Listen, we got a lot to get to today, so this episode may run a little bit, so we're going to have to move through things quickly, Steve. But I do think that we should start with the Leifs because there's some Lefs news, and Brad Treliving spoke to the media. We got a little sense of some of the things, although I don't think they said very much. Jesse, I just sent the first clip to you. The first clip will be Brad living, and he's asked, Hey, Brad, what do you think your priorities are? And I do like Brad for living with the media. I have to say that this guy seems pretty affable. He's not cagey, he's not defensive. He doesn't try to be mysterious. He's pretty straightforward. And I think this market needs that. We've needed that for a while in terms of communication. So here's what Brad for living said the priorities are this offseason. When asked.

I don't think it's a secret. Our defense is an area that we'd like to see if we can improve. It'll be easier said than done. But that's certainly an area that we've been focused on. Why is it easier said than done? Looking at the trade market since we've We finish the end of the year, the difficulty, the types of players you're looking for, usually aren't available in the trade market. So that's an area right now. We've got some cap space, but you do look at the holes that we to fill, and it goes quickly. So we're trying to be as prudent as we can to look at the defense. I wouldn't say look at it first, but look at it first before we commit too many cap dollars anywhere else.

So let's pause that for a second.

Okay, so obviously, if you're a lead fan, I think you like hearing that. This was clearly an issue last year as well when Trillivan came in. I think you can argue about the merits of spending $4 million on John John Klingberg, and I would agree with that. When that signing went through, everybody in this room was like, What? But the idea of John Klingberg being 75% of what he was, say, on that run that Dallas took in the COVID bubble, where he was great, legitimately great, and he was a great Puck moving defenseman leading up to that, what they need are two legitimate top four defensemen. They do need that.

Then they desperately need a right-handed shot, at least one. If you lose Lillegren, you need at least two. You need to add two. You can't do what you did last year. These lefties on the right, enough. Stop it. No more Ron Hainesies, no more TJ Brodie's. Get a right-handed defenseman for the love of God.

Jesse, if you could take us to 5:22. There's two questions in a row I'd like to watch. First off, the first part of this is going to be Brad for Living answering a question on whether or not he's open to moving the first round pick that they have this year. And it's going to lead into a question from our very own, SGPN's very own, Christopher Johnson. You heard of him?

I have. Look how happy Brad is.

And CJ is going to ask about Mitch Marner. So have a listen to these two questions.

Probably not very good if I deal it, but I wouldn't say I'm not opposed to moving it. I would say as I sit here right now, more than likely we're making the pick. There's We'd certainly look at it if it fits, obviously, a player that can fill a hole in our lineup right now. I don't think that's likely. The next step with that, Josh is looking to possibly We're going to acquire more draft capital. We'll see, but I think it's probably more than likely right now that we're going to make the pick.

There's so much discussion about Mitch Marner and his status with the team.

Were you able to extend him as of July first? Do you expect to try to do Well, you know what, Chris? I'm not going to speculate on everything. I think it's real clear. I want to make it real clear. Mitch is a star. Mitch is a superstar in the league, and he's been that since he's entered the league. And he's been that ever since he put on We're going to make a map of our Mapleleaf jersey. We said it at the end of the year that we weren't happy how the year ended. That's not Mitch. Let's not focus it on Mitch. As an organization, as a team, we felt we should We've gone further than we did. When that happens, you have to look at everything. No different than every other 31 teams that are here. We're going to try to make our team better. But I'm not going to speculate on that. Like I said, he's a star. And as we do with any player, we're not going to get into speculation on... All right. Of that nature. We can pause. But certainly, he's a special player.

No, I I wasn't wrapping you up, Jesse. I'm wrapping him up. You said the same thing for it. You're not going to speculate. It's fine.

Okay, so let's work backwards there. So the Mitch Marner answer is freshest in your mind from what you guys have heard. What do you deduce from that?

No, I want to do the draft one. You want to do the draft one? I want to do the draft one.

Okay, let's do the draft one.

Because the Mitch one is going to lead to a run in the field. Okay, all right. The draft one is interesting because that press conference was largely a nothing burger. That's interesting.

I thought it was.

They want to acquire more draft Draft Capital. So who are they going to get on defense? Who are they going to get, acquire? Getting more draft capital, well, how do you get that? You got to exchange goods and/or services. You got to trade draft picks. So are they going to move down from 23? Or you got to trade guys from your prospect system or roster in order to get more draft picks. So that was a very interesting little tidbit that Brad said. I don't have much more to say on that. I think it's a good idea. They have a first round pick, and then they don't pick again until, I think, the fourth. And then they have a few depth picks.

Based on the market, if you move down six or seven spots to, say, 30, let's just say that. I don't know who's at 30, but it doesn't matter, you probably can get a first and a second out of that. If you base it on what Chicago and New York did.

Look at what the leaves did last year. They stayed at 28, and they got Easton Cowen. Which is awesome. I think it was the 28th pick. You nailed it. You got to have... The Leifs' confidence in their scouting staff right now is probably very high. They haven't had many picks in recent years, but think about them. Easton Coughlin is only a year out, but he's looked extremely good. You got to feel pretty good about the Fraser Mitten pick, even if he tops out at something like a third-line center.

When he said, I want to acquire more draft capital, that's the player I thought of. Fraser Mitten? I think Fraser Mitten is more valuable to this team as a trade piece than as a player. That's interesting. Because you can find fourth and third-line centers.

I agree with that.

I 100% agree with that. I think a team that's on the upswing might be willing to get a guy like that to be ready for the roster. So if you look at like, let's say Chicago, for instance, right? Or San Jose, two bad teams that are looking to get good. Salabrini Will Smith or Conor Bedard. You're going to need some young guys to come up with them, right? Because remember, that first Penguin's Cup was Crosby, Malkin, and who? Jordan Stahl. That's right. And you need that type of player.

He ain't that, but yeah.

Yeah, he ain't that. But you know what I'm saying, right? Yeah.

Nies was another second-round pick. Nikolai Grbanken is a fifth-round pick. They've been able to do a lot with very little in recent years. So They're confident in their amateur scouting staff. Good. Great. The Marner stuff. We want to go out and we want to get D, and we want to get better at defense.

I just want to hear it before we move to the Marner stuff. I do want to hear Jesse's side of things, too, on the draft pick thing.

On the draft pick, I think it's interesting. I don't think it's the Earth-shattering. It's a surprise, though. It's a surprise because you look at the least prospect system and it's pretty bear.

I don't know about a surprise. It's news.

It's news because you wonder if they're looking towards the future here because you don't want them to look too far in the future because a good team sell the farm and you rebuild through interesting trades. I look at a situation like Tampa where it's, Okay, we're going to acquire the young talent through moving away assets instead of trying to build through the draft because that takes forever. Who knows about draft pick? I think it's It's really interesting that Brad's looking towards, Hey, we might increase our pick load because that's a three, four-year plan and not an immediate, We have Austin Matthews, let's improve next season plan.

Well, if you are committing to Matthews, Marner with an extension and Nylander, leaving Tavares out of it, you need cheap young players, and you don't have any coming. You don't have any coming. You Can you have one or two. If you're a Lee fan, you go, Well, Eastern Calin. Well, this guy. Well, that guy. It's not enough. It's not enough to have one or two because then you get a team like Dallas who has five or six, and they're going to kill you. Or you get a team like Boston who just keeps picking these guys who you've never freaking heard of out of nowhere, and they make solid middle six players out of them to constantly fill their lineup in place of David or beneath David Pasternack and beneath Brad Marshan and beneath Charlie McAvoy. The defenseman, the type of defenseman that Brad for Living is talking about, you almost exclusively get them by drafting them.

Yeah. Almost exclusive. In some ways, in my deepest depths of my heart, I'm a little disappointed because I like the Vegas mentality where it's like none of their first round draft picks ever in the history of their franchise ever stick around for them. I know. I like the- Yeah, true. We're just going to go buy the guy who's good now mentality about building a team. It's a little like, Okay, the draft is cool, but what if you just went out and got guys?