Ivers Stenberg. There's a few things happening with the sharks today that are really interesting. But the first thing. They waived him?

No, they did not. He had a night. Hat trick last night. He sure did. looked fantastic. It's interesting. I checked in with some shark's people

that we know. And they were saying, oh, well, the first few days looks like he's really defensively responsible, haven't quite seen the skills side come up yet

and then bang, there it is. I know it's preseason, but that's good. I don't want to put an asterisk on anything because I saw he scored a hat trick. I'm like,

oh, that's awesome. What do you mean the final score was 10-0? Yeah. The final score was what? Yeah, they didn't play against any NHLers.

Oh, that's great. But he scored. Yeah. Did anyone else get a hat trick? Same conversation with the Leafs. It's like, oh, we'll take it. It's better than losing. It's better than the Montreal games, you know, but so they're glad they did the thing.

I'm glad he got the hat trick. Do you want him to score it? What's better? Him scoring a hat trick or him not scoring at all? Exactly. All right. He scored a hat trick. Great.

It's all, everything in the conversation is with the asterix that is preseason. Great. Yep. There you go. Then you're going to find out it was like Jackson Lecombe played half an hour. But I don't. I don't think so. I must say I'm happy for him.

Sharks are apparently, Sheng Ping of San Jose Hockey now, kind of set the rumors that sharks are probably interested in Connor Hellebuk, and they probably should be. And goodbye, Yoroslav Askerov, if that happens, I think. Now, I know that they probably... Well, because Winnipeg needs a goalie back and they need a goalie of the future.

The thing is, this is the third of three years for Ascroft, would he resign in Winnipeg? Okay, you're no longer in Nashville because you wanted to be a starting goaltender. Here you go. And you're not yet a starting goaltender. By the way, you could be that here. Yeah. That's the big Achilles heel with the sharks, right?

Like I know their defense was spotty and I know they're a very young team. Stop the puck. Was Ndalkovich good or was he good for what they had? Go look at Ascarov's numbers. He's good for what they had. Yeah. 896 for Delkovich isn't too bad. That's not too bad.

In today's NFL is not great. It's not. 40 games played. He'd be unreal if he were their backup. That'd be great. He's not. I don't mind a Connor Hallibuck acquisition for the shark. It's a good bet to make.

That'd be crazy. Yep. That changes their window to immediately. Totally. The immediately is teal. I'm sure that's what they're going for. Well, they're not going for the future is teal now. They've got a new saying, as I told you.

Cover it in. Cover it in teal. Yeah, but now it's the present is make the playoffs. But like, is cover the playoffs. The present is contender. Yeah. No, this would be the present as contender. The teal is present.

Also happening today. Macklin Celebrini is expected to be named captain. There is a press conference at noon, which is 3 o'clock Eastern Standard, which is after we record the show. So I wanted to jump on that one and say, we got you. Can't do that out to us this time. That's pretty cool. Yeah, it's great.

It's awesome. Brandon Tanev, Chris Tenev's brother, put on waivers by the mammoth. Didn't have a lot of points last year, but he's an energy guy. Two years left on his deal at $2.5 million. Does he make it through or does Twerberg make it through? Who's more likely? I think they both get claims. That's a lot of money, I think, for somebody to claim at this point in the season.

I think he's probably AHL right now. That's tough. Yeah. I like him a lot. Always like Brandon Tanev, yeah. I mean, there's guys who are, who end up in the minors, I think, because of their contract. And he's probably one of them. Ryan Graves is kind of another guy.

Like, Pittsburgh used him. And what's funny is they can just pass him through waivers with no issue because this can't hit it. So why? Maybe Tanna's the same. Yeah. Yeah, it's a shame. Like, I don't know. Does he still do the funny photo pose that he does every year?

Did he do it this year? for whatever their minor league team is. I don't even know what the mammoths minor league team is. That's a good question. Did they keep the Tuscan Roadrunners? Tucson. No, no, no, no, Tuscany Roadrunners. Tuscan.

I said this last year. That's a callback. I think they did. And I think Morello still owns them. Pretty sure. Oh, yeah. Yeah, something like that. Anyway, it doesn't matter.

He's, I feel bad for Brandon Ted. I just saw that. It is still the roadrunners. Just checked quickly. Was you, the roadrunners at one point were the Leafs? or the, we're a Toronto team. They were not the Leafs team. Toronto Roadrunners.

It was Edmonton's minor league affiliate. And they were like one year here, and I saw them. With their head coach, Rocco something. He was with the Flyers very recently. I don't know if he still is. Okay. I just know that because my uncle Rocky would be like, let's go Rocco!

Because they had the same legal name. By sending TANF down, the mammoth have buried $1.275 million for this season. That's not insignificant. No, that's a no. No, that's a full player. Yeah, I mean, look at that and they're still paying O'O. He also, like, this happens at this time of year.

He might just not get sent down. Like, he might just be clearing waivers just to see. Oh, right, right. It's possible. Yeah. Okay. I don't know. Looking at, looking around the league, when we've been talking about this for a while

in my point last show, I think, carries. The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed a six-year extension with Adam Fantilli at 13. $17.75 million per year. Now, they got him down from the 16 he was asking for in the spring. They didn't, he was not asking for 16 in the spring. Oh, apparently in the spring it was closer to $10 million. Oh, so then they messed up catastrophically. Yes.

Got it. The estimates are that they cost, uh, in real dollars, they cost themselves 15 to 20 million dollars. Um, and what's hilarious about this is this player has now missed camp. And it goes back to the Jeremy Swayman argument we made, ago, which is if you're half a million dollars apart, just pay it. He's a star. He'll be worth it. Don't worry. And don't hold him out of camp. But Fantilli has now missed camp and won the negotiation. I think the negotiation was more on the years than the dollar amount. Okay.

That's my, by looking at the contract, it feels like Columbus was really chasing as long as possible. Sixth year. I think, I think they were going for eight, you know, when that was possible two weeks ago. I think the whole summer they're going for eight, you're going for eight. And if I'm Pat Brissant, I want a four-year contract. You walk me at a free agency in a $130 million salary cap world. And then I cash in again once I become who we all think Adam Fantilli is. Yep. So I think it's a win for Columbus to get the six years, which is only one under the maximum

currently and by two years of unrestricted free agency. Do I hammer them? like everyone's been hammering them for not getting this done sooner? Or do I just acknowledge that Columbus is not the only team who didn't realize prices were going up this aggressively this fast? I think where you hammer them is that this deal could have been done two weeks ago. But what if this second point was the years? And then what I think I think Don Waddell,

I think that's where he got them to come to that point, then his negotiation tactic worked. If, because I don't, if Fantilly was the whole time willing to sign six years, I think Columbus would have just done it. I think you're right. And I, I think Don Waddell's job now is to make this contract mean something. Yeah. Like, yeah. Like, okay, he signed. Is it going to be six years where nothing friggin happens? Exactly. He's just some guy who puts up points in Columbus before going somewhere else. Signing somewhere else is a UFA and actually doing something. Like, you, we need to see some six, successful Columbus hockey here.

Build a round Adam Fantilly now. You have the reigning Norse trophy winner. You have one of the best defensemen in the world signed for a couple more seasons. Who knows how long after that. But now you have the number one center cornerstone of your franchise if everything goes according to plan. And that's great. And that's great.

Like I don't want to like I don't think we should kill the blue jackets for negotiation. We should. I disagree with that completely. I think they should be killed for this. That your job is literally. to not fucking do this. You could have had this guy

at $60 or $70 million in the spring. Now you're paying for it. I'm sorry, I can't let them off the hook for that. How much money are they paying Don Waddell each year, Jess? Yeah, but I don't think anybody knew that the price in September would have been the price in April. I can't fault anybody for that.

Everybody kind of missed that thing. They had comparables in the spring, though. Dem it off at 9.35 or whatever else. Sure. I think Don Waddell got him to six a year. Like I'm willing to give him that credit. Like I can't just pretend like, oh, that's a participation ribbon, man. Because what happens in year five, the 60 year doesn't matter if Don does not build a team. Yeah.

So far he's done dick all to build a team. Yes. So that I think that's what Steve just said. You know, now it's about moving forward and building a team around this thing. And that's where I was saying they got Werensky and they got Fantilli. Now show us you can be competitive and your team won't collapse in April. Like if he does nothing with the years that he's fantilius signed, then everything has been a waste. Your franchise existing has been a waste.

Because what the hell are you doing in the NHL if you can't do anything now? I think what we have here is not even GM. Yes, GM, but franchise that just hasn't earned the benefit of the doubt. I understand where Adam's coming from. Totally. Like, like, I agree with you, but like Adam's, it's totally valid. like, please make the blue jackets relevant. Exactly.

Like, how many years of their existence have they been relevant? Let me put it to you this way. It's very few. Jump on that. There are two teams in the NHL the way I see it who don't have a good old days to harken back to. They are Seattle and Columbus. Seattle has played five years. Like the Bobrowski-Panarron days?

How far they get in the playoffs? Rick Nash? Very. No. Guys, Seattle, they're five years in the league. I like Rick Nash. I played, I think, four playoff games for the blue games. And one thing I'm not going to do is make sure that Don Waddell is to blame for all of that.

But he is in charge of it now. Yes, right now. Don Wadell's job is to build a winning team now that he's done this part of his job. You can't see past the logo and I also don't think that's your fault. I think beyond that. No, no, no, I think that I think history matters here just like it matters with the Leafs. It matters. Yes.

And the reality is, and I mentioned Seattle and Columbus, who's gone further in the playoffs in their history? Seattle! That's crazy. Columbus got to the second round once. So has Seattle. And they're irrelevant? They're tied. Yeah, but I think Seattle played more games in the second round.

No, tiebreaker goes to the team that won a qualifying round. Over the Leafs. Columbus did. You're right. You're absolutely right. So if the history matters, then getting the sixth year is so important. because everybody leaves Columbus and he was able to lock this guy up for six years.

You have at least that window. So that's why I think if that was the sticking point in the negotiation, whether it was four years, five years, or six years, and he got the six and he couldn't quite get the seven, that matters because nobody wants to come to Columbus and nobody wants to stay in Columbus. So at least you got this guy for six years. Kekalinen's greatest victory as Columbus GM was keeping Werenzky there.

Yeah. We all thought that was done. Yep. We thought it was done. And then when he signed his deal, we're like, damn, that's a lot of money. 9.5, I think. It was worth it.

He signed for, I think it was more than kale. And we were all like, oh, damn. Half a million more when half a million more meant something. I think the better question through all this is, do you believe he will be able to do anything? That's Don Waddell and the franchise as a whole in that window. Do we have faith? I don't really. If you'd ask me a year ago, Don Waddell was coming out of Carolina.

Like, he's been there two years now, right? Two, three years with Columbus? I would have been like, well, give him a little bit more time because look at what he built in Carolina. Right? And he hired, give Don Waddell a ton of credit for that team because I know that I know who's in charge of it now,

but he's the one that hired that guy. Sure. Right. May 28th, 2024, he was hired. Okay. Yeah.

Rubber hits meets road now, my friend. Yeah. And your, your off season, what did you do? Yeah. You didn't find a deal from Archenko or haven't yet.

You just got Fantilly signed. Who was your big at? Victor, no, Victor, no, Victor, the Titchskine. Yeah. Didn't they spend assets? Didn't they spend assets on Marchmont and then lose them?

Yes. Brother. I mean, that Charlie Coil deal in retrospect doesn't look so bad. Yeah. That's fine. Six million bucks. Not bad. Whatever.

It's fine. Third line center. I think present day, you kind of know what the plan is. Like you can't lose anymore. Do we think they are going to do that and build a winner? I don't think so. I tell you what, Jet Greaves is going to get some Ves. If this team stays in the playoff conversation.

Elvis is out to start the season. I think he's out for the season, man. They're talking about him like it's long time. Oh, shit. Yeah. Okay. And they're not upset about it, I don't think. Yeah, let's play a game.

It's called Look at His Hockey DB. Let me know when you're there. Elvis, Merz-Likins. And we can talk about whether or not it's a bad thing. You don't like this goaltender? Brother. Yo, can I just say this? That is why I have concerns about Yarmo in Buffalo.

Nobody wants to hear that right now because the vibes are good. But Yarmo did not do a great job in Columbus. Oh, my. Holy shit. You see why he got the contract he did. Yeah. He was crazy. In 21, 22.

Yeah, 923 and a 916, then 907, 876, which 876 a few years ago is unplayable, as represented by his record of 7. 18 and 2. We don't look at goals against the average, but that 8776 year, his goals against the average was 4.23. Yeah. That's,

that's, don't bother. Mother. That's bad. That's sell your tickets. That's, what are you doing? 897 is below average,

but whatever. 892 below average, but whatever. And then 883 last year. Steve, why are you happy that he got injured? I'm not happy he got injured. Why are you so,

I'm just saying, there's a chance. This is injured. There's a chance Grieves Talbot is a better tandem. That's all I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah. Play the wheels.

Play the old wheels off of Greaves. I like being right about Greaves. First game I saw him, I was like, that's a player. He's a good player. He's good. Great cool. I thought this was very interesting. Before we get to Mark Messier and the Edmonton Oilers, which was very, very interesting,

this is brand new this morning, too. Nope. It's newer than the Messier Oilers thing, and I don't think you've seen it. So I'm real excited about this. I don't think either of you've seen it. Oh, no. Alexander Nikitian of the Carolina Hurricanes. Tell me about his situation.

What do you know? He's a restricted free agent for the Carolina Hurricanes who just won the Stanley Cup. He's a third pair of defensemen for them. And he needs a contract. And he wants to be traded. Jesse, anything to add to that? Do I get to spoil your story? If you want to, you go ahead.

He fired his agency. But who's his agency, Stephen? Isn't it? We are a gold star? Nope. It's Darren Ferris. It's Cortex, baby. Now, I forgot about that.

Yeah. Oh, you know what? I'd be interested in acquiring him now. Well, so. I think he's okay. Don't you find it interesting? No, you know what? That's a great player.

That's a great player. Everything I've ever said about him? No. Number one potential. 100%. Number two minimum. Don't you guys think it's interesting that Cortex did what they always do, which is push it to the absolute fucking limit.

By the way, I checked their homepage. The first picture that comes up is Mitch Martyr's face. Just throwing that out there. The, they push it to the absolute last minute. Yeah, here's like our only client it's worked for. And here's the, yeah, and here's the Carolina Hurricanes going,

okay, fine. Like we said in our preview, they'll be fine. And Paul Thea Thanos is taking over. He's Panoran's agent, which tells me New York. He loves, Paul Thea Thanos is based out of New York,

loves bringing guys to New York. Nikesian, New York, guys. Yep. I think so. That's good of my instant prediction. Let me throw this out. Alexander Neketian. To the Rangers.

Rangers fans, does that get you excited? My guess is yes. Sure. Now wait. That you enjoy the sausage. Let me show you how it's made. This involves Eric Tulski calling Chris Drew. hurry.

Do you still want to do it? You still want to do it? Are you sure? Hang the phone up. Hang the phone up. Click. Click. Buy a landline so that you could slam it. It's not a good idea with a cell phone,

but you used to be able to slam the phone. Rip it off the wall. The way that the Rangers are built, it's possible that they're horrible this year, and I think they won't be very good. It's just, just grant me this. Oh, yeah. Jesse, Steve.

It's possible. to you that the New York Rangers finish in the bottom 10 in the league, yes? It's possible, yeah. I would say potentially likely. Unless Shasturkin is lights out again. I don't have them there, but it's possible. Sure.

I think the Metro is very, very good. If you get this year's first round pick in the Neketian trade, you could be a deep playoff team with a lottery ticket, no, lottery ticket, and I think that's pretty cool. And that is why New York should not trade for this. Chris, don't do it, Chris.

Chris, Chris, no, he's going to Chris, Chris, don't do it, Chris, he's doing it. Chris,

I forbid you. Oh, no. Yeah, hilarious. Oh, no. They actually have a, you know, they have a pretty decent defense too,

man. Like, Howard of Dolan compels you. Do you, or do you trade Albert Smiths? What? The Latvian guy. Yeah,

no, hang up, hang up the phone. I love that. How are we having this conversation? Love Albert Smiths. I just want to say. Yeah, awesome.

No. Okay. No, that's insane. That's insane. insane. Okay, just wanted to check. Now, Carolina is sweetening the pot

if I'm giving you Smiths. Yeah, no. Okay. Olympian, Albert Smiths. It sounds like there's a lot of trouble going on with Nekheesian there. Well, because his agency has a strategy and everybody's caught wise to it,

which is bullshit you till the very last minute. And Neketian's like, you told me we'd have a contract. We don't have a fucking contract. And now I got a, now I got to fire me. I think this is like we're underselling how kind of fucked up this is. It's bad for him.

In the middle of this really drawn out situation where you don't have a contract, he's firing the guy who's in charge of getting him the contract. Yeah. I don't know. Like he's a really good player who doesn't have a contract and now he's in a bad situation and he might have to go somewhere he doesn't want to go. It's a little bit like the Taylor Hall situation from a few years ago. And who is his stupid fucking agent?

Who is that asshole of an agent that he had? Who is his dumb, arrogant piece of, oh, I just remembered. Anyway, yeah, best of luck to him. He's a way better player today than he was yesterday. Too bad we won't get a podcast appearance about this, though. Now, Mark Messier made some stirring comments, I would say, about the Edmonton Oilers, and they're hiring a Mike Babcock. And what I think is really interesting here is it's Mark Messier.

This is not Ryan Smith. This is not Doug Waite. This isn't Coojo. This isn't Nikolai Habiboulin. Andrew Ferrence. Jason Smith. This is Mark made the 80s Messier. You're talking about his space in Oilers history, but his space in the present day

NHL, his brand is being benign. Oh, yeah. What does Mark Messier ever said on ESPN that you remembered? He is the definition of I hope both teams have fun. Yeah. He wears the NHL logo in his hat. Yes. Like, I'm,

oh, name anything mess is said since starting his broadcast career. Nothing. Name a single thing. The only thing memorable from those ESPN panels is what P.K. Suban wears. There's nothing else that's memorable. So he's the guy sitting next to Peky.

Yeah. And they did that fun social thing where it's like, here, hold the cup. And P.K. said, I don't want to. And he said, you should, though. And then P. P.K. said no. That's it. Like, I don't remember anything he said. So for him to hold the space that

he does in Euler's history and be as like white bread milk toast as he is. And then say this. It's crazy. It was very surprising. Yeah. And we all know that this definitely isn't Vancouver Mark Messier talking. Well, because he did exactly that. That is a pot and kettle. Yes. Right there talking to each other. Now let's get to what he said. Case people missed it. I'm sure you heard it. But let's say it one more time.

Mark Massier, this is from Greg Wischinski. And Greg also works at ESPN. Now, Greg is a guy they should put on panels because you can remember what Greg says. I don't understand why Greg's not on TV. I don't understand that. But anyway, my mom always told me, this is Mark. If I don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all, which is kind of how he handles his TV career. I am absolutely shocked they hired him, him being Mike Babcock.

I'm absolutely shocked from the stories that I heard from very good, reputable character people about how they were treated. It's no secret. I agree with Ray, as in Ray Ferraro. The way that he was onboarded through the players interviewing him is absolutely something that I've never heard of before, Mark. Maybe the game has changed and that's the way it's going. Great. I don't know. It certainly wasn't like that.

I think there has to be a separation of powers on a structural level of any team. I think from the management to the coaching to the players, there has to be a divide. The leadership of your team has to protect the players inside the dress room. How can you do that when you're directly involved in the decisions they're making in a management level and hiring the management and the coaches? I don't understand it. Maybe the game has changed to the point where that's the way things are going now, where players have that much say, I just don't know. If it does go bad and players have difficulties, who will they turn to? because if they turn to leadership,

the leadership is management. There's no separation there. I'm just horrified by the whole thing, to be honest with you, and I could go on and on and on, but I think you get my point. And I think what's interesting here is he probably has some of this from experience.

What happened in Vancouver was he made sure they hired Mike Keenan. He made sure they got rid of Trevor Lyndon. And how did it work out? They missed the playoffs three seasons in a row, and he fucked off back to New York. And they won a Stanley Cup with the Rangers. Rangers hated Keenan.

Everybody hated Kenan. They hated. One of the biggest assholes the sport has ever had. Yeah. So Mark might be the guy to speak on this. He is king bad guy. Yeah. But like the way like you can apply this to Babcock, you go, but they did win though.

Oh gosh. And like maybe that's good enough. Right. Maybe it's good enough that for the rest of your life you hate this guy, but you also get to stare at a ring. Look at that 1994 Rangers team. That's a spec. They were a tachular team.

Pretty good. And Mike Keenan took a, what should have been a Stanley Cup winning Blues team in the mid-90s and blew them up. And if you go and you watch Mike Keenan interviews

from the mid-90s, what a prick. What an arrogant, you talk about arrogance. It's sweating out of him. Adam, it's coming out of his pores in these interviews.

And it's the 90s. One of only two men to win the Stanley Cup and Gagarin Cup as coach. I don't know if that's what I would want on my resume. I know.

I would just want the Stanley Cup. Thanks very much. No one gives it down. I would love. Love if there was some sort of follow-up to Messier about like, okay, you don't like Babcock so much, but like, what about Keenan? And I'm sure he would say,

like Greg is going to press him on that. No, no, Greg, the Greg wasn't interviewing here. Wasn't he? Greg tweet out these quotes from, this came from in a preseason avail that Messier had with the like, hey, this is our ESPN lineup. I'm talking to all the reporters on like a telecom call, you know, and that's where these quotes come from.

And I wish there was video. Yeah, I think it was just on a call with all the reporters. Like, so I, no, like asking Messia today if I could sit next to him like, okay, how can you say this about Babcock? Which I don't disagree with you. I actually think like you're very right in what you're saying there. But how are you saying this when you would probably sit next to me and be so glowing about Mike Keenan? Well, I don't know that he necessarily is anymore. And he made that mistake.

We'll see. Is that not an acknowledgement? Maybe that I did this and it didn't work out all that. I have very little faith in the faith in Mark Messier not saying nice things about Keenan. I think he would 100% back that guy. Wow. Well, that's just my personal opinion. I don't know if he would do it.

Now, Heiman. But every interaction I've had with Messier or people who I've known have interacted with Messier hasn't been good. Yeah. Like who? Doesn't matter. A guy sitting next to me. The guy sitting next to me.

All right. Now I've got, I got video from NHL.com. Zach Hyman responding. Zach Hyman was a big push behind this. And obviously, Zach owns an OHL team. They hired Mike's son to be their coach this year. Did he not? Who's Mike Babcock.

Sons are not their fathers. Fathers are not their father. 100%, but there's a connection with the families there. I think that's fair. Yes. So let's start with Hyman. It starts right at the beginning of the video, ends at 150. Here's what Zach Hyman has to say about Mike Babcock.

I'm coaching you guys is that, I mean, there's a lot of headlines. There's a lot of talk out there. how much you guys see, but it's kind of every day. I just process that as players. Does it take some pressure off you? Is it distraction? What do you think? Yeah, I don't know.

I haven't heard anything about me, Leon Conner. It's all about bad, which is obviously I think he can handle that. And I just know from a player standpoint, there's a lot of excitement with training camp, how preseason is gone, how we've worked in those games. I think that, you know, you're seeing changes on the ice, and it feels good as a player. It's all positive. It's been really good. Mark Mosey has got a big presence in the game. Obviously, it's a long-night of this organization.

When he says the type of thing that he said yesterday, how does that resonate with you guys? What do you think? Yeah, I think, listen, everybody has their own opinion. He was number 11. I was number 11 for the longest time, and I couldn't wear the jersey here because he's revered here. He's a legend with the Oilers and in hockey, obviously.

So I think that everybody in the game respects him. And like I said, Everybody's entitled their own opinion. I think if he really wants to see what's going on firsthand, he's more than welcome to come here. I think Oyler fans love him. Like I said, there's a lot of excitement, there's a lot of positivity here.

Nothing but could is happening right now. So to try and spew something negative right now, I think it's his opinion, like I said, a lot of respect for him. And if you'd like to see what's going on, he's more than welcome to come down. He was close. He was close.

He's being very. political. Yeah. And he got it back on the road. He almost put it into the shoulder. He got it back on the road. Jesse, can we go to McDavid next? Because I'd like to say Babcock for last.

Because Babcock's comments are so illustrative. That video starts at 138. If you can get it there, sorry about that. Mike Babcock owns this answer. McDavid's answer is very McDavid. Do you have any reaction to what Martin Ska had to say about you guys hiring Mike Babcock? Everybody's got their opinion and obviously he's one of the greats of the game and he's entitled to his opinion.

Yeah, we're in Rogers commercials together and I don't want to blow up my spot. Can you please move on to another question? Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Yeah, I forgot about that. Sorry, go ahead. Well, like all the backpot character stuff has been asked and answer. One of the issues he was maybe drawing attention to is the gap between coaches and players. And is there enough of a healthy gap between the coaches?

the player on this team now that you guys had such a large hand in getting him higher. I think you've seen the first couple days of camp. I think you've seen there's a pretty good gap there. You know, that's what Babs does. So the entire coaching staff has been great and getting us ready. And a ton of players and nice leaders to make sure we're ready to go. Is there still an environment though where if a player has a problem with the coach, they can come to you and you can handle it from there?

Yeah, for sure, absolutely. You know, there's, our organization has its, has its layers just like everyone else's. You know, my job is just to be who I am and the captain of this team and make sure I'm doing things right every day to be ready to roll. All right, let's leave it there. What's the going on? I found that hilarious. I don't know what Adam was thinking. All I was thinking is I would, they would never allow it ever in a million years.

I would pay money and good money to watch a documentary at the end of the season about this team. Oh, I hope they're doing one. Like in all acts, no shot out of zero. And if they win the cup, we'll get the, hey, we won the cup version.

Yeah. Right? But, but like, you know all the stuff that they allegedly removed from the Leafs, Amazon Docs? from the COVID shortens.

Yeah, only 30% of it made the screen is what they said. Oh my God. That documentary would be like, we pick it up at game one of the playoffs. Yeah. There's a reason apparently why Jimmy Visi was sort of the whipping boy of the Leafs documentary because it was going to be William Nealander. Yes. And they cut all the William Nealander stuff.

Yep. And because he's still there and they're like, well, fuck this guy. Yeah. And they just stuck it to Visi. I thought what I started laughing about, was something that we touched on a couple of episodes ago. And again, like, you know, everybody's acting like, well, everything's fine at camp right now. Yeah, it's camp.

Guys, this is, and you'll see this with Babbs. How big of a jerk do you got to be to not even make it out of camp? So you're a 13th forward and Babs is mean to you. You're going to go to Connor McDavid? No chance. No chance you're going to go. That's why I started laughing. He's like, yeah.

You know why? Because nobody fucking would. Nobody's going to you. And Connor knows that. that because he's because here's the thing and I respect this about Connor McDavid he doesn't care you got feelings I don't care anymore he wants to win I want to win a hockey game and this is the way I believe that we can so how about you how about you how but you I don't care what's happening to you we need to

win games and this gets helps us get there that's what I care about Adam you're a dad does he not look like Benedict Cumberbatch's Grinch a little bit he does yeah yeah with the beard at the beginning of the movie yeah anyway that's a great movie I'm not insulting. No, I love that movie. Underrated. Babcock, this is where, this is how this answer is how Mike Babcock has survived in the league this long with the way he's treated people. He is charming and he's great in front of a microphone.

Have a listen to his response about Mark Messia. Take advantage of it. Are you aware of how much the outside is talking about everything Mike Babcock at this training camp? Do you even notice that? Does that resonate? You know, I got up this morning. dear pitchers were right there. I had like about a thousand of them I had to delete. That's my social media. My dad had this unbelievable line. He said, son, if your knees hit my kitchen table,

I probably care what you think. In other words, it's your family and the people around. The rest is just noise. I've been doing this a long time. See ya. Is that the one? That's the one. And he also said, he went on to say that earlier, I guess, in that press conference, he says, you know, I've met Messier. a couple times once with my daughter. He was really great, whatever. And Mike, it's not about with a guy like this, it's not about the first month. It's not about six months. It's not even about a year. Which, by the way, that's what the Oilers have. Because if this falls apart, now we're talking about players leaving town. This is about years two and years three. And you're going, well, Adam,

it's pro sports. That's an eternity. And you're right. But Mike Babcock in his first year anywhere. has never caused the issues, right? His first year in Toronto, they finished dead last, he was a hero here. Absolute hero. I bought the Mike Babcock everything all the time. I was like, this guy rocks. But it's what happens when someone like this gets comfortable,

they get entrenched power-wise, because he doesn't really have a ton of power in the oilers dressing room right now. It's when he becomes the king there, that's when it's going to become a problem. And he handles the media beautifully. He always has. Oh, I don't know.

who that reporter was. They're smart. They learned quick. They referred to him as Mike Babcock. Did you notice that? Why is that? Because Mike Babcock refers to Mike Babcock as Mike Babcock. Oh. He's got this, like, listen, your family is important, but he's got like an odd fixation with it. Remember Frank Carrotta was on her show? Yeah, nice guy, good family. Obviously, it's Frank Carrotto. Yeah, nice guy, good family or whatever. And Frank said, who gives a shit? Who like, yeah, who cares? And also, you're never going to be like, terrible guy, horrible family. You know what I mean? Frank's funny.

And like, okay, if you're not at my kitchen table, I don't give a fuck what you think. No. That's not how you get through society. What are you talking about? I get it from a, well, like, listen, he means friends and family. Outside of my friends, my close friends and my family. The people least likely to criticize you? Well,

The people who love you the most? And the people who don't see you at work. So that's where the hole in there. No, no, they're in the locker room all the time. I get what he's saying. Like, that's a good thing to have through your life. You shouldn't be worried about what other people think. But I think that, you know, we all are to a certain extent.

And who people are at work and who people are at home are too often very different things, especially in a position of power. Do you think that the CEO of a Fortune 500 company that just cut 20,000 people is a villain to their family? Not likely. No. They're probably like a fun guy that you go on vacation with and have a blast and oh my gosh, he's so much fun. But when they go to work, what are they? Ice cold hatchet men.

Yeah. And that's what a head coach has to be. That's the construction of a sociopath is what you're talking about. And like I know like we're talking about frigging hockey here. and, you know, maybe we should relax, but like, no, this isn't Yellowstone. That's a really concerning way to look at the world. Stop being weird. Now, his response, and I referenced this in a previous episode,

but this response also reminded me of something that he said before. So Johann Franzon, Red Wings, very good player, helped him win a cup. Yeah, at least one cup, said, as a coach, he is extremely accurate. and prepared. He is great at putting together a gaming system and getting everyone to buy into it. That's his strong side, Franzen told Expressen. That's in Sweden. But then he's a terrible man, the worst person I've ever met. A bully who cheated on people. It could be cleaners in the Detroit area or anyone. He jumped on people just because. So Babcock responds and I'll read it in his voice. Uh, I thought we had a really good relationship.

Now, did things not go as good at times? Absolutely. Did I ever, in my mind, try to bully anybody? That is the craziest thing I have ever heard of. Now, I also, though, didn't even know what mental health was. So anytime someone, whether they work for me, whether you're in a relationship with them, you're wrong. You never want to cross the line.

And when you do, you want to own it. And if you do, you should own it. But if you didn't, You shouldn't own that either. And then the question was, did you reach out to Fron? Yes, I have. So you apologized. No, I reached out to him.

He didn't get back to me. I'm not sure what the clinical definition of a sociopath is. This guy doesn't take accountability for anything. And like, again, he's, I told you from the day he was hired. He's a charming man. Mm-hmm. He's charming on the microphone. What was that word salad I just read?

Here's someone told, someone called you the worst person they ever met. Someone who knew you for years, you won a championship with. And you're, you're talking about you didn't know what mental health was. And because, like, you know what that reads as? Babcock is offended that he wouldn't pick up the phone. Someone, he, you're offended. Someone who thinks you're the worst person they've ever met, won't pick up the phone. And you're offended because you,

think they owe that to you to at least answer the phone. He has no idea what he did to Johan Franson. None. No, I think he admits it there. Do you want his comments about the Messia thing? I pulled it up. Yeah, let's do it. I went back a little on.

Here's what he said directly responding to the... Sorry, added context. They were doing scrimmages where one of the teams is called Team Messier. Yeah, he mentions that. Oh, he does. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, their Team Messier and Team Gretzky is their two names of their two groups. Did you hear Mark Messier's comments, do you have any reaction to him?

Yeah, me guys here, they helped me out. They sent it to me yesterday, so I just sent it to my family. So one of these teams is Team Massier, right? So he won four cups here. I'm younger than him when I'd watch him a hard leader, two-way competitive. Went to New York, hard, two-way competitive, real leader. I've dealt with them two times in my life. One time we were getting presented on Olympic gold medals here. And he ran on, I think my daughter was seven or eight then. He treated us great.

Another time was the Hall of Fame thing. He treated me great. Like I said, Team Mass is a legend here. Is it ESPN that he does? He does great on that. I have nothing but respect for him. So this training cap is shorter. There's nothing behind those eyes.

Well, I think it's a beautiful Mike Babcock. microcosm. I think he handled it beautifully and this, he didn't answer it. What do you think? Like I've, again, I've met this person. They talk bad about me. I'm offended while addressing

none of what he said whatsoever. Is that not identical? There's nothing. Those are shark size, man. There's again, brilliant hockey. No one says he doesn't know hockey. They might win a cup out of this.

Oh my God, the documentary I'd watch it. Yep. I'd 100% watch it. And I said no team in the league has more pressure on them to win than the Edmonton Oilers. Because 31 teams are going to lose the cup. Only one of them is going to look stupid if they don't. Right. Those three men at the top of all this who got him hired are going to look real stupid if this goes sideways.

Hyman dry saddle and McDavid. Yeah. And I don't think those are stupid guys at all. But they're going to get clowned. Right. Or win the cup. They're probably going to win the cup. That's probably how this works.

Now, moving on to Detroit, a couple of news notes items. By the way, apology to Detroit. Why? Because I now understand how they felt. Because I'm seeing Edmonton react to Babcock and how we read. reacted to Babcock. Leave fans are just being ignored and sort of watching what's being said about Babcock and just sort of going, oh, so you just don't know this person.

And that is exactly how Detroit fans looked at Toronto when he was hired and you were right. Yep. Blanket, you were correct. Yep. So Detroit, couple of things. First thing is Dylan Larkin has expanded his trade teams, trade list. Eight teams now. I think the original was Florida, Vegas and called someone else.

Tampa? No, no, not Tampa. Hayden's pointing out of half. Now it's also... The list is hilarious. Now it's Colorado, Dallas, Tampa Bay, and Washington. What are we doing? What's the full thing?

Can you give me the eight? So it's Minnesota, Colorado, Dallas, Florida, Tampa Bay, Washington... And do I... Is that eight? No. Vegas. That's eight. It doesn't matter.

Basically, every team... They're all contenders. Yeah. What are we doing? Yeah. So... They're all. I know Washington didn't make the playoffs last year.

They look way better. Adding Larkin would be nuts. I don't, well, and they've got the assets to do it. So does Tampa feels like an interesting spot for him. Yeah. Tampa actually fits kind of well. Point Larkin Sirelli. Oh, good Lord.

Like, I wonder why he wants to go to these teams. But I think now a deal can actually get done. Because I do think one of those teams will will budge on this. And, you know, the teams that normally, like the thing, I think it's interesting that Vegas, if Vegas wanted this guy, they'd have them. That's how Vegas operate. Yeah. Um, which tells me they're more interested in Marchenko than they're interested in Larkin. And I, they don't have anything. Well, Vegas to give up. Yeah. I guess they could trade. I guess every pick they don't have anything that I think Detroit

would want right now. Yeah. Tampa, I think might. I have to look at their Puckety. I really don't even know what they have left. But you know, Kuturov. Kutroff. The hell yeah. Let's go. hold on Tampa Bay. Let's get nuts. Screw it. They don't have a lot of picks this year. They got a first next year, which I don't think Detroit's interested in.

This is Vegas? No, this would be Tampa. But can you flip like Connor geeky? Like what are we doing? For Larkin. Not as a part of it. I'm just saying. Like Sam O'Reilly has to be part of that.

Really like that player. I don't know. Yeah. Like, yeah. His list increasing in size increases the likelihood of it getting done. We're getting to like Matt Duchenne territory here. Did you see the Puck battle footage from camp?

Yeah, I don't know what to take from that. I think that's one of those things where if he doesn't, if he hadn't requested a trade, you don't even post that clip because it's just so mundane. But looking at it through the lens of he requested a trade, you're like this lazy piece of garbage. Right. And that's how a lot of Red Wings fans were looking at it.

Man, they're having a bad time. Between that, Edmondson's still not having a deal done. Well, and on Edmondson, Detroit favors a bridge deal. They are wrong. Yeah, and they have, you know, the cap, as I mentioned, they're thinking it's going to be 127.5 in a couple of years. Edvinson's deal would be maybe a year beyond that. like maybe he signs a three-year deal.

Most bridge deals are two to three years. I'll tell you how that makes sense. It only makes sense if you plan on trading that player. That's it. Yeah, but I don't think that the money that Evanston's asking is something Detroit's willing to do. Why not?

Because they're dumb. Oh, there we go. Yeah. Because they're dumb. Finally, we've reached the answer. I don't think Horcoff's done. No, I think they is not in, Horcoff is not in charge.

Horcoff couldn't make any signings or trades this summer. They didn't announce that, but hi, I'm here to tell you. And you know what? I don't even have to reach into sources to find this out. You know why? Because they didn't make any signings or trades. So Horcoff couldn't do it. He clocked in every day.

He signed some paperwork, made sure training camp got off the ground. But Sean Horcoff was not empowered to do anything. So now he's, well, you can, Sean. So here's the thing. When Chris Silage says Sean's empowered to do signings and trades. What he means is he can only do short term. That's why this is coming up.

It's going to cost you money. The actions speak louder than words. He is only allowed to do short term deals and he is only allowed to do minor trades that Chris Illich approves of. That's what it is. This would be the worst bridge deal since Sam Reinhart. Remember that one?

That was unjustifiable. He signed two years. It was like three point something, which was obviously a really good cap hit, but everyone's like, what's the illusion here? Like bridge deals are for contenders. The PK one will always be crazy because he won a Norris. That was bad.

That was bad. They said, okay, we'll just sign you right now. And then he wins a Norris and he's like, okay, give me money. I get the impression. He also won a gold medal that year too, worth mentioning. That was the next year. Oh, and he was the extra skater. He was, but he was there.

Played a game. Yes. Played a game. No, no. I'm not going to take away his gold. No, just for context. But like, yeah, both of those were. bad idea. If you don't bridge elite players, unless you're like, you know what, this is the only

way we can win a cup right now. It's ridiculous. Um, Reinhardt ended up getting you, the Sabres got a decent package for him, if I remember correct. Can't remember exactly what it was. But the better package would have been Sam Reinhart. Just having him. Yeah. Yep. Uh, P.K. ended up getting traded as well. Like, sign this player. I think doing. I think Chris Illich. Like, it seems like he's been pretty good at spending money. But I think as like overseeing this hockey operations, he does not know what he's doing. It's the same thing. Like, we said, I said in the previews, but I think Steve was so right when he called them the Red Sabres,

because they are the new Sabres in that their owner is a terrible owner and is getting the way of running a good hockey franchise. He's taken the crown for me for where I had Terry Pagula in ruining the sabers. Now I look at Chris Illich the same way I looked at Pagula. two and a half years ago. Yeah. Like Chris Illidge is ruining this seat from top to the, from the tippy top to the bottom of this thing. Sometimes you don't know you're bad at something and everybody knows you're bad

at something. And you could, you really only be in this position, I think if you're super rich. And, and, you know, I think it,

you don't know that you're super bad at something until the results show. And we've got a billion dollars and nobody's willing to tell you anything. That's right. Now wait a minute. Everybody around you makes their money. and pays their mortgage because of you. So you can't hear no. Wait a minute.

Wait a minute. We got to pause the show because let me just look here. Let me just. Okay. So I see both of your knees. Uh-huh. And I noticed they're not touching Chris Illich's kitchen table. Yeah, so he's not going to listen to me.

So he's not going to listen to you. My words don't mean anything. That's true. Hayden is that's not his. No, it's not Chris Eilich's table. Certainly not rich enough to be his table. It's a sturdy table. It's a sturdy table.

Did that hurt? Not at all. Oh. I don't think. tapping the outside of my thigh on a table will hurt that. All right, Mr. Strong, man. I'd be really concerned if it did hurt me. Sorry, I'm the only person at this table who has gotten this table related injuries.

Yeah, man. Like, that, that, uh, the interview he did recently, the, the way they managed the entire last six months of the Red Wings, like, there's enough evidence here. We know he's bad at this. What did I yell over the last two years at the Leafs? do something. Brad! Red Wings fans don't even have anyone to yell at.

What are you going to yell? Chris, I guess. Yeah, Mr. Illich. It's not Horkov's fault. Yeah. Like, sometimes I think you take on a job, like there's only 32 of these GM jobs, right? Sometimes I think you take on a job so bad

that it can hurt your reputation. You know what I mean? I don't know if Pierre Dorian, how's Pierre Dorian doing? You know? Sometimes you take a job. Now, the difference is Pierre Dorian lied. Yeah, he shouldn't ought to have done that.

Yeah. Kevin Adams is back in the game. It's when he lied. That is when things went wrong. John Ferguson Jr. has been an executive ever since the Leafs. He's never gotten back in the GM chair. Apparently he never wanted to.

He has been offered it. I think he's been better in his different roles that are not the GM job. That's what, yeah. No, I've never wanted to be good at hockey. I've never wanted to be six foot five. You want to be six foot five. I've never wanted abs. I don't know if I want to be six foot five.

You want abs? I would love abs. Why are you looking at me like? Steve would be posting selfies, yes? I know. You imagine? My God.

It's like having a sweet summer and then it's like him with like a leg up. Yeah. How many shirtless photos of Steve would we get in like a month? Oh. I'd say over under. Here's me lifting both of my children. Yeah. You'd be like the rock where it's like you show us you're lifting with no shirt

on. I wouldn't own shirts. Yeah. I would have a really artificial laugh. Ha ha ha. It's good. I would have a really art of a laugh. And you talk about your grind set. You know what? When the rock does those cheat day photos and it's like this pile of sushi

and it's like every Friday here's my cheat day get away from me. Yeah. Every time I see that I'm like, he must shit like a mastodon. Like a horse. Like an actual. The 6 foot 5, like 300 pound guy eating just a mountain of food.

Do roids make you shit? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Well, from all my experience with friggin' royds. With my, hey, oh, oh, hey, hey, we don't know that. We don't know. We know that.

I would wear those weird gym tank talks that look like a thong. Yeah, they slip here and like your nipples slip it out. I've always wondered about those muscle shirts like, I don't need to see your cleave. No, they want to show the pecks off. They worked really hard on them. But if I looked like that, yes, you do. I can't believe you'd be that guy. I don't think so, man.

Yeah, but I would also be an astronaut if it was something I was capable of doing. He also has the tattoos too to match. You do. You have to have tattoos to do that. You do have the tattoos. You can't want more. You can't just be like a white guy with no tattoo. Like, I think because we're so pale, the two of us.

There's no pot. If we were muscle guys, you got, have you ever seen a muscle guy who at least didn't go to spray tan? Not a single one of them is, like you mean one of the competition people? Yeah, yeah. No, people who work out. They're spray tan people or they're the rub on tan people. It gets on their clothes. Are they rub on tan people or are they just so naked?

All the time. All the time. Just walking around their apartment. Yeah. That would be Steve. I would never wear one. Ever. Wow.

But I'm me. So I'm very close. We got to get you the nipple tank. You know what? Let's get them. You should get it pierced too. You got to work on your pecks a little more and we'll get you the nipple tank. And then you got to wear it on a live show.

Steve, how come you haven't gotten abs? Like if you want them, why don't you simply get abs? Once you starve yourself for abs. You're right. Because you kind of have to. All those men's health guys are like, yeah, I ate sweet potatoes for three weeks.

And that's the peak of my body for one whole year. Take me one. All those guys on the cover of men's health magazine, they don't look like that. They look like that for one week. No, I watch. Do you read men's health? No, I don't read men's fucking health. Do I look like I read men's health?

You can read it and just not take the advice. I don't know. I do creatine. I do, I do, I do creotin. Yeah, yeah, I just won't. Oh, so you do read men's health. No, I don't, but I do the, I do creatine. But why you're so sweet.

I think the, I think the, there's other benefits to creatine than that. Okay. But I think, I think the thing is that you got to remember those guys like it, they train and train and train and train and train. And then they get all their pictures taken in the one week cycle. And then they eat again. and all that shit

and I would post them all over the course of three. That's right. Well, there you go. What were we talking about? We're talking about the NHL Jets. The NHL Jets, not the NFL Jets, getting there, weirdly getting

their records back, but also the Thrasher's? So I thought, I was like, finally they did the right thing, and they fucked it up. So the NHL, statistically, now the Jets will have both iterations of the franchise. But they also have Atlanta's records.

and which is weird because I've always been of the opinion that the record should stay in the city that they were accomplished in. I agree. And so with Atlanta very clearly coming back to the NHL in five years. Does any Flames fan give a flying fuck what the Atlanta Flames did? I don't think Atlanta cares about what the Atlanta flames did,

but it still happened in Atlanta. And it should be Atlanta. Do Avalanche fans care about Nordic's record? Yeah. No. So a situation like the Dallas Stars. where you had the Minnesota North Stars and they kind of keep the name

and you would leave the North Star stuff in Minnesota? Yes. I agree. That should go to Wildsman. And by way, what does a Dallas fan give a shit? How many times have the Colorado Avalanche honored one of their great players, Matt Cindy?

Yes. They do wear the jerseys. Yes. You know, Eric Lindrosse noted Colorado Avalanche draft pick. The Rockies. Like, what the fuck are we doing here? Yeah. I get it.

Yeah. So this is why I'm like, okay, so the NHL got part of it right, which is the Jets record should not be in Arizona and they never should have been. It was silly. That was great. It was silly when the coyotes were in Arizona. It's dumb. It's just flat out dumb now that they don't even exist. But now you're going to tell me that Ilya Kovalchuk is a Winnipeg Jet Great. So I think you and I are of the same mind with this. Okay. When the NHL returns to Atlanta. Dale Howard Chuck versus Elya Kovalchuk and the all-time scoring list for the Jets. That'd be very cool. When the NHL returns to Atlanta, the Jets go, here you go. That's not how it's going to work.

No, it's not. It should be. It's not how it's going to be. Now I'm going to be looking at them sideways. Well, people were saying to me, they're like, well, Seattle won Stanley Cups in the 1910s or whatever and so do the Ottawa senators. Yeah, let them have it. Yeah.

Hang the banner. I don't give a shit. Hang the fucking manner. It happened in Ottawa. Did somebody say that to you as like a dunking? Yes. You're like, no, I'm on the side of doing that. you, yes, that's what should happen.

What kind of a dork would I look like if I was like, no. Yeah, yeah. Seattle can't hang a banner from 107 years ago or whatever. Because, yeah, that makes sense. I actually think that's kind of cool. That would make sense. And they've based some of their third jerseys on that team. Yes.

Yes. With the weird fucking stripes that look like shit that was all the rage in the 20s. It's like technically Ottawa's won a Stanley Cup. Like three of them. Like in the Dickey. And they were called the Senate. The Dickey 2. Like World War.

one. Yeah. I think, yeah, I think you should count those, right? I don't give a shit. I don't see why you win.

But the dumb thing, I'm so right on this, when you go to the records because they've been consolidated in the NHL site, and you pull it up, the third leading goal score all time on the Winnipeg Jets

is Elia Kovach. That's stupid. That's dumb and wrong. That's stupid. Dumb and wrong. Like, why didn't you just do Jets and not Thrasher's as well? Yeah.

Does it just, okay, scroll up. Nope, wrong. Says Winnipeg Jets. It says Winnipeg Jets. Just have it say Jets. Atlanta Thrashers, 1999, 2011. Winnipeg Jets, 1979 to 996.

So my question is, who push for this? To me, if I'm the Jets and I own the Jets, why do I care about the Thrasher's records, which tells me it probably wasn't them. It was probably the NHL was like, but wait, we need them to be somewhere. Precedence is you keep the Thrasher stuff because that's the franchise, right?

Wait, wait, I'm glad we have this on the screen because we might have an answer. Yeah. A lot of, Jets 2.0 guys played for the thrashers. So fucking what? Blake Wheeler played for the thrashers. Yeah, so to consolidate the records,

they got to keep like Blake Wheeler's numbers from the thrashers days and the Winnipeg Jets days so we can get the giant total, which is like stupid. I would still say, Blake Wheeler's not a Winnipeg Jet. Like, who is? He was the captain.

He took them all the way to the conference finals. I would say when Atlanta comes back, I would hope the jets do the right thing and just give it to it. But I don't think the jets were the ones. one's pushing for this. I think they were pushing for their own and the NHL's like,

you have to take this too. It's like, yeah. Oh, they already had it. You want to go out? You have to take your kid brother too. No, but they already had it. I know. It's stupid.

Yeah. It is stupid. And I think the other thing. But there's no one to give it to. But there will be. The NFL's going to tell you it's not how it works. Yeah, but Utah does not have the coyotes records.

You know that. They shouldn't. No, no, I know. But the coyotes don't exist. There's no team in Arizona. What are we doing? Oh, right.

There's no team in Arizona. Utah does not have those franchise records. Now wait, no, because so that franchise exists as a franchise. It does. Yeah, sure. It's semantics, but it's true. You're using the one example of where it didn't occur as your example,

which is weird because you should just use like what I brought up before. Dallas didn't give Minnesota the records back when Minnesota came in the league. That's what Steve is asking for. But the precedence is they don't do that. So I don't think it's going to happen, which I think it should. By the way. And Adam, I think you're, you should be advocating for. that to happen. Dallas,

Dallas, if you read the USA Today articles from last year, they don't give anything back to anybody. They're like, you want to play minor hockey, fuck you. Yeah. But I think the... The cost of ice is getting bad. Yeah, like they're basically, they're buying it all up and and making it cost an insane amount of money.

But I think the, I think this is so easy. And I, what I can't believe about this, thrash your stuff aside. Just put that aside for a second. Why did this take 15 years? they came back in 2011. Why did this take 15 years? Because there was a franchise who held those records. I get that, but it's a 15-minute conversation.

You want to have the Jets records back? No, but based on the precedence that the NHL has set, the coyotes owned those records. But the NHL owned the coyotes and could have done this. No, no, no, but they couldn't do it else they would have to do with all the franchises. Like while the coyotes were active, they owned the Jets records. So if they're giving them back to the Jets, they'd have to do it for all the other franchises,

where there's a place and then they took those records. Is it possible they gave Alex Morello money? Sorry? No. Is it possible they gave money to get the records back? They didn't belong to anybody. These are NHL. Remember, the technicality is.

I'm just such a snake oil salesman. I'm always like, well, what if that happened? They dissolved the coyotes and restarted a new franchise in Utah. That was the... No, they froze the coyotes severed head. That's what they did. Disney. Yes. That's what they've done. Okay. Not dead.

They're just frozen. Okay. Weird, but good for Jets fans. It's weird, but I can't wait for... I don't want them to do that to my head, but that's what the coyotes have chosen to do to their head. Man, I can't wait for Owen Nolan Knight in Denver. They should have it. It's stupid. All right. This is what all the four major pro sports have agreed upon doing. I think it is silly, but you look at the situation like the Lakers who have no lakes in Los Angeles.

They're called that because they were in Minnesota where there are lakes. And they still count their championships from Minnesota onto their total of having the most championships. It's like the L.A. Rams count the St. Louis Rams title. Exactly. Greatest show on turf. That's not yours. I'm sorry, L.A. And when the anthem is playing and you have your hand on your heart, your eyes wander to those Minnesota banners in L.A., you said.

And you just can't help but shed a tear because it means so much to you. What are we doing? The Utah jazz are called the jazz because there's so much jazz in Utah when they're actually the New Orleans jazz is where they came from. And that's the team. So they've all kind of agreed on this wonky rule. It's weird. The LA thing's interesting with the Rams because they were the LA Rams and then the St.

Louis Rams and then the L.A. Rams again. That one I almost don't mind because of that. Sure. But I still think if St. Louis ever got a team back, that ramshed should belong to them. If St. If St. Louis gets a team back, that should be their championship. But they'll never do that because they've all agreed that. This is the weird way we're doing it, where sticks with the franchise is not the same.

I can't wait for Los Angeles to honor Rams, Great's, Kirk Warner, and fucking Marshall Falk one day. Can't wait. Kurt. Kurt. I knew that. I knew that. That was it, though. That was all I understood it.

I just, remember, I love that team. That was a good team. Yeah. I love the team. I think Bruce, Torrey Holt. Oh, Isaac Bruce was sick. Okay. Let's talk a little bit about the big fights between Seattle and Calgary last night.

Now, Steve, you wanted to talk about this specifically why? Okay. So it was Odevinan, Otevin, Vile Otovinan with Seattle. He absorbs a routine body check from Brennan Othman. I don't know if there was a lead up to that or what. And then it's funny. Like he hits Othman to the ice and you can tell there's a moment's hesitation where he's like, do I bail now and take my penalty or do I commit?

I've already taken a penalty. I'm going to commit. And he just confetti gloves and starts wailing on Othman. Now, after the game, Lane Lambert said, I don't mind this. Othman, ran him in Calgary with a high hit

and got kicked out of the game. So good job by Otto to respond to that and I don't have any problem with it. There's the context. Okay. Layne Lambert, who is now allowed to speak to the media again. Right. Well, so here's what I think might have happened.

I'm just going to make an observation. because in that game, Vince Dunn also responded to someone hitting Mackie Samiskevich. It's a bit of a low bridge. I think it was more accidental. Doesn't. Does not matter. I know Carolina just won the cup. I do.

People still look at the things that the Panthers do and they look at the things that Vegas does. They look at the things that most relevant teams in the league do, which is, especially in the pre-season, season in games that don't matter and you're not actually costing your team anything, why not beat the living piss out of your opponent for any transgression whatsoever? Now, you're going to say, Steve, that's horrible. I kind of agree. I kind of agree with you. Now, I'm going to throw a couple things out there, a couple questions.

And it's unfortunate that we don't know the answer. Do we think Ode Vinen is going to get any punishment? No. I don't think so. I think it's interesting that the coach didn't mind it. Vince Dunn did it and Oda Vinen did it. I think we're going to forget about this story by, I don't know, an hour. Yeah, like bringing it up might have been a mistake.

No, no, not in that way. I mean like there's going to be no punishment from the league. That's what I'm saying. Everybody's going to move on. So if that's not interesting to bring up. So let me ask you this. No, no, we should have brought it up. I was making jokes.

I've said this for a very long time. Okay. Is what Ode Vinen did to Othman allowed? No. Is it even kind of allowed? No. No. Is it the sort of thing that you, in your opinions,

should warrant supplemental discipline? Ah. Eh? Maybe a fine. Okay. I don't think you should be suspended. No. Okay.

Great. Which player would you rather be? The guy who's not getting wailed on. Yeah. Yeah. Which player would you rather be? A guy who's not getting wailed on? That's the player I want on my team.

Yeah. Okay. Like everyone, like you got to stop looking at the way you want the NHL to be and start looking at it the way it is. Be the glove, not the bag. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And we've been the bag here in Toronto for a long time. Yeah, that's messed up. Odivine and did that. Don't turtle. No turtle. Yeah. Defend yourself. He's not going to stop and no one is coming to help you.

And I don't even think there is going to be a fine. Like I think everybody in the NHL moves on by. I wouldn't be surprised if you got a game or two. Really? Yeah. Well, just like you're talking about wailing on an unwilling combatant, which the NHL does frown upon. I think a lot of people would look at that instance and say the guy made himself

unwilling in a situation where he should have been in a combat. So here's, here's all I'm going to. going to say. Let's say the NHL goes Ode Vinen is suspended 10 games. That means he left the bench. That means...

When he shouldn't have. That means don't do it. If he gets suspended 10 games, that means don't do it. He touched a referee. If he gets nothing, it means do it. If he gets nothing, ask yourself which player you'd rather be. Or yeah, a $5,000 fine, which is

essentially nothing. Ask yourself which player you'd rather be. You have a roster of 23 players. Do you want a roster of 23 bags or 23 pairs of gloves? You can be the glove or the bag. Choose the gloves. That's all I'm saying. I don't think it was nice what happened to Offman.

I think that sucks. I think George Perel sucks. I think that's the far larger problem at hand here. For sure. That guy sucks. That's never going to change. though. No, it's not. So should we sit around waiting for someone to save us or learn how to throw a punch? That's all I'm asking. Okay. I like that. Lastly, I'd like to throw that this one got in under the radar.

Oliver Moore got a contract extension with the Chicago Blackhawks. Oliver Moore, who if you've never heard of him, he is coming off as ELC. He's 21. He's a center. Highly tout. People think he's going to be a very good player. Five years, $4.25 million. And let me just, let me give you Oliver Moore's career stats, okay, because this is where we're at. There's, there's been some frustration with his development. I know how much. He has had five goals in his entire career. Got it. 23 points in 60 games. And he just got that extension. And so when I think about something like that, that's a five year extension where he's, you know, he's making, you know, 4.3 million bucks a year.

Okay. You're betting on him, but you're not betting on it on him in a huge way. Seriously? 23 career points and that's what he's getting. It's crazy. What do you think a guy like Pabelsaka gets? Because his extension is starting to come to the forefront. Apparently the Bruins and him are talking.

How does Pabelsaka look at that and go like if I'm Pabelsaka, forget what Fantilli got. I'd be like, that guy has 23 career points. I'm getting 10 million. If I'm Pabal Zaka, I don't have to. I might get 11. I don't even have to look at the next conference. over. I look at Fraser Minton. Yeah, man. Yeah. And I go, you better stack at least three million dollars on top of that. Yeah. Yeah. Are you kidding me? No. Fraser Mitten with 40 career points.

40 career points, nearly double. 20 goals though. How about that guy had 30 goals last season? Yeah. Yeah, dude. That's what I'm saying. 30 goals, 35 assists, 65 points. That's pretty good. Is that an Alex Tuck deal? I mean, I know Tuck got eight years, but like, is that an Alex Tuck Aavie, 10 and a half? It's crazy that he only averaged, like, can you scroll over to the ice time? He only played 1651 on average? Yeah, that's crazy. Oh. That point total is actually much more impressive now.

Palazaka's probably a $10 million player. Yeah. Easy. In the new NHL, he is. Yep. I mean, term also matters. It's all coming up Zaka, though, with the announcement that the salary cap's going to like $1.27. Yeah.

Like, dude. Now, let me ask you, is Pavel Zack. at getting paid based on what he's going to do or what he's already done. Well, I think it should be a little bit of both. Well, I know Fraser Mitten is getting paid for what he's going to do. Yeah.

And not what he's already done. Yeah. All right. Different ages and, yes, I'm referring to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Let's not get off topic. That's going to cost them. And like just seeing that that ice time is concerning. Why? Well, because that's not the, that's not the ice time of the number one center.

Right? So how was he used last year? I'm, like, I was surprised by that. Right. I think the, the results seem to be there. The results definitely seem to be there. I could see the Bruins moving off of a guy like that, uh, in a trade. Um, a lot of it is going to hinge on a young guy like James Higgins and you see how he does. Very under the radar spicy topic there in the NHL. It's always, it's best when Boston's in the news. And it's always best

Bruins fans when their fan base is a little bothered. Yeah, yeah. Just a little. There's got to be a bit of a chip. I like that. That's 65 win season. That was so boring. Yeah. Because all they did was they went, scoreboard. Like, no, you got to be a little bothered. So does Pavel Zaka make over what Posternak makes or under?

11.25, which is a steel now. Yeah, that's crazy. I'd say under. I'm also going to say under, but that's not a crazy question. If he goes to open market next July 1st. So I understand if you're saying extension here. Let's say he's the free agent center, DeJure, next summer, because he could be. what does he make?

You mail a glitter bomb to every team that offers you less than 10 and speak to all the teams that offer you more. And you could, you got to remember, it's UFA. Jesus. Like a guy who could potentially be a number one center for you? Well,

you could get like, yeah, he could. I don't think he is. I think he's a B. He's a, 1B? I think he's a 1B. And that's not an insult.

I mean, I just, like a one A is Connor McT. David Nathan McKinnon. Which is to say good second line center. Yeah. Very good. If he's a UFA, like, players rarely take necessarily the highest bid.

Because the highest bid is often a team that stinks and you don't want to go there. Yeah. Right? Look at Robertson and Seattle. Robertson and Seattle. Columbus offered Marner Moore back in the day. Yep. I could see 12 being out there for him.

absolutely could see 12 being out there for him. Now, does he take that or does he go with a cheaper deal on someone that's better? It's a very good question. My guess is that. I wonder if Vegas misses on Larkin if they consider that. That's an interesting one. I mean, I don't know if I don't think Bruins are going to let him go. Like, you can't.

You need this guy. He's 29. He fits your window. You can't. And I think he probably wants to stay. Who wouldn't want to stay in Boston? It's a fucking awesome place to play hockey. It is an awesome place.

So, but I just said, I like, like, think of this, Pavlzaka is going to be, you know, a very expensive hockey player. Here, this is $750,000 a year more. Oh, wait, does he shoot right? I thought he did. I will look it up. Hang on. No, he might be a lefty. I don't know.

Which case, poor. Give him seven. He is a left shot. Poor. Yeah. Okay. That's it for today. Yeah, we're at 203.

Next, next show, though, I want to try to fit this in because UBS Arena. said, hey, you only did one of our items. They actually emailed me direct and said, you should do more on Fat Guy Corner. So we have a Fat Guy Corner set up from you. Did you mention Kachev's extension, the Nekisha discussion? I didn't. Okay.

Kachakov signed an extension today. His agent is also Paul Theofanos. Fascinating. Oh. Oh, that's it. That's fascinating. How many years? Two years.

So Kicks in starting next season, $3.95 million. That's pretty good. Very cheap. Pretty good. Same agent as the guy, Nikitian just brought a board. Fascinating. The Steve Dangle podcast.

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