The Steve Dangle Podcast - Willy Best | January 5, 2020

Episode Date: January 6, 2020

On this episode of The Steve Dangle Podcast, we’re back!! (00:00), WHO WORE THE CROWNLANDER (08:50), the ridiculous two week run that the Leafs are on (19:20), recapping the World Juniors (54:00), the Canucks win 7 straight (1:02:00), Corey Perry is suspended 5 games (1:09:40), Justin Holl signs an extension (1:18:00), NHL fines John Tortorella $20K (1:20:00), Ilya Kovalchuk signs in Montreal (1:35:30), Oskar Lindblom’s road to recovery #OskarStrong (1:44;00), and podcast trivia! (1:45:00). Originally aired: January 5, 2020 Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/EEE77oGiEgw Merch: https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/fancydangleshirts Follow us on Twitter: @Steve_Dangle, @AdamWylde, & @JesseBlake Follow us on Instagram: @SteveDangle, @AdamWylde, & @Jesse.Blake Subscribe to us on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/steve-dangle-podcast/id669828195?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Panago Pizza presents S-S-D-P-P The Steve Dangle Podcast With your hosts, Steve Dangle, Adam Wylde, and Jesse Blake Let's go! So we're back from a very productive Christmas, New Year's break We just watched Team Canada win, we'll break that down A little Canada fan reaction

Hey, we just watched the Vikings beat the Saints as well Oh, did they win? Yeah, they scored a touchdown, we're done, game over Go football. Go football. That's amazing. I'm really sad I'm not going to get to watch my annual Patriots game. In the Super Bowl?

Yeah. I see what he did there. It's fun. I always cheer for whoever's playing the Patriots. And then the Patriots win, and then I go, ah, next time. That's basically how it works. Well, it looks like Tom Brady is leaving and going to, what is it, the Rams next year? People are saying the Chargers.

Because the Chargers are moving into a new stadium, and they're going to need somebody. They need somebody because they can't sell seat licenses. And bring old Tom Brady. What did he say? Pete Blackburn's like, I will post a butt-ass naked nude if Tom Brady ever plays a game for a team not the Patriots. He might have to do it. What? Oh, Pete?

Yeah. He might have to do it. That's a real possibility right now. Are you upset about seeing Pete Blackburn naked? No. I mean, he's in really good shape. Yeah, he works out. He always makes me mad

Especially in the summer With his hockey basketball tanks And I'm just like, shut up Jack Pete Stop being Jack Pete It's been years since I could wear a tank Without embarrassing myself I can wear a tank But I have a tank

So I gotta get rid of that I have to get rid of the gut Three straight days at the gym I'm practically an Olympian David Goggins, what? Do people go to the gym in January? Yes. And then not in February?

Or maybe fall off around the third week? Oh, yeah. I think that's... I don't know. See, the thing is, is that what sucks about the gym is it takes a while for it to actually kick in. It takes about six weeks. It's the worst.

And so people are like, they could win about week three, week four. And... Every year. You know, I think, Steve, you're not talking about what you should be talking about, which is how you spent your holiday. Oh! Yeah. So what did you do this holiday season?

Except, because you weren't on Twitter much. No. And it was great. And any time I did get on Twitter, I was like, why did I do that? I had a quiet New Year's Eve. We did ice surfing. Yes. Until 10.

Then I got to my friend's place like, three, two, one, happy New Year. Okay. And then I played catch up and was the drunkest there. Yeah. Man, I just chilled and watched Red Dead Redemption videos. Wow. That is seriously what I did. And watched a lot of horror.

Was it the... Who's the YouTuber that you hate that does Red Dead Redemption videos? Well, there's MrBossWTF. No, why do you hate him? Because he's a clickbaity liar who's always like, oh, here's Dutch's ghost

in Red Dead Redemption, and there's no... Even though Dutch doesn't die until 1911. No, and there's a free... Who is Dutch? Dutch is one of the good guy, bad guys.

Who's Dutch? I've never played the game. You've got to play it, man. It's so much fun. It's so much fun. I'm not into open world. No, it's just a delicious story. That's why you need to play it.

It's not exactly hard. First of all, you're wrong. I play sports games. That's it. Yeah, and to not play Red Dead Redemption is wrong. Okay. I'm just saying that it's wrong. No, but then the thumbnail will be a live Dutch and ghost Dutch.

And then you watch the video and you're like, there's no ghost Dutch at all. So I hate that guy. Fiji is a guy. He's the only person I'm a patron of, partly because I love his videos. And the other part is because I got so sick Of the other guy And then YouTube added that function Where you could say I'm not interested in this channel

Because of the algorithm I'm so interested in Red Dead videos But this freaking guy Always popped up I could be like I don't want to watch this or I don't want to watch that You can also rate videos After you watch them sometimes Sometimes they'll do like a quick survey

And it'll pop up back on your main YouTube feed And it'll be like out of five stars How did you like this video? was it like, did we recommend the right one? And he'd be like, no, I don't want any more of these Joe Rogan thinks aliens might land on the spaceship in NASA. I wish

so bad there was a way to be like, can I watch only the good Joe Rogan videos? But there's no way to tell the algorithm that. No. Right. Hello, Mr. Algorithm. Yeah, yeah. Oh, that damn rhythm. Yeah, man, that's what I did. Well, I'm just... Played a lot of Chelsea.

I'm just reading through Mr. Boss, WTF's just the collection of great titles that he's got. There was another one I saw. Biggest playoff hits in the NHL. And it was Zidane O'Chara standing over a downed Alex Ovechkin. Problem, they're both in home jerseys, and Ovechkin is very clearly photoshopped into the picture.

That hit never happened. Sorry, I hate that shit. Did you click? No! Oh, okay. Are you sure? I was about to, and I went, oh! I'm not paying that dollar.

I am not. I will not give him one-tenth of a cent by clicking this, or whatever it is. No, you didn't Mazda negotiate that, is what I'm trying to say. Oh. And then I said, all right, and I clicked it. I'm not going to do this. Tell me about Mr. Boss, what the fuck. Okay, so what happens if you get inside the Devil's Treehouse in Red Dead Redemption 2?

The Devil's Treehouse. What does happen? I don't know. You'll have to find out. Guess we'll never know. What about, have you found out about Dutch Vanderlind's secret identity, which is revealed in Red Dead Redemption 2? He, no, it isn't. Is that that his real name isn't Dutch?

Because Fiji touches upon that, he just didn't need a whole freaking video for it. The one big thing that most players never noticed about Micah Bell in Red Dead Redemption 2. What could it be? I wonder. What could it be, and what's the thumbnail? I don't know The thumbnail is just The guy walking Oh man

Super mysterious The untold story of the Vanderlyn gang The untold story Yes It's a fictional story So the whole story is told There is no untold story What really happens if you get inside

The escaped prisoners cabinet In Red Dead Redemption 2 I'd love to know wow probably nothing like every one of those guys freaking videos he's getting like i'm looking at the videos he's got they're all like 1.5 million no no no they're not they're like 85 61 88 000 188 000 that's still really good yeah that's great no listen good for him um but like i mean he's not they're not i'm sure he's got some bangers but these are not all crazy he does not have bangers.

As someone who watches a disgusting amount of Red Dead content, he has no bangers. Why don't you just play it, though? I've already played it twice. Which is 120 hours. That's a lot of time. It's 60 hours each playthrough pretty much, if you do it properly. Are you actually learning anything new at this point?

I actually am! Really? Because it's such a disgustingly huge map and I guess they realized, oh, okay, people have finally overturned every rock. They're adding updates with, like, oh, There's a guy like hanging from this rock That didn't used to be there

And so they're adding all these new little easter eggs Oh okay so you can go see them Rockstar games it's the best It is great My life's goal is to be on the radio in a GTA game It's my life's goal Oh man I would die that would be amazing To be one of the DJs

Or to be a character in Chell 50 overall skating Which is generous Can you not create your own player No, I want it done for me. Oh, okay. You want it to just exist within the game. Yeah, I want a character with an oblong body and giant head.

And just the biggest helmet in the game besides JVR. You should have the Eric Lindros body from NHL 99. Which is just a tree trunk. Just him, Sundin, and Panikorovsky. Coming down the ice. They were ridiculous looking. It was the best. And then you get Kyle Wellwood in there.

Or Theo Fleury. Yeah, those little ticks you just pick out of your dog's fur and they just rush up the ice and they score a goal. And then they celebrate with Bonacarowski and Lindros. And Sundin. I had a great Christmas. Listen, you've been waiting for this for two weeks now. Specifically, you've been waiting for Jesse's answer for this.

And now we're going to get into it. Who wore the crown, gentlemen? I wonder. Live lives generously. Life will treat you royally. Why not put yourself a crown royal? Because we're going to talk about who wore the crown. The Leaf, who gives it all for their team, for the blue and white, because it's our town, it's our crown, and it's not about what you have, but what you give.

So let's get into it. Brought to you by our friends at Crown Royal, live generously, life's treats are royally, Stephen Dangle. I guess we'll go from the last game. Or do we want to go over the last two weeks? When was our last show? Last show was Friday, December the 21st, I want to say? So we didn't even So we haven't even done a show since the

8-6 Carolina game No we haven't They have not since we went on break Lost in regulation That's great That's unreal So the crown is the entire damn team But I gotta give it to one person

This guy cannot stop And he's looking more and more Dominant on a new line Last night He can make tip-ins look impressive austin matthews yeah the turnaround no look tipping over his shoulder i don't know how he did it that well and the read of the play where like he almost like i what i said was it looked like he did it on purpose but in order for him to have done what he did on purpose he would have had

to know that johnny boychuk was going to shank it so it's like he jedi mind went and like just got him to miss it, went to the net, why would he go to the net? The Leafs don't even have possession, because I know we're about to get it, because I'm a friggin' Jedi, and the Marner sets him up, no, it's ridiculous. The comeback against the Rangers to secure a point,

the, we haven't done one since the Carolina game, so the friggin' setup for the Marner 6-5 goal, he's been unstoppable. The spinorama, I forgot, we didn't even talk about it. We haven't even. The kids game, yeah. No, Next year, we should be at the kids' game.

Yeah, the next year. I've been. I went to the first one. Oh, fun. So, okay, they've played three next-generation games. Two were against Carolina. In both those games, they put up eight goals. Yes.

I remember the other one was like, wasn't it 8-2 last year? No, last year they played Minnesota, and I want to say they lost. But the year before, they wrecked Scott Darling's day. And they saved Mitch Marner's season. because he was so cold and he scored in that game and I want to say it was like his fourth or fifth goal of the season and then after that he just went God mode for the rest of the way. But yeah, sorry.

Anyway, getting back to what you said, Austin Matthews. Where's the crown? He's been unbelievable. I'm going to give it to Freddie Anderson who until last night had not rested. He started everything, did everything, stopped everything. And yeah, there were a couple games where some goals went in. Who cares?

They won. Freddie Anderson has... Has Hutchinson won three games since we did our last show? Two. Two? Yeah. That's still a lot. Hey, that's two more than he had.

Yeah, I think it's just the two on the year. He passed his win total from last year. It's funny that Freddie Anderson is finally, finally going to the All-Star game. He deserves it. He's deserved it for three years. Oh, yeah. And it's crazy. It took the Leafs being really bad under Mike Babcock for Freddie Anderson to finally get his due.

Oh, Freddie's good. Oh, no way. Freddie's been unbelievable. He's got a 9-16 save percentage. 21 wins already. 21 wins already. Already. Think about that.

And he is on pace right now, I think, to start 67 or 68 games. Now, that is way too much. And it's going to come down. It has to change. But you've got to think that this guy could beat his own record for most wins as a Leaf goalie this season. And he could do it in a rather short amount of time, the way they're playing. I almost gave my crown to Sheldon Keefe, who is the first Leafs coach in 103 years. Ever.

So the franchise is 103 years old to get 15 wins in his first 20 games. It's preposterous. He beat Hap Day of the 1940-1941 Leafs. you know, while we were in, like, full-blown World War II mode. I bet it was a Hap Day when he set that record. You see, because... Isn't that the most, like, 40s name you've ever heard? Hap Day?

Hap Day. I'm surprised he didn't play baseball. Yeah. Hap Day seems like a baseball name, right? Yeah, it would. I think, yeah, the hockey names stopped being hockey names, I think, in the 70s. You know what I mean? You had a lot of Bobbies in the 70s and stuff.

Yeah, Bobby Schmatz. Bobby Hall. Bobby Hall. Not a lot of Sprague and Sprague, Sprague, Sprague, Sprague, Sprague and his brother, Odie, Sprague and his brother, Odie, Kleghorn, just a variety of vegetable sounding, Charlie Brown sounding characters. Jesse, it's it's one hundred and twenty three point pace, by the way, that Sheldon Keith, that's great for his career. Now, like, remember that three and a half, four weeks ago, we were they were four. What were they? They were 6-4 under Sheldon Keefe or something,

and it was like, well, they look better, but they've still got a lot of work to do. I think they were briefly 500 under Keefe. Yeah, they looked different, but the results... But they hadn't built yet. Yeah, and they still... I know they didn't have Marner for at least the first game. And then, man, guys keep going down.

Janssen, Moore is... It's hard to keep track of all these injuries. Muzzin has a broken foot? Mccann's got a broken foot? Hey, guys, you guys want to stop on that and get on to Jesse's crown? Oh, right. So we can get to Jesse's crown, and then we can talk about that. Sorry.

We can talk about all the injuries now. Guys, come on. The coffee. A man walked to the bus on a broken foot in his dress shoes. It'd be tough to reach for the handle if you've got a surgery on it. What? Yeah, we can't. Okay, fine.

First whip of 2020. I didn't know you were talking about Muzzin. That's how bad that was. Yeah, I was talking about Muzzins. I keep forgetting that Muzzins out, but McKay have had an injury, too. I was saying boards. Jesse. You guys.

Oh, man. You know where it's going when he says you guys. My crown's going back 18 days. Two weeks and four days. December 18th to January 5th at 2 p.m. is around when I looked up the final stats. Wow. So, if we start there, and we look back, we will find who the best offensive player in the NHL has been. The best.

The best. There's like 800 players, and this one's the best. If you're making a top 50 list of Russians, what are we ranking? Best. What are those rankings based on? It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. The best.

The best. William Nylander Who's gonna get my crown I think he deserves it That's fair Has been the best offensive player in the NHL Since December 18th Goals

First place with 8 Wow Even strength goals tied for first With Max Domi for 6 He has 6 in the Points tied for third 14 behind Matthews and Huberto Who have 15

Behind a teammate. Sixth in even strength points with nine. Players who have taken at least 20 shots first in shooting percentage. So wait, how many? Nine? Or no, eight goals. And he scored eight goals in 20 shots? At least he's taken, I don't know how many, I think he's taken 23 shots.

I mean, he's shooting 34.8%. Wow. That's a little bit good. First in shooting percentage. Tied for fifth in power play points. Those don't count, though. Nope. Those don't count.

Do not. They don't count. So we can just focus on the even strength ones, which he leads. So let's just do that. Zero penalty minutes. What? That's a big deal. Come on.

That's a big deal. He's the best player in the NHL over the last two weeks and four days. Legit, though. Like, oh, my God. Everything has been so fun. It's just been so fun. Oh, I'm enjoying this so much. It's I think the last time I enjoyed it this much. It was 2017 Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did not enjoy 2018 2019. I didn't I like I've gotten superstitious with Twitter

No, well, maybe just a little stitious But like I I almost never tweet during games now or it'll be like two or three max Because I feel like the more I tweet the more they lose Jesse remember when? And remember when Steve wouldn't watch the playoffs with us because he had to be on his good luck couch? Uh-huh. And they haven't made it past the first round since 2004? But the couch is good luck.

Do you think maybe it's not good luck? Maybe the couch isn't good luck. Maybe the tweets have nothing to do with the game. It has everything to do with it. How do you consider that there's zero connection? Dude, I called my mom to talk about the gold medal game, And she's like, oh, your dad, who watched the whole gold medal game. Which gold medal game were we talking about?

Canada versus Russia. The one you mean today? Yeah, today. I called her right on my way in here. And she's like, oh, yeah, dad was in the basement for the final five minutes. He couldn't take it. He couldn't take it. He missed the Blue Jays winning the World Series.

Watched the whole game, went downstairs, couldn't take it. In 93? He missed Joe Carter. Yes! No! Yeah, it's true. The first one and the second one. Joe Carter was the second one.

I don't remember which one it was. I was four and five, I think. He couldn't watch it. He couldn't watch it. That sucks. That's where I get it from. That's a sports fan. Yeah.

Meanwhile, I like hold my eyes open and force my... Watching things, stressing out, freaking out. But it's been fun. I bet it's been fun. Yeah. William Nealon. Okay. So, well, here, do you want to wrap up the crown?

Yeah, I do. Do you want to keep talking about Willie? Let's do it. That's Who Wore the Crown for this week. Brought to you, as always, by Crown Royal. Well, next time the puck drops, why not? Why not? Live generously and treat your Leafs crude away.

Crown royal old-fashioned. Why not? And why not talk more about Willing? Who's done it? Like, as Jesse said, and there's going to be some people that probably disagree with this. I think it's hard to argue that he's been the best player in the NHL in the last two weeks. Pretty hard to argue. There are probably some other candidates.

And one of them is his teammate, Austin Matthews. Right. Or Mitch Marner or John Tavares. And I think you've got to partially judge that based on how the team's done. And the team is the best team in the NHL in the last 20 games. They are, objectively. That is... Just by the wins.

Mind-blowing. They are. Mind-blowing. We're barely at the beginning of 2020, and now we're talking... We're saying ridiculous things like, hey, the Bruins are right there. Well, and the Bruins, I believe, in their last 20 games, if I'm not mistaken, I could be wrong on this, I believe they only have five regulation wins in their last 20. Isn't it a seven-game losing streak?

Yeah, they've had a really rough go. Their last 10 is 4-1-5. Leafs and Bruins, I want to say, are one regulation win apart, or maybe tied. And the only thing that separates them is six points, and the Bruins have six more loser points than the Leafs do. They do. I want to say the Leafs have five, the Bruins have 11. But here's what's interesting, too.

So if you got rid of the loser points, you would have essentially a three-way tie between Boston, Toronto, and Tampa right now. So if it was only based on wins and losses, Tampa has won six games in a row, and they have played three less games than both Toronto and Boston. They've got 50 points. Toronto's got 53, and Boston's got 59. Suddenly, like we were talking two weeks ago as if catching the Bruins was unthinkable. And the Lightning are dead.

Well, I kept saying, no, they're the Lightning. Yeah, no, you're right. Some gritty wins, too. Boston, I still think is Boston. Yeah. I think they're having a bit of a downspout. It's no regulation wins in the last three games, but still. Yeah, that's nothing.

That's nothing. That's a blip. It's just bad timing because Toronto and Tampa are in such a tear. And they still have a six-point lead. But isn't it funny that you've got Florida on the outside looking in, and you've got Buffalo and Montreal, these teams that started pretty well. that were looking pretty good. Tampa won such a big game over Buffalo, too.

Buffalo was up 4-1. Tampa looked dead. And they came back and won that game, I want to say, 6-4. And it's funny, even if you look at the conferences, both wildcard teams in both conferences, you've got Carolina and Philly right now, and Edmonton and Winnipeg, they're all at about 48 to 50 points.

Both of them. So both, if things remain as they are, you're going to have one of the craziest on both sides. Eastern and Western Conference. Craziest playoff fighting matches you'll ever see. It's unbelievable. Because usually you've got so many teams that are like Detroit and New Jersey and Ottawa out of it.

But if things continue the way they are, you could have five or six teams in each conference fighting for those last two spots. Which makes it even more important that Toronto and Tampa, teams that are expected to do well, continue to win the way that they are and lock these things in early. They are by no means locked in. And I mean,

Florida is three points back of Tampa, six points back of the Leafs it sounds like a lot and it is you can make it up in a week yeah the Leafs did it yep well they've done it in a month they're not going to play 15 wins in 20 games hockey for the rest of the year they can't they could well they could theoretically they absolutely can I logged on to uh Twitter for like two seconds to see what the reaction was when the Leafs lost to the Rangers because I thought that was going to be interesting just by the fact that you know It was so funny because this is a team that's red hot, and they did steal a point, and they

still lost, whatever, but people were like, you know, you shouldn't be excited the Leafs got a point. They got only a point against the Rangers. Wow. I hate to tell you. Who are really flirting with the playoff spot. Western Road Trip's been a bit tough. Yeah, Canucks got them last night.

They've lost three in a row, didn't they? Yeah. So they haven't had a good road trip, but before that, they were right there. They were ahead of the Leafs in the standings like a week and a half ago. They're about seven points out of us. Yeah, they come back to earth real quick. But so is Montreal. Montreal's got only a point up on the Rangers.

Really? Yeah. So, no, I think it's just funny to gauge the reaction because, obviously, the Leafs have been winning, and they've been winning in the style that we expected them to win it, right? This is the style that we wanted them to be, that we hoped that they would play like. You know, that Mike Babcock, that it's fun, isn't it? But it's dumb. That quote's been circulating over and over and over again.

This is what this team was built to do. It was not built to win 1-0 games. It was built to win 8-6 games. And they've had a couple imperfect lockdown wins. I think last night was one of them. Yeah, last night was, I don't know about imperfect even. Their third periods have been getting noticeably better. If you could stay up past the first period.

Because holy moly that was boring So the Islanders just play boring That's their thing But like I don't know you gotta admire it a little bit They were analyzing it on the broadcast And it looks like It's almost like you ever see a cell under a microscope How it just sort of

Morphs and blobs That's exactly what they were doing But the Leafs had a great third period in that one They got shelled by Winnipeg For the most part But I thought pretty good third period again Yeah, but Patrick Laine should have had five goals himself. In the first.

In the first, yeah. And Minnesota, that was another one where the Leafs had a pretty bad second period where they got shelled a little bit. That was also the game no one saw because it was on New Year's Eve because scheduling is perfect. Yes, it was. No, they all saw it on ice surfing. Better than their Vegas game a couple years ago when they went into Vegas

and got shelled five minutes. We were talking. I don't know if you guys, I don't know if we were talking about it on the show, but we talked about and flirted with the idea of all of us, All three of us And our wives and girlfriends Jesse was single at the time Going to

Vegas Going to Vegas Oh And watching the game And spending New Year's Eve In Vegas Thank God Thank goodness

And also The only reason we didn't Is because I was getting married The other month Yeah That's right That was the only reason We didn't go

Thank God I still want to go see It would have been a good time Oh We would have had fun But we would have paid Like $400 cover To get into a club

And just been Steve would have been depressed. Yeah, we would have had to try to cheer him up the whole night in Vegas He would have been trying to do an LFR from the club Hey, I'm at the Grand. Hey everyone! MGM Steve, that's not even your phone, that's a coaster. Hey! Hey everyone, this is Mr. Boss What The Fuck Anyone want to see what happens if the Leafs won tonight?

Oh, they didn't! I could make a video of them winning anyway! Can you please, can you please do a video like an LFR like Mr. Boss What The Fuck? Doug Gilmore's coming back. Can you imagine? Sundin's playing weak. Potvin's in there? And it's like the ghost of Felix Potvin.

That's how you should name your next LFRs. Yeah, you have to name your next LFR like that. And only people who listen to the show get it. Everybody else can be like, what are you doing? I don't understand. Doug Gilmore's coming back. I'm subscribed to Doug Gilmore. We gotta do it.

So, yeah, they locked down the third. Well, no, but you're talking about a team that, like you say, imperfectly locked down. You look at the players that you have that would lock down, right? Mazin's out. Mikheyev, who's been really good offensively, like shockingly good. If you have 39 games he played, he had 23 points. But it's what he does on the defensive side of the puck.

You're like, man, wow, he's a really good player. Super responsible. You've got Cody Ceci back there, who is a bit of a, you just don't know what's going to happen. He had a really good game, not last night, but the night before, who did they play? The Jets? Versus the Jets. I thought Ceci played a good game because he just did his role. The last dozen games or so, I wouldn't say he's been spectacular, but I definitely don't mind him.

I don't mind him on the PKL. He's never going to be spectacular. No, he's not. But if he's average, then that's solid. But what did we yell and scream for? I wanted him to be traded right away because they were playing him on the first godforsaken pair. And now he's on the third, and weirdly, I don't hate him. Right?

That was the point. It was because what pissed us off so much and made everybody crazy about Nikita Zaitsev was every time he got the puck, he'd just fire it off for an icing. And so it's like, and he was playing in a role where Nikita Zaitsev could never have succeeded. No. And so Babs, like you said, took Cody Ceci, put him in a role he can't succeed in, and I don't... First line with Morgan Raleigh. But now, the less you talk about him, the better game he had.

Yeah. And I want to say this. Martin Marincin, unless he's got the puck, has been really impressive. He's just terrifying. Yeah, he's a terrifying puck handler, but I don't mind him. No. As a stopgap. I don't either.

Don't either. But you look at the guys that they would shut down And I specifically point to Jake Muzzin and that sort of thing They don't have a lot of guys that would do that But Mikheyev and Muzzin are two guys that I think Are pretty responsible players Those two guys are out And they're still able to do things like

Play the Islanders and play them to a shutout In front of Michael Hutchinson And play the Islanders way You know what I mean? Riley Berry I think has been getting much better There's still a bit of an adventure They sure are But you know what?

Better to have a high-skill adventure than a low-skill adventure. Yeah. We saw years and years of low-skill adventure here in Toronto. I can understand why people are scared every time Riley versus whatever forward is in a one-on-one. As in, like, they're coming in on Riley. I get that. Yeah. But look at what he brings otherwise.

There are weaknesses to his game. I agree. But Morgan Riley already has 25 points. He's... Does he? Yeah. Wow. And he's had such a hard time scoring.

Yeah. This is the thing. He's had a hard time scoring. He's sixth on the team in scoring. It's Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares. Oh, no, fifth. Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares, Riley. Well, and they have the number one mission of, okay, we've got to get Barry to score.

And now they have, and now it's been, I think, 28 or 9 games since Riley scored a goal. Yep. And it seems pretty obvious that they're really trying to get Morgan one. Right. I forget which game it was. It might have been the Rangers game. He had 10 shots. Tyson Berry, funnily enough, who had a terrible start to the year because of how he was being used.

I'm looking at the points right now. He's only got three points less than Riley. Under Sheldon Keefe, he's on the pace that we all thought he would be, which is somewhere between 55 and 60. He's the player. He is who we thought he was. This whole fans of teams that aren't the Leafs, you're not going to get it. This whole Sheldon Keefe run has been fantasy camp. Like, isn't it just all your dreams are coming true?

Well, yeah. They're doing everything I've ever wanted them to do. And after last night's game, he said, I know we need to start using our backup goalie more. And, like, that's the final piece to this puzzle. We need to use a backup goalie more. Great. CeCe to third pair. Great.

Riley Berry. Great. Matthews with Marner. Holy shit. Unbelievable. Babcock had over three years to even try it. And he never did! Never did, not once.

Power play, great! Penalty kill, great! Calling up a bunch of guys from the Marlies, great! Everything is coming up Milhouse! It's the best! Except, there's a couple things I do want to point out. Of course. And there is on every team.

Of course. I don't know what Mason Marchment brings. No, I don't think, nah. I haven't been overly impressed, but it's two games. He might be an NHL player eventually, but he's not yet. No. I think Adam Brooks is an NHL player. Oh, 100%.

And I don't understand why they're not playing him. No, I think it was they got to get Timoshev in the lineup once. They're just trying to rotate a little bit. Brooks had a fantastic game against Winnipeg, and I thought it was a little tough taking him out of the lineup after that game. But, I mean, I couldn't tell you how his first three games went because they didn't really play him. And then the Winnipeg game comes, and he's obviously full of piss and vinegar.

I wonder if game three, four, five of Mason Marchman's career is better. First one, I was pretty unimpressed. Second one, he almost scored. Yeah, but what did him and Gauthier have going? Nah, not a ton. He's got a – Mason Marchman's got a belligerent style. But, like, what do you do when you're new somewhere? You go, sup, fuckers?

Or, no, you go, hey, hi, I'm Mason. you know no we need we need him to be an asshole but he's as somebody who knows more about the marlies than i would assume adam and i do he's never been projected to be a top six guy right no god no no no he's a fringe nhler yeah the best but i i don't know it to me i just looked at that and i said okay for for a guy that's expected to do that role which is you know fourth line wing or whatever i don't see it yet based on even that even fourth line you don't even see I think they had better options And I know that they're trying things out

But I want to see more Adam Brooks I do I was surprised just because Mason Marchman's Played so little hockey Just because of all the injuries and surgeries He's had to go through Bracco is Dying for a chance

Oh yeah If you're giving guys a shot Bracco's gotta be there Why is Bracco not the guy? I have a feeling this is them strong-arming them a bit because I was talking to someone they're like, because Jeremy Bracco has asked

for a trade. Has he? Yes. So according to Elliot Friedman, Bracco, Timoshev, and Harper have all asked for the Leafs to at least explore it. If another opportunity came up. Harper I get. He's got

man, that Carlson Hail Mary pass in 2017 to Hoffman, the goal celebration Harper was Carlson's defense partner I couldn't believe that but Ben Harper's not

an NHL player? I don't think he's a starter on a team that's going to win the cup but he's played enough in the NHL that he probably wants the opportunity and that's fine Timoshev, I'm like, dude were you going to make it out of camp anywhere else?

that to me is a little bit mystified I'm very confused by that Bracco, I sort of understand But who the hell is Jeremy Bracco to He can request it I understand it

It makes perfect sense Does he really have a future with a Leaf team This strong up the right side? Maybe If he was better I think they're trying to send the message You can make this team If you just do the things that we tell you to

There's been so many opportunities for so many Marlies Also, don't let an AHL prospect tell you what you can and can't do. That's the whole thing with, like, guys on, like, entry-level deals and RFA deals is you don't really have to listen to them. No. Unless they're stars. I doubt that they're actually trying to trade Bracco unless it's for that vaunted right-handed shot defenseman that they keep looking for. Which you're not going to get for Jeremy Bracco. Well, no, you're not.

I think he would be a throw-in as a—not a throw-in. He'd be a value add as a part of a deal. Right. And you would expect that it would be like a Kapanen or a Janssen going the other way. High price to pay. But again, you're trying to get a right-handed shot defenseman who's a top-flight starter. Not easy to get. And then you push Barry down the lineup and Hall down the lineup, and all of a sudden you look real good.

Real good. But I think with the Mikheyev injury, that might be shot to pieces. Maybe. I think that you are. For a little bit. Well, yeah. So imagine, because you've lost Janssen for six weeks. he's supposedly

well he's skating but I don't think he's supposed to come back until and Trevor Moore's out yeah so imagine you imagine you lose

Kapanen now yeah like this is the thing who looks great the whole point that third line right wing role it's the only role

he can play but he's so good at it yeah well and maybe he could I mean there was that play he did last night

to set up Engvall was unbelievable if he can do that all the time he's a first or second line player in this league no problem anywhere

I just I don't know For whatever reason Every time he finds himself In the top six With the Leafs I don't love it No

Second he hits the third line I'm like The best He is The best It's a great fit Him and Engvall Oh they're great

You're not catching them So the question I have then Is you know Cause I don't think If the Bracco trade comes I think That

It's not happening this season I think the defenseman That everybody wants Is Timothy Lilligren And Maybe And the way he's played with the Marlies this year suggests that he's probably right close to ready. And I think the way Rasmus Sandin has played, or Sandin now, because they've changed his pronunciation again.

So Rasmus Sandin has played, did play at the World Juniors. I mean, this guy is, those two guys are your ads on the back end for the playoffs. And what Chris Johnson said about them not worrying about burning the year, that's such great news. You know, he just run with the best lineup this year. Who cares? Who cares? Run the best team out Now it's

Like I can understand that Four years ago Now is not the time So it sounds like Those are the two guys Who are going to be here And they're going to be Your ads for the deadline

Right Try to win And wouldn't you want What a concept So you guys You guys that have already Played under Keefe Know his system

You know like Like Lilligren's This would be his Third season under Keefe He's 20 now Yeah Right So

You know it'd be Yeah this is the third season If they'd completed it If Babcock could remain coach Whatever I'm on Christmas speed. No, it's all good. I wonder if they're just sort of waiting out to see how everything else goes.

Like, I feel like those guys are coming. If Mason Marchman's getting a shot, how do Lilligren and Sandin not get in? They're evaluating a lot of things. Well, and also, with everyone who's gotten their shot recently, seeing how certain players play, the general manager and head coach did not look at hockey the same way.

I don't think they looked at hockey close to the same way. No. Come on. Spezza's playing like third line center on purpose.

He's been really good. Spezza's been amazing. I think so. I don't love him as the permanent third line center, but boy, I really love him.

Well, you're going to run in the inter-juries in the playoffs. I know. So you don't hate that. And he was really good in the playoffs last year with Dallas

in the second round. Engvall can play center. Yes, he can. He can play center. Love him. Dude, he's on pace for 40 points and kills penalties. And he was just chilling in the minors? Yeah.

What? Also, come playoff time, it's Matthews and Tavares. And if they're running out for 23 minutes, who cares what your third line is? Exactly. As long as it's guys who have speed and are just going to work for the puck. Yeah. Honestly, what you want to do, you're absolutely right, Jesse. It's run those guys out there shift after shift.

And then if they need a break Run Kapanen, Engvall, Janssen Or something like that And just blow the tires off I loved Barry Trotz's lines last night I don't know if you guys noticed this No, I didn't hear him No, no, not the combos

But the fact that Even down like two goals At the end of the third He's still running the fourth line out there And I'm like, holy shit It's like Babcock all over again Like, what are you Like, why?

Well, Barry Trotz Still running the four lines All equally He won a cup two years ago So he knows a thing or two Martin almost scored I thought Martin almost scored Anyway it just made me laugh

But I'm excited to see I'm excited to see what they Because it's clearly they're tinkering and they're playing The Tavares Nylander thing Getting back to Nylander Oh my god like half an hour ago The thing that we're not talking about with that line Is Kerfoot

Great fit, fantastic fit It's unbelievable Maybe they misread him as like a center long term Because wow is he a really good winger And he's the perfect fit for that line Feisty little bastard Fast He's got great instincts

I hate to bring this up But it almost makes me wonder What could have happened If they put Kadri on the wing last year Yeah No you get the exact same vibes Because he's the guy who's working for the puck and he's playing kind of like a center who's doing all the dirty things

and getting back to the other end. But he's doing it from the wing. So it's just even more. It's just supplanting more of the play. It's unbelievable. Although, I don't know. I've seen some people at all that trade's an unmitigated disaster. I'm like, okay.

No. Wait, the Leafs? Yeah. Oh, it's not. Kerfoot's been fine. And try picturing this team. I get that Barry's been frustrating. Picture this team without him.

They're fucked. Yeah. Yeah. He's had 22 points in 43 games. He's been pretty good. Do you like Justin Holl? Yes. Do you like Justin Holl for 35 minutes a night?

Yeah. Yeah, no. They're fine. It's been a good deal. How can a team that's won 15 of their last 20, how can you look at that trade and those players and go, I'm going to get a disaster? You're out of your mind. Just years and years, layers and layers of scar tissue in this fan base.

Also, people like being unhappy. Yes. I don't know what it is. Legit yes. Like, no team is perfect. No. No team. The Pittsburgh Penguins

Both years that they won the cup That team is Hilarious the stuff they do And I understand why all their fans Go prematurely bald and grey Because They're lunatics On the ice the way they execute

But Malkin Crosby That Acton Fuleman tweet About Malkin gaining the zone And passes to his wingers Mark Donk And Buzz Flibbit That's exactly what's going on with that team right now. Brian Rust is like God, apparently, just all of a sudden.

I was watching him against Montreal last night, and I'm like, Brian Rust, he won a couple cups, hibernated for two years like a friggin' cicada, or cicada, whatever, you know, those bugs that bury underground for years at a time, and then he just came out and he's just banging in all these goals. Well, don't tell Nick Suzuki anything about last night. Did you see the play that led to the overtime goal? I did. It's two-on-two is basically the rush.

And then Nick Suzuki is like, hey, I know that Pittsburgh has the puck and it's a two-on-two rush, but I'm going to go for a line change. Oh, it was a bad line change. So I wasn't paying attention. And then he goes right to the bench. It's two-on-one coming down. Mac Domi is all on his own. He's alone. And they score.

Three-on-three is all about who line changes the best. Yeah. Basically. Oh, my God. Buzz Flibbert. Taveras, Nylander, and Kerfoot. Yeah, well, I just think Kerfoot's such a great addition there. And if you've got two big lines going, it's nice to see Hyman and Matthews back together again.

It really shows what a difference it makes. And Hyman's playing so good. So good. So well. It's amazing. I know a lot of it's empty netters, but he's on pace for like, well, sorry, over 82 games, which he obviously can't do. He's on pace for like 35 goals. Unbelievable.

Who cares if it's empty netters? Are they goals? They're goals. And Matthews and Marner seem to love playing with each other. They seem like they're putting on a show for everybody. Yeah. Because they know they're playing together, and it seems like they're showing off. And it's amazing because it's working.

It's beautiful. The whole season's a revenge game. Yeah. Every game is a revenge game. It doesn't matter who they're playing against. See, Mike? Told you, Mike. Their entire lives.

I think if you were to see Matthews and Marner just walking down the street, they'd be like this. Just walking with two middle fingers in the air. Just, fuck you. And now, I play with Mitch. I score a bunch of goals. My mom and dad are meeting Justin Bieber. I am living my life, Michael.

He cut his hair. Had ice cream with his girlfriends. Wait, okay, am I talking about Matthews still? I don't know. Matthews or Kapanen? I don't know. What's going on there? I don't know.

I don't know. I'm not getting involved. That's their personal life. Who cares? Fair enough, but, uh, the whole thing, oh yeah, sorry, let me, let me, let me wrangle the show that I unwrangled. Um, I want to know what you think, because Willie's your guy. Okay. So I said this as an observation that is meant to be a compliment, but I could see people rolling their eyes.

I think part of the reason that Willie has really emerged recently is John Tavares But I feel like with this Leafs team you always got to look at it forensically And Mitch, for the first couple years of his career, he's playing with Bozak, he's playing with JVR Then he plays with Tavares full time And Nylander's never really regularly played with a vet, has he? No, I think him playing with Tavares is what really opened him up. Yeah. Because you're putting him in a position where he does what he does best

at all times when he's on that line. Because he doesn't have to worry about taking the defensive play. That's on Kerfoot and Tavares. He can kind of, when he gets the puck, he'll enter the zone amazingly like he does every time. And then he can just kind of float, either get to the front of the net or just be open for a sweet pass where he can just shove it in. And he's a great high guy. He's so good at that.

He plays, his best defense is at the offensive blue line. And he did that to Jack Hughes, stole the puck right off him. And, I mean, it's not every day you get the other team to score on their own net. But he's really good at stealing the puck sort of on the offensive half of the ice there. And yeah, I just feel like The rookie line in 16-17 was so fun The Hyman-Matthews-Willie line It was so fun

But at some point those guys had to learn from somebody And they never really got to Matthews especially He's never really regularly played with a vet And then when Matthews is playing with Marner Marner's kind of always looking to pass first And that works so well with Matthews Neil Ender never played that with Matthews.

Or if he did, that's out of his comfort zone. And now that he's with Tavares, it's kind of like, okay, go ahead. Well, no, I want to, I've seen what you're getting at, and I don't know if, I was thinking about this too. And you know how there are some people that are super creative and super like, whoa, they think outside of the box. And then there are some people to do the same thing, are super straight line, and this is the task, and here's how I get. But the straightest line from task A to task B, that's the difference that I see. Matthews and Marner are out there to recreate hockey. They're interpretive dance.

Yes. Tavares and Nylander seem to be like, how do I get to point A to point B as quickly as possible? Let's just execute. They're line dancers. Line dancers. Yeah, line dancers. And that seems to be the perfect thing to get them going, and it's worked beautifully. It's been amazing. It's been awesome.

And Kerfoot, like, I love all the Kerfoot interviews I'm seeing where they're like, so what's it like playing with Tavares and Nylander? He just starts like, it's like he's containing his laughter. He's just like, dude, they're so good. Yeah. Yeah. It's a really good opportunity for him, man. It's the best. And I think there's a huge, I mean, obviously there's going to be a bit of a, eventually a bit of like, well, you know, they've only gone five and five in their last 10.

Yeah. They're going to go four and six at some point. Or even six and four, and people will be like, whoa. Whoa, and two of the six will be shootout wins. Oh, no. Which don't even freaking count. Those don't count either. Did you know that?

I forgot those don't count. They take them out of the schedule. This is garbage. You win a shootout, you play 70 games that year. It's also funny, too, because unless you beat a good team in the shootout, If you beat the Senators, sorry Sens fans, in the shootout, people would be like, whoa. The fact that he even got there, that's a problem. That's the equivalent of a seven goal loss.

That's a negative five points. It's losing your team. You have to relocate. You have to relocate. Because they won a game that didn't even matter in the shit. It also walkies garbage. You're now the Atlanta Maple Leafs. Yeah!

Going back to Atlanta. Yeah! Powder blue. Weird. Finally, Canada is giving Atlanta a team. Nah. There you go. Atlanta's the most giving city for Canadian hockey.

Calgary, you want a team? Winnipeg, you want your team back? There you go. There you go. There you go. Oh, so these are the Jets? Well, no, they're the Jets. Right, the Jets.

No, no, no. These are the Jets. No, but I want the... They get none of the records. None of the Jets stuff. No, no, no. That doesn't count. They get the Jets stuff.

You get the Jets stuff. The historic Phoenix place. Yeah. You know what the people of Phoenix care about? Jets records. They love Coyotes legend Dale Howarchuk. Do you remember that whiteout they had in 92

in Phoenix? You guys need to pause the show because at the mere mention of Dale Howarchuk, all of our Arizona listeners would burst into tears with reverence for the man. They rise up with their hands over their hearts and they recite the Dale Howarchuk Dale Howarchuk

Guy who played for our team I pledge allegiance to the Chuck That's just great They love him Anyway All those Avco cup banners They just love him It's one of the dumbest things in space

It is so fucking dumb That records stay with teams and not cities It's the city It should be the city Here's the thing Is that we're changing that by doing this Yes We are having a movement

Franchises Oh yeah I mean, when it comes to these things, it's where it happened. That's what matters. The fan base. Who cares about where the franchise happened to be? It's where it happened. The fan base that saw it.

That's what matters. The fans matter. Did the Atlanta Flames do anything? And if they did, do any Calgary Flame fans give a shit? No. Calgary Flames, the Calgary Flames started when they got to Calgary. They don't have any Atlanta records anyway. I bet the Flames were, I'm pretty sure the Atlanta Flames were pretty bad.

Were they not? I would assume. Minnesota North Stars, I think, went to a cup final. They did. Who cares? That's great. Gives a shit. So the Los Angeles Rams moved to St. Louis, became the St. Louis Rams.

Then the St. Louis Rams moved to L.A. and became Los Angeles Rams again. And they won a championship in St. Louis. They did. Yes. They went to a couple Super Bowls. So does L.A. get that Super Bowl that they won in St. Louis? No. See, that's a weird one because you could be an L.A. fan that continued cheering for

them when they went to St. Louis and then they came back. I agree. At St. Louis' championship. Now you could be a

fan and you could have cheered for both, but one is not the other. That does not, it just means that there was a 20 year diversion with the

ramps. An armistice. Yeah. No. Is that not the right word? Sorry, I tried to be out of it.

I tried to be out of it. I tried to go with him on that, but it just didn't work. It's not an armistice. Oh, get him next year.

It's 100% only in LA. Get him next decade. I agree. Kurt Warner is not an L.A. Rams great Yeah I always say that Just saying

Kurt Warner Turner Warner Torrey Holt Torrey Holt Isaac Bruce Marshall Falk Marshall Falk Greatest show on turf

They call him The Falker Did you not Did you not watch anything Besides hockey That's basically it Man they Basically

The Rams are the ones that Kicked off the Brady dynasty Because they were the other team that Brady played in his first Super Bowl. That's right! And I was playing, and I remember because I was playing the Sims and watching the Super Bowl and we

all thought the Rams were going to win and then I think with like a minute left, the whoever the... Adam Vinatieri. Vinatieri with the kick! Yeah, that's right! 17 or 2017 or something like that. Oh man. Go sports! Stop. I hate you.

Man, football is so exciting too, like a kid. I went to a Bucs-Falcons game in Tampa when I was there over the break. Yeah, that's where they play. And it's Raymond James Stadium. Oh, were you there for the 30-30 game? I sure was. No way!

That's awesome. And it was wicked because it went to, like, overtime. It was over, like, a play in overtime. Was that this past, like, two weeks? Yeah, it was phenomenal. I heard about this. So, yeah, Jameis Winston became the first ever quarterback to throw 30 interceptions and 30 touchdowns in a season.

And he did it on the last play of the season because he threw an interception in overtime that was returned for a pick six to end the year. Yeah, it was great. Look at you, you were there. It's like, hey, we're going on overtime. Overtime's over. It was like that. And done.

And done. But it was cool. It was sort of like half full in Raven-James because I don't think the Bucs have been good for a while, but they're better. They're much better than they used to be. Did you get the, is the ship like real? Can you sit in it? Oh, the ship's very real.

I don't think you can get up there. We couldn't get up there at that point, but the ship is huge. And it's like... They have a ship in their stadium. It's like Columbus. I've gathered that. They don't play for those about to rock, but they do fire a cannon. So they fire one cannon when they get into the red zone,

and then they just fucking broadside you with cannon shot when... Wait, when they get within 20 yards, they just blow the cannon? No, 10 yards, 10 yards. They blow a cannon. That's ridiculous. That's not an accomplishment. And then when they score a touchdown, it's like 10 of them. It's like bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.

I love that. It was great. Listen, Bucs fans haven't had a lot since Brad Johnson and John Gruden in 2003, I think. Yeah, yeah. Been a while. And Buzz Flibbitt. And Buzz Flibbitt. And Mark Dunk.

Hey, let's talk about the World Juniors just a little bit. We said before the break, I was like, and maybe it was just burnout, but I think we were all kind of like hogging out. It was burnout. And we were like, I'm not that interested. Wow, after they lost to Russia I became interested We got one hell of a tournament So many storylines too

I found it hard to pay the most attention To Canada Just because I was watching Nick Robertson And Rasmus Sandin so hard Two defensemen You know, and stuff But yeah, no Canada, that was a

Okay, I was in my car For the third period I was listening, I heard them win the gold medal What the hell happened guys So there's a minute 30-ish left Yeah Russia is on a power play Yes

They have an empty net as well So it's 6 on 4 6 on 4 And that was for the I can't remember Yeah they took some penalty I was about to say it was the over the glass penalty But that's what you're getting to

6 on 4 minute 30 left Canadian player shoots the puck over the glass Which is a penalty Yes But the puck hits a camera that's sitting above the glass. So the refs convene at center ice, and they're like, hey, what are we going to do here?

What's the call? And they rule no penalty. They didn't explain why. I haven't looked after the fact. Apparently, the ref said it hit the glass, or there was a part of the glass that it hit. And according to Mark Hunter, or Dale Hunter, after the game, they said the ref said it hit the glass,

and he said that's part of the glass, whatever it hit, and he said it's a game of inches. Oh. Oh, so the ref just blew it. No, so. Sounds like it. Because they showed the replay of the camera that the puck hit, and the puck's clearly over the glass, and then it boings. But it hit the camera.

And then it boings off the camera that we're watching, and it's over the glass. But that's an interesting interpretation, though, that the camera is technically part of the glass. No, but that shouldn't be the interpretation, because the camera's sitting on the other side of the glass. I mean, I think. See, I'm trying to remember. That's a ridiculous interpretation. This happened in a Leaf game Last year

And I cannot remember what happened I can't remember what they called it That is a weird It's like how the ref is part of the play Like you can hit the ref With the puck And I guess technically run into the ref By accident and stuff like that

It's a weird interpretation to have The camera as part of the glass And then I guess the Russians just completely Lost their head after that After that no call Play resumes. That would have been six on three. It would have been six on three with a minute 30 left.

They're probably going to score because they've been scoring all game. Yes. So the play resumes. Russia takes a penalty. I forget what it's for. They take a penalty. No. So that's not the broken stick play.

They take a penalty. It's now four on four. Now the play resumes four on four. Russia goes down. They enter the zone again. Pull the goalie. It's five on four. The Russian defenseman goes to take a slap shot

From the blue line His stick breaks on the play And then the Canadian player gets it He tries to field the puck with his broken stick That's a penalty Russia is now on the penalty kill So now it's And then they took another penalty to make it like

Six on four and then yeah it was over at that point Or five on three So it was a carnival End of the game and Canada won gold But here's the thing I want to know more than anything else Did the Russians remove their helmets? Because that was the storyline In the middle of the tournament as well

We didn't even get a chance to talk about it I gotta tell you man I don't know what reason I know the reason he gave I highly doubt that was the real reason That he didn't remove his helmet What if he just spaced? No

You played hockey for long enough to know to take your hat off I'm upset I lost I'm cute and I don't know Here's the thing That only happens with players that young. And I don't think he'll ever do that again. And I think he taught a lot of people a lot of lessons there. Anybody thinking about it.

Like Lias Anderson throwing his medal into the stands. Yeah, yeah. Like, I think there's a, I think that, remember that these are children. Yeah, man. Yes. And. I saw that getting made fun of a lot. It's true, though.

They're kids. They're actually kids. There's a reason that those incidents, like the gold medal one and this helmet thing, only happen here. Yes. Bingo. So, yeah, I mean, I think the, didn't he get suspended a game for it? No, he just apologized.

Good that he apologized. Not a good look for the country. Glad that they were able to move past it. But at the end of the day, if he had been a 35-year-old man, I'd be like, okay, you're an idiot. I can imagine the Russians were super stoked that Hayton scored the 3-3 goal. And it was a hell of a goal. Was it? Oh, it was.

I've got to watch all this. I saw the first half. One of the most, like, electric shots. It was just so perfect top corner, bing, and it was amazing. And they were down 3-1. I tuned in just when McMichael made it 3-2. Yeah, and the fact that he probably shouldn't have even been playing in the game because he took that hit going into the boards in the semifinals.

That's right. Or his, I just think his shoulder. Shoulder, yeah. Lower arm, yeah. Gee. Went right into the boards, yeah. Okay, so I noticed a ton of head shots getting talked about and everything, and a ton of guys getting hurt.

If you have a guy like Sandin Yep Who you think you might call up at some point Should you send them to the World Juniors? Yes I'm going to throw this out there Because people go Whoa

You stupid fucking idiot He would be playing Or as Brandon Press called Ian Tulloch today You fucking pigeon He did? Yeah He tweeted it at him What?

Yeah Because of the Hunter tweet? Yeah Because of this Hunter tweet I'll read it to you. Hang on, hang on. Poor Ian. He's taken a lot of shit.

I'm sure he's been good for NHL players. He probably tweeted it. Dale Hunter and Mark Hunter are two of the most overrated hockey minds of our generation. Convince me I'm wrong. That was after the game against Russia. Yeah. December the 28th. And then Prust waited till today to retweet him and said,

What's that, you fucking pigeon? Crazy how some hockey fans will still listen to someone that's probably never touched a hockey stick. Also, that's not true. He's a Rachel's Raider member. Yeah, he was the first one to congratulate me on the goal. I somehow beat you two. Ian Russ bonded back. He's like, you just called me a pigeon?

And he's like, yeah. And Brandon Prust wrote back. He's like, yeah, sorry. That was mean. I'll take back calling you a pigeon. Everything else I meant, though. Well, hey there, Prusty. How about, what, the Leafs need a real hockey GM?

What was that? I haven't seen you tweet about that for a bit there, Prust. That's weird. Mark Mathot even tweeted Prust about that. He said, yeah, it's ridiculous. I saw that idiotic tweet a while ago and didn't acknowledge it. I'm kind of happy. you did though prusty you guys are in one having a normal one having a having a big sunday

whatever dude hey i've had a few shitty tweets oh yeah no i know write it out you'll be fine it's just funny like like it's such an aggressive overreaction like it's you Did you see Mark Mathot on there, too? Yeah, Mathot just said it. Oh, you just read it? Sorry, I was reading all these. It was just like, oh my god, it's all drama. I'm just going through them.

This is just Team Hunter. Okay, I got that. But, like, I don't know. The real hockey GM has put together the best team in the NHL over the past 20 games. Comment? Comment? Listen, if we're keeping score, if we're keeping score, we might as well keep score for real. I don't know.

Whatever. Canada won gold! Why are Canadians fighting each other? Because they're... They won gold. Be happy. You're right. We're incapable of being happy.

So November was a tough month for the Canucks. December was looking like a tough month for the Canucks. Until it wasn't. The Canucks have won seven games in a row. I've been more bullish on them, man. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. They're not a bad hockey team.

50 points. They are third in the Pacific behind Arizona and Vegas. And they are four points, like two wins away from being the top team in the Pacific Division. Can you believe that finally we are saying this about the Vancouver Canucks? That division is jump ball. It is. Well, because you've got Edmonton with 49 points and Winnipeg with 48. Those are the two wild cards.

And then Calgary's right in there with 47. Because Calgary started really well under their new head coach. But they have cooled off. They're 4-5-1 in their last 10. And the Oilers were in complete free fall. And now they've rattled off a couple wins. Did the Leafs in favor? Beat the Bruins.

Yep. Yep. You guys. But, you know, the Oilers are still... Listen to this quickly. In the last, these are the three top teams for wildcard right now. In the West. In the West.

Each of them in their last ten has a losing record. Edmonton is 4-5-1. Winnipeg is 3-5-2. And Calgary is 4-5-1. And I don't count Winnipeg people like, well, you know, the loser point, whatever. No. No. It's a loss.

You lost. Right. Also, was it in overtime or the shootout? Because if it was in the shootout, it's negative five points. Shoot out on the power play Oh son of a Man Mother

Yes I got bad news Oh no I don't think the Canucks Are for real Whoa Alright Offer

Offer your reasoning They have the second best Swedish player Behind William Nylander What are you talking about That's insane But too bad he's not Swedish He's a Calgarian

So you're right Oh right Yes yes Okay So Pedersen's top On a technicality Before Their seven game winning streak

The Canucks didn't get a point in regulation in six straight games. That is Their only point in regulation came in an overtime win

where they won 1-0. In Doesn't count! In their seven game winning streak the three of their games Markstrom put up

a 49 save performance a 36 save performance and a 39 save performance. Wow. So Wow. In those games he's had a 973

a 961 a 966 and 9-31. Damn. Including last night's 2-1 win over the Rangers. I think they just had a hot goalie for seven games. Plus, they were able to get the better of Chicago

in a 7-5 win, which is not ideal. Markstrom, well, not ideal. That's the Leafs ideal. But that's the Leafs game plan, but whatever. I feel like they are exactly what a young team is. Win five, lose five. Win seven, lose five. They're goofy. They're fun, goofy, fun. They are. Yeah. Markstrom, though,

is surprising because he was a guy that had almost, almost given up on. High draft pick, big potential. Before the season even began. Not even this season, like in recent years it was sort of like, oh well, you know. Florida sort of moved on from him. That guy was Sweden's goalie

at the Tavares-Hedman World Juniors. He's been around that long. I used to draft him as my third goalie in NHL in like 2011 because he had such a high potential. I'm like, well this will be my guy 10 years from now. I never got that far. He would have been

That's the story My first ever be a pro In NHL They traded Markstrom for Cal Clutterbuck And then I quit Because You know A grinding second third line winger

Does not equal starting goaltender And you were the top defenseman on your team And we You know Trying to win every game 9-8 Didn't work for my Florida Panthers My Florida Panthers I got drafted by the Panthers

And I was like I'm sticking to it Fuck that I think at one point Someday I'll find time again To play that much So I can play A full junior season

And then get drafted Because that is really fun That's the most fun When it's just your guy You build everything from scratch And you gotta be You gotta play Here's the thing

If you're one of those guys That plays at the lowest level It's like Oh I'm gonna pump my stats And get drafted No that's bullshit You gotta play At the highest possible level

You're playing superstar Yeah All the sliders, full sim And you gotta get drafted In like the fifth round Pack your way to the NHL The game's gonna suck Dude, I was playing Superstar

All break, and I was like This is the hardest thing I've ever done Like every game, every pass I make I'm like, yeah! Like I'm celebrating Like I won in real life It's really annoying though And I'm not sure if they still do this

But the last time I did be a pro, they have that, like, every shift, they're like, here's how you did. And it's like. Shut up, coach. Yeah, like. I was a star. Can you maybe fucking wait until the end of the game? All right. Before you tell me every shift, well, you missed three passes.

Yeah, but we fucking scored. Now you've got to C minus. You've got to pick your shit up. There is eight minutes left in the first. I think this might be a bit of an overreaction. Man, come on. Ease off me. This is my first time playing hockey.

I always pretend it's me in real life. They just let a 30-year-old play, like, for Oshawa. Do you actually have a 30-year-old? Do you start a 30-year-old? No. No, okay. Of course not. I was going to say, that would be really funny.

Are the Edmonton Oilers currently in a playoff spot? They are. They're a wildcard spot. Okay, so in their last four wins of their win streak, the Canucks have one win against a playoff team. Doesn't matter, wins or win. A lot of circumstances. Hey.

I think it's a hot and cold team that's hot right now. How many of those goals did they score in the power play? And do they count? Take them back You know if you take out all the special teams goals I bet they lose all seven They should be on a seven game losing streak Yeah you guys have heard of the NHL takesies backsies rule

Where you all takesies backsies And then all your power play goals get taken But they play the whole season first And then they retroactively go back And then you see how many games were real Because some of them you lost in the shootout And those don't count The beginning of this Leafs little streak

It was a lot of non-playoff teams, and people were like, well, and now they friggin' shut out the Islanders with their backup goalie and stuff like that. Call me when the Canucks get there. A regular season. A win's a win. The regular season in the NHL is so you can play teams that are not always good. It's weird. That's why it's strange.

If you lose to them, you do not deserve to play the good teams in the good team time. Right. In spring. You have to beat the bad teams to prove that you're a good team. Yes. That's why you play the game. I know it's really tough. The playoffs should be called, all right, no more bad teams.

Yeah. But we need to figure out who some of those bad teams are. Welcome to the Stanley Cup, all right, no more bad teams. The 2020 Stanley Cup, all right, no more bad teams. I can't wait to do my all right, no more bad teams bracket. Yeah, get ready for our best of seven series between the good team and good team. Sixteen good teams. But will they be great?

No, that's what the conference final's for. Ah, I see. And Stanley Cup Finals elite. This is my favorite. Well, my second favorite quote over the break. My first favorite came from John Tortorella, but my second favorite quote is Rick Bonas. Corey Perry would never try to hurt anyone.

Well, he did. Can the Stardust fire two coaches this season? Should you get fired for a dumb player evaluation? Well, I was wondering if... Like, Corey Perry's awful, yes? When it comes to that stuff. Just absolutely terrible. Has always been that way.

Yes. Rick Bonas must also think we're stupid. Rick Bonas... He must think none of us have ever watched a game before. I think it's super inspirational that a guy who hasn't watched hockey since 2003 is the head coach of the Dallas Stars. Are you serious? Yeah. Corey Perry would never try to hurt somebody?

Shut up! Show your face, it's Corey Perry! I don't think he meant to get kicked out of the winter classic But that's his game Is he hurts people Yeah Yeah Are you gonna get called a pigeon for that too?

He played for the Knights That's dumb Stop it What does Brandon Rust think of that? It's a fucking pigeon Brandon Pruss Oh, Pruss, my bad No, Rust is

He's good He's killing it right now Can't remember what it was Oh, I, okay, in terms of tweets you keep to yourself, there was one I was like, oh, Corey Perry's out for the next five games, forget the fact that he's going to miss his return to Anaheim, how is Dallas going to replace his three goals? Oh, wow. Well, I was just, I was just mad because I saw the play and I'm just like, of course.

It was a bullshit play, but I think the best part was all of the, all the memes afterwards. The 30 second walk of shame. He just walked forever to get off the ice. Oh, my God. Has it ever been stared at by 80,000 people for 30 seconds straight? By the way, Corey Perry couldn't play well last year and hasn't played well for years. And we know that's partially due to injury or mostly due to injury.

Well, he's been deteriorating for years, yeah. What was it that Dallas thought that they were going to get, I wonder? Was it better than three goals or is this about what they thought? Because he was on the ice in the first 38 seconds, which means he started the game. He's contributed. He's contributed a bit. Is he above the playbook?

Certainly not goal scoring. Wait, could you not find another player? I haven't looked into it. I don't know. But I think they have him to do something a little bit less of what he did to Ryan Ellis. They have him for leadership, to be an asshole, and he can put up some points in a sheltered depth role. I feel like they gave him a lot of money, though. Didn't they give him like three and a quarter?

They gave him too much money. It's okay if you want a guy to play a role, but if I'm not mistaken, they gave him, like, I want to say $3 million. Corey Perry makes $1.5 million just this season. Who am I thinking of? I don't know. Even at that, you're probably still thinking of Cam Ward's contract from last year. Which he did get $3 million.

I understand that he's a low-cost buy, but when you talk about low... I guess Spezza was offered more to go elsewhere. He wanted to come to Toronto. He could have got at least a mil. Yeah. He's a center. He is a center, and he's a pretty good center. You're paying your third-line center $700,000 right now.

I just find it interesting that, you know, I think Dallas is— Gather your thoughts, you pigeon. Dallas' management has been very critical of their players openly in the past, as we've found with the horse shit comments and all that stuff. Plucking horse shit. At what point do the players get to come out and say, what about this horse shit depth that we don't have? that's always been

the thing with Dallas this plan that is just rely on Ben Bishop yeah exactly and imagine Ben Bishop had gone the way that people sort of thought Ben Bishop was going which was out of the league he's had a resurgence, people didn't think Ben Bishop was going to be this good

there's a reason Tampa didn't choose him over Vasilevsky yes and maybe this is Dallas going you know what, we made a winner out of Ben Bishop when everyone thought he couldn't be reclaimed. Maybe we can do that with Perry. Maybe we can do that with an aging Joe Pavelski.

And you can't rule out something like veteran leadership for hockey clubs. I think it matters. You have Ben Sagan and Pavelski already, and Radulov. Yeah, but Radulov's a bit of a... That guy will put up points for you, but are you...

And then you've got Klingberg and Bishop. Do you really need more leadership? I've worked for companies before where there are almost no employees left. There are just managers. Everyone is everyone else's manager Well, we're going to upgrade you to management

I'm going to give you assistant manager to the assistant manager Do I get a pay bump? No But you get the title You get the responsibility You get the feather in your cap I think you need a couple leaders, three, four leaders Maybe I think you just need good players

At some point, Ben and Sagan have to be the guys who are leading the team Not the old guys The captain and the assistant are the two highest paid players on the team Adam, you're forgetting the leadership-iest of all the leaderships. They have Roman Polak. That's true. They do still have Roman Polak. And he was silent.

He was still walking down that carpet. Now that he's not a Leaf anymore, I love him. But he wasn't a great fit here. By all accounts, he's a really great guy. Okay, if Roman Polak had been played like Cody Ceci's been playing, I think we would have liked Roman Polak. Yes. Yes.

There were things he did that I didn't mind, that I got lit up for. But, yeah, no. He played way too much. I'm just looking at Esa Lindell's contract. Oh, yeah. What is it? It's a long time to pay a guy $5.8 million. Oh, he got one of those really weird ones in the summer, I think.

Yeah, his career high in points, he's a defenseman. His career high in points is 32. Which is fine. Fine. Pretty good. That's a lot of money. 5.8 until 24, 25. Ex-pardon me?

Yeah. How did? Yeah. Crazy. That guy got more than Zach Wierenski? Yeah. Except he got term. But, well, more term.

And here's the best part. The last four years of the deal, so starting in 2021, there's a no-movement clause. I don't even blink at that. Everyone's got one now. Everyone's got a no-move now. It used to be your best players, unless you were the Leafs, then it was everyone. And now everyone's got it. Maybe the Leafs ruined it for everyone.

They did. They did. But everyone, doesn't Justin Hall have one that kicks in at some point? That'd be funny. Why? Hey, I was going to ask, I meant to bring that up. What do you think of the Justin Hall deal? It's great.

And I feel like it's just revenge to our, Dubas is walking down the street. Just both of his fingers in the air. He's got Lindros and Sundin behind him. This is in the middle and he's got two fingers. And, no, Justin Hall, the way he's played this season, two million bucks. Yeah. Give me it. Give me it.

Because you've got to think they see him as a second, maybe third-pairing guy who's better than most third-pairing guys. This year, he's like 1A. Well, he has to be. Yeah. But if you imagine that they got— Oh, ideally. Ideally, is he the second or the third guy? I would say at least second.

Maybe third. Yeah, it'd be— If they get a number one... Right-handed shot. Right-hand shot, and they don't got to give up too, too much off that... Well, it's obviously coming out of their offense. Oh! Oh, do they really have a shot, man?

They really do. But, no, the way he's played, he's... You know what he is, Adam? He's, at very least, a regular NHL defenseman, which at least one person in the organization did not think he was. And that's better than what they had last year on the right side, Which was zero guys. Igor Ozhiganov.

Ozhiganov, Zaitsev, and Hainsey. They played Paul when they absolutely had to. They had him on the left with Ozhiganov. And he looked terrible. Yes, because he didn't play hockey. Where is he now? Ozhiganov? Yeah.

He's back in the KHL, I think. Yeah, yeah. He took his equipment with him, by the way. He just stole it. Oh, yeah. Well, shouldn't you? Remember Chris Johnson said that? Wouldn't you?

Yeah, I think I would. I would have done the same thing. I'd be like, yeah, I'm back. Well, would the Leafs want it back? Right. Come on. I would just take my shit. Yeah.

Well, no, Adam. At the equipment sale, people were dying to get their hands on Igor Rozhiganov's barely touched equipment. I wouldn't want that. I wouldn't even touch it. That'd be superstition to me. I wouldn't even look. I wouldn't even breathe it.

Did I ever tell you the gross equipment sale story? Yes. No. You've told us. Oh, the Tim Brent one with the Tim. No, no. It was Luke Shen. Oh.

Keep going. Tell it. Okay. Well, very quickly. That's why it's good to hang out with Steve. He tells lots of stories, and I have no memory. Tell me it again. I'm like, no way.

Would you like to hear a story that I've told you eight times for the first time? It's every story, man. There's a girl who has watched my stuff for a number of years, and I ran under her in the line at Real Sports for the equipment sale, and she loved Luke Shen. Okay. Loved him. And you could just buy game-used equipment.

And that's back when it would be, like, discounted. Now it's, like, hyperinflated. You could get, like, a $300 stick for $50 if it was, like, a player who wasn't that popular. And now it's still a $300 stick. Yeah. They'll sell it for $300. Yeah, and they finally got wise to it, and they're like, oh, and now it's tough to find a stick for, like, under $100. Oh, I have a stick thing after.

Go ahead. Oh, okay. So she buys Luke Shen's gloves, and what she discovered is in the sleeve of his glove there was a mouth guard. Mm-hmm. So she tried it on. Oh. Oh, it did tell us that. The inside of that thing under a microscope probably looked like a covenant ship infected with the flood.

That is yucky. I don't even think he would put that on. He'd be like, no, throw that out. No, if you found a mouth guard of yours you haven't worn for six months, would you put it on? No, yes, I do put mine on. You're a boy, gross and yucky. Yeah, that's for sure. Now, what I loved about the break was how contentious things seemed to get.

And I don't know what it is about Christmas. Maybe it's the holidays. Everybody's a little burnt out. You're spending time with your family, which are people that you see a couple times a year you have to pretend to love. It's free time. It's free time. It's free time. And it wasn't just Twitter that was upsetting it.

It was John Tortorella. And I think rightfully so, he got screwed. Man, we haven't talked about so many things. So it's plain. Wow. Let's get into the context of this before I get to the NHL reaction, to John Tortorella's reaction to the ref screwing up in the Chicago Columbus game. So tell us the whole situation.

How does it start? It's 1-1. Okay. It's 1-1. It's in overtime. Chicago takes a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty, and the play is blown dead. What was weird about it, though, because there's so little time left on the clock,

usually in that situation you'll at least have a little chat with the ref, going hey is there any time we could tack on from my view looking at the clock there was an argument that at least i would say 0.3 seconds came off the clock after the whistle okay which is exactly the sort of thing that would rewind it went in the opposite direction where there was clearly a clock malfunction like someone made a mistake mistakes are excusable forgivable and in this case correctable so on top of it going the extra 0.3 or whatever it went an additional like 1.2 which is enough it's a lot of time to the point where so the the the blue jackets score in overtime they review it the goal came too late forget the 1.2 if they had added the 0.3 i'm pretty

sure that goal would have counted so the goal doesn't count game goes to a shootout The Blue Jackets lose And on top of losing Yunus Korpisalo Who is Willing them Into the playoff race Goes down with an injury

Out Four to six weeks With knee surgery So And he's goalie Knee surgery He's goalie with knee surgery If they're out

Just let them sit out The rest of the year Yeah And then In a shootout That shouldn't have happened That shouldn't have even happened And Elvis Merzlikus

You got it Elvis Rose from the dead Rose from the dead Said it's going to be a Blue Jackets Christmas I'm going to win a hockey game That's my Elvis impression It's really good

I'm Elvis We're swinging on that What if Elvis came back from the dead? Elvis is in bed? Mr. Boss, what the fuck is that? He's eating a banana sandwich on the bench Mr. Blue Jackets, what the fuck? Mr. CBJWGF?

There's got to be a Mr. Every Team What The Fuck. Babcock's back as an assistant? What were we talking about? Oh yeah, so this guy doesn't even have a win, and now he's your starter for the foreseeable future. Right. He has a win now. But anyway, the Blue Jackets lost that game. And Yunus Korpisal.

Tortorella blows a gasket After the game And he said that the league Screwed us Please don't do that Did I Yeah I keep forgetting about that I woke up the screensaver there

But he did He did that He banged on the table And it's Tim Hortons Almost spilled But it didn't And he was He called out Toronto specifically

Because that's where It's unfortunate They gotta move the video offices Out of Toronto No There's enough reasons I wanna be the bad guys You gotta put them in space

No We should be the bad guys Really You wanna be the bad guys Yeah we gotta be the death star Is that a correct reference? Yeah. No, it's good.

Oh, it's all out. Yes. This is the big, bad, undefeatable thing that ends up being defeated every fucking time. I don't know why. Is it like the Family Guy episode where they built the one patch that could be, like, if you hit it in this one place, it'll be defeated? Yes. Yes, that's what it was.

That's how the Family Guy one went. It's the King Hippo of spaceships. Anyone play Punch-Out? That's the best part about Star Wars. It's like, hey, this humongous planet-sized machine that blows up other planets. Well, there's one little weakness, but don't worry about it, don't worry about it. And then they blow it up, and then two movies later, they're building another one. Are they going to put in that same batch?

No, the first time it was, I think the first time it was sent, they had to send a proton torpedo down a fuel shaft. The next time they actually had to fly into it and blow the main sort of thing, and then it all collapsed in on itself. And then they had to race to get out because it was exploding around them as they were leaving. The Death Star's one vulnerability Bombs Kind of like

Was it better Or worse than the last scene In Independence Day Where they're driving into the thing And then he drives out Hey boys I'm back Top five movie moment of all time

Oh he's great And I love his son's like Dad don't do that He's like So they get fucking mission control. Like, who lets their kid in the mission control, even though half of Earth has been wiped out? Dad, what are you, what's he doing?

Dad, you're embarrassing me. Kid, shut up! The fate of everything is on the line right now! Who even let you in here? If that was in 2020, he'd be sitting there and be like, Dad, I'm trying to do a TikTok. Don't drive into the aliens. Dad, what's he doing?

Dad's about to kamikaze the aliens, oh well. Okay, now I'm going to put a filter on that where I wear bunny ears. And also find out which Disney character I am. Okay. Anyway, so here's the explanation from Colin Campbell. By the way, his name is spelled Colin. He chooses to be called Colin. Which is not a thing I would do.

Colin's not the word I would choose to be called. But anyway. We've got to ask his parents about that. Or just... Anyway, from Colin Campbell, NHL, Director of Hockey Operations. You can tell that no NHL person is ever going to be on this show. I don't mean to say shit like that.

Gary Bettman's been banned. Oh, right, yeah. Well, listen, I'm sure Gary Bettman was just lining up to be on this show. Someone from, like, NHL marketing followed me recently. I'm like, that's going to be a tough follow for you. Oh, well. So on why time wasn't added back after the Blackhawks' too many men penalty number one this is a five-part statement this was a grade seven essay

there are five there is the intro there is the first member of the first body the second body and the third body and then there's the conclusion and a therefore yeah there's wow yeah it's crazy anyway there was a timeout so there was ample time to do what the officials felt they needed to do if anything example they were not rushed not an explanation of a single thing number two we have video of the referee, Chris Schnellker, skating over, questioning the clock operator in the penalty box, then going back over

and giving an explanation to Brad Shaw. So here's what we have so far. One, the refs could have done stuff. They had enough time to do stuff. Second bullet. Yeah, they had enough time to do stuff. Second bullet. We have video of them attempting to

do stuff. Talking about doing stuff. Talking about the possibility of them doing the right thing. Number three, the penalty assessed is a too many men, which requires an assessment of play, i.e. too many men. Kane received the pass, then the officials made an assessment of the player going to the bench and blew the whistle after deciding it was too many men on the ice.

The whistle does not sound as soon as Kane touches the puck. It's not a delayed high stick trip, etc. It is unbelievably irrelevant to John Tortorella's complaint. Number four, the on-ice officials can always adjust the clock if they feel it's required. The official timer can notify the on-ice officials if there are any issues from his perspective. Toronto can get involved if we see issues. Assessing when the whistle is blown is hard for us to do sitting in Toronto and not being in the building live. So why are you in Toronto?

Why not send somebody to every game to assess? That's not an explanation. That explanation is explaining What a loser league Part of the explanation is It's hard The people you want at the game assessing are the referees You don't need to send anybody

The guys that are on the ice are doing the game Then he just came out and said well it's hard It's hard You know we can't be at every game It's hard Jesse I don't understand any They got eyes and ears

They could have gone back and watched the thing and gone Oh mistake and corrected it We can't just look at the replay That's preposterous We can't just analyze the replay That we're already watching We can't just watch the replay that we're already watching We are only getting involved if the call

Needs to be overturned Except when it needs to be overturned So Colin Campbell Has so far opted for the burrito bowl Therefore This is the fifth part Ingredients mixed up that mean nothing. And number five, what John said in his press conference was unprofessional, along with unacceptable.

We're dealing with it, and I've already had an initial conversation with both Jarmo and John. So, he got a $20,000 fine for that. And something I've never seen before in sports, a tentative fine of $25,000. Conditional. Conditional fine of $25,000 if he says anything else, I guess. the NHL deems as inflammatory between now and the end of 2020. Like the whole year?

Yes. December 29th 2020 is when that ban is lifted. Save that bullet, Johnny. Save that bullet. Save it for literally January 1st 2021 and just be a dick. And Blue Jackets fans, big applause to you. You're making the NHL

look like absolute assholes. Oh, yes. Because they, I don't know how much money they've raised, but they... Just over five at last count. 5,000? Okay, well they're raising money not to pay Tortorella's fine, they were smart enough not to go that route, but the money is going towards John Tortorella's charity?

Yes. The Tortorella Foundation? Which is about saving animals. Yes. Awesome. Awesome. Because by all accounts that I've heard, off the ice, outside of hockey, great dude. Now listen, I've been pretty critical of the guy, especially with the Duclair stuff, and there's been other things before, but there is one

thing, like Like, here's the thing. When you criticize somebody, people have the tendency to think that you just have a rivalry or that you always will hate this person or not like... He was right. He's 100% right. There's not a thing about... I don't like when he does this to players, sewers guys like he did with Duclair, but...

Yeah, he gets into moods where he's like, you know what? I'm going to say Duclair can't play hockey and also that Panarin shit his pants. Right. That was the same presser. Same presser. But... You should have got a fine for that. Probably.

But in this case, I mean, well, or, you know, if he's correct, he's correct. And he is correct. And the NHL offers absolutely nothing. Nothing. And what blows me away. Make the officials available for comment. Sorry. Well, yeah.

Or, and do what the NBA does, which is, here's what they got right, here's what they got wrong. Yeah, and here's a. Imagine how, like, accountable you would be if after every single game they're like, and here's a list of fuck-ups. the problem I'm seeing right now is that there seems to have been and I know this is going to be surprising, there seems to be a kingdom

at that office and no one talks about it because everybody who broadcasts to the NHL has a connection to the NHL and you can't say that but when was the last time you can remember somebody interviewing Gary Bettman and making him

uncomfortable Where it wasn't just like Hey do you like the Winter Classic Yeah we sure do Sure do Ron McLean got a lot of flack for that But dude he was right To and towards

No He used to always go at it with Bettman Ron McLean Yeah Because he could Because Hockey Night in Canada was a CBC thing They're not I don't think they're allowed to do it anymore

I don't think they're going to put I don't think Gary Bettman's going to put put himself on TV with Ron McLean ever again Whoops Sorry, I was trying to look this up Colin Campbell is the guy who referred to, remember all those emails

came out? I do. He referred to Mark Savard as that little fake artist Buddy, shut the fuck up forever. How is he still sending press releases after that stuff came out? I'm surprised that it even came from him. Like, Colin Campbell, I don't know. Like, usually you'd hear from Bill Daley, right?

That's usually the guy that it comes through. I don't know. There's a little fiefdom happening, and it's been happening for years, and it's really annoying. Because what they're losing with each successive year is accountability. Each year it happens again and again and again. And the power consolidates, and it makes less and less sense, some of these things that they do. And when situations like this arise, you don't get a conclusion. You could still find John Tortorella and say the officials were wrong.

I think that would have been pretty legit. Like, why would you do that? Like, you can't have John doing that. You also can't have the... Well, you can have John doing that. People understand that even though they got screwed, you're not allowed to say, we got screwed. By the league. By the...

Yes. You could say that the official made the wrong call. If he'd said that, no fine. He could have literally just stuck to the facts and said the clock went down and we asked them to put time back on and they didn't. It's a joke. Say that. It's a joke. Yeah, watch the – and he still might have got dinged for that.

Probably not $20,000. I don't know. But instead of just saying we were wrong and he was wrong, he's getting a fine for it because we can't have that. They do this fine and then a conditional fine. By the way, at this point in Tortorella's career, I don't think $25,000 is going to scare him. No. I also don't think he's paying that. I think his owner's probably like, I'll take care of that for you.

Yeah, probably. You know? Probably. The owner's probably just pissed. We'll write that in your contract or something. Yeah. You know? Yeah, we'll give you a $20,000 bonus.

Right. Or a $20,000 vacation somewhere. Gift. Yeah. Yeah. That's not on torts. Yeah. I don't think so.

And also, torts has been a head coach since, like, God knows when. He's got the money. Why is it so easy for three fucking yahoos with a podcast to go, if I'm the NHL, here's a solution that works for everyone. And the NHL can't figure that out. That's when you start to get into groupthink stuff and I think that they're right in deep with that. There is just

shit with this league where you're like, I cannot I cannot for the life of me fathom where they're going with this. I don't know. I'm not going to get my head up my own ass and be like, we're very smart on this podcast. No, but this is the thing. I just said we're not. No, I know. But you watch the clock. Okay, here's where it

should have stopped. Oh, it kept going. That's all they had to do. All they had to do Right And all we asked for And all the players And coaches And everyone

Consistency Just be consistent Get your headphones And your little Tamagotchi That you review stuff on There And friggin fix it Do what you're paid to do

Yes Yes You get paid a lot of money I get that it was The holiday season And you're dying to get Out of there To see whoever

Come on man Call the game How much is your Hockey number worth to you Ten is Steve's Ten's yeah How much is it worth to you I've been thinking

About changing it Not a lot. Not a lot. Jesse, how tied are you to your number? It doesn't have to be a hockey number, just your number. My number is five. I'm pretty tied to it. It's been my number since I was a kid.

We're 25 in baseball. Do you believe that if you're playing with not number five that you play differently? A little bit. I'm a little out of sorts. Okay. All right. So you're aware of it. I'm aware.

Okay. That's interesting. Can you feel it? Not on the back. I can feel it in my head. It's a mental thing. It's even worse. See, here's the reason I asked Jesse on that one is because Jesse's the only person who's an actual good athlete.

Has played sports. No, Adam, you played hockey as well. I played hockey for 10 years. I was never good at it. In fact, quite the opposite. But number 12, I love number 12, but I'll be other numbers. It doesn't really mean that much. However, for Ilya Kovalchuk, it's worth a Rolex.

Oh, that's not bad. Brett Kulak got a Rolex from Ilya Kovalchuk after Ilya Kovalchuk signed with the Canadians because he gave up his number. Ilya Kovalchuk, what number? 17? That's right. Kulak will now be 77, which I think is a better number anyway. It's a better hockey number.

77 is cool. It's a good hockey number. But Ilya Kovalchuk wants his number. And by the way, that Ilya Kovalchuk signing was hilarious for a couple different reasons. First off, I think it's a good signing. Montreal is sort of fading a little. There's no risk. There's no risk, and they can't score goals.

They cannot score enough goals. And so if Ilya Kovalchuk plays your Mason Marchman, he's your fourth-line winger, but he can actually go out on the power play and you've got cannon from Shea Weber and a cannon from Ilya Kovalchuk, you don't have to have those two cannons on the same power play unit.

You can have them on separate units. It doesn't matter. You should throw out the Kovalchuk that you saw earlier this season. Yeah. Because that was a tremendously unmotivated athlete. On a team that should have never signed him. Yeah.

Now he's coming to Montreal, a team that seems to really energize guys. It's a new opportunity for him. He's all smiles. I think it could work out, man. Yeah. Make 700 Gs. It's funny to hear Marc Bergevin, though, talk about it. And he's like, well, he knows it's his last chance.

It's true. He's right. Where's the lie? I appreciated that. And it's Druin, Byron, Gallagher, Armia who are all out. You've got to take a chance with somebody. And I think, isn't Armia back by the time Kovalchuk, like if, they're going to give him like 10 games. Basically, that's what they said.

They're like, we'll give you 10 games. If you can't make it work, see ya. And he's obviously got his money. He said, he waved goodbye to the LA money. He's given away a Rolex for a jersey number. He's got enough money. Kovalchuk's fine. Yeah, he's been set for a while.

Yeah, he legitimately wants to win. And he was just looking for an opportunity to do it. Is Montreal his best option? I think he legitimately wanted to sign in LA. I don't think he legitimately wanted to win. If he wanted to win, he would have signed with San Jose or somebody else. LA was clearly not a good team even then. Yeah, this offseason, I don't think anybody looked at LA.

Players aren't always great at measuring their best chance to win. No, I think he wanted to play in LA. Everybody wants to win, but it'd be better to win in LA, wouldn't it? Probably. I just remember when Iginla signed with the Avalanche, when they weren't the avalanche that they are now. And I was just like, Jerome, no! And sure enough, it was just a waste of time.

But that might have been, at that point, he might not have had a lot of calls. Maybe not. Maybe not. And I'm not trying to be insulting. Oh, was he forced into that contract? I don't know. I know.

Yeah, anyway. But yeah, no, it's basically a no-risk move for the Habs. The thing was, Kovalchuk was wanted by Boston, San Jose, and LA and a few other teams too it's insane that LA even at the time it was insane that LA signed him outrageous

and it showed everybody's like there's a lot of revisionist history going on with Kings fans right now because they have a good minor league team a lot of people are like well no see they've been doing this on purpose because they got a bunch of good guys coming up no you wouldn't have signed Ilya Kovalchuk no it's great

that your minor league it's great that the AHL team's doing great that's awesome But the two don't have to be linked. They thought Rob Blake and Luke Robitaille thought that the Kings were going to be good. This was going into the 2018 season, and they legitimately

thought we're going to have a mini-run. It was ridiculous. They maybe looked at their first-round series with Vegas, and they go, Fleury stole the whole damn thing. We can do this. We're going to win just like we did a couple years ago. You were not rebuilding that year. And it's like, did you see a game of his

in the KHL? Can this guy even still skate? There's a lot of brand recognition with him. And then he came, and then do you remember the preseason game where he had that one play where he went end-to-end and he scored? And everyone's like, oh! And I'm just sitting there like,

no! He's going to be 39 by the time his contract's over? What are you doing? It's preseason! And I was about to say something like, you know, if they make the playoffs, he's a great playoff performer. Like, remember his Stanley Cup run in 2012?

That was seven years ago. It's not the same. That's even too long to even talk about that for a coach. Yeah. Well, he had a great, like, it's like Randy Carlyle. Well, he had a great playoff run in 2007. Or Babcock, great, too great, 2008, 2009. When Kovalchuk was in the Stanley Cup final, literally no coach in the NHL right now was the coach of the same team that they were in.

That's a terrible way of wording it. John Cooper is the longest tenured coach. And he was four years ago? 2013. Wow. That's a long time. It is a long time. Six years.

Good for him. I do think it's a great move for Montreal. One thing I got tweeted at me a lot was right before the break, Carey Price went on like a 5-0-1 streak or something like that after I'd said, Carey Price has to hit a 9-20 save percentage for the Canadians to be in the playoffs. And where have they regressed to? You tell me. Carey Price has a 9-0-2 save percentage and a 3 goals against average, even.

Sorry, guys. I saw a tweet. If Montreal is going to make the playoffs, Carey Price has to be better than good. I saw a tweet that was, he's gone from Jesus Price to Jesus Price. Yeah. Well, like, last night, or I think it was last night or two nights, I think it was last night, the overtime game they lost. That was Saturday.

Yeah, it was last night. Last night, Saturday, yeah. So, that game, he stood on his head. He had a great game, and they still couldn't win. And that's not on him. Like, he had a terrible November, and then he has a great December. And then even when he's on his game, they can't win. Really flawed team, man.

Yeah. That is capable of playing really fun, especially when they're healthy. But carry price has to be a 920 minimum. He's got to be good. Even better. Probably better now. Because even when he's great, they can't win. How far did they get when he won MVP?

I can't remember. That year? Yeah. Like second round? Wasn't it second round? Yeah. Maybe. They won a first round series, I think.

I think they wasted the primes of Pacioretty and Subban. And Price! And Price. Well, no, they had a couple good runs. They had a couple good runs, but I think, boy, if they had just... Well, and the one year they lost to the Rangers. I want to say the Rangers, that was 2014 when they went to the final. They lost to the Rangers in part because Price was out and they had Dustin Tokarski in net.

Oh, I remember that. I remember thinking, like, hey, maybe he's an up-and-coming guy that Leafs can get for net. No. Turns out not. Do you remember when it was Cristobal Huet versus Carey Price? Oh, yeah. That was a good battle. That was a major battle.

Cristobal Huet, who lost his starting gig to Antony Emi, allowing the Blackhawks to win their first cup in 2010. There you go. Yes. Cristobal Huet, who still plays in net for France sometimes. Wow. Because he is from all the way France. Random nonsense you didn't need to know. We also something that happened was well, since we haven't been around is Oscar Lindblom's diagnosis came out.

So he has what's called. Yeah, well, we just I don't know. I'm I'll cop to that. I just forgot to mention it. Oh, OK. Well, Ewing's sarcoma is a cancer in the bones that can develop in the soft tissue surrounding bones. It's common in teens and young adults, although very rare. It is the second most common type of bone cancer in children.

and Oscar's 23 years old so still pretty close to that fucking brutal man crazy crazy and especially when it gets into your bones that's very scary

so shout out to Philly fans who've been amazing about the support and players around the league that have you know former teammates

like Wayne Simmons I saw it was cool yeah Subban and yeah a bunch of other devils hashtag Oscar strong yeah man

I hope everything goes well and that we're seeing him hopefully on the ice I would assume next season I don't know he's not coming back this year no No.

But, yeah, hopefully, yeah, it's a simple recovery and an easy one. Let's do the press conference. The Presser SDP. Do you guys? The Steve Dangle Press Conference. Oh, man. I'm going to. Here we go.

Super easy trivia. Super easy trivia. Super easy. I need a pen. Do you need paper? I need paper. I got, wow. You got chocolate in my peanut butter.

Here you go. Here we go. All right. Let's do it. So, I'm going to ask you guys to make a list from one to eight. So, on the side of your paper, chart one to eight. Okay. Now, did I need a pen that worked, or?

Ah, preferably. What comes after three? Ah, it's the Q. Okay, good. One, two, three, four. Is it working? Yep. This trivia question comes from a listener.

His name is David Rosengren. I don't trust him. What kind of name is Rosengren, what do you think? What kind of name is Dave? I call him Davey Rose. Yeah. We're going to do a look back on. Me too.

We're going to do a look back on 2019 quiz. So you guys have one through eight listed there. All right. So this is the most clicked team rosters of 2019. Most clicked team rosters on what? Eliteprospects.com So wait a second Can that include

Does that mean NHL teams Or just So I'm going to fill in The non-NHL teams You're going to have to fill in The other ones The NHL teams The NHL teams

Okay Alright So there'll be some like League of teams And stuff like that Okay So number one A non-NHL team

Lexans IF Is number one So you can put that there Or cross out You don't have to do number one Number two That's number one the number one most searched roster

most clicks on their elite prospects page Lexans IF I don't even know if I'm saying that definitely not they had 322,000 views 320,000 views 322,000 views

number two is an eastern conference team I assume you can just put it write it down we'll check the answers after we go through all eight Number three An Eastern Conference team Man, I gotta look at

Eastern Conference teams Number Most popular teams Most clicked on their Elite Prospects page Team rosters Alright, so you guys got Number three is an

Eastern Conference team Number four I.K. Oscar Literally don't even know I don't even know what league that is. Is that German? I don't know. I assume.

IK Oskarsham? I could have done some work, but I didn't look them up. I've never heard of that team. Oskarsham. I've never heard of that team. Well, let me find out for you. I'll tell you a little bit about IK Oskarsham. A ice hockey club from Sweden.

Sweden! Plays in the SHL. And IK stands for I know. After succeeding through the 2019 SHL qualifiers, thus earning the promotion to the top league in the SHL, guys. Oh. Number five on your list is a Western Conference team. 201,000 website clicks on their team roster.

Yeah. Number six. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Oh, oh, oh. Got to think here. It was very sexual, yeah. Number five, Western Conference team. Oh, God.

I'm so uncomfortable. Okay. Number five, a Western Conference. Number six, an Eastern Conference team. Number six, an Eastern Conference team Okay Number seven, you get an extra hint for number seven A Central Conference team

When you're ready, I will give you the extra hint Colin Campbell The extra hint for number seven is their Western Conference team based in Canada Give a little bonus there And number eight Farjestad BK

Farjestad Farjestad That is SHL as well There you go Farjestad Farjestad BK Alright I love Sweden and their names

Farjestad Burger King Let's pull it up Who you guys got for Number two On the most clicked team roster Of 2019 On EliteProspects.com Stabbed angle

I have the Toronto Maple Leafs Ding ding Shit I said Carolina Ah What? Okay No the reason I said

I was picking teams that were like Had good farms systems? You just gotta think of popularity. I did not use my brain that much, so you overthought it. So it's one for Steve, zero for Adam. Number three on

the most clicked teams. Who you got, Steve? I have the Ottawa Senators. Adam, who you got? I have the New York Rangers. Well done, Adam! The New York Rangers came in at number three. The Sens just had such a wacky year, and they're in a rebuild, so I was thinking farm.

But you have to understand that people in Ottawa I don't care about hockey right now. Well, I probably shouldn't have had them at three. I'm kidding. All right, so we move down on to number five. Who do you got, Steven? Actually, most of their page is tarped off. Sorry.

Anyway. Oh, no. It's blacked out because they didn't fund it. Oh, no. Oh, my goodness. Woo! Ottawa, I'm so sorry. 2020, let's go!

Decade! All right. It's a new decade. Adam, who'd you have at number five? Avalanche. I had the Oilers. Incorrect for both of you. It is the Chicago Blackhawks at number five.

They're popular. All right, number six. Who you got, Steve? I had the Montreal Canadiens. I, too, had the Montreal Canadiens. Detroit Red Wings. Yeah. Oh.

Incorrect. Again, rebuild. Damn. Who you got at number seven? It's tied 1-1. This is the final answer. See, you said Western Conference Canadian team. I already said the Oilers, and it wasn't them, so I have the Vancouver Canucks.

And I have the Edmonton Oilers. Adam, you win trivia. Son of a gun! Start 2020 on New Leg! There we go, baby! Yes! Big dub! Turn in the page.

New calendar. New year. Adam Wilde coming up big in the clutch! You know, that's big. That's big for me. That's big for me. I needed that. I needed that win.

It's a big dub. Big win. Today, W stands for Wilde. That's right. That's right. Adam Winnold. Show title Write it down

I can because Adam Answered more questions correctly than I did It's great, it's great guys, good times It's, listen, if you're gonna lose You might as well lose to the best Wow, good point That's how I felt all the last I think I won one trivia the last

In 2019 and then that was it No, I think it was the second one I think they were like, oh it's 10-1-1, this is gonna be a close battle And they didn't win And then I'm like, Sprague, Claghorn. Somehow that's right. Okay. Well, anyway.

We're all done here. That's our show for today. We'll be back Wednesday. Would you guys think of the New Year's Eve ice surfing? Oh, it was so good. I watched it on repeat all New Year's Day. Did you read my tweet? No.

You said you asked for the most iconic hockey moments of the decade, and I said Steve Dangle joining ice surfing. And it got at least 100 likes, and I don't understand why you didn't read it on ice surfing. Because you're a dick That's a good reason though That's a good reason not to read something Worse than you're a dick, you're a bell

Kiss my ass Mr. Bell I didn't watch a minute of the World Juniors That's not true That's not true I'm going to start my own Twitter show Here at Bell What's it going to be called?

Ice Smurfing It's just going to be you, painted blue From head to toe talking about hockey. Ice smurfing with Adam Wilde. Ice smurfing. And you too. I'm not a part of this. You're going to be the world's tallest smurf. Alright.

Anyway, we're going to leave on that. We'll see you Wednesday. Happy 2020 and happy new decade. Woo! I disagree. Frig your decade and frig off. The Steve Dangle Podcast. Follow the guys on Twitter at Steve underscore Dangle

at Adam W-Y-L-D-E and at Jesse Blake. Brought to you by Panago Pizza. Order at Panago.com and stuff your face with deliciousness. Connection complete.